archibald hughson, the young shetlander--an arctic story, by w.h.g. kingston. ________________________________________________________________________ archibald is a teenager living in shetland, that group of islands to the north of scotland. his father is dead, and his mother not very well. he longs to go to sea, and a seaman he knows aids him to stow away in a whaling ship, the "kate", just parting for greenland, where there is an abundance of whales. the captain is very kind, and accepts the situation. but one day when the boats are sent out in search of whales archy stows away again, to see the fun. this does not work out too well, as the boat they are in is stove in, and its occupants have to jump helpless onto the ice. they are rescued by another whaling ship, the "laplander", but this in turn is beset by the ice and broken to splinters. some of the people, including archy, after walking a long way over the ice, make it back to the "kate", now herself beset by ice. however, in spite of illness among the crew, they eventually get free, and manage to get the vessel, in a not very seaworthy condition, back to shetland. ________________________________________________________________________ archibald hughson, the young shetlander--an arctic story, by w.h.g. kingston. chapter one. archibald hughson, a young shetland lad, having a strong desire to go to sea, and his mother withholding her consent, determines to run from home.--he is treacherously assisted by max inkster, a wicked sailor, who succeeds in getting him stowed away on board the "kate," a greenland whaler. "where are you going, archy?" asked maggie hughson, as she ran after her brother, who was stealing away from the house, evidently not wishing to be intercepted. the young hughson's home stood high up on the slope of a hill on the small island of bressay, one of the shetland group. hence the eye ranged over the northern ocean, while to the eastward appeared the isle of noss, with the rocky holm of noss beyond, the abode of numberless sea-fowl, and to be reached by a rope-way cradle over a broad chasm of fearful depth. the house, roofed with stone, and strongly-built, as it needed to be to withstand the fierce gales blowing over that wild sea, was surrounded by patches of cultivated ground, without trench or bank, or a tree to be seen far or near. archy stopped when he heard his sister's voice; for, though headstrong and obstinate, he loved her more than any other human being. "i am going over to lerwick to see max inkster," he answered, looking back at her. "the `kate' sails to-morrow, and i promised him a visit before he goes." "oh, surely you don't forget that our mother told you she wished you would not have anything to say to that man!" exclaimed maggie. "he is bad in many ways, and he can only do you harm." "i am not going to be led by any one," answered archy. "i like to hear his tales of the sea, and his adventures when chasing the whale, or hunting white bears, and those sort of things away in greenland, and perhaps some day i may go to sea myself, and i want to know what sort of a life i am likely to lead. i am not going to be kept digging potatoes, and tending cattle and sheep all my life." "oh archy! don't think of it," said maggie. "it would break our mother's heart to have you go. you know that our father was lost at sea, and so was uncle magnus, and many other relations and friends. god will bless you, and you will be far happier, if, in obedience to her, you give up your wild notions and stay at home." "i am not going to be dictated to, maggie, by mother or you," exclaimed archy. "max is a fine fellow, notwithstanding what you say. he is expecting me, and i am not going to break my engagement; so, good-bye, maggie. go back home, and look after mother--that's your duty, which you are so fond of talking about." maggie, finding that her arguments were of no avail, returned home, as she could not venture longer to leave her mother, who was ill in bed. archy took his way till he was out of sight of the house, and then from beneath a large stone, he pulled out a bundle, which he slung at the end of a stick over his shoulder, and proceeded across the island till he came to the shore of the sound which divides it from the mainland. several large black high-sided ships lay at anchor, with numerous boats hanging to the davits, and mostly barque-rigged. they were whalers, belonging to hull and other english and scotch ports, on their way to baffin bay, or the shores of greenland. archy found a boat just about to cross the sound to lerwick, and, asking for a passage, he jumped in. on landing, he made his way to the house where max inkster lodged. the door was open. archy walked in. max was alone in a little room on one side of the passage; he was smoking, and a bottle and glass were on the table. "glad to see you, lad," he said. "sit down. i doubted that you would come." "why?" asked archy. "i thought your mother and sister would advise you to keep away from a fellow like me," answered max, looking hard at his young guest. he was a strongly-built broad-shouldered man, with an unpleasant expression in his weather-beaten countenance. "my mother is ill, and did not know i was coming, and i am not going to be dictated to by maggie," said archy. "that's the right spirit, boy," said max. "if they suspect what you intend doing, they will take good care to prevent you." "i don't intend to let them know," replied archy. "but i wish mother was not ill. i am half inclined to stop at home till next season, and then i'll do what i choose, whatever they may say." "i see how it is," observed max, with a sneer on his lips. "you are beginning to think we lead too hard a life for you, and you would rather be looking after the cows, and being at the beck and call of mistress maggie. i thought you had more spirit. you are afraid--that's the truth of it." "no one shall say i am afraid," exclaimed archy. "i have asked several captains to take me, but they refused without my mother's leave, and that she won't give, just because my father and uncle magnus were lost at sea, and so she has taken it into her head that i shall be lost also. if you can help me to go in the `kate,' i am ready. there's my bundle of clothes." "no great stock for a voyage to the arctic seas; but we must rig you out when you get on board," observed max, taking up archy's bundle, and stowing it away in a large seaman's bag which stood in the corner of the room. "you will have to keep pretty close till we are well clear of the land, or the captain will be for putting you on shore again. here, take a glass of grog, it will help to keep up your courage." max mixed a strong glass of whisky and water, and pushed it across the table to archy. archy's scruples soon vanished. he now only thought of the adventures he hoped to meet with among the icebergs. max had gained his object. from a quarrel which had occurred years before, he had long harboured an ill-feeling towards the hughson's; and, for the purpose of thwarting and annoying mrs hughson, he was ready to encourage archy in his disobedience to her. when once a person yields to the suggestions of satan, he knows not into what crimes he may be hurried. those who associate with unprincipled people run a fearful risk of being led astray by them. archy, notwithstanding his mother's warnings, had persisted in visiting max inkster, for the sake of hearing his long yarns of nautical adventure, and he would at first have been excessively indignant had he been told that he was likely, in consequence, to be led into any further act of disobedience. "did any one see you come in here?" asked max. "no; nanny clousta was out, and no one was passing at the time," answered archy. "well, then, stay quiet here till dark, and i'll take you on board, and stow you away in the hold," said max. "you must remain there till i give you a signal to come out; but, remember, that you are not to tell the captain or any one else that i had a hand in helping you. just say that you slipped on board in a shore boat, and hid yourself of your own accord. you will promise me that?" archy had not been in the habit of telling falsehoods; but he had already made one step in the downward course, and though he hesitated, he at last said, "i promise. i needn't tell that i knew who took me on board, and i can find my own way below, so there's no necessity to mention your name." "that's it," said max. "you will want some food, though. here, just fill your pockets with this bread and cheese." he took some from a cupboard. "and here is a flask of whisky and water. you may have to lie hid for a couple of days, or more, may be; so you must manage your provisions accordingly." max went out, and archy fell asleep, with his head on the table. it was late at night before his evil councillor returned. "rouse up, boy," he whispered. "it's time we were aboard. i have got a man to take us off, and he will think you belong to the ship. here, shoulder my bag, and come along." max placed his heavy sea-bag on his young companion's shoulder. archy staggered on under it till he reached the boat. the boatman, who had been paid before, pulled away, and they were soon alongside the whaler. max clambered up the side, and hoisted his bag by a rope after him. archy followed. the officer of the watch was aft, and as the crew and their friends were constantly coming and going, no notice was taken of them. max took up his bag, and as he passed up the main hatchway, which was open, having ascertained that there was no one below, he made a sign to archy to slip down the ladder. "i'll be with you in a few minutes," he whispered. "no one is likely to go there at this hour." archy did as he was bid, and felt his way in the dark, till he found himself among the empty casks in the hold, which were stowed ready for use. there were certain spaces between the tiers which would afford him room to hide himself away. into one of these he crept, and lay down waiting for max. he fancied that where he was he should not be seen by anyone moving about the hold, unless expressly looking for him. he thought that max was a long time in coming, and perhaps would not come at all. on the return of daylight, which would stream down through the open hatchway, should he not be discovered? he thought. the crew would certainly be at work at an early hour, and he might not have time to find a more secure hiding-place. then he would have to undergo the annoyance and disgrace of being put on shore, and severely reprimanded by the captain, a very severe man, he had been told. at last he heard some one moving, and presently a light fell on his eyes. he was afraid to stir, almost to breathe, lest he should be discovered. "well, if i had not come you would have been hauled out to a certainty in the morning," said max, who had only just then been able to pay him his promised visit. "you must come down lower than this. here, keep after me. now crawl in there, and don't come out till you hear three blows, which i'll give on the casks above your head. you will know by the movement of the ship when we have been at sea a couple of days or so. there; now you have got your will. here's your bundle; it will serve as a pillow, and, remember, don't take any notice of me. i am your friend, but i am not a man who chooses to be trifled with." saying this, max, putting out the lantern, crept away, and archy was left in solitude and total darkness. the liquor his evil councillor had given him made him sleepy, so he could not think. otherwise his conscience might have been aroused, and he might have recollected his poor mother lying on a bed of sickness, and his affectionate sister watching for his return. satan knows that he has his victims secure when they are in that condition. archy hughson was at length awakened by the loud tramp of the crew on deck, the boats being hoisted in, the anchor hove up. he could hear the ripple of the water against the sides of the ship. the "kate" was under way, but she was not yet even out of bressay sound. the hours passed by. he began to grow very weary of his imprisonment, and to long for the expected signal from max, even though he should soon afterwards have to face the captain, and perhaps be punished for having concealed himself on board. as he thought of this, he began to wish he had waited till he had overcome his mother's objections, and been able to go sea, like other lads, with a proper outfit. now and then a better feeling, akin to remorse, stole over him, when he thought of the sorrow and anxiety his absence must cause his mother, who, though over-indulgent, had ever been affectionate and kind to him. still he did not perceive the wickedness of his own heart, or the cruel ingratitude of which he had been guilty. "she should have let me go, it's her own fault," he repeated, hardening himself. "it's too late now to draw back. i should look very foolish if i was to be set on shore on unst, and have to find my way home by myself." unst is the most northern of the shetland islands, and archy guessed that by that time the "kate" was not far off it. he had little appetite to eat the food he had brought, but he soon drank up the contents of the flask. the mixture was somewhat strong, and sent him off to sleep again. once more satan had him at an advantage, for even then, had he gone to the captain, he would have been sent on shore, and retrieved his fault by returning home and relieving his mother's anxiety. undo it he could not; for a sin, once committed, can never by man's power be undone, never forgiven. all sin is committed against god--the slightest evil thought, the slightest departure from truth, is sin against god's pure and holy law, and he alone can forgive sin. he forgives it only according to the one way he has appointed. he blots it out altogether from remembrance. that way is through faith in the perfect and complete atonement of jesus christ, whose blood, shed for man, "cleanseth from all sin." there is no other way. he accepts no other recompense for sin. there is no undoing a sin, no making amends. all sins, from such as those which men call the smallest to the greatest, are registered, to be brought up in judgment against the sinner, and the all-cleansing blood of jesus can alone blot them out. man, as a proof of his living faith in christ's atonement,--of his sorrow for sins committed,--of his hatred of sin, of his repentance,-- will, of necessity, do all he can to make amends to his fellow-man for the wrong he has done him; he will restore what he has taken; he will explain the truth where he has spoken falsely; he will be kind and gentle to those he has treated harshly; he will give to those of his substance, or forward their interests whom he has injured in any way. but all this cannot blot out one letter in the eternal register of accusations to be brought against him at the day of judgment. oh! that people did but know this, and would remember that when they sin they sin not only against their fellow-man, but against the all-pure, all-holy god, who can by no means overlook iniquity; in whose sight even the heavens are unclean, without whose knowledge not a sparrow falls to the ground, and by whom the very hairs of our head are numbered. chapter two. appearing on deck, archy is severely reprimanded by the captain, a strict, yet a kind and religious man--his first sunday at sea--among the icebergs and ice--capture of a whale. archy hughson felt very weak and very wretched. the ship had for some hours been tumbling fearfully about, so it seemed to him, now pitching into the seas, which struck her stout bows with heavy blows, now rolling from side to side. he knew that a strong gale was blowing, and he could not help dreading that the casks might break loose, and come down upon him. he longed to escape from his prison, and began to think that max must have forgotten him altogether. at length he again fell asleep. he was awakened by three heavy knocks above his head, max's promised signal. he waited the time agreed on, and then began to crawl out, and grope his way upwards. at last he saw daylight above him, and scrambling along, he reached the foot of a ladder. climbing up with uncomfortable feelings at his heart as to the reception he might meet with, he gained the upper deck. the first person he encountered was an old man with weather-beaten features, but a kind expression of countenance, andrew scollay by name, a boat-steerer, who was at that moment about to descend. "why, lad, where do you come from?" asked old andrew, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. "i wanted to come to sea; so i hid myself away," answered archy. "i hope i have not done wrong." "you have not done right, boy, or you would not have needed to hide yourself away," said andrew, scanning his features. "i think i have seen you before. what is your name?" archy told him. "what, widow hughson's son? oh, boy, boy, you have acted a cruel part towards your poor mother. anyhow, i would we had found you out two days ago. however, come along with me to the captain--you'll hear what he has to say." andrew led archy aft, where captain irvine was standing, and explained in a few words what he knew of him. captain irvine, looking sternly at him, inquired how he had managed to conceal himself so long on board? on that point archy gave a truthful reply. "how did you know you could find a place where you could hide yourself?" asked the captain. "i have often before been on board whalers, and knew how the casks were stowed," answered archy, hoping that he should avoid further questions which might implicate max inkster. "you are deserving of severe punishment for coming on board without my leave," said the captain. "i must consider how i shall treat you. if we fall in with a homeward-bound ship, i shall put you on board. if not, see how you behave yourself. had your mother asked me to take you i would have done so, and you would have come in for a share of profits; but you have done more wrong to her than you have to me; and though i might flog you, as you deserve, i shall let your own conscience punish you. i hope you have got one, which will make you mourn for your fault. now go for'ard. you must not eat the bread of idleness, and mr scollay will put you to some work or other. i must speak to you again about this, and let me see, as you have chosen to come on board, that you do your best to learn your duty." archy's conscience was not aroused. he went forward, well pleased at having, as he thought, got off so cheaply; yet he did not feel at his ease. he looked, indeed, very pale and sick, and miserable. old andrew's kind heart was touched, as he remarked his woe-begone appearance. he took him below, and got the steward to give him some food. he then sent him to wash himself. "i must see about rigging you out," he said. "the clothes you have on are not fit for the work you will have to do." archy felt grateful to old andrew, and thanked him warmly. "don't speak about that, boy," remarked andrew. "it's not that you deserve what i may do for you; but you are poor, and helpless, and wretched, and that's just the state man was in when christ came down from heaven to help him; and so i have a notion that it becomes his disciples, who desire to be like him, to assist the helpless and miserable." the crew generally did not treat archy as kindly as old andrew had done. they attacked him, as soon as he got among them, with all sorts of questions, laughing and jeering at his folly. no one laughed at him more than max inkster. archy felt inclined to retort, but he remembered his promise to max, and gave him no sign of recognition, he was treated as one of the ship's boys, and was put to do all sorts of drudgery and dirty work. often and often he wished that he had remained at home, to look after his mother's farm, and help maggie in attending to her. several days passed by--archy was beginning to find himself at home among the crew--max at length spoke to him as if to a stranger. "we must make a sailor of you, boy, as you have chosen to come to sea," he said, when the order had just been given to reef topsails. "lay out on the yard with me, and i'll show you what to do." archy had several times been aloft, but had never assisted in reefing. he now followed max up the rigging. there was a heavy sea running, and the ship was pitching violently. "now, don't be afraid--come out on the yard," said max. "there--lean over, and catch hold of those reef points. cling tight though, with your knees and elbows, or you will pitch down on deck, and have your brains dashed out." archy did as he was bid. he felt very nervous, though, and was thankful when he was safe off the yard. it was coming on to blow harder and harder, and the canvas was still further reduced. max did not again invite him to go aloft--none but practised seamen could have ventured on the yards. at length, all the canvas was taken off the ship, except a close-reefed main-topsail, when the helm was put down, and she was hove-to. the wind whistled shrilly through the bare poles and rigging. it was blowing a perfect hurricane. all around appeared mountains of heaving water, each succeeding sea threatening to swallow up the labouring ship. archy was surprised at the calmness of the officers and crew, when he expected every moment that one of those tremendous seas would come on board, and send the ship to the bottom. he wished that he could pray, as his mother had taught him to do, but he dared not; yet he trembled at the thought of what would happen. night came on--the gale seemed to increase. he, with all except the watch on deck, had gone below. "what, lad, art afraid?" asked max, who observed his pale countenance. "you thought a life at sea was all sunshine and calm." "i have found out what it is, and i wish that i had not been fool enough to come," answered archy, with some bitterness. max laughed. "many a lad thinks like you," he said. "they get accustomed to it, and so must you, though the training is not pleasant, i'll allow." while max was speaking, a tremendous blow was felt, as if the ship had struck a rock, and then came a sound of rending and crashing timbers, while the water rushed down the hatchway. "the ship's on her beam ends," cried several voices, and all hands sprang on deck. archy followed. a scene of wreck and destruction met his sight. the sea had swept over the ship, carrying away the staunchions, bulwarks, and rails, the binnacle, and the chief portion of the wheel. a fearful shriek reached his ears, and he caught sight for an instant of a man clinging to the binnacle. no help could be afforded him--the poor fellow knew that too well; still he clung to life; but in a few seconds a sea washed over him and he disappeared. the captain was on deck, calmly issuing his orders,--the crew flew to obey them, while archy clung to the main-mast, expecting every moment to be his last. things were at length put to rights; spare spars were lashed to the remaining staunchions--life lines were stretched along the deck, fore and aft. the names of the crew were then called over--two did not answer, another, it was found, had unseen been carried to his dread account. the next day was the sabbath. the gale had moderated, and the ship was again put on her course. on that day the captain invariably invited all not on duty to assemble for service in his cabin; max and a few others generally made excuses for not attending. the captain took this occasion to speak of the uncertainty of human life. "the fate of our shipmates may be that of any one of us, my lads," he observed. "i do not ask how they were prepared to meet their god, but how are you prepared? even if you are living pure and blameless lives, have you made peace with tim according to the only way he has offered to reconcile you to himself? have you a living faith in the atoning blood of jesus shed for you? he wishes you to be reconciled to him, and he has offered to you the easiest and simplest way, the only way by which you can be so. remember, `now is the accepted time,' `now is the day of salvation.' it is god tells you this. if you put off that day it may be too late--for he says nothing about to-morrow. some of you may say that you lead hard lives, have little enjoyment, and much suffering, and that that must satisfy god and give you a right to heaven. god does not tell you that; but he says, `believe on the lord jesus christ, and thou shalt be saved. he that believeth not is condemned.' oh lads, if you knew of the love of jesus for you, and how he longs for you all to be saved, you could not stand aloof from him as you do, and try to keep him out of your thoughts, and do nothing to please or serve him. i speak to young and old, for he loves the youngest boy on board here as well as the oldest, and his blood, which cleanseth from all sin, will wash away the sins of the greatest criminal as completely as it will cleanse the most harmless youngster, though he, too, needs to be washed as much as the other." such was the substance of captain irvine's discourse on the sunday after the storm. archy had attended, and the words were continually haunting him. max, as usual, had kept away. "i wonder you can stand that sort of thing," he said to archy, when he next met him. "i have no fancy for those discourses of the skipper; but if you want to curry favour with him, by all means go, just as old andrew and dr sinclair, and some others do. they have prayers with him every morning in his cabin. you will not turn psalm-singer, i hope, lad." "i don't suppose i shall," answered archy. "but still i should not like to be washed overboard, as bill and ned were the other night." "as to that, you must run your chance as others do," answered max. "i don't let such things trouble me." archy could not help letting them trouble him, though. the next day the whole crew were busily employed in getting the whale boats ready and the gear fitted. there were seven boats in all--three slung to the davits on each side, and one over the stern, with a harpooner to each. the whale lines were spliced and coiled away in the stern of the boats; the harpoons were spanned, that is, fastened to the ends of the lines, and various articles were stowed away in the boats, so that they were all ready to be lowered, and to shove off at a moment's notice, should a whale appear. the crow's-nest was also got up to the main topgallant mast-head. it is like a tall cask with a seat in it, where the officer can take his station and look out far and wide over the ocean to watch for the spouting of the monsters of the deep. next morning, when archy went on deck, he saw at no great distance from the ship a vast white towering mass, glittering like alabaster in the rays of the sun. at the lower part were projecting points and curious arches, and a deep cavern, with numberless columns and long icicles hanging from the roof, while the summit was crowned with pinnacles and towers of every possible shape. from the higher points, as the ice melted under the rays of the hot sun, came down two or three tiny cascades of bright water, leaping from ledge to ledge till they fell with a splash into the calm ocean. archy had often heard of icebergs, but he had formed little conception of what they really were. he stood gazing at it for some minutes, lost in wonder. "well, boy, what do you think of it?" asked andrew scollay, who was passing at the time. "it's very wonderful," said archy. "all god's works are wonderful," observed old andrew. "you will see thousands of such bergs as this where we are going, all formed by god's will, just as he forms everything else in the world; and yet if all the kings of the earth and their people were to try and build up one like them, they could not succeed. now, archy, i put it to you, whether it is not wise to try and be friends with such a god--to know that you are under his care and protection, instead of disobeying him and daring his power? the time may come before long when you will feel how helpless you are to take care of yourself, boy. i have seen stout ships crushed in a moment between masses of ice, as if they had been made of paper, and once i saw one of those large bergs come down and overwhelm a passing ship, not a soul on board escaping. ay, and i have known numbers of poor fellows, when their ships have gone done, wandering over the ice till they have been frozen or starved to death. i don't tell you these things to frighten you, but that you may learn to put your trust in god. the person who truly trusts him is never frightened. it is a blessed thing to know that he cares for us." archy was unable to make any reply; but the old man's words were not forgotten. the next day many more icebergs were seen, and as the ship passed near some of them, archy could not help dreading that they might topple over and carry her and all on board to the bottom. in a short time the ship made the ice. as far as the eye could reach, the whole ocean was covered with broken sheets of ice,--some several miles in extent, others of smaller size, which the seamen called floes,--huge icebergs towering up among them. the ship sailed along the edge of a large floe for some distance, till an opening appearing, her head was pointed towards it. she entered and sailed onwards for a considerable distance, the water being as smooth as in the most sheltered harbour. the captain, or an officer, was continually stationed in the crow's-nest to look out for the widest openings. into these she forced her way, now and then being impeded by pieces of ice, against which her bow was driven to turn them aside. at length, after running through a narrow passage, her further progress was stopped by a sheet of ice through which she could not force her way, while beyond the water appeared perfectly open. the sails were furled; the ice-saws got out, and the crew commenced sawing out large blocks, so as to form a passage towards the open water. the work was very laborious; for, in addition to the operation of sawing, each block had to be towed out into the wider channel. at length a canal was formed, and the ship glided through it. once more the sails were set and she steered to the northward. again, however, she had to encounter similar obstructions. still the captain pushed on, eager to get to a part of the bay where whales were plentiful. generally there was a breeze, and she made good progress through the open water, but sometimes she lay becalmed, with her sails hanging against the masts. all the time a sharp look out was kept for whales, but hitherto, although a few had been seen, the wary monsters had escaped the harpoons of their pursuers. at that season, in those northern regions, when the sun but just sinks below the horizon ere it rises again, night and day are much alike. archy, with the watch below, had turned in. he was awakened by a loud stamping on the deck, and the cry of "a fall, a fall." the men rushed up on deck, carrying their clothes with them, and dressing as they went. instantly running to the boats, they began to lower them. in the distance was a boat with a flag flying, a signal that a whale had been struck, and was fast. the boats shoved off, and away they went at a rapid rate to the assistance of their friends. the monster soon appeared on the surface. the boats pulled towards it, and numberless lances were darted at its body. again it sounded, to reappear shortly still closer to the ship. once more the boats dashed on--the water around the animal was dyed red with blood, mixed with oil, which issued from its wounds and blow-holes. the boats again drew near, and more lances were hurled at it. suddenly the creature reared its tail high in the air, whirling it round with a loud noise, which reached the ship. at the same moment the nearest boat was thrown upwards several feet, while the crew were sent flying on every side into the water, the boat itself being reduced to a mass of wreck. their companions went forward to rescue the drowning men, who were seen to be hauled into the boats; but whether any had perished could not be discovered by those who, with archy, were eagerly watching what was taking place, from the deck of the ship. directly afterwards the whale rolled over on its side, and remained perfectly quiet. the flag was lowered, and the men, standing up in the boats, gave three loud huzzas, which were echoed by those on board. two holes being made in the tail of the whale, ropes were passed through them, which being made fast to the boats, they towed their prize in triumph to the ship. the animal now being secured alongside, the process of flensing or cutting off the blubber commenced. tackles were rigged with hooks, which were fixed in the blubber. this was cut by means of spades, and the tackle being worked by a windlass, as the blubber was cut off in long strips, it was hoisted on board. here it was cut into pieces, and stowed in casks in the hold. thus, as the whale was turned round and round, the blubber was stripped off, till the whole coat was removed. the whalebone, of which the gills are formed, being then extracted, the carcase was cast adrift, when it was seen to be surrounded by vast numbers of fish and wild sea-birds, coming from all directions to banquet on the remaining flesh. the operation, which lasted five hours, being concluded, the crew were piped to supper. "there, archy, you have seen our first whale killed," observed max. "i hope we shall have many more before long, and soon be back home again; and if you are tired of the life, you can go on shore and look after your mother's farm." chapter three. the "kate" encounters a fearful gale amid icebergs, and narrowly escapes a falling berg.--calm after storm.--though scoffed at by his shipmates, archy tries, unsuccessfully, to follow the advice given him by captain irvine. captain irvine was anxious to reach the northern point of baffin bay, where whales were said to abound. he used, therefore, every exertion to force the ship through the ice. sometimes she threaded her way through narrow passages, at the risk of being caught and nipped by the floes pressing together; at others, to avoid this catastrophe, she had to take shelter in a dock, cut out as rapidly as the crew could use their saws, in one side of a floe. scarcely had she been thus secured when another floe, with a sullen roar, pressed on by an unseen power, would come grinding and crashing against the first with irresistible force, and the before level surface, rent and broken asunder, would appear heaved up into large hillocks, and huge masses, many hundred tons in weight, would be lifted on to the opposing barrier, threatening to overwhelm the ship. suddenly the whole field of ice would be again in motion, the broken fragments would be thrown back on each other or pressed down beneath the surface, and a lane of water would appear, edged on each side by a wall of ice. the boats would then be lowered to tow the ship along, or, should the wind be favourable, the sails were set, and in spite of the blows she might receive from the floating fragments, she would force her way onwards towards the open water. often and often as archy watched what was taking place, he fully expected to find the ship crushed to fragments, and wondered that captain irvine could venture into so fearfully dangerous a position. still the ship, escaping all dangers, made her way to the north, and by degrees archy grew accustomed to the scenes he witnessed, and viewed them with the same indifference as the rest of the crew. for a whole day she had made her way through open water, with a strong breeze. the weather began to lour--the wind blew stronger and stronger--numerous icebergs appeared ahead--in a short time the ship was surrounded by them. now one was passed by, now another. it seemed often as if no power could save her from being dashed against their precipitous sides. perhaps the captain expected the gale to moderate, if so, he was mistaken. it soon blew fiercer than ever. at length the ship got under the lee of a large berg, which towered up a hundred feet or more above the mast-heads. the sails were furled--the boats carried out ice anchors and made them fast to the foot of the berg. there the ship rode, sheltered from the gale, in smooth water, while the wind howled and roared, and the sea, hissing and foaming, dashed with fury against the bergs, which were observed at a distance on either side. archy recollected the account max had given him some time before of icebergs suddenly overturning, and as he looked up at the frozen mountain above him, he could not help thinking what their fate might be, should the gale, which blew on the other side, force the berg over. still he had not learned to put his trust in god. fear made his heart sink within him, but he dared not contemplate the future. all he could say to himself was, "i hope it will not. how dreadful it would be. what would become of us!" he had no one to whom he could go for consolation. max, he knew, would only laugh at him and call him a coward. he wished that old andrew would speak to him, but he was on duty on deck, and had the ship to attend to. several hours passed by, still the gale did not abate. archy thought the captain and officers looked more serious than usual. several of them turned their eyes ever and anon towards the summit of the berg. at length the chief mate came forward. he had just reached the forecastle, when a small piece of ice, the size of a bullet it seemed, fell splashing into the water just ahead of the ship. another and another followed. with a startling cry, the captain shouted, "cut the hawser, loose the jib and fore-staysail, hands aloft for your lives lads." the head sails were hoisted, the fore-topsail sheeted home. the ship, coming round, shot away from the berg. the after sails were speedily loosed. in another instant, with a crashing thundering noise, down came vast masses of ice, falling into the water, with loud splashes, close astern, while numerous smaller pieces fell with fearful force on deck. happily no one was struck, but a piece went right through one of the quarter boats. the ship, as if aware of her danger, flew on. downwards came the vast mountain of ice with a crashing roar, louder than any thunder, directly on the spot where she had just before floated, sending the spray in thick sheets flying over her poop. had she remained a moment longer she must have been overwhelmed. many a cheek of the hardy crew was blanched with horror. even now it seemed that they had scarcely escaped the fearful danger, for the berg astern of them rocked to and fro as if still intent on their destruction. the first mate and one of the best hands were at the helm; the wind whistled loudly, the sails appeared as if about to fly from the bolt ropes, as the ship heeled over to the gale. numerous other bergs appeared ahead, and as she rushed onwards, it seemed impossible that she could avoid them. no sooner was one weathered than another appeared in her course. the yards were braced sharp up. she dashed by a huge berg, her masts, as she heeled over, almost touching its sides. now an opening appeared between two large ice mountains. the only way to escape was by passing between them. the ship dashed into the passage, now she glided onward in comparatively smooth water. the bergs were moving. nearer and nearer they drew to each other. in a short time they might meet and crush the hapless vessel into a thousand fragments. to escape by the way she had entered the passage was impossible. the wind came aft. the yards were squared, more sail was set, faster and faster she flew onwards, yet fast as she went, it seemed as if the masses of ice would catch her ere she could escape them in their deadly embrace. every man and boy was at his station, ready to clew up and haul down directly the ship should be free, and again exposed to the fury of the gale. no one could tell but that other bergs might be ahead, or in what direction it might be necessary to steer. archy, as he held on to a rope he had been ordered to tend, looked up at the vast ice-cliffs with horror in his eyes, expecting every moment to see them falling over upon the ship. he glanced aft, and saw the captain standing calm and undismayed, ready to issue whatever orders might be necessary. the channel seemed interminable, for, fast as the vessel glided on, still those terrible cliffs frowned down upon her. at length the open water appeared ahead, with fewer bergs than had before been seen floating on it. the ship glided out into the heaving ocean; and as she heeled over, archy thought the masts would go over the side; but sail (though not without difficulty) was rapidly shortened, and the masts stood firm. onwards, as before, she flew in her course; several other bergs were weathered, till at length all present dangers were passed, and she was now hove-to to await the termination of the storm. in a few hours the gale ceased, and once more she proceeded on her course. a calm succeeded the storm. the ship floated on the smooth water. it was the sabbath-day; the captain as usual had summoned the crew to prayers, the greater number went willingly, for they were well aware of the imminent danger they had escaped, and were glad to express their gratitude to him who had preserved them. max inkster, with a few others, made excuses for staying away. "what, lad, are you going to hear the old man preach?" he asked, with a sneer, as he saw archy making his way aft. "for my part, i think we have too much of that sort of thing aboard here. i have made up my mind to cut and run from the ship if i could find a few brave fellows to accompany me. we should have more liberty and a larger allowance of grog, with less psalm-singing, on board other vessels i know of, and reach home sooner again into the bargain. but don't you go and tell others what i say; i only ask you, if we go, will you join us?" "i'll think about it, max," answered archy, "but i promised old andrew that i would attend prayers." "much good may your prayers do you," sneered max. "you are the fellow who sneaked off from his dying mother, and now you talk of praying." "i did, i did," groaned archy, "and i feel how wicked i was to do so." as all the other men had by this time collected in the cabin, archy could stay no longer, and hurried off, the words last spoken by max ringing in his ears. he thought of them all the time the captain was offering up prayer, and returning thanks to god for having mercifully preserved him and his crew from the danger to which they had been exposed, and humbly petitioning for protection for the future. when the service was over, as archy was leaving the cabin, captain irvine called him back. the old captain had been ill for some days. archy was struck with his peculiarly grave and solemn manner. he kindly took the young boy's hand. "i have a few words to say to you, lad," he said. "i knew your father; he was a god-fearing man, and i believe he is in heaven. your mother, too, is a christian woman, and she, when she leaves this world, will join him there. now lad, i have to ask you what is your hope? there is but one way to go there, remember that. have you sought that way?" archy hung down his head. "i know i was very wicked to leave my mother as i did," he answered, "and i could not help thinking the other day, when the iceberg was about to come down upon us, where i should go to." "ah, lad, it's a great thing to see your sin, but god wants you to do more than that. you must acknowledge it to him and seek his way for blotting it out. do you know that way, laddie, which only a god of infinite love and mercy could have devised for saving weak fallen man from the consequences of sin? have you sought the saviour? sorrow will not wash away sin. the blood of the saviour, which he shed when he suffered instead of man on calvary, can alone do it. only those who seek him and trust in him can benefit by that blood. have you earnestly sought him, laddie? i am sure if you do seek him, desiring to turn away from your sins, that you will find him." archy could only repeat, "i am very sorry i ran away from mother and hid myself aboard the ship, and i thought when we were so near being destroyed the other day, what would become of me." archy exactly described his state, and the captain knew he spoke truly. there are too many like him, who only think of their sins at the approach of danger. "ah, laddie! i should be thankful if you could honestly tell me that you mourn for your sins, because you have grievously offended our loving father in heaven, and that you have sought forgiveness from him, through the all-cleansing blood of his dear son, shed for you on calvary," said captain irvine. "do you ever pray?" "not since i came aboard here," answered archy. "and i am afraid not for some time before, either," observed the captain. "for if you had prayed that god's holy spirit would guide and direct you, and keep you out of temptation, you would not have ran away from home as you did. now, laddie, what i want you to understand is, that you are weak and helpless in yourself, that you can neither walk aright nor do any good thing by yourself; but that if you seek the aid of the holy spirit you will walk aright, you will be able to withstand temptation, and to do god's will. if you do not pray and seek his aid, you cannot expect to find it; yet if you do seek it, you will assuredly find it, for he hath said, `ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.'" archy listened attentively to what the captain said, and tried to understand it, but the danger which had alarmed his conscience had passed away, and when he went forward and mixed again with his careless shipmates, he forgot much that had been said. still, when he turned into his bunk, he did try to pray; but he dared not bravely kneel down in the sight of others lest they should laugh at him, and he had been so long unaccustomed to offer up prayer, that he could not even think of what words to say. captain irvine, however, did not forget him, and day after day he called him into the cabin, or spoke to him on deck. he gave him a bible also, and marked many passages in it, which archy promised to read. the captain had also a library of books on board, which were lent to the men, and two or three of these he put into archy's hands as likely to be useful to him. old andrew also frequently took an opportunity of speaking to him, but his work occupied most of the day, and when he went below he was generally too sleepy to sit long over a book. max and others also did their utmost to interrupt him, and he made but little progress either in reading the bible or any other of the books which had been lent him. still, in some respects, he was trying to follow the good advice which the captain had given him. weak, however, are all our efforts when we trust to our own strength. archy did not seek assistance from the only source which can give it, and, consequently, his good resolutions were soon scattered to the wind. chapter four. archy wishing to be present when a whale is struck, against orders goes off in one of the boats.--attack a whale and her calf, but lose both, and the boat's bows are stove against a floe.--the crew escape by landing on it, and dragging the boat after them. preparations made to wait for the arrival of the ship in search of them. the ship had for some time been off the western shore of the bay, and several whales had been taken--every one was actively engaged, for when the operation of flensing was not going on, the boats were generally away in chase of their prey. archy had hitherto always remained on board. he had long wished, however, to be present at one of the exciting scenes he had only witnessed from a distance. how to manage it was the difficulty. he knew that it would be of no use asking leave from the captain, or any of the boat-steerers, for idlers were not allowed in the boats. he had thought that he should at once engage in all the adventures described by max, and was one day expressing his disappointment in his presence. "they will come time enough," observed max. "but if you have a fancy to see some sport, and may be to get tossed in the air, or drowned, or have to spend a night on a floe, and be well nigh frozen, as i have more than once, i'll give you a chance. you know that i am your friend, or i would not do it. now, the next time a fall is called, do you tumble into my boat; i'll rail away if old andrew sees you, but pretend you have hurt your leg and lie still, and depend upon it he will be in too great a hurry to shove off to put you on board again, and as the captain did not punish you for hiding away, he will not say much to you on that account." archy knew very well that he ought to have suspected max's advice, but he was so eager to see a whale struck, that he forgot all other considerations. hoping therefore that he might soon have the opportunity he desired, he turned into his bunk with his clothes on, ready to slip into the boat at a moment's notice. the ship was standing some distance off the land, and though the sea was generally open, here and there masses of ice were to be seen floating about from enormous icebergs down to small pieces of a few feet in diameter. archy hoped that before long the boats would be lowered to go in chase of a whale. he tried to keep awake, but sleep soon overpowered him. he was aroused by hearing the sound of stamping overhead, and the looked for cry of "a fall, a fall." he sprang on deck, and without waiting to see whether he was observed, slipped into old andrew's boat, in which max pulled one of the oars, and throwing himself down in the bottom, remained perfectly still. the rest of the crew followed. old andrew was the last, having been detained longer than usual. the boat shoved off, and only then max pretended to have discovered him. andrew, on seeing the lad, was about to put back, but at that moment the spout of another whale was observed at no great distance. the crew, bending to their oars, pulled towards it; and andrew, in the excitement of the moment, forgot all about archy. the boat dashed on. a sucking whale was seen playing near the old one. "we shall have her boys, we shall have her," shouted andrew. the whale discerned the approach of her foes, and diving down with her calf, disappeared. "give way lads, give way," cried andrew, "she will not desert the young one." he was right, though had the old whale been alone, she would soon have been miles away. the boat continued in the direction the whale had been seen to take, and in a short time the small animal again came to the surface to breathe. the boat was soon up to the animal, when its faithful mother rose also to afford it protection. the boat dashed up to it, and andrew, going forward, plunged his unerring harpoon deep into its side. no sooner did the monster feel the wound than away she darted, towing the boat, the young whale keeping up with her. the crew pulled with might and main, hoping to get up alongside again in order to fix another harpoon, and to pierce her with their lances. they had nearly succeeded, when up went her tail in the air, and down she dived into the depths of ocean, her calf following her example. immediately the whale line was allowed to run out; and, as the end was approached, another was fastened on. that too had nearly been drawn out, when the crew, lifting up their oars, made a signal for assistance from their companions, but they were already too far off to be seen, indeed the other boats were engaged with the whale first attacked. "hold on," shouted andrew. "though she might not come up by herself, the young one will, and she will follow." he was right; for at the moment that the bow of the boat seemed about to be drawn under water, and the knife was lifted to cut the line, it slackened, and the young whale came to the surface some way ahead, followed immediately afterwards by its mother. remaining stationary a short time to breathe, during which a portion of the line was hauled in, the monster again began to make her way along the surface. "rare fun!" exclaimed archy, who was sitting near max. "i would not have missed this on any account." "we shall not be merry long if that bank of clouds to the north brings a gale with it," growled out max. archy looked around; the sea, hitherto calm, was already ruffled with waves, and an icy breeze swept over the surface. still no whaler, with a fish fast, would have thought of giving up the pursuit. already the monster, wearied by its exertions, was slackening its speed; the crew began to haul in the line, the first was got in. they were already in the hopes of again wounding the animal mortally before she could once more sound, when inspired with a mother's instinct to do her utmost for the preservation of her young one, she again darted forward. a large floe appeared ahead, out of which arose several hummocks. the whale made rapid way towards it. the crew pulled with might and main, still hoping to reach her before she could dive below the ice. in vain were all their efforts. still she went on. she reached the edge of the floe. it was possible she might turn or make her way along it, rather than venture with her young one below its surface, where they might be unable to find an opening for breathing. again she stopped; as andrew had expected. the crew continued to haul in the line, when once more she moved on, and it was necessary to secure it round the bollard. "she is ours," cried andrew; "she will not venture under the ice." the crew bent to their oars, hoping in another instant to be up with her, when, with a sudden start, she dashed forward. with great presence of mind andrew cut the line, just in time to prevent the boat from being dragged under the floe, but not sufficiently soon to save her bows from being stove. the water came rushing in through the fearful rent that had been made. the crew leaped out on the ice, old andrew seizing archy, who, bewildered at the occurrence, had sat still. already the boat was half full of water, and not without great difficulty she was hauled up on the ice, against which the sea was beating violently, and several articles were washed out of her. archy had instinctively clutched a bucket by his side, to which he held when he was dragged out. it contained a tinder-box and powder flask. there the whole party stood on the exposed floe by the side of their shattered boat. they looked around. neither the ship nor the boats were to be seen, while the thick mist, which came driving over the ocean, concealed even some of the nearest icebergs from view. two or three of the men loudly expressed their anxiety. max's countenance exhibited the alarm he felt. old andrew alone preserved his usual equanimity. "my lads," he said, "i'll allow we are in bad case, but don't let us give way to despair. we must do our best to repair the boat; and if the ship does not come to look for us, we must set out to look for her." the injuries, however, that the boat had received were very severe, and it was evident that no means they had at their disposal were sufficient to repair her. even a piece of canvas would have been of value, but they had no canvas and no nails. the sea, too, which had rapidly got up, now dashed furiously against the sides of the floe, threatening to sweep over it, and break it to pieces beneath their feet. andrew looked around, and observing a large hummock at some distance, urged his companions to drag the boat towards it. "yonder ice hill will afford us some shelter," he said. "and if we make a signal from the top, it will be more readily seen than one down on the level." the men exerting all their strength dragged the boat along, archy helping, till they reached the hummock, she was then turned bottom uppermost under its lee. an axe having been saved, one of the oars was cut into lengths, which served to prop her up and afford them some shelter from the freezing wind. two oars were also lashed together to serve as a flagstaff, and all the handkerchiefs that could be mustered were joined to form a flag. a hole, after much labour, was dug with the axe in the top of the hummock, and the flagstaff was planted, but the furious wind threatened every moment to blow it down again. the gale was increasing, and already they felt almost perished, but their great want was food. they had come away without breakfast, and no provisions had been put in the boat. even should they be able to resist the gale, and should the floe continue together, they ran a fearful risk of perishing of hunger. the snow falling heavily formed a bank round the boat, and assisted to keep out the wind,--here they all collected, crouching down as close together as possible, for the sake of obtaining warmth from each other. "if we had but a fire we might do pretty well till the ship comes to take us off," observed max. "we have got some wood, at all events, and when that's gone we must burn the boat and form a roof of snow over our heads instead, after esquimaux fashion." no sooner was the proposal made than the remaining oars, boat-stretchers, and every piece of wood that could be found was cut up. archy produced the tinder-box from the bucket, and in a short time a fire was blazing up, which served to warm their chilled limbs, and slightly to raise their spirits. few of them, however, were disposed to talk much. chapter five. andrew scollay, a religious old man, encourages his shipmates in their fearful position, without food, fire, or shelter.--archy distinguishes between his false and real friend.--he takes a run over the ice with andrew, when a sail is seen, and at last a boat approaches. hour after hour passed by, and still there was no abatement of the storm. loud noises meantime were heard around, denoting the breaking up of the floe on which they floated, and they could not tell how soon the portion on which they had taken refuge might be rent from the main body and floated away. often did archy wish that he had remained on board, and not exposed himself to the fearful danger in which he was placed. at length old andrew spoke to him. "are you happy, boy?" he asked. "but you need not tell me--i know you are not. i am sorry to find you placed in this fearful position, but it was through your own fault--you chose to come against orders. it is bad for us, but then we came because it was our duty." "i am sure i am very sorry i did come," answered archy. "but i didn't think this would happen." "people never know what will happen when they do what is wrong," said andrew. "satan tempts them to sin, and then leaves them to take the consequences. lads, i speak to you all as i speak to this boy. are you prepared to meet your god?" "why do you say that?" said max, in a husky voice. "because i think, before many hours are over our heads, the summons will come," said andrew, solemnly. "any moment the ice may break up, and the sea may wash over us, or we may sit here till we die of cold and hunger." "you are croaking," said max. "our captain is not the man to desert us." "i am speaking the solemn truth," said andrew. "the captain will do his best to search for us, but the gale will have driven the ship miles away by this time, and before she can get up to us we may be dead. i don't speak thus to frighten you, lads, but because i wish to see your souls saved. you may say that you are such sinners that there is no hope of that. i wish you did know that you are sinners. you heard the captain read to you the other day the account of the thief on the cross. he knew that he was a sinner, but he found the saviour even at the last moment of his life. he trusted to jesus, who saved him; and he had the assurance from the lips of that loving one, that he was saved. jesus will say to you what he said to the thief on the cross, if you will even now turn to him: `now is the day of grace, now is the day of salvation.' oh, lads, i pray you to throw yourselves on his mercy, to trust to him. his blood cleanseth from all sin." the seamen listened attentively to what andrew said: they had often heard similar words from the lips of the captain, but they were in safety then on board their stout ship, and they had allowed them to pass away unheeded. now, although they still hoped to escape, they could not help acknowledging that they were in a fearfully perilous position. still no one replied. what was passing in their minds andrew could not tell. he continued, addressing them in the same strain for some time. again and again he told them of the saviour's love, and how earnestly he desired them to come to him and be saved. archy, however, had drunk in every word andrew had said. "but would jesus pardon me, who has so grievously offended him?" he asked at last--"me, who have so often been told of his loving kindness and mercy?" "yes, lad, that he will," said andrew, taking archy's hand, "he has promised it, and his word is sure. he has sent us this blessed message:--`the blood of jesus christ cleanseth from all sin.' he does not say from some sins, or from only slight sins, but from all sins." "oh, then, i'll try and give him my heart," exclaimed archy. "i'll trust to him." "yes, do that, archy; but give him your heart now--trust to him now," said andrew, earnestly. "we will pray, lad, that the holy spirit will help you, for he alone can carry out the work in your heart;" and the pious old man, kneeling down on the ice, lifted up his voice in prayer; and surely that prayer was not uttered in vain. still, although the rest of the party made no response to his exhortations, he persevered; and from the loud crashing roar of the ice, as the broken fragments were dashed together, it seemed too likely that the day of grace for all would ere long be past. hour after hour went by, and yet the portion of the floe on which they had taken refuge kept together. the storm continued to rage, and the snow still fell heavily. piece after piece of the boat had been cut away its place being supplied with a wall and roof of snow, which the seamen gradually built up. they were beginning to feel the pangs of hunger, and they could scarcely get sufficient warmth from the small fire they were able to maintain to keep themselves from being frozen. it was near mid-summer. had it been the winter they could not thus have existed many hours. every now and then one of the party ran to the summit of the hillock in the hopes of seeing the ship. still the falling snow shut out all but the nearest objects from view, and here and there alone a tall iceberg could be seen rising dimly amid the foaming seas. "no hope, no hope," was the mournful cry of one after the other, as they returned to the hut. "don't say there's no hope," observed old andrew. "god can send us help, though we can't help ourselves. oh, lads, i again say, and it may be for the last time, put your trust in him. i don't tell you that he will send us relief. it may be his will that our bodies should perish on the spot where we are sitting; but i do tell you, that he offers to rescue your souls, and will certainly, if you put your trust in him, not allow them to perish." archy sat close to old andrew, listening attentively to what he said, he had now learned to distinguish between his real and false friend. how earnestly he wished that he had not been led astray by the evil counsel of the latter. the rest of the party sat silent, their countenances exhibiting the despair which had taken possession of their hearts. their fuel was well nigh exhausted, and suffering from hunger they knew that they could not hold out long against the cold. andrew proposed that they should let the fire out for a time, and warm themselves by exercise. "we will then light it again, and it will enable us to lie down and rest without fear of being frozen," he observed. to this wise advice the men would not agree. "if die we must, we will keep warm while we can," growled out max. "then, archy, you and i will try and keep our blood flowing by using our limbs," said andrew. "see, the snow has ceased falling, and there's less wind than there was." this was said after they had spent many hours on the ice. how many they could scarcely tell, for no sun appeared to mark the progress of the day. andrew, taking his young companion's hand, rose, and together they went to the top of the hummock, and gazed around for a minute, though they could now see much further than before. no sail appeared to cheer their sight. they quickly descended, and andrew, with the activity of a young man, ran backwards and forwards under the lee of the hummock. archy felt the benefit of the exercise; but though his hunger had increased, his blood circulating freely, made him feel better able to endure the cold than before. when at length they returned to the hut, they found the remaining pieces of wood burning, and that in a short time they would be left without any fire. "if you had followed my advice it would have been better for us all," observed andrew. the men made no reply; they all appeared to have fallen into a state of stupor, and to have become indifferent to their fate. andrew and archy sat down to rest, and to enjoy the warmth of the fire, anxiously watching the last few pieces of wood as they were gradually consumed. the embers which they scraped together afforded them heat for some time longer--then, by degrees, those died out. "it is our duty to hold out while we can, boy," said andrew, when the last spark of the fire was extinguished. "come and take another run." archy felt very weak and faint from want of food, still he endeavoured to exert himself. again they visited the top of the hummock, but still no sail was to be seen. the sea tumbled and foamed, and the surrounding masses of ice ground and crashed against each other, and the floe on which they were appeared to have decreased in size, while huge blocks, thrown up by the waves, rested on its weather side. even andrew was unable to run backwards and forwards as fast as before, and again they sought shelter within the hut. no questions were asked them; indeed most of their companions appeared to be asleep. andrew in vain tried to arouse them. archy felt that he, too, should like to lie down and go to sleep; but from doing this andrew used every effort to prevent him, and in a short time proposed that they should take another ran to the top of the hummock. with difficulty archy followed him. for some time the old man stood looking round in every direction, then his eyes rested on a particular spot to the northward, and archy saw him raise his hands as if in prayer. "lad," he said suddenly, "look between those two icebergs. what do you see?" archy gazed with beating heart. "a sail! a sail!" he exclaimed. "yes--of that there's no doubt," said andrew, calmly, "and may god direct her course towards us. she is at present standing this way; but should a whale be seen, she may steer in a different direction." they anxiously watched the approaching ship for some minutes. "we will tell our companions," said andrew--"the news will rouse them if they are not too far gone." archy forgetting his hunger, and no longer feeling his weakness, rushed back to the hut, shouting, "a sail! a sail!" max, and two of the other men, started as the sound reached their ears, but before they had gained their feet they again sank down on the ice. after making several efforts, they were at length able to walk, having in the meantime aroused their companions, who, sitting up, looked around with bewildered glances, as if not comprehending the news they heard. archy again ran back, max and the rest, with tottering steps, trying to follow him. they succeeded at length, and as they saw the ship, almost frantic with joy, they shook each other's hands, and shouted and danced like mad people, their sufferings, their fears of death, were in a moment forgotten, and so probably also were any good resolutions they might have formed. how different was their behaviour to that of andrew. archy remarked it. the ship came on with a strong breeze, threading her way amid the masses of ice in her course. she had got within a couple of miles. still, unless the eyes of those on board were directed in their direction, the flag flying from the hummock might not be seen. she came nearer and nearer. "she will not pass us now," cried max. "we will pray to god that she may not," said andrew; but at that moment the vessel was seen to haul her wind, and to stand to the westward. a loud groan of bitter disappointment was uttered by max and the other men. "god's will be done," said andrew. "see, mates, she has hove-to, she is lowering her boat. they are after a fish." with what eagerness did the eyes of the starving seamen watch the ship. it was impossible to say in what direction she might next steer. they no longer felt cold or hunger. "see, see, what is that?" cried one of the men, as a dark object was discovered darting out from behind the nearest iceberg. directly afterwards a boat was seen fast to a whale, and following in its wake. the whale approached the floe, but while still at some distance its flukes were seen to rise in the air, and down it shot into the ocean. although those on the ice knew that they were too far off to be heard, they shouted again and again, their voices sounding strangely hollow in each other's ears. the first line had apparently been run out from the boat; a second had been bent on; that, too, came to an end. they could see the four oars lifted up as a signal for assistance from the ship. once more the boat approached them at a rapid rate, dragged on by the whale. it was evident she was in great distress, and that her crew dreaded the fate they themselves had suffered. suddenly she stopped--the line had been cut. would they turn away? no, the crew bend to their oars--the boat-steerer stands up and waves. they are seen--help will come to them. again the cheer. "let us thank god, for he has sent yonder boat to our assistance," said andrew. chapter six. rescued!--on board the "laplander" whaler, which is nearly full, and expects soon to return home.--max inkster tries to undermine archy's good resolutions, but the latter remembers that "a friend in need is a friend indeed."--sail for home.--a tempting channel appearing, it is entered, but the ship is nipped, and the "laplander" is abandoned.-- escape to the floe with only a few clothes and provisions, when a plan is formed for reaching the coast of greenland. the boat had some distance to pull before a spot could be found where she could safely approach the ice on the lee side of the floe. max and the two other men, regardless of their almost dead companions in the hut, were hurrying down towards her, when andrew called them back. "shame on you," he exclaimed. "would you leave the poor fellows to perish for the sake of sooner putting food into your own mouths? come, help them along, they want it more than we do." the men thus summoned, returned and assisted andrew and archy, who were dragging their nearly insensible shipmates over the ice. at length they reached the edge, and were cordially welcomed by the crew of the boat, who made all speed to return to their ship the "laplander." she was almost full, they said, and they hoped soon to return home. the rescued men, on being lifted on board, were at once put under the doctor's care,--for even andrew and archy, who had hitherto held out so bravely, felt all their strength leave them directly they reached the boat. they, however, in a couple of days were sufficiently recovered to go on deck and mix with the crew. archy found the "laplander" a very different vessel to the "kate." the captain was a bold brave seaman, but he was nothing else. there were no sunday services, no prayer-meetings, no lending library of religious books, but there was much swearing and ungodliness among the crew. max, who quickly forgot the fearful danger in which he had been placed, and his providential preservation, did his utmost to laugh archy out of his good resolutions. "i wonder a lad of spirit like you can listen to the long sermons of old andrew," he said to him one day while andrew was out of hearing. "i never could stand those preaching fellows." "but andrew kept his courage up, and did his best to preserve my life, while you and the rest gave way to despair," answered archy. "you cannot say that he is not a brave man, though he does preach long sermons." "yes, he is brave, i'll allow," said max. "then tell me, what do you think makes him brave?" asked archy. "he is naturally brave, i suppose," replied max. "now, i think that it is because he trusts in god, and believes that god will take care of him," said archy firmly. "and he knows that if he should lose his life that he will go to heaven. that's my opinion of the matter." "your opinion, indeed," exclaimed max scornfully. "i should like to know what business a fellow like you has to form an opinion," and max turned away, unable further to answer the boy, whom he had hitherto so easily led. he took every opportunity after this of annoying archy, and incited his godless companions to do the same. archy often wished that he was on board the "kate" again, and anxiously looked out in the hopes of falling in with her. the captain had been much put out by the loss of the whale and two lines when they had been rescued, and seemed to associate them in some way with the circumstance. a few days afterwards the watch below were aroused with the welcome cry of "a fall! a fall!" a whale was fast. the remaining boats pulled away, and in a few hours the captain's good humour was restored by having the whale alongside. all hands were now in high spirits. "one fish more, and hurrah for old england," was the cry. several days passed away without any further success. in vain andrew and archy looked out for the "kate." the season was advancing, still the captain of the "laplander," anxious to get a full ship, cruised backwards and forwards in the hopes of killing one fish more. at length that object was attained, but one of the boats was knocked to pieces, and two of her crew drowned. the huge monster was secured alongside with all haste, the blubber was got on board, and the instant the carcase was cut adrift, the crew giving three shouts of joy at being full, sail was made, and the ship stood to the southward. the ice, as she proceeded, gathered thickly around her. boldly, however, she pushed on through the passages which appeared between the floes. now she was threading a narrow lane of water, now sailing across an open lake, but still on every side appeared those threatening fields of ice, which might at any moment enclose her in their deadly embrace. the captain, or one of the mates, was constantly in the crow's-nest, looking out for the most open passages ahead, through which the ship might be steered. they had sailed on for some distance, when the ice on either side was seen to be moving. a tempting channel, however, appeared before them. the "laplander" sailed into it. she had scarcely entered when the opposite floes began to approach each other. still the breeze was strong and fair, and the captain hoped that he might be able to push through into an open space beyond before they could close. nearer and nearer they came to each other, till the broad passage assumed the appearance of a narrow canal. it was at length seen that escape was impossible. the sails were furled, the ship was secured to the floe on one side, and an attempt was made to cut a dock in which she might remain while the inevitable concussion took place. almost before the ice-saws could be got out and set to work, a loud crashing roaring sound was heard. the floes meeting with terrific force, vast masses rose up in the air, huge fragments being thrown upon each other, till in one instant a ridge, reaching almost to the height of the ship's tops, was formed. the seamen, not waiting for the captain's orders, seized their bags and bedding, and whatever they could lay hands on, and leaped out on the ice. "follow me, archy," cried andrew, seizing a bag of biscuits, and throwing a couple of blankets over his shoulder. "in another minute the ship may be crushed to fragments." archy lowered himself down with andrew on to the ice, and with the rest of the crew they hurried away from the ship. scarcely had they left her when the floes closed in, and vast masses of ice were seen rising up around her, the rending and crashing sound of her stout timbers telling them too plainly of her fate. not till they had got some distance did the fugitives venture to stop and watch what was going forward. the masts were seen to totter, and large fragments of wreck were thrown on either side over the surface. the captain, as he saw the destruction of his vessel, wrung his hands with despair, while dismay was depicted on the countenances of his crew. so sudden had been the nip, that except the clothes on their backs and the bedding they carried under their arms, nothing had been saved. as yet too, the danger of approaching the wreck was too great to allow of the attempt being made, for the ice, pressing closer and closer, continued to throw up vast slabs, beneath which any one going near the spot might in an instant have been crushed. suddenly the tall masts fell with a crash, and the whole upper part of the ship was cast in fragments on to the ice. for several minutes the seamen stood aghast, till the floes having accomplished their work, remained at rest. andrew was the first to speak. "lads," he said, "i have seen this sort of thing occur before, and i and all with me reached home in safety, so may we now if we exert ourselves; may be the boats have escaped, and the provisions and stores may have been thrown up on the ice. i for one am ready to go back to the wreck and see what has been saved." several of the men agreed to accompany andrew, and they made their way among the masses of ice which strewed the surface. their search was in part satisfactory. two of the boats had escaped injury, while their chests and a large portion of the provisions and stores which had been on the upper deck, were found scattered about. the officers, arousing themselves, now followed the example which andrew had set. while one party were employed in collecting provisions, another cut the sails from the yards, which had been thrown on the ice, and erected tents in which they might shelter themselves from the piercing wind. others chopped up wood, and fires were lighted. some time was thus occupied, and at length an encampment was formed, with all the stores and provisions which had been collected piled up around, and the weary seamen were able to rest from their labours. a consultation was now held as to the means to be taken for preserving their lives. the boats could only carry a portion of their number, even should the ice again open and allow them to escape. as far as could be seen, it had closed in on every side, and probably they would have to drag them many long leagues before the open water could be gained. the land, by the captain's calculation, was upwards of fifty miles away, but the danish settlements, where they could obtain assistance, were much further off. at the same time, it was possible that they might find another vessel fast in the ice nearer at hand, which might afford them shelter. one thing only was certain, that they must lose no time in making preparations for their journey. unhappily, the captain, disheartened by the destruction of his ship, was incapable of exerting himself. although a good seaman, he was destitute of that higher courage which a confidence in god's superintending care can alone give. he sat in his tent, with his head resting on his hands, for many hours, gazing toward the wreck, without issuing any orders. the officers differed from each other as to what was best to be done, while many of the crew exhibited a mutinous disposition, and assembled altogether in a tent which they had erected for themselves. collecting a quantity of the smaller fragments of the wreck, they made up a large fire within, around which they sat, cooking some of the provisions which they had appropriated from the common store. archy, from the time of leaving the ship, had kept close to andrew, and assisted him in whatever work he was engaged on. while, however, he was collecting wood at a short distance from the camp, max came up to him. "well, archy," he said, "i see old andrew intends to make you work for him; that's his reason for keeping you by his side. now, boy, if i were you i would not be led by the nose. come and join us. i'll own i had a hand in getting you into this scrape, and i wish to help you out of it. i and some of the other men have formed a plan to make our escape, and it's my opinion that those who remain here will lose their lives. that can't be helped, you see, for it's impossible that all should be saved, and as i am your friend i don't wish to leave you behind. come along now, we have got a roaring fire inside there, and the fellows will let you join them if i ask them." max pointed to the tent of the mutineers. "i promised to stay by andrew," said archy. "unless he goes i can't join you." "i'll see about asking him by-and-bye," said max. "what do you propose doing, then?" asked archy. "making off with the boats," answered max. "it's the only chance we have of saving our lives, and we shall be sure to reach one of the danish places on the coast." "what, you would not desert old andrew?" exclaimed archy. "oh, of course not," answered max, in a tone which made archy suspect him, especially when he added, "mark me, my lad, if you let old andrew or any of the rest know of what i have been saying to you, there are some among us who would not scruple a moment to knock you on the head. remember my words. i ask you again, will you come with us?" "no," answered archy firmly. "i promised to stick by andrew, and i am not going to desert him." "then take the consequences," exclaimed max angrily, "and remember, hold your tongue, or it will be the worse for you." archy saw him return to the tent; but the men who crowded round the fire seemed very unwilling to allow him a place among them, and archy suspected that had he listened to max he should have had very little chance of getting near it either. on rejoining andrew, archy refrained from mentioning what max had said, as there were several other persons within hearing, and, indeed, not till some time afterwards did he find his friend alone. andrew, with some of the better disposed men, and a few of the officers, had taken up their quarters in a tent, and were now collected round a fire in the centre of it, though a much smaller one than that formed by the men. andrew made room for archy by his side. while they were discussing their supper, they agreed that they would form a number of sledges with runners for the boats, and placing the provisions and tents, with guns and ammunition on them, and such other stores as they might require, set off without further delay for the land. no one seemed to suspect the treachery meditated by max and his party. the carpenter's chest had fortunately been saved, and while one party assisted him in collecting wood and forming the sledges and runners, others were engaged in doing up the provisions and stores in packages of a size suitable for being carried on the sledges. the mutineers even assisted, and were especially busy in fitting runners to the boats. some progress had been made in the work, when night coming on compelled them to desist from their labours, and take shelter in their respective tents. archy, as he lay down to sleep, began to think that in spite of the threats of max he ought to have told andrew what he had said. "to-morrow morning will be time enough," he thought, and he was soon asleep. chapter seven. mutiny! most of the crew carrying the greater part of the provisions, set off without the others.--proposals for pursuit, but not carried out, and at last the remainder commence their journey across the ice, meeting with great difficulties.--the captain becomes ill, but is cheered by andrew.--he at length dies, after andrew has placed before him the truth, which he accepts.--he is buried in a snow tomb. archy was awakened by hearing one of the officers, who had gone out of the tent, exclaim, "why, what have become of the boats?" the rest of the inmates of the tents were quickly on foot. they looked around. far away in the distance two dark spots could be seen on the ice. andrew and several others ran to the tent of the mutineers--it was empty. the fire had burnt a hole in the ice and disappeared. had it not been for those objects far off they might have supposed that the sleepers had gone in with it and been drowned. the provisions were next examined-- the packages prepared for travelling had greatly diminished. several, indignant at being thus deserted, proposed setting off in pursuit of the fugitives. "they have fire-arms with them, and you will not get them to come back, lads," said the captain, who had come out of his tent. in spite of his warnings, and the advice of andrew, who urged that it was better to let them go, a number of men, and two of the officers, started away, vowing that they would bring back the mutineers, and punish them for their treachery. at first, the party thus deserted seemed inclined to give way to despair, and archy more than ever regretted that he had not warned his friends of the intended treachery. "come along, lads, to the wreck," exclaimed andrew. "perhaps we may find another boat, which we may be able to repair, and some more provisions to replace those carried off." thus appealed to, the carpenter, with several men, set off with andrew to the wreck, archy accompanying his friend. after climbing over a number of huge masses of ice, they made their way to the opposite floe, which was now firmly united to the one it had struck. here they found a quantity of the wreck scattered about, as well as several casks of meat and biscuits, and wedged between two slabs, the smallest boat, which had hung at the stern. the carpenter, on examining her, expressed his hopes that by fastening canvas round her, he could make her float sufficiently to enable them to pass from one floe to another, should they meet any open channels in their course. this discovery raised their spirits. the party immediately hastened back to their companions with the news. it was agreed that they should at once move across to the floe, with the tents and provisions, and forming a new encampment, go on with the work of preparing the sledges. frequently as they went backwards and forwards, they looked out for the return of the party who had gone in pursuit of the mutineers. the latter had got far out of sight before they could have been overtaken. what had become of the pursuers no one could say. some supposed that the two parties had united and gone on together, while others fancied that they had fought, and that those who had been defeated had been left alone on the ice, while the victors had pushed on with the boats. the whole day was occupied in moving to the new encampment, and it was nearly dark before their tents were erected and other preparations made for passing the night. the wind had latterly increased greatly, and clouds had been collecting to the north. scarcely had they got under shelter when the snow began to fall heavily, and the sharp wind swept across the icy plain with terrific force. "archy, we may be thankful that we are not with those poor fellows who deserted us," observed andrew as they sat together round the fire in their tent. "it will be a mercy if any of them escape even if they reached the open water before nightfall, and it's my opinion that they will not have done that." "they deserve their fate, whatever it may be," growled out one of the men. "ah, friend, we all deserve far more than we receive," said andrew. "if god was to treat us according to our merits, the best of us could only look for punishment. let us pray that he will have mercy on them as well as on us. oh, mates, i wish you could all understand the great love which god has for us poor sinners. we exposed ourselves of our own free choice to the danger and hardship we have to endure, but he in his mercy offers us free salvation and eternal happiness for our souls. he gave jesus christ to suffer instead of us, and it's our own fault if we do not accept his precious gift. all he asks us to do is to trust to his love, and believe that jesus died for us and that his blood washes away all our sins." several of andrew's companions listened with deep earnestness to his words, and on that bleak floe, and amid those arctic snows, believed to the salvation of their souls. all night long the wind swept by them, the snow fell faster and faster, but they heeded not the tempest. a bright light had burst upon them, and they could look forward with hope to the future, trusting to that god of love and mercy whom they had hitherto only known as a stern and severe judge. when morning broke all hands set to work to clear away the snow, which had covered up the boat and everything left outside the tents. the wind, however, had ceased, and they were able to go on with their labours, and by the evening the sledges were completed and the boat prepared and placed on runners. they were then loaded, that the party might be ready to start the following morning on their journey. twice during the day, andrew with several of the other men had gone over to the old encampment to ascertain if any of those who had deserted them had come back. they cast their eyes in vain over the wide snow-covered plain,--not a trace of a human being could be seen. it was too probable that all had perished. more than half the ship's company had thus been lost. the night was passed in comparative comfort. they had well-formed tents, abundance of bedding, and ample fires. all knew that in future the case would be very different. the sledges were chiefly loaded with provisions. they were obliged to reduce their tents to the smallest possible size, and they could carry but a limited supply of fuel. there were five sledges in all, each drawn by four men, while six men were harnessed to the boat, in which the old captain, who was unable to walk, was placed. andrew joined the latter party, and archy, on account of his youth, was excused from dragging a sledge,--he, however, carried his blankets and some provisions on his back, each man being also loaded in the same way. the snow having partially melted under the still hot rays of the sun, had again frozen, and had filled up all inequalities in the ice. this enabled the party to drag the sledges along during the first day without difficulty. they had, however, to make frequent circuits to avoid the hummocks, which in some places were very numerous. they calculated by nightfall that they had advanced nearly twelve miles on their journey towards the coast. the uneven appearance of the ice beyond them, interspersed in many places with huge icebergs, warned them that in future they could not hope to advance so rapidly. hitherto they had not suffered much from cold, but that night, as they lay in their tents with the small fires which their limited supply of fuel allowed them to keep up, they were nearly frozen. andrew several times remembering the advantage he had before gained from taking exercise, got up and ran about to warm himself. those who followed his example awoke refreshed and fit for work, whereas those who had remained quiet all the night, found their limbs stiff and their feet and hands frozen, and it was not till after, with the help of their companions, they had moved about and undergone great pain, that they were able to proceed. some, indeed, had suffered so much, that they entreated to be left to die rather than undergo the hardships they would have to endure. andrew urged them to arouse themselves. "it is our duty, lads, to straggle on as long as we can. god may think fit to try us, but let us trust in him and he may find a way for us at last to escape, though we are too blind to see it," he observed. his exhortations produced a good effect, and once more they proceeded on their journey. the old captain had suffered the most, and it seemed very probable that he would be unable to hold out many days longer. andrew seeing his condition, frequently spoke to him, and though hitherto he had turned scornfully away, he now willingly listened to the words the faithful christian uttered. "oh!" he exclaimed at length, "i wish that i had heard you before. it is too late now, i have been a terrible sinner, god can never pardon so bad a man as i am." "oh, sir!" exclaimed andrew, "jesus christ came into the world to save sinners. he saved the thief on the cross, he saved the jailor at philippi. the blood of jesus christ cleanseth from all sin. he says, `though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool.'" this was said while they were stopping to take their mid-day meal. the old captain raised himself up and grasped andrew's hand. "do you really speak the truth to me?" he exclaimed. "i repeat what god says, sir, and he cannot lie," answered andrew. "believe in the lord jesus christ and thou shalt be saved." "i do, i do," cried the old man. "but oh! what would i now give had i known this in my youth. what years of wickedness and misery it would have saved me." "ah, sir! there are thousands upon thousands who may say that," replied andrew. "archy, you hear the captain's words. don't forget them, boy. if god in his mercy allows you to return home in safety, repeat them to your young companions, and urge them to `seek the lord while he may be found.' you may thus render them a service for which they will have cause to thank you through eternity." "i will try," said archy humbly, "but it is difficult to speak to others." "pray for the aid of god's holy spirit, and he will enable you to do it," said andrew. "i will try," repeated archy, for he had discovered his own weakness. through that discovery alone can strength be obtained. the shipwrecked party again pushed on, the party keeping ahead. some of the men had begun to complain that the boat detained them. they supposed that the ice was attached throughout to the mainland, and believed that they could do without her. the captain tried to persuade them that they were mistaken, but they had lost their respect for him, and declared that they knew better. andrew thought the captain was right, and entreated them to listen to his advice. their replies showed that they were bent on pushing on. the worthy carpenter, james foubister by name, also a shetlander, sided with andrew, and promised not to desert the old captain. their example influenced most of the other men attached to the boat, who agreed, should the rest of the party do as they proposed, to remain with them. by exerting themselves to the utmost they overtook the sledge parties soon after they had encamped. andrew again spoke earnestly to his companions, pointing out to them the danger they would ran by separating, and he hoped at length that they had abandoned their design. the next day they went on as before. the cold was increasing, and except when they were in active exercise, they felt it severely. the old captain especially, from being unable to move, suffered greatly, and was rapidly sinking. andrew, whenever the party stopped, acted the part of a true christian, and was by his side, endeavouring to console and cheer him with the blessed promises of the gospel. what other comfort could he have afforded? the old man felt its unspeakable value, and after his voice had lost the power of utterance, holding andrew's hand, he signed to him to stoop down and speak them in his ear, and so he died,--with a peaceful expression in his countenance, which told of the sure and certain hope he had gone to realise. andrew and the carpenter proposed carrying on the captain's body to bury it on shore, but the rest objected, as causing them unnecessary labour. a snow tomb was therefore built, in which the old man's body was placed, and there they left him, out on that wild frozen ocean, where many of england's bravest sons rest from their toils. happy are those who have died as he died, trusting in the lord. the men were too much engrossed with their own sufferings to mourn his loss, but few failed, when the next morning they started on their journey, to cast a glance at the tomb. "poor old man, he is better off than we are," was the expression uttered by most of them. the fatigue of dragging the sledges over the rough ice was now so great, that some of the men purposed leaving their tents and the remainder of their fuel behind, and the officers had much difficulty in making them see the folly of such a proceeding. as they advanced, not only large hummocks, but vast icebergs became numerous, among which they were frequently enveloped, and many a circuit had to be made to avoid them. the day after the captain's death it began to snow heavily. the sledges were as usual ahead, still andrew and his party managed to proceed with the boat. the snow-storm increasing in density, they at length lost sight of their companions. for some time they followed up their tracks, but these were gradually obliterated by the falling snow. still they went on, till they found themselves at the base of an iceberg, but not a trace was visible to show whether the party ahead had made their way round by the north or south end. as any delay would have increased the difficulty of overtaking them, they pushed on, taking a southerly direction. having doubled the berg, they saw a clear space before them, but though the snow had ceased, the sledge parties were nowhere visible. the captain's rifle had been saved. andrew fired it in the hopes that the signal might be heard, but no reply came to their listening ears. once more they went on, but their progress was slow and tedious. chapter eight. proceeding on against many difficulties.--archy and his companions at last discover land ahead, and camp in a snow-hut.--at daybreak, seeing no traces of the mutineers, they push on, and arrive at the edge of the floe. cross a channel and getting on an opposite floe, build a snow-hut; but the water rising, leave it, and build another, which also is washed away. build a third, and are awoke by a bear.--two men frost bitten are left behind. as the sun was about to set, a shout escaped archy's lips. "land, land!" he cried out. all gazed eagerly in the direction to which he pointed. there appeared a range of snowy mountains far higher than any icebergs. they were clear and well defined, and andrew and foubister declared that they could not be, as some of the rest supposed, a bank of clouds. they remained visible till the sun sunk beneath the horizon. the discovery somewhat cheered their spirits, but still many days must elapse before they could reach the shore, and even when there, no inhabitants might be found to assist them, or food to enable them to exist during the coming winter. their present condition indeed was very trying. the tents were on the sledges, and they had only sufficient fuel in the boat to keep a fire alight for one night; while their provisions, with the utmost economy, would last them but a fortnight or three weeks at the furthest. "if the cold goes on increasing, we shall be frozen to death before the morning," exclaimed several of the men. "not so, mates," said andrew. "i have seen the natives build a snow-hut in the course of an hour, and have been as warm as i could wish within it during the hardest frost. they call it an igloo, and they fashion it much after the way the seals make their houses, so that it is well suited to the climate. we may depend on that, as god himself taught the seals. now turn to and clear a space down to the ice, while the carpenter and i saw out some blocks of snow." his companions followed andrew's directions; and while foubister sawed out the blocks, which were about three feet long, and half as wide, he placed them in a circle on the space which had been cleared. he then put on another tier, gradually sloping inwards till a dome was formed, and lastly the keystone of the arch was dropped into its place. archy, who was helping andrew, remained with him inside, and were thus completely walled in. the carpenter, with his saw, then cut a hole to serve as a doorway, on the lee side of the hut. "we have yet got to form a bed and fire-places. hand in more blocks, mates," said andrew. with these he and archy quickly built up a raised place on either side of the hut, with a circular one in the centre. some of the provisions, with a portion of the fuel, and all the bedding and blankets, were then brought inside, when andrew stopped up the doorway with some blocks of snow, which he had retained for the purpose. "now, mates," he said, "you will soon see that we can be warm enough, but we must keep up as small a fire as can be made to burn. look here now; this log will last us all night if we chop it into chips, and just put on three or four at a time." andrew's plan was found to answer perfectly. the fire was sufficient to melt the snow in a saucepan, and to enable them to enjoy some hot tea, and the hut soon became so warm that they were glad to throw off their great coats. their only regret was that andrew had not thought before of building a snow-hut. "better late than never. it will not be the last by many that we shall have to build," he answered. they were all so comfortable that andrew had great difficulty in rousing them in the morning to encounter the biting wind blowing across the floe. having enjoyed a warm breakfast, and put on their outer clothing, they cut their way out of their burrow, and once more proceeded eastward. they did not fail to look out for their companions, but not a moving object was to be discerned in any direction across the wide ice-field. after travelling all day, they were convinced that they saw the land ahead, though it appeared no nearer than before. "may be it will not appear nearer to-morrow or next day," said andrew. "but that must not disappoint us. it will be nearer notwithstanding. that we know for a certainty, and if we persevere we shall reach it at last." as they advanced, several cracks and broad fissures were found in the ice, and in one place there was a wide pool or lake only thinly covered over, to avoid which they had to make a circuit. "we are not far off the open water, mates," said andrew, "and we may be thankful that we have the boat, though i fear our poor shipmates will be in a sad plight." making their way onwards, the ice being tolerably smooth, they arrived sooner than andrew had expected at the edge of the floe. the channel which divided it from the opposite floe was upwards of a couple of miles wide, a long distance to traverse in their battered boat. the wind had gone down, and the sea was tolerably calm, it was therefore important to cross while it remained so. andrew, however, was very unwilling to cross without waiting for their missing shipmates. "just think, mates, how we should feel if we had been with the sledges had they crossed and left us to our fate on the floe?" "but they deserted us, and we may lose our lives if we wait for them," argued the other men. at last andrew persuaded them to remain, while he and archy set off to climb to the top of a small iceberg, a little way to the north, from whence they hoped to obtain a view over a considerable portion of the floe. they lost no time in starting, but the distance was much greater than they had expected. "it seems to me as if the iceberg were moving away from us," exclaimed archy. "we have been walking on for the last half hour, and appear no nearer." "the berg is a good deal larger than i had fancied," answered andrew. "but never fear, we shall get up to it at last, and if we can manage to climb to the top, we shall have a wider view over the plain, and a better chance of seeing the poor fellows. it goes to my heart to leave them to perish, and yet perish they must if they do not soon reach the mainland. we must forget that they intended to desert us, and even if they did, it is our duty to return good for evil, so come along archy." the iceberg was at length gained. then came the difficulty of climbing to the top. after walking nearly round it, they found a portion melted and broken by the summer sun which afforded them footing. with the aid of a boat-hook, and a coil of rope which andrew had brought, they at last reached one of the highest points. hence they could see the edge of the floe extending for a considerable way to the north, while their eyes ranged over a wide extent of level ice, but all was one white waste. not the smallest dark spot could be seen upon it. "i am afraid, archy, we must give them up," sighed andrew. "we should risk the loss of our own lives if we were longer to wait for them." descending the iceberg, andrew and archy made their way back to the boat. the boat was at once launched, and though she leaked slightly, one hand bailing could keep her free. they all therefore, embarked, and towing the runners, they made their way across to the floe. as they found themselves once more gliding smoothly over the water, their spirits rose, and some were anxious to try and make their way south in the boat. andrew and the carpenter, however, strongly objected to doing this. "the ice may close upon us, and we may run short of provisions long before we can reach the danish settlements," he observed. "let us get hold of the land first." it was nearly dark by the time they reached the edge of the opposite ice, and having unloaded their boat, they hauled her up, and proceeded on to a hummock at a little distance. here, without loss of time, they build an igloo in which to shelter themselves for the night. the first part passed quietly away, but about midnight archy was awoke by the sound of the crashing of ice, and a loud dashing of waves. he aroused his companions, they listened for a few seconds. "the sea is breaking up the ice close to us," exclaimed andrew. "put on your clothes, lads, or we may be drowned in our den." in another minute the whole party made their way out of the hut, carrying their bedding under their arms. the sea was already close up to the stern of the boat. fortunately she had been placed on the runners. they had just time to seize her, and drag her along, before the ice, on which she had been resting, gave way. on they went as fast as they could drag the boat, but even then it seemed doubtful whether they could escape from the fast following sea. their hut and the hummock, near which it had been built, quickly disappeared. the wind blew with fearful violence; the ice beneath their feet rose and fell as they passed over it. whenever they halted, the crashing ice behind them warned them to push on again. at last a berg in the floe appeared ahead, they made their way towards it, hoping that they might obtain shelter under its lee till the gale had ceased. the men were so fatigued that they would have thrown themselves down under shelter of the boat to rest had not andrew persuaded them to build another igloo. here they once more sought shelter, hoping to remain undisturbed for the remainder of the night. andrew and foubister, however, agreed to keep watch and watch, and archy begged to take his turn. "no, no," said andrew, "you were the means of saving our lives. you want sleep more than we do." two hours passed away, when, as andrew listened, he heard again the same terrific sound which had before awakened them. once more all were aroused, and hastening out as before, they found the sea still encroaching on them. complaining bitterly of their hard fate, the men dragged on their boat, still the sea pursued them. scarcely had they got a hundred yards from the berg beneath which they had taken shelter, when it crashed away through the broken ice. no one now felt inclined to stop. the raging sea tore up the ice behind them, the vast slabs crashing together with a terrific sound, urging them to greater speed. on they went till day dawned, when they found themselves near a low iceberg. they now declared that they could go no further, and andrew and foubister agreed, that even should the ice overtake them, they might find refuge on the slope of the berg, up which they could without difficulty haul the boat. having placed her, as they hoped, in safety, they built another snow-hut, where they proposed remaining till the storm had ceased. as they had now become expert architects, they were not long in constructing the igloo, and all thankfully crept in to recruit their strength. even andrew felt that he could not have held out much longer. the crashing sounds of the breaking ice had ceased, and no longer fearing having again to take to flight, the whole party fell asleep. they had not closed the doorway, as was their custom at night, on account of the heat which was soon generated in so confined a space. archy was the first to awake, as he did so he heard a scraping sound, and directly afterwards he caught sight of the white snout of a huge animal poked in at the opening. a few smouldering chips alone remained of the fire in the centre of the hut. his first impulse was to seize one and throw it at the intruder, shouting out to his companions at the same time. they quickly sprung to their feet. the carpenter seized an axe. "a bear, a bear," he cried out, as he made a blow at the nose of the animal, who, uttering fierce growls, quickly beat a retreat. they all rushed out, when the bear was seen at a short distance sitting on his haunches examining its wounded nose. andrew hurried to the boat. happily the bear had not attacked their provisions. the rifle was loaded, his only fear was that the bear would make off before he could get near enough to wound it mortally. the creature was, however, evidently meditating an attack. it advanced, he fired, and it rolled over on the snow. his companions uttered a shout of joy, as they had no longer any fear of suffering for want of food for some time to come. the bear was cut up, and returning to their hut, they were soon employed in cooking steaks over their rekindled fire. "i suspect those fellows never venture far from land," observed andrew; "so we may now feel pretty sure, mates, that we shall be able to reach it without having another channel to cross." the whole party were, however, too much knocked up to make another move during that day, and even andrew and foubister, who were most anxious to proceed on their journey, consented to remain till the following morning. the day and night were passed between sleeping and eating, for as soon as the men woke up, they relighted their fire and cooked more bear's steaks, in spite of andrew's warnings that they would soon exhaust all their fuel. "never fear, old man," was the answer, "we shall get enough when we reach the shore, and let us enjoy ourselves while we can. the natives manage to live, why should not we?" "the natives know how to catch the seal and the walrus, and unless we can prove ourselves as good hunters as they are, we may chance to starve," answered andrew. his warnings, however, had no effect, and when the next morning they came to examine the contents of the boat, they found they had only sufficient fuel to last them another night. once more they were on their journey. the carcase of the bear added considerably to their load, the ice too was rough and broken, and they made but slow progress. the land was seen clearly ahead, but after toiling all day it seemed almost as far off as when they started. the days too were becoming shorter and shorter, while the cold rapidly increased, and once more they were compelled to encamp on the open floe. that night the remainder of their fuel was consumed. two of the men had been complaining during the day of pains in their feet, and when they pulled off their boots, to their dismay they discovered that they were perfectly black. in vain their companions rubbed them to restore the circulation. their groans were piteous to hear, and when the morning came they were utterly unable to rise. andrew proposed to place them in the boat, and to drag them along to the shore. when, however, morning came, the ice ahead appeared even rougher than that which they had passed over on the previous day, and in spite of his desire to preserve their lives, it was found that with their diminished strength this would be impossible. it was therefore agreed that the poor fellows should be left in the hut, and that should any esquimaux be met with, they should be sent with their sledges and dogs to their relief. with sad hearts the rest of the party closed the hut, which they felt would too probably prove the tomb of their companions. chapter nine. archy has a mask to protect his eyes from snow-blindness, from which all the rest suffer.--he leads them by a string, when an esquimaux is discovered searching for seals, who builds an igloo, and melting some snow, bathes the blind men's eyes, and provides for them. four human beings with heavy packs on their backs were making their toilsome way over the snow-covered surface of the frozen sea. one by one their companions had dropped. they had reached the wished for shore, but lofty ice-cliffs rose before them on which they had found it hopeless to seek for shelter of subsistence, and again they were attempting to make their way to the southward. first the boat which they had dragged over so many leagues had been consumed for fuel, and then the sledge was piece by piece burned to give them warmth in their snow-hut during the night. archy had held out bravely; andrew had wonderfully been supported, ever with confidence seeking for aid from above, he felt that his own life and that of his companions depended on his exertions. foubister and david saunders, one of the crew of the "kate," encouraged by him had hitherto kept up their spirits, yet as they looked ahead and saw the icy plain stretched out before them they might well have given way to despair. they had just set out from the snow-hut which had sheltered them during the night, and in which the last chip of the sledge had been consumed. as the embers of their fire died out, foubister, brave and determined man as he was, had exclaimed, "why need we go further? it will only be to perish in a few hours of cold, as the rest have done." "because it is our duty to trust to god and struggle to the last," answered andrew. "he may send us help when we least expect it. let us go on while life and strength remain." kneeling down, andrew offered up an earnest prayer for protection, and the whole party then strapping on their packs, with renewed strength set forward on their journey. archy would probably have sunk under the hardships he was enduring had not his old friend supported and cheered him throughout. his other companions were also constant in their kindness. they gave him a larger supply of food than they took themselves, and chafed his feet and dried his socks at the end of each day's journey. they had also made him a mask to protect his face, of a piece of canvas lined with woollen stuff, having breathing places in it for the nostrils and mouth, and two holes as small as possible for the eyes. he was surprised to find when he put it on how well he could see through those small holes. neither he nor his friends were aware at the time of their importance. they had started before daylight, for the sky was clear and the moon and stars afforded them ample light to see their way. the sun at length rose above the horizon, and cast his brilliant rays over the sheet of snow. all the three men had, on the previous day, complained of a peculiar smarting of the eyes, but little did they think at the time of what it portended. as they proceeded the smarting sensation increased, till at length david saunders began to stumble, and exclaimed that all was dark. his words struck dismay into the hearts of his companions, for both andrew and foubister had for some time found a difficulty in seeing objects before them, and in a short time the latter cried out that he too was blind. it would have been certain death to stop, so, although andrew himself was suffering intense pain, he urged his companions to proceed, hoping still that they might discover some esquimaux' huts on the shore, or find other means of preserving their lives. "and how do your eyes feel, archy?" asked andrew, in a voice which showed his anxiety. "i have no pain, and can see as well as ever," answered archy. "thank god," replied andrew. "you must then be our guide, for i too have lost my sight." archy on hearing this felt ready to burst into tears. "oh! what can i do? how can i lead you?" he exclaimed. "trust in god and go straight on, lad. here, take this line and we will hold on to it," he added uncoiling a short length of rope which he carried at his side, and he put the end into archy's hands. he and foubister and saunders then took hold of it, following each other in line. "now move on, archy," said andrew, "and keep a bright look out ahead, as well as on the right hand and on the left. if you see anything like smoke or little round hillocks near the shore, we may be certain that natives are there, or may be you will catch sight of the masts of a ship in the horizon, no fear of her getting away from us, for she will be fast frozen in." thus cheered by the confiding faith of old andrew and his dauntless courage, the party proceeded onwards over the ice-field, archy's eyes alone, protected by his mask, escaping the snow-blindness. every now and then, with anxious voices, one or the other would cry out, "do you see anything ahead, archy, any sign of esquimauxs on the shore,--any vessel in the distance?" "no, i only see tall ice-cliffs on the left, and icebergs rising up here and there out of the frozen sea," he answered. several times on hearing this saunders declared it was useless to go on, and even foubister once proposed building a snow-hut as well as their blindness would allow them, and then lying down within it to die. "what! and let the poor lad who has still got his eyesight perish with us?" exclaimed andrew. "shame on you, mate. i did not think to hear such words come from your lips. no, no, while we have life its our duty to go on, and if its god's will that we should die, let us die doing our duty. if he pleases he can send us help and restore our eyesight, and he has shown us pretty clearly that we must lean on him and him alone." thus rebuked, the honest carpenter did not allow another repining word to escape him. there was but little wind, and the air felt warm and pleasant. reaching a small iceberg they all sat down, placed by archy on a ledge under its shelter to rest. he unpacked their wallets, and helped them to their food. by andrew's direction, also with the carpenter's axe, he chopped off a thin layer of ice from the berg. from this, when held up in the direct rays of the sun, water dropped into their saucepan sufficiently fast to quench the thirst from which they had before been suffering. they were not aware that they might greatly have relieved the pain in their eyes by bathing them with the cold water. revived by their meal they again proceeded as before, yet what could they expect at the end of their day's journey? could they hope to live through the night in an ill-built snow-hut without fire, might it not too probably become their tomb? mile after mile was passed over, and still came the same answer from archy to their constant inquiries. night was approaching,--andrew urged them to push on rather than stop, as long as they had strength to move. "if you wish, i will go on," said archy, "or, i think, with your help i could build a snow-hut and we could keep warm enough inside it without a fire, i hope." "no, no, on, on," said andrew. "we will stop in time to build a hut before dark." so on again they went. suddenly andrew felt the rope by which he was led slacken, when archy cried out, "stop, i see something dark moving ahead." "what is it, what is it, boy?" exclaimed the three men together. "it seems to me like a seal," answered archy. "but no--i don't think a seal would move in that way,--hurrah! it is a man,--he has risen to his feet,--he sees us,--he is coming this way." archy hurried on, leading his companions. the stranger advanced towards them. when he was still at some distance he stopped and seemed to be examining them, doubtful of their character. archy raised his hands and beckoning, the stranger once more drew near. from his dress and skins and harpoon in his hand and a coil of line and spears hung to his shoulders, archy guessed that he was an esquimaux engaged in searching for seals. he was accompanied by two dogs, who rushed forward barking, but retreated when called by their master. the native having apparently satisfied himself that the approaching party could do him no harm, came up to them, and looked with an inquiring glance at their eyes. he at once seemed to understand that they had been struck with snow-blindness, and he made signs to archy that he could cure them. archy inquired where he lived, when he pointed to the south-east, and beckoning to him, led the way onwards. in a short time they reached a large seal which the hunter had apparently just killed; he pointed to it, and signified that they were welcome to eat some of its flesh. archy intimated that they were weary rather than hungry. the esquimaux appeared quickly to make up his mind what was best to be done. clearing a space in the snow he called archy to assist him, and at once began to build an igloo. he was greatly delighted when archy produced the carpenter's saw, and apparently well accustomed to its use, he set to work to shape out the required blocks. in a short time a hut was completed, into which he dragged a considerable portion of the seal. from his capacious pocket he took a shallow bowl, in which he placed some moss wicks, and filled it with seal oil, produced by his chewing the blubber. a light was quickly struck, and the much valued lamp soon shed a genial warmth through the snow-formed habitation. a large lump of blubber hung over the lamp, continued to feed it as the oil supplied by the first process was exhausted. he now melted some snow in the seamen's saucepan, and explained to archy that if his blind friends would bathe their eyes in the water their sight would be restored. they followed his advice, and at length the pain from which they were suffering gradually subsided. the esquimaux seemed greatly surprised at their preferring their own dried food to the raw blubber on which he and his dogs regaled themselves. yielding, however, to their prejudices, he heated some steaks over the lamp, of which he hospitably pressed archy to partake. hunger induced him to follow his new friend's advice, and finding the steaks far more palatable than he expected, he persuaded the rest of the party to join in the repast. "i don't know what it may look like," observed david saunders, gulping down a huge lump. "but its not such bad eating after all, and i am much obliged to you, friend esquimaux, for your kindness." "friends," said andrew, before they lay down to rest on their snow couches, "let us thank god for his mercy in sending this kind native to our help. oh! 'tis a blessed thing to know that he will never desert those who trust in him." the esquimaux seemed fully to understand what they were about, and knelt down with them. though they did not understand each other's language, yet their hearts were lifted up together to the same merciful being, the god alike of the dark-skinned esquimaux and the civilised englishman. chapter ten. the esquimaux leaves, and does not return.--all are able to see, and proceed.--find bears before them, and at the same time the masts of a ship are discovered.--push on, and at last assistance arriving, the bears are killed, and captain irvine takes archy on board the "kate," the rest following.--adventures of the "kate"--shut up in the ice--short provisions.--captain dies.--ice opens, when sail is set, and the crew, enduring much suffering, the "kate" arrives off unst, an island of shetland.--archy, now truly repentant, writes to his mother, and when all on board have recovered, starts for home.--his arrival and reception. when archy awoke he was somewhat alarmed on finding that the hunter and his dogs had left the hut. the lamp was still burning, and a large piece of seal's flesh lay on the floor. archy hoped, therefore, that the esquimaux's intentions were friendly, and that he did not purpose to desert them altogether. andrew, when he awoke, expressed his opinion that the hunter would certainly return. his and his companions' eyes were still so painful, that having the means of procuring water they resolved to wait in the hut till their sight was restored, and then to try and make their way to the village of their new friend. that their confidence in his honesty was not misplaced, was proved by his return in the afternoon, when he and his dogs arrived, dragging another seal after them on a small sleigh, which he had probably before left at a distance. he now intimated that his people at the village were in want of food, and that after eating and resting, he must go away to them; but he signified that he would soon again return; and as a proof of his good intentions, left them a large portion of the first seal that he had killed. long before dawn the next morning the hunter set off. that day, though one of suffering, was passed in thankfulness by the shipwrecked seamen. their lives had been preserved, food had been supplied to them, and they might now hope, even if they could not reach the danish settlements, to pass the winter in safety in the camp of the friendly natives. two days passed by, and the hunter did not return. the eyes of the three men were free from pain, and when they awoke after the third night of their sojourn in the hut, they could see clearly. archy, with unwearied diligence, had tended to all their wants, and he had frequently gone out to look for the expected return of the hunter, whenever they had expressed anxiety on the subject. at length they agreed that if he did not appear that evening, to set out without waiting for him longer, as their supply of blubber was nearly exhausted, and without it they could not keep their lamp burning. the morning came; still the hunter did not appear. packing up, therefore, the lamp with its wicks, and every particle of blubber they could scrape together, they again set out. they soon found it necessary, however, to tie some spare comforters round their heads, to shade their eyes from the glare of the sun, the pricking sensation, the prelude to snow-blindness, again quickly returning. after travelling for some hours, they looked out anxiously for the huts of the esquimaux they expected to see. the traces of their friend's sledge and footsteps had been entirely obliterated by a fall of snow, so that they had not the benefit of them as a guide; still they went on. frequently icebergs rose up in their course, and at length these became so numerous that they were completely bewildered among them. after a time they emerged again into a more open space, when archy, whose quick eyes were ever on the alert, cried out that he saw three objects moving some way ahead. "they are bears, i do believe," he exclaimed, "and they seem as if they were digging into the snow with their snouts." after going on a little further the rest agreed that he was right. andrew got his rifle ready. "if we attempt to run the creatures will follow--it's their nature to do so. we must try and kill one of them, and frighten the others away. show a bold front, friends, and we may yet escape their claws." while andrew had been speaking archy had cast his eyes westward. "look, look," he exclaimed. "i see the masts of a ship rising up against the yellow sky, near where the sun has just gone down." forgetting for the moment about the bears, the whole party turned their eyes in the direction archy pointed. "you are right, boy--praise heaven for it," said andrew. "though my eyes are weak i see the masts clearly. she must have been caught in the floe before she could make her way into harbour for shelter. we may reach her this night, and we will try to give the bears the go-by without interfering with them." the thought of a friendly greeting from countrymen, and a warm cabin and wholesome food, after all their toils, raised the spirits of the weary seamen. they once more pushed forward, making a circuit to avoid the savage animals, and then directed their course towards the ship. the long twilight enabled them to keep the masts in sight for a considerable time, and they were then able to steer by a star, which shone forth just above the ship. they did not fail, however, very frequently, to turn their heads over their shoulders to ascertain whether they were pursued. "if the bears track us, we must turn round and face them boldly," said andrew. "ever meet satan, and all spiritual foes in the same way, lad, and they will flee from you," added the old man, putting his hand on archy's shoulder. on and on they went, often stumbling over inequalities in the ice, which the increased darkness prevented them from perceiving. still they struggled forward, hope urging them on. although the ship could no longer be seen, they felt confident that she was before them, and that they must, if they persevered, reach her at last. the cold was intense, but, weary as they were, they dared not sit down lest their limbs might become benumbed, and might refuse to carry them forward. they knew, too, that the savage bears might be following in their track with stealthy steps, and might at any moment be close upon them. hours seemed to pass away. it was impossible to calculate time. their guiding star shone brightly from the sky; still as yet their straining eyes could not make out the looked for ship. "we cannot now be far off from her," observed andrew, "for we have steered too straight a course to pass by her. archy, you have the sharpest eyes among us, can't you make her out, lad?" "yes, yes, i see her," he suddenly exclaimed; "but her deck seems to be housed in, and snow covers the roof, and i took it to be a low iceberg. now i can make out the masts and rigging rising above it--she cannot be more than a mile away." "cheer up, friends, we will soon reach her then," cried andrew. "if we were to give a hearty shout, those on board would hear us." "i hope they may, and send us help," exclaimed saunders, "for here come the bears, and they will be upon us in another minute." on hearing this andrew unslung his rifle, and turning round, observed a large white animal, scarcely to be distinguished from the snow, not forty paces off, stealing towards them. to fly towards the ship, close as they were to her, would have invited the bears to pursue at a faster speed. facing their foes, they halted, as they proposed--the bears stopped also, sitting down on their haunches to watch their proceedings. "archy, run on, and shout as you go--the watch on deck may hear you, and assistance may be sent to us in case we fail to beat off the bears." archy ran on as he was directed. at length he got the ship clearly in sight, but still she seemed a long, long way off. he stopped, however, and shouted with all his might. no reply came, but he heard behind him a cry, and then a shot fired. he knew that it must be from andrew's gun. once more he pushed forward, though his legs were ready to sink beneath him. just then the moon arose bright and full. he had stopped to give another shout, when, looking back to see if his friends were coming, he discovered, to his dismay, a bear stealing towards him. he remembered andrew's caution, not to fly, and bravely facing the animal, he clapped his hands together, shouting even louder than before, in the hopes of frightening it away. at that instant a hail came from the ship--he hailed in return. the bear stopped, apparently astonished at the strange sounds which met its ears. directly afterwards another hail was heard, and turning his head for an instant, he caught sight of a party of men coming towards him from the ship. the bear seemed unwilling to encounter so many foes, and began slowly to retreat. in another minute archy was surrounded by a number of men, shouting to him in well-known tones. "my friends out there want your help," said archy, not stopping to explain who he was. they all had arms in their hands--while some stopped to fire at the retreating bear, others run on in the direction indicated. some of the bullets took effect, and the bear was seen to drop on the snow. while most of them dashed forward towards the wounded bear, one of them remained by archy. "where do you come from, lad--who are you?" he asked. archy, with a bounding heart, recognised the voice. it was that of captain irvine. "i am archy hughson, sir, and andrew scollay, and david saunders, and foubister, the carpenter of a ship which took us on board, are out there--i hope the bears have not hurt them." "i trust not," said the captain; "but come along, laddie, to the ship-- tell me more as you go. you seem scarcely able to stand." archy was, indeed, gasping for breath, and well nigh dropping from fatigue and excitement. the kind captain supporting him, they made their way toward the ship; but archy, though he tried to speak, had lost all power of utterance. one of the other men came quickly to their assistance, and archy was lifted on board, and placed in the captain's cabin, under the care of dr sinclair. in a short time the rest of the party arrived, bringing andrew and foubister unhurt, though well nigh exhausted; but poor saunders had been severely wounded by one of the bears, two of which had, however, been killed. andrew, on being carried below, soon somewhat recovered. his first act was to kneel down, when, lifting up his hands, he returned thanks to that all powerful and merciful god who had preserved him and his companions. "shipmates," he said, as he observed the look of astonishment with which some of those who stood around regarded him. "had you gone through the dangers we have encountered, and been preserved from them to reach the ship again, you would feel that it was not your own arm, or your own strength had saved you, but he, who not only takes care of the bodies of us sinful and ungrateful creatures, but is willing and ready to save our immortal souls alive." archy remained for some days in a state of unconsciousness, but under the care of dr sinclair he gradually recovered. the captain treated him with the greatest kindness. "i have heard all about you, archy," he said, "and i don't speak to you now to blame you for your conduct in leaving home. i'll leave it to your own conscience to do so. god, in his mercy, has led you through severe trials and hardships, and has mercifully preserved your life, that you may, i trust, henceforth devote it to his service, and not, as heretofore, to that of satan. ever remember, archy, that we `cannot serve two masters'--we must be either christ's loving subjects, and obey his laws, or we must be satan's slaves, and do his will--he is a hard, and oftentimes a very cunning task-master. most of his slaves, while following their own devices and inclinations, and, as they may fancy, doing no great harm, are in reality carrying out his objects. he blinds their eyes, and they are thus easily led captive by his emissaries, just as you were led away, as i have since discovered, by that unhappy man, max inkster. god's ways are inscrutable. he has been allowed to perish, i fear, in his sins, while your life has been preserved. then, again i say, my boy, `pray without ceasing,' that god's holy spirit may strengthen and support you to walk in his ways, and to obey his holy laws." archy assured the captain that such was his wish, and that, feeling his own weakness, he would ever seek for strength from above. "you will need it now, and throughout life," said captain irvine, solemnly. "to god alone can we look for sure help, in time of need, in all our temporal difficulties, much more then in our spiritual trials. i would that all on board the ship knew this--it would sustain them in the many dangers and the hardships they must be called on to endure. we have now been well nigh a month shut up in the ice, and must expect to remain nearly eight months longer. we had provisions only at the usual rate of consumption for three months, and therefore from the day the ship was frozen up, i was compelled to place the crew on short allowance. our fuel, too, will be exhausted long before the ice breaks up. when that time comes, should the weather prove tempestuous, the ship will be exposed to fearful danger from the huge masses of ice tossed about by the waves, or from being driven against the icebergs which may appear in her course. with the crew weakened as ours will of necessity be by that time, how little able shall we be of ourselves to contend against the perils which will surround us. i tell you this, archy, that you may be induced more completely to trust to the protection of that god who can alone enable us to escape them." archy at length recovered his strength. some time had passed before he discovered that the captain, and andrew, and one or two other persons, had given up to him a portion of their own scanty allowance of food. when he found this out, he begged that he might not have a larger share than the rest. "you, a growing lad, want it more than we do," said andrew. "and i, for one, feel that if it had not been for you we should have been left to die on the ice far away from this. the crew also said that you enabled them to kill one of the two bears they got the night of our return." the want of sufficient food at length began to tell on the frames of the hardy seamen. parties constantly went out hunting in the hopes of killing seals or bears, but notwithstanding all their skill in capturing the mighty whale, they were unable to catch the wary seals at their blow-holes in the ice, although they succeeded, after a long chase, in obtaining two more bears, who had been tempted by hunger to approach the ship. they were disappointed in receiving no visits from the esquimaux. andrew feared truly that the friendly native who had come to their rescue, had himself, on his return, fallen a victim to the savage animals who had followed them when making their way to the ship. the occurrences on board the "kate" during that long winter cannot be detailed at length. that dreaded disease, the scurvy, produced by salt provisions and want of vegetable diet, broke out among the crew; more than half were laid up by it, and unable to quit their beds; the good captain himself was also taken ill--he had been long suffering from a disease caught when the ship was first entrapped by the ice, and when it was expected that she would be crushed to pieces, as the "laplander" had been. archy had now the satisfaction of repaying his kindness, by watching over him, as a dutiful son would tend a father. he scarcely ever left his side. much of the time was spent in reading the bible, the dying captain's consolation and joy. again and again he urged on archy the advice he had before given. archy did not vow, as some might have done, that he would follow it, but as he knelt by the captain's bedside, he earnestly prayed that he might have grace to do so. the captain, feeling that his hours were numbered, desired to bid farewell to his crew. it was a sad sight to see the once hardy strong men pass in and out of the cabin--to observe the tottering steps and the pale thin cheeks of most of them. the captain had a word of exhortation and advice for each, and many felt the solemn importance of his words. the good captain was the first to die, and the doctor feared that ere long several others would sink under the disease from which they suffered. a deep gloom settled on most of the crew, but there was light and brightness in old andrew's cabin, which he endeavoured to shed abroad. that light came from within. it arose from his firm faith in god's loving mercy and protecting providence. "do not despair, mates," he said, over and over again. "god has thought fit to take our good captain, who has changed this cold bleak scene for one of brightness and glory in that better land aloft there, where there is room for each one of us too, if we will consent to become the subjects of the being who rules there; but he may not think fit as yet to call us there, though we are his subjects here below. if he does not want us, he will find the means of carrying our ship in safety home." month after month passed by; though suffering from hunger, and intense cold from want of fuel, the crew held out. the ice began to move much earlier in the year than had been expected. a strong gale sprung up from the northward--huge masses of ice rose and fell around the ship-- now as they crashed away, an open channel appeared ahead. sail was set, though not without difficulty, as few were able to go aloft. the water, too, as the ship began to move, rushed in through many a leak, and the pumps were set to work. now it seemed as if she was again about to be imprisoned--then once more the ice broke away, and she continued her course. but of her whole crew, scarcely six were fitted for work. many were sick in bed, unable to move; others could just crawl to the pumps, and work them with their feeble arms. the brave doctor, who had retained his strength, exerted himself to the utmost--now standing at the helm, now assisting in making sail, now taking a turn at the pumps, in addition to his duties among the sick. archy, who had also retained his strength, felt no little satisfaction on finding that he was of as much use as his older shipmates. at length the ship was free; but alas, many of the poor fellows who had hitherto held out, sank quickly under the fatal disease from which they had long been suffering. one by one they sank, till ten had died besides the captain. the voyage home was almost as trying as their detention in the ice. scarcely a drop of water remained, their stock of provisions was well nigh exhausted, every particle of fuel had been consumed, while their numbers were daily diminishing, their strength decreasing, and the water gaining on the pumps. still they struggled, like brave men, to the last. "surely we cannot be far off the land?" said andrew, one morning to archy. "i'll go aloft and have a look out," answered archy; and he made his way to the mast-head. his heart bounded as he caught sight, in the far distance, of blue hills rising out of the tossing waters. the welcome cry he uttered brought on deck all who had strength sufficient to crawl out of their berths. the ship was steered in the direction towards which archy pointed, the breeze was favourable, and in a short time the well-known headlands and points of unst, the most northern isle of shetland, appeared in sight. before evening the anchor was dropped in one of the deep voes which run up far inland all round the coast. the inhabitants of the village, on its shores, gazed with astonishment at the battered vessel, and the way in which the sails, which the crew had not strength to furl, fluttered from the yards. in a short time a number of boats, with friendly visitors, were on board, and the news was sent to lerwick that the long missing "kate" had returned. archy sent a few lines to his mother; he signed his note, "from your repentant son," but he trembled lest she to whom it was addressed might no longer be alive to receive it. a portion of the crew, able to bear the journey were the next day sent on overland; the brave surgeon, however, refused to quit the sick and dying. "i will stay and help you, sir," said old andrew. "god has preserved my strength, and it is my duty to employ it in tending to my suffering fellow creatures; and though there are many at home ready to welcome me, the welcome will come more warmly to my heart when i feel that i have not left undone what i ought to have done." "and may i likewise stay?" said archy. "what andrew thinks is right is my duty also." not till the sick had recovered sufficiently to be taken on shore did andrew and archy set out on their journey to the south. as they were starting a letter was put into archy's hands. he eagerly read it. it was from his mother. although his transgression had caused her unspeakable sorrow, she had never ceased to pray that god would protect him amid the dangers he would encounter, and that his heart might be changed and a new spirit put within him. "you are welcome back, my boy. god alone can forgive sin, and if you have sought forgiveness in his appointed way, sure i am that it has not been refused." this letter cheered archy on his homeward journey, and when at length he found himself in his mother's arms, and maggie hanging round his neck, he wondered how he could have been so hard-hearted as to quit them; and he promised that he would henceforth remain at home to assist and support them. he felt, indeed, that he could never make amends for the suffering and anxiety he had caused his mother, to which he acknowledged that the hardships he had endured were in comparison nothing. archy had learned many important lessons, and above all, the great truth, that he who rules the world is a god of justice, and also of unbounded love and mercy; and although, in his justice, he allows the obstinate and perverse to perish in their sins, he will hear the prayers and abundantly bless all who humbly come to him seeking for forgiveness and protection. note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h.zip) fighting the whales by r. m. ballantyne [illustration: cover art] blackie & son ltd. london ---- glasgow ---- bombay contents chap. i. in trouble, to begin with ii. at sea iii. our first battle iv. "cutting in" the blubber and "trying out" the oil v. a storm, a man overboard, and a rescue vi. the whale--fighting bulls, etc. vii. tom's wisdom--another great battle viii. death on the sea ix. news from home--a gam x. return home illustrations fighting the whales . . . . . . _cover art_ "tom lokins raised the harpoon" "hurled it blazing into the sea" "in a moment i was overboard" fighting the whales chapter i in trouble, to begin with there are few things in this world that have filled me with so much astonishment as the fact that man can kill a whale! that a fish, more than sixty feet long, and thirty feet round the body; with the bulk of three hundred fat oxen rolled into one; with the strength of many hundreds of horses; able to swim at a rate that would carry it right round the world in twenty-three days; that can smash a boat to atoms with one slap of its tail, and stave in the planks of a ship with one blow of its thick skull;--that such a monster can be caught and killed by man, is most wonderful to hear of, but i can tell from experience that it is much more wonderful to see. there is a wise saying which i have often thought much upon. it is this: "knowledge is power". man is but a feeble creature, and if he had to depend on his own bodily strength alone he could make no head against even the ordinary brutes in this world. but the knowledge which has been given to him by his maker has clothed man with great power, so that he is more than a match for the fiercest beast in the forest, or the largest fish in the sea. yet, with all his knowledge, with all his experience, and all his power, the killing of a great old sperm whale costs man a long, tough battle, sometimes it even costs him his life. it is a long time now since i took to fighting the whales. i have been at it, man and boy, for nigh forty years, and many a wonderful sight have i seen; many a desperate battle have i fought in the fisheries of the north and south seas. sometimes, when i sit in the chimney-corner of a winter evening, smoking my pipe with my old messmate tom lokins, i stare into the fire and think of the days gone by till i forget where i am, and go on thinking so hard that the flames seem to turn into melting fires, and the bars of the grate into dead fish, and the smoke into sails and rigging, and i go to work cutting up the blubber and stirring the oil-pots, or pulling the bow-oar and driving the harpoon at such a rate that i can't help giving a shout, which causes tom to start and cry: "hallo! bob" (my name is bob ledbury, you see). "hallo! bob, wot's the matter?" to which i reply, "tom, can it all be true?" "can _wot_ be true?" says he, with a stare of surprise--for tom is getting into his dotage now. and then i chuckle and tell him i was only thinking of old times, and so he falls to smoking again, and i to staring at the fire, and thinking as hard as ever. the way in which i was first led to go after the whales was curious. this is how it happened. about forty years ago, when i was a boy of nearly fifteen years of age, i lived with my mother in one of the seaport towns of england. there was great distress in the town at that time, and many of the hands were out of work. my employer, a blacksmith, had just died, and for more than six weeks i had not been able to get employment or to earn a farthing. this caused me great distress, for my father had died without leaving a penny in the world, and my mother depended on me entirely. the money i had saved out of my wages was soon spent, and one morning when i sat down to breakfast, my mother looked across the table and said, in a thoughtful voice: "robert, dear, this meal has cost us our last halfpenny." my mother was old and frail, and her voice very gentle; she was the most trustful, uncomplaining woman i ever knew. i looked up quickly into her face as she spoke. "all the money gone, mother?" "aye, all. it will be hard for you to go without your dinner, robert, dear." "it will be harder for _you_, mother," i cried, striking the table with my fist; then a lump rose in my throat and almost choked me. i could not utter another word. it was with difficulty i managed to eat the little food that was before me. after breakfast i rose hastily and rushed out of the house, determined that i would get my mother her dinner, even if i should have to beg for it. but i must confess that a sick feeling came over me when i thought of begging. hurrying along the crowded streets without knowing very well what i meant to do, i at last came to an abrupt halt at the end of the pier. here i went up to several people and offered my services in a wild sort of way. they must have thought that i was drunk, for nearly all of them said gruffly that they did not want me. dinner-time drew near, but no one had given me a job, and no wonder, for the way in which i tried to get one was not likely to be successful. at last i resolved to beg. observing a fat, red-faced old gentleman coming along the pier, i made up to him boldly. he carried a cane with a large gold knob on the top of it. that gave me hope, "for of course," thought i, "he must be rich." his nose, which was exactly the colour and shape of the gold knob on his cane, was stuck in the centre of a round, good-natured countenance, the mouth of which was large and firm; the eyes bright and blue. he frowned as i went forward hat in hand; but i was not to be driven back; the thought of my starving mother gave me power to crush down my rising shame. yet i had no reason to be ashamed. i was willing to work, if only i could have got employment. stopping in front of the old gentleman, i was about to speak when i observed him quietly button up his breeches pocket. the blood rushed to my face, and, turning quickly on my heel, i walked away without uttering a word. "hallo!" shouted a gruff voice just as i was moving away. i turned, and observed that the shout was uttered by a broad rough-looking jack-tar, a man of about two or three and thirty, who had been sitting all the forenoon on an old cask smoking his pipe and basking in the sun. "hallo!" said he again. "well," said i. "wot d'ye mean, youngster, by goin' on in that there fashion all the mornin', a-botherin' everybody, and makin' a fool o' yourself like that? eh!" "what's that to you?" said i savagely, for my heart was sore and heavy, and i could not stand the interference of a stranger. "oh! it's nothin' to me of course," said the sailor, picking his pipe quietly with his clasp-knife; "but come here, boy, i've somethin' to say to ye." "well, what is it?" said i, going up to him somewhat sulkily. the man looked at me gravely through the smoke of his pipe, and said, "you're in a passion, my young buck, that's all; and, in case you didn't know it, i thought i'd tell ye." i burst into a fit of laughter. "well, i believe you're not far wrong; but i'm better now." "ah! that's right," said the sailor, with an approving nod of his head; "always confess when you're in the wrong. now, younker, let me give you a bit of advice. never get into a passion if you can help it, and if you can't help it get out of it as fast as possible, and if you can't get out of it, just give a great roar to let off the steam and turn about and run. there's nothing like that. passion han't got legs. it can't hold on to a feller when he's runnin'. if you keep it up till you a'most split your timbers, passion has no chance. it _must_ go a-starn. now, lad, i've been watchin' ye all the mornin', and i see there's a screw loose somewhere. if you'll tell me wot it is, see if i don't help you!" the kind frank way in which this was said quite won my heart, so i sat down on the old cask, and told the sailor all my sorrows. "boy," said he, when i had finished, "i'll put you in the way o' helpin' your mother. i can get you a berth in my ship, if you're willin' to take a trip to the whale fishery of the south seas." "and who will look after my mother when i'm away?" said i. the sailor looked perplexed at the question. "ah! that's a puzzler," he replied, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. "will you take me to your mother's house, lad?" "willingly," said i, and, jumping up, i led the way. as we turned to go, i observed that the old gentleman with the gold-headed cane was leaning over the rail of the pier at a short distance from us. a feeling of anger instantly rose within me, and i exclaimed, loud enough for him to hear: "i do believe that stingy old chap has been listening to every word we've been saying!" i thought i observed a frown on the sailor's brow as i said this, but he made no remark, and in a few minutes we were walking rapidly through the streets. my companion stopped at one of those stores so common in seaport towns, where one can buy almost anything, from a tallow candle to a brass cannon. here he [transcriber's note: two pages missing from book] i've got neither family nor friends, and i'm bound for the south seas in six days; so, if you'll take it, you're welcome to it, and if your son bob can manage to cast loose from you without leaving you to sink, i'll take him aboard the ship that i sail in. he'll always find me at the bull and griffin, in the high street, or at the end o' the pier." while the sailor was speaking, i observed a figure standing in a dark corner of the room near the door, and, on looking more closely, i found that it was the old gentleman with the nose like his cane knob. seeing that he was observed, he came forward and said: "i trust that you will forgive my coming here without invitation; but i happened to overhear part of the conversation between your son and this seaman, and i am willing to help you over your little difficulty, if you will allow me." the old gentleman said this in a very quick, abrupt way, and looked as if he were afraid his offer might be refused. he was much heated, with climbing our long stair no doubt, and as he stood in the middle of the room, puffing and wiping his bald head with a handkerchief, my mother rose hastily and offered him a chair. "you are very kind, sir," she said; "do sit down, sir. i'm sure i don't know why you should take so much trouble. but, dear me, you are very warm; will you take a cup of tea to cool you?" "thank you, thank you. with much pleasure, unless, indeed, your son objects to a '_stingy old chap_' sitting beside him." i blushed when he repeated my words, and attempted to make some apology; but the old gentleman stopped me by commencing to explain his intentions in short, rapid sentences. to make a long story short, he offered to look after my mother while i was away, and, to prove his sincerity, laid down five shillings, and said he would call with that sum every week as long as i was absent. my mother, after some trouble, agreed to let me go, and, before that evening closed, everything was arranged, and the gentleman, leaving his address, went away. the sailor had been so much filled with surprise at the suddenness of all this, that he could scarcely speak. immediately after the departure of the old gentleman, he said, "well, good-bye, mistress, good-bye, bob," and throwing on his hat in a careless way, left the room. "stop!" i shouted after him, when he had got about half-way down stair. "hallo! wot's wrong now?" "nothing; i only forgot to ask your name." "tom lokins," he bellowed, in the hoarse voice of a regular boatswain, "w'ich wos my father's name before me." so saying, he departed, whistling "rule, britannia," with all his might. thus the matter was settled. six days afterwards, i rigged myself out in a blue jacket, white ducks, and a straw hat, and went to sea. chapter ii at sea my first few days on the ocean were so miserable that i oftentimes repented of having left my native land. i was, as my new friend tom lokins said, as sick as a dog. but in course of time i grew well, and began to rejoice in the cool fresh breezes and the great rolling billows of the sea. many and many a time i used to creep out to the end of the bowsprit, when the weather was calm, and sit with my legs dangling over the deep blue water, and my eyes fixed on the great masses of rolling clouds in the sky, thinking of the new course of life i had just begun. at such times the thought of my mother was sure to come into my mind, and i thought of her parting words, "put your trust in the lord, robert, and read his word." i resolved to try to obey her, but this i found was no easy matter, for the sailors were a rough lot of fellows, who cared little for the bible. but, i must say, they were a hearty, good-natured set, and much better, upon the whole, than many a ship's crew that i afterwards sailed with. we were fortunate in having fair winds this voyage, and soon found ourselves on the other side of the _line_, as we jack-tars call the equator. of course the crew did not forget the old custom of shaving all the men who had never crossed the line before. our captain was a jolly old man, and uncommonly fond of "sky-larking". he gave us leave to do what we liked the day we crossed the line; so, as there were a number of wild spirits among us, we broke through all the ordinary rules, or, rather, we added on new rules to them. the old hands had kept the matter quiet from us greenhorns, so that, although we knew they were going to do some sort of mischief, we didn't exactly understand what it was to be. about noon of that day i was called on deck and told that old father neptune was coming aboard, and we were to be ready to receive him. a minute after i saw a tremendous monster come up over the side of the ship and jump on the deck. he was crowned with seaweed, and painted in a wonderful fashion; his clothes were dripping wet, as if he had just come from the bottom of the sea. after him came another monster with a petticoat made of sailcloth and a tippet of a bit of old tarpaulin. this was neptune's wife, and these two carried on the most remarkable antics i ever saw. i laughed heartily, and soon discovered, from the tones of their voices, which of my shipmates neptune and his wife were. but my mirth was quickly stopped when i was suddenly seized by several men, and my face was covered over with a horrible mixture of tar and grease! six of us youngsters were treated in this way; then the lather was scraped off with a piece of old hoop-iron, and, after being thus shaved, buckets of cold water were thrown over us. at last, after a prosperous voyage, we arrived at our fishing-ground in the south seas, and a feeling of excitement and expectation began to show itself among the men, insomuch that our very eyes seemed brighter than usual. one night those of us who had just been relieved from watch on deck were sitting on the lockers down below telling ghost stories. it was a dead calm, and one of those intensely dark, hot nights, that cause sailors to feel uneasy, they scarce know why. i began to feel so uncomfortable at last, listening to the horrible tales which tom lokins was relating to the men, that i slipt away from them with the intention of going on deck. i moved so quietly that no one observed me; besides, every eye was fixed earnestly on tom, whose deep low voice was the only sound that broke the stillness of all around. as i was going very cautiously up the ladder leading to the deck, tom had reached that part of his story where the ghost was just appearing in a dark churchyard, dressed in white, and coming slowly forward, one step at a time, towards the terrified man who saw it. the men held their breath, and one or two of their faces turned pale as tom went on with his description, lowering his voice to a hoarse whisper. just as i put my head up the hatchway the sheet of one of the sails, which was hanging loose in the still air, passed gently over my head and knocked my hat off. at any other time i would have thought nothing of this, but tom's story had thrown me into such an excited and nervous condition that i gave a start, missed my footing, uttered a loud cry, and fell down the ladder right in among the men with a tremendous crash, knocking over two or three oil-cans and a tin bread-basket in my fall, and upsetting the lantern, so that the place was instantly pitch-dark. i never heard such a howl of terror as these men gave vent to when this misfortune befell me. they rushed upon deck with their hearts in their mouths, tumbling, and peeling the skin off their shins and knuckles in their haste; and it was not until they heard the laughter of the watch on deck that they breathed freely, and, joining in the laugh, called themselves fools for being frightened by a ghost story. i noticed, however, that, for all their pretended indifference, there was not one man among them--not even tom lokins himself--who would go down below to relight the lantern for at least a quarter of an hour afterwards! feeling none the worse for my fall, i went forward and leaned over the bow of the ship, where i was much astonished by the appearance of the sea. it seemed as if the water was on fire. every time the ship's bow rose and fell, the little belt of foam made in the water seemed like a belt of blue flame with bright sparkles in it, like stars or diamonds. i had seen this curious appearance before, but never so bright as it was on that night. "what is it, tom?" said i, as my friend came forward and leaned over the ship's bulwark beside me. "it's blue fire, bob," replied tom, as he smoked his pipe calmly. "come, you know i can't swallow that," said i; "everybody knows that fire, either blue or red, can't burn in the water." "maybe not," returned tom; "but it's blue fire for all that. leastwise if it's not, i don't know wot else it is." tom had often seen this light before, no doubt, but he had never given himself the trouble to find out what it could be. fortunately the captain came up just as i put the question, and he enlightened me on the subject. "it is caused by small animals," said he, leaning over the side. "small animals!" said i, in astonishment. "aye; many parts of the sea are full of creatures so small and so thin and colourless, that you can hardly see them even in a clear glass tumbler. many of them are larger than others, but the most of them are very small." "but how do they shine like that, sir?" i asked. "that i do not know, boy. god has given them the power to shine, just as he has given us the power to walk or speak; and they do shine brightly, as you see; but how they do it is more than i can tell. i think, myself, it must be anger that makes them shine, for they generally do it when they are stirred up or knocked about by oars, or ships' keels, or tumbling waves. but i am not sure that that's the reason either, because, you know, we often sail through them without seeing the light, though of course they must be there." "p'r'aps, sir," said tom lokins; "p'r'aps, sir, they're sleepy sometimes, an' can't be bothered gettin' angry." "perhaps!" answered the captain, laughing. "but then again, at other times, i have seen them shining over the whole sea when it was quite calm, making it like an ocean of milk; and nothing was disturbing them at that time, d'ye see." "i don' know _that_," objected tom; "they might have bin a-fightin' among theirselves." "or playing, maybe," said i. the captain laughed, and, looking up at the sky, said: "i don't like the look of the weather, tom lokins. you're a sharp fellow, and have been in these seas before; what say you?" "we'll have a breeze," replied tom, briefly. "more than a breeze," muttered the captain, while a look of grave anxiety overspread his countenance; "i'll go below and take a squint at the glass." "what does he mean by that, tom?" said i, when the captain was gone; "i never saw a calmer or a finer night. surely there is no chance of a storm just now." "aye, that shows that you're a young feller, and han't got much experience o' them seas," replied my companion. "why, boy, sometimes the fiercest storm is brewin' behind the greatest calm. an' the worst o' the thing is that it comes so sudden at times, that the masts are torn out o' the ship before you can say jack robinson." "what! and without any warning?" said i. "aye, _almost_ without warnin'; but not _altogether_ without it. you heer'd the captain say he'd go an' take a squint at the glass?" "yes; what is the glass?" "it's not a glass o' grog, you may be sure; nor yet a lookin'-glass. it's the weather-glass, boy. shore-goin' chaps call it a barometer." "and what's the meaning of barometer?" i enquired earnestly. tom lokins stared at me in stupid amazement. "why, boy," said he, "you're too inquisitive. i once asked the doctor o' a ship that question, and says he to me, 'tom,' says he, 'a barometer is a glass tube filled with quicksilver or mercury, which is a metal in a soft or fluid state, like water, you know, and it's meant for tellin' the state o' the weather.' "'yes, sir,' i answers, 'i know that well enough.' "'then why did you ask?' says he, gettin' into a passion. "'i asked what was the meanin' o' the _word_ barometer, sir,' said i. "the doctor he looked grave at that, and shook his head. 'tom,' says he, 'if i was to go for to explain that word, and all about the instrument, in a scientific sort o' way, d'ye see, i'd have to sit here an' speak to you right on end for six hours or more.' "'oh, sir,' says i, 'don't do it, then. _please_, don't do it.' "'no more i will,' says he; 'but it'll serve your turn to know that a barometer is a glass for measurin' the weight o' the air, and, _somehow or other_, that lets ye know wot's a-coming. if the mercury in the glass rises high, all's right. if it falls uncommon low very sudden, look out for squalls; that's all. no matter how smooth the sea may be, or how sweetly all natur' may smile, don't you believe it; take in every inch o' canvas at once.'" "that was a queer explanation, tom." "aye, but it was a true one, as you shall see before long." as i looked out upon the calm sea, which lay like a sheet of glass, without a ripple on its surface, i could scarcely believe what he had said. but before many minutes had passed i was convinced of my error. while i was standing talking to my messmate, the captain rushed on deck, and shouted: "all hands tumble up! shorten sail! take in every rag! look alive, boys, look alive." i was quite stunned for a moment by this, and by the sudden tumult that followed. the men, who seemed never to take thought about anything, and who had but one duty, namely, to _obey orders_, ran upon deck, and leaped up the rigging like cats; the sheets of nearly all the principal sails were clewed up, and, ere long, the canvas was made fast to the yards. a few of the smaller sails only were left exposed, and even these were close-reefed. before long a loud roar was heard, and in another minute the storm burst upon us with terrific violence. the ship at first lay over so much that the masts were almost in the water, and it was as impossible for anyone to walk the deck as to walk along the side of a wall. at the same time, the sea was lashed into white foam, and the blinding spray flew over us in bitter fury. "take in the topsails!" roared the captain. but his voice was drowned in the shriek of the gale. the men were saved the risk of going out on the yards, however, for in a few moments more all the sails, except the storm-trysail, were burst and blown to ribbons. we now tried to put the ship's head to the wind and "lay to", by which landsmen will understand that we tried to face the storm, and remain stationary. but the gale was so fierce that this was impossible. the last rag of sail was blown away, and then there was nothing left for us but to show our stern to the gale, and "scud under bare poles". the great danger now was that we might be "pooped", which means that a huge wave might curl over our stern, fall with terrible fury on our deck, and sink us. many and many a good ship has gone down in this way; but we were mercifully spared. as our safety depended very much on good steering, the captain himself took the wheel, and managed the ship so well, that we weathered the gale without damage, further than the loss of a few sails and light spars. for two days the storm howled furiously, the sky and sea were like ink, with sheets of rain and foam driving through the air, and raging billows tossing our ship about like a cork. during all this time my shipmates were quiet and grave, but active and full of energy, so that every order was at once obeyed without noise or confusion. every man watched the slightest motion of the captain. we all felt that everything depended on him. as for me, i gave up all hope of being saved. it seemed impossible to me that anything that man could build could withstand so terrible a storm. i do not pretend to say that i was not afraid. the near prospect of a violent death caused my heart to sink more than once; but my feelings did not unman me. i did my duty quietly, but quickly, like the rest; and when i had no work to do, i stood holding on to the weather stanchions, looking at the raging sea, and thinking of my mother, and of the words of kindness and counsel she had so often bestowed upon me in vain. the storm ceased almost as quickly as it began, and although the sea did not all at once stop the heavings of its angry bosom, the wind fell entirely in the course of a few hours, the dark clouds broke up into great masses that were piled up high into the sky, and out of the midst of these the glorious sun shone in bright rays down on the ocean, like comfort from heaven, gladdening our hearts as we busily repaired the damage that we had suffered from the storm. chapter iii our first battle i shall never forget the surprise i got the first time i saw a whale. it was in the forenoon of a most splendid day, about a week after we arrived at that part of the ocean where we might expect to find fish. a light nor'-east breeze was blowing, but it scarcely ruffled the sea, as we crept slowly through the water with every stitch of canvas set. as we had been looking out for fish for some time past, everything was in readiness for them. the boats were hanging over the side ready to lower, tubs for coiling away the ropes, harpoons, lances, &c., all were ready to throw in, and start away at a moment's notice. the man in the "crow's-nest", as they call the cask fixed up at the masthead, was looking anxiously out for whales, and the crew were idling about the deck. tom lokins was seated on the windlass smoking his pipe, and i was sitting beside him on an empty cask, sharpening a blubber-knife. "tom," said i, "what like is a whale?" "why, it's like nothin' but itself," replied tom, looking puzzled. "why, wot a queer feller you are to ax questions." "i'm sure you've seen plenty of them. you might be able to tell what a whale is like." "wot it's like! well, it's like a tremendous big bolster with a head and a tail to it." "and how big is it?" "they're of all sizes, lad. i've seen one that was exactly equal to three hundred fat bulls, and its rate of goin' would take it round the whole world in twenty-three days." "i don't believe you," said i, laughing. "don't you?" cried tom; "it's a fact notwithstandin', for the captain himself said so, and that's how i came to know it." just as tom finished speaking, the man in the crow's-nest roared at the top of his voice, "there she blows!" that was the signal that a whale was in sight, and as it was the first time we had heard it that season, every man in the ship was thrown into a state of tremendous excitement. "there she blows!" roared the man again. "where away?" shouted the captain. "about two miles right ahead." in another moment the utmost excitement prevailed on board. suddenly, while i was looking over the side, straining my eyes to catch a sight of the whale, which could not yet be seen by the men on deck, i saw a brown object appear in the sea, not twenty yards from the side of the ship; before i had time to ask what it was, a whale's head rose to the surface, and shot up out of the water. the part of the fish that was visible above water could not have been less then thirty feet in length. it just looked as if our longboat had jumped out of the sea, and he was so near that i could see his great mouth quite plainly. i could have tossed a biscuit on his back easily. sending two thick spouts of frothy water out of his blow-holes forty feet into the air with tremendous noise, he fell flat upon the sea with a clap like thunder, tossed his flukes or tail high into the air, and disappeared. i was so amazed at this sight that i could not speak. i could only stare at the place where the huge monster had gone down. "stand by to lower," shouted the captain. "aye, aye, sir," replied the men, leaping to their appointed stations; for every man in a whale-ship has his post of duty appointed to him, and knows what to do when an order is given. "lower away," cried the captain, whose face was now blazing with excitement. in a moment more three boats were in the water; the tubs, harpoons, &c., were thrown in, the men seized the oars, and away they went with a cheer. i was in such a state of flutter that i scarce knew what i did; but i managed somehow or other to get into a boat, and as i was a strong fellow, and a good rower, i was allowed to pull. "there she blows!" cried the man in the crow's-nest, just as we shot from the side of the ship. there was no need to ask, "where away" this time. another whale rose and spouted not more than three hundred yards off, and before we could speak a third fish rose in another direction, and we found ourselves in the middle of what is called a "school of whales". "now, lads," said the captain, who steered the boat in which i rowed, "bend your backs, my hearties; that fish right ahead of us is a hundred-barrel whale for certain. give way, boys; we _must_ have that fish." there was no need to urge the men, for their backs were strained to the utmost, their faces were flushed, and the big veins in their necks swelled almost to bursting, with the tremendous exertion. "hold hard," said the captain in a low voice, for now that we were getting near our prey we made as little noise as possible. the men at once threw their oars "apeak", as they say; that is, raised them straight, up in the air, and waited for further orders. we expected the whale would rise near to where we were, and thought it best to rest and look out. while we were waiting, tom lokins, who was harpooner of the boat, sat just behind me with all his irons ready. he took this opportunity to explain to me that by a "hundred-barrel fish" is meant a fish that will yield a hundred barrels of oil. he further informed me that such a fish was a big one, though he had seen a few in the north-west seas that had produced upwards of two hundred barrels. i now observed that the other boats had separated, and each had gone after a different whale. in a few minutes the fish we were in chase of rose a short distance off, and sent up two splendid water-spouts high into the air, thus showing that he was what the whalers call a "right" whale. it is different from the sperm whale, which has only one blowhole, and that a little one. we rowed towards it with all our might, and as we drew near, the captain ordered tom lokins to "stand up", so he at once laid in his oar, and took up the harpoon. the harpoon is an iron lance with a barbed point. a whale-line is attached to it, and this line is coiled away in a tub. when we were within a few yards of the fish, which was going slowly through the water, all ignorant of the terrible foes who were pursuing him, tom lokins raised the harpoon high above his head, and darted it deep into its fat side just behind the left fin, and next moment the boat ran aground on the whale's back. [illustration: "tom lokins raised the harpoon"] "stern all, for your lives!" roared the captain, who, before his order was obeyed, managed to give the creature two deep wounds with his lance. the lance has no barbs to its point, and is used only for wounding after the harpoon is fixed. the boat was backed off at once, but it had scarcely got a few yards away when the astonished fish whirled its huge body half out of the water, and, coming down with a tremendous clap, made off like lightning. the line was passed round a strong piece of wood called the "logger-head", and, in running out, it began to smoke, and nearly set the wood on fire. indeed, it would have done so, if a man had not kept constantly pouring water upon it. it was needful to be very cautious in managing the line, for the duty is attended with great danger. if any hitch should take place, the line is apt to catch the boat and drag it down bodily under the waves. sometimes a coil of it gets round a leg or an arm of the man who attends to it, in which case his destruction is almost certain. many a poor fellow has lost his life in this way. the order was now given to "hold on line". this was done, and in a moment our boat was cleaving the blue water like an arrow, while the white foam curled from her bows. i thought every moment we should be dragged under; but whenever this seemed likely to happen, the line was let run a bit, and the strain eased. at last the fish grew tired of dragging us, the line ceased to run out, and tom hauled in the slack, which another man coiled away in its tub. presently the fish rose to the surface, a short distance off our weather bow. "give way, boys! spring your oars," cried the captain; "another touch or two with the lance, and that fish is ours." the boat shot ahead, and we were about to dart a second harpoon into the whale's side, when it took to "sounding",--which means, that it went straight down, head foremost, into the depths of the sea. at that moment tom lokins uttered a cry of mingled anger and disappointment. we all turned round and saw our shipmate standing with the slack line in his hand, and such an expression on his weather-beaten face, that i could scarce help laughing. the harpoon had not been well fixed; it had lost its hold, and the fish was now free! "gone!" exclaimed the captain with a groan. i remember even yet the feeling of awful disappointment that came over me when i understood that we had lost the fish after all our trouble! i could almost have wept with bitter vexation. as for my comrades, they sat staring at each other for some moments quite speechless. before we could recover from the state into which this misfortune had thrown us, one of the men suddenly shouted, "hallo! there's the mate's boat in distress." we turned at once, and, truly, there was no doubt of the truth of this, for, about half a mile off, we beheld our first mate's boat tearing over the sea like a small steamer. it was fast to a fish, and two oars were set up on end to attract our attention. when a whale is struck, it sometimes happens that the whole of the line in a boat is run out. when this is about to occur, it becomes necessary to hold on as much as can be done without running the boat under the water, and an oar is set up on end to show that assistance is required, either from the ship or from the other boats. as the line grows less and less, another and another oar is hoisted to show that help must be sent quickly. if no assistance can be sent, the only thing that remains to be done is to cut the line and lose the fish; but a whale-line, with its harpoon, is a very heavy loss, in addition to that of the fish, so that whalers are tempted to hold on a little too long sometimes. when we saw the mate's boat dashing away in this style, we forgot our grief at the loss of our whale in anxiety to render assistance to our comrades, and we rowed towards them as fast as we could. fortunately the whale changed its course and came straight towards us, so that we ceased pulling, and waited till they came up. as the boat came on i saw the foam curling up on her bows as she leaped and flew over the sea. i could scarcely believe it possible that wood and iron could bear such a strain. in a few minutes they were almost abreast of us. "you're holding too hard!" shouted the captain. "lines all out!" roared the mate. they were past almost before these short sentences could be spoken. but they had not gone twenty yards ahead of us when the water rushed in over the bow, and before we could utter a word the boat and crew were gone. not a trace of them remained! the horror of the moment had not been fully felt, however, when the boat rose to the surface keel up, and, one after another, the heads of the men appeared. the line had fortunately broken, otherwise the boat would have been lost, and the entire crew probably would have gone to the bottom with her. we instantly pulled to the rescue, and were thankful to find that not a man was killed, though some of them were a little hurt, and all had received a terrible fright. we next set to work to right the upset boat, an operation which was not accomplished without much labour and difficulty. now, while we were thus employed, our third boat, which was in charge of the second mate, had gone after the whale that had caused us so much trouble, and when we had got the boat righted and began to look about us, we found that she was fast to the fish about a mile to leeward. "hurrah, lads!" cried the captain, "luck has not left us yet. give way, my hearties, pull like britons! we'll get that fish yet." we were all dreadfully done up by this time, but the sight of a boat fast to a whale restored us at once, and we pulled away as stoutly as if we had only begun the day's work. the whale was heading in the direction of the ship, and when we came up to the scene of action the second mate had just "touched the life"; in other words, he had driven the lance deep down into the whale's vitals. this was quickly known by jets of blood being spouted up through the blowholes. soon after, our victim went into its dying agonies, or, as whalemen say, "his flurry ". this did not last long. in a short time he rolled over dead. we fastened a line to his tail, the three boats took the carcass in tow, and, singing a lively song, we rowed away to the ship. thus ended our first battle with the whales. chapter iv "cutting in" the blubber and "trying out" the oil the scene that took place on board ship after we caught our first fish was most wonderful. we commenced the operation of what is called "cutting in", that is, cutting up the whale, and getting the fat or blubber hoisted in. the next thing we did was to "try out" the oil, or melt down the fat in large iron pots brought with us for this purpose; and the change that took place in the appearance of the ship and the men when this began was very remarkable. when we left port our decks were clean, our sails white, our masts well scraped; the brass-work about the quarter-deck was well polished, and the men looked tidy and clean. a few hours after our first whale had been secured alongside all this was changed. the cutting up of the huge carcass covered the decks with oil and blood, making them so slippery that they had to be covered with sand to enable the men to walk about. then the smoke of the great fires under the melting pots begrimed the masts, sails, and cordage with soot. the faces and hands of the men got so covered with oil and soot that it would have puzzled anyone to say whether they were white or black. their clothes, too, became so dirty that it was impossible to clean them. but, indeed, whalemen do not much mind this. in fact, they take a pleasure in all the dirt that surrounds them, because it is a sign of success in the main object of their voyage. the men in a _clean_ whale ship are never happy. when everything is filthy, and dirty, and greasy, and smoky, and black--decks, rigging, clothes, and person--it is then that the hearty laugh and jest and song are heard as the crew work busily, night and day, at their rough but profitable labour. the operations of "cutting in" and "trying out" were matters of great interest to me the first time i saw them. after having towed our whale to the ship, cutting in was immediately begun. first, the carcass was secured near the head and tail with chains, and made fast to the ship; then the great blocks and ropes fastened to the main and fore mast for hoisting in the blubber were brought into play. when all was ready, the captain and the two mates with tom lokins got upon the whale's body, with long-handled sharp spades or digging-knives. with these they fell to work cutting off the blubber. i was stationed at one of the hoisting ropes, and while we were waiting for the signal to "hoist away", i peeped over the side, and for the first time had a good look at the great fish. when we killed it, so much of its body was down in the water that i could not see it very clearly, but now that it was lashed at full length alongside the ship, and i could look right down upon it, i began to understand more clearly what a large creature it was. one thing surprised me much; the top of its head, which was rough and knotty like the bark of an old tree, was swarming with little crabs and barnacles, and other small creatures. the whale's head seemed to be their regular home! this fish was by no means one of the largest kind, but being the first i had seen, i fancied it must be the largest fish in the sea. its body was forty feet long, and twenty feet round at the thickest part. its head, which seemed to me a great, blunt, shapeless thing, like a clumsy old boat, was eight feet long from the tip to the blowholes or nostrils; and these holes were situated on the back of the head, which at that part was nearly four feet broad. the entire head measured about twenty-one feet round. its ears were two small holes, so small that it was difficult to discover them, and the eyes were also very small for so large a body, being about the same size as those of an ox. the mouth was very large, and the under jaw had great ugly lips. when it was dying, i saw these lips close in once or twice on its fat cheeks, which it bulged out like the leather sides of a pair of gigantic bellows. it had two fins, one on each side, just behind the head. with these, and with its tail, the whale swims and fights. its tail is its most deadly weapon. the flukes of this one measured thirteen feet across, and with one stroke of this it could have smashed our largest boat in pieces. many a boat has been sent to the bottom in this way. i remember hearing our first mate tell of a wonderful escape a comrade of his had in the greenland sea fishery. a whale had been struck, and, after its first run, they hauled up to it again, and rowed so hard that they ran the boat right against it. the harpooner was standing on the bow all ready, and sent his iron cleverly into the blubber. in its agony the whale reared its tail high out of the water, and the flukes whirled for a moment like a great fan just above the harpooner's head. one glance up was enough to show him that certain death was descending. in an instant he dived over the side and disappeared. next moment the flukes came down on the part of the boat he had just left, and cut it clean off; the other part was driven into the waves, and the men were left swimming in the water. they were all picked up, however, by another boat that was in company, and the harpooner was recovered with the rest. his quick dive had been the saving of his life. i had not much time given me to study the appearance of this whale before the order was given to "hoist away!" so we went to work with a will. the first part that came up was the huge lip, fastened to a large iron hook, called the blubber hook. it was lowered into the blubber-room between decks, where a couple of men were stationed to stow the blubber away. then came the fins, and after them the upper jaw, with the whalebone attached to it. the "right" whale has no teeth like the sperm whale. in place of teeth it has the well-known substance called whalebone, which grows from the roof of its mouth in a number of broad thin plates, extending from the back of the head to the snout. the lower edges of these plates of whalebone are split into thousands of hairs like bristles, so that the inside roof of a whale's mouth resembles an enormous blacking brush! the object of this curious arrangement is to enable the whale to catch the little shrimps and small sea-blubbers, called "medusa;", on which it feeds. i have spoken before of these last as being the little creatures that gave out such a beautiful pale-blue light at night. the whale feeds on them. when he desires a meal he opens his great mouth and rushes into the midst of a shoal of medusae; the little things get entangled in thousands among the hairy ends of the whalebone, and when the monster has got a large enough mouthful, he shuts his lower jaw and swallows what his net has caught. the wisdom as well as the necessity of this arrangement is very plain. of course, while dashing through the sea in this fashion, with his mouth agape, the whale must keep his throat closed, else the water would rush down it and choke him. shutting his throat then, as he does, the water is obliged to flow out of his mouth as fast as it flows in; it is also spouted up through his blowholes, and this with such violence that many of the little creatures would be swept out along with it but for the hairy-ended whalebone which lets the sea-water out, but keeps the medusae in. well, let us return to our "cutting in". after the upper jaw came the lower jaw and throat, with the tongue. this last was an enormous mass of fat, about as large as an ox, and it weighed fifteen hundred or two thousand pounds. after this was got in, the rest of the work was simple. the blubber of the body was peeled off in great strips, beginning at the neck and being cut spirally towards the tail. it was hoisted on board by the blocks, the captain and mates cutting, and the men at the windlass hoisting, and the carcass slowly turning round until we got an unbroken piece of blubber, reaching from the water to nearly as high as the mainyard-arm. this mass was nearly a foot thick, and it looked like fat pork. it was cut off close to the deck, and lowered into the blubber-room, where the two men stationed there attacked it with knives, cut it into smaller pieces, and stowed it away. then another piece was hoisted on board in the same fashion, and so on we went till every bit of blubber was cut off; and i heard the captain remark to the mate when the work was done, that the fish was a good fat one, and he wouldn't wonder if it turned out to be worth pounds. now, when this process was going on, a new point of interest arose which i had not thought of before, although my messmate, tom lokins, had often spoken of it on the voyage out. this was the arrival of great numbers of sea-birds. tom had often told me of the birds that always keep company with whalers; but i had forgotten all about it until i saw an enormous albatross come sailing majestically through the air towards us. this was the largest bird i ever saw, and no wonder, for it is the largest bird that flies. soon after that, another arrived, and although we were more than a thousand miles from any shore, we were speedily scented out and surrounded by hosts of gonies, stinkards, haglets, gulls, pigeons, petrels, and other sea-birds, which commenced to feed on pieces of the whale's carcass with the most savage gluttony. these birds were dreadfully greedy. they had stuffed themselves so full in the course of a short time, that they flew heavily and with great difficulty. no doubt they would have to take three or four days to digest that meal! sharks, too, came to get their share of what was going. but these savage monsters did not content themselves with what was thrown away; they were so bold as to come before our faces and take bites out of the whale's body. some of these sharks were eight and nine feet long, and when i saw them open their horrid jaws, armed with three rows of glistening white sharp teeth, i could well understand how easily they could bite off the leg of a man, as they often do when they get the chance. sometimes they would come right up on the whale's body with a wave, bite out great pieces of the flesh, turn over on their bellies, and roll off. while i was looking over the side during the early part of that day, i saw a very large shark come rolling up in this way close to tom lokins's legs. tom made a cut at him with his blubber-spade, but the shark rolled off in time to escape the blow. and after all it would not have done him much damage, for it is not easy to frighten or take the life out of a shark. "hand me an iron and line, bob," said tom, looking up at me. "i've got a spite agin that feller. he's been up twice already. ah! hand it down here, and two or three of ye stand by to hold on by the line. there he comes, the big villain!" the shark came close to the side of the whale at that moment, and tom sent the harpoon right down his throat. "hold on hard," shouted tom. "aye, aye," replied several of the men as they held on to the line, their arms jerking violently as the savage fish tried to free itself. we quickly reeved a line through a block at the fore yard-arm, and hauled it on deck with much difficulty. the scene that followed was very horrible, for there was no killing the brute. it threshed the deck with its tail, and snapped so fiercely with its tremendous jaws, that we had to keep a sharp look-out lest it should catch hold of a leg. at last its tail was cut off, the body cut open, and all the entrails' taken out, yet even after this it continued to flap and thresh about the deck for some time, and the heart continued to contract for twenty minutes after it was taken out and pierced with a knife. i would not have believed this had i not seen it with my own eyes. in case some of my readers may doubt its truth, i would remind them how difficult it is to kill some of those creatures with which we are all familiar. the common worm, for instance, may be cut into a number of small pieces, and yet each piece remains alive for some time after. the skin of the shark is valued by the whalemen, because, when cleaned and dry, it is as good as sand-paper, and is much used in polishing the various things they make out of whales' bones and teeth. when the last piece of blubber had been cut off our whale, the great chain that held it to the ship's side was cast off, and the now useless carcass sank like a stone, much to the sorrow of some of the smaller birds, which, having been driven away by their bigger comrades, had not fed so heartily as they wished perhaps! but what was loss to the gulls was gain to the sharks, which could follow the carcass down into the deep and devour it at their leisure. "now, lads," cried the mate, when the remains had vanished, "rouse up the fires, look alive, my hearties!" "aye, aye, sir," was the ready reply, cheerfully given, as every man sprang to his appointed duty. and so, having "cut in" our whale, we next proceeded to "try out" the oil. chapter v a storm, a man overboard, and a rescue the scenes in a whaleman's life are varied and very stirring. sometimes he is floating on the calm ocean, idling about the deck and whistling for a breeze, when all of a sudden the loud cry is heard, "there she blows!" and in a moment the boats are in the water, and he is engaged in all the toils of an exciting chase. then comes the battle with the great leviathan of the deep, with all its risks and dangers. sometimes he is unfortunate, the decks are clean, he has nothing to do. at other times he is lucky, "cutting in" and "trying out" engage all his energies and attention. frequently storms toss him on the angry deep, and show him, if he will but learn the lesson, how helpless a creature he is, and how thoroughly dependent at all times for life, safety, and success, upon the arm of god. "trying out" the oil, although not so thrilling a scene as many a one in his career, is, nevertheless, extremely interesting, especially at night, when the glare of the fires in the try-works casts a deep-red glow on the faces of the men, on the masts and sails, and even out upon the sea. the try-works consisted of two huge melting-pots fixed upon brick-work fireplaces between the fore and main masts. while some of the men were down in the blubber-room cutting the "blanket-pieces", as the largest masses are called, others were pitching the smaller pieces on deck, where they were seized by two men who stood near a block of wood, called a "horse", with a mincing knife, to slash the junks so as to make them melt easily. these were then thrown into the melting-pots by one of the mates, who kept feeding the fires with such "scraps" of blubber as remain after the oil is taken out. once the fires were fairly set agoing no other kind of fuel was required than "scraps" of blubber. as the boiling oil rose it was baled into copper cooling-tanks. it was the duty of two other men to dip it out of these tanks into casks, which were then headed up by our cooper, and stowed away in the hold. as the night advanced the fires became redder and brighter by contrast, the light shone and glittered on the bloody decks, and, as we plied our dirty work, i could not help thinking, "what would my mother say, if she could get a peep at me now?" the ship's crew worked and slept by watches, for the fires were not allowed to go out all night. about midnight i sat down on the windlass to take a short rest, and began talking to one of the men, fred borders by name. he was one of the quietest and most active men in the ship, and, being quite a young man, not more than nineteen, he and i drew to one another, and became very intimate. "i think we're goin' to have a breeze, bob," said he, as a sharp puff of wind crossed the deck, driving the black smoke to leeward, and making the fire flare up in the try-works. "i hope it won't be a storm, then," said i, "for it will oblige us to put out the fires." just then tom lokins came up, ordered fred to go and attend to the fires, sat down opposite to me on the windlass, and began to "lay down the law" in regard to storms. "you see, bob ledbury," said he, beginning to fill his pipe, "young fellers like you don't know nothin' about the weather--'cause why? you've got no experience. now, i'll put you up to a dodge consarning this very thing." i never found out what was the dodge that tom, in his wisdom, was to have put me up to, for at that moment the captain came on deck, and gave orders to furl the top-gallant sails. three or four of us ran up the rigging like monkeys, and in a few minutes the sails were lashed to the yards. the wind now began to blow steadily from the nor'-west; but not so hard as to stop our tryworks for more than an hour. after that it blew stiff enough to raise a heavy sea, and we were compelled to slack the fires. this was all the harm it did to us, however, for although the breeze was stiffish, it was nothing like a gale. as the captain and the first mate walked the quarter-deck together, i heard the former say to the latter, "i think we had as well take in a reef in the topsails. all hereabouts the fishing-ground is good, we don't need to carry on." the order was given to reduce sail, and the men lay out on the topsail yards. i noticed that my friend fred borders was the first man to spring up the shrouds and lay out on the main-topsail yard. it was so dark that i could scarcely see the masts. while i was gazing up, i thought i observed a dark object drop from the yard; at the same moment there was a loud shriek, followed by a plunge in the sea. this was succeeded by the sudden cry, "man overboard!" and instantly the whole ship was in an uproar. no one who has not heard that cry can understand the dreadful feelings that are raised in the human breast by it. my heart at first seemed to leap into my mouth and almost choke me. then a terrible fear, which i cannot describe, shot through me, when i thought it might be my comrade fred borders. but these thoughts and feelings passed like lightning--in a far shorter time than it takes to write them down. the shriek was still ringing in my ears when the captain roared-- "down your helm! stand by to lower away the boats." at the same moment he seized a light hen-coop and tossed it overboard, and the mate did the same with an oar in the twinkling of an eye. almost without knowing what i did, or why i did it, i seized a great mass of oakum and rubbish that lay on the deck saturated with oil, i thrust it into the embers of the fire in the try-works, and hurled it blazing into the sea. [illustration: "hurled it blazing into the sea"] the ship's head was thrown into the wind, and we were brought to as quickly as possible. a gleam of hope arose within me on observing that the mass i had thrown overboard continued still to burn; but when i saw how quickly it went astern, notwithstanding our vigorous efforts to stop the ship, my heart began to sink, and when, a few moments after, the light suddenly disappeared, despair seized upon me, and i gave my friend up for lost. at that moment, strange to say, thoughts of my mother came into my mind, i remembered her words, "call upon the lord, my dear boy, when you are in trouble." although i had given but little heed to prayer, or to my maker, up to that time, i did pray, then and there, most earnestly that my messmate might be saved. i cannot say that i had much hope that my prayer would be answered--indeed i think i had none,--still, the mere act of crying in my distress to the almighty afforded me a little relief, and it was with a good deal of energy that i threw myself into the first boat that was lowered, and pulled at the oar as if my own life depended on it. a lantern had been fastened to the end of an oar and set up in the boat, and by its faint light i could see that the men looked very grave. tom lokins was steering, and i sat near him, pulling the aft oar. "do you think we've any chance, tom?" said i. a shake of the head was his only reply. "it must have been here away," said the mate, who stood up in the bow with a coil of rope at his feet, and a boat-hook in his hand. "hold on, lads, did anyone hear a cry?" no one answered. we all ceased pulling, and listened intently; but the noise of the waves and the whistling of the winds were all the sounds we heard. "what's that floating on the water?" said one of the men, suddenly. "where away?" cried everyone eagerly. "right off the lee-bow--there, don't you see it?" at that moment a faint cry came floating over the black water, and died away in the breeze. the single word "hurrah!" burst from our throats with all the power of our lungs, and we bent to our oars till we wellnigh tore the rollicks out of the boat. "hold hard! stern all!" roared the mate, as we went flying down to leeward, and almost ran over the hen-coop, to which a human form was seen to be clinging with the tenacity of a drowning man. we had swept down so quickly, that we shot past it. in an agony of fear lest my friend should be again lost in the darkness, i leaped up and sprang into the sea. tom lokins, however, had noticed what i was about; he seized me by the collar of my jacket just as i reached the water, and held me with a grip like a vice till one of the men came to his assistance, and dragged me back into the boat. in a few moments more we reached the hen-coop, and fred was saved! he was half dead with cold and exhaustion, poor fellow, but in a few minutes he began to recover, and before we reached the ship he could speak. his first words were to thank god for his deliverance. then he added: "and, thanks to the man that flung that light overboard. i should have gone down but for that. it showed me where the hen-coop was." i cannot describe the feeling of joy that filled my heart when he said this. "aye, who wos it that throw'd that fire overboard?" enquired one of the men. "don't know," replied another, "i think it wos the cap'n." "you'll find that out when we get aboard," cried the mate; "pull away, lads." in five minutes fred borders was passed up the side and taken down below. in two minutes more we had him stripped naked, rubbed dry, wrapped in hot blankets, and set down on one of the lockers, with a hot brick at his feet, and a stiff can of hot rum and water in his hand. chapter vi the whale--fighting bulls, etc. as the reader may, perhaps, have been asking a few questions about the whale in his own mind, i shall try to answer them, by telling a few things concerning that creature which, i think, are worth knowing. in the first place, the whale is not a fish! i have applied that name to it, no doubt, because it is the custom to do so; but there are great differences between the whales and the fishes. the mere fact that the whale lives in water is not sufficient to prove it to be a fish. the frog lives very much in water--he is born in the water, and, when very young, he lives in it altogether--would die, in fact, if he were taken out of it; yet a frog is not a fish. the following are some of the differences existing between a whale and a fish:--the whale is a warm-blooded animal; the fish is cold-blooded. the whale brings forth its young alive; while most fishes lay eggs or spawn. moreover, the fish lives entirely under water, but the whale cannot do so. he breathes air through enormous lungs, not gills. if you were to hold a whale's head under water for much longer than an hour, it would certainly be drowned; and this is the reason why it comes so frequently to the surface of the sea to take breath. whales seldom stay more than an hour under water, and when they come up to breathe, they discharge the last breath they took through their nostrils or blowholes, mixed with large quantities of water which they have taken in while feeding. but the most remarkable point of difference between the whale and fishes of all kinds is, that it suckles its young. the calf of one kind of whale is about fourteen feet long when it is born, and it weighs about a ton. the cow-whale usually brings forth only one calf at a time, and the manner in which she behaves to her gigantic baby shows that she is affected by feelings of anxiety and affection such as are never seen in fishes, which heartless creatures forsake their eggs when they are laid, and i am pretty sure they would not know their own children if they happened to meet with them. the whale, on the contrary, takes care of her little one, gives it suck, and sports playfully with it in the waves; its enormous heart throbbing all the while, no doubt, with satisfaction. i have heard of a whale which was once driven into shoal water with its calf and nearly stranded. the huge dam seemed to become anxious for the safety of her child, for she was seen to swim eagerly round it, embrace it with her fins, and roll it over in the waves, trying to make it follow her into deep water. but the calf was obstinate; it would not go, and the result was that the boat of a whaler pulled up and harpooned it. the poor little whale darted away like lightning on receiving the terrible iron, and ran out a hundred fathoms of line; but it was soon overhauled and killed. all this time the dam kept close to the side of its calf, and not until a harpoon was plunged into her own side would she move away. two boats were after her. with a single rap of her tail she cut one of the boats in two, and then darted off. but in a short time she turned and came back. her feelings of anxiety had returned, no doubt, after the first sting of pain was over, and she died at last close to the side of her young one. there are various kinds of whales, but the two sorts that are most sought after are the common whale of the greenland seas, which is called the "right whale", and the sperm whale of the south sea. both kinds are found in the south; but the sperm whale never goes to the north seas. both kinds grow to an enormous size--sometimes to seventy feet in length, but there is considerable difference in their appearance, especially about the head. in a former chapter i have partly described the head of a _right_ whale, which has whalebone instead of teeth, with its blowholes on the back of the head. the sperm whale has large white teeth in its lower jaw and none at all in the upper. it has only one blowhole, and that a little one, much farther forward on its head, so that sailors can tell, at a great distance, what kind of whales they see simply by their manner of spouting. the most remarkable feature about the sperm whale is the bluntness of its clumsy head, which looks somewhat like a big log with the end sawn square off, and this head is about one-third of its entire body. the sperm whale feeds differently from the right whale. he seizes his prey with his powerful teeth, and lives, to a great extent, on large cuttle-fish. some of them have been seen to vomit lumps of these cuttle-fish as long as a whale-boat. he is much fiercer, too, than the right whale, which almost always takes to flight when struck, but the sperm whale will sometimes turn on its foes and smash their boat with a blow of his blunt head or tail. fighting-whales, as they are called, are not uncommon. these are generally old bulls, which have become wise from experience, and give the whalers great trouble--sometimes carrying away several harpoons and lines. the lower jaw of one old bull of this kind was found to be sixteen feet long, and it had forty-eight teeth, some of them a foot long. a number of scars about his head showed that this fellow had been in the wars. when two bull-whales take to fighting, their great effort is to catch each other by the lower jaw, and, when locked together, they struggle with a degree of fury that cannot be described. it is not often that the sperm whale actually attacks a ship; but there are a few cases of this kind which cannot be doubted. the following story is certainly true; and while it shows how powerful a creature the whale is, it also shows what terrible risk and sufferings the whaleman has frequently to encounter. in the month of august, , the american whaleship _essex_ sailed from nantucket for the pacific ocean. she was commanded by captain pollard. late in the autumn of the same year, when in latitude degrees of the south pacific, a shoal, or "school", of sperm whales was discovered, and three boats were immediately lowered and sent in pursuit. the mate's boat was struck by one of the fish during the chase, and it was found necessary to return to the ship to repair damages. while the men were employed at this, an enormous whale suddenly rose quite close to the ship. he was going at nearly the same rate with the ship--about three miles an hour; and the men, who were good judges of the size of whales, thought that it could not have been less than eighty-five feet long. all at once he ran against the ship, striking her bows, and causing her to tremble like a leaf. the whale immediately dived and passed under the ship, and grazed her keel in doing so. this evidently hurt his back, for he suddenly rose to the surface about fifty yards off, and commenced lashing the sea with his tail and fins as if suffering great agony. it was truly an awful sight to behold that great monster lashing the sea into foam at so short a distance. in a short time he seemed to recover, and started off at great speed to windward. meanwhile the men discovered that the blow received by the ship had done her so much damage, that she began to fill and settle down at the bows; so they rigged the pumps as quickly as possible. while working them one of the men cried out: "god have mercy! he comes again!" this was too true. the whale had turned, and was now bearing down on them at full speed, leaving a white track of foam behind him. rushing at the ship like a battering-ram, he hit her fair on the weather bow and stove it in, after which he dived and disappeared. the horrified men took to their boats at once, and in _ten minutes_ the ship went down. the condition of the men thus left in three open boats far out upon the sea, without provisions or shelter, was terrible indeed. some of them perished, and the rest, after suffering the severest hardships, reached a low island called ducies on the th of december. it was a mere sand-bank, which supplied them only with water and sea-fowl. still even this was a mercy, for which they had reason to thank god; for in cases of this kind one of the evils that seamen have most cause to dread is the want of water. three of the men resolved to remain on this sand-bank, for dreary and uninhabited though it was, they preferred to take their chance of being picked up by a passing ship rather than run the risks of crossing the wide ocean in open boats, so their companions bade them a sorrowful farewell, and left them. but this island is far out of the usual track of ships. the poor fellows have never since been heard of. it was the th of december when the three boats left the sand-bank with the remainder of the men, and began a voyage of two thousand miles, towards the island of juan fernandez. the mate's boat was picked up, about three months after, by the ship _indian_ of london, with only three living men in it. about the same time the captain's boat was discovered, by the _dauphin_ of nantucket, with only two men living; and these unhappy beings had only sustained life by feeding on the flesh of their dead comrades. the third boat must have been lost, for it was never heard of; and out of the whole crew of twenty men, only five returned home to tell their eventful story. before resuming the thread of my narrative, i must not omit to mention, that in the head of the sperm whale there is a large cavity or hole called the "case", which contains pure oil that does not require to be melted, but can be baled at once into casks and stowed away. this is the valuable spermaceti from which the finest candles are made. one whale will sometimes yield fifteen barrels of spermaceti oil from the "case" of its head. a large fish will produce from eighty to a hundred barrels of oil altogether, sometimes much more; and when whalemen converse with each other about the size of whales, they speak of "eighty-barrel fish", and so on. although i have written much about the fighting powers of the sperm whale, it must not be supposed that whales are by nature fond of fighting. on the contrary, the "right" whale is a timid creature, and never shows fight except in defence of its young. and the sperm whale generally takes to flight when pursued. in fact, most of the accidents that happen to whalemen occur when the wounded monster is lashing the water in blind terror and agony. the whale has three bitter enemies, much smaller, but much bolder than himself, and of these he is terribly afraid. they are: the swordfish, the thrasher, and the killer. the first of these, the sword-fish, has a strong straight horn or sword projecting from his snout, with which he boldly attacks and pierces the whale. the thrasher is a strong fish, twenty feet long, and of great weight. its method of attack is to leap out of the water on the whale's back, and deal it a tremendous blow with its powerful tail. the sword-fish and thrasher sometimes act together in the attack; the first stabbing him below, and the second belabouring him above, while the whale, unable, or too frightened to fight, rushes through the water, and even leaps its whole gigantic length into the air in its endeavours to escape. when a whale thus leaps his whole length out of the water, the sailors say he "breaches", and breaching is a common practice. they seem to do it often for amusement as well as from terror. but the most deadly of the three enemies is the killer. this is itself a kind of small whale, but it is wonderfully strong, swift, and bold. when one of the killers gets into the middle of a school of whales, the frightened creatures are seen flying in all directions. his mode of attack is to seize his big enemy by the jaw, and hold on until he is exhausted and dies. chapter vii tom's wisdom--another great battle one day i was standing beside the windlass, listening to the conversation of five or six of the men, who were busy sharpening harpoons and cutting-knives, or making all kinds of toys and things out of whales' bones. we had just finished cutting in and trying out our third whale, and as it was not long since we reached the fishing-ground, we were in high hopes of making a good thing of it that season; so that everyone was in good spirits, from the captain down to the youngest man in the ship. tom lokins was smoking his pipe, and tom's pipe was an uncommonly black one, for he smoked it very often. moreover, tom's pipe was uncommonly short, so short that i always wondered how he escaped burning the end of his nose. indeed, some of the men said that the redness of the end of tom's nose was owing to its being baked like a brick by the heat of his pipe. tom took this pipe from his mouth, and while he was pushing down the tobacco with the end of his little finger, he said: "d'ye know, lads, i've been thinkin'----" "no, have ye?" cried one of the men, interrupting him with a look of pretended surprise. "well now, i do think, messmates, that we should ax the mate to make a note o' that in the log, for it's not often that tom lokins takes to thinkin'." there was a laugh at this, but tom, turning with a look of contempt to the man who interrupted him, replied: "i'll tell you wot it is, bill blunt, if all the thoughts that _you_ think, and especially the jokes that you utter, wos put down in the log, they'd be so heavy that i do believe they would sink the ship!" "well, well," cried bill, joining in the laugh against himself, "if they did, _your_ jokes would be so light and triflin' that i do believe they'd float her again. but what have you been a-thinkin' of, tom?" "i've been thinkin'," said tom slowly, "that if a whale makes his breakfast entirely off them little things that you can hardly see when you get 'em into a tumbler--i forget how the captain calls 'em--wot a _tree-mendous_ heap of 'em he must eat in the course of a year!" "thousands of 'em, i suppose," said one of the men. "thousands!" cried tom, "i should rather say billions of them." "how much is billions, mate?" enquired bill. "i don't know," answered tom. "never could find out. you see it's heaps upon heaps of thousands, for the thousands come first and the billions afterwards; but when i've thought uncommon hard, for a long spell at a time, i always get confused, because millions comes in between, d'ye see, and that's puzzlin'." "i think i could give you some notion about these things," said fred borders, who had been quietly listening all the time, but never putting in a word, for, as i have said, fred was a modest bashful man and seldom spoke much. but we had all come to notice that when fred spoke, he had always something to say worth hearing; and when he did speak he spoke out boldly enough. we had come to have feelings of respect for our young shipmate, for he was a kind-hearted lad, and we saw by his conversation that he had been better educated than the most of us, so all our tongues stopped as the eyes of the party turned on him. "come, fred, let's hear it then," said tom. "it's not much i have to tell," began fred, "but it may help to make your minds clearer on this subject. on my first voyage to the whale fishery (you know, lads, this is my second voyage) i went to the greenland seas. we had a young doctor aboard with us--quite a youth; indeed he had not finished his studies at college, but he was cleverer, for all that, than many an older man that had gone through his whole course. i do believe that the reason of his being so clever was, that he was for ever observing things, and studying them, and making notes, and trying to find out reasons. he was never satisfied with knowing a thing; he must always find out _why_ it was. one day i heard him ask the captain what it was that made the sea so green in some parts of those seas. our captain was an awfully stupid man. so long as he got plenty oil he didn't care two straws for the reason of anything. the young doctor had been bothering him that morning with a good many questions, so when he asked him what made the sea green, he answered sharply, 'i suppose it makes itself green, young man,' and then he turned from him with a fling. "the doctor laughed, and came forward among the men, and began to tell us stories and ask questions. ah! he was a real hearty fellow; he would tell you all kinds of queer things, and would pump you dry of all you knew in no time. well, but the thing i was going to tell you was this. one of the men said to him he had heard that the greenness of the greenland sea was caused by the little things like small bits of jelly on which the whales feed. as soon as he heard this he got a bucket and hauled some sea-water aboard, and for the next ten days he was never done working away with the sea-water; pouring it into tumblers and glasses; looking through it by daylight and by lamplight; tasting it, and boiling it, and examining it with a microscope." "what's a microscope?" enquired one of the men. "don't you know?" said tom lokins, "why, it's a glass that makes little things seem big, when ye look through it. i've heerd that say beasts that are so uncommon small you that can't see them at all are made to come into sight and look quite big by means o' this glass. but i can't myself say that it's true." "but i can," said fred, "for i have seen it with my own eyes. well, after a good while, i made bold to ask the young doctor what he had found out. "'i've found,' said he, 'that the greenness of these seas is in truth caused by uncountable numbers of medusae----'" "ha! that's the word," shouted tom lokins, "medoosy, that's wot the captain calls 'em. heave ahead, fred." "well then," continued fred, "the young doctor went on to tell me that he had been counting the matter to himself very carefully, and he found that in every square mile of sea-water there were living about eleven quadrillions, nine hundred and ninety-nine trillions of these little creatures!" "oh! hallo! come now!" we all cried, opening our eyes very wide indeed. "but, i say, how much is that?" enquired tom lokins. "ah! that's just what i said to the young doctor, and he said to me, 'i'll tell you what, fred borders, no man alive understands how much that is, and what's more, no man ever will; but i'll give you _some notion_ of what it means'; and so he told me how long it would take forty thousand men to count that number of eleven quadrillions, nine hundred and ninety-nine trillions, each man of the forty thousand beginning 'one ', 'two', 'three', and going on till the sum of the whole added together would make it up. now, how long d'ye think it would take them?--guess." fred borders smiled as he said this, and looked round the circle of men. "i know," cried one; "it would take the whole forty thousand _a week_ to do it." "oh! nonsense, they could do it easy in two days," said another. "that shows how little you know about big numbers," observed tom lokins, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. "i'm pretty sure it couldn't be done in much less than six months; workin' hard all day, and makin' allowance for only one hour off for dinner." "you're all wrong, shipmates," said fred borders. "that young doctor told me that if they'd begun work at the day of creation they would only have just finished the job last year!" "oh! gammon, you're jokin'," cried bill blunt. "no, i'm not," said fred, "for i was told afterwards by an old clergyman that the young doctor was quite right, and that anyone who was good at 'rithmetic could work the thing out for himself in less than half an hour." just as fred said this there came a loud cry from the mast-head that made us all spring to our feet like lightning. "there she blows! there she breaches!" the captain was on deck in a moment. "where away?" he cried. "on the lee beam, sir. sperm whale, about two miles off. there she blows!" every man was at his station in a moment; for, after being some months out, we became so used to the work, that we acted together like a piece of machinery. but our excitement never abated in the least. "sing out when the ship heads for her." "aye, aye, sir." "keep her away!" said the captain to the man at the helm. "bob ledbury, hand me the spy-glass." "steady," from the mast-head. "steady it is," answered the man at the helm. while we were all looking eagerly out ahead we heard a thundering snore behind us, followed by a heavy splash. turning quickly round, we saw the flukes of an enormous whale sweeping through the air not more than six hundred yards astern of us. "down your helm," roared the captain; "haul up the mainsail, and square the yards. call all hands." "all hands, ahoy!" roared bill blunt, in a voice of thunder, and in another moment every man in the ship was on deck. "hoist and swing the boats," cried the captain. "lower away." down went the boats into the water; the men were into their places almost before you could wink, and we pulled away from the ship just as the whale rose the second time, about half a mile away to leeward. from the appearance of this whale we felt certain that it was one of the largest we had yet seen, so we pulled after it with right good will. i occupied my usual place in the captain's boat, next the bow oar, just beside tom lokins, who was ready with his harpoons in the bow. young borders pulled the oar directly in front of me. the captain himself steered, and, as our crew was a picked one, we soon left the other two boats behind us. presently a small whale rose close beside us, and, sending a shower of spray over the boat, went down in a pool of foam. before we had time to speak, another whale rose on the opposite side of the boat, and then another on our starboard bow. we had got into the middle of a shoal of whales, which commenced leaping and spouting all round us, little aware of the dangerous enemy that was so near. in a few minutes more up comes the big one again that we had first seen. he seemed very active and wild. after blowing on the surface once or twice, about a quarter of a mile off, he peaked his flukes, and pitched down head foremost. "now then, lads, he's down for a long dive," said the captain; "spring your oars like men, we'll get that fish for certain, if you'll only pull." the captain was mistaken; the whale had only gone down deep in order to come up and breach, or spring out of the water, for the next minute he came up not a hundred yards from us, and leaped his whole length into the air. a shout of surprise broke from the men, and no wonder, for this was the largest fish i ever saw or heard of, and he came up so clear of the water that we could see him from head to tail as he turned over in the air, exposing his white belly to view, and came down on his great side with a crash like thunder, that might have been heard six miles off. a splendid mass of pure white spray burst from the spot where he fell, and in another moment he was gone. "i do believe it's _new zealand tom_," cried bill blunt, referring to an old bull whale that had become famous among the men who frequented these seas for its immense size and fierceness, and for the great trouble it had given them, smashing some of their boats, and carrying away many of their harpoons. "i don't know whether it's new zealand tom or not," said the captain, "but it's pretty clear that he's an old sperm bull. give way, lads, we must get that whale whatever it should cost us." we did not need a second bidding; the size of the fish was so great that we felt more excited than we had yet been during the voyage, so we bent our oars till we almost pulled the boat out of the water. the other boats had got separated, chasing the little whales, so we had this one all to ourselves. "there she blows!" said tom lokins, in a low voice, as the fish came up a short distance astern of us. we had overshot our mark, so, turning about, we made for the whale, which kept for a considerable time near the top of the water, spouting now and then, and going slowly to windward. we at last got within a few feet of the monster, and the captain suddenly gave the word, "stand up." this was to our harpooner, tom lokins, who jumped up on the instant, and buried two harpoons deep in the blubber. "stern all!" was the next word, and we backed off with all our might. it was just in time, for, in his agony, the whale tossed his tail right over our heads, the flukes were so big that they could have completely covered the boat, and he brought them down flat on the sea with a clap that made our ears tingle, while a shower of spray drenched us to the skin. for one moment i thought it was all over with us, but we were soon out of immediate danger, and lay on our oars watching the writhings of the wounded monster as he lashed the ocean into foam. the water all round us soon became white like milk, and the foam near the whale was red with blood. suddenly this ceased, and, before we could pull up to lance him, he went down, taking the line out at such a rate that the boat spun round, and sparks of fire flew from the loggerhead from the chafing of the rope. "hold on!" cried the captain, and next moment we were tearing over the sea at a fearful rate, with a bank of white foam rolling before us, high above our bows, and away on each side of us like the track of a steamer, so that we expected it every moment to rush inboard and swamp us. i had never seen anything like this before. from the first i had a kind of feeling that some evil would befall us. while we were tearing over the water in this way, we saw the other whales coming up every now and then and blowing quite near to us, and presently we passed close enough to the first mate's boat to see that he was fast to a fish, and unable, therefore, to render us help if we should need it. in a short time the line began to slack, so we hauled it in hand over hand, and tom lokins coiled it away in the tub in the stern of the boat, while the captain took his place in the bow to be ready with the lance. the whale soon came up, and we pulled with all our might towards him. instead of making off again, however, he turned round and made straight at the boat. i now thought that destruction was certain, for, when i saw his great blunt forehead coming down on us like a steamboat, i felt that we could not escape. i was mistaken. the captain received him on the point of his lance, and the whale has such a dislike to pain, that even a small prick will sometimes turn him. for some time we kept dodging round this fellow; but he was so old and wise, that he always turned his head to us, and prevented us from getting a chance to lance him. at last he turned a little to one side, and the captain plunged the lance deep into his vitals. "ha! that's touched his life," cried tom, as a stream of blood flew up from his blowholes, a sure sign that he was mortally wounded. but he was not yet conquered. after receiving the cruel stab with the lance, he pitched right down, head foremost, and once more the line began to fly out over the bow. we tried to hold on, but he was going so straight down that the boat was almost swamped, and we had to slack off to prevent our being pulled under water. before many yards of the line had run out, one of the coils in the tub became entangled. "look out, lads!" cried tom, and at once throwing the turn off the logger-head, he made an attempt to clear it. the captain, in trying to do the same thing, slipped and fell. seeing this, i sprang up, and, grasping the coil as it flew past, tried to clear it. before i could think, a turn whipped round my left wrist. i felt a wrench as if my arm had been torn out of the socket, and in a moment i was overboard, going down with almost lightning speed into the depths of the sea. strange to say, i did not lose my presence of mind. i knew exactly what had happened. i felt myself rushing down, down, down with terrific speed; a stream of fire seemed to be whizzing past my eyes; there was a dreadful pressure on my brain, and a roaring as if of thunder in my ears. yet, even in that dread moment, thoughts of eternity, of my sins, and of meeting with my god, flashed into my mind, for thought is quicker than the lightning flash. [illustration: "in a moment i was overboard"] of a sudden the roaring ceased, and i felt myself buffeting the water fiercely in my efforts to reach the surface. i know not how i got free, but i suppose the turn of the line must have slackened off somehow. all this happened within the space of a few brief moments; but oh! they seemed fearfully long to me. i do not think i could have held my breath a second longer. when i came to the surface, and tried to look about me, i saw the boat not more than fifty yards off, and, being a good swimmer, i struck out for it, although i felt terribly exhausted. in a few minutes my comrades saw me, and, with a cheer, put out the oars and began to row towards me. i saw that the line was slack, and that they were hauling it in--a sign that the whale had ceased running and would soon come to the surface again. before they had pulled half-a-dozen strokes i saw the water open close beside the boat, and the monstrous head of the whale shot up like a great rock rising out of the deep. he was not more than three feet from the boat, and he came up with such force, that more than half his gigantic length came out of the water right over the boat. i heard the captain's loud cry--"_stern all!_" but it was too late, the whole weight of the monster's body fell upon the boat; there was a crash and a terrible cry, as the whale and boat went down together. for a few moments he continued to lash the sea in his fury, and the fragments of the boat floated all round him. i thought that every man, of course, had been killed; but one after another their heads appeared in the midst of blood and foam, and they struck out for oars and pieces of the wreck. providentially, the whale, in his tossings, had shot a little away from the spot, else every man must certainly have been killed. a feeling of horror filled my heart, as i beheld all this, and thought upon my position. fortunately, i had succeeded in reaching a broken plank; for my strength was now so much exhausted, that i could not have kept my head above water any longer without its assistance. just then i heard a cheer, and the next time i rose on the swell, i looked quickly round and saw the mate's boat making for the scene of action as fast as a stout and willing crew could pull. in a few minutes more i was clutched by the arm and hauled into it. my comrades were next rescued, and we thanked god when we found that none were killed, although one of them had got a leg broken, and another an arm twisted out of joint. they all, however, seemed to think that my escape was much more wonderful than theirs; but i cannot say that i agreed with them in this. we now turned our attention to the whale, which had dived again. as it was now loose, we did not know, of course, where it would come up: so we lay still awhile. very soon up he came, not far from us, and as fierce as ever. "now, lads, we _must_ get that whale," cried the mate; "give way with a will." the order was obeyed. the boat almost leaped over the swell, and, before long, another harpoon was in the whale's back. "fast again, hurrah!" shouted the mate, "now for the lance." he gave the monster two deep stabs while he spoke, and it vomited up great clots of blood, besides spouting the red stream of life as it rolled on the sea in its agony, obliging us to keep well out of its way. i could not look upon the dying struggles of this enormous fish without feelings of regret and self-reproach for helping to destroy it. i felt almost as if i were a murderer, and that the creator would call me to account for taking part in the destruction of one of his grandest living creatures. but the thought passed quickly from my mind as the whale became more violent and went into its flurry. it began to lash the sea with such astonishing violence, that all the previous struggles seemed as nothing. the water all round became white like milk, with great streaks of red blood running through it, and the sound of the quick blows of its tail and fins resembled that of dull hollow thunder. we gazed at this scene in deep silence and with beating hearts. all at once the struggles ceased. the great carcass rolled over belly up, and lay extended on the sea in death. to me it seemed as if a dead calm had suddenly fallen around us, after a long and furious storm, so great was the change when that whale at length parted with its huge life. the silence was suddenly broken by three hearty cheers, and then, fastening a rope to our prize, we commenced towing it to the ship, which operation occupied us the greater part of the night, for we had no fewer than eight miles to pull. chapter viii death on the sea the whale which we had taken, as i have related in the last chapter, was our largest fish of that season. it produced ninety barrels of oil, and was worth about pounds, so that we did not grieve much over the loss of our boat. but our next loss was of a kind that could not be made up for by oil or money, for it was the loss of a human life. in the whale-fishery men must, like soldiers, expect to risk their lives frequently, and they have too often, alas! to mourn over the loss of a shipmate or friend. up to this time our voyage had gone prosperously. we had caught so many fish that nearly half our cargo was already completed, and if we should be as lucky the remainder of the voyage, we should be able to return home to old england much sooner than we had expected. of course, during all this time we had met with some disappointments, for i am not describing everything that happened on that voyage. it would require a much thicker volume than this to tell the half of our adventures. we lost five or six fish by their sinking before we could get them made fast to the ship, and one or two bolted so fast that they broke loose and carried away a number of harpoons and many a fathom of line. but such misfortunes were what we had to look for. every whaler meets with similar changes of luck, and we did not expect to fare differently from our neighbours. these things did not cause us much regret beyond the time of their occurrence. but it was far otherwise with the loss that now befell us. it happened on a sunday forenoon. i was standing close to the starboard gangway early that morning, looking over the side into the calm water, for there was not a breath of wind, and talking to the first mate, who was a gruff, surly man, but a good officer, and kind enough in his way when everything went smooth with him. but things don't go very smooth generally in whaling life, so the mate was oftener gruff than sweet. "bob ledbury," said he, "have you got your cutting-in gear in order? i've got a notion that we'll 'raise the oil' this day." "all right, sir," said i; "you might shave yourself with the blubber-spades. that was a good fish we got last, sir, wasn't it?" "pretty good, though i've seen bigger." "he gave us a deal of trouble too," said i. "not so much as i've seen others give," said he. "when i was fishing in the greenland seas we made fast to a whale that cost us i don't know how many hundred dollars." (you must know the first mate was a yankee, and he reckoned everything in dollars.) "how was that, sir?" asked i. "well, it was something in this fashion. we were floating about in the north atlantic one calm, hot day, just something like this, only it was the afternoon, not the morning. we were doing nothing, and whistling for a breeze, when, all of a sudden, up comes five or six whales all round the ship, as if they had spied her from the bottom of the sea, and had come up to have a squint at her. of course the boats were manned at once, and in less than no time we were tearing after them like all alive. but them whales were pretty wildish, i guess. they kept us pullin' the best part of five hours before we got a chance at them. my boat was out of sight of the ship before we made fast to a regular snorer, a hundred-barreller at the least. the moment he felt the iron, away he went like the shot out of a gun; but he didn't keep it up long, for soon after another of our boats came up and made fast. well, for some two or three hours we held fast, but could not haul on to him to use the lance, for the moment we came close up alongside of his tail he peaked flukes and dived, then up again, and away as fast as ever. it was about noon before we touched him again; but by that time two more harpoons were made fast, and two other boats cast tow-lines aboard of us, and were hauled along. that was four boats, and more than sixteen hundred fathoms of line, besides four harpoons that was fast to that whale, and yet, for all that, he went ahead as fast as we could have rowed, takin' us along with him quite easy. "a breeze having sprung up, our ship overhauled us in the course of the afternoon, and towards evening we sent a line on board, to see if that would stop the big fish, and the topsails were lowered, so as to throw some of the ship's weight on him, but the irons drew out with the strain. however, we determined to try it again. another line was sent aboard about eight o'clock, and the topsails were lowered, but the line snapped immediately. well, we held on to that whale the whole of that night, and at four o'clock next morning, just thirty-six hours after he was first struck, two fast lines were taken aboard the ship. the breeze was fresh, and against us, so the top-gallant sails were taken in, the courses hauled up, and the topsails clewed down, yet, i assure you, that whale towed the ship dead against the wind for an hour and a half at the rate of two miles an hour, and all the while beating the water with his fins and tail, so that the sea was in a continual foam. we did not kill that fish till after forty hours of the hardest work i ever went through." some of my shipmates seemed to doubt the truth of this story; but, for my part, i believed it, because the mate was a grave, truthful man, though he was gruff, and never told lies, as far as i knew. moreover, a case of the same kind happened some years afterwards, to a messmate of mine, while he was serving aboard the _royal bounty_, on the th of may, . i know that some of the stories which i now tell must seem very wild and unlikely to landsmen; but those who have been to the whale-fishery will admit that i tell nothing but the truth, and if there are any of my readers who are still doubtful, i would say, go and read the works of captain scoresby. it is well known that this whaling captain was a truly religious man, who gave up the fishing, though it turned him in plenty of money, and became a minister of the gospel with a small income, so it is not likely that he would have told what was untrue. well, in his works we find stories that are quite as remarkable as the one i have just told, some of them more so. for instance, he tells us of one whale, in the greenland seas, which was not killed till it had drawn out ten thousand four hundred and forty yards, or about _six miles_ of line, fastened to fifteen harpoons, besides taking one of the boats entirely under water, which boat was never seen again. the mate told us two or three more stories, and a lot of us were gathered round him, listening eagerly, for there is nothing jack likes so much as a _good yarn_, when all of a sudden, the man at the mast-head sang out that a large sperm whale was spouting away two points off the lee-bow. of course we were at our posts in a moment. "there she blows! there she breaches!" sung the look-out. "lower away!" roared the captain. the boats were in the water, and the men on their seats in a moment. the whale we were after was a very large one, we could see that, for after two hours' hard pulling we got near enough to throw a harpoon, and after it was fixed he jumped clean out of the water. then there was the usual battle. it was fierce and long; so long that i began to fear we would have to return empty-handed to the ship. we put ten harpoons into him, one after another, and had a stiff run between the fixing of each. it is astonishing the difference between the fish. one will give you no trouble at all. i have often seen a good big fellow killed in half an hour. another will take you half a day, and perhaps you may lose him after all. the whale we were now after at last took to showing fight. he made two or three runs at the boat, but the mate, who was in command, pricked him off with the lance cleverly. at last we gave him a severe wound, and immediately he dived. "that was into his life," remarked tom lokins, as we sat waiting for him to come up again. the captain's boat was close to ours, about ten yards off. we had not to wait long. the sudden stoppage and slacking off of all the lines showed that the whale was coming up. all at once i saw a dark object rising directly under the captain's boat. before i could make out what it was, almost before i could think, the boat flew up into the air, as if a powder magazine had exploded beneath it. the whale had come up, and hit it with his head right on the keel, so that it was knocked into pieces, and the men, oars, harpoons, lances, and tackle shot up in confusion into the air. immediately after that the whale went into his flurry, but we paid no attention to him, in our anxiety to pick up our companions. they all came to the surface quickly enough, but while some made for the boats vigorously, others swam slowly and with pain, showing that they were hurt, while one or two floated, as if dead, upon the water. most of the men had escaped with only a few cuts and bruises, but one poor fellow was hauled out of the water with a leg broken, and another was so badly knocked about the head that it was a long time before he was again fit for duty. the worst case, however, was that of poor fred borders. he had a leg broken, and a severe wound in the side from a harpoon which had been forced into the flesh over the barbs, so that we could hardly get it drawn out. we laid him in the stern of the boat, where he lay for some time insensible; but in a short time he revived, and spoke to us in a faint voice. his first words were: "i'm dying, messmates. it is into my life, too." "don't say that, fred," said i, while my heart sank within me. "cheer up, my boy, you'll live to be the death of many a whale yet. see, put your lips to this can--it will do you good." he shook his head gently, being too weak to reply. we had killed a big fish that day, and we knew that when he was "tried in" we should have completed our cargo; but there was no cheer given when the monster turned over on his side, and the pull to the ship that evening seemed to us the longest and heaviest we ever had, for our hearts were very sad. next day fred was worse, and we all saw that his words would come true--he was dying; and before the sun had again set poor fred had left us for ever. we buried our shipmate in the usual sailor fashion. we wrapped him in his hammock, with a cannon-ball at his feet to sink him. the captain read the burial-service at the gangway, and then, in deep silence, we committed his corpse to the deep. chapter ix news from home--a gam shoregoing people have but little notion of the ease with which the heart of a jack-tar is made to rejoice when he is out on a long voyage. his pleasures and amusements are so few that he is thankful to make the most of whatever is thrown in his way. in the whale-fisheries, no doubt, he has more than enough of excitement, but after a time he gets used to this, and begins to long for a little variety--and of all the pleasures that fall to his lot, that which delights him most is to have a gam with another ship. now, a gam is the meeting of two or more whale-ships, their keeping company for a time, and the exchanging of visits by the crews. it is neither more nor less than a jollification on the sea--the inviting of your friends to feast and make merry in your floating house. there is this difference, however, between a gam at sea and a party on land, that your _friends_ on the ocean are men whom you perhaps never saw before, and whom you will likely never meet again. there is also another difference--there are no ladies at a gam. this is a great want, for man is but a rugged creature when away from the refining influence of woman; but, in the circumstances, of course, it can't be helped. we had a gam one day, on this voyage, with a yankee whale-ship, and a first-rate gam it was, for, as the yankee had gammed three days before with another english ship, we got a lot of news second-hand; and, as we had not seen a new face for many months, we felt towards those yankees like brothers, and swallowed all they had to tell us like men starving for news. it was on a fine calm morning, just after breakfast, that we fell in with this ship. we had seen no whales for a day or two, but we did not mind that, for our hold was almost full of oil-barrels. tom lokins and i were leaning over the starboard bulwarks, watching the small fish that every now and then darted through the clear-blue water like arrows, and smoking our pipes in silence. tom looked uncommonly grave, and i knew that he was having some deep and knowing thoughts of his own which would leak out in time. all at once he took his pipe from his mouth and stared earnestly at the horizon. "bob," said he, speaking very slowly, "if there ain't a ship right off the starboard beam, i'm a dutchman." "you don't mean it!" said i, starting with a feeling of excitement. before another word could be uttered, the cry of "sail ho!" came ringing down from the mast-head. instantly the quiet of the morning was broken; sleepers sprang up and rubbed their eyes, the men below rushed wildly up the hatchway, the cook came tearing out of his own private den, flourishing a soup-ladle in one hand and his tormentors in the other, the steward came tumbling up with a lump of dough in his fist that he had forgot to throw down in his haste, and the captain bolted up from the cabin without his hat. "where away?" cried he, with more than his usual energy. "right off the starboard beam, sir." "square the yards! look alive, my hearties," was the next order; for although the calm sea was like a sheet of glass, a light air, just sufficient to fill our top-gallant sails, enabled us to creep through the water. "hurrah!" shouted the men as we sprang to obey. "what does she look like?" roared the captain. "a big ship, sir, i think," replied the lookout: "but i can only just make out the top of her main t-gallan' s'l."--(sailors scorn to speak of _top-gallant sails_.) gradually, one by one, the white sails of the stranger rose up like cloudlets out of the sea, and our hearts beat high with hope and expectation as we beheld the towering canvas of a full-rigged ship rise slowly into view. "show our colours," said the captain. in a moment the union jack of old england was waving at the mast-head in the gentle breeze, and we watched anxiously for a reply. the stranger was polite; his colours flew up a moment after, and displayed the stripes and stars of america. "a yankee!" exclaimed some of the men in a tone of slight disappointment. i may remark, that our disappointment arose simply from the fact that there was no chance, as we supposed, of getting news from "home" out of a ship that must have sailed last from america. for the rest, we cared not whether they were yankees or britons--they were men who could speak the english tongue, that was enough for us. "never mind, boys," cried one, "we'll have a jolly gam; that's a fact." "so we will," said another, "and i'll get news of my mad irish cousin, terrence o'flannagan, who went out to seek his fortin in ameriky with two shillin's and a broken knife in his pocket, and it's been said he's got into a government situation o' some sort connected with the jails--whether as captain or leftenant o' police, or turnkey, i'm not rightly sure." "more likely as a life-tenant of one of the cells," observed bill blunt, laughing. "don't speak ill of a better man than yerself behind his back," retorted the owner of the irish cousin. "stand by to lower the jolly-boat," cried the captain. "aye, aye, sir." "lower away!" in a few minutes we were leaping over the calm sea in the direction of the strange ship, for the breeze had died down, and we were too eager to meet with new faces, and to hear the sound of new voices, to wait for the wind. to our joy we found that the yankee had had a gam (as i have already said) with an english ship a few days before, so we returned to our vessel loaded with old newspapers from england, having invited the captain and crew of the yankee to come aboard of us and spend the day. while preparation was being made for the reception of our friends, we got hold of two of the old newspapers, and tom lokins seized one, while bill blunt got the other, and both men sat down on the windlass to retail the news to a crowd of eager men who tried hard to listen to both at once, and so could make nothing out of either. "hold hard, tom lokins," cried one. "what's that you say about the emperor, bill?" "the emperor of roosia," said bill blunt, reading slowly, and with difficulty, "is--stop a bit, messmates, wot can this word be?--the emperor of roosia is----" "blowed up with gunpowder, and shattered to a thousand pieces," said tom lokins, raising his voice with excitement, as he read from _his_ paper an account of the blowing up of a mountain fortress in india. "oh! come, i say, one at a time, if you please," cried a harpooner; "a feller can't git a word of sense out of sich a jumble." "come, messmates," cried two or three voices, as tom stopped suddenly, and looked hard at the paper, "go ahead! wot have ye got there that makes ye look as wise as an owl? has war been and broke out with the french?" "i do believe he's readin' the births, marriages, and deaths," said one of the men, peeping over tom's shoulder. "read 'em out, then, can't ye?" cried another. "i say, bill blunt, i think this consarns _you_," cried tom: "isn't your sweetheart's name susan croft?" "that's a fact," said bill, looking up from his paper, "and who has got a word to say agin the prettiest lass in all liverpool?" "nobody's got a word to say against her," replied tom; "but she's married, that's all." bill blunt leaped up as if he had been shot, and the blood rushed to his face, as he seized the paper, and tried to find the place. "where is it, tom? let me see it with my own two eyes. oh, here it is!" the poor man's face grew paler and paler as he read the following words:-- "married at liverpool, on the th inst., by the rev. charles manson, edward gordon, esq., to susan, youngest daughter of admiral croft----" a perfect roar of laughter drowned the remainder of the sentence. "well done, bill blunt--mister blunt, we'll have to call him hereafter," said tom, with a grim smile; "i had no notion you thought so much o' yourself as to aim at an admiral's daughter." "all right, my hearties, chaff away!" said bill, fetching a deep sigh of relief, while a broad grin played on his weather-beaten visage. "there's _two_ susan crofts, that's all; but i wouldn't give _my_ susan for all the admirals' daughters that ever walked in shoe-leather." "hallo! here come the yankees," cried the captain, coming on deck at that moment. our newspapers were thrown down at once, and we prepared to receive our guests, who, we could see, had just put off from their ship in two boats. but before they had come within a mile of us, their attention, as well as ours, was riveted on a most extraordinary sight. not more than a hundred yards ahead of our ship, a whale came suddenly to the surface of the water, seeming, by its wild motions, to be in a state of terror. it continued for some time to struggle, and lash the whole sea around it into a white foam. at once the boats were lowered from both ships, and we went after this fish, but his motions were so violent, that we found it utterly impossible to get near enough to throw a harpoon. when we had approached somewhat closely, we discovered that it had been attacked by a killer fish, which was fully twenty feet long, and stuck to it like a leech. the monster's struggles were made in trying to shake itself free of this tremendous enemy, but it could not accomplish this. the killer held him by the under jaw, and hung on there, while the whale threw himself out of the water in his agony, with his great mouth open like a huge cavern, and the blood flowing so fast from the wound that the sea was dyed for a long distance round. this killer fought like a bulldog. it held on until the whale was exhausted, but they passed away from us in such a confused struggle, that a harpoon could not be fixed for an hour after we first saw them. on this being done, the killer let go, and the whale, being already half dead, was soon killed. the yankee boats were the first to come up with this fish, so the prize belonged to them. we were well pleased at this, as we could afford to let them have it, seeing that we could scarcely have found room to stow away the oil in our hold. it was the yankee's first fish, too, so they were in great spirits about it, and towed it to their ship, singing "yankee-doodle" with all their might. as they passed our boat the captain hailed them. "i wish you joy of your first fish, sir," said he to the yankee captain. "thank you, stranger. i guess we're in luck, though it ain't a big one. i say, what sort o' brute was that that had hold of him? never seed sich a crittur in all my life." "he's a killer," said our captain. "a killer! guess he just is, and no mistake: if we hadn't helped him, he'd have done the job for himself! what does he kill him for?" "to eat him, but i'm told he only eats the tongue. you'll not forget that you've promised to gam with us to-night," cried our captain, as they were about to commence pulling again. "all right, stranger, one half will come to-night, before sundown; t'other half to-morrow, if the calm holds. good day. give way, lads." the men dipped their oars, and resumed their song, while we pulled back to our ship. we did not offer to help them, because the fish was a small one, and the distance they had to go not great. it was near sunset when, according to promise, the yankees came on board, and spent a long evening with us. they were a free, open-hearted, boastful, conceited, good-humoured set of fellows, and a jolly night we had of it in the forecastle, while the mates and captains were enjoying themselves and spinning their yarns in the cabin. of course, we began with demands for home-news, and, when we had pumped out of them every drop they had, we began to songs and spinning yarns. and it was now that my friend tom lokins came out strong, and went on at such a rate, that he quite won the hearts of our guests. tom was not noisy, and he was slow in his talk, but he had the knack of telling a good story; he never used a wrong word, or a word too many, and, having a great deal of humour, men could not help listening when he began to talk. after this we had a dance, and here i became useful, being able to play scotch reels and irish jigs on the fiddle. then we had songs and yarns again. some could tell of furious fights with whales that made our blood boil; others could talk of the green fields at home, until we almost fancied we were boys again; and some could not tell stories at all. they had little to say, and that little they said ill; and i noticed that many of those who were perfect bores would cry loudest to be heard, though none of us wanted to hear them. we used to quench such fellows by calling loudly for a song with a rousing chorus. it was not till the night was far spent, and the silver moon was sailing through the starry sky, that the yankees left us, and rowed away with a parting cheer. chapter x return home six months after our "gam" with the yankees tom lokins and i found ourselves seated once more in the little garret beside my dear old mother. "deary me, robert, how changed ye are!" "changed, mother! i should think so! if you'd gone through all that i've done and seen since we last sat together in this room, you'd be changed too." "and have ye really seen the whales, my boy?" continued my mother, stroking my face with her old hand. "seen them? aye, and killed them too--many of them." "you've been in danger, my son," said my mother earnestly, "but the lord has preserved you safe through it all." "aye, mother, he has preserved my life in the midst of many dangers," said i, "for which i am most thankful." there was a short silence after this, during which my mother and i gazed earnestly at each other, and tom lokins smoked his pipe and stared at the fire. "robert, how big is a whale?" enquired my mother suddenly. "how big? why, it's as big as a small ship, only it's longer, and not quite so fat." "robert," replied my mother gravely, "ye didn't use to tell untruths; ye must be jokin'." "joking, mother, i was never more in earnest in my life. why, i tell you that i've seen, aye, and helped to cut up, whales that were more than sixty feet long, with heads so big that their mouths could have taken in a boat. why, mother, i declare to you that you could put this room into a whale's mouth, and you and tom and i could sit round this table and take our tea upon his tongue quite comfortable. isn't that true, tom?" my mother looked at tom, who removed his pipe, puffed a cloud of smoke, and nodded his head twice very decidedly. "moreover," said i, "a whale is so big and strong, that it can knock a boat right up into the air, and break in the sides of a ship. one day a whale fell right on top of one of our boats and smashed it all to bits. now that's a real truth!" again my mother looked at tom lokins, and again that worthy man puffed an immense cloud of smoke, and nodded his head more decidedly than before. being anxious to put to flight all her doubts at once, he said solemnly, "old ooman, that's a fact!" "robert," said my mother, "tell me something about the whales." just as she said this the door opened, and in came the good old gentleman with the nose like his cane-knob, and with as kind a heart as ever beat in a human breast. my mother had already told me that he came to see her regularly once a week, ever since i went to sea, except in summer, when he was away in the country, and that he had never allowed her to want for anything. i need scarcely say that there was a hearty meeting between us three, and that we had much to say to each other. but in the midst of it all my mother turned to the old gentleman and said: "robert was just going to tell me something about his adventures with the whales." "that's capital!" cried the old gentleman, rubbing his hands. "come, bob, my boy, let's hear about 'em." being thus invited, i consented to spin them a yarn. the old gentleman settled himself in his chair, my mother smoothed her apron, folded her hands, and looked meekly into my face. tom lokins filled his pipe, stretched out his foot to poke the fire with the toe of his shoe, and began to smoke like a steam-engine; then i cleared my throat and began my tale, and before i had done talking that night, i had told them all that i have told in this little book to you, good reader, almost word for word. thus ended my first voyage to the south seas. many and many a trip have i made since then, and many a wonderful sight have i seen, both in the south and in the north. but if i were to write an account of all my adventures, my little book would grow into a big one; i must therefore come to a close. the profits of this voyage were so great, that i was enabled to place my mother in a position of comfort for the rest of her life, which, alas! was very short. she died about six months after my return. i nursed her to the end, and closed her eyes. the last word she uttered was her saviour's name. she died, as she had lived, trusting in the lord; and when i laid her dear head in the grave my heart seemed to die within me. i'm getting to be an old man now, but, through the blessing of god, i am comfortable and happy. as i have more than enough of this world's goods, and no family to care for, my chief occupation is to look after the poor, and particularly the old women who live in my neighbourhood. after the work of the day is done, i generally go and spend the evening with tom lokins, who lives near by, and is stout and hearty still; or he comes and spends it with me, and, while we smoke our pipes together, we often fall to talking about those stirring days when, in the strength and hope of youth, we sailed together to the south seas, and took to--_fighting the whales_. the two whalers; or, adventures in the pacific, by w.h.g. kingston. ________________________________________________________________________ jack is a young teenager, who is being prepared for the sea. he lives in deal, a busy port in east kent, and several well-found boats with good skippers hail from there. after attending a nautical college, and obtaining first prize there, he goes to sea with captain hake in the "eagle". he has already met medley, another apprentice in the same vessel. they have difficulty getting out of the thames estuary and into the channel, on account of the weather, but eventually they reach southern latitudes where again they have difficulty in rounding cape horn and getting into the pacific. here begin a series of difficulties despite which they manage to catch some whales, and boil down the blubber, for its oil. the difficulties include weather, mutineers, pirates, and separation of whaling boats from the mother ship. eventually of course all problems are overcome, and they return to england, no doubt to go back to sea again soon after. ________________________________________________________________________ the two whalers; or, adventures in the pacific, by w.h.g. kingston. chapter one. i hail from deal, where my father was highly respected, not on account of his worldly wealth, for of that he had but small store, but because he was an honest, upright, god-fearing man, who did his duty to his neighbour, and ruled his family with discretion. and my mother--she was a mother!--so loving and gentle and considerate; she kept us, her children, of whom there were nine, i being the third, in excellent order, and yet we scarcely discovered the means she employed. we trusted her implicitly; we knew that she entered into all our sorrows as well as into our joys and amusements. how carefully she bound up a cut finger or bathed a bruised knee; or if we were trying to manufacture any toy, how ready she was to show us the best way to do the work; how warmly she admired it when finished, and how proudly she showed it to father when he came in. i was accustomed from my earliest days to the sight of ships coming into or going out of the downs, or brought up before our town, and i used to listen with deep interest to the account of his adventures in all parts of the world with which our neighbour, captain bland, was wont to entertain us when he came to our house, or when we went in to take tea with him and mrs bland and their daughter mary. i can, therefore, scarcely remember the time when i did not wish to become a sailor, though as my eldest brother bill was intended for the sea, and indeed went away when i was still a little fellow, my father had thoughts of bringing me up to some trade or other. i should have been content to follow my father's wishes, or rather to have done what he believed best for me, had i been sent away inland, where i could not have heard nautical matters talked about, and where the sea and shipping would have been out of my sight. while i remained at home the desire grew stronger and stronger to become like the seafaring men i was constantly meeting--pilots, masters and mates, and boatmen--and i may venture to say that a finer race of sailors are nowhere to be found than those belonging to deal. captain bland was a thorough sailor. he dearly loved the sea, and the ship he commanded, and his crew--at least he took a warm interest in their welfare--but he loved his wife and daughter more, and for their sakes he remained on shore longer than he would otherwise have done. still, he made three or four voyages while i was a youngster, and he always spoke as if he had no intention of abandoning the sea until he had laid by a competency for old age. how many a master says the same, and goes on ploughing the ocean in the delusive hope of reaping a harvest till the great reaper gathers him into his garner. notwithstanding my predilections in favour of a sea life, i was still undecided as to my future career, when one winter's day, after school hours, as i was taking a run out on the london road, i saw coming along towards me a fine broad, well-built lad, with a sun-burnt countenance, and a stick having a bundle at the end of it over his shoulder. his dress, and the jaunty way he walked, with a slight roll, as if trying to steady himself on a tossing deck, showed me that he was a sailor. we were going to pass each other, when he looked hard at me, and i looked hard at him. suddenly it struck me that i knew his features; so i stopped, and he stopped, and we gazed into one another's faces. "can you be brother bill?" i exclaimed. "bill's my name, my hearty. and you!--are you brother jack? yes, i'm sure you are!" and grasping my hand he wrung it till i thought he would have wrung it off, while, half-laughing, half-crying for pleasure, he asked, "how's father and mother, and susan and jane, and mary and dick, and the rest of them; and little tommy?" he was the youngest of us, and could just toddle when bill went away. thus he ran on, asking question after question, which i answered as well as i could, while we went towards home at a pretty round trot--he eager to get there and see them all again, and i almost as eager to have the satisfaction of rushing in and shouting out, "here's bill come back again!" i need not describe the way bill was received. no one seemed to think that they could make enough of him. mary, a small girl, sat on his knee at supper, with one arm round his neck, and ever and anon gave him a kiss and a hug, exclaiming, "dear bill, we are so glad you're come back;" and susan and jane placed themselves one on each side that they might the better help him to what was on the table; and we bigger boys listened eagerly to all he said; and father watched him with pride, and the light shone brighter than ever from mother's eyes as she gazed at him; and little tommy came toddling into the room in his night-gown (having scrambled out of his crib) saying, "tommy want see dat brodder bill really come home--all right--dere he is--hurrah!" and off he ran again with susan at his heels, but he had nimbly climbed into his nest before she caught him. as to myself, i looked at bill with unbounded admiration, and eagerly listened to every word which dropped from his lips. he had plenty to talk about, and wonders of all sorts to describe, for he had been in the indian sea, and visited china, and the west coast of america, and several islands in the pacific, and gone round the world. how he rattled on! i thought drake, cavendish, and dampier, lord anson and captain cook were nothing to him--at all events, that i would far rather hear the narrative of his adventures than read theirs. i was almost vexed with captain bland for coming in one evening, even though mary accompanied him, because bill became suddenly far more reticent than usual in his presence, if not altogether dumb, and when he did speak, merely described in a modest tone some very commonplace occurrences. i could not make it out. after some time, when bill was out of ear-shot, i heard captain bland remark to father that he liked lads who did not speak about themselves. it was a pretty sure sign that they were better doers than talkers. "he'll succeed, will that lad of yours; he's kept his eyes open wherever he's been; he'll make a smart officer one of these days," he added. i was much pleased when captain bland thus spoke of bill, and i thought to myself, what would he have said if he had heard him describe some of the wonderful adventures he had narrated to us. when i afterwards told bill what the old captain had said, and my ideas on the subject, he laughed heartily. "why, jack, he would have shut me up pretty smartly," he answered. "old cocks don't allow young ones to crow in their presence." bill made ample amends for his previous silence when we were together, knowing that i was never tired of listening to him. i could think about nothing else but what he had told me, and i made up my mind that i would far rather become a sailor than follow any other calling. i told him so. "well, jack, i think you're right," he said; "i wouldn't change if i had the offer--no, not to become prime minister of england or the first merchant in the land. remember, though, it isn't all smooth sailing. you must expect rough weather as well as fine; but if you're determined to go i'll speak to father, and i don't think that he'll refuse you." bill fulfilled his promise, and father, after consulting captain bland, agreed to let me go, provided i was of the same mind when i was old enough to be apprenticed. neither our mother nor our sisters had a word to say against my wishes; nor had mary bland. "i wish that i was a boy, jack, that i might go also," she exclaimed. "we shall be very, very sorry to lose you," she added after a short silence; "but then, you know, you will come back, and how glad we all shall be to see you again." bill told me how well pleased he was that father had given me leave to go to sea. "but i want you to study navigation at once, so that you may become an officer as soon as possible. you'll never get on without that," he said, and producing an old, well-thumbed edition of hamilton moore's "epitome of navigation," he added, "i'll give you this, jack. it has served me, and will serve you well if you master it as i've done." how i did prize that book! i doubt if i ever valued anything more in my life. my brother, i should have said, had been at an excellent nautical school in deal, established a few years before by several officers of the royal navy, where he gained much credit by his intelligence and attention to his studies. as soon as it was finally settled that i was to go to sea i was sent to the same school on the day my brother left home to go on his next voyage. i easily passed in, as i knew all the simple rules of arithmetic thoroughly, and was pretty well up in decimals. having learned from my brother that the use of logarithms and the first principles of geometry would soon be taught me at school, with his help i had at once set to work on them, and after he went away i continued my studies in the evenings when other boys were at play, so that i quickly mastered all those necessary preliminaries. i consequently got over them at school with a rapidity which astonished the master, and with no little pride i heard the inspector, a naval captain, remark, "first-rate boy--beats his brother--be a master in a jiffy." the result of my working so hard out of hours was that at our annual examination i took the first prize, and was shortly afterwards pronounced fit to be sent to sea. as i still held to my wish to go, my father at once wrote to the owners of several first-class south sea whalers, who immediately agreed to send me as an apprentice on board one of their ships, the "eagle," captain hake, just about to sail for the pacific. on the night before my departure i slept but little for thinking of the novel and wonderful scenes i expected to go through, and i am pretty sure that my kind mother did not close her eyes, but from a different cause. she was thinking of parting from me, and of the dangers to which i was to be exposed. she was praying that i might be preserved from them i know, for she told me so. at three o'clock in the morning she called me up, that i might be ready to start with my father by the mail coach for margate, whence we were to go up the river to london by steamer. how earnestly did my pious father at family prayers, which he never omitted, commend me to the care of him who watches over all the creatures of his hands! i felt that there was a reality in that prayer, such as i had never before comprehended. breakfast over, and parting embraces given, we started, and rattling away to margate, were soon on board the "royal adelaide" on our way up the thames. bitter as was the cold, i was too much occupied in running about and examining everything connected with the steamer to mind it. the helm, the machinery, the masts and rigging, the huge paddle-wheels, the lead and lead-line, all came under my notice. as i was in no ways bashful i made the acquaintance of several persons on board, and among others i spoke to a lad considerably my senior, whose dress and well-bronzed face and hands showed me that he was a sailor. "are you going to sea, youngster?" he asked, looking me over from head to foot, as if to judge how far i was cut out for a nautical life. "yes, in a few days, i hope, on board the `eagle,'" i answered. "that is curious; she is the ship i belong to," he remarked. "you're in luck, for she's a smart craft, and, as things go, we are tolerably comfortable on board; but you must be prepared to take the rough with the smooth, mind you; there are a good many things to rub against afloat as well as ashore, you'll find." "and what sort of man is the captain?" i asked somewhat eagerly, anxious to know the character of my future commander. "the captain is the captain, and while you are on board his ship you'd better not rub against him, but listen to what he tells you to do, and do it; sharp's the word with him." i was not much the wiser from this information, but i gathered from it that captain hake was a man who would stand no nonsense. i determined at all events to learn my duty, and to try and perform it to the best of my power. i next asked my new friend his name, supposing that, though he looked young, he might be one of the mates. "andrew medley," he answered. "i am still an apprentice, as you are about to become, so we shall be messmates; and if you are wise, i hope that we shall get on well together." "i hope so," i replied, with confidence, liking his looks. just then my father came up, and hearing that medley was to be my messmate, shook hands with him. presently he sent me off on some excuse or other, and drawing medley aside, had a short, earnest talk with him. what it was about i did not at the time know. "i am thankful that you have got so right-minded a young man for a messmate," observed my father shortly afterwards. "he will, i hope, prove a true friend to you." i must not stop to describe my astonishment at the crowded thoroughfares we passed along on our way to the inn where we lodged for the night. the next morning we went to the office of the owners in old broad street, where i was, by the signing of certain papers, bound apprentice for four years on board the good ship "eagle," south sea whaler, captain hake commander. this done, we made our way to the river, and getting into a wherry proceeded in her to the dock, in which my ship lay getting ready for sea. on going on board i looked round for medley, but could nowhere see him, and presently my father took me up to captain hake, who was standing aft, giving his orders in a sharp, ringing voice, which showed that he was accustomed to be obeyed. "if he is the man his appearance betokens, he is a very fine fellow indeed," i thought to myself. he was of good height, with broad shoulders, an open countenance, well-bronzed, large blue eyes, and a thick bushy beard. i don't know if he formed as good an opinion of me as i did of him, but he looked down good-naturedly as he said, "i'll do my best to make a seaman of the lad, mr kemp, and i'll keep an eye on him, as i do on all the youngsters under my charge." he then invited us into the cabin and gave us some luncheon, after which my father took his leave. i accompanied him to the side. pressing my hand, with a trembling voice he said, "we may never meet again, jack. you have chosen a perilous profession, and may at any moment be called away; but, my dear boy, seek always so to live that you may be ready to go when summoned." i watched him as he pulled away till his wherry was lost to sight among the shipping, and at first felt very sad; but i soon recovered my spirits, and having got one of the few seamen who had joined to stow my chest away for me on the half-deck, where he told me the apprentices slept, i set out to make an exploring expedition round the ship. i should have been wiser had i waited for medley, or, at all events, avoided touching anything with the use of which i was not acquainted. among other novelties which i examined was the windlass, which had the handles shipped, but i did not observe that on the top of it was coiled a large quantity of iron chain out of the way to allow of the deck being scraped. i saw that the big thing was intended to go round, so i thought that i would try if i could move it by myself. i pressed with all my force against one of the handles, when, to my infinite satisfaction, the windlass began to revolve, but as it did so, to my still greater dismay, down came the chain rattling on to the deck. in vain i tried to stop it. i then made a desperate effort to replace it, but as it had taken probably two men some time to put it up i had not the slightest chance of succeeding. my task was something like that of sisyphus, a man of ancient days, who had to roll a huge stone to the top of a mountain, but which always came down again as soon as he got it there. i had not been long engaged in my hopeless undertaking when my ears were assailed by such a volley of abuse as i had never before heard in my life. as i turned round, letting go the chain, which came rattling down again on deck, i discovered that it proceeded from a head that had suddenly appeared above the combings of the fore hatch. it might have been a picturesque head, but was not pleasant-looking to my eyes. on the top was an old party-coloured nightcap, beneath which stuck out on all sides a mass of reddish hair resembling oakum or shavings, as untwisted rope is called at sea; a pair of ferrety eyes, a snub nose, and a huge mouth half concealed by a bushy beard, completed the countenance of the individual who was addressing me. i need not repeat what he said, but if his remarks were true i was among the greatest reprobates this evil world has ever produced. i stood with my hands by my side mutely gazing at him, for i had nothing to say for myself. i was conscious that i had done something wrong, though not meriting the remarks to which i was listening. "arrah, now spake, youngster, if you've a tongue belonging to you," cried the head. still i said nothing. presently, below the head a pair of broad shoulders covered with a red shirt emerged from the hatchway, and i had an unpleasant vision of a bear-like hand grasping a short piece of knotted rope. the next instant a short thick-set man in tarry trousers springing on deck advanced towards me, ominously flourishing the piece of rope. i did not think of running, for i had nowhere to run to, so i stood stock still. down came the rope on my shoulders. i tried hard not to cry out. a second and a third blow followed. i had on a pretty thick jacket on account of the cold, so that i was not so much hurt as i might have been; still, as i did not like the treatment i was receiving, i tried to get out of my tormentor's way, and in doing so fell over the chain flat on the deck, striking my nose in a way which made the blood flow pretty quickly. he not noticing this gave me another whack, which hurt more than all the others, as it was on the part most exposed, and was about to repeat it, when i heard a voice say "hold fast there, dan; enough of that. the boy hasn't been on board an hour and you must needs get foul of him." "who are you that's afther spakin' to me in that way? sure, if, i'm not mighty mistaken, you're only an apprentice yourself," exclaimed dan, in an angry tone. while he was speaking i crawled along the deck out of his way, and looking up, i recognised my acquaintance on board the steamer, andrew medley, who replied calmly, "whether or not i am only an apprentice, i'll not stand by and see a young boy ill-treated who hasn't strength to defend himself." the ruffian laughed hoarsely, but when he saw the blood streaming down my face as medley assisted me to get up, he looked somewhat alarmed, for he remembered that we were not yet at sea, and that although he might then treat me much worse with impunity it would be prudent to avoid the risk of being summoned before a magistrate for an assault. "are you much hurt, jack?" asked medley, as he led me aft. "only my nose bleeds; though the last cuts that man gave me were not pleasant," i replied. "if that's all, come below and we'll soon get you set to rights with some cold water," said medley. "i am glad i came in time to save you from tasting more of dan hogan's colt. though a bully, he is a good boat-steerer, so the captain keeps him on, but, for my part, i think the ship would be better without him." "i should have been so, at all events, just now," i remarked, and i went down with medley to the half-deck. with the help of a sponge and some cold water i was soon put to rights, and except that i felt an unpleasant sensation in the back i was not much the worse for the beating i had received. the first mate, mr renshaw, however, who had heard of my performance from hogan, quickly sent for me, and after scolding me for my carelessness, ordered me to draw a bucket of water. "i'll find something for you to do, depend on that, youngster," he observed, and he was as good as his word. i was not over successful in carrying out this my first piece of duty, for in attempting to secure a rope to the bucket that i might lower it over the side, i made a slippery hitch. to my dismay when i hauled in the rope the bucket was not at the end. it had gone to the bottom. i fully expected to get another taste of dan hogan's colt, but medley, who at that moment came on deck, seeing what had happened, lowered a hook and fished up the bucket. he then showed me how to make a proper hitch, and the mate kept me drawing water till my arms ached. i was feeling very hungry, and was wondering if i should get any dinner, when medley told me that no fires were allowed to be lighted on board, and consequently that no cooking could be carried on while the ship was in dock. i was thinking of petitioning the steward for some bread and cheese, when the captain came out of his cabin and told me to accompany him on shore. before long we stopped close to the dock entrance, at the well-known inn, "the dog and duck," and taking me to the landlady told her to supply me with whatever i wanted to eat and drink. i thanked him very much as he left me there, and the hostess asking me if i should like something at once, to which i replied, "i should think so indeed," speedily placed a capital dinner before me. i did not fail after this, whenever i felt hungry, to pay a visit to "the dog and duck," not being particular as to hours, and mine hostess always looked glad to see me. i had learned the names of the masts and yards and ropes, and a good deal besides, thanks to medley's assistance, by the time the ship was ready for sea. even dan hogan readily told me anything i wanted to know, and seemed as pleased as his rough nature would allow that i did not show any ill-feeling towards him on account of the drubbing he had given me. in about a week after i went on board we hauled out of dock, and a tug towed us down to gravesend. here the owner paid us a parting visit, followed by the jew slop-sellers, with whom the men spent most of their advanced wages in the purchase of all sorts of articles, the more prudent furnishing themselves with warm clothing, and also with knives and trinkets to barter with the natives of the islands we were likely to visit. the following day we reached the nore lightship, where, the weather looking dirty, by the orders of the pilot who had charge of us we brought up. scarcely was the anchor at the bottom and the hands were aloft furling sails than down came the gale upon us. the pilot, a jolly old fellow, kept singing out, "more yet, more yet," meaning that we were to veer away more cable, and he did not seem satisfied till the whole of it was out. from this circumstance the men called him "old more yet." i forget his real name. i was thus early in my sea life to learn what a real gale of wind is like. chapter two. we lay at the nore for several days with our bows pitching into the sea and the spray flying over us, and after all, having lost both anchor-stocks, and received other damage, we were obliged to return to gravesend to get them repaired. this done, we again sailed. light winds prevailing, we were some time getting clear of the river. we thought that we should at once stand down channel, but as we rounded the north foreland the weather looked more threatening than ever, and we found that we were to bring up in the downs. i by this time had not only got my sea legs, but was pretty handy aloft. the winds being contrary we had to tack ship very frequently. i saw the first mate looking up, when just then he sang out to me, "away there, jack, and clear that rope from the lee fore-yard arm." i knew what he wanted me to do, so running up the rigging, lay out on the yard, and quickly performed the duty required of me. instead, however, of returning at once on deck, i sat watching several other ships beating up to an anchorage, as we were, while i did not hear "old more yet," the pilot, give the order "about ship." suddenly i felt the yard beginning to swing round. in another instant i should have been hurled off as from a catapult into the seething ocean, or been dashed on the deck. there was but one thing to do. retaining my presence of mind, i made a desperate spring and caught hold of the topmast backstay, down which i was sliding to the rail, when i saw the first mate rushing forward to try and catch me as i fell, he having just recollected that he had sent me aloft. his countenance expressed the greatest alarm, for he was a kind-hearted man, and fully believed that i should have been killed or terribly injured. when he saw that i was safe he rated me soundly for my carelessness, and told me never to play the same trick again. i saw, however, that he was not really angry, and i fancy that i gained some credit with him by the way i had sprung on to the backstay. had i missed it i should have been dashed to pieces. at length we brought up in the downs, with two anchors down, the wind blowing a heavy gale at south-west. the sea was the colour of pea-soup, tumbling and foaming and hissing, the wind roared and whistled through the rigging, and ships were driving in all directions--some threatening to come down upon us. to be ready for any emergency the hands were kept on deck, and "old more yet" stood with his keen eyes watching them, prepared to give the order to veer away the cables should it be necessary. we escaped all accidents, however, and the weather began to moderate. the captain or the mates found employment for me from morning till night. i was indeed, as the youngest on board, at every one's beck and call; but i did not complain. i had come to sea to do my duty, and i knew that that was to obey those over me in all things lawful. one of my tasks was to keep the captain's cabin in order. i was one day engaged in sweeping it when i heard outside a voice i knew. it was my father's. he looked somewhat surprised at finding me thus employed, but at once saw that i took it as a matter of course, and was in good heart. my younger brother dick was with him. i was very glad to see them, and having finished my job i asked them to come down on the half-deck, where, while they were seated on medley's and my chests, i regaled them with bread and cheese. "won't you give it up and come on shore with us?" asked dick, thinking that i must be leading a very hard life. "no, thank you," i answered. "matters are improving. i got a thrashing the first day and have never had one since. it has been blowing pretty hard till now, but we shall have fine weather in time, and i shall like the life very well. it is better to begin with the rough and to end with the smooth than the other way." "rightly said, jack," observed my father, well pleased to see me so contented. i sent many loving messages to my mother and sisters, not forgetting mary and captain bland, and after he had had a short conversation with medley and another with the captain he returned on shore. i felt somewhat sad while i watched him and dick as they pulled away, and had i then been asked to go with them i should have said yes; however, the feeling soon wore off and i went on with my ordinary duties as if home and all i held dear were not almost in sight. again we were under weigh, but it came on to blow as hard as ever from the old quarter. still we kept at it, beating down channel with the seas breaking over our bows. i was just going along the deck with some of the cabin dinner when, the ship diving into a heavier sea than usual, i found myself washed clean over the windlass, a piece of boiled beef flying in one direction, a dumpling in another, and potatoes and turnips scattered on every side. i rushed here and there to save as many as i could, and, helped by the cook and medley, i collected the greater portion, but the captain looked very blue when i placed the food all cold and sodden on the table. it spoke well for him that he did not blow me up; but he knew that it was not from my fault that his dinner was spoilt, and i dare say that the same thing had occurred to him when he was a youngster. i had just returned on deck, where the first mate, shouting "helm's alee!" was in the act of putting the ship about, when, as i was going forward, i saw medley with two other men, one of whom was john major, an ordinary seaman, standing a short distance from me. suddenly i heard a dull thud as if a heavy blow had been struck, followed by a piercing shriek. the clew of the mainsail was lashing about wildly in the gale. i saw a body lifted from the deck and carried over the bulwarks. it was but a momentary glimpse. i could scarcely have told whether or not it was a human being i had seen till i looked towards where the three persons had been standing. one was gone. the mate instantly hove the ship up into the wind, a grating and some spars were thrown overboard, and the captain, rushing on deck, ordered a boat to be lowered. notwithstanding the dangerously heavy sea running, a willing crew, with the second mate, jumped into her. not seeing medley i ran to the side, fearing that he was the victim. i saw the grating and spars, but could nowhere perceive a man's head amid the foaming billows. i expected every moment as i watched the boat tumbling and tossing about that she would be swamped. the captain and first mate were looking anxiously towards the place where the poor fellow must have fallen, but their countenances showed that they did not see him. "he's lost, i fear," said a voice near me. i turned and saw medley by my side. i was greatly relieved. "who has gone?" i asked. "john major," he answered. "he was speaking to me at the moment." "very awful," i remarked, "so suddenly to be called out of the world." "remember, jack, that either you or i may be as suddenly summoned to meet our god. we must so live as to be prepared," he answered solemnly. the boat, the search in vain, now coming alongside was hoisted up, and the ship kept on her course. scarcely, however, had the yards been braced round than down came the gale upon us with far greater force than before. there was no use longer contending against it. the helm was put up and we ran--tearing through the water--back again into the downs. here we lay day after day waiting for a fair wind. it was much the same to me, but a severe trial of temper to the captain and most of the ship's company, who wanted to be in the pacific catching whales. i have not yet described the crew of the "eagle." there was the captain, three mates, the carpenter and his mate, the cooper and his mate, the armourer, steward and cook, four boat-steerers, four able seamen, eight ordinary seamen, the doctor, and two apprentices--namely, medley and i. the ship was thus strongly manned for her size, but in the whaling service, when sometimes four boats are away at a time, a large number of hands are required. by the time we had been a week in the downs a fleet of some hundred merchantmen were collected there, driven in by the long continuing south-westerly gales. we had very little communication with the shore, though i managed to send a letter home, and medley wrote to his friends. "never miss an opportunity of writing home, jack," he said to me; "i know the pleasure it gives to those who love us to receive a letter, and the anxiety they suffer when they have to go long without hearing from us." i followed his advice, and wrote by every homeward bound ship we fell in with, though many of my letters did not reach their destination. we also got a man, eben dredge, in place of poor john major lost overboard. still the south-wester blustered and roared. some of the men declared that it had set in for good, and that there never would be any other wind as long as the world lasted. at length one morning when medley and i were below, we heard the first mate shouting, "all hands up anchor! fair wind, boys! be smart there, all of you." we sprang on deck. the watch below came tumbling up with eager looks. the wind had suddenly veered round to the east-north-east. every man, including the cook and steward, set to work with a will; while some with a cheery song hove round the windlass, others flew aloft to loose sails. hundreds of ships were setting sail at the same time, their white canvas rapidly expanding to the breeze. we were among the first to get under weigh, and running past numerous ships we took the lead and kept it, closely pressed, however, by another whaler, the "fair rosamond," but we lost sight of her off the isle of wight. as if the "eagle" was eager to make up for lost time she ran under every stitch of canvas she could carry at the rate of nearly twelve knots an hour to the lizard, when the wind fell; but it breezed up again when we were in the bay of biscay, and blew great guns and small arms, as sailors say, or in other words, very nearly a hurricane. i own that i did not like it. our stout ship looked like a mere cockle-shell amid the mighty billows, which in huge watery walls rose half-way up the masts, threatening every instant to overwhelm her. though i tried to conceal my fears medley detected them, but he did not laugh at me. "i once should have felt as you do, jack, but i know that we are as safe here in god's hands as on shore," he observed. "our ship is well-built, well found, and well manned, and i trust that we shall weather this gale, and any others we may have to encounter." we did weather it without carrying away a rope-yarn, and having sighted madeira steered for the cape de verde islands, at one of which, brava, we called to obtain fresh provisions and to ship several tall kroomen to pull the midship oars in the whale boats. very fine fellows they were, with gentle, happy dispositions, never grumbling or complaining, and they were consequently much liked by the officers and all the best men of the crew. after crossing the line "sail ho!" was shouted from the masthead. we steered towards her. the stranger proved to be an english brig bound from brazil to liverpool. the wind being light our captains exchanged visits, and medley, i, and others wrote home by her. when in the latitude of the river plate preparations were made for bad weather, as the winter of that region was approaching. the long royal-masts were sent down and replaced by stump topgallant masts, the flying jib-boom, and the studding-sail booms were also sent down, and all the boats, except one, were got in and secured, and the hatches were battened down, and everything else was done to make the ship light aloft. some of the men thought the captain over careful, but it was soon shown that he was right. "we shall have it before long, thick and strong," i heard him remark to the first mate, though at the time there was scarcely a breath of wind. "we'll stow the mainsail, and close reef the topsails." "ay, ay, sir," answered the mate, and the hands were sent aloft to perform the operation. still an hour or more passed away, and we continued on our course. "the old man is croaking again," growled out dan hogan. "belay the slack there, mate. the captain keeps his weather eye open, which is more than some aboard this ship do," said eben dredge. "what do you think of those black clouds out there?" "maybe there's a little wind in them," answered hogan. "a little do you say!" exclaimed dredge. "see, here it comes to show us whether there's a little or not." as he spoke the wind struck the ship like the blow of a mighty hammer right ahead. she gathered stern way and some of the after dead-lights being open the cabin was half filled with water. had we been under more sail, the ship might possibly have gone down or her masts would have been carried away. i rushed forward to call the carpenter and his mate, and we soon had the dead-lights closed. while i was afterwards engaged with the steward in swabbing up the cabin and putting things to rights we felt the ship give some tremendous rolls. "hillo! what for come ober her now?" exclaimed domingo, my companion, who was a black. on going on deck i found that she had fallen off into the trough of the sea, and was being sent from side to side in away which seemed sufficient to jerk the masts out of her. the rigging was well set up, or they would have gone to a certainty. we had not seen the worst of it. the gale blew harder and harder, and presently down came the rain in a way i had never seen it fall before, in regular torrents, as if some huge reservoirs had been emptied out on us in a moment, flooding the decks, and wetting us through our pea-coats to the skin. though several accidents happened we weathered this our first real gale, and i found that the one we had encountered in the bay of biscay was scarcely worthy of the name of a gale. sail being again made, we stood southward, till at the end of april we sighted cape horn, and the hopes of all were raised that we should soon be round it; but not half an hour afterwards, the wind shifting to the west and blowing with tremendous force, a mountainous sea getting up drove us back into the south atlantic. the moment the wind abated we again made sail, and endeavoured to regain our lost ground. it was trying work. the weather was bitterly cold-- the days little more than seven hours long--we scarcely ever had a dry rag on our backs, for when the rain was not falling the sea was continually breaking over us, knocking away our bulwarks, and threatening to carry off those on deck to destruction. scarcely had we made good forty or fifty miles to the westward, than the wind increasing we had again to heave-to under a close-reefed fore-topsail. here we lay day after day, drifting rapidly back from the point it had taken us so long to gain. each day, too, saw our bulwarks more and more shattered by the furious seas constantly breaking on board. during this time i was one forenoon in the pantry, just outside the captain's cabin, when domingo, handing me a wooden bowl containing the ingredients for a plum pudding, said, "here you, jack, carry dis to de galley, and tell de cook to boil him well." i was bound to obey the steward, black though he was, and away i sped on my errand. just as i reached the deck the ship gave a lurch and sent me down to leeward, when instead of, as i ought to have done, making my way up to windward, to save the distance, i ran along on the lee side of the deck. before, however, my destination was reached i saw rising up right ahead a high, dark, foam-crested sea. on it came. with a crash like thunder it broke on board, and rushed roaring and hissing along the deck. letting go the bowl, i frantically clutched a handspike sticking in the windlass, the nearest object to me. the fierce water surrounded me, the handspike unshipped, and, still grasping it, i felt myself borne away into the seething, hissing ocean. at that instant the ship gave another lee-lurch--all hope was gone--every incident of my life passed through my mind--when i caught a glimpse of the cook darting out of his galley; seizing me by the collar he dragged me in, dripping wet and half stunned. it was the work of a moment. directly afterwards the watch on the quarterdeck came hurrying forward with the third mate, who sang out, in a tone of alarm, "where is that boy?" making sure that i had been carried overboard, he not having seen the cook lift me into the galley. when he found me there--though i fancied that i deserved commiseration, for my teeth chattered with cold and fright, and i looked like a drowned rat--he rated me soundly for having gone along the lee side. medley, however, who had come with the rest, took me down below and made me shift into a dry suit of his clothing. he then persuaded domingo to mix a fresh pudding, which he took to the cook to boil, so that i was saved from the captain's anger, which would have fallen on my head had it not been forthcoming at dinner-time. on his return to the half-deck, medley said to me, "now, jack, let us thank our merciful father in heaven that you have been preserved from the greatest danger you were ever in during your life. had the cook not been looking your way in another moment of time you would have been overboard, and it would have been impossible to pick you up." i was willing to do as he proposed, and no one being below we knelt down by the side of our bunks, and i prayed more earnestly than i had ever prayed before. we were just about to rise from our knees when i heard dan hogan's voice exclaim, "arrah now, you young psalm singers, what new trick are you after?" "not a new trick, but an old custom, dan," answered medley, boldly confronting him. "if your life had just been saved i hope that you would thank god for it, otherwise i should say that you were a very ungrateful fellow." "i'm shut up," answered hogan, and taking the article he had come for he returned on deck. i expected that he would tell the men how he had found us employed, but i could not discover that he had spoken about it to any one, and after that he appeared to treat medley with more respect than heretofore. when a person is doing a right thing the proper way is to confront his opponent boldly. all this time we were suffering from the bitter cold, the sleet and snow, the long, long hours of darkness with seldom a gleam from the sun during the short period he was above the horizon. at length, the weather moderating, we again stood on our course to the westward. about five weeks after we first sighted the horn we managed to weather it, and finally steering northward with a favourable breeze soon ran into a more temperate atmosphere than we had enjoyed for many a day. chapter three. we were now fairly in the pacific. i have said little about our crew. there were some good men, not a few indifferent ones, and others as bad as could be. dan hogan was not by a long way the worst. it required the greatest strictness and vigilance on the part of the officers to keep them in order. medley and i kept pretty clear of them, except when on duty, and we were then compelled to lend a hand to any one of them who might summon us. this we did cheerfully, though i, being the youngest, had all sorts of odd jobs to perform, not all of the pleasantest description. i thus had opportunities of hearing what the men were talking about without intending to be an eavesdropper, and i was before long convinced that some of them, if they had the opportunity, would not scruple to mutiny, to knock all who opposed them on the head, and take possession of the ship, or to run off themselves. i told medley of my suspicions. "it's all brag, jack," he answered. "don't trouble yourself about the matter. they might very probably like to do that, or any other piece of villainy, but they dare not. they are cowards at heart, let them talk ever so boastfully." i was not convinced, and determined to watch them. while we were engaged in the chase of whales, in towing them alongside, and in cutting out and trying in, or, in other words, in taking off the blubber and boiling it down into oil, they were too actively employed to plot mischief. they were also then separated, some being in the boats and others on board; but while the ship was at anchor off some savage island, away from all constituted authority, was the time when they were likely to carry out their evil designs. i am sorry to say it, that though captain hake was a bold seaman, generous and kind-hearted, he was influenced by no religious principle; he objected to what he called methodism on board, and so did the mate and doctor. not a chest except medley's and mine contained a bible, and we had to read ours in secret to avoid the risk of being ordered to throw them overboard. if we had had merely to endure the sneers and laughter of our shipmates, we should not have minded. how i should have acted if left to myself, or with a different sort of companion, i do not know; but he encouraged me to read and pray, and refrain from evil habits, for which i owe him a deep debt of gratitude. the first land we made was juan fernandez, or, as we called it, robinson crusoe's island, where he, or rather alexander selkirk, lived so long till rescued by the ship in which the veteran dampier sailed as pilot. it is about three hundred miles west of valparaiso, on the coast of chili, very mountainous and rugged, but richly covered with vegetation. we hove-to off the bay in which drake, cavendish, dampier, and lord anson anchored. three boats were immediately sent on shore. i went in one with the doctor, who wanted to collect a species of mint, an excellent preventive against scurvy. it was found in such abundance that two boats loaded with it were sent back to the ship. we made tea of it, which we much enjoyed, after having had only pea-coffee to drink for so long. i half expected to meet robinson crusoe himself coming down to welcome us to his island, for we saw numbers of his goats among the craigs, though we in vain tried to catch one of the patriarchs of the flock, to ascertain whether its ears were nicked. anson's men discovered several venerable animals with long beards, which had evidently been so treated by selkirk himself, but that generation must have long since died out. the dogs anson saw have also disappeared, being more easily shot than the goats. pulling a short distance from the shore, we got out our fishing-lines. so beautifully clear was the water as the sun shone down into it, that we could actually see the fish take the hook. they bit with wonderful avidity, and in a short time we caught as many rock-cod and other fish as we required. after this we stood along the coast, seldom within sixty miles of it, yet in sight of the snowy summits of the towering andes. this part of the ocean is called by whalers "the off-shore fishing ground," extending from valparaiso to panama, and about four hundred miles westward from the land. we were tolerably successful, having killed four whales. i shall not forget the scene the deck presented to my eyes the night after the blubber from our first whale had been stripped off and cut up while the crew were engaged in "trying out," that is, boiling it down into oil, to be stowed away in casks below. along the deck were arranged the huge "try-pots," with brightly blazing fires beneath them, the fuel being the crisp membrane from the already used blubber. on each side of the "try-works" were copper tanks or coolers to receive the oil as it flows over the sides of the pots with the rolling of the ship, or is ladled into them when sufficiently boiled. some of the men stripped to the waist, and, begrimed with smoke and oil, were working away with forks or ladles, either throwing in the blubber, chopped into small pieces, or skimming off the scraps, or baling out the oil; others of the men were in the blubber-room, heaving on deck the horse-pieces, of about thirty pounds weight each, to be minced fine before being thrown into the try-pots. the whole watch were thus engaged, and what with the blazing fires, the wreaths of black smoke, the dark figures flourishing their implements, and ever and anon giving vent to horrible oaths and shouts and shrieks of savage laughter, the spectacle i beheld was more weird and wild than anything i could have imagined--like one of those dreadful scenes i have read of where spirits of darkness are described holding their midnight revels. my share of the work on such occasions when the watch to which i belonged was on deck was to turn the grindstone for the carpenter, whose business it was to sharpen the spades for the men. in the intervals during daylight i amused myself, armed with one of the spades, the pole of which was twenty feet long, in killing the sharks swarming alongside. one deep cut on the back of the neck or tail was sufficient to destroy the largest of the savage creatures. i must not be accused of cruelty to animals. of all the fierce creatures of land or sea the sailor most dreads and detests the cruel shark, for there are few who have not heard or seen some thing of his depredations. about a month after leaving juan fernandez we reached the galapagos, a group of volcanic islands lying under the equator, their black and rugged shores having a most uninviting appearance. in one only, charles island, is water to be found, though in another of considerable extent there are hills and valleys with groves of trees; but the chief vegetation on all of them is the prickly pear, which in most parts covers the ground. we cruised off the galapagos for upwards of two months, sometimes in company with other whalers, but more frequently alone, meeting with fair success. at last many of the men began to grumble at being kept so long at sea; those especially who had before shown a mutinous disposition taking no pains to conceal their discontent, for we had been ten months from the thames, and according to the articles we were bound to anchor in a civilised port at least once in every six months. i felt sure from what i overheard that mischief was brewing; and one day when domingo, whom i could not trust, was out of the cabin, i told the captain my fears. he only replied by a scornful laugh, but before he went on deck he put a brace of pistols in his belt, and i observed shortly afterwards that the mates had also armed themselves, while the muskets, cutlasses, tomahawks, and boarding-pikes were placed in a side cabin kept locked. the captain, however, knowing that the men had the right to put into port, informed them, after we had finished stowing the oil from the last whale caught, that he was about to steer for the coast of south america. in about a week we made the land near the gulf of guayaquil, and thence ran down to tumbez, an open roadstead, in which we brought up about a mile from the mouth of a river with a bar across it. here the crew, instead of enjoying the rest they expected, were employed in towing off rafts of wood and water through the heavy surf setting on the shore. it was very hard work under a blazing sun, but still necessary, and the true men did not complain, though the others did pretty loudly, notwithstanding that few captains were more considerate in not overworking their crews than was ours. i heard him tell the first mate that as soon as the task was performed he intended to let them all go on shore, a watch at a time, to amuse themselves. the first day's work was over, the boats hoisted up, and the anchor watch set, when i turned into my bunk. it seemed but a moment afterwards that medley called me to keep the middle watch. i had just got on deck and was looking aft when i saw four figures lowering, as it seemed to me, the starboard quarter boat. suspecting that something was wrong i looked round for the officer of the watch, but could nowhere see him. he must, i guessed, have gone below. i was about to hurry into the cabin, but before i could make many steps aft i was seized, gagged, and dragged forward, where i was lashed to the windlass. i could just make out through the gloom that the boat was no longer in her place, and presently i saw several figures carrying some bags go forward and disappear from the spritsail yard. i knew, therefore, that the men i had seen intended to run away, and that they were probably some of the fellows whose complaints i had overheard. in vain i struggled to get free that i might give the alarm. these very men must have formed the watch, for no one came near me. daylight came at last, and the morning watch appearing on deck, i was released and taken to the captain, to whom i gave an account of what i had seen. two boats were instantly sent in chase of the fugitives, who were the armourer, two boat-steerers, and three seamen. after some time the boats returned unsuccessful. the captain took, the matter very quietly: "a good riddance, more thorough scoundrels i never had under me," he observed. to show his confidence in the rest he allowed the whole crew to go on shore, first one watch and then the other, for three days each, but as most of them were drunk all the time they would have been better on board. sailing for the marquesas, instead of the runaways we shipped six kanakas, or natives, an englishman, a beachcomber, or runaway sailor, who had been living on the island for several years, a portuguese, and a sandwich islander. i mention them to show the heterogeneous materials of which the crews of english whalers were composed. touching at dominica we sailed for samoa, where we remained for some time, and thence proceeded off the kingsmill group, and from this to the japan whaling ground. while on this station we got so damaged in a typhoon that we had to make the best of our way to honolulu, in the sandwich islands, to refit. this accomplished we returned to the marquesas to land the natives we took from thence, having obtained as many hands as we required at honolulu. another season having come round, we again cruised for nearly two months in the neighbourhood of the galapagos. by this time medley, having been long out of his apprenticeship, was rated as an able seaman, and young as i was i could do the duty of one as well as any of the old hands, and better than those we had shipped to supply the places of the deserters and mutineers; besides which i had as good a knowledge of navigation as any of the mates. i had no longer to turn the grindstone or to sweep out the cabin, those and similar duties being performed by a young sandwich islander, but still the captain declined to give me up my indentures, or rather to have my name placed on the articles as an able seaman. of course i could not demand what i asked, so i had to submit; indeed the captain probably thought me unreasonable. calm as is in general this part of the pacific, there are occasionally storms of terrific violence. we experienced one when cruising some way to the southward of the galapagos, but as we had plenty of sea room and were prepared for it we escaped without material damage. two days afterwards, while the boats were away in chase of a whale, and i was aloft looking out for the appearance of others, i sighted a sail to the south-west standing towards us. i announced the fact by the usual cry of "sail ho!" but as we had to follow our boats we could not go to meet her. as she drew nearer, i observed that her fore-topmast, her main-topgallant-mast, and main-topsail yard were gone, and that she was evidently in other ways much damaged. the stranger passing within hail, a voice inquired, "what ship is that?" the third mate, mr reece, answered, and put the usual questions in return, but before these could be replied to, gliding by she had rounded to a short distance off. as i watched her i saw two females, who had apparently just come on deck to look at us. presently a boat was lowered which soon came alongside, when who, to my surprise, should step on board but my old friend captain bland. i at once concluded that the two females i had seen were mary and her mother, and my heart gave a bound at the thoughts of meeting them. our visitor first inquired for captain hake, and hearing that he was away in one of the boats his eye ranged along the deck as if in search of somebody. though i was near him he did not recognise me till i advanced, when his eye brightened, and putting out his hand he shook mine cordially. "mrs bland and mary will be right glad to see you, jack, and to give you all the news from home, and you must try to cheer them up by telling them all you have been about, for they have had a trying time of it for some months past. as soon as captain hake returns i will get him to allow you to accompany me on board the `lady alice.'" he then addressed mr reece: "your ship and mine belong to the same owners, and i want as many of your men as can be spared to assist my people in repairing our damages, for we are terribly short-handed. we encountered fearful weather in coming round cape horn, when we had the misfortune to lose four men overboard, three more were killed by the only whale we have yet taken, two deserted at juan fernandez with the idea of playing robinson crusoe, though they'll very soon get sick of that, and five others are too sick to come on deck. three days ago we were caught in a gale, and before the hands could shorten sail the topmasts were carried over the side, so you'll understand that we want all the help we can get." "i've no doubt that the captain will afford it, sir," answered mr reece; "but we ourselves are sadly wanting in able seamen--we haven't more than three hands who can be trusted to take the helm with any sea on." medley and i smiled at the mate's remark, for we believed that we could steer as well as he could, and that there were several others who could do so. a shout from the look-out aloft announced that a whale was killed, and we bore down to meet the boats towing it towards us. the captured whale was nearly eighty feet long, and worth a thousand pounds at least. our captain was, therefore, in very good humour, and cordially greeted captain bland, promising to do all he could to help him, but, of course, till the oil from the whale alongside was stowed away he could spare no hands. "but you will let my young friend, jack kemp, and your other apprentice, medley, go with me?" said captain bland. "they can best be spared at present, and i can trust them to assist my mates in superintending the work." the captain demurred to this, as i was especially useful to him. i used to work all his observations, make out his bills for the men, keep the slop-locker in order, serve out the stores, and besides many other duties, act as his barber. my kind friend, however, pressed the point, and at length the captain consented to let us go, accompanied by two of the kroomen, promising shortly to follow the "lady alice" to charles' island, one of the galapagos. medley and i were not long in cleaning ourselves and putting on our sunday best, and with our working clothes in our bags we stepped into captain bland's boat. by this time the two vessels were some way apart, so that we had a long pull. as we got near the "lady alice" i saw mrs bland and mary looking over the side, but they made no signal of recognition, so that it was evident they did not know me; they did not do so even when i stepped on deck. perhaps i might not have known mary, for she had grown from a little girl into almost a young woman, and very bright and pleasant she looked, which is better to my mind than what some people call beautiful. i saw her eyes as they turned towards me brighten, while a smile rose on her lips. "what! haven't you brought jack kemp with you?" asked mrs bland of her husband. "yes, there he is; i knew him," cried mary, springing forward and taking my hand. mrs bland embraced me, as if she were my mother. "i told her i would, jack," she said. "she often felt very anxious about you for fear you should get into the rough ways of your shipmates, and be no longer what you once were, a good, affectionate lad. you are not changed, jack, i hope, though you have grown so big and manly." i could nearly have cried, i felt so happy, as i answered, "i hope not, mrs bland, and i have to thank my friend medley here for assisting me to act rightly." "a christian friend is a valuable help on board ship, as well as everywhere else," observed captain bland. "i am truly glad that you have found such an one in andrew medley, whose father i have the pleasure of knowing. it will do his heart good to hear this account of his son. i wish there were more like you two young men at sea." the ladies now invited us into the cabin to have some tea, and as we sat there, helped by mary, we felt quite like different beings to those we had been for so many months past. i heard some of the news from home, which i need not repeat, but we had not much time for conversation, as, having shifted into our working clothes, we had to hurry on deck to assist the crew in getting the ship to rights. we and our two kroomen set to with a will, and three of the sick men turned out of their bunks to help. it was heavy work though, and in addition during two hours in each watch we had to keep the pumps going. while daylight lasted mary remained on deck, and her presence incited us to exertion. i thought of the danger to which she would be exposed should bad weather again come on, and the ship not be prepared to encounter it. at length we entered the harbour, a gloomy enough looking place, surrounded by high, black, rugged cliffs, yet being well protected from all winds, we were glad to find ourselves safe in it. i almost dreaded the arrival of the "eagle," as i feared that i should have to return to her and my rough associates. it was not the hard work i disliked, but the utter want of humanising influences on board the "eagle," whereas, independent of the effect produced by mrs bland and mary, a far higher moral tone prevailed on board the "lady alice"; the mates were well-conducted men, and several among the crew were real christians, who made the bible the rule of life. i do not mean to say that the ship was a perfect paradise; there were some bad, wild characters, but they were kept in check by the rest. we were too busy to escort the ladies on shore, and they had no fancy to go by themselves, although there were neither wild beasts nor savages to be feared. we were waiting, however, for the arrival of the "eagle" to heave the ship down, so as to get at the leak; and as the position she would then be in would make the cabin a very uncomfortable habitation, captain bland proposed rigging a tent on the beach under the cliffs in which his wife and daughter might live till the work was accomplished. as soon, therefore, as medley and i with two of the men could be spared, we accompanied the captain on shore, taking with us some spars, rope, sails, and spare canvas. it was evident that the spot the captain first thought of would be too hot, as not a breath of air reached it, so he selected another further from the ship in a more open situation. here, having beaten smooth the black lava-like soil, we soon had up a good-sized tent with three compartments--one for the captain and mrs bland, one for mary, and a third for a sitting-room. this done, while the boat returned for some furniture and cooking utensils, the captain sent me to the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean to the southward to ascertain if the "eagle" was in sight. i had not been long looking out when i saw a sail standing for the island, but after watching her for some time i was convinced that she was not the "eagle," but a much smaller craft. as she drew still nearer i perceived, indeed, that she was a schooner, apparently a spanish vessel, though she showed no flag. instead, however, of steering for the harbour where the "lady alice" lay, she kept round the island to another on the other side. what she was, or why she had come to the island, i could not conjecture, i was about to return when i caught sight of a speck of white canvas above the horizon. "that probably is the `eagle,'" i thought. "in a few days i shall have to bid my kind friends farewell and go back to my duties on board her." as there was a fine breeze the ship rapidly approached, and as i had no doubt that she was the "eagle," i went back to the tent to tell captain bland that she was in sight, as also to describe to him the schooner i had seen. "she has probably come across from payta to catch turtle or fish," he observed. "we are not likely to see any of her crew, unless they think that they can get a good price from us for what they bring." we now returned on board to describe to the ladies the preparations we had made for them. captain bland then had all the boats manned to assist in towing in the "eagle" should the wind fall light, as it frequently did towards evening. at length medley, who had landed and gone to the top of the cliff, made the signal that she was near, on which all the boats, with flags flying in the bows, pulled out of the harbour. we saw her about two miles off already nearly becalmed. as we got near her crew greeted us with a cheer, and without stopping to ask questions we took hold of the tow ropes, when, giving way with a will, joined by her boats already lowered, we made the big ship glide through the water at the rate of nearly three miles an hour. we thus soon brought the ship to an anchor in the harbour, when captain hake came on board the "lady alice," and undertook to do all his brother captain required. he was in high good humour at having captured another whale, which had caused the "eagle" to be so much longer in making her appearance than we expected. i thought that now would be the time to get captain bland to beg him to allow me to remain on board the "lady alice." the same idea occurred to mary, who i saw whispering to her father. captain bland kindly pressed the point. "what am i to do without my barber and clerk and storekeeper, i should like to know?" exclaimed captain hake. "why the young fellow works all my observations for me. no, no. be reasonable, bland; he is bound to me, remember. i will lend him to you now, but when the `eagle' leaves this harbour he goes in her." i thought that it was my captain who was not reasonable. i felt dreadfully disappointed, but i was his slave, and compelled to submit. chapter four. captain hake invited mrs bland and mary to take up their abode on board the "eagle" while the lady alice was hove down, and looked much disappointed when he heard that a tent had been put up for them on shore. i need not describe the operation of heaving down further than by saying that the topmasts being struck, the cargo landed, and the ballast shifted, the ship is heeled over on one side, till her keel can be seen, then stages are slung, so that every part may be easily reached. when one side is repaired she is turned over, and the other is treated in the same way. before commencing operations medley and i were engaged for some hours in securing all the things in the cabins, so that nothing might be broken, while the bedding and many other articles were carried on shore. i suggested to captain bland that it would be prudent to have a guard near him at night, and begged that he would allow medley and me, with our faithful kroomen, pepper and salt, and four of his own most trustworthy men, to put up a couple of rough tents, which would afford sufficient shelter to us in that warm climate. "do as you like, jack," he answered. "we shall be glad of your company in the evening, but i do not apprehend the slightest risk by our remaining on shore alone." i carried out my proposal, each of us having a musket and ammunition, and a very pleasant evening medley and i spent in the tent, captain hake not making his appearance, as we feared he would. of course we went off at daybreak to the ship, as we had to work as hard as the rest. having knocked off, however, an hour or so before nightfall, we hurried on shore, when mary asked us to escort her on an exploring trip into the island. "i should like to climb to the top of yonder high hill," she said; "we may get there and back before dark, i am sure." "if you don't mind our being in our working suits, miss bland," observed medley. "it would take us some time to polish up." "i quite forgot how you were dressed," she answered, laughing; "i only knew that you had been engaged in a necessary duty, which has, now i come to look at you, certainly made you unusually tarry and grimy. however, we are not likely to meet anybody else who will mind how you look, so pray let us set off." we started, medley and i carrying our muskets, in case we should meet with any strange creature we might wish to shoot--though we knew that there were no alligators or pumas, or other savage beasts such as are found on the neighbouring continent. the scenery was certainly not picturesque. out of the black tufa-formed soil on the lower ground grew numerous curiously-shaped cacti, or prickly pear shrubs, and we caught sight in the distance of one or two monster terrapins crawling among them. at last we reached the entrance of a narrow valley, in which, to our surprise, we found a luxuriant tropical vegetation, not only of grass and shrubs, but of trees of considerable height, produced, we had no doubt, by a fountain of clear water which, issuing from the mountain's side at the farther end, flowed down the centre in a babbling stream of some width, though what afterwards became of it we could not discover. numberless birds, several of gay plumage, flew about in all directions, and were so tame that they perched on the branches close to us whenever we stopped, as if to ask what we wanted in their domain, and three at different times settled on mary's head or shoulders. medley was going to shoot at some which looked like pigeons, but she cried out, "for shame! i would not for the world have the beautiful things killed. they trust us, and it would be a cruel return for their confidence." my messmate immediately lowered his gun. "you are right, miss bland," he answered; "i did not consider what i was about to do." he shortly afterwards proposed climbing to the top of a cliff from which he expected to obtain a view over the island to the northward. as this was a task mary was unable to accomplish, i remained with her while he set off alone. as i saw by the sun that it was high time to commence our return, i told him that we would walk on slowly towards the tents, so that he might overtake us. i cannot say that i was exactly in a hurry for him to do so, as mary and i being old friends we naturally had a good deal to talk about which could not interest him. at last, however, it struck me that he ought to have caught us up; on looking back i saw him running towards us. on our stopping to allow him to come up he made a sign to us to go on. had i been alone i should have waited, but though i could not divine what danger threatened i thought it prudent to hurry mary on. "what can he have seen to alarm him?" she asked. "that is more than i can say, but he is not a person to be alarmed without reason," i answered. "it is said that these islands were produced by volcanoes; perhaps one has just burst forth, and he fears that the lava may overtake us." "we should have heard the noise and seen the fire and smoke if that were the case," i replied. "then it is possible that he may have seen some wild beast which was not known to exist here," she observed. "do you think so?" medley, who at that moment overtook us, answered the question, "not a wild beast, miss bland, but a set of ruffians, whom it might be dangerous for you to meet; i saw them just below me carousing round a blazing fire, at which they had been cooking a terrapin, or some other animal. as i crept nearer to find out who they were, i at once guessed their character by their horrible oaths, the snatches of ribald songs and savage laughter which reached my ears. i got near enough even to distinguish the features of several of them, among whom i recognised tom moon, the armourer, and jos mortis, both of whom were among the rascals who ran off with our whale boat from tumbez, you remember, jack. i think there were others of the gang, but would not be certain. i was retiring when moon caught sight of me and shouted to his companions to give chase. fortunately most of them were too drunk to make much headway, but seeing that some of them were coming, i judged it prudent to run on and warn you, for i suspect that they are ready for any kind of atrocity." while my messmate was giving this account we were hurrying on--indeed there was no time to lose under any circumstances, for almost directly after the sun had set it would become dark, and we might have much difficulty in finding our way. i frequently looked back with some anxiety, and fancied that i saw several men in the distance, but we still hoped to reach the tents before they could come up with us. medley and i were resolved, should they do so, to keep them at bay with our muskets till mary had effected her escape. she kept up her spirits, not being as much alarmed as i thought she would have been. i was greatly relieved when at length we saw the white tops of the tents. as we got nearer i shouted, and soon captain bland appeared, followed by pepper and salt. "you have been too long away, young people, and i was on the point of setting out to look for you; however, as i have no doubt that you have plenty of good excuses to offer, you are forgiven," he said, in his kind, cheery way. when medley told him of the sort of characters we had seen he expressed his satisfaction that we had avoided them. "they probably belong to the schooner you saw standing in for the island the other day, jack; and if so, the chances are that she is not the honest fisherman we supposed," he remarked. "we must keep a watch on the fellows in case they should come this way." though he said this he did not appear to be much troubled about the matter, and we were soon all seated at mrs bland's tea-table in her tent. i, however, had told pepper and salt, whom i could trust, to be on the look-out, so that we might not be taken by surprise. we spent the evening happily as usual, mary singing to her guitar, while the kind captain told some of his best stories, at which he always laughed most heartily himself. i made an excuse two or three times to go out, to be sure that the kroomen were on the alert, and i also visited the seamen's tent, and told them to be ready to turn out if necessary. "all right, jack," said the captain, guessing what i had been about. "you've got the wise prudence of a careful officer in you, though i don't think the roistering crew medley saw will attempt to make their way to-night thus far from their camp." when i again sat down the captain told the last of his stories for the night, and mary sang another song; but scarcely had her sweet notes died away than pepper's rough voice was heard shouting, "who go dere! stop or shoot!" "who says that?" exclaimed an english voice, though as gruff as the black's. "i say dat," cried salt, who was at some distance from his companion. "take care--i see you." i guessed that the kroomen, favoured by the colour of their skins, had concealed themselves, so that the intruders were puzzled as to their whereabouts, and afraid to approach. medley and i hurried out of the tent, and calling up the seamen, who followed us with their muskets, went to where the kroomen were posted. the ground rising slightly, we could see several dark figures in front of us against the sky moving about, but i doubted whether they could make us out. if the pirates, for such we had good reason to suppose they were, had expected to take us by surprise they were disappointed. our men cocked their muskets with loud clicks, which might easily have been heard by them. we waited in silence to see what they would do, but they seemed undecided. presently we were joined by captain bland. "what is it you want here, my men?" he shouted. "we can receive no visitors to-night. to-morrow morning if you come back we will hear what you have to say." the pirates must have guessed who spoke to them, for one of them immediately answered, "just listen, captain; we want some bread and rum, and salted pork, and a supply of powder and lead, with some shot, and a few other things. we wish to be moderate, but the things we must have to-morrow morning as soon as you can send on board for them if you haven't brought enough on shore." "as to that i can make no promise, so goodnight to you, men," said the captain, in a firm tone. the strangers made no reply, but we could hear them talking among themselves. presently one of them shouted, "we must take what we want!" and the whole gang, numbering three times as many as our party, uttering savage shouts, came rushing on, till, when they were within twenty yards of us, the kroomen, without waiting for orders, fired at them. they, on this, hesitated for a moment, and then there came a random volley from muskets and pistols, the shots whistling past our ears. a dreadful idea occurred to me. "mrs bland and mary may be hurt, sir," i exclaimed. "no fear of that, my lad," said the captain; "i bade them lie down under their bedding, for i thought that the rascals might use their fire-arms." just as he spoke the pirates began again to advance, though with more caution than at first, but they had not moved many steps when the four seamen fired, and the kroomen, who had quickly reloaded, did the same. this again checked the advance of the pirates, who probably did not expect to meet with so warm a reception. "reserve your fire the rest of you," shouted the captain, to give the fellows the idea that we had more men ready to receive them should they venture to come on. strange to say, none of our party were hit, nor, as far as we could tell, were any of them brought to the ground. providentially for us, the whole of the pirates being drunk, and many of them cowards at heart, instead of rushing forward, as we had expected them to do, they retired to a distance, shouting and swearing at us as they went off. i thought that captain bland would now send his wife and daughter out of danger on board the "eagle," but he considered that by so doing the few men who remained might be overpowered, and his property left to the mercy of the pirates. "i don't think that the fellows will return, and if they do we must treat them as before," he observed. "the chances are that in a short time they will be all fast asleep. they attacked us in a drunken freak more than with any settled plan." for some time it appeared that he was right. he returned to the tent to relieve the anxiety of his wife and daughter, while medley and i mounted guard with pepper and salt, telling the other men that we expected them to relieve us in a couple of hours. before half that time, however, had expired, we heard the pirates again coming on. presently, giving vent to the most fearful shouts and shrieks, they fired a volley at us and then came rushing on. their voices aroused our companions, who sprang out to our assistance, while captain bland, who had been on the alert, also joined us. "kneel down, lads, and do not fire till i give the word," he said, in a low voice. we obeyed him, and scarcely had we done so than the pirates, still shouting and shrieking, discharged their pieces, the shot, however, flying over our heads; then on they again came, but before they got much nearer, a hearty cheer rose from the direction of the beach, and some thirty men or more from the two ships, armed with pikes, cutlasses, and muskets, came tramping up, again cheering lustily. we all fired just before they joined us. the pirates did not stop to encounter them, but scampered off as fast as their legs could carry them, several throwing down their weapons the more quickly to escape. captain hake, who led the party just landed, followed with most of the men for some distance, but no one could move rapidly over the rough ground, and the pirates, favoured by the darkness, and better acquainted with the country than we were, effected their escape. though there was very little chance of their again molesting us, watch was kept during the night. captain hake said that on hearing the firing, suspecting that we were attacked, though by whom he could not conjecture, he had lowered his own boats, and summoned captain bland's crew to our assistance. the next morning a party set off to try and capture our assailants, but they had managed to reach their schooner, which was seen standing out to sea. though no dead bodies were found, marks of blood seen on the rocks showed that several had been wounded. mary was unwilling to make any more distant excursions, but she and her mother continued to reside on the island till the "lady alice" was ready for sea. now came the moment of trial. captain hake had been specially civil whenever he met me in company with captain bland, and i began to hope that he would allow me to join the "lady alice." my old friend at length once more pressed the point. captain hake at once assumed the stern manner he knew well how to put on. "i mustn't let the lad think too much of himself; but it's just this, captain bland, you want him and so do i, and as i have a right to him i intend to keep him. he rejoins the `eagle' this evening." captain bland could not complain. he had received great assistance from captain hake, who lent him pepper and salt and two sandwich islanders, with which addition to his crew, now that the rest were well, he was able to continue his fishing. mary, however, was very indignant with captain hake, and went so far as to call him a hard-hearted, cruel man, who wanted me to do all his drudgery, instead of allowing me to act as an officer with her father. the next morning we sailed, and for some time kept company. i was glad to see the "lady alice" shortly afterwards take two whales, for i felt as much interest in her success as in that of our own ship. twice we were becalmed when close together, and medley and i got leave to pay a visit to our friends. i need not say that we were most kindly received. it seemed to us like going out of the rough world into a small paradise when we entered the pretty neat cabin, and were seated at the table with mary and good mrs bland. medley had a talent for drawing, and used to make pictures of ships and scenes descriptive of whale-catching for mary, which we thought very good and true to nature. among them were two--one of a ship leaving port, another of one returning. "i wish this was the `lady alice,'" said mary, taking up the last. "it will be truly a happy day when we get back with dear father safe." "i hoped that you were enjoying your cruise, and would be in no hurry to have it over," i observed. "so i do on many accounts," she answered. "but i am always anxious when i see father go out to attack a huge whale. two of our men were killed by one, and father might share the same fate. sometimes his boat is a long, long way out of sight of the ship, and we cannot tell what is happening." "you must just trust in god, miss bland," observed medley. "he is doing his duty, and you can pray that he may be protected." "i always try to do that; but still, you know, the danger is great, and that makes me wish to be safe at home again, though i fear that you will be there so long before us that you will have sailed again to some distant part of the world perhaps, and we may never see you more." "perhaps the `lady alice' will be more fortunate than you expect, and may soon get filled up," i answered, wishing to restore her spirits, which, for some reason, were unusually low. was it on account of some unseen danger threatening us? for several weeks we continued in company, both ships being tolerably successful; but the "lady alice" certainly killed more whales than we did, simply, i believe, because a better look-out was kept. yet captain bland never sent the boats away on a sunday, while all days were alike to captain hake. i judged by his remarks that he was somewhat jealous of the better fortune of his brother commander. at last we lost sight of the "lady alice." whenever i could manage it i went aloft to look out for her, but though i strained my eyes gazing round and round the horizon, i searched in vain. in what direction she had gone no one could say. about a fortnight after this, when we were about fifty miles to the southward of the galapagos, i one morning at sunrise having gone aloft, caught sight of a sail between us and the islands, and almost ahead. my heart gave a bound, for i made sure that she was the "lady alice." as, however, we neared her, when i again went aloft to look out, much to my disappointment i saw that she was a much smaller craft, a schooner, standing from the eastward for the islands. another look at her a little later showed me that she was of the same size and appearance as that of the craft whose piratical crew had attacked us. i felt, indeed, convinced that she was the same. on coming down on deck i told the captain, unable, however, to conjecture what he would do. at first i thought it possible that he might make chase, and attempt to capture her; but then i reflected that though we had four guns she probably carried many more, with a larger crew, and that, at all events, we could not venture to fire at her unless she attacked us. "we'll let her alone, jack, whether she's the pirate, schooner or not, but we must take care that she does not come alongside the ship while the boats are away, or the rascals aboard her may take the liberty of relieving us of our money and stores," observed the captain. the moment he said this the thought flashed across my mind, "what if she should have fallen in with the `lady alice'?" the idea was too terrible to dwell on. yet once conceived, i could not banish it from my mind. i spoke to medley on the subject. he tried to console me by saying that even if the schooner we had seen was a pirate it was not at all likely that she should have fallen in with the "lady alice," and if she had, have ventured to attack her. as may be supposed, i more eagerly than ever looked out for our fellow-cruiser, but day after day went by and not a white speck denoting a distant sail was to be seen above the horizon. we were all this time very unsuccessful in our business. we gave chase to three whales, which, one after the other, got away before the boats reached them. the captain swore that he would have the next. not one was seen, however, for a whole week. the men grumbled and wondered why we remained on the station. at last one morning, just at daybreak, the look-out, who had just gone to the masthead, gave the welcome shout of "there she spouts! there she spouts!" in a moment the watch on deck aroused those below by the loud stamping of their feet, and up they tumbled. the captain and mates rushed out from their cabins half-dressed. the four boats were lowered, and away they pulled in the direction the whale was seen, about two miles to windward. medley and i, with two seamen, the doctor, and other idlers, remained to take care of the ship, and to beat her up after the boats. the whale sounded, and remaining down fifty minutes rose again nearer the ship, so that we could clearly see what took place. the boats and their crews giving way with might and main, gathered round from different directions. the captain was the first to strike his harpoon into the whale, following the weapon with a couple of lances; he was fast, but he quickly backed off from the monster, which, leaping half out of the water, and turning partly round made a dash with open mouth at another boat coming up, and in an instant crushed it into fragments as if it had been built of paper. the crew sprang overboard on either side, endeavouring to escape--whether any were killed we could not ascertain--and the next instant the whale, raising its powerful flukes, struck a third boat, shattering her by the blow, and throwing her high into the air, bottom upwards, her people and gear being scattered around on the foam-covered surface of the water. the other boats pulled away to avoid the same fate, which it seemed likely would be theirs, for the old lone whale was savagely bent on mischief it was very evident, when he suddenly sounded, dragging out the line like lightning after him. a second line was secured to the first, but that reached the bitter end before the first mate's boat, engaged in trying to rescue the drowning men, could come up, and it was cut to save the boat from being dragged under water. not till then could the captain go to the assistance of the people still struggling for their lives. some were holding on to oars, others to fragments of planks. at length the survivors were picked up, and the two boats returned on board. the men, as they came alongside, looked very downcast. three of our shipmates had disappeared--two of whom had been crushed by the monster's jaws, the other killed by the blow of his flukes--as many more were severely injured, the third mate was among the killed. the captain, ordering the carpenter at once to put together two boats to supply the places of those destroyed, went to his cabin. i had never before seen him so much out of spirits. he seemed to think that some fatality was attending the voyage. in less than half an hour he returned on deck, looking flushed and excited. "we must have that whale if we lose a couple more of our boats in taking him," he exclaimed, addressing the first mate. "keep a bright look-out for him." this was not so easily done, for darkness was coming on, and the monster might possibly have swum away from the ship. the mate answered, "ay, ay, sir," and hailed the look-out aloft. some time passed and no whale appeared; a large one, such as that attacked, can remain down eighty minutes, and swim some distance in that time. at last night came down upon us, and the chances of discovering the creature decreased. the weather too, hitherto fine, changed, and before morning the ship was under close-reefed topsails, dashing through the fast-rising foaming seas. had we got the whale alongside we should probably have had to cut from it. the captain, however, had no intention of giving up the search. we beat backwards and forwards in the neighbourhood for three days, till the gale abated, and then made several circuits round the spot, increasing the radius without seeing the old whale or any other. the men who had before grumbled at being kept so long on the station now declared that the captain had gone out of his mind, and i feared that if he persisted much longer they would break into open mutiny. still day after day he continued sailing round and round, till one morning when we had been running to the eastward, and he ordered the watch to brace up the yards, they stood with their hands in their pockets or folded on their breasts, while they stamped loudly with their feet. at that instant the watch below came rushing up on deck armed with weapons of all descriptions, some having muskets and pistols, others cutlasses, pikes, harpoons, and blubber spades. the captain on this, calling on the two mates, medley, and me to stand by him, rushed into his cabin, from which he quickly returned with a rifle in his hand, and several pistols stuck in his belt. a shout of derisive laughter from the crew greeted him. he took no notice of it, but cried out to us, "go and arm yourselves, and we'll soon put down these mutinous rascals." as he spoke he raised his rifle, and half a dozen muskets were pointed at him. at that juncture the look-out at the masthead shouted, "a dead whale away to the southward!" "we must not lose it, sir," said the first mate. "lads!" he cried, turning to the seamen, "we'll settle this matter afterwards. brace up the yards." the men obeyed with alacrity, having stowed their weapons forward, while the captain placed his on the companion hatch. we were soon convinced that the object seen was a dead whale. innumerable birds hovered above it, while the splashing in the water near it showed that also teemed with living creatures. the monster was worth a thousand pounds if we could secure its blubber, but as we got nearer the horrible odour which reached us even to windward put an end to our hopes. to have taken it alongside would have poisoned the whole crew. the captain, however, insisted on regaining his harpoon, and the ship being hove-to he went away in a boat with a black crew. he did succeed in getting the harpoon, but the line was so completely coiled round and round the monster's body, into which it had cut deeply, that it could not be brought off. the captain looked very pale when he returned, and at once retired to his cabin. the blacks, though at first very sick from this horrible task, quickly recovered. the first mate, who had followed the captain below, soon coming again on deck told the men that he was ordered to shape a course for tumbez, where the ship would remain for a fortnight, and all hands have leave to go on shore. a hearty cheer greeted this announcement, and the mutiny, which threatened not to end without bloodshed, was peaceably brought to a conclusion. chapter five. the recollection of the suspicious schooner was continually haunting me. being unable also to account for our not having fallen in with the "lady alice" made me feel far from happy. medley tried to cheer me up by suggesting that she had probably sailed for the westward, and that we should find her by-and-by in that direction. at last we reached the bay of tumbez, and came to an anchor off the mouth of the river. i looked eagerly out, half expecting to see the "lady alice" there, but no other english ship was in the roads besides ours. as soon as we had got off a supply of wood and water on rafts through the surf as before, the captain said, "now, lads, i will fulfil my promise and allow you all a run on shore for three days, a watch at a time; i'll pay for your lodging, but you must be back at the hour i fix." the men expressed their satisfaction by a cheer, and that they might have three full days, the starboard watch, to which i belonged, at once shoved off. a surf was breaking on the bar, where an upset would have been a serious matter, as sharks abounded ready to pick us up. we crossed, however, in safety, and pulled up the stream for five or six miles. the scenery was very pretty. in many places the trees grew thickly on the banks, their branches, among which numbers of amusing little monkeys were sporting, hanging completely over the water; now we could see the creatures peeping out at us from among the leaves; now they would skip off with wonderful activity; now come back and drop sticks and nuts down on our heads, keeping up a constant chattering all the time. as an american sailor observed, we might as well have tried to stop a flow of greased lightning as to lay hold of their tails. while we were watching the monkeys i saw what i had taken to be a dead log begin slowly to move, and presently a huge pair of jaws opened and an alligator glided off the bank into deep water; we found, indeed, as we got higher up, that the river swarmed with alligators, so that none of us were disposed to take a bath in fresh water. we might have gone up to tumbez by the river, but as this would have given us a long pull against the current, we landed at a plantation owned by a kind old lady, who offered us fruit and cakes and wine, and said that she should be happy to see me again. we then proceeded for three miles or so through orange groves and sandhills to the town, a wretched tumble-down-looking place, half choked up with sand. here, as it was now dark, we took shelter in a house called an inn, but, except in the public hall, where the eating and drinking went on, not a room contained a particle of furniture, so that we had to lie down on the floor and be devoured by mosquitoes and creeping things innumerable. there were several young americans of a superior class with whom i had associated during the afternoon, and when we got up we agreed that the wisest thing we could do would be to get out of the town as fast as possible. we scarcely knew each other at first, so swollen were our faces and necks from the bites of the voracious insects. early in the night the greater part of our men were drunk, and it appeared probable that before the day was much older the rest would be so. we, however, had to wait for breakfast, and before we left the whole place was in an uproar with tipsy seamen and natives quarrelling and fighting. escaping from the disgraceful scene we made our way to the house of donna anna, the old lady who had been so civil to us when we landed. she received us very kindly, and hearing why we left the town commended us for our discretion, telling us that we were welcome to remain till we had to return to our ship. as the heat was too great to make us wish to go out, we spent the day lolling about in a cool room, and eating when food was brought to us. in the evening we strolled through the orange groves, eating as much of the fruit as we desired. our hostess still further showed her kindness by supplying us with mosquito curtains to sleep under at night. we were all sorry when the time came for us to embark, but our men did not make their appearance, and i don't know when they would have come had not the second mate gone into the town at daybreak and compelled the more sober to bring off the others. as we pulled down the river we met the captain coming up it to look for us. he was very angry, and declared that he was much inclined not to let the other watch go on shore on account of the behaviour of the men. he relented, however, charging them to look out how they conducted themselves. soon after they had shoved off, the first mate said that he saw a small craft of some sort under sail coming in from the offing. all the telescopes on board were at once directed towards her, and before long she was pronounced to be a whale boat. on she came, steering for our ship, which, as we had the british flag flying, was easily distinguished from the american's. the crew were lying along on the thwarts, the heads of two of them just raised above the gunwale, as if their eyes were directed towards us; one man only was sitting up steering, and he was leaning back seemingly in an exhausted state. i looked at him several times through my glass till the boat drew nearer, when i was convinced that he was my kind friend captain bland. yes, there was no doubt about it. fearful apprehensions crowded into my mind. what could have become of the "lady alice"?--had any accident happened to her? captain bland would, i was certain, not willingly have deserted his wife and daughter. how eager i felt to inquire! directly the boat came alongside the mate and i, with two other men, descended to assist up the people in her. "take them first; they want help more than i do," said the captain, pointing to the others, one of whom kept murmuring, "water! water!" the others scarcely spoke. captain bland himself looked bad enough--so haggard and thin. we soon had him and the rest on deck and their boat hoisted in, when their captain was carried into captain hake's cabin. after he had taken some weak spirits and water and some food, he was able to speak without difficulty. "o sir, do tell me where are mrs bland, and mary, and the `lady alice,'" i said, as i was taking away his plate. "i wish, jack, that i could answer the question," he answered. "they will be fearfully anxious about me, but i trust that they and the ship are safe enough. just a fortnight ago, when off the galapagos, we sighted three whales. i went in chase of one of them to the northward. the other boats pulled after the rest. the whale i was following headed away from the ship, but still i hoped to come up with him before dark and make him my prize; i had nearly succeeded, and in another minute should have had my harpoon in his side, when he turned flukes and disappeared. though the sun was setting, i expected that he would come up again while there was light enough to strike him, so waited on the look-out, but the weather changed; a thick mist came up, the night became very dark, and though we heard the sound of spouting in the distance during the night, when morning broke no whale was to be seen-- nor was the ship in sight. anxious to be on board, i steered in the direction where i expected to find her, with, as i hoped, one or two whales alongside. it was blowing fresh with some sea on, but not sufficient to make it necessary to cut the whale adrift, should one have been secured. every hour i expected to come in sight of the ship, but we had reached the spot where i thought she would be found, and she was nowhere to be seen. we then steered to the southward and south-east, supposing that she might have stood after the boats in that direction. once we saw a sail, some small craft, a schooner apparently; we tried to speak her, to learn if she had fallen in with the `lady alice,' but she kept away from us. at length i came to the painful conclusion that if we did not before long fall in with the ship, we should run a fearful risk of being starved. we had providentially brought away a bag of biscuits of about fourteen pounds weight, half a dozen sausages, and a breaker of water, and we had besides a pound and a half of wax candles. a portion of the biscuits and sausages had already been consumed, but i now put the crew on an allowance, so that the food might last us for eight or nine days--the time i calculated it would take us, should the wind hold from the westward, to reach this place, for which i at once steered. the sausages were soon gone, and then the wax candles helped out the biscuits. we should have died, i think, though, had not we caught six flying fish on one day and three another--for our last crumb of biscuit and drop of water were gone before we sighted the land." "i hope that captain hake will at once sail in search of the `lady alice,'" i exclaimed, "no time should be lost." i thought of the schooner, but i did not mention my fears respecting her, lest i should increase the anxiety of my friend. "captain hake has not yet offered to sail, but i trust that he will without delay," he answered. soon afterwards captain hake entered the cabin. my friend at once told him his wishes. "sorry that part of my crew are on shore; we must wait till they return," was his answer. "could not you send for them?" asked captain bland. "i wish to relieve the anxiety of my wife and daughter." "i'll go on shore, sir, and bring them back!" i exclaimed, eagerly. "more easily said than done," observed the captain. "however, you may go." i hurried on deck, selected pepper and salt and two sandwich islanders, all of whom i could trust--which i could not the english seamen--lowered a boat, and pulled away. i trusted to medley and the doctor, who were on shore, to help me. my aim was to get hold of the men before they were too tipsy to move. going up the river we landed at donna anna's, where i found medley, and together we hastened on to tumbez. on the way we fell in with our doctor, mccabe. we told him our object. "i'll manage it for you," he said. "i'll frighten them out of their wits, and make them ready enough to return on board. i'll just hint to them that the liquor is poisoned, and so it is, for it's poison itself. they saw how the other watch looked when they came back, more dead than alive, and they'll be ready enough to believe me. i'll go on first, and then do you come up, and we'll get them down to the boat before they've time to think about it." we agreed, and the doctor hurried on. we followed slowly. on arriving at the town we found some of the men already half-seas over, and the rest looking very much scared at what the doctor had told them. some proposed attacking the place, and burning it down in revenge, but we suggested that they would be better employed in carrying their helpless shipmates to the boats, that they might be the sooner under the doctor's care. the wine-shop keepers and their friends, afraid of losing their prey, did their utmost to prevent this, but we succeeded, and half-carrying half-dragging, we got the tipsy men down to the boats. the doctor observing that exercise was the best thing to keep off the effects of the poison, the more sober willingly took to the oars, and to the surprise of the captain we soon made our appearance alongside. the doctor took good care to dose all hands round, and though several were very ill from the effects of the abominable aguadente, he got the credit of saving their lives. the captain, having no excuse for not sailing, gave the order to weigh at daybreak. the question was in what direction we should steer? should we go back to the galapagos, look into their harbours, and cruise about those islands? it was not likely that the mate of the "lady alice," after losing his captain, would remain long in that neighbourhood when all hope of finding him had been abandoned. captain bland thought that he would go either to the marquesas or sandwich islands, to obtain hands, without whom he could not prosecute the object of the voyage. "then what will your wife and daughter do?" asked captain hake. "will they remain on board, or take a passage home in the first full ship they fall in with?" "they will remain on board the `lady alice', i feel sure of that," said captain bland, in a tone of confidence. "they'll not give me up so quickly. they'll think that i have got on board some ship, or landed on one of the islands, or have come across to the mainland. women do not give up those they love in the way indifferent persons are apt to do. they'll not believe i am lost, but oh! how terribly anxious they'll be, notwithstanding, poor dears, poor dears!" and my kind friend hid his face in his hands to conceal his grief. i had all the time the thought in my mind of that abominable schooner with her miscreant crew, and the terrible dread that she might have fallen in with the "lady alice" while her boats were away, and run off with her. what resistance could the five or six people left on board offer, even though they might have suspected her character before she got up to them? still, i had the wisdom to keep these thoughts to myself. the captains decided on sailing first for the galapagos, and then to the marquesas and sandwich islands, calling off all intermediate islands. they hoped, also, to fall in with other whalers from whom information might be obtained. scarcely had we got out of the bay than the wind headed us, and we were making a long board to the southward, when the sound of a gun was heard. it was followed by several others in quick succession. the reports evidently came from the direction in which we were sailing. instead of tacking, as the captain had intended to do, he stood on. i went aloft with a glass, and in a short time i saw two vessels standing off from the land on the opposite tack to that we were holding. the leading vessel was a schooner, the other a large ship, which was firing her bow-chasers at her. i could see the puffs of smoke issuing from the bows of the ship before i heard the reports. every now and then the chase fired a stern-gun, for the purpose, i guessed, of trying to knock away some of her pursuer's spars, though from the distance they were apart it seemed to me with very little chance of success. the schooner showed no colours, but presently i saw a flag fly out from the peak of the ship, which, though indistinct, i was nearly sure was that of the peruvian republic. that the schooner was the dreaded craft which had so long haunted my imagination i felt perfectly certain, as i was that her piratical character was known, and that the man-of-war was intent on her capture. still, there seemed a possibility of her escaping should her pursuer not succeed in winging her. we might, however, cut her off, and prevent her from getting away. i watched the two vessels for a few minutes longer, and then hurried down on deck to tell captain hake what i had seen, and to suggest to him that we might enable the man-of-war to capture the schooner. "what business have we to interfere with the quarrels of foreigners?" he remarked. "the chase is probably a smuggler, which has been trying to land her cargo on the coast, or it may be has some refugees on board belonging to one of the many parties who are always at loggerheads." "but, sir, i am morally certain that she is the schooner we saw off the galapagos, to which those ruffians who attacked us belonged," i exclaimed. "perhaps she has been plundering some english vessel, and for what we can tell she may have fallen in with the `lady alice.'" i felt constrained to say this to induce captain hake to do as i proposed, i did not stop to consider the effect it might produce on captain bland. "jack may be right," he exclaimed, in an agitated tone. "my good friend, don't hesitate to follow his suggestion. if we make one tack to the north-west, and then put about again we shall cross her bows, when it will be hard if we cannot knock away some of her spars; or perhaps when her crew see what we are about, they'll lower their sails to save themselves from worse consequences." captain hake made no reply; but, to my great satisfaction, at once put the ship about, and soon afterwards ordered the guns to be loaded and the muskets to be brought on deck. he was a man of deeds rather than of words. captain bland thanked him heartily. "we must see that we are not making fools of ourselves before you need do that," he answered, somewhat gruffly. we stood on for some time, and then again put about. after this we rapidly approached the schooner, which had lately been drawing ahead of the corvette. the latter had ceased firing, but was crowding on more sail. once more we put about so as to be on the same course as the schooner. captain hake had been narrowly scanning her; as we got her within range he went to one of the guns, captain bland took charge of another, the mate of a third, and i, no one interfering, prepared to fire the fourth, all run out at the same side. we were now well to windward, all our guns pointed high. the captain, ordering the man at the helm to luff up, fired; the rest of us in succession followed his example. our crew gave a hearty cheer, for the schooner's main gaff was shot away, and the next moment down came her fore-topmast, the square topsail hanging over the side and the jib trailing in the water. our work was done, and we stood on. in a short time the corvette was almost close alongside the schooner, into which she at once poured her broadside. i fancied that i could hear the shrieks and groans of the hapless crew as the shot swept across the deck of the chase, or crashed into her side, and the sound of the rending and tearing of the stout planks. the pirates had had the madness to fire at the government cruiser when all hope of escape was gone. we were by this time away to leeward, and on the point of heaving-to, the corvette being the nearest to us. beyond her i could see the masts of the schooner; they were bending over away from her antagonist. for a few seconds my attention was drawn from her, as i had to assist in bracing round the yards; when i looked again the masts had disappeared, the corvette was standing on also, about to brace round her head yards-- the schooner had sunk with every human being on board. we saw no boat lowered to attempt saving the lives of any who might be still floating on the surface. perhaps none were seen. captain bland, hoping that he might possibly obtain some information about the "lady alice" on board the corvette at once borrowed a boat and invited me to accompany him to visit her. he was remarkably silent as we pulled for the ship, and thus my mind had time to recur to the gloomy thoughts which had before pained me so much. "what if on board that schooner there were others than her crew-- prisoners taken from any vessel they might have pillaged? all had shared the common fate, and i had been instrumental in their destruction. what if the pirates had, as i dreaded, attacked the `lady alice', and carried off mrs bland and mary?" the idea was too terrible; i tried to put it away from me. perhaps the same thought was causing anguish to the heart of my friend. i was thankful when we got alongside the corvette; our fears would be relieved, or we might know the worst. the accommodation ladder was lowered and manned to do us honour, and the captain, an englishman by his appearance, stood ready to receive us. he put out his hand as captain bland stepped on deck, and warmly greeted him. "i am deeply obliged, captain, for the service you have rendered me in knocking away that rascally schooner's spars," he said in a frank tone. "she might have got off otherwise, and given me another long cruise in search of her. i have been on the look-out for the villains for months past; for they have plundered numerous vessels, and sunk or destroyed others i suspect, besides pillaging the villages along the coast. i should have been glad to have taken them alive to have had them tried, but our shot made more sure work than i expected." "can you tell me, sir, the names of the english vessels the pirates are supposed to have plundered?" asked captain bland in an agitated tone. "if we are to believe the stories current at the peruvian ports, i should say half-a-dozen at least," answered the captain. "let me see, there is the `ruby,' the `jane and john' the `lady alice,' the--" "good heavens, sir!" cried captain bland, interrupting him. "were the people on board ill-treated? did the ruffians take any of them away, or did they merely carry off such valuables and stores and provisions as they could lay hands on?" "the `lady alice' are you speaking of?" asked the captain in a tone which showed that he did not suppose we were interested in her fate. "by the bye, though they attacked her they did not succeed in getting on board, for they were driven off in the most gallant fashion by her crew, notwithstanding that her captain and several hands were away in a boat, and it is much feared have been lost." "thank heaven," ejaculated captain bland. "blessings on my brave fellows. i am her captain, sir. can you tell me where she is? are my wife and daughter well?" "she is safe enough in the port of payta, i hope, by this time, as we convoyed her within a few leagues of the harbour, and then stood away in search of the schooner which has just met her just doom. your wife and daughter, to whom i paid a visit on board, were well, and though anxious about you, persisted in believing that you would be restored to them." "i knew that they would never give me up for lost. they have been spared much misery, anxious as they may have been. thank heaven for that!" cried my kind friend, grasping the captain's hand. "i am grateful to you, sir, for the good news you have given me, indeed i am; and now, with your leave, i'll return on board the `eagle,' that we may get to payta as soon as possible." though the captain of the corvette politely pressed us to stop for dinner, and offered to send for captain hake, i was glad that captain bland declined his proposals. directly we got on board, the boat being hoisted in, we made sail for payta, where we shortly arrived. the appearance of captain bland and his boat's crew caused no little astonishment on board the "lady alice," for both officers and men had given them up for lost. i went into the cabin to break the news to mrs bland and mary. they guessed at once by my countenance that captain bland had returned. he quickly followed me. "i knew that you would come back, father. i was sure that god would take care of you," exclaimed mary, as, half-weeping and half-laughing, she clung round his neck. how blessed it is to possess a perfect confidence in our heavenly father's protecting care over those we love! chapter six. our stay at payta was shorter than we had expected. the "lady alice," with the assistance of the english commander of the corvette, obtained more speedily than would otherwise have been the case all the repairs she required, and captain bland secured several good hands from among the crew of a merchantman wrecked further down the coast. captain hake gave the larboard watch of our ship leave on shore to make amends for their disappointment at tumbez, but they did no credit to our country, for after quarrelling with the natives, during which one of them was stabbed, they were brought off in the last stage of brutal intoxication, from which it took them several days to recover. i paid frequent visits to the "lady alice," which lay close alongside us. captain hake did not object to my doing that, but when captain bland again asked him for the loan of me (as he put it) my captain assumed the glummest of glum looks, and replied, "i thought that i had settled that matter before. the lad came out in this ship, and he goes home in her, if i have my will." though disappointed when captain bland told me this i had much reason to be thankful that i was able to enjoy, even at intervals, the civilising influences of female society. how different my lot to that of many poor lads away for four long years from any one who takes the slightest interest in their moral welfare, or attempts to raise their minds above the grovelling existence of their brutal associates. i should be ungrateful if i did not mention, in addition to other advantages, the benefit i derived from the society of medley, who was truly a friend to be prized. it was a great consolation to me to find that the two ships were to cruise in company, though i might possibly not be able for many weeks together to visit the "lady alice." on leaving payta we steered westward for the usual cruising ground. we had each at the end of ten days taken a couple of whales, when one sunday morning a number appeared in different directions. the "eagle's" boats were quickly in chase, but those of the "lady alice" remained hanging from the davits. "what can the old man be about?" i heard the captain remark to the first mate as they were about to shove off. "it cannot be that he doesn't see the whales. the owners will be down upon him if he doesn't look after their interests better." he said something to the same effect as he passed under our consort's stern. "i keep the ten commandments, captain hake," answered captain bland. "the master who gave them is the greatest of the two, and he will look after the owners' interests." by night on that occasion our boats had brought two whales alongside, but the crews were so weary from having been away all day under a scorching sun that they were unable to commence cutting in till next morning. at that time the boats of the "lady alice" were away, and in less than an hour had brought one whale alongside; shortly afterwards another was secured, so that as it turned out both ships commenced trying out at the same time, and the "lady alice" had the whole of the oil stowed away by saturday night. the same sort of thing occurred more than once after this. captain bland adhered to his rule, and by the end of the week had stowed as many barrels of oil in his hold as we had. at length whales becoming scarce, the two captains agreed to proceed westward across the pacific to the japan whaling ground. we called off various islands on our way, chiefly to obtain fresh provisions and water. at length we reached the neighbourhood of the kingsmill group, off which we found so many whales that we remained for several months, during which time we captured a large number. as there is no safe anchorage the ships had to stand off and on while the boats went on shore to obtain water and provisions, but we had to be very careful in our dealings with the natives, who were thorough savages and treacherous in the extreme. the weather now gave signs of changing, but as every day a whale was seen the captains were tempted to remain on. i had of late frequently gone away in the boats, generally with medley, who had become a good harpooner. for two days not a whale had been seen, and we were on the point of proceeding further west when about noon a whole school appeared, and scattering sported far and wide over the surface of the deep. all the boats from both ships were lowered, and i went in one with medley, who was intent on attacking a large whale which we saw to the eastward, in which direction the land lay from us. just as we had got within a dozen fathoms of the monster up went its flukes and it sounded, leaving us looking very blank at the spot where it had gone down. it might be forty minutes or more before it would come up again. we determined to wait, and as we had had a sharp pull we refreshed ourselves by munching some biscuits and drinking a part of the contents of our water breaker. the whale remained down a much longer time than we had expected, and when it came up appeared far away to the eastward, or much closer to the shore. again we bent to our oars, eager to get fast before it should once more sound. it was as much as we should do to reach it in time; if we were too late we should scarcely have another chance before dark. already the sun was hidden by a dark bank of clouds rising above the horizon, and the wind was blowing strong from the westward, but pulling directly before it we did not feel its force, though it was evident that the sea was gradually getting up. i could see both the ships at some distance apart, but none of the boats were visible to us sitting down. i ought to have told medley, who, having his eye on the whale ahead, did not remark the change in the weather. "if we kill the whale we shall be able to lie made fast under its lee, even should it come on to blow, till the `eagle' can come and pick us up," i thought. the whale, after remaining so long under water, took a proportionate time to spout on the surface. we were close to it. medley, making a sign to the bow oarsman to take his place, stepped forward and stood up harpoon in hand. we ceased pulling--the next instant a loud thud showed us that the weapon had struck deep into the monster's side. he followed up the blow by plunging in three lances, and was about to hurl a fourth when he shouted out "back off all!" while he allowed the line to run rapidly out of the tub over the bollard. we backed our oars with all our might, knowing that our lives might depend on our getting clear of the monster before it commenced the fearful struggles it was probably about to make. instead of sounding, however, or lashing the water with its flukes, it darted off along the surface at a rapid rate towards the land. already a considerable portion of the line had run out when medley secured it round the bollard, and away we flew, towed by the whale, at a furious rate through the water. the second line was secured to the end of the first, in case the whale should suddenly sound; but this it seemed to have no intention of doing. on and on we were dragged farther and farther from the ships, but we had no thoughts of cutting loose from the whale after all our exertions, and we hoped that, in its endeavours to escape, it would wear out its strength, and thus become an easy prey. medley stood ready all the time to slacken out more line should its speed become so great as to run the risk of its dragging the bows under water, while the man next him sat with axe in hand prepared to cut it in case there was a probability of the boat being swamped. nearer and nearer we approached the land, till we could distinctly see the surf rising up in a wall of foam, and breaking over the coral reef surrounding it. we expected every moment that the whale would turn to avoid the danger ahead, and that we should be able to haul in the slack of the rope, and get sufficiently close to give it another wound. that it was losing blood, and consequently its strength, we knew by the red tinge of the water in its wake; still it held on. i glanced towards the shore--i could see a gap in the line of surf, beyond which the land rose to a greater height than anywhere near. it formed, i concluded, the entrance to a bay or lagoon, but seemed so narrow that even a boat would run the danger of being swamped by the surging waters on either side. galled or terror-stricken as the whale evidently was, i could scarcely suppose that it would run itself on shore, yet from the course it was taking it seemed possible that such it was about to do. suddenly, however, the roar of the surf growing louder and louder, it appeared to perceive its danger, and leaping almost out of the water it turned away to the northward, giving the boat so violent a jerk that she was nearly capsized. escaping that danger, we were exposed to another, for the sea, now brought on our beam, continually broke over the side, employing two hands in baling, while often it appeared as if she would be turned completely over. at length the monster began to lessen its speed, and we were hauling in the line to get up to it, when suddenly raising its flukes down it went, dragging out the line again at a rate which made the bollard smoke, but the sea breaking over the bows prevented it from catching fire. the first line was soon drawn out--the second went on, and that, too, speedily ran towards the end. it was vain to attempt stopping it. the whale was now, we knew, swimming under water, and heading away from the shore. it must ere long come up again--but could we hold on till then? already the seas broke fearfully over the bows. in spite of the efforts of the men baling, the boat was half full of water. medley seized the axe; the bitter end of the last line was reached. a dark sea came rolling on. nothing could save us from being swamped, it seemed. the axe descended, a loud thud was heard, the line was severed. "back off all!" cried medley, taking the bow oar to steer by. we pulled for our lives; the sea broke under the bows. scarcely till now were we conscious that, after all our toils, the whale was lost. we had not, as we had hoped, its huge body to hang on to, to protect us from the fury of the fast-rising seas. darkness had now come on; we looked out in vain for either of the ships. the "eagle," on finding that we did not return, would burn blue lights to direct us to her. the "lady alice" would do the same should any of her boats be absent. we pulled on against the still rising seas. how long our boat would float amid them was doubtful. "there's alight, boys!" cried medley at length; but it was away to the northward, and far off, for it only just appeared above the horizon. to reach it we must bring the sea abeam and run a fearful risk of being rolled over or swamped. still the attempt must be made, unless we were prepared to remain toiling at the oars all night, or to run the risk of trying to reach the shore. we continued to pull on, keeping the boat's head to the sea, when, looking round, i observed a glimmering bluish light suddenly spring up on the starboard bow. that it was at an immense distance i knew, as i could not distinguish the body from which the rays of light proceeded. medley saw it also. "she is hull down, and it would take us till morning to reach her, even if we could do it then," he said in a tone which showed how serious he thought our condition. still we could more easily reach the vessel from which the distant light proceeded than the one on our beam. our situation was sufficient to alarm the stoutest hearts, and we were all young and comparatively inexperienced. the dark sky seemed to have come down close above our heads; the foam-covered seas came rolling on, every instant increasing in size, while astern was the dreadful reef, over which the furious breakers were dashing with a terrific roar. i had given up my oar to another man, and was seated near medley, when i saw a small bright speck in the sky just above the horizon. "what is that? can it come from a ship?" i asked, pointing it out to him. he was silent. gradually the spot of light expanded into an arch. "it is the eye of an hurricane," he said at length. "we shall have it break upon us presently, and if we fail to reach the land, jack, we shall not live to see another sunrise." calmly telling the men to be prepared for the worst, but not to despair, he put the boat round, and we pulled in for the land. i told him of the opening i had seen. he had observed it also, but was doubtful whether we should discover it in the darkness. still, unless we could do so, our destruction seemed certain. earnestly i prayed for deliverance; so did medley, i know. with fearful rapidity, borne onward by the sea, we approached the raging breakers. for some time in vain we looked along the line of foam for the opening we had seen. the howling tempest astern forbade us attempting to pull off the shore; but should we gain it, if it was inhabited, what sort of treatment were we to expect from the savages? several boats' crews had, it was said, lost their lives among this group. i was straining my eyes ahead when i made out against the sky the outline of the high land i had before remarked. beyond it the clouds appeared to be brighter than in any other part of the heavens. the instant afterwards the pale moon burst forth, and though but for a brief space, it was long enough to enable her to serve as a beacon to us. directly below her we saw the looked-for opening. "give way, lads, we may yet save our lives," cried medley. the men did give way, but so narrow appeared the opening that it seemed impossible we should get through without being swamped by the breakers rising high up on either side, rendered visible and more terrific by the vivid flashes of lightning darting from the clouds, which were followed by crashing peals of thunder, sounding above even the roaring of the angry waters. onwards we were carried, the foam leaping high above our heads on the summit of a hissing sea, and then down we shot like an arrow, guided by medley's oar, on to the comparatively calm surface of a deep bay. a few strokes more we glided up it, and were in smooth water, the moon not hiding her face till we were in safety. we made out before us a sandy beach, towards which we steered, and, leaping out, drew up our boat to free her of water. our first act was to kneel down and return thanks to our heavenly father, who had so mercifully preserved us, and most of our rough crew, though at first they hesitated, followed our example. we then looked out for a place which would afford us shelter during the night from the raging storm. near the beach was a grove of palm-trees, but the wind, howling amid their stems, bent and twisted them about so furiously that we had reason to dread, should we lie down under them, that some, being uprooted, might fall and crush us. keeping outside the trees, we made our way towards the high ground, one side of which we found consisted of a coral cliff, and we had not searched long before we discovered a cave large enough to afford shelter to all our party. the floor was of sand, and having no fear of venomous creatures or savage beasts, the men threw themselves down to obtain the rest they all so much required. we had brought from the boat the biscuits and the small stock of water we possessed, but none of them were inclined to eat, though they drank up more than half the quantity of the precious liquid remaining in the breaker. medley and i, who were, as were the rest, wet to the skin, walked up and down under shelter of the rock trying to dry our clothes. "if we had but a fire it would be a great comfort," i observed. pepper, one of our kroomen, hearing what i said, exclaimed, "massa, me got light, nebber fear!" groping about, he soon found two pieces of dry wood, and fashioning them with his knife, he began to rub one against the other in a way which at length produced a bright spark. i had a handful of leaves ready, and we had quickly a capital fire blazing up just inside the cave. how grateful we felt for its genial warmth! what if, while we were congratulating ourselves on being safe on shore, any misfortune should happen to those in whom we were so deeply interested? i felt that i would thankfully be on board the "lady alice" to share the fate of my friends, or to aid, as far as human strength could go, in averting the danger to which they might be exposed. i knew, however, that my wishes were of no avail. i knelt down with medley, and prayed with all earnestness that they might be protected; we then stretched ourselves on the sand near our men. "jack, it did not occur to me before that this island may be inhabited; if so, that our fire may attract the natives," said medley, just as i was dropping off to sleep. "it ought to be put out, or we must keep watch. they might murder us before we could attempt to defend ourselves." i agreed with him, but confessed that i could no longer keep my eyes open. "i'll keep the first watch, and then i'll call up pepper and salt, and the latter shall call you. the others cannot be depended on," he said, though i could scarcely comprehend the meaning of his words. it was nearly daylight when salt at last awoke me. he would not have done so then, honest fellow, had not he been ordered. i asked him if he had heard or seen any natives. "no, massa jack, me tink none here; but better get to de boat and catch some fish for breakfast, and den if any savage come we ready to start," he answered. i thought his advice good, and desired him, as soon as it was light, to go down to the boat and get the lines ready, so that we might shove off as soon as the other men awoke. i, in the meantime, directly the dawn broke, made my way to the summit of the hill, that i might survey the island, and, if possible, ascertain the position of the ships. i had fortunately brought a small but powerful telescope given me by captain bland. the fury of the hurricane was over, but the breakers still beat with violence against the barrier reef, and made it impossible for us to put to sea. in a short time the glorious sun, rising above the horizon amid the fast dispersing clouds, shed a bright light over sea and land, and enabled me to obtain a far-extending view. the island on which we had taken refuge was much smaller than i had supposed, owing to the reef which extended along it; but across a narrow passage was another of much greater extent and away to the north and north-west were several others, besides numerous reefs marked by the white masses of foam flying over them. several tiny wreaths of smoke which rose up amid the groves on the nearest island showed me that that, at all events, was inhabited, as, probably, were most of the others. as the mist of morning cleared away i could distinguish in the distance the huts of the natives, though, owing probably to the barren nature of the soil at the end nearest our island, none were built there. again and again i swept the horizon in search of the ships; nowhere could i discern them. in what direction could they have been driven? i at last observed beyond a line of reefs what i took to be a group of cocoa-nut trees rising out of a low islet faintly traced against the blue sky like gossamer webs. yes, there were trees, but among them, after keeping my glass steady for a minute or more, i made out the masts and yards of a ship. that she was either the "eagle" or the "lady alice" i felt certain, but how she had escaped the reefs and been driven in where i saw her i could not conjecture. as her masts appeared upright i trusted that she was not on shore; but whether such were the case or not, she might find it difficult to escape from her position should the savage inhabitants of the neighbouring shores try to make her their prey, as they had succeeded in doing other vessels under similar circumstances. what was even now going forward on board her, who could tell? again i looked round in vain for the other ship, and then hastened down to join medley. i found him setting off with the other men for the boat, he supposing that i had gone with salt to look after her. he could not even conjecture which of the ships i had seen, but he agreed with me that we must put off to try and get on board her the moment we could venture out to sea. he would have gone back with me to the hill, but the men were crying out for food, and insisting on endeavouring to catch some fish. none of the trees near us bore cocoa-nuts, nor had any water been found, probably the reason that the island was uninhabited. medley served only a small portion of biscuit to each man, and warned them all to be very careful of the water, as we might be unable to obtain more till we reached the ship. judging by the surf which still beat furiously on the reef there was small prospect of our doing that till the next day at soonest. salt had got the lines and hooks ready, and some shell-fish for bait, so we at once pulled out as near the entrance of the lagoon as we could venture. we had not had our lines down long before we began to get bites, and in a short time we had hauled in as many fish as would give us an ample supply of food for the day, we returned to the shore to cook and eat our prey. we again lighted a fire at the mouth of our cave, hoping that the smoke would not be seen by the savages, but to prevent being surprised medley sent pepper to the other side of the island to give us due warning should he see any of them coming over. after breakfast the rest of the men lay down to sleep, while medley and i went to the top of the hill to ascertain by the state of the sea when there was a probability of our getting off, and to watch for the appearance of the other ship. we looked for her in vain. the ocean, however, was rapidly losing the quickness of its motion, though the huge waves were still slowly and lazily tumbling against each other as they rolled on till they reached the reef, where, with a roar of thunder, they broke into masses of foam. the chief object of interest, the distant ship, remained motionless as before, her canvas closely furled. had a sail been loosed we should have seen it fluttering in the breeze. "in a few hours at most we shall be able to pass through yonder channel," observed medley, pointing to the entrance of the lagoon. "look, the sea scarcely even now breaks across it. if necessary, i would not hesitate to take out a boat in spite of the risk i might run; but we will not make the attempt for the present." i agreed with him that it would be folly to do so, and we returned to the cave. we sat down in the shade. the heat was great, and neither of us having had much rest, we both fell as sound asleep as were our men stretched at their lengths a short distance from us. hours may have passed. i was aroused by pepper shouting, "de savage come! de savage come! quick, quick! rouse up, boys, get to de boat." salt was the first to start to his feet on hearing his companion's voice, and by kicks and pulls to awaken the rest. i grasped medley by the arm and helped him up. the men in a panic were hurrying off, when he reminded them of the breaker of water and the remainder of the fish which had fortunately been cooked. they took the breaker and fish up between them, and set off, while we waited for pepper. he had seen a large body of savages, flourishing their formidable spears and gesticulating wildly, come down to the shore and begin to swim across the channel, evidently, as he supposed, having discovered that strangers were on the island, though how they had done so it was difficult to guess, unless they had seen medley and me on the top of the hill. that they had hostile intentions was pretty evident by the account pepper gave us. had we possessed fire-arms we might have defended our selves, but as it was we could secure our safety alone by flight. we found the men hurriedly launching the boat. in their dread of the savages i am not sure that they would have waited for us had we been delayed. the boat was quickly in the water, and we all leaped on board. medley took the steering oar, and the men gave way. as i looked ahead i could see the green billows rolling in towards the opening, and still breaking with fearful force against the barrier reef on either side, but in the centre i observed a clear glass-like swell, over which i hoped we might find a safe passage. medley seemed not quite certain about the matter, and told the men to lay on their oars till he could perceive a favourable opportunity for dashing out. just then a fearful yell sounded in our ears, and looking astern i saw the beach covered by a band of savages flourishing their spears and gesticulating to us to return and be killed. some of the more active were springing along the rocks so as to get near enough to hurl their weapons at us. the crew, without waiting for medley's orders, bent to their oars, and though several spears fell into the water at no great distance off, we were soon beyond their reach. without waiting to ascertain what the savages were about we steered for the centre of the passage. a sea like a mass of liquid malachite came rolling in--we mounted to its summit, and then descending into the trough, were soon rising on another watery height. the crew pulled lustily, and in a few minutes we were well outside the breakers, and able to turn the boat's head to the northward. it had become a perfect calm, so that we had a long pull before us. at this the men grumbled, as they had expected to hoist the sail. medley, however, reminded them that had there been wind the ship would probably have got under weigh, and we should have missed her. we pulled on along the coast of the larger island, but whether or not we were perceived by the people on shore we could not tell. the men at last complaining of fatigue, declared that they must stop and take some food and water. to this medley could not object, eager as he and i were to get up to the ship. while the men were eating the remainder of the fish and biscuit, we kept two of the oars going, and had just passed a point forming one side of a bay when, looking towards the shore, we saw a fleet of large canoes, thirty or more, ranged along the shore, the people apparently hurrying on board. on examining them through my glass i perceived that they were all armed, and it at once occurred to me that they were starting on an expedition to attack the ship. medley was of the same opinion. "you see the savages in those boats," he exclaimed; "let us see what you can do. if they catch us we shall be in their try-pots before many hours have gone by, but if we can get on board the ship we can at all events have a fight for our lives." the men needing no further incentive to exertion, cramming their food into their mouths, threw out their oars and away we flew over the now calm surface of the ocean. as i looked over the starboard quarter i saw that several of the canoes had shoved off from the beach and were coming after us. had there been a breeze we should have had no chance of escaping them. in a short time the whole fleet was after us. the savages probably reckoned on our not knowing the shortest passages through the reefs, but medley and i kept a bright look-out, i making a good use of my telescope. now we had the coral rocks rising close to us. several times i could see the bottom as we dashed on. occasionally we had to turn either to the east or west, but still we were rapidly nearing the ship. my chief fear was that other canoes might be waiting further to the north and dash out upon us. while standing up i brought my glass to bear on the ship. how thankful i felt when i became certain that she was the "lady alice." she had at all events escaped any accident from the hurricane, and i had no doubt that we should beat off the savages should they venture to attack her. looking astern i saw to my satisfaction that we were greatly distancing the canoes, so that we should have time after getting on board to make preparations for their reception. at length we were discovered by our friends on board, for we saw several persons waving signals of welcome to us from the forecastle. greatly to my relief also i saw that the ship was at anchor at some distance from the shore, while beyond her to the north-west the sea appeared free from reefs. captain bland shook my hand heartily. "we had given you up for lost," he said; "we heard that you were away from your ship when the hurricane came on, and that there was no chance of your getting on board her." "how could you hear that?" i asked, much surprised. "from the second mate and his crew, whom we took on board. very glad i was to have them, as they were of the greatest assistance during the gale, though i fear captain hake must have been hard put to it without them." i interrupted my old friend by telling him of the approach of the canoes. he was not a man to disregard a warning. the boarding nettings were at once triced up, the small arms got from below, and the guns loaded. i inquired anxiously for mary and her mother, who were not on deck. "they suffered much during the hurricane, but are now on foot, and will be glad to see you," answered the captain. i sprang below. i should have startled my friends not a little had not the steward told them that i had come on board, for they had heard of the supposed loss of our boat, though mary told me with a smile, while a tear was in her eye, that as her dear father had been preserved, so she had not despaired of again seeing me. i felt very happy, for i was sure that we should beat off the savages. on my return on deck i found that they had not yet appeared. it was now getting dark. this made us suspect that they had intended to attempt surprising the ship at night, and very probably they would have succeeded had we not providentially seen them and thus been the means of putting our friends on their guard. captain bland, always anxious to avoid bloodshed, ordered the guns to be fired at intervals, both to show the savages that we were on the alert and to attract the attention of the "eagle" should she be in the neighbourhood. though prepared we could not avoid being anxious, for if the natives were resolved on our destruction we should have a severe struggle before we could drive them off. it had now become so dark that it would be difficult to see the canoes till they were close to us. all hands, therefore, remained on deck with our weapons in our hands to be ready at a moment's notice, but the hours went by, the savages had thought better of it we hoped, and dawn at length appeared. we looked out for the canoes, but they were nowhere to be seen, nor was the "eagle." the calm continued, and as we had our two boats besides those of the "lady alice," captain bland resolved to tow her out to sea so as to get a good offing before another night. the anchor was hove up, and with six boats ahead we made good progress. we had got a couple of miles away from the anchorage, and were nearly free of the reefs when the look-out at the masthead shouted that he saw the canoes coming towards us. "keep to your oars, lads," cried captain bland; "we shall have a breeze presently, and shall then easily tackle them." on came the canoes. it seemed too likely that they would reach us before the wished-for breeze had sprung up. the crews of the boats gave way lustily. i had remained on board. as i looked astern i fancied that i could almost hear the shrieks and shouts of the savages as they approached. suddenly i saw the dog-waves blowing out. i, with the rest on board, sprang aloft to loose sails, the boats were called alongside, and by the time they were hoisted up we were gliding rapidly through the water. though several of the canoes, hoisting their sails, got near us, a few shot, which carried away the masts of two or three, made them give up the pursuit, and in a few hours we had run the island out of sight. we cruised in the neighbourhood of the group for two weeks or more in search of the "eagle," but at last despairing of falling in with her continued on for the japan whaling ground. here being very successful, we got a full ship, and, to the joy of all on board, steered homewards by way of the indian seas, calling, however, at several interesting places to obtain fresh provisions and water. the white cliffs of old england were seen at length, and home was reached. captain bland, having made a successful voyage, declared that he would never more tempt the ocean or expose his wife and daughter to dangers such as those from which they had been so mercifully preserved. the "eagle" had not arrived, and nothing was heard of her for several years, when a report reached me that she had sought shelter in one of the harbours of the group, when part of the crew being on shore were set upon and massacred, while those on board were overpowered and killed. the ship then having been plundered was sunk with her cargo of oil, and was thus found by another whaler the following year through information given by one of the natives. thus ended the voyages of the two whalers, of which i have given of necessity but a hurried sketch. i left the whaling service, and sooner than i might have expected, obtained the command of a fine trader to china and the eastern seas, having the happiness of being accompanied by my dear mary, who had become my wife. my excellent friend medley was equally successful, and both of us having retired from the sea, have settled near each other, and often spin to attentive young listeners the preceding yarn, and many others descriptive of our nautical career, though our boys and girls unanimously give the preference to the voyages of the two whalers. the end. fighting the whales, by r.m. ballantyne. chapter one. in trouble, to begin with. there are few things in this world that have filled me with so much astonishment as the fact that man can kill a whale! that a fish, more than sixty feet long, and thirty feet round the body; with the bulk of three hundred fat oxen rolled into one; with the strength of many hundreds of horses; able to swim at a rate that would carry it right round the world in twenty-three days; that can smash a boat to atoms with one slap of its tail, and stave in the planks of a ship with one blow of its thick skull;--that such a monster can be caught and killed by man, is most wonderful to hear of, but i can tell from experience that it is much more wonderful to see. there is a wise saying which i have often thought much upon. it is this: "knowledge is power." man is but a feeble creature, and if he had to depend on his own bodily strength alone, he could make no head against even the ordinary brutes in this world. but the knowledge which has been given to him by his maker has clothed man with great power, so that he is more than a match for the fiercest beast in the forest, or the largest fish in the sea. yet, with all his knowledge, with all his experience, and all his power, the killing of a great old sperm whale costs man a long, tough battle, sometimes it even costs him his life. it is a long time now since i took to fighting the whales. i have been at it, man and boy, for nigh forty years, and many a wonderful sight have i seen; many a desperate battle have i fought in the fisheries of the north and south seas. sometimes, when i sit in the chimney-corner of a winter evening, smoking my pipe with my old messmate tom lokins, i stare into the fire, and think of the days gone by, till i forget where i am, and go on thinking so hard that the flames seem to turn into melting fires, and the bars of the grate into dead fish, and the smoke into sails and rigging, and i go to work cutting up the blubber and stirring the oil-pots, or pulling the bow-oar and driving the harpoon at such a rate that i can't help giving a shout, which causes tom to start and cry:-- "hallo! bob," (my name is bob ledbury, you see). "hallo! bob, wot's the matter?" to which i reply, "tom, can it all be true?" "can _wot_ be true?" says he, with a stare of surprise--for tom is getting into his dotage now. and then i chuckle and tell him i was only thinking of old times, and so he falls to smoking again, and i to staring at the fire, and thinking as hard as ever. the way in which i was first led to go after the whales was curious. this is how it happened. about forty years ago, when i was a boy of nearly fifteen years of age, i lived with my mother in one of the seaport towns of england. there was great distress in the town at that time, and many of the hands were out of work. my employer, a blacksmith, had just died, and for more than six weeks i had not been able to get employment or to earn a farthing. this caused me great distress, for my father had died without leaving a penny in the world, and my mother depended on me entirely. the money i had saved out of my wages was soon spent, and one morning when i sat down to breakfast, my mother looked across the table and said, in a thoughtful voice-- "robert, dear, this meal has cost us our last halfpenny." my mother was old and frail, and her voice very gentle; she was the most trustful, uncomplaining woman i ever knew. i looked up quickly into her face as she spoke. "all the money gone, mother?" "ay, all. it will be hard for you to go without your dinner, robert, dear." "it will be harder for you, mother," i cried, striking the table with my fist; then a lump rose in my throat and almost choked me. i could not utter another word. it was with difficulty i managed to eat the little food that was before me. after breakfast i rose hastily and rushed out of the house, determined that i would get my mother her dinner, even if i should have to beg for it. but i must confess that a sick feeling came over me when i thought of begging. hurrying along the crowded streets without knowing very well what i meant to do, i at last came to an abrupt halt at the end of the pier. here i went up to several people and offered my services in a wild sort of way. they must have thought that i was drunk, for nearly all of them said gruffly that they did not want me. dinner time drew near, but no one had given me a job, and no wonder, for the way in which i tried to get one was not likely to be successful. at last i resolved to beg. observing a fat, red-faced old gentleman coming along the pier, i made up to him boldly. he carried a cane with a large gold knob on the top of it. that gave me hope, "for of course," thought i, "he must be rich." his nose, which was exactly the colour and shape of the gold knob on his cane, was stuck in the centre of a round, good-natured countenance, the mouth of which was large and firm; the eyes bright and blue. he frowned as i went forward hat in hand; but i was not to be driven back; the thought of my starving mother gave me power to crush down my rising shame. yet i had no reason to be ashamed. i was willing to work, if only i could have got employment. stopping in front of the old gentleman, i was about to speak when i observed him quietly button up his breeches pocket. the blood rushed to my face, and, turning quickly on my heel, i walked away without uttering a word. "hallo!" shouted a gruff voice just as i was moving away. i turned and observed that the shout was uttered by a broad rough-looking jack-tar, a man of about two or three and thirty, who had been sitting all the forenoon on an old cask smoking his pipe and basking in the sun. "hallo!" said he again. "well," said i. "wot d'ye mean, youngster, by goin' on in that there fashion all the mornin', a-botherin' everybody, and makin' a fool o' yourself like that? eh!" "what's that to you?" said i savagely, for my heart was sore and heavy, and i could not stand the interference of a stranger. "oh! it's nothin' to me of course," said the sailor, picking his pipe quietly with his clasp-knife; "but come here, boy, i've somethin' to say to ye." "well, what is it?" said i, going up to him somewhat sulkily. the man looked at me gravely through the smoke of his pipe, and said, "you're in a passion, my young buck, that's all; and, in case you didn't know it, i thought i'd tell ye." i burst into a fit of laughter. "well, i believe you're not far wrong, but i'm better now." "ah, that's right," said the sailor, with an approving nod of his head, "always confess when you're in the wrong. now, younker, let me give you a bit of advice. never get into a passion if you can help it, and if you can't help it get out of it as fast as possible, and if you can't get out of it, just give a great roar to let off the steam and turn about and run. there's nothing like that. passion han't got legs. it can't hold on to a feller when he's runnin'. if you keep it up till you a'most split your timbers, passion has no chance. it _must_ go a-starn. now, lad, i've been watchin' ye all the mornin', and i see there's a screw loose somewhere. if you'll tell me wot it is, see if i don't help you!" the kind frank way in which this was said quite won my heart, so i sat down on the old cask, and told the sailor all my sorrows. "boy," said he, when i had finished, "i'll put you in the way o' helpin' your mother. i can get you a berth in my ship, if you're willin' to take a trip to the whale-fishery of the south seas." "and who will look after my mother when i'm away?" said i. the sailor looked perplexed at the question. "ah, that's a puzzler," he replied, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. "will you take me to your mother's house, lad?" "willingly," said i, and, jumping up, i led the way. as we turned to go, i observed that the old gentleman with the gold-headed cane was leaning over the rail of the pier at a short distance from us. a feeling of anger instantly rose within me, and i exclaimed, loud enough for him to hear-- "i do believe that stingy old chap has been listening to every word we've been saying!" i thought i observed a frown on the sailor's brow as i said this, but he made no remark, and in a few minutes we were walking rapidly through the streets. my companion stopped at one of those stores so common in seaport towns, where one can buy almost anything, from a tallow candle to a brass cannon. here he purchased a pound of tea, a pound of sugar, a pound of butter, and a small loaf,--all of which he thrust into the huge pockets of his coat. he had evidently no idea of proportion or of household affairs. it was a simple, easy way of settling the matter, to get a pound of everything. in a short time we reached our house, a very old one, in a poor neighbourhood, and entered my mother's room. she was sitting at the table when we went in, with a large bible before her, and a pair of horn-spectacles on her nose. i could see that she had been out gathering coals and cinders during my absence, for a good fire burned in the grate, and the kettle was singing cheerily thereon. "i've brought a friend to see you, mother," said i. "good-day, mistress," said the sailor bluntly, sitting down on a stool near the fire. "you seem to be goin' to have your tea." "i expect to have it soon," replied my mother. "indeed!" said i, in surprise. "have you anything in the kettle?" "nothing but water, my son." "has anybody brought you anything, then, since i went out?" "nobody." "why, then, mistress," broke in the seaman, "how can you expect to have your tea so soon?" my mother took off her spectacles, looked calmly in the man's face, laid her hand on the bible, and said, "because i have been a widow woman these three years, and never once in all that time have i gone a single day without a meal. when the usual hour came i put on my kettle to boil, for this word tells me that `the lord will provide.' i _expect_ my tea to-night." the sailor's face expressed puzzled astonishment at these words, and he continued to regard my mother with a look of wonder as he drew forth his supplies of food, and laid them on the table. in a short time we were all enjoying a cup of tea, and talking about the whale-fishery, and the difficulty of my going away while my mother was dependent on me. at last the sailor rose to leave us. taking a five-pound note from his pocket, he laid it on the table and said-- "mistress, this is all i have in the world, but i've got neither family nor friends, and i'm bound for the south seas in six days; so, if you'll take it, you're welcome to it, and if your son bob can manage to cast loose from you without leaving you to sink, i'll take him aboard the ship that i sail in. he'll always find me at the bull and griffin, in the high street, or at the end o' the pier." while the sailor was speaking, i observed a figure standing in a dark corner of the room near the door, and, on looking more closely, i found that it was the old gentleman with the nose like his cane-knob. seeing that he was observed, he came forward and said-- "i trust that you will forgive my coming here without invitation; but i happened to overhear part of the conversation between your son and this seaman, and i am willing to help you over your little difficulty, if you will allow me." the old gentleman said this in a very quick, abrupt way, and looked as if he were afraid his offer might be refused. he was much heated, with climbing our long stair no doubt, and as he stood in the middle of the room, puffing and wiping his bald head with a handkerchief, my mother rose hastily and offered him a chair. "you are very kind, sir," she said; "do sit down, sir. i'm sure i don't know why you should take so much trouble. but, dear me, you are very warm; will you take a cup of tea to cool you?" "thank you, thank you. with much pleasure, unless, indeed, your son objects to a `_stingy old chap_' sitting beside him." i blushed when he repeated my words, and attempted to make some apology; but the old gentleman stopped me by commencing to explain his intentions in short, rapid sentences. to make a long story short, he offered to look after my mother while i was away, and, to prove his sincerity, laid down five shillings, and said he would call with that sum every week as long as i was absent. my mother, after some trouble, agreed to let me go, and, before that evening closed, everything was arranged, and the gentleman, leaving his address, went away. the sailor had been so much filled with surprise at the suddenness of all this, that he could scarcely speak. immediately after the departure of the old gentleman, he said, "well, good-bye, mistress, good-bye, bob," and throwing on his hat in a careless way, left the room. "stop," i shouted after him, when he had got about half-way down stair. "hallo! wot's wrong now?" "nothing, i only forgot to ask your name." "tom lokins," he bellowed, in the hoarse voice of a regular boatswain, "w'ich wos my father's name before me." so saying, he departed, whistling "rule britannia" with all his might. thus the matter was settled. six days afterwards, i rigged myself out in a blue jacket, white ducks, and a straw hat, and went to sea. chapter two. at sea. my first few days on the ocean were so miserable that i oftentimes repented of having left my native land. i was, as my new friend tom lokins said, as sick as a dog. but in course of time i grew well, and began to rejoice in the cool fresh breezes and the great rolling billows of the sea. many and many a time i used to creep out to the end of the bowsprit, when the weather was calm, and sit with my legs dangling over the deep blue water, and my eyes fixed on the great masses of rolling clouds in the sky, thinking of the new course of life i had just begun. at such times the thought of my mother was sure to come into my mind, and i thought of her parting words, "put your trust in the lord, robert, and read his word." i resolved to try to obey her, but this i found was no easy matter, for the sailors were a rough lot of fellows, who cared little for the bible. but, i must say, they were a hearty, good-natured set, and much better, upon the whole, than many a ship's crew that i afterwards sailed with. we were fortunate in having fair winds this voyage, and soon found ourselves on the other side of the _line_, as we jack-tars call the equator. of course the crew did not forget the old custom of shaving all the men who had never crossed the line before. our captain was a jolly old man, and uncommonly fond of "sky-larking." he gave us leave to do what we liked the day we crossed the line; so, as there were a number of wild spirits among us, we broke through all the ordinary rules, or, rather, we added on new rules to them. the old hands had kept the matter quiet from us greenhorns, so that, although we knew they were going to do some sort of mischief, we didn't exactly understand what it was to be. about noon of that day i was called on deck and told that old father neptune was coming aboard, and we were to be ready to receive him. a minute after, i saw a tremendous monster come up over the side of the ship and jump on the deck. he was crowned with sea-weed, and painted in a wonderful fashion; his clothes were dripping wet, as if he had just come from the bottom of the sea. after him came another monster with a petticoat made of sailcloth, and a tippet of a bit of old tarpaulin. this was neptune's wife, and these two carried on the most remarkable antics i ever saw. i laughed heartily, and soon discovered, from the tones of their voices, which of my shipmates neptune and his wife were. but my mirth was quickly stopped when i was suddenly seized by several men, and my face was covered over with a horrible mixture of tar and grease! six of us youngsters were treated in this way; then the lather was scraped off with a piece of old hoop-iron, and, after being thus shaved, buckets of cold water were thrown over us. at last, after a prosperous voyage, we arrived at our fishing-ground in the south seas, and a feeling of excitement and expectation began to show itself among the men, insomuch that our very eyes seemed brighter than usual. one night those of us who had just been relieved from watch on deck, were sitting on the lockers down below telling ghost stories. it was a dead calm, and one of those intensely dark, hot nights, that cause sailors to feel uneasy, they scarce know why. i began to feel so uncomfortable at last, listening to the horrible tales which tom lokins was relating to the men, that i slipt away from them with the intention of going on deck. i moved so quietly that no one observed me; besides, every eye was fixed earnestly on tom, whose deep low voice was the only sound that broke the stillness of all around. as i was going very cautiously up the ladder leading to the deck, tom had reached that part of his story where the ghost was just appearing in a dark churchyard, dressed in white, and coming slowly forward, one step at a time, towards the terrified man who saw it. the men held their breath, and one or two of their faces turned pale as tom went on with his description, lowering his voice to a hoarse whisper. just as i put my head up the hatchway the sheet of one of the sails, which was hanging loose in the still air, passed gently over my head and knocked my hat off. at any other time i would have thought nothing of this, but tom's story had thrown me into such an excited and nervous condition that i gave a start, missed my footing, uttered a loud cry, and fell down the ladder right in among the men with a tremendous crash, knocking over two or three oil-cans and a tin bread-basket in my fall, and upsetting the lantern, so that the place was instantly pitch dark. i never heard such a howl of terror as these men gave vent to when this misfortune befell me. they rushed upon deck with their hearts in their mouths, tumbling, and peeling the skin off their shins and knuckles in their haste; and it was not until they heard the laughter of the watch on deck that they breathed freely, and, joining in the laugh, called themselves fools for being frightened by a ghost story. i noticed, however, that, for all their pretended indifference, there was not one man among them--not even tom lokins himself--who would go down below to relight the lantern for at least a quarter of an hour afterwards! feeling none the worse for my fall, i went forward and leaned over the bow of the ship, where i was much astonished by the appearance of the sea. it seemed as if the water was on fire. every time the ship's bow rose and fell, the little belt of foam made in the water seemed like a belt of blue flame with bright sparkles in it, like stars or diamonds. i had seen this curious appearance before, but never so bright as it was on that night. "what is it, tom?" said i, as my friend came forward and leaned over the ship's bulwark beside me. "it's blue fire, bob," replied tom, as he smoked his pipe calmly. "come, you know i can't swallow that," said i; "everybody knows that fire, either blue or red, can't burn in the water." "maybe not," returned tom; "but it's blue fire for all that. leastwise if it's not, i don't know wot else it is." tom had often seen this light before, no doubt, but he had never given himself the trouble to find out what it could be. fortunately the captain came up just as i put the question, and he enlightened me on the subject. "it is caused by small animals," said he, leaning over the side. "small animals!" said i, in astonishment. "ay, many parts of the sea are full of creatures so small and so thin and colourless, that you can hardly see them even in a clear glass tumbler. many of them are larger than others, but the most of them are very small." "but how do they shine like that, sir?" i asked. "that i do not know, boy. god has given them the power to shine, just as he has given us the power to walk or speak; and they do shine brightly, as you see; but _how_ they do it is more than i can tell. i think, myself, it must be anger that makes them shine, for they generally do it when they are stirred up or knocked about by oars, or ships' keels, or tumbling waves. but i am not sure that that's the reason either, because, you know, we often sail through them without seeing the light, though of course they must be there." "p'raps, sir," said tom lokins; "p'raps, sir, they're sleepy sometimes, an' can't be bothered gettin' angry." "perhaps!" answered the captain, laughing. "but then again, at other times, i have seen them shining over the whole sea when it was quite calm, making it like an ocean of milk; and nothing was disturbing them at that time, d'ye see." "i don' know _that_," objected tom; "they might have bin a-fightin' among theirselves." "or playing, may be," said i. the captain laughed, and, looking up at the sky, said, "i don't like the look of the weather, tom lokins. you're a sharp fellow, and have been in these seas before, what say you?" "we'll have a breeze," replied tom, briefly. "more than a breeze," muttered the captain, while a look of grave anxiety overspread his countenance; "i'll go below and take a squint at the glass." "what does he mean by that, tom," said i, when the captain was gone, "i never saw a calmer or a finer night. surely there is no chance of a storm just now." "ay, that shows that you're a young feller, and han't got much experience o' them seas," replied my companion. "why, boy, sometimes the fiercest storm is brewin' behind the greatest calm. an' the worst o' the thing is that it comes so sudden at times, that the masts are torn out o' the ship before you can say jack robinson." "what! and without any warning?" said i. "ay, _almost_ without warnin'; but not _altogether_ without it. you heer'd the captain say he'd go an' take a squint at the glass?" "yes; what is the glass?" "it's not a glass o' grog, you may be sure; nor yet a lookin'-glass. it's the weather-glass, boy. shore-goin' chaps call it a barometer." "and what's the meaning of barometer?" i inquired earnestly. tom lokins stared at me in stupid amazement. "why, boy," said he, "you're too inquisitive. i once asked the doctor o' a ship that question, and says he to me, `tom,' says he, `a barometer is a glass tube filled with quicksilver or mercury, which is a metal in a soft or fluid state, like water, you know, and it's meant for tellin' the state o' the weather.' "`yes, sir,' i answers, `i know that, well enough.' "`then why did you ask?' says he, gettin' into a passion. "`i asked what was the meanin' o' the _word_ barometer, sir,' said i. "the doctor he looked grave at that, and shook his head. `tom,' says he, `if i was to go for to explain that word, and all about the instrument, in a scientific sort o' way, d'ye see, i'd have to sit here an' speak to you right on end for six hours or more.' "`oh, sir,' says i, `don't do it, then. _please_, don't do it.' "`no more i will,' says he; `but it'll serve your turn to know that a barometer is a glass for measurin' the weight o' the air, and, _somehow or other, that_ lets ye know wots a-coming. if the mercury in the glass rises high, all's right. if it falls uncommon low very sudden, look out for squalls; that's all. no matter how smooth the sea may be, or how sweetly all natur' may smile, don't you believe it; take in every inch o' canvas at once.'" "that was a queer explanation, tom." "ay, but it was a true one, as you shall see before long." as i looked out upon the calm sea, which lay like a sheet of glass, without a ripple on its surface, i could scarcely believe what he had said. but before many minutes had passed i was convinced of my error. while i was standing talking to my messmate, the captain rushed on deck, and shouted-- "all hands tumble up! shorten sail! take in every rag! look alive, boys, look alive." i was quite stunned for a moment by this, and by the sudden tumult that followed. the men, who seemed never to take thought about anything, and who had but one duty, namely, to _obey orders_, ran upon deck, and leaped up the rigging like cats; the sheets of nearly all the principal sails were clewed up, and, ere long, the canvas was made fast to the yards. a few of the smaller sails only were left exposed, and even these were close reefed. before long a loud roar was heard, and in another minute the storm burst upon us with terrific violence. the ship at first lay over so much that the masts were almost in the water, and it was as impossible for any one to walk the deck as to walk along the side of a wall. at the same time, the sea was lashed into white foam, and the blinding spray flew over us in bitter fury. "take in the topsails!" roared the captain. but his voice was drowned in the shriek of the gale. the men were saved the risk of going out on the yards, however, for in a few moments more all the sails, except the storm-try-sail, were burst and blown to ribbons. we now tried to put the ship's head to the wind and "_lay to_," by which landsmen will understand that we tried to face the storm, and remain stationary. but the gale was so fierce that this was impossible. the last rag of sail was blown away, and then there was nothing left for us but to show our stern to the gale, and "scud under bare poles." the great danger now was that we might be "pooped," which means that a huge wave might curl over our stern, fall with terrible fury on our deck, and sink us. many and many a good ship has gone down in this way; but we were mercifully spared. as our safety depended very much on good steering, the captain himself took the wheel, and managed the ship so well, that we weathered the gale without damage, farther than the loss of a few sails and light spars. for two days the storm howled furiously, the sky and sea were like ink, with sheets of rain and foam driving through the air, and raging billows tossing our ship about like a cork. during all this time my shipmates were quiet and grave, but active and full of energy, so that every order was at once obeyed without noise or confusion. every man watched the slightest motion of the captain. we all felt that everything depended on him. as for me, i gave up all hope of being saved. it seemed impossible to me that anything that man could build could withstand so terrible a storm. i do not pretend to say that i was not afraid. the near prospect of a violent death caused my heart to sink more than once; but my feelings did not unman me. i did my duty quietly, but quickly, like the rest; and when i had no work to do, i stood holding on to the weather stanchions, looking at the raging sea, and thinking of my mother, and of the words of kindness and counsel she had so often bestowed upon me in vain. the storm ceased almost as quickly as it began, and although the sea did not all at once stop the heavings of its angry bosom, the wind fell entirely in the course of a few hours, the dark clouds broke up into great masses that were piled up high into the sky, and out of the midst of these the glorious sun shone in bright rays down on the ocean, like comfort from heaven, gladdening our hearts as we busily repaired the damage that we had suffered from the storm. chapter three. our first battle. i shall never forget the surprise i got the first time i saw a whale. it was in the forenoon of a most splendid day, about a week after we arrived at that part of the ocean where we might expect to find fish. a light nor'-east breeze was blowing, but it scarcely ruffled the sea, as we crept slowly through the water with every stitch of canvas set. as we had been looking out for fish for some time past, everything was in readiness for them. the boats were hanging over the side ready to lower, tubs for coiling away the ropes, harpoons, lances, etcetera, all were ready to throw in, and start away at a moment's notice. the man in the "crow's nest," as they call the cask fixed up at the mast-head, was looking anxiously out for whales, and the crew were idling about the deck. tom lokins was seated on the windlass smoking his pipe, and i was sitting beside him on an empty cask, sharpening a blubber-knife. "tom," said i, "what like is a whale?" "why, it's like nothin' but itself," replied tom, looking puzzled. "why, wot a queer feller you are to ax questions." "i'm sure you've seen plenty of them. you might be able to tell what a whale is like." "wot it's like! well, it's like a tremendous big bolster with a head and a tail to it." "and how big is it?" "they're of all sizes, lad. i've seen one that was exactly equal to three hundred fat bulls, and its rate of goin' would take it round the whole world in twenty-three days." "i don't believe you," said i, laughing. "don't you?" cried tom; "it's a fact notwithstandin', for the captain himself said so, and that's how i came to know it." just as tom finished speaking, the man in the crow's nest roared at the top of his voice, "there she blows!" that was the signal that a whale was in sight, and as it was the first time we had heard it that season, every man in the ship was thrown into a state of tremendous excitement. "there she blows!" roared the man again. "where away?" shouted the captain. "about two miles right ahead." in another moment the utmost excitement prevailed on board. suddenly, while i was looking over the side, straining my eyes to catch a sight of the whale, which could not yet be seen by the men on deck, i saw a brown object appear in the sea, not twenty yards from the side of the ship; before i had time to ask what it was, a whale's head rose to the surface, and shot up out of the water. the part of the fish that was visible above water could not have been less than thirty feet in length. it just looked as if our longboat had jumped out of the sea, and he was so near that i could see his great mouth quite plainly. i could have tossed a biscuit on his back easily. sending two thick spouts of frothy water out of his blow-holes forty feet into the air with tremendous noise, he fell flat upon the sea with a clap like thunder, tossed his flukes, or tail, high into the air, and disappeared. i was so amazed at this sight that i could not speak. i could only stare at the place where the huge monster had gone down. "stand by to lower," shouted the captain. "ay, ay, sir," replied the men, leaping to their appointed stations; for every man in a whale-ship has his post of duty appointed to him, and knows what to do when an order is given. "lower away," cried the captain, whose face was now blazing with excitement. in a moment more three boats were in the water; the tubs, harpoons, etcetera, were thrown in, the men seized the oars, and away they went with a cheer. i was in such a state of flutter that i scarce knew what i did; but i managed somehow or other to get into a boat, and as i was a strong fellow, and a good rower, i was allowed to pull. "there she blows!" cried the man in the crow's nest, just as we shot from the side of the ship. there was no need to ask, "where away" this time. another whale rose and spouted not more than three hundred yards off, and before we could speak a third fish rose in another direction, and we found ourselves in the middle, of what is called a "school of whales." "now, lads," said the captain, who steered the boat in which i rowed, "bend your backs, my hearties; that fish right ahead of us is a hundred-barrel whale for certain. give way, boys; we _must_ have that fish." there was no need to urge the men, for their backs were strained to the utmost, their faces were flushed, and the big veins in their necks swelled almost to bursting, with the tremendous exertion. "hold hard," said the captain, in a low voice, for now that we were getting near our prey, we made as little noise as possible. the men at once threw their oars "apeak," as they say; that is, raised them straight up in the air, and waited for further orders. we expected the whale would rise near to where we were, and thought it best to rest and look out. while we were waiting, tom lokins, who was harpooner of the boat, sat just behind me with all his irons ready. he took this opportunity to explain to me that by a "hundred-barrel fish" is meant a fish that will yield a hundred-barrels of oil. he further informed me that such a fish was a big one, though he had seen a few in the north-west seas that had produced upwards of two hundred-barrels. i now observed that the other boats had separated, and each had gone after a different whale. in a few minutes the fish we were in chase of rose a short distance off, and sent up two splendid water-spouts high into the air, thus showing that he was what the whalers call a "right" whale. it is different from the sperm whale, which has only one blow-hole, and that a little one. we rowed towards it with all our might, and as we drew near, the captain ordered tom lokins to "stand up," so he at once laid in his oar, and took up the harpoon. the harpoon is an iron lance with a barbed point. a whale-line is attached to it, and this line is coiled away in a tub. when we were within a few yards of the fish, which was going slowly through the water, all ignorant of the terrible foes who were pursuing him, tom lokins raised the harpoon high above his head, and darted it deep into its fat side just behind the left fin, and next moment the boat ran aground on the whale's back. "stern all, for your lives!" roared the captain, who, before his order was obeyed, managed to give the creature two deep wounds with his lance. the lance has no barbs to its point, and is used only for wounding after the harpoon is fixed. the boat was backed off at once, but it had scarcely got a few yards away when the astonished fish whirled its huge body half out of the water, and, coming down with a tremendous clap, made off like lightning. the line was passed round a strong piece of wood called the "logger-head," and, in running out, it began to smoke, and nearly set the wood on fire. indeed, it would have done so, if a man had not kept constantly pouring water upon it. it was needful to be very cautious in managing the line, for the duty is attended with great danger. if any hitch should take place, the line is apt to catch the boat and drag it down bodily under the waves. sometimes a coil of it gets round a leg or an arm of the man who attends to it, in which case his destruction is almost certain. many a poor fellow has lost his life in this way. the order was now given to "hold on line." this was done, and in a moment our boat was cleaving the blue water like an arrow, while the white foam curled from her bows. i thought every moment we should be dragged under; but whenever this seemed likely to happen, the line was let run a bit, and the strain eased. at last the fish grew tired of dragging us, the line ceased to run out, and tom hauled in the slack, which another man coiled away in its tub. presently the fish rose to the surface, a short distance off our weather-bow. "give way, boys! spring your oars," cried the captain; "another touch or two with the lance, and that fish is ours." the boat shot ahead, and we were about to dart a second harpoon into the whale's side, when it took to "sounding,"--which means, that it went straight down, head foremost, into the depths of the sea. at that moment tom lokins uttered a cry of mingled anger and disappointment. we all turned round and saw our shipmate standing with the slack line in his hand, and such an expression on his weather-beaten face, that i could scarce help laughing. the harpoon had not been well fixed; it had lost its hold, and the fish was now free! "gone!" exclaimed the captain, with a groan. i remember even yet the feeling of awful disappointment that came over me when i understood that we had lost the fish after all our trouble! i could almost have wept with bitter vexation. as for my comrades, they sat staring at each other for some moments quite speechless. before we could recover from the state into which this misfortune had thrown us, one of the men suddenly shouted, "hallo! there's the mate's boat in distress." we turned at once, and, truly, there was no doubt of the truth of this, for, about half a mile off, we beheld our first mate's boat tearing over the sea like a small steamer. it was fast to a fish, and two oars were set up on end to attract our attention. when a whale is struck, it sometimes happens that the whole of the line in a boat is run out. when this is about to occur, it becomes necessary to hold on as much as can be done without running the boat under the water, and an oar is set up on end to show that assistance is required, either from the ship or from the other boats. as the line grows less and less, another and another oar is hoisted to show that help must be sent quickly. if no assistance can be sent, the only thing that remains to be done is to cut the line and lose the fish; but a whale-line, with its harpoon, is a very heavy loss, in addition to that of the fish, so that whalers are tempted to hold on a little too long sometimes. when we saw the mate's boat dashing away in this style, we forgot our grief at the loss of our whale in our anxiety to render assistance to our comrades, and we rowed towards them as fast as we could. fortunately the whale changed its course, and came straight towards us, so that we ceased pulling, and waited till they came up. as the boat came on i saw the foam curling up on her bows as she leaped and flew over the sea. i could scarcely believe it possible that wood and iron could bear such a strain. in a few minutes they were almost abreast of us. "you're holding too hard!" shouted the captain. "lines all out!" roared the mate. they were past almost before these short sentences could be spoken. but they had not gone twenty yards ahead of us when the water rushed in over the bow, and before we could utter a word the boat and crew were gone. not a trace of them remained! the horror of the moment had not been fully felt, however, when the boat rose to the surface keel up, and, one after another, the heads of the men appeared. the line had fortunately broken, otherwise the boat would have been lost, and the entire crew probably would have gone to the bottom with her. we instantly pulled to the rescue, and were thankful to find that not a man was killed, though some of them were a little hurt, and all had received a terrible fright. we next set to work to right the upset boat, an operation which was not accomplished without much labour and difficulty. now, while we were thus employed, our third boat, which was in charge of the second mate, had gone after the whale that had caused us so much trouble, and, when we had got the boat righted and began to look about us, we found that she was fast to the fish about a mile to leeward. "hurrah, lads!" cried the captain, "luck has not left us yet. give way, my hearties, pull like britons! we'll get that fish yet." we were all dreadfully done up by this time, but the sight of a boat fast to a whale restored us at once, and we pulled away as stoutly as if we had only begun the day's work. the whale was heading in the direction of the ship, and when we came up to the scene of action the second mate had just "touched the life"; in other words, he had driven the lance deep down into the whale's vitals. this was quickly known by jets of blood being spouted up through the blow-holes. soon after, our victim went into its dying agonies, or, as whalemen say, "his flurry." this did not last long. in a short time he rolled over dead. we fastened a line to his tail, the three boats took the carcass in tow, and, singing a lively song, we rowed away to the ship. thus ended our first battle with the whales. chapter four. "cutting-in the blubber" and "trying out the oil." the scene that took place on board ship after we caught our first fish was most wonderful. we commenced the operation of what is called "cutting-in," that is, cutting up the whale, and getting the fat or blubber hoisted in. the next thing we did was to "try out" the oil, or melt down the fat in large iron pots brought with us for this purpose; and the change that took place in the appearance of the ship and the men when this began was very remarkable. when we left port our decks were clean, our sails white, our masts well scraped; the brass-work about the quarter-deck was well polished, and the men looked tidy and clean. a few hours after our first whale had been secured alongside all this was changed. the cutting up of the huge carcass covered the decks with oil and blood, making them so slippery that they had to be covered with sand to enable the men to walk about. then the smoke of the great fires under the melting-pots begrimed the masts, sails, and cordage with soot. the faces and hands of the men got so covered with oil and soot that it would have puzzled any one to say whether they were white or black. their clothes, too, became so dirty that it was impossible to clean them. but, indeed, whalemen do not much mind this. in fact, they take a pleasure in all the dirt that surrounds them, because it is a sign of success in the main object of their voyage. the men in a _clean_ whale-ship are never happy. when everything is filthy, and dirty, and greasy, and smoky, and black-- decks, rigging, clothes, and person--it is then that the hearty laugh and jest and song are heard as the crew work busily, night and day, at their rough but profitable labour. the operations of "cutting-in" and "trying out" were matters of great interest to me the first time i saw them. after having towed our whale to the ship, cutting-in was immediately begun. first, the carcass was secured near the head and tail with chains, and made fast to the ship; then the great blocks and ropes fastened to the main and foremast for hoisting in the blubber were brought into play. when all was ready, the captain and the two mates, with tom lokins, got upon the whale's body, with long-handled sharp spades or digging-knives. with these they fell to work cutting off the blubber. i was stationed at one of the hoisting ropes, and while we were waiting for the signal to "hoist away," i peeped over the side, and for the first time had a good look at the great fish. when we killed it, so much of its body was down in the water that i could not see it very clearly, but now that it was lashed at full length alongside the ship, and i could look right down upon it, i began to understand more clearly what a large creature it was. one thing surprised me much; the top of its head, which was rough and knotty like the bark of an old tree, was swarming with little crabs and barnacles, and other small creatures. the whale's head seemed to be their regular home! this fish was by no means one of the largest kind, but being the first i had seen, i fancied it must be the largest fish in the sea. its body was forty feet long, and twenty feet round at the thickest part. its head, which seemed to me a great, blunt, shapeless thing, like a clumsy old boat, was eight feet long from the tip to the blow-holes or nostrils; and these holes were situated on the back of the head, which at that part was nearly four feet broad. the entire head measured about twenty-one feet round. its ears were two small holes, so small that it was difficult to discover them, and the eyes were also very small for so large a body, being about the same size as those of an ox. the mouth was very large, and the under jaw had great ugly lips. when it was dying, i saw these lips close in once or twice on its fat cheeks, which it bulged out like the leather sides of a pair of gigantic bellows. it had two fins, one on each side, just behind the head. with these, and with its tail, the whale swims and fights. its tail is its most deadly weapon. the flukes of this one measured thirteen feet across, and with one stroke of this it could have smashed our largest boat in pieces. many a boat has been sent to the bottom in this way. i remember hearing our first mate tell of a wonderful escape a comrade of his had in the greenland sea fishery. a whale had been struck, and, after its first run, they hauled up to it again, and rowed so hard that they ran the boat right against it. the harpooner was standing on the bow all ready, and sent his iron cleverly into the blubber. in its agony the whale reared its tail high out of the water, and the flukes whirled for a moment like a great fan just above the harpooner's head. one glance up was enough to show him that certain death was descending. in an instant he dived over the side and disappeared. next moment the flukes came down on the part of the boat he had just left, and cut it clean off; the other part was driven into the waves, and the men were left swimming in the water. they were all picked up, however, by another boat that was in company, and the harpooner was recovered with the rest. his quick dive had been the saving of his life. i had not much time given me to study the appearance of this whale before the order was given to "hoist away!" so we went to work with a will. the first part that came up was the huge lip, fastened to a large iron hook, called the blubber hook. it was lowered into the blubber-room between decks, where a couple of men were stationed to stow the blubber away. then came the fins, and after them the upper-jaw, with the whalebone attached to it. the "right" whale has no teeth like the sperm whale. in place of teeth it has the well-known substance called whalebone, which grows from the roof of its mouth in a number of broad thin plates, extending from the back of the head to the snout. the lower edges of these plates of whalebone are split into thousands of hairs like bristles, so that the inside roof of a whale's mouth resembles an enormous blacking brush! the object of this curious arrangement is to enable the whale to catch the little shrimps and small sea-blubbers, called "medusae," on which it feeds. i have spoken before of these last as being the little creatures that gave out such a beautiful pale-blue light at night. the whale feeds on them. when he desires a meal he opens his great mouth and rushes into the midst of a shoal of medusae; the little things get entangled in thousands among the hairy ends of the whalebone, and when the monster has got a large enough mouthful, he shuts his lower-jaw and swallows what his net has caught. the wisdom as well as the necessity of this arrangement is very plain. of course, while dashing through the sea in this fashion, with his mouth agape, the whale must keep his throat closed, else the water would rush down it and choke him. shutting his throat then, as he does, the water is obliged to flow out of his mouth as fast as it flows in; it is also spouted up through his blow-holes, and this with such violence that many of the little creatures would be swept out along with it, but for the hairy-ended whalebone which lets the sea-water out, but keeps the medusae in. well, let us return to our "cutting-in." after the upper-jaw came the lower-jaw and throat, with the tongue. this last was an enormous mass of fat, about as large as an ox, and it weighed fifteen hundred or two thousand pounds. after this was got in, the rest of the work was simple. the blubber of the body was peeled off in great strips, beginning at the neck and being cut spirally towards the tail. it was hoisted on board by the blocks, the captain and mates cutting, and the men at the windlass hoisting, and the carcass slowly turning round until we got an unbroken piece of blubber, reaching from the water to nearly as high as the mainyard-arm. this mass was nearly a foot thick, and it looked like fat pork. it was cut off close to the deck, and lowered into the blubber-room, where the two men stationed there attacked it with knives, cut it into smaller pieces, and stowed it away. then another piece was hoisted on board in the same fashion, and so on we went till every bit of blubber was cut off; and i heard the captain remark to the mate when the work was done, that the fish was a good fat one, and he wouldn't wonder if it turned out to be worth pounds sterling. now, when this process was going on, a new point of interest arose which i had not thought of before, although my messmate, tom lokins, had often spoken of it on the voyage out. this was the arrival of great numbers of sea-birds. tom had often told me of the birds that always keep company with whalers; but i had forgotten all about it, until i saw an enormous albatross come sailing majestically through the air towards us. this was the largest bird i ever saw, and no wonder, for it is the largest bird that flies. soon after that, another arrived, and although we were more than a thousand miles from any shore, we were speedily scented out and surrounded by hosts of gonies, stinkards, haglets, gulls, pigeons, petrels, and other sea-birds, which commenced to feed on pieces of the whale's carcass with the most savage gluttony. these birds were dreadfully greedy. they had stuffed themselves so full in the course of a short time, that they flew heavily and with great difficulty. no doubt they would have to take three or four days to digest that meal! sharks, too, came to get their share of what was going. but these savage monsters did not content themselves with what was thrown away; they were so bold as to come before our faces and take bites out of the whale's body. some of these sharks were eight and nine feet long, and when i saw them open their horrid jaws, armed with three rows of glistening white sharp teeth, i could well understand how easily they could bite off the leg of a man, as they often do when they get the chance. sometimes they would come right up on the whale's body with a wave, bite out great pieces of the flesh, turn over on their bellies, and roll off. while i was looking over the side during the early part of that day, i saw a very large shark come rolling up in this way close to tom lokins' legs. tom made a cut at him with his blubber-spade, but the shark rolled off in time to escape the blow. and after all it would not have done him much damage, for it is not easy to frighten or take the life out of a shark. "hand me an iron and line, bob," said tom, looking up at me. "i've got a spite agin that feller. he's been up twice already. ah! hand it down here, and two or three of ye stand by to hold on by the line. there he comes, the big villain!" the shark came close to the side of the whale at that moment, and tom sent the harpoon right down his throat. "hold on hard," shouted tom. "ay, ay," replied several of the men as they held on to the line, their arms jerking violently as the savage fish tried to free itself. we quickly reeved a line through a block at the fore yard-arm, and hauled it on deck with much difficulty. the scene that followed was very horrible, for there was no killing the brute. it threshed the deck with its tail, and snapped so fiercely with its tremendous jaws, that we had to keep a sharp look out lest it should catch hold of a leg. at last its tail was cut off, the body cut open, and all the entrails taken out, yet even after this it continued to flap and thresh about the deck for some time, and the heart continued to contract for twenty minutes after it was taken out and pierced with a knife. i would not have believed this had i not seen it with my own eyes. in case some of my readers may doubt its truth, i would remind them how difficult it is, to kill some of those creatures, with which we are all familiar. the common worm, for instance, may be cut into a number of small pieces, and yet each piece remains alive for some time after. the skin of the shark is valued by the whalemen, because, when cleaned and dry, it is as good as sand-paper, and is much used in polishing the various things they make, out of whales' bones and teeth. when the last piece of blubber had been cut off our whale, the great chain that held it to the ship's side was cast off, and the now useless carcass sank like a stone, much to the sorrow of some of the smaller birds, which, having been driven away by their bigger comrades, had not fed so heartily as they wished, perhaps! but what was loss to the gulls was gain to the sharks, which could follow the carcass down into the deep and devour it at their leisure. "now, lads," cried the mate, when the remains had vanished, "rouse up the fires, look alive, my hearties!" "ay, ay, sir," was the ready reply, cheerfully given, as every man sprang to his appointed duty. and so, having "cut in" our whale, we next proceeded to "try out" the oil. chapter five. a storm, a man overboard, and a rescue. the scenes in a whaleman's life are varied and very stirring. sometimes he is floating on the calm ocean, idling about the deck and whistling for a breeze, when all of a sudden the loud cry is heard, "there she blows!" and in a moment the boats are in the water, and he is engaged in all the toils of an exciting chase. then comes the battle with the great leviathan of the deep, with all its risks and dangers. sometimes he is unfortunate, the decks are clean, he has nothing to do. at other times he is lucky, "cutting-in" and "trying out" engage all his energies and attention. frequently storms toss him on the angry deep, and show him, if he will but learn the lesson, how helpless a creature he is, and how thoroughly dependent at all times for life, safety, and success, upon the arm of god. "trying out" the oil, although not so thrilling a scene as many a one in his career, is, nevertheless, extremely interesting, especially at night, when the glare of the fires in the try-works casts a deep red glow on the faces of the men, on the masts and sails, and even out upon the sea. the try-works consisted of two huge melting-pots fixed upon brick-work fireplaces between the fore and main masts. while some of the men were down in the blubber-room cutting the "blanket-pieces," as the largest masses are called, others were pitching the smaller pieces on deck, where they were seized by two men who stood near a block of wood, called a "horse," with a mincing knife, to slash the junks so as to make them melt easily. these were then thrown into the melting-pots by one of the mates, who kept feeding the fires with such "scraps" of blubber as remain after the oil is taken out. once the fires were fairly set agoing no other kind of fuel was required than "scraps" of blubber. as the boiling oil rose it was baled into copper cooling-tanks. it was the duty of two other men to dip it out of these tanks into casks, which were then headed up by our cooper, and stowed away in the hold. as the night advanced the fires became redder and brighter by contrast, the light shone and glittered on the decks, and, as we plied our dirty work, i could not help thinking, "what _would_ my mother say, if she could get a peep at me now?" the ship's crew worked and slept by watches, for the fires were not allowed to go out all night. about midnight i sat down on the windlass to take a short rest, and began talking to one of the men, fred borders by name. he was one of the quietest and most active men in the ship, and, being quite a young man, not more than nineteen, he and i drew to one another, and became very intimate. "i think we're goin' to have a breeze, bob," said he, as a sharp puff of wind crossed the deck, driving the black smoke to leeward, and making the fire flare up in the try-works. "i hope it won't be a storm, then," said i, "for it will oblige us to put out the fires." just then tom lokins came up, ordered fred to go and attend to the fires, sat down opposite to me on the windlass, and began to "lay down the law" in regard to storms. "you see, bob ledbury," said he, beginning to fill his pipe, "young fellers like you don't know nothin' about the weather--'cause why? you've got no experience. now, i'll put you up to a dodge consarning this very thing." i never found out what was the dodge that tom, in his wisdom, was to have put me up to, for at that moment the captain came on deck, and gave orders to furl the top-gallant sails. three or four of us ran up the rigging like monkeys, and in a few minutes the sails were lashed to the yards. the wind now began to blow steadily from the nor'-west; but not so hard as to stop our try-works for more than an hour. after that it blew stiff enough to raise a heavy sea, and we were compelled to slack the fires. this was all the harm it did to us, however, for although the breeze was stiffish, it was nothing like a gale. as the captain and the first mate walked the quarter-deck together, i heard the former say to the latter, "i think we had as well take in a reef in the topsails. all hereabouts the fishing-ground is good, we don't need to carry on." the order was given to reduce sail, and the men lay out on the topsail yards. i noticed that my friend fred borders was the first man to spring up the shrouds and lay out on the main-top-sail yard. it was so dark that i could scarcely see the masts. while i was gazing up, i thought i observed a dark object drop from the yard; at the same moment there was a loud shriek, followed by a plunge in the sea. this was succeeded by the sudden cry, "man overboard!" and instantly the whole ship was in an uproar. no one who has not heard that cry can understand the dreadful feelings that are raised in the human breast by it. my heart at first seemed to leap into my mouth, and almost choke me. then a terrible fear, which i cannot describe, shot through me, when i thought it might be my comrade fred borders. but these thoughts and feelings passed like lightning--in a far shorter time than it takes to write them down. the shriek was still ringing in my ears, when the captain roared-- "down your helm! stand by to lower away the boats." at the same moment he seized a light hen-coop and tossed it overboard, and the mate did the same with an oar in the twinkling of an eye. almost without knowing what i did, or why i did it, i seized a great mass of oakum and rubbish that lay on the deck saturated with oil, i thrust it into the embers of the fire in the try-works and hurled it blazing into the sea. the ship's head was thrown into the wind, and we were brought to as quickly as possible. a gleam of hope arose within me on observing that the mass i had thrown overboard continued still to burn; but when i saw how quickly it went astern, notwithstanding our vigorous efforts to stop the ship, my heart began to sink, and when, a few moments after, the light suddenly disappeared, despair seized upon me, and i gave my friend up for lost. at that moment, strange to say, thoughts of my mother came into my mind, but there was no time to be lost, and i threw myself, with a good deal of energy, into the first boat that was lowered, and pulled at the oar as if my own life depended on it. a lantern had been fastened to the end of an oar and set up in the boat, and by its faint light i could see that the men looked very grave. tom lokins was steering, and i sat near him, pulling the aft oar. "do you think we've any chance, tom?" said i. a shake of the head was his only reply. "it must have been here away," said the mate, who stood up in the bow with a coil of rope at his feet, and a boat-hook in his hand. "hold on, lads, did any one hear a cry?" no one answered. we all ceased pulling, and listened intently; but the noise of the waves and the whistling of the winds were all the sounds we heard. "what's that floating on the water?" said one of the men, suddenly. "where away?" cried every one eagerly. "right off the lee-bow--there, don't you see it?" at that moment a faint cry came floating over the black water, and died away in the breeze. the single word "hurrah!" burst from our throats with all the power of our lungs, and we bent to our oars till we well-nigh tore the rollocks out of the boat. "hold hard! stern all!" roared the mate, as we went flying down to leeward, and almost ran over the hen-coop, to which a human form was seen to be clinging with the tenacity of a drowning man. we had swept down so quickly that we shot past it. in an agony of fear lest my friend should be again lost in the darkness, i leaped up and sprang into the sea. tom lokins, however, had noticed what i was about; he seized me by the collar of my jacket, just as i reached the water, and held me with a grip like a vice till one of the men came to his assistance, and dragged me back into the boat. in a few moments more we reached the hen-coop, and fred was saved! he was half dead with cold and exhaustion, poor fellow, but in a few minutes he began to recover, and before we reached the ship he could speak. his first words were to thank god for his deliverance. then he added-- "and, thanks to the man that flung that light overboard. i should have gone down but for that. it showed me where the hen-coop was." i cannot describe the feeling of joy that filled my heart when he said this. "ay, who wos it that throw'd that fire overboard?" inquired one of the men. "don't know," replied another, "i think it wos the cap'n." "you'll find that out when we get aboard," cried the mate; "pull away, lads." in five minutes fred borders was passed up the side and taken down below. in two minutes more we had him stripped naked, rubbed dry, wrapped in hot blankets, and set down on one of the lockers, with a hot brick at his feet. chapter six. the whale--fighting bulls, etcetera. as the reader may, perhaps, have been asking a few questions about the whale in his own mind, i shall try to answer them, by telling a few things concerning that creature which, i think, are worth knowing. in the first place, the whale is not a fish! i have applied that name to it, no doubt, because it is the custom to do so; but there are great differences between the whales and the fishes. the mere fact that the whale lives in water is not sufficient to prove it to be a fish. the frog lives very much in water--he is born in the water, and, when very young, he lives in it altogether--would die, in fact, if he were taken out of it; yet a frog is not a fish. the following are some of the differences existing between a whale and a fish:-- the whale is a warm-blooded animal; the fish is cold-blooded. the whale brings forth its young alive; while most fishes lay eggs or spawn. moreover, the fish lives entirely under water, but the whale cannot do so. he breathes air through enormous lungs, not gills. if you were to hold a whale's head under water for much longer than an hour, it would certainly be drowned; and this is the reason why it comes so frequently to the surface of the sea to take breath. whales seldom stay more than an hour under water, and when they come up to breathe, they discharge the last breath they took through their nostrils or blow-holes, mixed with large quantities of water, which they have taken in while feeding. but the most remarkable point of difference between the whale and fishes of all kinds is, that it suckles its young. the calf of one kind of whale is about fourteen feet long when it is born, and it weighs about a ton. the cow-whale usually has only one calf at a time, and the manner in which she behaves to her gigantic baby shows that she is affected by feelings of anxiety and affection such as are never seen in fishes, which heartless creatures forsake their eggs when they are laid, and i am pretty sure they would not know their own children if they happened to meet with them. the whale, on the contrary, takes care of her little one, gives it suck, and sports playfully with it in the waves; its enormous heart throbbing all the while, no doubt, with satisfaction. i have heard of a whale which was once driven into shoal water with its calf and nearly stranded. the huge dam seemed to become anxious for the safety of her child, for she was seen to swim eagerly round it, embrace it with her fins, and roll it over in the waves, trying to make it follow her into deep water. but the calf was obstinate; it would not go, and the result was that the boat of a whaler pulled up and harpooned it. the poor little whale darted away like lightning on receiving the terrible iron, and ran out a hundred fathoms of line; but it was soon overhauled and killed. all this time the dam kept close to the side of its calf, and not until a harpoon was plunged into her own side would she move away. two boats were after her. with a single rap of her tail she cut one of the boats in two, and then darted off. but in a short time she turned and came back. her feelings of anxiety had returned, no doubt, after the first sting of pain was over, and she died at last, close to the side of her young one. there are various kinds of whales, but the two sorts that are most sought after are the common whale of the greenland seas, which is called the "right whale," and the sperm whale of the south sea. both kinds are found in the south; but the sperm whale never goes to the north seas. both kinds grow to an enormous size--sometimes to seventy feet in length, but there is considerable difference in their appearance, especially about the head. in a former chapter i have partly described the head of a _right_ whale, which has whalebone instead of teeth, with its blow-holes on the back of the head. the sperm whale has large white teeth in its lower-jaw and none at all in the upper. it has only one blow-hole, and that a little one, much farther forward on its head, so that sailors can tell, at a great distance, what kind of whales they see, simply by their manner of spouting. the most remarkable feature about the sperm whale is the bluntness of its clumsy head, which looks somewhat like a big log with the end sawn square off, and this head is about one-third of its entire body. the sperm whale feeds differently from the right whale. he seizes his prey with his powerful teeth, and lives, to a great extent, on large cuttlefish. some of them have been seen to vomit lumps of these cuttlefish as long as a whale-boat. he is much fiercer, too, than the right whale, which almost always takes to flight when struck, but the sperm whale will sometimes turn on its foes, and smash their boat with a blow of his blunt head or tail. fighting-whales, as they are called, are not uncommon. these are generally old bulls, which have become wise from experience, and give the whalers great trouble--sometimes carrying away several harpoons and lines. the lower-jaw of one old bull of this kind was found to be sixteen feet long, and it had forty-eight teeth, some of them a foot long. a number of scars about his head showed that this fellow had been in the wars. when two bull-whales take to fighting, their great effort is to catch each other by the lower-jaw, and, when locked together, they struggle with a degree of fury that cannot be described. it is not often that the sperm whale actually attacks a ship; but there are a few cases of this kind which cannot be doubted. the following story is certainly true; and while it shows how powerful a creature the whale is, it also shows what terrible risk and sufferings the whaleman has frequently to encounter. in the month of august , the american whale-ship _essex_ sailed from nantucket for the pacific ocean. she was commanded by captain pollard. late in the autumn of the same year, when in latitude degrees of the south pacific, a shoal, or "school," of sperm whales was discovered, and three boats were immediately lowered and sent in pursuit. the mate's boat was struck by one of the fish during the chase, and it was found necessary to return to the ship to repair damages. while the men were employed at this, an enormous whale suddenly rose quite close to the ship. he was going at nearly the same rate with the ship--about three miles an hour; and the men, who were good judges of the size of whales, thought that it could not have been less than eighty-five feet long. all at once he ran against the ship, striking her bows, and causing her to tremble like a leaf. the whale immediately dived and passed under the ship, and grazed her keel in doing so. this evidently hurt his back, for he suddenly rose to the surface about fifty yards off, and commenced lashing the sea with his tail and fins as if suffering great agony. it was truly an awful sight to behold that great monster lashing the sea into foam at so short a distance. in a short time he seemed to recover, and started off at great speed to windward. meanwhile the men discovered that the blow received by the ship had done her so much damage, that she began to fill and settle down at the bows; so they rigged the pumps as quickly as possible. while working them one of the men cried out-- "god have mercy! he comes again!" this was too true. the whale had turned, and was now bearing down on them at full speed, leaving a white track of foam behind him. rushing at the ship like a battering-ram, he hit her fair on the weather bow, and stove it in, after which he dived and disappeared. the horrified men took to their boats at once, and in _ten minutes_ the ship went down. the condition of the men thus left in three open boats far out upon the sea, without provisions or shelter, was terrible indeed. some of them perished, and the rest, after suffering the severest hardships, reached a low island called ducies, on the th of december. it was a mere sand-bank, which supplied them only with water and seafowl. still even this was a mercy, for which they had reason to thank god; for in cases of this kind one of the evils that seamen have most cause to dread is the want of water. three of the men resolved to remain on this sand-bank, for dreary and uninhabited though it was, they preferred to take their chance of being picked up by a passing ship rather than run the risks of crossing the wide ocean in open boats, so their companions bade them a sorrowful farewell, and left them. but this island is far out of the usual track of ships. the poor fellows have never since been heard of. it was the th of december when the three boats left the sand-bank with the remainder of the men, and began a voyage of two thousand miles, towards the island of juan fernandez. the mate's boat was picked up, about three months after, by the ship _indian_ of london, with only three living men in it. about the same time the captain's boat was discovered, by the _dauphin_ of nantucket, with only two men living; and these unhappy beings had only sustained life by feeding on the flesh of their dead comrades. the third boat must have been lost, for it was never heard of; and out of the whole crew of twenty men, only five returned home to tell their eventful story. before resuming the thread of my narrative, i must not omit to mention, that in the head of the sperm whale there is a large cavity or hole called the "case," which contains pure oil that does not require to be melted, but can be bailed at once into casks and stowed away. this is the valuable spermaceti from which the finest candles are made. one whale will sometimes yield fifteen barrels of spermaceti oil from the "case" of its head. a large fish will produce from eighty to a hundred-barrels of oil altogether, sometimes much more; and when whalemen converse with each other, about the size of whales, they speak of "eighty-barrel fish," and so on. although i have written much about the fighting powers of the sperm whale, it must not be supposed that whales are by nature fond of fighting. on the contrary, the "right" whale is a timid creature, and never shows fight, except in defence of its young. and the sperm whale generally takes to flight when pursued. in fact, most of the accidents that happen to whalemen occur when the wounded monster is lashing the water in blind terror and agony. the whale has three bitter enemies, much smaller, but much bolder than himself, and of these he is terribly afraid. they are the swordfish, the thrasher, and the killer. the first of these, the swordfish, has a strong straight horn or sword projecting from his snout, with which he boldly attacks and pierces the whale. the thrasher is a strong fish, twenty feet long, and of great weight. its method of attack is to leap out of the water on the whale's back, and deal it a tremendous blow with its powerful tail. the swordfish and thrasher sometimes act together in the attack; the first stabbing him below, and the second belabouring him above, while the whale, unable, or too frightened, to fight, rushes through the water, and even leaps its whole gigantic length into the air in its endeavours to escape. when a whale thus leaps his whole length out of the water, the sailors say he "breaches," and breaching is a common practice. they seem to do it often for amusement as well as from terror. but the most deadly of the three enemies is the killer. this is itself a kind of small whale, but it is wonderfully strong, swift, and bold. when one of the killers gets into the middle, of a school of whales, the frightened creatures are seen flying in all directions. his mode of attack is to seize his big enemy by the jaw, and hold on until he is exhausted and dies. chapter seven. tom's wisdom--another great battle. one day i was standing beside the windlass, listening to the conversation of five or six of the men, who were busy sharpening harpoons and cutting-knives, or making all kinds of toys and things out of whales' bones. we had just finished cutting-in and trying out our third whale, and as it was not long since we reached the fishing-ground, we were in high hopes of making a good thing of it that season; so that every one was in good spirits, from the captain down to the youngest man in the ship. tom lokins was smoking his pipe, and tom's pipe was an uncommonly black one, for he smoked it very often. moreover, tom's pipe was uncommonly short, so short that i always wondered how he escaped burning the end of his nose. indeed, some of the men said that the redness of the end of tom's nose was owing to its being baked like a brick by the heat of his pipe. tom took this pipe from his mouth, and while he was pushing down the tobacco with the end of his little finger, he said-- "d'ye know, lads, i've been thinkin'--" "no, have ye?" cried one of the men, interrupting him with a look of pretended surprise. "well now, i do think, messmates, that we should ax the mate to make a note o' that in the log, for it's not often that tom lokins takes to thinkin'." there was a laugh at this, but tom, turning with a look of contempt to the man who interrupted him, replied-- "i'll tell you wot it is, bill blunt, if all the thoughts that _you_ think, and especially the jokes that you utter, wos put down in the log, they'd be so heavy that i do believe they would sink the ship!" "well, well," cried bill, joining in the laugh against himself, "if they did, _your_ jokes would be so light and triflin' that i do believe they'd float her again. but what have you been a-thinkin' of, tom?" "i've been thinkin'," said tom slowly, "that if a whale makes his breakfast entirely off them little things that you can hardly see when you get 'em into a tumbler--i forget how the captain calls 'em--wot a _tree-mendous_ heap of 'em he must eat in the course of a year!" "thousands of 'em, i suppose," said one of the men. "thousands!" cried tom, "i should rather say billions of them." "how much is billions, mate?" inquired bill. "i don't know," answered tom. "never could find out. you see it's heaps upon heaps of thousands, for the thousands come first and the billions afterwards; but when i've thought uncommon hard, for a long spell at a time, i always get confused, because millions comes in between, d'ye see, and that's puzzlin'." "i think i could give you some notion about these things," said fred borders, who had been quietly listening all the time, but never putting in a word, for, as i have said, fred was a modest bashful man and seldom spoke much. but we had all come to notice that when fred spoke, he had always something to say worth hearing; and when he did speak he spoke out boldly enough. we had come to have feelings of respect for our young shipmate, for he was a kind-hearted lad, and we saw by his conversation that he had been better educated than the most of us, so all our tongues stopped as the eyes of the party turned on him. "come, fred, let's hear it then," said tom. "it's not much i have to tell," began fred, "but it may help to make your minds clearer on this subject. on my first voyage to the whale-fishery (you know, lads, this is my second voyage) i went to the greenland seas. we had a young doctor aboard with us--quite a youth; indeed he had not finished his studies at college, but he was cleverer, for all that, than many an older man that had gone through his whole course. i do believe that the reason of his being so clever was, that he was for ever observing things, and studying them, and making notes, and trying to find out reasons. he was never satisfied with knowing a thing; he must always find out _why_ it was. one day i heard him ask the captain what it was that made the sea so green in some parts of those seas. our captain was an awfully stupid man. so long as he got plenty of oil he didn't care two straws for the reason of anything. the young doctor had been bothering him that morning with a good many questions, so when he asked him what made the sea green, he answered sharply, `i suppose it makes itself green, young man,' and then he turned from him with a fling. "the doctor laughed, and came forward among the men, and began to tell us stories and ask questions. ah! he was a real hearty fellow; he would tell you all kinds of queer things, and would pump you dry of all you knew in no time. well, but the thing i was going to tell you was this. one of the men said to him he had heard that the greenness of the greenland sea, was caused by the little things like small bits of jelly, on which the whales feed. as soon as he heard this he got a bucket and hauled some sea-water aboard, and for the next ten days he was never done working away with the sea-water; pouring it into tumblers and glasses; looking through it by daylight and by lamplight; tasting it, and boiling it, and examining it with a microscope." "what's a microscope?" inquired one of the men. "don't you know?" said tom lokins, "why it's a glass that makes little things seem big, when ye look through it. i've heerd say that beasts that are so uncommon small that you can't see them at all are made to come into sight, and look quite big, by means o' this glass. but i can't myself say that it's true." "but i can," said fred, "for i have seen it with my own eyes. well, after a good while, i made bold to ask the young doctor what he had found out. "`i've found,' said he, `that the greenness of these seas is in truth caused by uncountable numbers of medusae--'" "ha! that's the word," shouted tom lokins, "medoosy, that's wot the captain calls 'em. heave ahead, fred." "well, then," continued fred, "the young doctor went on to tell me that he had been counting the matter to himself very carefully, and he found that in every square mile of sea-water there were living about eleven quadrillions, nine hundred and ninety-nine trillions of these little creatures!" "oh! hallo! come now!" we all cried, opening our eyes very wide indeed. "but, i say, how much is that?" inquired tom lokins. "ah! that's just what i said to the young doctor, and he said to me, `i'll tell you what, fred borders, no man alive understands how much that is, and what's more, no man ever will; but i'll give you _some notion_ of what it means;' and so he told me how long it would take forty thousand men to count that number of eleven quadrillions, nine hundred and ninety-nine trillions, each man of the forty thousand beginning `one,' `two,' `three,' and going on till the sum of the whole added together would make it up. now, how long d'ye think it would take them?--guess." fred borders smiled as he said this, and looked round the circle of men. "i know," cried one, "it would take the whole forty thousand a _week_ to do it." "oh! nonsense, they could do it easy in two days," said another. "that shows how little you know about big numbers," observed tom lokins, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. "i'm pretty sure it couldn't be done in much less than six months; workin' hard all day, and makin' allowance for only one hour off for dinner." "you're all wrong, shipmates," said fred borders. "that young doctor told me that if they'd begun work at the day of creation they would only have just finished the job last year!" "oh! gammon, you're jokin'," cried bill blunt. "no, i'm not," said fred, "for i was told afterwards by an old clergyman that the young doctor was quite right, and that any one who was good at 'rithmetic could work the thing out for himself in less than half-an-hour." just as fred said this there came a loud cry from the mast-head that made us all spring to our feet like lightning. "there she blows! there she breaches!" the captain was on deck in a moment. "where away?" he cried. "on the lee beam, sir. sperm whale, about two miles off. there she blows!" every man was at his station in a moment; for, after being some months out, we became so used to the work, that we acted together like a piece of machinery. but our excitement never abated in the least. "sing out when the ship heads for her." "ay, ay, sir." "keep her away!" said the captain to the man at the helm. "bob ledbury, hand me the spyglass." "steady," from the mast-head. "steady it is," answered the man at the helm. while we were all looking eagerly out ahead we heard a thundering snore behind us, followed by a heavy splash. turning quickly round, we saw the flukes of an enormous whale sweeping through the air not more than six hundred yards astern of us. "down your helm," roared the captain; "haul up the mainsail, and square the yards. call all hands." "all hands, ahoy!" roared bill blunt, in a voice of thunder, and in another moment every man in the ship was on deck. "hoist and swing the boats," cried the captain. "lower away." down went the boats into the water; the men were into their places almost before you could wink, and we pulled away from the ship just as the whale rose the second time, about half a mile away to leeward. from the appearance of this whale we felt certain that it was one of the largest we had yet seen, so we pulled after it with right good will. i occupied my usual place in the captain's boat, next the bow-oar, just beside tom lokins, who was ready with his harpoons in the bow. young borders pulled the oar directly in front of me. the captain himself steered, and, as our crew was a picked one, we soon left the other two boats behind us. presently a small whale rose close beside us, and, sending a shower of spray over the boat, went down in a pool of foam. before we had time to speak, another whale rose on the opposite side of the boat, and then another on our starboard bow. we had got into the middle of a shoal of whales, which commenced leaping and spouting all round us, little aware of the dangerous enemy that was so near. in a few minutes more, up comes the big one again that we had first seen. he seemed very active and wild. after blowing on the surface once or twice, about a quarter of a mile off, he peaked his flukes, and pitched down head foremost. "now then, lads, he's down for a long dive," said the captain; "spring your oars like men, we'll get that fish for certain, if you'll only pull." the captain was mistaken; the whale had only gone down deep in order to come up and breach, or spring out of the water, for the next minute he came up not a hundred yards from us, and leaped his whole length into the air. a shout of surprise broke from the men, and no wonder, for this was the largest fish i ever saw or heard of, and he came up so clear of the water, that we could see him from head to tail, as he turned over in the air, exposing his white belly to view, and came down on his great side with a crash like thunder, that might have been heard six miles off. a splendid mass of pure white spray burst from the spot where he fell, and in another moment he was gone. "i do believe it's _new zealand tom_," cried bill blunt, referring to an old bull whale that had become famous among the men who frequented these seas, for its immense size and fierceness, and for the great trouble it had given them, smashing some of their boats, and carrying away many of their harpoons. "i don't know whether it's new zealand tom or not," said the captain, "but it's pretty clear that he's an old sperm bull. give way, lads, we must get that whale, whatever it should cost us." we did not need a second bidding; the size of the fish was so great that we felt more excited than we had yet been during the voyage, so we bent our oars till we almost pulled the boat out of the water. the other boats had got separated, chasing the little whales, so we had this one all to ourselves. "there she blows!" said tom lokins, in a low voice, as the fish came up a short distance astern of us. we had overshot our mark, so, turning about, we made for the whale, which kept for a considerable time near the top of the water, spouting now and then, and going slowly to windward. we at last got within a few feet of the monster, and the captain suddenly gave the word, "stand up." this was to our harpooner, tom lokins, who jumped up on the instant, and buried two harpoons deep in the blubber. "stern all!" was the next word, and we backed off with all our might. it was just in time, for, in his agony, the whale tossed his tail right over our heads, the flukes were so big that they could have completely covered the boat, and he brought them down flat on the sea with a clap that made our ears tingle, while a shower of spray drenched us to the skin. for one moment i thought it was all over with us, but we were soon out of immediate danger, and lay on our oars watching the writhings of the wounded monster as he lashed the ocean into foam. the water all round us soon became white like milk, and the foam near the whale was red with blood. suddenly this ceased, and, before we could pull up to lance him, he went down, taking the line out at such a rate that the boat spun round, and sparks of fire flew from the logger-head, from the chafing of the rope. "hold on!" cried the captain, and next moment we were tearing over the sea at a fearful rate, with a bank of white foam rolling before us, high above our bows, and away on each side of us like the track of a steamer, so that we expected it every moment to rush in-board and swamp us. i had never seen anything like this before. from the first i had a kind of feeling that some evil would befall us. while we were tearing over the water in this way, we saw the other whales coming up every now and then, and blowing quite near to us, and presently we passed close enough to the first mate's boat to see that he was fast to a fish, and unable, therefore, to render us help if we should need it. in a short time the line began to slack, so we hauled it in hand over hand, and tom lokins coiled it away in the tub in the stern of the boat, while the captain took his place in the bow to be ready with the lance. the whale soon came up, and we pulled with all our might towards him. instead of making off again, however, he turned round and made straight at the boat. i now thought that destruction was certain, for, when i saw his great blunt forehead coming down on us like a steamboat, i felt that we could not escape. i was mistaken. the captain received him on the point of his lance, and the whale has such a dislike to pain, that even a small prick will sometimes turn him. for some time we kept dodging round this fellow; but he was so old and wise, that he always turned his head to us, and prevented us from getting a chance to lance him. at last he turned a little to one side, and the captain plunged the lance deep into his vitals. "ha! that's touched his life," cried tom, as a stream of blood flew up from his blow-holes, a sure sign that he was mortally wounded. but he was not yet conquered. after receiving the cruel stab with the lance, he pitched right down, head foremost, and once more the line began to fly out over the bow. we tried to hold on, but he was going so straight down that the boat was almost swamped, and we had to slack off to prevent our being pulled under water. before many yards of the line had run out, one of the coils in the tub became entangled. "look out, lads," cried tom, and at once throwing the turn off the logger-head, he made an attempt to clear it. the captain, in trying to do the same thing, slipped and fell. seeing this, i sprang up, and, grasping the coil as it flew past, tried to clear it. before i could think, a turn whipped round my left wrist. i felt a wrench as if my arm had been torn out of the socket, and in a moment i was overboard, [see frontispiece] going down with almost lightning speed into the depths of the sea. strange to say, i did not lose my presence of mind. i knew exactly what had happened. i felt myself rushing down, down, down, with terrific speed; a stream of fire seemed to be whizzing past my eyes; there was a dreadful pressure on my brain, and a roaring, as if of thunder, in my ears. yet, even in that dread moment, thoughts of eternity, of my sins, and of meeting with my god, flashed into my mind, for thought is quicker than the lightning flash. of a sudden the roaring ceased, and i felt myself buffeting the water fiercely in my efforts to reach the surface. i know not how i got free, but i suppose the turn of the line must have slackened off somehow. all this happened within the space of a few brief moments; but oh! they seemed fearfully long to me. i do not think i could have held my breath a second longer. when i came to the surface, and tried to look about me, i saw the boat not more than fifty yards off, and, being a good swimmer, i struck out for it, although i felt terribly exhausted. in a few minutes my comrades saw me, and, with a cheer put out the oars and began to row towards me. i saw that the line was slack, and that they were hauling it in--a sign that the whale had ceased running and would soon come to the surface again. before they had pulled half-a-dozen strokes i saw the water open close beside the boat, and the monstrous head of the whale shot up like a great rock rising out of the deep. he was not more than three feet from the boat, and he came up with such force, that more than half his gigantic length came out of the water right over the boat. i heard the captain's loud cry--"_stern all_!" but it was too late, the whole weight of the monster's body fell upon the boat; there was a crash and a terrible cry, as the whale and boat went down together. for a few moments he continued to lash the sea in his fury, and the fragments of the boat floated all round him. i thought that every man, of course, had been killed; but one after another their heads appeared in the midst of blood and foam, and they struck out for oars and pieces of the wreck. providentially, the whale, in his tossings, had shot a little away from the spot, else every man must certainly have been killed. a feeling of horror filled my heart, as i beheld all this, and thought upon my position. fortunately, i had succeeded in reaching a broken plank; for my strength was now so much exhausted, that i could not have kept my head above water any longer without its assistance. just then i heard a cheer, and the next time i rose on the swell, i looked quickly round and saw the mate's boat making for the scene of action as fast as a stout and willing crew could pull. in a few minutes more i was clutched by the arm, and hauled into it. my comrades were next rescued, and we thanked god when we found that none were killed, although one of them had got a leg broken, and another an arm twisted out of joint. they all, however, seemed to think that my escape was much more wonderful than theirs; but i cannot say that i agreed with them in this. we now turned our attention to the whale, which had dived again. as it was now loose, we did not know, of course, where it would come up, so we lay still awhile. very soon up he came, not far from us, and as fierce as ever. "now, lads, we _must_ get that whale," cried the mate; "give way with a will." the order was obeyed. the boat almost leaped over the swell, and, before long, another harpoon was in the whale's back. "fast again, hurrah!" shouted the mate, "now for the lance." he gave the monster two deep stabs while he spoke, and spouting the red stream of life, it rolled on the sea in agony, obliging us to keep well out of its way. i could not look upon the dying struggles of this enormous fish without feelings of regret and self-reproach, for helping to destroy it. i felt almost as if i were a murderer, and that the creator would call me to account for taking part in the destruction of one of his grandest living creatures. but the thought passed quickly from my mind as the whale became more violent and went into its flurry. it began to lash the sea with such astonishing violence, that all the previous struggles seemed as nothing. the water all round became white like milk, with great streaks of red blood running through it, and the sound of the quick blows of its tail and fins resembled that of dull hollow thunder. we gazed at this scene in deep silence and with beating hearts. all at once the struggles ceased. the great carcass rolled over belly up, and lay extended on the sea in death. to me it seemed as if a dead calm had suddenly fallen around us, after a long and furious storm, so great was the change when that whale at length parted with its huge life. the silence was suddenly broken by three hearty cheers, and then, fastening a rope to our prize, we commenced towing it to the ship, which operation occupied us the greater part of the night, for we had no fewer than eight miles to pull. chapter eight. death on the sea. the whale which we had taken, as i have related in the last chapter, was our largest fish of that season. it produced ninety barrels of oil, and was worth about pounds sterling, so that we did not grieve much over the loss of our boat. but our next loss was of a kind that could not be made up for by oil or money, for it was the loss of a human life. in the whale-fishery men must, like soldiers, expect to risk their lives frequently, and they have too often, alas! to mourn over the loss of a shipmate or friend. up to this time our voyage had gone prosperously. we had caught so many fish that nearly half our cargo was already completed, and if we should be as lucky the remainder of the voyage, we should be able to return home to old england much sooner than we had expected. of course, during all this time we had met with some disappointments, for i am not describing everything that happened on that voyage. it would require a much thicker volume than this to tell the half of our adventures. we lost five or six fish by their sinking before we could get them made fast to the ship, and one or two bolted so fast that they broke loose and carried away a number of harpoons, and many a fathom of line. but such misfortunes were what we had to look for. every whaler meets with similar changes of luck, and we did not expect to fare differently from our neighbours. these things did not cause us much regret beyond the time of their occurrence. but it was far otherwise with the loss that now befell us. it happened one forenoon. i was standing close to the starboard gangway early that morning, looking over the side into the calm water, for there was not a breath of wind, and talking to the first mate, who was a gruff, surly man, but a good officer, and kind enough in his way when everything went smooth with him. but things don't go very smooth generally in whaling life, so the mate was oftener gruff than sweet. "bob ledbury," said he, "have you got your cutting-in gear in order? i've got a notion that we'll `raise the oil' this day." "all right, sir," said i, "you might shave yourself with the blubber-spades. that was a good fish we got last, sir, wasn't it?" "pretty good, though i've seen bigger." "he gave us a deal of trouble too," said i. "not so much as i've seen others give," said he. "when i was fishing in the greenland seas we made fast to a whale that cost us i don't know how many hundred dollars." (you must know the first mate was a yankee, and he reckoned everything in dollars.) "how was that, sir?" asked i. "well, it was something in this fashion. we were floating about in the north atlantic one calm, hot day, just something like this, only it was the afternoon, not the morning. we were doing nothing, and whistling for a breeze, when, all of a sudden, up comes five or six whales all round the ship, as if they had spied her from the bottom of the sea, and had come up to have a squint at her. of course the boats were manned at once, and in less than no time we were tearing after them like all alive. but them whales were pretty wildish, i guess. they kept us pullin' the best part of five hours before we got a chance at them. my boat was out of sight of the ship before we made fast to a regular snorer, a hundred-barreller at the least. the moment he felt the iron, away he went like the shot out of a gun; but he didn't keep it up long, for soon after, another of our boats came up and made fast. well, for some two or three hours we held fast, but could not haul on to him to use the lance, for the moment we came close up alongside of his tail he peaked flukes and dived, then up again, and away as fast as ever. it was about noon before we touched him again; but by that time two more harpoons were made fast, and two other boats cast tow-lines aboard of us, and were hauled along. that was four boats, and more than sixteen hundred fathoms of line, besides four harpoons that was fast to that whale, and yet, for all that, he went ahead as fast as we could have rowed, takin' us along with him quite easy. "a breeze having sprung up, our ship overhauled us in the course of the afternoon, and towards evening we sent a line on board, to see if that would stop the big fish, and the topsails were lowered, so as to throw some of the ship's weight on him, but the irons drew out with the strain. however, we determined to try it again. another line was sent aboard about eight o'clock, and the topsails were lowered, but the line snapped immediately. well, we held on to that whale the whole of that night, and at four o'clock next morning, just thirty-six hours after he was first struck, two fast lines were taken aboard the ship. the breeze was fresh, and against us, so the top-gallant sails were taken in, the courses hauled up, and the topsails clewed down, yet, i assure you, that whale towed the ship dead against the wind for an hour and a half at the rate of two miles an hour, and all the while beating the water with his fins and tail, so that the sea was in a continual foam. we did not kill that fish till after forty hours of the hardest work i ever went through." some of my shipmates seemed to doubt the truth of this story; but, for my part, i believed it, because the mate was a grave, truthful man, though he was gruff, and never told lies, as far as i knew. moreover, a case of the same kind happened some years afterwards, to a messmate of mine, while he was serving aboard the _royal bounty_, on the th of may . i know that some of the stories which i now tell must seem very wild and unlikely to landsmen; but those who have been to the whale-fishery will admit that i tell nothing but the truth, and if there are any of my readers who are still doubtful, i would say, go and read the works of captain scoresby. it is well known that this whaling captain was a truly religious man, who gave up the fishing, though it turned him in plenty of money, and became a minister of the gospel with a small income, so it is not likely that he would have told what was untrue. well, in his works we find stories that are quite as remarkable as the one i have just told, some of them more so. for instance, he tells us of one whale, in the greenland seas, which was not killed till it had drawn out ten thousand four hundred and forty yards, or about _six miles_ of line, fastened to fifteen harpoons, besides taking one of the boats entirely under water, which boat was never seen again. the mate told us two or three more stories, and a lot of us were gathered round him, listening eagerly, for there is nothing jack likes so much as a _good yarn_, when all of a sudden, the man at the mast-head sang out that a large sperm whale was spouting away two points off the lee-bow. of course we were at our posts in a moment. "there she blows! there she breaches!" sung the look-out. "lower away!" roared the captain. the boats were in the water, and the men on their seats in a moment. the whale we were after was a very large one; we could see that, for after two hours' hard pulling we got near enough to throw a harpoon, and after it was fixed he jumped clean out of the water. then there was the usual battle. it was fierce and long; so long that i began to fear we would have to return empty handed to the ship. we put ten harpoons into him, one after another, and had a stiff run between the fixing of each. it is astonishing the difference between the fish. one will give you no trouble at all. i have often seen a good big fellow killed in half an hour. another will take you half a day, and perhaps you may lose him after all. the whale we were now after, at last took to showing fight. he made two or three runs at the boat, but the mate, who was in command, pricked him off with the lance cleverly. at last we gave him a severe wound, and immediately he dived. "that was into his life," remarked tom lokins, as we sat waiting for him to come up again. the captain's boat was close to ours, about ten yards off. we had not to wait long. the sudden stoppage and slacking off of all the lines showed that the whale was coming up. all at once i saw a dark object rising directly under the captain's boat. before i could make out what it was, almost before i could think, the boat flew up into the air, as if a powder magazine had exploded beneath it. the whale had come up, and hit it with his head right on the keel, so that it was knocked into pieces, and the men, oars, harpoons, lances, and tackle shot up in confusion into the air. immediately after that the whale went into his flurry, but we paid no attention to him, in our anxiety to pick up our companions. they all came to the surface quickly enough, but while some made for the boats vigorously, others swam slowly and with pain, showing that they were hurt, while one or two floated, as if dead, upon the water. most of the men had escaped with only a few cuts and bruises, but one poor fellow was hauled out of the water with a leg broken, and another was so badly knocked about the head that it was a long time before he was again fit for duty. the worst case, however, was that of poor fred borders. he had a leg broken, and a severe wound in the side from a harpoon which had been forced into the flesh over the barbs, so that we could hardly get it drawn out. we laid him in the stern of the boat, where he lay for some time insensible; but in a short time he revived, and spoke to us in a faint voice. his first words were--"i'm dying, messmates." "don't say that, fred," said i, while my heart sank within me. "cheer up, my boy, you'll live to be the death of many a whale yet. see, put your lips to this can--it will do you good." he shook his head gently, being too weak to reply. we had killed a big fish that day, and we knew that when he was "tried in" we should have completed our cargo; but there was no cheer given when the monster turned over on his side, and the pull to the ship that evening seemed to us the longest and heaviest we ever had, for our hearts were very sad. next day fred was worse, and we all saw that his words would come true,--he was dying. i was permitted to nurse my poor messmate, and i spent much of my time in reading the bible to him, at his own request. he lived about a week after the accident and then he died. we buried our shipmate in the usual sailor fashion. we wrapped him in his hammock, with a cannon-ball at his feet to sink him. the captain read the burial-service at the gangway, and then, in deep silence, we committed his corpse to the deep. chapter nine. news from home--a gam. the death of poor fred borders cast a gloom over the ship for many days. every one had respected, and many of us had loved the lad, so that we mourned for him long and truly. but a sailor's life is such a rough one, requiring so much energy and hearty good-will to his work, that he cannot afford to allow the sorrows of his heart to sit long on his countenance. in a day or two after no one would have supposed we had lost one of our best men. whales appeared in great numbers around us. the old cry of "there she blows!" ran out frequently from the mast-head, and the answering cry from the captain, "where away?" was followed by the "stand by to lower!--lower away." then came the chase, with all its dangers and excitement--the driving of the harpoon, the sudden rush of the struck fish, the smoke and sparks of fire from the logger-head, the plunging of the lance, the spouting blood, the "flurry" at the end, and the wild cheer as we beheld our prize floating calmly on the sea. and in the midst of such work we forgot for a time the solemn scene we had so recently witnessed. but our hearts were not so light as before, and although we did not show it, i knew full well that many a joke was checked, and many a laugh repressed, for the memory of our dead shipmate. the man who was most affected by his death was the captain; but we were not prepared for the great change that soon appeared in his manner and conduct. after a time he laughed with the rest of us at a good joke, and cheered as loud as the best when a big fish turned belly up, but his behaviour to us became more gentle and kind, and he entirely gave up the habit of swearing. he also forbade working on sunday. many a whale have i seen sporting and spouting near us on that day, but never did we lower a boat or touch a harpoon on sunday. some of the men grumbled at this, and complained of it to each other, but they never spoke so as to let the captain hear, and they soon gave up their grumbling, for the most of us were well pleased with the change, and all of us had agreed to it. the first sunday after fred's death, the captain assembled the crew on the quarter-deck, and spoke to us about it. "my lads," said he, "i've called you aft to make a proposal that may perhaps surprise some of you. up to this time, you know very well, there has been little difference aboard this ship between saturday and sunday. since our poor shipmate died i have been thinkin' much on this matter, and i've come to the conclusion that we shall rest from all work on sunday, except such as must be done to work the ship. now, lads, you know me well enough by this time. i have never been a religious man all my life, and i don't pretend to say that i'm one now. i'm not very learned on this matter, and can't explain myself very well; but what think you, lads, shall we give the whales a rest on sundays?" we all agreed to this at once, for the effect of the captain's speech was great upon us. it was not so much what he said, as the way in which he said it. he was by nature a bold, determined man, who never flinched from danger or duty, and when we heard him talking in that way we could scarcely believe our ears. this was all that was said about the matter between us and the captain, but we had many a hot discussion in the forecastle amongst ourselves after that. some were in favour of the new move, and said, stoutly, that the captain was a sensible fellow. others said he was becoming an old wife, and that no luck would follow the ship. in the course of time, however, we found the benefit of the change in every way; and the grumblers were silenced, because in spite of their wise shakings of the head, we filled the ship with oil as full as she could hold, much sooner than we had expected. shoregoing people have but little notion of the ease with which the heart of a jack-tar is made to rejoice when he is out on a long voyage. his pleasures and amusements are so few that he is thankful to make the most of whatever is thrown in his way. in the whale-fisheries, no doubt, he has more than enough of excitement, but after a time he gets used to this, and begins to long for a little variety--and of all the pleasures that fall to his lot, that which delights him most is to have a gam with another ship. now, a gam is the meeting of two or more whale-ships, their keeping company for a time, and the exchanging of visits by the crews. it is neither more nor less than a jollification on the sea,--the inviting of your friends to feast and make merry in your floating house. there is this difference, however, between a gam at sea and a party on land, that your _friends_ on the ocean are men whom you perhaps never saw before, and whom you will likely never meet again. there is also another difference--there are no ladies at a gam. this is a great want, for man is but a rugged creature when away from the refining influence of woman; but, in the circumstances, of course, it can't be helped. we had a gam one day, on this voyage, with a yankee whale-ship, and a first-rate gam it was, for, as the yankee had gammed three days before with another english ship, we got a lot of news second-hand; and, as we had not seen a new face for many months, we felt towards those yankees like brothers, and swallowed all they had to tell us like men starving for news. it was on a fine calm morning, just after breakfast, that we fell in with this ship. we had seen no whales for a day or two, but we did not mind that, for our hold was almost full of oil-barrels. tom lokins and i were leaning over the starboard bulwarks, watching the small fish that every now and then darted through the clear-blue water like arrows, and smoking our pipes in silence. tom looked uncommonly grave, and i knew that he was having some deep and knowing thoughts of his own, which would leak out in time. all at once he took his pipe from his mouth and stared earnestly at the horizon. "bob," said he, speaking very slowly, "if there ain't a ship right off the starboard beam, i'm a dutchman." "you don't mean it!" said i, starting with a feeling of excitement. before another word could be uttered, the cry of "sail ho!" came ringing down from the mast-head. instantly the quiet of the morning was broken; sleepers sprang up and rubbed their eyes, the men below rushed wildly up the hatchway, the cook came tearing out of his own private den, flourishing a soup-ladle in one hand and his tormentors in the other, the steward came tumbling up with a lump of dough in his fist that he had forgot to throw down in his haste, and the captain bolted up from the cabin without his hat. "where away?" cried he, with more than his usual energy. "right off the starboard beam, sir." "square the yards! look alive, my hearties," was the next order; for although the calm sea was like a sheet of glass, a light air, just sufficient to fill our top-gallant sails, enabled us to creep through the water. "hurrah!" shouted the men as we sprang to obey. "what does she look like?" roared the captain. "a big ship, sir, i think," replied the look-out, "but i can only just make out the top of her main t-gallan' s'l."--(sailors scorn to speak of _top-gallant sails_). gradually, one by one, the white sails of the stranger rose up like cloudlets out of the sea, and our hearts beat high with hope and expectation as we beheld the towering canvas of a full-rigged ship rise slowly into view. "show our colours," said the captain. in a moment the union jack of old england was waving at the mast-head in the gentle breeze, and we watched anxiously for a reply. the stranger was polite; his colours flew up a moment after, and displayed the stripes and stars of america. "a yankee!" exclaimed some of the men in a tone of slight disappointment. i may remark, that our disappointment arose simply from the fact that there was no chance, as we supposed, of getting news from "home" out of a ship that must have sailed last from america. for the rest, we cared not whether they were yankees or britons--they were men who could speak the english tongue, that was enough for us. "never mind, boys," cried one, "we'll have a jolly gam; that's a fact." "so we will," said another, "and i'll get news of my mad irish cousin, terrence o'flannagan, who went out to seek his fortin in ameriky with two shillin's and a broken knife in his pocket, and it's been said he's got into a government situation o' some sort connected with the jails,-- whether as captain, or leftenant o' police, or turnkey, i'm not rightly sure." "more likely as a life-tenant of one of the cells," observed bill blunt, laughing. "don't speak ill of a better man than yerself behind his back," retorted the owner of the irish cousin. "stand by to lower the jolly-boat," cried the captain. "ay, ay, sir." "lower away!" in a few minutes we were leaping over the calm sea in the direction of the strange ship, for the breeze had died down, and we were too eager to meet with new faces, and to hear the sound of new voices, to wait for the wind. to our joy we found that the yankee had had a gam (as i have already said) with an english ship a few days before, so we returned to our vessel loaded with old newspapers from england, having invited the captain and crew of the yankee to come aboard of us and spend the day. while preparation was being made for the reception of our friends, we got hold of two of the old newspapers, and tom lokins seized one, while bill blunt got the other, and both men sat down on the windlass to retail the news to a crowd of eager men who tried hard to listen to both at once, and so could make nothing out of either. "hold hard, tom lokins," cried one. "what's that you say about the emperor, bill?" "the emperor of roosia," said bill blunt, reading slowly, and with difficulty, "is--stop a bit, messmates, wot _can_ this word be?--the emperor of roosia is--" "blowed up with gunpowder, and shattered to a thousand pieces," said tom lokins, raising his voice with excitement, as he read from _his_ paper an account of the blowing up of a mountain fortress in india. "oh! come, i say, one at a time, if you please," cried a harpooner; "a feller can't git a word of sense out of sich a jumble." "come, messmates," cried two or three voices, as tom stopped suddenly, and looked hard at the paper, "go ahead! wot have ye got there that makes ye look as wise as an owl? has war been and broke out with the french?" "i do believe he's readin' the births, marriages, and deaths," said one of the men, peeping over tom's shoulder. "read 'em out, then, can't ye?" cried another. "i say, bill blunt, i think this consarns _you_," cried tom: "isn't your sweetheart's name susan croft?" "that's a fact," said bill, looking up from his paper, "and who has got a word to say agin the prettiest lass in all liverpool?" "nobody's got a word to say against her," replied tom; "but she's married, that's all." bill blunt leaped up as if he had been shot, and the blood rushed to his face, as he seized the paper, and tried to find the place. "where is it, tom? let me see it with my own two eyes. oh, here it is!" the poor man's face grew paler and paler as he read the following words:-- "married at liverpool, on the th inst, by the reverend charles manson, edward gordon, esquire, to susan, youngest daughter of admiral croft--" a perfect roar of laughter drowned the remainder of the sentence. "well done, bill blunt--mister blunt, we'll have to call him hereafter," said tom, with a grim smile; "i had no notion you thought so much o' yourself as to aim at an admiral's daughter." "all right, my hearties, chaff away!" said bill, fetching a deep sigh of relief, while a broad grin played on his weather-beaten visage. "there's _two_ susan crofts, that's all; but i wouldn't give _my_ susan for all the admirals' daughters that ever walked in shoe-leather." "hallo! here come the yankees," cried the captain, coming on deck at that moment. our newspapers were thrown down at once, and we prepared to receive our guests, who, we could see, had just put off from their ship in two boats. but before they had come within a mile of us, their attention, as well as ours, was riveted on a most extraordinary sight. not more than a hundred yards ahead of our ship, a whale came suddenly to the surface of the water, seeming, by its wild motions, to be in a state of terror. it continued for some time to struggle, and lash the whole sea around it into a white foam. at once the boats were lowered from both ships, and we went after this fish, but his motions were so violent, that we found it utterly impossible to get near enough to throw a harpoon. when we had approached somewhat closely, we discovered that it had been attacked by a killer fish, which was fully twenty feet long, and stuck to it like a leech. the monster's struggles were made in trying to shake itself free of this tremendous enemy, but it could not accomplish this. the killer held him by the under jaw, and hung on there, while the whale threw himself out of the water in his agony, with his great mouth open like a huge cavern, and the blood flowing so fast from the wound that the sea was dyed for a long distance round. the killer fought like a bulldog. it held on until the whale was exhausted, but they passed away from us in such a confused struggle, that a harpoon could not be fixed for an hour after we first saw them. on this being done, the killer let go, and the whale, being already half dead, was soon killed. the yankee boats were the first to come up with this fish, so the prize belonged to them. we were well pleased at this, as we could afford to let them have it, seeing that we could scarcely have found room to stow away the oil in our hold. it was the yankees' first fish, too, so they were in great spirits about it, and towed it to their ship, singing "yankee-doodle" with all their might. as they passed our boat the captain hailed them. "i wish you joy of your first fish, sir," said he to the yankee captain. "thank you, stranger. i guess we're in luck, though it ain't a big one. i say, what sort o' brute was that, that had hold of him? never seed sich a crittur in all my life." "he's a killer," said our captain. "a killer! guess he just is, and no mistake: if we hadn't helped him, he'd have done the job for himself! what does he kill him for?" "to eat him, but i'm told he only eats the tongue. you'll not forget that you've promised to gam with us to-night," cried our captain, as they were about to commence pulling again. "all right, stranger, one half will come to-night, before sundown; t'other half to-morrow, if the calm holds. good-day. give way, lads." the men dipped their oars, and resumed their song, while we pulled back to our ship. we did not offer to help them, because the fish was a small one, and the distance they had to go not great. it was near sunset when, according to promise, the yankees came on board, and spent a long evening with us. they were a free, open-hearted, boastful, conceited, good-humoured set of fellows, and a jolly night we had of it in the forecastle, while the mates and captains were enjoying themselves and spinning their yarns in the cabin. of course, we began with demands for home news, and, when we had pumped out of them every drop they had, we began to sing songs and to spin yarns. and it was now that my friend tom lokins came out strong, and went on at such a rate, that he quite won the hearts of our guests. tom was not noisy, and he was slow in his talk, but he had the knack of telling a good story; he never used a wrong word, or a word too many, and, having a great deal of humour, men could not help listening when he began to talk. after this we had a dance, and here i became useful, being able to play scotch reels and irish jigs on the fiddle. then we had songs and yarns again. some could tell of furious fights with whales that made our blood boil; others could talk of the green fields at home, until we almost fancied we were boys again; and some could not tell stories at all. they had little to say, and that little they said ill; and i noticed that many of those who were perfect bores would cry loudest to be heard, though none of us wanted to hear them. we used to quench such fellows by calling loudly for a song with a rousing chorus. it was not till the night was far spent, and the silver moon was sailing through the starry sky, that the yankees left us, and rowed away with a parting cheer. chapter ten. return home. six months after our "gam" with the yankees tom lokins and i found ourselves seated once more in the little garret beside my dear old mother. "deary me, robert, how changed ye are!" "changed, mother! i should think so! if you'd gone through all that i've done and seen since we last sat together in this room you'd be changed too." "and have ye really seen the whales, my boy?" continued my mother, stroking my face with her old hand. "seen them? ay, and killed them too--many of them." "you've been in danger, my son," said my mother earnestly, "but god has preserved you safe through it all." "ay, mother, he has preserved my life in the midst of many dangers," said i, "for which i am most thankful." there was a short silence after this, during which my mother and i gazed earnestly at each other, and tom lokins smoked his pipe and stared at the fire. "robert, how big is a whale?" inquired my mother suddenly. "how big? why, it's as big as a small ship, only it's longer, and not quite so fat." "robert," replied my mother gravely, "ye didn't used to tell untruths; ye must be jokin'." "joking, mother, i was never more in earnest in my life. why, i tell you that i've seen, ay, and helped to cut up, whales that were more than sixty feet long, with heads so big that their mouths could have taken in a boat. why, mother, i declare to you that you could put this room into a whale's mouth, and you and tom and i could sit round this table and take our tea upon his tongue quite comfortable. isn't that true, tom?" my mother looked at tom, who removed his pipe, puffed a cloud of smoke, and nodded his head twice very decidedly. "moreover," said i, "a whale is so big and strong, that it can knock a boat right up into the air, and break in the sides of a ship. one day a whale fell right on top of one of our boats, and smashed it all to bits. now that's a real truth!" again my mother looked at tom lokins, and again that worthy man puffed an immense cloud of smoke, and nodded his head more decidedly than before. being anxious to put to flight all her doubts at once, he said solemnly, "old ooman, that's a fact!" "robert," said my mother, "tell me something about the whales." just as she said this the door opened, and in came the good old gentleman with the nose like his cane-knob, and with as kind a heart as ever beat in a human breast. my mother had already told me that he came to see her regularly once a week, ever since i went to sea, except in summer, when he was away in the country, and that he had never allowed her to want for anything. i need scarcely say that there was a hearty meeting between us three, and that we had much to say to each other. but in the midst of it all my mother turned to the old gentleman and said-- "robert was just going to tell me something about his adventures with the whales." "that's capital!" cried the old gentleman, rubbing his hands. "come, bob, my boy, let's hear about 'em." being thus invited, i consented to spin them a yarn. the old gentleman settled himself in his chair, my mother smoothed her apron, folded her hands, and looked meekly into my face. tom lokins filled his pipe, stretched out his foot to poke the fire with the toe of his shoe, and began to smoke like a steam-engine; then i cleared my throat and began my tale, and before i had done talking that night, i had told them all that i have told in this little book, almost word for word. thus ended my first voyage to the south seas. many and many a trip have i made since then, and many a wonderful sight have i seen, both in the south and in the north. but if i were to write an account of all my adventures, my little book would grow into a big one; i must therefore come to a close. the profits of this voyage were so great, that i was enabled to place my mother in a position of comfort for the rest of her life, which, alas! was very short. she died about six months after my return. i nursed her to the end, and, when i laid her dear head in the grave, my heart seemed to die within me, for i felt that i had lost one of god's most precious gifts--an honest, gentle, pious mother. i'm getting to be a old man now, but i am comfortable and happy, and as i have more than enough of this world's goods, and no family to care for, my chief occupation is to look after the poor, and particularly the old women who live in my neighbourhood. after the work of the day is done, i generally go and spend the evening with tom lokins, who lives near by, and is stout and hearty still; or he comes and spends it with me, and, while we smoke our pipes together, we often fall to talking about those stirring days when, in the strength and hope of youth, we sailed together to the south seas, and took to--_fighting the whales_. the end. peter the whaler, by w.h.g. kingston. ________________________________________________________________________ peter's father is a country vicar in ireland, and peter is a naughty teenager, who has got in with friends who encourage poaching, at that time a most serious offence. his father confiscates the gun, but one night peter recovers the gun and has another coaching expedition, during which he is caught by the gamekeepers. the magistrate releases him to his father, who travels with him to liverpool. for fifteen pounds captain swales of the black swan agrees to take him and to teach him the rudiments of seamanship on a return voyage to canada. it turned out she was an ill-managed emigrant ship, and the emigrants were very badly treated. captain swales and his officers are as nasty as they come. there is a fire on board, and the people are rescued by the mary, captain dean, who is a very different kind of man than the despicable captain swales. at quebec peter joins the foam, captain hawk. there then follows a series of events, some good, and some bad, but all well-written. it must be remembered that peter the whaler was probably the first seafaring book by kingston, although he had written several books during the previous twenty years or so, the book was very well received by the public, and kingston took up writing adventure novels for teenagers as a permanent occupation, until his death about thirty years later. ________________________________________________________________________ peter the whaler, by w.h.g. kingston. chapter one. "peter," said my father, with a stern look, though the tone of his voice had more of sorrow in it than anger, "this conduct, if you persist in it, will bring ruin on you, and grief and shame on my head and to your mother's heart. look there, boy, and answer me: are not those presumptive evidences of your guilt? where did they come from?" he pointed, as he spoke, to several head of game, pheasants, partridges, and hares, which lay on the ground, while i stood before him leaning on my gun, my eyes not daring to meet his, which i knew were fixed on me. my two dogs crouched at my feet, looking as if they also were culprits and fully comprehended the tenor of his words. my father was a clergyman, the vicar of a large parish in the south of ireland, where the events i am now narrating took place. he was a tall man, with silvery locks and well-formed features. i think his hair was prematurely grey. the expression of his countenance was grave, and betokened firmness and decision, though his general character was mild in the extreme. he was a kind parent, in some respects too kind; and he was very indulgent towards the faults and errors of those not immediately connected with him. he was on good terms with the roman catholics of the neighbourhood, of which faith were the large majority of the population, and even with the priests; so that our family had few enemies, and were never in any way molested by the peasantry. that, however, we had some foes, i shall have occasion presently to show. but i must return to the scene i was describing. i may be pardoned for first giving a slight sketch of myself. i hope that i may escape being accused of vanity, as i shall not dwell on my personal appearance. i believe that i inherited some of my parents' good looks; but the hardships i have endured have eradicated all traces of them. i was well grown for my age (i was barely fifteen), but, dressed in my loose shooting-costume, my countenance ruddy with fresh air and exercise, i looked much older. "what do you suppose would be the lot of a poor man's son, if he were to be discovered acting as you are constantly doing in spite of my warnings and commands?" continued my father, his voice growing more serious and his look more grave. "i tell you, boy, that the consequences may and will be lamentable; and do not believe, that because you are the son of a gentleman, you can escape the punishment due to the guilty. "you are a poacher. you deserve the name; and on some occasion, when engaged in that lawless occupation, you will probably encounter the gamekeepers of the persons on whose estates you are trespassing, and whose property you are robbing. now hear me out. they, as in duty bound, will attempt to capture you. you and your companions may resist; your weapons may be discharged, and life may be sacrificed. if you escape the fate of a murderer, you may be transported to distant lands, away from friends, home, and country, to work for long years; perhaps in chains among the outcasts of our race, fed on the coarsest food, subject to the tyranny of brutalised overseers, often themselves convicts; your ears forced to listen to the foulest language, your eyes to witness the grossest debauchery, till you yourself become as bad as those with whom you are compelled to herd; so that, when the time of your punishment is expired, you will be unfit for freedom; and if you venture to return home, you will find yourself, wherever you appear, branded with dishonour, and pointed at as the convict. "think, peter, of the grief and anguish it would cause your poor mother and me, to see you suffer so dreadful a disgrace--to feel that you merited it. think of the shame it would bring on the name of our family. people would point at your sisters, and say, `their brother is a convict!' they would shake their heads as i appeared in the pulpit, and whisper, `the vicar whose son was transported!' but more than all (for men's censure matters not if we are guiltless), think how god will judge you, who have had opportunities of knowing better, who have been repeatedly warned that you are doing wrong, who are well aware that you are doing wrong: think how he will judge and condemn you. "human laws, of necessity, are framed only to punish all alike, the rich and educated man as well as the poor and ignorant; but god, who sees what is in the heart of man, and his means of knowing right from wrong, will more severely punish those who sin, as you do, with their eyes open. i am unwilling to employ threats; i would rather appeal to your better feelings, my boy; but i must, in the first place, take away your means of following your favourite pursuit; and should you persist in leading your present wild and idle life, i must adopt such measures as will effectually prevent you. give me your gun." i listened to all that was said in dogged silence. i could not refuse to give up my dearly-beloved weapon; but i did so with a very bad grace; and i am sorry to say that my father's words had at that time little or no effect on my heart. i say at the time, for afterwards, when it was too late, i thought of them over and over again, and deeply repented of my wilful obstinacy and folly. alas! from how much suffering and grief i should have been saved had i attended to the precepts and warnings of my kind parent--how much of bitter self-reproach. and i must warn my young friends, that although the adventures i went through may be found very interesting to read about, they would discover the reality to be very full of pain and wretchedness were they subjected to it; and yet i may tell them that the physical suffering i endured was as nothing when compared to the anguish of mind i felt, when, left for hours and days to my own bitter thoughts, i remembered that through my own perverseness i had brought it all upon myself. often have i envied the light hearts of my fellow-sufferers, whose consciences did not blame them. let me urge you, then, in your course through life, on all occasions to act rightly, and to take counsel and advice from those on whose judgment you should rely; and then not only in the next world will you have your reward, but, in this, through the severest trials and bodily suffering you will enjoy a peace of mind and a happiness of which no man can deprive you. my parents had four sons and five daughters. my eldest brother was studying for the bar in dublin; and, as the family fortune was limited, we were somewhat cramped to afford him the requisite means for his education. i was consequently kept at home, picking up, when i felt disposed, any crumbs of knowledge which came in my way, but seldom going out of my way to find them; nor had i, unfortunately, any plan fixed on for my future career. my mother, was constantly employed with my sisters, and my father with his clerical duties or his literary pursuits; so that i was forgotten, and allowed to look after myself. i am unable to account for the neglect to which i was subjected, but such was the case; and consequently i ran wild, and contrived, to become acquainted with some scampish youths in the neighbourhood, in every way my inferiors except in age; and they gave me lessons which i was, i own, too willing to learn, in all that was bad. sporting was my greatest amusement; and, for my age, i was perhaps one of the best shots in all the country round. while i confined myself to my father's glebe, and to the grounds of two or three friends who had given me leave to shoot, he did not object to my indulging my propensity; but, not content with so narrow a sphere of action, i used frequently, in company of some of the youths i speak of, to wander over property where i not only had no right to kill game, but where i had positively been forbidden to trespass, and where i even knew people were on the look-out to detect me. i had just returned from one of these lawless expeditions, when i was encountered by my father, laden with game, and the scene i have described took place. as i before said (and i repeat it with shame), i felt the loss of my gun more than i cared for the lecture, or the grief my conduct caused my father. i can scarcely now account for the obstinacy and hardness of heart which made me shut my ears to all remonstrances. i have since then grown wiser, and i hope better; and i feel that i ought at once to have asked my father's forgiveness, and to have cheerfully set to work on some occupation of which he approved. with me, as it will be with every one, idleness was the mother of all mischief. for two days i sulked, and would speak to no one. on the third i set off to take a walk by myself, across the bogs, and over the hills in the far distance. i had got into a better spirit from the fresh air and exercise; and i truly believe that i was beginning to see my error, and was resolving to do my best to make amends for it, and to give up my bad habits, when who should i encounter but pat doolan, one of the wildest of my wild acquaintances! before a word of salutation had passed, he asked me why i had not got my gun with me; and after a weak and vain endeavour to avoid answering the question, i confessed all that had occurred. he sneered at my fears and my fathers' warnings, and laughed away all my half-formed good resolutions,--telling me that i might just as well go and borrow one of my sister's petticoats at once, for to that i should come at last if i was going to give up all manly pursuits. unhappy, indeed, it was for me that i listened to the voice of the tempter, instead of keeping my good resolutions safely locked up in my own breast, and instantly hurrying away from him, as i ought to have done. or perhaps i might have answered him, "no; i must not, and will not, listen to you. i know that what i have resolved to do is right, and that which you want to persuade me to do is wicked--an instigation of the evil one; so go away and leave me." and if he persisted in remaining near me, i should have set off and run from him as hard as i could go. this is the only way to treat temptation in whatever form it appears. fly from it as you would from the slippery edge of a precipice. instead of acting thus, i sat down on the heather by his side, and, looking foolish and humbled, i began plucking off the crisp flowers and leaves, and throwing them to the winds. he asked me if i knew where the gun was locked up. when i told him that it was not locked up at all, but merely placed on the mantelpiece in my father's dressing-room, he laughed at me for fool because i had not before re-possessed myself of it. fool i was, in truth; but it was to yield to the bad advice my false and false-hearted friend tendered. i own that i at first was rather shocked at what he said; but still i sat and listened, and made only weak objections, so that he very speedily overcame all my scruples; and i undertook to get back my gun at all cost, and to join him on the following morning on a shooting expedition on the property of a nobleman, some part of which was seen from the hill where we had posted ourselves. doolan could make himself very entertaining by narrating a variety of wild adventures in which he or his companions had been engaged, or, i may say, in some of which he pretended to have been engaged; for i since have had reason to believe that he drew considerably more on his imagination than on truth for the subjects of his tales, for the purpose of raising himself in my estimation, thereby hoping to gain a greater influence over me. i have often since met such characters, who are very boastful and bold in the company of lads younger than themselves, or of persons whom they think will believe them, but cautious and silent in the presence of those whom they have sufficient discernment to perceive at once take them at their true value. observe one of those fellows the instant an educated gentleman appears in the circle of which he is the attraction,--how his eye will quail and his voice sink, and he will endeavour to sneak away before his true character is exposed. i need scarcely advise my readers not to be misled by such pretenders. the property on which we had resolved to poach was owned by lord fetherston. we knew that he maintained but few keepers, and that those were not very vigilant. he also, we believed, was away from the country, so that we had no fears of being detected. i said that my father had few enemies. for some reason or other, however, lord fetherston was one. i did not know why; and this fact doolan, who was well aware of it, took care to bring forward in justification of the attack we purposed to make on his property. i should have known that it was no justification whatever; but when people want reasons for committing a bad act, they are obliged to make very bad ones serve their purpose. pat doolan was my senior by three years. he was the son of a man who was nominally a small farmer, but in reality a smuggler, and the owner of an illicit distillery; indeed i do not know what other lawless avocations he carried on. very inferior, therefore, as he was in position in life, though pat doolan was well supplied with money, he considered it of consequence to be intimate with me, and to gain an ascendency over my mind, which he might turn to account some time or other. he kept me sitting on the heather, and listening to his good stories, and laughing at them, for upwards of two hours, till he felt sure that my good resolutions would not come back. during this time he produced some bread and meat and whisky, of which latter he made me drink no small quantity, and he then accompanied me towards my home, in sight of which he left me, with a promise to meet him on the same spot at daybreak on the following morning. even that very evening, as i sat with a book in my hand pretending to read, in the same room the family occupied, and listened to the cheerful voices of my light-hearted innocent sisters, i began to repent of my engagement to doolan; but the fear of his laughing at me, and talking again about my sisters' petticoats, made me resolve to adhere to it. chapter two. that night was far from a happy one, for i knew all the time that i was doing what was very wrong. i waited till i thought that my father and all the household were asleep; and then, with the sensations i should think a thief experiences when about to commit a robbery, i crept along the dark passage towards his dressing-room. i trembled very much, for i was afraid that something would awake him, and that he would discover what i was about. i was aware that he would learn what i had done, the first thing in the morning; but then i should be far off, enjoying my sport, and i thought not of the consequences. i felt my way along the passage, for it was quite dark. i heard a noise--i trembled more and more--i expected every instant to be discovered, and i should have retreated to my room, but that the thought of pat doolan's laughter and sneers urged me on. i held my breath while i stopped to listen. there was again a dead silence, and i once more advanced. presently something brushed against me. i was almost driven to cry out through terror, though i believe it was only the cat, whom i had disturbed from her slumbers on a rug at the door of the room occupied by my sisters. i was, i may say, constitutionally brave, almost to fool-hardiness, and yet on this occasion i felt the veriest coward in existence. again i went on--the door of the dressing-room was ajar--i was afraid to push it lest it should creak on its hinges--i slowly moved it a little, and crept in. the moonlight was streaming through an opening in the upper part of the shutter on the coveted weapon. i grasped it eagerly, and slinging the shot-belt and powder-horn, which was by it, over my shoulder, i silently beat my retreat. now that i had won my prize, i felt much bolder, and without accident i reached my room. sleep i could not; so, carefully closing the door, i spent the remainder of the night in cleaning my gun and getting ready for my excursion. i got out of the house without being perceived, and, closing the door behind me, even before the time agreed on i reached the spot where i was to meet doolan. a hoar frost lay on the grass, the air was pure and bracing, my gun was in my hand, and plenty of powder and shot in my belt; and this, with the exercise and excitement, enabled me to cast away all regrets for my conduct, and all fear for the result. i anxiously watched for my companion as i walked up and down the road to keep myself warm, till at last i began to fancy that some accident must have happened to prevent his coming. it never occurred to me that he could play me false. i had not learned to be suspicious of any one. at last i saw him trudging across a field towards me, and whistling as he came. i could not have whistled if i had tried; but then, bad as he was, he was not, like me, disobeying a kind parent. when i remember the sort of person doolan was (for his appearance was coarse and vulgar in the extreme), i wonder he could have gained such an influence over me. i believe that it was the boastful way in which he talked made me fancy him so important. i was very innocent and confiding, in spite of the bad company into which i had fallen; and i used to believe all the accounts he gave me of his own adventures, and those of his own particular friends. i have, fortunately, seldom met a man who could tell a falsehood with such a bold, unblushing front. i had a great horror of a falsehood, notwithstanding my numerous faults; i despised it as a mean, cowardly way of getting out of a difficulty, or of gaining some supposed advantage. i did not believe that a person older than myself could possibly be guilty of telling one. i fancied that only very little miserable children, or mean contemptible people, told stories; and i therefore could not fancy that such a person as doolan would even condescend to say what was not true. i honestly say that i always adhered to the truth myself; and to this circumstance i ascribe my not having irretrievably sunk into the grade of society to which my too frequent companions belonged. i have mentioned doolan, whose faults i would rather have forgotten; but i naturally wish to excuse myself as much as i can, and to account for the influence he had gained over me-- an influence he never would have obtained had i known him to be what i now know he was. it would indeed be happy for the young if they always could learn the true characters of their companions; and it is in this point that the advice of their older friends is so valuable. they, by their experience of others, are generally able to judge pretty correctly of persons, and often discern very dangerous qualities which young people cannot perceive. therefore i say to my young friends, avoid the acquaintance of those against whom your relations, or those who take an interest in your welfare, warn you, although you may think them, in your blindness, very fine fellows, or even perfect heroes. i wish that i, peter--your friend, if you will so let me call myself--had thus followed the oft-repeated warnings of my kind father, and kept clear of pat doolan. doolan's loud cheer, as we met, raised my spirits still more, and away we trudged gaily enough towards the scene of our intended sport. he laughed and talked incessantly without giving me a moment for thought, so that when we reached the ground i was ready for anything. a hare crossed my path. it belonged, i knew, to lord fetherston. i fired, knocked it over, and bagged it; and while doolan was applauding me, a pheasant was put up, and in like manner transferred to my game-bag. never before had we enjoyed such capital sport, till, weary with our exercise, we sat down to partake of the provisions, not forgetting a whisky bottle which my companion had brought with him. while we were eating, he amused me with an account of an intended run of smuggled goods which was to be made on the coast two nights thence; and without much difficulty i agreed to join the party who were to assist in landing the things, and in carrying them up the country to the places where they were to be concealed. on these occasions, conflicts between the coastguard officers and the smugglers often take place, and lives are frequently lost. this i well knew, though perhaps i did not think about it. i was pleased with the idea of the danger, and flattered by having so much confidence placed in me. i thought it was a very manly thing to assist the smugglers, while doolan all the time wished to implicate me, to be able, should we be discovered, to shield himself by means of me. after breakfast we resumed our sport. our game-bags were full and very heavy, and even we were content. my companion at last proposed to return home. "home," i remarked unconsciously. "how can i return home? how can i face my father after having thus disobeyed him?" i thought. this feeling had not before occurred to me. i already repented what i had done. "i can't go home now," said i to doolan aloud. "why not?" said he; "you've a mighty fine faste to place before your dad; and, faith, if he's a sinsible man, he'll ax no questions how you came by it." such were my companion's notions of morality; and in this instance he spoke what he thought was the truth, for he had been taught no better, and he knew that thus his own father would have acted. "it won't do; i cannot look my father in the face, and must go to your house now; and i will creep home at night, when there's no one to see me." "well, pater, you must do as you like," he said, laughing; "you're mighty welcome to come to our house and to stay there as long as you plase; at the same time that i see no reason at all, at all, why your dad shouldn't be glad to see such an illigant stock of game for his dinner." "i know my father better than you do, pat," said i, for the first time in my life asserting a little determination with him. "home i will not go this day." so it was settled; and we were bending our steps in the direction of doolan's house, through lord fetherston's property, when another pheasant got up before me. my gun was loaded, and i could not resist the temptation to fire. the bird fell, and i was running forward to pick it up, when three persons appeared suddenly from a path through a copse close to me. doolan, who was a little in advance, ran off as fast as his legs could carry him, throwing away his game-bag in his fright, and leaving me to take care of myself as i best could. two of the strangers, whom i guessed to be keepers by their dress--indeed one i knew by sight--rushed forward and seized me roughly by the collar. "what are you doing here, you young scamp?" exclaimed one of them. "killing our lord's game, and caught in the act," he added, picking up the still fluttering bird. "come along, and we'll see what he has to say to you." the other immediately made chase after my companion; but doolan ran very fast, and was in good wind, which the keeper was not, so that the former soon distanced him. the keeper gave up the chase, calculating that, having caught one of us, he should be able to lay hands on the other whenever he chose. on his return, with many a cuff he dragged me along towards the third person i spoke of, and whom i at once recognised as lord fetherston himself. he did not remember me; but the keepers did, i suspect, from the first. "what is your name, youngster?" said his lordship in a severe tone. i told him, with the shame i felt strongly depicted on my countenance. "i am sorry to hear it," he replied. "and that of your companion?" "pat doolan, my lord." i said this with no vindictive feeling, or with any idea of excusing myself; but i was asked a question, and without considering what might be the result i answered it. "a pretty companion for the son of the vicar of ---. take away his gun, o'rourke," he said to the keeper, "and the game: to that he has no right. and now, young gentleman, i shall see your father on this matter shortly. if he chooses to let his son commit depredations on my property, he must take the consequences." "i came out without my father's knowledge, and he is in no way to blame," i answered quickly; for i could not bear to have any reflection cast on my father through my fault. lord fetherston looked at me attentively, and i think i heard him muttering something like, "he is a brave lad, and must be rescued from such companionship;" but i am not quite certain. "well, sir, you at all events must not escape punishment," he replied aloud. "for the present, i leave you in the custody of my keepers. you see the condition to which you have reduced yourself." he then gave some orders to one of the keepers, which i did not hear; and without further noticing me he walked on, while they led me away towards fetherston abbey, his lordship's residence. i need scarcely say that my feelings were very wretched, and full of shame; and yet perhaps i would rather it should thus have happened, than that i should have been compelled to go back to my father. it was perhaps somewhat of a consolation to feel that i was being justly punished, and yet not by my father's hand. i don't know that i thought this at the time, but i know that i did afterwards. and then, when days had passed, and many other events had occurred, i felt very grateful that providence had thus disposed of me, and had preserved me from a fate which in all human probability would have been mine had i this time escaped with impunity. lord fetherston was a magistrate, and consequently in the abbey there was a strong room, in which, on occasion, prisoners were locked up before they were carried off to jail. into this room i was led, and with a heavy heart i heard the key turned in the lock, and found myself alone. if i had wished to escape i could not; and there were no books, or other means of amusement, so that i was left to my own reflections. a servant, who would not answer any questions, brought me in some dinner, which i could scarcely taste; and at night a small bed, ready-made, was brought in, and i was again left to myself. two days thus passed away: my obstinate spirit was completely broken, and i must say that i truly had repented of all my folly and idleness. on the third day the door opened, and my father appeared. he looked very sad, but not angry. he took a chair and sat down, while i stood before him. for more than a minute he could not speak. "peter," he at length said, "i do not come to reproach you: the grief i and your mother feel, and what you will have to endure henceforth, will be, i trust, sufficient punishment. we must part with you, my son; we have no choice. you must go to foreign lands, and there retrieve your name, and, i trust, improve and strengthen your character. you have placed yourself and me in lord fetherston's power. he insists on it, that you shall forthwith be sent to sea; and on that condition he promises to overlook all that has occurred. he did not even speak harshly of you; and i am fain to believe that what he has decided is for the best. at my earnest solicitation, he consented that you should take only a short voyage first to north america, provided that you sail without delay. accordingly, i have agreed to set off to-morrow with you for liverpool, whence many ships sail for that part of the world, and i dare say that i shall find some captain to take charge of you. do you consent to abide by this arrangement?" "i think lord fetherston is right," i replied. "the life of a sailor, if what i know of it is correct (little in truth did i know of it), will just suit me; and though i regret to go as i am going, and grieve to wound my mother's heart, yet i consider that i am very leniently dealt with, and will gladly accept the conditions." so it was settled, and my father led me out of my prison. lord fetherston met us as we left the mansion. "my son gratefully accepts your conditions, my lord," said my father, colouring. his pride, i fear, was humbled to the dust (alas! through me) when he said so. "i shall fulfil to the letter your lordship's commands." "i am glad to hear it, mr lefroy; depend on it, you act wisely," said lord fetherston. "and i trust that we part without malice, young man," addressing me. "you have my well-wishes, i can assure you." he held out his hand, and i shook it, i believe gratefully, though i said nothing; and without another word i jumped into the car which had brought my father, and we drove home. there was much grief and sorrow when we got there, and many a tear in the eyes of my mother and my sweet, ever kind, sisters as they packed up my little kit; but not a word of reproach. thus passed the last day for many a long year that i spent at home. let me tell those who wish to quit their homes to go roaming round the world in search of what they know not, that though they chance to bring back shiploads of riches, they will find no jewels comparable in price to a another's fond love, a father's protecting affection, the sweet forbearing regard of tender sisters, a brother's hearty interest, or the calm tranquillity of the family roof. i write for the large and happy majority of my readers: some few are less fortunate, and they in truth deserve the sympathy of the rest. cherish, i say, while you can, the affections of your home; and depend on it, when far away, the recollection alone will be like a refreshing spot in the weary desert through which your path in life may lead you; for be assured that there is no place like home. chapter three. i remember very little of my journey to dublin, except that it was performed on the top of the mail. my father went outside also, which was not his usual custom; but he did not like to expose me to the inclemency of the weather while he was comfortably ensconced within (another proof of his love), and he could not spare money to pay for my fare inside. we saw my eldest brother for an instant, just for me to wish him good-bye, and the same afternoon we went on board a steamer bound for liverpool. she was very different to the superb vessels which now run twice a day from one place to the other, making the two capitals, for all intents and purposes, not so far off as london and winchester were not a hundred years ago. she was in every respect inferior; but i thought her, as she was indeed, a very wonderful vessel. i was never tired of examining her machinery, and in wandering through every part of her. i had never before been on board a steamer; and as i was naturally of an inquiring disposition, i had numberless questions to ask to learn how it was the steam made the engines work, and the engine made the large paddle-wheels go round. this occupation prevented me from thinking of what had occurred, and kept me in good spirits. arrived at liverpool, we went to an inn, and my father immediately set out with me to inquire among the ship-brokers what ships were sailing for british north america. "you shall go to an english colony, peter," said my father. "wherever you wander, my son, remember you are a briton, and cease not to love your native land." liverpool was then, i thought, a very fine city. i was particularly struck by the fine public buildings; the broad streets, full of richly-stocked shops; and more than all, by the docks, crowded with shipping. since then, several of the streets have been widened, the docks have been increased, and many fine buildings have been added; and as the wealth of liverpool continues to increase, many more will be added, till it vies with some of the proudest cities in the world. such is the result of commerce, when guided by a wise and liberal policy. had my father known more of the world, i am inclined to think that he would have waited till he could procure an introduction to some respectable ship-owner, who would have selected a good honest captain with whom to place me. instead of so doing, he walked into several offices by chance, over which he saw written "shipping agent and broker." some had no ships going to the british north american ports, others did not know of any captains who would take charge of a raw youngster like me. one said if i liked to go to the coast of africa he could accommodate me, but that he could not say that i might not have to spend two or three months up some of the rivers, waiting for a return cargo of ivory and gold dust. another said he could secure me a trip to china if i would pay a premium; and three others offered me cruises to the west indies and north america. the fact was, that the navigation of the mighty river saint lawrence was scarcely open, and consequently few ships were ready to sail for quebec. at last a broker into whose office we entered, informed us that he was agent for one of the first emigrant ships which would sail that year; that her captain was a very superior man, a great friend of his; and that he doubted not for a small premium he would take charge of me. mr john cruden, our new friend, insurance broker and general shipping agent, was a very polite man, and extremely soft-spoken; but he was of an extremely inquisitive disposition, i thought, for he asked my father numberless questions about himself and me, to all of which he returned the short monosyllable "h'm," which did not inform us whether he was satisfied or not. i found all the time that he was merely trying to discover what amount of premium my father was likely to be able to pay, that he might ask accordingly. the office, in which we stood, was very small for the large amount of business mr cruden informed us he transacted in it, and very dark; and so dirty, that i thought it could never have been cleaned out since he commenced his avocations there. there were sea-chests, and cases, and small casks of all sorts piled up in all the odd corners. there were also coils of rope, and bottles, and rusty iron implements, the form of which i could not discern, and bundles of old clothes and canvas bags, and compass-boxes in and about the cases, and hanging from the ceiling; while a tarry, fishy, strong shippy odour pervaded the room. i was particularly struck with the model of a ship fully rigged on a shelf over the mantelpiece; but she also was as much covered with dust as the ship in which the ancient mariner went to sea would have been, after he had shot the albatross, could any dust have reached her. i observed all these things while our new friend was talking to my father. "you will doubtless like to make the acquaintance of captain elihu swales, mr lefroy," said mr cruden. "i expect him here every instant, and i shall then have the pleasure of introducing him to you, and we can arrange matters forthwith. you will find him, sir, a very amiable, excellent man--indeed you will, sir--a very proper guardian for a young man." whether this description was correct or not i had then no means of judging. the subject of this eulogium appeared while it was being uttered; indeed i suspect he heard a portion of it, for, suddenly turning my head after growing weary of looking at the dusty ship, i saw a man, whom i instinctively suspected to be the captain, standing outside the little paddock in which we were enclosed, called by mr cruden his counting-house, with a very peculiar smile on his countenance. had i not turned, i think he would have burst forth outright into laughter. i must remark that my father's back was towards him, and that mr cruden, unless he was very near-sighted, could scarcely have helped seeing when he came in. "ah, there is at last my excellent friend," observed the agent when he perceived that i had discovered the captain. "mr lefroy, allow me to introduce captain swales to you. captain swales, this gentleman has a son whom he wishes to send to sea. you will take charge of the lad. you will be a second father to him. i can depend on you. say the word, and all parties will come to terms." "day, sir," said captain swales, making as if he would take off his hat, which he did not. he was a very respectable man, as far as dress went; that is to say, he was clothed in a suit of black cloth, with a black silk handkerchief--nothing very remarkable, certainly: most masters and mates of merchantmen wear such on shore. his figure was short and square, there was nothing rounded about him; his features were all angular; and though there was a good deal of him, it was all bone and sinew. his countenance was brown, with a deep tinge of red superadded; and as for his features, they were so battered and seamed with winds and weather, that it was difficult to discern their expression. i remember, however, that the first glance i caught of his eye, as it looked inquiringly towards mr cruden, i did not like, even though at the time he was smiling. "you wish to send your son to sea, sir," he continued to my father. "as mr cruden says, i'll look after him as if he was my own boy, sir. i'll keep him from mischief, sir. lads always gets into mischief if they can; but with me, sir, they can't--i don't let 'em. i look after them, sir; and when they knows my eye is on them, they behaves themselves. that's my principle, sir; and now you know me." he said this in an off-hand, bluff, hearty way, which made my father fully believe that he had fallen in with a prize--indeed, that he was supremely fortunate in having secured so kind a protector for me. it was finally arranged that he was to pay captain elihu swales the sum of fifteen pounds; in consideration of which, in addition to any service i could be of, i was to mess at his table, and to learn what i could of a seaman's duty, till the ship returned to liverpool. the _black swan_, the name of captain elihu swales' ship, would not be ready for sea for some days, he informed my father; and till she was so, as he was compelled to return home immediately, mr cruden kindly undertook to board and lodge me at the rate of twelve shillings a week. i was to go on board the _black swan_ every day, to see if i was wanted; and i was to return to mr cruden's in the afternoon, or when i was not wanted. my father considered this a very admirable arrangement, and was perfectly confident that he had done the best circumstances would allow, and that he had left me in safe and honourable hands. on our way to our inn, we met one of the brokers to whom we had spoken in the morning. he asked if we had found what we wanted. "oh yes," replied my father, "an excellent man, captain swales, a friend of mr cruden's--very superior--very superior indeed." the broker, i thought, looked odd at this, and was at first apparently going to speak; but on second thoughts he seemed to consider that it was no business of his, and he passed on with a cold "oh, really--good-day, sir." it was afterwards only, perhaps, that his manner struck me; at the time i supposed that it was usual to him. we spent most of the afternoon in purchasing a sea-chest and an outfit for me, according to a list furnished by mr cruden, to whose office my traps were transferred forthwith. we did not go down to see the _black swan_, because captain swales said she was a long way off, and was not fit to receive visitors, but that she would be in a few days. he then remarked that she was one of the finest and fastest craft out of liverpool. "nothing could beat the _black swan_ when she had a mind to put her best foot foremost." i was wondering whether ships really had feet. i afterwards found that this was a figurative way of expressing that she sailed fast. these observations were made when we returned with my chest to mr cruden's, where we again met my future captain; and when the sum agreed on for my voyage was paid into the hands of the first-named person, my father's heart was softened towards me; and after he had exhausted all the good advice he could think of, and had given me several useful books, and many little articles of his own property, he made me a present of six pounds as pocket-money, and to purchase anything i might wish to bring back from america. he took his watch out of his fob, and would have given me that also, but i persuaded him to keep it, assuring him that i did not require it, and that i should certainly break it, or lose it overboard, as would have been the case probably the first time i went aloft. the next morning my poor father returned by the steamer to dublin. he felt very much, i am sure, at parting from me, more than he would have done under other circumstances, though by a considerable effort he mastered himself so as not publicly to betray his emotions. he was gone; and i was left alone in the big world to look after myself, with little more experience of its ways than a child. chapter four. when my father was gone, i went back to mr cruden's office and asked him to tell me where i could find his house, at which i understood i was to lodge. he looked up from the book in which he was writing, with an air of surprise, and replied, "you are mistaken, my lad, if you suppose that i am about to introduce into the bosom of my family one of whom i know nothing. your father is a very respectable man, i dare say, and you may be a very estimable youth, for what i know; but it is generally a different sort who are sent to sea as you are being sent; and therefore it is just possible you may be a wild young scamp, whose face his friends may never wish to behold again--hark you." i blushed as he said this, and looked confused; for my conscience told me that he spoke the truth. "ah! i guessed i was right," he continued. "now, to answer your question. while you remain on shore, which won't be for long, you may swing your hammock in the loft over this office; and for cooking, you won't require much of that. this will break you in by degrees for the life you've to lead, and will do you good, my lad. so i hope you will be grateful." from the determined manner he had about him, i supposed that all was right; and had it been otherwise, my spirits at that time were too low to allow me to remonstrate. i asked him next if i could not go on board the _black swan_, to make myself useful. he gave a peculiar smile, the meaning of which i did not comprehend at the time, as he replied, "by all means. you will probably find captain swales on board--at all events his first mate; and you may offer your valuable services to them. when they have done with you, you may come back here. by keeping along the quays to the right, you cannot miss the ship if you ask for her." i had scarcely fancied that there were so many ships in the world as i saw crowded together in the liverpool docks, as i passed through them for the first time in my life. it gave me a great notion of the wealth and commerce of the place. "and these will all be gone in a few weeks," i thought, "scattered far and wide to all parts of the world, and their places will be filled by others now on their homeward voyage, which will have again to make way for a totally fresh set." i inquired for the _black swan_ of the seamen and porters loitering about the quays, but i did not get very satisfactory answers. some told me that she was drunk last night, and had not got up yet. others said she had sailed yesterday, for they had seen her dropping down with the tide. the boatmen invariably wanted me to take a boat to look for her, as the only chance i had of finding her; but i saw that they were trying to impose on me, and passed on. at last, when i had got very near to the west end of the docks, i asked a man whom i saw standing in a meditative mood, with his hands in his pockets, if he would tell me where the _black swan_ was to be found. "why, i calculate, if you look right before your nose, young one, you'll see her as big as life," he answered, pointing to a large ship lying along the quay, on board which a number of men were employed about the rigging; while others, with a peculiar song, were hoisting in the cargo. i found that the first were riggers, and that the others were dock porters, and that neither belonged to the ship; the regular crew, with the exception of two mates and the cook, not being engaged till just before the ship was ready for sea. i must notice here the very bad system which has long prevailed with regard to british merchant seamen. the moment a ship arrives in harbour, the crew are paid their wages and discharged. on this they are immediately set upon by jews and harpies of every description. i do them no wrong when i say that they are the very worst of the human race: the fiercest savages have some virtues--these wretches have none. the poor seamen are cajoled by them with every artful device; nor do the miscreants cease till they have plundered them of all their hard-earned gold. not content with this, these crimps--for such is the name by which these persons are known--encourage the seamen to get into their debt, chiefly for liquor; and they then go to the masters of merchantmen looking out for crews, and make any arrangements they please. part of the seamen's wages are paid in advance, and this goes into the pockets of the crimps. i have known men put on board in a state of brutal intoxication, without knowing who were their officers, or where they were going to. thus the men were kept in a state of absolute slavery, without self-respect or a chance of improvement. i speak of the system as it was till lately. i trust that a better state of affairs is now being introduced; at the same time, as there is a tendency in most things to let abuses creep in, i must entreat you, my young friends, in your several capacities when you grow up, not to forget the interests of our brave seamen. on those seamen depend greatly the prosperity, the glory, the very existence of england; and, whether as legislators or as private gentlemen, i tell you it is your duty to inquire into their condition, and to endeavour to improve it by every means in your power. but to return to the _black swan_, and the man who had pointed her out to me. there was something i remarked very peculiar about the said man, so i will speak of him first. he wore a straw hat with a very broad brim, a nankeen jacket, though the weather was still cold, flushing trousers, which did not near reach to his ankles, and a waistcoat of fur--of beaver, i believe, or of wild cat. he had a very long face, and lantern jaws. his nose was in proportion, and it curled down in a way which gave it a most facetious expression; while a very bright small pair of eyes had also a sort of constant laugh in them, though the rest of his features looked as if they could never smile. his complexion had a very leathery look, and his figure was tall and lanky in the extreme. i could not have said whether he was an old or a young man by his appearance. "well, there's the ship," he observed, seeing that i was looking at him instead of going on board. "_do_ you know me now?" with an emphasis on the _do_. "that's kind now to acknowledge an old friend. we was raised together, i guess; only you wasn't weaned till last summer, when the grass was dried up." i saw that he was laughing at me; but as i felt that i had been rude in staring at him, i said i begged his pardon, but that he made a mistake in supposing we were acquainted, unless he had visited the south of ireland, seeing that i had never been out of that part of the country before. this seemed to amuse him mightily, for he gave way to a quiet and very peculiar laugh, which i heard as i passed on towards the ship. there was a plank placed from the quay to the deck of the ship, and by means of it i stepped on board the _black swan_. no one took any notice of me, so that i had time to look about me. she was a ship of some eight hundred tons burthen, though she was advertised as of twelve hundred. she had a raised poop aft, which i may describe as an additional house above the deck, the doors of which opened on the deck. there was a similar raised place forward, called the topgallant forecastle. under the latter the seamen and mate lived, while the captain and passengers inhabited the poop. the space between decks was open fore and aft, and fitted up with standing bed-places. this was for the abode of the poorer class of emigrants. the hold, the remaining portion of the ship below the main deck, was filled with cargo and provisions. all this i discovered afterwards, for at first everything appeared to my sight an inextricable mass of confusion and disorder. after watching for some time, i observed a man whom i concluded was the first mate, by the way he ordered the other people about and the air of authority which he assumed; so at last i mustered courage to go up to him. "please, sir," said i in an unusually humble tone, "are you the first mate of the ship?" "well, if i am, and what then?" was his not very courteous answer. "why, it's settled that i'm to go in this ship to learn to be a sailor, so i've come on board at once to make myself useful," i replied. he eyed me curiously from head to foot as if i was some strange animal, and then burst into a loud laugh. "you learn to be a sailor?--you make yourself useful?--you chaw-bacon. why, the hay-seed is still sticking in your hair, and the dust ain't off your shoes yet. what can you do now?" he asked. i confessed that i knew nothing about a ship, except the machinery of a steamer, which i had examined in my passage across from dublin; but that i would learn as fast as i could. "and so you are a young gentleman, are you?" he continued, without attending to my observations. "sent to sea to learn manners! well, we'll soon knock your gentility out of you, let me tell you. howsomdever, we don't want no help here, so be off on shore again; and when you meet john smith, just ask him to take you a walk through the town, and not to bring you back to make yourself useful till the ship's ready for sea, d'ye hear, or you'll wish you'd stayed away, that's all." i must say that even at that time i thought such a man was not fit to be placed in command of others, and yet i am sorry to say that i met many others no better fitted to act as officers. i did not answer him; and though i did not understand what he meant about john smith, i comprehended enough of his observations to judge that it would be more advantageous for me to keep out of his way; so i walked along the plank again to the quay. there was the man i have described, standing as complacently as ever. as smoking is not allowed in the docks, for fear of fire, he was chewing. "and so, young 'un, you've done your business on board; and what are you going to do next?" he asked, as he saw me sauntering along. i felt that there was a kind tone in his voice, so i told him that i had nothing to do, as the mate of the _black swan_ did not require my services. one question led on to another, and he very soon wormed my whole history out of me. "and your name is peter lefroy, is it? then mine's silas flint, at your service. and now, as neither of us has anything to do, we'll go and help each other; so come along." saying this, he led the way out of the dock. i wondered who mr silas flint could be, and yet i had no mistrust in him. from his manner, and the tone of his voice, i thought he was honest, and meant me no harm; and my heart, i must own, yearned for companionship. he did not leave me long in doubt; for after i had told him everything i had to tell about my previous life, he began to be equally communicative about himself. "you see, peter, i've secured my passage in the _black swan_, so we shall be fellow-voyagers; and as i've taken a sort of liking to you, i hope we shall be friends. i come from 'merica, over there, though i don't belong to the parts she's going to; but you see i've got some business at quebec, and so i'm going there first." i cannot pretend to give his peculiar and quaint phraseology. i soon learned that he was raised, as he called it, in the western states of america; that he had spent much of his life as a hunter and trapper, though he was a man of some little substance; that having accidentally seen an advertisement in the paper, stating that if the heirs of the late josiah flint, of barnet, in the county of hertfordshire, england, would apply to messrs. grub and gull, fleece court, chancery lane, london, they would hear of something to their advantage, he, believing himself to be a descendant of the said josiah, had come over to hear the welcome news. he remarked, with his peculiar smile, that he had _heard_ a great deal which might be very advantageous to him, and which might or might not be true, but that he had got nothing--that he had established his undoubted claim to be one of the heirs of the said josiah, but that he had fifty cousins, who had turned up in all directions, and whom he would never otherwise have had the happiness of knowing. the gain in this case did not seem great, as they none of them showed any cousinly affection, but did their best to prove that he was an impostor. thus all the share of his grandfather's property went in law expenses; and he was going back to the land of his father's adoption considerably poorer than he came, and in no loving humour with england and his english cousins. such is the brief outline silas flint gave me of his history, as we strolled together through the streets of liverpool. if, however, i continue describing all the characters i met, and all the strange things i saw, i shall never get on with my history. silas made a confession which much pleased me: it was, that although he had lived many years in the world, he still felt that he had much to learn, and was constantly doing things he wished to undo: the last was paying his money for his passage, before he had made any inquiries about the ship. he hinted that mr cruden was not as honest as he might be; that he suspected captain swales was no better; and that the way the poor emigrants who had come to liverpool from all parts to go by the ship were treated, was most shameful. he told me that, in the first place, they were attracted there by advertisements long before the ship was ready for sea, partly that the ship-brokers might make certain of having the ship filled, and not a little for the benefit of the inns and lodging-house keepers. as soon as they arrived--most of them absurdly ignorant of what was to be done, and of the necessaries required for the voyage--they were pounced upon by a set of harpies, who misled them in every possible way, and fleeced them without mercy. there existed--and, i am sorry to say, exist to the present day--a regular gang of these wretches, by profession lodging-house keepers, ship-chandlers, outfitters, and provision merchants. so notorious have they become, that they now go by the name of the forty thieves, for to that number amount the worthy fraternity. silas flint took me round to a number of our intended fellow-voyagers; and we found them loud in their complaints of the treatment they had received, though, when he had discovered them, he had been able to preserve them from much further expense by describing the character of the country to which they were going, and the things they would most require. among them were a great many of my countrymen. they were generally the most forlorn and heartbroken, though they had indeed little to leave behind; but then the slightest incident would make them forget their grief, and clap their hands with shouts of laughter. the sorrow of the english was less loud; but it took much more, i observed, to make them smile. they were better dressed, and seemed to have made more provision for the voyage. they had also been proportionably more fleeced by the forty thieves. when so many of our poor countrymen are leaving our shores annually to lands where they can procure work and food, we should have a far better supervision and a more organised system of emigration than now exists. and again i say to my young countrymen, when you grow up, make it your business to inquire into the subject; inquire with your own eyes, remember; do not trust to what is told you; and if you do not find such a system established, strive with heart and hand, and weary not till you have established it; at all events, correct the abuses which too probably by that time will have sprung up. you will all have the power of aiding that or any other good work. if you are not in influential positions, if you have not wealth at command, you at least have tongues to speak with, pens to write with; so talk about it in private, speak in public, write on the subject, and, depend on it, you will ultimately gain your object. it was very late in the day when i returned to the office. mr cruden was about to go away. he told me, that as i had chosen to be absent at the dinner hour, i must be content with what i could get; and he pointed to some musty bread and cheese, and a glass of sour, turbid-looking ale which stood on the desk. i was, however, too hungry to refuse it; so i ate it as soon as he was gone. an old porter had charge of the premises, and he now beckoned me to follow him to a sort of loft or lumber-room over the office, where he had slung a hammock, which he told me i might sleep in, or i might, if i liked, sleep on the bare boards outside. "the hammock's more comfortable than it looks, young 'un, so i'd advise you to try it," he remarked; and i found his remark true. as i was very tired, i was glad to turn in early and forget my sorrows in sleep. the next day i fared no better than the first, and all the time i boarded with mr cruden the only variation in my food from bread and cheese was hard biscuits and very doubtful-looking pork and beef. when i told silas flint of the treatment i had received, he shrugged his shoulders. "can you mend it?" he asked. i told him that i could complain. "to whom?" he said. "you have no one to complain to--no friend in the place. now let me advise you to do as i do. when you can't cure a thing, grin and bear it; but if you see your way out of a fix, then go tooth and nail at it, and don't let anything stop you till you're clear. that's my maxim, youngster; but there's no use kicking against the pricks--it wears out one's shoes, and hurts the feet into the bargain. now, soon after i took my passage in this here _black swan_, i guessed i had made a mistake; but what would have been the use of my going to law about it? i knowed better. i should only have sent my last dollar to look after the many which have gone to prove i was first cousin to a set of people, who would all rather have heard my father was drowned years ago than have set eyes on me. i tell you, peter, you must grin and bear it, as you'll have to do many things as you get through life." i found that my friend practised what he preached; for so completely were his finances exhausted by his law expenses, that he had to husband all his resources to enable him to return home. in board and lodging he was worse off than i was; and, as he said, he was accustomed to camp out at night, to save the expense of a bed. he used to amuse himself in the day by walking about to look out for a snug place to sleep in at night, either in the city or its neighbourhood, and he seldom occupied the same spot two nights running. he assured me, and i believed him, that it was far pleasanter than sleeping in the close atmosphere of a crowded room; and it reminded him faintly of his beloved prairies, on which he had spent the greater part of his life. the chief portion of every day, for a week before the ship was reported ready for sailing, i passed with my new-found friend; and, as may be supposed, i did not again offer my valuable services to the mate of the _black swan_, nor was any inquiry made after me by her worthy captain. chapter five. at last i was informed by mr cruden that i might transfer my chest and myself on board the _black swan_. accordingly, the old porter wheeled the former down to the docks, while i walked by its side. i gave the old porter a shilling for his trouble: his eye brightened, and he blessed me, and muttered something about wishing that i had fallen into better hands; but he was afraid, apparently, of saying more, and casting another glance at me, i suspect of commiseration, he tottered off to his daily avocations. my chest, which was a very small one, was stowed away by one of the seamen under a bunk in the forecastle. i thought that i was to have a cabin under the poop, and to mess with the captain; but when i made inquiries, no one could give any information, and the captain was nowhere to be seen. everything on board appeared in the wildest confusion; and i must own that i got most unaccountably in everybody's way, and accordingly got kicked out of it without the slightest ceremony. silas had not arrived, so i could not go to him for information. i therefore climbed up out of the way, to the boat, placed amidships, on the top of the booms. soon afterwards the emigrants' bag and baggage began to arrive. i was amused by observing the odd and mixed collection of things the poor people brought with them, some of the more bulky articles of which were not admitted on board. the jew harpies were on the quays ready to snap them up, giving little or nothing in return. i thought that it was a great pity that there were no means to enable these poor people to obtain better information before they left home, to have saved them the expense of dragging so much useless lumber about with them. i pitied them, not because they were going to another land where they could get food and employment, but for their helpless ignorance, and the want of any one fit to lead or direct them, as also for the treatment they were receiving at the hands of the countrymen they were leaving for ever. many of them resented bitterly the impositions practised on them; and i saw some of them, with significant gestures, take off their shoes and shake the dust over the ship's side as they stepped on board, while they gave vent to their feelings in oaths not lowly muttered. henceforth, instead of friends and supporters, they were to be foes to england and the english--aliens of the country which should have cherished and protected them, but did not. such things were--such things are: when will they cease to be? what a strange mixture of people there were, from all parts of the united kingdom--aged men and women; young brides and their husbands; mothers with tribes of children, some with their infants still unweaned--talking many different dialects, weeping, laughing, shrieking, and shouting! at last they got their berths allotted to them, and they began to stow away their provisions and baggage between decks. some kept going backwards and forwards from the ship to the shore, and no notice being given, many of them were left behind when the ship hauled out of dock, and had to come on board in boats, at a considerable expense, after being well frightened at the thoughts that we had sailed without them. we lay out in the stream for another whole day, with the blue peter flying, to show that we were ready for sea, and to summon any passengers who might yet remain on shore. silas flint was one of the last to come on board, before we left the dock. he appeared following a porter, who wheeled down his chest, containing all his property. he did not even give me a look of recognition as he passed me; but he at once plunged below with his chest, and he studiously avoided coming near me. this i thought odd and unkind, nor could i comprehend the cause of this behaviour. i was sitting very disconsolate by myself among the emigrants, and wondering when the captain would come on board, and when i should begin to learn to be a seaman, when i felt the no pleasing sensation of a rope's end laid smartly across my shoulders. i turned quickly round to resent the indignity, when i encountered the stern glance of the first mate, mr stovin, fixed on me, while the "colt" in his hand showed that he was the aggressor. "and so you are the youngster who wanted to make himself useful, are you?" he exclaimed in a sneering voice. "i am," i replied; "and i'll thank you in future not to take such liberties with my back." he burst into a loud laugh. "o my young cock-a-hoop, you show fight, do you?" he exclaimed. "well, we'll see what you are made of before long." "i'm ready to do my duty when you show me the way," i answered in as calm a voice as i could command; and i believe this reply, and the having kept my temper, gave him a more favourable opinion of me than he was before inclined to form, and somewhat softened his savage nature. "a willing hand will have no want of masters," he observed. "and mind, what i tell you to do you'll do as well as you can, and we shan't fall foul of each other." i will now describe the _black swan_. she measured nearly eight hundred tons, was ship-rigged, and had been built many years. she carried eighteen hands forward, with two cooks and a steward, besides the captain, four mates, and a doctor. there were about four hundred and forty steerage passengers, who, i may explain, are the poorer classes; and i think there were ten cabin passengers, who berthed in the cabin and messed with the captain. the steerage passengers brought their own provisions, but the captain was obliged to provide them with water and biscuit, just to keep life in them; indeed, without it many of them would have died. it was, i felt, like severing the last link which bound us to our native shores, when the pilot left us at the mouth of the mersey, and with a fair wind we stood down the irish channel. i cannot say that before i quitted home i had any very definite idea of the life of a sailor; but i had some notion that his chief occupation was sitting with his messmates round a can of grog, and singing songs about his sweetheart: the reality i found was very different. the first time i had any practical experience of this was when, the pilot having left us, and the wind having veered round to the north-east, the captain ordered the ship to be kept away before it. his eye happened to fall upon me for the first time, dressed in my sea toggery, and seated, with my hands in my pockets, on the booms. "hillo, jim--what's-your-name--we'll have none of your idling ways here if you belong to this ship, as i've a notion you do," he exclaimed. "aloft there with you, then, and help furl the mizzen topsail. be smart about it, or i'll freshen your way with a rope's end, and we'll see if you give me an answer." by this last observation, i guessed that the mate had told him of the answer i had given him, and i felt that the wisest thing i could do was to obey him without making any reply. what, however, he meant by "furling the mizzen topsail" i had not the slightest notion; but as i saw that he pointed to the mizzen-mast, and that several lads and men were ascending the mizzen rigging, i followed them. i was a good climber, so i had no fear of going aloft; and while i was in the top, luckily one of my new messmates, who was already lying out on the yard, exclaimed, "hillo, peter, lend us a hand here, my lad." on hearing this, i immediately threw myself on the yard, and following his directions i made a very fair furl of it. i got no praise certainly for this, but i escaped blame; and i saw by the way the other mizzen-top men treated me, that they considered me a smart lad, and no flincher. from that moment i was never idle. i followed a piece of advice honest dick derrick gave me on this occasion: "never let go with one hand till you've got a good gripe with the other; and if you cannot hold on with your hands, make use of your teeth and legs; and mind, clutch fast till you've picked out a soft spot to fall on." dick derrick taught me to hand, furl, and steer, to knot and splice, to make sinnet and spun-yarn, and the various other parts of a seaman's business. i was ambitious to learn; and i found the work, when taught by him, both easy and pleasant. i was placed in the second mate's watch, and had to keep my watch regularly. in this i was fortunate. william bell was his name. he was a quiet, gentlemanly young man, who always kept his temper, however roughly spoken to by the captain. it was through no want of spirit that he did not reply to the abuse thrown at him, as i afterwards discovered, but because it was the wisest and most dignified course to pursue. as i said before, i expected to mess in the cabin, and to be a sort of midshipman; but when i went up to the captain and told him so, he laughed at me, and asked me if i would show him any written agreement on the subject, for that he knew nothing at all about it. all he could say was, that i was entered as a ship's boy; that as such i must be berthed and messed, and do duty. if i did not like it, he would see what mr stovin had to say to me. i saw that there was no help for me; so, following silas flint's advice, i determined to grin and bear it. we sighted cape clear, the south-westernmost point of ireland. i longed to be able to swim on shore and return home. i did not the less wish to see the world, but i did not much like the company with whom i was likely to see it; mr stovin and his rope's-ending were not agreeable companions. from cape clear we took a fresh departure. a ship is said to take her departure from a point, the distance and the bearing of the point being ascertained when her course is marked off from the spot where she then is. at four p.m. cape clear bore five miles north-east of us, or rather we were five miles south-west of the cape. this spot was marked on the chart; and the distance run, and the course by compass, were each day afterwards pricked off in like manner on the charts. the distance run is measured by the log, which is hove every two hours. the log is a small triangular piece of wood, secured to the end of a long line, on which divisions are marked, bearing the same proportion to a mile which a half-minute bears to an hour. one man holds a half-minute glass in his hand--another a reel on which the line is rolled--a third, the mate, takes the log and heaves it overboard, drawing off the line with his left hand. thus, as the log remains stationary in the water, according to the number of divisions or knots run off while the sand in the glass is running, will be shown the number of miles the ship is going in the hour. instead of miles, the word knots is used, evidently from the knots marked on the line. the mode i have thus briefly described of finding the ship's course is called "dead reckoning." this, of course, is liable to errors, as careless steering, the compasses being out of order, or a current, may carry her far from her supposed position; at the same time, when the sky is obscured, it is the only mode of finding the way across the ocean. it can be correctly ascertained by observation of the sun, moon, and stars, taken with a sextant and a chronometer; but i shall be led to give an epitome of the science of navigation if i attempt to explain the mode of using them. in shallow waters, where the bottom has been accurately surveyed, a clever pilot will find his way with the lead. at the end of the lead a cavity is made, which is filled with grease; and according to the sort of mud, sand, or shells which adhere to it, he tells his position. this, and many other parts of navigation, mr bell, during our night watches, took great pains to explain to me; but it was not till i had been some time at sea that i comprehended them clearly. mr bell never spoke to me in the day-time; for if the captain saw him, he was certain to send me to perform some kind of drudgery or other. i was set to do all the dirty work in the ship, to black down the rigging, to grease the masts, etcetera, etcetera; indeed, my hands were always in the tar-bucket; but it served the useful purpose of teaching me a seaman's duty, and of accustoming me to work. the captain and first mate's abusive language, however, i could not stand; and my feelings resented it even more than the blows they were continually dealing me. i have said little about the emigrants. if my lot was bad, theirs was much worse. they were looked upon by the officers as so many sheep or pigs, and treated with no more consideration. crowded together below, allowed to accumulate filth and dirt of every description, their diet bad and scanty, and never encouraged to take the air on deck, disease soon broke out and spread among them. old and young, married and single of both sexes, were mingled indiscriminately together; and the scenes i witnessed when i was obliged to go below turned me sick with disgust, as they made my heart bleed with sorrow. the surgeon had little more knowledge of his profession than i had, and had not the slightest notion of what ought to be done to stop the ravages of disease. he physicked indiscriminately, or bled or starved his patients, without paying the slightest regard to their ailments. when they died they were thrown overboard, with scant ceremony; but the men had the greatest difficulty in tearing the bodies of the irish from their friends, or of children from their wretched parents; and it was heart-rending to listen to the shrieks and howls of grief as this was attempted to be done. however, i do not wish to dwell on these scenes, or to discourage emigration. i fully believe that by thoroughly cleansing the ship, and by serving out good provisions, disease might then have been arrested. the object is to prevent the occurrence of such disorders for the future, by the introduction of a well-organised system. in spite of all obstacles, emigration will go forward; but it depends on every one of us, whether it will prove a curse or a blessing to those who go forth, whether the emigrants are to be in future friends or deadly foes to the country they quit. chapter six. for ten days we had fine weather and light winds; but a southerly gale sprang up, and drove us to the northward, and i then found out what it was to be at sea. of course i had to do duty, as before, aloft; and following derrick's advice was of service, or one night, while furling top-sails, and when the ship was pitching tremendously, i should certainly have been killed. on a sudden i found myself jerked right off the yard; but i fortunately had hold of the gasket, which i was passing through the mizzen top-sail, and by it hauled myself up again and finished the work. after the gale had lasted a week, the wind came round from the northward, and bitter cold it was. we then stood on rather farther to the north than the usual track, i believe. it was night, and blowing fresh. the sky was overcast, and there was no moon, so that darkness was on the face of the deep--not total darkness, it must be understood, for that is seldom known at sea. i was in the middle watch, from midnight to four o'clock, and had been on deck about half-an-hour when the look-out forward sang out, "ship ahead-- starboard--hard a star-board!" these words made the second mate, who had the watch, jump into the weather rigging. "a ship!" he exclaimed. "an iceberg it is rather, and--all hands wear ship," he shouted in a tone which showed there was not a moment to lose. the watch sprang to the braces and bowlines, while the rest of the crew tumbled up from below, and the captain and other officers rushed out of their cabins: the helm was kept up, and the yards swung round, and the ships head turned towards the direction whence we had come. the captain glanced his eye round, and then ordered the courses to be brailed up, and the main top-sail to be backed, so as to lay the ship to. i soon discovered the cause of these manoeuvres; for before the ship had quite wore round, i perceived close to us a towering mass with a refulgent appearance, which the look-out man had taken for the white sails of a ship, but which proved in reality to be a vast iceberg; and attached to it and extending a considerable distance to leeward, was a field or very extensive floe of ice, against which the ship would have run had it not been discovered in time, and would in all probability instantly have gone down with every one on board. in consequence of the extreme darkness it was dangerous to sail either way, for it was impossible to say what other floes or smaller cakes of ice might be in the neighbourhood, and we might probably be on them before they could be seen. we therefore remained hove to. as it was, i could not see the floe till it was pointed out to me by derrick. i was on deck, with my eyes trying to pierce the darkness to leeward, and fancying that i saw another iceberg rising close to the ship, and that i heard strange shrieks and cries, when i felt a hand placed on my shoulder: "well, lad, what do you think of it?" said a voice which i recognised as that of silas flint. "i would rather be in a latitude where icebergs do not exist," i replied. "but how is it, old friend, you seemed to have forgotten me altogether since we sailed?" i added. "it is because i am your friend, lad, that i do not pretend to be one," he answered in a low tone. "i guessed from the first the sort of chap you've got for a skipper, and that you'd very likely want my aid; so i kept aloof; the better to be able to afford it without being suspected, d'ye see? you lead but a dog's life on board here, peter, i am afraid." "it is bad enough, i own," i answered; "but i don't forget your advice to `grin and bear what can't be cured'; and mr bell and some of my messmates seem inclined to be good-natured." "maybe; but you, the son of a gentleman, and, for what i see, a gentleman yourself, should be better treated," he observed. "if i was you, i wouldn't stand it a day longer than i could help." "i would not if i could help it; but i cannot quit the ship," i answered. "but you may when you get to quebec," he remarked. "i wouldn't go back in her on any account, for many a reason. there's ill luck attends her, trust to that." what the ill luck was, my friend did not say, nor how he had discovered it. flint spent the night on deck, and during it he talked a good deal about america, and the independent wild life he led in the backwoods and prairies. the conversation made a considerable impression on my mind, and i afterwards was constantly asking myself why i should go back in the _black swan_. when daylight broke the next morning, the dangerous position in which the ship was placed was seen. on every side of us appeared large floes of ice, with several icebergs floating like mountains on a plain among them; while the only opening through which we could escape was a narrow passage to the north-east, through which we must have come. what made our position the more perilous was, that the vast masses of ice were approaching nearer and nearer to each other, so that we had not a moment to lose if we would effect our escape. as the light increased, we saw, at the distance of three miles to the westward, another ship in a far worse predicament than we were, inasmuch as she was completely surrounded by ice, though she still floated in a sort of basin. the wind held to the northward, so that we could stand clear out of the passage should it remain open long enough. she by this time had discovered her own perilous condition, as we perceived that she had hoisted a signal of distress, and we heard the guns she was firing to call our attention to her; but regard to our own safety compelled us to disregard them till we had ourselves got clear of the ice. it was very dreadful to watch the stranger, and to feel that we could render her no assistance. all hands were at the braces, ready to trim the sails should the wind head us; for in that case we should have to beat out of the channel, which was every instant growing narrower and narrower. the captain stood at the weather gangway, conning the ship. when he saw the ice closing in on us, he ordered every stitch of canvas the ship could carry to be set on her, in hopes of carrying her out before this could occur. it was a chance whether or not we should be nipped. however, i was not so much occupied with our own danger as not to keep an eye on the stranger, and to feel a deep interest in her fate. i was in the mizzen-top, and as i possessed a spy-glass, i could see clearly all that occurred. the water on which she floated was nearly smooth, though covered with foam, caused by the masses of ice as they approached each other. i looked; she had but a few fathoms of water on either side of her. as yet she floated unharmed. the peril was great; but the direction of the ice might change, and she might yet be free. still on it came with terrific force; and i fancied that i could hear the edges grinding and crushing together. the ice closed on the ill-fated ship. she was probably as totally unprepared to resist its pressure as we were. at first i thought that it lifted her bodily up; but it was not so, i suspect. she was too deep in the water for that. her sides were crushed in--her stout timbers were rent into a thousand fragments--her tall masts tottered and fell, though still attached to the hull. for an instant i concluded that the ice must have separated, or perhaps the edges broke with the force of the concussion; for, as i gazed, the wrecked mass of hull and spars and canvas seemed drawn suddenly downwards with irresistible force, and a few fragments, which had been hurled by the force of the concussion to a distance, were all that remained of the hapless vessel. not a soul of her crew could have had time to escape to the ice. i looked anxiously: not a speck could be seen stirring near the spot. such, thought i, may be the fate of the four hundred and forty human beings on board this ship ere many minutes are over. i believe that i was the only person on board who witnessed the catastrophe. most of the emigrants were below, and the few who were on deck were with the crew watching our own progress. still narrower grew the passage. some of the parts we had passed through were already closed. the wind, fortunately, held fair; and though it contributed to drive the ice faster in on us, it yet favoured our escape. the ship flew through the water at a great rate, heeling over to her ports; but though at times it seemed as if the masts would go over the sides, still the captain held on. a minute's delay might prove our destruction. every one held his breath as the width of the passage decreased, though we had but a short distance more to make good before we should be free. i must confess that all the time i did not myself feel any sense of fear. i thought it was a danger more to be apprehended for others than for myself. at length a shout from the deck reached my ears, and looking round, i saw that we were on the outside of the floe. we were just in time, for, the instant after, the ice met, and the passage through which we had come was completely closed up. the order was now given to keep the helm up and to square away the yards; and with a flowing sheet we ran down the edge of the ice for upwards of three miles before we were clear of it. only then did people begin to inquire what had become of the ship we had lately seen. i gave my account, but few expressed any great commiseration for the fate of those who were lost. our captain had had enough of ice, so he steered a course to get as fast as possible into more southern latitudes. this i may consider the first adventure i met with in my nautical career. chapter seven. i was every day improving my knowledge of seamanship, though my schooling was, it may be supposed, of the roughest kind. the feelings captain elihu swales exhibited towards me did not grow more tender; but hitherto i had kept my temper, and had flown to obey his orders without answering his abuse. at last, however, one day when the ship was caught in a heavy squall, we were somewhat slow in reefing the mizzen topsail; and as we descended on deck he laid a rope's end across the shoulders of several of us. i could not stand this; for i and another of the topmen, generally the smartest, had hurt our hands, and ought not properly to have gone aloft at all. "how dare you strike me, captain swales?" i exclaimed. "i paid you a sum for my passage, as also to learn seamanship, and not to be treated as a slave." it was the first time i had replied to him. perhaps speaking increased the anger i felt, perhaps it was that i saw his eye quail before mine; but, be that as it may, a handspike lay near, and almost unconsciously i grasped it, and made as if i would strike him in return. "a mutiny!" he exclaimed, with an oath. "a mutiny!--knock down the rascally mutineer." "a mutiny!" repeated mr stovin, the first mate; and suiting the action to the word, he dealt me a blow on the head with his fist, which sent me sprawling on the deck. several of the crew, as well as the emigrants, who had seen what had occurred, cried out "shame, shame!" but they were afraid of interfering, so that my enemies had it all their own way. i was forthwith dragged forward by stovin and two or three of the men, who made up to him, and lashed down to the foot of the bowsprit, where i was most exposed to the spray which flew over the ship, and could be watched from every part. "you'll cool your temper and your heels there, my lad, till i let you go," whispered my old enemy in a tone of voice which showed the vindictive triumph he felt. for the whole of that day i was kept there, watched by one of the mate's creatures, so that no one with friendly feelings could come near me. some mouldy biscuits and a piece of hard junk were brought to me long after the dinner hour, and when i was almost too sick with hunger to eat. when night drew on, i asked my guard if i was to be released. "maybe not till the end of the voyage," was the satisfactory answer. "they hangs mutineers." though i did not for a moment suppose such would be my fate, i yet bitterly repented having, by giving way to my temper, allowed my enemies to get an advantage over me. the wind fell, and there was less sea; but still the night was a very dreary one to me, and, besides other physical discomforts, i was half-starved. there has been seldom, however, a time when some ray of comfort has not shone from above, or some human sympathy has not been shown for my sufferings. it had just gone two bells in the first watch, when i saw a figure creeping cautiously upon the forecastle to where i was sitting. "hush!" he whispered; and i knew by the voice it was silas flint. "you've friends who'll help you when the time comes. i've been watching an opportunity to bring you something more fit to eat than the horseflesh and beans i hear you've had. eat it while you can." saying this, he put into my hand some potted meat and fine biscuits, which i found very refreshing. i must observe that my hands were only so far at liberty that i could get them to my mouth, but i could not move them to cast off my lashings. the brutality to which i was subject is only a specimen of what seamen are exposed to from ignorant and rude shipmasters. in my time i have seen much of such conduct; and though i have known many very excellent and superior men commanding merchantmen, i have met as many totally unfit for the post. this state of things will continue till higher qualifications are required from them--till they are better educated-- till their social position is raised--till they have more power placed in their hands; also till the condition of the seamen under them is improved, and till both parties may feel that their interests are cared for and protected. i do not mean to say that i thought thus at the time. i felt only very angry, and a strong desire to be in my berth. after i had eaten the food i became very drowsy, and should have gone to sleep had i not continually been roused up by the showers of spray which came flying over me, as the ship, close hauled, ploughed her way through the waves. the nights were long in reality, and i thought daylight would never come. it was just at the end of the middle watch, and, in spite of the wet and my uncomfortable position, i had dropped off asleep, when i was aroused by loud shrieks and cries, and a rush of people on deck. the awful words, "fire! fire! fire!" resounded through the ship. several, in the first paroxysm of alarm, leaped overboard; and, no one regarding them or attempting to rescue them, they were drowned. i was a witness of their fate, but could make no one attend to me. the watch below and the officers were instantly on deck; but for some time nothing was done, and the ship continued her course in darkness over the deep. "silence, fore and aft!" shouted the captain, who believed that it was a false alarm. "those who spread this report deserve to be hove overboard. i'll take care to make inquiries about it--in the morning. what frightens you all so?" "fire! fire! fire!" was the answer of others rushing up from below. for some minutes the shrieks and cries and confusion prevented me from hearing anything more; nor could the exertions of the officers serve to maintain order. at last the captain, who had been incredulous, or pretended to be so, became convinced that there was some cause for the alarm, and on going round the lower deck a strong smell of fire was perceived, and smoke was found to be issuing from the fore-hatchway over the hold. no flames were seen, so it was evident that the fire was among the cargo in the lower hold. the hatchway was accordingly opened, and immediately dense volumes of smoke arose, and almost stifled me where i remained lashed. when it was discovered that the fire was forward, the ship was hove to, thus, under the idea that as fire works to windward, to prevent its being driven so rapidly aft as it would otherwise have been. buckets were now cried for; and the crew, and all the emigrants whose fears had not mastered their senses, were engaged in filling them with water and in heaving it down below. a pump was also rigged and manned, which, with a hose attached to it, played down the hatchway. after some time this appeared to have effect; and mr bell, who, quiet as he generally seemed, was now the soul of everything, volunteered to go down in order to discover the exact position of the fire. securing a rope round his body, while some of the crew on whom he could depend held on, he boldly threw himself into the midst of the smoke. not a quarter of a minute had passed before he sang out to be hauled up again. when he reappeared he was insensible, and it was some time before he recovered. they brought him up to the forecastle close to me, and the first words i heard which he uttered were: "she's all on fire below, and i doubt if water will put it out." this was very dreadful; and i began to consider whether i was fated to be roasted and then drowned, when i saw my friend silas flint creeping cautiously up to me. "hillo, peter, my lad, you seem to take it coolly enough; but you shan't, if i can help it, be roasted like a lark on a spit, so i've come to give you a chance for your life. i did not come before, not because i had forgotten you, but because i knew that wicked captain of ours was watching me, and would have prevented me from setting you at liberty if he could: however, he's enough else, i guess, to think of just now." "thank you, flint--thank you for your kindness," i answered as he was cutting the lanyards which confined me. "do you think there is any danger, though?" "the ship may burn till she's too hot to hold us," he replied laconically; "and then it is not easy to say where five hundred people are to find standing-room. there is danger, peter; but a stout heart may face and overcome it." "what do you propose to do?" i asked. "get into a boat if i can, or else build a raft and float on that. i'll not go down as long as i can find something to keep me up." flint's calmness gave me courage; and after that, notwithstanding the dreadful scenes i witnessed, i did not feel any fear. as soon as i was at liberty, i set to work with flint to make myself useful; and though i was close to captain swales while we were working the pump, he did not observe me. an event of the sort i am describing shows people in their true colours. while some of the passengers threw off their jackets and set to with a will, several had cast themselves on the deck, weeping and groaning among the women; and flint and one of the mates had actually to go and kick them up before they would attempt to perform their duty. it is difficult to describe the horrors of that night, or rather morning, before the day broke--the ship rolling and pitching on before a heavy sea (whither she went no one considered, provided she was kept before the wind)--the suffocating smoke which rose from the depths of the hold--the cries of despair heard on every side--the scenes of cowardly fear and intense selfishness which were exhibited. still we floated; but i expected every instant to see the ship plunge head-foremost down into the depths of the ocean; for i thought the fire must soon burn a hole through her planks. i was not aware how long fire takes to burn downwards. one of the greatest cowards of the crew, and a big bully he was, happened to be at the helm when the fire was first reported; and as soon as the captain and mates went forward to attend to rigging the pumps, his fears overcame him, and he dastardly deserted his post. fortunately, one of the crew was aft, and went to the helm and kept it up, or the ship would have broached to, and, before she could have been put on her course, the sea would have swept over our decks, and the destruction of all would have been expedited. at the same time a number of the passengers made a rush at the larboard-quarter boat, and, while some got into her, others lowered her down, intending to follow. going fast, as the ship was, through the water, of course she was immediately swamped, and every soul in her perished. three or four of those who were about to follow, so great was their eagerness, before they understood what had occurred, leaped where they expected to find her, and met the fate of the rest. this was reported to the captain, who at once set a guard over the other boats. indeed, as yet, there was no necessity for any one to quit the ship. the boatswain, however, who had charge of the boats, followed by the fellow who had quitted the wheel, the cook, and one or two others, soon afterwards collecting some provisions, sails, compasses, tools, and other things they thought necessary, deliberately lowered her, and getting into her, veered her astern, where they remained, careless of what became of the rest of us. such was the state of things when the sun shone forth on the ocean world. the decks, covered with women and children, and even many men lying prostrate, looked as if just swept by the shots of an enemy. such countenances, too, of terror, agony, and despair as were exhibited, it is difficult to describe. many had fainted, and some had actually died through fear, and lay quiet enough. others rushed about the decks like madmen, impeding the exertions of the officers and crew, and crying out that the ship should be steered to the nearest land, and insisting on being set on shore immediately. had the captain been a man of firmness and moral courage, to whom his officers and crew had been accustomed to look up, much of the disorder would have been prevented, and perhaps the lives of all might have been saved; but they knew him to be a bully and a coward, and the first impulse of each was to think of his own individual safety, as they knew he would do of his. thus not one quarter of the necessary exertions were made to save the ship; indeed mr bell and his watch were the only part of the crew who really did any good. most of the cabin passengers, and some of the second and steerage passengers of the english, at once came forward and offered their services to work the pumps and to hand down the water-buckets. the poorer irish, on the other hand, would do nothing to help themselves, but sat shrieking and bewailing their cruel fate till they could shriek and cry no longer. chapter eight. it is my belief that, if proper measures had been taken the moment the fire was discovered, it might have been extinguished, and if not, its progress might have been retarded. the ship had a large quantity of coals among her cargo, and there is no doubt it originated in it by spontaneous combustion. some said it had been smouldering away ever since we left liverpool. what would have been our sensations had we known that we had a volcano on board? when some of the passengers saw that the object of our exertions was to fill the hold with water, they began to cry out that the quickest way would be to start the water-tanks on deck. the captain, on hearing this, immediately exclaimed that if they did so they would repent it, for without water they could not live, and that this was the only fresh water at which they would shortly be able to get. on learning their mad design, he should instantly have placed some of the crew on whom he could depend, with arms in their hands, to guard the tanks, and with orders to cut down any one who should attempt to touch the bungs. instead, he contented himself with pointing out the folly of the proceeding. his words were not heeded; and without any attempt to prevent them, several of the madmen started the water from the tanks. "hurrah!" they shouted as they performed this feat. "the fire will now be put out, and we shall be saved." the hidden fire laughed at their puny efforts, and the wreaths of smoke came forth as dense as ever. a consultation among the officers was now held; and it was their opinion that we were in as good a position as could be for being fallen in with by ships crossing the atlantic, and that therefore we should continue as we were--hove to. we all watched with deep anxiety the progressive increase of the smouldering furnace below us. fortunately the flames did not begin to burst forth. dreadful as the day was, it passed more rapidly than i could have expected. there was nothing to mark the time; there were no regular meals, no bells struck, no watches set. the captain, on seeing the want of effect produced by the water thrown on the cargo, abandoned all hopes of saving the ship, and thought only how he might best secure his own safety. the stern-boat was, as i have said, towing astern. i now saw him go aft, and with the aid of some of the people, to whom he had spoken privately, he lowered down the starboard-quarter boat, having first put into her compasses, provisions, and water. the first mate meantime baled out the other quarter boat, and in like manner provisioned and stored her. three hands being placed in each, they were veered astern. the captain and mate knew that these men would not desert them, because without their assistance they would be unable to find their way to any port. i took my spell at the pumps, and on several occasions the captain passed me and gave me a scowl, by which i knew that he recognised me, and probably contemplated leaving me behind in the burning ship; at least so i thought at the time, and resolved to frustrate his kind intentions. the captain next gave orders to the crew to hoist out the long-boat, as the sea had gone down sufficiently to enable this to be done without risk. the long-boat is stowed on the booms amidships, and it requires tackles to the yard-arms, and considerable exertion, to launch her. it was the first time i had ever observed captain swales and mr stovin really energetic in their exertions when they were getting this done; and i very soon found that they had a reason for it, as they intended to take possession of her for themselves, and those they most favoured. she at length was launched and dropped astern; and, being hauled up under the cabin windows, the ladies and other cabin passengers were lowered into her. she was likewise provisioned; and compasses, charts, sails, and oars were placed in her. i thought that the captain, as a precautionary measure, wished to place the passengers in comparative safety; but what was my surprise, to see him lower himself into the boat, and drop her astern, virtually abandoning all command of the ship! this vile example was followed by mr stovin, who took possession of one of the quarter boats. the greater part of the crew, and all the steerage and second-class passengers, still remained in the burning ship, of which mr bell now took the command. when the people saw the captain deserting them, they rushed aft, some with piteous cries, exclaiming, "o captain dear, save us! save us!" others cursed him as a traitor for leaving them to their fate; and i believe, had they known what he was about to do, they would have torn him in pieces before they would have let him go. [see note .] he shouted to them in return, that he was not going to desert them, but that his presence was required in the boat. i have always held that the captain should be the last man to quit the deck of his ship; and every true seaman thinks the same, and would scorn to do otherwise. "a pretty job, this is," observed dick derrick, who was working away at the pumps close to me. "we were nearly squeezed to death by the ice a few days ago, and now it seems we are to be roasted with fire. are you prepared for death, peter?" i replied that i would rather live. "then the sooner we begin to knock some sort of rafts together, to float a few of these poor people, the better," he observed. "i'll just hint the same to mr bell." i saw him go up to mr bell, and, touching his hat, speak earnestly to him. "you are right, derrick," remarked the second mate as he passed me. "we must keep the passengers working at the pumps though, to the last, while the crew build the rafts." as soon as the plan was conceived, all hands set to work to collect spars, and to knock away the fittings of the lower deck, the bulkheads, and the bulwarks. we thus very soon formed three small rafts, each capable of supporting thirty or forty people in calm weather--a very small portion of the poor wretches on board. mr bell urged the crew to continue their exertions, and not to launch the rafts till the last moment. "we do not know where the rafts may drive to; and as we are now in the usual track of ships bound to america, our signal of distress may be seen, and we may be saved without more risk," he observed, addressing several who seemed about to launch one of the rafts. his words, however, had not much effect; for a few minutes afterwards their fears overpowered their better judgment, and one of the rafts was launched overboard. it was with some difficulty that it could be kept alongside. they fitted it with a mast and sail, and a few casks of provisions, but no water was to be found, except in a small keg. while some of the people who intended to embark on it were looking for more, a fresh puff of smoke forced its way up near the mainmast; and this so frightened the emigrants, that a general rush was made to get on the raft. about thirty were already on it, and so alarmed were they lest the number crowding on it might capsize it, that, ill-provisioned as they were, they cut it adrift. what became of them i know not; for the night coming on, they were soon lost sight of, and we never saw them again. that night was far more dreadful than the first; for, though the terror of the people was not so loud, their despair was more pitiable. the remainder of the crew still worked, spell and spell, at the pumps, but the fire gained upon us. at length some of the steerage passengers broke into the cabins, which they rifled of everything on which they could lay their hands, and unfortunately discovered several cases of brandy and wine. now began the most horrible orgies imaginable. men, women, and even children, became speedily intoxicated, and entirely forgetful of their fears and awful position. they were, in fact, like the fiercest savages, and, like them, danced and shouted and sang, till some of them fell down in fits on the deck. in the cabins they found several muskets, and, taking it into their heads that the crew had been the cause of the disaster, they set upon mr bell and those of us who remained, and, had we not struggled desperately, would have thrown us overboard. they could, fortunately, find no powder and shot, or they would certainly have killed some of the people in the boats. we retreated before them forward and then, aided by flint, and some of the more reputable english who had kept sober, we made a rush at them and wrenched their arms from their grasp. so infuriated had they become, that while some of us worked at the pumps and rafts, the rest had to stand guard and keep them at bay. fortunately the wind fell, and the sea went down with the sun, or it would have been still worse for us. in one respect the calm was bad, as no ship was likely to come to our rescue. one might have passed within a very short distance of us, and would not have discovered us, as we had no guns on board, nor any blue-lights or rockets, to make signals. we had four old rusty muskets, it is true, but there was scarcely powder enough found to fire them a dozen times. for the best part of the night we were employed in defending our lives from the attacks of the drunken emigrants. after being defeated they would return to the cabin to search for more liquor; and, not finding any, they would again make a rush upon us, declaring that we knew where it was hid, and that they would have it. i must do the crew justice to say, that, with few exceptions, they all kept sober,--and those under mr bell behaved very well. the second mate's conduct was above all praise; for, though repeatedly invited by those in the larboard-quarter boat to come off and to take command of her, he refused to quit the ship. at length, when the maddening effects of the spirits had worn off, the emigrants sank down exhausted on the deck, and, had the fire then reached where they lay, they would have been burnt, unconscious of their fate. we were now left to consider what was next to be done. gradually the fire continued creeping aft, as we could tell by the increasing heat of the lower deck; and i can scarcely describe the feelings i experienced as, putting my hand down on the planks, i found them growing hotter and hotter. the hatches over the hold were, however, wisely kept closed, to prevent the flames from bursting forth. the ship was already so full of water, that it would have exposed us to the danger of drowning if we had pumped more into her. a second day dawned on the same scene. we anxiously scanned the horizon in the hopes that a ship might appear to rescue us, but not a sail was in sight to relieve our anxiety. as the people woke up from their slumbers, the general cry was for water; but no water was to be procured. they had uselessly squandered what might have preserved them. "water! water!" was repeated by parched mouths, which were fated never to taste that fluid again. some stood aft, and shouted to the captain, who sat comfortably in the boat astern, and made gestures at him for water. some, in their madness, broke open the surgeon's dispensary, and rifled it of its contents, swallowing the drugs indiscriminately. the effects on them were various, according to the nature of the drugs. some, overcome with opium, fell down speedily in a state of stupor; others were paralysed, and others died in dreadful agonies. burning thirst drove some mad, and several leaped overboard in their delirium. many died where they lay, on the deck; women and several poor children quickly sunk for want of water. no sooner had the breath departed from the body, than we were obliged to throw them overboard, as the corpses lay in our way as we hurried about the decks. i forgot to mention that there was a romish priest on board, father slattery by name. he was a coarse, uneducated man, but the influence he exercised over the poor people was very great; and i must do him the justice to say, that in this instance he exercised it for a good purpose, in endeavouring to calm the fears of his followers, and in affording them the offices of their religion. from the moment the danger became apparent, he went among them confessing them and absolving them from their sins, and giving them such other consolation as he had to offer; but this did not seem to have any great effect, for the moment he left them, they began to howl and shriek as loud as ever. as to attempting to help themselves, that seemed far from their thoughts. few of them could be induced to work at the pumps, or to assist in building the rafts. yet, miserable as was their condition, the love of life appeared stronger in them than in the english. when the captain dropped astern in the long-boat, there was a general rush to follow him; and i remember seeing two girls lower themselves down by ropes over the taffrail, where they hung, their feet in the water, entreating to be taken in. "oh, captain, dear, sure you won't let us be drowned now!" they exclaimed in piteous accents. for some time those in the long-boat were deaf to their entreaties, and i thought the girls would have lost their hold and have been drowned, for they had no strength left to haul themselves on board again. feeling that their destruction was inevitable if they were not rescued, i slipped a running bowline knot over the rope to which one of them was hanging, and then gliding down, i passed it over her shoulders. i was up on deck again in a moment, and hauled her up, though i must own she did not like my interference. the other girl let go her hold, and would have been drowned, had she not been caught as she floated past the boat, when she was taken in. but i could scarcely have believed that human nature could become so depraved, as an instance i witnessed with my own eyes convinced me it might be. i saw two irishmen, who had their wives and families on board, slip over the ship's side, and drop down towards the boat, with ropes in their hands. little as they deserved it, they were not prevented from climbing on board; and there they remained, in spite of the bitter cries of those they had so basely deserted. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ note . i regret to say that the whole account of the burning ship is perfectly true. incredible as it may seem, the fire continued smouldering for nearly a week before the flames burst forth. chapter nine. the unhappy people were more quiet the second day than during the first; for they were worn out with fatigue, terror, and hunger. our ensign, reversed, was flying, as a signal of distress, but to little purpose; for there was no one who could see it to help us. two more rafts were constructed; and the carpenters set to work to raise the gunwales of the boats, and they also nailed canvas round their sides, so as to be able to cover them completely in. those in the boats appeared very uncomfortable; and certainly they were much worse off than we were, if it had not been for the uncertainty when the fire might break forth from beneath our feet. every instant i expected that to take place; and i certainly felt it difficult to say by what means i should make my escape. a few jars of fresh water were found in the cabin; and, among other provisions, a cask of flour, with which the cook instantly set to work to make bread, and the whole of the day he was engaged in making and in baking it in the caboose. this very seasonable supply of wholesome food kept many on board from dying. mr bell took off, in the dingy, a fair proportion to the boats. the people in them begged him to remain, telling him that the ship might suddenly go down, and that he would be lost; but he replied that he would not desert her and the people, and he instantly returned. the day passed away without a sail appearing in sight; and darkness, with its attendant horrors, again drew on. dreadful, indeed, was that night; but it was very different to the last. there was then excitement and activity. now there was a calmness--at times almost a total silence; but it would speedily be broken by the groans of the dying, and the wails of those who mourned for them. all attempts to stop the progress of the fire were abandoned as useless. the officers and crew who remained faithful to their trust, took such rest watch and watch, as the state of the case would allow; but we were wet through, and our bed was the hard deck. somewhere towards the morning, as i was still asleep, i felt my shoulder touched, and the voice of flint whispered in my ear, "peter, my lad, rouse up, and come with us. the ship won't much longer give us any footing; and it's as well to leave her when we can." "what do you mean, flint?" i asked, in the same low tone. "you would not have me quit my shipmates?" "what i mean is, that some thirty of us--some of the crew and some emigrants--have resolved to trust ourselves to a raft, rather than to these burning planks; and that, if we wait till daylight, so many will be attempting to get on it, that we shall be all lost together. i don't ask you to desert your shipmates, peter; but self-preservation, you know, is the first law of nature." i considered a moment before i spoke. "i am grateful to you, flint, for your kindness; but i cannot desert mr bell," i replied. "i don't blame you, remember, for going; but i am differently situated. i am in the second mate's watch--under his command, as it were; and while he sticks to the ship, so must i." while i was speaking, i saw a party of people cautiously engaged in launching the raft. after no slight exertions, they succeeded in getting into the water, though the noise they made disturbed a number of the emigrants. "i understand your motive, my lad, and i suppose you are right," replied flint. "i wish you could come with us; and i am half inclined to stay by you--that i am." "i should be very unhappy if you were the sufferer in consequence of so doing," i answered; "so pray go, if you think the raft affords the greatest safety." "no, lad, i care little for my own safety; but i promised these people to go with them, and to act as their captain. i did so, thinking you would be certain to go too." i again assured him that nothing would induce me to desert mr bell. so, expressing his sorrow, he shook me warmly by the hand, and slid down the side of the ship on to the raft. i assisted in casting it off, before the rest of the emigrants, who were awake, discovered what they were about, or else they would senselessly, as before, have attempted to get on it, to the almost certain destruction of them all. flint and his companions hurriedly shoved off, and then hoisted their sail. i watched the raft as long as it could be seen, standing directly before the wind to the northward; and i remember at the time my heart misgave me, and i feared that i should never again see my kind but eccentric friend. if a sea should get up, i thought they in all probability would be drowned. i felt very grateful, also, that i had decided to remain. however, i was too weary to think much about any subject, and i was very shortly again fast asleep on the deck. as suffering and misery will, after a time, come to an end, and it would be well if we could always remember this when we ourselves are in that condition, so did this night of dark horror, and another morning dawned on the burning wreck. clouds, streaked with bright red edges, were gathering on the eastern horizon, as i went aloft to look out for a sail, though with little expectation of seeing one. i had just reached the main-topgallant-mast head, and was sweeping my eyes round the horizon, when i saw, just under the brightest part of the glow caused by the rising sun, a dark spot, which i thought must be the topsail of some square-rigged craft. i looked again; i felt that i could not be mistaken. i shouted out the joyful intelligence-- "sail ho!--ho!--over the larboard quarter." instantly the second mate, followed by several others, who had strength remaining, ran aloft to ascertain the fact. they also all clearly saw the ship. the people in the boats understood what we were pointing at, and a feeble shout, indicative of their joy, rose from all hands. the question now was, which way she was steering. if to the westward, we had a good chance of being seen by her; but if not, she might pass us by unheeded. this uncertainty was, perhaps, still more painful to endure than our previous hopelessness. while we were watching the stranger, the clouds gathered thicker in the sky, and the sea began perceptibly to get up, though as yet there was no increase of wind. "i don't altogether like the look of things," observed derrick to me. "the sea getting up before the wind comes is a pretty sure sign of a heavy gale; and if it does come on to blow, lord help us, my boy!" "amen," said a deep voice near us, which startled me. it seemed not like that of a mortal; it was, however, that of father slattery, who was at that instant passing us. "and so, my son, you think there is more danger than before?" he asked. "if it comes on to blow, and keeps blowing with a heavy sea, i say it will be no easy matter to carry women and children from one ship to another, even if that sail yonder should come any way nigh us; that's what i say, your honour," answered derrick. "i understand you, my son," said the priest; "we'll be in a worse position with regard to affairs temporal than we are at present." "yes, your honour; it looks brewing up for a regular tempest, as you say, and no mistake," observed derrick. even while they were talking, we heard the wind whistle in the rigging, and the ship began to surge heavily through the rising waves. the people in the boats at this were evidently alarmed, and one of the gigs hauled alongside, several persons in her preferring to trust themselves to the burning ship rather than to her. i must remark that a feeling almost of security had come over many of us, and that for my part i could not help fancying that it was nothing unusual to live on board a ship full of fire. of course i knew that some time or other the flames must burst forth; but i looked upon this event as likely to happen only in some remote period, with which i had little to do. our sufferings were greatest from want of water, and on that account we were most anxious for the coming of the stranger. mr bell, derrick, and i were again aloft looking out for the ship. the captain hauled up under the stern, and hailed to know which way we made her out to be still standing. "right down for us, sir," answered the mate. "she's a barque, and seems to be coming up with a strong breeze." it is difficult to describe how anxiously we watched for her. on she came for perhaps half-an-hour, though to us it seemed much longer, when suddenly we saw her, to our dismay, haul her wind and stand away to the north-east. i felt almost as if i should fall from aloft, as our hopes of being rescued were thus cruelly blasted. few of the emigrants understood the change, but the seamen did, and gave way to their feelings in abuse of the stranger, who could not probably have seen our signal of distress. with heavy hearts we descended to the smoking deck. the wretched emigrants, on discovering the state of the case, gave fresh vent to their despair; some, who had hitherto held up more manfully than the rest, lay down without hope, and others actually yielded up their spirits to the hands of death. meantime the sea increased, clouds covered the sky, and it came on to blow harder and harder. i had returned aloft, when, to my delight, i saw the stranger again bear away and stand for us. i shouted out the joyful information, and once more the drooping spirits of my companions in misfortune were aroused. the sound of a gun was heard booming along the waters. it was a sign from her that she saw our signal of distress. now she crowded all the sail she could venture to carry in the increasing breeze. her captain was evidently a humane man anxious to relieve his fellow-creatures, though he could scarcely have guessed at our frightful condition. there was no mistake now, and on she came, and proved to be a large barque, as mr bell had supposed. "we have a good chance of escaping a roasting this time," i observed to derrick, as we watched the stranger. "but not quite of drowning, lad," he answered. "before one quarter of the people about us can placed on her deck, the gale will be upon us, and then as i said before, how are we the better for her being near us? howsomdever, we'll do our best, lad; and if the old ship goes down, mind you look out for a plank to stick to, and don't let any one gripe hold of your legs." i promised to do my best; but i confess i did not like the prospect he held out. the barque approached and hove to. a shout of joy escaped from the lips of most of those on board, who had still strength to utter it. on this, immediately captain swales cast off his boat, his example being followed by the others; and without attempting to take any of the people out of the ship, he pulled on board the stranger. there was little time to lose; for scarcely had they got alongside than down came the gale upon us. in the condition our ship was, the only course was to run before the wind; so we once again kept away. the stranger soon followed; and as she carried more sail than we could, we saw she would soon pass us. hope once more deserted us; for it was possible that the master, finding that there were so many of us on board, might think himself justified, for the safety of his own people, to leave us to our fate. i confess that on this i regretted that i had not gone off with silas flint on the raft; but then i remembered that i had done my duty in sticking to my ship to the last. it seemed dreadful, indeed, to be thus left to perish. however, just as the stranger was about to pass us, a man in the rigging held up a board on which was written the cheering words, "we will keep near you, and take you off when the weather moderates." suppose, i thought, the weather does not moderate till the flames burst forth, at any moment they may break through the deck! i am afraid of wearying my readers with an account of our sufferings. our greatest want was water. we fancied that, if we could have had a few drops to cool our lips, we could have borne anything else. some drank salt water, against the warning of the mate, and in consequence increased their sufferings. worn out with fatigue, the crew every hour grew weaker, so that there was scarcely a man left with strength to steer, much more to go aloft. night came on to increase our difficulties. the stranger proved to be the _mary_, bound from bristol also to quebec. she at first kept a short distance ahead, showing a light over her stern by which we might steer. i ought to have said that the captain had taken the sextant, chronometer, and charts with him, and that in their mad outbreak the emigrants had destroyed the binnacle and the compasses in it, so that we had the _mary's_ light alone to depend on. mr bell had divided those who remained of the crew, and some of the emigrants willing to exert themselves, into two watches. i was to keep the middle watch. i lay down on the deck aft to sleep on one of the only few dry or clean spots i could find. i was roused up at midnight, and just as i had got on my feet, i heard a voice sing out, "where's the _mary's_ light?" i ran forward. it was nowhere to be seen. chapter ten. fortunately a star had appeared in a break of the clouds, and by that we continued steering the same course as before. once more we were alone on the world of waters, and in a worse condition than ever; for we had now no boats, and the sea was too high to permit us to hope for safety on a raft. weary and sad were the hours till dawn returned. often did i wish that i had followed my father's counsels, and could have remained at home. with aching eyes, as the pale light of the dull grey morning appeared, we looked out ahead for the _mary_. not a sail was to be seen from the deck. the lead-coloured ocean, heaving with foam-topped waves, was around us bounded by the horizon. on flew our burning ship before the gale, and we would have set more sail to try and overtake the _mary_, but we had not strength for it. we steered as near as we could the same course as before. the ship plunged heavily; and as she tore her way through the waves, she rolled her yardarms almost into the water, so that it was difficult to keep the deck without holding on. nearly at every roll the sea came washing over the deck, and sweeping everything away into the scuppers. one might have supposed that the water would have put out the fire, but it had no effect on it; and it was evident that the coals in the hold were ignited, and that they would go on burning till the ship was under the waves. i had sunk into a sort of stupor, when i heard mr bell from aloft hail the deck. i looked up and tried to comprehend what he was saying. it was the joyful intelligence that the _mary_ was ahead, lying to for us; but i was too much worn out to care much about the matter. we again came up with her; but though the wind had somewhat fallen, the sea was too high to allow a boat to carry us off the wreck. we acquitted the kind master of the _mary_ of any intention of deserting us. the officer of the watch had fancied that he saw us following, and had not, consequently, shortened sail. oh that day of horrors, and the still more dreadful night which followed! the fire was gaining on us: every part of the deck was hot, and thick choking smoke issued from numberless crevices. with dismay, too, we saw the boats on which our safety so much depended dragged to pieces, as they towed astern of the _mary_, as they could not be hoisted on board, and their wrecks were cut adrift. even the crew, who, more inured to hardships, kept up their spirits the best, could but arouse themselves to take a short trick at the helm. what would we have given, i repeat, for a drop of water! a thousand guineas would willingly have been exchanged for it. the value of riches, and all else for which men toil and toil on while health and strength remain, were becoming as nothing in our sight. one thing alone called any of us to exertion. it was when some wretch, happier, perhaps, than we were, breathed his last, and the shrieks and wails of his relations or friends summoned us to commit his body to the ocean-grave, yawning to receive us all, the living as well as the dead. i must pass over that night. it was far more full of horrors than the last, except that the _mary_, our only ark of safety, was still in sight. another dawn came. the gale began to lull. i was near derrick. i asked him if he thought we had a chance of escape. he lifted his weary head above the bulwarks. "i scarce know, lad," he replied. "the wind may be falling, or it may be gathering strength for a harder blow. it matters little, i guess, to most of us." and he again sunk down wearily on the deck. how anxiously we listened to the wind in the rigging! again it breezed up. a loud clap was heard. i thought one of the masts had gone by the board; but it was the fore-topsail blown to ribbons. what next might follow we could not tell. the very masts began to shake; and it was evident that the fire had begun to burn their heels. their working loosened the deck, and allowed more vent for the escape of smoke. there was again a lull. the foam no longer flew from the white-crested waves; gradually they subsided in height. the motion of the ship was less violent, though she still rolled heavily, as if unable to steady herself. we at length began to hope that the final effort of the gale was made. the day wore on--more persons died--the smoke grew thicker, and was seen streaming forth from the cabin windows. towards evening there was a decided change for the better in the weather, and we saw the people in the _mary_ making preparations to lower a boat, and to heave the ship to. another difficulty arose: to enable the boat to come on board, we must likewise stop the way of our ship, but we had not strength to heave her to. we were too far gone to feel even satisfaction as we saw a boat pulling from the _mary_ towards us. we put down the helm as she came near us, and the ship rounded to. the fresh crew scrambled on board, and, backing our main-topsail, our ship remained steady, a short distance to leeward of the _mary_. a few of the emigrants were lowered into the boat; some of the crew remained to take care of us, and the remainder returned on board in safety. this experiment having been successful, another boat was lowered, and more of our people taken off. they brought us also a keg of water; and so eager were we for it, that we could scarcely refrain from snatching it from each other, and spilling the contents. it occupied a long time to transfer the emigrants from one ship to the other. they were so utterly unable to help themselves, that they had to be lowered like bales of goods into the boats, and even the seamen were scarcely more active. it was thus dark before all the emigrants were rescued; and, what was worse, the wind again got up, as did the sea, and prevented any communication between the ships. in one respect during that night the condition of those who remained was improved; for we had water to quench our burning thirst, and food to quell our hunger; besides which, a boat's crew of seamen belonging to the _mary_ gallantly remained by us and navigated the ship, so that we were able to take a sounder rest than we had enjoyed for many days past. still the flames did not burst forth, and another night and day we continued in that floating furnace. towards the evening the wind suddenly dropped; and, while the remaining emigrants were being taken off the wreck, it fell a dead calm. the last man to leave the deck of the _black swan_ was mr bell. he made me and derrick go down the ship's side just before him. i trust that we felt grateful to heaven for our deliverance. scarcely had we left the deck of the _black swan_ than the flames burst forth from her hold. they first appeared streaming out of the cabin windows, curling upwards round the taffrail. by this time it was quite dark; and the bright light from the burning wreck cast a ruddy glow on the sails and hull of the _mary_, and topped the far surrounding waves with a bright tinge of the same hue. soon the whole poop was on fire, and the triumphant flames began to climb up the mizzen-mast. as the ship lay head to wind, their progress was slow forward, nor did they ascend very rapidly; consequently the mizzen-mast fell before the main-mast was on fire. that shortly, however, followed with a loud crash before they even reached the main-topgallant-yard. next down came the fore-mast, and the whole hull was a mass of flame. i felt sick at heart as i saw the noble ship thus for ever lost to the use of man. the fire was still raging when, overcome with fatigue and sickness, i sunk on the deck. as the _mary_ sailed away from her, she was seen like a beacon blazing fiercely in mid-ocean. long those on deck gazed till the speck of bright light was on a sudden lost to view, and the glow in the sky overhead disappeared. it was when her charred fragments sunk beneath the wave. chapter eleven. we were kindly welcomed and cared for on board the _mary_, though we subjected her passengers and crew to much inconvenience, and to no little risk of starving, should her voyage be prolonged. there were ladies who attended with gentle care to the women and children, and aided also in nursing the men. many of the passengers and crew gave up their berths to the sick; but the greater number of our people were compelled to remain on deck, sheltered, however, by every means the kindness of our hosts could devise. there was one fair, blue-eyed girl--can i ever forget her? what a pure, light-hearted young creature she was! i felt at once that i could place the same confidence in her that i could in my own sisters, and that she was a being superior both to me and to any of those by whom i had been lately surrounded. her name was mary dean. she was the daughter of the master of the _mary_, and the ship was named after her. mr bell told the master of my behaviour, which he was pleased to praise, and of my refusing to quit the ship till he did; and mary heard the tale. the mate also told him that i was the son of a gentleman, and how i had been treated by captain swales. captain dean was a very different character to captain swales, with whose conduct he was so thoroughly disgusted, that he refused to hold any further communication with him than business actually required. i had held out till i was in safety, and a severe attack of illness then came on. captain dean had me removed to a berth in his own cabin, and mary became my nurse. where there is sickness and misery, there will the ministering hand of gentle woman be found. mary dean watched over me as the ship which bore us steered her course for the mouth of the saint lawrence. to her gentle care, under providence, i owed my life. several of the emigrants died after they came on board the _mary_, and such would probably have been my fate under less watchful treatment. i was in a low fever and unconscious. how long i remained so, i scarcely know. i awoke one afternoon, and found mary dean sitting by my side working with her needle. i fancied that i was dead, and that she was an angel watching over me. although i discovered that the first part of the notion was a hallucination, i was every day more convinced of the truth of the second. when i got rather better, she used to read to me interesting and instructive works; and every morning she read some portion of the bible, and explained it to me in a manner which made me comprehend it better than i had ever done before. ten days thus passed rapidly away before i was able to go on deck. captain dean was very kind to me, and often came and spoke to me, and gave me much useful instruction in seamanship, and also in navigation. i then thought mary dean very beautiful, and i now know that she was so. she was a child, it must be remembered, or little more than one; but though very small, she was very graceful. she was beautifully fair, with blue, truthful eyes, in which it was impossible guile could ever find a dwelling-place. i have no doubt that my readers will picture her to themselves as she sat in the cabin with a book on her lap, gravely conning its contents, or skipped along the deck, a being of light and life, the fair spirit of the summer sea. such was mary dean as i first saw her. every one loved her. her father's heart was wrapped up in her. his crew would, to a man, have died rather than that harm should have happened to her. on sailed the ship. there was much sickness, for all hands were put on the smallest allowance of water and provisions it was possible to subsist on; and we, unfortunately, fell in with no other ship able to furnish us with a supply. at length the welcome sound was heard of "land ahead!" it was cape breton, at the entrance of the gulf of saint lawrence. rounding the cape, we stood towards the mouth of the river saint lawrence, that vast stream, fed by those inland seas the lakes of upper canada, and innumerable rivers and streams. on the north side of the gulf is the large island of newfoundland, celebrated for its cod fisheries. a glance at the map will show our course far better than any description of mine. i could scarcely believe that we were actually in the river when we had already proceeded a hundred miles up it, so distant were the opposite shores, and, till told of it, i fancied that we were still in the open sea. i was much struck with the grand spectacle which quebec and its environs presented, as, the ship emerging from the narrow channel of the river formed by the island of orleans, the city first met my view. it is at this point that the saint lawrence, taking a sudden turn, expands, so as to assume the appearance of a broad lake. the sun had just risen, and all nature looked fresh and green, rejoicing in the genial warmth of a canadian spring. on the left was the town, the bright tin steeples and housetops of which, crowning the summit of cape diamond, glittered in the rays of the glorious luminary. ships of all rigs and sizes lay close under the cliffs, and from their diminutive appearance i calculated the great height of the promontory. about eight miles off, on the right, i could see the falls of montmorency, descending in a sheet of milk-white foam over a lofty precipitous bank into the stream, which, winding through a plain interspersed with villages and studded with vegetation, finds its way into the saint lawrence. quebec is divided into two distinct parts. the lower town, occupies a narrow strip of land between the precipitous heights of cape diamond and the river. it is connected with the upper town by means of a steep street, built in a ravine, which is commanded by the guns of a strongly fortified gateway. the lower town is principally inhabited by merchants; and so much straitened are they for room, that many of their houses are built upon wharfs, and other artificial ground. the streets of quebec are very narrow, and there is a general appearance of antiquity, not often to be met with in an american town. the suburbs are situated on the shores of the saint charles, without the fortifications. but i afterwards found that the most magnificent prospect was from the summit of the citadel on cape diamond, whence one may look over the celebrated plains of abraham, on which the gallant wolfe gained the victory which gave canada to england, and where, fighting nobly, he fell in the hour of triumph. but my object is rather to describe a few of the events of my early days than the scenes i visited. it was a happy moment when we at length dropped our anchor, and water was brought off to quench the thirst from which all had more or less suffered. as soon as the necessary forms were gone through, the emigrants went on shore, and, with few exceptions, i saw them no more. i was the only person on board who regretted that the voyage was over. i wished to see the country, and the indians, and the vast lakes and boundless prairies; but far rather would i have remained with mary and her father--at least i thought so, as the time for quitting them, probably for ever, arrived. i regretted much leaving captain dean, for he had been very kind to me; indeed, he had treated me almost like a son, and i felt grateful to him. it was evening. the ship was to haul in the next morning alongside the quay to discharge her cargo. the captain was on shore and all the emigrants. except the anchor-watch on deck, the crew were below. mary and i were the only persons on the quarter-deck. "mary," i said, as i took her hand--the words almost choked me while i spoke--"to-morrow i must leave you to look out for a berth on board some homeward-bound ship. you have been very, very kind to me, mary; and i am grateful, i am indeed, to you and to your father." "but i do not see why you should leave us, peter," answered mary, looking gravely up with a somewhat surprised air. "has not my father told you that he thinks of asking you to remain with him? and then, some day, when you know more of seamanship, you will become his mate. think of that, peter, how pleasant it will be! so you must not think of leaving us." "i have no wish to go, i can assure you, except that i am expected at home," i replied. "but if i stay, what office are you to hold on board, mary?" i could not help asking. "oh, i suppose that i shall be another of the mates," she replied, laughing. "do you know, peter, that if i have you to study with, i think that i shall make a very good sailor in a short time. i can put the ship about now in a very good style, let me tell you." "that's more than i can do, i am afraid," i observed. "but then i can go aloft, and hand and reef; so there i beat you." "i should not be a bit afraid of going aloft, if i was dressed like you, and papa would let me," she answered naively. "i often envy the men as i see them lying out on the yards or at the mast-head when the ship is rolling and pitching; and i fancy that next to the sensations of a bird on the wing, theirs must be the most enjoyable." "you are a true sailor's daughter, mary," i answered, with more enthusiasm than i had ever before felt. "but i don't think your father would quite like to see you aloft; and, let me tell you, when there's much sea on, and it's blowing hard, it's much more difficult to keep there than it looks." thus we talked on, and touched on other topics; but they chiefly had references to ourselves. nearly the last words mary uttered were, "then you will sail with father, if he asks you, peter?" i promised, and afterwards added, "for the sake of sailing with him, mary, my dear young sister, if you are on board, i would give up kindred, home, and country. i would sail with you round and round the world, and never wish again to see the shore, except you were there." she was satisfied at having gained her point. we were very young, and little knew the dangerous sea on which we were proposing to sail. i called her sister, for i felt as if she were indeed my sister. chapter twelve. the next morning the _mary_ commenced discharging her cargo. captain dean then told me that he hoped i would sail with him, but that, as the ship required a thorough repair, it would be some weeks before she could be at sea again, and that in the meantime he would advise me to employ myself usefully; and he recommended me to take a trip in a trader to halifax or saint john's, for the sake of gaining information regarding the navigation of those seas. "a person who wishes to be a thorough sailor (and if a man is not a thorough sailor he has no business to be an officer)," he observed, "will seek every opportunity of making himself well acquainted with the navigation of every sea he visits, the appearance of the coasts, the set of the currents, the rise and fall of the tides, the prevailing winds, and the weather to be expected at different seasons. he will go afloat in every sort of craft, and be constantly considering how he would act under all possible circumstances. he should never weary of making inquiries of other seamen how they have acted, and the result of what they have done. as navigation was not brought to the perfection it has now attained under many centuries, so no man will become a perfect seaman unless he diligently gathers together the information possessed by all whom he meets, at the same time weighing well their opinions, and adopting them after duly comparing them with others." i have always remembered captain dean's advice, and i advise all young sailors to follow it; indeed, it strikes me that it is applicable to most relations in life. i looked about for a vessel, but could not find one. meantime, by the captain's kindness, i remained on board, though he and mary went to live in lodgings on shore, as, of course, in the state the ship was in, she could have no comfort even in her own cabin. about three or four days after our arrival, i saw a ship ascend the river and come to an anchor not far from where we were lying. prompted by curiosity, i was looking at her through a telescope, when i observed a group of people on the deck who were gazing apparently with the curiosity of strangers at the shore. a little apart from them stood a form i thought i recognised. i pointed my glass steadily at him. i felt certain that i could not be mistaken. it was silas flint. then all on the raft, instead of perishing, as it was supposed they would, might have been saved, as he had escaped. i was truly glad, and, borrowing the dinghy from the mate, i pulled on board the newly-arrived ship. silas--for i was right in my conjectures--was looking over the side as i climbed up it. he almost wrung my hand off as he took it in his grasp. "i am glad to see ye, i am, peter!" he exclaimed. "why, lad, i thought you had gone to the bottom with all who remained on board." i told him that we had in like manner fancied that all on the raft had perished; and i was glad to find that, with the exception of two, all had been picked up by the ship on board of which they then were. he then asked me what my plans were, and i told him what captain dean advised. he next inquired if i had seen captain swales. i replied that i had met him twice in the streets of quebec, and that he had eyed me with no very friendly glance. "then depend on it, peter, he means you some mischief," he observed. "if he gets another ship here, which is likely enough he will, he will want hands; and if he can lay hold of you, he will claim you as put under his charge by your father; and i don't know how you are to get off." "by keeping out of his way, i should think," i replied. "that's just what i was going to advise you to do, peter," observed silas. "and i'll tell you what, lad, instead of your kicking your heels doing nothing in this place, you and i will start off up the country with our guns as soon as i have done my business here, which won't take long, and we'll see if we can't pick up a few skins which will be worth something." this proposition, as may be supposed, was much to my taste; but i did not much like the thoughts of leaving captain dean and mary, though i did not tell him so. he, however, very soon discovered what was running in my mind, and set himself to work to overcome the wish i had to remain with them. i had found so few friends of late, that i had learned to value them properly. but silas flint wanted a companion, and, liking me, was resolved that i should accompany him. we went on shore together; and before the day was over, he had so worked up my imagination by his descriptions of the sport and scenery of the backwoods, that i became most eager to set off. i next day told captain dean; and as i assured him that it was my father's wish that i should see something of the country, he did not oppose the plan, provided i should return in time to sail with him. this i promised to do; and i then went below to tell mary, who was in the cabin packing up some things to take on shore. to my surprise, she burst into tears when i gave her the information; and this very nearly made me abandon my project. when, however, i told her of my promise to return, she was comforted; and i added, that i would bring her back plenty of skins to make her tippets and muffs for the winter, to last her for years. three days after his arrival at quebec, flint was ready to set out. i had preserved intact the money my kind father had given me, and with it i purchased, at flint's suggestion, a rifle, and powder, and a shot-belt, a tinder-box, a pipe, some tobacco, a tin cup, and a few other small articles. "now you've laid in your stock in trade, my lad," he observed, as he announced my outfit to be complete. "with a quick eye and a steady hand you've the means, by my help, of making your fortune; so the sooner we camp out and begin the better." i told him i was ready, and asked him where we were to go. "oh, never you mind that, lad," he replied. "it's a long way from here; but a man, with his eyes open, can always find his way there and back. all you've to do is to follow the setting sun going, and to look out for him rising when coming back." "then i suppose you mean to go to the westward?" i observed. "ay, lad, to the far west," he answered; but i confess that at the time i had no idea how far off that "far west" was. we set off the next morning by a steamer to montreal, and on from thence, past kingston, to toronto on lake ontario, in upper canada. flint lent me money to pay my way. he said that i should soon be able to reimburse him. i need not say how delighted i was with the fine scenery and the superb inland seas on which i floated. i could scarcely persuade myself that i was not on the ocean, till i tasted the water alongside. flint told me with a chuckle, that once upon a time the english government sent some ships of war in frame out to the lakes, and also a supply of water-tanks, forgetting that they would have a very ample one outside. a little forethought would have saved the ridicule they gained for this mistake, and the expense to which they put the country. as my intention is to describe my adventures afloat rather than those on shore, i shall be very brief with my account of the life we led in the backwoods. from toronto we crossed the country to goodrich, a town on the shores of lake huron. here we took a passage in a sailing vessel, trading to the factories on the northern shore of the lake, and at the nearest we landed and prepared for our expedition. flint observed, that as we were short of funds, we must proceed on an economical principle. he therefore purchased only a small though strong pony, to carry our provisions and the skins of the animals we might kill, while we were to proceed humbly on foot. we were now in a land teeming with every description of game; and i was able to prove to flint that i was not a worse shot than i had sometimes boasted to him of being. the weather was generally fine, so that a bark hut afforded us ample shelter at night, and our rifles gave us as much food as we could require. our greatest enemies were mosquitoes and other flies, and it was only by smearing our faces over with fat that we could free ourselves from their attacks. we constantly encountered the indian inhabitants of that territory; but they were invariably friendly, and willing to trade with us. silas understood their language a little, so that with the aid of signs we could carry on sufficient conversation for our purpose. six weeks thus passed rapidly away, and i calculated that it would be time for me to return to quebec; so i told silas i must wish him good-bye. he seemed very much vexed at this; for i believe that he both liked my society, and found me very useful to him. he had, indeed, formed the intention of keeping me by him, and converting me into a regular trapper and hunter; but, fond as i was of sport, for this i had no fancy, and i therefore persisted in my purpose of returning. seeing that he could not prevail on me to remain, he accompanied me back to the fort, where he made over to me my fair share of the skins. after the delay of a week, i found a vessel returning to the lower lakes, and in her i set sail for quebec. my readers must excuse me for being thus brief in my description of my doings on shore; but it must be remembered that i am writing an account of my sea adventures, and i must defer the former to another opportunity. chapter thirteen. at length i reached quebec, and hurried to the quay, where i had left the _mary_. she was not there. i hastened to the dockyard where she was to be repaired; i made inquiries for her of everybody i met. "what, the _mary_, captain dean?" replied a shipwright to whom i spoke; "why, she sailed three weeks ago and better, for the west indies, or some of them ports to the southward--she's pretty well there by this time." i felt that he was speaking the truth, and my heart sunk within me; but to make sure, i ran on to the house at which captain dean and mary had lodged. the woman, who was a french canadian, received me very kindly, and seemed to enter into my feelings when she corroborated the account i had heard. she did not know exactly where the ship had gone; but she said that my friends were very sorry when i did not come back at the time appointed. at last monsieur the captain grew angry, and said he was afraid i was an idle fellow, and preferred the vagabond life of a hunter to the hardier though nobler work of a seaman; but "_ma pauvre petite_," as she called mary, took my part, and said she was certain some accident had happened to me, or i should have been back when i promised. "sweet mary, i knew that she would defend me," i muttered; "and yet how little do i deserve her confidence!" "ah, she is indeed a sweet child," observed madame durand, divining my thoughts; "she cried very much indeed when the ship had to sail away without you, and nothing would comfort the poor dear." this information, though very flattering to me, added to my regret. i was now obliged to consider what i should next do. after the free wild life i had been leading, the idea of returning to ireland was odious to me. i can scarcely now account for my conduct in this respect, but i had but once written home on my arrival at quebec; and during my long excursions to the backwoods, i never had time. i was now ashamed to write--i seldom ever thought of those at home. i had sunk, i felt, from their grade, whenever i recollected them. my whole attention had been for so long occupied with the present, that the past was, as it were, a blank, or as a story which i had read in some book, and had almost forgotten. i therefore hardly for a moment thought of going back, if i did so at all; but i was anxious to fall in again with captain dean. i fancied the pleasures of a sea life more than those of a hunter, but i was not yet altogether tired of the backwoods. i had still a hankering to trap a few more beavers, and to shoot some more raccoons and deer. on making further inquiries of the ship-broker, i discovered that there was a possibility of captain dean's going to new orleans, and i at once formed the idea of finding my way, by land and river, to that city. i knew a little more of the geography of the country than i did on my arrival, but the immense distance no way daunted me. i wanted to visit the states, and i was certain that my gun would always afford me the means of proceeding by any public conveyance, when i required it. i had a good sum remaining from the sale of the peltries i had saved; and with this in my pockets i once more started for the lakes of upper canada, purposing from thence to work my way through the western states down the mississippi to new orleans. an american vessel, which i found at goodrich, conveyed me, through lake huron, to a fort at the southern extremity of lake michigan, called, if i recollect rightly, fort dearborn. the voyage was long and tiresome. the feeling that one is in a fresh-water lake, and at the same time being out of sight of land for days together, is very curious. it gives one a more perfect notion than anything else can of the vastness of the country in which such inland seas exist. i must be excused from giving any minute account of my adventures at this period, as i made no notes, and i do not recur to them with much satisfaction. in fact, i was weary of the solitary life of a hunter and trapper, and longed once more to be among people with whom i could have some thoughts and feelings in common. till i got into the settled districts, i shot and trapped as before. my rifle always supplied me with abundance of food; and, whenever i reached a trading-post, i was able to exchange my peltries for a fresh store of powder and shot. when passing through the more inhabited districts, i was invariably hospitably received by the settlers, whatever was the nation to which they before belonged. travelling through a large portion of the state of indiana, i entered that of illinois, and at length i embarked with a party of hunters in a canoe on the river of the same name, which runs through its centre. with these people i proceeded to saint louis, a city situated on the spot where the mighty streams of the mississippi and missouri join their waters. saint louis was founded by the french, and is still very french in its general aspect. i here easily disposed of my remaining skins for a good sum of money, which i secured in a band round my waist. i remained here only two days, for i was anxious to proceed to the south; and, finding a steamer starting down the mississippi, i went on board, and for about eight dollars engaged a passage on deck to new orleans. the passage occupied ten days. by my usual way of proceeding, on foot, i should have been as many months, with a constant probability of dying of fever on the way. i must make a remark for the benefit of englishmen who may contemplate settling in the united states. they expect to find land cheap, no taxes, and few laws to hamper their will. in this they will not be disappointed; but there will be a considerable expense incurred in reaching those settlements where land is cheap. they will probably be a very great distance from a market for their produce; and, though they have no taxes and few laws, neither will they have the advantages which taxes and laws afford. they will be far removed from the ordinances of their church, and the opportunities of education; there will neither be the where to buy nor to sell. in fact, they must be deprived of many of the advantages of civilisation; added to which, many parts of the western states are unhealthy in the greatest degree, of which the wretched, sallow, ague-stricken beings inhabiting them afforded melancholy proof; and these people, i found, were once stout, healthy peasants in england, and would have continued healthy, and gained what they hoped for besides, had they emigrated to canada or to any other british colony, or even had they possessed more knowledge of the territory of the united states. i do not say that many british emigrants who give up their country, and become aliens in the states, do not succeed, and thus the accounts they send home encourage others to go out; but i do say that thousands of others die miserably of sickness and disappointment, without a friendly hand to help or cheer them, or any one to afford them the consolations of religion, and of their fate we never hear a word. people talk a great deal of the advantages of liberty and equality, and the freedom of a wild life; but let me assure them that the liberty of having one's eye gouged out, the equality which every ruffian claims, and the freedom which allows a man to die without any one to assist him, are practically far from desirable; and yet such are the false phantoms by which many are allured to a land of strangers, away from the home of their countrymen and friends. however, i am not writing a lecture on colonisation. i will finish the subject, by urging my readers to study it, and to become the advocates of british colonisation. new orleans is justly called the wet grave of the white man, for yearly pestilence sweeps off thousands of its inhabitants; and as water is found but two feet below the surface, it fills each last receptacle of the dead as soon as dug. yet pestilential as is the clime, the scenery is very beautiful. the stream, which is here a mile broad, rolls its immense volume of water with calm dignity, in a bed above two hundred feet deep, past this great commercial mart of the south. the banks on either side are covered with sugar plantations, from the midst of which rise numberless airy mansions of the wealthy owners, surrounded with orange, banana, lime, and fig trees, with numberless other productions of the tropics; while behind them can be seen the sugar-houses and the cabins of the negroes, to remind one of the curse which hangs over the land. the city itself stands in the form of a half-moon on the banks of this mighty stream, and before it are moored craft of every description-- backwood boats, keel boats, steamers and ships, brigs and schooners, from every part of the world. i may remark that directly behind the city is an impenetrable swamp, into which all the filth from the houses is led, for the ground is lower than the surface of the mississippi; and then we cannot be surprised that plague and fever prevail to a terrific extent. as soon as i landed i set to work to try and discover the _mary_, if she was there, or to gain tidings of her should she have sailed, as, from the length of time i had occupied in my journey, i was afraid might be the case. i walked along the quays, examining every ship in the river, and, after a long search, i was convinced that the _mary_ was not there. i next had recourse to the ship-brokers and ship-chandlers, but from none of them could i gain any information. i then began to make inquiries of the people i found lounging about the quays smoking, and otherwise killing the time. at last i saw a man who stood lounging against a post, with a cigar in his mouth and his arms folded, and who, by the glance he cast at me, seemed to court inquiry. he was, i remember well, a sallow-faced, gaunt fellow, with large expressive eyes and black hair, which hung down from under his panama hat in ringlets, while a pair of gold rings adorned his ears. he had on a nankeen jacket and large white trousers, with a rich silk sash round his waist, in which was ostentatiously stuck a dagger, or rather a spanish knife, with a handsome silver hilt. i took him for a spaniard by his appearance; but when i accosted him in english, he replied in the same language, with scarcely a foreign accent, "and so you are looking for the _mary_, captain dean, are you? very curious," he observed: "i left her three weeks ago at the havanah waiting for a cargo; and she won't be off again for another three weeks or more." "then i may reach her in time!" i ejaculated. "do you belong to her?" he continued. "you have not much the look of a seaman." he was right; for i was still dressed in my mocassins and hunting costume, with my rifle in my hand, and my other worldly property slung about me, so i must have cut rather a curious figure. i replied that i was to have belonged to her, and explained how it had happened that she had sailed without me. by degrees i told him more of my history; and finally, without my intending it, he drew the whole of it from me. "you are a likely lad," he observed, with an approving nod. "the fact is, i sail to-morrow for the havanah, in the schooner you see out yonder; and if you like to ship on board, you may, that's all." he pointed, as he spoke, to a large square-topsail schooner which lay out in the stream, at a single anchor. she will not take long to get under weigh, i thought, as i looked at her. eager as i was to reach the havannah, i jumped at his offer. "i have not been accustomed to a craft like yours," i replied, "but i will do my duty on board her, to the best of my power." "that's all we require; and perhaps, if you find your friend gone, you will like us well enough to remain with us," he observed, with a laugh. "we are constantly on the wing, so you will have no time to get weary of any place where we touch, as is the case in those big ships, which lie in harbour for months together. if you want to become a seaman, go to sea in a small craft, say i." i told him that i did wish to become a seaman; but i did not say that it was for the sake of sailing with captain dean, nor did i mention his daughter. indeed, i had kept her name altogether out of my narrative. the arrangement being concluded, he advised me to go and get a sea-rig, remarking that my present costume was not exactly suited for going aloft in. there were several outfitting shops, such as are to be found in all seaports, and towards one of them of the most inviting appearance i bent my steps. before going, however, i inquired of my new friend his name, and that of the schooner. "the english and americans call me john hawk, and my craft the _foam_," he answered. "captain john hawk, remember. the name is not amiss; so you may use it, for want of a better." "are you neither an englishman nor an american?" i asked. "no, youngster, i belong to no nation," he replied; and i observed a deep frown on his brow as he spoke. "neither spain, france, portugal, england, nor even this free and enlightened country, owns me. are you afraid of sailing with me, in consequence of my telling you this? if you are, you may be off your bargain." "no," i answered, "no; i merely asked for curiosity, and i hope you won't consider me impertinent." "not if you don't insist on an answer," he replied. "and now go and get your outfit." as i walked along, i meditated on his odd expressions; but i had no misgivings on the subject. i did not like the first shop i reached, so i went on to another, with the master of which i was more pleased. i there, at a fair price, very soon got the things i wanted, and, going into a back room, rigged myself out in them; while my hunting costume i did up in a bundle, to carry with me, for i was unwilling to part from so old and tried a friend. as i was paying for the things, the whole of which cost somewhere about fifteen dollars, a stout, good-looking, elderly man came into the shop. i at once recognised him as the master of an american brig on board of which i had been in the liverpool docks. i felt as if he was an old friend, and could not help speaking to him. he was very good-natured, though he did not remember me, which was not surprising. i asked him if he had met the _mary_. "i left her at the havanah, for which place i sail to-morrow," he answered. "so does captain hawk, of the _foam_," i observed. "i have just shipped on board her." "youngster," he said, looking grave, "you do not know the character of that vessel, i am sure, or you would not willingly set foot on her deck. she is a noted slaver, if not something worse; and as you put confidence in me, i will return the compliment, and would strongly advise you to have nothing to do with her." "but i have engaged to sail with captain hawk, and he seems a fair-spoken man," i urged. "if you choose to trust to his fair speeches more than to my blunt warnings, i cannot help it," he answered. "i have done my best to open your eyes for you to his true character. if you persist in following your own counsel, you will soon have to open them yourself very wide, when it is too late." i liked the tone of the master's voice, as well as the expression of his countenance; and i therefore felt inclined to believe him. at the same time i did not like to be moved, as it were, from my purpose by every breath of wind. "i promised to sail with captain hawk, or whatever may be his name; and though i cannot doubt but that you have good reason for what you say, sir, yet i don't like to desert him, without some proof that he is the character you describe him," i replied. "did he tell you what trade he was in?" asked the captain. "no, sir," i replied; "he said nothing about it." "then be guided by me, youngster, and don't ship with him," he said, speaking most earnestly. "you may make every inquiry about my brig--the _susannah_, captain samuel searle. you will find all is clear and above-board with me. i want hands, i own, and i should be glad to have you, but that does not influence me in what i say." the shopkeeper corroborated all captain searle had told me, and added so many other stories of the character of captain hawk and his schooner, that i felt truly glad there was yet time to escape from him. bad as he might be, there was something in his manner which made me wish not to desert him altogether, without offering him some excuse for my conduct. i accordingly, leaving my bundle in the shop, went back to the quay, where i found him lounging as before. he at first did not know me in my change of dress when i accosted him. "you are a likely lad for a sailor," he remarked, as he ran his eye over me approvingly. "i am glad you think so," i answered; and i then told him i had met the master of a vessel whom i had known in liverpool, and that i wished to sail with him. "and he has been telling you that i am a slaver, i suppose, or something worse, eh?" he exclaimed in a sneering tone, and with an angry flash of the eye i did not like. i looked conscious, i suppose; for he continued, "and you believed him, and were afraid to sail with so desperate a character, eh? well, lad, go your own ways, i don't want to lead you. but i know of whom you speak, for i saw him go into the shop where you have been, and tell him _to look out for himself that's all_." saying this, he turned on his heel, and i went back to the shop. i told captain searle what captain hawk had said. "that does not matter," he answered. "he cannot do me more harm than he already seeks to do; so i do not fear him." i was now pretty well convinced of the honesty of captain searle; but to assure myself still further, i called on two or three ship-brokers, who all assured me that his ship was a regular trader, and gave a favourable report of him. when i inquired about captain hawk, they screwed up their mouths, or made some other sign expressive of disapprobation, but were evidently unwilling to say anything about him. in the evening i went on board the _susannah_; and i must say that i was very glad to find myself once more afloat. chapter fourteen. the _susannah_ was a fine brig, of about three hundred tons burden. she had a raised poop, but no topgallant forecastle; so the crew were berthed in the fore-peak, in the very nose, as it were, of the vessel. i had engaged to serve as a boy before the mast. indeed, perfectly unknown as i was, with slight pretensions to a knowledge of seamanship, i could not hope to obtain any other berth. the crew were composed of about equal numbers of americans--that is, subjects of the united states--and of englishmen, with two blacks and a mulatto, a spaniard, and a portuguese. the first officer, mr dobree, was a great dandy, and evidently considered himself much too good for his post; while the second mate, mr jones, was a rough-and-ready seaman, thoroughly up to his work. i was welcomed by my new shipmates in the fore-peak with many rough but no unkind jokes; and as i had many stories to tell of my adventures in the backwoods, before we turned in for the night i had made myself quite at home with them. at daybreak on the next morning all hands were roused out to weigh anchor. the second mate's rough voice had scarcely done sounding in my ear before i was on deck, and with the rest was running round between the capstan-bars. "loose the topsails," next sung out the captain. i sprung aloft to aid in executing the order. though a young seaman may not have knowledge, he may at all events exhibit activity in obeying orders, and thus gain his superior's approbation. the anchor was quickly run up to the bows, the topsails were sheeted home, and, with a light breeze from the northward, we stood towards the mouth of the mississippi. as we passed close to the spot where, on the previous day, the _foam_ lay at anchor, i looked for her. she was nowhere to be seen. she must have got under weigh and put to sea at night. "she's gone, peter, you observe," remarked captain searle, as some piece of duty called me near him. "i'm glad you are not on board her; and i hope neither you nor i may ever fall in with her again." from new orleans to belize, at the mouth of the mississippi, is about one hundred miles; and this distance, with the aid of the current and a favourable breeze, we accomplished by dusk, when we prepared once more to breast old ocean's waves. these last hundred miles of the father of rivers were very uninteresting, the banks being low, swampy, and dismal in the extreme, pregnant with ague and fevers. although i rejoiced to be on the free ocean, i yet could scarcely help feeling regret at leaving, probably for ever, the noble stream on whose bosom i had so long floated; on whose swelling and forest-shaded banks i had travelled so far; whom i had seen in its infancy--if an infant it may ever be considered--in its proud manhood, and now at the termination of its mighty course. these thoughts quickly vanished, however, as i felt the lively vessel lift to the swelling wave, and smelt the salt pure breeze from off the sea. though the sea-breeze was very reviving after the hot pestilential air of new orleans, yet as it came directly in our teeth, our captain wished it from some other quarter. we were enabled, however, to work off the shore; and as during the night the land-breeze came pretty strong, by day-break the next morning we were fairly at sea. before the sun had got up, the wind had gone down, and it soon became what seamen call a flat calm. the sea, as the hot rays of the sun shone on it, was, as it were, like molten lead; the sails flapped lazily against the mast; the brig's sides, as she every now and then gave an unwilling roll, threw off with a loud splash the bright drops of water which they lapped up from the imperceptibly heaving bosom of the deep. the hot sun struck down on our heads with terrific force, while the pitch bubbled up out of the seams of the deck; and bill tasker, the wit of the crew, declared he could hear it squeak into the bargain. an awning was spread over the deck in some way to shelter us, or we should have been roasted alive. bill, to prove the excess of the heat, fried a slice of salt junk on a piece of tin, and, peppering it well, declared it was delicious. the only person who seemed not only not to suffer from the heat, but to enjoy it, was the black cook; and he, while not employed in his culinary operations, spent the best part of the day basking on the bowsprit-end. the crew were engaged in their usual occupations of knotting yarns, making sinnet, etcetera, while the aforesaid bill tasker was instructing me--for whom he had taken an especial fancy--in the mysteries of knotting and splicing; but we all of us, in spite of ourselves, went about our work in a listless, careless way, nor had the officers even sufficient energy to make us more lively. certainly it was hot. there had been no sail in sight that i know of all the day, when, as i by chance happened to cast my eyes over the bulwarks, they fell on the topsails of a schooner, just rising above the line of the horizon. "a sail on the starboard bow!" i sung out to the man who was nominally keeping a look-out forward. he reported the same to the first mate. "where away is she?" i heard the captain inquire, as he came directly afterwards on deck. "to the southward, sir; she seems to be creeping up towards us with a breeze of some sort or other," answered mr dobree. "here, lad," he continued, beckoning to me, "go aloft, and see what you can make of her. your eyes are as sharp as any on board, if i mistake not, and a little running will do you no harm." i was soon at the mast-head, and in two minutes returned, and reported her to be a large topsail schooner, heading north-north-east with the wind about south-east. "i can't help thinking, sir, from her look, that this is the same craft that was lying off new orleans two days ago," i added, touching my hat to the captain. i don't remember exactly what made me suppose this, but such i know was my idea at the time. "what, your friend captain hawk's craft, the _foam_, you mean, i suppose?" he observed. "but how can that be? she was bound to the havanah, and this vessel is standing away from it." "i can't say positively, sir; but if you would take the glass and have a look at her, i don't think you would say she is very unlike her, at all events," i replied. "it's very extraordinary if such is the case," said the captain, looking rather more as if he thought i might be right than before. "give me the glass, and i'll judge for myself, though it's impossible to say for a certainty what she may be at this distance." saying this he took the telescope, and in spite of the heat went aloft. when he came down again, i observed that he looked graver than usual. he instantly gave orders to furl the awning, and to be ready to make sail as soon as the breeze should reach us. "the youngster is right, mr dobree," he said, turning to the mate, and probably not aware that i overheard him. "it's that piccarooning craft the _foam_; and mr hawk, as he calls himself, is after some of his old tricks. i had my suspicions of him when i saw him off new orleans; but i did not think he would venture to attack us." "he's bold enough to attack any one, sir," said the mate; "but we flatter ourselves that we shall be able to give a very good account of him, if he begins to play off any of his tricks on us." "we'll do our best, mr dobree," said the captain; "for if we do not, we shall have but a flemish account to render of our cargo, let alone our lives." i do not know if i before stated that the _susannah_ carried four guns-- two long and two carronades; and as we had a supply of small arms and cutlasses, we were tolerably able to defend ourselves. the captain walked the deck for some time in silence, during which period the stranger had perceptibly approached to us. he then again went aloft, and scrutinised her attentively. on coming down he stopped at the break of the poop, and, waving his hand, let us know that he wished to address us. "my lads," he began, "i don't altogether like the look of that fellow out yonder, who has been taking so much pains to get up to us. he may be honest, but i tell you i don't think so; and if he attempts to molest us, i'm sure you'll one and all do your duty in defending the brig and the property on board her entrusted to you. i need not tell you that pirates generally trust to the saying, that dead men tell no tales; and that, if that fellow is one, and gets the better of us, our lives won't be worth much to any of us." "don't fear for us, sir; we're ready for him whatever he may be," sung out the whole crew with one voice. the stranger brought along the breeze with him, but as yet our sails had not felt a particle of its influence. at length, when he was little more than a mile off, a few cat's-paws were seen playing on the water; they came, and vanished again as rapidly, and the sea was as smooth as before. in time they came oftener and with more power; and at length our topsails and topgallant-sails were seen slowly to bulge out as the steadier breeze filled them. the wind came, as i have said, from the south-east, which was directly in our teeth in our proper course to the havanah. the stranger had thus the weather-gauge of us; and a glance at the map will show that we were completely embayed, as, had we stood to the eastward, we should have run on the florida coast, while on the other tack we must have run right down to meet him. we might possibly reach some port; but the probabilities were that he would overtake us before we could do so, and the appearance of fear would encourage him to follow us. we had therefore only the choice of running back to belize, or fighting our way onward. captain searle decided on the latter alternative; and, bracing the yards sharply up on the starboard tack, we stood to the eastward, intending, whatever course the stranger pursued, to go about again at the proper time. the schooner, on seeing this, also closely hugged the wind and stood after us. there could now be no longer any doubt about his intentions. we, however, showed the stars and stripes of the united states, but he hoisted no ensign in return. it was soon very evident that he sailed faster than we did, and he was then rapidly coming within range of our guns. our captain ordered us, however, on no account to fire unless we were struck, as he was unwilling to sacrifice the lives of any one unnecessarily, even of our enemies. every stitch of canvas the brig could carry was cracked on her: all would not do. the stranger walked up to us hand over hand. seeing that there was not the slightest chance of escaping by flight, captain searle ordered the foresail and topgallant-sails to be clewed up, and, under our topsails and fore-and-aft sails, resolved to wait the coming up of the enemy, if such the stranger might prove. on came the schooner, without firing or showing any unfriendly disposition. as she drew near, i felt more and more convinced that she must be the _foam_. she had a peculiarly long cutwater and a very straight sheer, which, as she came up to the windward of us, and presented nearly her broadside, was discernible. as she heeled over to the now freshening breeze, i fancied that i could even discern, through the glass, captain hawk walking the quarter-deck. when she got about a quarter of a mile to windward of us, she hove to and lowered a boat, into which several people jumped and pulled towards us. at the same time up went the spanish ensign at her peak. captain searle looked puzzled. "i cannot make it out, dobree," he observed. "i still doubt if that fellow is honest, and am half inclined to make sail again, and while he bears down to pick up his boat, we may get to windward of him." "if he isn't honest he'll not trouble himself about his boat, but will try to run alongside us, and let her come up when she can," answered the mate. "there is no trusting to what such craft as that fellow may do." "oh, we'll take care he does not play off any tricks upon us," said the captain; and we waited the approach of the boat. as she drew near, she was seen to contain eight men. four were pulling, one sat in the bows, and the other three in the stern-sheets. if they were armed, it could not be discovered. when they got within hail, the captain asked them what they wanted. they pointed to their mouths, and one answered in spanish, "aqua, aqua, por amor de dios." "they want water, sir, they say," observed the first mate, who prided himself on his knowledge of spanish. "that's the reason, then, that they were in such a hurry to speak to us," said the captain. "but still, does it not strike you as odd that a vessel should be in want of water in these seas?" "her water-butts might have leaked out; and some of these spanish gentry, sir, are very careless about taking enough water to sea," replied the mate, who was biassed by the pleasure he anticipated of being able to sport his spanish. "get a water-cask up on deck, and we'll have it ready to give these fellows, whatever they may be," said our humane captain. "have some pannikins ready to serve it out to them. thirst is a dreadful thing, and one would not keep a fellow-creature in that state a moment longer than one could help." i do not know what the second mate thought of the strangers, but i remember several of the crew saying that they did not like their looks; and i saw him place a cutlass close to the gun nearest the starboard gangway, while he kept eyeing them in no very affectionate manner. notwithstanding the heat of the weather, the men in the stern-sheets wore cloaks. on observing this, bill tasker said he supposed it was to hide the shabby jackets they wore under them. the other men were dressed in blue shirts, and their sleeves rolled up to the shoulder, with the red sash usually worn by spaniards round their waist, in which was stuck the deadly _cuchillo_, or cut-and-thrust knife, in a sheath, carried by most lusitanian and iberian seamen and their descendants of the new world. they pulled up at once alongside, and before any one attempted to stop them they had hooked on, the man in the bows climbing up on deck, followed by his companions in cloaks, and two of the seamen. the other two remained in the boat, pointing at their mouths, as a sign that they wanted water. seamen, from the sufferings and dangers to which they are exposed, are proverbially kind to those in distress. our men, therefore, seemed to vie with each other who should first hold the pannikins of water to the mouths of the strangers, while a tub, with the fluid, was also lowered into the boat alongside. they eagerly rushed at the water, and drank up all that was offered them; but i could not help remarking that they did not look like men suffering from thirst. however, a most extraordinary effect was produced on two of them, for they fell down on the deck, and rolled about as if in intense agony. this drew the attention of all hands on them; and as we had no surgeon on board, the captain began to ransack his medical knowledge to find remedies for them. while he was turning over the pages of his medical guide to find some similar case of illness and its remedy described, the schooner was edging down towards us. as she approached, i observed only a few men on board; and they, as the people in the boat had done, were pointing at their mouths, as if they were suffering from want of water. the boat was on the lee side. i think i said that there were some sails, and two or three cloaks, apparently thrown by chance at the bottom of the boat. while all hands were engaged in attending to the strangers, and for some minutes no one had looked towards the schooner, on a sudden i heard a loud grating sound--there was the wild triumphant cry of a hundred fierce voices. the seemingly exhausted men leaped to their feet; the helmsman and our captain lay prostrate by blows dealt by our treacherous foes; the second mate and several of the men were knocked down; and before any of us had time to attempt even any defence of the brig, a set of desperadoes, of all colours and nations, were swarming down on her decks from the rigging of the schooner, while others, who had been concealed in the boat, sprang on board on the lee side. never was a surprise more complete, or treachery more vile. in an instant we were helplessly in the power of as lawless a band of pirates as ever infested those seas. the captain and mates were first pinioned; the men were sharing the same treatment. i was at the time forward, when, on looking aft, who should i see but captain hawk himself walking the deck of the brig as if he were her rightful commander! he took off his hat with mock courtesy to poor captain searle, as he passed him. "ah, my dear sir, the fortune of war makes you my prisoner to-day," he said, in a sneering tone. "another day, if my people do not insist on your walking the plank, you may hope, perhaps, to have the satisfaction of beholding me dangling at a yardarm. by the bye, i owe you this turn, for you shipped on board your craft a lad who had engaged to sail with me; and i must have him forthwith back again, with a few other articles of your cargo which i happen to require." as he said this, his eye fell on me, and he beckoned me towards him. i saw that there was no use hanging back, so i boldly advanced. "you are a pretty fellow, to desert your colours," he continued, laughing. "you deserve to be treated as a deserter. however, i will have compassion on your youth, if you will swear to be faithful to me in future." "i never joined your vessel, so i am not a deserter. i cannot swear to serve a man of whose character i know nothing, except that he has taken forcible possession of a peaceable trader." i said this without hesitation or the least sign of fear. the truth is, i felt too desperate to allow myself to consider what i said or did. "you are a brave young bantam," he answered laughingly. "and though all the rest may hang or walk the plank, we will save you to afford us sport; so set your mind at rest on that point." "thank you for my life, for i have no wish to lose it, i can assure you," i replied; "but don't suppose i am going to spend it in your service. i shall do my best to get away from you as soon as possible." "then we must tie you by a lanyard to the leg," he answered, without at all appearing angry. "here, mark anthony,"--he beckoned to a tall, ill-looking black who had been busy in securing the rest of the crew,--"take charge of this youngster, and render an account of him to me by and by, without a hair of his head injured, mind you." "yes, sare," said the roman general, who i afterwards found was a runaway slave from kentucky. "i'll not singe his whiskers even. come here, massa;" and seizing me by the shoulder, he dragged me forward away from the rest of the people. "what's your name?" asked my black keeper, as he made me sit down on the bits of the bowsprit. "peter, at your service, mr mark anthony," said i in as fearless a voice as i could command; for having once taken a line of conduct which seemed to answer well, i determined to persevere in it. "den, massa peter, you sit dere quiet," he said with a grin. "i no break your skull, because captain hawk break mine if i do. i no let anybody else hurt you for same reason." from his look and voice i certainly did not flatter myself that he refrained from throwing me overboard from any love he bore me; but, on the contrary, that he would have been much more gratefully employed in making me walk the plank, or in tricing me up to the foreyard. meantime the pirates were busily employed in ransacking the vessel, and in transferring everything of value to them which they could find from her to their own schooner. the captain and mates were threatened with instant death if they did not deliver up all the money they had on board; and even the crew were compelled to hand over to our captors the small sums they possessed. to make them do this, they were knocked about and beaten unmercifully. and even those who possessed watches and rings were deprived of them, as well as of any clothes which appeared worth taking. i had often read the history of pirates and of their bold exploits, till i almost fancied that i should like to become one, or, at all events, that i should like to encounter them. but i can assure my friends that the reality was very different to the fiction; and as the hideous black was standing over me, ready every moment to knock out my brains, and my companions were suffering all sorts of ill-treatment, i most heartily wished that such gentry as pirates had not been allowed to exist. though i tried to look as indifferent as possible, the black would have observed me trembling, had he not been watching to see what his friends were about, no doubt eager to obtain his share of the plunder. the work the pirates were engaged in went on for some time, till even they had tolerably satiated their eagerness for booty; and then i fully expected to see them either heave my shipmates overboard as food for the sharks alongside, or hang them at the yardarms, and then set the ship on fire, as mark anthony insinuated, for my satisfaction, that they would do. instead of this, to my surprise captain hawk went up to captain searle, and said, "i sent a message by that youngster there to you to look out for yourself, and i never threaten in vain. he goes with me. i want a good navigator; and as your second mate seems a likely sort of person, i shall take him also. the rest of you may go free; but remember, that if any of you attempt to betray me, or to appear as witnesses against me, you will dearly pay for it." our poor captain, who was almost ruined and heart-broken by the pillage of his ship, said nothing, but bowed his head on his breast, looking as if he would as soon have been killed outright. the unfortunate mate, abraham jones, seemed horrified at hearing what his fate was to be; but he knew enough about the pirates to be aware that it would have been worse than useless to attempt to escape accompanying them. he, however, took the precaution of calling on the crew of the _susannah_ to bear witness that he was compelled through bodily fear and by force to join the pirates; and he made the best show of resistance that under the circumstances he could venture to do. from what i saw of him, i do not think that he had so great an objection to joining them as some men might have had. indeed, i confess that i was very wrong in doing so; and i feel that a person ought rather to sacrifice his life than consent to commit a crime, even though driven to it with a dagger at his throat. however, both jones and i fancied that the only chance of saving our own lives, and those of our shipmates, was by our going on board the schooner. "remember, captain searle, if we get into any misfortune through you, these two will be the first to suffer, and then again i say, look out for yourself," exclaimed the chief pirate, as he quitted the deck of the _susannah_. his people then hove her guns overboard, and removed the small arms on board their own craft, to which the mate and i were also transferred. they also cut the standing and running rigging, which would effectually prevent her from making sail for a long time to come. the first mate was next released, and was ordered to stand on the poop, on pain of being shot down if he attempted to move while the schooner was near. her boat was then hoisted in, she was cast off from the brig, and with a cheer of triumph from her crew, she stood away from the _susannah_. the first mate wisely did as he was ordered; and it was not till we had got to such a distance that there was little fear of his being hit, that i saw him jump down to release his companions. it was with a sense of misery and degradation i have never before experienced, that i watched till we lost sight of the unfortunate _susannah_. chapter fifteen. a week passed away on board the _foam_. whereabouts we were i had no means of telling; for the captain kept me in his cabin, and would not allow me to go on deck without first asking his leave, nor would he permit me to communicate with mr jones. he treated me very kindly, and even gave me books with which to amuse myself; but i was very far from happy. i felt that the schooner might some day be captured by a ship of war, and that i might probably be hung as a pirate before i had an opportunity of establishing my innocence. i also did not like to be a prisoner, even though i was kindly treated; and i thought that most probably, when hawk found i would not join in any piratical acts, and i had resolved that nothing should compel me to do so, his behaviour would change, and that if i escaped with my life, i should no longer be treated as before. abraham jones had, i am sorry to say, as far as i was able to judge from appearances, taken readily enough to the office imposed on him, and on two occasions when i went on deck, i saw him doing duty as the officer of the watch. my opinion of him was, that he would not have sought to become a pirate, but that, having no nice sense of right and wrong-- finding himself thrust, as it were, into the life--he did not think it worth making any exertion to escape from it. whether we went to the havanah or not i did not know. we certainly were once at anchor, and three times we either chased vessels or were chased by a superior force, from the eager tone in which the captain ordered sail to be made. once we fired several shots, and were fired at in return; and i suspect it must have been at some vessel on our beam chasing us, and that some of her rigging or her masts must have been cut away, from the loud cheers the pirates gave, perhaps they sunk the enemy. an hour afterwards, hawk came down into the cabin, looking as cool and unconcerned as if nothing had happened. i tried to gain some information from him, but he would answer none of my questions. he only gave a ghastly smile when i asked if the vessel at which he had fired had sunk; and he then took up a book, in which he soon seemed to be deeply absorbed. after some time the book dropped from his hand, and he sat for half-an-hour in a state of abstraction, unconscious of where he was, or who was present. he was roused by the black, mark anthony, putting his head in at the door and saying, "a sail on the lee bow." he sprang on deck in a moment, all life and activity. instantly all sail the schooner could carry was packed on her, and we were bowling along with a fine breeze in chase of the stranger. this i could only surmise, however, by the way the vessel heeled over to the breeze, for i was still kept in the cabin. presently hawk came down again. "peter," he observed, "you have disappointed me. i thought you would not be content to lead the idle life you do; i fancied you would like the excitement of the chase and the fight better than sitting alone in the cabin all day, like a young girl." "i am not content, captain hawk," i replied; "but a prisoner has no choice." "no one is allowed freedom on board here, unless he has taken the oaths of allegiance to the captain and our laws," he answered, looking steadfastly at me. "nothing could induce me to take one or the other," i exclaimed; "so i suppose i shall remain a prisoner till you release me, or i die." he seemed to take my answer very calmly; and this encouraged me to proceed and to make an effort to obtain my freedom. "captain hawk," i said, "you have been very kind to me; and though i should have been willing to sail with you before i knew the character of your vessel, i am now most anxious to be put on shore; and if you will liberate me, i will swear most solemnly not to betray you, or any of those who sail with you." "we do not trust to the oaths of those who do not join us," he answered. "for your own sake, i must make you take part in the next capture we attempt, or else my people will begin to suspect that you are a mere coward, and even i shall be unable to protect you." "i am no coward, captain hawk, and that i will prove any time that i have an opportunity; but i do not choose to commit murder or robbery," i answered, in the same bold tone in which i usually spoke. "you use harsh terms, youngster, to one who could any moment order you to be hove to the sharks," exclaimed the pirate. "however, i do not quarrel with you for speaking your mind. i once thought as you do, but custom has altered my ideas." "then why do you wish me to do what you know i must consider wrong?" i asked. "because i have a liking for you, and want a lad of spirit and education to be my companion," he replied. "the old hands i cannot trust--they are as likely to turn against me as to serve me--while you, i know, will be faithful for awhile, till you get hardened like the rest, and then--" "and then," interrupting him, i said, "what would you do with me? give me as food for the sharks, i suppose?" "no, lad; i should let you live to fight your own way in the world, with a charge to keep out of my path," he replied. "but that is not what i wanted to talk to you about. you must come on deck and join in capturing the vessel we are in chase of, for we think she is likely to prove a prize of value." i am sorry to say that so heartily tired was i of remaining shut up in the cabin, that i was glad of being allowed, on any terms, to see what was going forward on deck. on this, i suspect, the pirate had calculated. he well knew the force of the french proverb, "it is but the first step to crime which is difficult." he wished me to take that first step, being assured that i should then be his. i thought when i went on deck that nothing would tempt me to take any part in the acts of the pirates, even as far as in assisting to navigate the vessel; but there is something so exciting in the chase of a vessel, that it is difficult not to wish to come up with her. at first i stood merely looking on; but the breeze freshened and rather headed us, and hawk issued an order to flatten in the fore-and-aft sails, and to brace up the yards. i flew instinctively to the sheets, and found myself pulling and hauling with the rest. the captain made no remark, nor did he appear even to notice what i had done. the wind was about south, and the chase was to the eastward of us, standing on a bowline she was a brig of some size, and at the first glance i thought she was a man-of-war; but hawk pronounced her to be a spaniard, and homeward bound from cuba. on hearing this, of course i knew that we must be somewhere to the eastward of that place, and this was the first intimation i had had of our whereabouts. the chase had not observed us, or if he had, seemed not to be at all suspicious of our character; for he was standing on under easy sail, as if in no way in a hurry to escape from us. hawk, who was usually so calm and almost apathetic, walked the deck full of energy and excitement. every order he gave was uttered in a sharp, quick tone, which demanded instant obedience. every one partook of the same spirit; and there appeared to be as much discipline and regularity as on board a man-of-war. even the most lawless vagabonds find this necessary for the attainment of their ends and their own preservation. we rapidly came up with the chase, and were within about three miles of her, when she began, it seemed, to suspect that all was not right, for sail after sail was set on her till she could carry no more, while she edged away a little from her course, so as to allow every one of them to draw properly. this threw us soon completely to windward, for we held on the same course as before, and she appeared at first to be recovering her lost ground. in a short time we also kept away with the wind almost abeam, a point on which the _foam_ sailed her best. "huzza, my lads!" exclaimed hawk; "in a short time the chase will be ours, and, if i mistake not, plenty of gold doubloons into the bargain, if you can but make our craft walk along faster." "huzza!" shouted the english and american part of the crew, in which the people of other nations joined in their peculiar cries. the brig once more hauled her wind, and this brought us soon nearer again to her. hawk thought it was because the captain saw indications of a shift of wind, and hoped to be placed well to windward. he was scrutinising her narrowly through a telescope. "she does not show any guns," he remarked; "but it is no reason that she has not got them. get all ready for action, in case she should prove a tartar." i scarcely knew what i was about; but i confess that i not only assisted to hand up the powder and shot, but to load and run out the guns. neither of us made any further variation in our course; but the chase was, it appeared, a very slow sailer, for we so rapidly came up with her, that five hours after she was seen she was within range of our guns. she did not fire, nor did we; for supposing her to be unarmed, hawk was anxious to capture her without in any way injuring her hull or cargo. we sailed on, therefore, as if we were engaged in a friendly race; and no one, by looking at us, could have supposed that we were deadly enemies. we were getting very near to the chase, and with our telescopes could almost distinguish the faces of those on board, when i observed abraham jones, the new second mate of the _foam_, hurry aft to the captain with a face pale as a ghost. hawk laughed and shook his head incredulously. jones seemed from his manner to be insisting that he was right, for i did not hear what he said. still we stood on till the chase was within the distance of half the range of our guns. i was again aft. "hoist our bunting to make him show his colours," i heard hawk say; "and give him a shot from our bow-chaser to hurry him." directly afterwards a broad red flag, without any device, was run up at our peak, and with a spout of smoke a shot went flying over the water, and with a crash which made the splinters fly it struck the dark sides of the brig. the effect was instantaneous, and such as was little expected by the pirates. a flag was run up to the gaff of the brig; but instead of the spanish ensign, the stars and stripes of the united states were displayed; and the ports being opened as if by magic, eight guns were run out, and luffing up, she let fly her broadside right into our bows. the shot tore up our decks, and knocked away part of our starboard bulwarks, killing two of the people, and wounding three more, but without injuring our rigging. then i saw what sort of men i was mingling with. i cannot describe the fierce rage which took possession of them, the oaths and execrations to which they gave vent. the bodies of the two men who were killed, while yet warm, were thrown overboard directly they were found to be dead, and the wounded were dragged below, and left without a surgeon or anyone to attend on them. instead of the timid spanish merchantman we expected to get alongside, we found that this vessel was no other than a united states man-of-war sent to look out for the _foam_--in fact, that we had caught a tartar. hawk, to do him justice, stood undaunted, his energies rising with the occasion, keeping away a little, so as to get our broadside to bear, we fired in return, and the guns being planted high, some of the running rigging was cut away, and her fore-topmast was struck, and must have been badly wounded, for some hands instantly were seen going aloft to fish it. "about ship, my lads--down with the helm; and while she's in stays, give uncle sam our larboard broadside." the sails of the schooner were well full; she quickly came round, and before the brig could follow our example, we sent the shot from our whole broadside flying among her rigging. a loud shout of exultation from our pirate crew showed their satisfaction at the damage they had done; for several spars and sails, with blocks and ropes, were seen coming down by the run on deck. "now, my lads, let's up stick and away," cried hawk. "they thought, doubtless, that they were sure of us; but we'll show them that the _foam_ is not to be caught so easily." all hands who could be spared from the guns, and i among the rest, flew to their stations to trim sails; the yards were braced sharp up, and with her head to the south-west, the _foam_ stood away on a bowline from her powerful antagonist. we were not to escape, however, with impunity; for as soon as the brig's crew had somewhat recovered from the confusion into which the damage done by our shot had thrown them, such guns as could be brought to bear were fired at us with no bad aim. one struck our taffrail, and another killed a man on the forecastle; but our rigging escaped. twice the brig missed stays in attempting to come about, from so much of her head-sail having been cut away; and this, as she all the time was sailing one way and we the other, contributed much to increase our distance. the breeze also favoured us further by freshening, making it more difficult to the enemy to repair damages, while, as we were unhurt, it sent us along all the more rapidly. the americans are not the people to take the treatment we had given them with calmness, especially as we were so much the smaller, and had less force. at last, at a third trial, the brig came about, while she continued without cessation firing at us. not much damage was done, though our sails had daylight made through them several times by her shot, and another man was killed; but this casualty the pirates seemed to make light of--it was the fortune of war, and might happen every instant to any of us. the bodies, with scant examination, except to discover whether there was money in their pockets, or rings in their ears or on their fingers, were thrown overboard without a prayer or a sigh. as the shot came whistling over us, they laughed when they saw me bobbing down my head in the hope of avoiding them. i had no fancy, i own, to be shot by people with whom i had not the slightest enmity, nor whom i in any way wished to injure. we soon found that the brig-of-war, instead of being a slow sailer, was remarkably fast, and that, while we were in chase of her, she must, by towing a sail overboard, or by some other manoeuvre, have deadened her way, on purpose to allow us to come up with her. we had now, therefore, to put the schooner's best leg foremost to get away from her, even before she had got all her gear aloft again. to try and do her further damage, a gun was got over the taffrail, and a constant fire was kept up from it as fast as it could be loaded. i was standing in the waist with the black, mark anthony, near me. "well, massa peter, if de brig catch we, we all be hung; how you like dat?" he asked, with a broad grin, which made him look far from pleasing. "i should be sorry to see any of those who have treated me with kindness hung, or otherwise injured," i replied. "see! ha, ha! but how you like feel being hung, massa peter?" he said, again grinning more horribly than before. "why, i have no fear of that sort, mr mark, i can assure you," i replied; though i confess the disagreeable idea did come across me, that i might possibly not be able to prove that i was not a pirate should we be captured. "i have had nothing to do with any of the acts committed by the crew of this vessel." "ho, ho, ho!" he exclaimed, "den you no pull and haul, and help work de guns which fire at de sip of war? me swear me saw you myself. ho, ho, ho!" the black's laughter sounded almost demoniacal in my ears. he spoke the truth, too: i had indeed helped to work the guns; and on the strength of it, like a tempter to evil, he was endeavouring to persuade me, in his rough way, to join the pirates. i did not think it prudent to show him that i clearly saw his aim; but i resolved still to remain firm. the evening was now drawing on, and fortunately the breeze did not drop. i confess that i was just as anxious to escape from our pursuer as any pirate on board; scarcely more so, perhaps, than the new mate, who had guessed the character of the brig, and had no fancy for having his career cut short so soon. the brig did not fire at us, as to do so she would have had to yaw and thus lose ground, while we continued to ply her with our long gun. her fore-topsail could not be set while the mast was being fished. an attempt was now made to hoist it; but the breeze at that instant strengthening, away went the mast, rigging and sail together. a loud cheer arose from our decks: a parting shot was given her from our gun, and in two hours darkness hid her from our sight. chapter sixteen. i dreamed all night that i was in the hands of the americans, with a rope round my neck and about to be run up at the yardarm. i felt the practical inconvenience of associating with bad company. as soon as i awoke i went on deck, for hawk no longer placed any restriction on my movements. i fully expected to see the brig-of-war in chase of us. i own i felt somewhat relieved when, on looking round, not a sail of any description was to be seen, and the schooner was still bowling along with a brisk breeze on a westerly course. towards evening we sighted land, towards which our course was altered. we ran on, and by marks, which i could not distinguish, steered between coral banks, till on a sudden i found that we were entering a lagoon, with trees towering on either side high above our top mast heads. the wind dropped completely as we got within the passage, and the boats were sent ahead to tow. hawk ordered me into one of them, and i saw no reason to disobey; indeed, i felt that it would be very foolish not to do my best to please him in matters unconnected with piracy. the sky was clear overhead, and the stars shone down and were reflected, as in a mirror, on the otherwise ink-black water of the lagoon. as we pulled ahead, we appeared to be passing through a narrow canal, with lofty impenetrable walls on either side, while in the centre rose before our eyes the phantom-like outline of the schooner, her topmast heads and rigging alone being seen against the sky above the dark shadows of the trees. the splash of our oars was the only sound which broke the dead silence which reigned in this sequestered spot; while the only light, except from the glittering stars above us, was from the phosphorescent flashes as the blades entered the water, and the golden drops again fell into their parent element. on looking on that gloomy surface, it seemed as improbable that anything so bright should come from it as that sparks of real fire should be emitted from the hard flint-stone. mat hagan, an irishman, who pulled the bow oar in my boat, declared that our oars were throwing up to the sky again the reflection of the stars, which had no business to be there at all. we pulled on for about half-an-hour, and then a sort of bay or bight appearing on one side, we brought the vessel into it, and moored her stem and stern fast to the trees. there she lay so completely concealed, that any one passing up the canal could not by any possibility have seen her, even in broad daylight. here we lay for several days, repairing damages and refitting the ship. where we were i could not learn from any one on board; but i suspected that we were in one of the numberless keys among the bahama or lucaya islands; and i had afterward reason to know that i was right. some of the booty taken by the pirates was landed, as, on account of the marks on the bales and other signs, it was likely to lead to their detection should they attempt to dispose of it in its present form. some of the things were hid away; the others, after undergoing various operations, were re-shipped with such perfectly different marks, that it would have been impossible to detect them. cunning and trickery seemed to be now the means taken by the pirates to carry on their operations, instead of the bold, daring way in which, as i had read, their predecessors formerly plundered the honest trader. hawk ordered me to lend a hand in refitting the schooner, so i made myself as useful as my knowledge would allow. i had begun, to entertain a hope of escaping when the pirates were off their guard and fancied that i had become reconciled to my lot. it was against my nature to be in any way treacherous, and i most certainly would not have injured hawk, on account of the kindness with which he had treated me; but, at the same time, i did not feel that i was acting wrongly in concealing from him my wish to regain the liberty of which he had deprived me. one morning, while the yards were still on deck and the sails unbent, notice was given from our look-out at the mouth of the lagoon that a sail was in sight, about two miles in the offing. "what is she?" asked hawk of the messenger. "a barque, deeply laden, captain," replied the man, who was an old pirate. "to my mind she looks as if she would not make a bad prize, if we could get hold of her; and, as the wind is dropping, and it will be some time before the sea-breeze sets in, i think there will not be much difficulty in doing that." the captain was pleased at his follower's suggestion; indeed, he would have risked the loss of his authority had he refused to attend to it. the men were ordered to knock off work, and to get the boats ready, while, those who were away in the interior of the little island were recalled to lend their assistance. every one was instantly all life and animation: with the prospect of making a prize, even the most sluggish were aroused. there were three boats, which were soon launched, and oars, arms, and provisions were placed in them. to my surprise, hawk gave the command of them to abraham jones, he himself remaining to take charge of the schooner. from what i heard, i found that the pirates expected no difficulty or danger in making the capture. i, of course, hoped that i should have nothing to do in the matter. what was my horror, then, when hawk ordered me into the boats, and my old enemy--for i cannot call him my friend--mark anthony, was told to keep me company! i do not know whether this was hawk's wish, or the desire of the men, who did not like to trust me till i had been guilty of some piratical act. at first i hesitated about obeying; but i soon saw, by the angry looks which were cast at me, that i was doing so at the peril of my life; and at the same instant it struck me, that if i went, i might by some means or other obtain my liberty. the boats were one long-boat, which pulled eight oars, and carried in all sixteen men, and two large swift-rowing gigs. jones took command of the long-boat, and i was in one of the gigs. in silence we left the vessel on our nefarious errand--in silence we pulled down the canal with steady and slow strokes, for while the wind held there was no hurry. when we got close to the mouth of the harbour, the boat i was in was sent out to reconnoitre. the stranger was apparently beating up along shore, towards which her head was now pointed, those who directed her movements little aware of the danger which threatened them. after waiting a short time, during which she had drawn nearer to us, her sails began to flap against the masts, and the ripple which had been playing on the water disappeared altogether. with the last breath of wind she was put about, and attempted to stand off shore; but she was very soon left in what is called the "doldrums," namely, without steerage-way. i had been watching her attentively. i thought from the first i knew her; and i now felt certain that she was no other than the ship of which i was in search, the _mary_. with bitter grief i came to this conclusion; for i could not but fear that my friends were on board her, and that captain dean and his sweet child would be thrown into the hands of the pirates. what, too, would they think of me? would they believe me innocent when they saw me in such company? a thought came cross my mind at that instant; i would pretend not to recognise them. at all risks, i would make the pirates suppose that i joined willingly in this expedition, and perhaps i might be the means of preserving their lives, at all events, if not their property. perhaps, i thought, my steps might have been led providentially through the various adventures in which i had engaged for this very purpose. the very idea made my heart beat quick with a sensation almost of joy. i did not see how it was to be accomplished; but i felt assured that the power which had hitherto guided me would point out the way. when the officer of the boat i was in saw the barque becalmed, he gave the signal to our consort, and without further delay we three pulled out together towards her. for some time no one on board appeared to have observed us. at last some one saw us, and two or three glasses were directed towards us; but we did not seem to have created any alarm or even suspicion among them. thus we were enabled to approach without any preparation having been made to prevent our getting on board. when it was too late, probably from the eagerness with which they saw us dash alongside, they suspected that all was not right, and a few of the hands ran to the arm-chest, while others attempted to slue round one of the two guns the barque carried, and to point it down at the boats. before they could do so, we were scrambling up her sides. "oh, oh, massa peter, you hurry enough now to turn pirate, when you tink someting to be got!" shouted mark anthony, as he saw my eagerness to be one of the first on deck. the cutter boarded on one side, the two gigs on the other--one at the fore-rigging, the other at the mizzen-chains; so that the crew had to separate into three divisions to oppose us. the crew thus weakened, the people from the long-boat gained easily a footing on deck. they drove the crew aft, who were now attacked in the rear by the party from one of the gigs. i was in the foremost gig, and we had no one to oppose us. the only defence made was by the master, his mates, and two of the crew, who had secured cutlasses. they stood together on the larboard side of the poop, and boldly refused to yield up the ship, till they knew the authority of those attacking her. i saw at a glance that my fears were well founded. there stood my kind friend, captain dean, and, in the centre of the group, his sweet little daughter, mary. oh, how i wished to have the strength of a hundred men, to drive all the pirates into their boats, and to release my friends! no sooner had i appeared above the bulwarks than mary saw me. she uttered a cry of surprise, for she recognised me at once. it attracted her father's attention. his cutlass was struck from his grasp by jones, the two mates were knocked down, and all further resistance was at an end. this easy victory prevented the pirates from being as bloodthirsty as they might otherwise have proved; but, as a precautionary measure, jones ordered both the officers and crew to be bound to the masts and rigging while the ship was being searched. i had rushed aft, in the hopes of being of some assistance to captain dean should he have required it--how, i scarcely knew. i thought i would have interposed my body, should a sword have been raised to strike him: when i saw him no longer making any defence and uninjured, i stopped, and was endeavouring to turn away to consider what i should do; but mary's eye had followed me, and, as she saw me approaching, she uttered my name in his ear. on losing his sword, he had thrown himself on one of the hen-coops placed against the bulwarks, where he lay, clasping his child in his arms; and even the pirates seemed to respect him, for no one molested him. most of the pirates were engaged in dragging the prisoners to the masts to bind them. jones had gone into the cabin. i saw that no one was observing me. i hurried past my old friends. "hush," i whispered, in a voice they could just hear; "i am honest still. do not recognise me--i will save you if i can!" "i knew he was true and good," said mary, kissing her father, and trying to turn her eyes from me. what courage did her words give me! that sweet child's trusting friendship was a reward for all i had suffered. i resolved to abstain still from the evil courses to which my companions were endeavouring to lead me. i gave a glance over the stern, as if i had been looking to see what had become of the gig which had boarded at that end of the ship, and i again passed my friends without noticing them. i guessed that mark anthony would have been watching me, and i was right. "what, you like pirating, massa peter! you run about like little dog, quite frisky--not know what to do," he remarked, with a grin. he was fond of giving things their proper names. jones would have been horrified at being called a pirate; and even hawk did not like the term, though in his bitter moments he used it. "i have no help for it," i answered, with, i hope, excusable duplicity. "the fact is, mark, i had formed a wrong opinion of you gentlemen; and in future i hope to make as bold a robber as the best of you." "berry good, berry good, my boy!" said the black, grasping my fist with his huge rough hand. "me tell captain hawk, massa peter now take oath." i had not thought of that dreadful ceremony when i boasted of being ready to turn pirate; and, as i had a true idea of the sacredness of an oath, i knew that i must be betrayed if i was asked to take it, by refusing, as i must, to do so. jones now came out of the cabin, and went up to the captain. "captain dean," he said, "for such, i find, is your name, you must order your people into the boats, to tow this vessel close in shore, where you must anchor, to discharge some of your cargo." "i have no longer command of this vessel," replied the captain; "if the people choose to obey you, i have no power to prevent them." "we have the means of making them do what we please, though," exclaimed abraham jones. "here, you, get your boats into the water, and tow us ahead." he pointed to several of the mary's crew, who were released, and compelled by the pirates to do as he ordered. the pirates' long-boat also went ahead, to assist in towing; while four men were stationed at the bows with muskets in their hands, to fire on the boats should they attempt to escape. the rest who remained, i zealously assisting them, cleaved and brailed up the sails. when ordered by jones, i, without hesitation, seized a musket and pointed it at the boats. captain dean, still holding mary in his arms, sat aft, without moving. he seemed completely stunned with the blow which had fallen on him, for the cruel robbery would prove his ruin. it was an arduous operation, towing the vessel in; for a current set along shore, it seemed, and drifted her to the southward of the entrance to the lagoon. i have before described the heat of a tropical sun; and very hot work indeed was this towing. but more particularly disagreeable was it for the crew of the barque, who could not tell but, at the end of it, their lives might be sacrificed by their captors; while the pirates, on the contrary, had the satisfaction of having a rich booty in store. at last, after five hours' incessant labour, we got, as near as the depth of water would allow, to the mouth of the harbour, and the anchor was dropped to the bottom. overcome by the heat, the pirates now came out of the boats, and, rushing below, brought a spirit cask on deck, which they forthwith broached. i trembled for the consequences. jones did all he could to prevent their becoming intoxicated; but they only laughed and jeered at him, and asked who made him an officer over them. i ought to have said that, as soon as the barque had anchored, those of her crew who were in their boats were turned adrift without oars or masts or sails, or anything to guide them, and allowed to float wherever the current might carry them. as it happened, there was but little current there, and consequently they remained but a short distance off, afraid to attempt either to regain the ship or to reach the shore. louder and louder grew the mirth of the pirates, and wilder their looks and gestures, as the powerful liquor they were swallowing took effect on their brains. i saw mary cling closer to her father in fear and trembling, all the time watching me with furtive glances, lest she should be observed by her captors. i kept my musket in my hand, pretending to be watching the boats; and as they were now astern, i came aft for that purpose. what might have been the result of the prolonged orgies of the pirates it is impossible to say; but just as two or three had begun to stagger on their feet, and, with their knives in their hands, to cast their bloodshot eyes round as if looking for some victim for their insane fury, a small boat shot out of the harbour and rapidly approached the ship. in a few minutes captain hawk stood on the deck of the prize, just in time to prevent one of his men from killing the first mate of the vessel, who remained all the time bound to the mast. he then turned fiercely on jones, and reprimanded him for not having restrained the people more effectually. with a blow of his fist he knocked down the three most drunken of his followers, and the rest appeared instantly sobered. without a murmur they threw the remainder of the spirits over-board, and under his directions commenced hoisting out such part of the cargo as he considered most valuable. captain dean was not molested; nor was any notice taken of the boats which were drifting in shore, and would, i hoped, reach it, and thus enable the crews to find means by which to return to the ship, and perhaps to escape. on a sudden it seemed to strike some of the pirates that there was no use working while there were people they could compel to work for them; and to my sorrow two armed boats were instantly sent off to tow back the two which were drifting away. resistance was vain, so the poor fellows were compelled to work in hoisting the cargo out of their own ship, and afterwards in pulling up the lagoon to the schooner. when i saw that the pirates allowed the strangers to see their place of concealment, i trembled for the fate of the latter, and feared greatly that the result would be their destruction, to prevent their discovering it to others. the boats were all away, and six of the pirates, with captain hawk and myself, were the only persons besides the prisoners who remained on board. hawk had observed my apparent zeal, i suspect, for he said to me, "i am glad to see that you are overcoming your foolish scruples, peter; and to show the confidence i place in you, i will give you charge of the old master and his daughter. take care they do not communicate with any of the other prisoners or assist, to release them." my heart leaped within me at the chance thus offered of assisting my friends; at the same time i considered whether i ought to betray the confidence placed in me. "i'll keep an eye on them, sir," i answered evasively, and at the same time i took my post opposite to them, with my musket in my hand. i observed that mary turned her head away from me, lest hawk should observe the satisfaction she felt at this arrangement. hawk afterwards, with all his followers, went below to make a more minute examination of the nature of the cargo. as soon as they had disappeared, i ran up to mary and her father. i knelt down; i kissed their hands, and with tears in my eyes assured them that i had been long looking for them, and was guiltless of willingly joining the pirates. "i will risk my life to liberate you," i added. "be constantly on the watch for whatever may occur. perhaps to-night something may favour our projects; perhaps it may be weeks before i find the means of aiding you." "i knew you would, i knew you would," exclaimed mary. "father, peter will help us to escape." captain dean, by a strong effort, roused himself from the state of stupor into which he was near falling. he took my hand and grasped it tightly. "peter," he said, "i will trust you, though appearances are solely against you. for the sake of humanity--for this sweet child's sake--i pray that you will not deceive us." i again assured him that i was true, and that, when i had time, i would explain how it all had happened; and then, fearful of being seen, i retired to my post to act sentinel as before. on hawk's returning on deck, he ordered captain dean and mary into the cabin below, and told them that they must remain there till he had determined what should be done with the ship. my poor friend obeyed without a murmur, and, taking mary by the hand, conducted her to his state-room, into which he entered and closed the door. i heard him say, while i was still close to it, "kneel, my child, kneel, and pray to god to protect us." the boats had made only two trips to the shore before it was dark, and still very much of the property the pirates wished to appropriate remained on board. when they returned for the last time, there were various discussions as to what should be done with the vessel. some were for landing everything of value, and then burning her; others proposed scuttling her, with her people on board; a few suggested that they might be allowed to escape in their boats, as there was little probability of their ever reaching land; while the most humane voted for allowing the ship to depart when they had taken all they required out of her. most of the pirates returned to the schooner for the night, leaving the prisoners, with the third mate and a small guard, including me, in charge of them. just before he left the vessel, hawk called me aside. "i leave you on board of the prize, peter," he said, "because, though you are young and untried, yet you have more of humanity about you than the rest of my followers, and i can place more confidence in you. i must, however, have you take the oath of our band, to the effect that you will not desert the ship, betray a comrade, or separate from the rest till our compact is dissolved by mutual agreement." i thought, as seriously and as rapidly as i could, whether such an oath would not only preclude my own escape, but prevent me from assisting my friends. "it must effectually bind me to the pirates, and probably cause my death; but if i refuse to take it, i shall lose all chance of aiding captain dean and mary, so for their sakes i will do as i am asked." i told hawk i would no longer refuse to take the oath he proposed. "then swear," he said, repeating it, while a number of the pirates gathered round. "i swear," i said, in a voice which must, i thought, betray my emotion. the pirates cheered and welcomed me as a brother among them. at that instant a peal of thunder echoed along the rocks of the shore, and vivid lightning darted from the sky. i presumptuously thought at the time that the anger of heaven was thus shown for the crime i had committed. i trembled violently; and had it not been dark, my confusion would have been discovered. the pirates were, however, in a hurry to depart, and, stepping into their boats, which were again deeply laden, they pulled up the harbour, leaving me and my companions in charge of the ship and twice as many prisoners as we ourselves numbered. chapter seventeen. i did not go to sleep, it may be supposed, but walked the deck, considering what i should do. i had never spoken much with the third mate, who was now commanding officer; and i felt less inclination than ever to enter into conversation with him, so i only went near him when i was obliged to do so, to report that all was right. he was a surly ruffian, in no way superior to the rest of the people, except that, from having been at sea all his life, he was a tolerable seaman. it was with some difficulty that i gained permission from him to carry some food and water to the prisoners, or i believe he would have allowed them to starve. i dared not tell them that i was a friend, lest some might incautiously betray me. wherever i went, also, mark anthony followed, and narrowly watched my proceedings. i observed him, though i pretended not to do so, and was trying to devise some means of lulling the suspicions he evidently still entertained of me. the mate's name was john pinto, a portuguese by birth, though he said he was an american, and he spoke english well. i knew that he was addicted to liquor, when he could indulge in it without fear of the consequences. i had found several bottles of fine old jamaica rum in the cabin, so i brought one up on deck, with a monkey full of cool water, and saying that i was very thirsty after the day's work, and must have a glass, asked him if he would have one also. he consented, and i poured him out a stiff tumblerful, the strength of which was concealed by the coolness of the water. "very good indeed," he growled out. "peter, you understand these things; give me another." i did so, and made it even stronger than the first. he liked it accordingly even better, and took several others in quick succession. i was not afraid of his growing furious, for, from the nature of the man, i knew that he would only become stupid, and finally would fall asleep. with much satisfaction i saw this effect take place. "now i am commanding officer," i thought, "and i will see what is next to be done." just as i had thought this, and had stood up to look around me, i felt the hot breeze coming off the land. an idea struck me, if i could but liberate the prisoners, they might run the vessel far away to sea before the morning, and out of the reach of the pirates. how to accomplish this was the next thought. go with them i could not, on account of my oath, and i was also bound to the rest. there was a sentry placed before captain dean's cabin. i determined to make him tipsy also, i had recourse to the old rum, and with the same effect it had on the mate. two men walked the deck near the main hatchway, the other four were forward. the prisoners were in the hold, and my great difficulty was to get to them. i went on deck to watch the two men. they were sitting down, and i had hopes were asleep. mark anthony, whom i most feared, was forward. the night had become very dark, so i went close to them without being perceived, and i could distinguish by the tones of their voices that all four were talking together. on this i crept back to the cabin. the sentry was snoring in complete insensibility, so i dragged him on one side, and tapped softly at the door of the state-cabin. "it is peter," i whispered. "open the door, i have something to say." mary knew my voice, and opened it before i had done speaking, for i had unlocked it from the outside. "captain dean," i said, in a hurried tone, "the wind is off the shore; two of your guards are unconscious from drink; and if i can but make the rest so, or you can manage to overpower them, you may regain possession of your vessel. i can neither assist you further, nor can i accompany you, for at all risks i must return to the schooner." "oh no, no," exclaimed mary, "you must go with us; we cannot leave you behind with those dreadful men." "i have taken an oath, mary, and i must remain," i replied. "but have no fears for me. i shall, i trust, finally escape from the toils which surround me, and we may meet again." for some time i continued in the same strain, and finally succeeded in winning her over to my view of the case. i had less difficulty in persuading her father that there was no other chance of escape; and i urged on him the duty he owed to his owners as well as to his child, if not to himself. with several bottles of old rum i returned on deck, and with one in my hand i sat myself down near the two men guarding the hatchway. "the mate finds this stuff very good," said i; "will you take a glass?" they did not say no, but pronounced it excellent. "the rest should not be kept out of their share," i remarked; "i'll take them some." to this they would not agree; and wishing to keep it all to themselves, drank it down much faster than they would otherwise have done. i took the empty bottle away, and put a full one in its place, much to their surprise, for they did not suspect my trick. favouring my design, the others heard them praising the rum, and asked them what they were about. i instantly ran forward with two bottles. "they have got some spirits which they think very good, and i have brought you some bottles. there are several more stowed away somewhere on deck, and if i can find them i will bring them to you." "bear a hand and bring them to us, but do not let pinto see you, or he will be laying an embargo on them," said one of the men in a low voice, thinking the mate might hear him. in a short time all the pirates, including even mark anthony, were lying about the decks in a state of helpless intoxication. with my knees trembling with agitation, i hurried aft, and told captain dean what had occurred. leaving mary in the cabin, he accompanied me on deck, and we instantly set to work to get the hatches off. we succeeded, and, going below, found the mates and crew, most of them overcome with fatigue, fast asleep. it was the work of a minute to rouse them up, to explain what had happened, and to cut loose the lanyards with which they were secured. i told them that they must make a simultaneous rush on deck; that they must bind me with the rest of the pirates; that they must put us into a boat with a couple of small sculls, just to enable us to reach the shore; and that they must then cut their cable, and get to sea as fast as possible. "i do not see what should prevent us from carrying all hands off prisoners," said the first mate. the idea that they might do so had not occurred to me. i wished most cordially that they would, but my oath made it incumbent on me to return if i had the power. "we must do as this young man requires," said captain dean. "we will abide by his decision." "then i must beg that you will without delay put me and my companions into a boat, and be off yourselves," i answered, with a sinking heart. i crept first on deck, and lay down among the men forward. presently the crew rushed on deck, and in a few minutes the previous order of things was completely reversed, and the pirates were bound and floating helplessly in a boat by themselves. the black, who was near me, was the only one who was aroused, and he saw me being bound like himself. he would have cried out, but a gag thrust into his mouth effectually prevented him. with mingled feelings of pain and joy i saw, through the gloom, the sails of the _mary_ drop from their yards, and her cable being cut, she glided away into the obscurity of the distance. i uttered a prayer for the safety of those on board. i had no fears for myself; but i confess i wished that, notwithstanding my protestations, captain dean had forcibly detained me, though i, of course, was compelled to insist on being treated like the rest of the pirates, and he, not knowing my real wish, thought he was bound to do as i desired. mary was all the time below, or her keen perception would have saved me, as she would have insisted on keeping me, in spite of myself. i repeated the oath i had taken over and over again, and i did not find that it in any way prevented me from liberating the prize. that any one would dream of doing such a thing had, i suppose, never occurred to its framers. it was broad daylight before any of the people came to their senses. the black had been all the time, in a degree, awake, though his intellects were not very bright; he, however, had been too tightly bound hand and foot to move, while his mouth was too securely gagged to allow him to cry out. i arose with pretended difficulty; i saw his keen eye glaring on me. i looked over the gunwale: the _mary_ was nowhere to be seen. she had then escaped, and i returned thanks to heaven for her safety. the boat had been driven by the wind some way out to sea, and it occurred to me that there was a great probability of our being starved before we could regain the shore, should we not be seen by the schooner's crew. this idea gave way to the picture which presented itself of the rage and disappointment of the pirates when they found that their prize had escaped. "they will wreak their vengeance on us all, perhaps--on my head especially, if it is suspected that i had a hand in liberating the prisoners. how can i avoid being suspected? the mate will recollect that i brought the rum to him; so will the others. they will compare notes, and i shall be accused of having plotted with the crew of the _mary_. it will be asserted that i intended to accompany them, and to claim a reward--perhaps to bring a ship of war to the spot--and that they had played me false in placing me in the boat. it will not be supposed that i might have escaped, but would not break my oath. my condition is indeed perilous." i was right in that respect. never, perhaps, had i been in such imminent danger; but i forgot at the time that there is a higher power ever watchful over men, and that it will assuredly protect those who act rightly. oh, let me urge my young friends, in their course through life, always to do what they know is right, fearless of consequences: let no consideration whatever induce them to act otherwise. they may not-- probably do not--see the way by which they are to be preserved, but god, in his good time, will show it to them; or if they are exposed in consequence to suffering, will not fail, beyond all measure, to reward them. i must explain that i do not feel quite certain that i was right in taking the oath. even now that years have passed since that time, i am undecided as to that point; and therefore i trust that i may be pardoned if i was wrong in doing so, when i had no time for reflection. when the black saw me move, he made various strange noises, to call my attention to his condition. i showed him that my hands were bound, but i contrived to crawl towards him; and though his hands were behind his back, he contrived so far to loosen the cords which bound mine (they were, in truth, but slightly secured, and i could have released them without aid), that i got them perfectly free. the first thing i did was to take the gag from his mouth; and oh, what a torrent of abuse flowed instantly out of it! he did not, however, suspect me, as i thought he would. we next released the rest, but they were still too overcome with the liquor to comprehend what had happened. the wind was still off the shore, and the boat continued drifting out to sea, her speed increased by a current which set to the southward. the black recognised the mouth of the lagoon, which he knew well, but i could not make it out. the two sculls were found, and, bestowing many maledictions on his companions for not being able to drink with impunity, he made me take one of them, and attempt to pull towards the shore. with the prospects i had in view, i had no particular wish to exert myself, and i saw that, even if i did so to the utmost, we could make no way against the breeze and the current setting in an opposite direction. the sun rose, and struck down with burning fury on our heads; and i knew, when the wind fell, it would be hotter still. at length i began to feel the pangs of hunger, and, to my satisfaction, i found that some considerate friend had put a few biscuits and a keg of water into the boat. with this i refreshed myself, and so did the black; and i began to hope that he was grateful to me for releasing him from the gag, and that he would bear witness to having seen me bound like the rest. when we found that we could make no way with the paddles, we gave it up, and set to work to try and revive our companions. we unlashed their arms and legs, and by degrees they came to themselves. they were very much surprised at what had happened, and could not account for it. "well, no use talking here," observed mark anthony, whose wits being brighter than theirs, was for active measures. "if we no get on shore, we all die togeder." i suggested that we might manufacture some more paddles out of the bottom-boards; and that by bending our handkerchiefs and jackets together we might form a sail, which, when the sea-breeze set in, might enable us to reach some part of the coast. no one having any better advice to offer, mine was adopted: two more pairs of paddles were formed; but though they enabled us to make some little headway, it was very slowly. my companions now grew weary; and the looked-for breeze not arriving, they began to lose their tempers, as people are apt to do, even without so much reason, after a debauch. "it was all your fault, youngster," suddenly exclaimed the mate, turning to me; "you brought me the stuff which capsized me." "and he brought it to us," said one of the men who had been guarding the main-hatchway. "and to us also," cried those who had been forward. "den," exclaimed the black, giving a most diabolical grin from ear to ear, which made my blood run cold, "he done it on purpose: dere was someting in it, no doubt." oh, now my heart sunk within me; for their suspicions once being set on the right scent, i feared they would discover the truth. however, i put a bold face on the matter, and answered, "i found the spirit--i tasted it, and thought it very good, so i brought it to you. i am in as bad a condition as any of you; so i gained nothing by treachery, if i was guilty of it." "ah, but you hoped to do so!" exclaimed the mate. "it wasn't your wish to remain with us, but you could not help yourself." thus the discussion went on, till they arrived very nearly at the truth. i said nothing, but listened, expecting every moment to be my last. some proposed throwing me overboard at once; but the black suggested that the captain would be angry at such a proceeding, and that it would be far better to carry me in alive, and to torment me before they put me to death. i told them that they had no proof of my guilt, and that i denied the accusation of having put anything into the liquor, and that i was certain that captain hawk would acquit me. they were still threatening me, when the black, who was standing up, on looking towards the mouth of the harbour, espied two boats pulling out towards us. our comrades must have seen us with their glasses from the shore, and were coming to our assistance. they could not possibly be more than four miles off. scarcely had the rest time to discover the specks they seemed on the water, when i observed a sail just rounding the west side of the island, and standing, with a fresh breeze, directly for us. it was not long before she was discovered by the rest. she was a large brig, and, from the squareness of her yards, she looked like a man-of-war. down she came rapidly on us, as yet unperceived by the people in the boats, as a point of high land, covered with trees, hid her completely from them. the black jumped up, and watched her, with lips apart and staring eyeballs, for some time. "de brig we fought de oder day!" he exclaimed. "if he see we, den we all hang." and he sunk down at the bottom of the boat, intimating to the rest to follow his example. i scarcely knew whether to wish that the american brig-of-war--for such i felt convinced she was--should discover us, or whether we might get into the harbour unperceived. in the latter case, the probabilities were that the pirates would put me to death. in the former, i ran a great risk of being hung because i was a pirate; or the boat might drift out to sea, and a lingering death would be our portion. neither alternative afforded a pleasant subject of contemplation. the boats from the shore were all this time approaching us. at last they saw the topgallant-mast's heads of the brig over the point; but i suppose they fancied they were those of the _mary_, for they continued their course. in a short time, however, they perceived their mistake; but the brig had got clear of the land, and they were full in view of any sharp eyes stationed on her tops. they directly pulled back, and we lost sight of them almost immediately. the brig came on, and at first, after rounding the point, stood on a course which would have carried her inside of us, but, on discovering the boat, she again stood towards us. the fright of all hands in the boat was excessive, and the bold blustering pirates proved themselves cowards indeed. the african was the bravest, for the death he expected had few terrors for him. he even had presence of mind sufficient to suggest that we should invent a plausible tale of having been cast adrift by the rest of the crew of a ship who had run off with her: all eagerly grasped at the idea; but before the tale was thoroughly concocted, the brig was alongside of us, and we were very unceremoniously hauled on board. we were immediately taken before the captain and his officers in full uniform, who stood round him on the quarter-deck. "what brought you out here?" he demanded of the mate, who from his dress seemed to be the officer. pinto told the tale which had just been invented. "and what are those boats doing inshore of us?" was the next question. "i know nothing of the boats," was pinto's answer; but the appearance and dogged manner of my companions had raised suspicions in the minds of the american officers which were not easily allayed. meantime the brig had hauled her wind, and was standing inshore with the lead going, in the direction the boats had taken. officers with sharp eyes were also stationed at each fore-yardarm to look out for coral reefs. the _foam's_ boats reached the entrance to the lagoon just as the brig dropped her anchor, it being considered dangerous to approach nearer the shore. the brig, i found, was the _neptune_, captain faith. she was a remarkably fine vessel, carrying nineteen guns, and had been sent out expressly to look for the _foam_. captain faith and his officers were burning to revenge the insult offered them shortly before by the schooner. it appeared that they had, by some means, notice of her whereabouts, and when they saw the retreating boats, they had little doubt of the true state of the case. we were all kept separate from each other, and were questioned one by one. what the others said i do not exactly know, but i have reason to believe that not one of them told the same story, i was the last interrogated. "and what have you got to say for yourself?" asked the lieutenant. "that i was last night put into this boat with the rest, with my hands bound behind my back," i replied. "and you believe that the people who so treated you have run off with the ship to turn pirates?" "i do not believe it," i answered. "i knew the captain, who was a kind friend of mine, and the ship was his own. if you ever meet captain dean of the _mary_, he will corroborate what i say." "this is a new version of the story," replied the lieutenant. "it is the true one; of that you may be assured," i replied. "i would willingly tell you more, but i cannot, so there is no use questioning me." "we shall soon see that," he observed. "those who will not speak when they can, must be made to speak." i was silent; for if i said more, i was afraid of running the risk of breaking my oath, by betraying hawk and his followers. the attention of all on board was now taken up by the manning of the boats, which were, i found, to be sent up forthwith, on an expedition in search of the pirates. oh, how i longed to warn the brave men i saw with such joyful alacrity getting ready, of the great risk they were about to run! the schooner, i knew, had ten guns on board, and the pirates would be able so to place her as to offer a stout resistance, if not to defeat the man-of-war's boats completely. four of the brig's boats were sent away, to which was added the one in which i had been taken; so that there was a pretty strong flotilla engaged in the expedition. remembering, however, the extreme narrowness of the passage, i felt that if the pirates landed, and simply fired down upon their assailants, they might pick every one of them off, without the slightest risk to themselves. i was very much afraid of being compelled to accompany the boats--not that i feared the danger, but i thought that hawk would fancy that i did so willingly; and though he might be defeated and killed, i did not like the idea of his dying with the impression on his mind that i had betrayed him; or, on the contrary, if the boats were destroyed, of course i could expect no mercy at his hands. with aching eyes i saw them enter the mouth of the lagoon; and perhaps no one on board felt a greater interest in their proceedings than i did. chapter eighteen. i was allowed to remain on deck, under charge of a sentry, but was in no other way treated as a prisoner. half-an-hour elapsed, during which the boats were probably looking for the pirate vessel, without a shot being heard. it was a time of the most intense anxiety. at length, as if to make amends for the previous silence, the roar of big guns and musketry was heard reverberating in quick succession among the rocks. one fancied that one could distinguish as each boat came up to the contest, and the schooner fired at her in return. the wreaths of smoke could be perceived in the atmosphere, rising above the trees. once there was a cessation; and it appeared that the boats were driven back. one thing was certain, the pirates had not attempted to stop them at the narrow passage, as they might have done; or, if they had, they had successfully passed it. five minutes elapsed--they seemed an hour. then again the hubbub recommenced, with greater fury than before. so excited did many of the men, and even the officers, become, that i almost thought they would leap into the water, and try to swim to shore, to join in the combat. i fancied that i could even hear the cries and shrieks of the combatants-- that i could see the whole scene before me, through the trees; the boats at the mouth of the bight, firing away at the schooner, their officers cheering the men on; the pirates, stripped to the waist, working the guns of the schooner, some on board, and others on either point on shore, with small-armed men scattered in every direction around. the prolonged fight made me feel very doubtful of the result of the contest. there was a pause, and then a loud, fearful explosion, and the masts and spars and fragments of the pirate schooner could be seen rising in the air. she had blown up; but still it might be questioned who were the victors. there was another interval of the most intense anxiety. in vain we waited for the reappearance of the boats, till the _neptune's_ people began to fear that their brave shipmates had been all destroyed. there was only one small boat, the dinghy, remaining on board. the master, the only gun-room officer left besides the surgeon and purser, volunteered to go in and look for them. i was on the very point of offering to accompany him as pilot, when i remembered that i was supposed to know nothing of the place. the commander gave an unwilling consent, for he did not like to risk more of his people. he was just shoving off, when first one boat was seen to emerge from among the trees, then another, and lastly four appeared--thus one only was missing. they pulled slowly on board, and were seen to be heavily laden. with a shout of joy and hearty congratulation, they were received alongside; but the entire satisfaction at the success of the expedition was somewhat mitigated when it was found that several of their numbers were missing. they had brought off ten prisoners, most of whom were wounded. some of the packages which had been taken from the _mary_ were also brought on board. neither hawk nor abraham jones were among the prisoners: i therefore concluded that they were killed or had escaped. the prisoners, to my horror, at once recognised me and the rest of their comrades, addressing us familiarly by our names, and thus completely identified us with themselves. i suppose they did this from a feeling of revenge, from fancying that we had been the cause of their disaster. the captain, on this, ordered us all to be secured and treated as prisoners alike, till he had time to investigate the matter fully. i heard an account of the expedition from one of the seamen who had been engaged in it, as he described it to a messmate. it appeared that the pirates had at once gone on board the schooner, which they had placed, just as i supposed they would, directly across the entrance of the bight. here hawk fought her most bravely, once compelling the boats to retreat. on a second attempt to board, she was discovered to be on fire, notwithstanding which hawk had remained in the vessel till the last moment, when, leaping into the boats, he and some of his crew escaped to the shore. many of them, who could not, were blown up. fortunately, one boat's crew only of the americans had got on board by the stern. several of these poor fellows were lost; but, wonderful to relate, others, by leaping over the taffrail at the moment they felt it lifting under their feet, were saved and picked up by their friends. it was considered useless to pursue the fugitives. the prisoners taken were those picked up in the water, and a few found wounded on shore. securing them, and attending to the wounded of both parties, as well as collecting some of the booty, had caused the delay. the guns, also, planted by the pirates at the two points of land on either side of the bight, were spiked and thrown into the water, and all arms found about were carried off. such was the end of the _foam_; and such will, in every ease, probably be the concluding scene of piratical craft and their crews now-a-days. they certainly deserve no better; and although their captains, to rise to that unenviable post, must possess some of those fiercer qualities which people are apt to admire, i have no fancy for making them interesting characters, or heroes of romance. on hearing that there was a considerable amount of booty on shore, the captain despatched fresh hands to bring it off. i longed to caution them that hawk, if he was alive, was a man very likely to play them a trick, but i had no opportunity of doing so till they had gone. the boats were sent away, and i was afterwards had up for examination. i then, as the schooner was destroyed, no longer felt myself bound by my oath to keep silence; i therefore gave a rapid sketch of my adventures as the best way of accounting for being found in such bad company. the captain laughed at my statements, which, he said, were altogether incredible, and assured me that he fully believed that i deserved hanging as much as the rest. i assured him that i had not deceived him, and requested him to confront the negro, mark anthony, with me, and that he would corroborate all my assertions. had i known more of the worst part of human nature, i might not have made this request. when the black was brought up, he gave a malicious grin at me, and, putting his hand on his heart, assured the captain and officers that, as he spoke the truth, i was the most wicked, vicious youngster on board the schooner, to which he knew that it was useless to deny that he belonged--that he was perfectly innocent of any piratical act, having been carried off to act as cook--that he had at first taken an interest in me, and had done his best to reform me, but in vain, and that lately he had given my case up as hopeless. "what do you mean by lately?" i asked. "just de last six months or so," he answered, with the greatest effrontery. "i beg, gentlemen, that his answer may be noted; for i hope to be able to prove that i have not been on board the schooner as many weeks," i said, with a calm voice, which had, i think, some effect on my hearers. there was such a mass of false swearing and contradictory evidence taken during the examination, that the naval officers were compelled to reserve any judgment on the case till they should arrive in port, when it might be handed over to the lawyers to sift to the bottom. greatly to my satisfaction, the boats returned laden with further goods taken from the _mary_; but it required two more trips before they could all be brought off. the task was at last accomplished, without any of the pirates having made their appearance, and sail was then made to the northward. i found that our destination was charleston, to which port the brig belonged, and where my trial and that of the other prisoners would take place. had it been new orleans, i thought i might have been able to prove that i had gone to sea in the _susannah_, and captain searle might be found, who would give a favourable account of me. while i was thinking of this, i suddenly began to reflect that perhaps captain searle might turn upon me as the african had done, though for a different reason. he would be able to prove that i was at new orleans, certainly, but then the _foam_ was there at the same time. she had watched, attacked, and robbed him, and taken out of his vessel me and another person, who, without any unwillingness, had turned pirate, so that i had perhaps all along been in league with the freebooters, and my pretended ignorance of hawk and his craft might have been all sham. i might indeed be considered, as the negro declared i was, worse than all the rest. as i reflected on these things, i remembered that my destiny was in the hands of a higher power; that i had acted rightly according to the best of my belief; and that he would direct all things for my future good. this feeling gave me strength to endure the present and confidence in the future. i have thus invariably found it in all the affairs of life. when i have conscientiously done my duty, though inconveniences and annoyances may have apparently happened in consequence, the end has always been fortunate when i have been able to arrive at the result. the consequence of many of our acts, we must remember, is yet in the eternal future, unfathomed by mortal ken. to that time we must look forward for the reward of any of our acts which may be considered by our beneficent father worthy of reward; and also to that time (we must not conceal from ourselves) for punishment for our misdeeds, unless our saviour mercifully intercede for us. our voyage to charleston was very rapid. i certainly was in no hurry to have it over, when i had so disagreeable a prospect before me as a trial, and not impossibly an execution. i was treated with less harshness than the rest of the prisoners--perhaps on account of my youth--perhaps because some believed me innocent. i fain hoped on the latter account. at length we arrived. i will not stop to describe charleston. it is a fine, flourishing city, with a dock-yard, where many of the ships of the american navy are built. i saw little of it, for soon after the _neptune_ had dropped her anchor i was conveyed with the other prisoners on shore to jail. the americans are as fond, fortunately, of the go-ahead system in law as they are in everything else. in the settlements founded by spain and portugal, we might have been kept six months without being brought into court; here, before as many days were over, our trial commenced. the fate of those taken in the schooner was easily settled. several robberies were proved against them; and she was sworn to as the same vessel which had fired into the brig off the coast of cuba, and had there carried the pirate flag, besides having also killed and wounded several officers and men in the united states navy. the trial of the people in the boat next came on. the others swore that we belonged to the schooner and the negro, in the bitterness of his feelings against me, had acknowledged the same. i told my history as my best defence. "ask him if he can swear he no fire de big guns--he no pull and haul-- when we fight de brig," exclaimed the malignant black, perfectly indifferent to his own fate. i held my peace. "prisoner at the bar, can you swear that you did not aid and abet those engaged in making unlawful war against the united states brig _neptune_?" "i cannot swear to that, because, in a fatal fit of forgetfulness, seeing every one excited around me, i might have pulled and hauled at the ropes of the schooner." "an acknowledgment of his guilt?" exclaimed the counsel for the government; and i, with all the rest, was adjudged to be hung at the end of the week at the yardarm of the brig which had captured us. never was a nest of more atrocious pirates broken up, said the public papers, commenting on the trial, and never were men adjudged to meet a more deserved doom. now the reader will almost be prepared to know how i was saved. i must own that i never expected to be hung. i felt that i was innocent, and i trusted that some means would be offered for my escape. just as i was being led out of court, there was a cry of "witnesses! witnesses for the trial of the pirates!" looking up, i saw several seafaring men entering the court, and among them two persons whose appearance at that juncture made my heart leap into my mouth with joy and gratitude, and proved that the finger of god had directed their coming. need i say that they were captain dean and mary, and that the other people were the crew of the barque, released from the power of the pirates by my means? their story created a great sensation in court; and captain dean was ready to swear, from his knowledge of me, that i had no willing participation in any of the acts of the pirates. my story was now believed; but i had acknowledged having worked the guns in the action with the brig, and i had, by the evidence of all present, willingly, and of my own accord, rejoined the pirates, though every opportunity had been offered me of escaping. i urged my oath in extenuation of my conduct, and that i was bound to return. this was not held in law to be any excuse. i had no business to take an oath of that nature, it was asserted by the counsel for the government. the sentence of death against me was, however, rescinded, on account of the many extenuating circumstances brought forward in my favour; but still i could not be set at liberty. the sentence of the people who had been found with me in the boat was afterwards commuted to imprisonment for fourteen years; and i was offered a conditional pardon, provided i would volunteer to serve for two years on board a ship of war just then about to sail, and short of hands. i was sorry to be again thus separated from captain dean and mary; but as i had no dread of the service, i, without much hesitation, accepted the offer. "i will do my duty and retrieve my character," i thought; "and as, i trust, there is no chance of a war with england, i see no reason to prevent me." chapter nineteen. the next day i found myself transferred on board the united states corvette _pocahuntas_, of twenty guns, and one hundred and fifty men, including officers, marines, and petty officers. i found that she was bound to the north seas; to look after the interests of the united states fisheries. she was strongly built and strengthened, so as to contend with the bad weather she might expect to meet, and the loose ice she was also likely to encounter. i shall describe her more particularly by and by. the day after i had become one of the crew, while i was below, i was informed that a person was alongside inquiring for me. i looked over the side, and there i saw, as i expected, captain dean and mary. they came on deck, and mary was very nearly throwing her arms about my neck and kissing me, while her father took both my hands and held them in his. "i owe everything to you, peter," he said, and the tears stood in his eyes--"my life and property, and more, the safety of this dear child; and i do feel most cruelly not being able to make you any return. in england the sovereign would have given you a free pardon to a certainty; here, in such a case as yours, we have no one to appeal to. i have introduced myself to your captain, and, as he seems a kind man, i trust he will interest himself in you. i beg to offer you an outfit, which i have brought on board; and i fear that there is little else i can do for you. when you come back i shall be on the look-out for you, and then you must fulfil your promise of sailing with me. make yourself a thorough seaman in the meantime, and i think i can promise you very soon the command of a ship." mary joined in, and entreated me first to take care of myself, and then to come back to charleston to rejoin them. "you know, peter, i shall be nearly grown up by that time," she said, in her sweet, innocent, and lively manner, though she was half crying at the time. "then, you know, if you become first mate, i shall be able to act as father's second mate; so we shall have quite a family party on board the dear old ship." thus we talked on, joking often through our sorrows, till it was time for my friends to go on shore. with heavy hearts we parted. had we been able to see the future, haw much heavier would they have been! i found in the chest which they had brought me numberless little things, which all told of sweet mary's care and forethought. i had just time to write a few hasty lines to my family, but the letter never reached home. while i was in prison, and my fate uncertain, i dared not write. the next morning, at break of day, the boatswain's whistle roused me from my slumbers, and his gruff voice was heard bawling out, "all hands up anchor," followed with another pipe of "man the capstan." to a person accustomed to the merchant service, where, from the few hands which can be employed, the duty must be carried on slowly and cautiously, the work on board a man-of-war appears as if done almost by magic. the rapidity and certainty of action is gained only by great arrangement, method, and practice. every man on board has his proper post and particular duties; and all are accustomed to listen for and obey the signal of command, be it the human voice, the boatswain's pipe, a peculiar flag, or the report of a great gun or musket. the crew are separated into two divisions, with their respective officers: these divisions are called watches--the starboard and larboard--because one does duty, or watches, while the other rests below. on important occasions, when greater strength is required, or it is necessary to shorten sail in a hurry, or danger is apprehended, both watches, or all hands, are called. thus, getting under weigh, or going into harbour, or at divisions and quarters, all hands are at their proper posts at the same time. each top has its proper crew, who are known as fore-top men, main-top men, and mizzen-top men, whose duty is to tend the sails above them. on deck there are the sheet-anchor men stationed on the forecastle, whose duty is to tend the head-sails, anchors, etcetera, and consequently the most trustworthy veterans are selected for the office. in what is called the waist, or the centre of the ship, the landsmen and least skilful of the crew are placed. they have to pull and haul with the marines, and to clean the decks, and to do various ignoble duties below. from the part of the ship where they are stationed, they are called waisters. the after-guards are stationed on the quarter-deck, and have to tend the spanker and other after-sails, and to haul the main brace. the officers are divided into commissioned officers, namely, the captain and the lieutenants, the master, surgeon, and purser; the warrant officers, who are boatswain, gunner, and carpenter, and the midshipmen; and, lastly, the petty officers, who have their rating given them on board ship by the captain or first lieutenant, and may be equally disrated by them. there are slight variations in the british and united states navies; but the latter has adhered very closely to the customs of the former; and however republican our well-beloved cousins may be on shore, afloat they wisely carry out the principles of an absolute monarchy in the most perfect manner. there are certain general duties in which all hands are engaged, and in which each has a number. thus a man has one number at mess, another at quarters, and another at divisions. discipline is everything on board a man-of-war. without it such a mass of people could not possibly be moved together, and all would be confusion and constant disaster. there must be a head to command, either worn by the captain or first lieutenant. if the latter is a good seaman, all may go well in spite of the incapacity of his superior; but a clever captain will never submit to have a stupid first, so that it is seldom that the office of first lieutenant is held by other than a good seaman. it would take up too much space were i to attempt to describe all the grades and offices on board a man-of-war. it will suffice when i state that every man has his proper place, and that one follows the other in rank, down to the lowest rated officer. i was rated as an able seaman, which i considered a high honour, considering the little knowledge i felt myself to possess, and was placed in the after-guard. i had to take my trick at the helm, which i was also glad of, as it enabled me to perfect myself in steering. the commander, captain gierstien, was a man who had seen much of the world, and was, i have reason to believe, a very good seaman; so was mr stunt, the first lieutenant, who was a disciplinarian of the most rigid school; and certainly the ship was in very good order as a man-of-war. but there was a sad want of any of the milder influences which govern human beings. kind words and considerate treatment were not to be found. this i soon discovered; and it seemed as if a leaden weight were attached to my heart. strict regulations, the cat, and fear did everything. how the second lieutenant, mr dunning, contrived to gain his rank i do not know, for he was nothing at all of a practical seaman but then he spouted poetry, and wrote verses in praise of freedom; and this talent, i conclude, had gained him his appointment, though, by the bye, the verses appeared to be very bad. there were several of my own messmates with whom i became intimate. though rough in manner, they were kind of heart; and i will say of two or three of them, that all their sentiments were such as no gentleman need have been ashamed of possessing. i found them both agreeable and instructive companions; and i was glad to enjoy their friendship, the more from the very want of kindly feelings which prevailed generally throughout the ship. andrew thompson was my greatest chum. he was a true-hearted seaman, every inch of him. he had been all his life at sea, and had had his eyes open, as the saying is, all the time. he used to take great delight in describing the countries he had visited, and the ports and harbours in which he had brought up, as also in giving me instruction in all branches of seamanship. my other friend was called terence o'connor, an irishman, as his name betokens, with all the good qualities generally ascribed to the natives of that country. he liked me, as being a countryman, in the first place; and secondly, because i liked him. he was still young, and had nothing of the mentor about him, like thompson. he was brave, and true as steel. i should not say that he was a first-rate seaman; but he was active and energetic, and he knew how to obey--indeed, he was a capital hand to have as a mate. there was also an english lad i liked much, tom stokes by name. he was not very bright, and he used to be sadly bullied by the crew; but as i was strong, could and did protect him, and his gratitude won my regard. he had been tolerably well educated; and being fond of reading, with a retentive memory, he possessed a good deal of information. left an orphan, without a friend in the world, he had come to sea; and quitting his ship at charleston, he had entered on board the pocahuntas. i mention these three of my shipmates for reasons which will hereafter be seen. i had several other friends, whom i liked more perhaps than tom stokes, and as much as o'connor, but i need not describe them. we had fine weather on first putting to sea, and had thus time to let everything shake into its place before a gale came on. it was early in the year, but for some reason or other we were ordered to get northward as fast as we could. for the first week we had calms, and then the wind came ahead, so that our progress was very slow. instead of running through the gulf of saint lawrence, we were to keep on the eastern coast of newfoundland, and to approach the northern shore of labrador. "you'll want your flushing jacket and trousers, not forgetting worsted socks and gloves, my boy, when you get there," said thompson, who gave me this information. "you've never felt anything like the cold, nor seen anything like the fogs, to be found in those parts." he told me that few europeans had settled on the coast of labrador; but that some moravian missionaries were stationed at four or five spots, for the purpose of converting the esquimaux to christianity. "those must be christians, indeed, to my mind, who will go and live in such a climate, for the sake of teaching their religion to the ignorant heathen, who would not otherwise have a chance of having the truths of the gospel preached to them," he observed; and i agreed with him. "i've been told," he continued, "that during the winter the thermometer often falls degrees below the freezing point; and though the houses of the missionaries are heated by stoves, the windows and walls are covered all the time with ice, and the bed-clothes freeze to the walls. rum is frozen in the air as rapidly as water, and rectified spirits soon become thick like oil. from december to june the sea is so completely frozen over that no open water is to be seen. once some of the missionaries ventured, in february, to visit some esquimaux forty miles distant, and although wrapped in furs, they were nearly destroyed. their eyelids froze together, so that they were continually obliged to pull them asunder, and, by constantly rubbing, prevent their closing; while one of them had his hands frozen and swollen up like bladders. during their short summer, however, the heat is excessive; and mosquitoes, in swarms, infest the air." "i hope we shall not have long to remain in those regions," i remarked. "i hope not," said thompson; "but who can tell? ships, when they get into the ice, cannot always get out again, and some have been frozen up for several years together; yet, by proper precautions, few of the people on board have died, and at length have returned to their friends and country." "it must be very dreary work, andrew, having nothing but the ice and snow to look at for such a length of time together," i remarked. "i'll tell you what, peter, when you have lived as long as i have, you will discover, i hope, that it is not what one sees on the outside, so much as what is in the inside of a man, which makes him happy and contented, or the contrary," said andrew. "now i have met several men, who have passed two winters running in those regions, when the sun was not to be seen for months together, and ice and snow was all around them; but the captain and officers being kind, and doing everything to amuse them and to take care of their health, they assured me they never enjoyed themselves more in their lives." "i would rather not try it in our present ship." "nor would i, peter," said andrew; and the subject dropped. "what an odd name they have given to our ship!" i remarked one day, when tom stokes was near; "i cannot think where it comes from." "oh, i can tell you, peter," said tom, sitting down close to me. "i read some time ago a history of north america, and i remember meeting with the name of pocahuntas. you must know that she was an indian princess, that is to say, she was the daughter of a powerful chief inhabiting that part of the country which is now the state of virginia. a small body of english, had settled there, with a governor, a handsome young man, placed over them. they were cultivating the ground and building houses in fancied security, when the indians attacked them, killed some, and carried off others, among whom was the governor, as prisoners. it was the custom of the indians to torture their prisoners in the most dreadful way before killing them. such was to be the lot of the governor; but, fortunately for him, he was seen by pocahuntas, who instantly fell in love with him, and interceded for his life with her father. the prayer was granted, on condition that he would become her husband. he was too glad to accept his life on such terms; for the young lady was very beautiful, and he would thereby form an alliance with a very powerful tribe, and secure his countrymen from further molestation. he became much attached to his beautiful and faithful bride; and, having succeeded in converting her to christianity, he married her according to the rites of the church. from this union sprung some of the most respectable and wealthy families of the state." i thanked tom for his story, and agreed that the princess pocahuntas ought to be held in reverence by all true virginians. our conversation was interrupted by the cry of "all hands, shorten sail!" we sprung on deck. a heavy gale had come on, and the ship was heeling over to her scuppers under it. i was aloft in an instant, helping to reef the mizzen-topsail; the topgallant-sails and courses had been clewed up. the wind was about north-west, and blew very cold. the leaden waves rose sullenly on every side, topped with hissing foam, and every instant they leaped higher and higher, as if lashing themselves into fury. the twilight of evening was just giving way to the gloom of night. i never remember a more dismal-looking close to a day. we had managed to close-reef the mizzen-topsail; but the main-topsail, which was more difficult to manage, was still bulging out above the yard, the hands on which it threatened every instant to strike off, as the ship, with desperate force, kept plunging her bows into the opposing seas. "come, bear a hand with that main-topsail there," exclaimed mr stunt through his speaking-trumpet, "or--" what he was going to say i know not, for at that instant there arose the fearful cry of "a man overboard!--a man overboard!" it sounded like the knell of a fellow-being. captain gierstien was on deck. i was near him. "if i lower a boat i shall lose some other brave fellows," he exclaimed aloud, though he was speaking to himself. "we'll gladly risk our lives to save him, sir," cried two or three who were near him; "it's o'connor--it's terry o'connor!" "so would i," escaped from my lips. i had at all events intended to have volunteered to go in the boat. "down with the helm! back the main-topsail!" exclaimed the captain in the same breath. "stand by to lower a boat; but hold fast. can any of you see or hear him?" the ship was hove to, and all hands stood peering into the loom and trying to catch a sound of a voice. o'connor was a first-rate swimmer, and he was not a man to yield to death without a struggle--that we knew. it must be understood that, though several sentences were spoken, not thirty seconds had elapsed after he had struck the water before the order to heave the ship to was given. she was also going but slowly through the water, though, from the way she was tumbling about, a landsman might have supposed she was moving at a great rate. "does any one see him?" asked the captain. alas in that dark night even the sharpest eyes on board could not discern so small an object as a man's head floating amid those troubled waters. "does any one see him?" there was a dead silence. the hopelessness of the case struck a chill through all our hearts. two minutes--three-- passed away. we continued from all parts of the ship peering into the darkness--some to windward, others to leeward, and others a stern. now i thought i saw something, but it was the dark top of a wave under the glistening foam. five minutes had elapsed since the accident. long before this the ship must have left him far astern, and he must have sunk beneath those heavy waves. such was the feeling gaining possession of many. again the captain made the final inquiry, "does any one yet see him?" an ominous silence gave the sad response. "then it is hopeless waiting longer. fill the main-topsail. up with the helm." scarcely had the captain uttered these words in a loud voice, than a hand in the main-top hailed the deck with the words, "i hear a voice from down to leeward, sir." i had heard it also, i was certain. it was o'connor's manly voice. it was not a shriek, the death-wail of a struggling wretch, but a bold, nervous hail. "hold fast then with the main-topsail braces," cried the captain. there was no need of that order, by the bye. "keep the helm down. stand by to lower the starboard quarter boat." it was the lee one. "volunteers, away!" several sprung to the falls. i was among the first; so was tom derrick, an active young topman. he leaped into the bow as the boat was being lowered; i into the stern to unhook the after falls; the rest of the volunteer crew followed. the boat was lifting and pitching with fearful violence alongside, to the great risk of being swamped. poor derrick stood up to clear the falls, i believe, or to fend off the bow of the boat from the ship's side. i saw his figure in an erect position for an instant--the boat's bow pitched into the sea-- the next instant he was gone. in vain the man close to him tried to grasp him--he went down like a shot; not a cry was heard, not a sign of him was again seen. there was no time to be lost, if we would save o'connor. every moment the fury of the gale was increasing. our oars were out, and over the foaming sea we pulled in the direction whence the voice had come. the ship rose towering astern of us, her dark masts lifting and falling against the leaden sky. by her we guided our course. we thought we must have reached the spot where o'connor should have been. "be alive, shipmates," said a voice close to us. "in bow oar, and lend us a hand." it was o'connor's voice. he was swimming with perfect composure close to us on the top of a wave, and striking out toward the bows, so as to avoid the stern. he was with some little difficulty hauled on board, for he had not a stitch of clothing on with which we could catch hold of him. "thank ye, shipmates all," he exclaimed, as he sprung into the stern-sheets. "but lend us a jacket, some one, will ye? for it's bitter cold out of the water, and i've left all mine, do ye see, for daddy neptune, when he wants a new rig-out." a seaman will joke in the midst of a furious engagement, or at other moments of the greatest peril; and i believe terence was truly grateful to the merciful providence who had so wonderfully preserved him. we threw our jackets over him, to shelter him as well as we could, and pulled back as fast as we were able to the ship. there was a short time for talking and hearing how it had happened, as may be supposed. we had great difficulty in getting on board again, and it required extreme caution to prevent the boat being swamped alongside. at last we reached the deck, and the boat was hoisted in. "why, you haven't got him," said the captain, seeing the same number come back as had gone away in the boat. "yes, sir," we answered; "but poor derrick has gone;" and we explained how our other shipmate had been lost. so there was a sigh and a tear for poor derrick; and a cheer and congratulations for o'connor's preservation. our captain ordered o'connor at once to his hammock, observing that his nervous system must have received a great shock, and that he need not do duty for some days, while the surgeon was directed to see to him. o'connor very gladly turned in; and the surgeon feeling his pulse, prescribed a stiff glass of grog, a style of medicine of which sailors most approve. after he was made comfortable, i went and sat by him, and congratulated him heartily on his preservation. "why, you see, peter, there's an old saying about a man not being able to drown who is born to finish his career in another way, in which a rope plays a prominent part; but i hope that's not true in my case. you must know, indeed, that when i first struck the water, as i was hove off the yard, i thought i should escape. when i came to the top again, after i had sunk some way down, thinks i to myself, there's no use trying to swim with all this hamper of clothing about me; so the first thing i did was to cast it all adrift, and to kick off my shoes. i had some difficulty in getting out of my jacket, but i succeeded by treading the water with my feet the while. remember, peter, always have your sea-going clothes made loose, so as to be able to throw them off in a moment. you never know when you may require to be rid of them. when i was free of my clothes, i thought there would be no use striking out and wearying myself, to try and regain the ship, because i saw that all i could do would not bring me up alongside her again; so i threw myself on my back, with my arms folded on my breast, and lay as quiet as a turtle basking in the sun of ascension. you know singing out in the water tires a man almost as much as struggling with his arms and legs, so i kept my voice also for when it was wanted. there was no use, you see, singing out at that time, because i knew that there would be a noise on board, and people asking who had gone, and where was. i heard a cry of `a man overboard!' just as i came to the surface. i could see the ship all the time, and i was glad to find she did not leave me. i don't mean to say, peter, but what my feelings were very awful, for i knew the difficulty and danger of lowering a boat; but i did not think my shipmates would ever desert me, without trying to pick me up. there i lay, then, tossing on the seas, and looking at the ship. i hoped i should be observed, for i heard the captain ask, `does any one see him?' i being to leeward of the ship, his voice reached me; but i did not expect to make any one hear on board. how long the time appeared! at last i heard the order given to fill the main-topsail. `now or never,' i thought; and just as i rose on the summit of a wave, i leaped as high as i could, and sung out at the very top of my voice. never did i shout louder, for it mattered nothing if i burst my lungs, if i was not heard. how thankful i felt when i heard the order given to lower a boat! my advice to you, peter, is, `always keep your presence of mind, and, while life remains, never despair.'" chapter twenty. the _pocahuntas_ continued on her course to the northward, with variable weather. i believe we had got a considerable way to the eastward of where we should have been; but of that i have no certain knowledge, as a foremast man has no means of ascertaining the ship's position, except when she makes the land, unless the officers choose to tell him. at last a fine westerly breeze sprung up, and we went gaily along. now, however incredible what i am going to relate may appear especially as happening to o'connor, yet it is, i can assure my readers, perfectly true. terence had been sent on the fore-topgallant-yard--what to do i do not recollect, for i was aft at the time--when by some means or other he lost his hold and fell over the yard. another man, who was on the yard and saw him fall, ejaculated, "poor terence, this time it's all over with him!" falling from that height on the deck, his brains would inevitably have been dashed out of his head; but, as he fell, the hitherto sluggish wind filled the foresail, on the bulge of which, at the very instant his body striking, it was thrown with considerable force forward right into the sea. as before, terence preserved his consciousness, or, at all events, recovered it as he struck the water. he struck out bravely alongside the ship. "heave us a rope, shipmates," he sung out. i ran to the side, and was just in time to throw him a rope as he dropped past. he caught hold of it, and hand over hand he hauled himself on board into the mizzen-chains. from thence jumping into the waist, he shook himself dry, like a newfoundland dog, and went forward again to his duty, as if nothing had happened. "peter," he observed afterwards to me, when we were together, "if i never had any religion before, i think i should have some now. you see, when i felt myself going, i thought it was all up with me, and never was so surprised in my life as when i found myself in the water. tell me, peter, do you think it was god who made the foresail belly out at the moment it did?" "i think it was by his will it so happened," i answered. "i don't think chance did it." "but do you think he would take the trouble to look after such a poor fellow as i am?" he asked. "a sparrow, we are told by the bible, falls not to the ground that he knows not of," observed andrew thompson, who had sat himself down near us. "then don't you think, messmate, he would look after a human being, with a soul to be saved?" "i feel that he preserved my life; but i don't understand it," replied terence. "no, messmate, none of us can understand his mysteries. we see the earth and the sky and sea--the sun and moon rise and set--we feel the wind blow, and the snow and the rain fall. but we cannot comprehend how all this is ordered, though we must acknowledge that it is for our good; and we feel that the power of the ruler of all is so much greater than we can understand, that it is hope less to attempt it. but i say, messmate, that is no reason why we should not believe that all these things are; but, on the contrary, that god, who creates and cares for the smallest birds, watches over us also." we both acknowledged the truth of andrew's creed; and let me assure my young friends that a blessed comfort it was to us afterwards, when dangers, such as few have surmounted, surrounded us. we continued standing to the northward; and, as far as we could learn, we were considerably to the eastward of newfoundland. the change of temperature made us glad of warm clothing; but as yet there was no cold to be complained of. we might have guessed that we were approaching the arctic regions, by the character of the numberless sea-fowl which at times surrounded us. we were now, i believe, in latitude degrees or degrees; but i am uncertain, from the reasons i before stated. our officers had their guns on deck, and amused themselves by shooting as many of the birds which came in their way as they could; but my messmates called them by the various names of shearwaters, boatswains, kittiwakes, dovekies, mollymokes or mollies, gulls, buntings, and many others, whose names i forget. those the officers did not want were given to the crew, who were in no ways particular as to the nature of the fresh meat they could procure. the shearwaters especially we found very good, particularly when made into pies. for the purpose of enabling us to make crust, a greater quantity of flour than usual was served out. at first our pies had a very oily and fishy taste; but andrew showed us that this fishy flavour is confined to the fat, the whole of which is under the skin, and chiefly near the thighs. by carefully skinning the birds, they tasted like ordinary land-fowl; and before the officers found out the secret, we had a capital pie every day for dinner. our most constant companions were the mollies; for which bird the north sea men have as great an affection and veneration as sailors round the cape of good hope have for mother carey's chickens or the superb albatross: they have an idea that the spirits of the brave old greenland skippers, the successors of the fierce sea-kings, have, when quitting their mortal frames, entered these fleet denizens of the air, still desirous to wander over the scenes of their former exploits. they are very strong and graceful on the wing and though they scarcely seem to move their gracefully-rounded pinions, they can fly in the teeth almost of the fiercest gale--now swooping into the dark troughs of the sea--now skimming over the white foaming crests. they seldom, except during calm and moderate weather, alight on the water, being ever constant on the wing; and they will fly so close to the ship, that i have fancied i could catch them with my hand. one calm evening, as i was stationed on the poop, one of these birds, with noiseless wing, came flying so close to me that he almost brushed my nose; but before i could lift my hand to catch him, he was gone. several times some of the pretty little snow-buntings attempted to alight on our rigging; but, like thistle-downs, before they could reach it, they were blown to leeward, and, exhausted and weary, were soon overwhelmed by the waves. we had fishing-lines on board; and one day, the wind being light, we were told we might try them, when, to our no small satisfaction, we caught some excellent cod and halibut. we were, in fact, passing over a fishing-bank. the weather now altered for the worse. sleet, fog, and rain succeeded each other with unvarying rapidity, with an addition generally of a strong gale, coming from the north round to the north-west. for two days it was impossible to lay our course, so we remained hove to, hoping for an abatement of the storm. i am now coming to one of the most perilous incidents of my life. i think i said that thompson, o'connor, stokes, and i were in the same watch, though we were stationed in different parts of the ship. it had been blowing very hard from the northward during the day; but towards the evening it moderated a little, and the ship was carrying her three whole topsails close-hauled, and looking up to the north-east. no moon or stars were visible, for heavy masses of clouds covered the sky, and seemed to descend till they filled, as it were, the whole space between sky and ocean. there were look-outs stationed forward, though, as we were supposed to be in the open sea, no danger of any sort was apprehended. other ships might, by possibility, be crossing our course, but that was not likely; and if, by any wonderful chance, we came near each other, we should probably see and be seen in time to prevent a collision. the larboard watch, to which i belonged, and of which mr dunning, the second lieutenant, was officer, had the first watch, namely, from eight o'clock till midnight. at four bells, or ten o'clock, it came to my turn to take my trick at the helm. the weather had become bitterly cold; so i, with the rest, had donned all the warm clothing we could command. i had on a flannel shirt and drawers, with worsted hose and comforter, and over all a thick flushing jacket and trousers; a welsh wig, under a south-wester, covered my head, and a thick pair of lined boots my feet, while my hands were encased in woollen mittens--so that i little cared for the inclemency of the weather, provided i had not to face it. this i had to do while at the helm; and i remembered andrew's account of the moravian missionaries having their eyelids frozen together, and thought mine would suffer in the same manner. to say that the night was very dark would not give an idea of the inky obscurity in which we appeared to be sailing. one could scarcely see one's hand with one's arm held out at full length; and as for discerning anything ahead, that appeared impossible. i say appeared, because there is much difference having something to look at and nothing. in the latter case you fancy, because you see nothing, that nothing could be seen if it were there. i heard mr dunning, as he passed me, apostrophising the night as dark as erebus. the quarter-master, who was conning the ship, was continually exclaiming, "no higher," as i kept her luffing up into the wind, unable to see the shaking of her canvas, which rose dark and towering above me, till it seemed to be lost in the clouds. indeed, as we sailed on, we seemed literally to be sweeping the sky with our mast-heads. thus we ploughed our way, ignorant of what was ahead, through the boiling seas during the whole time i had the wheel. i had just been relieved, and was finding my way forward, knocking my hands against my sides to warm them, when there was a loud cry from the look-out men of "a ship ahead, standing right for us under all sail." "under all sail--impossible, in a night like this!" exclaimed the officer of the watch, rousing himself from a reverie. "luff all you can luff, and we may weather her," cried the voice from forward, in a tone which showed the emergency of the case; but the lieutenant had seen what he thought was a sail, and exclaimed, "keep her away--hard up with the helm--hard up." the commands of the officer were obeyed; the spokes of the wheel were turned a-weather; the ship, falling off, felt the full force of the gale, and flew with redoubled speed through the water. andrew thompson, who was standing next to me, had been peering into the gloom ahead. "a sail!" he exclaimed: "that's no sail, but an iceberg--i see its light. we might have weathered it; but now we are on it--and heaven have mercy on our souls!" as he spoke, a loud, fearful crash was heard--the stout ship shook and trembled in every timber. i was thrown, as were all near me, to the deck with stunning force. shrieks and cries arose from every part of the ship; and the watch below, in their consternation, came hurrying up on deck, many without their clothes, others with them in their hands. all was dismay and confusion; while the terrific noise of the wind, and the sea dashing over the ship, and the ship striking against the iceberg (for an iceberg it was in truth against which we had struck), added to the cries of the people, the groans of the ship, and the creaking and crashing of the masts, almost drowned the voices of the officers, who were rushing here and there as they came from their cabins, in a vain endeavour to restore order. many of the people in their fright sprung overboard, and were instantly swallowed up by the waves. the ship rose and fell with tremendous force as the sea lifted her, and the loud crashing forward showed that her strong bows had been stove in. the fore-mast went by the board, the heel probably lifted right out of its step. then a terrific cry arose that the ship was sinking, and that all was lost. the sergeant of marines, a rigid disciplinarian, had at the first alarm collected his men, and by the command of the captain brought them, with their arms in their hands, on the quarter-deck, ready to enforce his orders. no sooner was the cry raised that all was lost, than many rushed forward, with the intention of getting on the iceberg. "let no man quit the ship," shouted the captain through his speaking-trumpet. "beat to quarters, marines; fire on any who attempt to leave the deck." andrew thompson, o'connor, and stokes were close to me, just abreast of the fore-mast. andrew looked round when he heard the bows of the ship being stove in. "my lads," he exclaimed to us three, "the ship won't be many minutes more above water; so if you'd have a chance for your lives, follow me." this he said just as the captain had ordered the marines to fire on any who should quit the ship. we did not stop to see whether they would obey or not, but, jumping on the forecastle, ran along the bowsprit and down by the dolphin-striker--a spar which hangs perpendicularly under the bowsprit--from whence we dropped down one by one on to a part of the iceberg which the waves did not reach. the ice was very rough, and we were thus enabled to scramble up perfectly clear of the sea. several others attempted to follow our example; and the marines, even at that awful moment, obedient to their orders, commenced firing on them. by the flashes of their muskets, as well as from three or four guns, which the gunner and his crew had time to discharge, the whole dreadful scene was disclosed for an instant, never to be erased from my memory: the ship, with her bow run high upon the berg; her tall masts, with their yards and sails going by the board; the dark ocean and the white-crested seas dashing over her stern, amid which stood a mass of human beings, in all the attitudes of agonised despair and dismay, except those few drilled to obedience, who knew not the danger. then, again, above our heads, rising to the clouds, the white shining iceberg, which at every flash seemed to glow with flames of fire--the bright light reflected from pinnacle to pinnacle, and far into the caverned recesses of its stupendous sides. can i ever forget the dreadful despairing shriek which rent the skies, as the bow lifting high in the air, it seemed, the stern sank down, even at the instant the marines fired their last volley: it was a volley over their own graves! slowly the proud ship glided from the icy rock, on which she had been wrecked, down into the far depths of the ocean. soon all were engulfed beneath the greedy waves. no helping hand could we offer to any of our shipmates. the taller masts and spars followed, dragged down by the sinking hull; and in another instant, as we gazed where our ship had just been, a black obscurity was alone before us. i say we, for i saw that others were near me; but who they were i could not at the time tell. i called out, and andrew's voice answered, "is that you, peter? i am glad you've escaped, lad. who is there besides?" "i'm here, andrew, thanks to providence and your advice," cried terence. "and so am i; but i don't think i can hold on much longer," exclaimed poor tom stokes, who had fallen on his side and hurt himself. terence and i, who were near him, on this grasped hold of him, and dragged him up to the broad ledge on which we were seated, from the rough points of ice--to which he had been clinging. we then all huddled together as close as we could, to keep ourselves warm. "perhaps there may be some one else saved," observed andrew; so we shouted at the top of our voices, "shipmates, ahoy! are any of you there?" we listened. the only answering sound was the lashing of the waves against the base of the iceberg; and we were convinced that, out of that gallant crew, who lately trod the deck of the beautiful ship which was now, fathoms down beneath our feet, we four were the only beings left alive. chapter twenty one. i can scarcely picture the horrors of that night. i would fain, indeed, forget them, but that is impossible. we had preserved our lives for the present moment; but what could we expect beyond, but starvation in its worst form? we had also read and heard enough of icebergs to know that, as they are driven to the southern latitudes, their bases, immersed in water much above the freezing-point, rapidly melt, and huge fragments being dislodged, they are suddenly reversed, creating a tumult as if a huge mountain were plunged into the ocean. "if we have to stay here long, we shall be frozen to death," said poor stokes, his teeth chattering with cold and fear. he was the only one of us who had got wet. "trust in providence, lad," said andrew solemnly. "he has wonderfully preserved us thus far. he will not desert us, unless it be his good pleasure that we should die; and then we must: meet our fate like reasoning men, thanking him for his especial mercy that he has given us time to repent of our sins, and has not hurried us, as he has our shipmates, into eternity without a moment's warning." "should i never have another opportunity, i thank you now, andrew, for making me think of such things in the way you have done," exclaimed terence, from the fulness of his heart. "had it not been for you, shipmate, i should not have seen the finger of god in the various ways in which he has been pleased to preserve me, and i should have died the ungrateful, unthinking wretch i had hitherto lived." "i have been but an humble instrument in his hand, terence," answered andrew, in his usual calm, humble tone. "you see, i should be very wrong, and very wicked indeed, if, knowing what is right, i did not take every opportunity, when there was no fear of discrediting religion, to teach my shipmates." "you spoke to me at a proper time, andrew; and your words had, i hope, a right effect," i observed. "and to me also," said tom; "and i thank you." "well, shipmates, bad as we are off, and worse as we may be, i don't feel unhappy when i hear you say those words; that i can tell you," exclaimed andrew. "it's a joyful thing for a man, when he has seen the sun rise for the last time, to feel that there is a chance of some few things being scored in his favour in the world to which he's bound. but mind you, i don't say it's what i would pride myself on, for i know that the most one can do may count as nothing; but still it's pleasant, and nothing can make it otherwise." strange as it may seem, thus we talked on. indeed, what other subject could we talk on but religion? for every moment we felt that we might be in the presence of our maker. as andrew warned us, the shock the iceberg had received by the ship striking against it might have detached what are called calves, great lumps from the bottom, and, should the gale increase, it might capsize in an instant. we had many hours to wait for daylight. we were so well clothed, from its having been our watch on deck, that we did not feel the cold particularly; but poor tom continued to suffer. fortunately andrew discovered in his pocket his pipe with some tobacco, and a flint and steel. he lighted the pipe, and let tom have a smoke, which revived and warmed him, and we then all took a few whiffs round. this little luxury seemed to do us much good. we sheltered tom as much as we could from the wind with our bodies; and we wrung out his wet jacket, and chafed his hands and feet till the circulation was restored. the night, however, seemed interminable. to favour us still further, the wind fell, and shifted further to the south, which made it much warmer. the sea also went down, for it did not seem to lash with such fury as before our floating resting-place. "what chance have we of escaping?" i asked of andrew, after a lengthened silence. "there may be some of the wreck cast up on the berg, and with it we may make a raft, and reach the coast of newfoundland or labrador; or the berg itself may be driven ashore, but that i do not think at all likely; or we may be seen by some ship and taken off. i know of no other possible chance of escape." "then i trust we may be seen by some ship," i ejaculated. "there must be many whalers in these parts." "they keep farther to the eastward, generally," replied andrew. "they are also not fond of icebergs, and try to avoid them." i own that, seeing him so calm and collected, i fancied he must have some hopes of deliverance, by means of which we were ignorant; so i asked him whether he thought we should find any food to support us. "i have often heard of people finding means of subsistence when in as bad a condition as we are," he replied. "providence has decreed that man should require food to support life; and therefore the air and the sea, as well as the earth, afford him food. even in the cold regions of the north there is an abundance; and the very food which we could scarcely manage to digest in the south is there wholesome and palatable. in the plains of asia, for instance, where the earth affords the greatest produce, the people care to eat little besides fruit and corn; while in the land of the esquimaux, where neither fruit nor corn can grow, they thrive on whale's blubber, the flesh of bears and wild-fowl." "perhaps we may catch some wild-fowl in the morning," i observed. "perhaps we may; but i think we should hear them if there were any perched about the berg, and i have been listening for some time for them without hearing a sound." by this remark of andrew's i knew that he had been considering how we should support life, though he was prepared for the worst; and also, probably, how we had best act under all the circumstances which might occur. i might have sailed with andrew for a long time, in calm weather, without discovering the real heroic qualities which, under his rough exterior, he possessed. morning at last dawned; and what a change from the previous day! then, all had been storm and gloom; now, all around was calm, beautiful, and bright. before the sun rose, the whole eastern sky was glowing with an orange tinge; while every fleecy cloud around was tinted with gold and red, orange, or pink, and every conceivable intermediate hue; while the clear portions of the sky itself were of the purest and most ethereal blue--the whole sea glowing with the same varied and beautiful colours. but still more beautiful and wonderful seemed the vast mountain of ice on which we floated, as in every fantastic form it appeared, towering above us. the pinnacles and turrets of the summit were tinted with the glowing hues of the east; while, lower down, the columns and arches which supported them seemed formed of the purest alabaster of almost a cerulean tint; and a round us, on either side, appeared vast caverns and grottoes, carved, one might almost suppose, by the hands of fairies, for their summer abode, out of parian marble, their entrances fringed with dropping icicles, glittering brilliantly. it is not to be wondered at, if we did not admire the enchanting spectacle as much as it deserved, for we could not forget that we were floating on an iceberg, in the middle of the north sea; but still the scene made an impression on my mind which i shall not forget. we had struck on the lowest and least precipitous side of the iceberg, there being a wide flat space some distance above the water, with one ledge rising above the other, for some way up,--so that we had ample room to walk about; nor was the ice so slippery as to cause us much fear of tumbling into the water. i had heard a rippling noise during the night, and could not conceive whence it came; but now, on looking around, i perceived that it was caused by a small cascade, which, from the ice at the top continually melting, came trickling down the side. "we shall have fresh water, at all events, in abundance," i observed to andrew, who had awoke from a sleep into which he, with our other companions, had fallen. "yes, peter; and from what i see not far off, if i mistake not, we shall have food also," he added, pointing to a dark object which lay on a ledge below us, a little way to the left. "if looks like an animal of some sort," i exclaimed. "but i am afraid it will be off before we can catch it. shall we run down and secure it?" "i have no fear on that score," he replied; "it is a seal, and from the way it is lying, it is, i suspect, dead. indeed, a live animal would not have got on the ice so early in the morning. they are now feeding, and love to come out of the water to bask at noon in the sun. we will wake up terence and tom, and get them to help to drag it up out of the reach of the sea. it will probably not be very palatable, though it will doubtless serve to keep us alive. but before we commence the work of the day, let us return thanks to heaven for having preserved us through the great perils of the past night." we roused up our companions; and i believe did most sincerely offer up our thanksgiving for the mercy which had been shown us in saving us out of so many from destruction. we then, with care to avoid falling into the sea, descended to where the body of the seal had been thrown. the animal was dead, but it was quite fresh, and had probably been cast up that very night; at all events, it could not have been there long. "i doubted not that god would send us food. this did not happen by chance," said andrew. we found that we could not drag the entire body of the seal up to the higher ledge, so we cut thin slices out of it, hoping by drying them in the sun to preserve them longer. we first skinned it carefully, as andrew showed us that by stretching out the skin it would afford us some little shelter at night. having collected a supply of food to last us for many days, we dragged the remainder of the carcase out of the reach of the waves, and carried the meat to the upper ledge. "now, my lads," said andrew, who took the lead in everything, we willingly obeying him, "it is very right to secure some food for ourselves in the first place; but as we shall none of us have a fancy for spending the rest of our days here, we'll look out to see if there's a ship in the offing, and if so, to make some signal to attract her notice." we all agreed; and before attempting to eat some of the seal, for which, indeed, we had little fancy, we set to work to climb to one of the highest pinnacles of the berg. we found it impossible to reach the highest, but we got some way up; and not a sail was to be seen as far as the eye could reach on the part of the horizon visible to us. our climb had shown us, however, a considerable portion of the lower part of the berg, and we observed several things lying about, evidently cast there by the waves. we immediately descended to secure them. there was a hen-coop with some chickens in it, and though they were drowned, they were very acceptable; there were two boarding-pikes, a boat-sail, and several spars and bits of rope, which had been lying in the boats or on the booms. these were all treasures, and, collecting them, we carried them up to our ledge. there were also fragments of wood and chips washed from the cook's galley, and bits of quarter-boat which had gone to pieces with the first sea. these latter we dried in the sun, and afterwards kindled with them a small fire, over which we cooked two of our fowls, and dried the seal's flesh for future use. we without difficulty ate the fowls, but had not yet got up an appetite for seal-flesh. "we might be worse off, there's no doubt about it," observed terence; "and it strikes me, andrew, that what with the hen-coop and the spars, we might build a sort of a raft which would keep us afloat a short time, should the berg take to making a somerset?" "i was thinking of the same thing," was andrew's reply. "they will form but a small raft; but if the berg drives anywhere near shore, it will, at least, enable us to reach it. the sooner we set about making it the better. it will keep us off the cold ice in the meantime, and by rigging the boat's sails on the pikes, we shall be sheltered from the wind; and, my lads, let me tell you, we might be much worse off, so let us be thankful." this conversation took place while we were making our breakfast. instead of tea, we knocked off, with the boarding-pikes, lumps of ice, which we ate, and found perfectly fresh. this, andrew explained, arose either from the iceberg having been formed of the accumulation of the snow of many winters on the coast of greenland, and thus having been always fresh; or if formed out of salt water, from the ice, when freezing, having ejected the saline particles. he told us that water, when freezing, has the property of purifying itself, and of squeezing out, as it were, all extraneous or coarse matter. our not over-luxurious repast being finished, andrew proposed our attempting again to ascend the berg to plant a signal-post and flag to attract the notice of any passing ship. terence was for spreading out the boat's sail; but andrew reminded him that on the white iceberg that would not be readily seen, and advised our fastening our coloured handkerchiefs together instead. "we must first, however, get to the top of the berg," said terence; "and, to my mind, these boarding-pikes will serve us a good turn." no sooner thought of than tried. with the boarding-pikes we chopped steps out of the side, where it was too precipitous to surmount without such aid; and by fixing the pikes below us, we shoved ourselves up with them. in this manner, after considerable labour, we reached a high pinnacle of the berg. it was not broad enough for us to stand on without fear of falling off, so we sat astride on it while we chopped a hole deep enough to fix one of the spars in, which we had hauled up for the purpose. at the top we secured four red cotton handkerchiefs, which, as they blew out, might be seen at a considerable distance. we beat the ice tightly round the heel of the spar, and it appeared to stand firmly and well. "now, on whatever side of the berg a ship approaches, it will be seen that some human beings are on it," observed andrew, as we prepared to descend, having first carefully surveyed the horizon on every side. at this juncture we had a loss, which caused us great dismay, and, we thought, would prove a very serious inconvenience. after lighting the fire, andrew had put the flint and steel into his jacket pocket, along with his handkerchief, on drawing out which they were jerked out also, and before we could catch them, they had fallen over the steep side of the berg. away they bounded, from ledge to ledge, till they fell into the sea. had they lodged in any crevice, one of us might probably have attempted to recover them, and should very likely have fallen into the sea in so doing; so, as andrew observed, all was for the best. it was fortunate, we observed, that we had dried some of our seal's flesh, or we should have had to eat it quite raw. we now descended, and commenced at once to form our raft. we had few materials, and our only tools were the knives and the heads of the boarding-pikes. we first made a framework of the spars; and then, knocking the hen-coop to pieces, we nailed the planks on to the top, securing the whole fabric more firmly with ropes. when completed, as we looked at it, we agreed that it was a very small ark to support four people on the stormy ocean. "i don't think it will have to float me, shipmates," said poor tom, who had not recovered his hurt. "i feel as if i could not weather out another night like the last." "on you'll do well enough, lad," answered andrew, in a kind voice. "your clothes will be dry, you'll have a dry plank to lie on, and a roof over your head. you'll do yet, trust to me." these encouraging words had an immediate effect on tom's spirits, and we heard no more of his complaints. we had observed, as we sat on the top of the berg, several articles floating round the base, and some lodged in crevices which we had not before discovered. our raft being completed as far as our materials would go, i volunteered to try and get hold of some of the things. to do this with safety, i begged my shipmates to hold one end of a line, which we had formed out of the various pieces collected, while the other i secured round my body. by keeping the line always tight, i was able to lean over the edge and pick up several things in the water. the first was a bucket, in sound condition. this was valuable, as it would contain fresh water, and prevent the necessity of our chewing the cold ice, which chilled us extremely. then i found some more spars, and the fragments of one of the boats, which must have been stove in and got adrift before the ship went down. these enabled us to increase our raft to a size which afforded us hope that it might support us in our necessity. when i was tired, terence followed my example, and also added to our store of valuables. as he was hunting about, almost out of sight, among the rougher parts of the berg, we heard him sing out, "a prize! a prize!" and, standing up, he held aloft an iron pot with the cover on. the cover had been jammed tightly down, so that it had floated like a buoy. "there is something in it, though," he observed, shaking it; and, on getting off the cover, we discovered a piece of beef ready for cooking. it had evidently floated out of the cook's galley. "i quite forgot, though, that we had no means of lighting a fire; so, after all, it won't be of any use," sighed terence, after we had all four collected again on our raft. "don't be so sure of that," said andrew. "i have seen a fire kindled by means which few people would think of, but i am not quite certain that i can manage it; however, i'll try. it's worth the experiment; for if we can light a fire, we may make some soup, which will do us all good." saying this, he climbed some way up the berg, where he knocked off a pure piece of ice from one of its sparkling pinnacles. we all sat round, wondering what he was going to do. with the boarding-pike he carefully chopped the lump, till he had made it into a thick circular cake; then he pared away the edges, and afterwards commenced operations with his knife, scraping away, till he had formed both sides into a perfect convex shape. lastly, he took it between his mittens, and rubbed it round and round till he turned it out with a fine polish. "there," he said, "there is a fine burning-glass for you." "a burning-glass!" i answered, laughing. "a piece of ice shaped like a burning-glass; but you will never get anything like fire out of that, i should think!" "i should think not," said terence, but not in the same positive way that i had spoken; for he had, justly, a great respect for everything andrew did. "give me your hand here, then," said andrew to me. i took off my mitten and gave it him willingly. he looked at the sun, which was shining brightly, and held the ice between it and my hand. i saw a little bright spot appear on my hand; but i thought nothing of that, till, feeling an acute sensation of burning, i snatched my hand away in a hurry, to the amusement of my companions. "i thought it would answer," exclaimed andrew triumphantly. "i saw the master of a whaler i was once on board make several like this, and play the same trick to his people i played you; and he afterwards explained that any perfectly transparent substance in a convex shape--that is, bulging out like this--will collect the rays of the sun, and form a burning-glass. but now, while the sun is out, and before our burning-glass melts, let us light a fire and boil our soup." the chips we had collected very rapidly dried; so we soon had a fire kindled by this unexpected means. the soup refreshed us wonderfully; but we were very sparing of it, by andrew's advice; for we could not tell how long we might have to remain without means of obtaining more food. thus passed away our first day on the iceberg, without a sail appearing in the horizon to afford us a hope of rescue. chapter twenty two. that night, overcome by fatigue, strange as it may seem, we all slept soundly. the sun again rose, and discovered us still floating in safety on our unstable resting-place. the day passed much as the former one had done. we had been actively employed during the greater part of it, and therefore, in spite of our extraordinary position and the deep anxiety we felt for our future fate, we were all able to sleep, if not very soundly, at least for some hours, when the third night closed in upon us. i need not say that andrew offered up our prayers aloud for deliverance to the great being who had hitherto so mercifully preserved us. i dreamed, it seemed to me, all night long. sometimes i was at home with my father and mother and sweet sisters, and they were all laughing and talking, while we stood at the window of the dining-hall and looked out at the beautiful and familiar prospect before it. someone was describing to them some adventures very similar to mine; but i felt that i could have nothing to do with them, for i was still, i knew, on an iceberg in the northern ocean, likely any moment to be overwhelmed beneath it. then i thought a ship appeared, and captain dean was at the helm, and that sweet mary, dressed in white, and looking like a seraph, stood on the forecastle waving to me to come off to them. i, of course, could not move, for my feet were jammed into a hole in the ice, and i struggled in vain to drag them out. on a sudden a storm arose, and mary shrieked; and even her father turned pale, as the ship rose on the tops of the angry billows, and rolled over and over, bow foremost, till she was lost to my sight in the distance. i cried out with terror, and my own voice awoke me, when i found that my feet were projecting beyond the shelter of the sail, and were bitterly cold. i got up to warm them by stamping them up and down, and the noise awoke my companions. they naturally told me to lie down and be quiet; but the night was so fine and calm, that i said i would go a little way from them not to disturb them, and would walk up and down for an hour or so. i had no fancy for any more of those dreadful dreams, and i felt that the exercise would do me good. as i looked out on the tranquil, dark-shining sea, in which the glittering stars floating, so it seemed, in the blue ether above me were reflected as in a mirror, all sorts of strange fancies came into my head. i remembered all i had read or heard of mermen and mermaids, of ocean monsters and sea-spirits, and i could scarcely persuade myself that i did not see some gliding before me. certainly i could hear them: now there was a distant roar, now a loud snorting noise near me; there were voices wandering through the air, and strains of sweet music seemed to come up from the deep. i was almost positive i could hear music: sweet and faint and soft as a seraph's sigh, it came down to my ear on the gentle wind. i would on no account have missed listening to that enchanting melody. for a long time i continued gazing on the sea without feeling any inclination to sleep, when i fancied that i saw the dark sails of a ship about a mile off, and directly to windward of us. i peered into the darkness to assure myself, for i did not like causelessly to arouse my companions. how eagerly i looked may be supposed. if there was a ship where i supposed, the music i had heard must have come from her. at last i was almost confident that there was a ship; but as i had my doubts, i went back to andrew and touched his arm. "andrew," i said, trembling all over in my eagerness, "i do not wish to raise false hopes, but look out there and tell me what you see." "see, lad!--why, a sail; there's no doubt of it," he exclaimed hurriedly. "a barque-rigged vessel standing on a bowline to the north-west. she's a whaler, i suspect; but how to make the keenest ears on board hear us, is a puzzle." we called terence and tom, who instantly sprung to their feet and joined us in looking out for the stranger. "could not we make a fire as a signal?" i asked, "that would attract her." "you forget that our flint and steel went overboard, and the ice without the sun won't light a fire," he answered; "but we will see what our voices can do. now, my lads, let's hail together." on that, standing up, throwing out our chests, and putting our hands to our mouths, we gave a shout which none but strong lungs could have uttered. it must have been carried a good mile to windward over the calm sea, but no responding cry came down to our anxious ears. "there is no use wearing out our lungs with hallooing," said terence. "they wouldn't hear us, up to windward there, even if they were much nearer. we must have patience, shipmates!--it's no use." "god's will be done," ejaculated andrew. "he may yet think fit to send us help." the tone andrew gave to our minds prevented us from despairing or sinking into despondency. i do not mean to say that we did not, at first, feel the most bitter disappointment as the ship receded into the darkness which surrounded us, but this feeling did not endure. we, as our wise companion advised us, "trusted in god that he would save us;" and we all along felt that he would do so. we earnestly watched the ship as long as she was visible, and long after, though we scarcely expected her to tack, or to repass near. at length we returned to our raft, and endeavoured to forget our disappointment in sleep. we lay down, under our sealskin and sail, and after an hour's trial, i once more closed my eyes. how long i had slept i do not know, when i was again awoke by a loud noise and a violent movement of the iceberg. andrew suddenly started up, exclaiming, "the time has come! hold on to the raft, my lads; hold on." he meantime seized a boarding-pike, ready to steady the raft. his impression was that the iceberg was in the act of rolling over, and that now was the time our raft would be of service, if it could survive the waves caused by the submersion of the snow-formed mountain on which we rested. we waited in awful suspense, believing that our last moment had indeed arrived. it is difficult to calculate time on such occasions. gradually the rocking movement of the berg ceased, and we found that the ledge on which we were posted had sloped rather more towards the water than before, so that it was necessary to continue holding on by the boarding-pike to prevent its gliding off. "what has happened?" i exclaimed, as i first again drew breath freely. "i thought it was all over with us." "so did i, lad, at first, before i had time to think. i now suspect the cause of the commotion; and it is a mercy that the consequences have not been more terrible. when the circumstance which has just taken place happens, the whalers say that an iceberg has calved--that is, a huge lump of ice has broken away from the base of the berg, and has floated up to the top of the water. the noise we heard was when it struck against other parts, and first came to the surface. the loss of a large mass, of course, makes the berg lop-sided; and should another lump break away, it may go right over. should we survive till the morning, we shall probably see the calf floating near us. i have known large ships overwhelmed by bergs falling on them. you know that it is the custom to moor ships to the lee side of a berg, to prevent their drifting to leeward with a contrary wind. a friend of mine, who gave me the account, belonged to a whaler, the _thomas_, of hull, captain taylor, fishing in davis's straits. well, one day they lay moored to an iceberg, with a long scope of warp out, and thought themselves quite secure. on a sudden, without any notice, as they were sitting at dinner, a tremendous noise was heard and a blow was felt, just as if the ship had struck on a rock. up went the bow in the air, till the keel showed above water, and the taffrail was almost under it. all thought the ship must go down; but still she floated, not much the worse for the blow. it was found, what all the old whale-men knew well enough, that a calf had broken away from the bottom of the berg, but fortunately had struck the keel fairly, without injuring the ship's bottom. sometimes a calf falls from the top of a berg; but i hope one will not come down on our heads, for if it does, it will settle us outright." andrew said this quite calmly, though he felt that what he was describing might any moment happen. he afterwards reminded us that pieces were more likely to fall from the summit in the day-time, when the sun was shining on it, than at night, and that therefore we should not let the thought oppress us. it may be supposed that we did not sleep, nor attempt to sleep, any more that night. as there was no moon, we had not any means of ascertaining how the time passed; but we calculated that it was about two o'clock in the morning when the last occurrence i have described took place. the air had been very light when i first looked out; now it was a perfect calm, so that not even a ripple was heard against the side of the berg. we were therefore not uncomfortable, as far as our feelings went, could we have divested ourselves of the recollection of the peril to which we were momentarily exposed. oh how long that night seemed! i fancied, that it would never have an end: each minute seemed prolonged to an hour--each hour to a winter's night. sometimes we talked, and listened to andrew's description of the events which had occurred to him when he before visited the polar sea. at other times we were all silent together; but andrew took care this should not last long; and never did man so exert himself to keep up the spirits of his companions. he was actuated by a true christian spirit; and nothing else would have enabled him, i am confident, to forget himself and watch over us in the way he did. there had been a spell of silence, when terence exclaimed, "what say you, andrew, if we were to launch our raft, and try to reach the coast of newfoundland while the calm lasts? it might be done, might it not?" "i think not," was andrew's reply. "while we remain on the iceberg, we have a chance of being seen; but, on a raft, a ship may pass close to us and not heed us, while, if a gale should come on, the raft would not live an instant. even should we near the coast, which i do not think likely, we should probably be knocked to pieces on the rocks; so i say stay to the last extremity. if the iceberg won't hold us, then take to the raft." of course we determined to follow andrew's advice; indeed, we all looked up to him as our guide and captain. with no little thankfulness did we welcome the first streaks of dawn on the eastern horizon. again we knelt down and offered our prayers to heaven. we had scarcely risen to our feet when a shout of joy escaped from our lips; for there, in the grey misty dawn, with her canvas hanging against her masts, lay motionless on the calm water a ship--the same, doubtless, which we fancied had passed far away from us in the night. was that calm sent by providence to effect, our salvation? the result will prove it, or when his now inscrutable ways are made manifest. how our hearts beat with hope and fear! my first impulse was to scream out to her. i checked myself, and asked andrew what he would advise. he did not answer for some time. eagerly we watched the stranger. she was a barque--a whaler, no doubt. "will she see us?" we asked one another. "will she near the iceberg again, or will she sail off in an opposite direction?" those who have been placed in a similar position to the one in which we were, can alone truly comprehend to the full the intensity of our feelings. we could scarcely breathe--we could scarcely speak. all our thoughts were concentrated in that one point; our very being seemed wrapped up, as it were, in it. the night had passed slowly away; but still more slow did the light of day seem to creep over the world. i said we were for some time silent. at last andrew answered my question by saying, "the first thing we must do, shipmates, is to climb up to the top of the berg, and spread out our red handkerchiefs; so as to show a broad face to those on board yonder vessel. as soon as the sun is high enough, we'll try and light a fire, and the smoke may be seen by them; but if not, then we must trust ourselves to the raft, and try to paddle up to her. perhaps we may reach her before a breeze springs up; but perhaps not. yet i don't think it will get up till noon." "but why not get on the raft at once?" i urged; for i had more confidence in it than he had. "because if we do, we may not be able to return to the iceberg, which we should wish to do if we miss the ship," he answered. "but on that point i will agree to what you all wish. what do you say, tom?--you are the youngest, and should speak first." "i say, then, let us try the raft," said tom, who fancied even that he could swim to the ship. "and so do i," i added. "and i," exclaimed terence, eagerly. "we'll drive her up to the ship in no time." "then, shipmates, the sooner we are off the better," we all cried out together. terence and i climbed up to the top of the berg, and spread out our handkerchiefs between two upright spars, and we thought they could not fail of being seen. andrew and tom, meantime, were filling the iron pot with water, collecting some of our seal flesh, and otherwise getting our raft ready. securing one end of our rope to a point of ice, we eased the raft carefully down into the sea. to our satisfaction it floated well alongside, but it required great caution not to upset it as we stepped upon it. we at once saw that andrew had good reason for not wishing to trust to it; for no sooner were we on it, than, calm as the sea was, the water washed completely over it, and, had we not placed two planks across it to sit on, we should have been wet through directly. we each of us held a small piece of the boat's planking in our hands to serve as paddles. "away we go, my lads," exclaimed terence, as he gave a strong shove against the iceberg with a boarding-pike; and with a cheer, which, perilous as was our adventure, we could not repress, we began vigorously to ply our paddles. it was a matter of life and death, we saw. if we missed the ship, our chance of returning to the iceberg was small indeed. our progress was very slow. we might have made a mile an hour--perhaps not so much--and we had three miles to go at least. still we did not flag in our exertions. we each of us chewed a piece of seal's flesh to stay our hunger, though we had no inclination or power to swallow anything. we scarcely spoke a word all the time, but every now and then we turned a glance back, to judge how far we had got from our late abode. one mile was passed, and we were not seen. indeed, so small a speck as we were on the ocean, we could not expect to be observed till the sun had risen. our great anxiety was respecting the wind--still the sea continued calm as a mirror. on we went--our eyes were on the ship's sails. alas! a light cat's-paw skimmed across the ocean--the topgallant-sails of the barque blew out; but before they had any influence in impelling her through the water, they again drooped as before. another cat's-paw came stronger than the first, and rippled the whole surrounding surface. oh with what agony we saw the topsails bulge out, and the barque's head turn from us! we simultaneously shouted, or rather shrieked out in our eagerness. it was of no avail. we strove to drive the raft on faster than before. what could our utmost efforts accomplish in overtaking a ship, her sails filled even with the light air then blowing? no longer were cat's-paws playing on the surface of the sea, but a well-defined ripple, almost small waves, were covering every part of it; and, as we worked our way among them, they washed around our feet. every sail on board the barque began to draw; she had got steerage way, and was standing from us. we were not seen; and hope, which had hitherto sustained us, fled. our hearts sunk, and scarcely could we longer ply our useless paddles. "andrew, what say you to this?" asked terence at length. "persevere to the last, like men," replied andrew. "we may have to return to the iceberg; but even then we must not lose courage, or our trust in providence." just then the sun rose from his watery bed with glorious refulgence in an unclouded sky. i looked back, to judge how far we had got from the iceberg. truly if it had appeared beautiful when we were on it, doubly so it did appear now, glittering in the beams of the sun; some parts of alabaster whiteness, and the rest tinged with hues of gold and pink and most transparent blue. it was an object well calculated to attract the eyes of a stranger. a cry from my companions made me turn my head. the barque's sails were shivering, as she luffed up to the wind. directly after a boat was seen to be lowered, and quickly being manned, it pulled towards us. then indeed our hearts rose to our bosoms, and we shouted with joy. poor tom, from the great revulsion of feeling, was nearly fainting and falling off the raft, had we not supported him. still we paddled on, and the boat seemed to fly towards us. she was quite close to us, when, in our joy we waved our paddles above our heads, and gave way to another shout. "hillo, who have we here?" exclaimed a voice from the boat. "what, mates, we didn't see you!" such was the case; they had seen our signal, but had overlooked us. the surgeon of the ship, never having before seen an iceberg, was gazing at it with his glass, and was the first to remark our handkerchiefs; and not being able to make out what they were, he had directed to them the captain's attention. he was in the boat, and assisted to help us off our raft. once on board and safe, the strength which had hitherto supported us, gave way, and we sunk down to the bottom of the boat, overpowered with various emotions. i trust and believe that we were all of us grateful to heaven for our wonderful preservation. the boat towed our raft alongside, as it was too valuable for firewood to be lost. we were hoisted on board, unable to help ourselves, and were received by the master, officers, and crew with the greatest kindness and attention. the surgeon ordered us at once to be put into warm hammocks, while some warm liquid was poured down our throats, which soon restored us. however, no one questioned us about our adventures till we were more completely recovered. two events occurred which ought to have increased, if they did not, our sense of gratitude for our preservation. scarcely had our feet touched the deck of the barque than a strong breeze sprang up, which sent her at the rate of some seven knots an hour through the water, far away from the iceberg. before, however, she had run out of sight of that floating island, its glittering summits were seen to lean forward, and, with a sound which could be heard at that distance, to fall prostrate in the water, while the waves created by its submersion reached so far as perceptibly to lift the ship as they passed. thus was i, with my companions, preserved from the most awful and perilous position in which i was ever placed. chapter twenty three. the vessel on board which we so happily found ourselves was called _the shetland maid_,--her master, captain john rendall. she measured three hundred and fifty tons, was barque-rigged, and perfectly fitted as a whaler, being also strengthened by every means which science could devise, to enable her to resist the pressure of the ice to which such vessels must inevitably be exposed in their progress through the arctic seas. she had forty-two souls on board, including officers, being some few short of her complement, as two fell sick in orkney before leaving, and two were unhappily lost overboard in a furious gale she encountered soon after sailing. andrew, terence, and i remained two days below under the doctor's care, and by the third had completely recovered our usual strength. tom stokes, who had suffered most, and was not naturally so strong, took a week before he came round. as soon as we appeared on deck, the captain called us aft, and desired to know our adventures. andrew was the spokesman, and the captain expressed himself much pleased with our messmate's mode of narrating them. "well, my men," he said, "i have lost some of my crew, and i suppose you'll have no objection to entering regularly for the voyage in their place. you'll share with the other able seamen eighteenpence for each tun of oil, you know, besides monthly wages." we told him that we should be glad to enter, and would sign articles when he pleased; and that we would answer for tom stokes, that he would do the same. behold me at last, then, as i have styled myself, peter the whaler. we were now standing to the northward, and rapidly approaching the ice. before, however, i proceed with an account of my adventures, i will describe the ship, her officers and crew, and the peculiar arrangements made to fit her for the service in which she was employed. captain rendall was a well-educated, intelligent, brave, and, i feel sure, a truly religious man. i may say, without more than justice, that he was the father of his crew. his father had been in the same service before him for many years; and he had the advantage of his experience, to which he added the knowledge he himself had gained. i do not give him as a specimen of the masters of all whalers, for i fear there are few like him, though they must of necessity be intelligent and superior men. there were three mates. the chief mate, mr todd, was also chief harpooner or specksioneer. then there were the other harpooners, boat-steerers, line-managers, and coopers, beside foremast-men, landsmen, and apprentices. it is not the custom to pay simply monthly wages; but, as an inducement to all hands to exert themselves in their several capacities in capturing fish, they receive a gratuity for every size fish caught during the voyage, or a certain sum for every tun of oil which the cargo produces. the master gets scarcely any pay if he has no success in his voyage; but for every whale killed he gets three guineas, from ten to twenty shillings for each tun of oil, and a thirtieth to a twentieth on the value of the cargo; so that he may make as much as five hundred pounds by a single voyage. the chief mate may get nearly a hundred, and the seamen twenty-five pounds each. many of the ships belong to hull and other northern ports of england and scotland; but it is usual to touch at the orkneys or shetland, to complete the complement of the crew with the hardy islanders who inhabit them. a whaler, in order to withstand the shock of the ice, is strengthened inside, both at the stem and stern, by stout timbers placed in various directions, and fastened securely together; while on the outside she is in parts covered with a double, and even a treble planking, besides other thick pieces, which serve to ward off the blows from the parts most likely to receive them. how little all the strengthening which the art and ingenuity of man can devise is of avail against the mighty power of the ice, i shall have hereafter to describe. the masts of a whaler are lower than in a common merchantman, and her sails are smaller, and cut in a different shape, the courses or lower sails decreasing towards the foot, so as to be worked with slight strength. sometimes this is of importance, as, when all the boats are away together in chase of whales, three or four men alone remain on board to take care of the ship. a whale-ship, therefore, though she has great care and expense bestowed on her, has not, in port, the graceful and elegant appearance possessed by some other ships, bound to more genial climes. the crew do not sleep in hammocks, as on board men-of-war, but in berths or standing bed-places, erected on the half-deck forward. it is a dark retreat, and not scented with sweet odours, especially after a ship has begun to take in her cargo; but the weary seaman cares little where he lays his head, provided it is in a dry and warm place. we next come to the boats--a very important part of the outfit. the bow and stern of a whale-boat are both sharp, rise considerably, and are nearly alike. it has great beam, or breadth, to prevent its being dragged, when towed by a whale, completely under the water. the keel is convex in the centre, to enable it to be turned more easily; and for the same reason it is steered by an oar instead of a rudder. the oar can also turn a boat when she is at rest, and can scull her in calm weather up to a whale without noise. a large-size boat is pulled by five oars, and one to steer, and a small one by four oars; the first being from twenty-six to twenty-eight feet long, and the last from twenty-three to twenty-four. a large one is five feet five inches in breadth; and a small one five feet three inches. the rowers include the harpooner and the line-manager. they are carvel-built--that is, the planks are placed as in a ship. boats in general are clinker-built--that is, the planks overlap each other; but as they are difficult to repair, the other simpler method is employed. a ship generally carries seven boats--two or more large, and the rest small. they are suspended by cranes, or davits, in a row outside the rigging, on either side of the ship, and another astern, so that they can be directly lowered into the water. a smart crew will man and lower a boat in the space of a minute, and be away in chase of a whale. when we got on board, the boats' crews were busily employed in getting their respective boats and gear ready for action. each boat had a harpooner, who pulled the bow oar, a steersman, next to him in rank, who steered, and a line-manager, who pulled the after or stroke oar; and besides them were two or three seamen who pulled the other oars. the first operation, after cleansing the boats, was to get the lines spliced and coiled away; and when it is remembered that each whale may be worth from five hundred to eight hundred pounds, and that, if the lines are in any way damaged, the fish may be lost, it will be acknowledged that they have good reason to be careful. each line is about one hundred and twenty fathoms long; so that when the six lines, with which each boat is supplied, are spliced together, the united length is seven hundred and twenty fathoms, or four thousand three hundred and twenty feet. a few fathoms of the line is left uncovered, with an eye at the end, in order to connect the lines of another boat to it; for sometimes, when a whale swims far, or dives deep, the lines of several boats are joined together. the rest of the line is neatly and carefully coiled away in the stern of the boat. to the upper end of the line is spliced the "fore-ganger" of a "spanned harpoon," thus connecting the harpoon with all the lines in the boat. a "fore-ganger" is a piece of rope a few fathoms long, made of white or untanned hemp, so as to be more flexible and easily extended when the harpoon is projected from the hand. as the crew of each boat accomplished the work of coiling away their lines, they gave three hearty cheers, to which we all responded; so we had as much cheering as at a sailing match. i must try to describe a harpoon, for the benefit of those who have never seen one. it is the whaler's especial weapon--the important instrument of his success. it consists of a "socket," "shank," and "mouth." the shank, which is made of the most pliable iron, is about two feet long; the socket is about six inches long, and swells from the shank to nearly two inches in diameter; and the mouth is of a barbed shape, each barb or wither being eight inches long and six broad, with a smaller barb reversed in the inside. the object of the barb, of course, is to prevent the harpoon being drawn out of the whale after it has been fixed. the hand harpoon is projected by aid of a stock or handle of wood, seven feet in length, fixed in the socket. after the whale is struck, this handle falls out; but it is not lost, as it is secured to the line by a loop. the line, it must be remembered, is fastened to the iron part of the harpoon. harpoon-guns are now frequently used for projecting harpoons. the harpoon for this purpose is made with two shanks, side by side, one of which goes into the bore of the gun; to the other on the outside the line is attached. on every harpoon is stamped the name of the ship, so that it is at once easy to ascertain, from the weapon in the whale, by whom it was struck. lances are also used, with long handles and sharp heads, to assist in killing the whale. each boat is furnished with two harpoons, eight lances, and some spare oars; a flag, with its staff, to serve as a signal; a "mik," as a rest for the harpoon, when ready for instant service; an axe, ready for cutting the line when necessary; a "pigging," a small bucket for baling out the boat; two boat-hooks, and many other things which i need scarcely name. a most important contrivance belonging to a whaler is the crow's-nest, which i may describe as a sentry-box at the mast-head. it is, perhaps, more like a deep tub, formed of laths and canvas, with a seat in it, and a movable screen, which traverses on an iron rod, so that it can instantly be brought round on the weather side. in the bottom is a trap-door, by which it is entered. here the master takes up his post, to pilot his ship among the ice; and here, also, a look-out is kept, when whales are expected to appear in the distance. just consider how necessary it is to have a good shelter, when frequently the temperature of the air is from degrees to degrees below the freezing-point. i must not forget to mention the means taken for preserving the cargo of blubber. this is done in casks, in which the blubber is placed after it has been cut up into very small portions. the casks are stowed in the hold, and some are placed between decks; and when there has been unusual success, so that there are not casks enough, the blubber is stowed away in bulk among them. the mode of fishing, and the remainder of the operations, will be described in the course of my narrative. in three more days we were all ready. the harpoon-guns were cleaned, oiled, and fastened, with their swivels, on the "billet-heads," in the bows of the boats. each harpooner got a supply of gunpowder and percussion-caps; and all other requisites were put into the boats. the crow's-nest had been got up to the main-topgallant mast-head; and in the afternoon we were ready, and eager to attack the first whale which should appear. in the evening the harpooners were invited down into the cabin, to receive their instructions for the season; and afterwards the steward served out a glass of grog to all hands, to drink "a good voyage and a full ship." i had fully expected to see whales in such numbers, that we should have nothing to do but to chase and capture them; but in this i was disappointed, for not a whale did we meet; indeed, with the heavy sea then running, had we got hold of one, we could not have secured it. it was, i ought to say, towards the end of april, and we were in hourly expectation of being among the ice, through which, at that time of the year, it was expected a passage would easily be found to the northward. we had seen several icebergs, which like their companion on which the corvette was wrecked, had early broken away from the main body, as also washing pieces and several large floes; but we had yet to learn what a field of ice was like. it was night, and blowing very hard from the south-west. it was my watch on deck, and mr todd, the first mate, was officer of the watch. we were standing on a bowline under our topsails, a sharp look-out being kept ahead for danger. o'connor and i were together, leaning against the bulwarks and talking. "well, terence," i said, "i would rather find myself homeward bound, after all that has occurred, than be obliged to be running into a sea in which we shall all the time be obliged to be cruising among ice." "oh, i don't consider much of that," he answered. "it's only a summer cruise, you know; and when we get back, we shall have our pockets stuffed with gold, and be able to talk of all the wonders we have seen." "i hope we may get back. i have no fancy to spend a winter on the ice," i said. "there are pleasanter places to live in, no doubt, peter; but people have lived not only one year, but several years running in those regions, and have not been the worse for it," replied terence. just then we were startled by the loud cry of "breakers ahead!" mr todd in a moment saw what was to be done. "wear ship!" he exclaimed. "up with the helm. gaff-topsail-sheets let fly. drop the peak. square away the after-yards." while these and other orders were given and executed, in order to take the pressure of the wind off the after part of the ship, and to make her head turn from it, i glanced in the direction towards which we were running. a pale light seemed to be playing over it; and i could distinguish, amid the foaming breakers, huge masses of ice dashing about and heaving one upon another, any one of which, i thought, would be sufficient to stave in the sides of the ship, if not to overwhelm her completely. at the same time a loud, crashing, grinding noise was heard, sufficient to strike terror into the stoutest hearts. but it must be remembered that we were all so busily engaged in flying here and there in the performance of our duty, that we had no time for fear. this is a great secret to enable men to go through dangers unappalled. had we been compelled to stand inactive, our feelings might have been very different. the ship wore slowly round; but still she seemed approaching the threatening mass. she plunged more violently than before amid the raging sea, and in another moment i felt certain we must be among the upheaving masses. just then her head seemed to turn from them; but a sea struck her on the quarter and came rolling on board; a tremendous blow was felt forward, another followed. cries arose from some of the men that all was lost, and i expected to find the ship instantly dashed to pieces. our good captain rushed on deck. he cast one glance aloft, and another at the ice. "she's clear, my lads," he shouted. the ship came round, and in another instant we were on the eastern or lee side of the floe, and gliding smoothly on in calm water through a broad passage, leading amid the main body of the polar ice. chapter twenty four. our ship made good progress, considering the impediments in her way, towards the fishing grounds in the north, to which she was bound. sometimes we had a clear sea; at other times we were sailing among patches of ice and icebergs, or through lanes penetrating into packs of many miles in extent, and from which it seemed impossible we should ever again be extricated. our captain, or one of his mates, was always at this time in the crow's-nest, directing the course of the ship amid the dangers which surrounded her. i shall not soon forget the first day of may, which i spent in the icy sea. it was as unlike may-day at home as any day could well be as far as the temperature went, though we were sailing through a sea tolerably free from ice. "all play to-day and no work, my boy, for we are going to have a visit from a king and queen," said an old whaler, david mcgee by name, as he gave me a slap on the shoulder which would have warmed up my blood not a little, if anything could in that biting weather. "he must be king frost, then," i answered, laughing; "for we have plenty of his subjects around us already." "no; i mean a regular-built king," said old mcgee, winking at some of his chums standing around, who had made many a voyage before. "he boards every ship as comes into these parts, to ask them for tribute; and then he makes them free of the country, and welcome to come back as often as they like." "thank him for nothing for that same," i answered, determined not to be quizzed by them. "but don't suppose, david, i'm so jolly green as to believe what you're telling me; no offence to you, though." "you'll see, youngster, that what i say is true; so look out for him," was old mcgee's answer, as he turned on his heel. i had observed that for a few days past the old hands were busy about some work, which they kept concealed from the youngsters, or the green hands, to which class i belonged. everything went on as usual till eight bells had been struck at noon, when an immense garland, formed of ribbons of all colours, bits of calico, bunting, and artificial flowers, or what were intended for them, was run up at the mizzen-peak. on the top of the garland was the model of a ship, full-rigged, with sails set and colours flying. scarcely had it gone aloft, when i was startled by a loud bellowing sound, which seemed to come from a piece of ice floating ahead of the ship. "what's that?" i asked of old david, who persevered in keeping close to me all the morning. "is that a walrus blowing?" i thought it might be, for i could not make it out. "a walrus! no, i should think not," he answered, in an indignant tone. "my lad, that's king neptune's trumpeter, come to give notice that the old boy's coming aboard us directly. i've heard him scores of times; so i'm not likely to be wrong." the answer i gave my shipmate was not very polite. one never likes to be quizzed; and i, of course, thought he was quizzing me. "you'll see, lad," he answered, giving me no gentle tap on the head, in return for my remark. "i'm not one to impose on a bright green youth like you." again the bellow was heard. "that's not a bit like the sound of a trumpet," i remarked. "not like your shore-going trumpets, maybe," said old david, with a grin. "but don't you know, youngster, the water gets into these trumpets, and makes them sound different?" a third bellow was followed by a loud hail, in a gruff, voice, "what ship is that, ahoy?" old david ran forward, and answered, "_the shetland maid_, captain rendall, of hull." "heave to, while i come aboard, then; for you've got some green hands among you, i'm pretty sure, by the way your gaff-topsail stands." "ay, ay, your majesty. down with your helm--back the main-topsail," sung out old david, with as much authority as if he was captain of the ship. his orders were not obeyed; for before they were so, the gruff voice sung out, "hold fast!" and a very curious group made their appearance over the bows, and stepped down on deck. i was not left long in doubt as to whether or not there was anything supernatural about them. "there," exclaimed david, pointing with great satisfaction at them, "that big one, with the thing on his head which looks for all the world like a tin kettle, is king neptune, and the thing is his helmet. t'other, with the crown and the necklace of spikes under her chin, is mrs neptune, his lawful wife; and the little chap with the big razor and shaving-dish is his wally-de-sham and trumpeter extraordinary. he's plenty more people belonging to him, but they haven't come on board this time." neptune's costume was certainly not what my father's school-books had taught me to expect his majesty to wear, and i had always supposed his wife to be amphitrite; but i concluded that in those cold regions he found it convenient to alter his dress, while it might be expected the seamen should make some slight mistake about names. neptune himself had very large whiskers, and a red nightcap showed under his helmet. in one hand he held a speaking-trumpet, in the other a trident surmounted by a red herring. a piece of canvas, covered with bits of coloured cloth, made him a superb cloak, and a flag wound round his waist served him as a scarf. a huge pair of sea-boots encased his feet, and a pair of sealskin trousers the upper part of his legs. mrs neptune, to show her feminine nature, had a frill round her face, a canvas petticoat, and what looked very like a pair of flushing trousers round her neck, with the legs brought in front to serve as a tippet. the valet had on a paper cocked-hat, a long pig-tail, and a pair of spectacles on a nose of unusual proportions. i had read descriptions of tritons, the supposed attendants on neptune, and i must say his valet was very unlike one. i might have been prejudiced, for i had no reason to feel any warm affection for him. "come here, youngster, and make your bow to king neptune," exclaimed david, seizing me; and, with number of other green hands, i was dragged forward and obliged to bob my head several times to the deck before his marine majesty. "take 'em below. i'll speak to 'em when i wants 'em," said the king in his gruff voice. and forthwith we were hauled off together, and shut down in the cable tier. one by one we were picked out, just as the ogre fi-fo-fum in the story-book picked out his prisoners to eat them. there was a considerable noise of shouting and laughing and thumping on the decks, all of which i understood when it came to my turn. after three others had disappeared, i was dragged out of our dark prison and brought into the presence of neptune, who was seated on a throne composed of a coil of ropes, with his court, a very motley assemblage, arranged round him. in front of him his valet sat on a bucket with two assistants on either side, who, the moment i appeared, jumped up and pinioned my arms, and made me sit down on another bucket in front of their chief. "now, young 'un, you haven't got a beard, but you may have one some day or other, so it's as well to begin to shave in time," exclaimed neptune, nodding his head significantly to his valet. the valet on this jumping up, seized my head between his knees, and began, in spite of my struggles, covering my face with tar. if i attempted to cry out, the tar-brush was instantly shoved into my mouth, to the great amusement of all hands. when he had done what he called lathering my face, he began to scrape it unmercifully with his notched iron hoop; and if i struggled, he would saw it backwards and forwards over my face. when this process had continued for some time, neptune offered me a box of infallible ointment, to cure all the diseases of life. it was a lump of grease; and his valet, seizing it, rubbed my face all over with it. he then scrubbed me with a handful of oakum, which effectually took off the tar. being now pronounced shaved and clean, to my great horror mrs neptune cried out in a voice so gruff, that one might have supposed she had attempted to swallow the best-bower anchor, and that it had stuck in her throat, "now my pretty master green, let me give you a buss, to welcome you to the polar seas. don't be coy now, and run off." this i was attempting to do, and with good reason, for mrs neptune's cap-frill was stuck so full of iron spikes, that i should have had a good chance of having my eyes put out if she had succeeded in her intentions; so off i set, running round the deck, to the great amusement of the crew, with mrs neptune after me. luckily for me she tripped up, and i was declared duly initiated as a north sea whaler. the rest of my young shipmates had to undergo the same process; and as it was now my turn to look on and laugh, i thought it very good fun, and heartily joined in the shouts to which the rest gave way. if any one got angry, he was soon made to cut so ridiculous a figure, and to feel his perfect helplessness, that he was compelled, for his own sake, to get back his good-humour again without delay. we had an additional allowance of grog served out, and what with dancing and singing, the fun was kept up till long after dark. i need scarcely say that the representative of his marine majesty was no less a person than the red-whiskered cooper's mate, that his spouse was our boatswain, and the valet his mate. i had often heard of a similar ceremony being practised on crossing the line, but i had no idea that it was general on board all whale ships. the fourth day of the month was a memorable one for me and the other green hands on board. the wind was from the westward, and we were sailing along to the eastward of a piece of ice, about two miles distant, the water as smooth as in a harbour. daylight had just broke, but the watch below were still in their berths. the sky was cloudy, though the lower atmosphere was clear; and andrew, who was walking the deck with me, observed it was first-rate weather for fishing, if fish would but show themselves. not ten minutes after this, the first mate, who had gone aloft into the crow's-nest to take a look-out round, eagerly shouted, "a fish! a fish! see, she spouts!" and down on deck he hurried with all despatch. the words were scarcely out of his mouth before the crews of two boats had jumped into them, and were lowering them down, with their harpoons, lances, and everything else ready, not forgetting some provisions, for it was impossible to say how long they might be away. the chief mate jumped into one, and the second harpooner into the other, in which my friend andrew went as line-manager. away they pulled. i looked over the side, and saw the whale a mile off, floating, thoughtless of danger, on the surface of the ocean, and spouting out a fountain of water high into the air. i fancied that i could even hear the deep "roust" she made as she respired the air, without which she cannot exist any more than animals of the land or air. every one on deck follows the boats with eager eyes. the boat makes a circuit, so as to approach the monster in the rear; for if he sees them, he will be off far down into the ocean, and may not rise for a long distance away. with rapid strokes they pull on, but as noiselessly as possible. the headmost boat is within ten fathoms of the fish--i am sure it will be ours. the harpooner stands up in the bows with harpoon in hand. suddenly, with tail in air, down dives the monster; and the faces of all around me assume an expression of black disappointment. it must be remembered that, as all on board benefit by every fish which is caught, all are interested in the capture of one. "it's a loose fall, after all," said old david, who was near me. "i thought so. i shouldn't be surprised if we went home with a clean ship after all." however, the boats did not return. mr todd was not a man to lose a chance. far too experienced ever to take his eye off a fish while it is in sight, he marks the way she headed, and is off after her to the eastward. with his strong arm he bends to the oar, and urges his men to put forth all their strength, till the boat seems truly to fly over the water. on they steadily pull, neither turning to the right hand nor to the left for nearly half-an-hour. were it not for the ice, their toil would be useless; but the boat-steerer looks out, and points eagerly ahead. on they pull. then on a sudden appears the mighty monster. she has risen to the surface to breathe, a "fair start" from the boat. the harpooner stands up, with his unerring weapon in his hand: when was it ever known to miss its aim? the new-fangled gun he disdains. a few strong and steady strokes, and the boat is close to the whale. the harpoon is launched from his hank, and sinks deep into the oily flesh. the boat is enveloped in a cloud of spray--the whole sea around is one mass of foam. has the monster struck her, and hurled her gallant crew to destruction? no; drawn rapidly along, her broad bow ploughing up the sea, the boat is seen to emerge from the mist with a jack flying as a signal that she is fast, while the mighty fish is diving far below it, in a vain effort to escape. now arose from the mouth of every seaman on deck the joyful cry of "a fall, a fall!" at the same time that every one jumped and stamped on deck, to arouse the sleepers below to hasten to the assistance of their comrades. we all then rushed to the boat-falls. never, apparently, were a set of men in such a desperate hurry. had the ship been sinking, or even about to blow up, we could scarcely have made more haste. the falls were let go, and the boats in the water, as the watch below rushed on deck. many of the people were dressed only in their drawers, stockings, and shirts, while the rest of their clothes were in their hands, fastened together by a lanyard; but without stopping to put them on, they tumbled into the boats, and seized their oars ready to shove off. among them, pale with terror, appeared poor tom stokes and another youngster in their shirts. they hurried distractedly from boat to boat. at each they were saluted by, "we don't want you here, lads. off with you--this isn't your boat." i belonged to the after or smallest boat, which was most quickly manned, and most easily shoved off; so that i was already at a distance when he ran aft and saw me going. "o peter, peter!" he exclaimed in a tone to excite our commiseration, though i am sorry to say it only caused loud shouts of laughter, "you who have gone through so many dangers with me, to desert me at last in a sinking ship!" poor fellow, aroused out of a deep sleep by the unusual sounds, he not unnaturally thought the ship was going down. i heard the gruff voice of the cooper's mate scolding him; but what he said i don't know. the scolding must have brought him and the other back to their senses; and they of course went below to get their clothes, and to return to assist in working the ship. on such occasions, when all the boats are away, the ship is frequently left with only the master, one or two seamen, and the rest landsmen on board. the moment the fast-boat displayed her jack, up went the jack on board the ship at the mizzen-peak, to show that assistance was coming. away pulled the five boats as fast as we could lay back to our oars. the whale had dived to an immense depth, and the second boat had fastened her line to that of the first, and had consequently now become the fast-boat; but her progress was not so rapid but that we had every prospect of overtaking her. to retard the progress of the whale, and to weary it as much as possible, the line had been passed round the "bollard," a piece of timber near the stern of the boat. we knew that the first boat wanted more line by seeing an oar elevated, and then a second, when the second boat pulled rapidly up to her. the language of signs for such work is very necessary, and every whaler comprehends them. we now came up and arranged ourselves on either side of the fast-boat, a little ahead, and at some distance, so as to be ready to pull in directly the whale should reappear at the surface. away we all went, every nerve strained to the utmost, excitement and eagerness on every countenance, the water bubbling and hissing round the bows of the boats, as we clove our way onward. "hurra, boys! see, she rises!" was the general shout. up came the whale, more suddenly than we expected. a general dash was made at her by all the boats. "'stern for your lives; 'stern of all!" cried some of the more experienced harpooners. "see, she's in a flurry." first the monster flapped the water violently with its fins; then its tail was elevated aloft, lashing the ocean around into a mass of foam. this was not its death-flurry; for, gaining strength before any more harpoons or lances could be struck into it, away it went again, heading towards the ice. its course was now clearly discerned by a small whirling eddy, which showed that it was at no great distance under the surface, while in its wake was seen a thin line of oil and blood, which had exuded from its wound. wearied, however, by its exertions and its former deep dive, it was again obliged to come to the surface to breathe. again the eager boats dashed in, almost running on its back, and from every side it was plied with lances, while another harpoon was driven deeply into it, to make it doubly secure. our boat was the most incautious, for we were right over the tail of the whale. the chief harpooner warned us--"back, my lads; back of all," he shouted out, his own boat pulling away. "now she's in her death-flurry truly." the words were not out of his mouth when i saw our harpooner leap from the boat, and swim as fast as he could towards one of the others. i was thinking of following his example, knowing he had good reasons for it, for i had seen the fins of the animal flap furiously, and which had warned him, when a violent blow, which i fancied must have not only dashed the boat to pieces, but have broken every bone in our bodies, was struck on the keel of the boat. up flew the boat in the air, some six or eight feet at least, with the remaining crew in her. then down we came, one flying on one side, one on the other, but none of us hurt even, all spluttering and striking out together; while the boat came down keel uppermost, not much the worse either. fortunately we all got clear of the furious blows the monster continued dealing with its tail. "never saw a whale in such a flurry," said old david, into whose boat i was taken. for upwards of two minutes the flurry continued, we all the while looking on, and no one daring to approach it; at the same time a spout of blood and mucus and oil ascended into the air from its blow-holes, and sprinkled us all over. "hurra, my lads, she spouts blood!" we shouted out to each other, though we all saw and felt it plain enough. there was a last lash of that tail, now faint and scarce rising above the water, but which, a few minutes ago, would have sent every boat round it flying into splinters. then all was quiet. the mighty mass, now almost inanimate, turned slowly round upon its side, and then it floated belly up and dead. our triumph was complete. loud shouts rent the air. "hurra, my lads, hurra! we've killed our first fish well," shouted the excited chief mate, who had likewise had the honour of being the first to strike the first fish. "she's above eleven feet if she's an inch," (speaking of the length of the longest lamina of whalebone); "she'll prove a good prize, that she will." he was right. i believe that one fish filled forty-seven butts with blubber--enough, in days of yore, i have heard, to have repaid the whole expense of the voyage. our ship was some way to leeward; and as the wind was light, she could not work up to us, so we had to tow the prize down to her. our first operation was to free it from the lines. this was done by first lashing the tail, by means of holes cut through it, to the bows of a boat, and then two boats swept round it, each with the end of a line, the centre of which was allowed to sink under the fish. as the lines hung down perpendicularly, they were thus brought up and cut as close as possible down to the harpoons, which were left sticking in the back of the fish. meantime the men of the other boats were engaged in lashing the fins together across the belly of the whale. this being done, we all formed in line, towing the fish by the tail; and never have i heard or given a more joyous shout than ours, as we pulled cheerily away, at the rate of a mile an hour, towards the ship with our first fish. chapter twenty five. a cookery-book, in the possession of my good mother, advises one to catch one's hare before cooking it. on the same principle i deferred describing how a whale is disposed of till i had seen one caught; for i have heard that it is possible for a ship to return clean, or without having caught a single whale; and this might possibly, i feared, be our case. every one on board, from the captain downwards, was now in good spirits. we had got a fish; but it was necessary to secure it carefully alongside, lest it might sink even there, and be lost after all our trouble--such misfortunes having occurred to careless fishers. the first thing we did was to secure at the stern of the ship, on the larboard side, a tackle, which is called a nose tackle, from its being fastened to the nose or head of the fish. a tail tackle was secured to the tail of the fish, and this was brought on board at the fore-chains. thus the head of the fish was towards the stern of the ship, and the tail towards the bows, the body being extended as much as possible. the right side fin, which was next the ship (it being remembered that the whale was on its back), was then lashed upwards towards the gunwale. to "cant" or "kent," in nautical phraseology, is to turn over or on one side. the tackle, therefore, composed of many turns of ropes and blocks, which turns the whale over as the blubber is cut off, is called the "kent purchase" or tackle. one part was fastened to the neck of the whale, or rather the part of the body next the head--for a whale, even in courtesy, cannot be said to have a neck--and the other was tied to the head of the main-mast, the fall being passed round the windlass. the neck, or rather the part which would be the neck if it had one, is called the "kent." from the size of the whale, it was impossible to lift it more than one-fifth part out of the water; and this was only done after heaving away at the windlass. till this operation was performed, not one of us had rested from our labours. "knock off, my lads, and turn-to to breakfast," sung out the master in a cheerful tone. the order was obeyed with right good-will; and perhaps never did a more hungry crew of fishermen sit down to a more jovial meal. breakfast was soon over, and, strengthened and refreshed, we prepared to turn-to at our task. on going on deck again, i found that our booty had attracted round us many birds and fish of all descriptions, ready to prey on what we should leave. there were fulmars in thousands, eager to pounce down upon the morsels which they knew would be their share. they were of a dirty grey colour, with white breasts and strong crooked bills, formed to tear flesh easily, and able to give a very severe bite. then there were numbers of the arctic gull, who may be considered the pirate of the icy regions, as he robs most other birds, not only of their prey, but of their eggs and young. the sea-swallow, or great tern, however, like an armed ship of size, bravely defends himself, and often beats off his antagonist; while the burgomaster a large and powerful bird, may be looked upon as a ship of war, before whom even the sea-swallow flies away, or is compelled to deliver up his prize. there were a few also of the ivory gull, a beautiful bird of immaculate whiteness. they are so timid that they dare not rest on the whale, but fly down, and while fluttering over it, tear off small bits, and are off again before the dreaded burgomaster can come near them. but now to our prize. first, the harpooners secured to their feet what we called spurs, that is, spikes of iron, to prevent them from slipping off the back of the whale, on which they now descended. i and three other youngsters were meantime ordered to get into two of the boats, into which were thrown the blubber-knives and spades, bone-knives, and other instruments used in the operation in which they were about to engage. our duty was to keep alongside the whale, to hand them what they required, and to pick any one up who should by chance fall into the water. the specksioneer, or chief harpooner, took post in the centre of the rest to direct them. the fat is, as it were, a casing on the outside of the whale, so that it can easily be got at. with their blubber-knives the men then cut it into oblong pieces, just as a fish is cut across at table; and with their spades they lifted it from the flesh and bones, performing the same work on a larger scale that the fish-knife does. to the end thus first lifted a strap and tackle is fastened, called the "speck-tackle," by which those on deck haul it up. this operation is called "flensing." as the huge mass is turned round and round by the kent-tackle, the harpooners continue cutting off the slips, till the whole coat of fat is removed. the fins and tail are also cut off; and, lastly, the whale-bone is cut out of the mouth. the whale-bone is placed in two rows in the mouth, and is used instead of teeth, to masticate the food, and to catch the minute animals floating in the water on which it feeds. each side of bone consists of upwards of three hundred laminae, the interior edges of which are covered with a fringe of hair. ten or twelve feet is the average size. in young whales, called "suckers," it is only a few inches long. when it is above six feet, the whale is said to be of _size_, a term i have before used. the tongue of the whale is very large; it has a beard, and a very narrow throat. while i was handing a blubber-spade to old david, as i looked over the side of the boat, i saw a pair of bright green eyes glancing up at me with such a knowing, wicked look, that i drew back with a shudder, thinking it was some uncommon monster of the deep, who was watching for an opportunity to carry one of us off. "what is it now, youngster? have you bit your nose?" asked david, laughing. "no," i replied breathlessly. "look there--what is that?" i pointed out the eyes, which were still glaring up at me. "that--why that, my green lad, is only a blind shark. have not you ever seen one of them before?" "only a shark!" i exclaimed with horror, remembering all i had heard about sharks. "won't he eat one?" "no, not he; but just run a boat-hook into him, and try and drive him away, for he's drawing five shillings' worth of oil out of the fish every mouthful he takes, the glutton," said david. i did as i was desired; but though the point ran right into his body, he only shifted his post a little, and made a fresh attack directly under the stern of the boat. i again wounded him; but he was either so engaged with gorging himself, or so insensible to pain, that he continued with his nose against the side of the whale, eating away as before. i afterwards learned that this greenland shark is not really blind, though the sailors think so because it shows no fear at the sight of man. the pupil of the eye is emerald green; the rest of it is blue, with a white worm-shaped substance on the outside. this one was upwards of ten feet in length, and in form like a dog-fish. it is a great foe to the whale, biting and annoying him even when alive; and by means of its peculiarly-shaped mouth and teeth it can scoop out of its body pieces as large as a man's head. but the most persevering visitors during the operation of flensing were the sailors' little friends the mollies. the moment the fish was struck they had begun to assemble, and they were now pecking and tearing away at the flesh with the greatest impudence, even among the men's long knives. one at last got between david's legs, which so tried his patience, that he took it up and flung it from him with a hearty shake, abusing it for running the risk of being hurt; just as a cab-driver does a child for getting into the road, without the slightest idea of injuring it. but the molly would not take the hint, and with the greatest coolness returned to its repast, thinking, probably, that it had as much right to its share as we had to ours. the mollies do not evince an amiable disposition towards each other; and as the "krang" (such is the name given to the refuse parts of the whale) is cut off, they were to be seen sitting on the water by thousands tearing at the floating pieces, and when one morsel seemed more tempting than another, driving their weaker brethren away from it, and fighting over it as if the sea was not covered with other bits equally good. all the time the noise they made "poultering" down in the water, and quacking or cackling--i do not know which to call it--was most deafening. my good friend andrew pointed them out to me. he never lost an opportunity of giving me a useful lesson. "there," he said, "that's the way of the world. we are never content with what we have got, but must fight to gain something else. now take my advice, peter. do your duty as a man; and when you light upon a piece of krang, stick to it, and be thankful that you've found it." i have never since been in a noisy, quarrelsome crowd, that i did not think of the mollies and the krang. i must not forget the green-eyed monster which had so startled me. the surgeon had got a hook ready, covered by a piece of blubber; and letting it fall quietly over the stern before its nose, the bait was instantly gorged. to hook a fish of ten feet long, and to get him on board, are two different things; and our good _medico_ was very nearly drawn overboard in a vain attempt to do the latter without assistance, which, just then, all hands on board were too much engaged to afford. the line was very strong, or the shark would have broken it, as now, finding himself hooked, he had sense enough to struggle violently in order to get free. i must confess that, when i came on deck after the krang had been cast adrift, i was not sorry to see my friend in that condition. after some trouble we got the bight of a rope over his head, and another round his tail, and hoisted him on deck. if a cat has nine lives, a greenland shark may be said to have ninety. we cut him on the head and tail with hatchets, and knocked out any brains he might have possessed, and still he would not die. at last the surgeon cut him up, and hours after each individual piece seemed to have life remaining in it. sometimes when the tackles are removed the carcase of the whale sinks, and the fish at the bottom are alone the better for it; but at other times, as in this case, it floats, and not only the birds and sharks, but the bears find a hearty meal off it. this krang floated away; and afterwards, as i shall have presently to relate, was the source of much amusement. i ought to have said, that while the harpooners were flensing the whale, another division of the crew were employed in receiving it on deck, in pieces of half a ton each, while others cut it into portable pieces of about a foot square; and a third set passed it down a hole in the main hatches to between decks, where it was received by two men, styled kings, who stowed it away in a receptacle called the "flense gut." here it remained till there was time for "making off." having now got our prize on board, the owners being probably pounds richer, should we reach home in safety, than they were a few hours before, we set to work to make off the blubber, that is, to stow it away in the casks in the hold. for this purpose we ran out some miles from the ice, in smooth water, and hove to, with just sufficient sail set to steady the ship. while the skee-man--the officer who has charge of the hold--the cooper, and a few others, were breaking out the hold, that is, getting at the ground or lowest tier of casks, we on deck were arranging the speck-trough, and other apparatus required for preparing the blubber. the speck-trough is an oblong box, with a lid, about twelve feet in length. the lid, when thrown back, forms a chopping-table; and it is covered with bits of whale's tail from end to end, which, being elastic, though hard, prevents the knives being blunted. in the middle of the trough is a square hole, which is placed over the hatchway; and to the hole is attached a hose or pipe of canvas, leading into the hold, and movable, so as to be placed over the bungs of each cask. a pair of nippers embrace it, so as to stop the blubber from running down when no cask is under. the krang is the refuse, as i have said, and the men who separate the oily part from it are called "krangers." the "kings" throw the blubber in rough out of the "flense gut" to the "krangers" on deck; from them it is passed to the harpooners, who are the skinners. after the skin has been sliced off, it is placed on the chopping-block, before which stand in a row the boat-steerers, who with their long knives cut it up into oblong pieces not larger than four inches in diameter, and then push it into the speck-trough. the line-managers are stationed in the hold, and guide the tube or lull to the casks they desire to fill. finally, when no more can fall in, piece after piece is jambed in by a pricker, and the cask is bunged up. sometimes not only are all the casks on board filled, but the blubber is stowed away in bulk in the hold, and even between decks; but this good fortune does not often occur. it will be seen by any one who has read an account, that the process of preparing the cargo by the whalers in the southern seas is very different. andrew thompson had once been in a south sea whaler, and he told me he never wished to go in another; for a wilder, more mutinous set of fellows it was never his ill-luck, before or since, to meet. this was, of course, owing partly to the captain, who was a rough, uncultivated savage, and totally unfit to gain any moral restraint over his men. "i'll tell you what it is, peter," said andrew, as i sat by him in the forecastle that evening, listening to his yarns, "till the masters are properly educated, and know how to behave like officers and gentlemen, the men will be mutinous and ill-conducted. when i say like gentlemen, i don't mean that they should eat with silver forks off china, drink claret, and use white pocket-handkerchiefs. those things don't make the gentleman afloat more than on shore. but what i like to see, is a man who treats his crew with proper gentleness, who looks after their interest in this world and the next, and tries to improve them to the best of his power--who acts, indeed, as a true christian will act--that man is, i say, a gentleman. i say, put him where you will, ask him to do what you will, he will look and act like a gentleman. who would dare to say that our good captain is not one? he looks like one, and acts like one, at all times and occasions; and if we had many more like him in the merchant service generally, we should soon have an improvement in the condition of our seamen. "but i have got adrift from what i was going to tell you about the south sea whalers. you see, the whales in those seas are generally sperm-whales, with blunt bottle-noses, altogether unlike the fish about here. there is not much difference in the way of killing them, except that one has not to go among the ice for them, in the way we have here, as they are met with in `schools' in the open sea. what we call `making-off' is there called `trying-out.' "you see, on account of the hot climates they have to come through to return home, and partly from the value of the blubber, they have to boil it to get out the oil; and for this object they have to build large stoves or fire-places with brick on deck, between the fore-mast and main hatchway; and above them are three or four large pots. the blubber is then, you see, minced up, and pitched into the pots with long forks. just fancy what a curious scene there must be while the trying-out is going on at night--the red glare of the fires, and the thick lurid smoke ascending in dense columns round the masts! any one, not knowing what was going forward, would think, to a certainty, the ship was on fire; and then the stench of the boiling oil, hissing and bubbling in the pots--the suffocating feel of the smoke--the fierce-looking, greasy, unwashed men--i say, those who have been in a south sea whaler will never wish to go again." i told him that i had no wish, after his description, ever to belong to one, though i liked the life, as far as i had seen of it, where i was. "i have not a word to say against it, mate," replied andrew. "but wait a bit till we come to boring and cutting through the ice, in case we are beset, and then you'll say that there is something like hard work to be done." it took us two hours to kill our first whale, and four to flense it. we afterwards performed the last operation in less time, when all hands were more expert. the next morning we again stood in towards the ice, to see if there was any opening through which we might force the ship, but none appeared. what was curious, we hit the spot to which the krang of the fish we had killed the day before had floated. we saw something moving on the ice, as we approached, besides the clouds of wild-fowl which hovered over it, and on the sea around. we pointed it out to the second mate. he took his glass, and, putting it to his eye, exclaimed, "there's a big white bear has just been breakfasting, and has hauled up some of the krang on the ice, to serve him for dinner; but we'll try what we can do to spoil his sport." in accordance with this resolution, he went to the captain and asked leave to take a boat to try and bring back bruin, dead or alive. "you may bring him back dead, but alive you'll never get him into that boat, depend on it," answered captain rendall, laughing. "however, take care he is not too much for you; for those bears are cunning fellows, remember; and i should advise you to take a couple of muskets, and some tough lances." "never fear, sir," answered the mate, preparing to lower a boat. "i don't think a boat's crew need, any day, be afraid of a single bear." volunteers being asked for, terence and i, old david and stokes, and three others, jumped into the boat, and pulled off towards where the bear was seated quietly licking his paws after his meal. the mate had a great idea of noosing him; and for this purpose he and david were each armed with a coil of rope, with a bight to throw over his head, like a lasso, while terence and i were to take charge of the guns. the mate first made us put him on the ice some few hundred yards on one side of the bear, and then we pulled round to the same distance on the other. each had a lance besides his lasso, and the mate had a pistol in his belt. in case of extreme necessity, terence and i were to fire, and then to land and come to their rescue. as soon as the two had landed, they began to move away from the edge, hoping thereby to cut bruin off should he attempt to escape. he had, however, no inclination to leave his dinner; though, perhaps, had he not already eaten to repletion, he would not have sat so quiet while we approached. we meantime pulled close up to the krang, among all the ducks and gulls. this bruin did not mind, but sat still, looking quietly on. of course i could then easily have shot him; but that was not the mate's object. all he did was to growl and show his teeth, as if he longed to have us all within his paws. this made us bolder and less cautious, so we got close up to him. "we are still too far for me to heave the bight over his shoulders," cried terence. "just see if you can't get hold of his dinner with the boat-hook, and that will bring him nearer." i luckily held my gun in my left hand, while with my right, as i sprang on the ice, i attempted to catch hold of the whale's flesh with the boat-hook. this was too much for the equanimity even of bruin, and with a loud growl he sprang towards the boat, happily thinking me too insignificant for punishment. i immediately ran off towards the mate; while so great was the impetus which the bear had gained, that he went head-foremost into the water, just catching the gunwale of the boat as the men in her tried to shove off to avoid him. terence seized his musket, but it missed fire; and before either of the others could get their lances ready, bruin had actually scrambled on board. no one can be surprised at their fright, nor that, as the bear came in on one side, they should jump out on the other. they were all good swimmers, so they struck out for the ice, on to which the mate and i hauled them, while bruin floated away in our boat. we thought he would have jumped out again, and attacked us: but he seemed perfectly content with his victory, and inclined for a cruise, as he sat, with the greatest composure, examining the different articles in the boat. how long he might have sat there i do not know, had not the mate ordered me to try my skill as a shot. it was a long time since i had had a gun in my hand, and my ambition was roused. i took a steady aim at poor bruin's eye, and he sunk down in the bottom of the boat. the whole occurrence had been seen from the ship by our captain, who despatched a boat to our assistance. we stood meantime, looking very foolish, on the ice; and those who had been in the water shivering not a little with the cold. after the boat had taken us on board, we pulled towards ours, with the bear in it. we half-expected to see him jump up, and, seizing the oars, pull away from us. terence declared that he knew a man who said that such a thing had once happened, and that the bear, after a chase of many miles, got clean off with the boat; and that next year, about the same latitude, he was seen cruising about by himself, fishing for seals. however, we got cautiously up to our boat; and there lay bruin, breathing out his last. by the time we got alongside, he was quite dead. we all, especially the mate, got well laughed at for having had our boat captured by a bear. "and so, mr derrick," said the captain, "a boat's crew can possibly be beaten by a bear, i see." "they can, sir," answered the mate; "i own it; but if you'll remember, you said i should never get that bear into the boat, alive or dead, and i've done both." "not that," replied the captain. "he got himself in, and he got you out; so i don't see that you've fulfilled your promise." however, bruin was hoisted on board, and the mate secured his skin, which was what he wanted. of course the adventure caused much joking afterwards, and the boat was ever afterwards called "the bear's boat." chapter twenty six. for several days, during which we captured another whale, we were cruising about, in the hopes of finding a passage through the ice. we were now joined by a squadron of six other ships, all bent on the same object that we were, to find our way across baffin's bay to a spot called pond's bay, which has been found, of late years, to be frequented by a large number of whales. i have before forgot to mention the great length of the days; indeed, for some time past there had scarcely been any night. now, for the first time in my life, i saw the sun set and rise at midnight. it was my first watch; and, as eight bells were struck, the sun, floating majestically on the horizon, began again its upward course through the sky. on the other side the whole sky was tinged with a rich pink glow, while the sky above was of a deep clear blue. i could scarcely tear myself from the spectacle, till old david laughed heartily at me for remaining on deck when it was my watch below. now was the time to push onward, if we could once penetrate the ice. we had worked our way to the east, in the hopes of there finding a passage. "land on the starboard bow!" shouted the second mate from the crow's-nest. still on we sailed, till we saw it clearly from the deck. lofty black rocks were peeping out from amid snow-capped heights, and eternal glaciers glittering in the sunbeams. in the foreground were icebergs tinged with many varied hues. deep valleys appeared running up far inland; and above all, in the distance, were a succession of towering mountain ranges, reaching to the sky. still on we sailed. "well, lad, how long do you think it would take you to pull on shore now?" asked old david. "better than half-an-hour, in a whale-boat, with a good crew," i answered, thinking the distance was about four or five miles. the old whaler chuckled, in the way he always did when he had got, what he called, the weather-gauge of me. "now i tell you it would take you three good hours, with the best crew that ever laid hand on oar, and the fastest boat, too, to get from this ship to that shore." "come now, david, you are passing your jokes off on a greenhorn," i replied. "why, if the water was not cold, i don't think i should find much difficulty in swimming there, when we got a little closer in." this answer produced a fresh succession of chuckles. still on we sailed; and i confess that at the end of an hour we appeared no nearer than before. "well, what do you think of it now?" asked old david. "why, that there must be a strong current against us, setting off shore," i answered, wishing to show my knowledge. he replied that there was no current, and that i was wrong. another half-hour passed, and still we did not seem to have gained ground. "what do you think of our being off cape flyaway, youngster?" asked david, pretending to be alarmed. "did you never hear speak of that? the longer you sail after it the farther off it goes, till it takes you right round the world. if that's it, and i don't say it isn't, it will be long enough before we get back to old england again." having thus delivered himself, he walked away, to avoid being questioned. tom stokes, who was near me, and, as i have said, was very fond of reading, heard his remark. "do you know, peter, i am not certain that what david says is altogether wrong," he remarked, in a mysterious manner. "i have just been reading in a book an account of a voyage made many centuries ago by a danish captain to these seas. his name was rink, but i forget the name of the ship. his crew consisted of eighty stout brave fellows; but when they got up here, some of the bravest were frightened with the wonders they beheld--the monsters of the deep, the fogs, the snows, and the mountains of ice--and at last they saw at no great distance a high picturesque land on which they wished to land, but though they sailed rapidly on, or appeared to sail, they got no nearer to it. this increased the alarm they already felt. one-half of the crew were of opinion that the land itself moved away from them; the others that there were some powerful loadstone rocks somewhere astern, which kept the ship back. at last captain rink finding a northerly breeze spring up, and being somewhat short of provisions, put up the helm and ran home, every one on board giving a different account of the wonders they had seen, but all agreeing that it was a region of ice-demons and snow-spirits, and that they would never, if they could help it, venture there again." for some hours we continued much of captain rink's opinion, till at last i had an opportunity of asking andrew what he thought about the matter. he then told me that, on account of the clearness of the atmosphere, and the brightness of the snow-covered hills or icy plains, they appear to a person unaccustomed to look on them to be very much nearer than they really are. he assured me that it would be a long time before i should be able to judge of distances; and that he had known a person mistake a few stunted shrubs appearing above the snow a few yards off for a forest in the distance, while land many miles off appeared, as it had to me, close at hand. it was evening, or i should rather say near midnight, when we really got close in, when we found that the valleys were magnificent fiords, or gulfs running far inland, and that the rocks and icebergs were of vast height. as we sailed along the coast, nothing could be more beautiful than the different effects of light and shade--the summits of the distant inland ranges shining in the sunlight like masses of gold, and the icebergs in the foreground tinged with the most beautiful and dazzling colours. beautiful as was the scene, i had no idea that any civilised beings dwelt in such a region of eternal snows. what was my surprise, then, to find the ship brought to an anchor off a small town called leifly, belonging to the danes! they have several small colonies along the coast, at each of which are stationed missionaries engaged in the pious work of converting the esquimaux to christianity. i thought that where we lay at anchor was directly under the overhanging cliffs; but i found, from the time the boat took reaching the shore, that we were several miles off. several esquimaux canoes came off to the ship to barter with us. one man sits in each boat, which is so long and narrow, that one is surprised it should be able to encounter the slightest sea. the whole is decked over, except a round opening, in which they seat themselves. all these people were christians; and in each canoe was a strip of paper stuck in a thong under the deck, on which were written, in danish, passages from the scriptures. they were comfortably dressed in sealskin coats, trousers, and boots, with a sealskin helmet. their heads were large, with a narrow, retreating forehead; strong, coarse black hair, flat nose, full lips, almost beardless chin, and full lustrous black eyes--not beauties, certainly, but the expression was very amiable, and so was their conduct. we had to lower a boat to assist them on deck when they came alongside, for otherwise they would not have been able to get out of their crank barks without capsizing. the way they manage is as follows:--two canoes bring up alongside each other, the man in the outer one passing his paddle through a thong which stretches across the deck of the inner one, which it thus steadies till the owner can get out. the inner canoe is then hauled out of the way, and another pulls up on the outside. the last canoe is held by the gunwale till the occupant steps out. they all appeared ready to render each other this assistance. the canoe is called a "kajack." the kajacks being hauled on deck, we began our barter. we had to give old clothes, red and yellow cotton handkerchiefs, biscuits, coffee, earthenware bowls, needles, and many other little things; for which they exchanged sealskins, sealskin trousers, caps, slippers, gloves, and tobacco-bags. these articles were very neatly sewed with sinew thread. our negotiations being completed in the most amicable manner, they took their departure much in the way in which they had arrived. i afterwards went ashore in the boat, and saw their huts, which were better, i am ashamed to say, than many i had seen in ireland. many of them were nearly built of the bones of the whale, which had an odd appearance. there were heaps of filth in front, and troops of ill-favoured dogs were prowling about them. i saw some of their women, the elder ones being the most hideous-looking of the human race i ever beheld. they wore their hair gathered in a large knot at the top of the head; but in other respects they were dressed exactly like the men, in sealskin garments. whatever business took us there was soon completed; and once more, in company with several other ships, we commenced our struggle with the ice-monsters of the deep. our course was still northerly, as what is called the "middle ice" fills up the centre of the bay in impenetrable masses; and it is only by working round it to the north, where it has drifted away from the coast, that a passage to the west side can be effected. soon after sailing, we were frozen into a sheet of bay ice for some days. it was slight, and in many places could scarcely bear the weight of a man. indeed, there were in every direction pools of water, which for some reason or other did not freeze. our captain had been for some time in the crow's-nest, looking out for a sign of the breaking up of the ice, when he observed several whales rising in the pools. he instantly ordered the smaller boats to be lowered, and worked through and over the ice to the pools, with harpooners ready to strike any whale which might rise in them. meantime he armed himself with a harpoon, and ordered others to follow with lances, each with ice-shoes on his feet. the first man carried the end of a line, and the rest laid hold of it at intervals; so that, should any fall in, they might be able to draw themselves out again. we had not long to wait before a whale was struck, and out flew the line from the boat. so thin was the ice, that we could see the monster through it, as he swam along close under it. away he went; but, losing breath, he knocked a hole in the ice with his head, to get some fresh air. we followed, but at first he was too quick for us, and had dived again before we came up with him. we had to look out to avoid the place he had broken as we made chase after him. our captain took the lead without a rope, going at a great rate in his snow-shoes. he saw the whale close under him, and had just got his harpoon ready to strike through the ice, when up came the fish under the very spot where he stood, and we saw him skip off in a tremendous hurry, or he to a certainty would have gone in, and perhaps have been drawn down when the whale started off again. instead of this, he boldly went to the very edge of the ice, and while the whale was blowing, he darted his harpoon deep into his neck. the whale continued his course, but so much slower than before, that we got up to him, and striking our lances through the ice whenever he touched it, we soon despatched him. as he had no means of breathing under the ice, he died quietly, and was dragged up by the line of the first harpoon which struck him; and, by breaking the ice so as to let the line pass, he was hauled up to the ship. scarcely was the first secured than a second one was struck, and away we went after him, hallooing, shouting, and laughing. the first man was a little fellow, though, i believe, he cracked the ice. at all events, we had not gone a hundred yards when in fell three men, one after the other; but they did not mind, and by means of the rope they were soon out again, and in chase of our prey. poor stokes got in twice, and i once, to the great amusement of the rest; however, very few escaped without a wetting, so that the laugh was not entirely against us. we succeeded in killing the fish, and i do not know whether it was not as exciting as chasing him in the water; at all events there was more fun and novelty, and that is what a sailor likes. a fair breeze at length sprung up, which, bringing warmer weather, and enabling us to spread our canvas with effect, we cut away the ice round the ship, and then she, with her strong bows, forced a passage through it. while the wind lasted, with every yard of canvas alow and aloft the ship could carry, we pressed our onward way--sometimes among floes, threatening every instant to close in and nip us; at other times with drift and brash-ice surrounding us; and at others amid open ice, with here and there floating icebergs appearing near us. to one of these we had to moor, on account of a shift of wind, which blew strong in our teeth; and at first, when i turned into my berth, i did not sleep as securely as usual, from remembering andrew's account of one toppling over and crushing a ship beneath it. however, i need scarcely say that that feeling very soon wore off. the objects gained by mooring to an iceberg are several. in the first place, from so large a proportion of the mass being below the water, the wind has little effect on it, and therefore the ship loses no ground; then it shields her from the drift-ice as it passes by, and she has also smooth water under its lee. casting off from the iceberg, as did our consorts from those to which they had been moored, when the wind again became favourable, we continued our course. we were now approaching the most dangerous part of our voyage, the passage across melville bay, which may be considered the north-eastern corner of baffin's bay. ships may be sailing among open ice, when, a south-westerly wind springing up, it may suddenly be pressed down upon them with irresistible force, and they may be nipped or totally destroyed. all this i learned from old david, who was once here when upwards of twelve ships were lost in sight of each other, though the crews escaped by leaping on the ice. "remember, youngster, such may be our fate one of these days; and we shall be fortunate if we have another ship at hand to take us on board," he remarked. i never knew whether he uttered this not over-consolatory observation for my benefit, to remind me how, at any moment, the lives of us all might be brought to an end, or to amuse himself by watching its effect on me. for a week we threaded our way among the open floes, when a solid field seemed to stop our further progress. this had been seen hours before, from the unbroken ice-blink playing over it. our captain was in the crow's-nest, looking out for a lane through which the ship might pass till clear water was gained. after waiting, and sailing along the edge of the field for some time, some clear water was discovered at the distance of three or four miles, and to it our captain determined that we should cut our way. the ice-saws were accordingly ordered, to be got ready, with a party to work them, on the ice. i was one of them; and, while we cut the canal, the ship was warped up, ready to enter the space we formed. the ice-saw is a very long iron saw, and has a weight attached to the lower end. a triangle of spars is formed, with a block in the centre, through which a rope, attached to the upper part of the saw, is rove. the slack end of the rope is held by a party of men. when they run away from the triangle, the saw rises, and when they slack the rope, the weight draws it down, as the sawyer in a sawpit would do. as the saw performs its work, the triangles are moved from the edge of the ice. as the pieces were cut, they were towed away, and shoved along to the mouth of the canal. all the time we were at work, some of the men with good voices led a song, in the chorus of which we all joined; and i must say we worked away with a will. it was harder work when we had to haul out the bits of ice, the ship being towed into the canal. with a cheerful shout we completed our canal, and got the ships into a natural lane; and the rest following close upon our track, we worked our way along for many miles, by what is called tracking. this operation is very similar to the way a canal-boat is dragged along a canal through the green fields of england, only that men have, in the case i am describing, to do the work of horses. a tow-rope was made fast to the fore-mast, and about a third of each ship's company were ordered to drag their respective ship ahead. away we went, as usual, with song and laughter, tramping along the ice for miles together, and towing our homes, like snails, after us. for several days we continued the same work; and afterwards, when we got out of the lanes, and the ice was found broken, or so irregular that it was impossible to walk over it, we had to carry out ice-claws, or what may be called ice-kedges, to warp the ship ahead. the ice-claws grappled hold of the ice, and the warp being then carried round the capstan, or windlass, we hove in on it, just as if we were heaving up an anchor, only that this work continued for hour after hour, and days and nights in succession, without intermission. ten days passed away much in the manner i have described. we then got into comparatively clear water for a few hours, during which time the other ships joined us. as there was no wind, we had to tow the ship ahead in the boats, so that there was no cessation of our labours. "well," i exclaimed to old david, "i suppose after all this we shall soon get into an open sea again." "don't be too sure of that, or of anything else, lad," he answered. "we have not yet got into the thick of it, let me tell you." i found that his words were too true. the boats had been hoisted in, for a breeze had sprung up, and we were progressing favourably, when we came to some large floes. the openings between them were wide, and without hesitation we proceeded through them. on a sudden these vast masses were seen in motion, slowly moving round and round, without any apparent cause. the captain hailed from the crow's-nest, ordering the ice-saws to be got ready, and the ship to be steered towards one of the largest floes close on the larboard bow. the sails were clewed up, and the ice-claws being carried out, the ship was hauled close up to it; and while the captain and carpenters were measuring out a dock, a party, of which i was one, set to work with the saws. there was no time to be lost. a moment too late, and our stout ship might be cracked like a walnut, and we might all be cast homeless on the bleak expanse of ice to perish miserably. the floes were approaching rapidly, grinding and crushing against one another, now overlapping each other; or, like wild horses fighting desperately, rearing up against each other, and with terrific roar breaking into huge fragments. "bear a hand, my lads; bear a hand, that's good fellows. we'll not be nipped this time if we can help it," sung out the officers in a cheering tone to encourage us, though the anxious looks they cast towards the approaching masses showed that their confidence was more assumed than real. whatever we thought, we worked and sung away as if we were engaged in one of the ordinary occupations of life, and that, though we were in a hurry, there was no danger to be apprehended. the dock was cut long-wise into the ice the length of the ship, which was to be hauled in stern first. as there was every appearance of a heavy pressure, the ice at the inner part of the dock was cut into diamond-shaped pieces, so that, when the approaching floe should press on the bows, the vessel might sustain the pressure with greater ease, by either driving the pieces on to the ice, or rising over them. the crews of all the other ships were engaged in the same way, but, as may be supposed, we had little time to attend to them. our captain was engaged in superintending our operations; but i saw him cast many an anxious glance towards our advancing foes. for an instant, he ran to the side of the ship and hailed the deck. "mr todd," he said, "it will be as well to get some casks of provisions, the men's clothes, and a few spare sails for tents, and such-like things, you know, ready on deck, in case the nip should come before we can get into dock." "ay, ay, sir," answered the mate, not a bit disconcerted; and with the few hands remaining on board he set about obeying our commander's somewhat ominous directions. i ought to have said that the rudder had at the first been unshipped and slung across the stern, as it stands to reason that when pressed against by the ice it should be the first thing injured. still we worked away. we had begun to saw the loose pieces at the head of the dock. "hurra, my lads! knock off, and bear a hand to haul her in," shouted out the captain; "no time to be lost." with a right good will we laid hold of the warps, and towing and fending off the ship's bows from the outer edge of the ice, we got her safely into the dock. we then set to work to cut up the pieces. we completed our labours not a moment too soon; for before we had got on board again, the tumult, which had been long raging in the distance, came with increased fury around us, and we had reason to be grateful to heaven that we were placed in a situation of comparative safety. chapter twenty seven. we were safe--so the old hands said; but it required some time before one could fully persuade one's self of the fact. not only were the neighbouring floes in motion, but even the one in which we were fixed. rushing together with irresistible force, they were crushing and grinding in every direction, with a noise far more terrific than that of thunder. the ship meantime, notwithstanding all our precautions, was driven back before the force opposed to her; and had it not been for the loose pieces under her stern, she might have been nipped in the most dangerous manner. one might fancy that the floes were pitted to try their strength against each other, though it would have been difficult to decide which was the victor. i had read descriptions of earthquakes, and the commotion reminded me of them. those who have crossed a large frozen pond or lake will remember the peculiar noise which even stout ice makes when trod on for the first time. fancy this noise increased a thousand-fold, thundering under one's feet, and then booming away till the sound is lost in the almost interminable distance! then the field began to tremble, and slowly rise, and then to rend and rift with a sullen roar, and mighty blocks were hove up, one upon another, till a rampart, bristling with huge fragments, was formed close around the ship, threatening her with destruction. it seemed like the work of magic; for where lately there was a wide expanse of ice, intersected with lanes of clear water, there was now a country, as it were, covered with hills and rocks, rising in every fantastic shape, and valleys full of stones scattered in every direction. in several places large misshapen masses had been forced up in a perpendicular position, while others had been balanced on their summits so evenly, that the slightest touch was sufficient to send them thundering down on either side. our own safety being provided for, we had time to look after our consorts. most of them had managed, as we had done, to get into docks; but one, which had taken a more southerly course, appeared to heel over on one side, and to be in a most perilous condition. the weather, which during the commotion had been very thick, now for an instant clearing in the direction where she lay, the first mate ascended with his glass to the crow's-nest, and on coming on deck he reported that the _arctic swan_ seemed a complete wreck, and that the boats and the men's chests were scattered about round her, as if thrown on the ice in a great hurry. "i fear it's a very bad case, sir; and if you'll give me leave, i'll take a party and see what help we can afford them," said mr todd to the captain. seamen are always anxious to render assistance to those in peril; and captain rendall having given his permission, plenty of volunteers were found ready for the somewhat hazardous expedition. i was one of them. the risk was, that during our absence the ice might begin to take off; and that we should be separated from the ship, and be left among the heaving and tumbling masses of ice. of this probably the captain had not much fear, or he would not have allowed us to go. to assist our return, and also to enable us to rescue any of the crew of the wreck who might be injured, the stern boat was lowered that we might track her up to them. mr todd, three other men, and i, formed the party. away we went towards the ship, dragging our boat with no little difficulty among the hummocks and masses, with some risk of the blocks toppling down on our heads and crushing us. as we drew nearer the _arctic swan_, an exclamation from the mate made us look up at her. "there they go," he cried; "i feared so--she'll never see old england again." one mast fell while he was speaking, and the others followed directly after; and one fancied one could hear the crushing in of the ship's sides even at that distance. that, however, was not the case, for the ice had taken but a short time to perform its work of destruction. when at length we got up to the ship, a scene of ruin presented itself, which, before i saw what ice was, i could scarcely have believed could have been wrought so speedily. stout as were her timbers, the ice had crushed them at the bows and stern completely in, and grinding them to powder, the floes had actually met through her. part of her keel and lower works had sunk, but the rest had been forced upwards, and lay a mass of wreck on the summit of the hummocks which had been formed under it. the stern, by the concussion, incredible as it may seem, had been carried full fifty yards from the rest of the wreck. two boats only had been saved, the rest had been crushed by the ice before they could be lowered and carried free. a few casks of provisions had been got up on deck beforehand, in case of such an accident happening, and they, with the two boats, were upon the ice. the crew had escaped with the greatest difficulty--some having gone below to get their bags being nearly caught in the nip and crushed to death. at first their faculties were paralysed with the disaster; for the thick weather prevented them from seeing that any help was near, and they feared that they should have to attempt to escape in the two boats, which, even without provisions, would not have held them all. british seamen are not addicted to giving way to despair, and their officers soon succeeded in rousing them, and in inducing them to set to work to take measures for their safety. having stowed away the most portable and nutritious of their provisions in the boats, they began to make a strong raft, to carry those whom the boats could not contain, purposing afterwards, should the ice not break up before, to build a barge out of the fragments of the wreck. they were so busily employed that they did not see our approach, and a loud shout we gave was the first intimation they had of it. they all started up to see who was so unexpectedly coming to their relief; and then responded to our cheer with a hearty good-will. they at once began lightening the boats, so as to be able to drag them over the ice to our ship; and some of the provisions we took into ours, as well as their clothes. the master gave a last glance at the wreck of the ship with which he had been entrusted, and with a heavy heart, i doubt not, turned away from her for ever. after taking some food, in the shape of salt pork and biscuit, which we much needed, we commenced our return to the ship. delay, we all felt, was dangerous; for, should the commotion of the ice recommence before we could regain the ship, we ran a great chance of destruction. at length, however, after four hours' toil, we accomplished our journey in safety, and the shipwrecked crew were welcomed on board the _shetland maid_. some persons might say that, after all, they had little to congratulate themselves on, for that the same accident which had happened to them might occur to-morrow to us. though we were, of course, aware of this, i must say that i do not believe the idea ever troubled any one of us; and we all fully expected to return home in the autumn, notwithstanding the destruction which was, we saw, the lot of so many. that night in the forecastle there was as much fun and laughter as if we had all come off some pleasant excursion, and our light-hearted guests seemed entirely to have forgotten their losses. "well, mates, it is to be hoped none of the other ships has met with the same ill-luck that yours has," said old david. "it will be a wonder if they have not. i mind the time, for it's not long ago, that nineteen fine ships were lost altogether, about here. it was a bad year for the underwriters, and for the owners too, let me tell you. i was on board the _rattler_, a fine new ship, when, in company with many others, we were beset, not far from cape york, by the ice driven in by a strong south-wester. "our best chance was to form a line under the lee of the heaviest floe we could pick out; and there, stem and stern touching each other, we waited for what was to come. the gale increased, and forced the floes one over the other, till the heaviest in sight came driving down upon us. the first ship it lifted completely on to the ice; the next was nearly stove in, and many of her timbers were broken; and then, getting more in earnest, it regularly dashed to pieces the four next it got foul of, sending them flying over the ice in every direction. "we were glad enough to escape with our lives, which we had hard work to do; and then some hundreds of us were turned adrift, not knowing what to do with ourselves. we thought ourselves badly off, but we were many times better than the people of another ship near us. they had made fast to an iceberg, when it toppled right over, and crushed them and the ship to atoms. we were not alone; for not far from us another fleet was destroyed, and altogether we mustered nearly a thousand strong-- englishmen, frenchmen, and danes. we built huts, and put up tents; and as we had saved plenty of provisions, and had liquor in abundance, we had a very jolly time of it. "the frenchmen had music, you may be sure; so we had dancing and singing to our hearts' content, and were quite sorry when the wind shifted, and, the ice breaking up, we had to separate on board the few ships which escaped wreck." "i remember that time well," said alec garrock, a shetlander, belonging to our ship. "it was a mercy no lives were lost, either escaping from the ships, or afterwards, when we were living on the ice, and travelling from one station to the other. it seems wonderful to me that i'm alive here, to talk about what once happened to me. the boat i was in had killed a whale in good style; and when we had lashed the fins together, and made it fast to the stern of the boat, we saw that a number of whales were blowing not far off--i ought to say we were close under an iceberg. we, of course, were eager to be among them; and as, you must know, the stern-boat had just before been sent to us with one hand in her with another line, we wanted him to stay by the dead fish. he said he would not--if we liked to go, so would he; but stay there by himself; while sport was going on, he would not. "at last we resolved to leave the small boat empty, and to take him in ours. to this he agreed. so, making the whale fast to his boat, and securing the boat to the berg, away we pulled, as fast as we could lay our backs to the oars, after a fish we saw blowing near us. now what i tell you is true, mates. not thirty fathoms had we pulled, when over toppled the iceberg right down on the boat, and we were nearly swamped with the sea it made. when we pulled back to look for the whale, neither it nor the boat was to be seen. you may fancy what would have become of us if we had been there!" "there are none of us, to my belief; but have often, if we would but acknowledge it, been mercifully preserved by providence," observed my friend andrew. "i won't speak of what has happened to myself; and terence, and peter here. no one will doubt, i hope, but that it was the finger of god directed you to take us off the iceberg; but every day some less remarkable case occurs. a block falls from aloft on the deck, where a moment before we were standing; a musket-ball passes close to one's ear; a topmast is carried away just as we have come off the yard; and fifty other things occur of like nature, and we never think of being grateful for our preservation. talking of escapes, i once saw a man carried overboard by a line round his ankle as a fish was diving. we all gave him up for lost; but he had a sharp knife in the right-hand pocket of his jacket, and he kept his thoughts about him so well, that before he had got many fathoms down, he managed to stoop and cut the line below his foot, then striking with all his might, he rose to the surface." "did you ever hear tell of the dutchman who had a ride on the back of a whale?" asked david. "he had just struck his harpoon into a fish, when, lifting up her tail, she drove the boat into shatters. he fell on his back, and got hold of his harpoon, his foot at the same time being entangled in the line. away swam the fish on the top of the water, fortunately for him never thinking of diving. he stood upright all the time, holding on by his right hand, while his left tried in vain to find his knife to cut himself clear. another boat followed, for the chance of rescuing him; but there appeared but little hope of his being saved, unless he could free himself. just as the fish was going down, the harpoon shook out, and, jumping off its back, to which he gave a hearty kick, he struck out for the boat, and was picked up when he could swim no more. he is the only man i ever heard of who really has ridden on a whale's back, though there's many a tale told by those who have, which is not true." "i've been on the back of a live whale more than once," said garrock. "i mean when we've been fishing among bay ice, and the fish have come up through the holes to breathe. but i was going to say how last season we had a chase after a fish, which gave us more trouble than i ever saw before. it led us a chase for the best part of the day, after it had been struck. it dragged one boat, with twenty lines fast, right under a floe, and then broke away; and when we killed it at last, it had taken out thirty lines, which, as you know, is close upon six miles of line." thus yarn after yarn was spun. i do not attempt to give the peculiar phraseology of the speakers; but their stories, which i believe to be perfectly true, may prove interesting. for a whole week we were beset, and some of the green hands began to fancy that we should be blocked up for the winter; but the old ones knew better. every day the surface of the ice, where the nip had taken place, was examined with anxious eyes, in the hopes that some sign of its taking off or breaking up might be given. at length the pressure became less, the sound under the ice shrill and sharp, instead of the sullen roar which had before been heard; the fragments which had been cast above others began to glide down and disappear in the chasms which were opening around, and water was seen in a long thin line extending to the northward. a lane was formed, with a wall of fragments on either side; the lane widened, the fragments rushed into the water, and the captain, from the crow's-nest, ordered the ship to be towed out of dock. the order was cheering to our hearts; and as we had plenty of hands, it was soon executed. all sail was made, and away we flew through the passage, in a hurry to take advantage of it, lest it should again close upon us. we succeeded in getting clear, and soon after were joined by our consorts, which had escaped the nip. we made the land again to the northward of cape york, and, when close in, were completely becalmed. the boats of each ship were ordered ahead to tow; and thus we slowly progressed along one of the most picturesque scenes it has ever been my fortune to witness in the arctic regions. the water was of glassy smoothness, the sky of brightest blue, and the atmosphere of perfect transparency; while around floated numberless icebergs of the most beautiful forms, and of dazzling hues, while all around was glancing and glittering beneath a bright and glowing sun. one berg, i remember, was of enormous size. on the north side it was perpendicular, as if just severed from another; but, as we rounded it on the west, ledge above ledge appeared, each fringed with icicles reaching to the one below, thus forming lines of graceful columns, with a gallery within, appearing as if tinged with emerald-green. the summit was peaked and turreted, and broken into many fantastic forms. on the eastern side a clear arch was seen; and several small cascades fell from ledge to ledge with a trickling sound, and into the water with a gentle splash, which could distinctly be heard as we passed. it must be remembered that in every direction arose bergs of equal beauty; while in the background were lofty hills covered with snow, tinted of a pinkish hue, and above them, of dazzling whiteness, ranges of eternal glaciers, towering to the sky. i could scarcely have believed that a scene of such enchanting beauty could have existed in the arctic regions, and was inclined to fancy, as i pulled at the oar, that they were rocks of parian marble and alabaster, and that the galleries and caverns they contained were the abodes of fairies and the guardian spirits of those realms. but avast! what has peter the whaler to do with such poetical ideas? on we worked our way northward. in clear weather, when a good look-out was to be had from the crow's-nest, we were able to make our way among the streams of ice; but in thick weather, when our course could not be marked out, we were sadly delayed. at last, after keeping a westerly course for a few hours, we broke through all intervening barriers, and once more felt our gallant ship lifting to the buoyant wave of the open sea, or rather what is called the "north water." the ice, by the warm weather, the currents, and the northerly winds, being driven out of lancaster sound and the head of baffin's bay to the southward, leaves this part, for most of the summer, free from impediments. in five days after leaving the eastern land, having passed the north of lancaster sound, we came off the famous fishing-station of pond's bay. chapter twenty eight. the whole coast, in most places, was lined with a sheet of ice some ten or fifteen miles wide, to the edge of which, in perfectly smooth water, our ship, with many others at various distances, was made fast. fancy a day, warm to our feelings as one at the same time of year in england, and an atmosphere of a brilliancy rarely or never seen at home, not a breath of air stirring the glassy surface of the shining ocean; while on the land side lofty mountains stretched away on either side, with the opening of the bay in the centre, the rocks of numberless tints, from the many-coloured lichens growing on them, rising as it were out of a bed of snow still filling the valleys even in midsummer; while mid-way, along the dark frowning crags which formed the coast, hung a wavy line of semi-transparent mist, now tinged with a crimson hue, from the almost horizontal rays of the sun, verging towards midnight. these objects also, it must be understood, appeared so close at hand, that i could scarcely persuade myself that an easy run across the level ice would not carry me up to them; and yet all the while they were upwards of a dozen miles off. most of the watch were "on the bran," that is, were in the boats stationed along the edge of the ice, on the look-out for whales. a few hands only, besides myself, were on deck, taking our fisherman's walk, with our fingers in our pockets, and the watch below were sound asleep in their berths, when captain rendall, as was his custom, went aloft before turning in, to take a look-out for fish from his crow's-nest. we watched him eagerly. in a few minutes he hailed the deck, with the joyful news that at about ten miles off there was a whole run of whales, spouting away as fast as they could blow. on the instant, instead of the silence and tranquillity which had before prevailed, all was now noise, excitement, and hurry. the sleepers tumbled up from below; the harpooners got ready their gear and received their orders from the master; the boats on the bran came alongside, to have their kegs replenished with water, and their tubs with bread, beef, and pork; while the more eager mates ran aloft, to assure themselves of the best direction to take. in a few minutes five boats were pulling out towards the run, as if the lives of a ship's company depended on our exertions. "hurra, my lads, hurra! give way," shouted our boat-steerers; and give way we did indeed. frequently, as we pulled on, we heard the loud blasts of the narwhals, or sea-unicorns, as they came towards the bay in shoals; and each time i fancied we must be close upon a whale, and that the sport was about to begin, so loud a sound did they make. the sea-unicorn is, when full grown, from thirteen to sixteen feet long, and has a long spiral horn or tusk growing rather on one side of its upper jaw, of from eight to ten feet in length. the eyes are very small, the blow-hole is directly over them, and the head is small, blunt, and round, and the mouth cannot be opened wide. the colour, when young, is grey, with darker spots on it, and when full grown, of a yellowish-white. it is a very inoffensive animal. it is said to use its horn for the purpose of breaking through the ice to breathe, and neither to destroy its prey nor to defend itself. it swims very fast; when struck, dives rapidly, but soon returns to the surface, and is easily killed. we passed several shoals of them on our pull, before we got up to the run, near a small floe. "there she blows!" exclaimed our boat-steerer, almost in a whisper, so great was his eagerness and fear of disturbing the fish, as a large fish appeared close to us. we had a fine burst; the harpooner was on his feet, and, his weapon glancing from his hand, struck the monster. instead, however, of diving, up he rose, clear almost from the water, his head first, seeming, as his immense bulk appeared against the sky, like some giant of the deep. we thought he was going to leap on to the floe; but, suddenly plunging his head beneath the water, his tremendous tail was lifted above us. i thought all was over. one blow from it would have annihilated us, and dashed our boat into a thousand fragments; but the fish, instead, dived directly down under the floe, his tail only splashing the water over us, and we were safe. then arose the exciting shout of "a fall, a fall!" other boats came hurrying to our aid; but, alas, the line on a sudden slackened, and, with a blank face, the harpooner began to haul it in. the fish had shaken himself clear of the harpoon, and escaped. mighty must have been the force used, for the massive iron shaft was twisted and turned as a thin piece of wire might have been bent by a turn of the hand. but, hurra! there are plenty more fish near; and with a will, little disconcerted, we gave way after them. one was seen at some distance from a floe, in which there was a crack. now it is known that a whale generally rises close to the nearest floe; and if there is a crack in it, that part is selected instead of the outer edge. we got up to it before the fish appeared; our oars were out of the water; our harpooner standing up and watching eagerly every sign of the approach of our expected prey, guiding by signs the boat-steerer, who, with his oar, was silently impelling on the boat by sculling. "gently, boys--there's her eddy--two strokes more--now avast pulling!" i could just see the head, and the large black mass of the monster's back, rising slowly from the water as he spoke, forming a strong contrast to the clear blue and white of the ice, and pure glittering sea. then was heard the peculiar snorting blast, as she sent up in the air two watery jets; but in an instant we were upon her. "harden up, my lads!" shouted the harpooner; and a lusty stroke sent us almost on to the monster's back; then flew forth his unerring harpoon. for a few moments, but for a few only, the whale seemed prepared to die without a struggle: a convulsive quiver passed through its frame; then, lifting up its flukes, it dived down, like its predecessor, beneath the floe. the iron had sunk in, and, raising our blue jack, with a loud shout we proclaimed a fall. out flew the line with tremendous rapidity. now the harpooner, sitting on his thwart, attempted to check the fish by turning the line round the bollard; but so quickly did it pass through his hands, shielded by mitts, that, almost in spite of the water thrown on it, smoke ascended from the burning wood, while the bows of the boat were drawn through the underwash to the solid floe beyond. at times we thought the boat's bow would have been drawn under the floe; again the line-manager let the line run out, and she rose once more, to be drawn down directly it was checked. but it was all-important to tire the fish, or otherwise all our line might be taken out before any assistance could come. should this be the case, we might, after all, lose the fish. first one oar was elevated, to show our need of aid; then a second, a third, and a fourth, as the line drew near what is called the "bitter end." "hold on, darby, hold on!" we shouted in our eagerness; for we feared we might have to cut, or that the boat might be drawn under. our shipmates tugged away at their oars with all their might; the boats from every direction dashing through the water to the point where they thought the fish might rise. our line at the very edge began to slacken--a sign that she had ceased diving. she appeared about a quarter of a mile off or more, at the edge of the floe. the quick-sighted eye of the first mate was on her almost before she had reached the surface; and before she could again seek safety in the ocean's depths, another harpoon was plunged into her. we instantly began hauling in our lines; but before long she was off again, swimming away some depth below the surface, at a great rate, while we and the other boat were towed after her. again the strain slackened, and she rose once more; but this time her foes were close to her. another harpoon was struck, but it was needless. without mercy lances were thrust into her on every side, till the shouts which reached our ears, as we slowly approached, hauling in our lines, proclaimed that our victory was complete. the fish was now secured, as i have before described, and made fast to a floe, while all but one boat made chase after another fish which blew temptingly near. i ought to have said that, after securing the whale, all hands turned to with a right good-will to attack the bread and meat we had with us; for though whale-hunting beats hollow any other style of hunting, whether of deer, elephants, or tigers, yet it cannot by any manner of means be carried on without sustenance to the frame. away we went, then, the boat of the first mate leading. he, too, was successful in striking the fish. three times she dived; but each time one or other of her enemies were upon her with harpoon and lances, while her eddying wake was dyed with blood, and a thick pellicle of oil, which attracted crowds of persevering mollies to feast on it, marked her course. she at last rose close to a floe, when we all rushed in upon her. the cry of "stern all!" was given. her death-flurry had come on. high up in the air she sent a stream of blood and oil, which fell thick upon us in showers of spray, and on a hummock which was near; and the edges of the ice were dyed of a crimson tint. the weariness which began to oppress even the strongest, told us that we had had work enough, and that a second night was approaching. with shouts of satisfaction, we now began the task of towing our prizes to the ship. it was slow and wearying work; but every fish we took brought us nearer home, so we set cheerfully about it. when we at length reached the ship, we found that we had been full thirty-six hours away, nearly all the time in active exertion; and yet, from the excitement of the work, neither did we feel unusually weary, nor were we aware of the time which had passed. i must remind my readers that this could only happen in a latitude and at a period where there is little or no difference between night and day. our fishing was most successful, partly owing to our good fortune in meeting with the fish, but owing also much to the sagacity of our captain and his officers. similar scenes were occurring every day; but though they were all nearly as exciting, and the interest of the sport was never decreased, but rather grew on us, yet, if i were to attempt to describe each chase, and how each fish was killed, my readers would weary with the account. for the greater part of a month we remained in the bay; and now the fish becoming scarce, and the summer drawing to a conclusion, with a fair breeze we made sail to the southward. i spoke of our having passed lancaster sound, a short way to the south of which pond's bay is situated. i did not mention at the time the interest with which i regarded that vast inlet--the mouth, one cannot help fancying, to the unknown sea which bounds the northern shores of the american continent. i certainly think more of it now, while i am writing, than i did then, because i have since become aware of the many gallant exploits which have been there performed, and the bold attempts which have been made to pierce through it to the seas beyond. i need scarcely remind my readers that up that passage the veteran arctic explorer, sir john franklin, and his brave companions, are supposed to have proceeded. under his command, the _erebus_ and _terror_ sailed from the thames on the th may, , to proceed up davis's straits, then into lancaster sound, and from thence, without stopping, to examine the coast, to push westward as fast as they could towards behring's straits. captain crozier had command of the _terror_; and the expedition was accompanied by the transport _bonetto junior_, commanded by lieutenant griffith, and laden with provisions, clothing, etcetera, to be put on board the ships in davis's straits. both vessels were fitted with steam-engines and screw-propellers; but they did not go ahead with them more than three knots an hour. lieutenant griffith reports "that he left them with every species of provisions for three entire years, independently of five bullocks; they had also stores for the same time, and fuel in abundance." the expedition was last seen by the _prince of wales_ whaler, on the th july, in latitude degrees minutes north, longitude degrees minutes west, moored to an iceberg, and waiting for an opening in the great body of ice, which i described as filling the middle of baffin's bay, in order to reach the entrance of lancaster sound. all hands were well and in high spirits, and determined to succeed, if success were possible; but since that day they have never been heard of. year after year have those gallant men in vain been looked for, but not without hope of their return, nor without attempts made to discover and rescue them. when the year arrived, and no tidings had been received of the lost voyagers, it was determined to send out three expeditions to look for them. one under captain kellett, who commanded the _herald_ and captain moore, who commanded the _plover_; proceeded to behring's straits, and after continuing along the american coast as far as they could go, they were to despatch some whale-boats, to meet a second expedition under sir john richardson and dr rae, who were to descend the mackenzie river, and there to examine the coast; while sir james ross, commanding the _enterprise_, and captain bird, the _investigator_, were to proceed at once to lancaster sound, and there to examine the coast as they proceeded. after leaving deposits of food and directions in several places, these expeditions returned, without having discovered any traces of our missing countrymen. notwithstanding the ill-success of the first set of expeditions, others were without delay determined on. captain collinson was appointed to command the _enterprise_, having under him commander mcclure in the _investigator_; and on the th of january, , they sailed from plymouth for behring's straits, where they were to be joined by the _plover_. they were to endeavour to reach melville island. in the meantime, dr rae, who had remained in america, was ordered to continue his search along the northern coast; while the government of the united states prepared an expedition for the same purpose. the british government likewise fitted out four ships, under the command of captain austin, in the _resolute_; the _assistance_, captain ommanney; the _pioneer_; lieutenant osborn; and the _free trader_--the two latter screw-propeller steam-vessels. two private expeditions have also started. the _lady franklin_ is commanded by mr penny, a veteran whaling captain, who has with him a fine brig as a tender, called the _sophia_. captain penny was to be guided by circumstances, in following the course he judged expedient. besides this, the veteran explorer, sir john ross, has taken command of another private expedition. he is on board the _felix_, a large schooner, and has the _mary_, a tender of twelve tons, with him. they also are to proceed to barrow straits, and to examine various headlands on their way. the _mary_ is to be left at banks' land, as a vessel of retreat, and the _felix_ will proceed for another year as far as she can to the westward, examining the coast on the way. these last expeditions have been fitted out in consequence of the energetic and persevering efforts of lady franklin, and the niece of sir john franklin, miss sophia cracroft; and those who have seen them, month after month, indefatigably labouring in that, to them, holy cause, hoping almost at times against hope, yet still undaunted, persevering unweariedly, must feel and heartily pray that they may have their reward in the happy return of the long-missing ones. i was unable to refrain from giving this brief sketch of a subject in which every man worthy of the name of briton must feel the deepest and warmest interest; and i now resume the thread of my more humble narrative. chapter twenty nine. the return of darkness during the night gave us notice that we were advancing towards the south, and that the short arctic summer was drawing to a close. we could no longer continue our course, hour after hour without intermission, as before, the officers relieving each other in the crow's-nest, and one watch following the other through one long-protracted day. it was impossible with any safety to proceed through that icy sea when darkness came on, and therefore each night we were obliged to make the ship fast to a floe till the return of daylight. but those nights were sometimes such as are not to be found in another realm. the bright moon floated in an atmosphere the most clear and brilliant that can be conceived, while the silvery masses of ice lay sparkling beneath it, as they floated on the calm and majestic ocean. then the sun at setting bathed the sea, the sky, the rugged mountains, the pinnacles of the icebergs, and the lower floes with colours and tints more beautiful and varied than the imagination can picture, far more than words can describe. but i should not dwell on such scenes, except that i wish to observe that god distributes his bounties throughout the globe with an equal hand; and that, barren and inhospitable as is that land, no less than in southern realms are his power and goodness displayed. for about four days we had proceeded south, our course interrupted whenever we met with a whale; and if she was killed, we made fast to a floe till we had flensed and made off. some of the smaller whalers had got full ships, and, with joyous shouts and light hearts on board, they passed us on their way home; and others, unwilling to wait, returned not full, so that we were nearly the last ship. the weather continued beautifully fine, though now growing cold and chilly. we also had nearly a full ship, and were congratulating ourselves on soon being able to follow those which had preceded us; but, till we were quite full, we could not think of doing so while the ice continued open, and there was a chance of a fish. consequently we were all on the look-out, and more eager than ever to secure our prey. one afternoon, while we were under weigh, the cheering sound of "a fish, a fish! see, she blows!" from the crow's-nest, roused us all to activity. two boats were immediately equipped and sent in chase. i was in one of them. while we were yet close to the ship, another whale was espied to the southward, at a very great distance. the prospect of getting two fish at a fall was more than could be resisted; and, while we were killing our fish, the master made sail to come up with the other. we were successful; and, with less difficulty than usual, killed the whale at the edge of a floe connected with the land, towards which it had gone for shelter. the whale was killed, and made fast to the floe, waiting for the return of the ship. while we were all engaged in the chase and capture, no one had noticed the change in the weather. from a fresh breeze, sufficiently to the eastward to enable the ship to stand back towards us, it had fallen a flat calm: the sea lay stretched out before us like a dark shining glass, while an ominous stillness reigned through the air. andrew, who was line-manager in the boat to which i belonged, was the first to observe it, as we were assembled on the floe busily engaged in hauling in the lines. he said nothing; but i saw him look up, and, after glancing around for some moments, put his hand over his brow, and gaze earnestly forth in the direction the ship had gone. the anxious expression his countenance instantly assumed alarmed me; and, though he at once resumed his task of coiling away the lines, i saw that all was not right. i then cast my eyes seaward, to see whereabouts the ship was. i need scarcely say that i felt a very natural alarm, when i discovered that she was almost hull down. andrew again looked up. the anxious expression on his face had in no way diminished; but he was not a man to alarm or unnerve his companions by any unnecessary exclamation. "bear a hand, lads," he at length said. "the sooner we get in our lines, and tow the fish alongside, the better." "i was thinking the same," said old david. "and i say the sooner the ship stands back to pick us up, the better for us. we couldn't get the fish alongside till long after dark, if she comes no nearer to us; and how she's to do that, without a breeze springs up, i don't know." these few remarks scarcely interrupted the task in hand. when it was accomplished, however, and we had time to look round us, we all began to consider more about the difficulty of our position. i must explain that there were two boats, with a crew of five men each, so that we were ten in all. we had with us a few provisions and a cooking apparatus, with our pea-jackets to put on while waiting after our heating exercise. the harpooners and the elder men now began to consult what was best to be done. david gave it as his opinion that the other boats had been led a long chase after a fish, and that the ship had followed thus far to the southward to pick them up, with the intention of returning immediately to us, when the calm so unexpectedly came on. "there's no doubt about what has happened, mates; but i want to know what those who have had experience in these seas think is about to happen," said andrew. "there's something in the look of the sky and sea, and the feel of the air, which makes me think a change is about to take place. i therefore ask whether we shall stay by the fish, or leave her secured to the floe, and get aboard as fast as we can." in answer to this proposal, which was certainly wise, and perfectly justifiable, several opinions were given. some were for getting on board without delay, others were for towing the fish towards the ship, and several were for remaining by till the ship should return, though the majority were for going back in the boats alone. a more mighty power than ours decided what was to be done; for, while we were still speaking, a sudden gust of wind came blowing along the edge of the ice from the northward, and throwing up the sea in so extraordinary a manner, that, had the boats been exposed to it, they could scarcely have lived. then the wind as suddenly fell, and again all was calm as before. "now's your time, lads; we must get on board as quick as we can," shouted old david. while, accordingly, we were with additional care securing the whale to the floe, the sky, which was already overclouded, began to send down dense showers of snow, which so obscured the atmosphere, that the sharpest eye amongst us could no longer distinguish the ship. to attempt to get on board under these circumstances, would be more dangerous than remaining where we were; so, putting on our flushing jackets, we got into the boats, and drew a sail over our shoulders, to shelter ourselves as much as possible from the storm. the snow, which had begun to fall in flakes, now changed to a powder, so dense that it appeared as if night had already come on. "it's very dark, andrew," i remarked; "what can be going to happen?" "why, i'll tell you, peter," answered david, who heard my question. "there's going to be a harder gale of wind than we've had since you came on board; and if the old ship don't stand up to her canvas, and fetch us before night, there are few who would wish to change places with us, that's all." i did not by any means like this announcement, for i felt that this time old david was not joking with me. however, our only course was to remain where we were. if the gale did come on, we were safer on the ice than on the sea; and if it passed off, the ship would not fail to come and take us on board. in the meantime, we were continually putting our heads from under our shelter, to cast anxious glances towards where we supposed the ship to be, and in every other direction, to discover if there was any opening in the thick cloud of snow which dropped around us. i say dropped, for i never before saw snow fall so perpendicularly, and in such minute powdery particles. the peculiar and oppressive gloominess which filled the air, made one feel that something unusual was approaching, otherwise i could scarcely fancy that in so perfect a calm any danger could be at hand. for two hours we sat cramped up in the boat, and, in spite of our warm clothing, suffering not a little from the cold, which was greater than for some time past we had experienced. suddenly the snow ceased, and with eager haste, andrew, david, and some others jumped out of the boat and climbed to the top of the nearest hummock, from whence they could get a wider look-out than on the flat ice. with feelings which it were vain to attempt to describe, we looked for the ship, and could nowhere see her. to the southward there was a thick mist, caused by the snow falling in that direction, and in this she was probably shrouded. on looking to the north, we perceived in the horizon a bright luminous appearance, something like the ice-blink, but brighter, and which seemed to increase in height. david looked at it for an instant, and then shouted out, "bear a hand, my lads, and haul up the boats--the gale is upon us!" suiting the action to the word, he rushed down from the hummock, accompanied by the rest of us, and we commenced hauling one of the boats up on the ice. while all hands were engaged at this work, and before it was completely accomplished, down came the gale upon us with terrific violence, almost lifting us off our legs, and hurling us into the now foaming and hissing sea. the snow, which lay thick on the ice, was lifted up and blown in clouds over us; the ocean, which before lay so tranquil, was now lashed into fury. "haul away, my lads, and run the boat up," shouted andrew, his voice scarcely heard amid the tumult. we had taken out most of the things from the other boat, and, having secured the first, were about to haul her up, when a heavy sea, striking the ice, broke off a piece to which she was secured, and carried her and the harpooner belonging to her, who was standing near her, far beyond our reach. to have attempted to launch the boat to go to his rescue would have been madness. one loud, hopeless shriek was heard, and he sunk for ever. we had little time to mourn for our poor messmate--our own condition occupied all our thoughts. at the same moment that the boat was carried away, the sea broke the whale from the lashings which secured her to the ice, and, without our having any power to preserve our prize, it was driven down along the edge of the floe, from which it gradually floated away. "what's to be done now?" i asked, with several others, in a voice of despair. "trust in god," answered andrew in a solemn voice. "peter, remember we have been in a worse position before, and he saved us. he may, if he wills it, save us again." "but how are we ever to get back to the ship, with only one boat to carry us?" asked some one. "captain rendall is not a man likely to desert his people," observed david. "the ship will come back and take us off, when the gale is over--no fear of that, mates." notwithstanding the tone of confidence with which he spoke, i suspected that he did not feel quite as much at his ease as he pretended to be. our position was indeed, i felt, most critical, though i did not express my fears. the gale might continue for days, and our ship, if she escaped shipwreck, which too probably would be her lot, would be at all events driven so far to the south, that she would find it utterly impossible to return. the ice, even, on which we stood, might any instant break up from the force of the waves; and if we could not retreat farther back in time, our destruction would be almost certain. we had a boat; but even in smooth water she could scarcely do more than contain us all, and in such a sea as was likely to be running for some time she could not live ten minutes. we could have no hope, therefore, of regaining the ship in her; and should we be compelled, therefore, to quit the ice, she could afford us no refuge. we had a small quantity of provisions,--enough, with economy, to sustain life for two or three days, though not more than was intended to supply a couple of good meals, should we have been kept away from the ship a sufficient time to require them. we had some boats' sails, a cooking apparatus, two harpoons, spears, and two fowling-pieces, brought by the harpooners to kill a few dovekies for our messes. several things, with a set of lines and harpoons, had been lost in the other boat. for some time after the fatal catastrophe i have described, we stood looking out seaward, undecided what steps to take. the wrenching asunder of some huge masses of the ice, which the sea drove up close to the boat, and the violent heaving to which the whole body was subjected, showed us that we must rouse ourselves to further exertion. we had no need of consultation to judge that we must without delay get farther away from the sea; and, having laden our boat with all our stores, we began to work her along the ice towards the shore, which lay bleak and frowning some ten miles or so from us. our progress was slow; for the ice, though thick, was much rotted from the heat of the whole summer, and in some places it was very rough, while shallow pools of water constantly appeared in our path, and compelled us to make a circuit round them. when we had accomplished nearly two miles, it was proposed that we should wait there to see if any change took place in the weather. there was no longer a motion in the ice, and andrew and david gave it as their opinion that there was consequently no danger of its breaking up so far from the edge, and that we might remain there in safety. night was now fast approaching; and the gale, instead of abating, blew with greater fury than at first. the exertion had somewhat warmed us; but the moment we stopped, the cold wind whistled through our clothing, and showed us that we must prepare some shelter for the night, if we would avoid being frozen to death. another point we also discovered was, that we required some one to take the lead, and to act as chief officer among us. the remaining harpooner would, by right, have taken command; but, though expert in the use of his weapon, he was not a man by character or knowledge well fitted to command the respect of the rest of us. this we all felt, as he probably did also, as he raised no objection when david proposed that we should elect an officer whom we should be bound to obey, till we could regain our ship, should we ever be so fortunate so to do. three were first proposed, but andrew thompson was finally selected; for, though he was known not to have so much practical experience as several of the others, his firmness, sagacity, and high moral character were acknowledged by all. "and now, my lads," he said, when he had modestly accepted the office, "the first thing we must do is to build a snow-wall, to shelter us from the wind; and as soon as the wind moderates, we'll have up a flagstaff on the top of the highest hummock, to show our friends where to look for us." according to this advice, we set to work to collect the snow, which did not lay more than three inches thick on the ice. we first made it into cakes, about four times the size of an ordinary brick, and then piled them up in a semicircular form, the convex side being turned to the wind. over the top we spread a boat's sail, which was kept down by lumps of snow being placed on the top of it. the canvas was also allowed to hang over a couple of lances lashed together in front, so that we had a very tolerable shelter. the snow was scraped away from the interior; and such spars and planks as we could get out of the boat were spread at the bottom, with a sail over them, to form our bed. these arrangements were accomplished as the long twilight turned into total darkness. we lay down, and prepared to pass the dreary hours till the sun rose again as best we could. i thought of the time i had spent on the iceberg, and, remembering andrew's words, i did not despair. i slept, as did my companions, many of them with the careless indifference to danger which has become the characteristic of most british seamen. i was awoke by the excessive cold, though we kept as close together within our shelter as we could, for the sake of the warmth. my companions were still asleep, and i was afraid if i moved of arousing them. the storm still raged furiously without, and i could not again compose myself to sleep for the noise it made. i lay awake, listening to its whistling sound as it blew over the ice, when i fancied that i heard a low grumbling noise, like a person with a gruff voice talking to himself. at last this idea grew so strong on me, that i crept quietly to the curtain in front of our hut, and, lifting up a corner, looked out. the stars were shining forth from the sky, and there was a thin crescent moon, by the light of which i saw a white monster leaning over the gunwale of our boat, examining, it appeared to me, the things in her. i was not long in recognising the visitor to be a large, white, shaggy polar bear. he first took up one thing, and, smelling it and turning it over on every side, replaced it. when, however, he came to a piece of beef, or anything eatable, he without ceremony appropriated it, and was thus rapidly consuming our slender store of provisions. "this will never do," i thought to myself. "if this goes on, we shall be to a certainty starved." we had fortunately brought the two guns into the hut, that they might run no risk of getting damp. they were both loaded; and, drawing back, i got hold of one, hoping to shoot the bear before he was disturbed. if i aroused my companions first, they to a certainty would make some noise, which would probably frighten away our visitor, and we should lose both the bear and the provisions. when i again put my head from under the sail, he was still at work. i was on my knees, and had got the gun to my shoulder, when he saw me. he was fortunately on the other side of the boat; for no sooner did his eye fall on me, than he began slowly to walk along the side, holding on by the gunwale, evidently intending to get close to me. "my best chance is to hit him in the eyes," i thought, "and blind him. if he once gets hold of me, he'll give me a squeeze i shall not like." before he had moved many steps i fired full in his face. the report of the gun, and the loud growl of rage and pain uttered by the brute, instantly awakened my companions. they started to their feet, but had some difficulty to understand what had happened. the bear, on being wounded, nearly fell headlong into the boat; but, recovering himself, he endeavoured to find his way round to the spot where he had seen me. "a bear, a bear!" i sung out. "get your lances ready and run him through." most fortunately i had hit the monster so directly in the eyes, that he could not see his way, and this prevented him from rushing directly on me; for though i might have leaped out of his way round the back of the hut, he would in all probability have seized upon one of my half-awake companions. this momentary delay gave time to andrew to spring to his feet, and to draw out a lance from under the sail. he appeared at the entrance of the hut, just as the bear, slightly recovering himself, was rushing forward, with his mouth open and covered with foam, and a stream, which i could see even in that light, trickling down his face. his paws were stretched out, and in another instant he would have had me in his deadly clutch, when andrew dashed at him with his spear. the bear seized the handle, and endeavoured to wrench it from his assailant; but the iron had entered his breast, and, in his attempt to rush on, it pierced him to the heart. the rest of the party were by this time awake, and, armed with whatever they could first seize, and seeing what had happened, they all set up a shout of triumph, every one of us forgetting entirely for the moment the very precarious position in which we were placed. we had several reasons to be satisfied with having killed the bear. in the first place, had he put his snout into our hut while we were all asleep, he might have killed some of us; secondly, we had saved most of our provisions by our discovering him; and what he had taken was amply repaid by the sustenance his flesh would afford us, and the use to which we might turn his skin, for bedding or clothing, should we have to remain any time on the ice. "our friend there has given us a lesson to keep a better look-out in future," remarked andrew. "if it had not been for peter, he might have carried off every bit of our food; so we must take it by turns to keep watch. i'll stand the first." "and i the second, willingly," i exclaimed. "i've no inclination to sleep, and if i did, i should be fancying all the time that the bear had me in his grasp." so it was arranged each man should take an hour at a time, as near as could be guessed, and thus all would have plenty of rest, and be fit for work in the daytime. before the rest turned in again, we drew the carcase of the bear close up to the hut, so that, if any of his fellows should come near him, they might to a certainty be seen, and shot without difficulty. extraordinary as it may seem, the rest of the people were very soon asleep again. andrew and i were the only two awake. the gun which had been fired was reloaded, and, having placed the two close at hand, we sat down just inside the curtain, leaving only a small aperture on either side of it, through which to look out. we also placed a couple of lances within our reach, that, should any more bears visit us, as we hoped they might, we might have a better chance of killing them; for their flesh, though rank, is not unwholesome, and, at all events, it would enable us to support life as long as it lasted, independently of the value of their skins. after we had made our preparations, andrew advised me to lie down and to try to sleep; but i told him that i was too much excited, and that it was impossible, and that, if he would allow me, i would much rather sit up and watch with him; or, if he liked, i would watch while he slept, and would call him if anything occurred. "neither can i sleep, peter," he answered: "you and the rest have chosen me to guide you, and i doubly feel the responsibility of my office; for i need not tell you that i think our position very bad. from the first time i saw you, i found that you were well educated, and i since have had reason to place confidence in you. now, peter, i am afraid that, when we are surrounded with far greater difficulties than we have yet met with, some of these poor fellows will lose heart, and sink under them, unless their spirits are kept up, and a good example is set them. i therefore rely upon you to assist me, by showing that, young as you are, you do not shrink from danger, and that you place a firm reliance on the power of god to deliver us, notwithstanding all the appearance to the contrary." i told andrew that i thanked him for the confidence he placed in me, and that i hoped i should not disappoint his expectations. "i know you will not, peter; but i tell you that our courage will be severely tried," he answered. "why, don't you think the ship will be able to take us off?" i asked. "i do not think she will, peter," he replied. "before the gale is over, she will have been driven very far to the south; and it will take her so many days to beat back, if the wind should continue foul, that captain rendall will consider we must have perished, and that the attempt would be useless, and that he should not be justified in thus risking the safety of his ship." "what hope, then, have we?" i asked. "my greatest hope is, that we may be seen by some other ship passing after the gale has moderated," he answered. "if that fails to us, we must endeavour to pass the winter on shore. others have done so before now; and i do not see why we should not manage to live as well as the ignorant natives who inhabit this country." "if we had powder, and shot, and fuel, and timber to build a house with, i should say we might do it," i answered; "but as we have none of these things, i am afraid we shall be frozen to death as soon as the cold sets in." "the natives live, and we must try to find out how they contrive to do it," was the tenor of his answer. miserable as the night was, and slow as the hours seemed to drag along, they at last passed away. we had no further visits from the bears, nor were we otherwise disturbed. when daylight came, there was nothing in the prospect to cheer our hearts. on one side there was a sheet of ice covered with snow, with high rocky cliffs beyond; and, on the other, the wide expanse of ocean, still tossing and foaming with the fierce storm which raged over it. chapter thirty. our companions slept on, and, while they happily were able to forget the hardships and dangers which were in store for them, we could not find it in our hearts to awake them. at last, one after the other, they awoke. as they did so, they went and looked out at the dreary prospect i have described, and then returning, sat themselves down in gloomy silence in the hut. on seeing the discontent, not to say despair, which their countenances exhibited, i remembered the conversation i had with andrew in the night, and determined at once to try and follow his advice; so i went and sat down with the rest. "well, mates, things don't look very pleasant, i'll allow, but they might be worse, you know," i remarked. "i don't see how that can be," answered one of the most surly of the party. "here are we left by our ship, without food or a house, at the beginning of the winter; and it's cold enough, i've heard, in these parts, to freeze up every drop of blood in the veins in ten minutes." "andrew and terence, and tom and i, were once much worse off, when we were left on the iceberg," i observed. "as for food, too, we've got a good lump there, which came to our door of its own accord. we've every chance of taking plenty more; and i've heard say the country is full of game of all sorts. then, as for a house, we must try and build one, if no ship comes to take us off. mind, i don't say that none will come; only if we are left here, we need not fancy that we are going to die in consequence." "faith, peter's the boy for brightening a fellow's heart up," exclaimed terence, rousing himself from the despondency which he, with the rest, had begun to feel. "why, mates, perhaps after all we may have as merry a winter of it as if we got home, though they do say the nights are rather long at that time." terence's remark did more good than mine. there was something inspiriting in the tone of his voice; and in a few minutes all hands were ready to perform their best,--at all events, to do what andrew considered for the public good. he first ordered us to have breakfast, for we had been in no humour to take any supper the night before. we accordingly brought in our provisions, and were about to commence on them, when i suggested that we should preserve them for times of greater necessity, and begin, instead, upon the bear. "but how are we to cook him?" asked some one. "we can't eat him raw, and we've got no oil for the kitchen." the kitchen was the cooking apparatus i have spoken of. it was simply an oil lamp with several wicks, and a couple of saucepans, a kettle, and frying-pan to fit over it. the crude oil drawn from the last fish we had killed served for it. "as to that, lads, he'll supply the oil to cook himself with," remarked andrew. "let us skin him and cut him up at once, and then he'll be all ready to pack if we want to travel from this place." we soon cut up the bear, very clumsily i will allow, for there was no butcher among us; and collecting the fattest parts to serve as fuel for our lamp, we soon had some bear-steaks frying away under our noses. we took a very little of our biscuit in addition, but andrew advised us to economise it to the utmost. the skin was taken off as neatly as we could manage the work, and then, having scraped the inside clean, we hung it up in front of our hut to dry. we spent the whole day anxiously looking out for some sign of the gale abating, for we knew that every hour of its continuance would send our ship farther and farther away from us; but in the evening it blew as hard as it had done at the first. the wind was too high, and cut us too keenly, to allow us to go from under shelter of our hut in search of seals; but we were not entirely idle. in the first place we drew the boat up to it, and secured our remaining provisions. we also cut up the flesh of the bear into long strips, that they might more easily dry in the air; besides this, we heightened the walls of our habitation, and sloped them inward, so as to enable the sail to cover the hut more completely. the greater number of the men, however, showed little inclination to work, preferring to pass the day sitting crowded together in the hut in a sort of dreamy forgetfulness of the present, without speaking or moving. i own that few positions could be much more disheartening than ours; but i saw the necessity of keeping the intellects awake, ready for active exertion, if we would save our lives. we cooked some of our bear-steaks for supper, and boiled up a little cocoa; so that for food we might have been worse off. we found also that the lamp, small as it was, diffused a warmth throughout the hut, which enabled us to pass the night much more agreeably than we had the previous one. the bears seemed to have been aware of the fate of their brother, for none came near us. another morning dawned; and though the gale still blew strong, it had somewhat abated; but yet it was still necessary to keep under shelter. "as soon as the wind drops we must go sealing," remarked andrew. "if we could get a good number of seals, or unies, or walrus, we might keep our lamp burning all night and day through the winter. their flesh is not bad to eat; and then, you know, we can make boots, and caps, and jackets of their skins. we must look out to get them before the cold sets in." "then you think we shall have to winter here?" i asked. "if the gale had taken off yesterday, i should have expected our ship back; but now i do not think she will attempt it," he answered positively. we were standing outside the hut, some way from the rest. "however, two ships were left in pond's bay when we came away, and they may see us as they pass, or we may pull off to them if the sea goes down. peter, we should be thankful that things are no worse. cold and inhospitable as is this country, we have the means of existing in it, if we have sense to employ them. even now the wind has dropped and the sea has gone down. it will be as well to get our signal-post up, in case either of the ships should pass." i agreed with him; and calling terence to accompany us, we told the rest that we were going to the edge of the ice to see how things were, and to set up a signal. our flagstaff consisted of a spar, with a lance handle as a topmast, and the flag was the jack used in the boat to show that a fish was fast. we took also some line, to serve as shrouds for the staff. we three set off, then, not without some difficulty in advancing; for the wind was still so strong, that we were almost taken off our legs. the distance, however, was not so great as we expected, for the sea had broken off the edge of the ice for full half a mile. some of the pieces had been washed away, and others had been hurled far up on the surface, so as to form a high and rugged wall. we had taken the precaution of bringing two hatchets with us; and having selected the highest hummock near the sea, we chopped the summit of it perfectly level. we then cut out blocks of ice, and piled them up, till we had built a pyramid some ten feet high. we left places on which we could stand, to enable us to do this. we then planted our staff in the centre, and secured the shrouds to some large blocks of ice we had dragged up for the purpose. we thus formed a very conspicuous mark, but we felt that it was too probable the ship might not pass near enough to see it. for some minutes we contemplated our work, and then prepared to return to our companions. just then terence happened to turn his eyes to the north-east. he stopped and looked eagerly out. "a sail, a sail!" he exclaimed; "she's coming down right before the wind." "it's the only way she could come, mate," said andrew, not in the least way excited by the announcement. "but are you sure you see a sail? don't you think it may be the wing of a seafowl?" "'tis too steady for that," answered terence. "if we get to the top of the flagstaff hummock, in another minute or so we shall know to a certainty." in spite of the cutting cold wind to which we were exposed, we stood for several minutes eagerly watching the white spot which terence asserted was a sail. i asked if it might not be an iceberg; but andrew said an iceberg never travelled fast before the wind, because, although a great deal of it was exposed above the water, there was a much larger proportion below, on which, of course, the wind had no influence; and he wound up his observation by pronouncing the spot to be the topsail of a ship. "huzza, then, mates, we shall get off this time," shouted terence, who had no wish to winter in the arctic regions. "we must not be too sure of that," answered andrew. "let me ask you, even if we are sure, how are we to get off with the sea there breaking on this sheet of ice? we must not let our hopes blind us to the truth." "you are always croaking, andrew," said terence in a vexed tone. he was, like many another man, without much hope, and who, the smaller it grows, is the more inclined to be angry with the person whose plain-speaking tends still further to decrease it. on came the ship, scudding at a great rate before the gale, right down along the edge of the floe. she seemed, as well as we could then judge, to be about three miles off. we were obliged to descend, and to run about to keep ourselves warm; but every instant one of us was climbing to the top of the hummock to watch the progress of the stranger. she was drawing near when some of our companions discovered her; and we now saw them come hurrying along over the ice towards us, forgetting everything in the expectation of being able to escape from our perilous situation. by the time they reached us she was just abreast of us, running under her fore-topsail at headlong speed before the wind. how anxiously we watched her, expecting her every instant to heave to; but she glided onward, unconscious of the agony and despair she was creating in our hearts. we waved our hats; we pointed to our signal staff; we leaped up on the hummock; we even, in the extravagance of our eagerness, shouted out at the top of our voices, as if sounds so faint could reach her. but all we could do was vain. on she passed in her course, as if we were not in existence. "fire our guns," said andrew; "they might possibly be heard." but in their hurry our companions had left the guns at the hut. all hope of making ourselves seen or heard was now abandoned; the ship flew by, and soon her hull sank below the horizon. some of the men, on this, gave way to impious exclamations of discontent, but andrew checked them. "it is god's will that we remain here, mates," he said. "how do we know but that it is for our benefit that we are left where we are? that ship, which we are now so anxious to be on board, may before the night be crushed beneath an iceberg, or perhaps dashed to pieces on the rocks in sight of home, while we may yet be destined to see again our country and our families. believe me, mates, all is for the best; and though we don't see the way we are to escape, it may now be ready for us." the tone of religious confidence in which andrew spoke, contributed much to revive the spirits of our companions. the gale was also rapidly decreasing, and hopes were therefore expressed that, should the last ship appear, the boat might be able to reach her, even though she might be too far off to see our signal. however, day drew on, and no ship appeared. the returning darkness warned us that we must get back to our hut without delay, or not only might we not be able to find it, but it might be visited by our friends the bears, and our remaining provisions might be destroyed. we accordingly hurried back, and were only just in time to prevent the latter catastrophe; for, as we got to the hut, we observed three large objects moving over the snow towards the land. they were no doubt bears, who, when they saw us running up, had been frightened away from the food, to which their keen scent had attracted them. i rushed into the hut for a gun, intending to make chase after them; but andrew told me to desist, as i should not have the slightest chance of killing one, and that they might possibly turn upon me and destroy me. the third night we spent in our hut was much colder than the former ones, though there was less wind. one of us by turns kept watch, as before. i was asleep, and it was terence's watch, when i was awakened by a loud noise like thunder, and a shout from him which made all the party start on their feet. the noise continued. it too much reminded us of that we had heard when the ice, in which we had been beset in our passage through baffin's bay, had begun to break up. "what's the matter now?" exclaimed several voices. "the floe must be separating, and we are perhaps going to be drifted away from the shore," remarked old david, "but never mind, mates, we can't be much worse off than we were, and a short cruise won't do us any harm." "how can we tell that the floe will not break up into small pieces, or perhaps drift out and join the middle ice?" i inquired. i thought such a thing might possibly occur, and i wished to secure our retreat on shore. "there is little doubt that the floe is separating," said andrew. "but at all events we can do nothing while it remains dark. as soon as daylight appears, we must decide, without loss of time, what is to be done." the noise continued for a considerable time, then all was silent; and i suppose that the piece we were on had already begun to drift away from the main body of ice. i fancied, even, that i could feel a peculiar undulating movement, as if it was acted on by the waves. as soon as morning dawned we eagerly looked out. at first there appeared to be no change; but, as the light increased, we found that between us and the main ice there was a wide passage of nearly a quarter of a mile. the floe we were on was about a mile across in the narrowest part, and two or three miles long. it seemed, while we watched the land, to be advancing towards the northward and eastward. our flagstaff was on the same piece, and was not disturbed. but another object met our sight which engaged all our attention. it was a sail to the southward. with what deep anxiety we watched her, i need scarcely say. "which way is she heading?" was the general cry. "to the southward," exclaimed old david. "she'll not come near us, depend on that, mates; so we need not look after her. she must have slipped by in the night or in the grey of the morning, or we should have seen her." "but don't you think she may be the _shetland maid_ come to look for us?" i asked. "who is certain that she is standing away from us? for i am not." one or two sided with me; but the others were of opinion that the stranger was standing from us. meantime the floe drifted out to sea. there was no immediate danger, and we might have remained as secure as we were before, provided it did not come in contact with any other floe, which, had it done, it would probably have broken into fragments, and we should have forthwith perished. all hands were too busy watching the ship to think much on this subject. we watched, but we watched in vain. if she was our own ship, captain rendall must have fancied that he had come as far north as he had left us; and seeing the ice broken and changed, and floes drifting about, he must have thought we had perished. at all events, after an hour's earnest watching, the most sanguine were compelled to acknowledge that the top-sails were gradually again sinking in the horizon; and before long they were out of sight, and all hope of escaping that year was at an end. by this time we had been, as it were, somewhat broken in to expect disappointments, so no one expressed his feelings so strongly as on the former occasion. we were also obliged to think of means for securing our present safety. two things were to be considered. if we remained on the floe, should it break up we must be destroyed; besides this, we could procure no food nor fuel. after andrew had heard all of us express our opinions, he resolved to quit the floe and retreat to the main ice. "we'll stay on the edge of it for one day, or two if you wish it, and we'll keep a bright look-out for a ship; but it's my opinion that the last has passed, and that we had better make up our minds to winter on shore. the sooner we begin our preparations the better chance we have of weathering out the time." this plan being agreed to, two hands were sent to unstep the flagstaff and bring it forward, while the rest of us dismantled our hut, and dragged the boat to the edge of the floe nearest the shore. it was time that we should be off, for the channel had already widened to half a mile. though the water was perfectly smooth, the boat, with all our party and our stores, had as much in her as she could conveniently carry. a quarter of an hour served to carry us across, when we again hauled our boat up; and choosing the highest hummock in the neighbourhood, we again erected our flagstaff. before, however, we began to build a hut, we examined the condition of the ice round us, to ascertain whether there was a probability of another floe breaking away with us. on finding it, according to the opinion of the old hands, perfectly secure, we put up a tent in the same manner as the last, though of rather a larger size. this done, we cooked and ate the first food we had tasted that day, for we had been too busy all the morning to think of eating. andrew then urged us to make diligent search for any of the oil-giving fish which we could catch. accordingly, armed with our harpoons and lances, we set out, leaving one hand to guard the boat and to keep a look-out for a passing sail. we first kept along the edge of the ice; but meeting with no success, we turned towards the land to look for any pools which might exist in the ice. after looking about for some time, we came to one nearly the eighth of a mile across. in it were a shoal of narwhals or sea-unicorns, every now and then rising above the water to breathe, and then diving down again in search of prey. could we have brought the boat so far, we should have had no difficulty in killing them, but now it depended how near they would rise to the edge. it was tantalising to watch them and not to be able to get hold of any. we divided into three parties, for we had as many harpoons; and at last one rose within reach of david's weapon. he launched it forth, and struck the fish in the neck. down it dived rapidly; but it soon had to return to the surface, when we hauled it towards the edge and despatched it quickly with our lances, after which we hauled it upon the ice. in the same manner another was afterwards killed. these were indeed prizes; for, though not so valuable as the seals, their flesh and oil were most welcome. we found that they were too heavy to drag over the ice whole, so we cut off the blubber and some meat, and left the kral for the benefit of the bears. the horns would, under other circumstances, have been valuable; but we could not afford to burden ourselves with more than what was absolutely necessary. we at last got back to the hut with our prize; and the hand who was left to watch reported that no sail had appeared. we had now an abundance of oil, so that we were able to dress the flesh of the bear in it, as also to keep up a light in the hut all night long. the next day, if the _shetland maid_ did not return, and if no other ship appeared, we were to form our plan for future operations. all that day the look-out hummock was occupied by one of our party with his eye anxiously looking seaward; but hour after hour passed away, and no sail appeared. what a sinking at the heart, what a blank, desolate feeling came over us, as our last hope vanished! hitherto we had been buoyed up with the expectation of relief; now the most sanguine felt that the last whaler had departed for the season. it was my turn to look out just before it grew dark. the floe on which we had floated for so long had now drifted a considerable distance off, and had broken into three almost circular pieces. as i watched, it was met by several other floes of equal magnitude, which were revolving, some in one direction, some in another, without any apparent cause. then began a most furious contest between them,--hurled together, they overlapped and crushed on each other, till in the course of a few minutes they had broken into a thousand fragments. i was indeed thankful that we had not remained on the floe in the hopes of being seen by a ship. darkness coming on, and it being impossible any longer to distinguish objects at a distance, i returned to the hut. i found my companions sitting round our kitchen in the hut, and discussing plans for the future. some were still anxious to get on to the southward in the boat, in the hopes of overtaking some whaler which might have stopped to fish; but andrew strongly urged them at once to abandon all hopes of escaping that year, and at once, while they had health and strength, and the weather remained moderate, to make preparations for the winter. he showed the extreme improbability of our overtaking ships which must have been driven very far to the south by the gale, as also the danger of being swamped should the slightest sea get up; while, should we not succeed in our attempt, we should be worn out, and, incapable of providing for the future, must inevitably be destroyed. i voted with andrew, and also spoke in favour of his plan, showing, from what i had read and heard, that, notwithstanding the cold, with good management we might preserve our lives and our health throughout an arctic winter. at last this plan was agreed to by all, and we lay down once more to sleep away the time till daylight. we were up by dawn; and, having laden our boat with all our stores, we commenced our toilsome journey. our purpose was to make the land, and then to travel along over the ice till we should arrive at some valley, or at the mouth of a river, where we might hope to find some clear water and opportunities of catching fish. though the land appeared quite near, it was late in the day before we reached it. what, then, was our disappointment to find not even a beach on which to build our hut for the night! the high black cliff came completely down to the sea, and was fringed by masses of ice piled up against it, so that we could not even reach it without difficulty and danger. our only course, therefore, was to continue along under it, till we should meet with the opening of which we were in search. i ought to have said that we had protected the keel and bilge of our boat by securing some spars along them, so that she was able to pass over the ice without damage; but the labour of dragging her was very great, and some even proposed leaving her behind rather than have the trouble of conveying her, till andrew reminded them that on her might depend our only means of procuring food, and of ultimately escaping next year. we performed a distance of nearly three miles along the shore, under the same lofty unbroken cliffs; and then andrew called a halt, and we made our usual preparations for passing the night. chapter thirty one. for three days we travelled on; and, supposing that we advanced ten miles a day, for thirty miles not a break of any description appeared in the overhanging cliffs on our right. the men had begun to grumble; and those who had wished to proceed in the boat by water, asserted that, if their advice had been followed, we should have made greater progress with less fatigue. andrew told them in answer that if they would but keep up their spirits, and persevere for one day longer, we should in all probability come to some opening where we might get on shore, and near which, if the sea was smooth, we might launch the boat and try to get some more fish. this encouraged them; and the following morning, with renewed spirits, we continued on our way. as the day drew on, there appeared but little chance of andrew's promise being fulfilled, for, far as the eye could reach, was the same unbroken line of cliff. it was drawing towards sunset, when i caught sight of what appeared to me a ship thrown on her beam-ends, close under the cliff. the rest laughed at me, and telling me i must be deceived, asked me how a ship could get there. i answered i was certain that i was not mistaken, and pointed out to them the object i had seen. it appeared to me, when i first saw it, as in a sort of shallow cavern under the cliff; but before we could make any progress towards it, the shades of evening completely obscured it, and long before we could reach it we were obliged to encamp. we talked a good deal about it as we sat round our lamp in our usual ice cottage; and i dreamed all night that a strange ship had appeared, and that we were to go on board in the morning. when the morning did really come, i eagerly looked out for the first rays of light falling on the object i had seen. it was now more clear than ever. i first pointed it out to andrew. "well, if that is not a real ship, those are very extraordinary marks at the foot of the cliff," he observed. "peter, i believe you are right. it is a ship, and it may prove the means of our preservation." without waiting for any meal, although andrew insisted on the boat being dragged with us, we advanced towards the supposed ship. david certainly did not believe she was one. "if that's a ship," he remarked. "i don't see how the natives would have spared her. they would have been swarming about her like bees, and would have pulled her all to pieces long before this." "i still say she's a ship, and that we shall see before long," i answered. it is extraordinary how the imagination helps out the vision in a case of this sort. i believed that there was a ship, so i saw her; another man did not believe that there was a ship there, so could not perceive her. we travelled on for three hours before all doubts were set at rest by the appearance of a large ship, thrown, as i said, on her beam-ends, but with her masts and rigging still standing. an overhanging cliff projected to the south of her, and within it was the cavern in which she lay, so that she could only be seen from the point from which we had advanced towards her. this providential circumstance instantly raised our spirits, and we could not help giving a loud shout of joy, as we hurried on to get on board her. even should we find no provisions, we could not fail of obtaining numberless things which would prove of the greatest value to us. as we got near her, her condition at once told that she had been lost amongst the ice; and probably thrown up on to a floe by another striking her, she had drifted afterwards into her present position. for some minutes we stood round her, examining her with a feeling approaching to awe. she looked so shattered and weather-worn, and of a build so unusual, that i fancied she might have been there frozen up for centuries. at last terence climbed up her sides, followed by all of us. her decks were uninjured, and were thickly covered with snow, which had contributed, i suppose, to preserve them. her masts and lower rigging were standing, though the topmasts had gone over the side. david pronounced her to be a dutch whaler; and such, i believe, she was. her hatches were on, and even the companion-hatch was drawn over, which made us think that the crew had remained on board till she was driven into her present position, and had afterwards quitted her with the intention of returning. this opinion was confirmed when we went below. we found the cabin in good order and the furniture uninjured, for the water had not reached it. on going into the hold we discovered an abundant supply of provisions in casks; but all her tubs were empty, which showed us that she had been wrecked on her outward voyage, before having taken a fish. her boats also were gone, which showed the way in which her crew had escaped from her. when i first went below, i half expected to find all her people frozen to death, as i had heard of such dreadful occurrences having taken place. several books and papers were found in the cabin, but as none of us could read dutch, we were unable to learn anything from them; but andrew and david were of opinion that she had been there five years at least, perhaps longer. having taken a cursory glance throughout the ship, our appetites reminded us that we had eaten nothing that morning, so we set to work to examine the condition of the stores on board. the meat in the casks was perfectly good, and so even was the biscuit and flour, which had been preserved, i conclude, by the cold from the weevils and the rats. the only animals which had visited the ship were the bears. they had not failed to scent out the good things she contained, but not having been clever enough to lift the hatches off, they had, fortunately for us, been unable to appropriate them. we were not long in knocking the head out of a cask and in collecting materials to form an abundant meal, which we had not enjoyed for so many days. the cook's caboose was still uninjured on deck, and his pots and kettles were hung up inside it, with a store of coals and wood ready chopped up. we accordingly lighted a fire, and two of the men, who professed to be the best cooks, prepared our breakfast. in the cabin we found in jars and canisters a profuse store of tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, and several sorts of preserved fruits and sweetmeats; indeed there was an ample supply of everything we could require. the cabin was, of course, very much on one side, and moreover very chilly; but, for the pleasure of sitting at a table, we carried our meal down there to eat it. andrew took care not to let the opportunity pass by of reminding us that our heartfelt gratitude was due to the great being who had so mercifully guided our steps to this spot, where, without trouble or risk, we might provide ourselves with the necessaries of life. after breakfast i saw some of the men hunting busily about the ship; and from their look of dismay, when, getting hold of a brandy cask, they found the contents had run out, i guessed that their object was to enjoy themselves for a short time by drinking, and i am afraid that many of our party would not have refrained from doing so to excess. i told andrew, who was still in the cabin examining the lockers what i had remarked. "never mind," he answered. "all the glass bottles containing spirits or liquid of any sort have also burst with the cold, so that there is no fear of any of them getting drunk. there are a few stone bottles with hollands, and as they were only partly filled they seem to have something left in them; so i will hide them away in case they should ever be required." we had just concealed them in a locker in the captain's state-room, as his sleeping cabin is called when some of the rest returned, grumbling very much at having found nothing to drink. andrew reproved them mildly for their discontent, when we had been thus led so mercifully to the means of preserving our lives. "if you had discovered any liquor you might have made merry at first," he observed; "then you would have become worse than the brutes, without sense; and lastly, you would have been left without strength or energy to bear the difficulties we shall have to encounter. let me tell you, lads, the liquor you are so fond of only gives you false strength just for a short time after you have drunk it, and then leaves you much weaker than at first. to my mind, people in this climate are very much better without spirits; and in any other climate for that matter. there are times, when a person is almost frozen or overcome with weakness, when they may be of use; but in most cases we are better without them." andrew's reasoning had some effect on his hearers, particularly when they found themselves forced to follow his advice whether they would or not. we now all assembled together in the cabin to decide on what we should do. some were for remaining on board, and making ourselves as comfortable as we could; but andrew at once pointed out the madness of such a proceeding. he argued that even in summer the position under the cliff was excessively cold; that the ship was in no way fitted to serve as a habitation during the winter, when there were days no person could be exposed for ten minutes together to the air without suffering; and that, although there was an abundant supply of salt provisions, unless we could procure some fresh meat, our health would materially suffer. "my advice, mates, is," he continued, "that we travel along the coast as we first intended, till we arrive at the sort of place we were in search of when we fell in with this wreck. when we have found it, we will at once build a warm house, and then set to at hunting and fishing till the animals desert the country, and the sea is frozen over, and the long winter nights set in. we will, however, first build some sledges, such as the natives use, and we will carry on them all the things we require from the ship to our station. if any one has a better plan to offer, let him propose it." "i think andrew's plan is the one to follow, and i propose we set about it without delay!" i exclaimed. "and so do i," said terence. "and i don't see that it's a bad one," observed david. "and i think it a good one," said tom stokes. the rest offered no opposition; indeed they did not know what else to propose. i must observe that now when we had nothing to do with whaling, in which the others had more experience, andrew fully showed his superiority and fitness to command, so that we all readily obeyed him whenever he thought fit to issue any orders. however, as he felt that he only held his authority on sufferance, he judged it best, as in the present instance, to consult all hands before the formation of any fresh plan for proceeding. the whole day was spent on board in examining the ship, and in forming our plans, and in making some of the preliminary arrangements. the first of them was to build a couple of sledges, which andrew showed us how to do, very similar to those used by the esquimaux. we also packed up some tea, cocoa, and sugar, as also some meat and bread to serve us for present use, till we could bring up the remainder to our winter station. among other valuable articles were some carpenter's tools and two fowling-pieces, some canisters of powder, with a supply of shot, thus giving us the means of killing any game we might meet with. it was, as i said, very cold; but as there was a stove in the cabin, we lighted it, and soon got the cabin comfortably warm. probably, had we been left to our own devices, we should have all gone to sleep without keeping any watch; but andrew ordered one of us to keep watch by turns throughout the night, both to supply the stove with fuel and to guard against fire. had it not been for this precaution, we might have slept away some of the valuable hours of daylight. as soon as we had breakfasted, andrew gave the signal for us to start. some wanted to leave the boat till we had found the spot we were in search of; but he insisted on its being brought along, showing that we must have her at our station, both to enable us to catch fish and to assist us in escaping on the following summer; and that, as she was laden and prepared for the journey, it would be wise to bring her at once. we could only drag one sledge with us, and on that were placed a few additional stores. having closed the hatches, we once more left the ship. we travelled on the whole of that day and the greater part of the next, without meeting with a fit place to fix on for our winter station. some of the grumblers declared that we never should find it, and that we had much better go back to the ship. the prospect was certainly very discouraging, and even andrew was beginning to think that there was no help for it but to return, when, on reaching a high black rocky point, we saw a bay spreading far back and surrounded by hills of only moderate height, from which the snow had melted, leaving exposed a variety of grasses and lichens which clothed their sides. i shouted with joy on seeing this to us cheering prospect. to people under different circumstances, the view might have appeared bleak and gloomy enough. on getting round the point, we landed on firm ground for the first time since leaving our ship; and, strange as it may seem, i felt as if half our difficulties and dangers were over. on climbing up the nearest hill, we saw that a stream, or rather river, ran into the centre of the bay, and that from its mouth to the sea there was a clear channel. nothing could have been more in accordance with our wishes. we might here be able to supply ourselves with fish, and from the appearance of the country, there would probably be an abundance of game. we continued along the ice till we saw, a little above the beach, a level spot on the side of the hill, well sheltered from the north. andrew pointed it out. "there, my lads, is the place where we must build our house, and we must make up our minds to live in it for the next ten months or so at least," he observed. "we will therefore make it as comfortable as we can, for we shall not be able to shift our quarters when once the frost sets in, let me tell you." we proceeded up to the place he indicated, and under it we hauled up our boat on the beach. on a further examination of the spot, we resolved to establish ourselves there, and immediately set to work to erect a habitation which might serve us till our winter-house was ready. for this purpose we collected some large stones which had been washed down from the neighbouring cliffs, and rolled them up the hill. with these as a foundation, with the addition of earth and small stones and turf, we in the course of a couple of hours had raised a wall very much in form like those we had been accustomed to form of snow. our sail served as a roof; and in an excursion made by some of the party a short distance among the hills, a quantity of a low shrubby plant was discovered, admirably suited for a mattress till we could get bedding from the ship. andrew assured us that we had every reason to be thankful that our position was so good; and so i think we had, for it most certainly might have been very much worse. but those who stay at home at ease by their warm firesides would not consider a residence in a hut on the side of a bleak hill, throughout a winter within the arctic circle, as a position much to be envied. everything, we must remember, is by comparison; and i again repeat, we had good reason to be grateful. the first thing the next morning, off we all started with the sledge, to commence the work of bringing the things from the wreck. the distance was twelve miles, so that we could at the utmost only take one trip in the day. we were all in good spirits, for we had slept soundly and had enjoyed a good meal; but before long, some of the men began to grumble at the distance. "i don't see why we couldn't have chosen some place nearer the wreck to build our house," said one. "it's a pity the ship weren't driven ashore nearer the bay," cried another. "now, for my part, i'd rather let the things remain where they are, than have to bring them all this way," exclaimed the worst grumbler of the party. "or, as i said before, we'd better by half take up our quarters on board," put in one of those who had advocated that measure at first. "now, let me tell you that you are an ungrateful set of fellows to talk as you do," exclaimed andrew, who had listened to all that was said. "you saw yourselves that there was not a spot of ground nearer than the place we have chosen fit to winter in; and as to complaining that the ship is no nearer the bay, why, if she had been driven into any other spot than the exact one where she is, she would have been seen by the esquimaux, and plundered of everything she contains. you'll soon find the want of everything we can get from the wreck; and if any one chooses to winter aboard her, we'll leave him plenty to eat, but if he isn't frozen to death we shall have him back with us before very long, that i know." most of the party sided with andrew on this as on other occasions, and the grumblers were silenced. as we were perfectly unencumbered, we advanced at a rapid rate, and in about three hours we got up to the ship. we scrambled up the sides by the chain-plates, and were all soon on deck. "hillo, who left the companion-hatch open?" exclaimed terence, who was the first who got aft. no one recollected who could have been guilty of the neglect. "no matter, there's no chance of any one having been here while we were away," cried terence, as he jumped down the companion-ladder. he had not got down many steps before he sprung up again in a great hurry, with a face of terror, his head shoving back the next man who was following him, and sending him sprawling on deck, while a loud angry growl was heard issuing from the cabin. "och, murder!" he exclaimed. "there's davy jones aboard, as sure as my name's terence o'connor." "shut to the hatch there!" shouted david to some of us who were standing abaft the companion. we drew it over just in time to prevent a white head and a pair of sharp claws covered with shaggy hair from protruding out of the hatchway. at the same moment david, who had a lance in his hand, thrust it down, and again a fierce snarling growl was heard. "why, mates, we seem to have caught a bear," observed andrew, who had come aft to see what had happened. "we may have caught a dozen, for what i know," answered david. "and provided they haven't eaten up the flour, and sugar, and beef we left here, the more there are the better." while he was speaking he was pronging away with his spear down the companion-hatch, and the growling grew louder and fiercer. the bear was now severely wounded and enraged to the utmost; for in spite of the enemies he might have guessed were ready to receive him, he tried to force his way up. "hand a gun here, and we'll see if we can't settle him," cried david; but the guns had been left leaning against a block of ice outside the ship, and before we could recover them the bear had made another attempt to get out of the trap. evading the points of the lance, he had seized the handle in his teeth, and then climbing up the ladder, he forced the top of the hatch off with his head, and seemed about to take the deck from us. andrew, however, had got another lance, and just as his terrific claws were close to david's shoulder, he gave him a severe wound in the neck. at the same moment i ran up with a gun, and firing into his mouth, he fell dead across the hatchway. that he was not alone we were convinced by the appearance of another shaggy monster, who now shoved his head up to see what his companion was about. as he showed his head from under the dead body and opened his mouth to growl, david plunged his lance into it with such force that he fell mortally wounded down the ladder, carrying the weapon with him. we had some work to drag the dead bear out of the way, he was so heavy a fellow. "are there any more of them?" cried terence, who, discovering that they were mortal foes, had completely recovered from his fright. he spoke as he was peering into the cabin, and about to spring down the ladder. "och, yes, here comes another." and sure enough a third bear appeared at the doorway, with a look which seemed to ask what we wanted there. as he was too sagacious to come within reach of our spears, and our remaining gun was loaded only with small shot, we scarcely knew how to despatch him. it would have been very dangerous to descend the ladder, for one pat of his paw was sufficient to tear any man's arm off; so we had to enrage him by shaking our lances in his face, and then pretending to run away to induce him to follow us. at last we succeeded almost too well; for with a speed of which i did not think a bear capable, he clambered up the ladder, and was making for the side of the ship with the sensible intention of escaping, when we closed in upon him and caused him to stand at bay. he looked at us savagely, singling out one of us to attack, and then rushed upon david; but the old whaler's lance was ready, and the bear received a mortal thrust in his breast. notwithstanding this, he rushed forward grinning savagely; but david sprung out of his way, and another lance pierced him to the heart. we had thus secured some very valuable prizes, and we even hoped there might be more of them below, provided they had not eaten up the stores on which we counted. not one liked to be the first to go down till we had ascertained whether the cabin had any more occupants. at last none appearing. terence with cautious steps descended the ladder, ready to spring up again should another bear show his face. stepping over the carcase of the bear, which lay at the foot of the ladder he looked in. presently he shouted to us to follow, and we all quickly descended,-- anxious to see what damage the bears had committed. fortunately all our stores had been returned to the lockers, and they had broken open only one, and had got hold of a jar of brown sugar and another of flour, which, in their clumsy endeavours to eat, they had sprinkled about the cabin. we calculated from this that they had not been there long; for if they had, they would have routed out everything eatable they possibly could get on board. as it was, our carelessness had been productive of more good than harm, for the skins of the beasts would make us some warm clothing, while their flesh would afford us food for a long time, if we could get no other fresh meat. our first care was now to construct a number of hand sledges, for the conveyance of our stores to our winter quarters. the small ones were made so that one person could drag them over the smooth parts of the ice; and on having to pass any rough portions, two or three persons might tackle together, passing one sledge after the other. to carry the woodwork for our house, we were obliged to form a large sledge, which would require nearly all the party to drag it forward. taking care to close all the hatches, we loaded our sledges with provisions, blankets, and some additional clothing, and set forward on our return to the bay. chapter thirty two. we travelled briskly along over the ice, our encounter with the bears affording us abundant matter for amusement. i forgot to say, that not having time to flay them, we had shoved them down the main hatchway, to wait till the next day. now and then one or other of the sledges, not carefully constructed, would come to pieces, and we had to wait while it was being repaired; otherwise we got on very well, and, i suspect, faster than if we had not had them to drag after us. at length our journey was almost accomplished, and in a few minutes we expected to arrive at what we already had begun to call our home,--it was, indeed, the only home we were likely to have for a long time to come. we had rounded the rocky point, and were dragging our sledges towards our hut, when what was our surprise to see a group of human beings, clothed from head to foot in skins, standing round it, examining it apparently with much curiosity! on seeing us they drew up in a line, and advanced slowly towards us down the hill. they numbered twice as many as we did; and as they had arms in their hands, andrew ordered us to stop, to see what they would do. "show them that we wish to be friends, lads, and place your lances and the guns on the ground," said andrew. we did as he directed, and instantly the esquimaux, for such we saw they were, threw aside their spears and knives, and cried out, "_tima, tima_!" and advanced with outstretched arms towards us. we uttered the same words and advanced also. we soon saw by the expression of their countenances that they were amicably disposed towards us; and from their manner of behaving, we suspected that we were not the first europeans they had met. they all appeared comfortably clothed. the men wore deerskin jackets with hoods to them, to be drawn over the head; their trousers were generally of sealskin, made to reach below the knee, and their boots were of the same substance, with the hair inside. some of them had shoes over their boots, and an under-jacket of deer-skin. the dress of the women was very similar, except that their jackets had long flaps behind, reaching almost to the ground, and were pointed in front. there were several children, who kept in the background, and they were all dressed exactly like the older ones; and funny little beings they were, reminding one forcibly of hedge-hogs, or rather of little bears and dancing dogs. they advanced slowly in a line as we walked forward; but when we had got near enough to see each other's faces they stopped. whatever sign we made they instantly imitated; and there was a merry, good-natured expression in their countenances, which gave us great confidence in the friendliness of their disposition. seeing this, we walked forward and put out our hands; they did the same; and presently there was as warm a shaking of hands between us, as if we were the oldest friends each other had in the world. this ceremony being over, they accompanied us to the hut, which we examined with some little anxiety, to see if they had taken anything away; but nothing was disturbed. the few things, also, which had been left in the boat had not been touched. "you are honest fellows, that you are," exclaimed terence, shaking them all round again by the hand, at which they seemed mightily pleased. we talked away at them, and they talked to us for some time, making all sorts of signs and gestures; but at the end of it all we were not much the wiser, for neither of us could understand a word each other said. however, we did not want them clustering round us while we were unpacking our sledges, and we were in a hurry to stow our things away before night; so terence undertook to draw them off. he managed it by taking one by the hand, and making him sit down at a little distance and seating himself beside him; then, making a sign to the first to sit quiet, he led another to the spot, and so on till they all were seated. they then remained very quiet, looking on with an expression of the greatest surprise at the various things we produced. it was almost sunset when they got up, and again shaking hands, took their departure over the hills. by this we supposed that their habitations were at no great distance. the next morning we were up by daybreak to return to the ship; and as we did not think it wise to leave our property without a guard, terence and tom were selected to remain, with two of the guns, to shoot any game which might appear, or to defend themselves if necessary. the ship had not been visited; and having laden our large sledge with some wood from the wreck for building the house, and two small ones with provisions, we set forward on our return. terence reported that the esquimaux had again visited the hut, and had invited him and tom, by signs, to accompany them over the hills; but that, on his shaking his head and sitting still, they had understood that he could not leave his post, and they went away. as soon as we had taken some food, andrew urged us to set about building our winter house without delay, lest the severe frosts should come on before it was finished. the plan he proposed, and which was adopted, was to divide it into two compartments, one for a store-house, the other for our dwelling and cooking room. the latter was fifteen feet square and eight feet high, with a sloping roof, and a hole, with a trap in the top, to let out the air and to serve for a chimney. all this would require a great deal of wood, besides the turf and stones with which we also proposed to build it. we had no means of forming windows; but, as we had heard it was always night during the winter, we thought we should not want them. the next morning we were off again for the wood, as well as some bears' flesh and some of the other provisions. terence, who managed so well with the natives, remained as before, and he reported that they had come, and seemed much surprised with the work we had performed; that they had examined the tracks of the sledges and the additional stores, and then, after a great deal of talking, had returned from whence they came. the following morning we were disturbed by a loud noise of dogs barking and men shouting; and on looking out of our tents, we saw our esquimaux friends looming through the twilight, each of them accompanied by a troop of seven dogs harnessed to a sledge formed of the jaw-bone of a whale and sealskins. they came close up to us, talking very rapidly, and pointing in the direction in which the ship lay. when we prepared to start on our daily expedition, they showed their evident intention of accompanying us. david and some of the other men did not like this, and were afraid that if they saw the ship they might appropriate everything on board; but andrew assured us that he was certain they had no such intention, and that their purpose was to assist us, otherwise, as they might easily have tracked us along the ice, they would have set off by themselves. the esquimaux laughed very much when they saw us trudging along with our clumsy heavy sledges; and calling their dogs to stop with a _wo wo-hoa_, just as a carter does in england, they beckoned each of us to get on to a sledge behind each of them, and placing our sledges on theirs, away we drove. off went the dogs at full gallop, they guiding them with their whips and their voices along the smoother portions of the ice. it was amusing and very exhilarating to feel one's self whirled along at so rapid a rate, after being so long accustomed to the slow movements of our own weary feet, and our spirits and courage rose accordingly. their sledges were between eight and ten feet long, and about two wide. the runners of some were of the jaw-bones of a whale, and of others of several bones lashed together. to prevent the wearing out of the runner, it is coated with fresh-water ice, composed of snow and ice, rubbed and pressed over it till it is quite smooth and hard. the dogs are harnessed with thongs of sealskin, passed over the neck and fore-legs, and leading along the back. great care is taken to select a good leader, who goes ahead with a longer trace than the rest, and in the darkest night, by keeping his nose to the ground, can always find out the right track. the driver uses a whip with a lash many feet in length, but he guides his team more by words than blows; and it is amusing, when the leader hears his own name called, to see him looking round for his master's orders. as we drove along, i bethought me i should like to learn the name of my companion; so i pointed to myself, and pronounced my own name several times, "peter, peter, yes, i peter;" and then i touched him, and nodded for him to speak. he quickly understood me, and uttered the word ickmallick; and when i repeated it, he seemed much pleased. after this, whenever i touched anything, he always mentioned the name, and so did i; and in that way in the course of our drive we had both of us learned something of each other's language. when they arrived at the ship, they appeared very much astonished; and we could only account for their not having seen her, by supposing that they had come from inland, or from the south, and that their fishing excursions never took them in this direction. their astonishment was much increased when they clambered on board and descended into the cabin; and they seemed almost afraid to touch the numberless strange things they saw. a looking-glass was hanging up; and by chance one catching sight of his face in it, he was riveted to the spot; then he began to move slowly and to make grimaces, which he continued to do, increasing the rapidity of his movements, till he broke into shouts and shrieks of laughter, till most of his companions assembling around him, they became convulsed in the same extraordinary manner. as we had no time to lose, we covered up the glass, which quieted them; after which we led them into the hold, when no sooner did they see the dead bears than they rushed up to them, and began examining them minutely to see how they had been killed. after this they treated us with much greater respect even than before, evidently admiring the prowess which had enabled us to overcome so many of the few enemies with whom they have to contend. we immediately set to work to remove the lining of the ship, the bulkheads, and such other woodwork as we thought would prove useful to us in building our house. the esquimaux gave us to understand by signs that they would carry it for us; and as we threw it over the side of the ship, they packed it on the sledges, each sledge carrying six or seven hundredweight. they seemed to fancy that the ship was ours, and that we had come in her; and of course we did not wish them to think otherwise. among the things in the cabin, we had discovered a number of knives, hatchets, cotton handkerchiefs, and other articles, which had evidently been brought for the purpose of trading; and some of them we now produced, and signified that we would bestow them on them, as rewards for carrying our property. the way we did this was to load one of our own sledges,--one of our men dragged it on some little way, and then andrew, pointing towards the bay, went up to him and gave him a knife or a handkerchief. as a hatchet was three times as valuable, he dragged the sledge three times before he received it. my friend ickmallick's black eyes sparkled when he saw this, and his countenance was wreathed with smiles for two reasons--first, for the pleasure of comprehending what he meant, and also at the thoughts of receiving so large a reward for his labour. we were so pleased with the honest countenances and manner of these people, that we had no fears about entrusting the wood and other heavy things to them. if we had known how scarce and valuable wood is to them, we might have hesitated more before we did so. among our other labours, we skinned the bears; and, reserving the more delicate portions of the meat, we gave the rest to them. to our surprise, they immediately began to eat large lumps of it raw, though we had lighted the caboose fire to cook our own breakfast, and offered to cook for them. some they divided among their dogs; and, as soon as masters and beasts had devoured their meal, they set off together towards the bay, leaving us still busy on board. when they were gone, we were not quite satisfied that we had done wisely in giving them the things. they might, knowing them to be ours, carry them off; or they might have misunderstood our signs, and fancy that we had given them to them. however, the thing was done, and we must abide by the consequences. we calculated, at the rate they travelled, that they would easily make two journeys in the day; so we employed ourselves in getting loads ready for them on their return. we were not disappointed. in little more than two hours they made their appearance; and so well had they understood us, that those to whom we had promised knives or handkerchiefs for carrying one load held out their hands for them, while those who were to make three for the hatchets signified that they had performed part of their contract. we now entrusted some of them with the bears' flesh and skins, and with some casks of salted meat; and we also piled up, outside the ship, a load of wood for each of them, to see if they would come and take it. as soon as they were off, we followed with the more valuable stores; but, as we trudged slowly along, we envied their more rapid means of conveyance, and agreed that we would get them to carry us as well as our stores on the following day. we had got about two-thirds of the way, when they appeared before us with a fresh relay of dogs. they had come out expressly to meet us; and, putting us and our loads on their sledges, away we trotted quickly towards the hut. we were much delighted when terence informed us that everything had been safely delivered into his hands. the next morning we set to work in earnest about our house, and, as we all worked, we progressed much to our satisfaction. during the day the esquimaux arrived with the loads of wood we had left prepared. they did not show any intention of visiting the ship when we were not there to deliver the things to them; indeed, after watching us at work for a little time, they all went away. i have not space to describe our proceedings minutely. we first got our storehouse completed, and all our things stowed away in it; and then we built our dwelling-house, and surrounded it with clods of turf, fancying that we had constructed a very comfortable edifice. the esquimaux paid us daily visits, and carried us to the ship to bring away whatever we required. we were always careful to shut down the hatches before leaving, to keep out the bears; and this they seemed to consider some religious ceremony, for they never attempted to visit the ship during our absence. i never met with people, in any part of the world, who possessed a more peaceable friendly disposition--such perfect honesty and constant good-humour, with a very fair amount of intelligence. their courage and perseverance are expended in overcoming the beasts which form their subsistence, and there are few opportunities of developing their intellectual qualities; but in many respects they are, in my opinion, far more civilised than a large proportion of their brethren in the south, who claim to be the most enlightened nations in the world. chapter thirty three. we had been all so busy in building our house, and in bringing our stores from the ship and in stowing them away, that none of us had wandered a quarter of a mile from our location. the esquimaux seemed perfectly to understand what we were about; and when they saw that our work was completed, they came with their sledges and made signs to us that they wished us to come and pay them a visit at their abodes. by andrew's advice, five of us were to go first, and the remainder were to go on our return. terence and i and david, and two other men, signified our willingness to accompany our new friends. i stepped into ickmallick's sledge, and the rest were accommodated in those of the others; and the dogs being told to get up and step out, off we set at a good rate along a valley in which the snow already laid pretty thickly. as there were no fields, or hedges and ditches, we were able to follow the most convenient track, though certainly not the shortest, for we twisted and turned among the hills for the sake of getting a level road so as to treble our distance, as we found afterwards that we could reach the spot to which we were bound almost as speedily on foot. the esquimaux location was on the shore of a little bay, opening on a deep fiord to the south. it was a sheltered and romantic spot; and in some respects, we at first thought, superior to the one we had chosen. as we turned round a point of rock we came in sight of a number of tents of some size, arranged along the shore at regular distances from each other. as we appeared, their inhabitants rushed out to meet us--men, women, and children--while the dogs, no insignificant part of the establishment, hurried up the hill to get out of our way, not liking our appearance, or perhaps their masters' whips, which were used with no sparing hand. we drove up to the tents in fine style, and were welcomed in the most cordial manner. these tents were supported by a pole of whalebone, about fourteen feet long, placed perpendicularly in the ground, with four or five feet projecting above the roof. the sides and roof were formed of the skins of seals sewed neatly together. the tents were about seventeen feet long, and at the entrance about seven feet wide, increasing towards the farther end, where the bed-places were situated, where they are about nine feet in width. the beds were formed of a shrubby plant strewed over about a third of the tent, and kept separate by pieces of bone laid across from side to side. the doors opened towards the south-west. they also were formed of a bone framework, with the skins stretched on them, and were made to overlap each other. the entrance to the tents was much the lowest part. the skins were pegged down to the ground with curved bits of bone, also parts of the whale; indeed, everything about the tents may be said to have been made of skin and bone, as in truth were all the articles we saw in the possession of our friends. it was worthy of remark how well these people adapted their mode of living to the circumstances of the country, and how ingeniously they made use of the very few objects they had the means of obtaining. i thought to myself, suppose a civilised man, or indeed a whole army of civilised men, were to be placed in this region, not having been accustomed to whaling and sealing, as my companions were, every one of them would perish within a few hours, or days at the utmost; and these people, who are called savages, have contrived to supply themselves with all the conveniences and necessaries of life. we felt that had we not discovered the wreck, and afterwards fallen in with them, we might have fared very ill indeed. when we got off the sledges, our new friends invited us to enter their tents. i went into ickmallick's, where he introduced me to his wife and children. she was young, and had a pleasant amiable expression of countenance, which made me feel quite at home. she was employed in cooking the family meal. her fireplace was composed of a few stones in the corner of the tent, with a lamp of oil and moss in the centre; and over it was suspended a small stone vessel of an oblong shape, and larger at the top than the bottom, containing a mess of sea-horse flesh, with a quantity of thick gravy. the dinner was just ready; so all of us sitting round in a circle, with the dish in the centre, we set to. i had become in no ways particular, or i might not have relished my meal, for there was rather more blood and dirt in the mixture than might have been wished for; but some of the ribs were very palatable, though i should have preferred some bread and salt and potatoes with them. i considered my appetite good; but mr and mrs ickmallick and their interesting family distanced me far, and in a few minutes each of them had eaten more than would have served me for the whole day. the dish out of which we were eating was made of whalebone, one piece being bent for the sides, and another flat piece being used for the bottom, and sewn so neatly together that it was perfectly water-tight. the knives they used were made of the tusk of the walrus, cut or ground sufficiently thin for the purpose, and retaining the original curve of the tusk. in the tent i observed a number of the weapons they use in the chase. the spears or darts employed in killing seals and other sea animals are something like harpoons, consisting of two parts, a spear and a staff. the latter is of wood when it can be obtained, and is from three and a half to five feet in length; and the former is of bone, ground to a blunt point. the lines attached to the spears are cut out of sealskin, well stretched and dried, and then coiled up like a rope. to serve as a float, a large bladder is used. most of the ladies had their faces tattooed, and some their hands; and i certainly did not think it improved their beauty, though i suppose they did. the children were fat and rosy, and really interesting-looking, and so were some of the younger girls; but my gratitude for their hospitality prevents me saying anything about the elder ladies. their jet-black glossy hair hung down carelessly over their shoulders, and was not tied up like that of the people we had seen on the greenland coast. they carried the younger children on their backs, in little sacks or hoods, just as the gipsies do in england. the women were under five feet in height, and few of the men surpassed five feet four, five, or six inches. the complexion of the young women was very clear, and by no means dark; their eyes were bright and piercing, and their teeth of pearly whiteness, though their lips were thicker and their noses flatter than people in england consider requisite for beauty. from the quantity of clothes they wore, both men and women appeared a much larger people than they really were, especially the children, who looked like little balls of skins. when we came out of the tents we found the air very cold; and to warm himself, terence began to jump about and to snap his fingers, singing at the same time. this seemed particularly to strike the fancy of our hosts; and in a little time men, women, and children had joined us in a reel, and we were all dancing and singing away furiously, till we could scarcely move for fatigue. it made us all very merry, and improved the intimate terms on which we were with our friends. as the sun was sinking low, we made signs that we wished to return home; but they signified that they could not part so soon from us, and that we must pass the night at their huts. as we felt perfect confidence in them, and were willing to see more of their habits and customs, we determined to remain. we had some more singing and dancing, and they were highly delighted at seeing terence and another man dance an irish jig, they carefully noting every movement that was made. as soon as it was over, two of them got up, and amid shouts of laughter performed a very good imitation of the dance. when the dance was over, we were invited into the tents to partake of some more of their savoury messes, they probably thinking that as we had eaten so little, according to their notions, the first time, we must be hungry again. they pressed us much to eat more; and ickmallick selected what he considered the tit-bits, and watching his opportunity, endeavoured to pop them into my mouth, not at all to my satisfaction, though i endeavoured to conceal the annoyance i felt lest i should hurt their feelings, for i saw it was done with the kindest intentions. the meal was scarcely over when notice was given that a herd of sea-horses, or walruses, or morse, as they are sometimes called, had come into the fiord, and were at no great distance from the bay. the opportunity of catching some of these animals, so valuable to the esquimaux, was not to be lost, so, seizing their spears and lines, they hurried down to the beach. here their canoes were placed bottom upwards on two upright piles of stones, about four feet from the ground. this is done to allow the air to pass under them, and to prevent them from rotting. they are about seventeen feet long and rather more than two feet wide, decked over, except a hole in the centre in which the rower sits, and round this there is a high ledge to prevent, the sea washing in. two feet of the bows float out of the water. the timbers or ribs, which are five or six inches apart, and the stem and stern, are of whalebone; and they are covered with the skins of the seal or walrus sewed neatly together. when driftwood can be found, they employ it. the paddle is double, and made of fir, the edges of the blade being covered with hard bone to secure them from wearing. with the greatest caution the esquimaux lifted their canoes into the water, to prevent them rubbing against the rocks, and they then helped each other in, we assisting the last man. i observed that each of them took a few handfuls of sand with him in the canoe. as we stood on the beach, we could see the walruses blowing like whales as they came up the fiord, and our friends eagerly paddling out towards them. the canoes went along as fast as a quick-rowing gig. the walrus may be said to be something like a bullock and a whale, and it grows to the size of an ox. it has two canine teeth twenty inches long, curving inward from the upper jaw; their use is to defend itself against the bear when bruin attacks it, and to lift itself up on the ice. the head is short, small, and flattened in front. the flattened part of the face is set with strong bristles. the nostrils are on the upper part of the snout, through which it blows like a whale. the fore-paws are a kind of webbed hand; they are above two feet long, and may be stretched out to the width of fifteen to eighteen inches. the hind feet, which form a sort of tail-fin, extend straight backward. they are not united, but are detached from each other. the termination of each toe is marked by a small nail. the skin of the animal is about an inch thick, and is covered with a short yellowish-brown coloured hair. the inside of the paws in old animals is very roughened, from having to climb over the ice and rocks. beneath the skin is a layer of fat, the thickness varying in different seasons. the canoes were soon among the herd, and several of the animals were immediately struck. instead, however, of darting away, each of the wounded animals made at the canoes, and their occupants had to pull hard to keep out of their reach. when the other walruses saw this, they also swam towards the canoes to the assistance of their companions, and a regular contest commenced between man and beast. the men, by the clever twists and turns they gave their canoes, managed to keep out of their way, the wounded animals all the time growing weaker and weaker; and whenever any of those untouched approached so near as to endanger the canoes, they threw a handful of sand so dexterously in their eyes, that the enraged animals were blinded and confused, and immediately swam off. i regretted that we had not our firearms with us, as we might very soon have killed a large number without difficulty, provided the report did not frighten them away. it was quite dark by the time the canoes returned to the beach, each towing in triumph the dead body of a walrus. on hearing of their success, the people who remained on shore set up shouts of joy, and hastened down to carry off the blubber and the more delicate morsels for their next day's meal. the greater portion of the flesh was stowed away in holes in the bank, lined with a coating of snow, and thickly covered over with large stones, so that no animal could get at them. they have no fear in this climate of their food being destroyed by vermin or small insects. we thought our friends had done eating for the day, but the temptation of some fresh blubber was too great to be resisted, and to our astonishment they again set their pot on to boil, and ate till they could eat no more. terence and the rest of my party fared in the same way, in their respective tents, which i did. ickmallick, when he had done eating, made a sign to me to occupy a corner of the family couch; and the whole family were soon snoring away and making a no very harmonious concert, when a dozen or more dogs sneaked in and took up their quarters at our feet. the lamp was left burning all the night. it is a shallow crescent-shaped vessel of potstone, or what is called soapstone from its soapy feel. the wick is composed of dry moss, rubbed between the hands till it is quite inflammable. it is disposed along the edge of the lamp, on the straight side, and a greater or smaller quantity lighted, according to the heat required or the fuel that can be afforded. i was much pleased by observing the clever way in which the lamp is made to supply itself with oil, by suspending a long thin slice of whale, seal, or sea-horse blubber near the flame, the warmth of which causes the oil to drip into the vessel, until the whole is extracted. the wick is trimmed by a piece of asbestos stone, and a quantity of moss is kept ready to supply the wick. immediately over the lamp is fixed a framework of bone, from which the pots are suspended; as also a large hoop of bone, having a net stretched tightly within it. into this net are put any wet things which require drying, and it is usually filled with boots, shoes, and mittens. the lamp kept up a pleasant heat in the tent during the night, and without it we should have suffered much from the cold, as it was freezing hard outside. the first thing my hostess did in the morning was to set on the cooking-pot. the toilet was made as rapidly as that of a family of bears, for all they did was to get up and shake themselves. before they went out, however, they pulled on some shoes over their boots to keep their feet dry, for it had been snowing hard in the night. i was very little inclined to partake of the breakfast, though i did my best to eat a little to please them. we now explained to our friends that we wished to return; and they showed their willingness to comply with our wish by catching their dogs and harnessing them to their sledges. in every part of the world the dog is the faithful companion and servant of man, but especially so in these icy regions. i do not know how the esquimaux could exist without dogs. not only do they drag heavy weights for long distances at a great rate, but they by their excellent scent assist their masters in finding the seal-holes; and they will attack the bear and every other animal with great courage, except the wolf, of which they seem to have an instinctive dread. in appearance and colour they much resemble the wolf; but the latter when running always carries his head down, and his tail between his legs, as if ashamed of himself, while they always hold their heads up, and their tails curled handsomely over their backs. in the winter they are covered with hair three or four inches long and a thick under-coat of coarse wool, so that they can withstand the severest cold, if protected from the wind by a snow wall or a rock. their masters treat them very roughly; and, when food is scarce, they leave them to pick up any garbage they can find. they often beat them unmercifully; but in spite of ill-usage the dogs are much attached to them, and, on their return from a journey, show as much pleasure, by jumping up and trying to lick their faces, as any well-bred hounds in england. if they show a disposition to stray, a fore-leg is tied up to the neck, so that they tumble down when they attempt to run. the females are tended by the women, and treated with great care, and the puppies are often fed with meat and water at the same time as the children. consequently, when grown up, they always follow women more willingly than men; and when they are drawing a heavy load, a woman will entice them on by pretending to eat a piece of meat, and by throwing her mitten before them on the snow, when, mistaking it for food, they hurry forward to pick it up. we afterwards purchased a number, which we found very useful for hunting, as also for drawing a sledge; though we never managed them as well as the esquimaux did. a drive of a couple of hours carried us back to our house, where we found our companions well, and ready to accompany our new friends on a visit to their tents. we employed ourselves during their absence in thickening the walls of our house, and in getting our boat ready for hunting seals, in order to lay in a good supply of oil for winter use. we had no time to lose, for every day the weather was getting colder and colder, and the days shorter, and we might expect the winter speedily to set in. all this time, it must be remembered, there was no want of ice and icebergs on the sea, and snow on the ground; but still, when the sun shone, the air was pleasantly warm to our feelings, long accustomed to constant exposure to sharp winds, which would have chilled the blood of most of our countrymen accustomed to live at home at ease. we found our house at night colder than we expected; and we resolved to catch as many animals as we could with warm skins, to make ourselves clothing. the next morning, while the rest of us were engaged about the house, tom stokes, who had gone some way along the beach to watch for any seals which might appear, came running back, declaring that he had seen a fierce-looking wild man grinning at him over a hummock of ice, and that he must be one of the mermen he had read about, but which he did not before believe to exist. he said that when he first saw him, he was in the water; that he came out on the ice, and put up his fist, and made faces at him, and that, though he hove a stone at him, he did not seem to care. "i'll see what this merman is," i observed, taking up a gun loaded with a bullet, and following tom to the spot. there, sure enough, was an ugly black-looking monster; but instead of a merman, it was a walrus. i got round so as to have a fair shot at its side, and knocked it over sprawling on the ice. it had not strength left to crawl off the ice, and tom and i going up to it, despatched it with our spears. we summoned the rest, and dragged it home on our big sledge in triumph. we never ceased afterwards to joke tom about his ugly merman. chapter thirty four. we fancied that we had got everything comfortable for the winter, which now, about the middle of october, began to set in with severe earnestness, with heavy falls of snow and strong northerly winds. our house, on which we had so much prided ourselves, did not keep out the cold blast as we expected; and though we covered ourselves up with blankets, and sails, and skins, and kept up a constant fire in the little stove we had brought from the cabin of the wreck, we were almost perished with cold. it was after a very severe night, and we were consulting what we should do to keep warm, that we saw the sledges of our esquimaux friends come dashing along down the valley towards us. we were anxious to return the hospitality they had shown us so we asked them into the house and stirred up our fire, threw some more wood on it, and put on a pot of lobscouse to regale them. they could scarcely restrain their feelings of dismay when they saw this waste of wood, to them so precious a thing, and by signs they entreated us to desist; reminding us that they had cooked their meat in a very different way. however, as the pot began to boil, there was no necessity for putting more wood on. they then tried to show us, by significant gestures, that they thought we should be frozen to death in our house when the cold increased. to do this, they shivered very much, then shut their eyes, and stretched out their limbs till they were rigid, and looking round at the walls, shook their heads, as much as to say, "this will never do." then they smiled, and explained that they could soon show us how to manage. having selected a level spot near our house, they beat the snow on it down till it was quite hard, and then marked out a circle about twelve feet in diameter. they then, from under a bank where the snow had drifted thickly and was very hard, cut out a number of slabs like large bricks, about two feet long and six inches thick. these they placed edgeways on the spot marked out, leaving a space to the south-west for the door. a second tier was laid on this, but the pieces were made to incline a little inwards. the top of this was squared off with a knife by one of them who stood in the middle, while the others from without supplied him with bricks. when the wall had been raised to the height of five feet, it leaned so much that we thought it would certainly fall in; but still our friends worked on till they could no longer reach the top. the man within then cut a hole in the south-west side, where the door was intended to be, and through this the slabs were now passed. they worked on till the sides met in a well-constructed dome; and then one climbing up to the top, dropped into the centre the last block or keystone. the rest of the party were all this time busily employed with their snow-shovels in throwing up the snow around the building, and in carefully filling any crevices which might have been left. while we stood looking on with amazement at the rapidity and neatness with which the work was executed, the builder let himself out as a mole does out of his mole-hill. he cut away the door till he had formed a gothic arch, about three feet high, and two and a half wide at the bottom. from this door in the same way two passages were constructed about twelve feet long, the floor of them being considerably lower than the floor of the hut, so that one had to creep up through them into the hut. we were wondering how they were to see through the thick snow, when from one of the sledges a large slab of fresh-water ice was produced; and the builder cutting a round hole in one side of the roof, it was let into it to form a window. after the window was cut, the builder remained inside for a short time, and then invited us to enter. he had collected the snow on one side to form the beds for a family. round the remaining portion seats were formed, and a place for holding the cooking-lamp. indeed the house thus rapidly formed was perfect in every respect. the light which came through the ice was like that transmitted through ground glass, very soft and pleasant, and tinted with the most delicate hues of green and blue. a domed room of the most shining alabaster could not be more beautiful. we found that our friends intended to take up their abode near us; for as soon as they had finished one hut, they began upon others, making signs to us that the first they intended for our occupation. we would rather, perhaps, for some reasons, that they had selected a spot at a greater distance; but they were so honest and good-natured, that we had little cause to complain. andrew suggested that though we might not use the hut they had built, we might take a lesson from them, and cover in our house with snow of the same thickness as their walls, procuring from them slabs of ice for the windows. no sooner was this proposed than we set about the work, at which, when our indefatigable friends observed it, they were so pleased that several of them came to assist us in forming the bricks of snow; and in a short time a thick wall was run up, which made a very sensible difference in the temperature of our room. the next day we covered in the roof, leaving only a very small opening for the chimney. we also built a deep portico before the door, with a second door to it, which prevented the wind from whistling in as it had before done. besides this, we built a courtyard to our house, with the walls eight feet high, to protect us from the wind; and at last we began to flatter ourselves that we might be tolerably comfortable, though we had to own that, notwithstanding all the means we had at our command, the esquimaux were better able to make themselves so. our fire, from the constant care it required and the difficulty of procuring fuel, gave us most trouble; so remembering the lamp we had seen in the tents, we resolved to adopt a similar plan. we had been so busily engaged in improving our own house, that we had not remarked the progress made by our friends in the construction of their habitations. they now invited us to enter them again, when we found all the families established comfortably in them. after creeping through the two low passages, each with its arched doorway, we came to a small circular apartment, of which the roof was a perfect dome. from this, three doorways, also arched and of larger dimensions than the outer ones, led into as many inhabited apartments, one on each side, and the other facing us as we entered. the scene presented by the interior was very interesting. the women were seated on the beds at the sides of the huts, each having her little fireplace or lamp, with all her domestic utensils about her. the children crept behind their mothers, and the dogs, except the female ones, which were indulged with a part of the beds, slunk out past us in dismay. the roof and sides of the inner rooms were lined with sealskin, neatly sewed together and exactly fitting the dome, which gave the whole a very comfortable nest-like appearance. on examination we found that the beds were arranged, first by covering the snow with a quantity of small stones, over which were laid tent-poles, blades of whalebone, and other similar-shaped things; above these a number of little pieces of network, made of thin slips of whalebone; and lastly, a quantity of leaves and twigs. above all was spread a thick coating of skins, which could not now by any chance touch the snow, and a very comfortable couch was the result. the lamps were the same as those used in the tents, and were quite sufficient to afford ample warmth to the apartments. indeed, had the heat been greater, it would have caused the snow to melt, to the great inconvenience of the inhabitants. i have already described some of their domestic utensils--their pots hollowed out of stone, with handles of sinew to place over the fire; their dishes and plates of whalebone; and their baskets of various sizes, made of skins; their knives of the tusks of the walrus; their drinking-cups of the horns of the musk-ox; and their spoons are of the same material. they also make marrow spoons out of long, narrow, hollowed pieces of bone, and every housewife has several of them tied together and attached to her needle-case. every person carries a little leathern case, containing moss well dried and rubbed between the hands, and also the white floss of the seed of the ground-willow, to serve as tinder. the sparks are struck from two lumps of iron pyrites; and as soon as the tinder has caught, it is gently blown till the fire has spread an inch around, when the pointed end of a piece of oiled wick being applied, it soon bursts into a flame, the whole process occupying a couple of minutes. while speaking of their domestic habits, i may remark that in summer they live on the flesh of the musk-ox, the reindeer, the whale, the walrus, the seal, and the salmon, besides birds and hares, and any other animals they can catch; but in the winter they seldom can procure anything but the walrus and small seal, so that they suffer often from hunger. then i am sorry to say they are very improvident, and eat to repletion when they have a good supply, seldom thinking of saving for the future. this is their great fault. i should say that they are a most amiable, industrious, and peaceful people, whose minds are well prepared to receive the truths of christianity, though at present they appear to have little or no notions whatever of any sort of religion, and none of a supreme being. the children, from their pleasing manners, took our fancy very much. they never cry for trifling accidents, and seldom even for severe hurts. they are as fond of play as other children; and while an english child draws a cart, an esquimaux has a sledge of whalebone, and instead of a baby-house it builds a miniature snow-hut, and begs a lighted wick from its mother's lamp to illuminate the little dwelling. their parents make for them as dolls, little figures of men and women habited in the true esquimaux costume, as well as a variety of other toys, many of them having reference to their future occupations in life,--such as canoes, spears, and bows and arrows. grown people as well as children use the drum or tambourine in their games. they are fond of notching the edges of two bits of whalebone, and whirling them round their heads to make a humming sound, just as english boys do; and they also make toys like wind-mills, with arms to turn round with the wind. from an early age boys are taught habits of industry; and when not more than eight years old, their fathers take them on their seal-catching expeditions, where they learn how to support themselves during their future life. they are frequently entrusted, even at that early age, to bring home a sledge and dogs several miles over the ice; and at the age of eleven boys are to be seen in water-tight boots and mocassins, with spears in their hands and coils of line on their backs, accompanying the men on their fishing excursions. the village had been established a few days when my friend ickmallick proposed that i should accompany him in an expedition in search of game inland. the esquimaux had not yet seen us use our guns; but, from having discovered that we had killed the bears and the walrus by some means unknown to them, they were impressed with an idea that we were able to kill any animals without difficulty. andrew having no objection to my going, i supplied myself with a store of provisions to last me several days, with a skin and a couple of blankets, a cooking-pot and cup; and with my gun in my hand, i took my seat on my friend's sledge. besides the six dogs which drew it, we were accompanied by two brace of hunting dogs, those in the team being also equally serviceable for running down game. ickmallick had some walrus flesh and blubber for himself and the dogs, and a dish for our lamp. he was armed with a bow and arrows, a spear, and a knife. i had become possessed of a dog of the name of tupua, a very fine animal, who had grown very much attached to me, in consequence of my feeding him regularly and treating him kindly. he now followed the sledge with the rest of the pack. ickmallick cracked his whip, and off we went over the hard frozen snow at a rapid rate. where we were going to i could not tell, except that our course was about west and south-west. the first day we saw no game of any description. we travelled, i suppose, about thirty miles; for though sometimes we went along over the hard snow very fast, at others we had to go over very rough ground, and to climb hills. had i not seen the snow-hut built before, i should have hesitated about accompanying my friend, on account of not knowing how we were to pass the nights. i was, however, not surprised to see him set to work behind a sheltered bank, and in the course of half-an-hour, with my assistance, run up as comfortable a hut as under the circumstances of the case we could desire, with a lamp burning within, and a luxurious bed ready, while another hut, close to it, was run up for the dogs. the dogs being fed, and our pot having produced us a savoury mess, of which my companion ate by far the larger portion, we went to bed and slept soundly till the morning. we had started about two hours when the sharp eyes of my friend discovered the traces of two musk-oxen on the steep side of a hill. immediately jumping off the sledge, he unyoked the dogs, and commenced building a hut over it, which might also serve us at night. he then let slip his dogs, who went off at full speed and were soon out of sight, as the nature of the ground did not allow a very extensive view. i let go mine also. but being unaccustomed to walking in the snow, i could not keep up with ickmallick; so he slackened his pace, refusing to leave me behind, though i urged him to do so, lest we should lose our expected prey. he assured me, however, that the dogs would take very good care of their own business. we went on, therefore, laboriously enough for two hours, over a very rugged country, and through deep snow, when, finding that the footsteps of the dogs no longer followed that of the oxen, he concluded that they had got up with the animals, and were probably holding one or both at bay. we soon found, on turning a hill, that this was the fact; when the sight of a fine ox at bay before the three dogs cured my fatigue in an instant, and we went off ourselves at full speed to the rescue. ickmallick, however, kept the lead, and was in the act of discharging his second arrow when i came up. we saw that it had struck on a rib, since it fell out without even diverting the attention of the animal from the dogs, which continued barking and dodging round it, seizing it by the heels whenever they had an opportunity or when it turned to escape, and then retreating as it faced them. in the meantime it was trembling with rage, and labouring to reach its active assailants, but, experienced as they were in this service, unable to touch them. it was easy to see that my companion's weapons were of little value in this warfare, or at least that victory would not have been gained under many hours, as he continued to shoot without apparent effect, finding his opportunities for an aim with much difficulty, and losing much time afterwards in recovering his arrows. i therefore thought it was time to show what i could do with my mysterious weapon, and putting in a ball, i fired at the animal at about fifteen yards from it. the ball took effect, and it fell; but rising again, it made a sudden dart at us, very nearly catching me as i sprang aside. fortunately there was a rock rising out of the ground close to us. behind this we dodged, when the ox, rushing at it with all its force, struck its head with tremendous violence against it. the animal fell down, stunned for a moment, with a crash which made the hard ground echo to the sound. on this ickmallick leaped forward and attempted to stab it with a knife; but it was instantly up again, and he was obliged to run for shelter behind the dogs, which came forward to renew the attack. bleeding profusely as the animal was, its long hair down its sides being matted with blood, yet its rage and strength seemed undiminished, as it continued rushing forward and butting with the same ferocity as before. in the meantime i had reloaded my gun behind the rock, and was advancing to take another shot, when the animal darted towards me, to the great alarm of my friend, who thought i should be killed. he called to me to return to my shelter, but i had time, i felt, for a cool aim. i fired, and the animal fell not five yards from me. the sight of his fallen enemy made my companion scream and dance with joy, and on his coming up it was dead. on examining it, we discovered that the last ball had passed through the heart. from the habits of the esquimaux, i expected that my friend would have lost no time in extracting a dinner out of the ox; but i found that i had done him injustice, and that his prudence was more powerful than his stomach. he was satisfied with mixing some of the warm blood with snow, thus dissolving as much as he required to quench his thirst; and he then immediately proceeded to skin the animal, knowing very well, what i might have recollected, that the operation would shortly become impossible in consequence of the severity of the cold, which would soon freeze the whole into an impracticable mass. for the same reason he divided the carcase into four parts, that we might be better able to lift it. as we were unable to carry off our prize, we built a snow-hut over it, setting up marks that we might know the spot again. we however took away a small portion for a meal, which on reaching our abode we cooked, and found excellent. we were up by daylight to go in search of the other ox, the traces of which we had seen. we searched for it for two hours, when we discovered it grazing on the top of a hill free from snow. there was only one path by which it could escape. that we occupied; and as we advanced rapidly towards it, our shouts and the loud barking of the dogs alarmed it. first it seemed as if it would rush at us, but its heart failed it and it turned and fled. there was a precipice before it; but it either did not see it, or fancied that it could leap to the bottom in safety. we observed it disappear, and i thought it was lost, and on reaching the edge of the cliff it was nowhere to be seen. my friend, however, beckoned me to accompany him, and winding down the hill, we found the animal at the bottom of the precipice, killed by the fall. it was cut up in the same way as the first, and a snow-hut was built over it. we employed the next day in bringing up the flesh and skins of the oxen to our hut; and fortunate it was that we did so, for it snowed so hard that i do not think we should otherwise have been able to find the spot where we had left them. we were out looking for more oxen, when, being on some high ground, i saw some dark objects to the north, advancing over the snow in a line which would bring them to the foot of the hill where we were. i pointed them out to ickmallick, but his keen eye had perceived them. they were a herd of deer migrating to the south. they travelled on at a rapid rate, not stopping to graze, nor turning to the right hand nor to the left. my companion pulled me by the sleeve, and urged me down the hill, where he beckoned me to take up my post behind a snow wall, which he with the greatest rapidity threw up. we had scarcely knelt down when the herd appeared in sight, dashing onward. i waited till i could get a good shot, and fired at a fine buck. i hit him, but he continued his course with his companions. we thought he was lost to us, but he very soon dropped behind the rest. on this ickmallick let slip the dogs, which he had held all the time in leashes. they were very soon at the stag's heels, and brought him to bay. he was a fine object as he stood conspicuous on the white sheet of snow, now tinged with the blood which flowed from his side, his antlers still raised in defiance at the dogs barking round him, and yet scarcely daring to attack him. though deserted by his companions, he fought nobly; but he was already exhausted by loss of blood, and could no longer ward off the attacks of the dogs at his throat. at last he sank, and we were just in time to prevent him from being torn to pieces by the ravenous dogs. a stroke from ickmallick's knife put an end to his torture, and gladly would i have avoided the reproachful glance of his eye as the weapon struck him. this unexpected good fortune made my companion resolve to return home; and he seemed to regret that he had not brought another sledge to carry back our game. the deer was prepared as had been the oxen, and going back to the hut for a sledge, we conveyed it there before night. ickmallick, to my astonishment, made a dish of the vegetable contents of the intestines, which he seemed to consider very excellent, though i could not prevail upon myself to taste it. the next morning we started on our journey homeward. i could not recognise the face of the country, it was so covered with snow; and still less could i have found my way against the heavy snow which was driving in our faces. it was slow work, for we had in several places partly to unload the sledge and to go forward, then to return for the remainder of our property. it was, however, satisfactory to feel that we were independent of inns and innkeepers, and that we had ample means of making ourselves comfortable at night. as usual, when it began to grow dark we built our hut, lighted our fire, cooked our supper, made our beds, and were very soon fast asleep. i awoke at the usual hour, feeling rather oppressed with the heat. i then aroused my companion, whose slumbers were heavy after the five or six pounds of solid flesh he had devoured, and inquired what was the cause of this. he pointed to the door of the hut, which i found was completely blocked up with snow. he laughed to show me that there was nothing to fear, and began making preparations for breakfast. on further examination of the state of things, i found that we were snowed in, but to what depth i could not say, further than that, as six to seven feet frequently fell in the course of a night, i supposed, as was the case, that we might be buried beneath that depth of snow. this seemed to make no difference to ickmallick, for he ate away as heartily as usual, and then packed up our goods in preparation for departure. having accomplished this task, he began cutting away the snow, so as to form a passage just large enough to admit his body. when this was done, we crept through it into the cold bleak air, and it took us a considerable time before we could enlarge the cavity sufficiently to get out the sledge and dogs with our goods. the heat, with the wear and tear of the journey, had somewhat damaged the runners of the sledge, and we had to melt some snow and to rub it hard over them before the conveyance was fit to proceed. the day closed in before we reached home, but ickmallick knew the road too well, as did his dogs, to make it necessary to stop. i fancied that i recognised the cliffs of the coast in the distance, when suddenly just before us i saw some pale lights, like those from gigantic glow-worms, rising out of the ground. the dogs came to a standstill; and voices of welcome rising from the interior, showed me that we had arrived at the village, now covered to the roofs of the huts by snow. the lights i saw were emitted through the ice windows in them. i walked on to our own house, where i found all my companions well; and before long ickmallick brought in half the deer and a quarter of one of the oxen, which he seemed to consider my share of the produce of the chase. chapter thirty five. we thought that we had known what cold was when the winter first began; but when a strong northerly wind commenced, having passed over either a frozen sea or sheet of snow, then we really felt how hard it could freeze. even the esquimaux kept within their snow-huts, and we could not venture beyond the shelter of our snow-wall, without instantly having our faces frost-bitten. it was not till the last day of november that we entirely lost sight of the sun, and the long arctic night commenced. but the night of that region cannot be compared to the dark, gloomy nights of more southern climes. overhead the sky was generally beautifully clear, and the moon and stars shining on the snow gave a light scarcely less bright than that of day. about noon, also, there was always a twilight, and in clear weather a beautiful arch of bright red light was seen over the southern horizon. besides this, the aurora borealis frequently lighted up the sky with its brilliant hues, like some magnificent firework on a grand scale. i watched a very beautiful aurora one night in the south-west, which extended its glowing radiance as far as the zenith. fancy a bright arch suddenly bursting forth in the dark-blue sky, sending up streamers of many hues--orange, crimson, and purple--while bright coruscations were emitted from it, completely obscuring the stars in the neighbourhood! two bright nebulae afterwards appeared beneath it: and about two o'clock it broke up into fragments, the coruscations becoming more frequent and irregular till it vanished entirely. even during the coldest weather, provided there was no wind, we could enjoy ourselves in the open air; but the slightest wind made us feel a smarting sensation all over the face, with a considerable pain in the forehead. we could not touch our guns in the open air without our mittens; and when by accident one of us put his hand to anything iron, it felt as if it was red-hot, and took off the flesh exactly in the same manner. we were very comfortable in our house, but we had to make some alterations. we found it better to stop up the chimney of our stove, and to use the same sort of lamp as the natives, which we were able to do, as we were well supplied with seals and walrus. the esquimaux used to hunt the walrus throughout the winter, and would frequently venture out to sea on floating masses of ice to attack them, trusting to the wind to bring them back again with their prize. when a walrus is struck near the edge of a floe, the hunter fastens the line of his harpoon round his body and places his feet firmly against a hummock of ice, in which position he can withstand the very heavy strain of the struggling animal. seals are taken in a less dangerous way, but one which requires very great perseverance. as seals require to breathe, they have to make holes in the ice for this purpose, and the esquimaux watch for them as they are thus employed. immediately that a man discovers by listening that a seal is working beneath the ice, he builds a snow-wall about four feet in height to shelter him from the wind, and seating himself under the lee of it, deposits his spear-lines and other implements upon several little forked sticks inserted into the snow, to prevent the slightest noise being made in moving them when wanted. he also ties his own knees together with a thong, to prevent any rustling of his clothes. to ascertain if the seal is still at work, he pierces through the ice with a slender rod of bone with a knob at the end of it. if this is moved, he knows that the animal is at work; if it remains quiet, he knows that he has deserted the spot. when the hole is nearly completed, the hunter lifts his spear with its line attached; and as soon as the blowing of the seal is distinctly heard, and the ice consequently very thin, he drives it into him with the force of both arms, and then cuts away the remaining crust of ice to enable him to repeat the wounds and to get him out. a man will thus watch for hours together, with a temperature of degrees below zero. we were able to kill a good many with our guns at a distance as they lay on the ice, when no one could have approached near them. our sporting, on the whole, was tolerably successful, for we killed a quantity of ptarmigan, grouse, and other birds, besides several white hares. we also killed several foxes and a quantity of wolves which came prowling round our house, and would, i doubt not, have carried off any of our dogs or provisions they could have got at. thus the winter passed away without any adventures particularly worth recording. the sun was below the horizon for about six weeks; and though only for a short period at a time, we gladly once more welcomed the sight of his beams. our esquimaux friends continued on very good terms with us; and with our assistance they were always well supplied with food. andrew took great precautions about our health, and advised us to take daily some of the pickles and preserved fruits we had discovered, to assist in keeping off the scurvy,--as also a daily supply of fresh meat, whether of fish or flesh; and we very soon got over any objection we might have had to seal's blubber dressed in esquimaux fashion. during calm weather we paid numerous visits to the ship, to bring away things we might require; and we were able to afford our friends what was to them an almost inexhaustible supply of wood. without the aid of our saws and hatchets they could not cut away the stout timbers and planks; and as we had removed the bulkheads and lining of the ship, with the remaining spars, their honesty was not as much tempted as it otherwise might have been. our time did not hang on our hands nearly as heavily as might be supposed. we in the first place employed ourselves in manufacturing the skins of the animals we killed into garments of all sorts,--mittens, hoots, jackets, and caps,--so that we were all of us clothed from head to foot very much in the fashion of the esquimaux. we took some trouble to trim our jackets and caps with fur of different colours as they do, and the effect produced was very good. we also made models of sledges and canoes, and of all the articles used by our friends, which seemed to please them very much, though i confess they were not more neatly made than theirs, in spite of our superior tools. when tired of work we used to sit round our lamp at night, and narrate our past adventures, or invent stories, some of which were very ingenious and amusing, and were well worth writing down; indeed, i regret that my space will not allow me to give some which i remember very well, for i took pains to impress them on my memory, thinking them worth preserving. if my young friends express any wish to hear them, i shall be very glad at some future time to write them down for their amusement. but the subject which naturally occupied our chief attention was the means we should take to regain our native land. we could not hope that any whalers would visit the coast till august at the soonest, and even then it was not certain that they would come at all. david, who was our authority on such matters, said that he had known some years when the ships could not pass the middle ice through baffin's bay to pond's bay; and that, consequently, we might have to pass another year in that place, unless we could escape through our own exertions. on this the idea was started of building a vessel, and attempting to reach newfoundland in her, or to try and fall in with some whaler at the entrance of davis' straits. i cannot say that i very much approved of this plan. i had great confidence in andrew's discretion, and i knew both him and david to be experienced seamen, but neither of them knew anything about navigation-- indeed david could neither read nor write; and though we might possibly be able to find our way through the ice, when once we got clear we might lose it, and be wrecked on a worse coast than the one we were desirous of quitting. how also could such a vessel as we had the means of building be expected to withstand the slightest pressure of the ice? and, from the experience we had had, i did not think it likely we should be able to get to the south without encountering some of those fearful contests in which we had seen other vessels destroyed. however, day after day we talked about it; and at least it served to beguile the time, though nothing definite was determined on. we had unfortunately no books, for those we found in the ship we could not read. i had, however, a small note-book in my pocket, and with my pencil, which i used very carefully, i kept a sort of journal across the leaves of the foreign books, thus turning them to some account. had it not been for andrew, i am afraid that few of us would have shown any attention to our religious duties; but he by degrees drew the minds even of the most thoughtless to the subject of religion, till all acknowledged its importance and beauty. he explained to us, to the best of his power, the truths of christianity, of which most of us had before a very slight and imperfect knowledge. he also proposed that we should unitedly offer up our prayers to heaven every morning and evening; and from that time we never failed in that important duty. as i think over the prayers used by that good man, although the words and sentences might have been somewhat unpolished, i feel that the sentiments could not have been surpassed by the most highly educated clergyman--for this reason, that they came from an enlightened mind with an earnest spirit. no words, indeed, could be more appropriate to our condition than those he used. early in february the sun again made his appearance, and the day, including twilight, might be said to last from eight o'clock to four, so that we had not a very much shorter day than people in london. the weather, however, was colder than ever, and we were less able to be exposed to the air for any length of time than during the dark months. about the middle of march there were slight signs of a thaw, the snow being glazed over in the evening, as if the sun had had some effect on it. we also felt a sensible improvement in the temperature, and were soon able not only to wash our clothes, but to dry them in the open air, an operation which rather astonished our esquimaux friends. early in may there was a perceptible twilight at midnight, so that we felt the summer had once more begun. a little later, ptarmigan, grouse, and other birds made their appearance, and the esquimaux reported that they had seen the tracks of deer and musk-oxen. still, far out to sea there was the same dreary flat expanse of ice, covered with a sheet of snow. i ought to have mentioned that for the sake of being nearer the edge of the ice, where seals could be caught, some of our friends had built for themselves snow-huts on the ice. for this purpose they completely swept away the snow, leaving a flooring of clear ice, which was of the richest and most splendid blue that nature affords. i thought to myself, with these simple materials what a magnificent palace might be built, far surpassing any other style of edifice! the increasing warmth of the weather now enabling us to work out of doors for several hours together, it was once more seriously proposed that we should begin to build a boat, or, as some insisted on calling her, a vessel, to carry us home. i asked andrew what he thought on the subject, for he had not expressed any very strong opinion either one way or the other. he replied that he thought there could be no harm in trying to build a small vessel; that we had an abundance of materials and tools, with provisions; and that if we could contrive to make her seaworthy, we might manage to reach one of the places to the south constantly visited by whalers; but if not, we must be content to wait till some ship might pass in the autumn. he owned that he, for one, should not be inclined to venture out of sight of land; and that, provided we took a good supply of provisions with us, our firearms and powder, our harpoons and lances, after the experience we had had, we could not come to much harm, even if we were compelled to weather out another winter in the arctic regions. chapter thirty six. having determined to build a vessel, we set to work with great energy; and we hoped by ingenuity and perseverance to make amends for our want of skill and knowledge. our first task was to break up the wreck, and to convey it piecemeal to the bay; and in this work we were ably assisted by the esquimaux, who understood that whatever portion we did not require was to be their perquisite. they also shrewdly suspected that we should leave them, if we went away, many of the other treasures we had in our possession. i believe, however, that they really had formed a sincere regard for us, and were sorry to find that we were about to depart; at the same time that they consoled themselves, as more civilised people are apt to do under similar circumstances, with the reflection that we should leave something behind us. we first had to carry to our store the remainder of the salted provisions; which, had they been left a single night on board after the hatches were removed, the bears would inevitably have got hold of. we then carried off such part of the deck as we required, with some of the timbers and planks. as we could not get at the keel, we were obliged to content ourselves with the mainmast, to serve as a keel for our new vessel. we laid her down close to the beach just above high-water mark, with a carriage-sledge under her, so as to be able to launch her over the ice. our intention was to make her a vessel of about sixteen to twenty tons, which was as large as our materials would allow, and to rig her as a schooner for the same reason, and because she would thus be more easily handled. after much discussion as to the ways and means, we laid down the keel and set up the stem and stern. we next commenced on the ribs, which puzzled us much more to shape them, so as to make the sides of the form we wished, and one side to correspond with the other. however, there is an old saying, that "where there's a will there's a way;" and though not always true, it was so in our case, though we expended six times as much labour and time as we should have done had there been a good carpenter among us to superintend our work. we were unwearied in our labours; we worked all day, and a great part of the night too, for we all felt that on getting it done in time depended our escape from those icy regions that year. i have described our imprisonment as passed more pleasantly than we could have expected; but yet none of us desired to spend another winter in the same way, and most of us had some friends or relations whom we wished again to see, and to relieve from the anxiety they must be feeling on our account. we should have worked on sundays, but andrew thompson urged us to desist. some of the men answered that we were working in a good cause, as we should the sooner be able to return home. "it is the lord's day, and he says we shall not work on it," answered andrew. "therefore it is wrong to work on it; and depend upon it he never intends us to do wrong that good may come of it. we are building a vessel, which we think may be the means of saving us; but he may have arranged differently, and after all our labour it might prove our destruction." terence, tom, and i at once said we would follow andrew's advice; and one or two of the others added that they were not going to work for us if we chose to be idle, so the sabbath became a day of rest. the esquimaux wondered when they observed this, and inquired why every seventh day we desisted from work, though so anxious to get our ship built. andrew then explained to them that we were commanded to do so by the god we worshipped, and that if we disobeyed his laws he would be angry with us, and that we could not expect to prosper. our knowledge of their language was unfortunately far too imperfect to enable us to impart any of the great tenets of christianity to them; but i do believe that this reply, and the exhibition of obedience to the commands of a being whom none of us saw, yet willingly obeyed, opened their minds, more than any sermon could have done, to receive those truths whenever they may be offered to them. many a time in their snow tents will those untutored savages, during the long night of winter, talk of the god of the kabbinae (the europeans), and worship him unknowingly in his works. they are people of inquiring minds, very capable of receiving instruction; and from their habits and dispositions, i feel assured that were the great light of the gospel placed before them, they would gladly receive its truths, and be brought into christ's flock of true believers. should there be no other result from the gallant attempts making to discover a north-west passage round the continent of america, than that by those means people have become acquainted with the condition of vast tribes hitherto little known, and thereby it has been put into the hearts of some of christ's true soldiers to carry his gospel among them, glorious indeed it will be. who can say that the finger of god has not directed our brave countrymen to those regions for that very purpose, although they themselves are ignorant of the influence which impels them; and that, it having been shown how easily the rigours of an arctic winter may be withstood, ere long missionaries may be on their way to reside among the northern, as christian men have for long resided among the southern, tribes of esquimaux for the same holy purpose? we got on very briskly with our vessel. she was not very sightly, certainly, but we thought she would be strong, which was of more importance. after much discussion we determined to give her a round stern, as more likely to withstand a blow from the ice. her floors were very flat, which was very much owing to the shape of the timbers, which we could not alter; but this was not a fault, as she would better have borne being thrown on the ice. when we came to planking her, we found great difficulty in making the planks fit the ribs, as any one conversant with shipbuilding may suppose; and we had to fill up under the planks in many places, to secure them to the timbers. we resolved that she should be very strong; so we almost filled her with beams, and double-planked her over after having caulked the first planking. we had less difficulty in laying down the deck; but for the size of the vessel it was very thick and not very even. provided, however, it was water-tight, we cared nothing for other defects. we built up some strong high bulwarks, not forgetting to leave ports of good size to let the water run off should a sea break on board us. we got two spars from the lower yards of the ship which served for masts, and set them up with shrouds, though, as most of the rigging of the ship was rotten, we had some difficulty in finding a sufficient quantity. we rigged her with a fore and aft mainsail and fore-sail, and a square topsail and a fore staysail and jib, the bowsprit steeping up very much, so that when she pitched there might be less chance of its being carried away. it is not an easy job to cut out a sail well, though there appears to be no difficulty in it; and i must own that ours did not look very well when we first set them, but by alterations, and making several patches, we got them to stand fairly at last. we were prudent and made two suits, besides keeping a supply of canvas among our stores. our yards and gaffs were somewhat heavy, as we had no proper-sized spars to make them from. we found a good supply of rope on board the ship, from which we fitted our running rigging. at last we had a vessel of some twenty to five-and-twenty tons, in all appearance ready for sea. the last and not the least important task was to select the stores and provisions we should require, and to make the casks to hold the water tight. had we had carpenter or blacksmith among us, much of our labour might have been spared; but it must be remembered that we had only a few tools, to the use of which none of us were accustomed, and that nearly every nail we employed we had to draw from the planks and to straighten. by the end of august our task was accomplished, and it was with no little satisfaction that we walked round and round our vessel to survey our work. the next thing to be done was to move her over the ice to the centre of the bay, where about two miles off there was open water. when once we could get the cradle on which she rested on the ice, we thought our task would be easy; but to set it going was the difficulty. we tried every means we could think of, but the heavy mass would not move. an ordinary-built vessel of fifteen tons could not have weighed a third of what ours did. at last we bethought ourselves of cutting away the ground under the cradle, and of placing slips of ice for it to run on. with infinite trouble and no little risk we succeeded in doing this. we gave a shout of joy as we saw our craft moving towards the ice. she glided slowly at first, but her speed increased. she dashed on; and before she reached the ice, while yet on the beach, the cradle gave way, and with a loud crash she fell over on her side. we were in despair, and some gave vent to their feelings in expressions of bitter complaint. we might shore her up, and afterwards cut a channel for her through the ice, if she had escaped injury; but it would be a work of time, and the season for proceeding to the south might be lost. most of the esquimaux had gone away to catch salmon, and on hunting expeditions, but a few remained; and though they expressed great regret at our misfortune, they seemed glad that we had less chance of leaving them. andrew was the only one among us who was calm. "come, my lads," he said, "there's no use looking at what's happened without trying to set matters to rights again. if we stand here all day without putting our hand to the work, we shall not get the craft on an even keel." his taunting words aroused us to exertion; and it was proposed to get the vessel up by driving wedges of ice under her bilge, and since the cradle could be of no further use, to build a way for her to the water, or to where the ice might be thin enough to allow us to break it, so as to form a channel for her to float through. we laboured away very hard; but our want of scientific knowledge made us despair of accomplishing the task. the first day we did nothing--the next we set to work again, but performed little of the proposed work. "it's of no use, i see," grumbled david. "we may as well make up our minds to spend the rest of our days here." while he was speaking, and all hands were standing doing nothing, i happened to turn my eyes to the northward, and there i saw what appeared to me a high land, covered with towers, and houses, and church-steeples, with trees and rocks on either side. under the land, however, appeared a thin line of water, and dividing it a broad gap, as it were the mouth of some wide river or fiord; but what most attracted my attention was an inverted ship, which appeared above it under all sail. i at once guessed that this extraordinary appearance was caused by refraction; but the figure of the ship puzzled me. it was so perfect in every respect, that i was convinced that it could not be an ocular illusion, and that there must be some real ship, and that this was her reflection in the clouds. i pointed her out to my companions; and when they saw that all the objects were continually changing and that she remained the same, they were of the same opinion. we therefore resolved to watch, and to get the boat ready to shove off to her should a ship appear; at the same time the great uncertainty of what might really be the case prevented us from feeling any exuberance of joy. it was already late in the day, but none of us could sleep, so eager were we to keep a look-out for the strange ship. hour after hour passed away, and still no vessel appeared to relieve our anxiety. some of the men at length grew weary of watching, and threw themselves on their beds to sleep. "it was, after all, to my mind but a fancy," exclaimed terence, entering the hut with a discontented air. "the figure we saw in the sky was very like a ship, i own; but still i'd bet anything it was no ship at all." andrew and i still held that it was a ship. "come, mates," said david, who had been looking out as eagerly as any of us; "i've sailed these seas man and boy, thirty years and more, and so i've a right to have my say. now i've often seen just such a sight as we saw yester-even; sometimes we fell in with the ship we saw up in the clouds like, and other times we looked for her and she never appeared, so we supposed that it must have been an iceberg in the figure of a ship which we had seen. therefore what i say is, that what we saw may be a ship. but if she was a ship, then she ought to have been off here by this time; but if it was an iceberg, then there's no use troubling our heads about it." david having thus authoritatively delivered his opinion, walked into the hut and threw himself on his bed, thereby proving that he considered the appearance we had seen merely the reflection of an iceberg. i, however, still held to my first opinion, that a real ship alone could have created a figure so perfect in the clouds. then it must be remembered that i had seen it first, and that the appearance may have somewhat altered before the attention of the rest was called to it. i, however, was so far biassed by david's opinions, that i went and threw myself on my bed. i slept, but it was very lightly; and all the time i fancied that ships were gliding before me, and that their crews were beckoning me to come on board. at last, so strong was the impression on my mind, than i got up and went to our look-out place on the top of the nearest hill. great, alas! was my disappointment, when the same dreary expanse of ice and water met my eye, without a sail anywhere to be seen. one thing struck me, that the whole surface of the sea was as calm and unruffled as the intervening ice, and that no breath of air was stirring in the heavens. the sun rose as i watched, gilding the pinnacles of the icebergs, which still remained fixed in the bay, casting a silvery hue over the masses of snow yet unmelted on the hills, and making stronger than ever the contrast between the pure white of the snow-covered ice, and the deep blue of the tranquil ocean. "at all events," i thought, "no ship can approach us from any quarter unless a breeze should spring up, and till then i may rest in peace." so i again turned in, and slept as soundly as i had ever done in my life. i was aroused by my companions, who summoned me to come and assist them in launching our vessel. we all set to work again with a will, and after infinite labour we got her once more shored up; but to drive her towards the element on which we intended her to float, was another affair. at last we thought that we had succeeded. if we could but move her a few more feet she would be on the ice. once more she glided on; but on reaching the ice the impetus she acquired was so great that the shores gave way, and with greater force than before she fell over on her side, and in spite of the stout timbers and thick planking, from the imperfection of our workmanship she was fairly bilged. we were most of us differently affected. some gave way to despair, and uttered imprecations on their ill-luck, as they called it--others actually wept with grief--while andrew looked on with calm composure. "mates," he said, turning to those who were loudest in their impious expressions of discontent, "i have always said that everything happens for the best; and in this case, depend upon it, we shall find it so. from the damage our vessel has suffered from the slight shock she received, it is clear she could not for a moment have withstood a common nip; and let me ask you, is it not better to remain here even for another year till a ship takes us off, than to be thrown on a sudden on a floe, with only our whale-boat to preserve us, and perhaps without time to save our clothes or provisions? let us, rather than be discontented, believe that god, in this as in everything else, has ordered all for our good." the calm confident tone in which andrew spoke had a great effect on his hearers, and not another word of complaint was uttered. while we were at work, we had not noticed that a breeze had sprung up. one by one we were retiring to our hut, when on looking seaward i observed that the whole surface of the ocean was broken into crisp waves; and glancing my eyes to the northward, there i beheld what no seaman could doubt for a moment were the topgallant-sails of a large ship. i rushed into the hut where my companions were sitting, most of them with their heads sunk between their knees, brooding on our misfortune, except andrew, who stood with his arms folded, meditating on our future plans, and asking assistance whence alone assistance could be given. "a sail! a sail!" i exclaimed. my voice aroused them from their lethargy. they looked at my countenance, and seeing that i was in earnest, like madmen they rushed from the hut. every eye was turned towards the point i indicated. there, sure enough, was the sail i had seen; and without waiting to secure any provisions, we hurried down towards the boat, but andrew called us back. "we should not go empty-handed, mates, among our new friends, nor quit those who have treated us so hospitably without a word of farewell," he exclaimed. "there is yet time enough to do what we should do, and to pull out into the offing before the ship is off here." ashamed by his mild reproof, we went to the tents of our esquimaux friends, who still remained near us; and explaining that a ship, by which we hoped to return to our country, was in sight, we bade them understand that if we did not return, all the property we left behind was to be theirs. we saw tears falling from their eyes as they wrung our hands when we stepped into the boat, which they assisted us to launch over the ice. we had loaded her with as large a supply of provisions as she could carry, and with our guns and the little ammunition which remained. once in the boat, we gave way with a will, and pulled boldly out to sea, with our jack at the end of a spar of three times the usual length. on came the stranger. o how our hearts beat as we saw her hull rising out of the water! on we pulled, so as to place ourselves directly in her course, that there might not be a possibility of her missing us. various were the conjectures as to what nation she belonged; for it was soon seen she was not english by the cut of her sails, and as she drew nearer, by her build. some said danish, others dutch, and others french. the last proved right; for, as we got within hailing distance, once more the voices of civilised men struck our ears. we could not understand the question put to us; but when we sung out that we were englishmen, who had lost our ship, a voice in our own tongue told us to come on board. with joyful hearts we pulled alongside, and found ourselves on board the _saint jean_, whaler, belonging to the port of bordeaux. the cargo of our boat, as andrew had supposed, was not unwelcome, and secured us a warmer reception than we perhaps might otherwise have experienced. the _saint jean_ was nearly full, and was one of the few ships which had that year succeeded in reaching pond's bay; so the second mate, who spoke english, informed us. most of them, afraid of the early setting in of the winter, had already gone to the south, and must have passed out of sight of land. thus, had we not seen the ship, we should probably have had to pass another winter in the arctic regions. i will not stop to describe our voyage to the south. it was in some respects favourable for the greater part of the distance; but the crew were in a sickly state, and our services were therefore of much value. the captain and first mate both fell ill; and i have reason to suspect that our reckoning was not kept with proper accuracy. six weeks had passed since we had got on board, when a heavy gale sprung up from the north-west. as the night drew on it increased in fury, though, as we had got everything snug on board, we hoped to weather it out. it was the opinion of the mates, for the master was too ill to attend to his duty, that we were well to the southward and west, and that we might keep away for our port. instead, therefore, of laying to, we ran on before it. the weather was very thick, and we could scarcely see a hundred yards ahead. day was just breaking, and we englishmen were all on deck together, from being placed in the same watch under the second mate, when terence, who was forward, sung out with a startling voice-- "land right ahead, land on the starboard bow!" the frenchmen understood the cry--all hands sprang on deck. the mate ordered the helm to be put a-port and the yards to be braced up, in the hopes of being able to beat off. it was too late; we were completely embayed. land appeared broad on either bow. to have beaten off with less sail than we carried would have been hopeless; but still there was more than the ship could carry. the masts went by the board. fortunately the mizzen-mast went first, followed by the main-mast, or the ship would have broached to, and every soul of us would have been swept from her decks. andrew sprang aft and put the helm up again, calling on me to assist him; while the rest ran forward, to look out for a clear beach to run the ship on, for by this time we saw that we were too near to attempt to anchor with any chance of saving the ship. in moments of sudden peril the french are apt to lose command over themselves; at all events, such was the case in the present instance. and yet these men had gone through all the dangers of an arctic voyage; but then they were dangers for which they were looking out. even now they were brave--that is to say, i do not think they turned paler than any of us; but they ran here and there, not knowing what to do nor comprehending the orders of their officers, while we were cool and did our best to save ourselves. we kept the helm a-starboard, and steered to a spot where there appeared to be less surf; but it was a fearful choice of evils. in two or three minutes the ship struck; it must have been on a rock, for she trembled throughout, and the foremast went by the board. all hands had run aft, knowing what must occur. again she lifted and flew forwards several yards, but it was to strike with more violence; and the following sea, before most of us could secure our hold, came rushing furiously on board, and sweeping everything before it. i found myself lifted off my feet, and whirled round among the foaming billows. i knew nothing more till i felt my arm grasped at by some one; and when i returned to consciousness i was on the beach uninjured, with andrew leaning over me. i asked for our companions; he shook his head sorrowfully. three of them were missing--poor tom and two others. nearly all the frenchmen were lost. we two, terence, david, and the two others, and six frenchmen, were the only ones who had escaped. before the ship struck we had instinctively thrown off our shoes and the greater part of our clothing, so that we had nothing on but our shirts and trousers; and as none of the bodies of our unfortunate shipmates nor any clothes were washed on shore, we had no means of supplying ourselves. we suspected that we had been cast away on the west coast of ireland; and we found, on inquiry of some people who flocked down to the shore, that we were not wrong. i am sorry to say, that so eager were they in hunting for whatever might come on shore, that they seemed little disposed to afford us any assistance. the frenchmen were anxious at once to proceed to dublin, where they might get relief from their consul; and andrew and the rest wished to go there also, to cross over to england or scotland, and terence because he belonged to that city. i, however, was eager to return home direct. the yearning to see my parents and brothers and sisters again was stronger than i could repress i felt sure, also, that captain dean and mary, to whom i had given my father's address, would have communicated with him, and that i should receive some news of them. with sincere regret i parted from that excellent man, andrew thompson, and with not much less from terence and the rest; but the two first promised to write to me as soon as they got to their homes. i set off alone, and a stranger, without shoes, hat, or jacket, to beg my way across ireland. some disbelieved the tale i told of my disasters, and turned me from their doors; but others gave me bread and meat, and the poorest never refused me a potato and a drink of milk, for their eyes, accustomed to real misery, could discern that i spoke the truth. at length, just after dark, i reached the well-known gate of my father's grounds. i walked through, and with knees knocking together from over-excited feelings i approached the house. i looked up at the windows--not a light was to be seen, nor a sound heard. my heart sunk within me; i feared something must have happened--what, i dared not ask myself. i sat down on the steps, fearful of inquiring. at length i gained courage to ring the door-bell. it was answered by a loud barking of dogs from within, but no sound of a human voice. again i rang, and after waiting some time, in my impatience i began to knock fiercely with my fists. i stopped, for i heard a window opening, and a voice inquiring from above what i wanted. it was old molly finn, the housekeeper. i recognised her in a moment. i told her who i was, and entreated her to tell me where my family were gone. "och, ye idle spalpeen, get along with ye, with your lying tales about being master peter, who has been dead these two long years or more," she exclaimed, in a voice of anger. "get along with ye, i say, or i'll let the dogs out on ye." "if you mean to let juno and pluto slip, you are welcome," i answered, my anger beginning to rise. "they'll at least know me, and that's more than you seem inclined to do, molly." "just come nearer here, and let me ax ye a few questions, whoever ye are," she said, in a softer tone. "tell me first, molly, where are my father and mother, and brothers and sisters--are they all alive and well?" i exclaimed. "well, then, there's no harm in telling ye thus much; they are all well, and gone to dublin for miss fanny's marriage there to a fine gentleman who's worthy of her. and now, what have ye got to say?" "thank heaven!" i exclaimed, and burst into tears, and sobbed till my heart was like to break. it was the giving way to affections long long pent up, like the icy ocean in winter; within my bosom. "och, it must be master peter, whether dead or alive!" exclaimed the old woman, disappearing from the window. i had some notion that bars and bolts were being withdrawn, and in another instant a lantern was flashed in my face. it was instantly thrown down, and i found myself hugged in the dear old creature's arms, and several of my old four-footed favourites leaping up and licking my face, she coming in for some share of the said licking, and thinking it was me all the time returning her kisses. tim, the stable-helper, the only other person left on the premises, was now roused up from his early slumbers, and added his congratulations to molly's. we went inside the house and shut the door, and i rushed round to every room before i could sit down to eat. as may be supposed, there was no great supply of delicacies in the house; but there were potatoes and buttermilk, and bacon and eggs, and what wanted i more? molly had actually cooked my supper, and talked of making my bed, before she discovered how badly i was clothed. as for the bed, i begged she would not trouble herself, as i assured her i should have the greatest difficulty in sleeping in one, and i at last persuaded her to let me have a mattress and a blanket on the floor. i did however, contrive to sleep, and awoke to find old molly sitting by my side. "och, the dear boy, there's no doubt of ye now, master peter!" she exclaimed. "ye talked of them all in your sleep, and looked just like yourself, ye did; and i'll stand bail that no one but ye could have done that same." i got a piece of soap from molly, and going to a tank there was in the yard under the pump, by tim's aid i soon made myself cleaner than i had been for a long time; but we had a sad puzzle about the clothes, for my father and brother had left none. tim had only those he wore on his back and a coarse suit; and money, i found, was scarce with molly. after hunting about in every direction, she routed out from an old chest some, with which she came to me in great triumph, saying they were my own; and so i found they were, but they were some i had thrown aside as being far too small before i went to sea. at last i bethought me, that as no money was to be had without much inconveniencing molly, i would continue my journey as i had begun it; and i would present myself to my family as i was, in the character of a seaman who had known the lost peter, and had brought some tidings of him, thus breaking gradually to my parents the fact that i was still in existence. i proposed, however, disguising myself somewhat to prevent their recognising me. molly liked my plan; so filling a bag with food, and borrowing ten shillings from her to help me on my way with greater speed than i could otherwise have made, i immediately started on the road to dublin. travelling sometimes on a car, sometimes in a waggon, where i contrived to get some sound sleep, and oftentimes on foot, in three days i reached the capital of ireland. beggars in rags excite no remark in any part of ireland; so, scantily clothed and careworn as i was, i passed through the streets unobserved. i was on my way to the house my family had taken, when i observed, walking leisurely along, a person whose figure and gait i felt certain i knew. my heart beat with eagerness. for some time i could not catch a glimpse of his face; so i ran on, and passing him, turned back to meet him. i was not mistaken--it was my kind friend captain dean. my heart beating violently, i walked up to him, and said, calmly enough, "i have sailed with you, captain dean; but i don't suppose you remember me, sir." "no, indeed i do not; though i am not apt to forget those who have been any time with me," he replied, looking at me very hard. "it's a long time, sir; but perhaps you may remember a lad of the name of peter lefroy, to whom you were very kind," i said, my voice faltering as i spoke, for i was longing to inquire after mary. "i remember him well, poor lad. he was lost with a whole ship's company in the north sea, upwards of a year ago. but what do you know of him?" he asked. "why, sir, i know that he was wonderfully preserved, and now stands before you, captain dean," i exclaimed, no longer able to contain myself. "and tell me, sir, oh tell me--mary, where is mary, sir?" i blurted out, feeling that i could not speak again till i heard of her. "peter--peter lefroy, my good lad!" he ejaculated, seizing my hand and gazing earnestly in my face. "it is you yourself i ought to have known you at once; and mary--she would know you--she is well, and with your own sisters, for she is to be one of miss fanny's bridesmaids. but come along, this will be a day of rejoicing." captain dean, on our way to the house where my family was living, to which he was bound when i stopped him, told me that he had some time back communicated with my father; and that a month ago, having made a voyage to liverpool, where he was obliged to have his ship repaired, he had come over to dublin with mary to show her something of ireland. he had accidentally met my father, and introducing himself to him, all my family had shown him and mary the greatest kindness; and he added that my sisters had formed a warm friendship for her. my heart beat when i heard this; but i did not trust myself to say anything. "and now, peter," said captain dean, as we reached the door, "i will go in and break the joyful news to all hands." what a tumult was in my heart, as for ten minutes i walked up and down before the house, waiting to be summoned! at length captain dean opened the door, and beckoning to me, pulled me in. "they all suspect the truth," he observed. "but i would not tell them till i had got you all ready to show; so now i'll go back and tell them i have brought a lad who will let them know all about the long-lost peter." they heard him speak, and guessing what was the case, they came flying down the stairs; and before i had got through the half, i was once more in the loving arms of my truest and best friends. even my mother did not faint, though she sobbed aloud for very joy that her truant son had returned. one sweet little girl hung back from the eager crowd. i espied her, and breaking through them, she received a not less affectionate greeting than had my sisters. with my subsequent life i need not trouble my readers. "well, peter," said my father, after i had been washed and clothed, and had put on once more the appearance of a gentleman, "you have come back, my lad, poorer than you went away, i fear." he made this remark with the kind intention of filling a purse my sisters and mary had given me. "no, father," i answered, "i have come back infinitely richer. i have learned to fear god, to worship him in his works, and to trust to his infinite mercy. i have also learned to know myself, and to take advice and counsel from my superiors in wisdom and goodness." "then," said my father, "i am indeed content; and i trust others may take a needful lesson from the adventures of peter the whaler." the end. note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustration. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h.zip) swept out to sea or clint webb among the whalers by w. bert foster author of the frozen ship; or, clint webb among the sealers. from sea to sea; or, clint webb on the windjammer. the ocean express; or, clint webb and the sea tramp [illustration: i caught sight of a big ship with a wonderful lot of canvas set (swept out to sea) (chapter )] chicago m. a. donohue & co. copyright by m. a. donohue & company contents chapter page i--in which my cousin and i have a serious falling out ii--in which is shown the result of a bad beginning iii--in which i am anxious to learn the particulars of a matter of fourteen years standing iv--in which ham mayberry reveals his suspicions v--in which the old coachman goes somewhat into details vi--in which is related a conversation with my mother vii--in which i put two and two together--and sleep aboard the wavecrest viii--in which an expected comedy proves to be a tragedy ix--in which i see the day dawn upon a deserted ocean x--in which i find a most remarkable haven xi--in which i am a terrified witness of a wonderful phenomenon xii--in which i find myself bound for southern seas xiii--in which tom anderly relates a story that arouses my interest xiv--in which i hear for the first time the whalers' battle-cry xv--in which we "strike on" xvi--in which there is some information and much excitement xvii--in which i come very near going out of the story xviii--in which we realize the "grind" of the whaleman's life xix--in which is reported a series of misadventures xx--in which our chapter of bad luck is continued xxi--in which the wavecrest sets sail again xxii--in which we sail the silver river and i see a face i know xxiii--in which i begin to wonder "is it me, or is it not me?" xxiv--in which i get acquainted with captain adoniram tugg xxv--in which i follow the beckoning finger of a spectre xxvi--in which the sea spell goes ashore on a most unfriendly coast xxvii--in which we find the natives more unfriendly than the coast xxviii--in which are related several disappointments xxix--in which i am not the only person surprised xxx--in which i at last set my face homeward with determination swept out to sea or clint webb among the whalers chapter i in which my cousin and i have a serious falling out the wind had died to just a breath, barely filling the canvas of the wavecrest. we were slowly making the mouth of the inlet at bolderhead after a day's fishing. occasionally as the fitful breeze swooped down the sloop made a pretty little run, then she'd sulk, with the sail flapping, till another puff came. i lay in the stern with my hand on the tiller, half asleep, while paul downes, my cousin, was stretched forward of the mast, wholly in dreamland. a little roll of the sloop as she tacked, almost threw him into the water and he awoke with a snarl and sat up. "for goodness sake! aren't we in yet?" he demanded, crossly. "what you been doing for the last hour clint webb? we're no nearer the inlet now than we were then, i swear!" that was a peculiarity about paul. he was addicted to laying the faults of even inanimate objects to the charge of other people; and as for himself personally, he was never in the wrong! now he felt that he must have somebody on whom to vent his vexation--and hunger; i was used to being that scapegoat, and it was seldom that i paid much attention to his snarling. on this particular occasion, i said, calmly: "now, paul, you know very well that i hold no position with the meteorological bureau, and therefore you shouldn't lay the sins of the weather to me." "huh! ain't you smart?" he grunted. you see, paul had awakened in rather a quarrelsome frame of mind while--well, i was hungry, too (it was long past our dinner hour) and so felt in a tantalizing mood. if we had not been at just these odds on this lovely september evening, the incidents which follow might never have occurred. out of this foolish beginning of a quarrel came a chain of circumstances which entirely changed the current of my life. had i held my tongue i would have been saved much sorrow and peril, and many, many regrets. "i'm smart--i admit it," said i, cooly; "but i can't govern the wind. we'll get in by bedtime." "and nothing to eat aboard," growled paul. "there's the fish _you_ caught," said i, chuckling. paul had had abominable luck all day, the only thing he landed being what we bolderhead boys called a "grunter"--a frog-mouthed fish of most unpleasant aspect and of absolutely no use as food. all it did when he shook it off his hook in disgust was to swell up like a toy balloon and emit an objective grunt whenever it was poked. funny, but these "grunters" always reminded me of paul. now, at my suggestion, my cousin broke into another tirade of abuse of the wavecrest, and what he termed my carelessness. i didn't care much what he said about me, and i suppose there was some reason for his criticism; i should not have gone outside the inlet without more than just a bite of luncheon in the cuddy. but when he referred to my bonnie sloop as "an old tub" and said it wasn't rigged right and that i didn't know how to sail her, then--well, i leave it to you if it wouldn't have made you huffy? you know how it is yourself. wait till the next fellow makes disparaging remarks about your bicycle, for instance or your motor cycle, or canoe, or what-not, and see how you feel! "what's the use of talking that way, paul?" i demanded, interrupting him. "you know the wavecrest is by far the lightest-footed craft of her class in bolderhead harbor." "no such thing!" he declared. "she's a measly, good-for-nothing old tub." "all i've got to say is that you're a bad judge of tubs," said i. "you're a fool!" he exclaimed, and jumped up. "now, you know, paul, if your opinion was of any consequence at all i should be angry," i replied, still with exaggerated calmness. "i'm going to take the skiff and row ashore," said he. "you can bring your old tub in when you like." "thank you; but i guess not! i'd gladly be relieved of your company; but i shall want to get ashore myself some time tonight," i rejoined. "i tell you i'm going ashore!" cried paul, coming aft to where the painter was hitched. "get away!" i commanded, my own temper rising. "you're not going to leave me without means of landing after we reach our buoy." "oh, somebody will see you and take you off," he said, selfishly. "maybe somebody will; then again, maybe they won't." "i'll come out for you after dinner," he said, with a grin that i knew meant he had no such intention. "get away from that painter!" i commanded. "you forced your company on me today--i didn't invite you to go fishing--" "the sloop's as much mine as yours," he growled. "i'd like to know how you figure that out?" returned i, in amazement. "when your mother bought it she told father it was for us to use together; but of course you always 'hog' everything." now i knew that my mother never would have said what he claimed; but i was angry with her for the moment because of her good natured invitation to paul to use my personal property. the wavecrest was my dearest possession. as the saying is, there was more salt water in my veins than blood; our folks had all been sailors--my father's people, i mean--and i was enamored of the sea and sea-going. when mother built our summer cottage on the neck i knew how 'twould be. i foresaw that her brother-in-law and his son (aunt alice was dead some years then) would live with us about half the time; but that mother should have said anything to give paul ground for his statement, rasped me sorely. "let me tell you, paul downes," said i, sharply, "that no person has any right in this boat but myself, unless i invite them; and i'll inform you right now that this is the last trip you'll ever take in her with my permission." "is that so?" sneered paul. "that's so--and you can make the best of it." "well, who wants to go out in your old tub?" he burst forth. "goodness knows, i don't. but i'm going ashore right now and you can come in when you like." he started to untie the painter. somehow his perversity made me furious. "drop it!" i repeated; "you're not going to leave this sloop till i do--unless you swim ashore." "well, you just try stopping me," he snarled, his temper getting the better for the moment of his usual caution. paul was a bigger and heavier, as well as an older fellow than i; but he had never dared try fisticuffs with me. i sprang up and let the tiller bang. luckily there was so little wind that the sloop took no harm. "get away from there!" i cried. "i tell you i am going ashore now." "you're not." "i am; and it won't be healthy for you to try to stop me, clint webb." i know very well that this is a bad way to begin my story; i expect you will be disgusted with me right at the start. but what am i to do? i have started out to narrate the incidents which occurred and the various changes that have come into my life since this very september evening; and truth compels me to begin with this quarrel. for from this time dated the purpose which inspired my future life. so, i hope that the reader will bear with me, even though i introduce much the worse side of my character first. facts are stubborn things, and i have in this introduction to set down some very stubborn and unpleasant facts. i sprang up, as i say, and left the tiller, and as paul seemed to have no intention of obeying me, i advanced upon him threateningly. we were both enraged. "take your hand off that rope," said i, earnestly. "get away! i mean it." his reply was a foul word. his eyes were blazing and he grew dark under his skin like his father, as his wrath rose. i had always believed that there was indian blood in the veins of mr. chester downes. i was so near paul that i had to step back to gather force for a blow, and as i retreated he suddenly kicked me. it was a mean trick--a foul blow and worthy of paul downes. had i not stepped back as i did he might have broken my shin bone, for he wore heavy boots. as it was, the toe of his boot caught me just below the knee-cap and i could not stifle a cry of pain. however, the kick did not stop the blow i landed straight from the shoulder and it gave me some satisfaction, even at the time, to note that paul's howl of agony was much louder than mine as he picked himself up from the other end of the cockpit. chapter ii in which is shown the result of a bad beginning paul's face was convulsed with passion, and when he was in a rage he lost all control to his tongue, using language that was simply frightful from a boy brought up in a decent home. and at this particular time he was so enraged that he forgot to be afraid! he rushed at me the instant he regained his feet, his arms beating the air like those of a windmill. he was a lubberly fellow at best and the sloop, with the tiller swinging as it listed, was kicking and jumping like a restive pony. i squared off at him in proper form, and when he came within reach i landed a second blow which likewise sent him to the deck. i glanced hurriedly about. the wavecrest was some distance from any of the other craft beating into the harbor. the sun had set long since and the moon, a great, round target of silver, was rising out of the sea, its light shimmering across the heaving liquid plain. a more peaceful scene one could scarcely imagine, and somehow it took the heat of passion out of me. "hold on, paul! we mustn't fight like this," i said, as he rose again, the blood running from his nose and his cheek swollen as though he had a walnut in it. "you're goin' to _crawl_ now, are ye?" he yelled. "it's foolish and wicked for us to act like this," said i, hastily. "what will your father and my mother say?" "i don't care what they say!" he shouted, wildly. "i'll make you wish you'd never struck me, clint webb." he sprang aft again. i caught the glimmer of moonlight upon something he clutched in his hand. "what are you doing, paul?" i cried. but he plunged toward me, his dark features writhing in passion. at the moment paul downes was a murderer at heart; although i believed i could beat him in any fair fight, the weapon in his hand frightened me. "put it down, paul! put it down!" i begged of him. but he was on top of me in a breath and we rolled over and over in the sloop's cockpit. why it was that he did not seriously injure me, i cannot tell to this day! he struck at me viciously a dozen times; but by a miracle i escaped even a scratch. suddenly i caught his wrist, twisting it so that the open claspknife shot out of his hand. the relief i felt at this must have renewed my strength. in another instant i had rolled him over upon his face and knelt upon him so that he could not move. there was a piece of codline in my pocket and i had his wrists knotted behind him in short order--nor was i particular whether i hurt him, or not! then i stood up and rolled him over with my foot. "there!" i panted; "if ever a fellow deserved jailing, you're that fellow, paul downes." "i'll fix you for this! i'll fix you for this!" he kept blubbering. i was bruised and lame myself (especially where paul had kicked me in the leg) and now i discovered that my right coatsleeve was slit from the shoulder to the wrist. i had just escaped suffering a dangerous wound. "aren't you a pretty fellow?" i said, showing him this rent. "i wish i'd got you!" he snarled so viciously that i was really startled. "you won't feel that way when you cool down," i said. "i won't cool down. i'll get square with you for this if i wait ten years," he declared. "you're for all the world like your father," i said, hotly; "and he's as revengeful a person as i ever saw." "is that so?" retorted paul. "well, he isn't like your father was--_he_ had to commit suicide to get out of trouble----" "what do you mean?" i cried, amazed. but paul bit his lip and fell silent. he nevertheless looked at me with so threatening a scowl that, had he not been tied hard and fast, i should have been on the lookout for another cowardly attack. "what nonsense is that you said?" i repeated. "what do you know about my father?" "wouldn't you like to know?" returned my cousin, sullenly. i recovered myself then, believing he was only trying to fret me. "you needn't talk nonsense," i said. "if you mean to say that my father made way with himself, why you're simply silly! everybody knows that he was drowned while fishing, over there off white rock." "so everybody knows it, hey?" he responded, with a most exasperating air of knowing something that _i_ didn't know. "all right. i'm glad that folks know so much. but let me tell you, clint webb, that you and your ma'd be paupers now if he hadn't got drowned as he did. it was the only thing he could do." "you'd better drop it," i advised him, scornfully. "you'd much better be thinking of what will happen to you because of this evening's work. you can't bother me by any such silly talk." "oh, i can't hey?" he snarled in a tone that, defenceless as he was, tempted me to kick him. but just then the sail of the sloop began to fill. i ran to the tiller and brought her head around. a little breeze had sprung up and the wavecrest was under good way again. in a few moments we passed the light at the entrance to the harbor, and tacked for our anchorage. my mother's property did not include shore rights, so we had no private landing at which to tie the sloop, but moored her at a buoy in the quiet cove near the ferry dock. "what do you mean to do with me?" asked paul, having been mighty quiet for the last few minutes. "i'm going to march you up to the house and hand you over to your father. and if i have any influence with mother at all, both you and he will pack your dunnage and leave in the morning." he fell silent again until i had dropped the sail and picked up our float. when the wavecrest was fast he asked more meekly: "aren't you going to take this cord off my wrist?" "no. you're going up to the house in just that fix." "i won't do it!" he cried with a sudden burst of rage. "then you'll stay here while i go up and tell them where you are." he didn't like that idea, either, and whined: "don't be so mean, clint. i don't want to go up to the house this way. what will folks think?" "'what will folks think?'" i repeated in amazement. "i s'pose that's the first thing you'd worried about if you'd cut me with that knife." he said no more, but he gave me a threatening look which, had i been of a nervous temperament, might have kept me awake nights. when i drew the tender alongside he stepped in without further urging and sat down in the stern. i rowed ashore. fortunately for the tender feelings of my cousin there wasn't a soul in sight when we landed. i fastened the boat, and then, with the oars on my shoulder and the slack of the codline in my hand, start him up the shell road. "let me go, clint," he begged again. "not for joe!" "then you'll be sorry the longest day you live," he cried, his ugly face suddenly convulsed. and he was right; but i did not believe it at the time. chapter iii in which i am anxious to learn the particulars of a matter of fourteen years standing my mother's summer home was built upon the highest point of bolderhead neck and commanded a view of both the ocean and the inlet, or harbor, around which old bolderhead was built. my mother's early life had not been spent near the water; her people dwelt inland. my maternal grandfather owned half a township and was a very influential man. naturally my mother had lived in affluence during her girlhood and it was considered by her friends a great mistake on her part when she married my father. he was a ship's surgeon when they were married and his only income was derived from the practise of his profession. he established himself as a physician in bolderhead after the wedding; they lived simply, and i was their only child. grandfather didn't forgive mother for marrying a poor man. the old gentleman didn't get along well with his relatives, anyway. he hadn't liked the man his oldest daughter married, mr. chester downes. when i grew old enough to understand the character of mr. downes i could not blame grandfather for his bad opinion of the man! aunt alice dying before grandfather, mr. downes could never hope to handle much of grandfather's money. there was a sum set aside for paul in grandfather's will. and even that mr. downes could not touch; it was tied up until paul was of age. after several large charities had been remembered in the will the residue of the property had come to my mother. as i understood it i was but two years old when grandfather died, and my own father was drowned three weeks after grandfather's burial. we had gone to live at once in mother's old home; but she had a tender feeling for bolderhead, and as i grew older and evinced such a love for the sea, she had built our summer home here. mother was one of those dependent, timid women, who seem unable to decide any matter for themselves. not that she wasn't the very best mother that ever lived! but she _was_ easily influenced by other people. as i grew older and began to understand what went on more clearly, i knew that chester downes possessed a stronger influence over mother than was good for either her or me. he was her confidant in business matters, too. being brought up in the same inland town together, my cousin paul and i naturally saw a good deal of each other. frankly i saw altogether too much of him--and i told my mother so. but mr. downes was all the time coming to the house--especially to the bolderhead cottage--and bringing paul with him. i felt that they were steadily and insidiously influencing mother against me. we were drifting apart. mother had through them acquired the belief that i was a rude and untrustworthy fellow, and she feared my boatmen companions were weaning me from her. whereas i kept away from the house because the downeses were there. i couldn't stand so much of them. but on this evening i was determined that matters should come to a head. i saw my way clear, i believed, through paul's vicious attack upon me, to rid the house of the downeses for good and all. as we came up the hill i saw that my mother, and doubtless mr. downes, were in the drawing room. it was long past the dinner hour. i drove paul up onto the veranda and towards a french window that opened into the illuminated room. he began to hang back again. "s'pose there's somebody there?" he said. "that'll be the worse for you," i responded, callously. "come on!" i unlatched the window, held aside the draperies, and pushed him into the room before me. my mother and his father were the only persons present. "why, boys! how late you are," said my pretty mother, looking up from the lacework in her lap. her fingers were always busy. "were you becalmed outside? you must be awfully hungry. ring for james, clinton, and he will fix you up something nice in the pantry." then she saw paul's bound wrists, his bruised face, and our disarranged clothing. "what is the matter?" she cried, starting to her feet. mr. downes had observed us too, and he broke in with: "what is the meaning of this outrage, clinton webb? my son's wrists lashed together! how dare you, sir?" "i tied him up, mr. downes," i explained before paul could get in a word; "but i turn him over to your now, sir, and if you wish to release him you may." "why--why--whoever heard of such insolence?" sputtered mr. downes. "you see, mary, what this young ruffian has done to poor paul? stand still, will you?" he added, jerking paul around as he tried to untie the cod line. paul began to snivel; i reckon his father pulled the line so tight that it cut into the flesh. "see what he has done, mary?" repeated my angry uncle, finally pulling out his pocketknife and cutting the cord. "look at paul's face! what have i told you about that boy?" and he pointed a bony and accusing index finger at me. "clinton! clinton!" cried mother. "what have you done?" her question cut me to the quick. it showed me how deeply she had been impressed by mr. downes' calumnies. her first thought was that i was at fault--that i had been the aggressor. "you can see what i have done to him," said i, a little sullenly, i fear. "we got into a row on the boat coming in, and that is how he came by his bruises. but i tied him up because i didn't fancy being slit up like a codfish with this thing," and i drew the claspknife--a regular sailor's "gully"--from my coat pocket and tossed it, open, upon the table. mother screamed and shuddered, and sank back into her chair again. "you needn't be scared," i said, more tenderly, crossing to her side and putting my arm across her shoulders. "i'm not hurt at all. he only slit my coat sleeve!" mr. downes glanced from his son's swollen and disfigured face to my flapping coatsleeve, and fear came into his own countenance. he knew something about the ungovernable rages into which paul frequently flew. he was obliged to wet his lips with s tongue before he could speak: "you will not believe this horrible, scandalous story, mary! why--why--the boy is beside himself!" "i think paul was," i said, gravely. "we were both angry--i admit that. but i used nothing but my fists on him." "paul! why don't you speak up and deny this charge?" "i--i never struck him with the knife," said my cousin, sullenly. "he--he tied my arms and then he--he slit the coat himself. i--i never touched him." he lied so clumsily that even my innocent and horrified mother could not believe him. but mr. dowries tried to make out that he believed paul. "listen to that, mary!" he blustered. "did you ever hear of such depravity--such viciousness? a plot to ruin my boy in your eyes--a cowardly plot!" "it is no plot, mr. downes, and you know it," i said. "but i am going to use the circumstance to a purpose which for some time i have longed to accomplish. you and paul will leave my mother's house--and leave it at once!" "clinton!" gasped mother, seizing my hand. "there, madam!" cried mr. downes, furiously. "he has just as good as admitted it is a conspiracy. nefarious! he has invented this story----" "mr. downes," i interrupted, my anger rising, "you have done everything you could to prejudice mother against me. is it any wonder that i desire to see the last of you and your precious son?" "clinton! clinton! my dear son," mother begged. "don't be so passionate." "i never was more calm in my life," i responded, firmly. "but these two shall not stay in our house another night, mother." she burst into tears. mr. downes stepped nearer and his sneering look would have enraged me at another time. but i felt that i had the whip-hand and held myself in. "fortunately," he said, "your will, young man, is not law here. it is not in your power to put us out of your mother's home." "you are mistaken," i replied, still quietly. "i have that power." "you are a minor, sir," said mr. downes, loftily. "i brand your ridiculous story as false. it would be quite within your character to have cut your coat sleeve as paul says. i will not even believe that that is his knife----" he stretched out his hand to take it from the table but i was too quick for him. "no, you don't!" i said. "that is too valuable a bit of evidence for you to get hold of. even paul will not deny owning the knife. i know where he bought it and i can find the man who engraved his initials on the blade." "very well planned indeed," sneered mr. downes, but i sternly interrupted: "mr. downes, again i tell you that you _must_ leave this house. you and paul shall never again live under the same roof with me." "when i hear your mother say this----" "this is a matter which my mother will not have to decide," i assured him, and without looking at her although i had returned to my place by her side. "and why should we obey your behest, young man?" "if you don't leave i shall go out at once and swear out a warrant against paul for assault with this knife. and i'll have the warrant served, too." "oh, clinton!" sobbed my mother. "don't think of such a thing." "as sure as i live it shall be done, unless they go." "think of the publicity!" said my mother, clinging to my hand. "yes," i rejoined, bitterly. "and think what might have happened if he'd got me with that knife." "you--you----" gasped mr. downes. "you are your father right over again!" "thank you; i consider that a compliment." "you wouldn't consider it such if you knew as much about him as i do," he muttered. "now that will do!" i exclaimed, losing my self-control on the instant. "i've heard enough insinuations regarding father from paul tonight. i won't stand any more of that talk, i warn you both!" "clinton!" murmured mother, with a very white face, while downes turned upon his son in a sudden rage. "what have you been saying--you fool?" he snarled. paul was quite cowed before his sudden wrath. "paul may be diffident about saying," i observed. "but i'll tell you. he says my father committed suicide, and that if he hadn't done so my mother and i would be paupers today." i never saw a man's countenance express such changes of emotion within so short a time. from anger to fear--and back again--was such a swift transition that it startled me. i began from that moment to wonder very much what the mystery was which surrounded my father's death fourteen years before! but the next instant my attention was recalled to my mother. for a moment she sat motionless. now she started up from her chair with a little cry. "what is it, mother?" i cried, in alarm. had i not caught her she would have fallen to the floor. "now, see what you have done!" snarled mr. downes. "you have over-excited her. get out of the way, boy----" i gave him a look that halted him. had he touched my mother then i would have been at his throat! exerting all my strength i picked her up bodily and carried her to the nearest couch. the bell push was at hand and i rang for her maid. the woman responded immediately and james was right behind her in the hall. "attend to your mistress, marie," i said. "and james!" "yes, sir," said the big butler, coming to the door. "order the carriage at once and see that mr. downes' bags are brought down. they are leaving immediately." the butler's face was perfectly impassive. mr. downes broke into a nasty laugh. "james will do nothing of the sort," he said. "i think too much of my sister to leave the house while she is so unwell. what do you think, marie? is it serious? shall i telephone for dr. eldridge?" "i do not know, monsieur," replied the french woman, anxiously. "she has been frightened--ees eet not?" "this young reprobate would frighten anybody!" cried mr. downes, blusteringly. "james," i said again, "do as i have told you. tell ham to bring the carriage around inside of half an hour and to drive wherever mr. downes shall direct. the ferry is not running at this hour, or i would not trouble him." the butler glanced from my mother's death-white face to mr. downes. he did not so much as favor me with a look, but with sphynx-like composure left the room. to tell the truth i hadn't the least idea whether he would obey me, or mr. downes. chapter iv in which ham mayberry reveals his suspicions mr. downes continued to bluster and paul hung sullenly about the drawing room. i had got through with both of them, however. whether the butler--and the other servants--backed me up, or not, i believed that i had the whip-hand. marie helped me bear my mother to her room. it troubled me greatly to see her pretty face so pale and deathlike, and her eyes closed. i hurried to the telephone and called up dr. eldridge, who was an old friend of our family as well as our physician. i felt better when i heard his voice over the wire and knew that he would soon be at the house. then i turned to get my hat and coat. i looked into the drawing room to give mr. downes one more chance. he had been talking to his son in a low voice, but with emphasis; and i could see by paul's countenance that the "calling down" he had received from his father was a serious one. "i warn you for the last time, mr. downes, that i am going to justice of the peace ringold just as soon as the doctor gets here to attend my mother," i said. "you don't dare do any such thing, you young scoundrel!" roared mr. chester downes, and he actually sprang across the room at me. he was a tall and bony man and i knew very well that i should fare ill in his hands. i dodged back, found the imperturbable james in my way and as i sidestepped him, too, mr. downes came face to face with the impassive butler in the doorway. "beg pardon, sir," james said, quietly. "hamilton has the horses harnessed and awaits your pleasure, sir." "you--you--" stammered mr. downes, evidently as much surprised that the butler had obeyed me as _i_ could possibly be! "the carriage is waiting, sir," explained james, just as though the occasion was an ordinary one. "shall i bring down your bags, sir?" "no! i don't want our bags brought down!" cried mr. downes. "this is an outrage. and let me tell you, you dunderhead," he added to james, "this will cost you your position." the butler's voice did not change in the least. "shall i bring down your bags, sir?" he asked once more. "yes!" cried mr. downes, changing his mind very suddenly. "we will go up and pack them. but this is a sorry day for this house when we leave it in such a way," he said, his threat hissing through his clenched teeth as his glowing eyes sought my face in the hall. "and it is a sorry day for _you_, you young villain! remember this." "you threaten a good deal like your son, mr. downes," i said, unable to resist a mild "gloat." "but he couldn't carry out his threat; i wonder if you will be better able to compass your revenge?" he said nothing further, but dashed up stairs. paul lagged behind him and james, without a word to me, and with the attitude and manner of the well-trained servant, followed sedately and stood outside of their rooms waiting for the bags. i stepped out upon the side porch and saw ham mayberry, our coachman (he had driven my father in his little chaise the two years that he had practised in bolderhead) sitting upon the box of the closed carriage. of all the people who worked for mother about the bolderhead cottage, i knew that ham would take my part against the downeses. ham and i were old cronies. and i believed that i could thank ham for the butler's espousal of my cause on this present occasion. ham had a deal of influence with the other servants, having been with us before mother was willed the great darringford property. ham turned his head when i called to him in a low voice. "watch what they do and where they go, ham," i told him. "i want to see you when you come back." "aye, aye, sir!" he returned in his sailorlike way; for in bolderhead if you ask your direction of a man on the street he'll lay a course for you as though you were at sea. ham mayberry, like most of the other male inhabitants of the old town, had been a deep-sea sailor. i heard the quick, angry step of mr. downes descending the stairs then, and i slipped out of the way. i didn't want any more words with him, if i could help. they were leaving the house--and i meant it should be for good. that satisfied me. i heard paul follow him out upon the porch, and then james came with the baggage. the carriage rolled briskly away just as dr. eldridge's little electric wagon steamed up to the other door. the doctor--who was a plump, bald, pink-faced man--trotted up the steps and i let him into the house myself. "well, well, clint webb!" he demanded. "what have you been doing to that little mother of yours now?" but he said it in a friendly way. dr. eldridge knew well enough that i never intended to cause mother a moment's anxiety. and i believed that i could take him into my confidence--to an extent, at least. i did not tell him how paul had tried to knife me in the wavecrest; but i repeated what had really caused my mother's becoming so suddenly ill. "ha!" he jerked out, as he got himself out of his tight, light overcoat and picked up his case again from the hall settee. "the least said about _that_ time before her the better. tut, tut! the least said the better." and so saying he marched up stairs to her room, leaving me more eager than ever to learn the particulars regarding my father's death. now, i had lived some sixteen years up to this very evening and had never heard anything but the simplest and plainest story of my father's unfortunate death. but even the doctor spurred my awakened curiosity now. what did it mean? i had been told by my mother, by ham, and by other people as i grew up, that dr. webb had rowed out in a dory to fish off white rock, a particularly good local fishing ground for blackfish. some hours later a passing fishing party discovered the empty dory, bobbing up and down at the end of its kedge cable. the fishing lines were out. my father's hat was in the boat, and his watch lay upon a seat as though he had taken it out and put it beside him so as not to forget when to row back to attend to his patients. it was a fine timepiece, had belonged to his father, and i wear it myself now on "state and date" occasions. but the fishermen saw no other sign of the doctor. it was plain he had fallen overboard. with the current as it is about white rock it was no wonder that the body was never recovered. the story seemed plain enough. there was nothing that could be added to it. that there was any mystery about my father's death i could not believe. and the suggestion that paul downes had made i utterly scoffed at! yet i wanted to see ham mayberry before i went to sleep that night. dr. eldridge came down after a long time, and his pink, fat face was very serious. "how is she?" i asked him, eagerly. "she's all right--for the night," he replied. but his gravity did not leave him--which was strange. the doctor was a most sanguine practitioner and usually brought a spirit of cheerfulness with him into any home where there was illness. "clint," he said, "you want to be careful of that little mother of yours." "my goodness, doctor!" i exclaimed. "you don't suppose that i had anything to do with this business tonight? that i brought it about?" "if you have another row with your cousin--or words with his father--have it all outside the house. she is in a very nervous state. she must not be worried. friction in the household is bad for her. and--well, i'll drop in again and see her tomorrow." what he said frightened me. when he had gone i went up and tapped on the door. but marie would not let me in the room. "she is resting now, master clin-tone," said the french woman, and then shut the door in my face. i couldn't have slept then had i gone to bed. beside, i was determined to talk with ham when he came back. i wandered down stairs again and james, the butler, beckoned me into the dining room. at one end of the table he had laid a cloth and he made me sit down and eat a very tasty supper that had been prepared for me in the kitchen. this was an attention i had not expected. it served to bolster up my belief that i had some influence in my mother's house, after all! by and by i heard ham drive in and i went out to the stables. we kept no footman, ham doing all the stablework. i helped him unharness bob and betty, while he told me where he had taken the downeses. there was a small hotel in the old part of the town, and my uncle and paul had gone there for the night. "they'll probably attack the fortifications on the morrow, master clint--or, them's my prognostications," remarked ham, in conclusion. "meaning they'll come over here and try to see mother?" i asked. "i reckon." "then they're not to be let in, ham. i want them kept out. dr. eldridge says she should not be disturbed. i mean to see that his orders are obeyed." "and i'm glad to see ye take the bit in your teeth, sir," exclaimed the coachman, with emphasis. "it's time ye did so." "what do you mean, ham?" i demanded, curiously. the old man--he was past sixty, but hale and hearty still--came out of bob's stall and put his grizzled face close to mine while he stared into my eyes in the dim light of the stable lantern. "list ye, master clint," he said. "'tis my suspicion that that same scaley chester downes has it in his mind to get rid of you--to put ye away from your mother altogether--to make her believe ye air a bad egg, in fact. 'tis time he and that precious b'y of his was put off the place. ye've done right this night, clint webb, if ye never done so before." chapter v in which the old coachman goes somewhat into details ordinarily it might seem that a servant taking it upon himself to so plainly state his opinion of family matters, should be admonished. but hamilton mayberry was just as much my friend as he was our hired coachman. he had been my father's friend. he had served in the same ship as my father long before he came ashore to drive horses for dr. webb. and i verily believe the old man loved me as though i were his own blood. anyhow, i was too excited and worried on this night to think of any class distinction. beside, among bolderhead people, the master was considered no better than the man--if both behaved themselves, were honest, and attended church on the sabbath! so i opened my heart to ham as we sat with our backs against the grain-chest, and told him all that had occurred on the wavecrest as she drifted into the harbor that evening, and what had followed when i brought paul downes home with his hands tied behind his back. "but what is puzzling me, ham," i said, in conclusion, looking sideways into his shrewdly puckered face, "is what those downes meant by hinting that there was something queer about father's death." "huh!" grunted ham. "what made that crazy paul say he committed suicide, and that if he hadn't we'd have been paupers?" "huh!" said ham again. "and why should such a foolish remark," i added, "have frightened mother? for that is what brought about her fainting fit, i verily believe." "huh!" said the coachman for a third time, and then i got mad. "stop that, ham!" i cried. "don't you go about trying to mystify me. i want to know what they meant. i intend to find out what they meant. if you have any suspicion, tell it out." "well, master clint," he said gravely, "i don't blame you for being angry." "or being puzzled, either?" i put in. "no, sir; nor for being puzzled. and i'm some puzzled myself. but i reckon paul downes was jest repeatin' what he'd heard his father say." "that my poor father had to jump overboard from his dory, to save himself from trouble and mother and i from poverty? why, it's preposterous!" i cried. "so it is, sir," ham assured me. "so it is. and nobody believes it--nobody that's got anything inside their heads but sawdust." i started and grasped him by the arm. "do you mean," i said, "that there _was_ any such story told when my father was lost at sea?" "well, sir, you know that an oak-ball will smoke when you bust it atwixt your fingers--but there ain't no fire in it," grunted ham, philosophically. "folk says that there can't be smoke without some fire. the oak-ball disproves it. and it's so with gossip. gossip is the only thing that don't really need a beginning. it's hatched without the sign of an egg----" "oh, hang your platitudes, ham!" i cried. "do you mean that there ever _was_ such a story circulated?" "well, sir----" "there was!" i cried, horrified. "it come about in this way," began ham, calmly and quietly. and his speaking so soon brought me to a calmer mind. "it was your grandfather's will. i don't wish to say aught against the dead, sir," said ham, "but if ever there was a cantankerous old curmudgeon on the face of this footstool, it was simon darringford! that was your grandfather." "i know," said i, nodding. "he did not like my father." "he hated him. he made his will so that your mother, his only living child, should not enjoy the property as long as your father lived--nor you, either. that's a fact, master clint. ye see, he put the money jest beyond your mother's reach, and beyond your reach. he done it very skillfully. he had the best attorneys in massachusetts draw the will. the courts wouldn't break it. you and your mother was doomed to poverty as long as your father lived." "but ham!" i cried in amazement and pain, "couldn't my father earn money enough to support us?" "not properly, sir," said ham, in a low voice. "not as your mother had been used to living. don't forget that. the doctor was as fine a man as ever stepped; but he wasn't a money-maker. he knowed more than any ten doctors in this county--old doc eldridge is a fool to him. but your father was easy, and he served the poor for nothing. he had ten non-paying patients to one that paid. and he was heavily in debt, and his debts were pressing, when he--he died." "ham!" i cried, leaping up again. "you--you believe there is some truth in the story paul hinted at?" "naw, i don't!" returned the coachman, promptly. "but i tell you that there was a chance for busy-bodies to put this and that together and make out a case of suicide. his death, my poor boy, _did_ make you and your mother wealthy--which you'd never been, in all probability, as long as your poor father remained alive." i heard him with pain and with a deeper understanding of the reason for my mother's seizure that evening. my blurting out the statement that paul had uttered when he was angry had undoubtedly shocked my mother terribly. she had heard these whispers years before--when my father's death was still an awful reality to her. what occurred in our drawing room that evening had brought that time of trial and sorrow back to her mind, and had resulted in the attack i have recounted. i understood it all then--or i thought i did--and i left ham and finally sought my bed, determined more than ever to keep chester downes and his son out of the house and make it impossible in the future for them to cause any further trouble or misunderstanding between my mother and myself. chapter vi in which is related a conversation with my mother mother was better in the morning. i ascertained that fact from james, the butler. marie, the frenchwoman, seemed desirous of telling me nothing and--i thought--wished to keep me out of my mother's room. but i hung about the house all the morning and, after the doctor had come and gone (and this time, i was glad to see, with a more cheerful face) i insisted on pushing into the room and speaking to mother myself. marie tossed her head and shrugged her shoulders when i insisted. "la, la!" she exclaimed, in her french way, "boys are so troublesome. yes!" had it been any other servant, i should have said something sharp to her, in my newly acquired confidence. but she was mother's maid, and it was no business of mine if she was impertinent. "well, mother," i said, sitting down beside the bed and taking the hand she put out to me, "i hope you are better--the doctor says you are--and i hope you will forgive me for my part in the disgraceful scene we had down stairs last night. but i couldn't stand those downeses any more and that's a fact!" "oh, clinton! my dear boy! you are so impulsive and tempestuous," she murmured. "i'll try to be as meek as moses--a regular pussy cat around the house, hereafter," i returned, cheerfully. "you are just like your father," she sighed. "i'm proud to hear you say it," i returned, promptly. "for all i have ever heard about my father--save the hints that those two scoundrels have dropped--makes me believe that father was a man worthy of copying in every particular." mother squeezed my hand convulsively, exclaiming: "clinton! clinton! you must not say such things." "pray tell me why not, mother?" i demanded, but i spoke quietly. "i won't say a word about mr. chester downes and paul, if it hurts your feelings for me to tell the truth about them. but i am bound to be angry if anybody maligns my father's memory." "oh, chester would never do such a thing," mother gasped. "then, where did paul pick up that old scandal to throw at me?" i demanded. "what old scandal do you mean, clinton?" she asked, faintly. "are you sure you wish to talk about it now, mother?" i asked, for i was troubled by what the doctor had said the night before. "better now than at any other time," she said, with some decision. "i suppose poor paul heard some of the servants, or other people like that, repeating the story. oh, clinton! it almost broke my heart at the time. that anybody should think your father would contemplate taking his own life--it was awful. of course, you do not remember." "well--hardly!" i exclaimed. but i was troubled again by the manner in which she spoke of paul downes. hanged if she wasn't excusing my cousin! "it was a very wretched time for me," said my mother, weakly. "i really do not know what i would have done had it not been for chester. he came immediately, and he took charge of everything. i can never forget his kindness." a sudden thought struck me, and i could not help putting the suspicion to the test. "mother," i asked, "was father and mr. chester downes very good friends?" she looked startled again for an instant. i saw her smooth cheek flush and then turn pale again. my mother blushed as easily as any girl of fifteen. "why, clinton, that is a strange question," she said. "not very strange, mother, when you consider that i believe my father was a mighty good pattern for his son to copy. if father trusted mr. chester downes, i could be almost tempted to believe that i had injured that gentleman in my thoughts." "you have, clinton! you have!" she cried. "i don't doubt you believe so mother," i said, quietly. "but how about father? what was _his_ opinion of aunt alice's husband?" "why--you see, clinton," she returned slowly and doubtfully, "doctor webb was not very well acquainted with chester." "no?" "he never came much to our house while the doctor was alive." "and why not?" i asked. "that--that would be hard to say," she said; but she was so confused that i felt that my mother, who was the soul of truth, found it hard to answer my question honestly. "well, i should have been glad of my father's opinion, at least," i said. "as it is," i added, "not having that to guide me, i must stick to my own." "but you have mine, clinton!" she cried. "indeed, i have!" i returned, smiling, "and i'd take it upon almost any other subject you could name, mumsie! but you are prejudiced in favor of mr. downes." "and you are prejudiced against him." "i am, indeed," i admitted. "and am so prejudiced that i do not mean he shall ever interfere in my affairs again." "oh, clinton!" she cried, "i do not see how you can speak so to me." "now, mother dear," i said, "i do not mean to be unfilial to you, or ungrateful for your kindness. but paul downes tried to stab me last night----" "oh!" she cried, and shrank and trembled. "i hate to annoy you by bringing up such things, but i must show you that they cannot hang around here any more," i declared, firmly. "paul hates me; his father has done his best to poison your mind against me. i have been in danger of my life, and in danger of losing your love and trust, through the downeses----" "no, no!" she said, to this last. "i am afraid i am right," i said. "i know that i have kept away from the house a good deal this summer. i couldn't stay here and listen to that false man and be annoyed by that great, hulking boy of his. now, let us be the good friends we always have been when the downeses are at a distance." "oh, clinton! my dear boy! i only live for you!" she cried, and began to sob so that i felt condemned to insist. but the occasion was serious. i knew--as ham had warned me--that chester downes was lingering near and would soon attempt to see my mother again. "then, let us be more to each other, mother," i said, quietly. "but i need your uncle to assist me," she said. "he can manage my business much better than i possibly can----" "what's the matter with mr. hounsditch?" i demanded. "he was our lawyer and had been grandfather's lawyer, too." "mr. hounsditch is an old man. he is behind the times. he cannot invest our money to such good advantage----" "_who says so?_" i asked, and she could not answer the pointed question without admitting what i had supposed--that mr. chester downes put these opinions of the keen old lawyer into mother's head. "i don't care much about the money, mother," i said. "i suppose we have plenty anyway, and the real estate cannot be sold at all till i am of age. but what property does come to me when i'm twenty-one, i'd rather not have mr. chester downes handle. i'd rather trust to mr. hounsditch and accept small interest." "clinton! you are really ridiculous," cried mother, reddening again. "well, that's all right," i returned, laughing. "but you'll hear to me, mother, won't you? you won't bother about chester downes and paul? put it down that i am jealous of the influence they have over you, if you like. i don't care. just let's you and i live together and be happy." "that's all i live for--to make you happy, clinton," said my mother, still sobbing like a child who has been injured. "then this request i make will be the only thing i'll ask you to do for me for a year, mumsie!" i cried, calling her by the pet name i had used when i was a little fellow. "will it really make you so happy, my boy?" she asked, wistfully. "indeed it will," i declared. "and now i've bothered you long enough. i'll be around here if you want me. i shan't go out on the water today, or until you feel quite yourself again." i went out of her room. marie, the frenchwoman, was just coming up the stairs. i saw her hide her hand with something in it under her apron. it was a square white object. i knew it was a letter. mr. chester downes had been writing to my mother, and marie was the go-between. she smiled, slyly, as she passed me and whisked into the room i had just left. chapter vii in which i put two and two together--and sleep aboard the wavecrest if for no other reason, that sly smile of my mother's french maid would have kept me at home that day. i was still strolling about the place, just before luncheon, when i saw mr. chester downes' spare figure and his tall hat coming up the hill. i went down the path and met him at the steps which mounted the little terrace from the street to our lawn. "oh!" he ejaculated. "are _you_ here?" "you are just in time to catch me as i was going out, mr. downes," i said. "what have you to say to me, sir?" "nothing, young man--nothing," he exclaimed. "you certainly have not walked over here merely for the pleasure of looking at the house," i said, smartly. "i have come to see your mother, sir. and i propose to see her," he said. "last night i did not wish to make a disturbance while she was so ill. but i understand from dr. eldridge that she is much improved----" "you are correct there, mr. downes," i said. "and she will continue to improve i hope. but whether she is well or ill, you cannot see her." "nonsense, boy! you are crazy. do you know that i am a man, your uncle, and your mother's business agent? bold as you are, sir, you are a minor." "i never wanted to wish my life away before, sir," i said, gravely. "but i do sincerely wish that i was of age, mr. downes. however, i believe i shall be able to hold my own with you, sir. at least, i shall try. and if this is to be your course i shall know what to do. before you get into that house to trouble my mother again, i'll place a guard around it." "you talk ridiculously. you cannot do such a thing." "no, perhaps not. and fortunately, i shan't have to take such extreme measures. i have a better way of keeping you off the premises." "you would not dare do what you threatened last night, clinton webb," he said, his voice shaking with anger. "you pass me and go up to that door, and see whether i dare or not," i returned, my eyes flashing. "paul tried to stab me. i'll have him arrested if he is in bolderhead still, and if he has run away i'll find means of having him brought back here to stand trial." i was just as earnest as ever i was about anything in my life, and i guess mr. chester downes realized it. he had gone away the night before in haste; but after thinking over the situation he believed that i could be browbeaten and my will set aside. he stared at me, with his dark, indian-looking face reddening under the skin, and paul had not looked at me more murderously the night before when we quarreled aboard the wavecrest, than his father did now! "why, sir," said mr. downes at last, "this is a most ridiculous thing for you to do. i can write to your mother--and i shall. she will demand that i attend her----" "until she does so, just take notice that you're not to come here," i interrupted. "that is, if you want paul to stay out of jail." i turned on my heel then and walked back to the house, and he--after hesitating a half minute or so--turned likewise and stalked down the hill. i was pretty sure he would not come back--not in that tall hat, anyway--for before luncheon was over it had begun to rain and rained hard. there was a sharp wind from the northwest--nor'--nor'--west, to be exact--and everybody within a hundred miles of cape ann knows what that means. in all probability we were in for a long offshore gale. so i risked going over the ferry that afternoon on an errand. i did not propose to get caught out on the wavecrest again without provisions, and i purchased half a boat load of canned goods and the like, and a couple of cases of spring water. while i was hunting for a boat and a man to take my purchases aboard the sloop i ran against my cousin paul. he was not alone, and the instant i spied him with two hang-dog fellows, i knew he was--like the hen in the story--"laying for me!" paul downes knew half the riff-raff of bolderhead which, like most small seaports, boasted more than a sufficient quantity of wharf-rats. mr. downes had been wont to expatiate to my mother on my taste for low company; but he must have had his own son in mind. paul certainly picked sour fruit when he made friends along the water-front of bolderhead! "that's the feller," snarled my cousin--i could read his lips, although the trio was across the narrow street as i went along the docks--and i knew very well that he was hatching something against me with his two friends. but they were not likely to pitch upon me here in broad daylight, so i paid them little heed at the moment. i found old crab bolster and his skiff to lighter my cargo across the inlet, and when the boy came down from the store with the barrow, crab and i loaded the provisions and spring water into his boat. paul and his companions looked on, whispering together now and then, from a neighboring wharf. i was not wholly a fool if i _was_ so well satisfied with my own smartness. my success in settling mr. chester downes had of course given me an inflated opinion of myself; but i knew better than to overlook the possibility of my cousin being able to do me some mean trick, especially with the help of the two fellows he was with. when crab bolster and i set off in the skiff for the wavecrest, i saw paul and his friends make for the ferry, and while i helped pull the skiff in the drizzle of rain that swept across the harbor, i saw the three board the ferryboat and land at the dock on the neck near which we lived. i made crab hustle the goods aboard and stowed all away in the cuddy before i let the boatman put me ashore. paul and his friends were hanging about the landing. "keep your eye on my wavecrest, will you, lampton?" i said to the man who owned the landing, and kept boats for hire. "remember, nobody's to go aboard of the sloop without my special permission," and i glanced pointedly at my cousin. "i'll see to that, sir," said lampton, who was my friend, i knew. "and in this weather, and with the wind the way she is, anybody would be crazy to want to take a boat out through the breach." i went back to the house in ample time for dinner, and ham, who had been on the watch, reported that my uncle had not again tried to enter the house. but i was worried about paul and his henchmen. i couldn't rest in the house after dark. if they couldn't get a boat on the neck side of the harbor in which to go out to the wavecrest, they might come across from the town side and do her some damage. mother had come down to dinner and we had one of our old-fashioned, homey meals, followed by a pleasant hour in the drawing-room, where she played and sang for me. it was her pleasure that i should dress for dinner just as though company was to be present, and she trained me in the niceties of life, and in bits of etiquette, for which i have often, in later times, been very thankful. for although i found my amusement in rough adventure and my companionship for the most part among seamen and fishermen, it hurts no boy or man to be as well grounded in the tenets of polite society as in writing, reading, and arithmetic! the subject that was uppermost in my mind--that hazy mystery surrounding my father's death--did not come up between us on this evening. nor did the unpleasant topic of the downeses come to the fore. i am very, very glad to remember that my mother looked her prettiest, that she gave me the tenderest of kisses when she bade me goodnight early, and that we parted very lovingly. i went up to my room, but only to put on a warmer suit--a fishing suit in fact. i shrugged myself into oilskin pants and jacket, too, in the back shed, and exchanged my cap for a sou'wester. then i sallied forth through a pelting rain, with the gale whistling a sharp tune behind me, and descended the hill toward the point off which the wavecrest was moored. i had said nothing to anybody about my intention. i do not think that any of the servants saw me go. i left my home without any particular thought of the future, or any serious cogitation as to what would be the result of my act. merely, i had put two and two together in my mind--and i would sleep aboard the wavecrest. chapter viii in which an expected comedy proves to be a tragedy i knew well enough that my cousin, paul downes, was too thoroughly scared by my threat to have him arrested for assault, to openly make an attack upon either my boat or myself. but his money could bribe such fellows as i had seen him with that very day, to sink the wavecrest, or even to assault me in the dark. it would be a joke on paul--so i thought--if he or his friends should sneak out to the sloop where she was moored, intending to do her some harm, and find me there all ready for such a visitation. i chuckled to myself while i wended my way to the shore, carrying a single oar with me, and unlocked the padlock of the chain which fastened my rowboat to the landing. there was nobody about, and i pushed out and sculled over to the wavecrest without being interfered with. had i not known so well just where the sloop lay i declare i would have had trouble in finding her. it was the darkest kind of a night and it _did_ blow great guns! the rain pelted as sharp as hail and before i got half way to the sloop i decided that i wasn't showing very good sense, after all, in coming out here on such a night. i didn't think paul and his friends would venture forth in such a storm. however, having once set out to do a thing i have usually run the full course. i am not sure that it is natural perseverance in my case, but fear that i am more often ashamed to be considered fickle. so i sculled on to the wavecrest and prepared to go aboard. but just here i bethought me that if my cousin should attempt to board the sloop he would be warned that i was aboard by the presence of the tender. therefore i snubbed the nose of the rowboat up short to the float, and then, after getting into the bows of the wavecrest i let go her cable and paid out several yards so that the float and the tender were both out of sight in the darkness. i chuckled then, as i crept aft to the cockpit and unlocked the door of the little cabin. once inside, out of the rain, i drew curtains before all the lights and then lit the lamp over the cabin table. there were four berths, two on each side, with lockers fore and aft. altogether the cabin of the wavecrest was cozy and not a bad place at all in which to spend a night. it was still early in the evening. the tide had not long since turned and was running out, while the wind out of its present quarter was with the tide. any craft could sail out of bolderhead harbor this night with both gale and sea in its favor; but heaven help the vessel striving to beat into the inlet! the reefs and ledges along this coast are as dangerous as any down on the charts. the wavecrest pitched a good bit at the end of her cable. i made up my bed and arranged the lamp in its gimbals near the head of the berth, and so took off my outer clothing and lay down to read. i did not think that the lamplight could be seen from without, even if a boat came quite near me. being so far in-shore i had lit no riding light. it was unnecessary at these moorings. i did not read for long. used to the swing of the sea as i had been for years the bucking of the wavecrest as she tugged at her cable, put me to sleep before i had any idea that i was sleepy. and my lamp was left burning. i do not know how long i was unconscious--at least, i did not know at the moment of my awakening; but suddenly something bumped against the sloop's counter. i thought when i opened my eyes: "here they are! now for some fun." i supposed they would not have seen my light and i was going to put my head out of the cabin and scare them before they could do the wavecrest any harm. but as it proved, the bumping of the small boat against the sloop did not announce the arrival of the enemy. almost instantly--i had not got into my trousers, indeed--there came a great hammering at the cabin door. i did not speak, although at first i supposed the rascals were knocking to arouse me. then it shot across my bewildered mind that somebody was nailing up the cabin door! "hello there! stop that!" i bawled, getting interested in the proceedings right away. but there was no answer, unless certain whisperings that i could not understand could be considered as such. several long nails--twenty-penny, i was sure--were driven home. then there was a clattering of boots and the small boat bumped the sloop's counter again. they were getting into their own boat. they had left me in a nice fix--nailed up tightly in the cabin of my boat. i was mad 'way through; instead of playing any joke on paul downes and his friends, they had played me a most scurvy trick. but it was only comedy as yet--comedy for them, at least. i was pretty sure that they had fixed me in the cabin, not only for the night, but until somebody passing in a boat would see me signalling from the tiny deadlights. and goodness only knew when the gale would subside enough to tempt any other boatman out upon the bay. the sloop was still pitching at the end of her cable. i could feel the tug of the moorings as my enemies got into their boat. then--in half a minute, perhaps--there was a startling change in the sloop's action. she leaped like a horse struck with a whip and instantly began to roll and swing broadside to the gale. i knew at once what had happened. the cable had parted; the wavecrest was adrift! the discovery alarmed me beyond all measure. i was panic-stricken--i admit it. and i earnestly believe that almost any other person who had a love of life within them would have felt the same. for to be adrift in bolderhead harbor on such a night, with the wind and tide urging one's craft out toward the broad ocean, while one was nailed up in the cabin and unable to do a thing toward guiding the boat, was a situation to shake the courage of the bravest sailor who ever was afloat. i believed i had nobody but myself to thank for the accident. in letting out the cable by which the sloop was moored, i had increased the strain upon it. i should have thrown out a stern anchor as well when i came aboard the wavecrest to spend the night. the tug of wind and tide had been too much for the single cable. and now my bonnie wavecrest was swinging about, broadside to the sea, and likely to be rolled over completely in a moment. if she turned turtle, what would become of me? the air in the cabin was already foul. if she turned topsyturvy, and providing she was not cast upon the rocks and smashed, i would be in difficulty for fresh air in a very few hours. these possibilities--and many others--passed through my mind in seconds of time. i had no idea that one's brain could work so rapidly. a hundred possible happenings, arising from my situation, entered my mind in those first few moments while the wavecrest was swinging about. fortunately, however, although she went far over on her beam ends, and i expected to hear the stick snap, she righted, headed with the tide, and began to hobble over the seas at a great rate. i had dressed completely ere this, and was trying my best to open the cabin door. if i could get to the centerboard and drop it, i believed the sloop would ride better and could be steered. those rascals had nailed the door securely, however. the slide in the deck above was fastened on the outside too. i was a prisoner in my own boat and she was being swept out to sea as fast as a northwest gale and a heavy tide could carry her. chapter ix in which i see the day dawn upon a deserted ocean i don't claim to possess an atom more courage than the next fellow. i was heartily scared the instant i realized that the wavecrest was adrift and i was fastened into her cabin. but i was not made helpless by my terror. i tried my best to open that cabin door; but the big nails had been driven home. the ports were too small for my body to pass through, although i did open one and was tempted to shriek for help. but that would have been a ridiculous thing to do--and useless, as well. had anybody heard and understood my need, i was beyond assistance from land, and there was nobody out in the harbor but myself, i felt sure. the wavecrest had got well out into the harbor now. she rolled very little and therefore i knew that, unguided as she was, her head was right and wind and tide were sweeping her on. she might be piled up on either shore at the mouth of the inlet; but from the start i believed she would be shot through the outlet of the harbor into the open sea. in the cuddy up forward, with my provisions, there were a saw and hammer, and other tools. i could no more get at them than i could get out of the cabin. and although i might be able to do nothing to help myself or my boat if i was free from my prison, i would have felt a whole lot safer just then to have been upon her deck! the door being nailed so fast, and the deck-hatch bolted tight, it was plain that i would have to smash something in order to get out of the cabin. had i had anything to use as a battering ram, i would have begun on the door. but there seemed nothing to hand that would help me in that way. i examined the crack where the top of the door and the deck-hatch came together. had i something to pry with i might tear the bolts holding the hatch out of the wood. such a thing as a bar was out of the question. but after a few minutes' cogitation, i remembered that my bunks on either side of the cabin could be turned up against the bulkhead, and at each end of the bunks was a flat piece of steel fifteen or eighteen inches long which held the berth-bench when it was let down. two screws at each end held these steel straps in place. i had no screw driver; but i had the knife that i had taken away from my cousin when he attacked me the evening before. i thrust the point of its heavy blade into a crack and snapped the steel square off. it made a fairly usable screw-driver, and i quickly had one of the steel straps out of its fastenings. the piece of steel was stiff and made as good a bar for prying as i could have found. with some difficulty i thrust one end up between the top of the cabin door and the edge of the hatch, close to one side. i slipped the closed knife up between the bar and the door for a block against which to prize, caught the end of the bar with both hands, and threw all my force against it. the hatch squeaked; there was a splintering sound of wood. i was badly marring the top of the door, but the bolt which held the hatch at that side was giving. i repeated the process at the other side of the hatch, and gradually, by working first at one side, and then the other, i splintered the woodwork around the bolts, and bent the bolts themselves, so that the hatch began to shove back. as soon as possible i shoved it back far enough for my body to pass through the aperture. the rain beat down upon my face as i worked my way out of the cabin in my oilskins; i left my hat behind. the wavecrest was pitching and yawing pretty badly now and before i cast a single glance around i was sure that she was already going through the inlet. yes! there was the beacon at the extreme point of bolderhead neck--it was just abreast of me as i stood at last upon the sloop's unsteady deck. i leaped down into the cockpit and quickly lowered the centerboard. almost at once the wavecrest began to ride more evenly. i could see little but the beacon, the night was so black; but i ran to the tiller and found that the sloop was under good steerage way and answered her helm nicely. like all sloops, the wavecrest was very broad of beam for her depth of keel, and the standing-room, or cockpit, was roomy. she was well rigged, too, having a staysail and gafftopsail. really, to sail her properly there should have been a crew of two aboard; but under the present circumstances i felt that one person aboard the wavecrest was one too many! with a rising gale behind her the craft was being driven to sea at express speed, and it was utterly impossible to retard her course. for an hour i sat there in the driving rain, hatless and shivering, hanging to the tiller and letting the sloop drive. letting her drive! why, there wasn't a thing i could do to change her course. she was rushing on through the foaming seas like a projectile shot from some huge gun, and every moment the howling wind seemed to increase! the beacon on the neck was behind me now. there was nothing ahead of the sloop's fixed bowsprit. we were driving into a curtain of blackness that had been let down from the sky to the sea. it is seldom that there is not some little light playing over the surface of the water. this night a palpable cloud had settled upon the face of the waters and i could not even see the foam on the crests of the waves, save where they ran past the sloop's freeboard. i had left the broken slide open, however, and the rain was beating down into the cabin. this began to worry me and finally i lashed the tiller--fastening it in the bights of two ropes prepared for that purpose, and crept back into the cabin again. it was little use to remain outside, save that if the sloop was flung upon a rock, i might have a little better chance to escape. at the speed she was traveling, however, i knew very well that we were already beyond the reefs and little islets that mask the entrance to bolderhead harbor. it was a veritable hurricane behind us. the wind was actually blowing so hard that the waves were scarcely of medium height. i had seen a mere afternoon squall kick up a heavier sea. it was awkward getting in and out of the cabin by way of the hatch; but i did not take the time then to open the door. i fixed the hatch so that it would slide back and forth properly, however. then i lit my spirit lamp and made some coffee. i was pretty well chilled through, for the rain and wind seemed to penetrate to the very marrow of my bones. i was sure that this was the beginning of the equinoctial gale. it might be a week before the storm would break. and where would the wavecrest be in a week's time? not that i really believed the sloop would hold together, or still be on top of the sea, when this gale blew itself out. she was a mere speck on the agitated surface of the sea. my only hope then was that i might be rescued by some larger vessel--and how i should get from the wavecrest craft to another was beyond the power of my imaginings. i could not be content to remain below--nor was that unnatural. aside from the fear i had of the sloop's yawing and possibly turning turtle, and so imprisoning me in the cabin with no hope of escape therefrom, i felt that i should be more on the alert to seize any opportunity for escape were i at the tiller. so i carried a mexican poncho which i wound to the stern, draped it about me over the oilskins, and with the sou'wester tied under my chin i could defy the rain, nor did the keen wind search my vitals. but thus bundled up i would have stood little show had the sloop capsized. afterward i realized that i might as well have remained in the cabin. however, to sleep in either place, was impossible. sometimes the rain beat down upon the decked over portion of the boat with the sound of a drumstick beaten upon taut calfskin. again the wind blew in such sharp gusts that the rain seemed to be swept over the face of the sea and then, if i chanced to glance over my shoulder, the drops stung like hail. altogether i have never passed a more uncomfortable night--perhaps never one during which i was in greater peril. the wind was shifting bit by bit, too. my compass told me that the wavecrest was now being driven straight out to sea, instead of running parallel with the massachusetts coast as had been at first the fact. how fast i was traveling i could not guess. there was a patent log aboard; but i did not rig it. indeed, it was much safer to remain in the stern of the sloop than to move about at all. i knew we were traveling much faster than i had ever traveled by water before and i had something beside the speed of my involuntary voyage to think about. it had not crossed my mind at the time, but when i had slipped out to the wavecrest that evening, giving my mother and the servants the impression that i had gone to my room as usual, i had done a very foolish--if not wrong--thing. the sloop might not be the only craft in bolderhead harbor to break away from moorings and go on an involuntary cruise. other wandering craft might not escape the rocks about the beach, as the wavecrest had. it might be supposed that my sloop was among the wreckage that would be cast ashore along our rocky coast, and my absence might not be connected with the disappearance of the sloop. my mother and friends would not suspect the reason or cause for my absence. if i had taken a soul into my confidence, in the morning my mother would be informed immediately of my accident. perhaps, after all, it was not a bad thing that some uncertainty must of necessity attach itself to my disappearance. for although i had every reason to believe that paul downes had either nailed me into the cabin, or caused me to be nailed in, well knowing that i had gone aboard the sloop to sleep, i was equally confident that he would not tell of what he had done, or allow his companions to tell of the trick, either. these, and similar hazy thoughts regarding my condition, shuttled back and forth through my brain during the long and anxious hours of that never-to-be-forgotten night. sometimes, i presume, i lost myself and slept for a few minutes; but the hours dragged on so dismally, and i was so uncomfortable and anxious, that i am sure i could not have slept much of the time. and it did seem as though the east would never lighten for dawn. at last it came, however; and then i liked the prospect less than the no prospect of the black night! all that it revealed to my aching eyes was a vast, vast expanse of empty, heaving drab sea, across which the gale hurried sheets of cold and biting rain--not a sign of land behind me--not a sail against the equally drab horizon. my sloop, under her bare, writhing pole, was scudding across this deserted ocean with no haven in sight and i was without hope of rescue. chapter x in which i find a most remarkable haven with the coming of daylight i would have tried to get some canvas on the wavecrest--if only a rag of jib--had the gale not been so terrific. i doubted if, under a pocket-handkerchief of sail, i could have got her head around without swamping her. and then, what better off would i have been? i could have made no progress beating against such a wind and it was better and safer to ride before it, no matter where i was blown. there was no land ahead of me save the shores of spain--and spain was a long way off. at least, it was better to run while the sea remained in its present condition. as i have said, the waves were beaten flat by the savage wind. but, if there should come a lull in that, i knew well enough the sea would instantly leap into billows that would soon founder the little sloop if she could neither be got around to ride them, or could not keep ahead of them. i lashed the tiller again--as i had twice during the night--and went below for coffee. i brought back some pilot crackers and a can of peaches that was among the stores i had bought in town the day before, and made a fairly satisfactory breakfast of the hard bread and fruit with a pint can of coffee. but i would not remain below any length of time now. it looked very much to me as though the clouds might break and the wind shift, or lull, at any moment. several hours passed, however, and my watch (which i had not forgotten to wind) told me that it was fast approaching noon before any change came. then the shrieking gale dropped suddenly and the gusts of rain ceased. i leaped up at once to unfurl the jib. with a little canvas on her i believed the sloop could be wore 'round and headed into the wind before the waves sprang up. perhaps it would have been wiser to have given her a hand's breath of the mainsail. however, before the bit of canvas bellied out and i had dashed back to the helm, the first wave broke over the stern of the sloop. it was a deluge! i was waist deep in the foaming flood; the cockpit was full; the sloop had already shipped about all the water that was good for her, and it was plain she was too water-logged to answer the helm promptly. up came a second wave. the lulling of the wind gave the waves a chance to gather force and height. this one curled fairly over my head and, looking up and over my shoulder at the great, green, foam-streaked wall of water, i thought my last minute above the surface had come! it broke. i can remember nothing at all of the ensuing few moments. i only know that i was smothered, drowned, completely overwhelmed by the deluge of water that came inboard. the force of it burst open the slide of the hatch and barrels of water flooded into the cabin. the wavecrest settled. if another wave as great had come inboard directly in the wake of this one, i am convinced that i would not be writing this record of my life. as the wave passed on, the keen whistle of the gale returned. i leaped up and staggered forward. i knew that unless i could get way upon the sodden craft she would very quickly plunge beneath the surface. i shook out the staysail as well as the jib, but dared not spread too much canvas to the wind which seemed about to swoop down again. these sails filled and the wavecrest showed her mettle, sodden as she was with the enormous amount of water that had come inboard. there was a deal of water awash in the cockpit; therefore the shallow hold must have been full. and i knew there was plenty slopping about in the cabin, ruining everything. i rigged the little pump amidships and the pipe threw a full stream of bilge across the deck. and it wasn't bilge long, but came clear. inboard came another wave--but not a large one this time--and i pumped harder than ever. the wavecrest was lumbering on too slowly to escape the following waves. in her then condition it would have been folly to seek to head her about. she would have rolled helplessly in the trough of the sea as sure as i tried it. but if she was going to sail before this wind and sea she must sail faster. the gale was steadily increasing again, but it did not blow as hard as it had during the night and early morning. i ventured a little more canvas and although the mast and rigging strained loudly, nothing got away. the speed of the sloop was increased, especially so as i kept at the pump and got the hold clear. although the hungry billows still followed the wavecrest little water came inboard for a time save the spindrift whipped from the crests of the waves. but with a sea running so high there was danger of swamping every moment. i dared not leave the helm for long; to go below at all was out of the question. i went without food all that day, thankful that i had managed to make a fairly hearty breakfast. and all the time the wind blew steadily, the sea strove mightily, and the sloop scudded before both like a whipped pup. i would not like to say how fast she traveled, for i do not know; i was only certain that even in a racing wind i had never sailed so fast before. i had become wet through to the bone. neither the poncho nor the oilskins could keep me dry when the sea had broken over the sloop. and the wind was keen and searched me through and through. my teeth were a-chatter, the cold pricked me like needles, and i was altogether very miserable indeed. often had i been soaked to the skin while on a fishing venture; but there was the prospect of a hot drink and a warm fire ahead of me. there was nothing in the line of comfort before me now. the sea remained untenanted and the wavecrest drove on as though she were enchanted. hour after hour dragged by. the sun did not appear; indeed, rain-gusts swept now and then across the sea. the waves were so steep that when the sloop plunged down the slope of one the rain swept on over my head and only rattled upon my sail. ragged masses of cloud swept across the sky. in the distance it really seemed as though the waves leaped up and met these low-hung clouds. and how i strained my eyes for some speck to give me hope of rescue! from the summit of almost every wave i stood up and gazed about me--especially ahead. behind were only the ravenous waves seeking to overtake and swamp me. ahead i hoped to see the vapor of some steamer, or, at least, the bare poles of a sailing vessel that could rescue me from my perilous situation. i dreaded another night. indeed, i did not see how i could sail the wavecrest until morning without either food or sleep. to lash the tiller and let the sloop drive on was too reckless a course to even contemplate. a man lost in a forest, or on a desert, may be lonely; but a voyager alone on the trackless and empty ocean is in far worse condition, believe me! not only is he lost, but the elements themselves are continually buffeting him. in all this dreary day there was not a second in which my life was not threatened. finally when i knew there could not be many hours more of daylight, upon rising to the summit of a great billow, i beheld something riding the seas not far ahead. for some reason i had not seen the bulk of this strange apparition before and at first i was sure it was the turtle-turned hulk of a wreck. but as the wavecrest sped on, bringing me nearer and nearer to the object, i saw that i must be wrong. it was not shaped like a ship's hull although it was black and clumsy enough. but immediately about it the waves seemed to be calm. at least no waves broke and foamed about the floating mass. i watched the thing eagerly, although i could not hope for rescue under such a guise. it was not, i was almost instantly sure, a vessel of any kind; as the wavecrest kept on her course, which brought me directly upon the object, i was not long at a loss to identify it. although i had seldom been far out of sight of land myself, and had never seen any ocean creature bigger than a blackfish (not the tautog, but the pilot-whale) i had listened to the stories of old whalemen along the bolderhead docks, and i was pretty sure that i had sighted one of those great mammals--a creature of the sea which is no more a fish than a horse or a cow is a fish, yet is the greatest wonder of marine life. beside, the peculiar condition of the sea immediately about the object revealed its identity. the whale was dead, i was sure. otherwise it would not have been at the surface so long in such a gale. and being dead, and the seabirds and shark-fish having got at its carcass before the storm, there was good reason for the waves not breaking over it. the dead whale lay in a slick, or "sleep," as some old whalemen pronounce the word, and hope revived in my troubled mind the instant i realized what the object was, and its condition. the waves were following me as hungrily as ever; at any moment the sloop might be overwhelmed. but once let me get the wavecrest in the lee of this dead whale, i could bid defiance to the storm. there i could outride the gale and, when it was fair again, set the sloop's nose toward the distant mainland. with rare good fortune the sloop needed little guidance to reach the dead whale. my original course had been aimed for the huge beast. as the wavecrest gained upon it the monster was revealed, lying partly on its side, all of fifty feet from tail to nose. of course there were no seabirds upon the carcass now, nor did i see the triangular fin of a shark anywhere about. they had ripped and torn at the carcass sufficiently, however, to release copiously the oil from the casing of blubber, or fat, with which the whale is entirely covered. my wavecrest bore down upon the becalmed circle and suddenly i found the waves heaving smoothly under the sloop instead of breaking all about her. i ran to the canvas and stowed it quickly, then brought the sloop around into the lee of the huge bulk of the whale. i had a broken-shanked harpoon and a boathook. i plunged these both into the carcass and then attached the wavecrest, bows and stern, to these strange mooring-posts. there she was, as safe as though we were in a landlocked harbor, rising and falling with a motion by no means unpleasant. the exuding oil made a charmed circle about the sloop, into which the agencies of the gale could not venture. the wind wailed as madly across the sea, and the sea itself, at a little distance, tumbled, and burst in a most chaotic manner; but here in the slick i lay at peace--and grateful indeed i was for this remarkable haven. chapter xi in which i am a terrified witness of a wonderful phenomenon evening was dropping down and i was woefully hungry. being sure that the wavecrest was safely moored to the body of the dead leviathan, i set about correcting the need which preyed upon me. i was thankful, indeed, that i had stocked my larder so well on that last day at bolderhead. there was plenty of water, too. i could ride out a week's storm here beside the whale i was very sure, and then have plenty of provisions to serve me until i could beat back to the mainland. i got out my lanterns, filled and trimmed them, and cutting steps in the side of the whale with the boat-hatchet, i mounted to the top of the great body and there stuck my oar upright in the blubber and hung a lantern to it. i was pretty sure that no vessel would pass that signal light without investigating, even in the gale. i made a very comfortable supper indeed. i managed now to force the cabin door and closed the sliding hatch. then i warmed the cabin well with the spirit stove, stripped off my wet clothes, and got into dry garments. i went out on deck at nine o'clock, saw that my moorings were fast and the lanterns burning brightly, and then turned in. after the uncertainties of the day and the lack of sleep suffered the night before, i slept as soundly when i now turned in on one of the bunks as ever i did in my own bed at home! at daybreak--another drab dawning of the new day--i was up and climbed the whale for the lantern. in its place i left attached to the upright oar a shirt to flutter in the wind for a signal. i hoped that any vessel passing near enough to see my signal would stop for me. but of one thing i was sure: if it chanced that a whaling ship came within sight of the dead leviathan my peril would soon be over. this huge beast had not been long dead and it would be all clear gain to any "blubber boiler" that chanced to pass that way. nor was the possibility of being rescued by a whaleship so slight as it would have been a few years before. there were for two decades, few whaling barks put forth from the new england ports; but of late years there is either a greater demand for whale-oil, or the cachelot (the sperm whale) is becoming more frequently seen both in northern and southern seas, and is being hunted both by steam vessels and by the old-time whaling ships. i didn't know where i was--that is, my position in the north atlantic; but i believed that i had sailed so far and so fast in the sloop that i was about midway of the course of the british steam lines running 'twixt halifax and the bermudas. those two ports are between seven and eight hundred miles apart, and i suspected i was nearer one or the other than i was to boston! i knew i had done some tall sailing since being swept out of bolderhead harbor. after having cooked and eaten a hearty breakfast, despite the blowing of the gale--for dirty weather prevailed and rain swept down in torrents every hour or two--i set about making such slight repairs as i could with the tools and materials i had at hand. and while thus engaged i made a discovery that--to say the least--startled me. dragging over the bows of the wavecrest was the cable by which she had been moored in bolderhead harbor. i had never chanced to draw it aboard. now i did so. it was only a bit, some three or four feet long. and instead of finding it frayed and broken by the strain of the sloop as she dragged at her old anchorage, i found that the hemp had been cut sharply across. nothing less than a knife--and a sharp one--had severed that cable when it was taut! the appearance of the bit of rope gave me such a jolt that i sat down and stared at it. i had been quite sure that paul downes and his friends knew i was aboard the wavecrest when they nailed me into the cabin. but it really never crossed my mind that they had deliberately cut the sloop adrift. but here was evidence of the crime. there was no doubting it. i had been imprisoned on the wavecrest and then the sloop was sent on a voyage which paul and his friends must have realized could end in nothing less than death. it was an awful thought. in sudden and uncontrollable anger my cousin had attempted to stab me when we had our unfortunate quarrel aboard the sloop; but this crime was far greater than his former attempt. he had deliberately planned my death. and if ham mayberry, or any of my other friends, took the pains to look at the wavecrest's mooring cable, they would know that the sloop had been cut adrift. the evidence lay in both pieces of the cable. perhaps, however, it would not be known--it might never be suspected, indeed--that i had been swept out to sea in the sloop. the mere fact that i had left my tender tied to the mooring buoy might not be understood. beside, the tender might have been cut adrift, too. or the gale might have done much havoc in bolderhead inlet. other craft could easily have been strewn along the rocky shores, or carried--like the wavecrest--out into the open sea. the mystery of my disappearance might never be explained--until i returned home. and when would i get back? i did not like to think of this. i worried over the effect my disappearance would have upon my mother's mind. and, while i was absent, mr. chester downes would have full swing. worried as i was because of my situation, here in the seemingly empty atlantic, my greatest anxiety was for my mother. more and more had i come to fear the evil machinations of mr. chester downes. while i had been on hand to defend mother from her brother-in-law--and defend her from her own innocent belief in him, as well!--i was but mildly disturbed. if worse came to worse, i could always write to lawyer hounsditch whom i believed would never see my mother cheated. but now--and god only knew for how long a time--it was beyond my power to do a single thing toward guarding my mother from chester downes. how i wish i had taken the old attorney of the darringford estate into my confidence before this time! these were some of my sad thoughts following the discovery of the severed cable. i remained in a very, very low state of mind indeed during that forenoon. the gale did not abate; nothing but the boisterous sea and the overcast sky could i see about me. not even a seabird came to the dead whale. i was alone--stark alone. at mid-afternoon, however, i sighted something to the southward. i had climbed to the top of the whale for a better observation and against the horizon i beheld a long ribbon of smoke--just a faint streak against the lighter colored clouds. i knew that a steamer was there; but she was far, far away, and would never sight the whale, or my fluttering signal. i thought of all manner of curious plans to attract attention to my plight from a long distance over the sea. fire was my main thought. i knew that no vessel--scarcely a mail-carrying steamship--would pass a fire at sea without investigation. had i been a modern munchausen i might have found some way of drawing a wick through the whale and setting fire to its blubber! as it was, had i been likely to run short of burning fluid i surely would have endeavored to "try out" some of the blubber. i knew that, before the day of mineral oil--kerosene--people used whale oil almost altogether for lamps. but i was fortunately well supplied with oil, water and food. i might ward off starvation for a month; but i was not at all sure that i wished to exist so long under the then prevailing conditions. but life is very sweet to us, and i suppose i should have clung to the last shred of mine had fate intended me to remain in this abandoned state so long. this day and another night passed. i went to bed and slept well. the whale's carcass might roll over and crush my boat, or some other accident happen to the wavecrest during my retirement. but i could do nothing to fend off fate did i keep awake and had already made up my mind that i had little to fear. as for the whale sinking again, that was impossible. it may have sunk after being killed; but putrefaction had set in within the carcass and the gases which had thereby formed would keep the whale afloat until the fish and seabirds had stripped its bones, in great part at least. with the returning day the clouds broke. i had noted before arising that the gale was subsiding. the sun showed his face and i welcomed him enthusiastically. the sea did not subside however. i could not think of leaving my sure haven yet. it did not look exactly like settled weather but the sun shone warmly for part of that forenoon. before noon several screaming gulls had found the dead whale and were circling around it, gaining courage to attack. the presence of the sloop moored to it bothered them at first. but in a few hours there were other scavengers of the sea at hand which were afraid of nothing. i sighted the first ugly fin soon after eating my dinner. then another, and another and another appeared, and soon the voracious sharks were tearing at the whale from beneath while the increasing number of seabirds were hovering and fighting above the carcass. both the finned and winged denizens of the sea became so fearless that i could have stroked the sides of the sharks with my hand or got upon the whale and knocked the birds over with a club. blood as well as oil ran from the great carcass and the sea was soon streaked all around with foulness. a dreadful stench began to be apparent, too. the fetid gasses from the abdominal cavity of the dead creature were escaping. but i could not afford to change my anchorage just for a bad smell! anxious as i was to get home again, i dared not start for land yet awhile. i must wait for a fair wind and the promise of a spell of steady weather. i knew that by heading into the northwest i must reach the new england coast if i sailed far enough; but otherwise i was quite ignorant of my position. having a nicely drawn chart in my chest did not help me in the least now, for i did not know my position and had no means of learning it had i been a navigator. this day passed likewise and an uncertain, windy night was ushered in. i set my lantern again on the whale's back, the birds having become less troublesome; but determined to keep watch for part of the night, at least. to this end i rolled myself in my blanket and lay down on the bench at the stern. the clouds still fled across the skies, harried by the wind; and the wind itself fluctuated, wheeling around to various points of the compass within a short hour. i fell asleep occasionally and finally, before dawn, descended into a heavy slumber. i don't know what awoke me. the wind was whining very strangely through the sloop's standing rigging. my oar had tumbled down and oar and lantern were in the sea. the birds had all disappeared, nor were the fins of the sharks visible. off to the south'ard was a strange, copper colored bank of cloud. the east was streaked lividly, for it was all but sunrise. i rose and stretched, yawning loudly. i suddenly felt a prickling sensation all over me. i knew that the air must be strongly impregnated with electricity. despite the whining of the wind here beside the dead whale there seemed to have fallen a calm. i scrambled up the side of the whale and turned to look northward. glory! within five miles was a bark, under full sail, coming down upon me--a vision of rescue that brought the stinging tear-drops to my eyes. i was saved. i did not care for the oar and the lost lantern now. i stood there and waved the coat that i had dragged off at first sight of the vessel. i knew her company must see me. i was as positive of rescue as of anything in the world. the bark was flying before a stiff breeze, and it was head on to the whale. i could not be missed. although the on-coming ship sailed so proudly, however, the breeze that filled her canvas did not breathe upon my cheek. nor was it the whining of that favoring wind i had heard since first opening my eyes. i swung about suddenly and looked to the south. up from that direction rolled the copper colored cloud--and it seemed veritably to roll along the surface of the sea. the sound came from this cloud. before it the sea itself turned white. far above, the upper reaches of the rolling mist seemed to writhe as though in travail of some great phenomenon. and it was so! out of this mass of vapor i saw born within the hour the most remarkable of all sea-spells. but at first my attention was divided between the tornado coming up from the south and the bark approaching from the north. not at once did the favoring wind leave the craft. where the dead whale lay seemed to be a belt of calm between the bark and the coming tornado. and this craft in which my hope was set was really a bark, by the way; i do not use the word poetically. her fore and mainmasts were square rigged while her mizzen mast was rigged fore and aft like my little wavecrest. as i watched her i saw that her navigator had espied the coming tempest from the south and the crew began to swarm among the sails. she still came on at a spanking pace; but her canvas was reefed down rapidly until there was nothing left but the foretopsail, flying jib and the spanker. soon these began to shake and then her fair wind left her entirely. she had reached the belt of calm in which the dead whale and my sloop still lay. in my ears the savage voice from the cloud to the south'ard was now a roar. the remaining canvas on the bark was reefed down. she lay waiting for the tempest. i turned to descend from my rather slippery situation. i preferred to be in the sloop when the tempest struck us, for possibly i would be obliged to cast off from the dead mammal. but before i could get off the whale the writhing cloud changed its appearance--and changed so rapidly that i was held spellbound. it was sweeping over the seas so close, it seemed that the topmasts of the bark could not have cleared it. now whirling tongues of cloud shot downward while dozens of spiral columns of water leaped up to meet these gyrating tongues. thus sucked up by the whirling cloud the waterspouts were formed, and dozens of them swept on across the sea beneath the hovering cloud. as the cloud advanced the wind which accompanied it beat the waves flat. but they boiled about the waterspouts and the roaring sound increased rapidly. the heavens above and to the north and east grew dark. the rising sun seemed snuffed out. a vivid glare which was neither sunlight nor starlight accompanied the tempest as it swept on. i trembled at the sight and as the seconds passed i grew more terrified--and for good reason. what would happen to me if any of those whirling columns of water and mist struck the dead whale? if they burst upon the drifting mammal where would i be? what would happen to the wavecrest? and then quite suddenly there came a change in the on-rushing tornado. amid thunderous reports--like nothing so much as the explosions of great guns--the dozens of small spouts ran together, or were quenched as it might be, in one huge, whirling column of water which, swept on by the wind, charged down upon me as though aiming at my particular destruction. i fell upon my knees and clung with both hands to the slot i had cut in the whale's blubber in to which to thrust the oar. i dug my fingers into the greasy flesh and hung on for dear life. i actually expected that the whale--and of course my sloop--would be overwhelmed. the waterspout, traveling with the speed of an express train, bore down upon me. with it came the wind, roaring deafeningly. i lost all other sound, with such enormous confusion the tornado swept upon me. the whale rolled as though it had come to sudden life again. over and over it canted. i know my sloop was lifted completely out of the sea. the waterspout whirled past--within three cable-lengths of the dead leviathan,--and the tempest shrieked after. the whale rolled back. i slid down the curve of the carcass and dropped into my plunging sloop. i feared to remain longer near the dead whale, but cast off both at bow and stern, and let the sea carry me some yards from the heaving, rolling carcass. and then i could once more see the waterspout. it was still careening over the sea, its general direction being nor'west; but it whirled so that it was quite impossible to be sure of its exact direction. however, of one thing i was confident. the sailing vessel which i had so joyfully discovered an hour ago, lay in the track of the waterspout. she lay still becalmed and if the spout threatened to board her, there would be no possible chance of the vessel's escaping destruction. chapter xii in which i find myself bound for southern seas my little sloop pitched so abominably that i could not stand upright, but fell into her sternsheets and there clung to the tiller as she swept along in the wake of the tornado. the waves did not break about the wavecrest, for she was still within the charmed circle of oily calmness supplied by the dead whale. at some distance, however, the waves were tossed about most tempestuously. i could see the bark from bow to stern, for she lay broadside to me. when the draught from the south first struck her she went over slowly almost upon her beam-ends; but righted majestically and her helm being put over she slewed around so as to take the gale bow-on. she mounted the first wave splendidly and i saw her crew gathered forward in her bows. they seemed to be at work on something and there was a vast amount of running back and forth upon her deck. meanwhile the waterspout, whirling like a dervish, bore down upon the bark. the great column of water passed between me and the bark, then swung around and rushed down upon the craft in a way to threaten its complete extinction. i expected nothing more than to see the bark borne down and sunk under the weight of the bursting waterspout. but when it was still several cable-lengths from the bark i saw the group upon her forward deck separate, and a long cannon was revealed. its muzzle was slewed a little over the port bow and the next instant it spoke. the explosion sharply echoed across the sea, audible to my ears despite the huge roaring of the waterspout. the column of water, rushing down upon the bark, was cut in twain by the ball from the gun. the connection 'twixt the whirling cloud and the whirling water was actually severed by it. had the spout swept aboard the bark the great ship would have scarcely escaped complete wreck. as it was, the revolving water poured down into the ocean with the noise of a cascade, beating the sea to foam for yards and yards around, but without doing the slightest damage either to the bark, or to my little sloop. the tornado tore into the north, smaller spouts leaping up and twirling in their mad dance, but none forming the threatening aspect of that which the bark's gun had burst. in half an hour the sun was out and i dared spread a whisp of sail and ran down to hail the bark. i saw the crew crowding to the rail. there was a large number for even a sailing vessel of these times, and i more than half suspected the nature of her business before a rope ladder was let down to me and i scrambled up the tall side of the craft with the bight of my sloop's painter over my shoulder and saw the "nests" of boats stowed amidships. "i say, young fellow!" was the greeting i received from a smart looking youngster--not much older than myself--who welcomed me at the rail "is that your whale?" "if 'findings is keepings' it is surely mine," i said. "but i didn't kill it, and now i've got a leg over your rail i'll give you all my title and share in the beast." "good luck, boys!" rumbled a bewhiskered old barnacle who stood behind the young officer of the bark, "we've struck ile before we're a week out o' bedford." as i say, without these words i could have been sure that the bark was a whaler. she was the scarboro captain hiram rogers, and just beginning her voyage for the south seas. the greenland, or right whale, is no longer plentiful, but the cachelot and other species have become wonderfully common of late years. this fact has drawn capital to the business of whaling once more, and although steam has for the most part supplanted sails, and the gun and explosive bullet serve the office formerly held by the harpoon and the lance, more than a few of the old whale-fishing fleet have come into their own again. for the scarboro was built in the thirties of the last century; but so well did those old yankee boat builders construct the barks meant for the fishing trade--for they were expected to stand many a tight _squeeze_ in the ice as well as a possible head-on collision with a mad whale--that their length of life, and of usefulness, is phenomenal. at least, the scarboro looked to be a most staunch and seaworthy craft. the young fellow who had hailed me was second mate gibson, nephew of the captain and, i very soon discovered, possessed of little more practical knowledge of sea-going and seamanship than myself. but he was a brisk, cheerful, educated fellow and being merely the captain's lieutenant over the watch got along very well. he expected to study navigation with his uncle and be turned off a full-fledged mate, with a certificate, on his return from this whaling voyage. however, these facts i learned later. just now i was only anxious to know what was to be done with me, and if there was a likelihood of the captain of the scarboro touching at any port from which i might make a quick passage home. this last was the uppermost thought in my mind when i followed ben gibson below to see the captain. captain rogers was a lanky man with a sandy beard and a quiet blue eye. he did not look as though he ever had, or ever could, be hurried or disturbed. had i been a triton that had just come abroad i reckon he would have eyed me quite as calmly and listened as tranquilly to my story. but gibson was so impatient (as i could easily see) that i made the story brief. he burst out with: "captain rogers! aren't we going to get that whale? she's delivered into our hand, as ye might say. the men are eager for it, sir, but you haven't given orders to change our course." "and i'm not likely to, bennie," returned his uncle. "but it's a waste of oil!" exclaimed the young fellow. "and it would be a waste of time for us to stop for one miserable whale when we don't expect to break out our boats until we're well below the equator. we'd just make a mess of the old hooker and have to clean her up again." gibson was disappointed, and would have urged his desire further, but captain rogers turned to me: "if we meet a homeward bound sailing vessel in good weather i'll put you aboard. steamships won't stop for you. if you want to join my crew--you're a husky looking youngster--i'll fit you out and lot you a greenhorn's share. best i can do for you. is your sloop any good?" "she's not started a plank, sir," i declared. "pass the word for the carpenter to take his gang and get the stick out of her, and hoist her aboard," captain rogers said to gibson. "then take this lad to breakfast and see that he gets a good one." he turned me off rather cavalierly i thought. of course, my situation appealed more strongly to me than it was likely to appeal to anybody else. but captain rogers did not seem to consider my being carried away, willy-nilly, into the southern seas, and on a voyage likely to last anywhere from eighteen months to three years--for the scarboro was just out of new bedford, as has been stated--the captain did not seem to consider, i say, what my state of mind might be. of course, i was thankful that i had been picked up; yet if the weather settled i might have safely made my way back home in the wavecrest. and it was easy to see that the skipper of the scarboro considered the sloop his property in return for taking me aboard. the lanky captain of the whale ship was not a person to argue with. i knew it would be useless to bandy words with him. even his nephew plainly showed that he considered it wise to drop the matter of the dead whale right there and then--before the captain at least. he grumbled a bit about the loss of this first chance for oil when we went to breakfast, however. apropos of which, and while we discussed the good breakfast that was put before us, ben gibson repeated for my delectation the famous whaling story--a classic in its way--wherein the yankee skipper and the yankee mate differ as to the advisability of chasing a cachelot. some version of this tale is known to every whaler and i preserve ben's story, as he told it, imitating the down east twang as well as i may: "forty-two days aout, an' not a drop o' ile in the tanks. i went for'ard. the lookaout he hailed. 'on deck, sir,' says he, 'thar she blaows.' "i went aft. 'cap'n symes,' says i, 'thar she blaows; shall i lower?' "cap'n symes he gin a look to wind'ard. 'mr. symes,' says he, ('twas cur'ous, his name was cap'n symes, an' my name was mister symes, but we warn't neither kith nor kin), 'mr. symes,' says he, 'it's a-bloawin' right smart peart, an' i don't see fitten for to lower.' "i went for'ard. the lookaout hailed again. 'on deck, sir,' says he, 'thar she blaows _an'_ spouts.' "i went aft. 'cap'n symes,' says i, 'thar she blaows _an'_ spouts. shall i lower?' "cap'n symes he casts an eye aloft. 'mr. symes,' says he, 'it's a bloawin' right smart peart, and i don't see fitten for to lower.' "i went for'ard. the lookaout he hailed again. 'on deck, sir,' says he, 'thar she blaows, an' spouts, an' breaches.' "i went aft. 'cap'n symes,' says i, 'thar she bloaws, an' spouts, an' breaches. shall i lower?' "cap'n symes he took a look at the clouds that was a-scuddin' acrosst. 'mr. symes,' says he, 'it's a-bloawin' right smart peart, an' i don't see fitten for to lower.' "i went for'ard. the lookaout he hailed again. 'on deck, sir,' says he, 'thar she blaows, an' spouts, an' breaches, an' it's a right smart sperm, too.' "i went aft. 'cap'n symes,' says i, 'thar she bloaws, an' spouts, an' breaches, _an'_ its a right smart sperm-whale, too. shall i lower?' "cap'n symes, he gin a last look at the weather. 'mr. symes,' says he, 'it's a-bloawin' right smart peart, and _i_ don't see fitten for to lower, still--if you're so gol-darned sot on lowerin', you can lower and be hanged to you.' "i went for'ard and sings aout for volunteers, an' the boys jest tumbled over each other into the boat. we got the whale, and as i was a-swarmin' over the side, thar stood cap'n symes with tears in his eyes. "'mr. symes,' says he, 'forty years,' says he, 'i've sailed the seas,' says he, 'man an' boy, man _an'_ boy, an' in all that time i never see no mate to compare with you,' says he. 'mr. symes,' says he, 'you're the jim dandyest mate as ever i sailed shipmates with,' says he. 'mr. symes,' says he, 'daown in my cabin in the starboard locker aft,' says he, 'you'll find some prime havana seegars, and the best o' lawrence's aould medford new england rum,' says he. 'that best o' lawrence's aould medford new england rum,' says he, 'an' them prime havana seegars,' says he, 'is yourn for the rest of the v'y'ge.' "'cap'n symes,' says i, 'you can take them prime havana seegars an' that best o' lawrence's aould medford new england rum,' says i, 'an' stick 'em overboard as fur as i'm consarned. all i asks is common sea-vility; an' that o' the gol-darndest commonest kind!'" ben told me this story while he ate. he was the liveliest kind of a companion. i liked him immensely from the start, and the longer i knew him the better i liked him. this was his first deep sea voyage, but he had been looking forward to it ever since he was in petticoats--unlike myself, who had only longed for the sea but knew i probably would never be allowed to follow my bent. now, it seemed, fate had flung me right into the life i had so longed for. had it not been for mother and the fears i felt for her in the mesh of chester downes' web, i should have welcomed this chance that had put me aboard the whaling bark scarboro. "and she's a fine old craft," declared the young second mate. "maybe she's a bit tender in her bends, but she's sailed in every quarter of the globe and has brought home many a cargo of oil. we all own shares in her--in the bark herself, i mean--we rogerses and gibsons. i've a twentieth part myself in pickle against the time i'm twenty-one," and he laughed, meaning that his guardian held that investment for him--and a very good slice of fortune his holdings in the old scarboro proved to be, at the end of the voyage. but now we were at the beginning of it--all the romance and adventure was ahead of us. before noon i was not sorry to be aboard of the bigger craft and looked with equanimity upon my own bonny sloop stowed amidships. the wind had wheeled again and coming abaft, the bark shot on into the southward, trying to outrun the gale. had i not been picked up as i was i might have been swamped in the wavecrest. for a week, or more, we ran steadily toward the tropics, and in all that time we passed--and that distantly--but two steam vessels and only one sailing craft. there was no chance for me to get home. i had to possess my soul with such patience as i could, while the old scarboro bore me swiftly away toward the southern seas. chapter xiii in which tom anderly relates a story that arouses my interest captain rogers was not a harsh man, but he was a stern disciplinarian. that he could not change the course of his ship to land me in some port, or to put me aboard a homeward bound vessel, is not to be wondered at. he had both his owners and his crew to think of. i was thankful, when i saw the week's weather that followed my boarding the scarboro, that i had been saved from further battling with the elements in the sloop. ben gibson advised me to write fully of my situation and prospects and have the letter, or letters, ready to put aboard any mail-carrying ship we might meet. a steamship bound for the cape of good hope, even, would get a letter to bolderhead, via london, before i could get back myself from any south american port that the scarboro might be obliged to touch at. i knew, however, that the whaling bark was not likely to touch at any port unless she suffered seriously from the gales. whaling skippers are not likely to trust their crews in port, for the possible three year term of shipment stretches out into an unendurable vista in the mind of the imprisoned sailor. for that is what a sailor is--a prisoner. as the great samuel johnson declared, a sailor is worse off than a man in jail, for the sailor is not only a prisoner, but he is in danger all of the time! however, the prospect of the danger and hardship of the seafarer's life had never troubled me. i must admit that i was delighted to turn to with the captain's watch (that was ben gibson's watch) and take up the duties of a foremast hand upon the scarboro. i wrote the letters as i was advised. i wrote to my mother, of course, to ham mayberry, and last of all, and more particularly, to lawyer hounsditch. to the latter gentleman i explained all i feared regarding mr. chester downes and his machinations. to ham i told the particulars of my having been swept out to sea and instructed him to find my mooring rope and save it, with its cut end for evidence; and if possible to learn who had helped paul downes, my cousin, cut me adrift and nail me in the cabin of the wavecrest. to my mother i wrote cheerfully and asked her to have money sent me at buenos ayres, as that might be a port the scarboro would touch at, or a port i could reach if i left the whaleship. i cannot say that i was continually worried by my state aboard the whaler. what boy would not have delighted in being thus thrust into the midst of the very life and work he had so longed to follow? i could not but feel that it was _meant_ for me to be a sailor, after all. the webbs had been seafaring folk, time out of mind. my father's father had tried to keep his own son off the water by giving him a college education and making a doctor of him. but the moment my father was sure of his sheepskin, he had looked about for a chance to go as surgeon on a deep water ship, and had gone voyage after voyage until his marriage. inside of a fortnight captain rogers had complimented me on my work and manner, and mr. robbins, the mate, said i was worth my salt-horse and hardbread. of course while on duty ben gibson, the young second mate, and i must of necessity hold to "quarterdeck etiquette;" he was "mr. gibson" and i was "webb." we were punctilious indeed about these niceties of address. off duty, however, we were two boys together, and rather inclined to sky-lark. the other close friend that i made aboard the scarboro during the first few days of the voyage, was old tom anderly. he was the bewhiskered old barnacle who had welcomed the possibility of getting oil in the bark's tanks from the dead whale, when i had first come aboard. anderly was a boat-steerer, an old sea dog who had sailed oft and again with the skipper, and who had lanced more whales than any other half dozen men aboard. being in old tom's watch i grew soon familiar with him; and from the beginning i saw that the old seaman took more than a common interest in me. the old man was full of stories of whale fishing and other experiences at sea. but it was not his fund of information, or his tales, that first of all interested me in tom anderly. i had told nobody--not even ben gibson--about the actual event of my being swept out to sea from bolderhead, nor had i said a word about my father. the fact that he had been a sea-going physician would not help me hold my own with the crew of the scarboro. at sea, according to the homely old saw, "every tub must stand on its own bottom." "so you come from bolderhead, do you?" quoth tom to me, one day when we were lounging together forward of the capstan, and he was mending his pipe. "that's where we live in the summer," i admitted. "jest summer visitors, are ye?" "well, my mother has a house there." "yes. ye ain't a native, though, eh?" and before i could reply to this, he continued: "i been studying about bolderhead ever since you come aboard. there was something curious happened at bolderhead--or just off the inlet--and it's all come back to me now." "what was it?" i asked, idly. "well, it's quite a yarn," he said, wagging his head. "i was running in the old hooker, sally smith, from portland to new york. she carted stone. there warn't but five of us aboard, includin' the cap'n and the cook. but our freight warn't perishable," and he chuckled, "so speed didn't enter into our calculations. one day there come up a smother of fog as we was just off bolderhead neck. we'd run some in-shore. it fell a dead calm--one o' them still, creepy times when you can hear sheep bells and dinner horns for miles and miles. "well, sir! we lay there in this smother of fog and all of a suddent we heard somebody hootin'. cap he halloaed back. 'blow yer scare!' sings out the same faint voice. 'keep it blowin'.' "'there's somebody out yon tryin' to make the sally,' says the cap'n. i stepped on the tread of the siren and kept her blattin' now and then and, after some minutes, we heard a splashin' alongside and there was a man swimming in the sea." "he had swum out from shore?" i asked, just to keep the conversation going. i wasn't really interested. "no. his boat had begun leaking badly. it was too heavy to turn over, and before it sank he slipped into the sea and made for us. he had seen us before the fog shut down, and knew that we were becalmed. he'd just tied his shoes about his neck by the lacings and swum out with every rag of clothes on him--'cept his hat." "and why did he swim for your craft instead of to shore?" "said he was nearer the sally when his boat took in so much water. and the tide _was_ running out, no doubt. but it always did seem queer to me," continued tom. "what was queer?" i asked the question without the slightest eagerness--indeed, i really was not interested much in what the old sailor was saying. "queer that such a smart-appearin', intelligent gent should have got himself in such a fix." "as how?" "to set sail in such a leaky old tub." "oh!" "and then, when he found she was sinking under him not to make for the shore." "what became of him?" i asked. "he went to new york with us. there he stepped ashore and i ain't never seen him since--and only heard of him once, an' that was ten years or so afterward----" "hullo!" i cried, suddenly waking up. "when did all this happen, tom?" "when did what happen?" "this man swimming aboard your schooner?" "why, nigh as i can remember, it must be fourteen or fifteen years ago--come next spring. it was in april, after the weather was right smart warm. otherwise he wouldn't have swum so far, i bet ye!" my voice, i knew, had suddenly become husky. i was startled, though i don't know why i should have felt so strangely as i reviewed this tale he had told. "what was his name, tom?" i asked. "the name of the feller i was tellin' you of?" "yes." "carver." "how d'you know it was?" "why, he said so!" exclaimed tom. "a man ought to know his own name, oughtn't he?" "he should--yes." "well!" "but did he have any way of proving his name to be carver?" "pshaw! the cap'n never axed him to prove it. why for should he lie about it? he worked his way to new york and all he got was his grub for it. i let him have an old pilot coat of mine, he having only a thin jacket on him. he agreed to pay me two dollars for it. and he was jest as honest as they make 'em." "he paid you?" "he sartinly did," said old tom, wagging his head. "a feller who would be as good as his word in that particular wouldn't lie about his name, would he?" "you said you heard from him ten years after?" i asked, without trying to answer tom's query. "well--yes--it was ten years. but i guess the letter had been lying there in the office of radnor & blunt--them's the folks we dealt with on the sally smith--for a long time. i had left the sally the year after and only just by chance went into the office when i was in new york. the chief clerk he passed me over a letter. in it was a two-dollar bill and a line saying it was for the coat." "and it had been there waiting for you for some time?" "'twas as yellow as saffron. they didn't know where i lived when i was to home. and i had been 'round the world in the scarboro, too." "and the letter was from bolderhead?" i asked, slowly. "no. that was the funny part of it," said tom. i awoke again and once more felt a thrill of excitement in my veins. i watched the old fellow jealously. "didn't the man--this carver--belong in bolderhead?" "so i supposed. but the letter come from foreign parts." "where?" i asked. "'twas from santiago, chili." "then he had not gone back to bolderhead?" i stammered. "bless ye, lad! how do i know? i only know he sent the money from chili. he was something of a mystery, that feller, i allow. ever heard tell of him in bolderhead? are there any carvers there?" "it's a mighty small town along the new england coast in which there are no carvers," i replied. "now, ain't that a fact? they're a spraddled out family, i do allow," said tom. "what did this man look like?" i asked, and i was still eager--i could scarcely have told why. there was an enlarged crayon picture of my father in my bedroom at home. when he died my mother only had a cheap little tintype of him. i don't suppose the crayon portrait looked much like dr. webb. certainly there was little in tom anderly's description to connect the strange man rescued out of the sea with the portrait of my father. yet the circumstances, the time of the happening, and the suspicions that had been roused in my mind by paul downes and his father, all dovetailed together and troubled me. even ham mayberry, who scoffed at the idea that my father had made way with himself, admitted that had dr. webb lived my mother and i could never have enjoyed grandfather darringford's money. i could never believe that my father had been wicked enough to commit suicide. but, suppose he had merely slipped away from us--gone out of our lives entirely--with the intention of putting his wife and child in a prosperous position? it was romantic, i suppose. to the perfectly sane and hard-headed such a suspicion would seem utterly ridiculous. but the longer i thought over tom anderly's story--the more i allowed my imagination to roam--the more possible the idea seemed. ham had said my father was not a money-making man. he was in financial difficulties, too. grandfather had died and there was a heap of money just beyond my mother's grasp. my father had become a stumbling-block in her path--in my path. he it was who kept us from enjoying wealth. the cruelty of my grandfather in arranging such a situation filled me with anger when i contemplated it. what could my father think but that, if he were out of the way, it would be far, far better for his wife and child? i could not believe, for an instant, that dr. webb would have committed the crime of self-destruction. but in my then romantic state of mind, what more easily believed than that he had deliberately removed himself out of our lives--and in a way to make it appear that he was dead? as we did, he knew we would at once enter into the enjoyment of the wealth left by old mr. darringford. there would be no material suffering caused by his dropping out of sight. i faced the matter with more coolness and a better understanding than most boys of my age possess, because of my knowing my mother's nature so well. take my own sudden disappearance, for instance. i knew well she would be quite overwhelmed at first; but if good dr. eldridge brought her out of it all right, and she had somebody to turn to and depend upon for comfort and encouragement, she would sustain my mysterious absence very well indeed. and my father must have known her character much better than i did! undoubtedly it had been very hard for mother to endure the cramped circumstances of those first two years of her married life. it must have been a great deal harder for dr. webb to bear it, knowing that she suffered for lack of the luxuries and ease to which she had been used. i could imagine that the situation when my grandfather died and left his peculiar will, would have pretty near maddened dr. webb. it would not be strange if he contemplated self-destruction as a means of putting my mother and myself positively beyond the reach of poverty. he had rowed out to white rock. he had left the old watch--i had the heirloom in my pocket now--for the boy who was yet to grow up and bear his name. the fog and the sally smith had appeared together and offered him means of escape. it would be fifteen years the coming spring that my father had disappeared. tom anderly had hit the time near enough. had there been any man named carver who had suffered such an accident off bolderhead neck as the old seaman told of, i would have heard the particulars, knocking about among the bolderhead docks as i had for years. the story seemed conclusive. i had never for a moment believed that my father had wickedly made way with himself. but that he was alive--that he had gone out into the world, possibly with the hope of finding a fortune and sometime coming back to mother and me with a pocketful of money--yes! i could believe that, and i _did_ believe it with all my heart! chapter xiv in which i hear for the first time the whaler's battle-cry so impressed was i by the imaginings suggested by tom anderly's story, that i opened my letter to old ham mayberry and asked him if he had ever heard of a man named carver who had gone through the experiences tom had related of the man who had swum to the sally smith from the direction of bolderhead neck? it was the very next day, and a fortnight after i had boarded the whaling bark, that i got a chance to send off the letters. the wind lulled and we crossed the course of a steamship hailing from baltimore and touching on the west coast of africa; captain rogers sent the letters aboard the steamship. there was no use in my trying to get passage on her, however; i would have gained nothing by such a move. "now your letters will be picked up by a london, or lisbon-bound steamer and it won't be two months before your folks will know all about you," ben gibson said. "if you'd had to depend upon the post-box in the straits of magellan, for instance, it might be six months before bolderhead folk would ever know what had become of you." i must confess that every day i was becoming more and more enamored of this life at sea. we had had little fair weather and were kept busy making sail and then reefing again, or repairing the small damages made by the gale. captain rogers was not the man to lay hove to in any fair breeze. we outran the bad weather before we crossed the line and then the lookout went to the masthead and from that time on, as long as i was with the scarboro, the crowsnest was never empty by day. for we had come into those regions of the south atlantic where schools of the big mammals for which we hunted might be at any time come upon, especially at this season of the year. the gale having left us, the weather was charming. while winter was threatening new england we were in the latitude of perpetual summer, and as long as the trade wind blew we did not suffer from the heat. the scarboro carried crew enough to put out six boats at a time and still leave a boatkeeper and cook aboard. as a usual thing, however, only four boats were expected to be out at once--the captain's, ben gibson's (with whom tom anderly went as boat-steerer and would really be in charge until ben learned the ropes) the mate's boat, and bill rudd, the carpenter's, boat. the gun forward in the scarboro's bows, however, was there for a purpose, too, as i found out on the first day we sighted a whale. the man in the crowsnest suddenly hailed the deck, when mr. gibson was in charge: "on deck, sir!" he sang out, with such eagerness that the watch came instantly to attention. "well, sir?" cried ben. "ah-h blows! again, sir!" "pass the word for cap'n rogers, webb," the second mate said to me, and grabbing his glasses he started up the backstays to see the sight. some of the hands sprang into the rigging, too, and soon the whaler's battle-cry rang through the ship: "ah-h blows! and spouts!" captain rogers was on deck in a moment. he ran up after ben gibson and took an earnest peek through the glasses himself. then he dropped down to the quarter and said, but with satisfaction: "only one fish in sight. may be more ahead. perhaps it's a she with a calf and has got behind the school. we'll see. now, boys! tumble up and let's get the rags on her." we went at the sails with a will and for the first time i saw every yard of canvas the scarboro could set flung to the breeze. the old bark began to hustle. she was heavy and she could do no fancy sailing; but having the wind with her she rushed down upon the lone whale like a steamship. soon we could see the undulating black hump of the whale from the deck. we saw an occasional spurt of water, or mist, from its blow-holes. by and by it breached and was out of sight for a short time. when it came up again it was still tail-end to the scarboro and not half a mile away. there was no other whale in sight; but this was a big fellow--a right whale, or baleener. after coming up it lay quietly on the water, or moving ahead very slowly. the men were eager to get after it in the boats; but captain rogers knew a better way than that to attack a lone whale. we reefed down again and left little canvas exposed while the scarboro kept on her tack under the momentum she had already gathered. the captain went forward where the gun had been made ready. he swung it about on its pivot and got the range of the whale. at this small distance the huge mammal looked like a cigar-shaped piece of smooth, shiny slate-colored india-rubber--no longer black. four or five feet of its diameter and forty feet or more of its length showed like a mound in the smooth water, and the body alternately rose and dipped as the whale swam slowly along. it was doubtless feeding on the tiny marine creatures which are the sole food of the right whale. it took great "gulps" of sea water into its cavernous mouth, water which it strained out through its curtain of baleen, swallowing only the tiny fish down a gullet so small that it would not admit a man's fist. the scarboro was approaching it from behind and at an angle, so that its course and ours made the sides of a v. captain rogers followed the course of the whale alertly, swinging the muzzle of the cannon with skill. most of the crew were grouped behind him in anxious expectancy. suddenly i felt a touch upon my arm. it was tom anderly. he was pointing silently over the port bow. there, a couple of miles away, i judged, several columns of mist were spouting into the air. _there was the school!_ but i turned to view the nearby mammoth again just as the gun spoke. i saw a hideous, crimson zigzag gash on the broad side of the whale, i heard the rumbling roar of the time-bomb at the point of the harpoon exploding in the whale's vitals. instantly the whole crew were in a pandemonium of excitement; but the captain's shrill orders were obeyed like clockwork. i felt the blow of the great bark give a convulsive jerk. the whale had gone straight downward and the cable attached to the harpoon shot over the bow so fast that the eye could not follow its course. where the hemp touched the rail a column of smoke arose. two men sprang with buckets to dip up the sea-water and pour it upon the shrieking line. the windlass spun around like a boy's top. coil after coil of the rope leaped into nothingness. had there been a big express locomotive hitched to that line, and going at full speed, i do not think the line would have paid out any faster! at last the windlass ceased to spin. the whale had either touched bottom, or had descended as far as it could. we had already laid our mainsail aback and as the line lay slack upon the water, captain rogers motioned to the men at the windlass to wind in. it was like playing a fish at the end of a line and reel. those next few moments were breathless ones for all hands. suddenly the sea parted right off the port bow, and not half a cable's length ahead. up, and up the gigantic creature rose--up, up, up till it towered fifteen feet above the scarboro's rail! then it turned a somersault, beating the sea to waves like the boiling of a cauldron. it rose again, churning the sea with its tail, and then raising the caudal fin for twenty feet, or more, and slapping it down upon the water with a shock like the report of a big gun--aye, like a thunder-clap! then the great beast whirled round and round--it seemed seeking for the thing that had so hurt it. we watched the struggle of the leviathan with pop-eyed expectation--especially the young second mate and myself, for we were the only real greenhorns aboard the scarboro. the whale wrapped several lengths of the line about its body and then shot away into the southwest, away from the distant school. it swam so fast that it actually seemed to skip from wave to wave like a swallow. when it reached the end of the slack there was a jerk that shook the bark from stem to stern. then came the tug of war. there was no small whaleboat behind it, but a great, ton bark, and this massive bulk the creature actually towed like a steam-tug towing a steamship. the captain let more line out. far out at the end of two miles of line the whale lashed about, and churned the sea, and blew blasts of vapor into the air. then old tom anderly cried that it was spouting blood and we knew the end was near. but the captain gave the whale half an hour in which to die before ordering the line wound inboard. the rest of the school had gone on steadily into the south and was still several miles away. we could not launch our boats for them, but gave our complete attention to the first kill. as the whale felt the pull of the line it gave a single convulsive jump. but after waiting a moment or two, captain rogers commanded the windlass to be manned again. slowly the line came in and, after a time, the huge, inert, flabby body floated, belly up, just off our bows. the mate's boat was lowered and a chain was passed around the whale's body just forward of the tail. with this it was grappled to the scarboro's side. i could see a dozen quarreling porpoises eating the tongue of the monster that had been, two hours before, alive and, to these scavengers, invincible. there was a broad smile on every man's face, from captain rogers down the line. the first kill had been successful. oil was in sight. but--as i soon found out--the real work of the voyage had begun as well. chapter xv in which we "strike on" belly uppermost the huge whale (its actual length was seventy-three feet) was fastened "stem and stern" along the starboard side of the scarboro. the first operation of butchering a whale--if it be a baleener--is to secure the whalebone. this is a difficult job as i very soon saw. the thick, hard, horny substance must be separated from the jaw; and it sometimes turns the edge of the axe like iron would. when we had got the baleen inboard, however, the more disagreeable work of "flensing" began. a number of the men, with old tom anderly at their head, got upon the whale in spiked shoes and with blubber spades attacked the main carcass of the beast. the blubber was cut up into squares, weighing a ton or more each, the hook of the falls caught in one end, and then the blubber was "eased off" with the spades while those aboard hauled on the tackle, thus ripping the blubber from the layer of flesh beneath. in handling a small whale, tom told me, they would thus rip the blubber off in long strips, rolling the carcass over and over in the bights of the holding chains. for this one whale captain rogers did not see fit to start the fire under the donkey-engine amid ships, by which the blubber could have been raised inboard much easier. the try-out caldrons were heated, however, and the blubber as it came inboard--like "sides" from a great hog--was hacked into pieces of two or three pounds each and thrown into the pots. soon the deck of the bark, from bow to stern, was slippery with spilled oil, or bits of blubber. a thick, greasy smoke rolled away from the ship. it's flavor in the mouth was at first sickening. we got used to it. "hi, lad!" cried tom anderly, when i looked over the rail, "now you've got a taste of real whaler's souse--everything you put in your potato-trap for the rest of the v'y'ge will be flavored with whale-oil." a whale will weigh about as many tons as it is feet long--in other words, this seventy-three foot whale weighed probably seventy ton and from the blubber we tried out thirty tons of oil--nearly half its weight in the tanks beside the baleen! we had been sailing in the wake of the big school of whales we had spied when we killed the baleener. we came up with them again at mid-afternoon, and found that they were sperms. that was why the _mysticete_ we had killed the day before did not start to drag the scarboro toward the school. the baleeners and the _denticete_ (toothed whales) do not mix in company, and are, indeed, seldom found in the same seas. the baleeners are usually found toward the arctic or antarctic regions, while the sperms and their ilk hold to the warm seas. captain rogers might have run down to the school of cachelots and gunned for one of the beasts; but then the others would have been frightened away. the bark lay to upon a perfectly calm sea, and at a distance of about two miles from the school, and four boats were manned and shot away from the ship. the whales seemed to be asleep, or lying sunning themselves, upon the surface of the sea. i was in ben gibson's boat, of which old tom was steersman. he would handle the iron too, for as i have said, ben was just as green in the actual practice of whalemanship as i was myself. we raced with the other boats for the nearest prize, which proved to be a husky bull, longer than the baleener we had killed. i was bow oar, and i found that i could hold my own with the rest of the crew. our stroke set a slapping pace and we bent to the work as though we were racing for the sport of it. each crew desired to be first and have the credit of fleshing the iron in this monster. the water being so calm it proved to be a very pretty struggle. and all done so silently! the whale is sharp-eared and on a mill-pond sea like this, sounds carry far. we came up from behind the mammoth, and we were ahead of the other boats. the captain, in the nearest boat, signaled us with his hand to strike on, while his boat rushed past for another of the sleeping monsters. old tom and the young second mate changed places swiftly and the old harpooner stood up poising the heavy iron and looking to see that the coils of the rope were free. with a nod mr. gibson ordered the oars brought inboard and he pulled in the long steering oar himself. the whaleboat shot close up to the whale's side. the body loomed beside us like the rolling hull of an unballasted ship. with my face over my shoulder i watched old tom poise the iron. when he swung it back the muscles of his shoulder and upper arm flexed like a pugilist's! he was a fit subject for a statue at that instant. then he flung body and weapon forward, the latter left his hand smoothly, and the sabre-sharp point sunk deep in the yielding blubber. "back all!" gasped ben gibson, scarcely above his breath, so excited was he. but we had expected the order and were ready for it. the oars went in with unanimity and the boat shot back, for a whaleboat is as sharp at one end as it is at the other. the whale made no flurry, however. it was as though he lay stunned for half a minute--perhaps longer. then he made up his mind what to do, and he did it with a promptness and speed that was amazing. like a spurred horse the whale started ahead. i declare, it seemed as though half his length came out of the sea at the first jump. the line whizzed over the bow as though it were tackled to a fast express. "pull!" yelled ben and we laid to the oars so that when the line ran out the shock would not be so great. when the first line was all out and tom bent on another we were rushing through the water like mad. we passed the captain's boat just after he had struck on himself and his kill had sounded. "go it, young man!" yelled captain rogers, standing up and waving his hat to his nephew, "you're going out of town faster than you'll come back." all we could do in that double-ended boat was to sit still and hold tight. i candidly believe that we traveled at a speed of a mile minute. i had once been aboard of a turbine launch, and the black water was thrown up on either side of that whaleboat in a wave just as it had flowed away from the nose of the launch! this wave seemed to be three feet higher than the gunwale of the boat and as black as ebony. even tom anderly cast a glance at the boat-hatchet as though he contemplated cutting the taut line. our eyes were blinded by the wind which seemed to be blowing a hurricane. actually there was scarcely a breath stirring over the surface of the placid ocean. our locomotive went directly through the school. its mates rolled placidly and eyed us as we shot by with wicked glance. but none of them followed the boat which continued to tear through the water with undiminished speed. but after a time we found that we had company, and mighty unpleasant company, too. in the boiling wake of the whaleboat i could see a dozen triangular fins--the fins of the real tiger shark of the tropics. not a nice spectacle to men in such a situation as ours. secretly i was frightened, and i reckon even the oldest in the boat's crew felt serious. the mad whale was taking us farther and farther away from the bark and our friends. indeed, the scarboro was wiped out of sight, it seemed, within a very few minutes, and the other three boats were lost behind us, too. the runaway, however, did not continue straight ahead. its speed did not seem to slacken in the least; but soon it began to circle around, finding itself without its mates. "if the old feller don't put on brakes pretty soon the harpoon'll git so hot it'll melt the blubber and pull out," chuckled the stroke-oar. it was the first word spoken that showed relief. there was a perceptible slackening of our speed. and the whale was "going back to town," as the captain had intimated. "get hold of that line, webb, and stand ready to haul," said mr. gibson to me, taking the heavy whalegun from its covered beckets, after changing places again with old tom. "now for it!" muttered the boat-steerer, gripping the eighteen-foot oar and craning forward eagerly. he was just as excited as the rest of us. i hauled in on the line, standing firmly braced just behind the young second mate. the whale had actually come to a stop and did not sound. we drew closer and closer. "jest a leetle be-aft the for'ard fin, sir!" whispered old tom, excitedly. gibson grunted some reply and raised the gun, taking careful aim at the mountain of flesh about which the water swirled. a second or two of breathless suspense followed as, oars in hand, we waited the report of the gun. a sharp report made me jump. then came the dull explosion of the bomb-lance somewhere in the vitals of the whale. "stern all! stern all!" shouted mr. gibson, this time finding his voice. the wounded whale flung itself completely out of the water. for a moment we could see daylight underneath the huge bulk and as we backed water with all our strength it did seem as though that convulsed, eighty barrel sperm must fall upon the boat and overwhelm it! chapter xvi in which there is some information and much excitement the young second officer's command needed no repetition. there was no temptation for us to linger under the monster. with a crash that seemed to make sea and air tremble, the great body struck the surface of the water. the whaleboat dashed back just in time, and then rocked upon the waves as the dying whale rolled to and fro in his "flurry." then, with a great puff, the creature rolled partially on his side, and the ocean thereabout became tinged with the blood thrown out of its blow-hole. "killed with one lance! killed with one lance!" yelled second mate gibson. but then he gripped his dignity again and sat down, giving commands in his ordinary tone. old tom stood up to glance about the sea-scape: "and now where's that thundering old hooker?" he demanded. "we'll have a fine time pulling this baby to her." but that is what we had to do. we had had our "fun;" now we settled down to doggedly pulling the heavy oars, being divided into two watches, and saw the light of the scarboro's trying-out works at midnight! the captain and mr. rudd had both got small whales and one had been laid aboard each side of the bark. the crew were working like gnomes in a pantomime when we rowed sadly to the bark with our huge tow. how we worked! i never had been so tired in my life, and at the end of the second day when the oil from the three whales had been run into the tanks and the decks cleared up again, i could have fallen into my hammock and slept the clock around. but one never catches up one's sleep on a successful whaler, and the scarboro certainly was proving good her name as a "lucky" craft. between tom anderly and ben gibson i learned a lot about whaling statistics--famous voyages, wonderful accidents to whaling crews "lucky strikes," and the like. and these facts, both curious and exciting, i stowed away in my mind for future reference. despite the fact that steam vessels and the gun and explosive bullet have almost supplanted the old-fashioned manner of killing whales, the luck and pluck of half a century, or more, ago, counted for enough to offset these new methods. the most extraordinary good-luck voyage ever made by an american whaler was that of the bark envoy, belonging to the brownells of new bedford. she was built in and in the year she returned to her then home port in such a condition that the underwriters refused to insure her for another voyage. but captain william c. brownell and captain w. t. walker agreed to take a chance in the old hulk and she put to sea from new bedford under captain walker on july , . as fitted for sea the envoy, for repairs, supplies and all, stood the two owners in the sum of $ , , whereas a vessel that could be insured might have cost from $ , to $ , . she got around the horn without falling apart and took on a cargo of oil at wytootackie which her captain had previously purchased from a wrecked whaler and stored there. this oil she hobbled into manila with and shipped it to london at a profit of $ , . from manila the envoy went cruising in the north pacific and in fifty-five days she took , barrels of whale-oil and , pounds of baleen. with this she returned to manila and shipped the bone and , barrels of oil to london, the shipment yielding $ , net. again she went cruising and secured , barrels of oil and , pounds of bone, bringing both into san francisco in , where she disposed of the oil for $ , and shipped the bone to her home port where it brought $ , . to complete the record of her good luck, san francisco merchants offered $ , for the condemned old bark that had, in two years, or thereabout, brought to her owners and venturesome crew the sum of $ , . with the captain's share as one-seventeenth of the "lay" the skipper of the envoy must have made $ , . "there were common sailors on that ship that turned up a thousand dollars in pocket when they were paid off," said ben gibson, when we were discussing it. "the second mate, with his one-forty-fifth, cleaned up three thousand. hope i'll do half as well in the same length of time with the scarboro." i learned that the largest catch brought into port by an american whaler, as the result of a single cruise, included , barrels of oil and barrels of sperm, with , pounds of bone. it was taken in a voyage lasting only months by the south america, of providence, captain r. n. sowle. it sold for $ , in , and the cost of ship and outfit was $ , . the pioneer, of new london, captain ebenezer morgan, holds the medal for the largest sum realized from a single voyage. she left her home port on june , , for davis strait and returned a year and three months later with a cargo of , barrels of oil and , pounds of bone, which sold at war-time prices for $ , . the outfitting of this craft cost $ , . "those are all great tales," quoth tom anderly, when we had marveled over these lucky voyages. "but how about the brig emeline of new bedford? she sailed on july , and in twenty-six months she returned home with how much ile d'you suppose?" ben and i gave it up. some enormous sum, we supposed, was realized. "yah!" said tom. "a fat lot. twenty-six months and ten barrels of ile, and her skipper killed by a whale." "oh, now that you're on the hard luck tack," quoth ben, "there was the junior, of new bedford. i've heard my uncle tell of her. out a year and two months and put back to port _clean_--and the crew plumb disgusted. could you blame 'em?" this conversation went on between our watches while the three sperm whales were being butchered. there was a peculiarity about these cachelots that i failed to mention. we butchered them in a different manner than we did the greenland, or right, whale. the cachelot has no baleen but it furnishes spermaceti. a large, nearly triangular cavity in the right side of the head, called the "case" (sometimes spermaceti is called "case oil") is lined with a beautiful, silver-like membrane, and covered by a thick layer of muscular fibres. this cavity contains a secretion of an oily fluid which, after the death of the animal, congeals into a granulated yellowish-hued substance. our whale, the first of the school killed by the second mate's boat--had in its case a tun, or ten barrels, of spermaceti! while the trying-out operations were under way we lost, of course, that school of sperms; but we drifted some miles into the south, and as soon as captain rogers could get canvas on her, we made a splendid run for two days west of south and so caught up either with that same school, or with another herd of cachelots. i had thus far seen some of the sport, a good deal of the hard work, and some of the uncertainties of the whaleman's life; now i came upon a streak of peril the remembrance of which is not likely to be sponged from my mind as long as i possess any memory at all. it was at daybreak the lookout hailed the deck with "ah-h blows! and spouts! all about us, sir!" it was true. we had run into the midst of the school of whales. captain rogers being called by mr. robbins, took a look around the sea-line, cast a shrewd look at the heavens, went and squinted at the glass, and then ordered the canvas reefed down and all hands to breakfast. the prospect, of both weather and whales, was for a good kill. the healthy rivalry between the boats was now manifest. captain rogers ordered all six out, leaving but two men aboard the bark. they could just manage to steer her under the riding sail. our boat was off as soon as any and we pulled steadily for the whale we had chosen as our prize. we had brought in the biggest one before and we hoped to do as well on this occasion. but we couldn't pick the biggest this time, for as we shot through the rippling waves, aiming for a huge bull that rolled on the surface, up popped a young female, with a calf, right in our course. "look out for her!" quoth old tom anderly. "she'll be ugly, sir--with that kid beside her. better think twice of it, mr. gibson." "think we're going to have the other boats give us the yah-yah because we pass up a fifty-foot she whale, eh?" demanded the young second officer. "just step forward here, old timer, and see if you can stick your fork into her." after all, the mate's word was law even to the old boat-steerer. they quickly changed places and tom took up the iron. the calf was playing on the far side of its mother, and so we could easily come up upon the nigh side without being observed. in a few moments tom had her pinned. then there was the old harry to pay and no pitch hot, as the sailors say! the other two whales i had seen killed merely thought of running away from the thing that had hurt them. but the one we now were fast in had her baby to care for. she set off running, but would not swim faster than the calf could travel. we did not put out the full length of one line. "haul in! haul in!" cried ben gibson, excitedly. "i'll get a lance in her." "you be careful, sir," whispered old tom, from the stern again, to which he had gone after throwing the iron. "there ain't nothing wickeder than a she whale with a sucking calf, when she's roused." we had drawn in rather close and could see that the calf was falling behind. the mother noticed it as well. she feared the thing that had stung her; but, mother-like, she clung to her little one. she swerved around and the line fell slack. "look out, now, sir!" cried tom anderly again. "she's mad, and she's scared, and she's looking for us. if she once gits her tail under our bottom its good-bye jo for all hands--and the water's mighty wet today." almost as he ceased speaking the wicked eye of the great creature blinked at the boat, and she came rushing down upon it. tom threw himself upon the great steering oar, while ben shouted: "pull! pull, you lubbers! do you want to be swamped by the critter?" we bent our backs to the struggle and the whaleboat shot ahead; but the maddened cow-whale came on, as big as a brick warehouse, and bent on running us under! chapter xvii in which i come very near going out of the story our boat escaped the collision with the mad whale on her first attack. she rushed by us like a steamer, throwing up a wave from her jaws and just "humping herself." old tom swerved us about swiftly in her wake and we came right upon the calf. "by jinks! i'll soak you one for luck, anyway!" ejaculated the angry second mate, and he up with his lance-gun and put a shot into the little fellow. "now, sir, we'll have trouble with her," grunted tom, grimly. "she's coming back!" stroke oar shouted. it seemed as though the whale knew her young had been killed. she whirled in the sea and rushed down upon the drifting calf, the blood from which tinged the sea for yards around its carcass. it was really pitiful to see her stop at it, and seemingly caress it, drawing it toward her with her huge fin that it might suckle. but we were alive to the chance of getting near enough to lance her, and under whispered instructions rowed in. mr. gibson had risen and aimed the gun and was about to fire when the cow-whale seemed to suddenly understand her loss and her own danger. with a mighty flirt of her tail (which same came near to swamping our boat) she "sounded," as it is called. her head went down and her great tail flirted in the air. mr. gibson went over backward, exploding the gun and sending the bomb-lance into the air. the whale was out of sight in a flash and the line began to run over the bow with a speed that made the woodwork smoke. i bent on another line and then dipped up some water in the bailer to throw upon the smoking gunwale. it was at this moment that i came as close to death as ever whaleman experienced. a lurch of the boat canted me and i threw out my left hand to prevent myself from diving overboard. it was a most unfortunate gesture. in some way that uncoiling line, which moved so fast one could scarcely follow it with the eye, wrapped about my arm below the elbow and--like a flash--i was jerked out of the boat and shot beneath the surface of the sea! i would like to tell of this terrible incident as it seemed to my mates in the whaleboat; i presume they were aghast at my flight over the bow and disappearance. for a man to be carried overboard by the harpoon line, and entangled in that line, is not an unknown incident in the annals of whale-fishing. but only one person ever went through the experience and lived to tell of it before my time--or so i am informed. this was captain parker of the american whaler west wind. i don't know how the matter seemed to captain parker; i can only relate my own sensations. and, believe me, they were queer enough. i shot down after the sounding whale with a rapidity that seemed to deprive me of the ordinary powers of thought or imagination. my only conscious idea was that i was a dead boy if i could not cut that line! i was rushing down into the depths head-foremost--and with the swiftness, it seemed, of a reversed skyrocket! i thought my arm would be torn from its socket, so great was the resistance of the water. fortunately i had been clothed in a thick jacket, and that jacket-sleeve saved my arm from being mutilated. i was traveling so fast behind the sounding whale that i could not move my right arm from my side. it seemed glued there, so closely was it pressed to my body by the force of the water. the pressure on my brain became frightful, too, and thunder roared in my ears--or, so it seemed. for an instant i opened my eyes. it appeared that a stream of blasting flame passed before them. i was blinded. but, providentially, i was composed. i knew what i was about--rather, what was happening to me--each moment. i struggled to reach the knife i wore at my belt; but every second i grew weaker. the compression around my chest was like that of a tightening band of iron. of course, only seconds elapsed; but it seemed a very, very long time. would the whale ever reach the bottom? would the line ever sag? far gone as i was, my brain remained perfectly clear and i was ready to make use of the least fortunate incident in my favor. then it came--the slackening of the line. i drove forward with a mighty kick of my feet--a last gasp of strength. my fingers closed on the handle of the gully, i ripped it out of its sheath, and slashed the keen blade across the line. i cut my wrist a bit in so doing. luckily, i cut ahead of the arm entangled in the line; it was more by good luck than good management. my remembrances after that are confused. i know i shot upward from the dreadful depths, the human body being so much more buoyant than the salt sea. i lost consciousness slowly. all i finally remember was an enlarging spot of light toward which i mounted but which seemed to be miles and miles away! i was suffocating. a gurgling spasm seized upon me. light, and sense, and all were quenched suddenly. life was slipping from my grasp. chapter xviii in which we realize the "grind" of the whaleman's life according to ben gibson, they immediately gave me up for dead. the chance that my arm had not been torn away from the shoulder was small, and once thus crippled they expected the spouting blood to attract the sharks, and then--good night! but while i remained conscious i had not even thought of those monsters; nor do i believe that a single one of the beasts came near me while i followed the whale toward the bottom of the sea. the men in my boat were helpless. they might not aid me in the least. nor did they know when i severed the line and started for the surface again. the weight of the hemp kept it down, although it stopped running out. fortunately it uncoiled from my arm, or i would have been held down there and drowned. they stared in horror over the sides of the whaleboat, trying to distinguish any moving object in the depths, and as moment after moment passed they glanced at each other and shook their heads. i was lost. they had no hope of ever even seeing me again. and then it was that the sharp eyes of the old boat-steerer descried my arm above the surface, not many yards away. "there! look yon!" he yelled. "pull, you lubbers!" they shot the boat ahead and the old man seized me, plunging in his arm to the shoulder as i sank again. ben had begun to strip off his clothing, bound to dive for me if the old man missed. but there was no need of that, and they hauled me over the side into the boat a deal more dead than alive. indeed, i fought when they brought me back to consciousness. it was awful suffering, that recovery--that return to the world which i had every reason to suppose i had said good-bye to. it was a good half hour before i began to realize where i was, and what was happening to me. we could not go back to the ship, however. whale fishing is a grim business. a struck whale has completely smashed a boat, leaving its crew struggling in the water, and the other boats have gone on after the monster and left their companions to paddle about on the wreckage as best they can until the leviathan is killed. the other boats from the scarboro were all busy and our boat was behind. we had lost our whale and the better part of two lines had gone with the iron. before i could do more than lie on the bottom of the boat, under the men's feet, and gasp, we were pulling after the wounded female again. she had come up for air and lay sullenly on the surface not half a mile away. she was a tartar; but old tom got another iron in her, and later ben gibson killed her with two bomb-pointed lances. when the old bark came down upon us about night she was dead and we hauled her alongside--the first fish to be grappled to. but the other boats brought in three more. we were having great luck and for two more days worked like trojans. but the school of cachelots we had followed had disappeared then. the scarboro sailed many a league farther south--and toward the horn--before we raised a single whale. we were degrees south then--below the de la plata. i feared that the old bark would not put in at buenos ayres and there would be no chance of my returning home by steamship. not that i was yet tired of my work and the life we led. no, indeed. but i was anxious to hear from home, and i believed letters must be waiting me there at buenos ayres--and money, too. no use to think of touching port, however, when the weather was so fine and whales were so infrequently met with. the whole crew had begun to get anxious. mr. robbins grumbled that he didn't see the use of roaming about the south atlantic, anyway. it was the pacific that whales frequented. "why the last time i sailed in a windjammer," declared the mate, "we were four weeks getting around the horn from santiago, and there wasn't a day went over our heads that we didn't see plenty of whales. the minute we got onto this side of fuego we never saw a fin--and we ran to bahia. wouldn't have known there ever was a whale in this darned old ocean." but the beginning of the cruise had been fortunate, and the whales had not entirely forsaken the atlantic despite the grumbling of the crew. we killed two small humpedbacks within the week and then came upon sperms again. at daybreak the lookout hailed and the sea seemed fairly alive with them. we tumbled out and, with only a pannikin of coffee in our stomachs, and a cold bite in our fists, made off in the boats for the royal game. ben gibson's boat had a good tally so far and we were not going to let the others beat us much. we had our pick of half a dozen sperms and we took after a bull that seemed promising. we struck on and the wounded whale ran a little way in fright, trying its best to shake out the harpoon. finding this impossible, despite its porpoise-like gambols, the whale sounded; then occurred one of the strangest happenings that can be imagined. the bull went down, and we paid out a goodly portion of line. finally the line stopped running, but the whale did not rise. "what do you know about this, tom?" demanded the young second mate. "that critter's gone to sleep down there, hasn't it?" "it'll be drowned!" exclaimed the old harpooner. "that's what'll happen to it." "drowned!" cackled one of the crew. "what you givin' us, old hardshell? drown a whale, eh? that's like the boy that pumped water on the frog to drown him." "you wait and see," growled old tom. "if that bull don't come up pretty soon we'll have a circus with it, now i tell ye!" the whale gave no sign. we tried hauling on the line, and of course it wouldn't budge. "it's sure got its feet stuck in the mud down there," admitted the second mate, and he stood up and wigwagged frantically for the ship. there were only four boats out and the captain himself chanced to be aboard. he knew old tom would not give up anything easy, and so he brought the scarboro into hailing distance and we told him what had happened. we had caught a tartar; the whale wouldn't come to the surface and we couldn't let go without losing our line and iron. it was no use jerking on that line. one can't play a whale like a rock bass! we rowed to the ship and the line was carried aboard and tagged onto a winch. we got at it right then and, before long, up came the dead body of a whale. it was a good sized one--indeed, i thought at the start that it was bigger looking close beside the bark than it had seemed when we struck on. and pretty soon we found out the reason why it seemed different. we couldn't find the harpoon tom anderly had thrown into it! the line was found jammed to the back of the whale's mouth and wound round its body--whales will roll over and over when struck just as an old salmon will when hooked. that whale was drowned. a whale isn't a fish, anyway, and this one had been under water so long that it was too late, as ben gibson said, to bring forward any "first aid to the drowned" business! what puzzled us all--from captain hi down to the cook's cat--was what had become of the iron? "and, by jingoes!" cried the second mate, "we ain't got all our line back." this was plainly a fact. when the whale was grappled onto the bark's side and the line unwound, we found that it still hung down into the sea and was quite taut. "this blamed critter was anchored!" growled tom anderly. "and he dragged his anchor at that." "get onto the winch, boys," said captain rogers. "let's see what's hung to it now." we wound in the line and up came the whale that we had actually struck! the harpoon still held in its body. good reason why i had thought the first whale seemed different from the one we had chased. of course, this whale was drowned, too. when it sounded, the other whale must have crossed our line while feeding with open mouth. feeling the strange sensation of the hemp in the back of its mouth, the creature had instinctively closed its jaws and, in the struggle, wound the line about its body and been drowned. of course, this had kept the first whale down until it had drowned and, marvelous to relate, we had got the both of them--and a tidy addition to our cargo they proceeded to make. the luck of the second mate's boat became proverbial after that haul. but despite our luck, the real grind of the whaleman's life was taking hold of us now. it was work--hard, bone labor--if we "had luck," and it was likewise work if we missed and rowed hour after hour after an elusive sperm or, at the end of the day, had to row empty handed back to the bark. ben gibson loved money; but he admitted to me that a fifteen hundred dollar prize for the voyage would scarcely pay him for the work and grind of our daily life aboard the scarboro. chapter xix in which is reported a series of misadventures it began much as other busy days had begun for us of the scarboro, since we got upon the whaling grounds; the fires under the trying-out kettles were scarcely quenched when, just at daybreak, came the hail of the man in the crowsnest: "on deck, sir! ah-h blows!" "where away?" bawled captain rogers, who seemed tireless himself and expected every man and boy aboard to catch the inspiration of a sight that had now become terribly commonplace to us--a spouting cachelot. "two p'ints on yer weather bow, sir." the captain started up the rigging and in a moment the lookout repeated: "thar she blo-o-ows!" "i see her!" bawled the captain. then turning, his roar penetrated to the fo'castle: "all hands on deck! tumble up here! lively now! sperm whale, ain't she, john?" "aye, sir, sir!" returned the lookout. "there she breaches!" as one of the creatures up-ended. a dozen had suddenly come into sight--appearing like imps in a pantomime--"from the vasty deep." as captain hi came down mr. robbins reached the quarter. "seems a powerful sight of whales, mr. robbins," the old man said, passing the mate the glasses. mr. robbins went up and took a good squint all around the horizon. "three hundred if there's one, cap'n!" he declared with reverent enthusiasm. "does seem so, doesn't it?" admitted the captain. the crew had tumbled up and were getting the boats ready. only four were going out, but the skipper stayed us until we had had breakfast. "we're going into a man's job this morning," he grunted. "we want to be prepared for it." it might be that some of the boat crews wouldn't be back at the ship for eighteen hours. it often happened, and pulling a heavy ash oar on an empty stomach is not an inspiring job. inside of five minutes after the first hail the whales spouting from one end of the skyline to the other. we had run into the biggest herd of sperms that the oldest whaleman on the scarboro had ever seen. maybe we didn't feel excited! at such times as this one forgets the "grind." there was both money and excitement ahead of us. we actually sloughed off the weariness we had felt after a steady twenty-four hours' spell at the try-out kettles. we lowered and spread out, fanwise, from the bark and made for the whales. no need of racing this morning. as tom said, it looked as though a harpoon thrown into the air in almost any direction would hit a whale when it came down! i was eager to throw an iron myself. i had the physique for it, being such a stocky fellow. and the hard life i had lived since being swept out to sea in my wavecrest had agreed with me. my muscles were like wire cables, i was burned as black as a negro, and there was scarcely a man aboard the bark whom i could not have flung in a fair wrestle. "give clint his chance, tom," said mr. gibson, as the boat-steerer came forward. "if he misses, you can throw a second iron." i was tickled enough at this. old tom had given me plenty of advice before about the handling of the harpoon, and i tried to remember all of his teaching as i released my bow oar and took up the first iron. perhaps it would be interesting to my readers if i told them something about this weapon of the whaleman. the bomb-lance and gun are all very well; but the harpoon is the real weapon on which the whaleman must depend. this iron must be right and the line attached to it must be right, or the best of harpooners will make a poor tally. the whale line is a fine manila rope - / inches thick. it is stretched and coiled with the greatest care into tubs, some holding two hundred fathoms, some a hundred fathoms. the harpoons are fixed to poles of rough, heavy wood, every care being taken to make them as strong as possible. and their weight necessitates a harpooner being chosen from among the biggest and strongest men in the ship. the harpoon blade is made like an arrow, but with only one barb, which turns on a steel pivot. the point of the harpoon blade is ground as sharp as a razor on one side and blunt on the other. the shaft is about thirty inches long and made of the best soft iron so that it is practically impossible to break it. three irons were always placed in our boat, fitted one above the other in the starboard bow. if the harpooner missed with one iron, or if there was time to fling a second, he could reach and get it handily. in the old days the lances were slung in the port bow. it was with the lance the whale was actually killed. the harpoon only serves to make the boat fast to its prize. the lances were slender spears about four feet long with broad points. the old-time whalemen were rowed right up to the side of the ironed monster, after it had tired itself out fighting, and the officer in the bow had to churn the lance up and down in the great beast until the point reached a vital spot. for this reason there were many more serious accidents in the old times than now. in each boat belonging to the scarboro there was stowed a lance-gun in place of the lances. the bomb-lance is surer than the old-time lance, and keeps the boat and crew farther from the seat of peril. i rose up as soon as we drove in near the big bull that we had been approaching. and it _was_ a big fellow! i think it was as large a sperm as we had seen. its upper jaw and head was covered with lumps and scars of old wounds. along the flank was a half-healed, jagged gash, too. "that old boy's collided with something," grumbled tom anderly in my ear. "i believe he's a rogue." i had heard of ancient, isolated he-elephants being called "rogue;" but i did not know before that whalemen believe that certain old bull whales are just as savage and revengeful as tigers. indeed, among all wild creatures--either on land or in the sea--there seem to be ancient bulls that go off from their kind and sulk. they easily "run amuck"--perhaps are really insane. to attack them is far more perilous than to attack a herd of their normal fellows. this old bull whale, however, had not deserted the society of his fellows; but he proved to be as ugly a customer as we could have found in all that school of three hundred or more sperms! "he looks bad to me," whispered tom anderly. "he's a fighter. he's probably smashed more boats in his time than the old hooker carries when she's nested up full. gosh! look at the warts on him." "and that gash in his side," said ben. "how do you suppose that happened?" "looks just like he'd rubbed against a copper keel," declared the old man. i thought they were trying to scare me. but i learned later that it was not an uncommon thing for an old whale to use a ship's keel to rub himself against--it scrapes off the barnacles! i just gave old tom a grim look, however, and seized the harpoon. we were creeping up on the bull and i intended to make a good cast. the creature was weaving slowly along and not paying any attention to our boat at all. my! he did look enormous. the nearer we came to him the more threatening was his appearance. he was more than a hundred feet long, i was sure. he would have weighed as much as twenty-five of the biggest elephants that ever showed in a menagerie. i am free to confess i felt _queer_, as that slate-colored monster loomed up before our bow. with one flop of its tail it could smash the craft and give us all a ducking--perhaps kill half the crew. many of the old whalers' yarns i remembered as i poised that heavy shaft. but then old tom whispered: "_now!_" i let go with all my might. the harpoon sunk into the huge bull until half its staff was hidden! i had made as pretty a cast as ever tom anderly could himself. "back all!" shouted gibson. our craft shot backward while the bull gave a startled plunge forward, and the line began to run out fast. in half a minute the beast sounded and we prepared for a long fight. but suddenly he was up again and shot two or three geysers of water into the air. he lay still and we began to take in the slack. "call this a fight?" muttered the second mate, with scorn. i had slipped into my seat and the mate was changing with tom again, bent upon using the gun for the finishing touches. suddenly the old bull started. he did not come for the boat but headed directly for the bark, lying not more than half a mile away. he went so fast we could scarcely see the harpoon line. he made the sea about him boil, and the waves in his wake (for we were close up to him) almost swamped us. "what's he going to do?" screamed gibson. "holy mackerel!" groaned the stroke oarsman. "he's going to bunt the old hooker." "that's what he's up to," agreed tom anderly; "he's after revenge. and if he hits the scarboro _right_, we're likely to have a nice time rowing ashore, boys--you can take my word for that!" chapter xx in which our chapter of bad luck is continued that old bull was sure a fighting whale. the annals of whaling do not lack records of such old rogues, as witness the sinking of the kathleen, of new bedford on the " - ground" east of the barbadoes in . a bad whale can do a lot of damage besides smashing whaleboats. thus far we had suffered no loss from the monsters which the scarboro was hunting; but as this old bull shot like an arrow for the scarred side of the bark, which was hove to less than half a mile away, it did look as though she was due to get a bad bump. we were on a short line, however, for the bull had not sounded deeply. ben gibson sprang up with the bomb gun and tried to put a lance in the beast at that distance. it only scratched him, i suppose, but it _did_ seem to swerve him from his course. instead of striking the scarboro, he ran past her stern and circled around her. we were snatched after the whale at racing speed and saw the fellows aboard hanging over the rail grinning at us--like spectators at a horse race. "them sculpins wouldn't grin so broad if the critter had bumped the scarboro," declared tom anderly. the beast lay quiet for a bit and we pulled up on him. before gibson could get him with the lance gun again, he sounded. "now, by gravy!" exclaimed old tom, who had a wealth of expletives in him when he was excited, "look out for squalls." "he's been squally enough already, hasn't he?" demanded our young officer. "you ain't seen the end yet, sir," returned the old man. "well, i bet i _do_ see the end----" he broke off with a sharp intake of breath. then: "stern all!" he ejaculated. up through the green sea came a huge shadow. we could not shoot the boat back in time to clear the monster. the whale had turned and shot up under the boat! the boat jarred as the prolonged lower jaw of the bull whale struck her keel forward. there was a mighty rush of waters, like a cataract; the whaleboat was flung aside, and ben gibson shot over the bow and fell right into the open mouth of the whale! i know i screamed something--i don't know what i said. the boat was shooting back under the impetus of the oars, and we escaped overturning. but i had seen ben fall and saw him disappear into the cavern of the creature's mouth. i saw, too, the jaws come together once, and i swear our second mate was in the bull's mouth when it closed! but the next moment the maw of the beast opened and in the swirl of foam and blood-streaked water i caught sight of the senseless gibson. "pull!" i yelled. and although i had no business to give a command, the men obeyed me and the boat shot forward again. i seized our second mate by his shirt collar. in a moment i had lifted him into the boat. at the same moment tom anderly got forward, seized the gun which poor gibson had dropped, and sent a bomb-lance into the whale at so short a distance that it seemed as though we might have touched him by putting out a hand. but that fighting whale died hard. it leaped after the bomb exploded and again we were almost overturned. "cut loose! let the beast go!" cried some of the men. but tom anderly would not lift the boat hatchet. to cut a whale free, unless it becomes absolutely necessary, is "against the religion" of any old whaler. as for myself, i was bending over the injured second mate, trying to revive him. ben gibson had been through a most awful experience. old cap'n wood, of nantucket, had been in the mouth of a whale, and lived to tell the story. i remembered of reading about his experience. but it was a most awful accident and i feared indeed that the young officer was dead. therefore i was not really cognizant of what was going on until half the crew of our boat began to shriek a multitude of commands and advice. then i looked up and saw that the bull whale for a second time was charging the scarboro. it was plain the old fellow realized that the bark was his enemy. he paid no attention to the boat that was tearing through the sea behind him. and we was so near the bark now that nothing could be done to swerve the the fighting whale! straight on dashed the big bull, at a speed that snubbed the whaleboat's nose under water, for we were close up to the beast. straight on, with tremendous headway and a fearful, gathering momentum, headed for the grimy, battle-scarred broadside of the old scarboro. those aboard of the bark could do nothing. she was still hove to. the fighting whale had missed her by a hand's breadth once before, but this time he did not swerve. "cut loose, tom!" i yelled, finally understanding--as did the other men with us--the menacing disaster. in a few seconds we would smash into the bark's hull, whether the whale dived or not. but the bull didn't dive, and tom swung the axe. his quick stroke severed the line and every man in our boat was awake to the impending catastrophe. stroke sprang for the long steering oar. the rapid swing of it barely swerved the heavy boat out of the course of sure disaster. on went the released whale. plumb his head smashed against the hull of the big bark. the collision was a most awful shock. consider a heavy train pushing a mogul locomotive down grade ahead of it, and the whole thing ramming another train--the result could have been no more awful. the three-inch plank of which the vessel's side was made splintered like the thinnest veneer. the ends of big timbers in her hull were ground to pulp and matchwood. with a terrific splash of his tail, the fighting whale rolled over, after rebounding from the bark, and lay, seemingly stunned! the bark, driven over almost on her beam ends, righted slowly. we knew the whale must be as good as dead, but we had no thought for him then. the smashing of the scarboro might mean torture and death to every man of her crew. we were out of the track of general steamship routes, and far, far from land. if the bark sank, we were done for! chapter xxi in which the wavecrest sets sail again nobody gave any further thought to the whale. my own eyes were set upon that yawning wound in the hull of the old scarboro. after the shock of the collision the bark righted slowly, and when she did so the sea rushed into the hole in a most awful fashion. we rowed rapidly toward the bark and made fast to the hoisting tackle. we had a sling let down for the second mate, who was still unconscious. before we got him on the deck and got aboard ourselves, captain rogers had all hands remaining aboard at work to stop the dreadful leak. had all six of the boats been out at this time i fully believe the scarboro would have gone to the bottom. or, if there had been any sea to speak of, she would have gone down inside of two hours. but being right on the job, as you might say, captain hi lost few seconds in the work of seeking to save the bark--and, incidentally, all hands. he did not even take the time to see how badly his nephew was hurt just then. as our crew came over the rail he set them to work, too. "take poor ben below and let cookee do what he can for him," he bawled to me. "i want you to deck here, webb." there was a light breeze, and he had some canvas put on her and got the old bark hove over so that the hole the whale had smashed (it was right at the water-line) was where it could be got at. of course, it was impossible at first to do anything from inside. there were two men on the pumps and they kept steadily at work, now i tell you. mr. rudd, the carpenter, was not aboard; but captain webb did all that could be done at the moment. he put slings under the arms of two men and let them down the canted side of the craft, on either side of the great gap. then canvas was let down--three thicknesses of heavy, new cloth--and this was laid over the hole after the splinters were cut away, and tacked to the hull, cleats being used to hold it in place all the way around. meanwhile the tar-buckets had been heated up, and those fellows gave the canvas and the hull all about it a good coating of tar. we ran several miles on this tack, and until the job was completed. then, when the men and the tar-buckets were inboard again, the scarboro was put over on the other tack and we beat back toward the whaleboats. i can't say that no water came in; but we could keep the water down by working steadily at the pumps; and before night we had the other boats aboard, and three whales--including the old bull that had done the damage--strung together nearby. we could do nothing toward cutting up and trying-out the whales until the bark was safe. a sharp blow just then would have fixed us, and that's a fact. mr. rudd and his helpers went below and broke out enough cargo to get at the hole stove in her side. meanwhile we had to keep the pump brakes moving and the water that flowed from the pipes and out at the hawser-holes was as clear as the sea itself. the old bark had settled a good bit, and we were by no means out of danger. here we were, by the captain's reckoning, all of four hundred miles southwest of cape st. antonio, which is south of the huge mouth of the de la plata. to set sail for the principal port of argentina--or any other port--would not suit captain hiram rogers a little bit. nor am i at all sure that, crippled as she was, the bark could have got to land. mr. rudd would be some days repairing the damage done by the fighting whale. and meanwhile, what was going to become of poor ben gibson? for our cheerful, boyish second mate was badly hurt. consider: the whale had actually shut his jaws on ben, and that one crunch should, by good rights, have finished the young fellow. but he was reserved for a better fate, it seemed. when the captain overhauled his nephew, he found that he had sustained, beside the scalp wound from which he bled so much, a broken arm, a lacerated leg above the knee, and several broken ribs. these ribs and possible internal injuries are what feazed captain hi. he was no mean "catch as catch can" surgeon; most whaling captains have had to tackle serious medical and surgical difficulties in their careers. ben, however, was the skipper's own flesh and blood--his sister's child. he couldn't face that sister (she was a widow) if he brought ben back to new bedford a cripple for life. and the whale had certainly smashed him up badly. "clint webb," he said to me, in a most serious tone, when he had made his examination of the poor fellow, "we are in a bad hole. it'll take a week o' fair weather for the carpenter to make us all tight again--and we ain't even sure of the weather. then, there's the three whales alongside. we can't throw them away. the crew would have cause to complain. but this boy ought to have doctor's care." i agreed with him, but had nothing to offer. "i couldn't sail for the plate now," he ruminated, "if i wanted to. repairs of the ship must come before repairs of the boy. webb! it's a good season, and the winds are fair. would you make an attempt to get ben to buenos ayres in that sloop of yours?" "in a minute!" i declared, quickly, for the suggestion went hand in hand with the desire i had been milling in my mind for days. "i'll mark you a chart. you can't miss of it. anyhow, you'll hit land if you keep on going. there are fine hospitals at buenos ayres. i'd feel more as though i'd done my duty by ben if i got him there. i'll find you a man to go along. two of you can work that sloop prettily." "aye, aye, sir," i agreed. he bustled away and brought back old tom anderly. i couldn't have wished for anybody else. in a quarter of an hour we had agreed on everything. tom and ben were to stick around buenos ayres until they heard from captain rogers, or the scarboro put in for them. of course, i would be free once i got to land, unless i wanted to stick the voyage out and claim my lay at the end. however, i was to have one hundred dollars in gold from the captain, and the sloop, whichever way i decided. captain rogers had set ben's arm and dressed his other wounds. ben was conscious, but in great pain from the broken ribs. he knew what we were going to attempt, and he was willing to trust himself to old tom and me. and the next morning, as soon as it was light, the wavecrest was slung over the side, her mast stepped, and the riggers got to work on her. by noon she was provisioned and everything was ready for our cruise. ben gibson was let down into the cockpit of the wavecrest on a mattress and was got comfortably into the cabin without any trouble. there was a steady breeze, but the sea was calm. the crew bade us godspeed and the skipper wrung my hand hard; but only said: "do the best you can for him, webb. i'm trustin' to you and tom to pull the lad through." we got the canvas up and sheered off from the scarboro's side. we could hear the muffled hammering of the carpenter and his mates inside her wounded hull. they were fighting to keep the old hooker above the seas. as we drifted away from the whaling bark i was not at all sure that we should ever see her above the seas again. our canvas filled and the sloop got a bone in her teeth and walked away with it just as prettily as ever she had sailed in bolderhead harbor. "she's a beauty boat, lad," growled old tom anderly. "and she's taking us out o' range o' them carcasses--whew! they sartainly do begin to stink. i don't begredge the boys their job of cutting them whales up when they git at it." we left the gulls and the sharks behind, with the bark and the rotting whales, and soon they were all far away--mere specks upon the horizon. chapter xxii in which we sail the silver river and i see a face i know i had covered, perhaps, almost as much open sea when i was blown out of bolderhead in the sloop, as now lay between the scarboro and cape st. antonio. but, as you might say, i had taken that first trip blindly. this time i had my eyes open and all my wits about me--and i knew that we had taken a big contract. the wavecrest was a mere cockle-shell in which to cross such a waste of open sea as that which lay between us and the mouth of rio de la plata. but the wavecrest was a seaworthy craft, and that indeed had been proved. she had been freshly caulked while she lay on the deck of the scarboro, and her seams did not let in enough water to keep her sweet. she sailed well in either a light or heavy wind and i really had no fear that we should not make the great seaport of the argentine republic all in good time. it was bad for poor ben gibson, however. the sun was hot and in the cabin the atmosphere was sometimes stifling. however, the captain had warned me to keep the fellow as quiet as possible and not to move him if it could be helped before we reached our destination. old tom sailed the sloop most of the time, and i gave my attention to the wounded youth. but we tried to keep something like watch and watch. we only slept by snatches, however, and never a cloud appeared in the sky as big as a man's hand that we did not watch it cautiously. as for sail, or steam, we saw neither till we raised the cloudy headland that marked cape st. antonio on the skyline. it was a pretty tame cruise to write about, for nothing really occurred. we were only on the watch for some untoward happening; that made it nerve wracking. but even when we sighted the spur of land which we knew marked the southern boundary of the de la plata--the widest mouth of any river on the globe, for it is not masked by islands at all--we were not out of danger. the peril of gales still menaced us. we had many miles to sail yet before we reached buenos ayres. indeed, we got a stiff blow before sighting point piedras; but it favored us after all, and the wavecrest ran before it at a spanking pace. we had sighted plenty of other craft now--both sail and steam. one great, red-funneled steamship came in behind us, and at first we thought it was making for montevideo, which is on the northern side of the river; but finally old tom made out the steamer and what she was. "it's one of the bayne line steamers from boston," he declared. "i know them red pipes. they touch at para, bahia, and other ports. she's bound for buenos ayres now--no doubt of it." the little squall that had kicked up something of a sea had now passed. the great steamship overhauled us rapidly. i chanced to be at the helm and i kept my head over my shoulder a good deal of the time, watching the approach of the great, rusty-hulled craft. somehow i felt as though i had some connection with the boat. a foolish feeling, perhaps; yet i could not shake it off. the wavecrest was bowling along nicely so i could give my attention to the big ship, which i soon made out to be the peveril. old tom was right. she was one of the bayne line ships, coming from boston--coming from home, as you might say! to tell the truth, i was a good bit home-sick. i let my mind wander back to bolderhead. circumstances had made it possible for me to leave the scarboro, and i was now nearing buenos ayres where i had written my mother to cable me money at the american consul's bureau. i had got enough of whaling. adventure and travel is all right; but i had had a taste of it, and found it to be merely an alias for hard work! "it's me for home on the first steamship going north," i told myself, wisely. "i've had adventure enough to last me a while." i was sailing on the silver river, as the exploring spaniards had first called this noble stream, and there might be a lot of fun and hard work ahead of me if i remained with old tom and ben gibson until they rejoined the scarboro. but i wasn't tied to them. i'd probably have plenty of money with which to pay my passage home; and just then i wanted to see my mother, and ham mayberry, and lots of other folk in bolderhead, more than i wanted to be knocking about in strange quarters of the world. i glanced around at the steamship again. she had almost caught up to us, for although the sloop had a fair wind, the peveril was sailing three lengths to our one. on and on she came, the smoke pouring from her stacks. her high, rusty side loomed up not more than a cable's length away. i could see the passengers walking on her upper decks, and the officers on her bridge. below, the ports were open, their steel shutters let down on their chains like drop-shelves. some of the crew were looking out idly upon the wavecrest as the steamship slipped by. a cook in a white cap came to one port and threw some slop into the sea. as he emptied the bucket my eyes roved to the very next port aft. there somebody sat peeling vegetables. i could see the flash of the knife in the sunlight, and the long paring of potato peel curling off the knifeblade. it was an idle glance i had turned upon the vegetable peeler. he was only a cook's apprentice, or scullion. there was no reason why my gaze should have fastened upon him with interest. yet my eyes lingered, and suddenly the fellow raised his head and his face was turned toward the open port. the mental shock i experienced made me inattentive to my helm and the wavecrest fell off. old tom sang out to know what i was about, and silently i brought the sloop's nose back again. the steamship had slipped by us and the wake of her set the little craft to jumping. my mind was in a fog. i steered mechanically. the face i had seen at the open port of the peveril was still before me, as in a vision. i knew i had not been tricked by any hallucination. i had not even been thinking of the fellow at the time. and i was sure that the cook's assistant aboard the peveril had not seen and recognized me. but i could not be mistaken in my identification of that face at the port. it was that of my cousin, paul downes--paul downes, here on the de la plata, thousands of miles from home, and evidently working in the menial position of cook's helper on the steamship, peveril! is it to be wondered that i was amazed? chapter xxiii in which i begin to wonder "is it me, or is it not me?" i had told nobody aboard the scarboro the particulars of my home-life, or the incidents leading to my being swept out to sea in the wavecrest. had ben gibson been my mate in the crew instead of holding the position of second officer, undoubtedly he would have had my full confidence. as things stood, i had no desire to take either ben or the old sailor into closer communion with my thoughts. the great steamship passed us and swept up the silver river, leaving the wavecrest far behind. she would reach buenos ayres fully twenty-four hours before the sloop could make that port. but this delay did not trouble me at the time. i wanted to think the situation over, anyway. at the start i was pretty sure that paul downes had not come down here on my account. he wasn't looking for me. nor did it seem that he had left home under very favorable circumstances. otherwise he would not be peeling vegetables for the cook of the peveril. after the first confusion passed from my mind i could pretty easily figure out the probable incidents that had brought my cousin down here. i knew about how long it had taken the steamship to voyage from her home port. had my letters been delivered in bolderhead within reasonable time, my mother and ham, and the others must have been aware of the explanation of my absence a week or two previous to the sailing of the peveril from boston. i had told mr. hounsditch, our lawyer, the whole truth about my sloop being swept away; i had likewise advised ham mayberry to gather what evidence he could against my cousin and those who had helped him commit the outrage that had placed me in such peril. it was a cinch that paul had got wind of these discoveries, had been fearful of being arrested for his part in the crime, and had run away from home. in doing so, too, it was evident that his father, mr. chester downes, had not been a party to his escape. paul had slipped away without his father's help or knowledge of his going. otherwise paul would not have been in a moneyless state, and he must have been moneyless before he would have gone to work. paul didn't love work, i knew; and i could imagine that there was no fun connected with the job he seemed to have annexed aboard the peveril. i reckoned i should probably hear all about it when i went to the consul's office at buenos ayres. either my mother, or ham, would write me the particulars of paul's running away from home. the bayne liner was no mailboat; i expected that my letters had been awaiting me for some time at the port; and the money could have been cabled nearly a month before this date. well, we got into buenos ayres in good season, and i noted where the peveril was docked. we moored outside a raft of small sailing crafts and had the dickens of a time taking ben gibson ashore on his mattress. a couple of blacks helped us, and after sending in a telephone message to the hospital, a very modern and up-to-date motor ambulance came down and whisked us all off to that institution. i couldn't speak spanish, nor could ben; but those medicos could talk english after a fashion, and soon ben was fixed fine in a private room and the doctors declared he'd be fit as a fiddle in six weeks. then it was up to old tom and me to find a place to camp. the sailor was for going back to the sloop where board and lodging wouldn't cost us much; but i confess i was hungry for something more civilized. i wanted bed-sheets and ham and eggs for breakfast--or whatever the buenos ayres equivalent was for those viands! we made some inquiries--of course along the water-front--and found a decent sailors' boarding house kept by a withered old mestizo woman (the mestizoes are the native population of argentina) who had some idea of cleanliness and could cook beans and fish in more ways than you could shake a stick at; only, as tom objected very soon, all her culinary results tasted alike because of the pepper! it was after breakfast the morning following our arrival that tom uttered this criticism. we were on our way to the hospital. we found ben feeling "bully" as he weakly told us, when we were allowed to go up to his private room. captain rogers had given him drafts on a local banker and he was fixed _right_ at that hospital. the doctors had examined him again and pronounced him coming on fine. so, with my mind at rest about him, i tacked away for the little dobe building down toward the water-front which at that day flew the american flag from the staff upon its roof. it was a busy place and most of the clerks i saw were mestizoes, or spaniards, or the several shades of color between the two races. spanish seemed to be spoken for the most part; but finally a man came out of a rear office and asked me abruptly what i wanted. "i'd like to see mr. hefferan," i said. "he's busy. can't see him. what do you want?" snapped this man. "i'm an american, and i'd like to see him," i began, but the fellow, who had been looking me over pretty scornfully broke in: "that's impossible, i tell you. tell me what you want? had trouble with your captain? overstayed your leave? or have you just got out of jail?" now, i hadn't thought before this just how disreputable i looked. i was dressed in the slops i had got out of the scarboro's chest, was barefooted, and was burned almost as black as any negro--where the skin showed, at least. i couldn't much blame this whippersnapper of a consul's clerk for thinking me a tough subject. "none of those things fit my case, mister," i said, mildly. "i know i don't look handsome, but i've been on a whaling bark for several months and i haven't had time yet to tog up." "a whaleship?" he asked. "an american whaleship?" "yes, sir," said i. "there is none in port." "no, sir. i have been with the scarboro. i'm mighty sure she's not in port." "the scarboro?" he asked me with a sudden queer look coming into his face. "you're one of the crew of the scarboro?" "not exactly one of her crew. but she picked me up adrift and i have been with her until lately." "you come in here," said the clerk, slowly, motioning me into the room behind him. and when we were in there he motioned me to a seat and sat down himself in front of me. "let's hear your yarn," he said. i thought it was rather strange he should be so interested, and likewise that he should stare at me so all the time i was talking. but i gave him a pretty good account of my adventures from the time i was blown out of bolderhead harbor, finishing with how i came to be at buenos ayres without the bark herself being within six or seven hundred miles of the port. "so that's your yarn, is it?" he asked me grimly, when i was done. i stared at him in turn. to tell the truth, i was getting a little warm. his face showed nothing like good-humor and friendliness. i waited to see what it meant. "so that's your yarn?" he repeated. "i thought when i set eyes on you that you were a tricky fellow. but this caps all!" why, he suddenly raised his voice and stood up, "what do you mean by coming here with such a yarn? i've a mind to clap you into jail!" i stood up, too. i must confess that i felt a bit scared. it was a pretty hot day. i didn't know but maybe the heat had overcome the fellow and he had gone crazy. "how dare you come here with such a tale as this, you dirty beach-comber?" he demanded, shaking his fist in my face. "if colonel hefferan was here i don't doubt he'd kick you out of the place. and you'd better go quick, as it is. don't you show your face here again----" all the time he had been walking me backward to the door. i had been obliged to keep stepping to keep before him. but i backed up against the door and stopped. i was getting angry, and i thought i'd gone far enough. "i don't know what you're driving at," i said. "but one thing i do know. my name is clinton webb, i have every reason to believe that my mother has cabled me some money in mr. hefferan's care, and i expect there are letters for me, too. i want the money and the letters----" "too late, you scoundrel!" he snarled at me, still shaking his fist. "your game is played too late. not that we would have believed a scoundrelly beach-comber like you----" "you don't believe what?" i shot in, raising my voice. "i know you're not clinton webb." "what?" "you're too late," he said, laughing nastily. "mr. webb came here yesterday. he identified himself to the satisfaction of colonel hefferan, and he got his money and letters. i don't know who put you up to this trick, but you're too late, i tell you!" he managed to push me aside and now pulled open the door. he put a whistle to his lips and blew a shrill blast. two barefooted, but very husky negroes came running in from the portico. i had noticed them lounging there when i entered. he said something sharply to them in spanish, and they grabbed me. my blood was boiling, and i believe if they had given me a moment's warning i would have sailed into them. but they held me on either side, and a hundred and eighty pounds of negro on each arm was too much for me. they dragged me toward the main door of the building in a hurry. "you get out of here!" cried the consul's clerk behind me. "and don't you dare come back. if you do you'll go to the calaboose as sure as you're a foot high!" i found myself out upon the sun-broiled street, with the two grinning guards barring my return. it had never entered my mind before that uncle sam is sometimes served by an ignorant and pompous nincompoop! but the satisfaction of making this discovery had a bitter taste. i did not know what to do. my mind was in a whirl. i had some few letters and papers in my pockets by which i had expected--after a time--to assure the consul of my identity. but it seemed that i wasn't to be given a chance to explain who and what i was. somebody had been ahead of me. some person unknown had represented me before the consul and had, it appeared, made good. my money and my letters had been turned over to this person---- "paul downes for a dollar bill!" i ejaculated. "it can't be anybody else. who else would know enough about me to represent himself as clint webb? he probably knew all about the money and letters. he got away from home broke, worked his passage out here got here only a few hours before i did, and he has beaten me to the consul. whatever shall i do?" it was not that i was entirely helpless, although i had only a dollar in my pocket. captain rogers was to pay me the hundred dollars he had promised me at the end of the whaling voyage, if i decided not to return to the scarboro. ben gibson was sick in the hospital, and old tom and i were both dependent upon him for our board money. i didn't propose to be an object of charity. but i must confess that what i _did_ mean to do had not as yet formed itself rationally in my mind when i got back to old maria debora's. tom was out somewhere seeing the sights. he had not gone with me to the consul's office. supper time came before the old man showed up and i sat down among the first of the boarders. they were a cosmopolitan lot, rough seamen from several quarters of the globe. they spoke half a dozen different languages and dialects. i sat with my back to the door, and was only aware of the entrance of another party of men by the noise and stir behind me. "will you pass down a dish of those beans mate?" i had just called above the hubbub, speaking to a man across the table. instantly somebody stepped quickly behind my chair. a hand came down heavily on my shoulder. "by all the e-tar-nal snakes!" ejaculated a nasal voice. "i knew i couldn't be mistaken about that back. but the voice convinced me. by the e-tar-nal snakes! professor, how came you here?" i turned slowly to see who had thus addressed me. it was a tall individual at my side--long legged, very lean, and when he laughed it sounded like a horse neighing. he was so very tall that i had not raised my eyes far enough to see his face before he spoke again. "professor! ye sartainly give me a start. by the e-tar-nal snakes! i could have taken my dying oath you wasn't north o' the cape o' the virgins. what you doin' yere in maria debora's?" it began to be impressed on my mind with force that i was a good deal like the little old woman of the nursery rhyme. i wondered whether this was really me, or was it not me? my identity as clinton webb had been denied at the consul's, and here a perfect stranger was calling me out of my name--and he seemed insistent upon it, too! chapter xxiv in which i get acquainted with captain adoniram tugg the face i finally saw at the top of that beanpole figure was as long as the moral law. such a lank, cadaverous visage i don't think i had ever seen before. the man was a human lath. and so bronzed and toughened was his hide that he looked to be made out of sole-leather. his mouth was a grim, post-box slit; his nose was a high beak with such a hump on it that i thought it had been broken; but his eyes were human--gray-blue, twinkling with innumerable humorous wrinkles at the outer corners. "by the e-tar-nal snakes!" he ejaculated when i had tipped back my head so that he could really see my face. "you ain't the professor at all! why, you're a boy!" "i am not your friend, the professor," i admitted. "and the voice!" he muttered, staring down at me. "it's his voice. i ain't put in my winters with him this last dozen years and more to be mistook in his voice. say, boy, who be you?" "clint webb is my name," i replied. "where do you hail from?" "massachusetts. late of the scarboro whaling bark." "how old be you?" "going on seventeen." "well," he puffed, with a windy sigh, "you look behind enough like the professor to be him. and your voice is jest like his--that i'll swear to! you must be some related." "i don't know that we've any scientists in the family," i said, with a laugh. i rather liked the long-legged individual. "don't know nobody named vose?" he asked. "no-o. don't think i do." he slumped down upon the bench beside me and helped himself to beans. "by the e-tar-nal snakes!" he muttered. "it does completely flabergasticate me--i do assure you! i never saw two folks so near alike, back-to! you'd oughter see the professor." "i would be only too happy," i said, politely. i was interested in my new acquaintance, but not particularly in his friend whom i appeared to favor. he told me in the course of the meal a good deal about himself; and it was interesting, his story. he was called captain adoniram tugg, a connecticut yankee, and skipper of a two-stick schooner called the sea spell. he followed an odd business. he was a wild animal trapper, and gathered natural history specimens of many kinds for museums and menageries. he had just disposed of his last season's catch, had shipped the last specimen northward by steamship, and was about to sail for the straits of magellan again, near which he had his headquarters. "to tell you the truth, the professor and me are partners. he's an odd stick," quoth captain tugg, after supper, as we sat on the broad step before maria debora's door, and he smoked the native cheroots while i listened. "he ain't been in a civilized town like this since i've knowed him. for a l'arned chap, and a new englander, he seems to have lost all curiosity, and, i reckon, he's got a grouch on the rest of mankind." "how long did you say you had known him?" i asked, idly. "all of twelve year. he come to my camp one day. just walked up to the door like he'd come here and knock. but i didn't suppose there was another white man within five hundred miles--'nless he was aboard some craft beating through the straits. "he was civil spoken enough; but he never would open up. most fellows meeting that sort o' way," continued captain tugg, puffing reflectively, "would git chummy. the professor's never told me a thing about himself. as fur as i know he was born full growed, right there on the rocks where my shanty's built, and ain't got kith nor kin--fam'bly or enemy--just as lonely as adam was in eden before the trouble began! "yet," said the captain, "to look at the professor, you'd know there was never nothing crooked about his partner. and i have--but nothing about his past. only i'm willing to put up real money that whatever happened to professor vose was something that was caused by no fault of his. he's always been sad. never heard him laugh. he's the kindest man ye ever see, son. and if one o' them injun's sick, or the like, he treats 'em like a sure-'nough hospital sawbones. "then he is a physician?" i asked suddenly. "i reckon he's most anything that a man kin l'arn out o' books," declared captain tugg. "he sent by me to buenos ayres here, first trip i made after we'd gone partners in the animal biz, for the greatest old outfit of drugs and the like you ever see. the natives come flockin' to him for miles an' miles. he's one big medicine man, all right, all right!" "and i look like him?" i queried. "by the e-tar-nal snakes! you sartainly favor him, son," declared the captain, enthusiastically. "why! ye might be his son. got the same features. the professor keeps clean shaven. hair like him, too, now i looks at ye. and your voice--well! it does beat all how near like him you be. sure you ain't got no relative named vose?" "how do you know his name is vose?" i asked, my voice trembling a little, for the old mystery of my father's disappearance had swept in upon my soul again and i was shaken to the depths. "wal! i swear now! i never thought of that. i s'pose he might never have told me his real name," said tugg. the whole story took hold of me as it had when tom anderly told me of the man that had been picked up by the coaster, sally smith, off bolderhead neck some fourteen or fifteen years before. tom had said nothing about the man looking like me; but of course, tom didn't know the man long--only until the coaster reached new york city. and his name had been carver--or so the unknown had said. this captain tugg had been partners with the man he called the professor for twelve years. long enough to know his peculiarities and to recognize in my build, and in the tones of my voice, things that reminded him strongly of his partner. and i had been told, often enough, that i had my father's stature and his very tone of voice and manner of speaking! but hold on! there was another way to make connection between the flying strands of this seemingly absurd story. i turned to captain tugg calmly. "by the way, sir," i said, "do you ever run around to santiago?" "valparaiso, you mean, son?" he returned. "that's the seaport." "i mean santiago, chili." "why, pshaw! i _have_ been to the capital once--three or four years ago." "what for, sir--if i'm not too curious? you see, i've a reason for asking," i said. "i reckon so," he returned, eyeing me grimly. "and i've a reason for not telling you. private business." "i don't mean to be too 'nosey,'" i returned. "but i'll ask you another question. if it hasn't anything to do with your private business, you'll answer me?" "let drive," he commanded, thoughtfully smoking. "when you were in santiago three or four years ago----" "come to think of it, it was five year back," interrupted the captain. "all right," i said. "did you at that time mail a letter for professor vose from that town?" captain tugg smote his knee suddenly. "by the e-tar-nal snakes!" he ejaculated. "now you remind me." "did you?" i asked, eagerly. "only letter i ever knowed him to write. he gave it to me before i started in the sea spell. yes, sir. i mailed it there, for it was among my papers, and i forgot it when we touched at conception, and again when we put in at valparaiso." "was that letter addressed to tom anderly, at the office of radnor & blunt, in new york--a firm of shipping merchants?" "you win!" ejaculated captain tugg. "i memorized that address. have to admit i've always been cur'ous about the professor. you know him?" "no, sir," i said. "but i believe there's a man here in town who does. or, at least knows something about him," i added, as i remembered how very little tom anderly really knew about the man who had been picked up in the fog off bolderhead neck. "i'd like to see that feller," said tugg. "and i'd like mightily to see your professor," said i. tugg looked at me thoughtfully. "got a job?" he asked. "i'm not sure that i shall wait for the scarboro," i replied. "we come in with our second mate who was hurt by a whale. he's in hospital. i have got about all the whaling i want, i believe." "i'll give ye a job aboard the sea spell." "i'll think of that," said i, quickly. "you'll not think long, son," drawled captain tugg, grimly. "we get away on the morning tide." the suggestion startled me. i felt a drawing toward captain adoniram tugg and his schooner. rather, i had a strong desire to see the man whom he called his partner--the man who had given his name as carver on the sally smith, but was now known to tugg as "professor vose." i was in a fret of uncertainty. chapter xxv in which i follow the beckoning finger of a spectre i shall never forget that evening as i sat beside captain adoniram tugg on maria debora's portico. from the street, which was well down toward the water-front, rose all manner of smells and noises; most of them were unpleasant. sailors in foreign ports have to put up with a lot of discomfort and are thrown among the most objectionable people and endure more hardships of a different kind than are handed to them aboard ship--and that's saying a good deal! it was a warm night, too, and there were crowds on the street. a confusion of different dialects came up to me and it was only now and then that i heard an english word spoken. but these impressions came to me quite unconsciously at the time. i had a problem--and a hard one--to solve. i had really not recovered from the shock i had received at the american consul's. my money and letters were gone. paul downes had represented himself as me and had got away with the money with which i had expected to pay my passage home. but, of course, i really was not in great straights for means of getting back to bolderhead. with the experience i had had upon the whaling bark, and with my physique, i knew very well that i could obtain a berth on either a sailing or a steam vessel bound for the northern ports. i could work my way home after a fashion. besides, i could sell my sloop for almost enough money to pay for a first-class passage to boston on a bayne liner. to tell the truth, i was more troubled by the loss of my letters than i was by the loss of my money. i was anxious about my mother--anxious to know how she had endured the shock of my absence, what her present condition was, and all about affairs at home. besides, there might have been private information in those letters that i wouldn't want paul downes to learn. my rascally cousin had certainly set out on a career worthy of a pirate! he had run away from home--and probably because he was afraid of punishment for his crimes--and here in buenos ayres, so far from bolderhead, had begun a new career of wrong-doing. "he certainly is a bad egg!" i thought. but it wasn't upon paul downes that my mind lingered long. my cousin had played me a scurvy trick; but i was not made helpless by it. i could get home after a fashion--if i wanted to. and that was my problem! did i want to go home? until i had talked with this captain tugg i thought i had had my fill of adventure and sea-roving. but his story of the man who had been his partner for twelve years--the man who looked and spoke like me--had wheeled my mind square about! instead of being headed north in my thoughts, i was at once headed south. _i wanted to see this professor vose!_ yes. spectre though the man was--will-o'-the-wisp as he seemed--i desired above all else to see and speak with this man whom tom anderly called "carver" and captain tugg knew as "professor vose." if my father, dr. webb, was alive _he_ would be a man with a mysterious past! i wanted to come face to face with this man whom tugg said was so much like me. "where are you going from here when your sea spell sails, captain tugg?" i asked the yankee animal collector. "goin' to make the straits," drawled he. "goin' right back to headquarters for a bit. mebbe we'll keep the old schooner in commission--i'm taking down light cargo for headquarters now. but i leave most of the actual snarin' and trappin' of the critters to the injuns--and to the professor. i got some black fellers down there that would take a prize in a circus sideshow themselves. one of 'em's over seven foot tall. and strong as wolves," declared captain tugg. "if i went with you, what would you give me a month?" "sixteen dollars--in silver," he said, promptly. "i see you've got eddication--you'd be handy. i could trust you with the schooner after a v'yge or two. i got a good navigator, pedro, my mate; but he can't talk or write english worth a cent." "but suppose i shouldn't want to remain with you?" i suggested. "you kin come back here, then. plenty of steamers comin' through the straits that touch at buenos ayres. my headquarters is at the head of navigable water about a hundred miles north of the straits. an inlet and river makes in there. it's a wild country, but i've made out to live thereabout for nigh onto fifteen year--and the professor's stood it for better than twelve. i can put you in the way of makin' better money in time." but i was not listening to all he said. i suddenly put in: "your schooner is going right to your headquarters now?" "yes, sir!" "and that is where this professor stays?" "when he ain't up country trapping critters." if you have read thus far in my story you will have discovered one thing about me, if nothing else. i was impulsive--ridiculously impulsive. my bump of imagination was big, too. otherwise the idea that my father was roaming about the world instead of being peacefully asleep somewhere at the bottom of the sea off bolderhead, would never have gained such a strong hold upon me. and my impulsiveness urged me to accept the story of this professor vose--as related by captain tugg--as something of vital importance to myself. here i was at buenos ayres, not many weeks' sail from the place where the mysterious professor was to be found. on the other hand, it was plainly my duty to make for home by the quickest route possible. duty and inclination were at daggers' drawn again. i told myself that as long as there was a possibility that the mysterious professor might be my lost father, i should take up with this offer of captain tugg. i might never be able to find this man of mystery if i did not sail on the sea spell when she slipped away from buenos ayres. "it's my chance!" i thought. "i can go home if there proves to be nothing in the venture. why! i might take a steamship right at the straits for some united states port. it's my chance! i'll do it." and so--as i had many times before--i came to a reckless conclusion and went into a venture the end of which was mighty misty! i suddenly turned to the lathlike yankee and told him that i would take up with his offer, and we shook hands upon the compact. but once i had entered into the agreement i found i had a hundred things to do and little time to do it in. old tom anderly had not come back to the boarding house and i could not wait for him to appear. captain tugg was already thinking of loafing along to the dock where his two-stick schooner was moored. i bundled up my dunnage and went with him. "you'll take second mate's berth, son," said the long-legged yankee. "not that you're fit for it, and i'll have to be on deck jest as much as ever; but i can't put a white man for'ard with that bilin' of off-scourin's i've got for a crew. i can trust pedro; but there isn't another man of the crew that i'd trust as far as i could sling a barge-load o' bricks! "you've the makin's of a smart sailor in you--i can see that," pursued the captain. "and you say you've begun studying navigation?" "i picked up some aboard the scarboro, listening to captain hi and ben gibson." "we'll make a mate of you in a year or two," said captain tugg, confidently. but that speech shocked me. i had no intention of following the sea a year or two. i meant just then to sail down to this place tugg told about and take a look at the professor individual. that's all i wanted. then it would be "homeward bound" for me. we reached the schooner and i found her a nice looking craft, bright and shining, with new sails bent on and a scraped and oiled deck and pretty sticks in her. she's been rigged new throughout and looked more like a yacht than a coasting vessel knocking about the southern trades. i had left a note at maria debora's for old tom, and another for him to give ben gibson. i had some things to buy, and several of them were by captain tugg's advice. he advanced me money for my purchases, and they included a second-hand winchester and a revolver. "we're going to a wild piece of airth, son," said the animal trapper. then i saw the man (he was an american) with whom we had left my sloop. he agreed to look after her and keep her in repair for her use, so _that_ matter was settled. and then i did something that my conscience told me i should have attended to the moment i arrived in buenos ayres. i took five dollars of the sum i had drawn ahead on my wages and sent a short cable to my mother. it told her nothing but the fact that i was alive and well. but that night, before it came time for me to hustle on deck and help get the sea spell under way, i spent writing letters to ham mayberry and mr. hounsditch. i gave them both the particulars of my treatment at the consul's office and my knowledge of paul downes' presence at buenos ayres and the trick i believed he had played upon me. of the venture i had now started upon in the sea spell i spoke only in a general way. but i promised them i would be back in buenos ayres, or on my way home, within a very few months. these letters went off to the mail on the tug that towed the schooner out of the tangle of shipping. we made sail in half an hour and the sea spell made a good leg to windward, beginning her voyage into the south--a voyage on which i was following the beckoning finger of a spectre. chapter xxvi in which the sea spell goes ashore on a most unfriendly coast i learned a whole lot beside seamanship during those next few weeks as the schooner sea spell coasted buenos ayres province and the vast colonial territory of magellan. a stretch of nearly a thousand miles we had to sail to reach the cape of the virgins, behind which is the entrance to the magellan straits. the coastwise trade between the ports below buenos ayres--bahia blanca, el carmen on the rio negro, port st. antonio at at the head of the gulf of st. matias, san josefpen, por malaspina, santa cruz, and clear around to the pacific seaports of chili--this coastwise trade, i say, is almost like the trade along our atlantic seaboard. inland, tugg told me, there were vast pampasses empty of all but cattle and wild beasts and some tribes of wild men; but a strip of the seacoast south of the mouth of the silver river is being rapidly developed. there are great rivers emptying into the sea here,--the cobu leofu, rio negro, the balchitas, the chupat desire and rio chico--all water-ways which are opening up the country. argentina is as large as all eastern and central europe together and is enormously rich in mineral and natural products. this information was brought home to me as, day after day, and with favorable gales, the sea spell winged her way southward. she was a fairly fast sailing ship and captain adoniram tugg evidently took pride in her. but her crew was all that he had given me reason to believe. a dirtier, more ungovernable gang of penny cut-throats i doubt never sailed on any honest ship! i soon learned, beside all the above about argentina's coast trade, that tugg kept his seamen at work through fear. he never changed his drawl in speaking; but when he gave an order there was a grimness about his mouth and a flash in his gray-blue eyes that gave one a cold, creepy feeling in the region of the spine. i don't know that captain tugg went armed. but if an order had been neglected by any man aboard i had the feeling that a weapon would appear in the skipper's hand and that the mutineer would have dropped in his tracks! pedro, the mate, was a snaky, dusky fellow, with huge rings of gold in his ears and a smile that showed altogether too many teeth to be pleasant--a regular alligator smile. as far as i could see, i would just as lief have pedro's ill feeling as his friendship. yet tugg trusted him implicitly. but i--i locked my stateroom door whenever i lay down to sleep; and i kept the winchester and the colts revolver loaded all the time. perhaps i was foolish; but i felt that we were in a state of war. the routine duties of the schooner kept me at work, however, for i tried to earn my sixteen a month. tugg was a good navigator himself. he handled his schooner like a professional yachtsman. captain rogers would have admired the man, for he was another skipper who did not believe in lying hove to no matter how hard the wind blew. there was a week at a stretch when i didn't get thoroughly dry between watches. the sea spell just about flew over the water instead of through it! but a calm fell thereafter and we lay for eighteen hours in the bay of st. george, the sails hanging dead with not a breath of wind, and the sea like glass. we were within two rifle shots of the shore at one point. behind this point of rocks was an inlet and the pool made good anchorage without doubt, for there were several sail there, and a jumble of huts on the shore. we had seen whales for several days and once passed a whaleship at work trying out; but it was not the scarboro. now a great whale swam calmly past the sea spell, nosing in toward the land, probably following some school of tiny fish upon which he was feeding. "wisht i had a crew of bully boys to go after that critter," sighed captain tugg, behind his long cheroot. "he'll make more'n a bucket o' ile, you bet!" "you wouldn't want to litter up your tidy schooner with grease, sir," said i, in wonder. "mebbe not; mebbe not. but money's good wherever you find it, and that critter is wuth two or three thousand dollars. by the e-tar-nal snakes!" he added, using his favorite expletive, "i'd love to stick an iron in that carcass." i knew that adoniram tugg had been almost everything in the line of sea-going and was not surprised to find that he had driven the iron into many a whale. we stood swapping experiences, idly watching the big whale. the creature sounded and remained down twenty or thirty minutes. when he came up he spouted three times in quick succession, and then lay basking on the surface. "looker there!" exclaimed captain tugg, suddenly. "by the e-tar-nal snakes! looker there!" he was pointing at the whale. up towards its head, on the port side, there appeared on the water a long tail, or fin, at right angles with the whale. "what in tarnation d'ye s'pose that critter is?" demanded captain tugg. the thing was all of four and twenty feet long, about two wide at the upper end, and tapering to eighteen inches. almost at once the living club was elevated in the air and then was flung down across the whale's back--just behind where the head was attached to its body--with a noise like a signal gun. "will ye looker that now!" bawled the captain, in wonder. again and again the monstrous club rose and descended. the great whale leaped like a beaten horse under the rain of blows; but whichever way it turned, it could not shake off its assailant. the operator of that club seemed to have it under perfect control, and likewise had means of keeping up with the victim no matter in which direction, or how fast, the latter swam. the blows fell only a few seconds apart, and the whale finally sounded to escape them. but when he came up again, there was the mysterious enemy, hanging to the whale like a bull dog, and the beating re-commenced. the sea about the hectored whale was tinged with blood. the creature's back was lacerated frightfully and without any doubt whatsoever, it was being beaten to death by its antagonist. tugg grew greatly excited, and ordered a boat lowered. we took four sailors and left pedro in command of the becalmed schooner, and rowed off towards the scene of the battle between the whale and the mysterious fish. "it must be some kind of a huge ray," i suggested. "that's the tail that is being used like a club." "by the e-tar-nal snakes!" exploded tugg, "it's a different kind of a sea-bat from anything i ever seed or heard of. you take it from me, that's a sea-sarpint, or wuss!" the whale was evidently at its last gasp when we left the schooner. it soon rolled over on its side. the mysterious flail stopped beating the huge body and the water seemed churned excitedly at the nose of the leviathan. "the porpoises have got at it," i suggested. "not much they ain't," returned captain tugg. "there ain't no porpoises around today. whatever the critter is that killed the whale, it's at dinner now." and it was true. the mysterious denizen of the deep that had beaten the whale to death, ate out the huge mammal's tongue and had sunk again into the sea before we rowed near enough to distinguish its shape or size. it had disappeared as mysteriously as it had risen and seemingly all it had killed the mammal for was to eat its tongue. captain tugg's eye glistened when he saw the proportions of that whale closer to. he stood up, looked long towards the inlet where there seemed to be some movement among the craft anchored there, and then ordered us to row in close to the whale's tail. he passed a hawser around the narrow part of the whale just forward of the tail and then ordered the men to pull for the schooner. it was a tug, now i tell you! but we got the whale to the sea spell after a while. i expected to see the spick and span schooner all messed up with try-out works, and grease, and smoke. it disgusted me that the yankee skipper should be so sharp after the almighty dollar. but i didn't yet know captain adoniram tugg. i saw that a number of craft had started out of the inlet--a much puffing steam tug ahead, drawing several smaller boats behind it. there was no wind at all, so the fleet approached slowly, and we had the whale tackled to the sea spell, fore and aft, before the tug was very near. we made no immediate attempt to butcher the whale and i took pains to get some of its dimensions. it was eighty-two feet over all in length and nearly sixty feet around the biggest part of the body. the lower jaw was nineteen and one-half feet long and the tail, when it was expanded, measured twenty-three feet. i suppose, through the thickest part of the body it must have been as many feet as the expanded tail was wide; at least, so it appeared. these measurements will give the reader some idea of what these huge mammals look like. and captain tugg had not been far out of the way when he declared the whale to be worth two thousand dollars. "what you got to run oil into, sir?" i asked, curiously. "wait a bit; wait a bit," returned the yankee, puffing on his cheroot. "let's see what these yaller-skins have to offer. if we hadn't tailed onto the whale as we did they'd had their hooks in it by this time." a few words in spanish to pedro had stirred up the mate and crew of the sea spell. they seemed wonderfully busy getting a lot of gear and litter upon deck. the uninitiated might have thought that we were getting ready to cut up the whale and boil down the blubber in the most approved style. finally a man aboard the tug hailed us. captain tugg answered in spanish, and an excited conversation ensued--at least, excited upon the side of the man aboard the steam vessel and his compatriots. the skipper of the sea spell seemed particularly calm and unshaken. i could understand but little of the talk, although i had begun to pick up the bastard spanish spoken along the coast. i knew the yankee and the dagos were bargaining. finally tugg sang out to pedro to belay the work he and the crew were engaged in, and to lower a boat again. the captain was rowed to the tug and after some further conversation i saw certain moneys counted out and paid over to the master of the sea spell. he was then rowed back and when he was aboard he ordered the dead whale cast off. "and git some of your watch down there, pedro," added captain tugg, "and swab the grease off her side. ugh! there ain't nothing nastier than a whale." "yet you were going to cut her up?" i suggested, curiously. he favored me with a wink. "buncome, bluff," he murmured. "that little play-acting turned me two hundred dollars in gold. our lying becalmed here wasn't such a bad thing after all--and here comes the breeze. jest like finding money in an old coat, mr. webb--that's what that was." and so the shrewd old fellow turned everything to account. we got a breeze and were out of sight of the place before the small craft had got the big whale towed into the inlet--where they would beach it and cut it up. captain adoniram tugg was two hundred dollars in pocket, and just because some mysterious sea-beast had seen fit to kill a whale for its tongue! we had a fine breeze after the long calm, but nothing but fair weather until we rounded the cape of the virgins. there the broad entrance of the magnificent straits of magellan lay before the nose of the schooner. a little later we had furled all but the topsails and were sailing due north into an inlet masked by many dangerous looking reefs. the mate of the sea spell, pedro, seemed to know the channel well, however, and although adoniram tugg remained on deck he did not seem to be worried at all about the schooner's safety. "we'll drop anchor before morning," he told me. "that is, if the wind holds in the same quarter. you'll have a chance to see what sort of a good fellow the professor is tomorrow." "what! are we so near your headquarters?" "that's the checker," returned tugg. "just a short sail now." the inlet was never more than a mile wide; in places the rocks crowded in toward the channel until a strong man could have flung a stone from shore to shore. the waterway was really a series of quiet salt pools. the shores were wild and rugged. i had never seen a more forbidding coast. when the night dropped down upon us--as it did suddenly, and a starless sky o'er-head--i wondered how pedro could smell his way through. i heard tugg roaring something in spanish about "the beacon" and then a spark of fire flared out in the darkness far ahead. it looked like a stationary lamp and burned brightly. the captain came over to me, chuckling. "that's my partner's light," he said, with satisfaction. "he rigged that beacon, and it's lit every night that the sea spell is on a cruise. pedro can work the schooner up the inlet by that light without rubbing a hair." and so we sailed on, and on, without a thought of danger until, of a sudden, i felt the schooner jar throughout her whole length. captain tugg jumped and yelled to pedro: "what in tarnation you doin', numbskull? hi, one o' you boys! git into the chains with the lead." but before the man could sound the sea spell grounded again, and this time she ran her keel upon a sand bank so solidly that she stopped dead, with the sails above cracking! there was a hullabaloo for a few minutes, now i tell you. shouts, commands, the grinding of the schooner's keel, the slatting of sails. the sea spell had driven so hard and fast upon the shoal that she canted neither to port, or starboard. and although the sea was still so that she would not be beaten by the waves, it looked much to me as though she were piled up on this unfriendly coast for good and all! chapter xxvii in which we find the natives more unfriendly than the coast the bright light ahead had disappeared. tugg was berating pedro for getting off his course and running the schooner aground. in a minute, however, another light flashed up nearby and i saw that a huge bonfire had been kindled on the shore not more than a cable's length away. "what in the e-tar-nal snakes is that?" bawled captain adoniram tugg, seeing this fire. "that ain't the professor--not a bit of it." in a minute the flames rose so high that we could see figures moving in the light of them. and wild enough figures they were--half naked fellows, taller than ordinary men, and waving spears and clubs. "i believe some of your patagonian giants you have been telling me about have gone on the warpath, captain," i said. "not a bit of it! not a bit of it," he snarled. "they're as tame as tiger-kittens." "just the same i'm going to get my gun and pistol," i declared, and i dove below. when i came back to the deck two more fires were burning. the shore--which was a low bluff--was illuminated for some hundreds of yards. there was a gang of a hundred or more dancing savages about the fires. i was frightened; those savages were not "gentled" enough to suit me. the captain and pedro had evidently come to a decision. the fires revealing the coast as they did showed them where the mistake had been made. tugg said: "can't blame pedro. that beacon lantern we saw had been shifted. i hope those wretches yonder haven't got the professor foul. but one thing is sure: they brought that big lantern clear across the inlet and set it up on the west shore. no wonder we ran aground. it was a pretty trick, i do allow." "and these are the natives you told me were perfectly harmless?" "not my boys," said tugg. "there are wild tribes about, as i told you. this bilin' of trouble-makers are from up country. i'm dreadful afraid they've attacked the camp first and put the professor and my boys out of the way. they must have been on the lookout for the sea spell. had sentinels posted along shore. they want to loot her." "and it looks to me as though they'd do it," i observed. "i never shot at a man, captain; but i am going to begin shooting if those dancing dervishes start to come off to us in those big canoes i see there." "don't begin to shoot too quick, mr. webb," said the yankee skipper. "i reckon we'll be able to handle them all right." "but your crew isn't armed." "you bet they ain't. and me with more than two thousand in gold aboard?" he snorted. "by the e-tar-nal snakes! i guess they ain't armed. i wouldn't trust 'em with firearms." i began to feel pretty bad. i knew they were a murderous looking lot of fellows; but i didn't suppose that tugg traveled in such peril all the time. i was learning a whole lot for a boy of my age. to be adventuring about the world "on the loose" as old tom anderly called it, had seemed a mighty fine thing. but just at that moment, with the schooner shaking on the shoal, the fires flaring on the beach, and the savages dancing and yelling at us, i would have given a good deal to have been where i could call a policeman! but adoniram tugg showed no particular fear. i was the only person who had a weapon on deck. the yankee skipper did not even go down for his own gun that hung over his stateroom door. instead, he turned to pedro and gave a quick command. the mate and two of the sailors dashed for the forward hatch and had it off in a minute. tugg turned to me again, drawling just the same as usual: "keep a thing seven year, they say, and it's bound to come handy, no matter what it is. i bought a miscellaneous lot o' truck out o' a seaside store thar in buenos ayres because there was a right good chronometer went with the lot. ah! that's the box, pedro. rip it open--but have a care. don't bring fire near it--hey! you there with the cigaroot! throw it away. you want to blow yourself to everylastin' bliss?" "they're manning those canoes, captain!" i shouted, for my attention was pretty closely fixed upon the savages. "let 'em come!" he grunted. "we'll fix 'em, mr. webb; we'll fix 'em." there were four large canoes. i heard tugg whispering to himself about them as he watched the half-naked paddlers urging them toward the schooner: "ugly mugs. from up river. come three or four hundred miles in them canoes, mebbe. wisht i knew what has happened the professor. they sartainly have cleaned our headquarters, or they wouldn't have displaced that beacon lantern." then he turned to urge pedro. "got that mess o' stuff out o' the box? that's it. now, mr. webb, never mind them guns o' yourn. put 'em down and bear a hand here." he was the skipper and i obeyed; but i hated to give up the rifle. it looked to me as though we were in for a hand-to-hand fight with the savages--and they really were giants. i had read of these patagonians; but i had never more than half believed the stories they told about them. i could realize now that any fifty of them one might see in a crowd together would average--as the books said--six feet, four inches in height. as i came forward he was rapidly distributing--he and pedro--the articles which had been packed in the box. he gave half a dozen to each man of the crew. he likewise broke up lengths of slow-matches--that chinese punk that is usually used when fireworks are set off. and it was fireworks he was giving me--half a dozen good-sized rockets! "what shall we do with these?" i demanded. "why, captain tugg! you don't mean to illuminate the schooner? those savages will pin us with their spears if we light up here." he spoke first to the crew, and they ran at once and crouched under the bulwarks on that side nearest the shore. the canoes were within a hundred yards. "quick!" he said to me. "start the first rocket fuse. lay it on the rail here, son, and aim it at them canoes. we'll pepper them skunks--now, won't we?" all along the line of the rail i heard the fuses sputtering. little sparks of blue and crimson flame shot into view. "let 'em go!" bawled adroniam tugg. the four canoes came fairly bounding over the water. i never knew that canoes could be paddled so rapidly. they were almost upon the schooner when the first rocket went off with a terrible sputter. it shot like a bird of fire right into the leading canoe, and then another, and another, shot off until the air between the schooner and the canoes seemed filled with shooting flames. the savages' yells changed monstrously quick. when the rockets began to blow up and sprinkle around balls of red and blue and green fire, the boats were emptied in a moment or two. wildly shrieking, the naked savages sprang overboard and swam back toward land, while we along the rail of the sea spell sent broadside after broadside of rockets after them. we saw them splash through the shoal water, gain the land, and disappear beyond the illumination of the fires before all our skyrockets were used up. "avast firin'!" roared captain tugg, and pedro, the mate, repeated the order in spanish. "now out with a boat, pedro, and save those canoes. they'll come in handy for our use." no matter what the situation might be, the yankee could not lose sight of the main chance. we gathered in those canoes and then awaited daylight before we made any further move. we found then that the savages had totally disappeared. "we can warp her off and i doubt if she's damaged at all," declared captain tugg. "but i'm too worried about the professor to begin that now. i'm going to leave pedro here and we'll take some of the boys and sail up to headquarters and see what's happened there. you can bring your hardware, mr. webb. we may have need of it after all, for if they've troubled the professor, i swanny i'll shoot some of the long-legged rascals!" what i had read of white men in wild countries had led me to believe that they usually shot the savages first and inquired into their intentions afterward. but captain tugg assured me that in the fifteen years he had been in this country he had never been obliged to more than string a few savages up by their thumbs and ropes-end them! "they've been ugly at times--not my boys around here, but some of the far, up-country tribes--and i've been obliged to show them things. i'm kind of a wonder-worker, i be. them scamps that waylaid us last night will scatter the news of that fireworks show throughout ten townships, and don't you forgit it. jest because adoniram tugg can show 'em something new ev'ry time is what's kept his head on his shoulders for fifteen years." "goodness! they're not head-hunters?" said i. "no. but they'd take a white man's head and sell it to tribes farther north that _do_ prize sech trophies. oh, this ain't no country for tenderfoots, son. there ain't no tract in the back-end of india, or the middle of africa, that's as barbarous as a good wide streak of south america yet." and i could believe that later when, after sailing some miles up the inlet, we came to the burned ruins of a collection of huts and sheds. this was tugg's headquarters, and his partner, professor vose, the man i had come so far to see, was not there. chapter xxviii in which are related several disappointments the attack on the encampment of the animal trappers had evidently been made several days before. the fire had devastated the place. all the animals in cages had been killed or released. and in the blackened ruins and about the clearing, on the rocks, there lay the bodies of more than a dozen patagonians. tugg showed real feeling when he saw these dead men. "poor boys!" he muttered, standing leaning on his rifle and gazing upon one fellow who was really a giant. "they was square, jest the same. ye see, they fought for the professor and the traps. but them scoundrels was too many for them." it was a dreadful sight. i do not want to write about it. nor do i wish to give the particulars of our search of the neighborhood for some trace of the single white man who had been in the vicinity--the man whom tugg called the professor, but who was the man of mystery to me. we found a place where a huge fire had been built beneath the trees. there was a green liana hanging from a high limb and the end of the liana had been tied around the ankles of a man. the feet shod in american made boots were all of that victim of the savages' cruelty which had not been burned to ashes. "it's a way they have," whispered tugg. "they start the poor feller swinging like a pendulum, and every time he swings through the flames he's burned a little more--and a little more----" i turned sick with the horror of it. there was nothing more to do. tugg recognized his partner's boots. the savages had made their raid, burned the camp, destroyed all they could, and done their best to wreck the sea spell. there must have been one traitor among tugg's men at the encampment or the savages would not have known of the schooner's approach. at least, i shall always believe so. but when the balance of his patagonians came in from the swamp where they had hidden after the attack, the captain seemed to believe all their stories, took them back into his confidence, and at once set to work to repair the damage done by the up-river indians. i confess that i was desperately disappointed. and i felt depressed, too, over the death of the mysterious professor vose, or carver, or whatever his name had been. i could not get rid of the thought that perhaps the man had been my father. but i should never know now, i told myself. whether it were so, or not i need have no doubt regarding my poor father's death. if he had not been drowned off bolderhead neck, and had been hidden away in this wilderness so many years, he had gone to his account now. i was sorry i had come down here in the sea spell; but being here i had to somewhat wait upon captain tugg's pleasure before i could get away. we warped the sea spell off the shoal and found her uninjured. she had scarcely started a plank. then the animal trapper set us all to work rebuilding his camp, animal cages, and stockade. we were three solid months repairing the damage done by the savages; but then tugg had a camp that would be impregnable to the wild men from up the river. i had expressed to him at once my wish to return to the coast where i could get a chance to work my way north in some vessel. but it was three months before he could spare me a canoe crew to take me as far as punta arenas, on the straits. from that point i would be able to board some vessel bound into the atlantic, and if i could get back to buenos ayres i would be all right. i had wasted nearly six months in following a will-o'-the-wisp. i might have been at home long ago, had i not come down here on the schooner. more than a year had passed since that september evening when my cousin, paul downes, and i had had our fateful quarrel on my bonnie sloop, the wavecrest, as she beat slowly into the inlet at bolderhead. i had roved far afield since that time, had seen strange lands, and strange peoples, and had endured hardship and hard work which--after all was said and done--hadn't belonged to me. clint webb need not be knocking about the world, looking for a chance to work his way home before the mast. as the canoe tugg had lent me sailed south through the inlet, with pedro and two gigantic patagonians for crew, i milled these thoughts over in my mind, and determined that, once at home, i'd stick there. not that i was tired of the sea, or afraid of work aboard ship; but i was deeply worried regarding my mother and what might be happening to her so far away. nothing but the desire to set eyes on the man that looked like me and talked like me had brought me 'way down here in patagonia; i had never told captain tugg my real reason for shipping on the sea spell, not even when i bade him good-bye. the old fellow had seemed really sorry to have me go. "if you git tired of civilization and want to come down this way again, son," he told me, "you'll be as welcome as can be. just come here, walk in, hang up your hat, and you'll find a job right at hand. i got a big order for ant-eaters, jaguar, tiger-cats, and the like, on hand and i'll likely be here for a couple of years--off and on. goin' to be mighty lonesome, too, without the professor," he added, shaking his head, sorrowfully. tugg was a money-lover; but i know that he didn't hold the loss of his animals and outfit as anything to be compared to the miserable end of his partner. i liked him for _that_. i can't say that i enjoyed that canoe trip to the straits. we had a queer three-cornered sail that was rigged in some native way, and as the wind was free we traveled the hundred or so miles to the mouth of the inlet in good time. but i did not sleep much; pedro and the giants might easily knock me on the head, take my few dollars and my gun and other traps, and drop me overboard. i couldn't believe that they were to be trusted. but nothing really happened until we were within a mile or so of the mouth of the long lagoon. i could see a bit of the strait and over the rocky headland appeared a banner of smoke. it was from the stack of a steamship bound east. i pointed it out to the mate of the sea spell and told him how anxious i was to reach that very craft. i had money enough left of my wages to pay my fare to buenos ayres at least--perhaps to bahia; and surely the steamship would stop somewhere along the east coast. pedro jabbered to the patagonians, and the wind having fallen light they got out the paddles and set to work. i showed them each a silver dollar and they went at it like college athletes. such paddling i never saw before, and it seemed to me we shot out of the inlet about as fast as though we were ironed to a bull whale! but we were too late. the steamship had a long sea-mile on us and she wasn't stopping for a canoe. we should have to trim our sail again and make for the west and punta arenas. as we swung the canoe's head around, however, i caught sight of a big ship, with a wonderful lot of canvas set, passing the steamship and heading our way. she sailed the straits like a huge bird, her white canvas bellying from the deck to the extreme points of her wand-like topmasts. she was a pretty sight. i began to stare back at her more and more as she came up, hand over hand. i saw that she was a bark; then i saw that her crowsnest was occupied by a lookout. only one manner of craft would have a man in the crowsnest on a clear day like this. she was a whaler. i had no glass; but i fixed my gaze upon her black bows as they rose and fell as she came through the waves. my heart had begun to beat with excitement. there were the huge white letters as she paid off a bit and i could see part of her run and broadside. i couldn't be mistaken, and suddenly i broke out with a loud cheer, for i could read the two painted lines: scarboro new bedford chapter xxix in which i am not the only person surprised i yelled to pedro and then sprang up, tied a handkerchief to an oar and waved it frantically. as the old bark swung down toward us i saw several figures spring into the lower rigging, and by and by their hands waved to me. i spoke again to the mate of the sea spell and he said he could bring the canoe in close to the bark if they would throw me a rope. i knew they had identified me, and i was glad to see ben gibson standing on the rail and yelling to me. i gave each of the patagonians a dollar and pedro two, shook hands with them all, slung my rifle over my shoulder, hooked one arm through my dunnage-bag (which was fortunately waterproof) and stood ready to seize the rope which was flung me. the patagonians brought the canoe right up to the looming side of the old bark, and as she dipped deep in the sea, i sprang up and "walked up" her side, clinging to the rope with both hands. so they got me inboard with merely a dash of saltwater to season my venture. the canoe wore off sharply and i turned to wave good-bye to pedro and the paddlers. then a bunch of the old scarboro's fo'castle hands were about me. tom anderly pushed through the group and grabbed my hand. "here ye be, ye blamed young scamp!" he roared. "leavin' mr. gibson an' me in the lurch in buenos ayres." "and ye missed some of the greatest whalin' ye ever see," burst in the stroke oar of our old boat. "we got smashed up complete once and lost boat and every bit of gear. nobody bad hurt, however." within the next few moments i heard a deal of news. how many whales the scarboro had butchered since i had left for buenos ayres (and despite mr. bobbin's croaking the old bark already had half a cargo in her tanks); how long it had taken bill rudd and his crew to patch up the hole the bull whale had smashed in the bark's side; about the gale they had run into which had carried away some of the top gear and much canvas; and what the crew had done during the week or more they had been in port at buenos ayres. then ben gibson came off duty and called me aft. "awful glad to see you, webb," he declared. "i'm fit as a fiddle now. want you in my boat again. we took on a lout at buenos ayres, who's had your berth; but he isn't worth a hang in the boat. you're going to finish out the cruise, aren't you?" "i don't expect to, sir," i returned. "i would have been home long ago if i had been wise. what i came down here for panned out nothing at all." "well, captain hi will be glad to have you finish out the cruise, i don't doubt. you better go below and see him," said the second mate. mr. robbins shook hands with me before i went below and welcomed me aboard. "we're going to make money in the old scarboro this v'y'ge, webb," he said. "you'd better stick to the bark. captain hi is going to discharge ile here at punta arenas and go into the pacific with clean tanks." and so the skipper told me when i descended to the tiny chart room. there would be a tramp freightship with a half cargo at punta arenas, he said, and it had empty tanks aboard. all that was needed was to pump the oil from the bark into the tramp's tanks. "and we've got a good bit of bone and spermaceti, too," said captain rogers. "i consider you one of the crew still, webb. or, if you are so determined, you may pull out here and i will give you your hundred dollars as i promised." "i feel that i should go home. captain," i assured him. "as i told ben in my note back there at buenos ayres, my money and letters were grabbed at the consulate by another fellow----" "yes," interposed captain rogers, beginning to hunt in a drawer, "ben told me about that. and i went up to the consulate and had a talk with colonel hefferan about it. the whole thing was a silly mistake on the part of a clerk of his--a mighty fresh clerk. he went off half-cocked and gave the money and letters over to that fellow without saying a word to the consul himself. and they put you out of the consulate, too, i understand?" "they most certainly did," i replied. "if you go to buenos ayres, just step in there and make that cheap clerk beg your pardon. he's ready to. and here," said captain rogers, suddenly, turning toward me, "is something that belongs to you, i believe, clint webb." there were several letters which he placed in my hand. the top one was addressed in mother's handwriting, and i seized it with a cry of delight. "know 'em, do you?" he said. "this is from my mother--and this from ham--and this one from our lawyer----" "i reckoned they belonged to you. the crimp gave them to me with the rest of that fellow's belongings, and i took the liberty of sorting out these and saving them for you." "they've been opened!" i cried. "of course. and why the fellow kept them i don't see. they're incriminating. but he was all in when the crimp brought him aboard----" "who is the fellow?" gasped i, in amazement. "says his name's bodfish--young lout! i took pity on him when i saw him in that crimp-shop. he had spent a pocketful of money, or had it stolen. i suppose he is the fellow that represented himself as you at the consulate," said captain rogers. "paul downes!" "like enough. of course, i didn't suppose bodfish was his re'l name. but he was an american--and a boy. i couldn't leave him to be put aboard some coaster where he'd be beaten to death. he hasn't been much good, though, aboard this bark. but maybe by the time we see bedford again he'll be licked into some sort of shape. i put him in ben's watch, knowing that robbins might be too ha'sh with him." but i was eager to read my mother's letter--and the others. i asked the kind old captain's permission, and dropped right down there and perused the several epistles which good fortune had at last brought to me. oh, i was glad indeed that i had cabled mother from buenas ayres. and now i wished more than ever that i had gone home from there instead of shipping in the sea spell. mother had cabled me two hundred dollars. paul had made way with it all, it seemed, and captain rogers had found him in the lowest kind of a sailor's lodging house, helpless, in debt to the keeper of the place, and unable to get away. but i was not interested in my cousin's fate just then. i read mother's long letter with a feeling that all was not as well at home as i could wish. she had been greatly shocked at my disappearance. at first they had thought i had run away. i could guess mighty easily who suggested _that_ idea! she did not write much of mr. chester downes; but she did mention the fact that when she had returned to darringford house mr. hounsditch had been very officious in attending upon her and in showing her that she was a good deal tied down by the provisions of grandfather's will and that the lawyer was to advise her at every turn. especially did she complain that mr. hounsditch had been officious since i was heard from. the tone of her letter hurt me a little. there seemed to be some idea still in her mind that it was my reckless disposition more than the crime of another, that had set me adrift in the wavecrest. she spoke of "mr. downes' great trouble" and of "poor paul" as though they were both to be pitied. otherwise she did not touch on the topic of my having been cut adrift by my cousin, or his emissaries. it was from ham mayberry's letter i got the facts regarding my cousin and his father. lampton, the man at the boathouse, and ham himself had had their suspicions of what had become of me, and how the wavecrest had been swept away in the storm, before my letters from the scarboro were received. they had found the cut mooring cable. ham, too, had sounded the ne'er-do-wells who were my cousin's companions, and after the house on the neck was closed for the season, and the downeses had departed with my mother for darringford house, the old coachman had obtained a confession from the young scoundrels to the effect that they had helped paul nail me into my cabin and had seen him cut the wavecrest adrift. at the time i was heard from, ham put all the evidence into the hands of mr. hounsditch, and the old lawyer had gone to the downeses and threatened procedure against paul. chester downes had flown into a violent passion with his son and had actually driven him out of his house, and paul had disappeared. of course, ham at the time of writing knew nothing of what had become of paul. there was a paragraph at the end of ham's letter that was explanatory, too, and i repeat it here: "i don't know what you mean by your questions about jim carver--that was his name. he was one of the three carver boys--bill and jonas were as straight as a chalk line; but jim always was a little crooked. he worked for the fish firm of pallin & thorpe, and i remember that he disappeared with some of the cash from their safe about the time poor dr. webb was drowned. do you mean to say you have run across jim carver on board that whaling bark? folks hereabout thought jim carver was dead years ago." so _that_ settled the mystery of the man i had come clear down here to the straits of magellan to find--the man whom captain adoniram tugg knew as professor vose and who had met so terrible an end when the savages had destroyed tugg's headquarters. it did not need lawyer hounsditch's letter to show me how unwise i had been in not making my way directly home from buenos ayres when i had had the chance. the lawyer reminded me that my mother needed me. he did not say anything directly--for he was a sly old fellow--but he intimated plainly enough that he feared mr. chester downes' influence in our home. i was almost a man grown, he said, even if i was a minor. "your place is by your mother's side. the lust for roving was born in you, i suppose," he wrote, "your father had it, too; but put duty before inclination, and come home at once." had i received those three letters when i visited the consulate at buenos ayres, i would have found means of taking the first steamer north thereafter. even the romantic idea i had of trying to find my father would not have set aside what i plainly knew to be my duty. i was hurt that mother should so cling to chester downes as her friend after all that had happened; yet i could not blame her for what was a weakness, not a fault. she was the best and dearest little woman on earth! and she needed me at that very moment, perhaps. nothing now, i determined, should keep me from taking passage for home at the very earliest opportunity. chapter xxx in which i at last set my face homeward with determination when i came up from the captain's room i stepped out on deck face to face with my cousin, paul downes. he tried to sneak past me, but i seized him by the shoulder and jammed him up against the side of the house. "you lemme go, clint webb!" he whined. "i don't want nothing to do with you--now, i tell you!" "i bet you don't want anything to do with me," i replied, eyeing him with some curiosity. paul looked as though he had had a hard time of it. he was dressed in the roughest sort of clothing, he had a bruised face (i fear ben gibson had punished him for disrespect, for paul was just the sort of a fellow to try and take advantage of the second mate's youth) and altogether he was a most disreputable and hang-dog looking creature. "i'd never come aboard this old tub if i'd known what whaling was like," whined paul. "and now i want you to get this captain to let me off. you're going home, they tell me." "i hope to get away about as soon as we arrive as punta arenas," i declared. "then i want you to get me away from this place, too. you'll have money enough to pay both our fares home----" "well, i never heard of such cheek!" i interrupted. "now, you do as i say. father will pay you back. i'll make him," said paul, as though he thought the whole thing was cut and dried. "why, you shipped for the voyage, didn't you?" "ye-es. they said something like that. but i didn't mean it," said my cousin. "you'll find that sea captains expect a man to abide by the ship's papers. i don't know as captain rogers loves you much, but maybe he'll want to keep you just the same." "he ain't trying to hold you," snarled paul. "i never signed on," i replied. "i haven't been a real member of the crew at all. but you were very glad for captain rogers to take you out of the clutches of that crimp at buenos ayres. you won't get away from the scarboro so easy." "i ain't going to stay," he declared, bitterly. "i don't like it. i want to go home." "the voyage will maybe teach you something, paul," i said, and i must confess i enjoyed his discomfiture. "you better help me out o' here," he threatened. "you can do it." "if i could help you, i wouldn't," i declared, with some heat. "think i've forgotten what you did to me at the consul's office?" he grinned a little; but he was angry, too. "you better help me to a passage home," he growled. "not much!" "you'll wish you had," he declared. "i'll write your mother and tell her just how you've treated me. i've had a hard time----" and he actually acted and spoke as though he considered himself ill-used! i never in my life saw such a fellow. always blaming somebody else for the troubles he brought upon himself. i was soon tired of listening to him. "come! stow all that!" i advised him. "you're a member of the scarboro's crew, and you joined of your own free will. the only reason i see for my trying to get you away from here is to have you arrested and punished for getting hold of my money at buenos ayres. i could put you in bad for that. you be thankful you are away down here on the scarboro, instead of at buenos ayres." "so you won't help me get away?" he snarled. "no, sir!" "all right. you wait. you'll be sorry." "now, don't threaten me any more," i returned. "i hope this voyage will do you some good. i think you'll learn something before the scarboro reaches new bedford again. we'll hope so, anyway." he only snarled at me as i passed on. i had just as little to do with him as possible while i remained aboard the bark. we were at punta arenas in a few hours, and the very next morning the bark was warped in beside the tramp steamer and the oil in the whaler's tanks was being pumped aboard the steamship. the men were given short shore leave; but captain rogers put paul downes in the care of bill rudd, the carpenter, and made him responsible for him. "i ain't got my money's worth out o' that greenhorn yet," declared the skipper. "he ain't earned yet what i had to pay for his board bill in buenos ayres. don't you let him get away, rudd." i knew that my cousin would come to no harm with captain rogers. the cruise might be the means of making some sort of a man of him, at least. so i put paul and his affairs right out of my mind. there was a steamer touching at buenos ayres due through the straits in a couple of days, and i prepared to board her. once in the big argentine seaport i would take passage on a bayne liner for boston. i was eager for the homeward journey now, although i felt that i never should be tired of the salt water. but, as lawyer hounsditch advised, i put duty ahead of inclination. i bade my friends aboard the scarboro good-bye and went ashore, spending the night before i was to sail for the north in a decent house near the landing. i knew my mother would be glad to see me and i had no fear but that, once beside her, i should find means of keeping mr. chester downes at a distance. i had no reason to doubt the future, or what it might hold in store for me. that it did not prove wholly uneventful the reader may discover for himself in the second volume of this series, entitled: "the frozen ship; or, clint webb among the sealers." i was not thinking of either romance or adventure, however, when i began my homeward voyage. i expected it to be quite uneventful, and was only anxious to walk into darringford house, surprise my little mother, and take her once again in my arms! the south sea whaler, by w.h.g. kingston. ________________________________________________________________________ a gripping story about two young children, a boy of about fourteen and his sister of about twelve, who set off with their father, a south-sea whaling captain, on what is intended to be his last voyage, their mother having died during his previous three-year voyage. unfortunately some of the crew, especially the bo'sun, are not very well-intentioned, and after a chapter or two about the voyage out to the pacific, and some whale hunts of varying success, there is a mutiny. the ship ends up on fire and is abandoned with various rafts and ship's boats getting away from her. there is a well-written account of the children's drift on a raft with two of the officers, and a wonderful and kind coloured man, though the story is not quite as simple as that, since people lose one another, and lose their rafts, with considerable drama. finally the children's father turns up, of course, and the story ends with everybody happy, except the wicked bo'sun and his confederates, who have gone to davy jones' locker on account of their devotion to the demon drink. ________________________________________________________________________ the south sea whaler, w.h.g. kingston. chapter one. the champion whaler--the captain and his children--sights at sea-- frigate-birds and flying-fish--a bonito--catching albatrosses--mutinous mutterings--a timely warning. "a prosperous voyage, and a quick return, captain tredeagle," said the old pilot as he bade farewell to the commander of the _champion_, which ship he had piloted down the mersey on her voyage to the pacific. "thank you, pilot. i suppose it will be pretty nearly three years before we are back again,--with a full cargo, i hope, and plenty of dollars to keep the pot boiling at home. it's the last voyage i intend to make; for thirty years knocking about at sea is enough for any man." "many say that, captain; but when the time comes they generally find a reason for making one voyage more, to help them to start with a better capital. but as you have got your young ones aboard, you will have their company to cheer you." as the old pilot stepped along the deck he shook hands with two young people, a boy and a girl, who were standing near the gangway. "good-bye, walter; good-bye, miss alice; look after father, and obey him, and god will bless you. if we are all spared, i hope to see you, walter, grown into a tall young man; and you, miss alice, i suppose i shan't know you again. good-bye; heaven protect you." saying this, the old pilot lowered himself into his boat alongside, and pulled away for his cutter, which lay hove-to at a little distance. the _champion_ was a south sea whaler of about four hundred tons burden; with a crew, including mr andrew lawrie, the surgeon, of fifty officers and men. the chief object of the voyage was the capture of the sperm whale,--which creature is found in various parts of the pacific ocean; but as the war in which england had been engaged since the commencement of the century was not over, she carried eight guns, which would serve to defend her both against civilised enemies and the savage inhabitants of the islands she was likely to visit. the usual license for carrying guns, or "letters of marque," had been obtained for her by the owners; she was thus able not only to defend herself, but to attack and capture, if she could, any vessels of the enemy she might meet with. captain tredeagle, being a peace-loving man, had no intention of exercising this privilege,--his only wish being to dispose of the ventures he carried, and to obtain by honest exertions a full cargo of sperm oil. walter and alice waved their hands to the old pilot, as his little vessel, close-hauled, stood away towards the mouth of the river. it seemed to them that in parting from him the last link which bound them to their native land was severed. they left many friends behind them; but it was their father's wish that they should accompany him, and they eagerly looked forward to the pleasure of seeing the beautiful islands they were likely to visit, and witnessing the strange sights they expected to meet with during the voyage. while the pilot vessel was standing away, the head-yards of the _champion_ were swung round, the sails sheeted home; with a brisk northerly wind, and under all the canvas she could carry, she ran quickly down the irish channel. "here we are away at last," said captain tredeagle, as his children stood by his side; "and now, walter, we must make a sailor of you as fast as possible. don't be ashamed to ask questions, and get information from any one who is ready to give it. our old mate, jacob shobbrok, who has sailed with me pretty nearly since i came to sea, is as anxious to teach you as you can be to get instruction; but remember, walter, you must begin at the beginning, and learn how to knot and splice, and reef, and steer, and box the compass, before you begin on the higher branches of seamanship. you will learn fast enough, however, if you keep your eyes and ears open and your wits about you, and try to get at the why and wherefore of everything. many fail to be worth much at sea as well as on shore, because they are too proud to learn their a b c. just think of that, my son." "i will do my best, father, to follow your advice," answered walter, a fine lad between fourteen and fifteen years of age. his sister alice was two years younger,--a fair, pretty-looking girl, with the hue of health on her cheeks, which showed that she was well able to endure the vicissitudes of climate, or any hardships to which she might possibly be subjected at sea. when captain tredeagle resolved to take his children with him, he had no expectation of exposing them to dangers or hardships. he had been thirty years afloat, and had never been wrecked, and he did not suppose that such an occurrence was ever likely to happen to him. he forgot the old adage, that "the pitcher which goes often to the well is liable to be broken at last." he had lost his wife during his previous voyage, and had no one on whom he could rely to take care of his motherless children while he was absent from home. walter had expressed a strong wish to go to sea, so he naturally took him; and with regard to alice, of two evils he chose that which he considered the least. he had seen the dangers to which girls deprived of a mother's watchful care are exposed on shore, and he knew that on board his ship, at all events, alice would be safe from them. having no great respect for the ordinary female accomplishments of music and dancing, he felt himself fully competent to instruct her in most other matters, while he rightly believed that her mind would be expanded by visiting the strange and interesting scenes to which during the voyage he hoped to introduce her. "as for needle-work and embroidery, why, jacob and i can teach you as well as can most women; and our black fellow nub will cut out your dresses with all the skill and taste of a practised mantua-maker," he had said when talking to alice on the subject of her going. alice was delighted to accompany her father, and hoped to be a real comfort to him. she would take charge of his cabin and keep it in beautiful order, and repair his clothes, and take care that a button was never wanting; and would pour out his coffee and tea, and write out his journal and keep his accounts, she hoped. and should he fall sick, how carefully she would watch over him; indeed, she flattered herself that she could be of no slight use. then, she might be a companion to walter, who might otherwise become as rough and rude as some ship-boys she had seen; not that it was his nature to be rough, she thought, but she had often written in her copy-book, "evil communications corrupt good manners," and walter's truly good manners might deteriorate among the rough crew of the whaler. alice also intended to be very diligent with her books, and she could learn geography in a practical way few young ladies are able to enjoy. and, lastly, she had a sketch-book and a colour-box, by means of which she hoped to make numberless drawings of the scenery and people she was to visit. altogether, she was not likely to find the time hang heavy on her hands. in many respects she was not disappointed in her expectations. as soon as the ship was clear of the channel and fairly at sea, her father began the course of instruction he intended to pursue during the voyage. mr jacob shobbrok the mate, and nub, delighted to impart such feminine accomplishments as they possessed; and it amused her to see how deftly their strong hands plied their needles. nub, as the black steward was generally called, had been for the best part of his life at sea with her father. he had been christened nubia, which name was abridged into nub; and sometimes she and walter, when they were little children, had been accustomed, as a term of endearment, to call him "nubby," and even now they frequently so called him. he was truly devoted to his captain's children, but more especially were the affections of the big warm heart which beat in his black bosom bestowed upon alice. it is no exaggeration to say that he would gladly have died to save her from harm. alice, indeed, was perfectly happy, not feeling the slightest regret at having left england. the weather was fine, the sea generally smooth, and the ship glided so rapidly on her course that alice persuaded herself she was not likely to encounter the storms and dangers she had heard of. she carried out her intentions with exemplary perseverance. never had the captain's cabin been in such good order. she learned all the lessons he set her, and read whenever she had time; she plied her needle diligently; and mr shobbrok took especial delight in teaching her embroidery, in which, notwithstanding the roughness of his hands, he was an adept. indeed, not a moment of her time was idly spent. she took her walks regularly on deck during the day, with her father or walter: and when they were engaged, nub followed her about like her shadow; not that he often spoke to her, but he seemed to think that it was his duty ever to be on the watch to shield her from harm. walter, in the meantime, was picking up a large amount of nautical knowledge: for he, like his sister, was always diligent, and, following his father's advice, never hesitated to ask for information from those about him; and as he was always good-natured and good-tempered, and grateful for help received, it was willingly given. he was as active and daring as any of the crew, and he could soon lay out on the yards and assist in reefing topsails as well as anybody on board. he could soon, also, take his trick at the helm in fine weather; indeed, it was generally acknowledged that he gave good promise of becoming a prime seaman. the crew were constantly exercised at their guns; and walter, though not strong enough to work at them himself, soon thoroughly understood their management, and could have commanded them as well as any of the officers. he also studied navigation under his father in the cabin, and could take an observation and work a day's work with perfect accuracy. he advanced thus rapidly in his professional knowledge, not because he possessed any wonderful talent except the very important one of being able to give his mind to the subject, and in being diligent in all he undertook. he was happy and contented, because he really felt that he was making progress, and every day adding to his stock of knowledge. he had also the satisfaction of being conscious that he was doing his duty in the sight of god as well as in that of man: he was obedient, loving, and attentive to his father, from the highest of motives,--because god told him to be so, not in any way from fear, or because he felt that it was his interest to obey one on whom he depended for support. captain tredeagle himself was a truly religious, god-fearing man; that is to say, he feared to offend one who, he knew, loved him and had done so much for him--an all-pure and all-holy god, in whose sight he ever lived--and therefore did his best to bring up his children in the fear and nurture of the lord; and he had reason to be thankful that his efforts were not in vain. had all his crew been like captain tredeagle, his would have been a happy ship. his good mate, jacob shobbrok, was in some respects like him; that is to say, he was a christian man, though somewhat rough in his outward manner and appearance, for he had been at sea all his life. he was an old bachelor, and had never enjoyed the softening influence of female society. still his heart was kind and gentle. both alice and walter, having discernment enough to discover that, were accordingly much attached to him. there were several other worthy men on board. andrew lawrie, the surgeon, was in most respects like jacob, possessing a kind, honest heart, with a rough outside. nub has been described. he made himself generally popular with the men by his good temper and jokes, and by bearing patiently the ill-treatment to which he was often subjected by the badly disposed among them. but though kicked, rope's-ended, and made to perform tasks which it was not his duty to do, he never complained or showed any vindictive feeling. his chief friend was dan tidy. dan, who had not been long at sea, and consequently was not much of a sailor, was quite as badly treated as nub, but did not take it with nearly the same equanimity. he generally retaliated, and many a tough battle he had to fight in consequence. but though he was often beaten, his spirit had not given way. a common suffering united him and nub, and when they could they helped each other. a large portion of the crew were rough, ignorant, and disorderly. the war had kept all the best men employed, and even a well-known commander like captain tredeagle had a difficulty in getting good men; so that the few only who had constantly sailed with him could be depended on. the rest would remain with him and do their duty only so long as they thought it their interest. and though he did his utmost to keep up strict discipline, he was obliged to humour them more than he would have been justified in doing under other circumstances. though he might have used the lash,--very common in those days,--to flog men was repugnant to his feelings, and he preferred trying to keep them in order by kindness. unhappily, many of them were of too brutal a nature to understand his object, so they fancied that he treated them as he did from timidity. old jacob shobbrok urged stronger measures when some of the men refused to turn out to keep their watch, or went lazily about their work. "we shall have the masts whipped out of the ship, if we don't trice up some of these fellows before long," he observed one day to the captain. "wait a bit, jacob," answered captain tredeagle; "i will try them a little longer; but you can just let them know that if any of them again show a mutinous disposition, they will be flogged as surely as they are living men." "they don't understand threats, captain," answered jacob. "there's nothing like the practical teaching the cat affords with fellows of this description. i'll warn them, however, pretty clearly; and if that don't succeed, i must trust to you to show them that you will stand it no longer." jacob did not fail to speak to the men as he promised, and for a time they went on better; but the spirit of insubordination still existed among them, and gave the good captain much concern. the boatswain, jonah capstick, who ought to have been the first to preserve discipline, was among the worst. it was the first voyage he had made with captain tredeagle, to whom he had been recommended as a steady man. one of his mates, tom hulk,--well named, for he was a big hulking ruffian,--was quite as bad, and with several others supported the boatswain. alice knew nothing of what was going forward, though walter suspected that things were not quite right. the great delight of alice, as the ship entered the tropics, was to watch the strange fish which swam about the ship as she glided calmly on; to observe the ocean bathed in the silvery light of the moon, or the sun as it sank into its ocean bed, suffusing a rich glow over the sky and waters. she and walter were one day standing on deck together, when, looking up, they saw a small black dot in the blue sky. "what can that be?" asked alice. "it seems as if some one had thrown a ball up there. surely it cannot be a balloon such as i have read of, though i never saw one." "that is not a balloon, but a living creature," observed jacob, who had overheard her. "it is a frigate-bird watching for its prey; and before long we shall see it pounce down to the surface of the ocean if it observes anything to pick up, though it is a good many hundred feet above our heads just now." "see! see! what are those curious creatures which have just come out of the water? why, they have wings! can they be birds?" she exclaimed. "no; those are flying-fish," said walter, who knew better than his sister. "and the frigate-bird has espied them too," exclaimed the mate. "here he comes." as he spoke, a large bird came swooping down like a flash of lightning from the heavens; and before the flying-fish, with their wings dried by the air, had again fallen into the water, it had caught one of them in its mouth. swallowing the fish, the bird rapidly ascended, to be ready for another pounce on its prey. the flying-fish had evidently other enemies below the surface, for soon afterwards they were seen to rise at a short distance ahead; and once more the bird, descending with the same rapid flight as before, seized another, which it bore off. "poor fish! how cruel of the bird to eat them up," cried alice. "it is its way of getting its dinner," said the mate, laughing. "you would not object to eat the fish were they placed before you nicely fried at breakfast. many seamen have been thankful enough to get them, when their ship has gone down and they have been sailing in their boats across the ocean, hard pressed by hunger." "i was foolish to make the remark," said alice; "and yet i cannot help pitying the beautiful flying-fish, snapped up so suddenly. but how can the bird come out here, so far away from land? where can it rest at night?" "it can keep on the wing for days and days together," answered the mate. "it is enabled to do this by having the muscles of its breast, which work the wings, of wonderful strength, while the rest of the body is exceedingly light. its feet are so formed that it cannot rest on the surface of the water as do most other sea-birds; which proves what i say about its powers of flying." the bird which he was describing was of a rich black plumage, the throat being white and the beak red. nothing could be more graceful than the way it hovered above the ship in beautiful undulations, or the rapidity with which it darted on its prey. alice and walter stood admiring it. "it is a determined pirate," observed the mate. "when it cannot catch fish for itself, it watches for the gannets and sea-swallows after they have been out fishing all day, and darting down upon them, compels them in their fright to throw some of their prey out of their crops, when it is caught by the plunderer before it reaches the water. the gannets are such gluttons, they generally fly home so full of fish that they are unable to close their beaks. if the gannet does not let some of the fish fall, the frigate-bird darts rapidly down and strikes it on the back of the head; on which it never fails to give up its prey to the marauder." "though i cannot, i must confess, help admiring the beauty of the frigate-bird, robber as he is, my sympathy is all with the flying-fish," said alice. "they are certainly to be pitied," said the mate; "for they have enemies in the water and out of it. several of those we saw just now are by this time down the throats of the albicores or bonitoes, which are following them. to try to escape from their foes, they rise out of the water, and fly fifty yards or more, till, their wings becoming dry, they cannot longer support themselves, when they fall back again into the sea, if they are not in the meantime picked up by a frigate-bird or some other winged enemy. i have known a dozen or more fly into a boat, or even on to the deck of a ship; and very delicate they are when cooked, though hungry people are glad enough to eat them raw." sometimes at night alice came on deck, when the stars were shining brightly and the ship was bounding over the waves, to watch the foam as it was dashed from off the bows to pass hissing by, covered with sparks of phosphorescent light, while the summits of the dark waves in every direction shone with the utmost brilliancy. the strange light, her father told her, was produced by countless millions of minute creatures, or, as some supposed, by decomposed animal matter. she delighted most, however, in going on deck on a calm night, when the moonbeams cast their soft light upon the ocean, and the ship seemed to be gliding across a sea of burnished silver. walter now regularly took his watch, and never failed to call her when he knew she would be interested in any of the varied beauties which the changing ocean presented. frequently the ship was surrounded by bonitoes, moving through the waters much like porpoises; and the seamen got their harpoons ready, to strike any which might come near. as the ship one day was gliding smoothly on, the boatswain descended to the end of the dolphin-striker, a spar which reaches from the bowsprit down almost to the water. here he stood, ready to dart his harpoon at any unwary fish which might approach. walter and alice were on the forecastle watching him. they had not long to wait before a bonito came gambolling by. quick as lightning the harpoon flew from his hand, and was buried deeply in the body of the fish. a noose was then dexterously slipped over its head and another over its tail, and it was quickly hauled up on deck by the crew. it was a beautiful creature, rather more than three feet long, with a sharp head, a small mouth, large gills, silvery eyes, and a crescent-shaped tail. its back and sides were greenish, but below it was of a silvery white. the body was destitute of scales, except on the middle of the sides, where a line of gold ran from the head to the tail. alice was inclined to bemoan its death; but walter assured her afterwards that she need not expend her pity on it, as three flying-fish had been found in its inside. several other bonitoes were caught which had swallowed even a greater number. indeed, they are the chief foes of the flying-fish, which, had not the latter the power of rising out of the water to escape them, would quickly be exterminated. some of the officers got out lines and hooks baited with pieces of pork; not to attract fish, however, but to catch some of the numerous birds flying astern and round the ship. several flights of stormy petrels had long been following in the wake of the ship, with other birds,--such as albatrosses, cape-pigeons, and whale-birds. no sooner did a pigeon see the bait than it pounced down and seized it in its mouth, when a sharp tug secured the hook in its bill, and it was rapidly drawn on board. several stormy petrels, which the sailors call "mother carey's chickens," were also captured. they are among the smallest of the web-footed birds, being only about six inches in length. most of the body is black, glossed with bluish reflections; their tails are of a sooty-brown intermingled with white. in their mode of flight, walter remarked that they resembled swallows: rapidly as they darted here and there, now resting on the wing, now rising again in the air; uttering their clamorous, piercing cries, as they flocked together in increasing numbers. "we shall have rough weather before long, or those birds would not shriek so loudly," observed jacob to walter. "i don't mind a few of them; but when they come in numbers about a ship, it is a sure sign of a storm." "we have had so much fine weather, that i suppose it is what we may expect," answered walter. "we cannot hope to make a long voyage without a gale now and then!" "it is not always the case," said the mate. "i have been round the world some voyages with scarcely a gale to speak of; and at other times we have not been many weeks together without hard weather." though the stormy petrel shrieked, the wind still remained moderate, and the sailors continued their bird-catching and fishing. among those who most eagerly followed the cruel sport was tom hulk, the boatswain's mate. he had got a long line and a strong hook, which he threw overboard from the end of the main-yard. "i don't care for those small birds," he cried out. "i have made up my mind to have one of the big albatrosses. i want his wings to carry home with me, and show what sort of game we pick up at sea." several of his messmates, who had a superstitious dread of catching an albatross, shouted out to him not to make the attempt, declaring that he would bring ill-luck to himself, or perhaps to the ship. though not free from superstition himself, he persevered from very bravado. "i am not to be frightened by any such notions," he answered scornfully. "if i can catch an albatross i will, and wring his neck too." before long, a huge white albatross, with wide-extended wings, which had been hovering about the ship, espying the bait darted down and swallowed it at a gulp, hook and all. in an instant it was secured, and the bold seaman came running in along the yard to descend on deck; while the bird, rising in the air, endeavoured to escape. its efforts were in vain; for several other men aiding hulk, in spite of its struggles it was quickly drawn on board. even then it fought bravely, though hopelessly, for victory; but its captor despatched it with a blow on the head. "it would have been better for you if you had let that bird enjoy its liberty," said the boatswain with a growl. "i have never seen any good come from catching one of them." "did you ever see any harm come?" innocently asked walter, who had come forward to look at the bird. "as to that, youngster, it's not to every question you will get an answer," growled the boatswain, turning away. walter, though liked by most on board, was not a favourite of the surly boatswain, who, for his own reasons, objected to have the keen eyes of the sharp-witted boy observing his proceedings. walter, begging hulk to stretch out the bird's wings, went to bring alice to look at it. he told her what the boatswain had said about the ill-luck which would pursue those who killed an albatross. "depend on it, god would not allow what he has ordained to be interfered with by any such occurrence," observed the captain to his children. "it may be a cruel act to kill a bird without any reason; but though persons who have caught or shot albatrosses may afterwards have met with accidents, it does not at all follow that such is the result of their former acts. i have seen many albatrosses killed, and the people who killed them have returned home in safety; though possibly accidents may have occurred in other instances to those who have killed one of the birds. still seamen have got the notion into their heads, and it is very hard to drive it out." "i am sure of that," said walter, "though the boatswain was quite angry with me for doubting what he asserted." while he was speaking, another large albatross came sweeping by. "for my part, i am not afraid of catching a second," exclaimed hulk; "and if there is ill-luck in killing one, there may be good luck in catching two." saying this, he prepared his hook and line, and was ascending to the yard to let it tow overboard as before. "it will be a good thing for you if you do catch two," exclaimed the boatswain. "we want good luck for the ship, for little enough of it we have had as yet." but before hulk could get out his line the albatross was seen to swoop downwards, and immediately afterwards it rose with a huge fish in its talons, into which it plunged its powerful beak with a force which must have speedily put an end to its prey. powerful, however, as were its wings, it could not rise with so great a weight, but commenced tearing away at the flesh of its victim as it floated on the surface. it thus offered a fair mark to any who might wish to shoot it. three of the ship's muskets were brought up by some of the younger officers, who were about to fire. "let me have a shot," said the boatswain, taking one of them. "i seldom miss my aim." the captain, who had been below, just then coming on deck, observing what they were about, ordered them to desist, observing-- "i don't wish to lower a boat to pick up the bird, and i consider it wanton cruelty to shoot at it." the boatswain pretended not to hear him, and taking aim, he fired. the bird was seen to let go its prey, and, after rising a few feet, to fall back with wings extended into the water, where it lay fluttering helplessly. the ship gliding on, soon left it astern. "i consider that a piece of wanton cruelty, mr capstick," exclaimed the captain. "i must prohibit the ship's muskets being made use of for such a purpose; they are intended to be used against our enemies, not employed in slaughtering harmless birds." the boatswain returned the musket to the rack, muttering as he did so; but what he said neither the captain nor his mates were able to understand. the ship had now nearly reached the latitude of the falkland islands, and in a short time she would be round cape horn, and traversing the broad waters of the pacific. hitherto few ships had been seen, either friends or foes; a lookout had been kept for the latter, as the crew hoped that, should they fall in with an enemy's merchantman of inferior size, the captain would capture her to give them some much coveted prize-money. two had been seen which were supposed to be small enough to attack, but the captain had declined going in chase of them, greatly to the annoyance of the crew; and the boatswain and others vowed they would not longer stand that sort of thing. walter was walking the deck during his middle watch the next night, when dan tidy came up to him. "hist, mr walter," he said in a low voice. "will you plaise just step to the weather-gangway, out of earshot of the man at the helm? i have got something i would like to say to you." walter stepped to the gangway, and, seeing no one near, asked tidy what he had to communicate. "i wouldn't wish to be an eavesdropper or a tale-bearer, mr walter; but when the lives of you and your father and most of the officers are at stake, it's time to speak out. i happened to be awake during my watch below when the boatswain came for'ard, and i heard him and tom hulk and about a dozen others talking in whispers together. i lay still, pretending to be asleep, as, of course, they thought were the rest of the watch. capstick began grumbling at the chance there was that we should take no prizes; and declared that, for his part, he was not going to submit to that sort of thing. the others agreed with him, and swore that they would stand by him, and do whatever he proposed. some said that the best thing would be to go to the captain, and insist that he should attack the first enemy's merchantman they could fall in with. `and the captain will tell you to mind your own business, and that he intends to act as he considers is most for his own interest and that of the owners,' said hulk, with an oath. `i tell you, the only thing we can do is to make him and his young fry, and the old mate and some of the rest of them, prisoners; or, better still, knock them on the head and heave them overboard, and then we will make the boatswain captain, and live a life of independence, just taking as many prizes as we want, and never troubling ourselves to give an account of them to the owners.' some agreed to this, and some didn't seem to like the thought of it; but they were talked over by the boatswain and hulk, and agreed to what they proposed. i cannot say, however, when they intend to carry out their plan. they talked on for some time longer, and then they all turned into their hammocks. i lay as quiet as a mouse in a cheese, and when i thought they were all asleep slipped up on deck to tell you or the mate, if i could manage to speak to either of you unobserved, that you might let the captain know of their intentions towards him." walter, though considerably agitated at this information, acted with much discretion, telling tidy to keep the matter to himself, and to behave towards the intended mutineers as he had always done, without letting them have a shade of suspicion that he had discovered their plot. having no fear, from what tidy said, that they intended carrying it out immediately, he waited till his watch was over to inform his father and the chief mate. bidding tidy go below and turn in again, he resumed his walk on deck. they would probably, he thought, wait for a change of weather and a dark night to execute their project which, it was evident, was not as yet fully matured. the second mate had charge of the watch, but walter was unwilling to communicate the information to him; for, though an honest man, he somewhat doubted his discretion. it was an anxious time for the young boy, but his courage did not quail, as he felt sure that his father and mr shobbrok, aided by the other officers and the better-disposed part of the crew, would be able to counteract the designs of the mutineers. chapter two. precautions--a mutiny--mutineers defeated--attempt to round cape horn-- driven back--a fearful gale--amidst icebergs--a magnificent sight--man overboard--mutineer killed by an albatross. walter was thankful to hear eight bells strike, when mr shobbrok coming on deck, sent the second mate below. "why don't you turn in, walter?" asked the first mate, on seeing him still lingering on deck. "i should like to speak a word to you," said walter. "if it's a short one, my lad, say it, but i don't wish to keep you out of your berth." as several of the mutineers were on deck, walter thought he might be observed, and therefore merely whispered to the mate, "be on your guard. i have information that the boatswain is at the head of a conspiracy to take possession of the ship. i will go below and tell my father how matters stand. be careful not to be taken at a disadvantage, and let none of the men come near you." "i am not surprised. i will be on my guard," answered the mate in a low tone; adding in a higher one-- "now go below, youngster, and turn in." walter, hurrying to the cabin, found his father asleep. a touch on the arm awoke him. "i want to speak to you about something important," he said; and then told him all he had heard from dan tidy. "it does not surprise me," he observed, repeating almost the words of the mate. "we of course must take precautions to counteract the designs of the misguided men without letting them suspect that we are aware of their intentions. call mr lawrie, that i may tell him what to do; and then i will go on deck and speak to the first mate." "i have told him already. i thought it better to put him on his guard," said walter. "you did right," said the captain. "we must let the other officers know. bring me two brace of pistols from the rack." the captain quickly loaded the firearms. "now, walter, do you go and wake up nub; then bring all the muskets into my cabin while i am on deck." the captain's appearance would not excite suspicion, as it is customary for a commander to go on deck at all hours of the night, especially when there is a change of weather; and the mate was heard at that moment ordering the watch on deck to shorten sail. captain tredeagle did not interfere, but allowing the mate to give the necessary orders, waited till the topgallant-sails were furled and two reefs taken in the topsails. he then went across to where mr shobbrok was standing. "walter has told me what the men intend doing," he said in a low voice. "do you try and find out who are likely to prove stanch to us." "i think we may trust nearly half the crew," answered the mate; "and i will try and speak to those on whom we can most certainly rely. tidy will be able to point them out." "in case they should attempt anything immediately, here are the means of defending yourself," said the captain; and finding that none of the men were observing him, he put a brace of pistols into the mate's hands. "who is at the helm?" he asked. "tom hulk," answered the mate. "he is among the ringleaders," said the captain; "he will be suspicious if he sees us talking together. i'll warn beak, that he may be on the alert, and will send him to speak with you." the captain crossed the deck to where mr beak, the fourth mate, was standing. telling him of the conspiracy which had been discovered, he put a pistol into his hand, and desired him to go over and speak with the first mate, who would direct him what to do. on returning below, he found that walter and nub had carried out his orders, and that mr lawrie had awakened the other two mates, who soon made their appearance in the cabin. two midshipmen, or rather apprentices, who slept further forward, had now to be warned. nub undertook to do this without exciting the suspicion of the mutineers. the captain in the meantime gave the officers the information he had received, and told them the plan he proposed following,--assuring them that they had only to be on the alert and to remain firm, and that he had no doubt, should the mutineers proceed to extremities, they would soon be put down; no one, however, felt inclined to turn in again, not knowing at what moment the mutiny might break out. had the boatswain and his companions guessed that tidy had overheard their conversation, they would have lost no time in carrying out their plan, and would probably have caught the captain unprepared. the night passed quietly away, and when morning came the mutineers went about their duty as usual. notwithstanding the threatenings of a gale on the previous evening, the wind continued fair and moderate, and the ship was standing on under all sail. breakfast was over, and the captain and mate, with walter, were standing with their sextants in hand taking an observation to ascertain the ship's latitude. mr lawrie having been in his surgery mixing some medicines for two men who were on the sick-list, was going forward when he observed a number of the crew with capstan-bars, boat-stretchers, and other weapons in their hands, the boatswain and tom hulk being among them. he at once hurried to the captain and told him what he had seen. "call aft the men whom we selected as a guard, mr shobbrok," whispered the captain--"let the officers arm themselves, but keep out of sight in the cabin, ready to act if necessary." the mate had agreed on a private signal with the trustworthy men. he was to let fly the mizzen-royal, when they were to come aft on the pretence of hauling in the sheet. this would give them the start of the mutineers, and allow them time to obtain arms,--though of course the object of the device would quickly be perceived. the captain and walter went on taking their observation full in sight of the crew forward, as if there were nothing to trouble them. the mate made the signal agreed on. as the sail fluttered in the wind, dan tidy and eight others came running aft, and immediately the muskets, which had already been loaded, were handed up from below and placed in their hands. so quick had been their movements that the mutineers, who had been looking at the captain, had not observed them; and, confiding in their numbers, and not knowing that the officers were armed or prepared for them, came rushing aft, led by the boatswain, uttering loud shouts, to intimidate their opponents. the captain stood perfectly calm, with walter by his side. "what does this strange conduct mean, my men?" he asked, turning round. "we will show you, captain," answered the boatswain. "we want a captain who understands his own interest and ours, and won't let the prizes we might have got hold of slip through our fingers as you have done." "you are under a mistake, my friends, in more ways than one," answered the captain. "i call on all true men on board to stand by me." as he spoke, tidy and the men who had come aft showed themselves with muskets in their hands; and at the same moment the officers sprang on deck, fully armed. "now i will speak to you," said the captain, handing his sextant to walter, and drawing his pistols. "the first man who advances another step must take the consequences. i shall be justified in shooting him, and i intend to do so. his blood be upon his own head. now lay down these capstan-bars and stretchers, and tell me, had you overpowered us, what you intended to do." the mutineers were dumbfounded, and even the boldest could make no reply. most of them, indeed, did as they were ordered and threw their weapons on the deck, hanging down their heads and looking ashamed of themselves. the boatswain and hulk, and a few of the more daring, tried to brazen it out. "all we want is justice," blustered out the boatswain. "we shipped aboard here to fight our enemies, like brave englishmen, and to take as many prizes as we could fall in with; but there does not seem much chance of our doing so this voyage." "you shipped on board to do as i ordered you, and not to act the part of sea-robbers and pirates, which is what you would wish to be," answered the captain. "those who intend to act like honest men, and obey orders, go over to the starboard side; the rest stand on the other." the greater number of the crew--with the exception of the boatswain and hulk and two others--went over to starboard. the captain then ordered the remainder of the crew to be piped on deck. they quickly came up. "now, my lads, those who wish to obey me and do their duty, join their shipmates on the starboard side; those who are inclined the other way, stand on one side with mr capstick and his mate." two or three cast a look at the boatswain, but one and all went over to the starboard side. the boatswain looked greatly disconcerted, for he had evidently counted on being joined by the greater part of his shipmates. "now," said the captain, "i am averse to putting men in irons, but as these have shown a spirit of insubordination which would have been destructive, if successful, to all on board, they must take the consequences. mr shobbrok, seize the fellows and put them in confinement below." the three mates, calling six other men, sprang on the mutineers, who, drawing their knives, attempted to defend themselves; but they were quickly disarmed, and their weapons being thrown overboard, their hands were lashed behind them, and they were carried below, to have the irons put on by the armourer, who was among those who could be trusted. none of the rest of the crew attempting to interfere, order was speedily restored on board the _champion_. though the captain had quelled the mutiny, he lost the services of four of the most active of the hands; but he hoped that reflection would bring them to reason, and that, repenting of their folly, they would be willing to return to their duty. while these events had been occurring a dark bank of clouds had been gathering to the southward; and though the ship still sailed with a fair wind, it was evident that a change was about to take place. the cloud-bank rose higher and higher in the sky. "all hands shorten sail," cried the captain. the crew flew aloft to obey the order and lay out on the yards, each man striving to get in the sail as rapidly as possible. sail after sail was taken in, but before the work could be completed the gale was upon them--not a soft breeze, such as they had been accustomed to, but a sharp cutting wind, with hail and sleet, which struck their faces and hands with fearful force, benumbing their bodies, dressed only in light summer clothing. it seemed as if on a sudden the ship had gone out of one climate into another. "this is regular cape horn weather," observed the mate to walter, who stood shivering on deck. "you had better go below and get on your winter clothing. it may be many a day before we are in summer again, if the wind comes from the westward." walter hesitated, for he thought it manly to stand the cold; but his father told him to do as the mate advised, so he hastened into the cabin. he found alice looking very much alarmed, not having been able to make out all that had been occurring. she had seen the officers come down and arm themselves, and the muskets loaded and handed out, and had supposed that they were about to encounter an enemy. walter quieted her fears, by assuring her that though there had been danger it was all over, and that they had now only to battle with a storm, such as all good sailors are ready to encounter and overcome. walter was soon equipped and ready to go on deck again, and alice wanted to accompany him. "why, you will be frozen if you do, so pray don't think about it," he answered. "i am sure father will wish you to remain in the cabin." the gale increased, however, and the ship rolled, pitched, tossed, and tumbled about, in a way alice had never before experienced. she sat holding on to the sofa trying to read, and wondering why neither her father nor walter again came below. "what could have occurred?" she heard loud peals of thunder, the sea dashing against the ship's sides, the howling of the wind in the rigging, the stamp of the men's feet overhead, and other noises sounding terrific in her ears. the uproar continued to increase, and the ship seemed to tumble about more and more. at last she could endure it no longer. "i must go on deck and see what is the matter," she said to herself putting on her cloak and hat. she endeavoured to make her way to the companion-ladder, first being thrown on one side and then on the other, and running a great risk of hurting herself. at length, however, she managed to reach the foot of the ladder. just at that moment walter appeared at the top of it, looking down at her. she felt greatly relieved on seeing him. "oh, what has happened?" she exclaimed as he came below. "only a regular cape horn gale," he answered. "we have got the ship under close-reefed fore and main topsails, and she is behaving nobly. it is cold, to be sure; but the men have been sent below, as they could be spared, to put on warmer clothing, and we shall get out of it some day or other." walter's remarks greatly restored alice's spirits. she had expected to see him with alarm on his countenance, bringing her the announcement that the ship was in fearful danger. the time had not been quite so long as alice had supposed. nub brought in dinner for her and walter, which he advised them to take on the deck of the cabin, as there would be little use in placing it on the table, in spite of puddings and fiddles to keep the dishes in their places. "you see, missie alice, if de ship gib a roll on one side den half de soup go out, and den when she gib a roll on de oder side de oder half go out, and you get none; and de 'taties come flying ober in de same way; den de meat jump out of de dish, and before you can stop it will be on de oder side of de cabin; and de mustard and pepper pots dey go cruising about by demselves. now, if you sit on de deck, you put de tings in one corner and you sit round dem, and when dey jump up you catch dem and put dem back, and tell dem to stop till you want to eat dem." nub's graphic description of the effects likely to be produced by the storm induced alice and walter to agree to his proposal, and they partook of their meal in a corner of the cabin. the latter enjoyed it, for he was very hungry. alice could eat but little; she was, however, very anxious that her father should come down, or that he would allow her to send him up some food. walter laughed. "i am sure he will not do that," he answered. "he is too much occupied at present to come below." when walter went on deck again, alice felt very forlorn. nub, however, now and then looked in to cheer her up. "it's all right, miss alice, only de wind it blow bery hard,--enough to shave a man in half a minute. the captain told me to keep below or i turn into one icicle." towards the evening nub brought in a pot of hot coffee, which he had managed to boil at the galley-fire; and presently the captain and walter came down. the captain had no time to eat anything, but he drank two cupfuls of the coffee scalding hot. "bless you, my child," he said to alice. "we have a stormy night before us; but god looks after us, and i wish you to turn in and try and go to sleep. we are doing our best, and the ship behaves well, so keep up a good heart and all will be right." the mates and mr lawrie came down, and nub supplied them also with coffee. the surgeon declared he could stand it no longer, and as he was not required on deck he sat down in the cabin and tried to read; but he had to give it up and stagger off to his berth. walter at last came below again, saying that his father would not allow him to remain longer on deck; though, like a gallant young sailor, he had wished to share whatever the rest had to endure. in a very few minutes, notwithstanding the tossing of the ship and the uproar of the elements, he was fast asleep. all night long the ship stood on close-hauled, battling bravely with the gale, showers of sleet, snow, and hail driving furiously against the faces of the crew. the captain, with his mates and both watches, remained on deck, to be ready for any emergency. the topgallant-masts and royal-masts had been sent down; the studding-sail-booms and gear unrove, to lighten the ship as much as possible of all top hamper. it was still dark when walter awoke. the ship was pitching into the seas as heavily as before, and the wind roaring as loudly. he longed to go on deck to ascertain the state of things; but the captain had told him to remain in his berth till summoned, and he had learned the important duty of implicit obedience to his father's commands. at length the light of day came down through the bull's-eye overhead into his little berth. he quickly dressed, and entering the main cabin, found that his father had just come below. he was taking off his wet outer clothing preparatory to throwing himself on his bed. "you go on deck now, walter; but don't remain long, or you will be well-nigh frozen," he said. "i am to be called should any change in the weather take place." walter sprang on deck, but he had need of all his courage to stand the keen cutting south-westerly wind, which seemed sufficient to blow his teeth down his throat. the ship looked as if made of glass, for every rope and spar was coated over with ice. the men were beating their hands to keep them warm; and when they moved about the deck they had to keep close to the bulwarks, and catch hold of belaying-pins, ropes, or stanchions, to prevent themselves from slipping away to leeward. the sea, as it broke on board, froze on the deck, till it became one mass of ice. walter, who had thought only of smooth seas and summer gales, was little prepared for this sort of weather. "cheer up, my lad, never mind it; we shall be in summer again, and find it pretty hot too, when we round the horn," observed the first mate. "i don't mind it," answered walter, his teeth chattering. "do you think it will last long?" "that depends on the way the wind blows," answered the first mate. dark seas rose up on every side, higher than he had ever seen them before; the foam driven aft in white sheets, their combing crests shining brilliantly as the sun burst forth from the driving clouds. "now you have seen enough of it; you had better go below," said the mate. "one of those seas might break aboard and sweep you off the deck. as you can do nothing now, it is useless to expose your life to danger." walter, who would have wished to remain had the wind been less cutting, thought the mate right, and obeyed him. he had been for some time in the cabin when the fourth mate came down. "come on deck, walter," he said, "and see something you have never before set eyes on." walter followed the mate up the companion-ladder. as far as the eye could reach, the sea was of a dark-blue tint; the waves still high and foam-crested, sparkling in the rays of the sun, while at some distance on the larboard bow rose a vast mountain-island, its numerous pinnacles glittering in the sun like the finest alabaster, and its deep valleys thrown into the darkest shade. the summit of the mighty mass was covered with snow, and its centre of a deep indigo tint. "what island is that?" asked walter. "it's an island, though it's afloat. that is an iceberg," answered the mate. "it's little less, i judge, than three miles in circumference, and is several hundred feet in height." the vast mass rose and fell in the water with a slow motion, while its higher points seemed to reach to the sky, and often to bend towards each other as if they were about to topple over. the waves furiously dashed against its base, breaking into masses of foam; while ever and anon thundering sounds, louder than any artillery, reached the ears of the voyagers, as from the mighty berg, cracking in all directions, huge pieces came tumbling down into the water. above the thick fringe of white foam appeared an indigo tint, which grew lighter and lighter, till it shaded off from a dark-blue to the pile of pure snow which rested on the summit. walter could not resist the temptation of bringing alice to see the strange and beautiful sight. hurrying below, he wrapped her up in a warm cloak, and, calling nub to his assistance, they brought her on deck. "that is beautiful," she exclaimed; "but how dreadful it would be to run against it in the dark!" she added, after a minute's silence. "we hope to keep too bright a lookout for anything of that sort," said the mate; "and, happily, at night we know when we are approaching an iceberg by the peculiar coldness of the air and the white appearance which it always presents even in the darkest nights. however, there can be no doubt that many a stout ship has been cast away on such a berg as that; or on what is more dangerous still, a floating mass of sheet-ice just flush with the water." the mate would not allow alice to remain long on deck for fear of her suffering from the cold, and walter and nub hurried her below. walter was soon again on deck. the ship was passing the iceberg, leaving it a mile to leeward. as it drew over the quarter there was a cry from forward of "ice ahead!" the captain was immediately called. "hard up with the helm!" he shouted; and the ship passed a huge mass of ice, such as the mate had before described, flush with the water. had the ship struck against it, her fate would have been sealed. the sharpest eyes in the ship were kept on the lookout: one man on each bow, and another in the bunt of the fore-yard; the third mate forward, and one on each quarter. two of the best hands were at the wheel; while the captain and first mate were moving about with their eyes everywhere. all knew that the slightest inattention might cause the destruction of the ship. hour after hour went by. no one spoke except those on the lookout or the officer in command, when the cry came from forward, "ice on the weather bow," "another island ahead," "ice on the lee bow," and so on. evening at length approached. walter for the first time became aware of the perilous position in which the ship was placed; yet his father stood calm and unmoved, as he had ever been, and not by look or gesture did he betray what he must have felt; indeed, he had too long been inured to peril of all sorts to be moved as those are who first experience it. gradually, however, the sea began to go down and the wind to decrease, shifting more to the southward. a clear space appearing, the captain eagerly wore ship, and then hauling up on the other tack, stood to the southward, hoping to weather the icebergs among which he had before passed. the cold was as intense as before, but it could be better borne as hopes were entertained that the gale would abate, and that at length cape horn would be doubled. that night, however, was one of the greatest anxiety; for, owing to the darkness, the ice-field could not be seen at any distance, and it might be impossible to escape running on it. captain tredeagle could therefore only commit himself and ship to the care of heaven, and exert his utmost vigilance to avoid the surrounding dangers. he and all on board breathed more freely when daylight returned, and the field of ice they had just weathered was seen over the quarter, with clear water ahead. a few more icebergs were passed; some near, shining brilliantly in the sun, and others appearing like clouds floating on the surface. in two days more there was a cry of "land on the starboard bow!" the ship rapidly neared it. the wind coming from the eastward, the reefs were shaken out of the topsails, the courses set, and she stood towards the west. the land became more and more distinct. "now," said the first mate to walter, "if alice would like to see cape horn, bring her on deck. there it is, broad on our starboard beam." alice quickly had on her cloak. "is that cape horn?" she asked, pointing to a dark rugged headland which rose, scarcely a mile off, out of the water. "what a wild, barren spot! can any human beings live there?" "i have heard that some do," answered the mate; "and what is very strange, that they manage to exist with little or no clothing to shield their bodies from the piercing winds! it's a wonder they can stand it; but then they are savages who have been accustomed to the life since they were born, and know no better." scarcely was the ship round cape horn when the wind moderated, and the sea went down till it was almost calm. the order was now given to get up the topgallant and royal-masts and rig out studding-sail-booms. the mutineers had long been kept in irons, and some of the men declared that they were better off than themselves during the bitter weather to which they had been exposed; but the boatswain and the rest had more than once petitioned to be set free, promising to be obedient in the future. the captain, willing to try them, at length liberated them, and they were now doing duty as if nothing had happened, though the captain was too wise a man not to keep a watchful eye on them. alice, after being so long shut up in the cabin, was glad to be on deck as much as she could during the day, watching the various operations going on. the men were aloft rigging out studding-sail-booms, when, to her horror, she saw one of them fall from the fore-yard. her instinctive cry was, "save him! save him!" "a man overboard!" shouted those who saw the accident. the ship was running rapidly before the wind, and under such circumstances considerable time elapsed before sail could be shortened and the ship hove-to. preparations had in the meantime been made to lower a boat, and willing hands jumped into her, under the command of the second mate, to go to the rescue of the drowning man. the captain had kept an eye on the spot where he had fallen, so as to direct the boat in what direction to pull. away dashed the hardy crew, straining every muscle to go to the rescue of their fellow-creature. a moment before not a bird had been in sight, but just then a huge albatross was seen soaring high in the air. its keen eye had caught sight of the unfortunate man. the boat dashed on, the mate and the crew shouting loudly in the hope of scaring off the bird; but heeding not their cries, downwards it flew with a fearful swoop. in vain the wretched man, who was a strong swimmer, endeavoured to defend himself with his hands; its sharp beak pierced his head, and in another instant he floated a lifeless corpse on the surface of the water. "who is he?" asked several voices. "tom hulk," answered the mate. "i caught sight of his face just as the bird struck him, and i hope i may never again see such a look of horror in the countenance of a fellow-creature as his presented." "it was a bad ending to a bad life," said one of the men. "a greater villain never came to sea, and it's the belief of some of us that he would have worked more mischief aboard before long." "that he would," said another. "he was always jeering at the boatswain for his cowardice, and telling him he ought to act like a man. we knew pretty well what he meant by that." similar remarks were made by others; for all the men in the boat were honest and true, and had been among those who had at once sided with the captain and officers. such are always found the most ready to go to the aid of a fellow-creature, and they had been the first to spring into the boat. by this time they were nearly up to the body of the dead man. the albatross, on seeing them coming, had flown away. just then, either some ravenous fish had seized it from below, or the body, no longer supported by the talons of the bird, lost its buoyancy, or from some other cause, it began to sink; and before the boatman could catch it with his boat-hook it had disappeared from sight, sinking down to the depths of the ocean, there to remain till the sea gives up its dead. when the mate returned on board, he did not fail to tell the captain what the men had said. "we must nevertheless keep a watchful eye on the boatswain and others who associated with him," was the answer. "if hulk, however, was the chief malcontent, we have little reason to fear them." the ship, with her lighter canvas set, was now making rapid progress towards the warm latitudes of the pacific. chapter three. the "champion" in the pacific--first whales caught--cutting in and trying out--various places visited--a chase and battle--a prize taken-- the prize parts company--the boats in chase of whales--walter's boat destroyed--the mate and walter on the wrecked boat--a fire seen. walter had been rapidly gaining a knowledge of navigation and seamanship; he had now to learn something of the business of whale-catching. the _champion_ carried six boats, which were so built as to possess the greatest amount possible of buoyancy and stability as well as to be able to move swiftly. they were about twenty-seven feet long by four wide, and sharp at both ends, so that they could move both ways. at one end, considered the stem, was a strong, upright, rounded piece of wood, called the loggerhead; at the other, or bow, a deep groove for the purpose of allowing the harpoon-line to run through it. the most experienced hands among the crew were busy in preparing the boats for active work. in each boat were stowed two lines, two hundred fathoms in length, coiled away in their respective tubs ready for use; four harpoons, and as many lances; a keg, containing several articles, among which were a lantern and tinder-box; three small flags, denominated whifts, for the purpose of inserting into a dead whale, when the boats might have to leave it in chase of others; and two cirougues-- pieces of board of a square form with a handle in the centre, so that they could be secured to the end of the harpoon-line, to check the speed of the whale when running or sounding. six men formed the crew of each boat: four for pulling, and two being officers; one called the boat-steerer, and the other the headsman. hitherto not a whale had been caught; but they were in hourly expectation of falling in with some. a sharp lookout was kept for them; a man for the purpose being placed at each masthead, while one of the officers took post on the fore-topgallant-yard. day after day passed by, and still no whales were seen, till the men began to grumble at their ill-luck. still they could not blame the captain, for he was doing the utmost in his power to fall in with them. the boatswain, however, took the opportunity of urging the rest of the crew that, since they could not find whales, they should go in search of an enemy, and try and pick up a prize. tidy, as before, managed to hear what was going forward, and informed the captain. notwithstanding this, he kept to his resolution to search for whales, and not to attack any of the enemy's merchant-vessels, unless they should fall directly in his way, or come in chase of him. he trusted to the number of true men on board, and cared very little for the grumbling of the rest. at length, one forenoon--the ship being only a few degrees south of the line, off the coast of peru, as she was standing on under easy sail, the crew engaged in their various occupations, or moving listlessly about the decks overcome by the heat of the sun, which was very great, some grumbling, and nearly all out of spirits at the ill success of the voyage--the voice of one of the lookouts was heard shouting-- "there she spouts!" the words acted like a talisman. in one moment, from the extreme of apathy, the crew were aroused into the utmost activity. "where away?" asked the captain in an animated tone. "on the weather bow," was the answer. "there again! there again!" came the cry from aloft, indicating that other whales were spouting in the same direction. the crew were rushing with eager haste to the boats, each man to the one to which he belonged. the captain went away in one; the whale-master and two of the officers in the others,--for five only were lowered. walter and alice were on deck, as eager as any one. walter was about to slip into one of the boats when the first mate saw him. "no, no, my lad; the danger is too great for you. the captain has not ordered you not to go; but i am right sure he would not allow it." walter felt much disappointed, as he was very anxious to see the sport. he would not have called it sport for the poor whales, had he witnessed the mighty monsters writhing in agony as harpoons and spears were plunged into their bodies. away dashed the boats as fast as the hardy crews could lay their backs to the oars, the captain's boat leading, while the ship was heading up towards them. all hands on deck watched their progress, till they looked mere specks on the ocean, although the backs of the whales and their heads could be seen above the surface as they spouted up jets of breath and spray. walter was surprised to see the third mate and surgeon with pistols in their belts and cutlasses by their sides, while nub and tidy and several other trustworthy men gathered aft, also with cutlasses, pistols, and muskets in their hands. "why are you all armed?" asked walter. "i thought there was no fear of the mutineers playing any tricks." "we obey the captain's orders," answered mr lawrie. "i thought that as hulk is dead, and the boatswain is away, none of the rest would venture to mutiny." "the boatswain is cunning as well as daring, and while the captain and most of the other officers are away, he might come back and induce those he has won over to take possession of the ship," answered the surgeon. "your father is right to take precautions, though there may be but little chance of anything of the sort happening." "we must not tell alice, or she may be alarmed," observed walter. "if she observes that you are armed, i will tell her that our father directed it should be so." the captain's boat had in the meantime reached one of the whales, just at the moment that the monster, rising above water, had begun to spout. two of the boats remained with him, while two others went in search of another whale. the captain's boat dashing up rapidly towards the creature, he stepped to the bows, harpoon in hand. hurling it with all his force, he fixed it deeply into the body of the whale; while one of the other boats coming up, a second harpoon was struck into its body. "back off, all!" was the cry, and the crews pulled away with might and main. the lines were run out to get to a distance from the now infuriated creature, which, seeing its foes, gave signs of making at them with open mouth; but they, pulling round towards the tail, avoided it; and the whale, no longer seeing them, lifting its flukes, dived far down into the depths of the ocean. the first lines being nearly run out, others were added on, which also rapidly ran out--a few fathoms only remaining. a third boat, which had been keeping pace with them, was now called up, that her lines might be added to those already out. just then, however, the lines slackened, and the crews quickly hauled them in. it was a sign that the whale was once more coming to the surface. the mighty creature soon appeared, sending out from its spout-holes jets of blood and foam, and dyeing the water around with a ruddy hue. again the boats approached, hauling themselves along by the lines made fast to its body, to inflict further wounds with the spears ready in the officers' hands, when the whale again made towards them. it soon stopped, and began to lash the water furiously with its flukes, writhing and rolling in agony. once more it ceased struggling, apparently exhausted; and the boats dashing up, more spears were struck into its body. the pain caused by the fresh wounds made it leap above the surface, and roll and lash the water with its flukes with greater violence than before, till the whole sea around was a mass of foam tinged with blood. the whale was in its "flurry." these mighty exertions could not last long, and at length it lay an inert mass on the surface. another whale was captured much in the same manner; when the boats, taking the creatures in tow, pulled towards the ship, the crews singing in chorus a song of triumph. all on board had been eagerly looking out for their arrival. at length both were towed up, one being firmly secured by lashings to one side of the ship, and one to the other side, preparatory to the work of cutting in and trying out; that is, taking off the blubber or fat which surrounds the body, and boiling it in huge caldrons on deck. walter eagerly examined the monsters which had been brought alongside. they were sperm whales, which produce the oil so much valued for making candles. the head, as it was lifted out of the water, looked very much like the bottom end of a gigantic black bottle. this, the mate told him, was called the snout, or nose, and formed one-third of the whole length of the animal. at its junction with the body was a huge protuberance, which the mate called the "bunch" of the neck; immediately behind this was the thickest part of the body, which, from this point, gradually tapered off to the tail, or "small." at this point was another protuberance, of a pyramidal form, called the "lump," with several other small elevations, denominated the "ridge." the end of the small was not thicker than the body of a man; it then expanded into the flukes, or, familiarly speaking, the tail,--the two flukes forming a triangular fin somewhat like the tail of a fish, but differing from it inasmuch as it was placed horizontally. the two flukes were about twelve feet or rather more in breadth, and six or seven in length. the whole animal was about eighty-four feet long, and the extreme breadth of the body between twelve and fourteen feet; thus the whole of the circumference did not exceed thirty-six feet. the mate said he had seldom seen whales larger. though the upper part of the head was very broad, it decreased greatly below, so that it resembled somewhat the cutwater of a ship; thus, as the animal when moving along the surface raises its head out of the water, it is enabled to go at a great speed, the sharp lower part of the jaw performing the service of the stem of a ship. the mouth extended the whole length of the head, the lower jaw being very narrow and pointed,--no thicker in proportion than the lid of a box, supposing the box to be inverted. it had but a single blow-hole, about twelve inches in length, resembling a long s in shape. in the upper part of the head, the mate told him, there is a large triangular-shaped cavity called the "case," which contains oil of great lightness, thus giving buoyancy to the enormous head. this oil is the spermaceti; and from the whale alongside, the mate said that probably no less than a ton, or upwards of ten large barrels of spermaceti, would be taken out. the throat, he asserted, was large enough to swallow a man, though the tongue was very small. the mouth was lined throughout with a pearly white membrane, which, when the whale lies below the surface with its lower jaw dropped down, attracts the unwary fish and other sea-creatures on which it feeds. when a number swim into the trap, it closes its jaw, and swallows the whole at a gulp. "you see, walter," observed the mate, "the sperm whale differs very much in this respect from the greenland whale, which has a remarkably small gullet, and a quantity of whalebone in its gills, through which it strains its food, so that nothing can get into its mouth which it cannot swallow. now, the sperm whale has no whalebone in its jaws, and could manage to take in a fish of fifty pounds, or, for that matter, one of a hundred pounds, provided it had no sharp prickles on its back. "now, look at the eyes, how small they are, compared to the size of the animal. they have got eyelids, though; and they are placed in the most convenient spot, at the widest part of the head, so that it can see around it in every direction. just behind the eyes are the openings of the ears; but they are very small,--not big enough to put in the tip of your little finger. just astern of the mouth are the swimming paws; not that the whale makes much use of them, for it works itself on by its flukes, but they serve to balance the body, and assist the female in supporting her young." while walter had been looking at the whales, the crew had been busy in preparing for the operation of "cutting in," or taking off the blubber. huge caldrons, or "try-pots," had been got up on deck, with pans below them for holding the fire. the first operation was to cut off the head; which being done, it was hauled astern and carefully secured with the snout downwards. tackles being secured to the maintop, were brought to the windlass, when one of the crew being lowered on to the body of the whale with a huge hook in his hand, he fixed it into a hole cut for the purpose in the "blanket," or outer covering, near the head. others being lowered to assist him, they commenced cutting with sharp spades a strip between two and three feet broad, in a spiral direction round the body. this strip, as it was hoisted up by the tackles, caused the body to perform a rotatory motion, till the whole of the strip or "blanket-piece" was cut off to the flukes; which "blanket-piece," by-the-by, the mate told walter, was so called because it kept the whale warm. as soon as this was done, the shapeless mass, deprived of its fat, was allowed to float away, to become the prey of numberless seafowl and various fish. a hole being now cut into the case of the head, a bucket was fixed to a long pole and thrust down, and the valuable spermaceti bailed out till the case was emptied, when the head was let go, and, deprived of its buoyant property, quickly sank from view. the next operation was to boil the spermaceti, and to stow it away in casks. the blanket-piece being cut up into small portions, they were thrown into the try-pots; the crisp pieces which remained after the oil was extracted, called "scraps," serving for fuel. this last operation is called "trying out." four days elapsed before both the carcasses were got rid of, and the oil stowed away in casks in the hold. fortunately the weather remained calm, or the operation would have taken much longer. this was considered a very good beginning, and the captain hoped he should hear no more grumbling. we must rapidly pass over the events of several weeks. two ports in the northern part of peru were visited, in order to dispose of to the inhabitants some of the goods brought out, and to obtain fresh provisions. it was a work of some risk, as the _champion_ would have to defend herself against any spanish men-of-war which might fall in with her. after this, she touched at the volcanic-formed galapagos islands, situated on the line, at some distance from the continent. here a number of huge tortoises were captured,--a welcome addition to the provisions on board. the ship remained some time in port, that the rigging might be set up, and that she might undergo several necessary repairs. from this place she sailed northward, touching at the sandwich islands,--then in almost as barbarous a condition as when discovered by captain cook. the inhabitants, however, had learned to respect their white visitors, and willingly brought them an abundance of fresh provisions. captain tredeagle was too wise not to take precautions against surprise. some of the worst of the crew, however, grumbled greatly at not being allowed to visit the shore, and showed signs of mutinous intentions; their ringleader, as before, being the boatswain. by constant watchfulness and firmness the captain managed to prevent an actual outbreak; and having taken on board an ample supply of fresh provisions, and filled up with wood and water, he sailed for the south-west,--intending to try the fishing-grounds off the kingsmill and ellis's groups, and thence to proceed to new guinea and the adjacent islands. after the _champion_ had been some weeks at sea, a sail was seen to the westward: whether a friend or a foe, could not be discovered; but she was apparently of no great size. the crew loudly insisted that chase should be given, and that she should be overhauled, many even of the better-disposed joining in the cry. "i warn you, my men, that if a foe, though small she may be strongly armed, and you may have to fight hard for victory--not probably to be gained till several lives have been lost." "we want prize-money, and are ready to fight for it," shouted the crew. "i am willing to please you, though it is my belief that we shall be better off in the end if we keep to our proper calling. even if we come off victorious, our crew will be weakened; and while we are repairing the damage we receive we might be filling our casks with oil." "one rich prize will be worth all the whales we can catch," shouted the crew. the captain yielded, and all sail was made in chase of the vessel in sight. the stranger soon discovered that she was pursued, and set all the canvas she could carry to escape. the _champion_ sailed well, and carried a strong breeze with her, while the vessel ahead had but a light wind. the former soon came up with the chase, which hoisted french colours. she was a brig, and from her appearance many thought that she was a man-of-war. if so, though much smaller, she might prove a formidable antagonist, or turn out a tartar. it was too late, however, to escape, and their best chance of gaining the victory was to put a bold face on the matter. shot and ammunition were got up from below, the guns were run out, and the crew went to their quarters ready for battle. many surmises were hazarded as to the character of the vessel. it soon became evident that she was not a man-of-war; but she might be a privateer, and if so, would prove a tough customer. that such was the case was soon evident. she now got the breeze; but instead of setting all sail to escape, she hauled her wind, and stood away on a bowline, manoeuvring to obtain the weather-gage. this captain tredeagle was too good a sailor to let her obtain; and seeing that she could not do so, she stood boldly towards her antagonist. captain tredeagle told walter and nub to carry alice down below, to remain in the lower hold, the safest part of the ship. she was very unwilling to go, and begged that she might stay on deck to share the danger to which he might be exposed. "it is impossible," he answered. "i should have my thoughts fixed on you instead of on the enemy; and should you be wounded, i should never forgive myself." "come, miss alice. enemy soon begin to fire, and time you out of harm's way," said nub, taking her hand to lead her below. "may i return, father?" asked walter. "i cannot bear the idea of hiding away while there is fighting going forward." captain tredeagle hesitated. "i must not place my son out of the way of dangers to which the rest of the crew are exposed. they will look down upon him if i did." "you may return," he answered. "thank you, father, thank you," said walter, springing after his sister and nub. he soon came back. "alice is now all right," he said. "nub has been telling her that we probably shall not have much fighting, as the battle will soon be over, and we shall no doubt take the enemy." the brig was soon within range of the whaler's guns, and showed her readiness for the fight by firing the first shot, which came crashing through the bulwarks, and striking one man to the deck. "give it to them, my lads!" cried captain tredeagle; and the whaler's broadside was fired at her opponent with an effect scarcely expected-- one of the shot going right through the brig's foretopmast, sending it with all its sail and rigging overboard. the english crew cheered lustily. captain tredeagle ordered the helm to be put down, intending to shoot ahead of the brig and rake her; but before he could do so, she fired her broadside, which came sweeping across the deck, killing two men and wounding three others. it was her last effort, however; for the whaler, passing ahead of her, poured in her broadside in return, rending her mainmast, and killing several of her crew. finding that all resistance was useless, the french colours were hauled down. walter's first impulse was to rush below to alice. "good news! good news!" he exclaimed; "we have taken a prize! hurrah! hurrah! you may come up into the cabin; but you had better not go on deck, for there are sights there you would not wish to see." walter was right, for the three men lately killed lay stark and stiff on the deck, which was sprinkled in many places with blood; while three others severely wounded were under the doctor's hands. besides this, a portion of the bulwarks was knocked away; and, what was of still more consequence, two of her boats were almost irretrievably damaged. a boat was lowered, and the first mate pulled away to board the prize. the damage she had received was severe; besides which, a number of her crew had been killed and wounded. the captain and two of his officers had also lost their lives. the prize was of less value than was expected, as she had only a small assortment of articles on board, for the purpose of trading with the natives. captain tredeagle's own crew would of necessity be weakened to carry her into port; the nearest to which he could send her being sydney in new south wales. some time must also be spent in rigging jury-masts and refitting her for the voyage: so that, whatever others might have thought, he very much regretted having fallen in with the brig, the battle proving, as in most instances when nations or people fall out, a loss to both parties. he gave the command to the third mate and six hands, all that could be spared; and they would have, besides navigating the brig, to look after the prisoners, most of whom remained on board. fortunately the weather remained calm, though even then it took three days to prepare the brig for the voyage. a third of her crew were received on board the _champion_, they having volunteered to join her. both vessels then made sail, the _champion_ accompanying the prize. they had not got far, however, when the lookout at the masthead gave the welcome cry of "there they spout! there they spout!" "where away?" asked the captain. "on the weather bow," was the answer. the captain made the signal for the brig to proceed on her voyage, and ordered the _champion's_ sails to be braced sharp up, to stand towards the whales which were seen to windward. there was a fresh breeze, which seemed likely to increase. after making a couple of tacks the ship was hove-to, and the captain ordered two boats to be lowered,--he going in one, and the second mate in the other. away they pulled after the whales, which, however, caught sight of them, and went off in all directions. the captain made chase after one, which, taking several turns, at length came towards him. ordering his men to lie on their oars, he stepped forward, waiting till the whale, a huge bull, came near enough, when with unerring aim he struck his harpoon deep into its side. the whale, smarting with pain, turned round, almost upsetting the boat, and away it went dead to windward at a tremendous speed right against the sea, which flew from the bows, covering her with showers of foam. the second mate, who had gone away after another whale, observing the course the first was taking as it came by, dashed up and fixed his harpoon into the other side of the monster. away went both the boats, towed with undiminished speed, till in a short time neither could be seen from the _champion's_ deck. scarcely had they disappeared when several more whales were seen spouting at no considerable distance to windward. the opportunity of catching them was not to be lost, and mr shobbrok ordered the two remaining boats to be lowered,--he going in one and the fourth mate in the other, leaving the ship in charge of the surgeon. walter had long been anxious to see a whale actually caught; and not allowing the mate time to refuse him, he jumped into his boat. "do let me go," he exclaimed. "the whales are not far off, and we shall soon be back with a prize." the men in their eagerness had shoved off and were giving way. walter sprang aft to the side of the mate, who was steering. "you won't be angry with me, mr shobbrok," he said; "i promise not to come again, if you object." "i trust that no accident will happen, my boy," answered the mate. "it was for your own good alone that i wished you to remain on board, otherwise i should have been glad of your company, and given you the opportunity of seeing a whale caught." a whole school of whales was in sight, several of them spouting together. the mates steered for them, making sure of getting hold of a couple at least. some were spouting, others sounding, and others just coming up again to breathe. mr shobbrok steered for one which had just made its appearance above water; while the fourth mate's boat made way towards another huge monster which had already been blowing for some seconds. the first mate's boat approached the whale he had selected. stepping to the bows, he plunged his harpoon into the creature's side; and then taking one of the lances he thrust it deep into its body, singing out as he did so, "back off, all!" at that instant walter heard a cry from the direction of the other boat. he looked round, when what was his horror to see that the boat had been struck by the whale and lifted into the air! the next instant down it came, dashed into fragments, while those in it were sent flying in all directions. the first mate, in his desire to go to the rescue of his shipmates, was on the point of heaving his own line overboard with a drogue fastened to it, when the whale he had struck, lifting up its huge flukes, sounded, nearly dragging him overboard as he let out the line. the men were backing out of its way, when suddenly it slewed round its tail. the men, well knowing their danger, made every effort to escape, and believing that they had got to a safe distance, and that the whale had gone down, pulled back to the assistance of their drowning shipmates. just then a tremendous blow was felt, and the boat, struck amidships, was thrown into the air as the other had been, and smashed to fragments. the two men in the centre of the boat must have been killed instantaneously. walter felt stunned for a moment, but, recovering his senses, found himself struggling in the water, and close to the broken stern of the boat, to which he clung fast. only one person remained floating above the surface. walter called to him; and mr shobbrok's voice answered, "hold on, my lad; i'll be with you anon." walter saw that he was towing some of the fragments of the boat. the whale had disappeared, possibly having carried down some of the men in his mighty jaws. the first mate, after considerable exertion, reached walter. "thank heaven, you have escaped!" he said, helping him up on to the wreck of the boat. fortunately the second line remained attached to it. "we must put together a raft, walter, and try to get back to the ship," said the mate. by means of the line he set to work, and lashed together the different pieces of the boat which he managed to pick up, till he had formed a raft sufficient to support walter. the fragments of the other boat still remained floating at no great distance. pushing the raft before him, he shoved it on till he reached the spot, when, collecting them, with the assistance of four oars he had picked up he formed a still larger raft, on which he, as well as walter, could sit securely. he had also got two other oars with which to urge on the raft. thus a considerable time was occupied, and it was now evening; before long it would be quite dark, and the difficulty of finding the ship much increased; they had less chance, also, of being picked up by either of the two other boats on their return to the ship. walter had not uttered a word of complaint, and had done his utmost to assist the mate. he could not help feeling how wrong he had been in getting into the boat, knowing, as he did, that his father would certainly have objected; and should he not find them, how grieved he would be on getting on board the ship to discover that they had not returned. the accident had occurred at too great a distance for those remaining on board to see what had happened, though they might, perhaps, conjecture that the boats had been destroyed. the sun soon set, and darkness rapidly coming on, shrouded the far-distant ship from sight. the mate and walter had done their utmost to impel the raft towards her; but gathering clouds obscured the sky, and they had no longer the means of directing their course. "it will be impossible to reach her during the night," said the mate at length. "we are as likely to be pulling away from her as towards her; and i have a notion that the wind has shifted more than once. the best thing we can do is to lie on our oars and to wait patiently till the morning. take care, however, my boy, that you do not drop asleep and fall off. here, make a couple of beckets, and slip your arms through them; they will awake you if you move in your sleep." "i have no wish to go to sleep," said walter; "i feel too anxious to do that." "you must not trust too much to that," said the mate. "nature may be too powerful for you; and you will be all the better for the rest." still walter insisted on endeavouring to keep awake. he was sitting up trying to pass the time with talking, when suddenly he exclaimed, "look! look, mr shobbrok! where can that light come from?" the mate gazed for some time, and then said solemnly, "walter, i am afraid the ship is on fire." chapter four. alice left on board--mutineers and prisoners attempt to take the ship-- gallantry of the surgeon--fire breaks out--nub saves alice on a raft-- watch the burning ship--voyage of alice and nub on the raft--look out for a sail--a terrific thunderstorm--a sail in sight. after the boats had left the ship, alice remained on deck, attended by nub, watching their progress. now and then mr lawrie came and spoke to her, but she was so eager that she could scarcely reply to what he said. away dashed the two boats dancing over the waves, and were soon almost lost to sight, though alice saw that they had reached the spot where the whales had been seen spouting. they had been gone some time when she saw tidy come from below and speak in a hurried, anxious tone to mr lawrie. he then hastened away, as if not wishing to be seen by his shipmates. soon after the surgeon came to her, and begged that she would go into the cabin. "let me help you, missie alice," said nub. "better aff dere dan on deck." alice saw that something was wrong, but could not make out exactly what it was. she went, however, as mr lawrie requested her; and taking up a book endeavoured to read, but not with much success. she saw mr lawrie come in and put a brace of pistols in his belt. nub and tidy, with three or four of the other men, did the same. this, of course, made her very anxious. several times she asked nub if the boats were in sight, but always got the same answer: "no signs of boats yet, missie alice." poor girl, she felt very forlorn with both her father and walter away. nub came in and placed the tea-things on the table, and she made tea. at last mr lawrie came in, apparently in a great hurry, and somewhat agitated. of course she asked him if the boats were in sight. "i hope they soon will be," he answered. "is there anything the matter?" she asked. "i hope it will not be of much consequence," he replied evasively; and without saying more, quickly went again on deck. it was now getting quite dark. nub lighted the cabin-lamp. "you had better take a book and read, miss alice, and dat pass your time till de captain return." alice found it almost impossible to keep her eyes on the page. presently she heard some loud shouts and cries, and the stamping of feet, and pistol-shots. that there was fighting going forward on deck she felt sure, but she dared not go up to ascertain. the noise increased--there was more firing--then nub rushed into the cabin. "oh, what has happened?" she asked. "i come to take care of you, miss alice," he answered. "de prisoners and de bad men who mutiny before try to take de ship from de surgeon and us, and dey are now fighting; and mr lawrie told me to come to take care of you." "oh, thank you, nub. how i wish my father was on board, to help poor mr lawrie. what will he do?" "he fight like brave scotchman," answered nub; "and he soon make de mutineers ask pardon. don't be afraid, miss alice; de captain soon come, and all go right." nub, however, was more sanguine than the state of the case warranted. mr lawrie, aided by the true men, had managed to drive the mutineers forward; but they were too numerous to allow him to hope for victory, unless the loyal part of the crew away in the boats should speedily return. for a short time all was again quiet; but the mutineers were merely gathering to make another rush aft. several who had before been faithful joined them; and now again began to utter the most savage cries, this time shouting out, "overboard with all who oppose us! down with the officers! death to our enemies!" they were already on the point of dashing aft to execute their threats; when thick smoke was seen ascending from the fore-hatchway, a bright flame shooting up directly afterwards in the midst of it. "fire! fire! fire!" shouted both parties of the crew. "my lads, we must try and put it out, if we don't want to be burned alive," exclaimed the surgeon, addressing those about him. then turning to the mutineers, he shouted out, "you men who are about to attack us,-- if you have any sense left in you, i entreat you for your own sakes to assist in extinguishing the fire." "ay, ay, sir," cried the boatswain; and then addressing his own party, he exclaimed, "there's sense in what the doctor says. let's put the fire out first, and settle our differences afterwards." all hands turned to and tried to save the ship; but the fire had already made so much progress below that there appeared little probability of their succeeding. the buckets were collected and filled; the hatches torn off; and the boatswain, heading a party of the boldest, went below, while the others passed the buckets to them. mr lawrie and the other officers exerted themselves to the utmost, he setting a good example by his courage and activity. dense volumes of smoke, however, continued to ascend both from the fore and main hatchway; while flames which had at first only flickered up occasionally now burst forth through the fore-hatchway, circling round the foremast and catching the rigging and sails. nub, in the meantime, who would have willingly worked with the rest, considered it his duty to remain with alice, every now and then putting his head out of the companion-hatch to see how matters were proceeding. at last he came back, his countenance exhibiting anxiety rather than terror. "de ship will be burned; no doubt about dat, missie alice," he said; "and de sooner we get away de better. you help me, and we make raft on which we float till de captain comes back to take us. don't be afraid, missie alice; no harm will come to you, for god will take care of us better dan we can take care of ourselves. still, we do what we can." "i will do whatever you advise, nub," answered alice, endeavouring to overcome her alarm. she did what every truly wise person under such circumstances would do--she commended herself and her companion to the care of god. she then took nub's hand, who led her up the companion-ladder to the poop. having obtained an axe, he immediately began to cut loose the hen-coops, spars, and gratings, and the lighter part of the woodwork of that part of the ship. securing them to ropes, he forthwith lowered them over the side. fortunately at this time the wind had fallen completely, so that the ship was making no way through the water. placing alice in one of the ports, from which she could leap if necessary into his arms, he descended, and began lashing together the spars and gratings and pieces of woodwork which he had thrown overboard. he could only do this in a very rough manner, as he knew that from the rapid progress the fire was making there was no time to be lost. he would have called the surgeon and tidy to his assistance, but he was afraid if he did so that the rest of the crew would take possession of the raft he had commenced. his great object was to save alice, leaving the others to do the best they could for themselves. he had put materials together sufficient to bear his and her weight. while he was working, it occurred to him that it would be necessary to get some provisions; and securing the raft, he sprang on deck by means of some ropes he had hung overboard for the purpose, and rushing into the cabin, he got hold of a small box of biscuit, a bottle of wine, and an earthen jar full of water. with these prizes he again descended to the raft. on his way he observed that the surgeon and the rest of the people were still labouring in vain endeavours to put out the fire, and he could not help shouting to mr lawrie, "you had better build a raft, sir; no use trying to put out the fire." whether or not mr lawrie heard him he could not tell. as he was getting over the quarter, he caught sight of a boat's sail, which he threw on the raft. having deposited his provisions in a hen-coop in which a couple of fowls still remained, he sprang up again to assist alice down, as he had a feeling that she would be safer on the raft than on board the ship. he had secured a boat-hook for the purpose of catching hold of the articles he threw overboard, and was stretching out his arm to reach a piece of timber which had floated away, while alice was holding on to a rope close to him, when a thundering sound echoed in their ears. "o nub, what is that?" cried alice in a terrified tone, gazing at the fearful scene before her. "ship blow up, i s'pose," answered nub, working away energetically. "hold on, missie alice; no harm come to you,--we shove off directly." an explosion had, indeed, taken place in the fore-part of the ship, scattering destruction around, blowing up the deck, and sending all on that part into the water, killing some and fearfully mangling others. the fire now burst forth with increased fury, enveloping in flames the whole of the fore-part of the ship. nub, fearing that another explosion of still more terrific character would occur should the fire reach the chief magazine, which it would do, he thought, before long, shoved off with his young charge, so precious in his sight, to put as great a distance as possible between her and the danger he apprehended. he had already fastened together several pieces of wood, which he had not time to secure as perfectly as he desired; and on his way he picked up many more such fragments, as well as some casks which had been on deck, and were sent overboard by the explosion. without loss of time he began lashing them together, soon forming a raft which he considered would be able to withstand a tolerable amount of knocking about should the sea get up. nub was not destitute of humanity, but though he heard the cries of his shipmates as they struggled in the water, he continued labouring away at the raft without attempting to go to the rescue. "oh, poor men! cannot we help them?" exclaimed alice. "dey take care of demselves, missie alice," answered nub. "my business is to sabe you." "oh, don't think of me," exclaimed alice. "i cannot bear the thoughts of their perishing if it is possible to save them." "it not possible, den," answered nub; "unless i run de risk ob losing you." and he worked away as before. the flames had now burst forth from all sides of the ship, affording him sufficient light for the purpose. having preserved a stout spar to serve as a mast, he fixed it firmly at one end of the raft, staying it up with the remainder of the rope, with the exception of a piece which he kept for halyards. the sail was already attached to a light yard, so that he had only to secure it to his halyards and hoist it up. this he did, bringing the sheet aft, where he placed himself, with an oar to serve as a rudder. his great object was to get to a sufficient distance from the ship, to avoid the danger of another explosion. by this time the cries from the drowning men had ceased; and had he thought it safe to venture back to the ship, it would probably have been too late to save them. what had become of the rest of his shipmates he could not tell. he fancied, indeed, that he heard the sound of voices; but if so, they must have been on the other side of the ship, and were thus shut out from view. a light breeze having now got up, the raft made tolerable way, and soon got to some distance from the ship; but still fearing that the fragments might reach them and injure alice, nub stood on. now and then he cast a look at the ship. it appeared to him that the flames were not making such rapid progress as at first. "after de fire burn out, we go back, missie alice; but still i tink we safer here dan on board de ship," he observed. "s'pose we near and de ship go down, den de oder men get on de raft and sink her." nub, indeed, knew that there were two dangers to be apprehended. should the ship blow up, he and alice might be injured by the fragments, which would probably be sent to a great distance from her; while, should she go down, the raft might be drawn into the vortex: and sink with her. he could not tell at what distance they would be free from either of these two dangers; and this made him stand on much further than was in reality necessary. on and on he went. it seemed foolish to him to stop short of a spot of positive safety. the fierce flames were blazing up from every part of the ship, making her appear much nearer than she really was. the wind was increasing, driving the raft rapidly before it; and as the sea got up and rolled under the raft, nub saw that the only means of preserving it from being swamped was to continue on his course. on and on he sailed. the sea rose higher and higher, and the clouds gathered thickly in the sky. his great fear was that the seas would break aboard and sweep alice off. to prevent so fearful a catastrophe, he begged her to let him fasten her to a hen-coop, which he lashed tightly down in the centre of the raft. "don't be afraid, missie alice; don't be afraid," he kept continually saying. "i am not afraid for myself," answered alice; "but i am thinking how miserable poor papa and walter will be when they get back to the ship and find that i am gone. they will not know that you are taking care of me, and that we are safe on a raft. and then, if mr lawrie and dan tidy should escape, they will not be able to say where we are gone, as they did not see us get away. for their sakes, i wish that we could go back." "dat we can't do, missie alice; for, if i try eber so hard, i not pull against such a gale as dis," answered nub. alice was silent; she saw that nub's reason was a true one. though she had assured him that she was not frightened, she felt very anxious and alarmed about her own fate and his. the thunder rolled, the lightning flashed, and the seas tumbled the raft so fearfully about, that had it not been put strongly together it would speedily have been broken into fragments, and she and her companion left without any support on which to preserve their lives. the burning ship appeared further and further off, and even should the storm cease it would be almost impossible to get back to her. at length there came a loud roar which sounded above the noise of the thunder. the flames seemed to rise higher than before in the sky; and even at that distance the masts, spars, and rigging could be discerned, broken into fragments, and hanging, as it were, above the fire. then after a few minutes all became dark! "dere goes de ship to de bottom," exclaimed nub; "i hope no one on board her. de people had time to get away on a raft if dey got deir senses about dem." "indeed, i hope that mr lawrie, and honest dan tidy and the others, managed to escape," cried alice. "but oh, nub, do you think papa and walter can have been on board?" "no, i tink not, missie alice," answered nub. "dey too wise to stay when de ship was burning like dat. dey knew well enough dat she would go up in de air when de fire reach de magazine, which has just happened. dey eider not get back, or put off again in time." "but they will think that we were blown up, should they not have visited the ship first," said alice; "and that will break their hearts." "i hope not, missie alice. dey know dat i had got to take care of you, and dat i got head on my shoulders, and would not do so foolish a ting as to stay on board and be blown up if i could get away. don't be unhappy, derefore, about dat." "i will try not," said alice, "though it is very, very terrible." "no doubt about dat, missie alice," answered nub; "but tings might be worse, and if de raft hold together in dis sea it will swim through any we are likely to have. already de wind down, and it grow calmer. suppose now we had been close to de ship when she blow up, we much worse off dan we are now. suppose de people had made me work to put out de fire, den i had not built a raft, and we blown up,--dat much worse dan we are now; or suppose de sea had washed over de raft and carried us away, den also we much worse off dan we are now; or suppose i had not got de biscuits and de water, den we starve, and much worse off dan we are now: so you see, missie alice, we bery fortunate, and hab no right to complain." "oh no, i am not complaining," exclaimed alice; "i feel that we have been very mercifully preserved, and i trust that we shall be saved, though i cannot say how that is to be." "no more can i, missie alice, 'cept the captain find us, or one of de oder boats; and den we have a long way to go before we reach land, i s'pose; but dere are many islands in dese seas, and perhaps we get to one of dem where we find cocoanuts, yams, bananas, and plenty of oder tings to eat; and den perhaps de captain build ship, and we get back some day to old england." by such like remarks honest nub tried to amuse the mind of the young girl, and draw her thoughts from the fearful dangers which he saw clearly enough surrounded them. he knew perfectly well how difficult it would be for the boats to find them in that wide sea, low down as they were on the surface of the ocean. though they might float many days, their provisions must come to an end, while their supply of water was fearfully limited, and would soon be exhausted. he resolved to touch but the smallest drop himself, that he might have more for her. nub was unwilling to increase his distance from the place where the ship had gone down, as the further he went away the less chance there was of the boats coming up with them. still there was too much sea, he considered, to make it safe to lower the sail; for though the raft floated lightly over the waves, should its progress be stopped he feared that they would break on board. the wind, which had subsided for some time, again increased, and the danger he had apprehended became greater. he had stepped the mast in a hurried, and therefore imperfect manner, while he had not stayed it up as he could have wished. as it was very necessary to remain at the helm, he could do nothing to strengthen it. all he could say was, "hold on, good mast! hold on!" as he saw it straining and bending before the breeze. in what direction he was going he could not tell. land had been seen the day before, and he might be running towards it; but then, again, the attempt to get on shore might be more dangerous than to remain on the raft. he also knew well that the inhabitants of the islands in that part of the world were generally savage cannibals, who would murder alice and him without the slightest compunction; or if their lives were spared, that they would probably be reduced to the most abject slavery. though he could not keep these thoughts from entering his own mind, he did his best to cheer up the little girl by assuming a confidence which he himself did not feel. the sky still looked wild and threatening, the wind blew stronger than ever. suddenly there came a sharp report and a cracking sound, and in an instant the mast was broken off, the shrouds torn away, and, with the sail, carried overboard. nub sprang forward to secure it, but it was too late; the raft, with the impetus it had received, drove on, and the sail was irretrievably lost. happily at the same instant the wind suddenly dropped, and though the seas dashed the raft alarmingly about, none washed over it. alice, hearing the noise, and seeing nub's agitation, became frightened. "oh, what has, happened?" she exclaimed, for the first time giving way to tears. nub did his utmost to quiet her alarm by assuring her that they were in no greater danger than before, and begged her to hold fast to the hen-coop, lest any of the seas which were tumbling about around them should break on the raft and sweep her overboard. nub did his best with the long oar he had fixed as a rudder in the after part of the raft to keep it before the wind, so that it still drove on, though at much less speed than when the sail was set. happily, soon after the last violent blast, the gale began sensibly to abate and the sea to go down, and when at length the long wished-for morning came it was almost calm. as soon as it was light enough nub looked anxiously around in the hopes of seeing some of the boats approaching from the direction of the ship; but no object was visible on the wild waste of waters, the raft appearing to float in the midst of a vast circle bounded by the concave sky, without a break on either side. alice felt very tired and sleepy, for she had not closed her eyes all the night; and nub himself began to get excessively hungry. this reminded him of the provisions he had stowed away in the hen-coop, and he bethought him that alice would also want some breakfast. he could now venture to leave the helm; and going to the hen-coop, he got out some biscuits and the wine and water. "here, missie alice," he said; "will you take some breakfast? it will do you good and raise your spirits. when people hungry dey always melancholy." "but i am not melancholy, nub, though i cannot say that i am merry; and i am not especially hungry, but if you think i ought to eat i will do so." "yes, yes; you will get ill if you don't eat," said nub, offering the biscuits, and pouring out a little wine and water into a cup, which he had slipped into his pocket as he left the cabin. alice thanked him, and was going to eat. "stop!" she murmured. "i have not said my prayers this morning, and i was going to begin breakfast without saying grace." "oh, missie alice, you are an angel," exclaimed nub. "i forgot all about saying my prayers, and i am sure an angel would not have done that," she answered. "oh, how ungrateful i was; but it is not too late." before she would touch anything, she knelt down and offered up her short morning prayer, adding a petition that she and nub, and all others she loved or was interested in, might be preserved from the dangers which surrounded them. rising from her knees, she then reverently said grace, and ate some of the biscuit with a better appetite than she had supposed she possessed. nub took a very small portion, and merely wetted his lips with the wine and water to quench the thirst he was already beginning to feel. he gave alice, indeed, but a small allowance, wishing to make it last as long as possible, as he knew that they might have to remain on the raft for a long time. again and again he looked round to see if anyone was coming to their rescue; but no object being in sight, he sank down, intending to watch over alice, who, overcome with weariness, at length fell asleep. though he himself wished to keep awake, before long his eyelids closed, the slow up and down movement of the raft having the effect of making both the occupants sleep soundly. the solitary raft lay on the waste of waters. hour after hour passed by, and still the little girl and faithful black slept on, watched over by one who ever cares for the helpless and distressed who trust in him. hungry sharks might have jumped up and seized them in their maws; huge whales might have struck the raft with their snouts, and upset it as they rose above the water; or birds of prey might have pounced down and struck them with their sharp beaks;--but from all such dangers they were preserved, while a veil of clouds covered the sky and sheltered them from the burning rays of the hot sun of that latitude. at length nub started up. he had been dreaming that alice had fallen overboard, and that he had plunged in after her to save her from a hungry shark. for a few moments, so confused were his senses, he could not tell what had happened; then finding himself on the raft, and alice sleeping close to him, he recollected all about it. his first impulse was to stand up and look round, in the hope of seeing the boats; but, as before, not an object was in sight. "well, well, i s'pose de boats come in good time," he said to himself, sitting down again with a sigh. "we must wait patiently. if any land was in sight i would row to it, for though de raft might move very slowly, we should get dere at last; but now, though i pull on all day, i get nowhere. better wait till god sends some one to help us. perhaps when de breeze gets up again another whaler come dis way and take us on board." nub looked at alice. she was sleeping calmly; and knowing that the more she slept the better, he would not awake her. he himself felt very hungry, but he did not like to eat except she was sharing the meal. he could not, however, refrain from nibbling a piece of biscuit, to try and stop the gnawings of hunger. several times he stood up and gazed anxiously around; sitting down, however, on each occasion with a sigh, and saying to himself, as before, "no sail, no boat. well, well, help come in good time." at length alice awoke, and seemed even more surprised than nub had been to find herself on the raft. he at once got out the biscuits, and begged her to eat several, and to take a little wine and water. "but you are not eating any yourself, nub," she said. "i have had some; but i take a little more to keep you company," he answered, not telling her that he had before merely nibbled a small piece. in the same way he merely wetted his lips with the liquid, though he would gladly have taken a cupful. another night was coming on. just before the sun sank beneath the horizon, nub took a last look round. alice glanced up in his face. "can you see anything?" she asked in an anxious tone. "no, noting, missie alice. perhaps to-morrow de boats come," he answered. "we not despair; we got food and water, and we tank god for dem." "i will say my evening prayer," said alice, kneeling down with her arms on the hen-coop. nub reverently placed himself on his knees by her side, and repeated the words she used. "i will now sing a hymn," she said, reseating herself on the hen-coop. from that solitary spot on the desert ocean arose to heaven a sweet hymn of praise, nub, who, like many negroes, could sing well, joining with his voice. darkness came down over the deep, shrouding the raft with its sable canopy. alice, having slept so much during the day, could not for some time close her eyes; so nub did his best to amuse her. she talked to him not only of the past but of the future, and of the hope of deliverance. nub calculated that their stock of provisions would last, if he could manage to exist without eating more than he had hitherto done, at least for four or five days; this would give alice enough to keep up her strength. but should help not come at the end of that time he must, he knew, die of hunger; and though she might live a few days longer, what could she do all alone on the raft? this thought made him very sad, but he tried to put it from him. at last alice fell asleep, and the sea remaining calm, he thought it best to follow her example, that he might endure his hunger and obtain the refreshment which sleep would give him. another day broke. it was spent almost as the previous one had been. no sail hove in sight, and the raft floated calmly as at first. he had thought the loss of the sail a great misfortune, but for the last two days it would have been of no use except to afford some shelter to alice; and perhaps, like other things which people at first look on as misfortunes, the loss might prove ultimately advantageous. with nub's assistance alice could move about a little on the raft, to prevent her limbs from becoming benumbed. frequently she begged him to let her stand upon the hen-coop, that she might look around to watch for any sail which might heave in sight; each time, however, only meeting with disappointment. the arching sky and circling expanse of water were, as before, alone visible. towards evening nub became more anxious. he did not like the look of the weather. dark clouds were gathering overhead, and the sea rose and fell in ominous undulations, which he fancied betokened a storm. still he could do nothing. he felt his own helplessness; and this god often designs should be the case, that men may place their entire dependence on him who alone can afford help in time of need. nub did not speak of his fears to alice, who at length fell asleep while he sat watching by her side, ready to hold her fast should the sea get up as he expected it would do. he was mistaken, however, in his anticipations of evil; for though the threatening appearance of the weather did not go off, the ocean remained as calm as before. another day came round. nub was constantly on his feet looking about for the expected sail, as there was a light breeze, which might have brought one towards them. hour after hour passed by and no sail appeared. "will a ship neber come?" frequently ejaculated nub. he was losing patience, and it was but natural. "the biscuits and water will soon be all gone, and den what shall we do?" he thought to himself; but he did not say that aloud, lest alice might be alarmed. "i am sure that the boats, or a ship, will find us to-morrow," said alice. "why do you tink dat?" asked nub. "because our biscuits are coming to an end," said alice calmly; "and, nub, i see that you eat very few of them, and you are growing weak and thin. you ought to take twice as many as i do, as you are twice as big; and yet i am sure that you eat much fewer." "how you know dat, missie alice?" asked nub. "because the last time you served them out i counted the number you took; and while you gave me four, you only ate two yourself." "well, you bery cunning girl," said nub, trying to laugh. "but den remember you are growing, and want food more dan i do. i have only to eat enough to keep body and soul togeder; and you have not been accustomed to hardships as i have since i can remember; so you see dat it's right i should give you more dan i take myself." alice did not quite understand nub's reasoning, but she felt very hungry, and was thankful to obtain the food. "now, missie alice, i am not going to eat any more of de biscuits," said nub. "de next food i take will be one of de fowls." "but how can you light a fire to cook them?" asked alice. "i eat dem raw! much better eat dem dan die." poor alice shuddered. nub knew that it was high time to kill one of the fowls, for though their troughs were full of food when he lowered the coop on to the raft, it had long since been exhausted. alice turned her head aside when nub put one of the fowls out of its misery, and eagerly drank up the blood to quench the burning thirst from which he was suffering. he did not offer her any, as he knew that while any wine and water remained she would not touch it. he felt in better spirits, and much stronger, after this meal. he also imbibed some of the hope which inspired alice, that they might be relieved before long. still, when the sun went down again, and the night once more began, his spirits drooped. he could no longer keep awake as he had done on the previous night, and as soon as she had closed her eyes his head began to nod, and he fell asleep. he slept soundly, for the raft moved quietly about. nothing occurred for several hours to disturb him. at length he was startled by a loud peal of thunder. he looked up. the sky was overcast; a vivid flash of lightning darted from the clouds, followed by another terrific peal, which awoke alice. "oh! what is the matter?" she exclaimed. "a thunderstorm," he answered. "but de sea calm, and de lightning not hurt us." it required firm faith, however, to believe that such would not be the case. at times the whole heavens were lighted with vivid flashes, while the thunder roared and crashed on every side. this continued for some time. nub stood up and looked around him, alice saw him gazing intently to windward; she rose and took his hand. "what is it you see?" she asked. "it may be only de white top of a wave," he answered. there was a cessation of the lightning in that part of the heavens for a minute or more, but nub kept looking steadily in the same direction. presently another vivid flash darted across the sky, lighting up a wide portion of the ocean. "dere! dere now! i see it again!" exclaimed nub. "yes, missie alice, yes, dat is a sail; i am sure of it. dere it gone again; but you will see it soon, if you look with all your eyes." alice did look with might and main, waiting for another flash. presently the heavens were lighted up more brilliantly than before, the glare falling fully on a white sail, which seemed at no great distance off. once more all was dark; but alice and nub continued to gaze in the direction where they had seen the sail, in the expectation that it would reappear. they waited in vain. they raised their voices together, and shouted, in the hope of being heard by those on board. nub's voice, however, was weak and hollow; alice's was almost as loud, and far shriller. "dey cannot hear us," said nub at length. "dey too far off." still he stood and gazed, and again and again shouted out. his fear was that the boat, (for such, he conjectured, was the object he had seen, and which appeared to be running before the wind), might pass in the darkness either on one side or the other, and that he and his beloved charge might be left to perish on the waste of waters. he waited for some time. "dey must be bit nearer now," he said at length. "we try to make dem hear." he and alice again lifted up their voices, and shouted till they could shout no more. "hark!" cried nub, "i tink i hear a voice." chapter five. walter and the mate visit the ship--the "champion" blows up--construct a raft--the voyage on it--sufferings from want of water--a shower of rain--looking out for the boats--no sail in sight. we left walter and mr shobbrok on their hastily-constructed raft at the moment they had discovered that the ship was on fire. having now a light from the burning ship to direct their course, they got out their oars and urged on the raft with all the strength they could exert. they had succeeded in fixing the bow of the shattered boat to one end of it, and they were thus able, in the calm water, to make far better way than they would otherwise have done. they were in a terrible state of anxiety. walter more than ever blamed himself for having left the ship. had he remained on board, he might have been able to assist alice; and should she perish, he could never forgive himself. there were no boats on board, they knew, and the people would scarcely have time to construct a raft without an officer of experience to direct them. they rowed and rowed with all their power, and it was evident that they were approaching the ship. "the fire seems at present to be confined to the fore-part of the ship," observed mr shobbrok. "if so, we may have time to assist in forming a raft for saving ourselves and the rest. if i had been on board, i would have set every man with axes to cut away the upper works and mizzen-mast, and we should soon have materials for the purpose." "i am thinking of poor, dear alice," exclaimed walter. "how dreadfully frightened she will be! oh, what shall i do should anything happen to her?" "we must trust to him who will, if he thinks fit, find the means of preserving her," said the mate. "row away, walter; we must not think about what may happen, but exert ourselves to the utmost to do our duty, and that is to get on board as soon as possible. row away, my boy, row away." walter did not need any incitement to labour; but, though he was not aware of it, while he was talking he had actually relaxed his efforts.--(not an unusual circumstance. people, when talking, too often forget to do. there is no lack of talkers in the world. doers are much rarer. we want our readers to belong to the latter class.)--taking mr shobbrok's advice, walter did not utter another word, but rowed away as hard as he could. their united exertions made the raft move at a considerable rate through the water. they were still at some distance, when mr shobbrok, who was guiding the raft, and in order to do so had to look towards the ship, uttered an exclamation of grief. "o walter, the fore-part has blown up!" he cried out, "and must have sent many of the poor fellows to the bottom. but pull on! pull on! we may yet be in time to save your young sister." walter said nothing, but his heart was almost breaking with anxiety. "the flames are not spreading as fast as i thought they would," said mr shobbrok. "we may still be in time." on they rowed, till at length they got near enough to have seen anyone remaining on the deck of the ship; but not a person appeared, although the mizzen-mast was still standing, and the flames had not yet reached the poop. at length they got under the quarter, and making fast their raft by means of a rope which hung down, they hauled themselves on board. walter rushed into the cabin, but alice was not there, and no one was to be seen. "don't be cast down, walter," said mr shobbrok. "it is evident that they must have built a raft and left the ship. we must do what we can, while time is allowed us, to build one for ourselves. we must be quick about it, for before long the fire will reach the magazine, and we must take care to be at a safe distance before then." saying this, he rushed into the cabin, and returned with a couple of axes. one he gave to walter, and the other he took himself, and they both began cutting away at the taffrail and quarter rail. he then sprang aloft, and telling walter to stand from under, with a few strokes brought the gaff, the cross-jack, and mizzen-topsail yards down on deck, while he at the same time cleared the mass of the running rigging, preserving the most perfect coolness and exhibiting the most wonderful activity. he soon collected ample materials for the purpose he had in view. the spars were light, and were soon cut into the lengths he required; and ably seconded by walter he quickly hove them overboard, secured to ropes to prevent them from floating away from the ship as she moved through the water. having collected their materials, they descended upon their former raft and began at once to lash the pieces of timber closely together, so as to form an oblong and compact raft. "take care, walter, to secure every lashing properly," said mr shobbrok; "it is better to spend a little more time about it now, than to find our raft come to pieces in the first heavy sea we encounter." the mizzen-royal, which had been sent down at nightfall, remained on deck, and the mate had lowered it on to their first raft. the framework having been formed, he once more sprang up on deck. "you remain, walter; i will be back in a moment," he sang out. walter was very anxious while he was gone, for he had not forgotten what mr shobbrok had said about the magazine. he soon heard him crying out,--"take hold of this, and see it does not capsize." looking up, he found that a basket was being lowered. he placed it on the most secure part of the raft. directly afterwards mr shobbrok lowered down a hammer and a large bag of nails. "i must see what more can be got," he cried out. directly afterwards he sprang over the side and descended rapidly on to the raft. "shove off, my boy, shove off! there's not an instant to be lost!" he exclaimed; and he and walter, seizing the oars, pulled away on their former raft, towing the one they had just formed after them. as it floated lightly, they managed to make fair way, though by this time the sea had somewhat increased, the wind having suddenly got up. they had not got more than two cables length from the ship when a loud roar announced that the magazine had exploded; the foremast and mainmast, which had hitherto stood, fell over the side, while the mizzen-mast shot up into the air. they narrowly escaped from some of the smaller pieces of the burnt fragments of the ship, which came down on the raft. "there goes the _champion_," cried mr shobbrok. "it's a sad ending; but sadder for those will it be who come to look for her, and find only a blackened wreck floating on the water." as he spoke, the stern of the ship lifted out of the water, while the burning bows dipping beneath the surface, she gradually descended into the depths of the ocean, and ere a minute was over, had disappeared from sight. "we may be thankful that we got away in time," sighed the old mate. "well, well, i thought we should have got home safely in her; but it was god's will. we must trust to him, and not despair, whatever happens." "i try to do so," said walter; "but i wish i knew what had become of dear alice and our father. if he has not yet visited the ship, it will well-nigh break his heart when he does come back, to find her gone. he will think we are all lost." "if he has not visited the ship, he will not be certain whether she has gone down,--though, to be sure, that would be almost as bad; for he will suppose that the scoundrel of a boatswain and the french prisoners have got possession of her and made off,--knowing to a certainty that we should never have left the spot till he had returned," answered the mate. "then i hope that he has visited the ship," said walter; "and now i think of it, he must have seen the fire at a great distance, and would have come back as fast as he could. he might easily have passed us in the dark without seeing us. perhaps his boat and the other took the people off, and he has alice safe with him." "i don't think that," said the mate; "for from what i observed when i was on board, i am sure that they must have made a raft. the main and main-topsail-yards, and all the spare spars on deck, and a good part of the bulwarks and the hatches and gratings, were gone; had they been left, i should at all events have seen the burnt ends. i took it in at a glance, though i did not tell you so at the time." "but that does not prove that the boats did not visit the ship," observed walter. "they could not carry all the people. i rather think that my father did come back, and had the raft built under his orders." "well, well, lad," answered the mate, "as i said before, we will hope for the best; and as soon as it is daylight we must set to work and secure our raft better than it is at present, or it will not stand the sea we are likely to have on before long." by this time the wind had greatly increased, and the sea was tumbling the raft about from side to side in a way which would have made it impossible for any one but a practised seaman, as was the mate, and an active boy like walter, to keep their footing. dark clouds had gathered in the sky; the lightning flashed and the thunder roared. still the mate and walter did not lose courage, but exerted themselves to keep the materials with which they intended to complete their raft, together. happily, however, though the weather was so threatening, the sea did not continue to increase, and towards dawn it once more sensibly abated. "now, walter, while we have got a lull, let us set to work to finish this raft of ours," said mr shobbrok. "ay, ay," answered walter; "tell me what to do, and i will do it as soon as we have got light enough to see with." "we shall have that before long: the first streaks of dawn are appearing in the sky," observed the mate. "then i hope we may get a sight of the boats, for they are not likely to have run far from the ship," said walter. as the light increased sufficiently to enable them to see objects at a distance, they stood up and took an anxious glance around; but the horizon on all sides was unusually obscured, and their view consequently limited. walter, whose young eyes were keener than those of the mate, fancied that he caught sight of an object which looked like a boat's sail away to leeward, but if such was the case it soon disappeared. he made out, however, on the part of the ocean where the ship had gone down, numerous pieces of wreck, casks, and spars, and other articles, which, escaping burning, had floated; but they were too far off to enable him to distinguish clearly what they were. "come, lad, let's turn to and work," said the mate. the first thing they did was more completely to secure the spars and pieces of timber which formed the framework of their raft. they then took the wreck of the boat to pieces and nailed the planks down on the centre, so as to make a thick flooring, which enabled them to walk about and keep their feet out of the water, though it here and there still spouted up through the interstices of the planks. they also gave it greater buoyancy by sinking some of the casks they had secured under the framework, and firmly securing them. they then fixed two oars at either side of one end of the raft, and stayed them up, so that a sail might be hoisted between them. some time was thus spent, for the sea tumbled them about a good deal, and it was no easy matter to work. it was necessary, indeed, to keep all the articles lashed together till they were wanted, or they would have been washed away. they had been too eagerly employed to think of eating; at length, however, when their task was accomplished, walter looked up and said, "are you hungry, mr shobbrok?" "i think you must be," answered the mate. "we will see what the basket contains, for i tumbled into it whatever i could get hold of in a hurry, and i am greatly afraid that there is not as much food as we could wish for." the mate and walter sat down on the centre of their raft and anxiously examined the contents of their basket. there was a small piece of cooked salt beef, a few biscuits, and part of a dutch cheese; a scanty supply for two persons with little prospect of obtaining more till they could reach land. there were, however, several bottles, but what they contained it was difficult to say without opening them: one certainly had oil in it, two were full of red wine, and two others of a clear liquid, as it appeared when they were held up to the sun. "i hope it may be water," exclaimed walter; "for i am very thirsty already." "i am sorry to say that it's not," answered the mate; "for they are tightly corked up. it must be gin, which is at all events better than nothing." "i would give both of them for a bottle of water," said walter. "we must try to do without it, however, and endure thirst as long as we can," said the mate. "let us be thankful for what we have got." walter and the mate each ate one of the biscuits and a small piece of the meat and cheese; but they did not take much meat, for fear of exciting thirst. walter took a very little wine. "we must husband our stores, to make them last longer. i will tell you what we will do to prevent ourselves suffering from thirst--i have known the plan to succeed, and enable people to go many days without drinking, without being much the worse for it. we will dip our clothes twice a day in the water, and our skins will thus soak up as much moisture as we absolutely require; though i will allow it would be pleasanter if we had a little cold water to pour down our throats." they both did as the mate advised, and found much benefit from it. it has been known, indeed, under similar circumstances, to preserve the lives of people who might otherwise have perished. the mate, however, cautioned walter on no account to drink the salt water, however tempted by thirst, as it has a powerful effect, and in many instances has produced madness. walter promised strictly to follow the mate's advice. "i give it to you now," said the mate, "because there is no saying what may happen to me. you are young, and may survive, while i may knock under from the hardships we may have to endure. i would give my few remaining years of life to know that you were safe, and restored to your father." "oh, don't talk thus, mr shobbrok," said walter; "i hope that you may live and get back safely to old england." the mate had waited near to the spot where the ship had gone down, on the possibility of the boats returning, but the day was now drawing on, and they did not appear. "there's no use in remaining here longer, i am afraid," he said at length. "we will make sail, and run before the breeze. there's land away to the eastward, though i'm afraid it's a long way off; however, if we can get there, we may obtain food and water, at all events. as far as i can judge, it's the only thing we can do under present circumstances. perhaps we may be picked up by a ship, as whalers frequent these seas." walter of course agreed to the mate's proposal, and accordingly the sail was hoisted between two oars, a third oar serving as a rudder. the breeze freshened, and the raft ran swiftly over the water. night at length approached. walter felt very drowsy, and could with difficulty keep his eyes open, though he made strenuous efforts to do so. the mate observing him, said, "lie down, walter; you are less accustomed to long watches than i am. get some sleep, my lad; and when i think you have had enough of it, and should the weather continue moderate, i will call you, and you can take a spell at the helm." walter thankfully did as the mate advised, and was soon in the land of dreams, and far away in old england. he once, when a little boy, had had a fever, and he thought he was lying on his bed as he then did, with his fond mother watching over him, and giving him cooling draughts, and singing a sweet song he loved to hear. he was awakened at length by the old mate calling him. his mouth felt dreadfully parched. what would he not have given for a cup of that refreshing beverage which he had dreamt of in his sleep! "come, walter," said the mate, "you may take the helm; and mind you don't fall overboard. an hour's sleep will set me to rights, and then you shall have some more rest." "i will give the old man more than an hour's sleep," thought walter, as he got up and took the oar in his hand. "keep her before the wind," said mr shobbrok, lying down; "and if there is any change, call me immediately." walter steered on as directed, keeping the raft before the wind, and watching the stars which ever and anon shone out between the passing clouds. he felt almost sure that the wind had shifted several points, and that he was now steering much more to the north than at first. it was very light, and the raft made but little progress. he suspected that the old mate had purposely allowed him to sleep on till near daylight; and he determined to return his kindness by not arousing him, but allowing him to awake of his own accord. mr shobbrok, however, was so accustomed to awake at the hour he intended, that before long he got up, and smilingly said, "well, walter, i hope you are the better for your rest; i can honestly say that i am. and now, i dare say that you are ready for breakfast." walter confessed that he was; but when he tried to get the salt meat and dry biscuit down, he could scarcely swallow it. how he longed for a cup of cold water! a little wine which the mate served out slightly relieved him, but he soon got thirsty again. they both tried the effect of wetting their clothes; but that was only a partial relief. when the sun came out, and its rays struck down with fiery heat on their heads, they both began to suffer painfully. wine enabled them to swallow their food, but it was water they wanted. the wind fell, and the raft lay rocking about, making no progress. they neither of them felt much inclined to talk. while walter took the helm, the mate, with his hammer and nails, gave a few finishing touches to the raft, and added fresh lashings to the parts which he thought required to be better secured. the next night passed away much as the first had done. the mate told walter he must keep the first watch. walter fancied that he should be able to let the mate have a good long spell of sleep; but he was mistaken, for in less than a couple of hours the old man got up and insisted on his lying down; and when he awoke he found that daylight had returned. they were both by this time beginning to suffer greatly from want of water. mr shobbrok kept his thoughts to himself, but he knew too well what must be the result. both wetted their clothes; their thirst continued to increase; they felt, however, that it would have been much worse had they not adopted that course. the day wore on, and poor walter gave signs of severe suffering though he did not complain aloud. the wind had fallen to a dead calm, and the raft floated motionless on the water; then, the sail being useless, the mate lowered it. ceasing to look out for any sail in sight, for he knew that none could approach, he pounded up some biscuit and moistened it with wine; but even then walter could scarcely get it down his throat. the old man gazed on the lad with pitying eye and sorrowing heart, as he saw that he could not much longer endure his sufferings. he himself, strong as he was and inured to hardships, began to feel the agony of thirst; his lips were parched, his mouth dry. he wetted walter's clothes and his own, and he washed his mouth out frequently with salt water, bidding walter do the same; but they found their throats become almost immediately afterwards as dry as before. the sun again went down, and the comparative coolness of night somewhat relieved them. the mate feared that walter would not be able to endure another day. the stars shining brightly from the sky were reflected on the mirror-like surface of the deep. all around looked calm and peaceful. walter soon fell asleep. "he will forget his sorrows, poor boy, and will be the better for it," thought the mate as he sat watching by his side; yet he could not help dreading that it might be his young friend's last sleep here below. "well, well, he is a true christian lad, and will be saved much pain and sorrow, and many trials. god knows what is best. he takes those he loves most; though, if the captain survives, it will go well-nigh to break his heart." these thoughts occupied the mind of the worthy mate, till, overcome by weariness and exhaustion, he himself lay down, resting his head on a piece of timber which served as walter's pillow. he soon fell asleep, and seldom, perhaps, had he slept so soundly. he was awakened at length by a bright glare in his eyes; and starting up, he found that the sun had just risen out of his ocean bed. the whole sky, however, was quickly obscured; for dark clouds hanging low down were gliding across the heavens. the mate watched them eagerly, for he saw that in several directions they were sending down copious showers on to the still calm surface of the ocean. now on one side, now on another, he saw the rain falling, but none came near where the raft lay. he would not arouse walter--who was still sleeping--knowing how the sight would tantalise him; but he knelt by his side, and prayed that the rain might reach them. then he stood up and gazed around, hoping against hope that a sail might be in sight; but not an object was to be seen. in every side to the edge of the horizon the sea presented the same glass-like surface. the clouds were coming from the north-east, and a breeze would probably spring up from that direction. he stood watching the clouds, and while he watched he bethought him of a plan for catching the rain should it come at last. two or three of the boat's planks were still not nailed down; he took one of them, and with his knife split it into thin strips; these he fastened together so as to form a large hoop; then casting off the sail from the yard, he placed it over the hoop, and allowed it to sink down in the centre, thus making a large basin. he next considered how the precious water, if caught, could be preserved,--when he recollected that he had secured a small empty water-cask under the stem of the raft. he at once cast loose the lashing which held it, and hauled it on board; and it apparently made but little difference on the buoyancy of the raft. after some difficulty he got out the bung, and held it with the hole downwards, to be sure that no salt water had got within; and lastly, he placed it in readiness to be filled. he had just accomplished his task, when, looking to windward, he exclaimed, "thank heaven, it's coming!" he now touched his companion on the arm. "rouse up, my lad," he said; "we are not forsaken." walter slowly raised his head. "there, there!" added the mate; "look at yonder blessed shower! it will reach us before many minutes are over. i can almost see the drops as they splash into the salt sea." poor walter crawled to the other end of the raft, to hold up the hoop as the mate bade him. the shower approached, its course marked by a line of hissing bubbles. the sound of the drops, as they struck the surface of the ocean and bounded up again could be heard. it reached them sooner than they expected. they raised the sail which had been prepared to catch it. down came the precious rain, quickly filling the sail; while they eagerly opened their mouths, that not a drop more than they could help should be lost. but as the water rose in the sail, they could no longer help dipping down their heads and taking a long refreshing draught. it produced an almost instantaneous effect on walter, whose strength seemed suddenly to return. "oh, how merciful god has been to us!" were the first words he uttered. "i now feel sure that we shall be saved; but last night i had begun to fear that we were doomed to perish." "i thought the same," said the mate; "but it was wrong of us. under all circumstances, however hopeless, we should trust in god." the cask had been placed directly under the centre of the sail, in which the mate making a small hole with the point of his knife, the water ran through into it. so rapidly descended the rain, that it was quickly filled. had they possessed another cask, they would gladly have filled it; but they could not venture to withdraw any of the larger casks from beneath their raft; and they trusted that the supply they had now obtained would last them till land was made, or they were relieved by a passing ship, "at all events," said walter, "we may hope to get another shower to replenish our cask of water when this is exhausted." "you must not count too much on that, my lad," answered the mate. "what think you, then, of throwing away some of the wine or spirits, and filling up the bottles with water," asked walter. "i should be sorry to throw it all away; for, though the water is the most precious liquid of the two, the wine may yet be of great service to us, as it is the only medicine we have got. i am willing to empty one bottle of wine and one of spirits; but we will keep the rest in case we need it." on this the mate drew two of the bottles out of the basket. he looked at them, evidently doubting whether he was acting wisely in throwing the contents away. at the bottom of the basket he discovered a large cup which he had before overlooked. he half filled it with wine; then casting an affectionate look at the bottle, he exclaimed, "it would be a pity." and putting it to his mouth, sailor-like, he took a few hearty gulps. "now, walter," he said, "before we throw the wine away, just take some biscuit and this bit of beef. it will give you the strength you want so much; and then, to my mind, some wine and water will help to make it go further than it would otherwise do." walter very willingly did as the mate advised, and ate the biscuit and beef with more appetite than he had felt since they had been on the raft. the mate then handed him a cup of wine, which he had diluted with water. walter thankfully swallowed the liquid. "now, it has done you good, has it not?" said the mate. walter nodded. "i knew it would; and instead of throwing the wine away, we will fill the bottle up with water. we shall then have a mixture all ready. now, as for the rum, that's bad by itself, i know; but, mixed with water, it will help to digest our dry biscuit and cheese, and any other food we may obtain,--which, if we do get any, we shall have to eat raw." the mate was a temperate man, and had never been drunk in his life. but what are called temperance principles were not known in those days. he took his share of biscuit and beef; then pouring some rum into the cup, mixed it with water from the sail, afterwards filling up the rum bottle with water. he evidently felt satisfied that they had not yielded to their first impulse and thrown the wine and spirits away. "now, to my mind, walter, both the wine and spirits are given to us as blessings; and what we have got to do is not to abuse them. if we had a disorderly crew, i would stave every spirit-cask on board sooner than let them get drunk. but our case is very different; and as neither you nor i are likely to take more than would be good for us, and having a wine-cask full, of the more precious liquid, i am sure we should be wrong in throwing away what may, under present circumstances, help to preserve our lives." all this time walter and the mate had been kneeling with the sail, still half-full of water, between them. the rain had ceased. they looked affectionately at the precious fluid. it might be long before they could get any more. once again they each dipped down their heads and took another long draught. the mate suddenly exclaimed,--"we will still make use of it. we will first bathe our heads and faces, and then wash our clothes, to get some of the salt out of them. it will make us feel more comfortable, and help to keep the scurvy at bay. at present i feel like a yarmouth bloater." walter was greatly refreshed by his ablutions. he then thoroughly washed his shirt, and wringing it out, hung it up to dry. the old mate afterwards performed the same operation. at length they allowed the water to escape from the sail. scarcely had they done so when, a light breeze springing up, they hoisted it and stood on to the westward. the raft made but slow progress; and though the voyagers no longer suffered from thirst, they could not help feeling anxious as they looked after each meal at the scanty supply of food which remained. the meat was almost exhausted, and scarcely half-a-dozen biscuits were left, while their piece of cheese had been reduced to very small dimensions. "we have a bottle of oil," said the mate, as he saw walter gazing anxiously into the basket. "that will help to keep life in us; though train oil was never much to my fancy." "nor to mine," said walter. "but our biscuits would prove more nutritious if we were to soak them in it; though i confess that i would rather eat them as they are." "we will try your plan," said the mate; and accordingly, the next time he served out provisions, he broke up some biscuit into the cup, and poured a little oil upon it. walter made a wry face as he took his share; but he ate it notwithstanding, owning that, although the taste was not pleasant, it seemed to go much further than dry biscuit itself. the mate being of opinion that there was no use in dying by inches, gave walter rather more of the meat and cheese than perhaps was prudent--he taking a much less quantity himself. another day passed away, and the only food remaining were the biscuits, with the oil, which, nauseous as it tasted, was not to be despised. the calm continued. the old mate felt conscious that he himself was growing weaker and weaker, and he feared that poor walter would begin to suffer even more severely before long. there was just wind enough to waft on the raft; but many days must pass before they could possibly reach land. wine and water would help to sustain them, and they might even gnaw the leather of their shoes. "well, well," thought the mate, "i won't alarm the lad; and heaven may send us aid when we least expect it." chapter six. walter and the mate's voyage on the raft continued--flying-fish caught-- a thunder storm--meeting of alice and walter--the raft increased--is it an island!--reach an enormous dead whale of a new species. the raft glided on over the smooth surface of the ocean. the old mate was standing up steering, while walter, already feeling the pangs of hunger, was lying stretched at his length in the shade cast by the sail; for the intense heat of the sun, which was striking down from an almost cloudless sky, was almost insupportable. mr shobbrok constantly looked around on every side. "any vessel in sight?" asked walter, sitting up. a shake of the head was the answer he received; and lying down again, he closed his eyes. once more he sat up, and seeing the mate casting an eager glance around, he asked him what he saw. "dolphins or bonitoes playing about. if we had a harpoon, we might chance to get hold of one." "could we manage to manufacture something that would answer the purpose?" asked walter. "nothing that would be of use, i am afraid," said the mate. "but see, walter, see! there comes what i have been praying for." walter looked in the direction the mate was pointing out, and saw a large covey of flying-fish darting towards them. first a couple, then three, then four more, fell directly on to the raft. walter and the mate quickly secured them. as most of them appeared to be directing their course some way ahead, the mate allowed the raft to glide on, by that means being able to knock down four more, which would otherwise have flown over it--the remainder quickly disappearing beneath the surface. the two voyagers collected the fish which lay on the raft. "i wish we could keep them alive," said walter. "that's more than we can do. we must be thankful that we have got these; and he who sent them to us may send us more when we require them. and now, my lad, the sooner we get some of them down our throats the better, for you want food, and so, i confess, do i." "what! eat them raw?" exclaimed walter. "ay, lad; and for my part i could almost eat them alive. but i will try how i can make them more fit for you to swallow. hand me that bit of board and the axe. now, just get out some biscuit and the oil." walter gave the articles to the mate, who, kneeling down, cut off the heads and tails of the fish, and separated the flesh from the bones. he then mashed it up with some biscuit, moistening it with some oil till he had made a thick paste. "now, try this. but first let us thank god for sending us the food; and may he feed our souls as well as he feeds our bodies." saying this, he put a large lump into his own mouth, and quickly swallowed it, adding another portion in like haste, for he was in truth famishing. walter found the mixture far more tolerable than he had expected, for he had got accustomed to the taste of the oil. the meal was soon finished, and was washed down with some wine and water. both the mate and walter found themselves much stronger after the meal, and did not fail again to return thanks to god for sending it to them. they then collected the rest of the fish, which they cut open, and, at the mate's suggestion, hung up in the sun to dry; reserving two to eat fresh at their next meal. the heat of the sun and the nature of their food made them very thirsty, and walter especially was much inclined to drink freely from the water-barrel. "remember, my lad," said the mate, "that won't last for ever, and we must take care to economise it. just take a little now and then when you feel overcome with thirst. to my mind, under our circumstances it would be as wrong to keep drinking away at our water-barrel as it is for a man to spend his fortune without thinking of the future. that's our chief wealth just now." walter, after this, followed the mate's example, and only took a mouthful at a time, when he felt his throat unusually dry. onward they sailed, not always in a straight course; for they were obliged to keep before the wind, which occasionally shifted a few points of the compass. they were several times tantalised by seeing other coveys of flying-fish rising out of the water, and darting fifty feet, and sometimes even one hundred feet, over the surface; but none came near them. they saw also dolphins and bonitoes swimming near them, and occasionally caught sight of a large shark, with its black fin just above the water. now and then a bonito came so near to the raft, that had they possessed a harpoon they could easily have caught it. the mate, indeed, could not resist the temptation of giving one of them a blow on the head with his oar, hoping to stun it; but the creature, notwithstanding the heavy thump it had received, darted off, and was lost to sight. "if i had been wise, i should have had a running bowline ready, and we would have caught the fellow," said the mate. "i will have one for the next, and if we are quick about it we may get him on board." the rope was prepared, and walter kept eagerly on the watch; but the wished-for opportunity, as is often the case when once a chance has been lost, did not return. two or three big fish came swimming by them, however, but too far off to be caught--apparently to have a look at the strangers passing across their domain. the end of another day was approaching, and the weather, hitherto calm and fine, gave indications of a change. "provided we get a good stiff breeze from the eastward, i shall be thankful," said the mate. "we shall the sooner reach shore or fall in with a ship; and although our raft will stand a good deal of sea, i would rather be in a good whale-boat under such circumstances," said walter. "so would i, lad; but we must be contented with what we have got. that's my opinion, and it's about the best a man can have. now, walter, i want you to take the helm," said the mate. "i expect to have a pretty long watch at night, and a few winks of sleep will enable me to stand it. call me if it comes on to blow harder than at present--as i expect it will--or if you see anything which you cannot quite make out." walter quickly went to the helm, for the food he had taken had greatly restored his strength, and enabled him to stand up firmly. the mate lay down, and before walter could count thirty the old sailor was fast asleep. walter steered on. although clouds were already gathering in the sky, the wind continued moderate, and he hoped that the mate would be able to take a longer spell of sleep than he had expected to do. the sun went down with a fiery red appearance, and scarcely had it sank beneath the horizon when the gloom of night came sweeping over the deep. the wind shortly afterwards began to increase; but still, as the raft did not tumble about much, walter considered that he was right in not calling the mate. presently, however, a vivid flash of lightning darted from the clouds, followed almost immediately by a crashing peal. mr shobbrok started up. "why, walter," he said, "you should have called me when the weather changed." "the storm has only this instant burst on us," answered walter. "i wished you to have as much rest as possible. i do not feel myself inclined to go to sleep." "i suppose not, my lad," said the mate; "but i will take the helm, at all events, and you can stand by the halliards. we must take a reef in our sail, if it comes on to blow much harder." the wind, however, did not greatly increase, and they stood on. the lightning continued to flash and the thunder to roar, but the sea remained calm. frequently the whole heavens were lighted up altogether; then only in one direction, and now in another. walter, who had never seen such vivid lightning or heard the thunder roar so loudly, very naturally felt somewhat alarmed. "is the lightning likely to strike us?" he asked at length. "i think not, my lad. we have but little iron about our raft; and though iron is said to attract it, we are so low down on the surface that i believe it will pass harmlessly over our heads. a large ship, with her taunt masts, would be in much greater danger than this small raft. we must trust to him who rules the winds and seas, and the lightning also. it won't do to be sometimes trusting him and sometimes not. it's as easy for him to save us out of a great danger as out of what we call a small one. not that i think we are in any especial danger now; nor shall we be as long as the sea remains calm." walter's anxiety was greatly relieved by the mate's assurances. he sat down on the raft. they had been steadily running on for some time, when a vivid flash lighted up the sky and all the ocean to the westward. "i saw something floating on the water, right ahead," said walter. "what it was i cannot exactly say, though it seemed to me to be like a piece of wreck, and i thought for the moment that i saw people on it." "keep a bright lookout then, my lad," answered the mate. "we shall probably have another flash presently, and then you will see clearly. stand by to lower the sail, that i may have a look at it too." walter cast off the halliards, and tried with all his might to pierce the gloom. "there! there!" he exclaimed, letting go the halliards as another flash darted from the sky. "it's a raft with two people on it. we are close upon them." a hail came from the raft uttered by two voices. "o mr shobbrok, that was nub's voice, and alice's too! i am sure of it," exclaimed walter, scarcely able to speak from excitement. he then, lifting up his own voice, shouted in return--"is that you, alice? is that you, nub?" "yes, yes," answered nub; "praise heaven, we all right! is dat you, massa walter?" "yes," answered walter. "o walter! o walter! is it you?" cried alice. "i am walter, and mr shobbrok is with me," he shouted. "here, walter, take the helm," cried the mate, "but work away on the starboard side; i will get a rope ready to heave to nub." walter did as directed, and their raft was soon brought up alongside the other, when nub, having secured the rope hove to him, in his eagerness forgot the difference of their rank, and sprang forward with delight to embrace the old mate. walter sprang on to the other raft, and quickly had his dear little sister in his arms. they no longer thought of the thunder roaring or the lightning flashing around them as they eagerly recounted to each other their adventures. it seemed for the moment, indeed, that all danger to them was over. they soon, however, inquired of each other news of their father, and the fear that he might be lost, or might be hopelessly searching for them, soon made them feel the reality of their position. nub in the meantime had told the mate all that had happened on board, and his belief that a large raft had been formed, and that the rest of the people had got away from the ship. he told him also that he had seen nothing of it. it was possible, however, that the captain's boat might have fallen in with it; and if so, they would certainly have proceeded together towards the land. "our poor, poor father! how unhappy he will be at not finding us," ejaculated walter and alice together. "he will not give up all hopes of your being restored to him; so don't fret too much about it, my dear miss alice," said the mate, anxious to comfort her. "he will know very well that nub would not have deserted you; and he will have heard from the people on board that walter went off with me; and very likely he will guess something like the truth. and not knowing our boat was destroyed, he will fancy that i picked you up, and that we have made our way in a well-found whale-boat towards the shore." "i hope he may think so," answered alice. "i will try not to be too anxious about him; and perhaps we shall meet each other before long." "that's it, miss alice," said the mate. "hope for the best. `hope still in god,' as he himself in the bible tells us to do, and don't be cast down." the night had been much further spent than those on the raft supposed. the thunder gradually rolled away to the southward, and soon afterwards the sun arose in the clear sky, shedding a brilliant glare across the water. directly the light appeared the mate exclaimed, "now, walter,-- now, nub, as we have doubled our numbers, we must turn to and increase the size of our raft." "as you think best, mr shobbrok," answered walter. "anything you tell me do, i do," said nub. "well, we will pull your raft to pieces, and put the bow and stern on to ours, and raise our bulwarks." "ay, ay, mate," answered nub; and they immediately set to work. it was an operation requiring a good deal of skill, as it was necessary to lash the fresh timbers very securely, or they would prove a source of much danger; for should the sea get up, and should they break loose, they would be thrown upon the raft, and thus endanger the safety of those on it. a portion of nub's raft was composed of spars, one of which was found long enough to serve as a mast, instead of the two oars which had hitherto done duty as such; and they would now be of much use in impelling on the raft. the mast was securely fixed between the two cross spars, fastened at either end to the raised sides, and it was then well stayed up, so that the whole sail bent to a yard could now be hoisted up. the casks were then lashed securely to the two sides of the raft as well as to the bow and stern; and when all was finished, the mate declared that he believed their craft would weather out a heavy gale as well as many a ship at sea. he might have said much better than many, which, over-laden and leaky, go helplessly down into the depths of the ocean without any land in sight or help near, the hapless crew perishing miserably. it was nearly mid-day when all was completed. nub had not uttered a complaint. at last he could not help exclaiming, "oh, mr shobbrok, can you give me just one mouthful of water? i give de last to missie alice, and she not know i go all de time without any." "of course, my lad, of course," answered the mate, filling a cup from the cask. "we must be careful of it; but i know what you are feeling, and there would be no use in giving you just one mouthful." nub drank the water, and, heaving a sigh as he smacked his lips, he exclaimed, "dat is delicious!" "now i think of it, we have not breakfasted. miss alice and walter must be pretty hungry, and thirsty too," said the mate. "i am not very thirsty, but i should like to have a few of the biscuits nub and i brought," answered alice. nub looked downcast. there were only two remaining. he had not let alice discover this, that she might not know how close run they were for food. for many hours he, honest fellow, had eaten nothing. the mate, suspecting this, gave alice the biscuits with a cup of wine and water, and then beat up some more fish, oil, and pounded biscuit, which he shared with walter and nub. the latter thought the food especially good, and would have been perfectly ready to eat twice as much of it had it been given to him. some more wine and water restored the strength of all the party, but poor nub wanted something besides food. for many a long hour he had not closed his eyes. he told the mate so, and asking his leave, threw himself down on the deck. almost before his head reached the piece of wood walter had placed for a pillow, he was fast asleep. alice was very nearly as sleepy as poor nub; and the mate saying he would steer, walter sat down on the deck, and taking her in his arms, she also in less than a minute closed her eyes, feeling far happier than she had done since she had left the burning ship. having perfect confidence in the mate, it seemed to her that they had now only to sail on till they reached the shore. happily, she little thought of the dangers before them, or knew that the scanty stock of provisions they possessed would not last long, and that before many days were over famine must overtake them. the wind remained light but variable, and now coming from the southward, they could only steer a north-westerly course. the mate feared that it might shift to the west; if so, they would have to lower the sail and trust to their oars. their progress in that case would be very slow, as neither walter nor nub had much strength for rowing. as before, he himself intended to steer during the night; so, on the approach of evening, telling walter to take the helm, he lay down, making his arm serve as a pillow for alice. before closing his eyes, he gave the usual charge to walter to call him should there be any alteration in the wind; which, of course, walter faithfully promised to do. walter stood bravely to his post till he found his head nodding, and the stars at which he was gazing dancing before his eyes; and reluctantly he was on the point of calling mr shobbrok, when the mate, lifting up his head, told him to take charge of alice, while he resumed his place at the helm. all night long the old sailor stood steering the raft, allowing his young charges and nub to sleep on. "the black deserves his rest," he said to himself; "and it's much better that those two dear young ones should forget their sorrow and troubles; they will have enough of them, i am afraid, before long." again the sun rose--another day, which promised to be like the last. the remainder of the flying-fish was eaten in the same manner as before. alice could not manage to get down the unsavoury compound, and contented herself with some hard biscuits soaked in wine and water. though they were saved from the suffering which thirst would have caused them, hunger stared them in the face. in vain they watched the shoals of flying-fish in the distance; none came near them. they had no hooks or lines, nor any means of replenishing their stock of provisions. the mate did not allow the rest of the party to discover how anxious he felt; indeed, he blamed himself for feeling anxious, and continually kept saying, "god cares for us. he will take care of us, i am sure. he won't let these young ones perish." still the thought arose, "how is that to be? it's more than i can tell, unless he sends a ship to pick us up." no sail, however, appeared in sight. hour after hour passed away. the mate looked round and round the horizon, in the hope that one would appear; but again the sun went down, and the raft floated slowly on amid the darkness of night. except a little biscuit reserved for alice and walter, no substantial food remained for the next day, though the oil, wine, and spirits might assist to keep them alive for some time longer. the mate and nub steered on watch and watch during the night, as they agreed to let the young people sleep as long as they could. the mate felt perfect confidence while nub, who was an excellent sailor, was at the helm, and he was thus able to take more rest than heretofore. the latter part of the night was darker than usual, for a thick mist rested on the calm ocean. morning was approaching, when walter awoke, and springing to his feet, offered to take the helm, that his companions might have more rest. "no, thank you, lad; nub and i have had sleep enough, and we wish that you and miss alice should have as much rest as possible," answered mr shobbrok. alice, on hearing her name, started up, and inquired if anything had happened. but before the mate could reply, nub shouted out, "land! land!--land right ahead!" all the party, naturally highly excited, looked out, endeavouring to pierce the gloom; but either the mist had risen for a moment, enabling nub to see the land, or his eyes, still heavy with sleep, had deceived him. a light breeze was still driving on the raft. they got out the oars, and endeavoured to impel it faster. they had not gone far when nub again cried out, "there! there! there it is!" "is it an island, or is it the back of an enormous whale?" exclaimed walter. "i see a flag flying on the highest part, and people moving about." "are you sure that those are people?" asked the mate. "i see a flagstaff and flag clearly enough; but if those are human beings, the flag must be a very large one, such as no whale-boat carries." "can papa be there?" exclaimed alice, who was seated on a piece of timber in the centre of the raft. "little doubt about dat," said nub, turning round to her. "cheer up, missie alice; cheer up. we soon get dere. but whether it is land, as massa walter says, or one bery big whale, is more dan i can tell. it look to my eye like a whale; but i cannot see its head or its tail,--and whales got both, unless dey are cut off." nub, in fact, was greatly puzzled at the appearance of the seeming island. he did not take into consideration the deceptive effect produced by the light mist which pervaded the air, making objects seen through it magnified and distorted, as it floated imperceptibly by. "i cannot quite make it out even now," observed the mate. "there's a flag, there is no doubt about that; and there are creatures of some sort moving about--but to my eyes they look more like birds than men. the curious mist which hangs over the water plays strange tricks; and i have over and over again been deceived, and so have many others; but i see the flag as clearly as if it was not more than a cable's length from us." "it seems to me that the people are stooping down or carrying huge bundles on their backs," observed walter. "perhaps they are digging or building huts. i suspect, from their numbers, that the whole crew, whom we supposed embarked on the big raft, are there. we are near enough for them to hear our voices, though, as they are so busy, they have not as yet made us out." on this walter shouted and waved his hands. "i thought so. there go your men, who were so busy digging and building!" exclaimed the mate. as he spoke, a number of birds rose in the air and flew shrieking away, soon being lost to sight in the clouds of mist which hung over the ocean to the west; and revealing, scarcely a quarter of a mile off, an enormous whale, or marine monster of some sort, floating on the surface, with a small flagstaff and flag sticking in its back. chapter seven. on the whale's back--signs of a wreck--light a fire and cook blubber--a novel lamp contrived--a sail in sight--disappointment--nub's narrow escape--the whale rolls over--a fearful predicament--the raft with walter sails away. as the voyagers were anxious to reach the creature which lay before them, they got out the oars, the mate and nub pulling, while walter steered. "i see some harpoons and spears sticking in the creature's back," exclaimed walter. "they will be of use, if we cannot get anything else from it, as we shall be able to kill any dolphins or bonitoes which swim near us," said the mate. "i tink me get some slices of meat out of de back of de creature," said nub. "we no want food now." "we shall find it rather high-flavoured and somewhat tough," observed the mate; "but it will keep body and soul together; and we must not be particular." walter, though very hungry, felt no inclination to eat whale's blubber, especially if the creature had been dead for some time,--though he had heard that the eskimos consider it dainty food, and eat it in vast quantities. poor alice, who had been unable to swallow the mixture of flying-fish and oil, shuddered at the thought. "i see a quantity of gear hanging about the creature's head," said walter; "and that makes me suppose that it must have been fast to a ship. if so, it cannot be a fish my father has struck; and some other whaler besides ours must be in the neighbourhood." "i am of your mind," said the mate. "we shall know for certain, when we get alongside, by the harpoons. however, the idea gives me hope that we shall obtain assistance before long." the voyagers were gradually approaching the monster, which was certainly not a sperm whale, though it was of enormous size, floating far higher out of the water than does that creature. they therefore came to the conclusion that it was of a rare and hitherto unknown species. (note .) a quantity of gear with some large floats hung about its head, while the harpoons sticking in it had their lines attached. the only way to account for this was, that the people who had attacked it had fancied that it was dead, and that it had suddenly revived and broken loose from them. the whale was soon reached, when the raft was made fast to a couple of the harpoon-lines which hung from its body. it was no easy matter to climb to the top of its back; but the mate, bidding alice remain on the raft, hauled himself up by the lines which hung from it, walter and nub following his example. on reaching the top of the whale's back, the mate examined the flag. "this is an american piece of bunting," he exclaimed. "it shows without doubt that it was killed by the boats of one of their whalers. there are a good many of them in these seas at present, and they are not the fellows to abandon a fish they have once caught." "dat is what i was tinking," observed nub. "i don't tink any englishman eber kill such a 'straordinary-looking fish as dis." "i have seen a good many, but never one like it," said the mate. "i only hope it good to eat; and de sooner me cut some blubber and cook it, de better. mr shobbrok, you got tinder-box and flint and steel?" "yes," answered the mate, "i always carry them; though, as we cannot light a fire on the raft, i have hitherto made no use of them. but how do you propose lighting one on the top of the whale, nub?" "we get up some pieces of wood from de raft, and den, with de blubber, we soon have one blazing fire," answered the black. descending to the raft, he took one of the pieces of plank and began to chop it up. "we soon have some dinner for you, missie alice," he said while so employed. "you stay quiet on de raft, and not fancy you going to starve any more." having performed his task, he secured the wood in a bundle, and hoisting it on his back, he climbed up again. during nub's absence the mate and walter looked anxiously around them, in the possibility of any boats being in sight. none were to be seen; but they observed several objects floating about, apparently pieces of wreck, spars and casks,--and among them a sea-chest, which seemed of large size, as it rose considerably above the surface. "we must try and get hold of that," said the mate. "it may contain articles of value to us, though i am afraid we are not likely to find any food within it." "i would rather have a cask of biscuits or flour, or beef or pork," observed walter. "i doubt whether we shall find such," said the mate, "for i observe that the casks float high out of the water. but has it struck you, walter, what must have happened?" "i was thinking that these things must have come out of our ship and floated away here," answered walter. "they cannot have come so far by this time," said the mate. "i think that i can unravel the mystery. this whale was attacked by the boats of a ship, some of which were probably destroyed by the monster. it was then towed alongside, when she was either capsized in a storm, or, receiving damage from some other cause, she went down, and the articles we now see floated up out of her. possibly she was struck by some large whale, and her bottom or sides stove in; such a thing has occurred before now. i remember some years ago a big whale off the coast of new zealand which went by the name of new zealand tom. he was a monster, and capable of sending any ship to the bottom. i was in one of the boats of the _adonis_ whaler when, in company with a dozen others, we went one morning to chase that very whale. most of us got near enough to drive our harpoons into its body; but it made us pay dearly for our sport, for before breakfast it had knocked nine of our boats to pieces, and we were obliged to return to our respective ships. some weeks passed before we again got sight of the creature; when, in company with several other boats, we again attacked it, and this time came off victorious. you will scarcely believe it, but we found eight harpoons in its body belonging to as many different ships, which had chased it at various times. big as it was, there are others as big, and even fiercer. i remember meeting a man who had belonged to the american whaler _essex_. all the boats but one were on one occasion away with the larger portion of the crew, leaving only the doctor and a few others on board, when they caught sight of an enormous sperm whale coming towards them, as if not seeing the ship; suddenly lifting its flukes up in the air, it sounded, throwing the water over the deck, when they felt a tremendous blow, as if the ship under full sail had struck a rock. the blow broke off some of the keel, which was seen floating up to the surface. the whale quickly rose again, and was observed at a short distance from the ship; when, what was the horror of those on board to see it come swimming directly at them with the greatest fury! it struck the bows a tremendous blow, staving them in. a cry arose that the ship was sinking; and so she was. the water was rushing into her like a mill-sluice; and the people had scarcely time to get into the remaining boat when she capsized, the casks in her hold for a time keeping her up. the people in the other boats, seeing their ship going down, pulled back and managed to get a small quantity of provisions; but before they had obtained as much as they required down she went, leaving the boats to find their way to land as best they could. they steered for the coast of peru--the event happened on the other side of the pacific--but only one boat, with three men in her at their last gasp, was picked up; they happily recovered, and were able to narrate what had happened. the rest of the poor fellows must have perished, as none of the other boats were ever afterwards heard of. now, it's my opinion that something of the sort i have described has happened to the ship which had got hold of this whale; though what has become of her crew is more than i can tell." "i trust that our fate may not be that of the unfortunate crew of the _essex_," said walter. "i trust not, lad," answered the mate; "i shall be sorry i told you the story, if it affects your spirits. we shall do very well if we can get provisions,--and four people are more easily fed than forty,--so don't think about it. here comes nub with a bundle of wood, and we will see if we can light a fire and cook some blubber; but i wish we had some more delicate food for your dear young sister." nub, who had brought the axe, having chopped off several pieces of skin from the fattest part of the whale's back, made a pile of the wood and placed the dry skin on the top of it. the mate then produced his flint and steel, and striking a light, set fire with a match to the bottom of the pile. "while de fire blazes up, i cut some nice pieces of blubber," said nub; and setting to work, he soon produced several lumps, which he stuck at the end of some other sticks brought for the purpose. the oil which oozed up out of the whale's back made the flames rapidly blaze up. each of the party then held the blubber--which sputtered and hissed more vehemently than the fattest of bacon in a cook's frying-pan--to the fire. the odour was certainly not pleasant, but nub sniffed it up, exclaiming, as he bit off a piece, "oh, dis bery fine; it soon make us quite strong and fat, and we go a week without eating anyting else." walter did not feel quite satisfied on that point; however, he managed to get down a few mouthfuls. having roasted a piece as nicely as he could, he hurried down with it to alice. "if you think i ought to eat it, i will," she said; "but it does not smell nice." "i am afraid we are not likely to get anything else at present, and it's our duty to try and keep up our strength. it will, i hope, have that effect, though it may taste disagreeable at first." alice, who was really ravenously hungry, overcame her repugnance to the unattractive food, and ate it up; taking at the same time, to help it down, a small piece of biscuit which had been reserved for her. walter then climbed up again and joined the party on the whale's back. the skin and blubber affording ample fuel, they were able to keep up their fire and cook a considerable quantity of blubber; for to eat it raw in its present condition they felt would be impossible, but toasted in thin slices it would, they hoped, keep for some time. they tried several portions, and agreed that the most eatable were those on either side of the hump. as the chest and casks did not appear to be drifting away from the whale, they agreed that it was not necessary to put off expressly to get hold of them. having cooked as much blubber as was likely to keep till it was consumed, they carried it down to the raft, where it was stowed away in the hen-coop, which was considered cooler than any other place. the mate proposed that while they were alongside the whale they should take the opportunity of more firmly securing the fresh part of the raft, as they had now a favourable opportunity for doing so. this took them some time, but they were well satisfied when the work was done. "and now, my lad, we must not go away, without the harpoons and spears, for i have hopes, by their means, of getting a good supply of food. we may catch bonitoes and other big fish with the harpoons; and with the spears we may strike any smaller ones which come within reach." "i have been thinking, mr shobbrok, that if we could manage a lamp, we might, on a calm evening, attract the fish to the side of the raft, as is often done, i have read, by savages, who then spear them; and the blubber will afford us oil for the purpose." "bery bright idea, massa walter," exclaimed nub. "de hole where we made de fire is full of oil, and me fill up two of de empty bottles with it; den, as we have no saucer for de lamp, suppose you take one of your shoes,--it will hold de oil for de purpose." "i will gladly give up both my shoes," said walter. "so will i mine," exclaimed alice; "if they are of any use." "we need not deprive you of yours, miss alice," said the mate; "i must insist rather on mine being taken. and for a wick, we have only to pick a rope to pieces and twist it up lightly." nub, taking the two empty bottles, climbed up again on the whale's back. he found even more oil than he had expected, and filling the bottles, lowered them on the raft. he was about to descend, when he was seen looking eagerly out on the other side of the whale. "what is it?" asked the mate. "a sail! a sail!" he shouted, clapping his hands, and dancing frantically about at a great risk of slipping off into the water. the mate and walter quickly climbed up, anxious to ascertain the truth of nub's assertion. "dere! dere!" he exclaimed. "to the south. dere she comes! missie alice and massa walter soon be safe!" "that's not a ship," observed the mate. "if you look steadily, you will see that it's a long way on this side of the horizon, and but little raised above the water. it would not appear so distinct as it does if it was the topgallant-sail of a ship, hull down. that's the sail of a boat or a raft; and before long it will be near at hand." alice eagerly inquired what they were looking at. walter having told her what the mate said, could with difficulty persuade her to remain on the raft, so anxious was she to climb up to see the object in sight. the party on the whale's back stood watching the sail; but instead, however, of it coming directly towards them, as they had expected it would do, it was seen, when about a mile off, to be steering a course on which it would pass them scarcely nearer than it then was. walter seized the flag out of the whale's back and waved it over his head, shouting at the top of his voice, as did the mate and nub, to attract attention; but apparently they were not seen, and certainly could not have been heard. "it is more than i can make out, what they are about," observed walter. "they must have caught sight of the whale, and whether that's a boat or a raft, it's surprising that they should not have come nearer to have a look at us. they seem to have a pretty stiff breeze out there, and it would not have taken them much out of their way." "i am sure that it is a raft," said the mate, "as, with the breeze they have got, and that large sail, a boat would move much faster through the water than they are doing. depend on it, those are the _champion's_ people, and they have got some reason for not wishing to communicate with us. i am pretty sure they fancy that this whale was killed by the captain, and that, not finding the ship, he returned to it. i may be wrong, but i think i am not much out in my calculations." "but suppose you are wrong, and my father is on board the raft, could not we shove off and overtake it?" "as it is almost dead to windward, we should not have the slightest chance of doing so; and see! they are still holding their course. if they had wished to communicate with us, they would have lowered their sail; and they must see the smoke of the fire, even should they not make out the flag,--though they could scarcely have failed to do that." "i tink i could swim much faster dan our raft could pull against de wind," said nub; "supposing de captain on board, den i tell him dat massa walter and missie alice on de whale, and he sure to come." "you had better not make the attempt, nub," said the mate. "you will have a long swim before you can reach the raft; and if you fail to do so, you will be exhausted before you can possibly get back." "neber fear, mr shobbrok," he answered. "if i get tired i can rest on one of dose casks, or perhaps i find some spar or piece of timber which keep me up;" and before the mate or walter could stop him, nub had slipped off into the sea on the opposite side to that to which the raft was secured, so that alice did not see him. nub struck out boldly, and made rapid way. the mate and walter stood watching him. "that black is indeed a first-rate swimmer," observed the mate. "heaven protect the brave fellow." nub, however, had not got more than two or three cable's lengths from the whale when he was seen to turn, while he furiously beat the water with his hands and feet, at the same time shouting out loudly. "oh, what are those black-looking things moving about on either side of him?" exclaimed walter. "those are sharks' fins," answered the mate. "he must have caught sight of them; and he knows well that, should he get tired, they will attack him." "o poor nub! poor nub! can he escape them?" exclaimed walter, wringing his hands and looking the picture of despair. "o mr shobbrok, can we do nothing to save him?" "we can only shout and try to frighten the sharks, as nub is doing," answered the mate. "oh, i will do that," cried walter; and he began to shriek and jump frantically about in a way which made the mate begin to feel anxious on his account: still mr shobbrok himself shouted at the top of his voice, and then bethought him of cutting pieces of blubber and throwing them as far away as possible, in order to attract the savage creatures and to draw their attention off from the black. the plan seemed to succeed, and several of them were seen to dash forward and spring out of the water to catch the blubber before it reached the surface. nub, meanwhile, was making rapid way towards the side of the whale. "now, walter," said the mate, "do as i have been doing, while i get a harpoon-line ready to haul the black out of the water; but take care, my dear boy, that you don't slip off." walter did as the mate told him, still continuing to shriek out as loudly as before. bending the end of one of the lines to the centre of a spear, mr shobbrok let it drop into the water, where it floated; while he stood by to haul up nub as soon as he caught hold of it. walter continued in the meantime cutting off pieces of blubber and throwing them towards the head of the whale, and as long as he did so the sharks remained on the watch for the delicious morsels. at length nub reached the spear, and grasping hold of it, endeavoured to haul himself up; but he was evidently greatly exhausted by his rapid swim, and the dread he had experienced of being seized by one of the monsters swarming around. the mate, who had begun to haul him in, called walter to his assistance. they had got the black half out of the water, when they saw several of the dark fins gliding towards him. how poor walter shouted and shrieked!--while he and the mate hauled away with all their might, every instant dreading to see the savage creatures tear at nub's legs. with all their strength they hauled away, when, just as nub's feet were clear of the water, two enormous sharks rose with open mouths above the surface to seize him. happily they were disappointed, for the creatures in their eagerness rushing against each other, missed their aim, their heads nearly touching the soles of his feet--which, as may be supposed, he quickly drew up; while the mate and walter, hauling away, got him fairly up to the top of the whale's back. as soon as he was safe, walter threw his arm around him, exclaiming, "have the creatures bitten you, nub? have you really escaped them? oh, why did you go--oh, why did you go?" "yes, massa walter, i quite safe, neber fear," answered nub, panting for breath. "dey no hurt me, though dey would have liked to eat me up as they did the blubber which you and de mate threw to dem; no doubt about dat." "i am thankful that you have got back safe, nub," said the mate. "it was a bold attempt, but it would have been a vain one; for i am as sure as i stand here that the captain is not on board the raft out there." "oh, where can my father have gone, then?" exclaimed walter, who was still in a state of unusual excitement, into which, weakened as he was by famine, the alarm he had just experienced had thrown him. "your father is in his boat, be assured of that, walter," answered the mate calmly; "and now, the sooner you go on the raft and join your sister the better." still walter did not go, but again seizing the flag, kept waving it; but the raft glided on, moved by the strong wind, which now reached the part of the ocean on which the whale floated. the mate himself could not help standing to watch it, but it rapidly got farther and farther off. at last, taking walter's arm, he said, "come, we must waste no more time here; nub and i will help you down to the raft." walter made no resistance, but allowed himself to be lowered down, the mate and nub following him. alice threw her arms around his neck when she saw him, exclaiming,--"what has all that noise been about? i have been so frightened. why did you not come and tell me?" the mate briefly explained what had happened; while walter, with apparent calmness, added a few remarks; and, soothed by his sister's voice, he soon appeared to recover, and mr shobbrok had no apprehensions about him. the mate told him to lie down and rest, which he at once did. the raft being on the lee side of the whale, he and nub then hoisted the sail. "oh, massa shobbrok, we have forgotten de harpoons!" exclaimed nub. "so we have," answered the mate. "in my anxiety about walter i forgot them." "den i go up and get dem," said nub; and he again climbed up the side of the whale. he had lowered down a couple of harpoons and three spears, when the mate, who had in the meantime cast off the lines which had secured the raft to the whale, in his anxiety to lose no time, sprang up to pull out another spear which had been fixed nearer the tail; alice, who was standing near him, taking hold of the line still attached to it. at that moment, from some unknown cause, the monster body began to move, and before either the mate or nub could descend, over it rolled; while alice, in her terror still holding on to the line, was lifted from her feet and dragged into the water. the sail, no longer under the lee of the huge carcass, filled, and away glided the raft, leaving the poor little girl, with the mate and nub at some distance from her, struggling in the water. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ note . the author confesses that he has had some difficulty in understanding the descriptions in the old journal from which the tale is taken. from its evident truthfulness and general accuracy, he would not feel justified in altering them. but the illustration beats him, and sets at defiance all the accounts in his books of natural history. he must therefore leave his readers to judge for themselves. chapter eight. the whale sinks--alice supported by the mate--a hammer-headed shark appears--alice's alarm--nub conquers the hammer-head--voyage on a sea-chest. the huge monster rolling over, slowly sank head foremost into the depths of the ocean; possibly from the oil in the case by some means or other having escaped, thereby depriving it of its buoyancy--an occurrence which occasionally takes place when, after a hard chase, a whale has been captured, and the victors are about to tow it in triumph to their ship; losing in consequence several hundred pounds worth of oil. the mate and nub found themselves dragged a considerable way under water; but quickly coming up again, as they were striking out they caught sight of the raft driving before the wind, and poor alice struggling in the water at some distance from them. horror-struck at the sight, they swam towards her, their hearts beating with anxiety lest they should not be in time to reach the spot ere she sank beneath the surface, or was seized by one of the ravenous sharks from which nub had just before so narrowly escaped. happily the savage creatures had darted down after the whale, eager to seize the strips of blubber which had been cut off its back. so busily were they engaged, that they did not take notice of the human beings thus left to their tender mercies. the mate had been on a part of the whale nearest alice, and was thus the first to approach her. seeing the impossibility of reaching the raft, he shouted to nub and told him to swim after it; he himself intending to assist alice, who was stretching out her arms and piteously calling to him for help. walter, who had gone off into a state of dreamy unconsciousness as he lay stretched on the raft, on hearing alice shriek out at the moment she was dragged into the water, started up, his senses completely bewildered, and instead of lowering the sail, stood waving his hands, and incoherently shrieking out to her to come to him. the mate shouted to him to lower the sail; but he did not understand the order, and continued leaping frantically about the raft, waving his hands and shrieking as before. the consequence was that the raft got further and further away, at a rate which gave but little hope that nub would overtake it. the mate's brave heart almost died within him at the thought that not his life only, but that of the little girl and nub, would be sacrificed. nub was exerting himself to the utmost. never had he swam so fast. but he soon saw that all his efforts would not enable him to overtake the raft. again and again he shouted to walter to lower the sail: walter only shrieked louder in return, calling him to come to his help--and nub expected every moment to see him leap into the water, when, in all probability, he would be drowned. still the brave black persevered. "lower de sail, massa walter, lower de sail!" he shouted; "you all right if you do dat. de mate save missie alice, so no fear about her. lower de sail! oh, de poor boy gone mad!" in vain nub shouted; walter only waved his hands more frantically, till, overcome by terror, he sank down exhausted on the raft, and nub saw that it would be impossible to overtake it while it continued running at its present speed. the only hope was that the wind might drop, or shift, and bring it back to them. this, however, was barely probable; the breeze was blowing fresh, and the light raft, having now no longer their weight on it, skimmed swiftly over the surface. still nub persevered in endeavouring to obey the mate's orders; he was ready to swim on till he sank exhausted. happily he was as much at home in the water as on shore, and by turning on his back or treading water, or swimming in a variety of other ways, could keep up for several hours together. he turned his head round and saw that the mate had reached alice and was supporting her in his arms. "de mate swim well, i know, so he keep up de little girl while i go after de raft," he said to himself, and he again made way; but though he swam rapidly, the raft skimmed along at a still faster rate, and had he not even yet trusted to the possibility of either a change of wind or a calm, he would have given up the attempt as hopeless. he thought, too, that walter might perhaps regain his senses, and do what alone could preserve his own life and that of his friends. left by himself on the raft, he must inevitably perish as well as they. inspired by this hope, the gallant black pursued his course undaunted by the recollection of the shoal of ravenous sharks which he knew were in the neighbourhood, or by the want of any object, as far as he could see before him, on which to rest. fearful as was his condition, it was to become still more terrible. he had just glanced round and shouted to the mate and alice to keep up their courage, when, as he again turned his face towards the raft, he saw, not twenty fathoms from him, a hideous head, such as the morbid imagination sometimes pictures during a dreadful dream. the front was of immense width, with large, savage eyes glaring out at either side; while below appeared a large mouth, full of formidable teeth; the body, as nub knew, being in proportion to the size of the head. it was indeed an enormous specimen of the hideous zygaena, or hammer-headed shark, so frequently observed about the coast of the south sea islands, and scarcely less voracious and formidable than the terrible white shark, the sailor's hated foe. its body was comparatively slender, but its head was dilated on each side to a prodigious extent,--the form being that of a double-headed hammer, from which it takes the name of "the hammer-headed shark." nub gazed at the creature, but his courage did not fail him. it had apparently only just come to the surface to gaze about it, and had not yet discovered the human beings floating near. the black had often seen the shark bravely attacked by the natives of otaheite and other islands, who encounter it fearlessly as they swim off through the raging surf, and never fail to return victorious to the shore. there was no time, however, for consideration, for with a few turns of its tail the monster might be up to him. he had, fortunately, a large, sharp sheath-knife sticking in his girdle; he drew it, and keeping his eye on the shark, he struck out so as to gain a position rather behind the creature's head, which was turned from him. at the same moment that nub caught sight of the zygaena the mate also saw it; he fully expected that it would dash at the black and seize him in its dreadful jaws. the shark, however, was either of a sluggish nature, or perhaps gorged with food, for its head remained above water without moving from the spot where it had at first appeared. the mate endeavoured to prevent alice from seeing the hammer-head, but her eyes unfortunately fell on it. "oh, mr shobbrok, what is that dreadful creature?" she cried out. "will it kill poor nub? oh, what can we do! what can we do!" she did not appear to think so much of her own and the mate's danger as of that of the black. the mate, for a moment, was almost unnerved, for he felt his utter inability to defend himself or the little girl should the monster attack them; still, like a brave man, he summoned up all his courage, and considered how he could possibly tackle it and defend alice. he looked around to see if there was any spar or other floating object near at hand on which he could place her while he fought the shark. could he find a spar, he would push it in the shark's mouth as it swam towards him; he had likewise his clasp-knife hung round his neck, but the blade, he feared, was too blunt to be of much service; he opened it, however, and held it in his teeth ready to use. as he glanced round he saw the chest which he had observed when on the back of the whale, but it was too far off to be of any avail in the present emergency. in the meantime he had kept a vigilant watch on the hideous hammer-head, to be ready for an encounter should it dart towards him. he had also been watching the proceedings of nub. he soon saw that the black was manoeuvring to gain an advantage over the shark, which did not appear to observe him. poor alice, overcome with terror, had almost fainted in his arms; he urged her to keep up her courage. "don't be afraid, miss alice; don't be afraid, my child," he said soothingly. "there is a big chest not far off, which will serve as a raft for you, and it will support nub and me while we swim alongside it. see--see! nub is going to tackle the shark; and he well knows, depend on it, what he is about. i have heard that the natives in these parts do not fear the creature, terrible as it looks, and i don't see why we should. come, we will swim towards the chest, and nub will join us when he has finished off jack shark,--which he fully intends doing, depend on that." the mate, as he spoke, began to swim in the direction of the chest; but he soon found that, having alice to support, he could make but slow progress; he therefore recommenced treading the water, turning his face towards the shark, that he might be the better able to encounter it should it make a dash at him. he now saw that nub, having got close to the creature, his long knife in his hand, was swimming up alongside it. he expected, in another moment, that he would plunge his weapon into the shark's body; but instead of that, what was his surprise to see him suddenly leap on its back and dig the fingers of one hand into its left eye. if the hammer-head had been torpid before, it now made ample amends by its sudden activity; off it darted along the surface, nub holding up its head to prevent it from diving, while with his right hand he struck his knife with all his might sometimes before him and sometimes behind him, inflicting deep wounds in its back and sides. it seemed surprising that the zygaena could endure them, but its wonderful vitality is well-known--the terrific gashes which nub inflicted in no way impeding its rapid progress. at first it seemed to be coming towards the mate and alice; and though it would not have been able to bite them, it might have inflicted a blow which would have stunned them both. nub, however, managed by hauling at its head to turn it, and it swept by, forming large circles round and round the spot where they floated. its speed, however, from its loss of blood, began somewhat to diminish, and nub could evidently guide it with greater ease than at first. seeing this, the mate shouted to him, "steer the brute, if you can, to yonder chest, and bring it up to us as soon as possible." "ay, ay, massa," answered nub; "i finish de brute off soon. it not got much more go in him. cheer up, missie alice; i no tink dis a steady horse for you, or i ask you to have a ride on it." [see note .] this remark did more than anything else to restore alice's courage, for she knew that the black felt perfectly certain of gaining the victory. nub, who had already deprived the monster of sight, continued to dig his knife into its head, guiding it towards the chest, which he thus rapidly reached. he then, turning half round while he held up its head, stuck his knife as far back as he could reach behind him, persevering in his efforts till all movement in its tail had ceased. "dere, you go and feed your ugly cousins!" he exclaimed, giving it a last dig,--when, leaping from its back, he threw himself on the top of the chest; while the shark, its life almost extinct, rolled over on its back with its head downwards. taking off a lanyard attached to the chest, nub secured it to the handle at one end, and after resting for a few seconds, again threw himself into the water and struck out for the mate and alice. "there, my dear child, i told you so; the brave black has killed the shark, and he will soon have the chest up to us. it will serve as a boat for you," said mr shobbrok. "but where is walter? what has become of the raft?" exclaimed alice, who had hitherto been unaware of her brother's unhappy condition, and had not noticed that the raft had glided far away from them. "we must try and overtake walter as soon as we get you safe on the chest," answered the mate. "it will be a long swim; but we must hope to get something to support ourselves, for i fear that the chest will not hold us all." "oh, what can have made walter sail away again?" asked alice; and then another thought seemed to strike her, as the mate did not immediately answer. "oh, tell me, mr shobbrok," she exclaimed,--"was the raft drawn down by the whale, and has my dear brother been drowned?" "the raft is all right, and i hope walter is on it," he answered, after a minute's hesitation. "we may come up with it before long. don't think any more about it just now. see nub; he's bringing the chest to us,--and a fine large sea-chest it is too, and by-and-by we will open it, and ascertain what it contains. i suspect that it's a carpenter's chest; though, as it floats high out of the water, it cannot contain many tools, but it may possibly have some which will be useful to us when we get on shore." "when will that be, do you think?" asked alice. "there's no saying exactly, but we will hope for the best," answered the mate evasively. "see, here comes nub. he will soon be up with us, and we will then begin our voyage." the mate had no little difficulty in speaking; for, strong as he was, the exertion of treading the water so long was very considerable. he was very thankful when at length nub got up to them. "here is de chest," exclaimed the black. "now de sooner missie alice on de top of it de better." fortunately there were several turns of rope round the chest, by means of which nub held to one side, and the mate balancing it, enabled alice to climb up on the other. he then told her to lie down along it, exactly in the centre, so that it might be as well balanced as possible. "all right, missie alice?" asked nub, looking up at her while he grasped the rope fastened to the chest; the mate, who required a few minutes' rest, supporting himself on the other. "yes, i feel very secure," said alice; "and i only wish that you and mr shobbrok could get up and sit on it also." "we should roll it over if we did, and tumble you into the water," said the mate. "it will afford us ample support if we merely hold on by each side. are you all right, nub?" "yes, yes, massa shobbrok; all right," answered nub. "then off we go," cried the mate; "and i hope that before long we may come up with the raft, or that the captain's boat, or some stranger, may pick us up." saying this, the mate took hold of one of the beckets which nub had secured for the purpose, and struck out boldly to the westward. only strong swimmers and very determined men could have kept up as they did. it is true that the chest afforded them some support, but they had thus only one hand to swim with; still they made considerable progress, shoving on with their feet and striking out with the hands left at liberty. the wind was fair and the water smooth, or they would have been unable to make any progress. on and on they swam. when the arm they were using for propelling themselves grew weary, they shifted sides; by which they were able to continue their exertions much longer than they would otherwise have done. alice remained perfectly still, though she now and then spoke to the mate or nub. the former found it very difficult to answer her questions, as again and again she asked when they should overtake walter, or how far off the land was likely to be. "oh, how i wish that we were near enough to see it!" she added. "it may cheer you to know that when i was on the top of the whale i fancied that i caught sight of some high land away to the westward," answered the mate. "it was very faint, and as i felt uncertain, i did not like to run the risk of disappointing you; but i have been thinking over the matter, and am persuaded that it was land. if it was, we shall have a better chance than i had hoped for of reaching it before long." "you thought dat land, massa shobbrok; so did i. hurrah! swim away, boys! swim away! we soon get over de sea!" shouted nub, endeavouring to raise his own spirits, as well as to encourage alice. thus they went on, but the mate could not help secretly feeling that the probability of their escaping was small indeed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ note . the author must express the surprise he felt when he met with the account of nub's wonderful ride on the zygaena. however, it was too good to be omitted, though he must leave his readers to judge of its probability. he would advise any of them who may visit the new british possession of the fiji islands, should they fall in with one of the monsters, not to attempt a similar exploit. chapter nine. voyage on a chest continued--find a cask on which nub and the mate rest--the raft with walter returns--a sword-fish caught--a boat picked up--washed from the raft--stormy night--two rafts in sight. no two men could have conducted themselves more heroically than did the mate and nub to save the young girl left under their charge. neither of them allowed her to discover how weary and exhausted they felt by their prolonged and almost superhuman exertions. now and then they stopped, and holding on with both hands to the chest, allowed their bodies to float on the water, thus obtaining some relief. the water was so warm that they did not feel any benumbing effects from being so long in it. after resting for a time, they would again strike out, nub always commencing with a laugh and a negro song, though he seldom got further than-- "swim away, boys, swim away; we get to land 'fore end of day." then he would cry out, "i tink i smell de flowers and de fruit already." mr shobbrok spoke but little, except occasionally a word or two to cheer up alice. she did not experience the anxieties of her older companions, for it did not, happily, enter her head that they might after all fail to reach the shore. she could not help thinking about walter, however, and wondering how it was that the raft had run away with him. she kept her eyes ahead, looking out for the land; but though her vision was remarkably keen, she could not discover it. she thought, however, that she could distinguish, far away, the white sail of the raft; and so undoubtedly she could, but she forgot that all the time it was going further and further from them. the mate had at first had another cause for anxiety. it was that they might be espied and followed by some of the sharks which they had seen in the neighbourhood; but as they got further away from the spot, he began to hope that they had escaped them, and that the creatures were too much occupied with the carcasses of the whale and the zygaena to follow them. they had thus been going on for two hours or more, when alice exclaimed, "i see something floating ahead!" "what is it like?" asked the mate anxiously. "it seems to me like another chest, or a cask perhaps. if you will lift your head a little out of the water, you will see it clearly." the mate drew himself up till his head was as high as the chest. "it's an empty cask," he exclaimed; "and will serve to rest one of us, though it will not assist us while towing the chest." they swam towards it, and found that it was a large empty cask--probably one which had floated out of the american whaler which had gone down. "now, mr shobbrok, you get on de cask; you want rest more dan i do," said nub. "but take care dat you not roll round and round. it no easy matter to sit on an empty cask in de water." the mate tried to do as nub advised, but he found that the cask would roll round, and that the only way he could rest on it was by throwing himself length-wise along it--though he had considerable difficulty in keeping it steady. he was thus, however, able to regain his strength. when he found himself somewhat recovered, he resigned his place to nub, who managed by working his feet on either side to sit across it, holding on to the chest. scarcely had he taken his seat when he exclaimed,--"oh, i can smell de flowers and de fruit! here come de land-breeze; but den it will drive us back faster dan we came along." nub was right. in another minute a strong breeze, smelling of the earth, blew in their faces; and the water, which had hitherto been calm, was soon rippled over with small waves, which rapidly increased in height, hissing and bubbling around them. this was excessively trying to the mate, who could with difficulty keep his head above the foam which drove in his face. his heart began to fail him, for while the breeze continued the little hope he ever had of reaching the land must be abandoned. all he could do was to hold on to the chest, which nub balanced on the opposite side, without attempting to make any progress. he was, for the first time, beginning to lose hope of saving the little girl, when he was aroused by hearing nub exclaim-- "hurrah! here come de raft! de wind catch her sail, and drive her back. we soon see massa walter, and i hope he soon see us." "i see him! i see him!" cried alice, lifting up her head. the mate raised himself also; and then, sure enough, he caught sight of the raft skimming along at a rapid rate over the seas. whether walter saw them or not, they could not tell; but they supposed that he had recovered his senses, and was steering the raft,--and that, finding the breeze in his favour, he was endeavouring to reach the spot where he had left them. he might remember the chest and casks and other objects floating about, and believe that they had been able by such means to support themselves. there could be little doubt, by the steady way in which the raft approached, that walter was at the helm, though, as he was steering a course rather on one side, it was probable that he had not yet discovered them. as the raft drew nearer, nub exclaimed-- "i will swim away and cut him off, or else maybe he will pass us." "let us first try what hailing will do," said the mate; "we will all shout together." "ay, ay!" answered nub. "i give de time." all three, raising their voices, shouted as loud as they could, alice's shrill note reaching almost as far as the others. "once more," cried nub; "and sure dis time he hear." again they all cried out, even louder than before. "dere! dere, missie alice, he see us!" exclaimed nub, looking down at the little girl as he spoke. at that moment the sheets were let go, and walter was seen eagerly looking out to discover whence the voices came. the raft now came gliding up towards them, walter having gone back to the helm to steer it. nub was the first to spring on board, and then having made fast the chest, he lifted alice safely on to the raft, where she was received in walter's arms. the almost exhausted mate was then dragged on board by nub. the first thing mr shobbrok did was to haul down the sail, that the raft might not be driven further away from the land; he then turned towards walter, not to find fault with him for running away,--for he was well aware that the poor lad could not help it,--but to ascertain the state of his mind. walter had placed alice on her usual seat, and now sat by her side. he looked up at mr shobbrok. "i cannot tell you how it all happened," he said in a low voice. "i only remember seeing alice in the water, and shrieking out for some one to help her, when i fell down fainting on the raft. i was unconscious of what happened further, till i found myself alone on the raft, which had at that instant been taken aback by a strong breeze from the westward. i felt full of dismay and grief, but as calm and self-possessed as i ever had been. i considered what was to be done. my first thought was to go in search of you. i lowered the sail, got the raft round, and again setting the sail, steered away to the eastward, fully prepared to perish should i not find you; and oh, i cannot express how thankful i am to find you again!" "i am sure he is," said alice, jumping up and kissing walter. "i am certain of it too, my lad," said the mate. "we don't blame you; and can only be thankful that, through god's mercy, your senses were so wonderfully restored." "yes, massa walter, we bless heaven dat de shark not eat us, and dat we find you; and now all go well." both the mate and nub felt too much fatigued just then to speak more; so having secured the chest and cask, they threw themselves down to rest, as they could not attempt to row against the breeze then blowing, with their strength exhausted as it was. alice was scarcely less weary than they were, not so much from exertion as from alarm and anxiety. her clothes soon dried in the hot sun, and then she too lay down. walter, who was now apparently quite recovered, sat by her side, watching her till she dropped off to sleep. the wind did not much affect the raft, but it was all the time slowly drifting further and further from the shore. the little girl's slumbers were disturbed by the terrible scenes she had gone through, and now and then she cried out, "oh, save him! oh, save him! where is walter? where is walter?" walter, on hearing his name pronounced, took her hand. "here i am, all safe," he said in a soothing tone. "i am very, very sorry that i caused you so much alarm; but it's all right now. we shall soon reach the land, i hope; and then we will build a boat, and go in search of our father and the rest." alice, who was still scarcely awake, did not understand what he said. suddenly she started up. "o walter, where are we?" she exclaimed, looking wildly about her. "i thought you had gone away again, and were never coming back. you will never leave me, will you?" "i should be miserable without you," he answered. "no, i never will leave you, if i can help it, till we find our father--though mr shobbrok and nub take the best care of you they possibly can: had it not been for them, we should both have been lost." "don't think that it's we who take care of you, my children," said the mate, who had been awakened by their voices. "there is one above who alone has the power to do so. we are only the instruments in his hands." "but we do what we can, though," said nub, sitting up; "and now i tink the wind begin to fall, and we get out de oars." "we had better take some food first," said the mate. "the young people must be hungry, and i am pretty sharp set myself." "what you like to have, mr shobbrok? roast beef, boiled mutton, pork pies, or plum pudding?" asked nub, trying to make walter and alice laugh, for he observed how sad they both looked. "well, if we can't have dem, we have whale blubber; it bery good for dem dat like it. take a lilly bit, missie alice." poor alice's lip curled. she recollected how nauseous she had found it in the morning. nub got out some of the blubber, which the rest of the party swallowed without making faces. fortunately there was still a small portion of biscuit, and this enabled alice at length to get down enough of the food to sustain her strength. they had still the wine and water; but, alas! there now remained only sufficient biscuit to afford her another meal. "after that has gone, what can we give the little girl to eat?" thought the mate. "well, well, she has been sustained hitherto, and we must not anticipate evil." nub having stowed away the rest of the blubber, the oars were got out, and while walter steered, he and the mate began to urge on the raft towards the shore. their progress, however, was very slow, as when they stood up their bodies acted the part of sails, and they were driven back almost as fast as they advanced. several birds were flying overhead, a sign that land could not be far off; while, as they looked around, they saw here and there fish of all sizes rising out of the water. "we may get hold of one of these fellows if they come near us," said the mate. "our time may be better spent in preparing the harpoons. lay in your oar, nub, and we will set to work." they all eagerly sat down, and in a short time two harpoons were fitted with lines, while spears were also got ready for use. scarcely were their preparations completed when the land-breeze died away; and a sea-breeze shortly afterwards setting in, the sail was once more hoisted, and the raft steered for the land. all the party kept a bright lookout ahead on either side, in the hope of seeing a fish and getting near enough to catch it. the mate and nub stood with their harpoons in their hands ready for instant use; the importance of catching some creature made them vigilant; the strong flavour of the blubber assured them that it would not keep much longer. they had got a short distance, when alice exclaimed, "see, see! what is that curious fish?" she pointed to a spot a short distance on one side, her sharp eyes detecting what had escaped the observation of the mate. as she spoke, there rose from the surface a creature with a long white polished piece of bone or ivory at the end of its snout, which might be well likened to a sword, and having two fish of considerable size spitted on it; at the same moment two large frigate-birds were seen in the sky, flying rapidly down to deprive the fish of its prey. "that's a sword-fish," exclaimed the mate; "and we must try to get it before those frigate-birds succeed in stealing the smaller fish from it. lower the sail, nub; get out your oar and pull away. starboard the helm, walter. that fellow will not dive as easily as he may expect to do with those fish on his nose." nub pulled away with all his might, thus bringing the raft close up to the spot where the sword-fish, which had run its pointed weapon, perhaps unintentionally, through the fish, was struggling to get them off. the mate stood with his harpoon ready; it flew from his hand, and was buried deeply in the creature's body. in vain it tried to escape. the fish impeded its progress; and, nub coming to the mate's assistance, the line, which had run out some way, was hauled in; after which nub, seizing the animal's snout, in spite of its struggles, held it fast, and drew off the two fish, which he threw on the raft. "dere, we got dem safe, at all events. dey make a good dinner for you, missie alice," he exclaimed. "now, massa walter, you take de spear and stick it into de sword-fish's belly." walter thrust in the weapon, and in another instant the creature's struggles ceased, and it was hauled up on the raft. "thank heaven," said the mate. "we have now got food enough, if it will last so long fresh, for two or three days; and could we but smoke it, we should each of us enjoy two hearty meals a day for a week to come. however, it may, at all events, keep for some time if dried in the sun. hoist the sail, nub; walter, do you steer, while the black and i cut up the fish." the frigate-birds, disappointed of their prey, had flown off, but were hovering overhead ready to seize the entrails as they were thrown overboard. the fish hauled up on the raft was about ten feet long, of a bluish-black above, and silvery white below, the skin being somewhat rough. "i have seen them much bigger than this one," observed the mate; "but it's as well that we did not catch a much bigger fellow, for we should have had some difficulty in handling it. i have known these fellows attack a whale, and run their beaks right into its side, while the thrasher sticks to its back; and between them they manage to kill the monster, though i believe the sharks benefit most by the hunt. i have seen them caught in the mediterranean by harpoons, especially off the coast of sicily. the people in those parts are little better than idolaters, and when they go out fishing they sing some old heathen song which they fancy attracts the sword-fish. they won't utter a word of their own language, for fear that the creatures should understand them; but certain it is that the fish follow their boats, when they stand ready with their harpoons to strike them. the flesh is good eating, and very nourishing when cooked; as we shall find it, i hope, though we have to eat it raw. there's another sort of fish which i have fallen in with in these seas, and a curious creature it is. it is called `the sail-fish,' for it has got a big fin on the top of its back which it can open or shut like a chinese fan; and when it rises to the top of the water, the wind catches this sail-like fin and sends it along at a great rate; and at its chin it has got two long lines, which i suppose serve it to anchor by, to the rocks in a tideway, when lying in wait for its prey." "what a curious sort of creature it must be," said alice; "how i should like to see one!" "perhaps we may, when we get closer in-shore," answered the mate; "and we will try to harpoon it if you don't object to our eating it afterwards." "oh, no, no; that i would not," answered alice. "i only wish some flying-fish would come on to the raft; i would willingly eat them raw. i remember what a foolish remark i made about the matter when we were on board the _champion_. i little thought how very thankful i should be to catch some of the beautiful creatures for the purpose of eating them." "i no tink missie alice need eat de fish raw," said nub. "i manage to cook it." "how so?" asked the mate. "we have no hearth nor fuel." "i find both," said nub, in a confident tone. "look here, massa shobbrok. we get some bits of board. i put dem down on de middle of de raft, and we damp dem well; den i take de skin of dis fish and put it on de top of dem, doubled many times; den i take some of de dry pieces of blubber, and i pile dem up; den i get some chips from de sword-fish, and fix dem close to de heap; and now i set fire to de heap, and de fish toast; and i give it to missie alice and massa walter to eat." "oh, thank you, nub; but walter and i shall not like to eat cooked fish while mr shobbrok and you are eating it raw," said alice. "we see, missie alice, if we got enough for all," answered nub. "your plan seems a good one, nub," said the mate. "we will try it, at all events." nub set to work and prepared the hearth, and by putting on only a few pieces of blubber at a time, he was able to keep up a sufficient heat to cook some small pieces of fish, which alice and walter gratefully ate. there were a few pieces over, which he insisted that the mate should take, he himself humbly saying that raw fish was "good enough for black fellow." the mate and walter stood by ready to throw water on the raft should the fire burn into the wood; but though it nearly consumed the skin, it only charred the boards beneath it. there was still some blubber remaining, with which nub proposed to cook another meal for alice on the following day. part of the sword-fish was now cut up into thin strips, which were hung up along the yard to dry in the sun, as they would thus, it was hoped, keep longer. they had now such food as they could require; though, eaten without any condiments, it was not palatable, nor altogether wholesome. it would, however, keep them from starving, and they were thankful. they knew that many voyagers, under similar circumstances, had been much worse off than they were. they had been so much engaged that they had almost forgotten the chest which had been the means of saving alice. walter, looking at it, asked the mate if he would like to have it opened. "though i do not expect to find much within it, still there may be something that will prove useful to us," answered the mate. not being very heavy, though of considerable size, it was easily hauled up on the raft. it was a more difficult matter to get it open, for they were afraid of breaking their axe should they attempt to prize the lid off. walter proposed to use one of the spear-heads, which might be driven under the lock with a hammer. the attempt was immediately made, and succeeded better than they anticipated. it was, as the mate had suspected, a carpenter's chest. in the upper part was a drawer containing boat-nails, brad-awls, gimlets, and other small tools. the centre part, which had contained the larger tools, was empty; but below, under a sort of false bottom, were found a fine and a coarse saw, some parcels of large heavy nails, two cold irons, and several pieces of iron of various shapes, which altogether had served to ballast the chest while in the water. "i don't know that in our present circumstances we can make much use of these things," observed the mate; "but if we get on shore on an uninhabited island, they will serve us either for putting up a house, or for building a boat, and we may be thankful that we obtained them; and should the sea get up, the chest will also serve to add buoyancy to the raft." by this time it was almost dark, and the wind had again begun to drop. as night drew on it was a complete calm. the mate and nub rowed on for some time; but they found that they were overtaxing their strength, and were obliged to desist, hoping to get a breeze from the eastward the next day. they had now less fear of want of food than of want of water. their stock of the latter necessary of life had already begun to run short. the mate, therefore, proposed that they should reduce their daily allowance, though they gave alice as much as she would consent to take. the party on the raft had been so accustomed to the sort of life they were leading, that it no longer appeared strange to them. now and then walter woke up, and saw the stars shining brightly overhead, and reflected on the wild ocean around him; then he went to sleep again almost with the same sense of security which he had felt on board ship. he began to fancy that the raft would stand any amount of sea, and he fully expected to reach the shore at last. alice slept on more calmly than on the previous night, the comparatively wholesome meal she had taken making her feel more comfortable than before. now the mate took his watch, now nub his; and as alice opened her eyes, she saw either one or the other on the lookout, so she soon again closed them, feeling as secure as did walter. towards morning both were awakened by finding the raft tossing about far more violently than it had hitherto done. the mate was steering, and nub was attending to the sheets with the sail hoisted only half-way up. "what's the matter?" asked walter. "we have got a stiffish breeze, and it will carry us the sooner to the shore, if it does not come on to blow harder," answered the mate. "but do you and miss alice sit quiet; the weather does not look threatening, and if the wind brings us some rain we may be thankful for it." "but the wind may throw the surf on the shore, and we may find it dangerous to pass through it," observed walter. "time enough to think about that when we get there," said the mate. "either there was no land in sight yesterday, and we were mistake when we fancied we formerly saw it, or a mist hanging about it hid it from our view." "perhaps we see it when daylight come back," observed nub; "and dat just begin to break astern." the dawn gradually increased. nub kept eagerly looking out ahead. "i see someting!" he exclaimed suddenly. "it either a rock or a boat." "that's not a rock," said the mate, "or it would be hidden as the sea washes over it." "den dat a boat," cried nub. "can it be de cap'en's?" "our father's boat?" cried walter and alice in chorus. "it may be," said the mate; "but i think not. we shall soon know." eagerly they all watched the boat. "you must not raise your hopes too high," said the mate at length. "if that boat had people on board she would be pulling towards us, but by the way she floats on the water i am pretty certain that she's empty. yes, i am confident of it," he added. "in another minute we shall be up to her, and till then there is little use hazarding conjectures on the subject." the raft approached the boat. "furl the sail!" cried the mate. walter and nub did so, and the raft glided up alongside the boat, which was half-full of water, and much shattered. nub seized hold of the bows, while walter jumped in, and with his cap began to bail out the water. "what boat is it?" asked alice. "one of the _champion's_--no doubt about that," answered the mate; "but don't be alarmed, miss alice, at there being no one on board. it's strong evidence, in my opinion, that the people have been taken out of her, and that the boat, being water-logged, has been abandoned. bail away, walter. we shall soon free her from water, and then as soon as the sea goes down we shall haul her up on the raft, and see what we can do with her. that carpenter's chest was not sent us for nothing, for the tools are just the sort we want for the work; and, look here! the planks we nailed on to the bottom of the raft are exactly suited for repairing her. i scarcely dared to pray for a boat like this; but now she has been sent us, we may have good hope of reaching the shore, which i own i began to doubt we ever should." "ay, massa shobbrok, you can never pray for too much," said nub. "i always pray for what i want; and if it no come, i know it not good for me." "do you think this is papa's boat?" asked alice. "no, miss alice. i know this is morgan the second mate's boat, which accompanied the captain's; and we may hope that the same vessel which received both crews on board may pick us up." walter having reduced the water in the boat, sail was hoisted, and she was dropped astern, nub jumping in to assist in bailing out the remainder. at present she was too sorely battered and leaky to be of any use. their fear was that the weather might get worse, and that she might after all have to be abandoned. however, as the day advanced, happily the wind fell and the sea went down. as soon, therefore, as they had breakfasted they hauled the boat up on the raft; and though she occupied the larger portion of it, there was still room for alice to sit near the mast. all hands then set to work to repair her,--walter and nub acting under the direction of the mate, who performed the more difficult parts of the task. the boat-nails found in the chest were invaluable, but, of course, without the planks which had been preserved, nothing could have been done. "now, lads," said the mate, "before we begin we must see what amount of material we have got, and fit it to the parts for which it is best suited. a little time spent in this way will be time saved in the end, and enable us to accomplish what we might not otherwise have the power to do." they worked away, scarcely allowing themselves a minute to rest or to take food. the boat had apparently been damaged by the flukes of a whale, several planks on one side having been broken in. these were first repaired, and her bottom made sound; and then other injuries she had received at the bow and stern were put to rights, either by fixing in new planks or by nailing others over the damaged places. there was still wood enough remaining to run a weatherboard all round her, thus to enable her the better to go through any bad weather she might encounter during the long voyage she would possibly have to make. lockers were then fitted to the bow and stern, in which provisions might be stowed, and so prevent the risk of these being wetted should the sea break into the boat. darkness found them still engaged in the task. their intention was, next morning to make a step for the mast and to build a little cabin aft for alice. as there was not room to lie down on the raft, the boat was propped on it; and they all got into her, having also stowed away on board the cask of water, the remaining biscuits, the bottles of wine, two harpoons and spears, and a portion of the fish. walter and alice occupied the stern sheets; the mate lay down amidships; while nub, who was to keep the first watch, sat in the bows. nub, finding himself in a boat, felt much more secure than he had done on the raft. he had kept the morning watch, and had been working hard all day. it is not surprising, therefore, that when he ought to have been sitting with his eyes wide open he allowed them to close, and fell asleep. the mate himself, though generally very wakeful, experienced a feeling of security he had not for long enjoyed, and slept more soundly than usual. it was almost a dead calm when they lay down, and the sea was perfectly smooth; no vessel could run over them, for none could approach without wind; indeed, unless to be prepared for a change in the weather, it seemed almost needless to keep watch. some hours, probably, had passed, when suddenly the voyagers were awakened by a loud roaring sound, and by feeling the boat lifted on a sea and sent surging forward. they all started up, the mate and nub looking around them, while walter held alice in his arms, thinking something terrible was about to happen. "out with the oars!" cried the mate. "walter, ship the tiller." he was instantly obeyed, fortunately for them; for should such another sea as that which had washed the boat off the raft catch her broadside, it might roll her over and over. by great exertions the mate got her round, head to the sea, and there he and nub were able to keep her. but what had become of the raft? in the darkness it could nowhere be seen. perhaps it was afloat near them, or it might, deprived of their weight, have been turned over and knocked to pieces by the seas. happily, most of the articles on which they depended for existence were in the boat; but their mast and sail had gone, with the chest, and the greater portion of their tools. in vain the mate and nub looked around on every side in the hope of seeing it. could they find it, even though it should be sorely battered, they might hang on to leeward of it by a hawser, and thus, in comparative security, ride out the gale; as it was, they must keep their oars moving all night to prevent the seas from breaking into the boat. they were, fortunately, rested; and the flesh of the nutritious sword-fish had restored their strength. "pull away, boys; pull away!" sung out nub. "it's a long lane dat has no turning. we better off dan on de raft, which de sea would have washed over ebery moment. here we pretty dry--only have to keep de oars moving. pull away, boys; pull away!" "that's the right spirit, nub," said the mate. "i only wish that i could sing as you do." "i sing to cheer up missie alice," said nub in a low voice. "i don't tink i could sing oderwise." walter had learned to steer well, and kept the boat's head carefully to the seas, so that she rose over each of them as they came hissing by. the wind was blowing on the land; and though the boat's head was turned the other way, she was in reality drifting towards it. without a sail they could not attempt to put her stem to the seas, and they must therefore remain in their present position until the weather should again moderate: when that might be it was impossible to say. however, the mate and nub, being happily inured to hard work, could keep on rowing for many hours together. thus the night passed away; and when daylight returned, the rolling seas hissing and bubbling around them were alone to be seen. they naturally looked out for the raft. the boat had just risen on the crest of a rolling wave, when nub exclaimed, "i see de raft on de larboard hand,"-- and he pointed with his chin to indicate the direction; "but it look bery much knocked about." "but i see it on the starboard bow," exclaimed walter. "it seems to me as if it had kept perfectly together, though the mast has gone." "how can that be?" exclaimed the mate, looking round in the direction towards which nub was pointing. "yes, you are right, nub; that's our raft, sure enough. and now, walter, i will try to get a look at what you say is a raft." the mate managed, while pulling, to slew himself sufficiently round to look in the direction in which walter pointed. "sure enough, walter, that's also a raft," he exclaimed,--"a much larger one than ours; but whether or not any people are on it i cannot make out." chapter ten. on board the "champion"--mutiny--fire breaks out--the crew, with the doctor and tidy, escape on a raft--rum, and its effects--men lost--steer away from the dead whale--rum causes the death of most of the party--a murder--the survivors received on board the boat. we must now go back in the order of events, and return to the _champion_. after the boats had gone away on the expedition which was to end so disastrously, mr lawrie, the surgeon, was walking the deck, meditating on the responsibility he had undertaken, when dan tidy came up to him and whispered,--"hist, sir! things are not going on altogether straight below, i'm after thinking; and if we don't keep a bright lookout, we shall have the boatswain and the frenchmen running away with the ship, and leaving the captain and the rest of the people in the boats to get back to her if they can. the only chance is that they come to loggerheads together; for they have been quarrelling away for the last hour, though what about, for the life of me i cannot make out." "then, tidy, call the true men aft, and i will arm them, and be ready for whatever may happen," said the surgeon quietly. tidy did as directed; and the man at the helm being one who could be trusted, a cutlass and a brace of pistols were given to him. scarcely had these arrangements been made when a number of men came rushing up the fore-hatchway, some shouting in english and others in french,-- showing the surgeon that, although they might before have been quarrelling, they were now united for one common object. he guessed that their intention was to get possession of the helm, as he saw some of them squaring away the fore-yards. "if a man advances abaft the mainmast, or touches a brace, we fire!" he cried out. "knock him over!" cried out a voice, which he recognised as that of the boatswain. "do as i told you." "you, my brave fellows, who are resolved to stand faithful to the captain, be ready with your firearms," cried the surgeon. the boatswain and the others with him on this uttered loud shouts of derision, and several shots were fired at the surgeon and his supporters. he was compelled now to give the order to fire in return. two of his men had been wounded; and three or four of the mutineers fell from the steady fire poured in on them. the rest, led on by the boatswain, now made a fierce onslaught on the surgeon--he and tidy being knocked over; but his party, standing firm, drove back their assailants, and he was able to recover his feet. a second attack was about to be made, when loud cries of "fire! fire!" arose from below, and smoke and flames were seen issuing up the fore-hatchway. the danger threatening had the effect of calming the fury of the mutineers, while mr lawrie's earnest appeals induced them to exert themselves in putting out the flames. indeed, had not the explosion which has been described taken place, they might possibly have succeeded. for a few moments they stood aghast; but the boatswain, who had already shown his courage, rallied the survivors around him, and urged them to assist him in building a raft. "it's our only chance of saving our lives," he shouted; "and the sooner we set about it the better." most of the men, obeying him, began cutting loose such spars as could be most easily got at, and launching them overboard. they then, with axes, cut away the bulwarks and other materials for forming a raft; while mr lawrie and his party still made desperate efforts to extinguish the fire. the boatswain showed himself a thorough seaman, by the skilful way in which he put the raft together; and he had finished it before the flames had gained the mastery--thanks to the labours of the surgeon and his party, who, though they could not extinguish it, had kept down the fire. mr lawrie, who had not forgotten alice, was hurrying aft with the intention of trying to save her, when some of the mutineers caught him. "come along, sir!--come along!" they shouted; "we want a doctor among us, and cannot leave you behind;" and, in spite of his struggles, he was dragged to the side and lowered down on the raft. dan had made a dash into the cabin, but only in time to see nub and alice floating away on a raft from the wreck. notwithstanding the bruises he had received, he rushed forward in the hope of saving his life, and, unseen by the mutineers, he lowered himself down among them. mr lawrie's first inquiry on being placed on the raft, and just as they were shoving off, was whether they had brought any provisions. "if we leave the ship without any, we shall only be seeking a more lingering death than we should have found on board," he exclaimed. the cry arose from those near him, who saw the sense of his remark,--"what provisions have we got?" search was made, when it was found that they were actually leaving the ship without a particle of food or a drop of water! "this will not do," cried the boatswain. "who will volunteer to go back and get what we want? i'll lead the way!" saying this, he sprang up the side, followed by several of the more daring of the crew. they made their way to the after-hold. a cask of beef was got up; but the men, breaking into the spirit-room, insisted on having some rum. one of them, wiser than his companions, managed to lower down a couple of breakers of water, while the rest were occupied in getting up three casks of rum; precious time, which should have been employed in searching for more provisions, being thus wasted in procuring what would too likely prove their destruction. the spirit-casks had just been lowered down, when the flames, bursting out with greater fury, made them dread another explosion. "shove off!--shove off!" was the general cry; and the men who had been labouring on the deck for the good of the others had barely time to spring on to the raft, when the ropes which held it to the ship were cut, and they shoved away from the side. by this time a strong breeze had sprung up; the sail was hoisted, and the raft, passing under the stern, glided rapidly away from the ship. though it was large enough to support the people on it, they found it necessary that each man should keep a certain place in order to balance it properly. the boatswain took the command, and insisted that all the rest should obey him. his own people seemed willing to do so; but the frenchmen, who equalled them in numbers, from the first showed an evident inclination to dispute his authority, under the leadership of their own boatswain, a man not dissimilar to him in character. capstick had sense enough to know that he must assert his authority, and keep the frenchmen in check, or they would very probably take the raft from him. "i see what these fellows are after, mr lawrie," he said to the surgeon, who was seated near him. "you will stick by me, i know; for it will come to a fight before long, when, if we don't gain the upper hand, we shall all be hove overboard." "then i would advise you to get rid of the rum-casks at once," said the surgeon. "i see that your people are already eyeing one of them as if they were about to broach it; and if they get drunk, which they certainly will, we shall be in the frenchmen's power." "i believe that you are right, sir; but i would not like to lose so much good rum," answered the boatswain, who was himself much too fond of liquor. "i will see what i can do, though." "avast there, lads," he shouted to the men. "if we wish to save our lives, all hands must be put on a limited allowance of provisions and spirits. i cannot say how far off we are from the land; but it may be many a long day before we get there." "we will think about that to-morrow," answered one of the men. "we are thirsty now, after the hard work we have been doing, and we want a glass of grog or two to give us a little strength." the boatswain expostulated; but he himself longed to have a glass of rum, and his opposition grew weaker. the cask was broached, and a cupful--a large allowance--was served out to each englishman, including the doctor and tidy. mr lawrie, however, managed to throw some of his away, and to fill it up with water from a breaker which he had secured, and on which he was sitting--treating tidy's in the same way. the frenchmen, on seeing what was going forward, clamoured loudly for rum; for french sailors, and especially under the circumstances in which these were placed, generally show as strong an inclination for spirits as do englishmen. "well, you shall have it if you obey orders," answered the boatswain; the grog he had taken making him more inclined to be good-humoured than before, as well as to forget his suspicions. the seamen were also willing enough to share their treasure with their companions in misfortune. the quantity they had taken at first produced no apparent ill effects, though it tended to raise their spirits and make them forget the dangerous position in which they were placed. some became loquacious, others sang songs; and both parties shook hands, and vowed that they regarded each other as brothers and friends. the next day, however, a change had come over their spirits. the french boatswain declared that, as he had assisted to build the raft, he had as much right to the command as capstick, as well as to half the rum and provisions. to this the latter would not agree; but the frenchmen, after remaining quiet for some little time, suddenly sprang up, made a dash at one of the casks of rum, and capturing it, carried it in among them. "let them have their way," said mr lawrie. "keep your own people sober, and if the frenchmen get drunk, you will the more easily master them." this advice, however, was not followed; some even of the better men making such frequent visits to the cask that several of them were utterly stupified. the frenchmen meantime having broached their cask, many of them were soon in the same condition. the raft, however, was tumbling about too much to allow them to move,--this more than anything else preventing the two parties from coming to blows on the subjects of dispute which frequently arose. those who had retained their senses had become hungry, and now demanded food. the doctor and tidy had managed to knock off the head of the beef-cask, and they served out a portion to each man. it was, however, salt and hard, and tended to increase their thirst. thus the day wore on, and mr lawrie could not help looking with serious apprehensions to the future. as yet the two parties had not come to actual blows, but it was evident that they would do so on a very slight provocation. the only person over whom he could assert any beneficial influence was tidy, who, notwithstanding an irishman's proverbial affection for a "dhrop of the crater," willingly followed his advice, and took only a small quantity of spirits with his share of water. tidy had fortunately filled his pockets with biscuit when he went into the cabin to look for alice. this he shared with the doctor, thus preventing the beef from producing the thirst which it did in the others, who ate it by itself. the frenchmen had complained that smaller rations were served out to them than the englishmen took for themselves, and, watching their opportunity, they suddenly rushed towards the beef-cask. capstick and his party defended it, and soon drove them back again. though no knives were drawn on the occasion, blows were inflicted, and two of the combatants struggling together fell overboard,--when, locked in a deadly embrace, they sank before their companions could rescue them. their fate for a time had the effect of sobering the rest; and the doctor, in the hope of keeping them at peace, advised that the two boatswains should together serve out the beef, and see that their countrymen had equal shares. we cannot follow the history of the unhappy men from day to day. their provisions had now come nearly to an end. one cask of rum and a portion only of a breaker of water remained; and had not the doctor and tidy exerted themselves, this also would have been exhausted. several men were lying on the raft, and the doctor knew that they were dying, but he could do nothing for them. he warned the rest; but they only laughed at him, declaring that the men had only a little too much grog aboard, and would soon come round. they had made some progress to the westward, sometimes becalmed, and sometimes considerably tossed about, when, soon after daybreak one morning, they caught sight of a dead whale floating on the surface. the boatswain steered towards it, intending, as he said, to get some blubber, which would help out their beef. but perceiving a fire on its back as he got nearer, he at once declared his conviction that the captain and his boat's crew, and perhaps those of the other boats, must be there; so he vowed that nothing should induce him to place himself in his power, telling his own people that if the captain were to take the command of the raft, he would stop their grog, and eat up the remainder of the provisions. he called on them, therefore, to stand by him while he kept the raft on a course which would carry her some distance from the whale. the frenchmen, in the meantime, seeing the flag on the whale, and the fire burning, and believing that boats must be alongside, frantically stretched out their hands, and shouted at the top of their voices, not recollecting that they were too far off to be heard. they shrieked and shouted, and danced about, every now and then turning with violent gestures towards the boatswain, telling him to steer for the whale. he, however, took no heed of their entreaties, but, feeling dependence on the men about him, continued his course till the raft had got considerably to leeward of the whale, when it was impossible to get up to it--all the oars which had been on board, with the exception of the one by which he steered, having been lost during the frequent struggles which had taken place. the frenchmen, finding their shouts disregarded, then returned to their seats, talking together, and casting threatening looks at the whaler's crew. the boatswain and his companions laughed at their threats. hunger and thirst were by this time assailing them, when one of the men proposed to broach the remaining cask of spirits. in vain the doctor endeavoured to dissuade them from touching it; the boatswain offered but a slight resistance. they dragged it from the spot in the after part of the raft, where it had been stowed, and were soon engaged in drinking its contents. "a short life and a merry one," cried the party, as they passed the cup rapidly round. the liquor soon began to take effect on their already exhausted frames. they shouted and sang songs, but their voices sounded hollow and cracked; and several rolled over, laughing idiotically at their own condition. the frenchmen, who had been watching these proceedings, and waiting their opportunity, now rushed aft, and knocking over those who opposed them, seized the cask, and carried it off in triumph. the french boatswain endeavoured to persuade them to take only a small quantity; but they laughed at his warnings, and were soon in the same condition as the englishmen. some sang and shrieked; and others, getting up, attempted to dance, till one unhappy man in his gyrations tumbled overboard. some of his companions attempting to catch hold of him, nearly fell in likewise. their efforts were of no avail, and he sank almost within arm's length. the accident partly sobered some of them. capstick, calling on the englishmen, who were still sober enough to move, then endeavoured to regain possession of the cask, when in the struggle the bung-hole was turned downwards, and the greater portion of the contents ran out. a general fight ensued, both parties accusing each other of being the cause of the loss. knives were drawn, and wounds inflicted. the englishmen, however, secured the prize, and had to continue the fight to preserve it. the two boatswains stood aloof encouraging their respective parties; while the doctor and tidy, who attempted to act the part of pacificators, were knocked over, the irishman narrowly escaping being thrown into the sea. the fight continued for some time, till the combatants, many of them badly wounded, sank down utterly exhausted. the doctor, notwithstanding the hurts he had received, wished to do his duty, and went among them to examine their hurts. his sorrow was great when he found that no less than five were dead,--chiefly, he believed, from the effects of the spirits they had drunk; while several more were in a state which showed him that, even should help speedily come, they were too far gone to recover. before the sun rose next morning, not a dozen people remained alive on the raft. the doctor and tidy had agreed to keep watch and watch, to protect each other, and they were thus able to preserve a little of the water and a small piece of beef which remained in the cask. it might be supposed that the fearful results of the drink would have been a warning to the survivors; but their desire for liquor was as strong as ever; and as soon as they awoke, they insisted on again attacking the rum-cask. a common misfortune seemed at length to have united the two parties; but their leaders stood aloof from each other. the men, however, began sharing the rum out equally among themselves. this went on for some time, till, the liquor running short, they commenced quarrelling as before. the doctor urged tidy to take no part in any dispute. "our countrymen are as much to blame as the frenchmen," he observed. "if we assist our boatswain, we shall be guilty of their death." tidy's irish spirit, however, would hardly allow him to follow the doctor's advice. it had now fallen perfectly calm. mr lawrie, overcome by the heat, had fallen fast asleep, and tidy, who had undertaken to keep watch, was dozing by his side. most of the party were by this time reduced to such a state of weakness that very few appeared likely to survive much longer. evening was rapidly approaching, when suddenly the doctor was awakened by hearing the irishman exclaim, "faith, sir, they are at it again; and if they are not stopped, one or both of them will get the worst of it." the doctor started up, when he saw the two boatswains standing facing each other at the further end of the raft. each had a drawn knife in his hand. the frenchman was at the outer end of the raft, while two of his countrymen, the only men among them able to exert themselves, were standing near him. "hold! what murderous work are you about?" shouted the doctor. but his voice came too late; the combatants closed as he spoke, stabbing each other with their weapons. the next moment the frenchman, driven back by the english boatswain, was hurled bleeding into the water. his two countrymen, who had hitherto remained looking on, sprang to his assistance. one of them, losing his balance, fell overboard; while the boatswain, seizing the other by the throat, stabbed him to the heart. then turning round with fury in his eyes, he shrieked out, "i will treat every man in the same way who interferes with me!" no one, however, appeared inclined to do so. the sun, already dipping, disappeared beneath the horizon as the scene of blood was concluded; and the boatswain, who seemed suddenly to have been excited into savage fury, sank down exhausted on the raft. some more hours passed away, when mr lawrie, tidy, and the boatswain alone remained alive of all those who had lately peopled the raft. the surgeon did his utmost to restore the wretched boatswain, binding up his wounds, and pouring a little of the remaining spirits and water down his throat. it seemed surprising, considering the injuries he had received, that he had not succumbed as the others had done. he evidently possessed no ordinary amount of vitality. a few scraps of beef remained in the cask, of which the surgeon gave him a portion. he ate it eagerly. his continual cry, however, was for water. as the night advanced, the sea got up, tumbling the raft fearfully about. mr lawrie and tidy dragged the boatswain to the centre of the raft, and it was only by great exertions they held themselves and him on. the dark, foam-crested seas came rolling up, threatening every instant to break aboard and sweep them away. the boatswain had sufficient consciousness to be well aware of his danger; and fearful must have been the sensations of that bold bad man, his hands red with the blood of his fellow-creatures, as he contemplated a speedy death and the judgment to come. he groaned and shrieked out, yet not daring to ask for mercy. the surgeon would thankfully have shut out those fearful cries from his ears. like a true man, he resolved to struggle to the last to preserve his own life and the lives of his companions. thus hour after hour went slowly by, till the grey light of morning appeared above the horizon, broken by the rising and falling seas. mr lawrie found his own strength going, and dan was in a still worse condition. they had no food, and not a drop of water remaining, and no land in sight. stout-hearted as they both were, they could not help feeling that ere long they must yield, and share the fate of those who were already buried beneath the waves. the doctor knew, however, that it was his duty to struggle to the last, and he did his utmost to encourage poor dan. "shure, mr lawrie, it's myself has no wish to become food for the fishes, if it can be helped at all at all, and as long as i can i'll hold fast for dear life to the planks," he said in answer to mr lawrie's exhortations. "maybe a ship will come and pick us up. just look out there, sir! what do you see? if my eyes don't decave me, there is a boat; and she's pulling towards us." mr lawrie looked, as dan told him; and there, sure enough, he saw a boat approaching the raft, but very slowly. now she was hidden by intervening seas, and now again she came into sight on the crest of a wave. "shure, can it be the captain's boat, or one of the other boats which have been looking for us since the ship went down?" exclaimed dan. on hearing the word "captain," the boatswain lifted up his head and tried to get a glimpse of the approaching boat. "it may be one of our boats; but if it is the captain's, just heave me overboard at once, for he will hear all that's happened." "rest assured that if the captain is in yonder boat he will pity your condition, and not call your deeds to account," said the surgeon, anxious to soothe the mind of the dying man. the boat got nearer and nearer, when the surgeon recognised walter steering, with alice by his side, and the mate and nub pulling. they were soon near enough to hail him. "thankful to fall in with you," shouted mr shobbrok, who just then made out the surgeon and tidy though he could not distinguish the boatswain. "who's that with you?" the surgeon told him. "where are the rest?" was the next question. "gone! all gone!" was the answer. "heave us a rope, and we will hold on under your lee till the water is calm enough to take you on board," cried the mate. tidy unrove the halliards, and made several attempts to heave the end on board the boat. at length she came in nearer, when he succeeded; and the rope being made fast, the boat floated back to a safe distance. questions were now put and answered between them, but they could offer little consolation to each other. the surgeon had to acknowledge that they were without food and water. "if you can manage to send us a little, we shall be thankful," he shouted out. "we have scarcely enough for another day for ourselves," was the alarming answer; "though we will share what we have when we get you on board." it was nearly noon before mr shobbrok thought it safe to haul up to the raft, when the surgeon and tidy, exerting all their strength, and with the mate and nub's assistance, lifted the boatswain into the boat. chapter eleven. voyage in the boat continued--sufferings from thirst--death of the boatswain--regain the raft and mast and sail--a bonito caught and cooked--rain and wind--the shore reached--water found--the first night on shore--birds of paradise seen--a refreshing bath--fruit obtained. the mate and nub, with their young companions, cordially welcomed the surgeon and tidy. "we should have been more thankful to see you, had we food and water to offer," said the mate; "but we must pray that a shower may be sent down on us, and that we may fall in before long with a sword-fish or a bonito." the weather had somewhat moderated, and casting off from the raft, they put the boat's head towards the shore. walter, as before, took the helm, while the mate and nub pulled away as hard as their strength would allow, neither the doctor nor dan being able to exert themselves. as the sun got high in the sky, and distant objects could be seen, the mate stood up and looked out anxiously for the land. "i see it," he exclaimed; "but it's still a long way off. we must not despair however, my friends." saying this, he again sat down. "pull away, lads; pull away!" faintly sang out poor nub, though his strength was almost gone; for, in order that walter and alice might have enough, he had eaten but little food for many hours. the wind once more came ahead, and unless they continued to exert themselves, they might be blown back again a considerable distance. nub had not spoken for some time, still pulling on; but suddenly his oar fell from his grasp, and he sank down in the bottom of the boat, while the oar, on which so much depended, fell into the water. dan tidy, who was sitting next to him, in vain attempted to catch it. it passed by, too far off for walter to reach. the mate in vain endeavoured with his single oar so to manage the boat as to come up with it, and in the violent efforts he made, his oar almost broke in two. the helpless voyagers now floated on the wild waters deprived of the means of urging on their boat. "what are we to do, mr shobbrok?" asked walter, as the mate stepped aft and sat down by the side of the young people. "all we can do is to pray to god for help, for vain is the help of man," answered the mate. "oh yes, yes! that we will!" exclaimed alice; and she and her brother lifted up their hands and eyes to heaven, and uttered a prayer, which was surely heard, as true prayers always are. poor nub lay in the bows, too much exhausted to move; dan tidy sat with his head cast down, hope almost gone, his brave irish heart for the first time yielding to despair; while the surgeon, nearly overcome with weakness, watched the boatswain, who lay at the bottom of the boat with his head resting on one of the thwarts, holding on by the side, his groans expressing the terror and agony of his mind. gradually the wretched man's hands relaxed their hold, and his eyes became fixed. "he has gone to his terrible account," said mr lawrie at length. not another word was spoken for some time. "we must bury the man," said the mate; "the sooner that's done the better." the doctor summoned dan to assist him, and they and the mate taking the body up, were about to let it over the side, when the latter exclaimed, "stay! his jacket and shirt will be of use in making a sail. it's our only chance of reaching the shore." the garments were taken off the body, which was then committed to the deep; and although without any weight attached, it immediately sank beneath the surface. not a word was spoken. the surgeon did not think for a moment of going through the mockery of a service; but they all lifted up their hearts in prayer that they might be preserved. the boat continued drifting before the land-wind further and further from the shore, till all hope of reaching it was lost. alice, who was seated with her brother gazing across the ocean, perhaps in the expectation of catching sight of an approaching sail, suddenly exclaimed, "look--look! walter! what can that be?" "a piece of wreck," he answered; "or it's one of the rafts." the boat was drifting directly towards it. the rest of the party turned their eyes in the direction walter and alice were looking. "it's our raft," exclaimed mr shobbrok, getting out the broken oar. "walter, take the helm and steer as i tell you." they quickly neared the raft. "heaven be praised!" exclaimed the mate, as they got close to it; "the sail and mast are still there, and also the two oars." the boat was made fast to the raft, and the mate, with the assistance of walter and tidy, lifted the mast, yard, and sail into the boat, with the two oars. the chest, being securely lashed, still remained. the mate quickly opened it, and took out the tools likely to prove most useful, with an ample supply of nails. scarcely had they been transferred to the boat, when alice, who had been the harbinger of good tidings, exclaimed, "see! see that large fish!" walter seized one of the harpoons, and handed it to the mate, the fish was swimming round close to the raft; the harpoon flew from the grasp of the mate, and he calling to tidy to help him, they together in another minute brought to the surface a large bonito, which was quickly hauled on to the raft. poor nub, who had hitherto scarcely been able to open his languid eyes, dragging himself up, exclaimed, "we cook it on de raft for missie alice." the suggestion was acted upon, and the lighter portions of the raft, which were sufficiently dried to serve as fuel, were cut up. the fire being kindled, large slices of the meat were arranged round it. before they were thoroughly cooked, however, most of the starving party began to devour them, though alice waited till the piece intended for her was done. they were still engaged in cooking the fish, when dark clouds arose in the east. how anxiously they watched them! one passed over their heads, then another. "here comes the rain," cried the mate. "heaven be praised!" the sail was stretched out as before. down came the blessed rain. the fire was put out,--which was, however, of minor consequence; and the almost exhausted voyagers were able to quench their thirst, the cask being filled before the rain ceased. the cooked and uncooked portions of the fish were taken on board; and the mate set to work to fit a step for the mast. this was soon done; and a fresh breeze blowing towards the shore, the sail was hoisted, and the boat went gliding over the ocean. how grateful were the hearts of all on board! food and water had been amply provided, when the blessing was least expected. before night set in, land was clearly seen ahead. the mate was of opinion that it was an island of no great extent, or a promontory of new guinea. both nub and tidy were greatly restored by a night's rest, and the late ample supply of food they had enjoyed. mr shobbrok kept at the helm nearly the whole time, and only when the wind fell would he allow walter to take his place, with the doctor, to keep watch while he slept. the land-wind, which blew during the morning, tried their patience; but the sea-breeze at length setting in, they rapidly approached the shore, which appeared thickly wooded down to the very edge of the water, with high ground rising at a short distance from it. a belt of coral, such as is now called a "fringing reef," against which the sea beat with considerable violence, throwing up a heavy surf, extended along the shore, making an attempt to land highly dangerous, if not impossible. the mate accordingly hauling the boat to the wind, stood to the southward, in the hope of finding some bay or inlet into which they might run. all eyes were eagerly turned towards the shore. as they coasted along, no huts or habitations of any kind were seen, nor was there any appearance of the island being inhabited. the water in the cask was by this time nearly exhausted, and the uncooked fish began to exhibit the effects of the hot sun. the day was drawing on, and the mate felt especially anxious not to have to spend another night at sea. just as he was beginning to fear that they might have to do so, his practised eyes discovered an opening in the reef; and telling the doctor and nub to keep a bright lookout for rocks ahead, he steered for it. as the boat approached, the shore opened out, and the thankful voyagers soon found themselves entering a deep inlet, fringed with graceful trees down to the very edge of the water. a spot appearing, not far from the entrance, where the rocks, running out, afforded a natural landing-place, sail was lowered, and the boat being rowed carefully in, they soon reached the beach. walter was the first to spring on shore, followed by nub, who stretched out his arms to receive alice from the mate. her young heart beat with gratitude as she stood, holding her brother's hand, safe on firm land. the rest followed; and having hauled up the boat, they all knelt down and offered up their thanks to heaven for their preservation from the numberless dangers they had gone through. "and let us still trust, my friends, to him who has taken care of us," added the mate. "we should always pray for protection against unseen as well as seen dangers; and it would be folly not to expect to meet with more." the sail of the boat and the other articles in her were now landed, the mate wishing to form a tent which would protect alice during the night. as but little water remained in the cask, and the fish was scarcely eatable, it was important to find a fresh stream or spring, and some fruit, if live creatures could not be caught, to satisfy their hunger. the doctor and tidy set out to explore the neighbourhood for that purpose, while walter remained to take care of alice, and to assist the mate in putting up the tent and preparing a fire. nub begged to be allowed to go in search of wood, observing that he had a notion on the subject, though what it was he did not say. the mate and walter had been very busy; the latter in collecting a quantity of dried grass and leaves to form a bed for alice. he was thus engaged, when, looking up, he saw nub coming out of the water, carrying on his shoulders what looked like a round basin or saucer of enormous dimensions, with long streamers down which the water trickled hanging from it. "what can it be?" exclaimed alice. "it is, i suspect, a large shell-fish; a mollusc, learned people call it; and if so, the creature will afford all hands an ample meal," observed the mate. walter and alice ran down to meet nub. "yes, missie alice, bery good fish inside here," he answered. "nuf for good supper for eberybody; only we cook it first." the large clam--such was the species to which the shell-fish belonged-- was placed on the ground. "where de oders?" asked nub. "i want tidy to help make fireplace. dan tidy, where are you?" shouted nub. just then dan made his appearance, with the information that they had found a stream of fresh water running down from the hills not far off, and that the doctor had sent him back to get the cask, he himself remaining on the watch for any birds or quadrupeds which might come down to drink. the remaining contents were therefore shared among the thirsty party, and the irishman went away with the empty cask on his shoulder; while the mate and walter assisted nub in building a fireplace--the materials being furnished by some masses of coral rock which lay on the beach. fuel was then collected and arranged between the two piles of stone, and the mollusc being placed so that its edges rested on the top of them, the mate set fire to the wood. scarcely was the fire lighted when dan returned with the cask. "arrah, now, nub, you are mighty clever; but there's one thing i think i can beat you in, and that is in blowing up a fire. shure, they used to call me `little bellows' at home, and set me to make the turf blaze up when the praties were put on to boil." saying this, dan threw himself on the ground, and began blowing away with a vehemence which soon made the sparks fly, speedily followed by a flickering flame. the sticks caught and crackled, and the smoke rose in dense volumes. while he was so employed, the doctor arrived with a large water-fowl which he had cleverly caught, as he lay hid in the long grass, while the bird was passing by, unconscious of danger. "i will undertake the cooking of the mollusc," he said. "if the creature is cut up into small pieces, it will be much more rapidly and perfectly done. we must first open the shell, however. walter, fetch me the cold chisel and hammer which you brought on shore." after the mollusc had been for some time exposed to the fire, he with a few strokes opened it, allowing each half to rest on the piles of stone. honest nub was in no way offended at being superseded in his office of cook, and went off to collect a further supply of fuel, with which he quickly returned; while walter employed himself in plucking the wild fowl captured by the doctor. dan finding it no longer necessary to perform the part of bellows, got up and surveyed the mollusc with infinite satisfaction. "arrah, now, if there were but some praties to cook with it, we should be having as fine an irish stew as we could wish to set eyes on. it's done to a turn now, doctor; and if you will please to lend a hand, we will carry it to a clear place, away from the smoke, where miss alice can sit down and enjoy herself." suiting the action to the word, dan took hold of the edge of the shell, but sprang back again with a howl, wringing his burnt fingers as he exclaimed, "arrah, now, i forgot entirely how hot it was!" the doctor could scarcely help laughing at dan's mistake, into which he himself had, however, narrowly escaped falling. at his suggestion, the fire being raked away, two sticks were laced under the shell, and it was carried to a level spot, where all the party gathered round it, and thankfully ate their first meal on shore, the food was well-tasted and nutritious, though they would gladly have had some vegetable diet to take after it. all had eaten as much as they required, and still a considerable portion remained. the doctor suggested that it should be covered up with the upper shell, and kept for the next day's breakfast. as it was now getting dark, the mate advised alice to retire to her tent, which he had erected close to the spot where they were sitting, while the rest of the party made such preparations as they deemed necessary for passing the night. "though we are not at sea, my friends," said the mate, "we must set a watch, to guard against the attack of wild animals or savages; for though we saw no habitations as we coasted along the shore, people may possibly inhabit the interior. if each of us take two hours apiece, we shall easily get through the dark hours of the night." "shure, mr shobbrok, how are we to fight the wild bastes or savages, if they come, without arms?" asked dan. "with regard to the savages, i do not, i confess, expect a visit from them; but if any do come, we must try to win their friendship," answered the mate. "as for the wild beasts, we will at once cut some long poles, and sharpen the ends in the fire to serve as lances. if, however, we keep up a good blaze all night, none are likely to come near us; but should any appear, the person on watch must instantly rouse up the rest." "no fear of dat, mr shobbrok," observed nub. "if lion or tiger come, me make a precious hollobolo." "we need not be afraid of either lions or tigers," answered the mate, "as, to the best of my belief, they are not to be found in this part of the world; but what other savage animals there are, i am not prepared to say." alice quickly retired to the tent her friends had arranged for her. the mate assigned their watch to each of the party,--telling walter, however, that he must consider his over, and get a good night's rest. no one thought it necessary to provide shelter, all of them being by this time inured to sleeping in the open air. a lump of wood or a few bundles covered with grass served for pillows. the doctor took the first watch, tidy the second, and nub the third, while the mate chose the last, that he might arouse the rest of the party in time. there being an abundance of fuel, a large fire was kept up, which would serve to prevent any wild beasts from approaching the camp; for they, unlike fishes and insects, which are attracted by a bright light, generally show a dislike to approach a fire. alice and walter were the first on foot--even before the mate intended to call them. alice had conceived a wish to visit the fresh stream the doctor had described, to enjoy a draught of cool water and the luxury of a bath, should a spot be found which no sharks could reach, and where no other savage creature was likely be lying hid. walter willingly agreed to accompany her, and to stand guard while she was performing her ablutions. the mate did not object; and when mr lawrie heard of their intention, he said that he considered the place perfectly safe, and that he would shortly follow. nub and tidy, in the meantime, collected more wood to keep up the fire, as it was important not to let it out, their stock of matches being limited. they then went down to the beach to search for more shell-fish, while mr shobbrok remained at the camp to watch the fire. he and the doctor put their heads together to invent various traps, with which they hoped to catch some of the numerous birds flitting about the woods, or any of the smaller quadrupeds inhabiting the neighbourhood. walter provided himself with a long stick, which he hoped would be a sufficient weapon of defence against any creatures they were likely to encounter, and in good spirits they set out on their expedition. they had not got far when alice, touching walter's arm, whispered, "do not speak, or we shall frighten them. look at those beautiful birds; what can they be?" she pointed to a tree a short distance off, on which were perched a number of birds of the most magnificent plumage, with bodies about the size of thrushes, having a mass of feathers which extended far beyond their tails, making them look much larger than they really were. the birds did not apparently observe the intruders on their domain, and continued dancing about on the boughs, exhibiting their richly coloured feathers to each other, as if proud of their beauty. walter and alice had never seen any birds to be compared in beauty to them, though they differed considerably from each other. the most beautiful had a bill, slightly bent, of a greenish colour, around the base of which was a fringe of velvet-like black plumes. the head and part of the neck was of a pale golden-green, the throat being of a still richer hue, while the remaining plumage on the body and the tail was of a deep chestnut,-- except on the breast, which was a rich purple. from each side of the body beneath the wings sprang a mass of long floating plumes of the most delicate texture, of a bright yellow; and beyond the tail projected a pair of naked shafts, far longer even than the yellow plumes. sometimes, when the bird was at rest, it allowed these plumes to hang down close together; then suddenly it would raise them, when they arched over, covering the whole of the body, which shone brightly in the sun. this was evidently a male bird; the females, though possessing much beauty, were not nearly so richly adorned. another bird, much smaller, was seen among them, perched on a bough above the rest, and evidently considering itself of no small importance. its colour was mostly of a beautiful red-chestnut, the base of the bill being surrounded with velvet-like plumes, while the throat and upper part of the breast were of a deep purple-red; a bright golden-green zone running across the lower part, separated from the red above by a line of yellow; the lower portion of the body being perfectly white. on each side was a bunch of feathers, tinged with the richest golden-green; and from the middle of the tail extended two very long, naked shafts, which terminated in a broad golden-green web of spiral form. so delighted were the young people with the spectacle, that they could not tear themselves from the spot, forgetting all about the object of their excursion. they were still intently watching the birds, when they were aroused by the voice of the doctor, which had also the effect of startling the beautiful creatures. away flew the birds, the doctor, however, catching a glimpse of them. "oh, what a pity you did not come sooner!" exclaimed alice. "had i done so, i should have deprived you of the pleasure of watching the birds," answered mr lawrie. "from the glimpse i caught of them, i have no doubt that they are birds of paradise, which, i have heard, inhabit new guinea and the surrounding islands. i have seen some dead specimens, but of course they can give but a very inadequate idea of the birds when living, which i believe are the most beautiful of the whole feathered tribe." the doctor's arrival was most opportune, for walter and alice had remained so long looking at the birds, that they had forgotten the direction to take, and would very probably have lost their way. conducted by the surgeon, they reached a spot where a bright, sparkling stream fell over a high rock, forming a small cascade, into a pool of clear water about three feet deep. a ledge enabled them to reach the cascade, where they could drink the water as it fell. how cool and refreshing it tasted! they all felt wonderfully invigorated; and the doctor owned that, under their circumstances, no tonic medicine he could have given them would have a more beneficial effect. the rock extended some way down on the opposite side of the stream, and the path they had pursued appeared to be the only one by which the pool could be approached. "what a delightful place for a bath!" said alice, looking at it with a longing eye. "you shall have it all to yourself," answered walter; "but let me sound it with my stick first. it may be deeper than we suppose." walter, as he suggested, went round the pool, plunging in his stick. it was fortunate he did so, for the upper side, into which the cascade fell, was, he found, much out of alice's depth. he charged her, therefore, to keep on the lower side, where the water was less deep. he was satisfied, too, that no creature lurked within, for the bottom was everywhere visible, though, from the clearness of the water, it was difficult to judge the depth by the eye. "it's a mercy that you thought of trying the depth," said alice; "for i intended to have gone under the cascade and enjoyed a shower-bath." leaving alice to bathe in the retired pool, the doctor and walter hunted about in search of game or fruits, which might serve as an addition to their breakfast. birds of gorgeous plumage flew about overhead, or flitted among the branches of the trees; and high up, far beyond their reach, they observed some tempting-looking fruit, on which numerous birds were feeding. they gazed at them with envious eyes. "our only chance of getting any will be if those feathered gentlemen should be kind enough to let some fall," observed the doctor. "we must not be too proud to take advantage of their negligence." while he was speaking, a large bird of black plumage, with an enormous beak, and a horn-shaped ornament on the top of it, flew at one of the fruits, and nipping it off, down it came to the ground; while the bird, perching on a bough, attacked another, with more benefit to himself. walter picked up the fallen fruit, which, though it had a somewhat hard skin, was full of a delicious juicy pulp. while he was examining the fruit, the doctor watched the bird, which, picking off fruit after fruit, appeared to throw them up and catch them in its mouth as they fell. the bird having apparently satisfied itself, then flew off to the trunk of a tree of enormous size and height. the doctor followed it, and found that it made use of its beak to carry food, with which it was supplying another of its species--poking its head out of a hole in the trunk. "we must have those birds if we are hard pressed, as i am afraid we shall be unless our traps succeed, or we can manage some serviceable bows and arrows for shooting game," said the doctor to walter, who had followed him. on their way back to the pool they picked up several more fruits which had dropped. they met alice, who had not only bathed herself, but had washed her clothes, and dried them in the hot sun, which struck with great force against the side of the rock, so that in a few minutes they were again fit to be put on. "we must follow your wise example by-and-by," said the doctor; "but we will now go back to breakfast, or mr shobbrok will wonder what has become of us." chapter twelve. encamped on the island--breakfast on roast duck--sandal-wood--bows and arrows manufactured--hornbills captured--a house commenced. the doctor, with alice and walter, had just left the side of the stream to return to the camp, when they met dan and nub carrying the cask, slung on a pole between them. "we go to get fresh water, and be back soon wid it," said nub as they passed. "mr shobbrok, him roast de duck ready for breakfast." the doctor and his young companions hurried on, for their morning's walk had made them very hungry. they found the mate employed in roasting the duck in the usual camp fashion, on a spit supported by two forked sticks. near it was the large shell of the mollusc on another fire, where nub had placed it to warm up its contents. "we have fish and fowl; but i wish that we had some farinaceous or other vegetable diet in addition--for the sake of our young lady, especially," observed the mate. "we have, at all events, brought something of the sort," said walter, producing his handkerchief, full of the fruits he had picked up. "i am indeed thankful to see them," said the mate; "for i began to fear that we should all suffer from living so entirely on animal food." "i have little doubt that we shall find more fruits and probably various vegetables," said the doctor; "and i will undertake to go in search of them after breakfast." "i should like to accompany you," said walter; "though, if the fruit in these regions only grows high up on the trees such as these do, we shall be puzzled to get them." "we must climb the trees, then, or find some other means of bringing it down," said the mate. "my idea is, that, before we do anything else, we should set about making some bows and arrows, as well as some spears, to defend ourselves against any savage animals, or to kill any we may be able to chase." the doctor agreed to the mate's proposal, though he believed, he said, that there were no savage animals of any size in the pacific islands likely to annoy them. as the duck was not quite cooked, they sat themselves down under the shade of a lofty tree, to await the return of nub and dan. they very soon appeared; and while nub went to have a look at the mollusc which he and dan were to have for breakfast, the seaman came and threw himself down at the mate's side with a small branch of tree in his hand, which he was examining attentively. "what is that you have got there?" asked the mate, turning round to him. "faith, your honour, it's something, i suppose; for nub says that if we can cut enough of it, and can get a ship to carry it away, we shall all make our fortunes." dan as he spoke handed the branch to the mate, who turned it about, evidently puzzled to know what it was. "let us look at it," said the doctor, who then examined the branch carefully. after biting the thick end, he observed: "this is undoubtedly santulum, of the natural order _santalaceae_. from it is produced santalin, with which certain tinctures are made. it is also used in india for colouring silk and cotton. yes, this is indeed the valuable sandal-wood, which the chinese burn as incense, and employ largely in the manufacture of fans, and of which in england the cases for lead pencils are formed. nub is right; and as it is of great commercial value, if, as he suggests, we can cut down a quantity, and find a ship to carry it away, we may make enough to pay our expenses home and have something in our pockets at the end of the voyage. from what sort of a tree did you break this off?" inquired the doctor, turning to dan. "a big shrub, or what they would call a good-sized tree in other parts; but those near it were so much larger, that i suppose they would be offended if we called it a shrub," answered dan. "it is not far off, and we saw a good many like it in that part of the forest." "we will go and examine it presently," said the doctor, who was an enthusiastic naturalist. "we must see about getting food first," observed the mate. "we have many things to do before we can think of cutting down sandal-wood." "yes; we must eat our duck first," said the doctor. "i tink de duck done now," observed nub, who had been employed during the discussion in giving the roast a few more turns. plucking some large leaves, he arranged them on the ground before the party, to serve the double purpose of table-cloth and plates; then, taking the duck up by the end of the spit, he placed it before the doctor, remarking, "you carve better than anyone of us, sir." the doctor scientifically cut up, the bird, a portion of which nub presented to alice and walter. when the doctor offered some to him and dan, they both declared that the stewed mollusc was quite enough for them. the voyagers' first breakfast on the island would have been more satisfying had they possessed some bread or biscuit, and, above all, some tea or coffee; but as they could finish it with a good supply of fruit and fresh water, they acknowledged that they had ample reason to be thankful. their plans for the future were naturally brought under discussion. "don't you think, mr shobbrok, that we could manage to enlarge our boat so that we might reach some civilised place?" asked walter. "we might certainly improve her," answered the mate; "and if we could obtain a sufficient amount of provisions and water, we might make a long voyage in her, provided we were favoured with fine weather. but the risk, i warn you, would be very great. occasionally the seas in these latitudes are excessively heavy and dangerous, and no improvement we could make would enable her to stand them. we should also, as i observed, have to carry a large supply of provisions and water, or we might be compelled to land on a part of the coast where we should have to encounter savages, who would probably attack and destroy us before we had time to convince them that we came upon a peaceable errand. or, even should they be friendly, we have no goods with which to purchase provisions; and from what i have heard of them, they are not likely to supply us without payment. however, we will examine the boat, and consider how we can enlarge her. we must first ascertain if we can manage to cut out a sufficient number of planks and ribs; and then, if we enlarge the boat, we shall want more sails and spars and rigging. we shall also require casks to carry the water, and a stove for cooking; and as we have no compass or quadrant or chart we can only make a coasting voyage. we are also many hundred miles from sydney in new south wales, which is the nearest port where we can obtain assistance. it is my belief that we are now off the north-eastern end of new guinea, either on the mainland or on an island; though i suspect the latter, or we should probably have fallen in with natives. this point we must ascertain as soon as possible, for we should do well to avoid them, as at the best they are a savage race, who are more likely to prove foes than friends. now, the first thing we have to do is to provide food for ourselves. see, i was not idle during your absence." the mate on this showed several contrivances for catching game. the question was where to place them. it was first necessary to ascertain the places frequented by the birds or beasts in the neighbourhood. dan had formed some traps composed of stones collected on the seashore, such as boys in england are accustomed to set for sparrows and robins; but the doctor very much doubted whether the birds of those regions were likely to hop into them, as they appeared, he observed, to take their food from the tops of the trees, and seldom descended to the ground. "arrah, i hope they will be after changing their custom when they see the traps, and just come down to have a look into them," said dan. "i will place them under the trees and give them the chance, at all event." "i would rather trust to bows and arrows," said walter. "we must look out for the proper sort of trees to make the bows. perhaps we may find some wood similar to the yew-tree of old england." the doctor and nub set off with walter for the object he had in view, while alice remained with the mate and dan, who were finishing their traps. they first proceeded towards the stream. on their way nub showed them the sandal-wood trees which he had discovered. the doctor was satisfied that he was right. many of them were of considerable size, really deserving the name of trees, though some could only be called large bushes. in general appearance they were something like myrtles, the trunk being about nine inches in diameter, the leaves very small, alternate or nearly opposite. the doctor, who had carried the axe, cut into the trunk of one of them, which was of a deep red colour. "at all events, though we cannot carry a cargo away with us, we may return here some day and obtain one," he said. "if there are no inhabitants, the trees cannot be claimed as the property of anyone; and we may load a vessel with great ease in the harbour." "i tink, mr lawrie, dat we better look out for food just now," said nub, who thought the doctor was spending more time than necessary in speculating on the future. "you are right nub," answered the surgeon, leading the way. they examined numerous saplings of small size, but none seemed likely to suit their purpose. on the banks of the stream they came to a magnificent grove of bamboos of all sizes, some being as thick as a man's leg. "here we have the means of building a house ready to our hands," said the doctor. "perhaps they will assist also in decking over the boat." "but i doubt if they would keep out the water," observed walter. "i think, however, that the fine ends or some of the very small canes may serve for arrows." "dey make very good cups for drinking out of," said nub; and asking for the axe, he cut down a large bamboo cane, though not one of the thickest, and showed walter that numerous divisions or knots filled up the centre of the cane, and that thus each knot would make the bottom of a cup. on passing near the tree where the doctor had seen the hornbills, they observed one of the birds poking its long beak out of its hole. "we pay you visit before long," said nub, nodding his head. "me tink i know how." going up the stream, they found a tree which had fallen over it, by which they crossed to the opposite bank. nub begged to go first. "i go see de way. we no want to pop into de middle of a village; if we do, de women begin to shriek, and de babies cry out, and tink dat white debils come among dem, and den de men come out and kill us." the doctor agreed to nub's proposal, and they proceeded more cautiously than before. walter pulled away at every young tree they met, and at last he found one which the doctor thought would suit their purpose. nub, who came to examine it, was of the same opinion; and they quickly cut down several which grew near to the proper length, and returned with them the way they had come. as they passed under the tree in which they had seen the hornbills, nub exclaimed, "i tink we come and get dese fellows at once, if de mate will please to accompany us." on passing under the tree where the fruit had been found, walter looked about for some more; but the birds were not feeding, and none had fallen since they had been there. on their arrival at the camp, the mate and dan had to confess that their traps had not as yet been successful; nub then told them his plan for reaching the hornbills, which could not fail with regard to the hen, who was certain not to leave her nest, and might possibly either be sitting on her eggs or have some young ones. "how is that?" asked walter. "when she sees you, if you succeed in reaching her, she will surely fly away." "no, massa walter," said nub, "she not do dat, for de hole is shut up with clay, and she only got room to poke her head out." nub's plan was to form a ladder up the tree with the bamboos they had seen. with a little patience, he assured them, the feat could be accomplished; so they all eagerly set out to commence operations, alice accompanying them; while the doctor continued his search for the vegetable food they so much required. he first, however, cut a stick from the thick end of a bamboo, for the purpose of digging edible roots, which he thought it probable he might discover. nub also suggested that they should forthwith set to work to build a house large enough to contain the whole party. a house would be far better for alice than the tent, in which she had to lie close to the ground, with some risk of the intrusion of snakes or noxious insects; besides which, bad weather might come on, when they would all require shelter. "nothing like bamboo-house," observed nub. "if earthquake come, it no shake down; if storm come on, it no blow away." the mate assented to the black's proposal, and agreed at once to cut down a sufficient number of bamboos, not only for the ladder, but for the house. this was not quite so easy a task as it at first appeared, for though the canes were hollow they were excessively hard, and it was only by chopping downwards all round that they could be broken off. at length, however, a sufficient number for the proposed ladder were cut down and carried to the foot of the tree. nub was not going to make a ladder of double poles; the tree being of soft wood, he intended to stick in the rounds horizontally, and to support them with a single pole. they had also to collect a quantity of tough and lithe vines, which would serve to bind the rounds to the outer pole; the thickest end of which was stuck deep into the ground. this done, the work went on rapidly, round after round being driven into the tree, about three feet apart. nub, continuing his work, went on ascending step after step, dan following him when he got too high up to reach the long poles from the ground. the height looked perilous in the extreme, and alice, as she watched him, could not help dreading that he might miss his footing and fall down; but nub was highly delighted with the success of undertaking, and seemed to have no fears on the subject. "nub puts me in mind of `jack and the bean stalk,'" said walter, laughing. "i only hope that he won't find an ogre at the top of the tree." "no fear about nub," observed the mate. "i hope that he may soon wring the necks of the hornbills and send them down to us." nub was now near the hole where the female hornbill had been seen. she had drawn in her head; and her mate was either absent from home or was concealed among the thick foliage at the top of the tree. the last round was in, and nub was seen preparing to mount on it, that he might put in his hand and haul out madam hornbill. he was just about to do so, when she put out her long beak, and began pecking away furiously at his hand; while, at the same moment, down flew mr hornbill from a bough on which he had been snugly ensconced till a favourable opportunity arose of making an attack on the assailant of his fortress. that every man's home is his castle, is rightly held in england as an established law, and the hornbills naturally considered their nest their castle. with loud screams of rage the male bird attacked poor nub, who slipped down to the next round, where he held on with might and main, trying to defend his head from the furious onslaught of his feathered foe. fortunately, his curly head of hair was a good thick one, and prevented the bird from inflicting the injury it might otherwise have done. keeping his head down, so as to defend his eyes, he rapidly descended the ladder, the hornbills cawing and screaming all the time. the male bird, however, did not attempt to descend beyond the upper rounds of the ladder. "i no tink we lose our dinner, though," said nub, as he got to the bottom. "what say you, massa shobbrok?" "certainly not, nub," answered the mate. "i have got a notion which i am pretty sure will succeed." "den, if you show me what it is, i go up again, pretty quick," said nub, who was afraid that the mate would deprive him of the honour of catching the bird. the mate took a line from his pocket, forming a noose, which he secured to a light bamboo. "i see it," cried nub, "i see it. i soon catch both of dem, one after de oder." taking the bamboo, he quickly ascended the ladder till he got near enough to reach the hornbill, which was still standing screaming defiantly on the upper round; and before it was aware of what the black was about, the latter slipped the noose over the bird's head and drew it tight, and then with a violent jerk pulling it off its perch, down it came, with its huge bill first and its wings fluttering, to the ground, where dan quickly despatched it. nub immediately descended for the bamboo; and mounting again, slipped the noose over the head of the hen hornbill, which she had poked out to see what had become of her partner. he held her fast enough, but could not drag her out of her hole. by standing on the upper round, however, he was able to batter in her fortress with his fist, after which he speedily sent her to the ground. then putting in his hand, he drew out a curious creature like a ball of down, bearing no resemblance whatever to its parents. though scarcely fledged, it was not to be despised, being very fat, and about the size of, a young chicken. so nub threw it down to join its parents, shouting out, "dere, dat make a fine dinner for missie alice." poor alice was grieved when she saw the little creature come tumbling to the earth, and declared she could not touch it. "bery sorry, missie alice," said nub, when he came down again, putting on a penitent look. then turning aside to dan, he whispered, "she talk bery differently when she see it nicely roasted by-and-by." their success in obtaining food encouraged the voyagers to hope that they were not doomed to starve on an inhospitable shore, but that with diligence and a due exertion of their wits they might obtain sufficient food to support life. the hornbills would, at all events, afford them an ample meal for that day, and they might reasonably expect to obtain a further supply of shell-fish from the seashore; though nub might not succeed in finding another huge mollusc. "shall we remove the ladder?" asked walter. "it might help to build the house." "i tink not," answered nub, looking up. "perhaps anoder hornbill come and make her nest dere, den we catch her and her husband. bery good chance of dat, i tink." as it was important to get their house built without delay, they all returned laden with as many bamboos as they could carry,--alice taking charge of the birds, slung, chinese fashion, at the end of a bamboo, which she balanced on her shoulder: the little one being hung behind her, that her tender heart might not be grieved at seeing it. "shall we all assist in putting up the house, mr shobbrok, or might it not be as well to try and get one or two bows made first?" asked walter. "we cannot obtain food without them, so, by all means, make two or three," answered the mate. "you and nub can work at them, while dan and i arrange the plan for the house, and begin to put in the uprights." alice assisted the mate in holding the line. "we must try to get the opposite sides even, and the walls at right angles with each other, and the corner-posts perpendicular," he observed. "the sides of our house must depend very much, in the first instance, on the length of the bamboos; and we can so arrange it that we may increase it without difficulty." as it was not time to begin cooking, all hands set to work at the occupations they had settled to follow. while walter and nub were shaping the bows with their knives, the mate, with his two assistants, having selected a flat spot a considerable height above the water, marked out the plan for the house--in front of which they intended to add a broad verandah, facing the seashore. the ground-floor they divided into two rooms, with space for a staircase to lead to the upper floor. this floor was to be divided into three rooms,--one for alice, another for walter, and the third for the surgeon; while the mate and the two men were to occupy one of the lower rooms, the other being intended for a parlour. the kitchen, they agreed, it would be best to form at a little distance from the house, lest it might by any accident catch fire. while they were thus busily employed, the doctor came back with a large supply of two different kinds of fruit--one like a plum, the other having a hard rind but a delicious pulp--while his pockets were filled with some roots, which he considered were of even more value. he also reported that he had found a palm which he had no doubt would yield an abundance of sago; but it would take some time and labour to prepare it. he proposed forming a manufactory near the stream, as an abundant supply of water was required for the necessary operations: also that they should commence the work next morning; for he considered that no time should be lost, as it would afford them an abundant supply of nutritious food, on which they could depend under all circumstances. he would, however, require one hand to assist him. nub at once volunteered his services. "i hope by that time to have one of the bows finished," said walter, "and i will go and shoot game, while mr shobbrok, dan, and alice continue working away at the house." the mate agreed to this proposal, though he observed that he thought it would be advisable, as soon as a sufficient supply of sago was got, for all hands to set to work at the house, so that they might have shelter should bad weather come on. nub had not forgotten to spit and put the hornbills before the fire in good time; and when evening came on, and they could no longer see to work, they sat down to the most ample meal they had yet enjoyed, aided by the roots and fruits the doctor had collected. "in a couple of days more, miss alice, i hope you will have a good roof over your head, and a room to yourself," observed the mate. "i shall not rest satisfied till i see you comfortably lodged." alice declared that she was perfectly satisfied with her tent. "that's very well while the weather is calm and dry; but should the rain begin to fall, which, from the look of the foliage, i have no doubt is very heavy hereabouts, it would be a very different matter," he answered. "i was, selfishly, only thinking of myself," said alice, "and forgetting that you, at all events, would be exposed to the rain; so i hope that you will set to work and get the house up as soon as possible. i only wish that i was a man, to be able to help you more than i have done." "you do help us, miss alice," said the mate; "and you encourage us by your patience and uncomplaining spirit, and your cheerful temper. do not think that you are of little use, for i don't think that we could do without you." alice, being assured that the mate spoke the truth, was well pleased to think that young as she was, she was of use to her companions. not only on a desolate island, but in the quiet homes of england, many little girls like alice have the power, by their cheerfulness and good spirits, and, we may add, by their piety and kindness, to be of inestimable use to all around them. chapter thirteen. the house finished--a store-house built--sago manufactured--walter makes bows and arrows--a shooting expedition--walter sees a terrific creature--catch and cook it--erect a "smoking-house"--successful fishing. the house was nearly finished. the whole of it was constructed of bamboos. the uprights were the thickest canes; the next in size formed the horizontal beams, lashed together tightly with the long trailing vines which abounded in the forest. the rafters of the flooring and the roof were of a third size; while the flooring itself and the walls were composed of the larger canes split in two, and, after being well wetted, pressed down by heavy stones till they were perfectly flat. the roof was thickly thatched with palm-leaves, which served also to cover the outside walls of alice's room. there was a broad verandah in front, in which the occupants could sit and work during the heat of the day. the common sitting-room was intended to serve them chiefly at night, when the weather proved bad. there was no fear of cold in that climate, and they had, consequently, only to guard against wet and an inconvenient amount of wind. the lower rooms were not more than seven feet in height, and the upper scarcely so high; so that the whole building, independent of the roof, which had a steep pitch, did not reach more than fourteen feet from the ground. a ladder with numerous rounds, which would allow alice to climb up and down with ease, led from the sitting-room to the upper story. as, of course, they had no glass, window-shutters were formed of the same material as the house, and served well to exclude either the sun or rain. "why, we have forgotten a store-room!" exclaimed walter, just as the house was finished. "if we have no larder, how are we to keep our game, and the sago which the doctor is going to make, and the roots and fruits, and anything else we may obtain?" "it was indeed an omission, and i wonder none of us thought of it before," said the mate. "however, a few more hours' labour will enable us to set up a building which will answer the purpose better than had we put it inside the house." another journey to the bamboo brake supplied them with the necessary amount of canes, and a small building was erected at one end of the house--which served for one of its walls. it had three stories, each about three feet in height, with a ladder reaching to them, so that no marauders, unless they were climbers, could get in. this could not have prevented either monkeys or snakes, or such active creatures as tiger-cats, from robbing their stores. well-fitting shutters were therefore fixed on in front of the building, which was completed before dark, and was considered strong enough for the purpose they had in view. it was, indeed, a gigantic safe standing on four legs, the lower part being quite open. "now we must set to work to kill game, and obtain other provisions, to put in it," observed the mate. "i shall be able to manufacture more bows for the rest of the party; for though i am improving, i can scarcely expect, as yet, to kill game enough for all hands, or to obtain a sufficient supply to lay by for the voyage," said walter. "we will devote the remainder of this evening, then, to manufacturing bows and arrows," said the mate. "to-morrow i must beg you all to come and assist me in manufacturing sago," observed the doctor. "i can employ all hands. we must first cut down a tree, and then divide it into lengths, and drag them to the water, where we must erect our machinery, which need only be of a very rough character,--and probably the bamboo canes will help us to form it." "mr shobbrok, when do you propose to begin enlarging the boat? i do so long to set sail in search of papa," said alice. "i have been considering the subject, young lady, and i am as anxious as you can be, but there is a great deal to be done first. we must collect provisions, and also ascertain that they will keep good during a long voyage. one difficulty can be got over more easily than i at first supposed; for the thick ends of the large bamboos will, i have no doubt, carry a quantity of water, though i am afraid they will take more space in stowing than i would wish. if the doctor succeeds in producing sago, we shall have a substitute for bread; and it also may be preserved in bamboo casks. i think, too, that we may manage to salt and smoke the birds and fish we may catch; though, without hooks and lines, we can only hope occasionally to kill some larger fish with our harpoons." "i have been thinking, mr shobbrok," observed walter, "that i could make some fish-hooks from nails, with the help of a small file which i have in my knife; and as we have plenty of rope, we may unpick some of it, and twist some strong line." "pray set about it then, walter," said the mate; "for time will be lost if we go out in the boat in search of large fish to harpoon, when small ones may be caught from the rocks on the seashore." the next day the whole party started, under the guidance of the doctor, to the spot where he had seen the sago palm. he observed that it was the best time to cut down the tree, as the leaves were covered with a whitish dust, which was a sign that the flower-bud was about to appear, and that the sago, or pith within the stem, was then most abundant--it being intended by nature for the support of the flowers and fruit. nub having climbed to the top of a tree, secured a rope, at which the whole of the party hauling together, hoped to bring it down in the right direction. the mate, axe in hand, then commenced chopping away. the wood was tolerably soft, and as the weapon was sharp and he was a good axe-man, the tree was soon cut through, and came crashing down to the ground. he then, by the doctor's directions, divided the trunk into pieces five feet in length. while he was thus occupied, the doctor got his other companions to pull off the leaves, and to manufacture a number of cylindrical baskets--in which, he told them, he intended to put the pulp produced from the pith. the tree being cut up, ropes were fastened to each piece, to enable them to be dragged to the side of the river. two men were required for each. walter and alice tried to drag one of the smallest, but could not move it over the rough ground; they therefore carried the baskets, and remained by the river to assist the doctor and nub, while the mate and dan went back to bring up the other logs. the first operation was to slice off a part of the outer hard wood till the pith appeared. the log was then rested on bamboo trestles a couple of feet from the ground. the two workmen now cut across the longitudinal fibres and the pith together, leaving however, a part at each end untouched, so that the log formed a rough trough. the pulp thus cut into small pieces, and mixed with water, was beaten by a piece of wood, by which means the fibres were separated from it, they floating on the top, while the flour sank to the bottom. a number of bamboo buckets, manufactured by nub, enabled walter and alice to bring the water required for the operation. the coarser fibres floating on the top being thrown away, the water was drained off, and the remaining pulp was again cleared by more water. this operation was repeated several times, till a pure white powder alone remained. "there, miss alice," said the doctor, showing it to her, "i beg to offer you some, with which you can make cakes or puddings,--though i confess that it is not equal to wheaten flour, as this is in reality starch: but it will afford nourishment to us, as it would have done to the flowers and roots of the tree had we not cut it down." "i thought sago was like little white seeds," remarked alice. "what is imported is so in appearance," answered the doctor. "in order that it may keep, it is prepared by being first moistened, and then passed through a sieve into a shallow dish, and placed over a fire, which causes it to assume a globular form. the sago, when properly packed, will keep a long time; but the flour we have here would quickly turn sour, if exposed to the air. i propose filling the baskets we have made with what sago we do not require for immediate use, and sinking them in fresh water, when it will thus keep for a long time. had we but an iron pot, we might easily prepare it for a voyage; but we must, of necessity, find some other means of doing so." "don't you think the large mollusc-shell will answer the purpose?" observed walter. "if it will cook meat, it will surely bake the sago." "in that instance it had water in it," observed the doctor. "i am afraid that with dry sago in it the shell will take fire. however, we will try. perhaps we may find a large flat stone which we can surround with a rim of wood; and by applying heat under the centre our object may be attained." "oh, that will do capitally," said walter; "and i am sure that we can easily manufacture a sieve." the mate and dan had now brought up all the logs; and seeing how well the doctor had succeeded, they heartily congratulated him. in a short time the pith of the whole tree was turned into sago powder, amounting, they calculated, to about one hundred pounds. the doctor told them that this was but a small quantity compared with that which a large tree produces, as frequently one tree alone yields five to six hundred pounds' weight of sago. the greater part of the sago having been buried in a quiet pool, where there was little fear of its being disturbed, the party returned with the remainder late in the evening to their house. walter was up next morning at daybreak, searching along the shore for a flat stone to serve for the bottom of the pan he wished to make for granulating the sago. to his great delight, he found one of considerable size, almost circular, and with the edges washed smooth by the action of the waves. he had brought some strips of the palm which had been chopped off the sago tree on the previous day. one of these was of sufficient length to bind round the stone; another served for the rim of the sieve, and a number of large leaves cut into strips made the bottom. both contrivances had a rough look, but he hoped they would answer the purpose. he placed the pan between two stones in the way the mollusc had been fixed; and then hurrying to the doctor, brought him to see what he had done. the fire was soon lighted under the stone, which was heated without cracking; and the doctor then shook some flour from the sieve on to the pan, and, greatly to his and walter's delight, it granulated perfectly. "you have rendered our community a great service, walter!" exclaimed the doctor. "we may perhaps improve upon your contrivance, or, at all events, make a number of pans and sieves, as the process at present is a slow one, and it would take a long time to manufacture as much sago as we shall require for the voyage." walter, however, begged that he might continue the manufacture, so that he might be able to judge how much could be produced. though he laboured all day, he had only two or three pounds' weight to show; still that was something, and no doubt remained that a supply of sago could be obtained for the voyage. alice, who had watched him at work, felt sure that she could carry it on as well as he could; so the next day she took his place, while he accompanied the doctor on a shooting expedition. nub was to attend them. each carried a bow, with a quiver full of arrows, and a long spear. they were neither of them as yet very expert marksmen. the doctor was the best, while walter was improving. dan always declared that his bow had a twist in it, and shot crooked; but he was more successful than any of the party in catching birds in other ways. they had been waiting for nub, who had gone out early in the morning; but just as they were starting, they met him coming back with a couple of hornbills, which had taken refuge in the hole occupied by the birds before captured. "i thought oders would come," he observed, holding them up; "and i got one egg, too, which do nicely for missie alice's breakfast." the doctor told him to take the birds home, and then to follow them. they several times caught sight, as they went along, of some beautiful birds of paradise, which, however, kept too high up in the trees to be shot by arrows. "we are out of luck this morning," said the doctor, when they had gone some way without killing a bird. "don't you think that if we could make some bird-lime we might have a better chance of catching the smaller birds?" asked walter. "no doubt about it, if we could get the ingredients, and a bait to attract the birds," answered the doctor. "the idea is worth considering. keep your mind at work, my lad; you may be, at all events, of great use in our present circumstances. i have known instances where shipwrecked crews have starved when they might have supported their lives, simply because they were too ignorant or too dull to exert themselves and search diligently for food. an australian savage will live in the wilds where the white man will perish. but then the savage knows the habits of all the living creatures in the neighbourhood, and the roots and herbs, and indeed every vegetable substance which will afford him nourishment. had we more skill as marksmen, and did we know the haunts of the animals frequenting these woods, i have no doubt that we should have before this abundantly supplied ourselves with food of all sorts. we are, however, improving, and i have no longer any anxiety on the subject." while the doctor was speaking, walter had been intently looking towards the branch of a large tree seven or eight feet above the ground. "oh, mr lawrie," he exclaimed, "what is that terrific monster? if it should run at us it will kill us. the head looks to me like that of a crocodile; but do such creatures exist on land? shall we attack it, or will it be better to get out of its way?" he asked, quickly recovering his courage, and bringing his spear ready for battle. walter's sharp eyes had detected what mr lawrie had before failed to see in the gloom of the forest. "if we are not cautious, it will be getting out of our way, which i should be sorry for," answered the surgeon with a calmness which surprised his companion. "that creature is a species of iguana, some few of which inhabit the east, though the larger number are found in south america and the west india islands. they are not very formidable antagonists, and are more likely to run away than attack us. if we had a good strong noose, we might throw it over the head of the animal, and soon haul it down from its perch, where it at present seems to be sleeping." while they were speaking, nub overtook them, and was highly pleased when they pointed out to him the hideous-looking lizard. "look, i brought dis," he said, producing a piece of rope. "now i go and slip it ober de head of de iguana; and when i pull him down, you pin him to de ground with your spears." the doctor and walter agreed to follow nub's advice, and cautiously approached the sleeping brachylophus, as the doctor called the creature. it looked still more formidable as they approached; for it had a long pointed tail, large claws, a row of spines down its back, and numerous teeth in its long jaws. lumps and excrescences of various sizes added to the hideous appearance of its head. nub got the noose ready to throw, while the doctor and walter held their spears prepared for action. nub drew nearer and nearer; the reptile opened one of its eyes, and then the other, and moved its tail slightly. in a moment the noose was dexterously thrown over its head, when nub gave a violent pull before it had time to grasp the branch with its claws, and hauled it to the ground. "now, massa walter," he shouted out; "hold on to him tail." but though both walter and the doctor attempted to catch the creature's tail, it whisked it about so violently that the task was no easy one. nub meantime kept jumping round and round, as it made attempts to bite his legs. the doctor at length getting in front, ran his spear into its open mouth; while walter, with the point of his, pressed its neck down to the ground. the creature had, however, still an abundance of life, and made desperate efforts to escape. when it advanced, the doctor drove his spear further down its throat; and when it retreated, finding the point unpleasant, nub hauled away on the rope, which grew tighter and tighter round its neck. "hit it on the tail with your spear, walter; a few heavy blows will soon render it helpless," said the doctor; and walter, as directed, belaboured the unfortunate creature, till at length its struggles ceased. "hurrah! we got him now,--and plenty of dinner to last us for many days," shouted nub. "i tink what we now got to do is to make ropes fast round him neck and drag him home." nub's suggestion was acted on; and having cut some vines and fastened them round the creature's neck, they harnessed themselves and began hauling it along. the operation was somewhat fatiguing, owing to the roughness of the ground and the numerous roots which projected in all directions. their arrival was welcomed cordially by the mate and dan; alice, however, could not believe that they intended to eat so hideous a creature. it was forthwith hoisted up to the branch of a tree; and while nub and dan prepared the fire for cooking it, the doctor cut open its inside, which was found full of tree-frogs, small lizards, and other creatures. walter stood by watching him, as with scientific skill he dissected the huge lizard, discoursing as he did so in technical language, which was perfectly incomprehensible to his young hearer, on the curious formation of the creature,--on its bones, muscles, and other internal parts. "i tink one ting," observed nub, who, after he had deposited a bundle of faggots near the fire, had come back to watch the proceedings. "i tink that he make bery good roast, and remarkably fine stew, if we had salt and pepper, and a few oder tings to eat wid him. i bery glad if we catch one of dese beasts ebery oder day." as soon as the doctor had satisfied his curiosity, nub begged that he might have the joints, as it was time to begin cooking them for dinner. the remainder of the carcass was now hung up in the larder, which had been finished in time for its reception. "we must see about preserving our meat, however," observed the doctor, "or we shall always be liable to starvation; and the sooner we begin the better." "what do you propose doing?" asked walter. "i was thinking of searching for salt on the seashore." "a still more effectual way of preserving the meat will be to smoke it, i suspect," said the doctor. "we have an abundance of stones, and we can easily build a `smoking-house,' with the ever-useful bamboos for rafters. we shall have time to do something before dinner." "at all events, we can make a beginning. there's nothing like setting at once about a thing which has to be done," observed walter. "you are right, my boy; and we will get the mate and dan to help us, as nub, i see, is busy attending to our roast," said the doctor. they immediately set to work to erect a circular wall about six feet in diameter. they did not stop to procure cement, as even should the structure tumble down no great damage would be done, and it might easily be built up again. they had already raised it two or three feet in height before nub had finished his culinary operations. dinner was laid out, not, as hitherto, on the ground, but on a rustic-looking table, with benches on one side, and a large arm-chair at one end for mr shobbrok. alice superintended the arrangements. they had leaves for plates, sticks for forks, and their clasp-knives enabled them to cut up their meat; and a neat bamboo cup stood by the side of each person, while one of larger dimensions served to hold their only beverage, pure water. at length nub shouted, "dinner is ready;" and he and dan entered the house, each bearing a large shell which they had picked up on the shore,--one containing a piece of roast lizard, and the other one of the hornbills captured in the morning. nub then hurried out again, and returned with a third shell full of sago; while a fourth was filled with some roots which the doctor had dug up. the latter assured his friends that they were perfectly wholesome, as he knew the nature of the plants. they complimented nub on his cooking, and all sat down with excellent appetites, and hearts thankful for the substantial meal which had been supplied them. little had they expected to find so large a supply of wholesome food when they first landed. the next day the doctor and nub went on with the erection of the smoking-house; while the mate, assisted by dan, made preparations for the proposed alterations in the boat. he looked somewhat grave, however, over the business; and dan heard him saying to himself, "i wish that i thought it would do. but it's a fearful risk for those young people to run." the doctor having at length finished the smoking-house, which was covered over thickly with palm-leaves, he observed,--"and now we have finished our house, we must get some game to put in it. your bow and arrows, walter, will, i hope, give us a good supply." "but are we not to try and catch some fish?" asked walter. "they can be more effectually smoked than birds, and will keep better, i fancy. i have begun a hook, and i think that i may be able to finish two or three more before night." "by all means. if mr shobbrok does not intend to commence immediately on the boat, we might take her into the middle of the harbour, or out to sea, and try what we can catch." the mate agreed to the doctor's proposal; so the next day they and walter went off, taking alice, who wished to accompany them. nub and dan remained on shore to attend to the traps, and shoot some birds, if they could, for dinner. the fishing-party first threw their lines overboard in the harbour, but after trying for some time they caught only two small fish; they therefore pulled some way out to sea, where the water was sufficiently shallow to allow them to anchor by means of a large stone which they had brought for the purpose. they quickly got bites, and began rapidly to pull up some large fish, which the doctor believed, from their appearance, were likely to prove wholesome, though he could not tell their names. they were so busily employed that the time passed rapidly away, and evening was approaching before they thought how late it was. they did not fail, as may be supposed, to keep a bright lookout for any passing sail; but none appeared. with nearly four dozen fine large fish, they returned to the harbour. nub's eyes glistened, as he came down to assist in hauling up the boat, on seeing the number of fish. "no fear now of starving, i tink," he observed. "i neber thought we get so much as dat. god gives us all good tings, and we tank him." the rest of the day was employed in preparing the fish and hanging them up to dry, after which a fire of green wood was placed under them; and the doctor expressed his confidence that his plan for curing both fish and fowl would succeed. the mate had for some time wished to explore the island, and at supper he proposed that they should set out the next day. being unwilling to expose alice to the dangers they might have to encounter, he suggested that she and walter, with nub, should remain behind at the house; for, as they had now an ample supply of provisions, they might safely do so without fear of starving. they both, however, begged so hard to go, that he at length yielded to their wishes; and it was agreed that the whole party should set off directly after breakfast the next morning. chapter fourteen. exploring expedition--a strange bird--a night encampment--catch a turtle--a fearful storm--take refuge under a rock--provisions washed away--nearly overwhelmed by the sea--journey continued--brush-turkeys caught--reach home--the boat gone. alice and walter were up betimes, eager for the intended expedition. as it was uncertain whether fresh water would be met with, they all carried bamboo casks slung over their backs, with a small quantity of smoked fish,--the doctor's plan having been found to answer admirably. each one of the party also carried a supply of sago flour packed in cases of the invaluable bamboo. walter had one evening, for his amusement, cut out a fork of bamboo for alice, and his example had been followed by the rest of the party. the bamboo likewise made very fair dinner-knives; and he had contrived some spoons by putting a piece of wood at one end-- though, seeing they had as yet no soup for dinner, they were not of much use. "so we must leave all these luxuries and conveniences of life for the wild bush," said walter, with a pretended sigh. "well, well, we shall enjoy them so much the more when we come back again." "we are not likely to be long absent from home," observed mr shobbrok. "if we find that we are on the mainland, we will certainly not venture further into the interior. as far as my recollection serves me, there are only small islands off the coast; and i am inclined to the opinion that we are on one of these,--in which case we shall speedily return." "i trust so, for i have no wish to fall in with the inhabitants, who are sure to be savages, and will probably treat us as enemies," observed the doctor. "but, mr shobbrok," said walter, "suppose we get back safely, when do you propose altering the boat, so that we may commence our voyage to sydney?" "immediately on our return,--if, as i expect, we shall be able on our expedition to discover spots where we can obtain a more ample supply of game than we have found in this neighbourhood." "i shall indeed be very thankful," said alice, with a sigh; "for though i am very happy here, i long to see papa again; and i cannot help thinking that he is safe at sydney by this time." this conversation took place at breakfast. as soon as it was over the whole of the party got into marching order. the doctor and dan went first to explore; the mate, with alice and walter, followed next; and nub brought up the rear. it was agreed that, should any indians or human habitations be seen, the doctor and dan were to fall back on the rest of the party; when, as the safest course, they would all quickly retreat rather than run the risk of a collision. dan was well adapted for the task he had undertaken. active as a monkey, lithe as a snake, and possessed of so keen pair of eyes, he made his way among the bushes, looking carefully ahead before he exposed himself in any open space. the doctor kept at a short distance behind him, generally in sight of the rest of the party, so that he could make a sign to them should he receive a warning signal from dan. they took the way to the stream, over which the mate carried alice on his shoulders. they then continued along its banks, till the dense foliage compelled them to turn aside and proceed towards the seashore. dan carried an axe, which he had to use occasionally in cutting his way through the underwood; but the mate had charged him to avoid doing so as much as possible, as, should there be natives in the neighbourhood, they would be more likely to discover their traces and follow them up. fortunately the underwood was perfectly free from thorns, or they would have had their clothes torn to shreds, even had they been able to penetrate it. it was generally of a reed or grass-like nature, so that they could push it aside or trample it down; and under the more lofty trees the ground was often for a considerable distance completely open, when they made more rapid progress. they seldom, however, went far from the seashore; but in many places they found walking on it very difficult, from the softness of the sand, or from its rugged and rocky nature. besides this, they were there exposed to the full heat of the sun; while by keeping inland they were sheltered from its scorching rays by the wide-spreading tops of the lofty trees. now and then, when the beach presented a long stretch of hard sand, they were tempted to go down to it, but were soon glad to return to the shelter of the woods. as they advanced, the beach trended more and more to the west, and the mate's opinion that they were on an island became fully confirmed. at noon they sat down to rest and dine in a shady spot with the sea in view, dan having first gone out some distance ahead to ascertain whether any native village was in sight. "all right!" he exclaimed as he returned, flourishing his stick. "as far as my eyes can see, there is no other living being anywhere on the island; and we would be after adding a fine counthry to the possessions of england, if we had but the british flag to hoist to the top of a tall pole, and take possession of it in the name of king george." dan was a loyal irishman, and there were many such in his day. "we may take possession of the island, though we should find it a different matter to keep it should any one choose to dispute our right," said the mate. "however, when we have finished our survey, we will think about the matter; and if we get to sydney, we will petition the governor to follow up your suggestion, dan. at present, we must get our dinner ready." till dan's return they had refrained from lighting a fire; but wood having been collected, a light was set to it, and their smoked fish and iguana flesh were put before it to cook. they were thankful that they had brought water, as not a rivulet or pool had they come to, and they would otherwise have suffered greatly. they had just finished their meal, and were still sitting, no one speaking, as they all felt somewhat tired, when walter, hearing a whistle or chirp close behind him, turned his head and saw standing not far off a large bird of dark plumage,--or rather with feathers, for he saw no wings,--with a helmet-like protuberance at the top of its head resembling mother-of-pearl darkened with black-lead. it had enormous feet and legs of a pale ash colour; the loose skin of its neck was coloured with an iridescent hue of bluish-purple, pink, and green; the body being of a rufous tinge, but of a purple-black about the neck and breast. the bird stood its ground boldly, not in the slightest degree alarmed at the appearance of the strangers, as it eyed them with a look of intense curiosity. now it poked forward its head, and advanced a little: now it stood up, raising its head to the ordinary height of a man; now it sank down again, till its back did not appear more than three feet from the ground. though strange-looking, there was nothing ferocious in its aspect; on the contrary, it appeared to have come simply to have a look at the intruders on its domain. "well, you are an extraordinary creature!" exclaimed walter. his remark made the rest of the party turn their heads, when nub and dan started up with the intention of catching the bird. "ho! ho! is that your game, my lads?" the strange creature seemed to say, as it struck out alternately in front with both its feet, sending the black and the irishman sprawling on their backs to a considerable distance--happily not breaking their limbs, which, from the apparent strength of its legs, it might very easily have done. it then whisked round, and rushed off with a curious action at a great rate through the forest, leaping over fallen trees and all other impediments in its way in a manner which would have made it a hard matter for the best steeple-chase rider in all ireland to follow it. dan and nub, picking themselves up again, attempted, along with the doctor, to catch it, but they were soon left far behind. at length returning, they threw themselves on the ground panting and blowing. "i would have given fifty pounds to have got hold of that creature!" exclaimed the doctor, "i have never seen anything like it before. i have heard that there are similar wingless birds in new zealand; but as no englishman has ever caught sight of one, i was inclined to doubt the fact." the bird seen by the party was a species of cassowary, which is found in java and other east india islands. several specimens have long since been brought to england from the island of new britain, the natives of which call it the "mooruk," and hold it in some degree sacred. when they are found very young, they are brought up as pets, and become thoroughly domesticated, exhibiting the most perfect confidence and a wonderfully curious disposition. dan and the doctor had both started up with their bows; nub had taken his, but when the mooruk kicked him it had been sent flying out of his hand, and before he could recover it the bird had got to such a distance that his arrow would have glanced harmlessly off its thick feathers, had he attempted to shoot. dan was excessively vexed at having let the bird escape. "shure, now, if we had thought of throwing a noose over its head, we might have caught the baste; and it would have given us as many dinners as a good-sized sheep!" he exclaimed. "not for five hundred pounds would i have allowed it to have been killed!" cried the doctor. "if we could have taken it to england, it would have been of inestimable value, and would have made ample amends for all the dangers and hardships we have gone through." "well, well, doctor, i don't know that the owners of the _champion_ would be exactly of your opinion, any more than the rest of us," observed the mate, laughing; "but perhaps we may find some other curious creature before long to recompense you for your loss. it's time, however, to be on the tramp. i should like to ascertain before dark how far we are from the mainland; for that we are on an island i feel confident." the explorers accordingly once more got into motion. as they advanced, they found the sun still shining down on the shore, a proof that they were making a westerly course, and as it sank in the sky they saw that it almost faced them. "i have no longer any doubt about the matter," observed the mate. "see yonder distant line of blue land which runs nearly due north and south. we have evidently almost reached the extreme western end of the island; and i believe that we shall have no difficulty in getting back along the southern shore by to-morrow evening. we will go on a mile or two further, and then make preparations for encamping. we must provide proper accommodation for our little lady here; and we shall want daylight in which to build our hut, and to collect firewood." the party continued on much as before, and though, as a precautionary measure, dan still went ahead to scout, on the possibility of meeting with indians, they had no longer much apprehension on the subject. at length they reached an open spot close to the seashore, though somewhat raised above it, well suited for an encampment. they accordingly resolved to remain there for the night. tall trees rose on either side and behind them, with a sandy beach in front; beneath was a line of low rocky cliffs, which formed a bulwark to the land. a wide channel ran between them and the mainland, which could be dimly seen in the distance. all hands immediately set to work: the mate, doctor, and walter to build a substantial hut for alice; and nub and dan to collect firewood for cooking their evening meal. alice was not idle. she employed herself in gathering leaves and dry grass to form her bed, which, at the doctor's suggestion, was made with a layer of twigs and small branches, the leaves being thickly strewed on the top of them. "i wish that, instead of taking so much pains about me, you would arrange some better accommodation for yourselves than you seem to think of doing," she said. "i feel as if i was very selfish, in allowing you to take all this trouble about me." "you require to be more carefully attended to than we do," answered the doctor. "you are more delicately constituted than we are, and though your spirit might sustain you, you would suffer more from exposure than we should." the doctor's arguments quieted alice's scruples; so a small hut was formed for her, with a thick roof of palm-leaves tied down with the vines they had before found so useful. the rest of the party formed their sleeping-places of twigs and small boughs, which walter declared made as good beds as any sailors need require. by the time these arrangements were finished supper was ready, and they sat down to their repast with thoroughly good appetites. "i am thankful that we came, though i was rather doubtful at first about making the journey," observed the mate. "it has shown us that we are on a small island; and also that, to a certainty, it is uninhabited, so that we need not be compelled to proceed on our voyage till the favourable season comes round. if we were to go to sea now we should very likely encounter heavy gales, which would sorely try our little craft, even though she might be enlarged and strengthened to the utmost of our power. in the meantime, we shall have enough to do in preparing provisions for the voyage, and we need have no fear of starving while we remain." "i thought that we were going to sail as soon as the boat could be got ready," observed alice in a tone of disappointment. "so we will, miss alice," said the mate; "but it will take us many weeks to get her ready, with the limited number of tools and the scanty materials we possess. as we have no saw, we must split the planks; and every plank will have to be brought down to the required thickness with our single axe or our knives; and we shall have to cut out the ribs in the same way. patience and perseverance can alone enable us to overcome the difficulties before us." "well, i am ready to do my best," said walter; "and perhaps our raft may be cast on shore, and that will help us." while they were talking, the gloom of night was coming on; but the fire cast a cheerful blaze, lighting up the trunks of the tall trees around them, shedding a glare over the yellow sand, and tingeing the thin white line of foam which rolled over it, now running up some way, now receding with a measured, hissing sound, scarcely amounting to a roar. nub, who was sitting nearest the sea, had been looking out across the sand. suddenly he exclaimed, "i see someting! hist! hist! i know what it is. come along, dan; we will catch it." saying this, he started up, followed by dan. "you go on one side, i go on de oder, and den we run as fast as our legs can carry us," he cried to his companion. they were soon scampering along over the sand, at some distance apart from each other. not far from the water they again united, by which time the rest of the party had got up, and were proceeding in the same direction. they could just make them out engaged apparently in a desperate struggle with a dark object; and shortly afterwards they heard dan's irish shouts of "hurrah! hurrah! erin go bragh!" and nub exclaiming, "we got one big turtle. come, massa shobbrok,--come, massa lawrie, and drag him up. we get fine food for supper." the mate had brought several pieces of rope, which were fastened round the fins of the turtle, and the poor creature was dragged on its back up to the encampment. the doctor was eager to cut it up; but the mate suggested that it would be better to let it remain alive till the morning, that they might be able to carry some of the meat home with them. "at all events, we may hope, as this turtle has come to the shore, that others may also visit it, and afford us an abundant supply of wholesome food," he observed. the turtle cannot move when turned on its back, but as a further security it was tethered by the two fore paws to a stick stuck in the ground near the fire. as all the party were tired, they did not sit up late; but soon lay down in their respective bed-places, with a few boughs stuck in the ground to shelter their heads. they had not been long asleep when they were all aroused by a terrific peal of thunder, and looking up, they saw that the sky, which had been glittering with countless stars when they went to sleep, was now obscured by dark masses of clouds rushing across it. vivid flashes of lightning illumined the air, now darting across the ocean, now playing round the topmost boughs of the trees; while the wind began to blow with great violence, increasing every instant, and sending the leaves and twigs flying around them, sometimes tearing off huge branches, and even breaking the stout stems in two, or hurling whole trees to the ground. alice was sheltered in her hut; the mate did not at first like to propose that she should leave it, but he watched with great anxiety the tree-tops bending. at last he felt that it would be wrong for them any longer to run the risk of being crushed by a falling tree, or being injured by the lightning which ever and anon played around the trees near them. "we shall be safer under yonder rocks than here," he said; "although our little lady will, i fear, soon be drenched to the skin." the doctor agreed with him. "and the sooner we are off the better," he added. the mate, therefore, called to alice, and, accompanied by walter and the rest of the party, hurried down to a high rock which overhung the beach, where a hollow at the bottom of it afforded some protection from the storm. scarcely had they left their encampment when a tremendous crash was heard; and walter, looking back, saw that a tall tree had fallen nearly over the spot where they had been sitting, and directly on alice's hut. most mercifully had they been preserved; a moment later, and his dear little sister must have been crushed to death. they all sat down in the cave, with alice in the midst of them-- by which means they managed to shield her from the rain, which came pouring down in torrents--and they could hear the water rushing over the ground like a mill-sluice. looking out seaward, they saw the waves, foam-crested, rolling in large billows across the channel; but, happily, as they were on the lee side of the island, the surf did not reach them, though it sometimes came hissing up to within twenty feet of where they were sitting. the question was, whether the tide was rising. if it was, too probably they might be driven from their retreat, and be compelled to retire back to the high ground, where they would be again exposed to the danger of falling trees. they anxiously watched the foaming waters which thundered and dashed on the projecting rocks, and, as the seas came rolling round from the weather side, sent the white foam high into the air, glittering brightly amid the darkness during the repeated flashes of vivid lightning which darted from the clouds. "what should we have done had we been at sea!" exclaimed alice. "i tink we all go to de bottom," observed nub. "bery glad we here." "we may all be very thankful that we are here," said the mate. "i dreaded bad weather when i first thought of continuing our voyage in the boat, but i hope that we may not be exposed to such a gale as is now raging. as far as i can judge from the look of things, the present gale is as heavy as any we are likely to encounter." they sat watching the surf as it rolled up over the smooth sand. nearer and nearer it came. the mate had ascertained that there was a secure retreat to the high ground, or he would not have ventured to remain so long. he held alice securely in his arms, as, should the surf come higher up than before,--not unfrequently the case during a storm,--she would be safe from the risk of being swept away, or from the lesser danger of being wetted through. alice had witnessed two or three thunderstorms at sea, but this surpassed them all. crash succeeded crash with fearful rapidity. the lightning often showed objects around as clearly as at noonday, and the next moment all was inky darkness. but few words were exchanged among the party, for who could speak at such a fearful time? "de sea come nearer still, massa shobbrok," said nub at length, as he darted forward a few paces to ascertain how far the surf had reached. "shove in your stick, nub; and if the water comes a foot beyond it, we must lift our anchor and risk the falling trees," said the mate. nub did as he was bid, and then springing back, crouched down again under the rock, with his eyes intently fixed on the stick. sea after sea came roaring up, but the surf did not get so far as the stick. another came with a roar very much louder than its predecessors, and alice felt the mate half rise with her in his arms, while the doctor seized walter's hand. on came the surf with a roaring hiss, high enough apparently to sweep a strong man off his legs; but it barely reached the stick, and went rushing back again as rapidly as it had advanced. the mate sank down once more into his seat. "unless the tide rises higher, we are safer where we are than we should be anywhere else," he observed. the tide apparently was not rising, for though the surf rolled over the sand, the fiat had gone forth, "thus far shalt thou come, and no further." still the occasional sound of falling trees, and the crashing of boughs rudely rent off, showed that the storm continued with unabated fury. daylight came stealing silently over the tumultuous ocean, still tossing and foaming before them; but there the explorers sat safe from harm, sheltered beneath a rock which no tempest could move. they did not forget to kneel and offer up a morning prayer, returning thanks for their preservation. "i tink missie alice hungry," said nub at last. "i go and get de fish and de oder tings we leave at de camp." the mate, though anxious to obtain food and water, especially for alice, was unwilling to let the black risk his life. but nub promised that he would keep his eyes open, and rush out of the way should he see any branches likely to fall. he soon came back, carrying a single small cask of water and one bundle of dried fish. "all de rest washed away," he exclaimed in a disappointed tone. "de turtle still dere, too, but de tree fall down and crush him. still i tink i get meat enough for dinner." this was not satisfactory news; for though they might obtain water after all the rain that had fallen, they could not replace the sago flour; nor would it be satisfactory to eat the raw turtle, and it would be impossible to light a fire unless the sun should shine forth and dry the wood. "but i brought my case of sago with me. i snatched it up when you called me out of the hut. here it is," said alice. "then you shall benefit by it," said the mate; "though i am afraid that we have nothing to mix it in at present." "i find someting," cried nub; and darting out, he soon returned with a big shell, in which some sago flour was quickly stirred up with water. though not very palatable, alice was very glad of it; and the rest of the party satisfied their hunger with the smoked fish. while the storm lasted they remained under shelter of the rock, where they were perfectly dry; and they congratulated themselves that they had no friends waiting for them at home. as the day drew on, though the wind continued blowing, the clouds broke away; and the sun coming out, quickly dried the lighter wood, which nub and dan soon collected. a fire was lighted under the rock by the side of the cave. they then brought down a portion of the turtle and roasted it. though not particularly well done, it was wholesome food, and alice was glad to take some of it. the tempest now somewhat abated, and she and walter were able to take some exercise under shelter of the rock. another night was spent in the cave, one of the party being on the watch lest the tide should unexpectedly rise and sweep over them. however, the water did not reach even so far as on the previous night; and they all awoke much refreshed, and ready to continue their journey. more of the turtle was first cooked, to serve them for breakfast, and to afford them another meal should they not meet with any game on their way. they determined rather to continue their journey round the island than to go back the road they had come. just before starting, nub and dan made another search near the encampment, and were fortunate enough to find a second cask of water and a case of flour, so that they had now no fear of starvation. as they proceeded along the western coast, they found the country generally much flatter than on the other side. in some parts near the coast it consisted of a sandy plain free from trees, partly barren and partly covered with long wavy grass. by keeping close to the higher ground, they were able to cut off a considerable point, and soon found themselves with their faces eastward. they were also fortunate enough to come upon a stream, which, flowing down from the central hill, lost itself in the plain. it enabled them fully to quench the thirst from which they were suffering. soon after they had crossed the stream, dan, who had gone ahead, came hurrying back. "advance aisy now," he exclaimed in a low voice. "there's something worth seeing, and maybe worth getting too. just as i was creeping along, not two hundred yards ahead, what should i see before me but a score of big birds all dancing and jigging away together, for all the world as if they were at a wake or some sort of merrymaking. they were all so busy that none of them saw me, and i hurried back, lest you should come upon them suddenly and frighten them away." warned by dan, the party advanced cautiously, hiding themselves among the tall grass. he led them to a spot slightly elevated above the plain; and peering forth from their hiding-place, they caught sight of a number of large birds, apparently employed as dan had described. they soon saw, however, that the birds had some object in their movements. they formed a circle, with a mound in the centre, towards which they were busily removing the earth with their feet, throwing it up behind them towards the centre. when they reached a certain point, they turned round, and walked away with a steady pace to recommence the same process. nub, without saying anything, had stolen away, carrying a long pole with a noose fixed at the end of it. no one noticed his absence till he was seen creeping along the ground, with his head scarcely raised above it, and his stick in advance. the birds, (which were about the size of turkeys, their heads bare, and their necks ornamented with large frills of feathers), not descrying the approach of an enemy, continued their labours, and had already produced a mound two feet in height and a dozen or more yards in circumference. it was evident, from the way they worked, and the quantity of earth thrown up at each movement, that they had remarkably strong legs and claws. walter doubted much whether nub would succeed in catching one; and so got ready an arrow to shoot, in case they should, on discovering the black, take to flight, and pass near them, as he thought it probable they would do. sometimes nub lay perfectly still; then again he crept forward, shoving his noose carefully along the ground till it got very near the outer circle, to which the birds advanced before beginning to kick up the soil. at length reaching the last tuft of grass which would assist in concealing him, he shoved forward his pole to its utmost extent. back came one of the birds, and walter saw that it had actually passed the noose; then round it turned and began energetically kicking away, not noticing the trap laid in its path. presently it stepped into the very middle of the noose, when nub by a violent jerk drew it tight, and starting up, rushed away, dragging the astonished bird after him. the rest looked about for a moment, very much surprised at the unusual movements of their companion; but its cries and the appearance of the black soon told them what had happened, when with loud, croaking sounds they set off, and rushed towards the very spot where the party lay hid, evidently intending to fly into the neighbouring trees for shelter. as they came close, walter started up, bow in hand, and instantly shot at the nearest bird; but, to his great disappointment, he missed. the doctor was equally well prepared; and shooting with steady aim, down came a bird close to his feet, when, in spite of its struggles and the fierce way it defended itself with its beak, it was quickly captured dan managed to let fly an arrow; but missing, he immediately gave chase to the rest, several of which, trusting to their feet rather than to their wings, rushed by him, and went scuttling away at a rapid rate amid the brushwood. "arrah, now," he exclaimed, as he came back, "they all vanished like imps just in one moment, before i could get hold even of the tail of one of them." however, the two birds which had been killed by nub and the doctor were of great value. the latter said that he believed they were a species of the "brush-turkey," often found in new south wales, and that their flesh was excellent. on examining the mound, they discovered several eggs buried deep down in it, leaving them in no doubt as to the purpose for which it was made by the birds,--namely, that of hatching their young. half-a-dozen fine eggs were secured, and dan and nub, hanging the turkeys on a pole, carried them along in triumph between them. as the party had still a long day's march before them, they pushed on without stopping, the doctor and the mate insisting on carrying alice between them. she declared that she did not feel at all tired; however, as they were anxious to reach home if possible that night, they would not listen to her expostulations. in reality, she was very thankful to be conveyed in so comfortable a manner. just before dark they caught sight of their harbour. the house was standing,--a proof of the sailor-like way in which it had been constructed; but when they looked for the boat, which had been hauled up on shore, out of reach of the sea, as they conceived, she was nowhere to be seen. chapter fifteen. a flagstaff and lookout tower erected--a canoe built--more game caught-- a sail in sight--captain tredeagle finds his children--his adventures--a wreck--a vessel built--voyage to sydney--the whole party settle in new south wales--conclusion. the first impulse of all the party was to rush along the shore of the harbour in search of the boat. their worst fears were quickly realised. fragments of the wreck lay scattered along the beach, giving certain evidence of her fate. the sea, aroused by the gale, which struck directly on the coast, had rushed up the harbour; and the water rising much above its usual height, had floated the boat and then dashed her to pieces on the rocks. alice, giving way to despair, wrung her hands. "oh, poor papa!" she exclaimed; "we shall never be able to go in search of him, and he will think that we are all lost." walter felt very much as alice did, but after being silent for some time, he took her arm and said, "remember, our father always told us to trust in god; and i am sure we ought to do so, and must do so, if we would not live in constant anxiety and fear. he will guide us and direct us, and find a way for us to escape." "i know that. i was very weak and wrong to say what i did; but it seems so impossible now that we shall ever get home, that i cannot help it," answered alice. "perhaps it is the very best thing that could have happened to us," said walter; "and i am sure of it, as god ordered that it should be so," he added. in the meantime the rest of the party were giving vent to feelings of dismay and sorrow at what had happened, till nub made a remark very similar to walter's. "you are right, nub," said the mate. "i always doubted the prudence of putting to sea in that boat. i know well that god could, if he chose, have enabled us to reach sydney in her; but we have no business to run risks which our sense and experience tell us are very great: and it's my belief that had a storm of half the violence of that which has passed over this island overtaken us, we should have foundered. we must now, like wise men, make the best of our position. the first thing we have to do is to see what damage our house has suffered, and to repair it. we must then set to work to collect provisions. after that, i tell you what we must do: we must establish a lookout place on the high point at the south side of our harbour, from whence we can obtain a wide range over the ocean, and signal to any vessel which may heave in sight. there is every reason to hope that one may come near us some day or other; and we have a much better chance of getting off from an outlying island, like this one, than we should have enjoyed had we landed an the mainland, or on any dangerous cluster surrounded by reefs. so, my friends, you see we have plenty to do to keep our minds from dwelling on our misfortune; and i have good reason to believe that help will come in time." the mate's remarks restored cheerfulness to all the party, who no longer spoke of the loss of the boat as an unmitigated misfortune. "we must depend on the land, however, for supplying us with provisions, as we cannot go out fishing," observed the doctor. "not so _sure_ of dat, sir," said nub. "we build a canoe, which go out quite far enough to catch fish. no bery difficult job, i tink." "you are right, nub," said the mate; "and we will put her in hand as _soon_ as our lookout station is established." "capital!" exclaimed walter. "that is the very thing i thought of doing, for i have very often fancied how delightful it would be to `paddle my own canoe.'" on visiting the house, the settlers found that the water had penetrated in all directions, and that the wind had torn away part of the verandah, as well as the roof, and blown down their safe. bamboo canes had therefore to be cut and palm-leaves collected; and by the evening of the next day all was set to rights, and alice and walter took possession of their snug little cabins. a tall tree, suitable for a flagstaff, was found and cut down. it took some time to fit the rigging to it; and as it was formed of creeping vines, the mate acknowledged that it had not a very ship-shape appearance. it was set up on the highest part of the point, and a flag manufactured with the mate and nub's red handkerchiefs and the linings of the jackets of all the party. (alice wanted to contribute a portion of her dress, but this was not accepted.) the flag even then was not of sufficient size to be seen at any great distance. "we ought to be able to manufacture a material to answer instead of bunting," observed the doctor; "i cannot help thinking that it can be done." "of course it can," said the mate. "we should deserve to be left here for ever if we cannot do that." after considering the matter for a short time, the doctor constructed a large frame, the size of the intended flag. then procuring an ample supply of fine fibre, it was soon woven into material scarcely inferior to bunting. it had, however, to be coloured. here, again, the doctor's science was of use. from the trunk of the sandal-wood he produced a fine red dye. the flag, when finished, presented a large red cross on a white ground. it was hoisted with loud acclamations, and was soon floating in the breeze. at the foot of the flagstaff a substantial hut was next erected, so that one of the party might be there from daybreak to dark-- and also at night, when the moon shone brightly; a quantity of faggots was next collected, and a pile got ready at a little distance from the flagstaff, that fire might be set to it should a ship appear during the evening. the doctor and dan went out hunting the greater part of each day. they found an ample supply of fruit, which the storm had shaken down; and though some had been attacked by insects or birds, enough remained to supply their wants. they managed generally on each excursion to bring down three or four birds, dan having by degrees found how to make his bow shoot straight. he one day killed what he took to be a large bat, but on showing it to the doctor, he was highly delighted to find that it was in reality a flying lemur. it had a largely developed membrane, connecting the fore limbs with the others, and the hind limbs with the tail. with this apparatus the animal can fly from one bough to another separated by a wide distance, which it could not possibly reach by a mere leap. dan caught sight of it as it was making its way through the forest; but at each flight it reached a bough somewhat lower than the one it had left, till it pitched very near the ground, when, closing the membrane round its body, it ran nimbly up the trunk, its sharp claws enabling it to do so with great ease and speed. after this dan killed several smaller animals, the flesh of which was found to be palatable. nub, also, who had an especial fondness for turtle, made an excursion in the hope of finding some along the seashore. he brought back the satisfactory report that he had turned a couple, which were waiting to be brought home and eaten; while he exhibited a dozen eggs which he had discovered in the sand. he then, accompanied by the doctor and dan, returned and dragged home the two turtles; one of which being placed in the shade, and kept constantly covered with wet grass, was preserved alive till required for food. the sago bags left in the pool had remained undisturbed, with the contents perfectly good. the doctor, however, made a further supply, as the consumption of it, from the want of farinaceous food, was considerable. a proper tree having been found for the canoe, it was cut down, and the mate, with nub and walter, began to shape it. they afterwards hollowed it out with fire. it was somewhat heavy; but when a weatherboard was placed round it, the mate considered that the craft was fit not only to paddle about in their harbour, but to go out to sea in fine weather. walter having manufactured some more hooks and fish-lines during the evenings, an ample supply of fish was procured. thus day after day and week after week went rapidly by, and had not the mate kept careful note of the time, in robinson crusoe fashion, by cutting notches on a stick, the settlers would soon have forgotten how long they had been on the island. the sabbath was duly observed, as far as they had the means. although they had no bible, the mate recollected large portions of scripture which he had learned in his youth; while walter and alice knew the sermon on the mount and several psalms by heart. the mate was also well acquainted with the subjects of many other parts of scripture, which every sunday he explained in simple language to his hearers, while one or more psalms were repeated; and thus they were able to keep, if not to the form, at all events to the spirit of a sabbath service. they had many causes for thankfulness. notwithstanding the hardships they had gone through, their health was excellent--even alice never had an hour's illness--while the products of the island and the ocean supplied them with an abundance of wholesome food. besides, they had plenty of work to keep their minds occupied. alice, taking a hint from the doctor's frame for forming a flag, contrived a loom, with the assistance of walter, with which she set diligently to work to manufacture material which would serve as clothing when her own garments were worn out. the doctor also took into consideration various means for replacing their shoes when these should come to pieces,--which his and dan's already gave signs of doing. by the mate's calculation they had already been three months on the island; and though a good lookout had been kept from their watch-house during that time, not a sail had appeared in sight. one evening dan had been keeping the afternoon watch, when nub, whose turn it was to keep the first watch, went to relieve him. he soon came running back, however, dancing, leaping, and clapping his hands, as if he had gone mad, while he shouted at the top of his voice-- "a sail! a sail! she come dis way." the doctor was away shooting and botanising; but the mate and walter immediately hurried towards the point; while alice, who had heard nub's shouts, dropped her work and quickly followed them. they all looked out eagerly in the direction dan pointed, where, in the north, just rising above the horizon, was seen the white sail of a vessel, lighted up by the rays of the setting sun. the wind came from the point where she was seen, and it was evident that she was standing towards the south; but whether or not she would pass near enough to observe their signal was extremely uncertain. the wind being fresh, sent the stranger rapidly along; and though she was still too far off to see the flag, it was at once hoisted. how the hearts of all the party throbbed with anxiety! darkness was coming on, and would soon shroud her from sight, and also prevent those on board from seeing the flag. "we must make our fire blaze up brightly as soon as night falls," said the mate. "yas, massa shobbrok, we make it blaze, neber fear," said nub, readjusting the faggots, and shoving in a few handfuls of dry leaves under them. "if the wind holds, she will be down in time to see our signal," observed the mate. "oh, i do hope so," exclaimed alice. "is the ship standing towards the shore, do you think?" "she is certainly not standing away from it," answered the mate; "but i doubt whether the wind will keep up. it has dropped since i came here." they stood intently watching the sail, too anxious to talk. already the shades of night were stealing over the ocean. the sun went down, and the vessel's white canvas changed to an inky hue. still the mate could discern her, and he declared that she was a brigantine or a square-topsail schooner. gradually, however, the wind dropped, and the ocean assumed a glass-like appearance. there could be little doubt that by this time the stranger was becalmed. but darkness now came on, and completely shut her out from sight. the mate having struck a light, the fire soon blazed up brightly. "put on more faggots, nub," he cried. "she may stand nearer the shore if the breeze gets up again; but she is as likely to stand away from us, and we may not have so good an opportunity of being seen as now." walter ran off to a distance, so as to be out of the glare of the fire, and peered with all his might into the darkness; but no vessel could he see, and he began to fear that she must, as the mate had thought probable, have stood away from the land. his heart fell, but he did not like to tell alice. all of them were still too anxious to leave the spot. they were at length joined by the doctor, who surmised where they had gone from seeing the glare of the fire in the distance. the mate advised alice and walter to go back to the house; but they both declared that they should not sleep a wink, and would much rather remain where they were. "perhaps the fire may be seen, and a boat sent on shore from the vessel to ascertain the cause of it," said walter. "she is too far off, i suspect, for the fire to be seen," answered the mate. "we must have patience. daylight will come at last, and the matter will then be settled." "but suppose she has sailed away," said walter. "oh, don't think of such a dreadful thing," cried alice. "if she has, we must have patience still," said the mate. "we talk a good deal about putting our trust in god; this is an occasion which will show whether our trust is real. we are _always_ to trust him." "so i try to do," said alice. "i will not doubt again that he will order all things for the best." "well, my little girl, you must take my advice, and go back to the house with your brother. your staying here won't bring the vessel nearer; and i will send for you at daybreak should she be seen." the doctor, approving of the mate's advice, accompanied walter and alice, and promised to stay in the house with them; while the mate, nub, and dan remained at the station to keep the fire burning. alice thought that she should not go to sleep; but she did, notwithstanding, and afterwards confessed that she dreamed all sorts of delightful dreams-- and, what was not altogether wonderful, some of them came perfectly true. the light was streaming through the chinks in her shutters, when she was awakened by nub shouting out, "de vessel in sight! de vessel in sight!" walter was so fast asleep that she had to call him, and she was ready to leave her room as soon as he was. the doctor had waited for them, and all three followed nub, who had run back to the flagstaff. a light breeze was floating out the flag, and filling the sails of a small schooner, which came gliding on towards the mouth of their harbour. when at about a mile distant she hove-to, and a boat was launched from her deck, and, impelled by four lusty rowers, rapidly approached the shore. the mate watched her eagerly. "she is a whale-boat," he exclaimed; "and i cannot help thinking that i have seen her and her crew before, as well as the man standing up and steering with an oar. alice,--walter, can you guess who that man is?" "yes! yes!" exclaimed walter; "i know his attitude. alice, it is our father!" alice did not faint, but she cried for joy. the mate waved with his hand, pointing to the entrance of the harbour; and then they all hurried down, and along the shore to the nearest spot where the boat could safely put in. the doctor and walter had to support alice; while nub, frantic with joy, eagerly rushed on ahead. the boat had hardly reached the rocks when the father recognised his children, and in a few minutes he had sprung on shore and clasped them in his arms. neither could speak for some minutes. he then shook the mate and the doctor warmly by the hand; while nub and dan were exchanging greetings with the crew, and learning something about each other's adventures. the captain then accompanied the party to the house, and on the way they briefly told him what they had gone through. he also had a long story to tell. he was much pleased with the appearance of their house, and expressed his deep gratitude to the faithful men who had so carefully watched over his children. on seeing the pile of sandal-wood, with the nature of which he was well acquainted, he remarked that it was of considerable value, and although he could carry but a small portion of it at present, it would be well worth while to send a vessel back for a cargo. as he had several people on board the small schooner, he was anxious to continue the voyage to sydney--to which port he was bound--without delay. he therefore took off his children, with the doctor, nub, and dan; while the mate remained to ship the provisions they had in store,--which the captain said would be very welcome,--as well as a small quantity of sandal-wood. by noon the whole party had embarked, and the little schooner, under all sail, was standing on her course for sydney. "she's a strange-looking craft this of yours, captain," observed the mate, as he stepped on board. "not more strange than the way in which she was built," answered captain tredeagle. "oh father, that's what alice and i want so much to hear about!" exclaimed walter. the captain, however, had no leisure to satisfy his children's curiosity till they were seated at tea in the cabin. they had in the meantime recognised many of their old shipmates, besides whom there were several strangers on board. alice having resumed her old place at the table, and poured out tea for those assembled, the captain began the narrative of his adventures:-- "you may imagine my agony of mind, when i reached the neighbourhood of the spot where i had left the ship, and found only a few blackened pieces of wreck, which too surely told me what had happened. still i hoped that some, if not all, had escaped, and that i should be picked up; so i searched all round. but the necessity of making land where we could obtain some provisions and water compelled me to direct our course towards the nearest island i knew of. a heavy gale coming on, severely tried the boat, and we were almost despairing of reaching a place of shelter, when we caught sight of a small island, and steered towards it. we were going round to the side on which i expected to land with least danger, when i made out a vessel on a reef at some distance from the shore. i was able to approach her. as i did so i was hailed by a voice i knew, and i discovered that she was the prize we had taken, and which had afterwards been driven on shore. the masts were gone, and the vessel was evidently a complete wreck. some of the people were clinging to the bowsprit, and waving frantically to me. in a short time, the wind having fallen still more, i was able to board her; when i found that many of the french crew had attempted to escape and had been lost, and that those on the bowsprit were the only survivors. happily, the hull of the vessel had not suffered so much as i had feared, for though she was bilged, and her bulwarks and boats had been washed away, the greater part of her cargo and stores were uninjured. i therefore at once set all hands to work to build a raft, on which we might land them. the weather holding fine, we got everything of value on shore; but as the island was utterly barren, i saw that before long we should be reduced to starvation. i therefore at once determined to build a vessel from the wreck. fortunately, the brig had a fresh suit of sails, and a good deal of the rigging was still clinging to her. the french carpenter and one of his crew had been among the saved, and i had two of my carpenters; so, without loss of time, we pulled the wreck to pieces, and set up a new vessel on the stocks. she was launched but a week ago; and we were steering a course for sydney, when we were driven back by a strong southerly gale. we thought it a great misfortune, as our provisions were running short; but it has proved to me indeed a happy occurrence." "and _we_ thought, when our boat was wrecked, that it was a great misfortune," exclaimed walter; "but now we see that it was ordered for the best: for had we sailed away, we might have been lost; or had we reached sydney, we should very likely have gone up the country, and have been a long time before we heard of you." "depend upon it, my children, everything is ordered for the best in the affairs of those who trust god," said the captain solemnly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ the little schooner, notwithstanding the way she had been built, reached sydney in safety; when captain tredeagle, weary of the sea, took advantage of the liberal offers made by government to settlers, and accepted a grant of land--having determined to take up his abode there with his children. dr lawrie followed his example, and settled near him. alice and walter, growing up and marrying, had estates of their own; and often at social gatherings they would talk over with old friends their adventures at sea and their residence on "refuge island." but their great delight was to narrate these to their children, and to urge them to put implicit confidence in the love and mercy of him who guides those who trust him through darkness and trouble, and ever orders all things for the best. the end. the red eric, by r.m. ballantyne. chapter one. the tale begins with the engaging of a "tail"--and the captain delivers his opinions on various subjects. captain dunning stood with his back to the fireplace in the back-parlour of a temperance coffee-house in a certain town on the eastern seaboard of america. the name of that town is unimportant, and, for reasons with which the reader has nothing to do, we do not mean to disclose it. captain dunning, besides being the owner and commander of a south sea whale-ship, was the owner of a large burly body, a pair of broad shoulders, a pair of immense red whiskers that met under his chin, a short, red little nose, a large firm mouth, and a pair of light-blue eyes, which, according to their owner's mood, could flash like those of a tiger or twinkle sweetly like the eyes of a laughing child. but his eyes seldom flashed; they more frequently twinkled, for the captain was the very soul of kindliness and good-humour. yet he was abrupt and sharp in his manner, so that superficial observers sometimes said he was hasty. captain dunning was, so to speak, a sample of three primary colours-- red, blue, and yellow--a walking fragment, as it were, of the rainbow. his hair and face, especially the nose, were red; his eyes, coat, and pantaloons were blue, and his waistcoat was yellow. at the time we introduce him to the reader he was standing, as we have said, with his back to the fireplace, although there was no fire, the weather being mild, and with his hands in his breeches pockets. having worked with the said hands for many long years before the mast, until he had at last worked himself _behind_ the mast, in other words, on to the quarterdeck and into possession of his own ship, the worthy captain conceived that he had earned the right to give his hands a long rest; accordingly he stowed them away in his pockets and kept them there at all times, save when necessity compelled him to draw them forth. "very odd," remarked captain dunning, looking at his black straw hat which lay on the table before him, as if the remark were addressed to it--"very odd if, having swallowed the cow, i should now be compelled to worry at the tail." as the black straw hat made no reply, the captain looked up at the ceiling, but not meeting with any response from that quarter, he looked out at the window and encountered the gaze of a seaman flattening his nose on a pane of glass, and looking in. the captain smiled. "ah! here's a tail at last," he said, as the seaman disappeared, and in another moment reappeared at the door with his hat in his hand. it may be necessary, perhaps, to explain that captain dunning had just succeeded in engaging a first-rate crew for his next whaling voyage (which was the "cow" he professed to have swallowed), with the exception of a cook (which was the "tail," at which he feared he might be compelled to worry). "you're a cook, are you?" he asked, as the man entered and nodded. "yes, sir," answered the "tail," pulling his forelock. "and an uncommonly ill-favoured rascally-looking cook you are," thought the captain; but he did not say so, for he was not utterly regardless of men's feelings. he merely said, "ah!" and then followed it up with the abrupt question-- "do you drink?" "yes, sir, and smoke too," replied the "tail," in some surprise. "very good; then you can go," said the captain, shortly. "eh!" exclaimed the man: "you can go," repeated the captain. "you won't suit. my ship is a temperance ship, and all the hands are teetotalers. i have found from experience that men work better, and speak better, and in every way act better, on tea and coffee than on spirits. i don't object to their smoking; but i don't allow drinkin' aboard my ship; so you won't do, my man. good-morning." the "tail" gazed at the captain in mute amazement. "ah! you may look," observed the captain, replying to the gaze; "but you may also mark my words, if you will. i've not sailed the ocean for thirty years for nothing. i've seen men in hot seas and in cold--on grog, and on tea--and _i_ know that coffee and tea carry men through the hardest work better than grog. i also know that there's a set o' men in this world who look upon teetotalers as very soft chaps--old wives, in fact. very good," (here the captain waxed emphatic, and struck his fist on the table.) "now look here, young man, _i'm_ an old wife, and my ship's manned by similar old ladies; so you won't suit." to this the seaman made no reply, but feeling doubtless, as he regarded the masculine specimen before him, that he would be quite out of his element among such a crew of females, he thrust a quid of tobacco into his cheek, put on his hat, turned on his heel and left the room, shutting the door after him with a bang. he had scarcely left when a tap at the door announced a second visitor. "hum! another `tail,' i suppose. come in." if the new-comer _was_ a "tail," he was decidedly a long one, being six feet three in his stockings at the very least. "you wants a cook, i b'lieve?" said the man, pulling off his hat. "i do. are you one?" "yes, i jist guess i am. bin a cook for fifteen year." "been to sea as a cook?" inquired the captain. "i jist have. once to the south seas, twice to the north, an' once round the world. cook all the time. i've roasted, and stewed, and grilled, and fried, and biled, right round the 'arth, i have." being apparently satisfied with the man's account of himself, captain dunning put to him the question--"do you drink?" "ay, like a fish; for i drinks nothin' but water, i don't. bin born and raised in the state of maine, d'ye see, an' never tasted a drop all my life." "very good," said the captain, who plumed himself on being a clever physiognomist, and had already formed a good opinion of the man. "do you ever swear?" "never, but when i can't help it." "and when's that?" "when i'm fit to bu'st." "then," replied the captain, "you must learn to bu'st without swearin', 'cause i don't allow it aboard my ship." the man evidently regarded his questioner as a very extraordinary and eccentric individual; but he merely replied, "i'll try;" and after a little further conversation an agreement was come to; the man was sent away with orders to repair on board immediately, as everything was in readiness to "up anchor and away next morning." having thus satisfactorily and effectually disposed of the "tail," captain dunning put on his hat very much on the back of his head, knit his brows, and pursed his lips firmly, as if he had still some important duty to perform; then, quitting the hotel, he traversed the streets of the town with rapid strides. chapter two. important personages are introduced to the reader--the captain makes insane resolutions, fights a battle, and conquers. in the centre of the town whose name we have declined to communicate, there stood a house--a small house--so small that it might have been more appropriately, perhaps, styled a cottage. this house had a yellow-painted face, with a green door in the middle, which might have been regarded as its nose, and a window on each side thereof, which might have been considered its eyes. its nose was, as we have said, painted green, and its eyes had green venetian eyelids, which were half shut at the moment captain dunning walked up to it as if it were calmly contemplating that seaman's general appearance. there was a small garden in front of the house, surrounded on three sides by a low fence. captain dunning pushed open the little gate, walked up to the nose of the house, and hit it several severe blows with his knuckles. the result was that the nose opened, and a servant-girl appeared in the gap. "is your mistress at home?" inquired the captain. "guess she is--both of 'em!" replied the girl. "tell both of 'em i'm here, then," said the captain, stepping into the little parlour without further ceremony; "and is my little girl in?" "yes, she's in." "then send her here too, an' look alive, lass." so saying, captain dunning sat down on the sofa, and began to beat the floor with his right foot somewhat impatiently. in another second a merry little voice was heard in the passage, the door burst open, a fair-haired girl of about ten years of age sprang into the room, and immediately commenced to strangle her father in a series of violent embraces. "why, ailie, my darling, one would think you had not seen me for fifty years at least," said the captain, holding his daughter at arm's-length, in order the more satisfactorily to see her. "it's a whole week, papa, since you last came to see me," replied the little one, striving to get at her father's neck again, "and i'm sure it seems to me like a hundred years at least." as the child said this she threw her little arms round her father, and kissed his large, weather-beaten visage all over--eyes, mouth, nose, chin, whiskers, and, in fact, every attainable spot. she did it so vigorously, too, that an observer would have been justified in expecting that her soft, delicate cheeks would be lacerated by the rough contact; but they were not. the result was a heightening of the colour, nothing more. having concluded this operation, she laid her cheek on the captain's and endeavoured to clasp her hands at the back of his neck, but this was no easy matter. the captain's neck was a remarkably thick one, and the garments about that region were voluminous; however, by dint of determination, she got the small fingers intertwined, and then gave him a squeeze that ought to have choked him, but it didn't: many a strong man had tried that in his day, and had failed signally. "you'll stay a long time with me before you go away to sea again, won't you, dear papa?" asked the child earnestly, after she had given up the futile effort to strangle him. "how like!" murmured the captain, as if to himself, and totally unmindful of the question, while he parted the fair curls and kissed ailie's forehead. "like what, papa?" "like your mother--your beloved mother," replied the captain, in a low, sad voice. the child became instantly grave, and she looked up in her father's face with an expression of awe, while he dropped his eyes on the floor. poor alice had never known a mother's love. her mother died when she was a few weeks old, and she had been confided to the care of two maiden aunts--excellent ladies, both of them; good beyond expression; correct almost to a fault; but prim, starched, and extremely self-possessed and judicious, so much so that they were injudicious enough to repress some of the best impulses of their natures, under the impression that a certain amount of dignified formality was essential to good breeding and good morals in every relation of life. dear, good, starched misses dunning! if they had had their way, boys would have played cricket and football with polite urbanity, and girls would have kissed their playmates with gentle solemnity. they did their best to subdue little alice, but that was impossible. the child _would_ rush about the house at all unexpected and often inopportune seasons, like a furiously insane kitten and she _would_ disarrange their collars too violently every evening when she bade them good-night. alice was intensely sympathetic. it was quite enough for her to see any one in tears, to cause her to open up the flood-gates of her eyes and weep--she knew not and she cared not why. she threw her arms round her father's neck again, and hugged him, while bright tears trickled like diamonds from her eyes. no diamonds are half so precious or so difficult to obtain as tears of genuine sympathy! "how would you like to go with me to the whale-fishery?" inquired captain dunning, somewhat abruptly as he disengaged the child's arms and set her on his knee. the tears stopped in an instant, as alice leaped, with the happy facility of childhood, totally out of one idea and thoroughly into another. "oh, i should like it _so_ much!" "and how much is `so' much, ailie?" inquired the captain. ailie pursed her mouth, and looked at her father earnestly, while she seemed to struggle to give utterance to some fleeting idea. "think," she said quickly, "think something good _as much as ever you can_. have you thought?" "yes," answered the captain, smiling. "then," continued ailie, "its twenty thousand million times as much as that, and a great deal more!" the laugh with which captain dunning received this curious explanation of how much his little daughter wished to go with him to the whale-fishery, was interrupted by the entrance of his sisters, whose sense of propriety induced them to keep all visitors waiting at least a quarter of an hour before they appeared, lest they should be charged with unbecoming precipitancy. "here you are, lassies; how are ye?" cried the captain as he rose and kissed each lady on the cheek heartily. the sisters did not remonstrate. they knew that their brother was past hope in this respect, and they loved him, so they suffered it meekly. having admitted that they were well--as well, at least, as could be expected, considering the cataract of "trials" that perpetually descended upon their devoted heads--they sat down as primly as if their visitor were a perfect stranger, and entered into a somewhat lengthened conversation as to the intended voyage, commencing, of course, with the weather. "and now," said the captain, rubbing the crown of his straw hat in a circular manner, as if it were a beaver, "i'm coming to the point." both ladies exclaimed, "what point, george?" simultaneously, and regarded the captain with a look of anxious surprise. "_the_ point," replied the captain, "about which i've come here to-day. it ain't a point o' the compass; nevertheless, i've been steerin' it in my mind's eye for a considerable time past. the fact is" (here the captain hesitated), "i--i've made up my mind to take my little alice along with me this voyage." the misses dunning wore unusually tall caps, and their countenances were by nature uncommonly long, but the length to which they grew on hearing this announcement was something preternaturally awful. "take ailie to sea!" exclaimed miss martha dunning, in horror. "to fish for whales!" added miss jane dunning, in consternation. "brother, you're mad!" they exclaimed together, after a breathless pause; "and you'll do nothing of the kind," they added firmly. now, the manner in which the misses dunning received this intelligence greatly relieved their eccentric brother. he had fully anticipated, and very much dreaded, that they would at once burst into tears, and being a tender-hearted man he knew that he could not resist that without a hard struggle. a flood of woman's tears, he was wont to say, was the only sort of salt water storm he hadn't the heart to face. but abrupt opposition was a species of challenge which the captain always accepted at once--off-hand. no human power could force him to any course of action. in this latter quality captain dunning was neither eccentric nor singular. "i'm sorry you don't like my proposal, my dear sisters," said he; "but i'm resolved." "you won't!" said martha. "you shan't!" cried jane. "i _will_!" replied the captain. there was a pause here of considerable length, during which the captain observed that martha's nostrils began to twitch nervously. jane, observing the fact, became similarly affected. to the captain's practised eye these symptoms were as good as a barometer. he knew that the storm was coming, and took in all sail at once (mentally) to be ready for it. it came! martha and jane dunning were for once driven from the shelter of their wonted propriety--they burst simultaneously into tears, and buried their respective faces in their respective pocket-handkerchiefs, which were immaculately clean and had to be hastily unfolded for the purpose. "now, now, my dear girls," cried the captain, starting up and patting their shoulders, while poor little ailie clasped her hands, sat down on a footstool, looked up in their faces--or, rather, at the backs of the hands which covered their faces--and wept quietly. "it's very cruel, george--indeed it is," sobbed martha; "you know how we love her." "very true," remarked the obdurate captain; "but you _don't_ know how _i_ love her, and how sad it makes me to see so little of her, and to think that she may be learning to forget me--or, at least," added the captain, correcting himself as ailie looked at him reproachfully through her tears--"at least to do without me. i can't bear the thought. she's all i have left to me, and--" "brother," interrupted martha, looking hastily up, "did you ever before hear of such a thing as taking a little girl on a voyage to the whale-fishing?" "no, never," replied the captain; "what has that got to do with it?" both ladies held up their hands and looked aghast. the idea of any man venturing to do what no one ever thought of doing before was so utterly subversive of all their ideas of propriety--such a desperate piece of profane originality--that they remained speechless. "george," said martha, drying her eyes, and speaking in tones of deep solemnity, "did you ever read _robinson crusoe_?" "yes, i did, when i was a boy; an' that wasn't yesterday." "and did you," continued the lady in the same sepulchral tone, "did you note how that man--that beacon, if i may use the expression, set up as a warning to deter all wilful boys and men from reckless, and wicked, and wandering, and obstreperous courses--did you note, i say, how that man, that beacon, was shipwrecked, and spent a dreary existence on an uninhabited and dreadful island, in company with a low, dissolute, black, unclothed companion called friday?" "yes," answered the captain, seeing that she paused for a reply. "and all," continued martha, "in consequence of his resolutely and obstinately, and wilfully and wickedly going to sea?" "well, it couldn't have happened if he hadn't gone to sea, no doubt." "then," argued martha, "will you, can you, george, contemplate the possibility of your only daughter coming to the same dreadful end?" george, not exactly seeing the connection, rubbed his nose with his forefinger, and replied--"certainly not." "then you are bound," continued martha, in triumph, "by all that is upright and honourable, by all the laws of humanity and _propriety_, to give up this wild intention--and you _must_!" "there!" cried miss jane emphatically, as if the argument were unanswerable--as indeed it was, being incomprehensible. the last words were unfortunate. they merely riveted the captain's determination. "you talk a great deal of nonsense, martha," he said, rising to depart. "i've fixed to take her, so the sooner you make up your minds to it the better." the sisters knew their brother's character too well to waste more time in vain efforts; but martha took him by the arm, and said earnestly--"will you promise me, my dear george, that when she comes back from this voyage, you will never take her on another?" "yes, dear sister," replied the captain, somewhat melted, "i promise that." without another word martha sat down and held out her arms to ailie, who incontinently rushed into them. propriety fled for the nonce, discomfited. miss martha's curls were disarranged beyond repair, and miss martha's collar was crushed to such an extent that the very laundress who had washed and starched and ironed it would have utterly failed to recognise it. miss jane looked on at these improprieties in perfect indifference--nay, when, after her sister had had enough, the child was handed over to her, she submitted to the same violent treatment without a murmur. for once nature was allowed to have her way, and all three had a good hearty satisfactory cry; in the midst of which captain dunning left them, and, proceeding on board his ship, hastened the preparations for his voyage to the southern seas. chapter three. the tea-party--accidents and incidents of a minor kind--glynn proctor gets into trouble. on the evening of the day in which the foregoing scenes were enacted, the misses dunning prepared a repast for their brother and one or two of his officers, who were to spend the last evening in port there, and discuss various important and unimportant matters in a sort of semi-convivio-business way. an event of this kind was always of the deepest interest and productive of the most intense anxiety to the amiable though starched sisters; first, because it was of rare occurrence; and second, because they were never quite certain that it would pass without some unhappy accident, such as the upsetting of a tea-cup or a kettle, or the scalding of the cat, not to mention visitors' legs. they seemed to regard a tea-party in the light of a firearm--a species of blunderbuss--a thing which, it was to be hoped, would "go off well"; and, certainly, if loading the table until it groaned had anything to do with the manner of its "going off," there was every prospect of its doing so with pre-eminent success upon that occasion. but besides the anxieties inseparable from the details of the pending festivities, the misses dunning were overwhelmed and weighed down with additional duties consequent upon their brother's sudden and unexpected determination. little ailie had to be got ready for sea by the following morning! it was absolute and utter insanity! no one save a madman or a sea-captain could have conceived such a thing, much less have carried it into effect tyrannically. the misses dunning could not attempt any piece of duty or work separately. they always acted together, when possible; and might, in fact, without much inconvenience, have been born siamese twins. whatever martha did, jane attempted to do or to mend; wherever jane went, martha followed. not, by any means, that one thought she could improve upon the work of the other; their conduct was simply the result of a desire to assist each other mutually. when martha spoke, jane echoed or corroborated; and when jane spoke, martha repeated her sentences word for word in a scarcely audible whisper--not after the other had finished, but during the course of the remarks. with such dispositions and propensities, it is not a matter to be wondered at that the good ladies, while arranging the tea-table, should suddenly remember some forgotten article of ailie's wardrobe, and rush simultaneously into the child's bedroom to rectify the omission; or, when thus engaged, be filled with horror at the thought of having left the buttered toast too near the fire in the parlour. "it is really quite perplexing," said martha, sitting down with a sigh, and regarding the tea-table with a critical gaze; "quite perplexing. i'm sure i don't know how i shall bear it. it is too bad of george-- darling ailie--(dear me, jane, how crookedly you have placed the urn)-- it is really too bad." "too bad, indeed; yes, isn't it?" echoed jane, in reference to the captain's conduct, while she assisted martha, who had risen to readjust the urn. "oh!" exclaimed martha, with a look of horror. "what?" cried jane, who looked and felt equally horrified, although she knew not yet the cause. "the eggs!" "the eggs?" "yes, the eggs. you know every one of the last dozen we got was bad, and we've forgot to send for more," said martha. "for more; so we have!" cried jane; and both ladies rushed into the kitchen, gave simultaneous and hurried orders to the servant-girl, and sent her out of the house impressed with an undefined feeling that life or death depended on the instant procuring of two dozen fresh eggs. it may be as well to remark here, that the misses dunning, although stiff, and starched, and formal, had the power of speeding nimbly from room to room, when alone and when occasion required, without in the least degree losing any of their stiffness or formality, so that we do not use the terms "rush," "rushed," or "rushing" inappropriately. nevertheless, it may also be remarked that they never acted in a rapid or impulsive way in company, however small in numbers or unceremonious in character the company might be--always excepting the servant-girl and the cat, to whose company, from long habit, they had become used, and therefore indifferent. the sisters were on their knees, stuffing various articles into a large trunk, and ailie was looking on, by way of helping, with very red and swollen eyes, and the girl was still absent in quest of eggs, when a succession of sounding blows were administered to the green door, and a number of gruff voices were heard conversing without. "_there_!" cried martha and jane, with bitter emphasis, looking in each other's faces as if to say, "we knew it. before that girl was sent away for these eggs, we each separately and privately prophesied that they would arrive, and that we should have to open the door. and you see, so it has happened, and we are not ready!" but there was no time for remark. the case was desperate. both sisters felt it to be so, and acted accordingly, while ailie, having been forbidden to open the door, sat down on her trunk, and looked on in surprise. they sprang up, washed their hands simultaneously in the same basin, with the same piece of soap broken in two; dried them with the same towel, darted to the mirror, put on two identically similar clean tall caps, leaped down-stairs, opened the door with slow dignity of demeanour, and received their visitors in the hall with a calmness and urbanity of manner that contrasted rather strangely with their flushed countenances and heaving bosoms. "hallo! ailie!" exclaimed the captain, as his daughter pulled down his head to be kissed. "why, you take a fellow all aback, like a white squall. are you ready, my pet? kit stowed and anchor tripped? come this way, and let us talk about it. dear me, martha, you and jane--look as if you had been running a race, eh? here are my messmates come to talk a bit with you. my sisters, martha and jane--dr hopley." (dr hopley bowed politely.) "my first mate, mr millons" (mr millons also bowed, somewhat loosely); "and rokens--tim rokens, my chief harpooner." (mr rokens pulled his forelock, and threw back his left leg, apparently to counterbalance the bend in his body.) "he didn't want to come; said he warn't accustomed to ladies' society; but i told him you warn't ladies--a--i don't mean that--not ladies o' the high-flyin' fashionable sort, that give themselves airs, you know. come along, ailie." while the captain ran on in this strain, hung up his hat, kissed ailie, and ran his fingers through his shaggy locks, the misses dunning performed a mingled bow and courtsey to each guest as his name was mentioned, and shook hands with him, after which the whole party entered the parlour, where the cat was discovered enjoying a preliminary meal of its own at one of the pats of butter. a united shriek from martha and jane, a nautical howl from the guests, and a rolled-up pocket-handkerchief from rokens sent that animal from the table as if it had received a galvanic shock. "i ax yer parding, ladies," said mr rokens, whose aim had been so perfect that his handkerchief not only accelerated the flight of the cat, but carried away the violated pat of butter along with it. "i ax yer parding, but them brutes is sich thieves--i could roast 'em alive, so i could." the harpooner unrolled his handkerchief, and picking the pat of butter from its folds with his fingers, threw it into the fire. thereafter he smoothed down his hair, and seated himself on the extreme edge of a chair, as near the door as possible. not that he had any intention whatever of taking to flight, but he deemed that position to be more suited to his condition than any other. in a few minutes the servant-girl returned with the eggs. while she is engaged in boiling them, we shall introduce captain dunning's friends and messmates to the reader. dr hopley was a surgeon, and a particular friend of the captain's. he was an american by birth, but had travelled so much about the world that he had ceased to "guess" and "calculate," and to speak through his nose. he was a man about forty, tall, big-boned, and muscular, though not fat; and besides being a gentlemanly man, was a good-natured, quiet creature, and a clever enough fellow besides, but he preferred to laugh at and enjoy the jokes and witticisms of others rather than to perpetrate any himself. dr hopley was intensely fond of travelling, and being possessed of a small independence, he indulged his passion to the utmost. he had agreed to go with captain dunning as the ship's doctor, simply for the sake of seeing the whale-fishery of the south seas, having already, in a similar capacity, encountered the dangers of the north. dr hopley had few weaknesses. his chief one was an extravagant belief in phrenology. we would not be understood to imply that phrenology is extravagant; but we assert that the doctor's belief in it was extravagant, assigning, as he did, to every real and ideal facility of the human mind "a local habitation and a name" in the cranium, with a corresponding depression or elevation of the surface to mark its whereabouts. in other respects he was a commonplace sort of a man. mr millons, the first mate, was a short, hale, thick-set man, without any particularly strong points of character. he was about thirty-five, and possessed a superabundance of fair hair and whiskers, with a large, broad chin, a firm mouth, rather fierce-looking eyes, and a hasty, but by no means a bad temper. he was a trustworthy, matter-of-fact seaman, and a good officer, but not bright intellectually. like most men of his class, his look implied that he did not under-estimate his own importance, and his tones were those of a man accustomed to command. tim rokens was an old salt; a bluff, strong, cast-iron man, of about forty-five years of age, who had been at sea since he was a little boy, and would not have consented to live on dry land, though he had been "offered command of a seaport town all to himself," as he was wont to affirm emphatically. his visage was scarred and knotty, as if it had been long used to being pelted by storms--as indeed it had. there was a scar over his left eye and down his cheek, which had been caused by a slash from the cutlass of a pirate in the china seas; but although it added to the rugged effect of his countenance, it did not detract from the frank, kindly expression that invariably rested there. tim rokens had never been caught out of temper in his life. men were wont say he had no temper to lose. whether this was true or no, we cannot presume to say, but certainly he never lost it. he was the best and boldest harpooner in captain dunning's ship, and a sententious deliverer of his private opinion on all occasions whatsoever. when we say that he wore a rough blue pilot-cloth suit, and had a large black beard, with a sprinkling of silver hairs in it, we have completed his portrait. "what's come of glynn?" inquired captain dunning, as he accepted a large cup of smoking tea with one hand, and with the other handed a plate of buttered toast to dr hopley, who sat next him. "i really cannot imagine," replied miss martha. "no, cannot imagine," whispered miss jane. "he promised to come, and to be punctual," continued miss martha ("punctual," whispered miss j), "but something seems to have detained him. perhaps--" here miss martha was brought to an abrupt pause by observing that mr rokens was about to commence to eat his egg with a teaspoon. "allow me, mr rokens," she said, handing that individual an ivory eggspoon. "oh, cer'nly, ma'am. by all means," replied rokens, taking the spoon and handing it to miss jane, under the impression that it was intended for her. "i beg pardon, it is for yourself, mr rokens," said martha and jane together. "thank'ee, ma'am," replied rokens, growing red, as he began to perceive he was a little "off his course" somehow. "i've no occasion for _two_, an' this one suits me oncommon." "ah! you prefer big spoons to little ones, my man, don't you?" said captain dunning, coming to the rescue. "let him alone, martha, he's used to take care of himself. doctor, can you tell me now, which is the easiest of digestion--a hard egg or a soft one?" thus appealed to, dr hopley paused a moment and frowned at the teapot, as though he were about to tax his brain to the utmost in the solution of an abstruse question in medical science. "well now," he replied, stirring his tea gently, and speaking with much deliberation, "that depends very much upon circumstances. some digestions can manage a hard egg best, others find a soft one more tractable. and then the state of the stomach at the time of eating has to be taken into account. i should say now, that my little friend ailie, here, to judge from the rosy colour of her cheeks, could manage hard or soft eggs equally well; couldn't you, eh?" ailie laughed, as she replied, "i'm sure i don't know, doctor hopley; but i _like_ soft ones best." to this, captain dunning said, "of course you do, my sensible little pet;" although it would be difficult to show wherein lay the sensibility of the preference, and then added--"there's rokens, now; wouldn't you, doctor--judging from his rosy, not to say purple cheeks--conclude that he wasn't able to manage even two eggs of any kind?" "wot, _me_!" exclaimed mr rokens, looking up in surprise, as indeed he well might, having just concluded his fourth, and being about to commence his fifth egg, to the no small anxiety of martha and jane, into whose limited and innocent minds the possibility of such a feat had never entered. "wot, _me_! why, capting, if they was biled as hard as the head of a marline-spike--" the expanding grin on the captain's face, and a sudden laugh from the mate, apprised the bold harpooner at this point of his reply that the captain was jesting, so he felt a little confused, and sought relief by devoting himself assiduously to egg number . it fared ill with tim rokens that evening that he had rashly entered into ladies' society, for he was a nervous man in refined company, though cool and firm as a grounded iceberg when in the society of his messmates, or when towing with the speed of a steamboat in the wake of a sperm-whale. egg number proved to be a bad one. worse than that, egg number happened to belong to that peculiar class of bad eggs which "go off" with a little crack when hit with a spoon, and sputter their unsavoury contents around them. thus it happened, that when mr rokens, feeling confused, and seeking relief in attention to the business then in hand, hit egg number a smart blow on the top, a large portion of its contents spurted over the fair white tablecloth, a small portion fell on mr rokens' vest, and a minute yellow globule thereof alighted on the fair martha's hand, eliciting from that lady a scream, and as a matter of course, an echo from jane in the shape of a screamlet. mr rokens flushed a deep indian-red, and his nose assumed a warm blue colour instantly. "oh! ma'am, i ax yer parding." "pray don't mention it--a mere accident. i'm so sorry you have got a bad--oh!" the little scream with which miss martha interrupted her remark was caused by mr rokens (who had just observed the little yellow globule above referred to) seizing her hand, and wiping away the speck with the identical handkerchief that had floored the cat and swept away the pat of butter. immediately thereafter, feeling heated, he wiped the perspiration from his forehead, and unwittingly transferred the spot thereto in the form of a yellow streak, whereat ailie and the first mate burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. even miss martha smiled, although she rather objected to jesting, as being a dangerous amusement, and never laughed at the weaknesses or misfortunes of others, however ludicrous they might be, when she could help it. "how can you, brother?" she said, reproachfully, shaking her head at the captain, who was winking at the doctor with one eye in a most obstreperous manner. "do try another egg, mr rokens; the others, i am sure, are fresh. i cannot imagine how a bad one came to be amongst them." "ah, try another, my lad," echoed the captain. "pass 'em up this way, mr millons." "by no manner o' means; i'll eat this 'un!" replied the harpooner, commencing to eat the bad egg with apparent relish. "i like 'em this way--better than nothin', anyhow. bless ye, marm, ye've no notion wot sort o' things i've lived on aboard ship--" rokens came to an abrupt pause in consequence of the servant-girl, at a sign from her mistresses (for she always received duplicate orders), seizing his plate and carrying it off bodily. it was immediately replaced by a clean one and a fresh egg. while rokens somewhat nervously tapped the head of number , miss martha, in order to divert attention from him, asked mr millons if sea-fare was always salt junk and hard biscuit? "oh, no, madam," answered the first mate. "we've sometimes salt pork, and vegetables now and agin; and pea-soup, and plum-duff--" "plum-duff, ailie," interrupted the captain, in order to explain, "is just a puddin' with few plums and fewer spices in it. something like a white-painted cannon-shot, with brown spots on it here and there." "is it good?" inquired ailie. "oh, ain't it!" remarked mr rokens, who had just concluded number , and felt his self-possession somewhat restored. "yes, miss, it is; but it ain't equal to whale's-brain fritters, it ain't; them's first-chop." "have whales got brains?" inquired miss martha, in surprise. "brains!" echoed miss jane, in amazement. "yes, madam, they 'ave," answered the first mate, who had hitherto maintained silence, but having finished tea was now ready for any amount of talk; "and what's more remarkable still, they've got several barrels of oil in their skulls besides." "dear me!" exclaimed the sisters. "yes, ladies, capital oil it is, too; fetches a 'igher price hin the markit than the other sort." "by the bye, millons, didn't you once fall into a whale's skull, and get nearly drowned in oil?" inquired the doctor. "i did," answered the first mate, with the air of a man who regarded such an event as a mere trifle, that, upon consideration, might almost be considered as rather a pleasant incident than otherwise in one's history. "nearly drowned in oil!" exclaimed the sisters, while ailie opened her eyes in amazement, and mr rokens became alarmingly purple in the face with suppressed chuckling. "it's true," remarked rokens, in a hoarse whisper to miss martha, putting his hand up to his mouth, the better to convey the sound to her ears; "i seed him tumble in, and helped to haul him out." "let's have the story, millons," cried the captain, pushing forward his cup to be replenished; "it's so long since i heard it, that i've almost forgotten it. another cup o' tea, martha, my dear--not quite so strong as the last, and three times as sweet. i'll drink `success to the cup that cheers, but don't inebriate.' go ahead, millons." nothing rejoiced the heart of mr millons more than being asked to tell a story. like most men who are excessively addicted to the habit, his stories were usually very long and very dry; but he had a bluff good-natured way of telling them, that rendered his yarns endurable on shore, and positively desirable at sea. fortunately for the reader, the story he was now requested to relate was not a long one. "it ain't quite a _story_," he began--and in beginning he cleared his throat with emphasis, thrust his thumbs into the arm-holes of his vest, and tilted his chair on its hind-legs--"it ain't quite a story; it's a hanecdote, a sort of hincident, so to speak, and this is 'ow it 'appened:-- "many years ago, w'en i was a very young man, or a big boy, i was on a voyage to the south seas after whales. tim rokens was my messmate then, and has bin so almost ever since, off, and on." (mr rokens nodded assent to this statement.) "well, we came up with a big whale, and fixed an iron cleverly in him at the first throw--" "an iron?" inquired miss martha, to whose mind flat and italian irons naturally occurred. "yes, madam, an iron; we call the 'arpoons irons. well, away went the fish, like all alive! not down, but straight for'ard, takin' out the line at a rate that nearly set the boat on fire, and away we went along with it. it _was_ a chase, that. for six hours, off and on, we stuck to that whale, and pitched into 'im with 'arpoons and lances; but he seemed to have the lives of a cat--nothin' would kill 'im. at last the 'arpooner gave him a thrust in the life, an' up went the blood and water, and the fish went into the flurries, and came nigh capsizin' the boat with its tail as it lashed the water into foam. at last it gave in, and we had a four hours' pull after that, to tow the carcase to the ship, for there wasn't a cat's-paw of wind on the water. "w'en we came alongside, we got out the tackles, and before beginning to flense (that means, ma'am, to strip off the blubber), we cut a hole in the top o' the skull to get out the oil that was there; for you must know that the sperm-whale has got a sort of 'ollow or big cavern in its 'ead, w'ich is full o' the best oil, quite pure, that don't need to be cleared, but is all ready to be baled out and stowed away in casks. well, w'en the 'ole was cut in its skull i went down on my knees on the edge of it to peep in, when my knees they slipped on the blubber, and in i went 'ead-foremost, souse into the whale's skull, and began to swim for life in the oil. "of course i began to roar for 'elp like a bull, and rokens there, 'oo 'appened to be near, 'e let down the hend of a rope, but my 'ands was so slippy with oil i couldn't ketch 'old of it; so 'e 'auls it up agin, and lets down a rope with a 'ook at the hend, and i got 'old of this and stuck it into the waistband o' my trousers, and gave the word, `'eave away, my 'earties;' and sure enough so they did, and pulled me out in a trice. and that's 'ow it was; and i lost a suit o' clo's, for nothing on 'arth would take the oil out, and i didn't need to use pomatum for six months after." "no more you did," cried rokens, who had listened to the narrative with suppressed delight; "no more you did. i never see sich a glazed rat as you wos when you comed out o' that hole, in all my life; an' he wos jist like a eel; it wos all we could do to keep 'old on 'im, marm, he was so slippery." while the captain was laughing at the incident, and rokens was narrating some of the minute details in the half-unwilling yet half-willing ears of the sisters, the door opened, and a young man entered hastily and apologised for being late. "the fact is, miss dunning, had i not promised faithfully to come, i should not have made my appearance at all to-night." "why, glynn, what has kept you, lad?" interrupted the captain. "i thought you were a man of your word." "ay, that's the question, capting," said rokens, who evidently regarded the new arrival with no favourable feelings; "it's always the way with them _gentlemen_ sailors till they're got into blue water and brought to their bearin's." mr rokens had wisdom enough to give forth the last part of his speech in a muttered tone, for the youth was evidently a favourite with the captain, as was shown by the hearty manner in which he shook him by the hand. "messmates, this is glynn proctor, a friend o' mine," said captain dunning, in explanation: "he is going with us this voyage _before_ the mast, so you'll have to make the most of him as an equal to-night, for i intend to keep him in his proper place when afloat. he chooses to go as an ordinary seaman, against my advice, the scamp; so i'll make him keep his head as low as the rest when aboard. you'll to keep your time better, too, than you have done to-night, lad," continued the captain, giving his young friend a slap on the shoulder. "what has detained you, eh?" "necessity, captain," replied the youth, with a smile, as he sat down to table with an off-hand easy air that savoured of recklessness; "and i am prepared to state, upon oath if need be, that necessity is not `the mother of invention.' if she had been, she would have enabled me to invent a way of escape from my persecutors in time to keep my promise to miss dunning." "persecutors, glynn!" exclaimed martha; "to whom do you refer?" "to the police of this good city." "police!" echoed the captain, regarding his young friend seriously, while the doctor and the first mate and tim rokens listened in some surprise. "why, the fact is," said glynn, "that i have just escaped from the hands of the police, and if it had not been that i was obliged to make a very wide detour, in order to reach this house without being observed, i should have been here long ago." "boy, boy, your hasty disposition will bring you into serious trouble one of these days," said the captain, shaking his head. "what mischief have you been about?" "ay, there you go--it's my usual fate," cried glynn, laughing. "if i chance to get into a scrape, you never think of inquiring whether it was my fault or my misfortune. this time, however, it _was_ my misfortune, and if miss dunning will oblige me with a cup of tea, i'll explain how it happened. "little more than two hours ago i left the ship to come here to tea, as i had promised to do. nikel sling, the long-legged cook you engaged this morning, went ashore with me. as we walked up the street together, i observed a big porter passing along with a heavy deal plank on his shoulder. the street was somewhat narrow and crowded at that part, and sling had turned to look in at a shop-window just as the big fellow came up. the man shouted to my shipmate to get out o' the way, but the noise in the street prevented him from hearing. before i could turn to touch the cook's arm, the fellow uttered an oath and ran the end of the plank against his head. poor sling was down in an instant. before i well knew what i was about, i hit the porter between the eyes and down he went with a clatter, and the plank above him. in a moment three policemen had me by the collar. i tried to explain, but they wouldn't listen. as i was being hurried away to the lock-up, it flashed across me that i should not only lose my tea and your pleasant society this evening, but be prevented from sailing to-morrow, so i gave a sudden twist, tripped up the man on my left, overturned the one on my right, and bolted." "they ran well, the rascals, and shouted like maniacs, but i got the start of 'em, dived down one street, up another, into a by-lane, over a back-garden wall, in at the back-door of a house and out at the front, took a round of two or three miles, and came in here from the west; and whatever other objections there may be to the whole proceeding, i cannot say that it has spoiled my appetite." "and so, sir," said captain dunning, "you call this your `misfortune?'" "surely, captain," said glynn, putting down his cup and looking up in some surprise--"surely, you cannot blame me for punishing the rascal who behaved so brutally, without the slightest provocation, to my shipmate!" "hear, hear!" cried rokens involuntarily. "i do blame you, lad," replied the captain seriously. "in the first place, you had no right to take the law into your own hands. in the second place, your knocking down the man did no good whatever to your shipmate; and in the third place, you've got yourself and me and the ship into a very unsatisfactory scrape." rokens' face, which had hitherto expressed approval of glynn's conduct, began to elongate as the captain went on in this strain; and the youth's recklessness of manner altogether disappeared as inquired, "how so, captain? i have escaped, as you see; and poor sling, of course, was not to blame, so he'll be all safe aboard, and well, i hope, by this time." "there you're mistaken, boy. they will have secured sling and made him tell the name of his ship, and also the name of his pugnacious comrade." "and do you think he'd be so mean as to tell?" asked glynn indignantly. "you forget that the _first_ act in this nice little melodrama was the knocking down of sling, so that he could not know what happened after, and the police would not be so soft as to tell him _why_ they wanted such information until after they had got it." poor glynn looked aghast, and rokens was overwhelmed. "it seems to me, i'd better go and see about this," said millons, rising and buttoning his coat with the air of a man who had business to transact and meant to transact it. "right, millons," answered the captain. "i'm sorry to break up our evening so soon, but we must get this man aboard by hook or crook as speedily as possible. you had better go too, doctor. rokens and i will take care of this young scamp, who must be made a nigger of in order to be got on board, for his face, once seen by these sharp limbs of justice, is not likely soon to be forgotten." glynn proctor was indeed a youth whose personal appearance was calculated to make a lasting impression on most people. he was about eighteen years of age, but a strong, well-developed muscular frame, a firm mouth, a large chin, and an eagle eye, gave him the appearance of being much older. he was above the middle height, but not tall, and the great breadth of his shoulders and depth of his chest made him appear shorter than he really was. his hair was of that beautiful hue called nut-brown, and curled close round his well-shaped head. he was a model of strength and activity. glynn proctor had many faults. he was hasty and reckless. he was unsteady, too, and preferred a roving idle life to a busy one; but he had redeeming qualities. he was bold and generous. above all, he was unselfish, and therefore speedily became a favourite with all who knew him. glynn's history is briefly told. he was an englishman. his father and mother had died when he was a child, and left him in charge of an uncle, who emigrated to america shortly after his brother's death. the uncle was a good man, after a fashion, but he was austere and unlovable. glynn didn't like him; so when he attained the age of thirteen, he quietly told him that he meant to bid him good-bye, and go seek his fortune in the world. the uncle as quietly told glynn that he was quite right, and the sooner he went the better. so glynn went, and never saw his uncle again, for the old man died while he was abroad. glynn travelled far and encountered many vicissitudes of fortune in his early wanderings; but he was never long without occupation, because men liked his looks, and took him on trial without much persuasion. to say truth, glynn never took the trouble to persuade them. when his services were declined, he was wont to turn on his heel and walk away without a word of reply; and not unfrequently he was called back and employed. he could turn his hand to almost anything, but when he tired of it, he threw it up and sought other work elsewhere. in the course of his peregrinations, he came to reside in the city in which our story finds him. here he had become a compositor in the office of a daily newspaper, and, happening to be introduced to the misses dunning, soon became a favourite with them, and a constant visitor at their house. thus he became acquainted with their brother. becoming disgusted with the constant work and late hours of the printing-office, he resolved to join captain dunning's ship, and take a voyage to southern seas as an ordinary seaman. glynn and little alice dunning were great friends, and it was a matter of extreme delight to both of them that they were to sail together on this their first voyage. having been made a nigger of--that is, having had his face and hands blackened in order to avoid detection--glynn sallied forth with the captain and rokens to return to their ship, the _red eric_, which lay in the harbour, not ten minutes' walk from the house. they passed the police on the wharf without creating suspicion, and reached the vessel. chapter four. the escape. "well, millons, what news?" inquired the captain, as he stepped on deck. "bad news, sir, i fear" replied the first mate. "i found, on coming aboard, that no one knew anything about sling, so i went ashore at once and 'urried up to the hospital, w'ere, sure enough, i found 'im lyin' with his 'ead bandaged, and lookin' as if 'e were about gone. they asked me if i knew what ship 'e belonged to, as the police wanted to know. so i told 'em i knew well enough, but i wasn't going to tell if it would get the poor fellow into a scrape. "`why don't you ask himself?' says i. "they told me 'e was past speaking, so i tried to make 'im understand, but 'e only mumbled in reply. w'en i was about to go 'e seemed to mumble very 'ard, so i put down my ear to listen, and 'e w'ispered quite distinct tho' very low--`all right, my 'eartie. i'm too cute for 'em by a long way; go aboard an' say nothin'.' so i came away, and i've scarce been five minutes aboard before you arrived. my own opinion is, that 'e's crazed, and don't know what 'e's sayin'." "oh!" ejaculated captain dunning. "he said that, did he? then _my_ opinion is, that he's not so crazed as you think. tell the watch, mr millons, to keep a sharp look-out." so saying, captain dunning descended to the cabin, and rokens to the forecastle (in sea phraseology the "fok-sail"), while glynn proctor procured a basin and a piece of soap, and proceeded to rub the coat of charcoal off his face and hands. half-an-hour had not elapsed when the watch on deck heard a loud splash near the wharf, as if some one had fallen into the water. immediately after, a confused sound of voices and rapid footsteps was heard in the street that opened out upon the quay, and in a few seconds the end of the wharf was crowded with men who shouted to each other, and were seen in the dim starlight to move rapidly about as if in search of something. "wot can it be?" said tim rokens in a low voice, to a seaman who leaned on the ship's bulwarks close to him. "deserter, mayhap," suggested the man. while rokens pondered the suggestion, a light plash was heard close to the ship's side, and a voice said, in a hoarse whisper, "heave us a rope, will ye. look alive, now. guess i'll go under in two minits if ye don't." "oho!" exclaimed rokens, in a low, impressive voice, as he threw over the end of a rope, and, with the aid of the other members of the watch, hauled nikel sling up the side, and landed him dripping and panting on the deck. "w'y--sling! what on airth--?" exclaimed one of the men. "it's lucky--i am--on airth--" panted the tall cook, seating himself on the breech of one of the main-deck carronades, and wringing the water from his garments. "an' it's well i'm not at the bottom o' this 'ere 'arbour." "but where did ye come from, an' why are they arter ye, lad?" inquired rokens. "w'y? 'cause they don't want to part with me, and i've gi'n them the slip, i guess." when nikel sling had recovered himself so as to talk connectedly, he explained to his wondering shipmates how that, after being floored in the street, he had been carried up to the hospital, and on recovering his senses, found mr millons standing by the bedside, conversing with the young surgeons. the first words of their conversation showed him that something was wrong, so, with remarkable self-possession, he resolved to counterfeit partial delirium, by which means he contrived to give the first mate a hint that all was right, and declined, without creating suspicion, to give any intelligible answers as to who he was or where he had come from. the blow on his head caused him considerable pain, but his mind was relieved by one of the young surgeons, who remarked to another, in going round the wards, that the "skull of that long chap wasn't fractured after all, and he had no doubt he would be dismissed cured in a day or two." so the cook lay quiet until it was dark. when the house-surgeon had paid his last visit, and the nurses had gone their rounds in the accident-ward, and no sound disturbed the quiet of the dimly-lighted apartment save the heavy fitful breathing and occasional moans and restless motions of the sufferers, nikel sling raised himself on his elbow, and glanced stealthily round on the rows of pain-worn and haggard countenances around him. it was a solemn sight to look upon, especially at that silent hour of the night. there were men there with almost every species of painful wound and fracture. some had been long there, wasting away from day to day, and now lay quiet, though suffering, from sheer exhaustion. others there were who had been carried in that day, and fidgeted impatiently in their unreduced strength, yet nervously in their agony; or, in some cases, where the fear of death was on them, clasped their hands and prayed in whispers for mercy to him whose name perhaps they had almost never used before except for the purpose of taking it in vain. but such sights had little or no effect on the cook, who had rubbed hard against the world's roughest sides too long to be easily affected by the sight of human suffering, especially when exhibited in men. he paused long enough to note that the nurses were out of the way or dozing, and then slipping out of bed, he stalked across the room like a ghost, and made for the outer gateway of the hospital. he knew the way, having once before been a temporary inmate of the place. he reached the gate undiscovered, tripped up the porter's heels, opened the wicket, and fled towards the harbour, followed by the porter and a knot of chance passers-by. the pursuers swelled into a crowd as he neared the harbour. besides being long-limbed, nikel sling was nimble. he distanced his pursuers easily, and, as we have seen, swam off and reached his ship almost as soon as they gained the end of the wharf. the above narration was made much more abruptly and shortly than we have presented it, for oars were soon heard in the water, and it behoved the poor hunted cook to secrete himself in case they should take a fancy to search the vessel. just as the boat came within a few yards of the ship he hastily went below. "boat ahoy!" shouted tim rokens; "wot boat's that?" the men lay on their oars. "have you a madman on board your ship?" inquired the gatekeeper of the hospital, whose wrath at the unceremonious treatment he had received had not yet cooled down. "no," answered rokens, laying his arms on the bulwarks, and looking down at his questioner with a sly leer; "no, we ha'n't, but you've got a madman aboord that boat." "who's that?" inquired the warder, who did not at first understand the sarcasm. "why, yourself, to be sure," replied rokens, "an' the sooner you takes yourself off, an' comes to an anchor in a loo-natick asylum, the better for all parties consarned." "no, but i'm in earnest, my man--" "_as_ far as that goes," interrupted the imperturbable rokens, "so am i." "the man," continued the gatekeeper, "has run out of the hospital with a smashed head, i calc'late, stark starin' mad, and gone off the end o' the w'arf into the water--" "you don't mean it!" shouted rokens, starting with affected surprise. "now you _are_ a fine fellow, ain't you, to be talkin' here an' wastin' time while a poor feller-mortal is bein' drownded, or has gone and swummed off to sea--p'r'aps without chart, compass, or rudder! hallo, lads! tumble up there! man overboard! tumble up, tumble up!" in less than three minutes half-a-dozen men sprang up the hatchway, hauled up the gig which swung astern, tumbled into it, and began to pull wildly about the harbour in search of the drowning man. the shouts and commotion roused the crews of the nearest vessels, and ere long quite a fleet of boats joined in the search. "wos he a big or a little feller?" inquired rokens, panting from his exertions, as he swept up to the boat containing the hospital warder, round which several of the other boats began to congregate. "a big fellow, i guess, with legs like steeples. he was sloping when they floored him. a thief, i expect he must ha' bin." "a thief!" echoed rokens, in disgust; "why didn't ye say, so at first? if he's a thief, he's born to be hanged, so he's safe and snug aboard his ship long ago, i'll be bound. good-night t'ye, friend, and better luck next time." a loud laugh greeted the ears of the discomfited warder as the crews of the boats dipped their oars in the water and pulled towards, their respective ships. next morning, about daybreak, little alice dunning came on board her father's ship, accompanied by her two aunts, who, for once, became utterly and publicly regardless of appearances and contemptuous of all propriety, as they sobbed on the child's neck and positively refused to be comforted. just as the sun rose, and edged the horizon with a gleam of liquid fire, the _red eric_ spread her sails and stood out to sea. chapter five. day dreams and adventures among the clouds--a chase, a battle, and a victory. early morning on the ocean! there is poetry in the idea; there is music in the very sound. as there is nothing new under the sun, probably a song exists with this or a similar title; if not, we now recommend it earnestly to musicians. ailie dunning sat on the bulwarks of the _red eric_, holding on tightly by the mizzen-shrouds, and gazing in open-eyed, open-mouthed, inexpressible delight upon the bright calm sea. she was far, far out upon the bosom of the atlantic now. sea-sickness--which during the first part of the voyage, had changed the warm pink of her pretty face into every imaginable shade of green--was gone, and the hue of health could not now be banished even by the rudest storm. in short, she had become a thorough sailor, and took special delight in turning her face to windward during the wild storm, and drinking-in the howling blast as she held on by the rigid shrouds, and laughed at the dashing spray--for little ailie was not easily frightened. martha and jane dunning had made it their first care to implant in the heart of their charge a knowledge of our saviour's love, and especially of his tenderness towards, and watchful care over, the lambs of his flock. besides this, little ailie was naturally of a trustful disposition. she had implicit confidence in the strength and wisdom of her father, and it never entered into her imagination to dream that it was possible for any evil to befall the ship which _he_ commanded. but, although ailie delighted in the storm, she infinitely preferred the tranquil beauty and rest of a "great calm," especially at the hour just before sunrise, when the freshness, brightness, and lightness of the young day harmonised peculiarly with her elastic spirit. it was at this hour that we find her alone upon the bulwarks of the _red eric_. there was a deep, solemn stillness around, that irresistibly and powerfully conveyed to her mind the idea of rest. the long, gentle undulation of the deep did not in the least detract from this idea. so perfect was the calm, that several masses of clouds in the sky, which shone with the richest saffron light, were mirrored in all their rich details as if in a glass. the faintest possible idea of a line alone indicated, in one direction, where the water terminated and the sky began. a warm golden haze suffused the whole atmosphere, and softened the intensity of the deep-blue vault above. there was, indeed, little variety of object to gaze upon--only the water and the sky. but what a world of delight did not ailie find in that vast sky and that pure ocean, that reminded her of the sea of glass before the great white throne, of which she had so often read in revelation. the towering masses of clouds were so rich and thick, that she almost fancied them to be mountains and valleys, rocks and plains of golden snow. nay, she looked so long and so ardently at the rolling mountain heights in the sky above, and their magical counterparts in the sky below, that she soon, as it were, _thought herself into_ fairyland, and began a regular journey of adventures therein. such a scene at such an hour is a source of gladsome, peaceful delight to the breast of man in every stage of life; but it is a source of unalloyed, bounding, exhilarating, romantic, unspeakable joy only in the years of childhood, when the mind looks hopefully forward, and before it has begun--as, alas! it must begin, sooner or later--to gaze regretfully back. how long ailie would have sat in motionless delight it is difficult to say. the man at the wheel having nothing to do, had forsaken his post, and was leaning over the stern, either lost in reverie, or in a vain effort to penetrate with his vision the blue abyss to the bottom. the members of the watch on deck were either similarly engaged or had stowed themselves away to sleep in quiet corners among blocks and cordage. no one seemed inclined to move or speak, and she would probably have sat there immovable for hours to come, had not a hand fallen gently on her shoulder, and by the magic of its simple contact scattered the bright dreams of fairyland as the finger-touch destroys the splendour of the soap-bubble. "oh! glynn," exclaimed ailie, looking round and heaving a deep sigh; "i've been away--far, far away--you can't believe how far." "away, ailie! where have you been?" asked glynn, patting the child's head as he leaned over the gunwale beside her. "in fairyland. up in the clouds yonder. out and in, and up and down. oh, you've no idea. just look." she pointed eagerly to an immense towering cloud that rose like a conspicuous landmark in the centre of the landscape of the airy world above. "do you see that mountain?" "yes, ailie; the one in the middle, you mean, don't you? yes, well?" "well," continued the child, eagerly and hurriedly, as if she feared to lose the thread of memory that formed the warp and woof of the delicate fabric she had been engaged in weaving; "well, i began there; i went in behind it, and i met a fairy--not really, you know, but i tried to think i met one, so i began to speak to her, and then i made her speak to me, and her voice was so small and soft and sweet. she had on silver wings, and a star--a bright star in her forehead--and she carried a wand with a star on the top of it too. so i asked her to take me to see her kingdom, and i made her say she would--and, do you know, glynn, i really felt at last as if she didn't wait for me to tell her what to say, but just went straight on, answering my questions, and putting questions to me in return. wasn't it funny? "well, we went on, and on, and on--the fairy and me--up one beautiful mountain of snow and down another, talking all the time so pleasantly, until we came to a great dark cave; so i made up my mind to make a lion come out of it; but the fairy said, `no, let it be a bear;' and immediately a great bear came out. wasn't it strange? it really seemed as if the fairy had become real, and could do things of her own accord." the child paused at this point, and looking with an expression of awe into her companion's face, said--"do you think, glynn, that people can _think_ so hard that fairies _really_ come to them?" glynn looked perplexed. "no, ailie, i suspect they can't--not because we can't think hard enough, but because there are no fairies to come." "oh, i'm _so_ sorry!" replied the child sadly. "why?" inquired glynn. "because i love them _so_ much--of course, i mean the good ones. i don't like the bad ones--though they're very useful, because they're nice to kill, and punish, and make examples of, and all that, when the good ones catch them." "so they are," said the youth, smiling. "i never thought of that before. but go on with your ramble in the clouds." "well," began ailie; "but where was i?" "just going to be introduced to a bear." "oh yes; well--the bear walked slowly away, and then the fairy called out an elephant, and after that a 'noceros--" "a 'noceros!" interrupted glynn; "what's that?" "oh, you know very well. a beast with a thick skin hanging in folds, and a horn on its nose--" "ah, a _rhi_noceros--i see. well, go on, ailie." "then the fairy told a camel to appear, and after that a monkey, and then a hippopotamus, and they all came out one after another, and some of them went away, and others began to fight. but the strangest thing of all was, that every one of them was _so_ like the pictures of wild beasts that are hanging in my room at home! the elephant, too, i noticed, had his trunk broken exactly the same way as my toy elephant's one was. wasn't it odd?" "it was rather odd," replied glynn; "but where did you go after that?" "oh, then we went on, and on again, until we came to--" "it's your turn at the wheel, lad, ain't it?" inquired mr millons, coming up at that moment, and putting an abrupt termination to the walk in fairyland. "it is, sir," answered glynn, springing quickly to the wheel, and relieving the man who had been engaged in penetrating the ocean's depths. the mate walked forward; the released sailor went below, and ailie was again left to her solitary meditations;--for she was enough of a sailor now, in heart, to know that she ought not to talk too much to the steersman, even though the weather should be calm and there was no call for his undivided attention to the duties of his post. while nature was thus, as it were, asleep, and the watch on deck were more than half in the same condition, there was one individual in the ship whose faculties were in active play, whose "steam," as he himself would have remarked, "was up." this was the worthy cook, nikel sling, whose duties called him to his post at the galley-fire at an early hour each day. we have often thought that a cook's life must be one of constant self-denial and exasperation of spirit. besides the innumerable anxieties in reference to such important matters as boiling over and over-boiling, being done to a turn, or over-done, or singed or burned, or capsized, he has the diurnal misery of being the first human being in his little circle of life, to turn out of a morning, and must therefore experience the discomfort--the peculiar discomfort--of finding things as _they were left_ the night before. any one who does not know what that discomfort is, has only to rise an hour before the servants of a household, whether at sea or on shore, to find out. cook, too, has generally, if not always, to light the fire; and that, especially in frosty weather, is not agreeable. moreover, cook roasts _himself_ to such an extent, and at meal-times, in nine cases out of ten, gets into such physical and mental perturbation, that he cannot possibly appreciate the luxuries he has been occupied all the day in concocting. add to this, that he spends all the morning in preparing breakfast; all the forenoon in preparing dinner; all the afternoon in preparing tea and supper, and all the evening in clearing up, and perhaps all the night in dreaming of the meals of the following day, and mentally preparing breakfast, and we think that we have clearly proved the truth of the proposition with which we started--namely, that a cook's life must be one of constant self-denial and exasperation of spirit. but this is by the way, and was merely suggested by the fact that, while all other creatures were enjoying either partial or complete repose, nikel sling was washing out pots and pans and kettles, and handling murderous-looking knives and two-pronged tormentors with a demoniacal activity that was quite appalling. beside him, on a little stool close to the galley-fire, sat tim rokens-- not that mr rokens was cold--far from it. he was, to judge from appearances, much hotter than was agreeable. but tim had come there and sat down to light his pipe, and being rather phlegmatic when not actively employed, he preferred to be partially roasted for a few minutes to getting up again. "we ought," remarked tim rokens, puffing at a little black pipe which seemed inclined to be obstinate, "we ought to be gittin' among the fish by this time. many's the one i've seed in them 'ere seas." "i rather guess we should," replied the cook, pausing the midst of his toils and wiping the perspiration from his forehead with an immense bundle of greasy oakum. "but i've seed us keep dodgin' about for weeks, i have, later in the year than this, without clappin' eyes on a fin. what sort o' baccy d'ye smoke, rokens?" "dun know. got it from a spanish smuggler for an old clasp-knife. why?" "cause it smells like rotten straw, an' won't improve the victuals. guess you'd better take yourself off, old chap." "wot a cross-grained crittur ye are," said rokens, as he rose to depart. at that moment there was heard a cry that sent the blood tingling to the extremities of every one on board the _red eric_. "thar she blows! thar she blows!" shouted the man in the crow's-nest. the crow's-nest is a sort of cask, or nest, fixed at the top of the mainmast of whale-ships, in which a man is stationed all day during the time the ships are on the fishing-ground, to look out for whales; and the cry, "thar she blows," announced the fact that the look-out had observed a whale rise to the surface and blow a spout of steamy water into the air. no conceivable event--unless perhaps the blowing-up of the ship itself-- could have more effectually and instantaneously dissipated the deep tranquillity to which we have more than once referred. had an electric shock been communicated through the ship to each individual, the crew could not have been made to leap more vigorously and simultaneously. many days before, they had begun to expect to see whales. every one was therefore on the _qui vive_, so that when the well-known signal rang out like a startling peal in the midst of the universal stillness, every heart in the ship leaped in unison. had an observant man been seated at the time in the forecastle, he would have noticed that from out of the ten or fifteen hammocks that swung from the beams, there suddenly darted ten or fifteen pairs of legs which rose to the perpendicular position in order to obtain leverage to "fetch way." instantly thereafter the said legs descended, and where the feet had been, ten or fifteen heads appeared. next moment the men were "tumbling up" the fore-hatch to the deck, where the watch had already sprung to the boat-tackles. "where away?" sang out captain dunning who was among the first on deck. "off the weather bow, sir, three points." "how far?" "about two miles. thar she blows!" "call all hands," shouted the captain. "starboard watch, ahoy!" roared the mate, in that curious hoarse voice peculiar to boatswains of men-of-war. "tumble up, lads, tumble up! whale in sight! bear a hand, my hearties!" the summons was almost unnecessary. the "starboard watch" was--with the exception of one or two uncommonly heavy sleepers--already on deck pulling on its ducks and buckling its belts. "thar she breaches, thar she blows!" again came from the crow's-nest in the voice of a stentor. "well done, dick barnes, you're the first to raise the oil," remarked one of the men, implying by the remark that the said dick was fortunate enough to be the first to sight a whale. "where away now?" roared the captain, who was in a state of intense excitement. "a mile an' a half to leeward, sir." "clear away the boats," shouted the captain. "masthead, ahoy! d'ye see that whale now?" "ay, ay, sir. thar she blows!" "bear a hand, my hearties," cried the captain, as the men sprang to the boats which were swinging at the davits. "get your tubs in! clear your falls! look alive, lads! stand-by to lower! all ready?" "all ready, sir." "thar she blows!" came again from the masthead with redoubled energy. "sperm-whales, sir; there's a school of 'em." "a _school_ of them!" whispered ailie, who had left her post at the mizzen-shrouds, and now stood by her father's side, looking on at the sudden hubbub in unspeakable amazement. "do whales go to school?" she said, laughing. "out of the road, ailie, my pet," cried her father hastily. "you'll get knocked over. lower away, lads, lower away!" down went the starboard, larboard, and waist-boats as if the falls had been cut, and almost before you could wink the men literally tumbled over the side into them, took their places, and seized their oars. "here, glynn, come with me, and i'll show you a thing or two," said the captain. "jump in, lad; look sharp." glynn instantly followed his commander into the starboard boat, and took the aft oar. tim rokens, being the harpooner of that boat, sat at the bow oar with his harpoons and lances beside him, and the whale-line coiled in a tub in the boat's head. the captain steered. and now commenced a race that taxed the boats' crews to the utmost; for it is always a matter keenly contested by the different crews, who shall fix the first harpoon in the whale. the larboard boat was steered by mr millons, the first mate; the waist-boat by mr markham, the second mate--the latter an active man of about five-and-twenty, whose size and physical strength were herculean, and whose disposition was somewhat morose and gloomy. "now, lads, give way! that's it! that's the way. bend your backs, now! _do_ bend your backs," cried the captain, as the three boats sprang from the ship's side and made towards the nearest whale, with the white foam curling at their bow. several more whales appeared in sight spouting in all directions, and the men were wild with excitement. "that's it! go it lads!" shouted mr millons, as the waist-boat began to creep ahead. "lay it on! give way! what d'ye say, boys; shall we beat 'em?" captain dunning stood in the stern-sheets of the starboard boat, almost dancing with excitement as he heard these words of encouragement. "give way, boys!" he cried. "they can't do it! that whale's ours--so it is. only bend your backs! a steady pull! pull like steam-tugs! that's it! bend the oars! double 'em up! smash 'em in bits, _do_!" without quite going the length of the captain's last piece of advice, the men did their work nobly. they bent their strong backs with a will, and strained their sinewy arms to the utmost. glynn, in particular, to whom the work was new, and therefore peculiarly exciting and interesting, almost tore the rowlocks out of the boat in his efforts to urge it on, and had the oar not been made of the toughest ash, there is no doubt that he would have obeyed the captain's orders literally and have smashed it in bits. on they flew like racehorses. now one boat gained an inch on the others, then it lost ground again as the crew of another put forth additional energy, and the three danced over the glassy sea as if the inanimate planks had been suddenly endued with life, and inspired with the spirit that stirred the men. a large sperm-whale lay about a quarter of a mile ahead, rolling lazily in the trough of the sea. towards this the starboard boat now pulled with incredible speed, leaving the other two gradually astern. a number of whales rose in various directions. they had got into the midst of a shoal, or school of them, as the whale-men term it; and as several of these were nearer the other boats than the first whale was, they diverged towards them. "there go flukes," cried rokens, as the whale raised its huge tail in the air and "sounded"--in other words, dived. for a few minutes the men lay on their oars, uncertain in what direction the whale would come up again; but their doubts were speedily removed by its rising within a few yards of the boat. "now, rokens," cried the captain; "now for it; give him the iron. give way, lads; spring, boys. softly now, softly." in another instant the boat's bow was on the whale's head, and rokens buried a harpoon deep in its side. "stern all!" thundered the captain. the men obeyed, and the boat was backed off the whale just in time to escape the blow of its tremendous flukes as it dived into the sea, the blue depths of which were instantly dyed red with the blood that flowed in torrents from the wound. down it went, carrying out the line at a rate that caused the chocks through which it passed to smoke. in a few minutes the line ceased to run out, and the whale returned to the surface. it had scarcely showed its nose, when the slack of the line was hauled in, and a second harpoon was fixed in its body. infuriated with pain, the mighty fish gave vent to a roar like a bull, rolled half over, and lashed the sea with his flukes, till, all round for many yards, it was churned into red slimy foam. then he turned round, and dashed off with the speed of a locomotive engine, tearing the boat through the waves behind it, the water curling up like a white wall round the bows. "she won't stand that long," muttered glynn proctor, as he rested on his oar, and looked over his shoulder at the straining line. "that she will, boy," said the captain; "and more than that, if need be. you'll not be long of havin' a chance of greasin' your fingers, i'll warrant." in a few minutes the speed began to slacken, and after a time they were able to haul in on the line. when the whale again came to the surface, a third harpoon was cleverly struck into it, and a spout of blood from its blow-hole showed that it was mortally wounded. in throwing the harpoon, tim rokens slipped his foot, and went down like a stone head-foremost into the sea. he came up again like a cork, and just as the boat flew past fortunately caught hold of glynn proctor's hand. it was well that the grasp was a firm one, for the strain on their two arms was awful. in another minute tim was in his place, ready with his lance to finish off the whale at its next rise. up it came again, foaming, breaching, and plunging from wave to wave, flinging torrents of blood and spray into the air. at one moment he reared his blunt gigantic head high above the sea; the next he buried his vast and quivering carcase deep in the gory brine, carrying down with him a perfect whirlpool of red foam. then he rose again and made straight for the boat. had he known his own power, he might have soon terminated the battle, and come off the victor, but fortunately he did not. tim rokens received his blunt nose on the point of his lance, and drove him back with mingled fury and terror. another advance was made, and a successful lance-thrust delivered. "that's into his life," cried the captain. "so it is," replied rokens. and so it was. a vital part had been struck. for some minutes the huge leviathan lashed and rolled and tossed in the trembling waves in his agony, while he spouted up gallons of blood with every throe; then he rolled over on his back, and lay extended a lifeless mass upon the waters. "now, lads; three cheers for our first whale. hip! hip! hip!--" the cheer that followed was given with all the energy and gusto inspired by a first victory, and it was repeated again and again, and over again, before the men felt themselves sufficiently relieved to commence the somewhat severe and tedious labour of towing the carcase to the ship. it was a hard pull, for the whale had led them a long chase, and as the calm continued, those left aboard could not approach to meet the boats. the exhausted men were cheered, however, on getting aboard late that night, to find that the other boats had been equally successful, each of them having captured a sperm-whale. chapter six. disagreeable changes--sagacious conversations, and a terrible accident. a striking and by no means a pleasant change took place in the general appearance of the _red eric_ immediately after the successful chase detailed in the last chapter. before the arrival of the whales the decks had been beautifully clean and white, for captain dunning was proud of his ship, and fond of cleanliness and order. a few hours after the said arrival the decks were smeared with grease, oil, and blood, and everything from stem to stern became from that day filthy and dirty. this was a sad change to poor ailie, who had not imagined it possible that so sudden and disagreeable an alteration could take place. but there was no help for it; the duties of the fishery in which they were engaged required that the whales should not only be caught, but cut up, boiled down to oil, and stowed away in the hold in casks. if the scene was changed for the worse a few hours after the cutting-up operations were begun, it became infinitely more so when the _try-works_ were set going, and the melting-fires were lighted, and huge volumes of smoke begrimed the masts, and sails, and rigging. it was vain to think of clearing up; had they attempted that, the men would have been over-tasked without any good being accomplished. there was only one course open to those who didn't like it, and that was--to "grin and bear it." "cutting out" and "trying in" are the terms used by whale-men to denote the processes of cutting off the flesh or "blubber" from the whale's carcase, and reducing it to oil. at an early hour on the following morning the first of these operations was commenced. ailie went about the decks, looking on with mingled wonder, interest, and disgust. she stepped about gingerly, as if afraid of coming in contact with slimy objects, and with her nose and mouth screwed up after the fashion of those who are obliged to endure bad smells. the expression of her face under the circumstances was amusing. as for the men, they went about their work with relish, and total indifference as to consequences. when the largest whale had been hauled alongside, ropes were attached to his head and tail, and the former was secured near the stern of the ship, while the latter was lashed to the bow; the cutting-tackle was then attached. this consisted of an arrangement of pulleys depending from the main-top, with a large blubber-hook at the end thereof. the cutting was commenced at the neck, and the hook attached; then the men hove on the windlass, and while the cutting was continued in a spiral direction round the whale's body, the tackle raised the mass of flesh until it reached the fixed blocks above. this mass, when it could be hauled up no higher, was then cut off, and stowed away under the name of a "blanket-piece." it weighed upwards of a ton. the hook being lowered and again attached, the process was continued until the whole was cut off. afterwards, the head was severed from the body and hoisted on board, in order that the oil contained in the hollow of it might be baled out. from the head of the first whale ten barrels of oil were obtained. the blubber yielded about eighty barrels. when the "cutting out" was completed, and the remnants of bone and flesh were left to the sharks which swarmed round the vessel, revelling in their unusually rich banquet, the process of "trying in" commenced. "trying in" is the term applied to the melting of the fat and the stowing of it away in barrels in the form of oil; and an uncommonly dirty process it is. the large "blanket-pieces" were cut into smaller portions, and put into the try-pots, which were kept in constant operation. at night the ship had all the appearance of a vessel on fire, and the scene on deck was particularly striking and unearthly. one night several of the men were grouped on and around the windlass, chatting, singing, and "spinning yarns." ailie dunning stood near them, lost in wonder and admiration; for the ears and eyes of the child were assailed in a manner never before experienced or dreamed of even in the most romantic mood of cloud-wandering. it was a very dark night, darker than usual, and not a breath of wind ruffled the sea, which was like a sheet of undulating glass--for, be it remembered, there is no such thing at any time as absolute stillness in the ocean. at all times, even in the profoundest calm, the long, slow, gentle swell rises and sinks with unceasing regularity, like the bosom of a man in deep slumber. dense clouds of black smoke and occasional lurid sheets of flame rose from the try-works, which were situated between the foremast and the main-hatch. the tops of the masts were lost in the curling smoke, and the black waves of the sea gleamed and flashed in the red light all round the ship. one man stood in front of the melting-pot, pitching in pieces of blubber with a two-pronged pitchfork. two comrades stood by the pots, stirring up their contents, and throwing their figures into wild uncouth attitudes, while the fire glared in their greasy faces, and converted the front of their entire persons into deep vermilion. the oil was hissing in the try-pots; the rough weather-beaten faces of the men on the windlass were smeared, and their dirty-white ducks saturated, with oil. the decks were blood-stained; huge masses of flesh and blubber lay scattered about; sparks flew upwards in splendid showers as the men raked up the fires; the decks, bulwarks, railings, try-works, and windlass were covered with oil and slime, and glistening in the red glare. it was a terrible, murderous-looking scene, and filled ailie's mind with mingled feelings of wonder, disgust, and awe, as she leaned on a comparatively clean spot near the foremast, listening to the men and gazing at the rolling smoke and flames. "ain't it beautiful?" said a short, fat little seaman named gurney, who sat swinging his legs on the end of the windlass, and pointed, as he spoke, with the head of his pipe to a more than usually brilliant burst of sparks and flame that issued that moment from the works. "beautiful!" exclaimed a long-limbed, shambling fellow named jim scroggles, "why, that ain't the word at all. now, i calls it splendiferous." scroggles looked round at his comrades, as if to appeal to their judgment as to the fitness of the word, but not receiving any encouragement, he thrust down the glowing tobacco in his pipe with the end of his little finger, and reiterated the word "splendiferous" with marked emphasis. "did ye ever see that word in johnson?" inquired gurney. "who's johnson?" said scroggles, contemptuously. "wot, don't ye know who johnson is?" cried gurney, in surprise. "in course i don't; how should i?" retorted scroggles. "there's ever so many johnsons in the world; which on 'em all do you mean?" "why, i mean johnson wot wrote the diksh'nary--the great lexikragofer." "oh, it's _him_ you mean, is it? in course i've knowed him ever since i wos at school." a general laugh interrupted the speaker. "at school!" cried nickel sling, who approached the group at that moment with a carving knife in his hand--he seldom went anywhere without an instrument of office in his hand--"at school! wal now, that beats creation. if ye wos, i'm sartin ye only larned to forgit all ye orter to have remembered. i'd take a bet now, ye wosn't at school as long as i've been settin' on this here windlass." "yer about right, sling, it 'ud be unpossible for me to be as _long_ as you anywhere, 'cause everybody knows i'm only five fut two, whereas you're six fut four!" "hear, hear!" shouted dick barnes--a man with a huge black beard, who the reader may perhaps remember was the first to "raise the oil." "it'll be long before you make another joke like that, gurney. come, now, give us a song, gurney, do; there's the cap'n's darter standin' by the foremast, a-waitin' to hear ye. give us `long, long ago.'" "ah! that's it, give us a song," cried the men. "come, there's a good fellow." "well, it's so long ago since i sung that song, shipmates," replied gurney, "that i've bin and forgot it; but tim rokens knows it; where's rokens?" "he's in the watch below." in sea parlance, the men whose turn it is to take rest after their long watch on deck are somewhat facetiously said to belong to the "watch below." "ah! that's a pity; so we can't have that 'ere partickler song. but i'll give ye another, if ye don't object." "no, no. all right; go ahead, gurney! is there a chorus to it?" "ay, in course there is. wot's a song without a chorus? wot's plum-duff without the plums? wot's a ship without a 'elm? it's my opinion, shipmates, that a song without a chorus is no better than it should be. it's wus nor nothin'. it puts them wot listens in the blues an' the man wot sings into the stews--an' sarve him right. i wouldn't, no, i wouldn't give the fag-end o' nothin' mixed in bucket o' salt water for a song without a chorus--that's flat; so here goes." having delivered himself of these opinions in an extremely vigorous manner, and announced the fact that he was about to begin, gurney cleared his throat and drew a number of violent puffs from his pipe in quick succession, in order to kindle that instrument into a glow which would last through the first verse and the commencement of the chorus. this he knew was sufficient, for the men, when once fairly started on the chorus, would infallibly go on to the end with or without his assistance, and would therefore afford him time for a few restorative whiffs. "it hain't got no name, lads." "never mind, gurney--all right--fire away." "oh, i once know'd a man as hadn't got a nose, an' this is how he come to hadn't-- one cold winter night he went and got it froze-- by the pain he was well-nigh madden'd. (_chorus_.) well-nigh madden'd, by the pain he was well-nigh madden'd. "next day it swoll up as big as my head, an' it turn'd like a piece of putty; it kivered up his mouth, oh, yes, so it did, so he could not smoke his cutty. (_chorus_.) smoke his cutty, so he could not smoke his cutty. "next day it grew black, and the next day blue, an' tough as a junk of leather; (oh! he yelled, so he did, fit to pierce ye through)-- an' then it fell off altogether! (_chorus_.) fell off altogether, an' then it fell off altogether! "but the morial is wot you've now got to hear, an' it's good--as sure as a gun; an' you'll never forget it, my messmates dear, for this song it hain't got none! (_chorus_.) hain't got none, for this song it hain't got none!" the applause that followed this song was most enthusiastic, and evidently gratifying to gurney, who assumed a modest deprecatory air as he proceeded to light his pipe, which had been allowed to go out at the third verse, the performer having become so engrossed in his subject as to have forgotten the interlude of puffs at that point. "well sung, gurney. who made it?" inquired phil briant, an irishman, who, besides being a jack-of-all-trades and an able-bodied seaman, was at that time acting-assistant to the cook and steward, the latter--a half spaniard and half negro, of californian extraction--being unwell. "i'm bound not to tell," replied gurney, with a conscious air. "ah, then, yer right, my boy, for it's below the average entirely." "come, phil, none o' yer chaff," cried dick barnes, "that song desarves somethin' arter it. suppose now, phil, that you wos to go below and fetch the bread-kid." "couldn't do it," replied phil, looking solemn, "on no account wotiver." "oh, nonsense, why not?" "'cause its unpossible. why, if i did, sure that surly compound o' all sorts o' human blood would pitch into me with the carvin'-knife." "who? tarquin?" cried dick barnes, naming the steward. "ay, sure enough that same--tarquin's his name, an it's kuriously befittin' the haythen, for of all the cross-grained mixtures o' buffalo, bear, bandicoot, and crackadile i iver seed, he's out o' sight--" "did i hear any one mention my name?" inquired the steward himself who came aft at that moment. he was a wild spanish-like fellow, with a handsome-enough figure, and a swart countenance that might have been good-looking but for the thickish lips and nose and the bad temper that marked it. since getting into the tropics, the sailors had modified their costumes considerably, and as each man had in some particular allowed himself a slight play of fancy, their appearance, when grouped together, was varied and picturesque. most of them wore no shoes, and the caps of some were, to say the least, peculiar. tarquin wore a broad-brimmed straw hat, with a conical crown, and a red silk sash tied round his waist. "yes, tarquin," replied barnes, "we _wos_ engaged in makin' free-an'-easy remarks on you; and phil briant there gave us to understand that you wouldn't let us have the bread--kid up. now, it's my opinion you ain't goin' to be so hard on us as that; you will let us have it up to comfort our hearts on this fine night, won't you?" the steward, whose green visage showed that he was too ill to enter into a dispute at that time, turned on his heel and walked aft, remarking that they might eat the bottom out o' the ship, for all he cared. "there now, you misbemannered patlander, go and get it, or we'll throw you overboard," cried scroggles, twisting his long limbs awkwardly as he shifted his position on the windlass. "now, then, shipmates, don't go for to ax it," said briant, remaining immovable. "don't i know wot's best for ye? let me spaake to ye now. did any of ye iver study midsin?" "no!" cried several with a laugh. "sure i thought not," continued phil, with a patronising air, "or ye'd niver ask for the bread--kid out o' saisin. now i was in the medical way meself wance--ay, ye may laugh, but it's thrue--i wos 'prentice to a 'pothecary, an' i've mixed up more midsins than would pisen the whole popilation of owld ireland--barrin' the praists, av coorse. and didn't i hear the convarse o' all the doctors in the place? and wasn't the word always--`be rigglar with yer mails--don't ait, avic, more nor three times a day, and not too much, now. be sparin'.'" "hah! ye long-winded grampus," interrupted dick barnes, impatiently. "an' warn't the doctors right? three times a day for sick folk, and six times--or more--for them wot's well." "hear, hear!" cried the others, while two of them seized briant by the neck, and thrust him forcibly towards the after-hatch. "bring up the kid, now; an' if ye come without it, look out for squalls." "och! worse luck," sighed the misused assistant, as he disappeared. in a few minutes phil returned with the kid, which was a species of tray filled with broken sea-biscuit, which, when afloat, goes by the name of "bread." this was eagerly seized, for the appetites of sailors are always sharp, except immediately after meals. a quantity of the broken biscuit was put into a strainer, and fried in whale-oil, and the men sat round the kid to enjoy their luxurious feast, and relate their adventures--all of which were more or less marvellous, and many of them undoubtedly true. the more one travels in this world of ours, and the more one reads of the adventures of travellers upon whose narratives we can place implicit confidence, the more we find that men do not now require, as they did of old, to draw upon their imaginations for marvellous tales of wild, romantic adventure, in days gone by, travellers were few; foreign lands were almost unknown. not many books were written; and of the few that were, very few were believed. in the present day men of undoubted truthfulness have roamed far and wide over the whole world, their books are numbered by hundreds, and much that was related by ancient travellers, but not believed, has now been fully corroborated. more than that, it is now known that men have every where received, as true, statements which modern discovery has proved to be false, and on the other hand they have often refused to believe what is now ascertained to be literally true. we would suggest, in passing, that a lesson might be learned from this fact--namely, that we ought to receive a statement in regard to a foreign land, not according to the probability or the improbability of the statement itself, but according to the credibility of him who makes it. ailie dunning had a trustful disposition; she acted on neither of the above principles. she believed all she heard, poor thing, and therefore had a head pretty well stored with mingled fact and nonsense. while the men were engaged with their meal, dr hopley came on deck and found her leaning over the stern, looking down at the waves which shone with sparkling phosphorescent light. an almost imperceptible breeze had sprung up, and the way made by the vessel as she passed through the water was indicated by a stream of what appeared lambent blue flame. "looking at the fish, ailie, as usual?" said the doctor as he came up. "what are they saying to you to-night?" "i'm not looking at the fish," answered ailie; "i'm looking at the fire--no, not the fire; papa said it wasn't fire, but it's so like it, i can scarcely call it anything else. what _is_ it, doctor?" "it is called phosphorescence," replied the doctor, leaning over the bulwarks, and looking down at the fiery serpent that seemed as if it clung to the ship's rudder. "but i dare say you don't know what that means. you know what fire-flies and glow-worms are?" "oh! yes; i've often caught them." "well, there are immense numbers of very small and very thin jelly-like creatures in the sea, so thin and so transparent that they can scarcely be observed in the water. these medusae, as they are called, possess the power of emitting light similar to that of the fire-fly. in short, ailie, they are the fire-flies and glow-worms of the ocean." the child listened with wonder, and for some minutes remained silent. before she could again speak, there occurred one of those incidents which are generally spoken of as "most unexpected" and sudden, but which, nevertheless, are the result of natural causes, and might have been prevented by means of a little care. the wind, as we have said, was light, so light that it did not distend the sails; the boom of the spanker-sail hung over the stern, and the spanker-braces lay slack along the seat on which ailie and the doctor knelt. a little gust of wind came: it was not strong--a mere puff; but the man at the wheel was not attending to his duty: the puff, light as it was, caused the spanker to jibe--that is to fly over from one side of the ship to the other--the heavy boom passed close over the steersman's head as he cried, "look out!" the braces tautened, and in so doing they hurled dr hopley violently to the deck, and tossed ailie dunning over the bulwarks into the sea. it happened at that moment that glynn proctor chanced to step on deck. "hallo! what's wrong?" cried the youth, springing forward, catching the doctor by the coat, as he was about to spring overboard, and pulling him violently back, under the impression that he was deranged. the doctor pointed to the sea, and, with a look of horror, gasped the word "ailie." in an instant glynn released his hold, plunged over the stern of the ship, and disappeared in the waves. chapter seven. the rescue--preparations for a storm. it is impossible to convey by means of words an adequate idea of the terrible excitement and uproar that ensued on board the _red eric_ after the events narrated in the last chapter. from those on deck who witnessed the accident there arose a cry so sharp, that it brought the whole crew from below in an instant. but there was no confusion. the men were well trained. each individual knew his post, and whale-men are accustomed to a sudden and hasty summons. the peculiarity of the present one, it is true, told every man in an instant that something was wrong, but each mechanically sprang to his post, while one or two shouted to ascertain what had happened, or to explain. but the moment captain dunning's voice was heard there was perfect silence. "clear away the starboard-quarter-boat," he cried, in a deep, firm tone. "ay, ay, sir." "stand-by the falls--lower away!" there was no occasion to urge the sailors; they sprang to the work with the fervid celerity of men who knew that life or death depended on their speed. in less time than it takes to relate, the boat was leaping over the long ocean swell, as it had never yet done in chase of the whale, and, in a few seconds, passed out of the little circle of light caused by the fires and into the gloom that surrounded the ship. the wind had been gradually increasing during all these proceedings, and although no time had been lost, and the vessel had been immediately brought up into the wind, ailie and glynn were left struggling in the dark sea a long way behind ere the quarter-boat could be lowered; and now that it was fairly afloat, there was still the danger of its failing to hit the right direction of the objects of which it was in search. after leaping over the stern, glynn proctor, the moment he rose to the surface, gave a quick glance at the ship, to make sure of her exact position, and then struck out in a straight line astern, for he knew that wherever ailie fell, there she would remain struggling until she sank. glynn was a fast and powerful swimmer. he struck out with desperate energy, and in a few minutes the ship was out of sight behind him. then he paused suddenly, and letting his feet sink until he attained an upright position, trod the water and raised himself breast-high above the surface, at the same time listening intently, for he began to fear that he might have overshot his mark. no sound met his straining ear save the sighing of the breeze and the ripple of the water as it lapped against his chest. it was too dark to see more than a few yards in any direction. glynn knew that each moment lost rendered his chance of saving the child terribly slight. he shouted "ailie!" in a loud, agonising cry, and swam forward again with redoubled energy, continuing the cry from time to time, and raising himself occasionally to look round him. the excitement of his mind, and the intensity with which it was bent on the one great object, rendered him at first almost unobservant of the flight of time. but suddenly the thought burst upon him that fully ten minutes or a quarter of an hour had elapsed since ailie fell overboard, and that no one who could not swim could exist for half that time in deep water. he shrieked with agony at the thought, and, fancying that he must have passed the child, he turned round and swam desperately towards the point where he supposed the ship lay. then he thought, "what if i have turned just as i was coming up with her?" so he turned about again, but as the hopelessness of his efforts once more occurred to him, he lost all presence of mind, and began to shout furiously, and to strike out wildly in all directions. in the midst of his mad struggles his hand struck an object floating near him. instantly he felt his arm convulsively grasped, and the next moment he was seized round the neck in a gripe so violent that it almost choked him. he sank at once, and the instinct of self-preservation restored his presence of mind. with a powerful effort he tore ailie from her grasp, and quickly raised himself to the surface, where he swam gently with his left hand, and held the struggling child at arm's-length with his right. the joy caused by the knowledge that she had still life to struggle infused new energy into glynn's well-nigh exhausted frame, and he assumed as calm and cheerful a tone as was possible under the circumstances when he exclaimed--"ailie, ailie, don't struggle, dear, i'll save you _if you keep quiet_." ailie was quiet in a moment. she felt in the terror of her young heart an almost irresistible desire to clutch at glynn's neck; but the well-known voice reassured her, and her natural tendency to place blind, implicit confidence in others, served her in this hour of need, for she obeyed his injunctions at once. "now, dear," said glynn, with nervous rapidity, "don't grasp me, else we shall sink. trust me. _i'll never let you go_. will you trust me?" ailie gazed wildly at her deliverer through her wet and tangled tresses, and with great difficulty gasped the word "yes," while she clenched the garments on her labouring bosom with her little hands, as if to show her determination to do as she was bid. glynn at once drew her towards him and rested her head on his shoulder. the child gave vent to a deep, broken sigh of relief, and threw her right arm round his neck, but the single word "ailie," uttered in a remonstrative tone, caused her to draw it quickly back and again grasp her breast. all this time glynn had been supporting himself by that process well-known to swimmers as "treading water," and had been so intent upon his purpose of securing the child, that he failed to observe the light of a lantern gleaming in the far distance on the sea, as the boat went ploughing hither and thither, the men almost breaking the oars in their desperate haste, and the captain standing in the stern-sheets, pale as death, holding the light high over his head, and gazing with a look of unutterable agony into the surrounding gloom. glynn now saw the distant light, and exerting his voice to the utmost, gave vent to a prolonged cry. ailie looked up in her companion's face while he listened intently. the moving light became stationary for a moment, and a faint reply floated back to them over the waves. again glynn raised his voice to the utmost, and the cheer that came back told him that he had been heard. but the very feeling of relief at the prospect of immediate deliverance had well-nigh proved fatal to them both; for glynn experienced a sudden relaxation of his whole system, and he felt as if he could not support himself and his burden a minute longer. "ailie," he said faintly but quickly, "we shall be saved if you obey at _once_; if not, we shall be drowned. lay your two hands on my breast, and let yourself sink _down to the very lips_." glynn turned on his back as he spoke, spread out his arms and legs to their full extent, let his head fall back, until it sank, leaving only his lips, nose, and chin above water, and lay as motionless as if he had been dead. and now came poor ailie's severest trial. when she allowed herself to sink, and felt the water rising about her ears, and lipping round her mouth, terror again seized upon her; but she felt glynn's breast heaving under her hands, so she raised her eyes to heaven and prayed silently to him who is the only true deliverer from dangers. her self-possession was restored, and soon she observed the boat bearing down on the spot, and heard the men as they shouted to attract attention. ailie tried to reply, but her tiny voice was gone, and her soul was filled with horror as she saw the boat about to pass on. in her agony she began to struggle. this roused glynn, who had rested sufficiently to have recovered a slight degree of strength. he immediately raised his head, and uttered a wild cry as he grasped ailie again with his arm. the rowers paused; the light of the lantern gleamed over the sea, and fell upon the spray tossed up by glynn. next moment the boat swept up to them--and they were saved. the scene that followed baffles all description. captain dunning fell on his knees beside ailie, who was too much exhausted to speak, and thanked god, in the name of jesus christ, again and again for her deliverance. a few of the men shouted; others laughed hysterically; and some wept freely as they crowded round their shipmate, who, although able to sit up, could not speak except in disjointed sentences. glynn, however, recovered quickly, and even tried to warm himself by pulling an oar before they regained the ship, but ailie remained in a state of partial stupor, and was finally carried on board and down into the cabin, and put between warm blankets by her father and dr hopley. meanwhile, glynn was hurried forward, and dragged down into the forecastle by the whole crew, who seemed unable to contain themselves for joy, and expressed their feelings in ways that would have been deemed rather absurd on ordinary occasions. "change yer clo's, avic, at wance," cried phil briant, who was the most officious and violent in his offers of assistance to glynn. "och! but it's wet ye are, darlin'. give me a howld." this last request had reference to the right leg of glynn's trousers, which happened to be blue cloth of a rather thin quality, and which therefore clung to his limbs with such tenacity that it was a matter of the utmost difficulty to get them off. "that's your sort, phil--a long pull, and a strong pull, and a pull all together," cried dick barnes, hurrying forward, with a bundle of garments in his arms. "here's dry clo's for him." "have a care, phil," shouted gurney, who stood behind glynn and held him by the shoulders; "it'll give way." "niver a taste," replied the reckless irishman. but the result proved that gurney was right, for the words had scarce escaped his lips when the garment parted at the knee, and phil briant went crashing back among a heap of tin pannikins, pewter plates, blocks, and cordage. a burst of laughter followed, of course, but the men's spirits were too much roused to be satisfied with this, so they converted the laugh into a howl, and prolonged it into a cheer; as if their comrade had successfully performed a difficult and praiseworthy deed. "hold on, lads," cried glynn. "i'm used up, i can't stand it." "here you are," shouted nickel sling, pushing the men violently aside, and holding a steaming tumbler of hot brandy-and-water under glynn's nose. "down with it; that's the stuff to get up the steam fit to bust yer biler, i calc'late." the men looked on for a moment in silence, while glynn drank, as if they expected some remarkable chemical change to take place in his constitution. "och! ain't it swate?" inquired phil briant, who, having gathered himself up, now stood rubbing his shoulder with the fragment of the riven garment. "av i wasn't a taytotaler, it's meself would like some of that same." in a few minutes our hero was divested of his wet garments, rubbed perfectly dry by his kind messmates, and clad in dry costume, after which he felt almost as well as if nothing unusual had happened to him. the men meanwhile cut their jokes at him or at each other as they stood round and watched, assisted, or retarded the process. as for tim rokens, who had been in the boat and witnessed the rescue, he stood gazing steadfastly at glynn without uttering a word, keeping his thumbs the while hooked in the arm-holes of his vest, and his legs very much apart. by degrees--as he thought on what had passed, and the narrow escape poor little ailie had had, and the captain's tears, things he had never seen the captain shed before and had not believed the captain to have possessed--as he pondered these things, we say, his knotty visage began to work, and his cast-iron chin began to quiver, and his shaggy brows contracted, and his nose, besides becoming purple, began to twist, as if it were an independent member of his face, and he came, in short, to that climax which is familiarly expressed by the words "bursting into tears." but if anybody thinks the act, on the part of tim rokens, bore the smallest resemblance to the generally received idea of that sorrowful affection, "anybody," we take leave to tell him, is very much mistaken. the bold harpooner did it thus--he suddenly unhooked his right hand from the arm-hole of his vest, and gave his right thigh a slap which produced a crack that would have made a small pistol envious; then he uttered a succession of ferocious roars, that might have quite well indicated pain, or grief, or madness, or a drunken cheer, and, un-hooking the left hand, he doubled himself up, and thrust both knuckles into his eyes. the knuckles were wet when he pulled them out of his eyes, but he dried them on his pantaloons, bolted up the hatchway, and rushing up to the man at the wheel, demanded in a voice of thunder--"how's 'er head?" "sou'-sou'-east-and-by-east," replied the man, in some surprise. "sou'-sou'-east-and-by-east!" repeated mr rokens, in a savage growl of authority, as if he were nothing less than the admiral of the channel fleet. "that's two points and a half off yer course, sir. luff, luff, you--you--" at this point tim rokens turned on his heel, and began to walk up and down the deck as calmly as if nothing whatever had occurred to disturb his equanimity. "the captain wants glynn proctor," said the second mate, looking down the fore-hatch. "ay, ay, sir," answered glynn, ascending, and going aft. "ailie wants to see you, glynn, my boy," said captain dunning, as the former entered the cabin; "and i want to speak to you myself--to thank you glynn. ah, lad! you can't know what a father's heart feels when--go to her, boy." he grasped the youth's hand, and gave it a squeeze that revealed infinitely more of his feelings than could have been done by words. glynn returned the squeeze, and opening the door of ailie's private cabin, entered and sat down beside her crib. "oh, glynn, i want to speak to you; i want to thank you. i love you so much for jumping into the sea after me," began the child, eagerly, and raising herself on one elbow while she held out her hand. "ailie," interrupted glynn, taking her hand, and holding up his finger to impose silence, "you obeyed me _in_ the water, and now i insist on your obedience _out_ of the water. if you don't, i'll leave you. you're still too weak to toss about and speak loud in this way. lie down, my pet." glynn kissed her forehead, and forced her gently back on the pillow. "well, i'll be good, but don't leave me yet, glynn. i'm much better. indeed, i feel quite strong. oh! it was good of you--" "there you go again." "i love you," said ailie. "i've no objection to that," replied glynn, "but don't excite yourself. but tell me, ailie, how was it that you managed to keep afloat so long? the more i think of it the more i am filled with amazement, and, in fact, i'm half inclined to think that god worked a miracle in order to save you." "i don't know," said ailie, looking very grave and earnest, as she always did when our maker's name happened to be mentioned. "does god work miracles still?" "men say not," replied glynn. "i'm sure i don't quite understand what a miracle is," continued ailie, "although aunt martha and aunt jane have often tried to explain it to me. is floating on your back a miracle?" "no," said glynn, laughing; "it isn't." "well, that's the way i was saved. you know, ever since i can remember, i have bathed with aunt martha and aunt jane, and they taught me how to float--and it's so nice, you can't think how nice it is--and i can do it so easily now, that i never get frightened. but, oh!--when i was tossed over the side of the ship into the sea i _was_ frightened just. i don't think i _ever_ got such a fright. and i splashed about for some time, and swallowed some water, but i got upon my back somehow. i can't tell how it was, for i was too frightened to try to do anything. but when i found myself floating as i used to do long ago, i felt my fear go away a little, and i shut my eyes and prayed, and then it went away altogether; and i felt quite sure you would come to save me, and you _did_ come, glynn, and i know it was god who sent you. but i became a good deal frightened again when i thought of the sharks, and--" "now, ailie, stop!" said glynn. "you're forgetting your promise, and exciting yourself again." "so she is, and i must order you out, master glynn," said the doctor, opening the door, and entering at that moment. glynn rose, patted the child's head, and nodded cheerfully as he left the little cabin. the captain caught him as he passed, and began to reiterate his thanks, when their conversation was interrupted by the voice of mr millons, who put his head in at the skylight and said--"squall coming, sir, i think." "so, so," cried the captain, running upon deck. "i've been looking for it. call all hands, mr millons, and take in sail--every rag, except the storm-trysails." glynn hurried forward, and in a few minutes every man was at his post. the sails were furled, and every preparation made for a severe squall; for captain dunning knew that that part of the coast of africa off which the _red eric_ was then sailing was subject to sudden squalls, which, though usually of short duration, were sometimes terrific in their violence. "is everything snug, mr millons?" "all snug, sir." "then let the men stand-by till it's over." the night had grown intensely dark, but away on the starboard-quarter the heavens appeared of an ebony blackness that was quite appalling. this appearance, that rose on the sky like a shroud of crape, quickly spread upwards until it reached the zenith. then a few gleams of light seemed to illuminate it very faintly, and a distant hissing noise was heard. a dead calm surrounded the ship, which lay like a log on the water, and the crew, knowing that nothing more could be done in the way of preparation, awaited the bursting of the storm with uneasy feelings. in a few minutes its distant roar was heard,--like muttered thunder. on it came, with a steady continuous roar, as if chaos were about to be restored, and the crashing wreck of elements were being hurled in mad fury against the yet unshattered portions of creation. another second, and the ship was on her beam-ends, and the sea and sky were white as milk as the wind tore up the waves and beat them flat, and whirled away broad sheets of driving foam. chapter eight. the storm, and its results. although the _red eric_ was thrown on her beam-ends, or nearly so, by the excessive violence of the squall, the preparations to meet it had been so well made that she righted again almost immediately, and now flew before the wind under bare poles with a velocity that was absolutely terrific. ailie had been nearly thrown out of her berth when the ship lay over, and now when she listened to the water hissing and gurgling past the little port that lighted her cabin, and felt the staggering of the vessel, as burst after burst of the hurricane almost tore the masts out of her, she lay trembling with anxiety and debating with herself whether or not she ought to rise and go on deck. captain dunning well knew that his child would be naturally filled with fear, for this was the first severe squall she had ever experienced, so, as he could not quit the deck himself, he called glynn proctor to him and sent him down with a message. "well, ailie," said glynn, cheerfully, as he opened the door and peeped in; "how d'ye get on, dear? the captain has sent me to say that the worst o' this blast is over, and you've nothing to fear." "i am glad to hear that, glynn," replied the child, holding out her hand, while a smile lighted up her face and smoothed out the lines of anxiety from her brow. "come and sit by me, glynn, and tell me what like it is. i wish so much that i had been on deck. was it grand, glynn?" "it was uncommonly grand; it was even terrible--but i cannot sit with you more than a minute, else my shipmates will say that i'm skulking." "skulking, glynn! what is that?" "why, it's--it's shirking work, you know," said glynn, somewhat puzzled. ailie laughed. "but you forget that i don't know what `shirking' means. you must explain that too." "how terribly green you are, ailie." "no! am i?" exclaimed the child in some surprise. "what _can_ have done it? i'm not sick." glynn laughed outright at this, and then proceeded to explain the meaning of the slang phraseology he had used. "green, you must know, means ignorant," he began. "how funny! i wonder why." "well, i don't know exactly. perhaps it's because when a fellow's asked to answer questions he don't understand, he's apt to turn either blue with rage or yellow with fear--or both; and that, you know, would make him green. i've heard it said that it implies a comparison of men to plants--very young ones, you know, that are just up, just born, as it were, and have not had much experience of life, are green of course--but i like my own definition best." it may perhaps be scarcely necessary to remark that our hero was by no means singular in this little preference of his own definition to that of any one else! "well, and what does skulking mean, and shirking work?" persisted ailie. "it means hiding so as to escape duty, my little catechist; but--" "hallo! glynn, glynn proctor," roared the first mate from the deck--"where's that fellow? skulking, i'll be bound. lay aloft there and shake out the foretopsail. look alive." "ay, ay, sir," was the ready response as the men sprang to obey. "there, you have it now, ailie, explained and illustrated," cried glynn, starting up. "here i am, at this minute in a snug, dry berth chatting to you, and in half a minute more i'll be out on the end o' the foreyard holding on for bare life, with the wind fit to tear off my jacket and blow my ducks into ribbons, and the rain and spray dashing all over me fit to blot me out altogether. there's a pretty little idea to turn over in your mind, ailie, while i'm away." glynn closed the door at the last word, and, as he had prophesied, was, within half a minute, in the unenviable position above referred to. the force of the squall was already broken, and the men were busy setting close-reefed topsails, but the rain that followed the squall bid fair to "blot them out," as glynn said, altogether. it came down, not in drops, but in masses, which were caught up by the fierce gale and mingled with the spray, and hurled about and on with such violent confusion, that it seemed as though the whole creation were converted into wind and water, and had engaged in a war of extermination, the central turmoil of which was the _red eric_. but the good ship held on nobly. although not a fast sailer she was an excellent sea-boat, and danced on the billows like a sea-mew. the squall, however, was not over. before the topsails had been set many minutes it burst on them again with redoubled fury, and the main-topsail was instantly blown into ribbons. glynn and his comrades were once more ordered aloft to furl the remaining sails, but before this could be done the foretopmast was carried away, and in falling it tore away the jib-boom also. at the same moment a tremendous sea came rolling on astern; in the uncertain light it looked like a dark moving mountain that was about to fall on them. "luff, luff a little--steady!" roared the captain, who saw the summit of the wave toppling over the stern, and who fully appreciated the danger of being "pooped," which means having a wave launched upon the quarterdeck. "steady it is," replied the steersman. "look out!" shouted the captain and several of the men, simultaneously. every one seized hold of whatever firm object chanced to be within reach; next moment the black billow fell like an avalanche on the poop, and rushing along the decks, swept the waist-boat and all the loose spars into the sea. the ship staggered under the shock, and it seemed to every one on deck that she must inevitably founder; but in a few seconds she recovered, the water gushed from the scuppers and sides in cataracts, and once more they drove swiftly before the gale. in about twenty minutes the wind moderated, and while some of the men went aloft to clear away the wreck of the topsails and make all snug, others went below to put on dry garments. "that was a narrow escape, mr millons," remarked the captain, as he stood by the starboard-rails. "it was, sir," replied the mate. "it's a good job too, sir, that none o' the 'ands were washed overboard." "it is, indeed, mr millons; we've reason to be thankful for that; but i'm sorry to see that we've lost our waist-boat." "we've lost our spare sticks, sir," said the mate, with a lugubrious face, while he wrung the brine out of his hair; "and i fear we've nothink left fit to make a noo foretopmast or a jib-boom." "true, mr millons; we shall have to run to the nearest port on the african coast to refit; luckily we are not very far from it. meanwhile, tell mr markham to try the well; it is possible that we may have sprung a leak in all this straining, and see that the wreck of the foretopmast is cleared away. i shall go below and consult the chart; if any change in the weather takes place, call me at once." "yes, sir," answered the mate, as he placed his hand to windward of his mouth, in order to give full force to the terrific tones in which he proceeded to issue his captain's commands. captain dunning went below, and looking into ailie's berth, nodded his wet head several times, and smiled with his damp visage benignly--which acts, however well meant and kindly they might be, were, under the circumstances, quite unnecessary, seeing that the child was sound asleep. the captain then dried his head and face with a towel about as rough as the mainsail of a seventy-four, and with a violence that would have rubbed the paint off the figurehead of the _red eric_. then he sat down to his chart, and having pondered over it for some minutes, he went to the foot of the companion-ladder and roared up--"lay the course nor'-nor'-east-and-by-nor'-half-nor', mr millons." to which mr millons replied in an ordinary tone, "ay, ay, sir," and then roared--"lay her head nor'-nor'-east-and-by-nor'-half-nor'," in an unnecessarily loud and terribly fierce tone of voice to the steersman, as if that individual were in the habit of neglecting to obey orders, and required to be perpetually threatened in what may be called a tone of implication. the steersman answered in what, to a landsman, would have sounded as a rather amiable and forgiving tone of voice--"nor'-nor'-east-and-by-nor'-half-nor' it is, sir;" and thereupon the direction of the ship's head was changed, and the _red eric_, according to tim rokens, "bowled along" with a stiff breeze on the quarter, at the rate of ten knots, for the west coast of africa. chapter nine. rambles on shore, and strange things and ceremonies witnessed there. variety is charming. no one laying claim to the smallest amount of that very uncommon attribute, common-sense, will venture to question the truth of that statement. variety is so charming that men and women, boys and girls, are always, all of them, hunting after it. to speak still more emphatically on this subject, we venture to affirm that it is an absolute necessity of animal nature. were any positive and short-sighted individual to deny this position, and sit down during the remainder of his life in a chair and look straight before him, in order to prove that he could live without variety, he would seek it in change of position. if he did not do that, he would seek it in change of thought. if he did not do _that_, he would die! fully appreciating this great principle of our nature, and desiring to be charmed with a little variety, tim rokens and phil briant presented themselves before captain dunning one morning about a week after the storm, and asked leave to go ashore. the reader may at first think the men were mad, but he will change his opinion when we tell him that four days after the storm in question the _red eric_ had anchored in the harbour formed by the mouth of one of the rivers on the african coast, where white men trade with the natives for bar-wood and ivory, and where they also carry on that horrible traffic in negroes, the existence of which is a foul disgrace to humanity. "go ashore!" echoed captain dunning. "why, if you all go on at this rate, we'll never get ready for sea. however, you may go, but don't wander too far into the interior, and look out for elephants and wild men o' the woods, boys--keep about the settlements." "ay, ay, sir, and thank'ee," replied the two men, touching their caps as they retired. "please, sir, i want to go too," said glynn proctor, approaching the captain. "what! more wanting to go ashore?" "yes, and so do i," cried ailie, running forward and clasping her father's rough hand; "i did enjoy myself _so_ much yesterday, that i must go on shore again to-day, and i must go with glynn. he'll take such famous care of me; now _won't_ you let me go, papa?" "upon my word, this looks like preconcerted mutiny. however, i don't mind if i do let you go, but have a care, glynn, that you don't lose sight of her for a moment, and keep to the shore and the settlements. i've no notion of allowing her to be swallowed by an alligator, or trampled on by an elephant, or run away with by a gorilla." "never fear, sir. you may trust me; i'll take good care of her." with a shout of delight the child ran down to the cabin to put on her bonnet, and quickly reappeared, carrying in her hand a basket which she purposed to fill with a valuable collection of plants, minerals and insects. these she meant to preserve and carry home as a surprise to aunts martha and jane, both of whom were passionately fond of mineralogy, delighted in botany, luxuriated in entomology, doted on conchology, and raved about geology--all of which sciences they studied superficially, and specimens of which they collected and labelled beautifully, and stowed away carefully in a little cabinet, which they termed (not jocularly, but seriously) their "bureau of omnology." it was a magnificent tropical morning when the boat left the side of the _red eric_ and landed glynn and ailie, tim rokens and phil briant on the wharf that ran out from the yellow beach of the harbour in which their vessel lay. the sun had just risen. the air was cool (comparatively) and motionless, so that the ocean lay spread out like a pure mirror, and revealed its treasures and mysteries to a depth of many fathoms. the sky was intensely blue and the sun intensely bright, while the atmosphere was laden with the delightful perfume of the woods--a perfume that is sweet and pleasant to those long used to it, how much more enchanting to nostrils rendered delicately sensitive by long exposure to the scentless gales of ocean? one of the sailors who had shown symptoms of weakness in the chest during the voyage, had begged to be discharged and left ashore at this place. he could ill be spared, but as he was fit for nothing, the captain agreed to his request, and resolved to procure a negro to act as cook's assistant in the place of phil briant, who was too useful a man to remain in so subordinate a capacity. the sick man was therefore sent on shore in charge of tim rokens. on landing they were met by a portuguese slave-dealer, an american trader, a dozen or two partially-clothed negroes, and a large concourse of utterly naked little negro children, who proved to demonstration that they were of the same nature and spirit with white children, despite the colour of their skins, by taking intense delight in all the amusements practised by the fair-skinned juveniles of more northern lands--namely scampering after each other, running and yelling, indulging in mischief, spluttering in the waters, rolling on the sand, staring at the strangers, making impudent remarks, and punching each other's heads. if the youth of america ever wish to prove that they are of a distinct race from the sable sons of africa, their only chance is to become paragons of perfection, and give up _all_ their wicked ways. "oh!" exclaimed ailie, half amused, half frightened, as glynn lifted her out of the boat; "oh! how funny! don't they look so _very_ like as if they were all painted black?" "good-day to you, gentlemen," cried the trader, as he approached the landing. "got your foretop damaged, i see. plenty of sticks here to mend it. be glad to assist you in any way i can. was away in the woods when you arrived, else i'd have come to offer sooner." the trader, who was a tall, sallow man in a blue cotton shirt, sailor's trousers, and a broad-brimmed straw hat, addressed himself to glynn, whose gentlemanly manner led him to believe he was in command of the party. "thank you," replied glynn, "we've got a little damage--lost a good boat, too; but we'll soon repair the mast. we have come ashore just now, however, mainly for a stroll." "ay," put in phil briant, who was amusing the black children--and greatly delighting himself by nodding and smiling ferociously at them, with a view to making a favourable impression on the natives of this new country. "ay, sir, an' sure we've comed to land a sick shipmate who wants to see the doctor uncommon. have ye sich an article in these parts?" "no, not exactly," replied the trader, "but i do a little in that way myself; perhaps i may manage to cure him if he comes up to my house." "we wants a nigger too," said rokens, who, while the others were talking, was extremely busy filling his pipe. at this remark the trader looked knowing. "oh!" he said, "that's your game, is it? there's your man there; i've nothing to do with such wares." he pointed to the portuguese slave-dealer as he spoke. seeing himself thus referred to, the slave-dealer came forward, hat in hand, and made a polite bow. he was a man of extremely forbidding aspect. a long dark visage, which terminated in a black peaked beard, and was surmounted by a tall-crowned broad-brimmed straw hat, stood on the top of a long, raw-boned, thin, sinewy, shrivelled, but powerful frame, that had battled with and defeated all the fevers and other diseases peculiar to the equatorial regions of africa. he wore a short light-coloured cotton jacket and pantaloons--the latter much too short for his limbs, but the deficiency was more than made up by a pair of wellington boots. his natural look was a scowl. his assumed smile of politeness was so unnatural, that tim rokens thought, as he gazed at him, he would have preferred greatly to have been frowned at by him. even ailie, who did not naturally think ill of any one, shrank back as he approached and grasped glynn's hand more firmly than usual. "goot morning, gentl'm'n. you was vish for git nigger, i suppose." "well, we wos," replied tim, with a faint touch of sarcasm in his tone. "can _you_ get un for us?" "yees, sare, as many you please," replied the slave-dealer, with a wink that an ogre might have envied. "have great many ob 'em stay vid me always." "ah! then, they must be fond o' bad company," remarked briant, in an undertone, "to live along wid such a alligator." "well, then," said tim rokens, who had completed the filling of his pipe, and was now in the full enjoyment of it; "let's see the feller, an' i'll strike a bargain with him, if he seems a likely chap." "you will have strike de bargin vid _me_," said the dealer. "i vill charge you ver' leetle, suppose you take full cargo." the whole party, who were ignorant of the man's profession, started at this remark, and looked at the dealer in surprise. "wot!" exclaimed tim rokens, withdrawing his pipe from his lips; "do you _sell_ niggers?" "yees, to be surely," replied the man, with a peculiarly saturnine smile. "a slave-dealer?" exclaimed briant, clenching his fists. "even so, sare." at this briant uttered a shout, and throwing forward his clenched fists in a defiant attitude, exclaimed between his set teeth-- "arrah! come on!" most men have peculiarities. phil briant had many; but his most striking peculiarity, and that which led him frequently into extremely awkward positions, was a firm belief that his special calling--in an amateur point of view--was the redressing of wrongs--not wrongs of a particular class, or wrongs of an excessively glaring and offensive nature, but _all_ wrongs whatsoever. it mattered not to phil whether the wrong had to be righted by force of argument or force of arms. he considered himself an accomplished practitioner in both lines of business--and in regard to the latter his estimate of his powers was not very much too high, for he was a broad-shouldered, deep-chested, long-armed fellow, and had acquired a scientific knowledge of boxing under a celebrated bruiser at the expense of a few hard-earned shillings, an occasional bottle of poteen, and many a severe thrashing. justice to phil's amiability of character requires, however, that we should state that he never sought to terminate an argument with his fists unless he was invited to do so, and even then he invariably gave his rash challenger fair warning, and offered to let him retreat if so disposed. but when injustice met his eye, or when he happened to see cruelty practised by the strong against the weak, his blood fired at once, and he only deigned the short emphatic remark--"come on," sometimes preceded by "arrah!" sometimes not. generally speaking, he accepted his own challenge, and _went_ on forthwith. of all the iniquities that draw forth the groans of humanity on this sad earth, slavery, in the opinion of phil briant, was the worst. he had never come in contact with it, not having been in the southern states of america. he knew from hearsay that the coast of africa was its fountain, but he had forgotten the fact, and in the novelty of the scene before him, it did not at first occur to him that he was actually face to face with a "live slave-dealer." "let me go!" roared the irishman, as he struggled in the iron grip of tim rokens; and the not less powerful grasp of glynn proctor. "och! let me go! _doo_, darlints. i'll only give him wan--jist _wan_! let me go, will ye?" "not if i can help it," said glynn, tightening his grasp. "wot a cross helephant it is," muttered rokens, as he thrust his hand into his comrade's neckcloth and quietly began to choke him as he dragged him away towards the residence of the trader, who was an amused as well as surprised spectator of this unexpected ebullition of passion. at length phil briant allowed himself to be forced away from the beach where the slave-dealer stood with his arms crossed on his breast, and a sarcastic smile playing on his thin lips. had that portuguese trafficker in human flesh known how quickly briant could have doubled the size of his long nose and shut up both his eyes, he would probably have modified the expression of his countenance; but he didn't know it, so he looked after the party until they had entered the dwelling of the trader, and then sauntered up towards the woods, which in this place came down to within a few yards of the beach. the settlement was a mere collection of rudely-constructed native huts, built of bamboos and roofed with a thatch of palm-leaves. in the midst of it stood a pretty white-painted cottage with green-edged windows and doors, and a verandah in front. this was the dwelling of the trader; and alongside of it, under the same roof, was the store, in which were kept the guns, beads, powder and shot, etcetera, etcetera, which he exchanged with the natives of the interior for elephants' tusks and bar-wood, from which latter a beautiful dye is obtained; also ebony, indiarubber, and other products of the country. here the trader entertained tim rokens and phil briant with stories of the slave-trade; and here we shall leave them while we follow glynn and ailie, who went off together to ramble along the shore of the calm sea. they had not gone far when specimens of the strange creatures that dwell in these lands presented themselves to their astonished gaze. there were birds innumerable on the shore, on the surface of the ocean, and in the woods. the air was alive with them; many being similar to the birds they had been familiar with from infancy, while others were new and strange. to her immense delight ailie saw many living specimens of the bird-of-paradise, the graceful plumes of which she had frequently beheld on very high and important festal occasions, nodding on the heads of aunt martha and aunt jane. but the prettiest of all the birds she saw there was a small creature with a breast so red and bright, that it seemed, as it flew about, like a little ball of fire. there were many of them flying about near a steep bank, in holes of which they built their nests. she observed that they fed upon flies which they caught while skimming through the air, and afterwards learned that they were called bee-eaters. "oh! look!" exclaimed ailie in that tone of voice which indicated that a surprising discovery had been made. ailie was impulsive, and the _tones_ in which she exclaimed "oh!" were so varied, emphatic, and distinct, that those who knew her well could tell exactly the state of her mind on hearing the exclamation. at present, her "oh!" indicated surprise mingled with alarm. "eh! what, where?" cried glynn, throwing forward his musket--for he had taken the precaution to carry one with him, not knowing what he might meet with on such a coast. "the snake! look--oh!" at that moment a huge black snake, about ten feet long, showed itself in the grass. glynn took aim at once, but the piece, being an old flint-lock, missed fire. before he could again take aim the loathsome-looking reptile had glided into the underwood, which in most places was so overgrown with the rank and gigantic vegetation of the tropics as to be quite impenetrable. "ha! he's gone, ailie!" cried glynn, in a tone of disappointment, as he put fresh priming into the pan of his piece. "we must be careful in walking here, it seems. this wretched old musket! lucky for us that our lives did not depend on it. i wonder if it was a poisonous serpent?" "perhaps it was," said ailie, with a look of deep solemnity, as she took her companion's left hand, and trotted along by his side. "are not all serpents poisonous?" "oh dear, no. why, there are some kinds that are quite harmless. but as i don't know which are and which are not, we must look upon all as enemies until we become more knowing." presently they came to the mouth of a river--one of those sluggish streams on the african coast, which suggest the idea of malaria and the whole family of low fevers. it glided through a mangrove swamp, where the tree seemed to be standing on their roots, which served the purpose of stilts to keep them out of the mud. the river was oily, and sluggish, and hot-looking, and its mud-banks were slimy and liquid, so that it was not easy to say whether the water of the river was mud, or the mud on the bank was water. it was a place that made one involuntarily think of creeping monsters, and crawling objects, and slimy things! "look! oh! oh! such a darling pet!" exclaimed ailie, as they stood near the banks of this river wondering what monster would first cleave the muddy waters, and raise its hideous head. she pointed to the bough of a dead tree near which they stood, and on which sat the "darling pet" referred to. it was a very small monkey with white whiskers; a dumpy little thing, that looked at them with an expression of surprise quite equal in intensity to their own. seeing that it was discovered, the "darling pet" opened its little mouth, and uttered a succession of "ohs!" that rendered ailie's exclamations quite insignificant by comparison. they were sharp and short, and rapidly uttered, while, at the same time, two rows of most formidable teeth were bared, along with the gums that held them. at this ailie and her companion burst into a fit of irrepressible laughter, whereupon the "darling pet" put itself into such a passion-- grinned, and coughed, and gasped, and shook the tree, and writhed, and glared, to such an extent that glynn said he thought it would burst, and ailie agreed that it was very likely. finding that this terrible display of fury had no effect on the strangers, the "darling pet" gave utterance to a farewell shriek of passion, and, bounding nimbly into the woods, disappeared. "oh, _what_ a funny beast," said ailie, sitting down on a stone, and drying her eyes, which had filled with tears from excessive laughter. "indeed it was," said glynn. "it's my opinion that a monkey is the funniest beast in the world." "no, glynn; a kitten's funnier," said ailie, with a degree of emphasis that showed she had considered the subject well, and had fully made up her mind in regard to it long ago. "i think a kitten's the _very_ funniest beast in all the whole world." "well, perhaps it is," said glynn thoughtfully. "did you ever see _three_ kittens together?" asked ailie. "no; i don't think i ever did. i doubt if i have seen even two together. why?" "oh! because they are so very, very funny. sit down beside me, and i'll tell you about three kittens i once had. they were very little--at least they were little before they got big." glynn laughed. "oh, you know what i mean. they were able to play when they were very little, you know." "yes, yes, i understand. go on." "well, two were grey, and one was white and grey, but most of it was white; and when they went to play, one always hid itself to watch, and then the other two began, and came up to each other with little jumps, and their backs up and tails curved, and hair all on end, glaring at each other, and pretending that they were so angry. do you know, glynn, i really believe they sometimes forgot it was pretence, and actually became angry. but the fun was, that, when the two were just going to fly at each other, the third one, who had been watching, used to dart out and give them _such_ a fright--a _real_ fright, you know--which made them jump, oh! three times their own height up into the air, and they came down again with a _fuff_ that put the third one in a fright too; so that they all scattered away from each other as if they had gone quite mad. what's that?" "it's a fish, i think," said glynn, rising and going towards the river, to look at the object that had attracted his companion's attention. "it's a shark, i do believe." in a few seconds the creature came so close that they could see it quite distinctly; and on a more careful inspection, they observed that the mouth of the river was full of these ravenous monsters. soon after they saw monsters of a still more ferocious aspect; for while they were watching the sharks, two crocodiles put up their snouts, and crawled sluggishly out of the water upon a mud-bank, where they lay down, apparently with the intention of taking a nap in the sunshine. they were too far off, however, to be well seen. "isn't it strange, glynn, that there are such ugly beasts in the world?" said ailie. "i wonder why god made them?" "so do i," said glynn, looking at the child's thoughtful face in some surprise. "i suppose they must be of some sort of use." "oh! yes, _of course_ they are," rejoined ailie quickly. "aunt martha and aunt jane used to tell me that every creature was made by god for some good purpose; and when i came to the crocodile in my book, they said it was certainly of use too, though they did not know what. i remember it very well, because i was _so_ surprised to hear that aunt martha and aunt jane did not know _everything_." "no doubt aunt martha and aunt jane were right," said glynn, with a smile. "i confess, however, that crocodiles seem to me to be of no other use than to kill and eat up everything that comes within the reach of their terrible jaws. but, indeed, now i think of it, the very same may be said of man, for _he_ kills and eats up at least everything that he _wants_ to put into his jaws." "so he does," said ailie; "isn't it funny?" "isn't what funny?" asked glynn. "that we should be no better than crocodiles--at least, i mean about eating." "you forget, ailie, we cook our food." "oh! so we do. i did not remember to think of that. that's a great difference, indeed." leaving glynn and his little charge to philosophise on the resemblance between men and crocodiles, we shall now return to tim rokens and phil briant, whom we left in the trader's cottage. the irate irishman had been calmed down by reason and expostulation, and had again been roused to great indignation several times since we left him, by the account of things connected with the slave-trade, given him by the trader, who, although he had no interest in it himself, did not feel very much aggrieved by the sufferings he witnessed around him. "you don't mane to tell me, now, that _whalers_ comes in here for slaves, do ye?" said briant, placing his two fists on his two knees, and thrusting his head towards the trader, who admitted that he meant to say that; and that he meant, moreover, to add, that the thing was by no means of rare occurrence--that whaling ships occasionally ran into that very port on their way south, shipped a cargo of negroes, sold them at the nearest slave-buying port they could make on the american coast, and then proceeded on their voyage, no one being a whit the wiser. "you don't mean it?" remarked tim rokens, crossing his legs and devoting himself to his pipe, with the air of a man who mourned the depravity of his species, but did not feel called upon to disturb his equanimity very much because of it. phil briant clenched his teeth, and glared. "indeed i do mean it," reiterated the trader. "would you believe it, there was one whaler put in here, and what does he do but go and invite a lot o' free blacks aboard to have a blow-out; and no sooner did he get them down into the hold then he shut down the hatches, sailed away, and sold 'em every one." "ah! morther, couldn't i burst?" groaned phil; "an' ov coorse they left a lot o' fatherless children and widders behind 'em." "they did; but all the widders are married again, and most of the children are grown up." briant looked as if he did not feel quite sure whether he ought to regard this as a comforting piece of information or the reverse, and wisely remained silent. "and now you must excuse me if i leave you to ramble about alone for some time, as i have business to transact; meanwhile i'll introduce you to a nigger who will show you about the place, and one who, if i mistake not, will gladly accompany you to sea as steward's assistant." the trader opened a door which led to the back part of his premises, and shouted to a stout negro who was sawing wood there, and who came forward with alacrity. "ho! neepeelootambo, go take these gentlemen round about the village, and let them see all that is to be seen." "yes, massa." "and they've got something to say to you about going to sea--would you like to go?" the negro grinned, and as his mouth was of the largest possible size, it is not exaggeration to say that the grin extended from ear to ear, but he made no other reply. "well, please yourself. you're a free man--you may do as you choose." neepeelootambo, who was almost naked, having only a small piece of cloth wrapped round his waist and loins, grinned again, displaying a double row of teeth worthy of a shark in so doing, and led his new friends from the house. "now," said tim rokens, turning to the negro, and pointing along the shore, "we'll go along this way and jaw the matter over. business first, and pleasure, if ye can get it, arterwards--them's my notions, nip--nip--nippi--what's your name?" "coo tumble, i think," suggested briant. "ay, nippiloo bumble--wot a jaw-breaker! so git along, old boy." the negro, who was by no means an "old boy," but a stalwart man in the prime of life, stepped out, and as they walked along, both rokens and briant did their best to persuade him to ship on board the _red eric_, but without success. they were somewhat surprised as well as chagrined, having been led to expect that the man would consent at once. but no alluring pictures of the delights of seafaring life, or the pleasures and excitements of the whale-fishery, had the least effect on their sable companion. even sundry shrewd hints, thrown out by phil briant, that "the steward had always command o' the wittles, and that his assistant would only have to help himself when convanient," failed to move him. "well, nippi-boo-tumble," cried tim rokens, who in his disappointment unceremoniously contracted his name, "it's my opinion--private opinion, mark'ee--that you're a ass, an' you'll come for to repent of it." "troth, nippi-bumble, he's about right," added briant coaxingly. "come now, avic, wot's the raisin ye won't go? sure we ain't blackguards enough to ax ye to come for to be sold; it's all fair and above board. why won't ye, now?" the negro stopped, and turning towards them, drew himself proudly up; then, as if a sudden thought had occurred to him, he advanced a step and held up his forefinger to impose silence. "you no tell what i go to say? at least, not for one, two day." "niver a word, honour bright," said phil, in a confidential tone, while rokens expressed the same sentiment by means of an emphatic wink and nod. "you mus' know," said the negro, earnestly, "me expec's to be made a king!" "a wot?" exclaimed both his companions in the same breath, and very much in the same tone. "a king." "wot?" said rokens; "d'ye mean, a ruler of this here country?" neepeelootambo nodded his head so violently that it was a marvel it remained on his shoulders. "yis. ho! ho! ho! 'xpec's to be a king." "and when are ye to be crowned, bumble?" inquired briant, rather sceptically, as they resumed their walk. "oh, me no say me _goin'_ to be king; me only _'xpec's_ dat." "werry good," returned rokens; "but wot makes ye for to expect it?" "aha! me berry clebber fellow--know most ebbery ting. me hab doo'd good service to dis here country. me can fight like one leopard, and me hab kill great few elephant and gorilla. not much mans here hab shoot de gorilla, him sich terriferick beast; 'bove five foot six tall, and bigger round de breast dan you or me--dat is a great true fact. also, me can spok englis'." "an' so you expec's they're goin' to make you a king for all that?" "yis, dat is fat me 'xpec's, for our old king be just dead; but dey nebber tell who dey going to make king till dey do it. i not more sure ob it dan the nigger dat walk dare before you." neepeelootambo pointed as he spoke to a negro who certainly had a more kingly aspect than any native they had yet seen. he was a perfect giant, considerably above six feet high, and broad in proportion. he wore no clothing on the upper part of his person, but his legs were encased in a pair of old canvas trousers, which had been made for a man of ordinary stature, so that his huge bony ankles were largely exposed to view. just as phil and rokens stopped to take a good look at him before passing on, a terrific yell issued from the bushes, and instantly after, a negro ran towards the black giant and administered to him a severe kick on the thigh, following it up with a cuff on the side of the head, at the same time howling something in the native tongue, which our friends of course did not understand. this man was immediately followed by three other blacks, one of whom pulled the giant's hair, the other pulled his nose, and the third spat in his face! it is needless to remark that the sailors witnessed this unprovoked assault with unutterable amazement. but the most remarkable part of it was, that the fellow, instead of knocking all his assailants down, as he might have done without much trouble, quietly submitted to the indignities heaped upon him; nay, he even smiled upon his tormentors, who increased in numbers every minute, running out from among the bushes and surrounding the unoffending man, and uttering wild shouts as they maltreated him. "wot's he bin doin'?" inquired rokens, turning to his black companion. but rokens received no answer, for neepeelootambo was looking on at the scene with an expression so utterly woe-begone and miserable that one would imagine he was himself suffering the rough usage he witnessed. "arrah! ye don't appear to be chairful," said briant, laughing, as he looked in the negro's face. "this is a quare counthrie, an' no mistake;--it seems to be always blowin' a gale o' surprises. wot's wrong wid ye, bumble?" the negro groaned. "sure that may be a civil answer, but it's not o' much use. hallo! what air they doin' wid the poor cratur now?" as he spoke the crowd seized the black giant by the arms and neck and hair, and dragged him away towards the village, leaving our friends in solitude. "a very purty little scene," remarked phil briant when they were out of sight; "very purty indade, av we only knowed wot it's all about." if the surprise of the two sailors was great at what they had just witnessed, it was increased tenfold by the subsequent behaviour of their negro companion. that eccentric individual suddenly checked his groans, gave vent to a long, deep sigh, and assuming a resigned expression of countenance, rose up and said--"ho! it all ober now, massa." "i do believe," remarked rokens, looking gravely at his shipmate, "that the feller's had an attack of the mollygrumbles, an's got better all of a suddint." "no, massa, dat not it. but me willin' to go wid you now to de sea." "eh? willin' to go? why, nippi-too-cumble, wot a rum customer you are, to be sure!" "yis, massa," rejoined the negro. "me not goin' to be king now, anyhow; so it ob no use stoppin' here. me go to sea." "not goin' to be king? how d'ye know that?" "'cause dat oder nigger, him be made king in a berry short time. you mus' know, dat w'en dey make wan king in dis here place, de peeple choose de man; but dey not let him know. he may guess if him please-- like me--but p'raps him guess wrong--like me! ho! ho! den arter dey fix on de man, dey run at him and kick him, as you hab seen dem do, and spit on him, and trow mud ober him, tellin' him all de time, `you no king yet, you black rascal; you soon be king, and den you may put your foots on our necks and do w'at you like, but not yit; take dat, you tief!' an' so dey 'buse him for a littel time. den dey take him straight away to de palace and crown him, an', oh! arter dat dey become very purlite to him. him know dat well 'nuff, and so him not be angry just now. ah! me did 'xpec, to hab bin kick and spitted on dis berry day!" poor neepeelootambo uttered the last words in such a deeply touching tone, and seemed to be so much cast down at the thought that his chance of being "kicked and spitted upon" had passed away for ever, that phil briant burst into a hearty fit of laughter, and tim rokens exhibited symptoms of internal risibility, though his outward physiognomy remained unchanged. "och! bumble, you'll be the death o' me," cried briant. "an' are they a-crownin' of him now?" "yis, massa. dat what dey go for to do jist now." "troth, then, i'll go an' inspict the coronation. come along, bumble, me darlint, and show us the way." in a few minutes neepeelootambo conducted his new friends into a large rudely-constructed hut, which was open on three sides and thatched with palm-leaves. this was the palace before referred to by him. here they found a large concourse of negroes, whose main object at that time seemed to be the creation of noise; for besides yelling and hooting, they beat a variety of native drums, some of which consisted of bits of board, and others of old tin and copper kettles. forcing their way through the noisy throng they reached the inside of the hut, into which they found that ailie dunning and glynn proctor had pushed their way before them. giving them a nod of recognition, they sat down on a mat by their side to watch the proceedings, which by this time were nearly concluded. the new king--who was about to fill the throne rendered vacant by the recent death of the old king of that region--was seated on an elevated stool looking very dignified, despite the rough ordeal through which he had just passed. when the noise above referred to had calmed down, an old grey-headed negro rose and made a speech in the language of the country, after which he advanced and crowned the new king, who had already been invested in a long scarlet coat covered with tarnished gold lace, and cut in the form peculiar to the last century. the crown consisted of an ordinary black silk hat, considerably the worse for wear. it looked familiar and commonplace enough in the eyes of their white visitors; but, being the only specimen of the article in the district, it was regarded by the negroes with peculiar admiration, and deemed worthy to decorate the brows of royalty. having had this novel crown placed on the top of his woolly pate, which was much too large for it, the new king hit it an emphatic blow on the top, partly with a view to force it on, and partly, no doubt, with the design of impressing his new subjects with the fact that he was now their rightful sovereign, and that he meant thenceforth to exercise all the authority, and avail himself of all the privileges that his high position conferred on him. he then rose and made a pretty long speech, which was frequently applauded, and which terminated amid a most uproarious demonstration of loyalty on the part of the people. if you wish to gladden the heart of a black man, reader, get him into the midst of an appalling noise. the negro's delight is to shout, and laugh, and yell, and beat tin kettles with iron spoons. the greater the noise, the more he enjoys himself. great guns and musketry, gongs and brass bands, kettledrums and smashing crockery, crashing railway-engines, blending their utmost whistles with the shrieks of a thousand pigs being killed, all going at once, full blast, and as near to him as possible, is a species of elysium to the sable son of africa. on their occasions of rejoicing, negroes procure and produce as much noise as is possible, so that the white visitors were soon glad to seek shelter, and find relief to their ears, on board ship. but even there the sounds of rejoicing reached them, and long after the curtain of night had enshrouded land and sea, the hideous din of royal festivities came swelling out with the soft warm breeze that fanned ailie's cheek as she stood on the quarterdeck of the _red eric_, watching the wild antics of the naked savages as they danced round their bright fires, and holding her father's hand tightly as she related the day's adventures, and told of the monkeys, crocodiles, and other strange creatures she had seen in the mangrove-swamps and on the mud-banks of the slimy river. chapter ten. an inland journey--sleeping in the woods--wild beasts everywhere--sad fate of a gazelle. the damage sustained by the _red eric_ during the storm was found to be more severe than was at first supposed. part of her false keel had been torn away by a sunken rock, over which the vessel had passed, and scraped so lightly that no one on board was aware of the fact, yet with sufficient force to cause the damage to which we have referred. a slight leak was also discovered, and the injury to the top of the foremast was neither so easily nor so quickly repaired as had been anticipated. it thus happened that the vessel was detained on this part of the african coast for nearly a couple of weeks, during which time ailie had frequent opportunities of going on shore, sometimes in charge of glynn, sometimes with tim rokens, and occasionally with her father. during these little excursions the child lived in a world of romance. not only were the animals, and plants, and objects of every kind with which she came in contact, entirely new to her, except in so far as she had made their acquaintance in pictures, but she invested everything in the roseate hue peculiar to her own romantic mind. true, she saw many things that caused her a good deal of pain, and she heard a few stories about the terrible cruelty of the negroes to each other, which made her shudder, but unpleasant thoughts did not dwell long on her mind; she soon forgot the little annoyances or frights she experienced, and revelled in the enjoyment of the beautiful sights and sweet perfumes which more than counterbalanced the bad odours and ugly things that came across her path. ailie's mind was a very inquiring one, and often and long did she ponder the things she saw, and wonder why god made some so very ugly and some so very pretty, and to what use he intended them to be put. of course, in such speculative inquiries, she was frequently very much puzzled, as also were the companions to whom she propounded the questions from time to time, but she had been trained to _believe_ that everything that was made by god was good, whether she understood it or not, and she noticed particularly, and made an involuntary memorandum of the fact in her own mind, that ugly things were very few in number, while beautiful objects were absolutely innumerable. the trader, who rendered good assistance to captain dunning in the repair of his ship, frequently overheard ailie wishing "so much" that she might be allowed to go far into the wild woods, and one day suggested to the captain that, as the ship would have to remain a week or more in port, he would be glad to take a party an excursion up the river in his canoe, and show them a little of forest life, saying at the same time that the little girl might go too, for they were not likely to encounter any danger which might not be easily guarded against. at first the captain shook his head, remembering the stories that were afloat regarding the wild beasts of those regions. but, on second thoughts, he agreed to allow a well-armed party to accompany the trader; the more so that he was urged thereto very strongly by dr hopley, who, being a naturalist, was anxious to procure specimens of the creatures and plants in the interior, and being a phrenologist, was desirous of examining what glynn termed the "bumpological developments of the negro skull." on still further considering the matter, captain dunning determined to leave the first mate in charge of the ship, head the exploring party himself, and take ailie along with him. to say that ailie was delighted, would be to understate the fact very much. she was wild with joy, and went about all the day, after her father's decision was announced, making every species of insane preparation for the canoe voyage, clasping her hands, and exclaiming, "oh! _what_ fun!" while her bright eyes sparkled to such an extent that the sailors fairly laughed in her face when they looked at her. preparations were soon made. the party consisted of the captain and his little child, glynn proctor (of course), dr hopley, tim rokens, phil briant, jim scroggles, the trader, and neepeelootambo, which last had been by that time regularly domesticated on board, and was now known by the name of king bumble, which name, being as good as his own, and more pronounceable, we shall adopt from this time forward. the very morning after the proposal was made, the above party embarked in the trader's canoe; and plying their paddles with the energy of men bent on what is vulgarly termed "going the whole hog," they quickly found themselves out of sight of their natural element, the ocean, and surrounded by the wild, rich, luxuriant vegetation of equatorial africa. "now," remarked tim rokens, as they ceased paddling, and ran the canoe under the shade of a broad palm-tree that overhung the river, in order to take a short rest and a smoke after a steady paddle of some miles--"now this is wot i calls glorious, so it is! ain't it? pass the 'baccy this way." this double remark was made to king bumble, who passed the tobacco-pouch to his friend, after helping himself, and admitted that it was "mugnifercent." "here have i bin a-sittin' in this here canoe," continued rokens, "for more nor two hours, an' to my sartin knowledge i've seed with my two eyes twelve sharks (for i counted 'em every one) at the mouth of the river, and two crocodiles, and the snout of a hopplepittimus; is that wot ye calls it?" rokens addressed his question to the captain, but phil briant, who had just succeeded in getting his pipe to draw beautifully, answered instead. "och! no," said he; "that's not the way to pronounce it at all, at all. it's a huppi-puppi-puttimus." "i dun know," said rokens, shaking his head gravely; "it appears to me there's too many huppi puppies in that word." this debate caused ailie infinite amusement, for she experienced considerable difficulty herself in pronouncing that name, and had a very truthful picture of the hippopotamus hanging at that moment in her room at home. "isn't tim rokens very funny, papa?" she remarked in a whisper, looking up in her father's face. "hush! my pet, and look yonder. there is something funnier, if i mistake not." he pointed, as he spoke, to a ripple in the water on the opposite side of the river, close under a bank which was clothed with rank, broad-leaved, and sedgy vegetation. in a few seconds a large crocodile put up its head, not farther off than twenty yards from the canoe, which apparently it did not see, and opening its tremendous jaws, afforded the travellers a splendid view of its teeth and throat. briant afterwards asserted that he could see down its throat, and could _almost_ tell what it had had for dinner! "plaze, sir, may i shoot him?" cried briant, seizing his loaded musket, and looking towards the captain for permission. "it's of no use while in that position," remarked the trader, who regarded the hideous-looking monster with the calm unconcern of a man accustomed to such sights. "you may try;" said the captain with a grin. almost before the words had left his lips, phil took a rapid aim and fired. at the same identical moment the crocodile shut his jaws with a snap, as if he had an intuitive perception that something uneatable was coming. the bullet consequently hit his forehead, off which it glanced as if it had struck a plate of cast-iron. the reptile gave a wabble, expressive of lazy surprise, and sank slowly back into the slimy water. the shot startled more than one huge creature, for immediately afterwards they heard several flops in the water near them, but the tall sedges prevented their seeing what animals they were. a whole troop of monkeys, too, went shrieking away into the woods, showing that those nimble creatures had been watching all their movements, although, until that moment, they had taken good care to keep themselves out of sight. "never fire at a crocodile's head," said the trader, as the party resumed their paddles, and continued their ascent of the stream; "you might as well fire at a stone wall. it's as hard as iron. the only place that's sure to kill it just behind the foreleg. the niggers always spear them there." "what do they spear them for?" asked dr hopley. "they eat 'em," replied the trader; "and the meat's not so bad after you get used to it." "ha!" exclaimed glynn proctor; "i should fancy the great difficulty is to get used to it." "if you ever chance to go for a week without tasting fresh meat," replied the trader quietly, "you'll not find it so difficult as you think." that night the travellers encamped in the woods, and a wild charmingly romantic scene their night bivouac was--so thought ailie, and so, too, would you have thought, reader, had you been there. king bumble managed to kindle three enormous fires, for the triple purpose of keeping the party warm--for it was cold at night--of scaring away wild beasts, and of cooking their supper. these fires he fed at intervals during the whole night with huge logs, and the way in which he made the sparks fly up in among the strange big leaves of the tropical trees and parasitical plants overhead, was quite equal, if not superior, to a display of regular fireworks. then bumble and glynn built a little platform of logs, on which they strewed leaves and grass, and over which they spread a curtain or canopy of broad leaves and boughs. this was ailie's couch. it stood in the full blaze of the centre fire, and commanded a view of all that was going on in every part of the little camp; and when ailie lay down on it after a good supper, and was covered up with a blanket, and further covered over with a sort of gauze netting to protect her from the mosquitoes, which were very numerous--when all this was done, we say, and when, in addition to this, she lay and witnessed the jovial laughter and enjoyment of his majesty king bumble, as he sat at the big fire smoking his pipe, and the supreme happiness of phil briant, and the placid joy of tim rokens, and the exuberant delight of glynn, and the semi-scientific enjoyment of dr hopley as he examined a collection of rare plants; and the quiet comfort of the trader, and the awkward, shambling, loose-jointed pleasure of long jim scroggles; and the beaming felicity of her own dear father; who sat not far from her, and turned occasionally in the midst of the conversation to give her a nod--she felt in her heart that then and there she had fairly reached the very happiest moment in all her life. ailie gazed in dreamy delight until she suddenly and unaccountably saw at least six fires, and fully half-a-dozen bumbles, and eight or nine glynns, and no end of fathers, and thousands of trees, and millions of sparks, all jumbled together in one vast complicated and magnificent pyrotechnic display; and then she fell asleep. it is a curious fact, and one for which it is not easy to account, that however happy you may be when you go to sleep out in the wild woods, you invariably awake in the morning in possession of a very small amount of happiness indeed. probably it is because one in such circumstances is usually called upon to turn out before he has had enough sleep; perhaps it may be that the fires have burnt low or gone out altogether, and the gloom of a forest before sunrise is not calculated to elevate the spirits. be this as it may, it is a fact that when ailie was awakened on the following morning about daybreak, and told to get up, she felt sulky--positively and unmistakably sulky. we do not say that she looked sulky or acted sulkily--far from it; but she felt sulky, and that was a very uncomfortable state of things. we dwell a little on this point because we do not wish to mislead our young readers into the belief that life in the wild woods is _all_ delightful together. there are shadows as well as lights there--some of them, alas! so deep that we would not like even to refer to them while writing in a sportive vein. but it is also a fact, that when ailie was fairly up and once more in the canoe, and when the sun began to flood the landscape with his golden light and turn the water into liquid fire, her temporary feelings of discomfort passed away, and her sensation of intense enjoyment returned. the scenery through which they passed on the second day was somewhat varied. they emerged early in the day upon the bosom of a large lake which looked almost like the ocean. here there were immense flocks of water-fowl, and among them that strange, ungainly bird, the pelican. here, too, there were actually hundreds of crocodiles. the lake was full of little mud islands, and on all of them these hideous and gigantic reptiles were seen basking lazily in the sun. several shots were fired at them, but although the balls hit, they did not penetrate their thick hides, until at last one took effect in the soft part close behind the foreleg. the shot was fired by the trader, and it killed the animal instantly. it could not have been less than twenty feet long, but before they could secure it the carcass sank in deep water. "what a pity!" remarked glynn, as the eddies circled round the spot where it had gone down. "ah, so it is!" replied the doctor; "but he would have been rather large to preserve and carry home as a specimen." "i ax yer parding, sir," said tim rokens, addressing dr hopley; "but i'm curious to know if crocodiles has got phrenoligy?" "no doubt of it," replied the doctor, laughing. "crocodiles have brains, and brains when exercised must be enlarged and developed, especially in the organs that are most used, hence corresponding development must take place in the skull." "i should think, doctor," remarked the captain, who was somewhat sceptical, "that their bumps of combativeness must be very large." "probably they are," continued the doctor; "something like my friend phil briant here. i would venture to guess, now, that his organ of combativeness is well-developed--let me see." the doctor, who sat close beside the irishman, caused him to pull in his paddle and submit his head for inspection. "ah! then, don't operate on me, doctor dear! i've a mortial fear o' operations iver since me owld grandmother's pig got its foreleg took off at the hip-jint." "hold your tongue, paddy. now the bump lies here--just under--eh! why, you haven't got so much as--what!" "plaize, i think it's lost in fat, sur," remarked briant, in a plaintive tone, as if he expected to be reprimanded for not having brought his bump of combativeness along with him. "well," resumed the doctor, passing his fingers through briant's matted locks, "i suppose you're not so combative as we had fancied--" "thrue for you," interrupted phil. "but, strange enough, i find your organ of veneration is very large, _very_ large indeed; singularly so for a man of your character; but i cannot feel it easily, you have such a quantity of hair." "which is it, doctor dear?" inquired phil. "this one i am pressing now." "arrah! don't press so hard, plaze, it's hurtin' me ye are. shure that's the place where i run me head slap up agin the spanker-boom four days ago. av _that's_ me bump o' vineration, it wos three times as big an' twice as hard yisterday--it wos, indade." interruptions in this world of uncertainty are not uncommon, and in the african wilds they are peculiarly frequent. the interruption which occurred on the present occasion to dr hopley's reply was, we need scarcely remark, exceedingly opportune. it came in the form of a hippopotamus, which rose so close to the boat that ailie got a severe start, and tim rokens made a blow at its head with his paddle. it did not seem to notice the boat, but after blowing a quantity of water from its nostrils, and opening its horrible mouth as if it were yawning, it slowly sank again into the flood. "wot an 'orrible crittur!" exclaimed jim scroggles, in amazement at the sight. "the howdacious willain!" remarked rokens. "is that another on ahead?" said glynn, pointing to an object floating on the water about a hundred yards up the river: for they had passed the lake, and were now ascending another stream. "d'ye see it, ailie? look!" the object sank as he spoke, and ailie looked round just in time to see the tail of a crocodile flop the water and follow its owner to the depths below. "oh! oh!" exclaimed ailie, with one of those peculiar intonations that told glynn she saw something very beautiful, and that induced the remainder of the crew to rest on their paddles, and turn their eyes in the direction indicated. they did not require to ask what she saw, for the child's finger directed their eyes to a spot on the bank of the river, where, under the shadow of a spreading bush with gigantic leaves, stood a lovely little gazelle. the graceful creature had trotted down to the stream to drink, and did not observe the canoe, which had been on the point of rounding a bank that jutted out into the river where its progress was checked. the gazelle paused a moment, looked round to satisfy itself that no enemy was near, and then put its lips to the water. alas! for the timid little thing! there were enemies near it and round it in all directions. there were leopards and serpents of the largest size in the woods, and man upon the river--although on this occasion it chanced that most of the men who gazed in admiration at its pretty form were friends. but its worst enemy, a crocodile, was lurking close under the mud-bank at its feet. scarcely had its parched lips reached the stream when a black snout darted from the water, and the next instant the gazelle was struggling in the crocodile's jaws. a cry of horror burst from the men in the boat, and every man seized a musket; but before an aim could be taken the struggle was over; the monster had dived with its prey, and nothing but a few streaks of red foam floated on the troubled water. ailie did not move. she stood with her hands tightly clasped and her eyes starting almost out of their sockets. at last her feelings found vent. she threw her arms round her father's neck, and burying her face in his bosom, burst into a passionate flood of tears. chapter eleven. native doings, and a cruel murder--jim scroggles sees wonders, and has a terrible adventure. it took two whole days and nights to restore ailie to her wonted cheerful state of mind, after she had witnessed the death of the gazelle. but although she sang and laughed, and enjoyed herself as much as ever, she experienced the presence of a new and strange feeling, that ever after that day, tinged her thoughts and influenced her words and actions. the child had for the first time in her life experienced one of those rude shocks--one of those rough contacts with the stern realities of life which tend to deepen and intensify our feelings. the mind does not always grow by slow, imperceptible degrees, although it usually does so. there are periods in the career of every one when the mind takes, as it were, a sharp run and makes a sudden and stupendous jump out of one region of thought into another in which there are things new as well as old. the present was such an occasion to little ailie dunning. she had indeed seen bloody work before, in the cutting-up of a whale. but although she had been told it often enough, she did not _realise_ that whales have feelings and affections like other creatures. besides, she had not witnessed the actual killing of the whale; and if she had, it would probably have made little impression on her beyond that of temporary excitement--not even that, perhaps, had her father been by her side. but she _sympathised_ with the gazelle. it was small, and beautiful, and lovable. her heart had swelled the moment she saw it, and she had felt a longing desire to run up to it and throw her arms round its soft neck, so that, when she saw it suddenly struggling and crushed in the tremendous jaws of the horrible crocodile, every tender feeling in her breast was lacerated; every fibre of her heart trembled with a conflicting gush of the tenderest pity and the fiercest rage. from that day forward new thoughts began to occupy her mind, and old ideas presented themselves in different aspects. we would not have the reader suppose, for a moment, that ailie became an utterly changed creature. to an unobservant eye--such as that of jim scroggles, for instance--she was the same in all respects a few days after as she had been a few hours before the event. but new elements had been implanted in her breast, or rather, seeds which had hitherto lain dormant were now caused to burst forth into plants by the all-wise author of her being. she now _felt_ for the first time--she could not tell why--that enjoyment was _not_ the chief good in life. of course she did not argue or think out all this clearly and methodically to herself. her mind, on most things, material as well as immaterial, was very much what may be termed a jumble; but undoubtedly the above processes of reasoning and feeling, or something like them, were the result to ailie of the violent death of that little gazelle. the very next day after this sad event the travellers came to a native village, at which they stayed a night, in order to rest and procure fresh provisions. the trader was well-known at this village, but the natives, all of whom were black, of course, and nearly naked, had never seen a little white girl before, so that their interest in and wonder at ailie were quite amusing to witness. they crowded round her, laughing and exclaiming and gesticulating in a most remarkable manner, and taking special notice of her light-brown glossy hair, which seemed to fill them with unbounded astonishment and admiration; as well it might, for they had never before seen any other hair except the coarse curly wool on their own pates, and the long lank hair of the trader, which happened to be coarse and black. the child was at first annoyed by the attentions paid her, but at last she became interested in the sooty little naked children that thronged round her, and allowed them to handle her as much as they pleased, until her father led her to the residence of the chief or king of the tribe. here she was well treated, and she began quite to like the people who were so kind to her and her friends. but she chanced to overhear a conversation between the doctor and tim rokens, which caused her afterwards to shrink from the negroes with horror. she was sitting on a bank picking wild-flowers some hours after the arrival of her party, and teaching several black children how to make necklaces of them, when the doctor and rokens happened to sit down together at the other side of a bush which concealed her from their view. tim was evidently excited, for the tones of his voice were loud and emphatic. "yes," he said, in reply to some questions put to him by the doctor; "yes, i seed 'em do it, not ten minutes agone, with my own two eyes. oh! but i would like to have 'em up in a row--every black villain in the place--an' a cutlass in my hand, an'--an' wouldn't i whip off their heads? no, i wouldn't; oh, no, by no means wotiver." there was something unusually fierce in rokens' voice that alarmed ailie. "i was jist takin' a turn," continued the sailor, "down by the creek yonder, when i heerd a great yellin' goin' on, and saw the trader in the middle of a crowd o' black fellows, a-shakin' his fists; so i made sail, of course, to lend a hand if he'd got into trouble. he was scoldin' away in the native lingo, as if he'd bin a born nigger. "`wot's all to do?' says i. "`they're goin' to kill a little boy,' says he, quite fierce like, `'cause they took it into their heads he's bewitched.' "an' sayin' that, he sot to agin in the other lingo, but the king came up an' told him that the boy had to be killed 'cause he had a devil in him, and had gone and betwitched a number o' other people; an' before he had done speakin', up comes two fellers, draggin' the poor little boy between them. the king axed him if he wos betwitched, and the little chap--from sheer fright, i do believe--said he wos. of coorse i couldn't understand 'em, but the trader explained it all arter. well, no sooner had he said that, than they all gave a yell, and rushed upon the poor boy with their knives, and cut him to pieces. it's as sure as i'm sittin' here," cried rokens, savagely, as his wrath rose again at the bare recital of the terrible deed he had witnessed. "i would ha' knocked out the king's brains there and then, but the trader caught my hand, and said, in a great fright, that if i did, it would not only cost me my life, but likely the whole party; so that cooled me, and i come away; an' i'm goin' to ax the captin wot we shud do." "we can do nothing," said the doctor sadly. "even suppose we were strong enough to punish them, what good would it do? we can't change their natures. they are superstitious, and are firmly persuaded they did right in killing that poor boy." the doctor pondered for a few seconds, and then added, in a low voice, as if he were weighing the meaning of what he said: "clergymen would tell us that nothing can deliver them from this bondage save a knowledge of the true god and of his son jesus christ; that the bible might be the means of curing them, if bibles were only sent, and ministers to preach the gospel." "then why ain't bibles sent to 'em at once?" asked rokens, in a tone of great indignation, supposing that the doctor was expressing his own opinion on the subject. "is there nobody to look arter these matters in christian lands?" "oh, yes, there are many bible societies, and both bibles and missionaries have been sent to this country; but it's a large one, and the societies tell us their funds are limited." "then why don't they git more funds?" continued rokens, in the same indignant tone, as his mind still dwelt upon the miseries and wickedness that he had seen, and that _might_ be prevented; "why don't they git more funds, and send out heaps o' bibles, an' no end o' missionaries?" "tim rokens," said the doctor, looking earnestly into his companion's face, "if i were one of the missionaries, i might ask you how much money _you_ ever gave to enable societies to send bibles and missionaries to foreign lands?" tim rokens was for once in his life completely taken aback. he was by nature a stolid man, and not easily put out. he was a shrewd man, too, and did not often commit himself. when he did, he was wont to laugh at himself, and so neutralise the laugh raised against him. but here was a question that was too serious for laughter, and yet one which he could not answer without being self-condemned. he looked gravely in the doctor's face for two minutes without speaking; then he heaved a deep sigh, and said slowly, and with a pause between each word-- "doctor hopley--i--never--gave--a--rap--in--all--my--life." "so then, my man," said the doctor, smiling, "you're scarcely entitled to be indignant with others." "wot you remark, doctor, is true; i--am--not." having thus fully and emphatically condemned himself, and along with himself all mankind who are in a similar category, tim rokens relapsed into silence, deliberately drew forth his pipe, filled it, lit it, and began to smoke. none of the party of travellers slept well that night, except perhaps the trader, who was accustomed to the ways of the negroes, and king bumble, who had been born and bred in the midst of cruelties. most of them dreamed of savage orgies, and massacres of innocent children, so that when daybreak summoned them to resume their journey, they arose and embarked with alacrity, glad to get away from the spot. during that day and the next they saw a great number of crocodiles and hippopotami, besides strange birds and plants innumerable. the doctor filled his botanical-box to bursting. ailie filled her flower-basket to overflowing. glynn hit a crocodile on the back with a bullet, and received a lazy stare from the ugly creature in return, as it waddled slowly down the bank on which it had been lying, and plumped into the river. the captain assisted ailie to pluck flowers when they landed, which they did from time to time, and helped to arrange and pack them when they returned to the canoe. tim rokens did nothing particularly worthy of record; but he gave utterance to an immense number of sententious and wise remarks, which were listened to by bumble with deep respect, for that sable gentleman had taken a great fancy for the bold harpooner, and treasured up all his sayings in his heart. phil briant distinguished himself by shooting an immense serpent, which the doctor, who cut off and retained its head, pronounced to be an anaconda. it was full twenty feet long; and part of the body was cut up, roasted, and eaten by bumble and the trader, though the others turned from it with loathing. "it be more cleaner dan one pig, anyhow," remarked bumble, on observing the disgust of his white friends; "an' you no objic' to eat dat." "clainer than a pig, ye spalpeen!" cried phil briant; "that only shows yer benighted haithen ignerance. sure i lived in the same cabin wid a pig for many a year--not not to mintion a large family o' cocks and hens--an' a clainer baste than that pig didn't stop in that cabin." "that doesn't say much for your own cleanliness, or that of your family," remarked glynn. "och! ye've bin to school, no doubt, haven't ye?" retorted phil. "i have," replied glynn. "shure i thought so. it's there ye must have larned to be so oncommon cliver. don't you iver be persuaded for to go to school, bumble, if ye iver git the chance. it's a mighty lot o' taichin' they'd give ye, but niver a taste o' edication. tin to wan, they'd cram ye till ye turned white i' the face, an' that wouldn't suit yer complexion, ye know, king bumble, be no manes." as for the trader, he acted interpreter when the party fell in with negroes, and explained everything that puzzled them, and told them anecdotes without end about the natives and the wild creatures, and the traffic of the regions through which they passed. in short, he made himself generally useful and agreeable. but the man who distinguished himself most on that trip was jim scroggles. that lanky individual one day took it into his wise head to go off on a short ramble into the woods alone. he had been warned by the trader, along with the rest of the party, not to venture on such a dangerous thing; but being an absent man the warning had not reached his intellect although it had fallen on his ear. the party were on shore cooking dinner when he went off, without arms of any kind, and without telling whither he was bound. indeed, he had no defined intentions in his own mind. he merely felt inclined for a ramble, and so went away, intending to be back in half-an-hour or less. but jim scroggles had long legs and loved locomotion. moreover, the woods were exceedingly beautiful and fragrant, and comparatively cool: for it happened to be the coolest season of the year in that sultry region, else the party of europeans could not have ventured to travel there at all. wandering along beneath the shade of palm-trees and large-leaved shrubs and other tropical productions, with his hands in his breeches pockets, and whistling a variety of popular airs, which must have not a little astonished the monkeys and birds and other creatures--such of them, at least, as had any taste for or knowledge of music--jim scroggles penetrated much farther into the wilds than he had any intention of doing. there is no saying how far, in his absence of mind, he might have wandered, had he not been caught and very uncomfortably entangled in a mesh-work of wild vines and thorny plants that barred his further progress. jim had encountered several such before in his walk, but had forced his way through without more serious damage than a rent or two in his shirt and pantaloons, and several severe scratches to his hands and face; but scroggles had lived a hard life from infancy, and did not mind scratches. now, however, he could not advance a step, and it was only by much patient labour and by the free use of his clasp-knife, that he succeeded at length in releasing himself. he left a large portion of one of the legs of his trousers and several bits of skin on the bushes, as a memorial of his visit to that spot. jim's mind was awoken to the perception of three facts--namely, that he had made himself late for dinner; that he would be the means of detaining his party; and that he had lost himself. here was a pretty business! being a man of slow thought and much deliberation, he sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree, and looking up, as men usually do when soliloquising, exclaimed-- "my eye, here's a go! wot is to be done?" a very small monkey, with an uncommonly wrinkled and melancholy cast of visage, which chanced to be seated on a branch hard by, peering down at the lost mariner, replied-- "o! o-o-o, o! o-o!" as much as to say, "ah, my boy, that's just the question." jim scroggles shook his head, partly as a rebuke to the impertinent little monkey and partly as an indication of the hopelessness of his being able to return a satisfactory answer to his own question. at last he started up, exclaiming, "wotever comes on it, there's no use o' sitting here," and walked straight forward at a brisk pace. then he suddenly stopped, shook his head again, and said, "if i goes on like this, an' it shud turn out to be the wrong course arter all--wot'll come on't?" being as unable to answer this question as the former, he thrust both hands into his pockets, looked at the ground and began to whistle. when he looked up again he ceased whistling very abruptly, and turned deadly pale--perhaps we should say yellow. and no wonder, for there, straight before him, not more than twenty yards off, stood a creature which, to his ignorant eyes, appeared to be a fiend incarnate, but which was in reality a large-sized and very ancient sheego monkey. it stood in an upright position like a man, and was above four feet high. it had a bald head, grey whiskers, and an intensely black wrinkled face, and, at the moment jim scroggles' eyes encountered it, that face was working itself into such a variety of remarkable and hideous contortions that no description, however graphic, could convey a correct notion of it to the reader's mind. seen behind the bars of an iron cage it might, perhaps, have been laughable; but witnessed as it was, in the depths of a lonely forest, it was appalling. jim scroggles' knees began to shake. he was fascinated with horror. the huge ape was equally fascinated with terror. it worked its wrinkled visage more violently than ever. jim trembled all over. in another second the sheego displayed not only all its teeth--and they were tremendous--but all its gums, and they were fearful to behold, besides being scarlet. roused to the utmost pitch of fear, the sheego uttered a shriek that rang through the forest like a death-yell. this was the culminating point. jim scroggles turned and fled as fast as his long and trembling legs could carry him. the sheego, at the same instant, was smitten with an identically similar impulse. it turned, uttered another yell, and fled in the opposite direction; and thus the two ran until they were both out of breath. what became of the monkey we cannot tell; but jim scroggles ran at headlong speed straight before him, crashing through brake and bush, in the full belief that the sheego was in hot pursuit, until he came to a mangrove swamp; here his speed was checked somewhat, for the trees grew in a curious fashion that merits special notice. instead of rising out of the ground, the mangroves rose out of a sea of mud, and the roots stood up in a somewhat arched form, supporting their stem, as it were, on the top of a bridge. thus, had the ground beneath been solid, a man might have walked _under_ the roots. in order to cross the swamp, jim scroggles had to leap from root to root--a feat which, although difficult, he would have attempted without hesitation. but jim was agitated at that particular moment. his step was uncertain at a time when the utmost coolness was necessary. at one point the leap from one root to the next was too great for him. he turned his eye quickly to one side to seek a nearer stem; in doing so he encountered the gaze of a serpent. it was not a large one, probably about ten feet long, but he knew it to be one whose bite was deadly. in the surprise and fear of the moment he took the long leap, came short of the root by about six inches, and alighted up to the waist in the soft mud. almost involuntarily he cast his eyes behind him, and saw neither sheego nor serpent. he breathed more freely, and essayed to extricate himself from his unpleasant position. stretching out his hands to the root above his head, he found that it was beyond his reach. the sudden fear that this produced caused him to make a violent struggle, and in his next effort he succeeded in catching a twig; it supported him, for a moment, then broke, and he fell back again into the mud. each successive struggle only sank him deeper. as the thick adhesive semi-liquid clung to his lower limbs and rose slowly on his chest, the wretched man uttered a loud cry of despair. he felt that he was brought suddenly face to face with death in its most awful form. the mud was soon up to his arm-pits. as the hopelessness of his condition forced itself upon him, he began to shout for help until the dark woods resounded with his cries; but no help came, and the cold drops of sweat stood upon his brow as he shrieked aloud in agony, and prayed for mercy. chapter twelve. jim scroggles rescued, and glynn and ailie lost--a capture, upset, chase, escape, and happy return. the merciful manner in which god sends deliverance at the eleventh hour has been so often experienced and recognised, that it has originated the well-known proverb, "man's extremity is god's opportunity;" and this proverb is true not only in reference to man's soul, but often, also, in regard to his temporal affairs. while the wretched sailor was uttering cries for help, which grew feebler every moment as he sank deeper and deeper into what now he believed should be his grave, his comrades were hastening forward to his rescue. alarmed at his prolonged absence, they had armed themselves, and set out in search of him, headed by the trader and led by the negro, who tracked his steps with that unerring certainty which seems peculiar to all savages. the shrieks uttered by their poor comrade soon reached their ears, and after some little difficulty, owing to the cries becoming faint, and at last inaudible, they discovered the swamp where he lay, and revived his hope and energy by their shouts. they found him nearly up to the neck in mud, and the little of him that still remained above ground was scarcely recognisable. it cost them nearly an hour, with the aid of poles, and ropes extemporised out of their garments, to drag jim from his perilous position and place him on solid ground; and after they had accomplished this, it took more than an hour longer to clean him and get him recruited sufficiently to accompany them to the spot where they had left the canoe. the poor man was deeply moved; and when he fully realised the fact that he was saved, he wept like a child, and then thanked god fervently for his deliverance. as the night was approaching, and the canoe, with ailie in it, had been left in charge only of glynn proctor, jim's recovery was expedited as much as possible, and as soon as he could walk they turned to retrace their steps. man knows not what a day or an hour will bring forth. for many years one may be permitted to move on "the even tenor of his way," without anything of momentous import occurring to mark the passage of his little span of time as it sweeps him onward to eternity. at another period of life, events, it may be of the most startling and abidingly impressive nature, are crowded into a few months or weeks, or even days. so it was now with our travellers on the african river. when they reached the spot where they had dined, no one replied to their shouts. the canoe, glynn, and the child were gone. on making this terrible discovery the whole party were filled with indescribable consternation, and ran wildly hither and thither, up and down the banks of the river, shouting the names of glynn proctor and ailie, until the woods rang again. captain dunning was almost mad with anxiety and horror. his imagination pictured his child in every conceivable danger. he thought of her as drowned in the river and devoured by crocodiles; as carried away by the natives into hopeless captivity; or, perhaps, killed by wild beasts in the forest. when several hours had elapsed, and still no sign of the missing ones could be discovered, he fell down exhausted on the river's bank, and groaned aloud in his despair. but ailie was not lost. the heavenly father in whom she trusted still watched over and cared for her, and glynn proctor's stout right arm was still by her side to protect her. about half-an-hour after the party had gone off in search of their lost companion, a large canoe, full of negroes, came sweeping down the river. glynn and ailie hid themselves in the bushes, and lay perfectly still, hoping they might be passed by. but they forgot that the blue smoke of their fire curled up through the foliage and revealed their presence at once. on observing the smoke, the savages gave a shout, and, running their canoe close in to the bank, leaped ashore and began to scamper through the wood like baboons. only a few minutes passed before they discovered the two hiders, whom they surrounded and gazed upon in the utmost possible amazement, shouting the while with delight, as if they had discovered a couple of new species of monkey. glynn was by nature a reckless and hasty youth. he felt the power of a young giant within him, and his first impulse was to leap upon the newcomers, and knock them down right and left. fortunately, for ailie's sake as well as his own, he had wisdom enough to know that though he had possessed the power of ten giants, he could not hope, singly, to overcome twenty negroes, all of whom were strong, active, and lithe as panthers. he therefore assumed a good-humoured free-and-easy air, and allowed himself and ailie to be looked at and handled without ceremony. the savages were evidently not ill-disposed towards the wanderers. they laughed a great deal, and spoke to each other rapidly in what, to glynn, was of course an unknown tongue. one who appeared to be the chief of the party passed his long black fingers through ailie's glossy curls with evident surprise and delight. he then advanced to glynn, and said something like-- "holli--boobo--gaddle--bump--um--peepi--daddle--dumps." to which glynn replied very naturally, "i don't understand you." of course he did not. and he might have known well enough that the negro could not understand _him_. but he deemed it wiser to make a reply of some kind, however unintelligible, than to stand like a post and say nothing. again the negro spoke, and again glynn made the same reply; whereupon the black fellow turned round to his comrades and looked at them, and they, in reply to the look, burst again into an immoderate fit of laughter, and cut a variety of capers, the very simplest of which would have made the fortune of any merry-andrew in the civilised world, had he been able to execute it. this was all very well, no doubt, and exceedingly amusing, not to say surprising; but it became quite a different matter when, after satisfying their curiosity, these dark gentlemen coolly collected the property of the white men, stowed it away in the small canoe, and made signs to glynn and ailie to enter. glynn showed a decided objection to obey, on which two stout fellows seized him by the shoulders, and pointed sternly to the canoe, as much as to say, "hobbi-doddle-hoogum-toly-whack," which, being interpreted (no doubt) meant, "if you don't go quietly, we'll force you." again the young sailor's spirit leaped up. he clenched his fists, his brow flushed crimson, and, in another instant, whatever might have been the consequence, the two negroes would certainly have lain recumbent on the sward, had it not suddenly occurred to glynn that he might, by appearing to submit, win the confidence of his captors, and, at the first night-encampment, quietly make his escape with ailie in his arms! glynn was at that romantic age when young men have a tendency to think themselves capable of doing almost anything, with or without ordinary facilities, and in the face of any amount of adverse circumstance. he therefore stepped willingly and even cheerfully into the canoe, in which his and his comrades' baggage had been already stowed, and, seating himself in the stern, took up the steering-paddle. he was ordered to quit that post, however, in favour of a powerful negro, and made to sit in the bow and paddle there. ailie was placed with great care in the centre of the canoe among a heap of soft leopard-skins; for the savages evidently regarded her as something worth preserving--a rare and beautiful specimen, perhaps, of the white monkey! this done, they leaped into their large canoe, and, attaching the smaller one to it by means of a rope, paddled out from the bank, and descended the stream. "oh! glynn," exclaimed ailie, in a whisper--for she felt that things were beginning to look serious--"what _are_ we to do?" "indeed, my pet, i don't know," replied glynn, looking round and encountering the gaze of the negro in the stern, at whom he frowned darkly, and received a savage grin by way of reply. "i would like _so_ much to say something to you," continued ailie, "but i'm afraid _he_ will know what i say." "never fear, ailie; he's as deaf as a post to our language. out with it." "could you not," she said, in a half-whisper, "cut the rope, and then paddle away back while _they_ are paddling down the river?" glynn laughed in spite of himself at this proposal. "and what, my pretty one," he said, "what should we do with the fellow in the stern? besides, the rascals in front might take it into their heads to paddle after us, you know, and what then?" "i'm sure i don't know," said ailie, beginning to cry. "now, don't cry, my darling," said glynn, looking over his shoulder with much concern. "i'll manage to get you out of this scrape somehow--now see if i don't." the youth spoke so confidently, that the child felt somehow comforted, so drying her eyes she lay back among the leopard-skins, where, giving vent to an occasional sob, she speedily fell fast asleep. they continued to advance thus in silence for nearly an hour, crossed a small lake, and again entered the river. after descending this some time, the attention of the whole party was attracted to a group of hippopotami, gambolling in the mud-banks and in the river a short distance ahead. at any other time glynn would have been interested in the sight of these uncouth monsters, but he had seen so many within the last few days that he was becoming comparatively indifferent to them, and at that moment he was too much filled with anxiety to take any notice of them. the creatures themselves, however, did not seem to be so utterly indifferent to the strangers. they continued their gambols until the canoes were quite near, and then they dived. now, hippopotami, as we have before hinted, are clumsy and stupid creatures, so much so that they occasionally run against and upset boats and canoes, quite unintentionally. knowing this, the natives in the large canoe kept a sharp look-out in order to steer clear of them. they had almost succeeded in passing the place, when a huge fellow, like a sugar-punchean, rose close to the small canoe, and grazed it with his tail. apparently he considered this an attack made upon him by the boat, for he wheeled round in a rage, and swam violently towards it. the negro and glynn sprang to their feet on the instant, and the former raised his paddle to deal the creature a blow on the head. before he could do so, glynn leaped lightly over ailie, who had just awakened, caught the savage by the ankles, and tossed him overboard. he fell with a heavy splash just in front of the cavernous jaws of the hippopotamus! in fact, he had narrowly escaped falling head-first into the creature's open throat. the nearness of the animal at the time was probably the means of saving the negro's life, for it did not observe where he had vanished to, as he sank under its chin, and was pushed by its forelegs right under its body. in its effort to lay hold of the negro, the hippopotamus made a partial dive, and thus passed the small canoe. when it again rose to the surface the large canoe met its eye. at this it rushed, drove its hammer-like skull through the light material of which it was made, and then seizing the broken ends in its strong jaws upset the canoe, and began to rend it to pieces in its fury. before this occurred, the crew had leaped into the water, and were now swimming madly to the shore. at the same moment glynn cut the line that fastened the two canoes together, and seizing his paddle, urged his craft up the river as fast as possible. but his single arm could not drive it with much speed against the stream, and before he had advanced a dozen yards, one of the natives overtook him and several more followed close behind. glynn allowed the first one to come near, and then gave him a tremendous blow on the head with the edge of the paddle. the young sailor was not in a gentle frame of mind at that time, by any means. the blow was given with a will, and would probably have fractured the skull of a white man; but that of a negro is proverbially thick. the fellow was only stunned, and fell back among his comrades, who judiciously considering that such treatment was not agreeable and ought not to be courted, put about, and made for the shore. glynn now kept his canoe well over to the left side of the stream while the savages ran along the right bank, yelling ferociously and occasionally attempting to swim towards him, but without success. he was somewhat relieved, and sent them a shout of defiance, which was returned, of course with interest. still he felt that his chance of escape was poor. he was becoming exhausted by the constant and violent exertion that was necessary in order to make head against the stream. the savages knew this, and bided their time. as he continued to labour slowly up, glynn came to the mouth of a small stream which joined the river. he knew not where it might lead to, but feeling that he could not hold out much longer, he turned into it, without any very definite idea as to what he would attempt next. the stream was sluggish. he advanced more easily, and after a few strokes of the paddle doubled round a point and was hid from the eyes of the negroes, who immediately set up a yell and plunged into the river, intending to swim over; but fortunately it was much too rapid in the middle, and they were compelled to return. we say fortunately, because, had they succeeded in crossing, they would have found glynn in the bushes of the point behind which he had disappeared, in a very exhausted state, though prepared to fight to the last with all the energy of despair. as it was, he had the extreme satisfaction of seeing his enemies, after regaining the right bank, set off at a quick run down the river. he now remembered having seen a place about two miles further down that looked like a ford, and he at once concluded his pursuers had set off to that point, and would speedily return and easily recapture him in the narrow little stream into which he had pushed. to cross the large river was impossible--the canoe would have been swamped in the rapid. but what was to hinder him from paddling close in along the side, and perhaps reach the lake while the negroes were looking for him up the small stream? he put this plan into execution at once; and ailie took a paddle in her small hands and did her utmost to help him. it wasn't much, poor thing; but to hear the way in which glynn encouraged her and spoke of her efforts, one would have supposed she had been as useful as a full-grown man! after a couple of hours' hard work, they emerged upon the lake, and here glynn felt that he was pretty safe, because, in the still water, no man could swim nearly as fast as he could paddle. besides, it was now getting dark, so he pushed out towards a rocky islet on which there were only a few small bushes, resolved to take a short rest there, and then continue his flight under cover of the darkness. while glynn carried ashore some biscuit, which was the only thing in the boat they could eat without cooking, ailie broke off some branches from the low bushes that covered the little rocky islet, and spread them out on a flat rock for a couch; this done, she stood on the top of a large stone and gazed round upon the calm surface of the beautiful lake, in the dark depths of which the stars twinkled as if there were another sky down there. "now, ailie," said glynn, "come along and have supper. it's not a very tempting one, but we must content ourselves with hard fare and a hard bed to-night, as i dare not light a fire lest the negroes should observe it and catch us." "i'm sorry for that," replied the child; "for a fire is _so_ nice and cheery; and it helps to keep off the wild beasts, too, doesn't it?" "well, it does; but there are no wild beasts on such a small rock as this, and the sides are luckily too steep for crocodiles to crawl up." "shall we sleep here till morning?" asked ailie, munching her hard biscuit and drinking her tin pannikinful of cold water with great relish, for she was very hungry. "oh, no!" replied glynn. "we must be up and away in an hour at farthest. so, as i see you're about done with your luxurious supper, i propose that you lie down to rest." ailie was only too glad to accede to this proposal. she lay down on the branches, and after glynn had covered her with a blanket, he stretched himself on a leopard-skin beside her, and both of them fell asleep in five minutes. the mosquitoes were very savage that night, but the sleepers were too much fatigued to mind their vicious attacks. glynn slept two hours, and then he wakened with a start, as most persons do when they have arranged, before going to sleep, to rise at a certain hour. he rose softly, carried the provisions back to the canoe, and in his sleepy condition almost stepped upon the head of a huge crocodile, which, ignorant of their presence, had landed its head on the islet in order to have a snooze. then he roused ailie, and led her, more than half asleep, down to the beach, and lifted her into the canoe, after which he pushed off, and paddled briskly over the still waters of the star-lit lake. ailie merely yawned during all these proceedings; said, "dear me! is it time to--yeaow! oh, i'm _so_ sleepy;" mumbled something about papa wondering what had become of jim scroggles, and about her being convinced that--"yeaow!--the ship must have lost itself among the whales and monkeys;" and then, dropping her head on the leopard-skins with a deep sigh of comfort, she returned to the land of nod. glynn proctor worked so well that it was still early in the morning and quite dark when he arrived at the encampment where they had been made prisoners. his heart beat audibly as he approached the dark landing-place, and observed no sign of his comrades. the moment the bow of the canoe touched the shore, he sprang over the side, and, without disturbing the little sleeper, drew it gently up the bank, and fastened the bow-rope to a tree; then he hurried to the spot where they had slept and found all the fires out except one, of which a few dull embers still remained; but no comrade was visible. it is a felicitous arrangement of our organs of sense, that where one organ fails to convey to our inward man information regarding the outward world, another often steps in to supply its place, and perform the needful duty. we have said that glynn proctor saw nothing of his comrades,--although he gazed earnestly all round the camp--for the very good reason that it was almost pitch-dark; but although his eyes were useless, his ears were uncommonly acute, and through their instrumentality he became cognisant of a sound. it might have been distant thunder, but was too continuous and regular for that. it might have been the distant rumbling of heavy wagons or artillery over a paved road; but there were neither wagons nor roads in those african wilds. it might have been the prolonged choking of an alligator--it might, in fact, have been _anything_ in a region like that, where _everything_, almost, was curious, and new, and strange, and wild, and unaccountable; and the listener was beginning to entertain the most uncomfortable ideas of what it probably was, when a gasp and a peculiar snort apprised him that it was a human snore!--at least, if not a human snore, it was that of some living creature which indulged to a very extravagant degree in that curious and altogether objectionable practice. stepping cautiously forward on tip-toe, glynn searched among the leaves all round the fire, following the direction of the sounds, but nothing was to be found; and he experienced a slight feeling of supernatural dread creeping over him, when a peculiarly loud metallic snore sounded clear above his head. looking up, he beheld by the dull red light of the almost extinct fire, the form of phil briant, half-seated, half-reclining, on the branch of a tree not ten feet from the ground, and clasping another branch tightly with both arms. at that moment, ailie, who had awakened, ran up, and caught glynn by the hand. "hallo! briant!" exclaimed glynn. a very loud snore was the reply. "briant! phil briant, i say; hallo! phil!" shouted glynn. "arrah! howld yer noise will ye," muttered the still sleeping man--"sno--o--o--o--re!" "a fall! a fall!--all hands ahoy! tumble up there, tumble up!" shouted glynn, in the nautical tones which he well knew would have their effect upon his comrade. he was right. they had more than their usual effect on him. the instant he heard them, phil briant shouted--"ay, ay, sir!" and, throwing his legs over the side of what he supposed to be his hammock, he came down bodily on what he supposed to be the deck with a whack that caused him to utter an involuntary but tremendous howl. "oh! och! oh! murther! oh whirra!" he cried, as he lay half-stunned. "oh, it's kilt i am entirely--dead as mutton at last, an' no mistake. sure i might have knowd it--och! worse luck! didn't yer poor owld mother tell ye, phil, that ye'd come to a bad end--she did--" "are ye badly hurt?" said glynn, stooping over his friend in real alarm. at the sound of his voice briant ceased his wails, rose into a sitting posture, shaded his eyes with his hand (a most unnecessary proceeding under the circumstances), and stared at him. "it's me, phil; all right, and ailie. we've escaped, and got safe back again." "it's jokin' ye are," said briant, with the imbecile smile of a man who only half believes what he actually sees. "i'm draimin', that's it. go away, avic, an' don't be botherin' me." "it's quite true, though, i assure you, my boy. i've managed to give the niggers the slip; and here's ailie, too, all safe, and ready to convince you of the fact." phil briant looked at one and then at the other in unbounded amazement for a few seconds, after which he gave a short laugh as if of pity for his own weakness, and his face assumed a mild aspect as he said softly, "it's all a draim, av coorse it is!" he even turned away his eyes for a moment in order to give the vision time to dissipate. but on looking round again, there it was, as palpable as ever. faith in the fidelity of his own eyesight returned in a moment, and phil briant, forgetting his bodily pains, sprang to his feet with a roar of joy, seized ailie in his arms and kissed her, embraced glynn proctor with a squeeze like that of a loving bear, and then began to dance an irish jig, quite regardless of the fact that the greater part of it was performed in the fire, the embers of which he sent flying in all directions like a display of fireworks. he cheered, too, now and then like a maniac--"oh, happy day! i've found ye, have i? after all me trouble, too! hooray! an' wan chair more for luck. av me sowl only don't lape clane out o' me body, it's meself'll be thankful! but, sure--i'm forgittin'--" briant paused suddenly in the midst of his uproarious dance, and seized a burning stick, which he attempted to blow into a flame with intense vehemence of action. having succeeded, he darted towards an open space a few yards off, in the centre of which lay a large pile of dry sticks. to these he applied the lighted brand, and the next instant a glare of ruddy flame leaped upwards, and sent a shower of sparks high above the forest trees into the sky. he then returned, panting a good deal, but much composed, and said--"now, darlints, come an' help me to gather the bits o' stick; somebody's bin scatterin' them all over the place, they have, bad luck to them! an' then ye'll sit down and talk a bit, an' tell me all about it." "but what's the fire for?" asked ailie. "ay, ye may say that," added glynn; "we don't need such a huge bonfire as that to cook our supper with." "och! be aisy, do. it'll do its work; small doubt o' that. the cap'n, poor man, ye know, is a'most deranged, an' they're every one o' them off at this good minute scourin' the woods lookin' for ye. o, then, it's sore hearts we've had this day! an' wan was sent wan way, an' wan another, an' the cap'n his-self he wint up the river, and, before he goes, he says to me, says he, `briant, you'll stop here and watch the camp, for maybe they'll come wanderin' back to it, av they've bin and lost theirselves; an' mind ye don't lave it or go to slape. an' if they do come, or ye hear any news o' them, jist you light up a great fire, an' i'll be on the look-out, an' we'll all on us come back as fast as we can.' now, that's the truth, an' the whole truth, an' nothin' but the truth, as the judge said to the witness when he swore at him." this was a comforting piece of information to glynn and ailie, so, without further delay, they assisted their overjoyed comrade to collect the scattered embers of the fire and boil the kettle. in this work they were all the more energetic that the pangs of hunger were beginning to remind them of the frugal and scanty nature of their last meal. the bonfire did its work effectually. from all parts of the forest to which they had wandered, the party came, dropping in one by one to congratulate the lost and found pair. last of all came captain dunning and tim rokens, for the harpooner had vowed he would "stick to the cap'n through thick and thin." tim kept his word faithfully. through thick tangled brakes and thin mud-swamps did he follow his wretched commander that night until he could scarcely stand for fatigue, or keep his eyes open for sleep; and when the captain rushed into the camp at last, and clasped his sobbing child to his heart, tim rokens rushed in along with him, halted beside him, thrust his hands into his pockets, and looked on, while his eyes blinked with irresistible drowsiness, and his mud-bespattered visage beamed with excessive joy. chapter thirteen. philosophical remarks on "life"--a monkey shot and a monkey found--jacko described. "such is life!" there is deep meaning in that expression, though it is generally applied in a bantering manner to life in all its phases, under all its peculiar and diversified circumstances. taking a particular view of things in general, we may say of life that it is composed of diverse and miscellaneous materials--the grave and the gay; the sad and the comic; the extraordinary and the commonplace; the flat and the piquant; the heavy and the light; the religious and the profane; the bright and the dark; the shadow and the sunshine. all these, and a great deal more, similar as well as dissimilar, enter into the composition of what we familiarly term life. these elements, too, are not arranged according to order, at least, order that is perceptible to our feeble human understandings. that there does exist both order and harmony is undeniable; but we cannot see it. the elements appear to be miscellaneously intermingled--to be accidentally thrown together; yet, while looking at them in detail there seems to us a good deal of unreasonable and chaotic jumble, in regarding them as a whole, or as a series of wholes, it becomes apparent that there is a certain harmony of arrangement that may be termed kaleidoscopically beautiful; and when, in the course of events, we are called to the contemplation of something grand or lovely, followed rather abruptly by something curiously contemptible or absurd, we are tempted to give utterance to the thoughts that are too complicated and deep for rapid analysis, in the curt expression "such is life." the physician invites his friends to a social _reunion_. he chats and laughs at the passing jest, or takes part in the music--the glee, or the comic song. a servant whispers in his ear. ten minutes elapse, and he is standing by the bed of death. he watches the flickering flame; he endeavours to relieve the agonised frame; he wipes the cold sweat from the pale brow, and moistens the dry lips, or pours words of true, earnest, tender comfort into the ears of the bereaved. the contrast here is very violent and sudden. we have chosen, perhaps, the most striking instance of the kind that is afforded in the experience of men; yet such, in a greater or less degree, is life, in the case of every one born into this wonderful world of ours, and such, undoubtedly, it was intended to be. "there is a time for all things." we were made capable of laughing and crying; therefore, these being sinless indulgences in the abstract, we _ought_ to laugh and cry. and one of our great aims in life should be to get our hearts and affections so trained that we shall laugh and cry at the right time. it may be well to remark, in passing, that we should avoid, if possible, doing both at once. now, such being life, we consider that we shall be doing no violence to the harmonies of life if we suddenly, and without further preface, transport the reader into the middle of next day, and a considerable distance down the river up which we have for some time been travelling. here he (or she) will find ailie and her father, and the whole party in fact, floating calmly and pleasantly down the stream in their canoe. "now, this is wot i do enjoy," said rokens, laying down his paddle and wiping the perspiration from his brow; "it's the pleasantest sort o' thing i've known since i went to sea." to judge from the profuse perspiration that flowed from his brow, and from the excessive redness of his face, one would suppose that rokens' experience of "pleasant sort o' things" had not hitherto been either extensive or deep. but the man meant what he said, and a well-known proverb clears up the mystery--"what's one man's meat is another's poison!" hard work, violent physical exertion, and excessive heat were rokens' delight, and, whatever may be the opinion of flabby-muscled, flat individuals, there can be no reasonable doubt that rokens meant it, when he added, emphatically, "it's fuss-rate; tip-top; a on lloyd's, that's a fact!" phil briant, on hearing this, laid down his paddle, also wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his coat, and exclaimed--"ditto, says i." whereupon glynn laughed, and jim scroggles grunted (this being _his_ method of laughing), and the captain shook his head, and said-- "p'r'aps it is, my lads, a pleasant sort o' thing, but the sooner we're out of it the better. i've no notion of a country where the natives murder poor little boys in cold blood, and carry off your goods and chattels at a moment's notice." the captain looked at ailie as he spoke, thereby implying that she was part of the "goods and chattels" referred to. "shure it's a fact; an' without sayin' by yer lave, too," added briant, who had a happy facility of changing his opinion on the shortest notice to accommodate himself to circumstances. "oh, the monkey!" screamed ailie. now as ailie screamed this just as briant ceased to speak, and, moreover, pointed, or appeared to point, straight into that individual's face, it was natural to suppose that the child was becoming somewhat personal--the more so that briant's visage, when wrinkled up and tanned by the glare of a tropical sun, was not unlike to that of a large baboon. but every one knew that ailie was a gentle, well-behaved creature--except, perhaps, when she was seized with one of her gleeful fits that bordered sometimes upon mischief--so that instead of supposing that she had made a personal attack on the unoffending irishman, the boat's crew instantly directed their eyes close past briant's face and into the recesses of the wood beyond, where they saw a sight that filled them with surprise. a large-leaved tree of the palm species overhung the banks of the river and formed a support to a wild vine and several bright-flowering parasitical plants that drooped in graceful luxuriance from its branches and swept the stream, which at that place was dark, smooth, and deep. on the top of this tree, in among the branches, sat a monkey--at least so ailie called it; but the term ape or baboon would have been more appropriate, for the creature was a very large one, and, if the expression of its countenance indicated in any degree the feelings of its heart, also a very fierce one--an exceedingly ferocious one indeed. this monkey's face was as black as coal, and its two deep-seated eyes were, if possible, blacker than coal. its head was bald, but the rest of its body was plentifully covered with hair. now this monkey was evidently caught--taken by surprise--for instead of trying to escape as the canoe approached, it sat there chattering and exhibiting its teeth to a degree that was quite fiendish, not to say-- under the circumstances--unnecessary. as the canoe dropped slowly down the river, it became obvious that this monkey had a baby, for a very small and delicate creature was seen clinging round the big one's waist with its little hands grasping tightly the long hair on the mother's sides, its arms being much too short to encircle her body. ailie's heart leapt with an emotion of tender delight as she observed that the baby monkey's face was white and sweet-looking; yes, we might even go the length of saying that, for a monkey, it was actually pretty. but it had a subdued, sorrowful look that was really touching to behold. it seemed as though that infantine monkey had, in the course of its brief career, been subjected to every species of affliction, to every imaginable kind of heart-crushing sorrow, and had remained deeply meek and humble under it all. only for one brief instant did a different expression cross its melancholy face. that was when it first caught sight of the canoe. then it exposed its very small teeth and gums after the fashion of its mother; but repentance seemed to follow instantly, for the sad look, mixed with a dash of timidity, resumed its place, and it buried its face in its mother's bosom. at that moment there was a loud report. a bullet whistled through the air and struck the old monkey in the breast. we are glad to say, for the credit of our sailors, that a howl of indignation immediately followed, and more than one fist was raised to smite the trader who had fired the shot. but captain dunning called the men to order in a peremptory voice, while every eye was turned towards the tree to observe the effect of the shot. as for ailie, she sat breathless with horror at the cruelty of the act. the old monkey gave vent to a loud yell, clutched her breast with her hands, sprang wildly into the air, and fell to the ground. her leap was so violent that the young one was shaken off and fell some distance from its poor mother, which groaned once or twice and then died. the baby seemed unhurt. gathering itself nimbly up, it ran away from the men who had now landed, but who stood still, by the captain's orders, to watch its motions. looking round, it observed its mother's form lying on the ground, and at once ran towards it and buried its little face in her breast, at which sight ailie began to cry quietly. in a few seconds the little monkey got up and gently pawed the old one; then, on receiving no sign of recognition, it uttered a faint wail, something like "wee-wee-wee-wee-oo!" and again hid its face in the breast of its dead parent. "ah! the poor cratur," said briant, in a tone of voice that betrayed his emotion. "o, why did ye kill her?" "me ketch 'im?" said bumble, looking inquiringly at the captain. "oh, do!" answered ailie, with a sob. the negro deemed this permission sufficient, for he instantly sprang forward, and throwing a piece of net over the little monkey, secured it. now the way in which that baby monkey struggled and kicked and shrieked, when it found itself a prisoner, was perfectly wonderful to see! it seemed as if the strength of fifty little monkeys had been compressed into its diminutive body, and king bumble had to exert all his strength in order to hold the creature while he carried it into the canoe. once safely there and in the middle of the stream, it was let loose. the first thing it did on being set free was to give a shriek of triumph, for monkeys, like men, when at last _allowed_ to do that which they have long struggled in vain to accomplish, usually take credit for the achievement of their own success. its next impulse was to look round at the faces of the men in search of its mother; but the poor mother was now lying dead covered with a cloth in the bottom of the canoe, so the little monkey turned from one to another with disappointment in its glance and then uttered a low wail of sorrow. glynn proctor affirmed positively that it looked twice at phil briant and even made a motion towards him; but we rather suspect that glynn was jesting. certain it is, however, that it looked long and earnestly at ailie, and there is little doubt that, young though it was, it was able to distinguish something in her tender gaze of affection and pity that proved attractive. it did not, however, accept her invitation to go to her, although given in the most persuasive tones of her silver voice, and when any of the men tried to pat its head, it displayed such a row of sharp little teeth and made such a fierce demonstration of its intention to bite, that they felt constrained to leave it alone. at last ailie held her hand towards it and said-- "won't it come to me, dear, sweet pet? _do_ come; i'll be as kind to you almost as your poor mother." the monkey looked at the child, but said nothing. "come, monkey, dear puggy, _do_ come," repeated ailie, in a still more insinuating voice. the monkey still declined to "come," but it looked very earnestly at the child, and trembled a good deal, and said, "oo-oo-wee; oo-oo-wee!" as ailie did not quite understand this, she said, "poor thing!" and again held out her hand. "try it with a small taste o' mate," suggested briant. "right," said the captain. "hand me the biscuit-bag, glynn. there, now, ailie, try it with that." ailie took the piece of biscuit offered to her by her father, and held it out to the monkey, who advanced with nervous caution, and very slowly, scratching its side the while. putting out its very small hand, it touched the biscuit, then drew back the hand suddenly, and made a variety of sounds, accompanied by several peculiar contortions of visage, all of which seemed to say, "don't hurt me, now; _don't_ deceive me, pray." again it put forth its hand, and took the biscuit, and ate it in a very great hurry indeed; that is to say, it stuffed it into the bags in its cheeks. ailie gave it a bit more biscuit, which it received graciously, and devoured voraciously; whereupon she put forth her hand, and sought to pat the little creature on the head. the attempt was successful. with many slight grins, as though to say, "take care, now, else i'll bite," the small monkey allowed ailie to pat its head and stroke its back. then it permitted her to take hold of its hand, and draw it towards her. in a few minutes it showed evident symptoms of a desire to be patted again, and at length it drew timidly towards the child, and took hold of her hand in both of its delicate pink paws. ailie felt quite tenderly towards the creature, and stroked its head again, whereupon it seemed suddenly to cast aside all fear. it leaped upon her knee, put its slender arms as far round her neck as possible, said "oo-oo-wee!" several times in a very sad tone of voice, and laid its head upon her bosom. this was too much for poor ailie; she thought of the dead mother of this infant monkey, and wept as she stroked its hairy little head and shoulders. from that time forward the monkey adopted ailie as its mother, and ailie adopted the monkey as her child. now the behaviour of that monkey during the remainder of that voyage was wonderful. oh, you know, it was altogether preposterous, to say the very least of it. affection, which displayed itself in a desire to conciliate the favour of every one, was ingrained in its bones; while deception, which was evinced in a constant effort to appear to be intent upon one thing, when it was really bent upon another, was incorporated with its marrow! at first it was at war with every one, excepting, of course, ailie, its adopted mother; but soon it became accustomed to the men, and in the course of a few days would go to any one who called it. phil briant was a particular favourite; so was rokens, with whose black beard it played in evident delight, running its slender fingers through it, disentangling the knots and the matted portions which the owner of the beard had never yet been able to disentangle in a satisfactory way for himself; and otherwise acting the part of a barber and hairdresser to that bold mariner, much to his amusement, and greatly to the delight and admiration of the whole party. to say that that small monkey had a face, would be to assert what was unquestionably true, but what, also, was very far short of the whole truth. no one ever could make up his mind exactly as to how many faces it had. if you looked at it at any particular time, and then shut your eyes and opened them a moment after, that monkey, as far as expression went, had another and a totally different face. repeat the operation, and it had a third face; continue the process, and it had a fourth face; and so on, until you lost count altogether of its multitudinous faces. now it was grave and pensive; anon it was blazing with amazement; again it bristled with indignation; then it glared with anger, and presently it was all serene--blended love and wrinkles. of all these varied expressions, that of commingled surprise and indignation was the most amusing, because these emotions had the effect of not only opening its eyes and its mouth to the form of three excessively round o's, but also raised a small tuft of hair just above its forehead into a bristling position, and threw its brow into an innumerable series of wrinkles. this complex expression was of frequent occurrence, for its feelings were tender and sensitive, so that it lived in the firm belief that its new friends (always excepting ailie) constantly wished to insult it; and was afflicted with a chronic state of surprise at the cruelty, and of indignation at the injustice, of men who could wantonly injure the feelings of so young, and especially so small a monkey. when the men called it, it used to walk up to them with calm, deliberate condescension in its air; when ailie held out her hand, it ran on its two legs, and being eager in its affections, it held out its arms in order to be caught up. as to food, that monkey was not particular. it seemed to be omnivorous. certain it is that it never refused anything, but more than once it was observed quietly to throw away things that it did not relish. once, in an unguarded moment, it accepted and chewed a small piece of tobacco; after which it made a variety of entirely new faces, and became very sick indeed--so sick that its adopted mother began to fear she was about to lose her child; but after vomiting a good deal, and moaning piteously for several days, it gradually recovered, and from that time entertained an unquenchable hatred for tobacco, and for the man who had given it to him, who happened to be jim scroggles. ailie, being of a romantic temperament, named her monkey albertino, but the sailors called him jacko, and their name ultimately became the well-known one of the little foundling, for ailie was not obstinate; so, seeing that the sailors did not or could not remember albertino, she soon gave in, and styled her pet jacko to the end of the chapter, with which piece of information we shall conclude _this_ chapter. chapter fourteen. rencontre with slave-traders--on board again--a start, a misfortune, a ghost story, a mistake, and an invitation to dinner. on the evening of the second day after the capture of jacko, as the canoe was descending the river and drawing near to the sea-coast, much to the delight of everyone--for the heat of the interior had begun to grow unbearable--a ship's boat was observed moored to the wharf near the slave-station which they had passed on the way up. at first it was supposed to be one of the boats of the _red eric_, but on a nearer approach this proved to be an erroneous opinion. "wot can it be a-doin' of here?" inquired tim rokens, in an abstracted tone of voice, as if he put the question to himself, and therefore did not expect an answer. "no doubt it's a slaver's boat," replied the trader; "they often come up here for cargoes of niggers." "och! the blackguards!" exclaimed phil briant, all his blood rising at the mere mention of the horrible traffic; "couldn't we land, capting, and give them a lickin'? i'll engage meself to put six at laste o' the spalpeens on their beam-ends." "no, phil, we shan't land for that purpose; but we'll land for some gunpowder an' a barrel or two of plantains; so give way, lads." in another moment the bow of the canoe slid upon the mud-bank of the river close to the slaver's boat, which was watched by a couple of the most villainous-looking men that ever took part in that disgraceful traffic. they were evidently portuguese sailors, and the scowl of their bronzed faces, when they saw the canoe approach the landing-place, showed that they had no desire to enter into amicable converse with the strangers. at this moment the attention of the travellers was drawn to a gang of slaves who approached the wharf, chained together by the neck, and guarded by the crew of the portuguese boat. ailie looked on with a feeling of dread that induced her to cling to her father's hand, while the men stood with folded arms, compressed lips, and knitted brows. on the voyage up they had landed at this station, and had seen the slaves in their places of confinement. the poor creatures were apparently happy at that time, and seemed totally indifferent to their sad fate; but their aspect was very different now. they were being hurried away, they knew not whither, by strangers whom they had been taught to believe were monsters of cruelty besides being cannibals, and who had purchased them for the purpose of killing them and eating their bodies. the wild, terrified looks of the men, and the subdued looks and trembling gait of the women showed that they expected no mercy at the hands of their captors. they hung back a little as they drew near to the boat, whereupon one of their conductors, who seemed to be in command of the party, uttered a fierce exclamation in portuguese, and struck several of the men and women indiscriminately severe blows with his fists. in a few minutes they were all placed in the boat, and the crew had partly embarked, when phil briant, unable to restrain himself, muttered between his teeth to the portuguese commander as he passed-- "ye imp o' darkness, av i only had ye in the ring for tshwo minits--jist tshwo--ah thin, wouldn't i polish ye off." "fat you say, sare?" cried the man, turning fiercely towards briant, and swearing at him in bad english. "say, is it? oh, then _there's_ a translation for ye, that's understood in all lingos." phil shook his clenched fist as close as possible to the nose of the portuguese commander without actually coming into contact with that hooked and prominent organ. the man started back and drew his knife, at the same time calling to several of his men, who advanced with their drawn knives. "ho!" cried briant, and a jovial smile overspread his rough countenance as he sprang to a clear spot of ground and rolled up both sleeves of his shirt to the shoulders, thereby displaying a pair of arms that might, at a rapid glance, have been mistaken for a pair of legs--"that's yer game, is it? won't i stave in yer planks! won't i shiver yer timbers, and knock out yer daylights, bless yer purty faces! i didn't think ye had it in ye; come on darlints--toothpicks and all--as many as ye like; the more the better--wan at a time, or all at wance, it don't matter, not the laste, be no manes!" while briant gave utterance to these liberal invitations, he performed a species of revolving dance, and flourished his enormous fists in so ludicrous a manner, that despite the serious nature of the fray the two parties were likely to be speedily engaged in, his comrades could not restrain their laughter. "go it, pat!" cried one. "true blue!" shouted another. "silence!" cried captain dunning, in a voice that enforced obedience. "get into the canoe, briant." "och! capting," exclaimed the wrathful irishman, reproachfully, "sure ye wouldn't spile the fun?" "go to the canoe, sir." "ah! capting dear, jist wan round!" "go to the canoe, i say." "i'll do it all in four minits an' wan quarter, av ye'll only shut yer eyes," pleaded phil. "obey orders, will you?" cried the captain, in a voice there was no mistaking. briant indignantly thrust his fists into his breeches pockets, and rolled slowly down towards the canoe, as--to use one of his own favourite expressions--sulky as a bear with a broken head. meanwhile the captain stepped up to the portuguese sailors and told them to mind their own business, and let _honest_ men alone; adding, that if they did not take his advice, he would first give them a licking and then pitch them all into the river. this last remark caused briant to prick up his ears and withdraw his fists from their inglorious retirement, in the fond hope that there might still be work for them to do; but on observing that the portuguese, acting on the principle that discretion is the better part of valour, had taken the advice and were returning to their own boat, he relapsed into the sulks, and seated himself doggedly in his place in the canoe. during all this little scene, which was enacted much more rapidly than it had been described, master jacko, having escaped from the canoe, had been seated near the edge of the wharf, looking on, apparently, with deep interest. just as the portuguese turned away to embark in their boat, ailie's eye alighted on her pet; at the same moment the foot of the portuguese commander alighted on her pet's tail. now the tails of all animals seem to be peculiarly sensitive. jacko's certainly was so, for he instantly uttered a shriek of agony, which was as quickly responded to by its adopted mother in a scream of alarm as she sprang forward to the rescue. when one unintentionally treads on the tail of any animal and thereby evokes a yell, he is apt to start and trip--in nine cases out of ten he does trip. the portuguese commander tripped upon this occasion. in staggering out of the monkey's way he well-nigh tumbled over ailie, and in seeking to avoid her, he tumbled over the edge of the wharf into the river. the difference between the appearance of this redoubtable slave-buying hero before and after his involuntary immersion was so remarkable and great that his most intimate friend would have failed to recognise him. he went down into the slimy liquid an ill-favoured portuguese, clad in white duck; he came up a worse-favoured monstrosity, clothed in mud! even his own rascally comrades grinned at him for a moment, but their grins changed into a scowl of anger when they heard the peals of laughter that burst from the throats of their enemies. as for briant, he absolutely hugged himself with delight. "och! ye've got it, ye have," he exclaimed, at intervals. "happy day! who'd ha' thought it? to see him tumbled in the mud after all by purty little ailie and jacko. come here to me jacko, owld coon. oh, ye swate cratur!" briant seized the monkey, and squeezed it to his breast, and kissed it-- yes, he actually kissed its nose in the height of his glee, and continued to utter incoherent exclamations, and to perpetrate incongruous absurdities, until long after they had descended the river and left the muddy portuguese and his comrades far behind them. towards evening the party were once more safe and sound on board the _red eric_, where they found everything repaired, and the ship in a fit state to proceed to sea immediately. his majesty king bumble was introduced to the steward, then to the cook, and then to the caboose. master jacko was introduced to the ship's crew and to his quarters, which consisted of a small box filled with straw, and was lashed near the foot of the mizzen-mast. these introductions having been made, the men who had accompanied their commander on his late excursion into the interior, went forward and regaled their messmates for hours with anecdotes of their travels in the wilds of africa. it is well-known, and generally acknowledged, that all sublunary things, pleasant as well as unpleasant, must come to an end. in the course of two days more the sojourn of the crew of the _red eric_ on the coast of africa came to a termination. having taken in supplies of fresh provisions, the anchor was weighed, and the ship stood out to sea with the first of the ebb tide. it was near sunset when the sails were hoisted and filled by a gentle land breeze, and the captain had just promised ailie that he would show her blue water again by breakfast-time next morning, when a slight tremor passed through the vessel's hull, causing the captain to shout, with a degree of vigour that startled everyone on board, "all hands ahoy! lower away the boats, mr millons, we're hard and fast aground on a mud-bank!" the boats were lowered away with all speed, and the sails dewed up instantly, but the _red eric_ remained as immovable as the bank on which she had run aground; there was, therefore, no recourse but to wait patiently for the rising tide to float her off again. fortunately the bank was soft and the wind light, else it might have gone ill with the good ship. there is scarcely any conceivable condition so favourable to quiet confidential conversation and story-telling as the one in which the men of the whale-ship now found themselves. the night was calm and dark, but beautiful, for a host of stars sparkled in the sable sky, and twinkled up from the depths of the dark ocean. the land breeze had fallen, and there was scarcely any sound to break the surrounding stillness except the lipping water as it kissed the black hull of the ship. a dim, scarce perceptible light rendered every object on board mysterious and unaccountably large. "wot a night for a ghost story," observed jim scroggles, who stood with a group of the men, who were seated on and around the windlass. "i don't b'lieve in ghosts," said dick barnes stoutly, in a tone of voice that rendered the veracity of his assertion, to say the least of it, doubtful. "nother do i," remarked nikel sling, who had just concluded his culinary operations for the day, and sought to employ his brief interval of relaxation in social intercourse with his fellows. being engaged in ministering to the animal wants of his comrades all day, he felt himself entitled to enjoy a little of the "feast of reason and the flow of soul" at night: "no more duv i," added phil briant firmly, at the same time hitting his thigh a slap with his open hand that caused all round him to start. "you don't, don't you?" said tim rokens, addressing the company generally, and looking round gravely, while he pushed the glowing tobacco into his pipe with the point of a marline-spike. to this there was a chorus of "noes," but a close observer would have noticed that nearly the whole conversation was carried on in low tones, and that many a glance was cast behind, as if these bold sceptics more than half expected all the ghosts that did happen to exist to seize them then and there and carry them off as a punishment for their unbelief. tim rokens drew a few whiffs of his pipe, and looked round gravely before he again spoke; then he put the following momentous question, with the air of a man who knew he could overturn his adversary whatever his reply should be-- "an' why don't ye b'lieve in 'em?" we cannot say positively that tim rokens put the question to jim scroggles, but it is certain that jim scroggles accepted the question as addressed to him, and answered in reply-- "'cause why? i never seed a ghost, an' nobody never seed a ghost, an' i don't b'lieve in what i can't see." jim said this as if he thought the position incontestable. tim regarded him with a prolonged stare, but for some time said nothing. at last he emitted several strong puffs of smoke, and said-- "young man, did you ever _see_ your own mind?" "no, in course not." "did anybody else ever see it?" "cer'nly not." "then of course you don't believe in it!" added rokens, while a slight smile curled his upper lip. the men chuckled a good deal at jim's confusion, while he in vain attempted to explain that the two ideas were not parallel by any means. at this juncture, phil briant came to the rescue. "ah now, git out," said he. "i agree with jim intirely; an' tim rokens isn't quite so cliver as he thinks. now look here, lads, here's how it stands, 'xactly. jim says he never seed his own mind--very good; and he says as how nobody else niver seed it nother; well, and wot then? don't you observe it's 'cause he han't got none at all to see? he han't got even the ghost of one, so how could ye expect anybody to see it?" "oh, hold yer noise, paddy," exclaimed dick barnes, "an' let's have a ghost story from tim rokens. he b'lieves in ghosts, anyhow, an' could give us a yarn about 'em, i knows, if he likes. come along now, tim, like a good fellow." "ay, that's it," cried briant; "give us a stiff 'un now. don't be afeard to skear us, old boy." "oh, i can give ye a yarn about ghosts, cer'nly," said tim rokens, looking into the bowl of his pipe in order to make sure that it was sufficiently charged to last out the story. "i'll tell ye of a ghost i once seed and knocked down." "knocked down!" cried nikel sling in surprise; "why, i allers thought as how ghosts was spirits, an' couldn't be knocked down or cotched neither." "not at all," replied rokens; "ghosts is made of all sorts o' things-- brass, and iron, and linen, and buntin', and timber; it wos a brass ghost the feller that i'm goin' to tell ye about--" "i say, sling," interrupted briant, "av ghosts wos spirits, as you thought they wos, would they be allowed into the state of maine?" "oh, phil, shut up, do! now then, tim, fire away." "well, then," began rokens, with great deliberation, "it was on a vednesday night as it happened. i had bin out at supper with a friend that night, and we'd had a glass or two o' grog; for ye see, lads, it was some years ago, afore i tuk to temp'rance. i had a long way to go over a great dark moor afore i could git to the place where i lodged, so i clapped on all sail to git over the moor, seein' the moon would go down soon; but it wouldn't do: the moon set when i wos in the very middle of the moor, and as the road wasn't over good, i wos in a state o' confumble lest i should lose it altogether. i looks round in all directions, but i couldn't see nothin'--cause why? there wasn't nothin' to be seen. it was 'orrid dark, i can tell ye. jist one or two stars a-shinin', like half-a-dozen farden dips in a great church; they only made darkness wisible. i began to feel all over a cur'ous sort o' peculiar unaccountableness, which it ain't easy to explain, but is most oncommon disagreeable to feel. it wos very still, too--desperate still. the beatin' o' my own heart sounded quite loud, and i heer'd the tickin' o' my watch goin' like the click of a church clock. oh, it was awful!" at this point in the story the men crept closer together, and listened with intense earnestness. "suddently," continued rokens--"for things in sich circumstances always comes suddently--suddently i seed somethin' black jump up right ahead o' me." here rokens paused. "wot was it?" inquired gurney, in a solemn whisper. "it was," resumed rokens slowly, "the stump of a old tree." "oh, i thought it had been the ghost," said gurney, somewhat relieved, for that fat little jack-tar fully believed in apparitions, and always listened to a ghost story in fear and trembling. "no it wasn't the ghost; it was the stump of a tree. well, i set sail again, an' presently i sees a great white thing risin' up ahead o' me." "hah! _that_ was it," whispered gurney. "no, that wasn't it," retorted rokens; "that was a hinn, a white-painted hinn, as stood by the roadside, and right glad wos i to see it, i can tell ye, shipmates, for i wos gittin' tired as well as frightened. i soon roused the landlord by kickin' at the door till it nearly comed off its hinges; and arter gettin' another glass o' grog, i axed the landlord to show me my bunk, as i wanted to turn in. "it was a queer old house that hinn wos. a great ramblin' place, with no end o' staircases and passages. a dreadful gloomy sort o' place. no one lived in it except the landlord, a dark-faced surly fellow as one would like to kick out of his own door, and his wife, who wos little better than his-self. they also had a hostler, but he slept with the cattle in a hout-house. "`ye won't be fear'd,' says the landlord, as he hove ahead through the long passages holdin' the candle high above his head to show the way, `to sleep in the far end o' the house. it's the old bit; the new bit's undergoin' repairs. you'll find it comfortable enough, though it's raither gusty, bein' old, ye see; but the weather ain't cold, so ye won't mind it.' "`oh! niver a bit,' says i, quite bold like; `i don't care a rap for nothin'. there ain't no ghosts, is there?' "`well, i'm not sure; many travellers wot has stayed here has said to me they've seed 'em, particklerly in the old part o' the buildin', but they seems to be quite harmless, and never hurts any one as lets 'em alone. i never seed 'em myself, an' there's cer'nly not more nor half-a-dozen on 'em--hallo!--' "at that moment, shipmates, a strong gust o' cold air came rushin' down the passage we was in, and blow'd out the candle. `ah! it's gone out,' said the landlord; `just wait here a moment, and i'll light it;' and with that he shuffled off, and left me in the blackest and most thickest darkness i ever wos in in all my life. i didn't dare to move, for i didn't know the channels, d'ye see, and might ha' run myself aground or against the rocks in no time. the wind came moanin' down the passage; as if all the six ghosts the landlord mentioned, and a dozen or two o' their friends besides, was a-dyin' of stommick-complaint. i'm not easy frightened, lads, but my knees did feel as if the bones in 'em had turned to water, and my hair began to git up on end, for i felt it risin'. suddenly i saw somethin' comin' along the passage towards me--" "that's the ghost, _now_," interrupted gurney, in a tremulous whisper. rokens paused, and regarded his fat shipmate with a look of contemptuous pity; then turning to the others, he said-- "it wos _the landlord_, a-comin' back with the candle. he begged pardon for leavin' me in the dark so long, and led the way to a room at the far end o' the passage. it was a big, old-fashioned room, with a treemendius high ceiling, and no furniture, 'cept one chair, one small table, and a low camp-bed in a corner. `here's your room,' says the landlord; `it's well-aired. i may as well mention that the latch of the door ain't just the thing. it sometimes blows open with a bang, but when you know it may happen, you can be on the look-out for it, you know, and so you'll not be taken by surprise. good-night.' with that the fellow set the candle down on the small table at the bedside, and left me to my cogitations. i heerd his footsteps echoin' as he went clankin' along the passages; then they died away, an' i was alone. "now, i tell ye wot it is, shipmates; i've bin in miny a fix, but i niver wos in sich a fix as that. the room was empty and big; so big that the candle could only light up about a quarter of it, leavin' the rest in gloom. there was one or two old picturs on the walls; one on 'em a portrait of a old admiral, with a blue coat and brass buttons and white veskit. it hung just opposite the fut o' my bunk, an' i could hardly make it out, but i saw that the admiral kep his eye on me wheriver i turned or moved about the room, an' twice or thrice, if not more, i saw him wink with his weather eye. yes, he winked as plain as i do myself. says i to myself, says i, `tim rokens, you're a british tar, an' a whaler, an' a harpooner; so, tim, my boy, don't you go for to be a babby.' "with that i smoked a pipe, and took off my clo's, and tumbled in, and feeling a little bolder by this time, i blew out the candle. in gittin' into bed i knocked over the snuffers, w'ich fell with an awful clatter, and my heart lep' into my mouth as i lep' under the blankets, and kivered up my head. howsever, i was uncommon tired, so before my head was well on the pillow, i went off to sleep. "how long i slep' i can't go for to say, but w'en i wakened it wos pitch-dark. i could only just make out the winder by the pale starlight that shone through it, but the moment i set my two eyes on it, wot does i see? i seed a sight that made the hair on my head stand on end, and my flesh creep up like a muffin. it was a--" "a ghost!" whispered gurney, while his eyes almost started out of his head. before tim rokens could reply, something fell with a heavy flop from the yard over their heads right in among the men, and vanished with a shriek. it was jacko, who, in his nocturnal rambles in the rigging, had been shaken off the yard on which he was perched, by a sudden lurch of the vessel as the tide began to move her about. at any time such an event would have been startling, but at such a time as this it was horrifying. the men recoiled with sharp cries of terror, and then burst into laughter as they observed what it was that had fallen amongst them. but the laughter was subdued, and by no means hearty. "i'll be the death o' that brute yet," said gurney, wiping the perspiration from his forehead; "but go on, rokens; what was it you saw?" "it _was_ the ghost," replied rokens, as the men gathered round him again--"a long, thin ghost, standin' at my bedside. the light was so dim that i couldn't well make it out, but i saw that it was white, or pale-like, and that it had on a pointed cap, like the cap o' an old witch. i thought i should ha' died outright, and i lay for full five minits tremblin' like a leaf and starin' full in its face. at last i started up in despair, not knowin' well wot to do; and the moment i did so the ghost disappeared. "i thought this was very odd, but you may be sure i didn't find fault with it; so after lookin' all round very careful to make quite sure that it was gone, i lay down again on my back. well, would ye b'lieve it, shipmates, at that same moment up starts the ghost again as bold as iver? and up starts i in a fright; but the moment i was up the ghost was gone. `now, tim rokens,' says i to myself, always keepin' my eye on the spot where i'd last seed the ghost, `this _is_ queer; this is quite remarkable. you're dreamin', my lad, an' the sooner ye put a stop to that 'ere sort o' dreamin' the better.' "havin' said this, i tried to feel reckless, and lay down again, and up started the ghost again with its long thin white body, an' the pointed cap on its head. i noticed, too, that it wore its cap a little on one side quite jaunty like. so, wheniver i sot up that 'ere ghost disappeared, and wheniver i lay down it bolted up again close beside me. at last i lost my temper, and i shouts out quite loud, `shiver my timbers,' says i, `ghost or no ghost, i'll knock in your daylights if ye carry on like that any longer;' and with that i up fist and let drive straight out at the spot where its bread-basket should ha' bin. down it went, that ghost did, with a clatter that made the old room echo like an empty church. i guv it a rap, i did, sich as it hadn't had since it was born--if ghosts be born at all--an' my knuckles paid for it, too, for they was skinned all up; then i lay down tremblin', and then, i dun know how it was, i went to sleep. "next mornin' i got up to look for the ghost, and, sure enough, i found his _remains_! his pale body lay in a far corner o' the room doubled up and smashed to bits, and his pointed cap lay in another corner almost flat. that ghost," concluded rokens, with slow emphasis--"that ghost was the _candle_, it wos!" "the candle!" exclaimed several of the men in surprise. "yes, the candle, and brass candlestick with the stinguisher a-top o't. ye see, lads, the candle stood close to the side o' my bed on the table, an' when i woke up and i saw it there, it seemed to me like a big thing in the middle o' the room, instead o' a little thing close to my nose; an' when i sot up in my bed, of coorse i looked right over the top of it and saw nothin'; an' when i lay down, of coorse it rose up in the very same place. an', let me tell you, shipmates," added tim, in conclusion, with the air of a philosopher, "_all_ ghosts is o' the same sort. they're most of 'em made o' wood or brass, or some sich stuff, as i've good cause to remimber, for i had to pay the price o' that 'ere ghost before i left that there hinn on the lonesome moor, and for the washin' of the blankets, too, as wos all kivered with blood nixt mornin' from my smashed knuckles. there's a morial contained in most things, lads, if ye only try for to find it out; an' the morial of my story is this-- don't ye go for to b'lieve that everything ye don't 'xactly understand is a ghost until ye've got to know more about it." while tim rokens was thus recounting his ghostly experiences, and moralising thereon, for the benefit of his comrades, the silent tide was stealthily creeping up the sides of the _red eric_, and placing her gradually on an even keel. at the same time a british man-of-war was creeping down upon that innocent vessel with the murderous intention of blowing her out of the water, if possible. in order to explain this latter fact, we must remind the reader of the boat and crew of the portuguese slaver which was encountered by the party of excursionists on their trip down the river. the vessel to which that boat belonged had been for several weeks previous creeping about off the coast, watching her opportunity to ship a cargo of slaves, and at the same time to avoid falling into the hands of a british cruiser which was stationed on the african coast to prevent the villainous traffic. the portuguese ship, which was very similar in size and shape to the _red eric_, had hitherto managed to elude the cruiser, and had succeeded in taking a number of slaves on board ere she was discovered. the cruiser gave chase to her on the same afternoon as that on which the _red eric_ grounded on the mud-bank off the mouth of the river. darkness, however, favoured the slaver, and when the land breeze failed, she was lost sight of in the intricacies of the navigation at that part of the coast. towards morning, while it was yet dark, the _red eric_ floated, and captain dunning, who had paced the deck all night with a somewhat impatient tread, called to the mate--"now, mr millons, man the boats, and let some of the hands stand-by to trim the sails to the first puff of wind." "ay, ay, sir," answered the mate, as he sprang to obey. now it is a curious fact, that at that identical moment the captain of the cruiser addressed his first lieutenant in precisely the same words, for he had caught a glimpse of the whaler's topmasts against the dark sky, and mistook them, very naturally, for those of the slaver. in a few seconds the man-of-war was in full pursuit. "i say, dr hopley," remarked captain dunning, as he gazed intently into the gloom astern, "did you not hear voices? and, as i live, there's a large ship bearing right down on us!" "it must be a slaver," replied the doctor; "probably the one that owned the boat we saw up the river." "ship on the larboard bow!" shouted the look-out on the forecastle. "hallo! ships ahead and astern!" remarked the captain, in surprise. "there seems to be a `school' of 'em in these waters." at this moment the oars of the boats belonging to the ship astern were heard distinctly, and a light puff of wind at the same time bulged out the sails of the _red eric_, which instantly forged ahead. "ship ahoy!" shouted a voice from the boats astern in a tone of authority; "heave-to, you rascal, or i'll sink you!" captain dunning turned to the doctor with a look of intense surprise. "why, doctor, that's the usual hail of a pirate, or something like it. what it can be doing here is past my comprehension. i would as soon expect to find a whale in a wash-tub as a black flag in these waters! port, port a little" (turning to the steersman)--"steady--so. we must run for it, anyhow, for we're in no fightin' trim. the best answer to give to such a hail is silence." contrary to expectation the boats did not again hail, but in a few minutes the dark hull of the british cruiser became indistinctly visible as it slipped swiftly through the water before the freshening breeze, and neared the comparatively slow-going whaler rapidly. soon it came within easy range, and while captain dunning looked over the taffrail with a troubled countenance, trying to make her out, the same voice came hoarsely down on the night breeze issuing the same peremptory command. "turn up the hands, mr millons, and serve out pistols and cutlasses. get the carronades on the forecastle and quarterdeck loaded, mr markham, and look alive; we must show the enemy a bold front, whoever he is." as the captain issued these orders, the darkness was for an instant illuminated by a bright flash; the roar of a cannon reverberated over the sea; a round-shot whistled through the rigging of the _red eric_, and the next instant the foretopsail-yard came rattling down upon the deck. immediately after, the cruiser ranged up alongside, and the order to heave-to was repeated with a threat that was calculated to cause the hair of a man of peace to stand on end. the effect on captain dunning was to induce him to give the order-- "point the guns there, lads, and aim high; i don't like to draw first blood--even of a pirate." "ship ahoy! who are you, and where from?" inquired captain dunning, through the speaking-trumpet. "her british majesty's frigate _firebrand_. if you don't heave-to, sir, instantly, i'll give you a broadside. who are you, and where bound?" "whew!" whistled captain dunning, to vent his feelings of surprise ere he replied, "the _red eric_, south sea whaler, outward bound." having given this piece of information, he ordered the topsails to be backed, and the ship was hove-to. meanwhile a boat was lowered from the cruiser, and the captain thereof speedily leaped upon the whaler's quarterdeck. the explanation that followed was not by any means calculated to allay the irritation of the british captain. he had made quite sure that the _red eric_ was the slaver of which he was in search, and the discovery of his mistake induced him to make several rather severe remarks in reference to the crew of the _red eric_ generally and her commander in particular. "why didn't you heave-to when i ordered you," he said, "and so save all this trouble and worry?" "because," replied captain dunning drily, "i'm not in the habit of obeying orders until i know that he who gives 'em has a right to do so. but 'tis a pity to waste time talking about such trifles when the craft you are in search of is not very far away at this moment." "what mean you, sir?" inquired the captain of the cruiser quickly. "i mean that yonder vessel, scarcely visible now on the lee bow, is the slaver, in all likelihood." the captain gave but one hasty glance in the direction pointed to by captain dunning, and next moment he was over the side of the ship, and the boat was flying swiftly towards his vessel. the rapid orders given on board the cruiser soon after, showed that her commander was eagerly in pursuit of the strange vessel ahead, and the flash and report of a couple of guns proved that he was again giving orders in his somewhat peremptory style. when daylight appeared, captain dunning was still on deck, and glynn proctor stood by the wheel. the post of the latter, however, was a sinecure, as the wind had again fallen. when the sun rose it revealed the three vessels lying becalmed within a short distance of each other and several miles off shore. "so, so," exclaimed the captain, taking the glass and examining the other vessels. "i see it's all up with the slaver. serves him right; don't it, glynn?" "it does," replied glynn emphatically. "i hope they will all be hanged. isn't that the usual way of serving these fellows out?" "well, not exactly, lad. they don't go quite that length--more's the pity; if they did, there would be less slave-trading; but the rascals will lose both ship and cargo." "i wonder," said glynn, "how they can afford to carry on the trade when they lose so many ships as i am told they do every year." "you wouldn't wonder, boy, if you knew the enormous prices got for slaves. why, the profits on one cargo, safely delivered, will more than cover the loss of several vessels and cargoes. you may depend on't they would not carry it on if it did not pay." "humph!" ejaculated glynn, giving the wheel a savage turn, as if to express his thorough disapprobation of the slave-trade, and his extreme disgust at not being able, by the strength of his own right arm, at once to repress it. "and who's to pay for our foretopsail-yard?" he inquired, abruptly, as if desirous of changing the subject. "ourselves, i fear," replied the captain. "we must take it philosophically, and comfort ourselves with the fact that it _is_ the foretopsail-yard, and not the bowsprit or the mainmast, that was carried away. it's not likely the captain of the cruiser will pay for it, at any rate." captain dunning was wrong. that same morning he received a polite note from the commander of the said cruiser, requesting the pleasure of his company to dinner, in the event of the calm continuing, and assuring him that the carpenter and the sail-maker of the man-of-war should be sent on board his ship after breakfast to repair damages. captain dunning, therefore, like an honest, straightforward man as he was, admitted that he had been hasty in his judgment, and stated to glynn proctor, emphatically, that the commander of the _firebrand_ was "a trump." chapter fifteen. new scenes--a fight prevented by a whale--a storm--blown off the yardarm--wreck of the "red eric". five weeks passed away, and really, when one comes to consider the matter, it is surprising what a variety of events may be compressed into five weeks; what an amount of space may be passed over, what an immense change of scene and circumstance may be experienced in that comparatively short period of time. men and women who remain quietly at home do not, perhaps, fully realise this fact. five weeks to them does not usually seem either very long or very short. but let those quiet ones travel; let them rush away headlong, by the aid of wind and steam, to the distant and wonderful parts of this wonderful world of ours, and, ten to one, they will afterwards tell you that the most wonderful discovery they had made during their travels, is the fact that a miniature lifetime (apparently) can be compressed into five weeks. five weeks passed away, and in the course of that time the foretopsail-yard of the _red eric_ had been repaired; the _red eric_ herself had passed from equatorial into southern seas; alice dunning had become very sea-sick, which caused her to look uncommonly green in the face, and had got well again, which caused her to become fresh and rosy as the early morning; jacko had thoroughly established his reputation as the most arrant and accomplished thief that ever went to sea: king bumble had been maligned and abused again and again, and over again, despite his protestations of innocence, by grim-faced tarquin, the steward, for having done the deeds which were afterwards discovered to have been committed by jacko; fat little gurney had sung innumerable songs of his own composing, in which he was ably supported by glynn proctor; dr hopley had examined, phrenologically, all the heads on board, with the exception of that of tarquin, who would not submit to the operation on any account, and had shot, and skinned, and stuffed a variety of curious sea-birds, and caught a number of remarkable sea-fish, and had microscopically examined--to the immense interest of ailie, and consequently of the captain--a great many surprising animalcules, called _medusae_, which possessed the most watery and the thinnest possible bodies, yet which had the power of emitting a beautiful phosphoric light at night, so as to cause the whole ocean sometimes to glow as if with liquid fire; phil briant had cracked more jokes, good, bad, and indifferent, than would serve to fill a whole volume of closely-printed pages, and had told more stories than would be believed by most people; tim rokens and the other harpooners had, with the assistance of the various boats' crews, slain and captured several large whales, and nikel sling had prepared, and assisted to consume, as many breakfasts, dinners, and suppers as there are days in the period of time above referred to;--in short, those five weeks, which we thus dismiss in five minutes, might, if enlarged upon, be expanded into material to fill five volumes such as this, which would probably take about five years to write--another reason for cutting this matter short. all this shows how much may be compressed into little space, how much may be done and seen in little time, and, therefore, how much value men ought to attach to little things. five weeks passed away, as we have already remarked, and at the end of that time the _red eric_ found herself, one beautiful sunny afternoon, becalmed on the breast of the wide ocean with a strange vessel, also a whaler, a few miles distant from her, and a couple of sperm-whales sporting playfully about midway between the two ships. jim scroggles on that particular afternoon found himself in the crow's-nest at the masthead, roaring "thar she blows!" with a degree of energy so appalling that one was almost tempted to believe that that long-legged individual had made up his mind to compress his life into one grand but brief minute, and totally exhaust his powers of soul and body in the reiterated vociferation of that one faculty of the sperm-whale. allowance must be made for jim, seeing that this was the first time he had been fortunate enough to "raise the oil" since he became a whaler. the usual scene of bustle and excitement immediately ensued. the men sprang to their appointed places in a moment; the tubs, harpoons, etcetera, were got ready, and in a few minutes the three boats were leaping over the smooth swell towards the fish. while this was taking place on board the _red eric_, a precisely similar scene occurred on board the other whale-ship, and a race now ensued between the boats of the two ships, for each knew well that the first boat that harpooned either of the whales claimed it. "give way, my lads," whispered captain dunning eagerly, as he watched the other boats; "we shall be first--we shall be first; only bend your backs." the men needed not to be urged; they were quite as anxious as their commander to win the races and bent their backs, as he expressed it, until the oars seemed about to break. glynn sat on the after thwart, and did good service on this occasion. it soon became evident that the affair would be decided by the boats of the two captains, both of which took the lead of the others, but as they were advancing in opposite directions it was difficult to tell which was the fleeter of the two. when the excitement of the race was at its height the whales went down, and the men lay on their oars to wait until they should rise again. they lay in anxious suspense for about a minute, when the crew of captain dunning's boat was startled by the sudden apparition of a waterspout close to them, by which they were completely drenched. it was immediately followed by the appearance of the huge blunt head of one of the whales, which rose like an enormous rock out of the sea close to the starboard-quarter. the sight was received with a loud shout, and tim rokens leaped up and grasped a harpoon, but the whale sheered off. a spare harpoon lay on the stern-sheets close to glynn, who dropped his oar and seized it. almost without knowing what he was about, he hurled it with tremendous force at the monster's neck, into which it penetrated deeply. the harpoon fortunately happened to be attached to a large buoy, called by whalers a drogue, which was jerked out of the boat like a cannon-shot as the whale went down, carrying harpoon and drogue along with it. "well done, lad," cried the captain, in great delight, "you've made a noble beginning! now, lads, pull gently ahead, she won't go far with such an ornament as that dangling at her neck. a capital dart! couldn't have done it half so well myself, even in my young days!" glynn felt somewhat elated at this unexpected piece of success; to do him justice, however, he took it modestly. in a few minutes the whale rose, but it had changed its course while under water, and now appeared close to the leading boat of the other ship. by the laws of the whale-fishery, no boat of one vessel has a right to touch a whale that has been struck by the boat of another vessel, so long as the harpoon holds fast and the rope remains unbroken, or so long as the float to which the harpoon is connected remains attached. nevertheless, in defiance of this well-known law, the boat belonging to the captain of the strange ship gave chase, and succeeded in making fast to the whale. to describe the indignation of captain dunning and his men on witnessing this act is impossible. the former roared rather than shouted, "give way, lads!" and the latter bent their backs as if they meant to pull the boat bodily out of the water, and up into the atmosphere. meanwhile all the other boats were in hot pursuit of the second whale, which had led them a considerable distance away from the first. "what do you mean by striking that fish?" shouted captain dunning, when, after a hard pull, he came up with the boat, the crew of which had just succeeded in thrusting a lance deep into a mortal part of the huge animal, which soon after rolled over, and lay extended on the waves. "what right have you to ask?" replied the captain of the strange ship, an ill-favoured, powerful man, whose countenance was sufficient to condemn him in any society, save that of ruffians. "don't you see your drogue has broke loose?" "i see nothing of the sort. it's fast at this moment; so you'll be good enough to cut loose and take yourself off as fast as you please." to this the other made no reply, but, turning to his men, said: "make fast there, lads; signal the other boats, and pull away for the ship; look sharp, you lubbers." "och! captain dear," muttered phil briant, baring both arms up to the shoulders, "only give the word; _do_, now!" captain dunning, who was already boiling with rage, needed no encouragement to make an immediate attack on the stranger, neither did his men require an order; they plunged their oars into the water, ran right into the other boat, sprang to their feet, seized lances, harpoons, and knives, and in another moment would have been engaged in a deadly struggle had not an unforeseen event occurred to prevent the fray. this was the partial recovery of the whale, which, apparently resolved to make one final struggle for life, turned over and over, lashed the sea into foam, and churned it up with the blood which spouted in thick streams from its numerous wounds. both boats were in imminent danger, and the men sprang to their oars in order to pull out of the range of the monster's dying struggles. in this effort the strange boat was successful, but that of captain dunning fared ill. a heavy blow from the whale's tail broke it in two, and hurled it into the air, whence the crew descended, amid a mass of harpoons, lances, oars, and cordage, into the blood-stained water. the fish sheered away for some distance, dragging the other boat along with it, and then rolled over quite dead. fortunately not one of the crew of the capsized boat was hurt. all of them succeeded in reaching and clinging to the shattered hull of their boat; but there they were destined to remain a considerable time, as the boat of the stranger, having secured the dead fish, proceeded leisurely to tow it towards their ship, without paying the slightest attention to the shouts of their late enemies. a change had now come over the face of the sky. clouds began to gather on the horizon, and a few light puffs of air swept over the sea, which enabled the strange vessel to bear down on her boat, and take the whale in tow. it also enabled the _red eric_ to beat up, but more slowly, towards the spot where their disabled boat lay, and rescue their comrades from their awkward position. it was some time before the boats were all gathered together. when this was accomplished the night had set in and the stranger had made off with her ill-gotten prize, the other whale having sounded, and the chase being abandoned. "now, of all the disgustin' things that ever happened to me, this is the worst," remarked captain dunning, in a very sulky tone of voice, as he descended to the cabin to change his garments, ailie having preceded him in order to lay out dry clothes. "oh! my darling papa, what a fright i got," she exclaimed, running up and hugging him, wet as he was, for the seventh time, despite his efforts to keep her off. "i was looking through the spy-glass at the time it happened, and when i saw you all thrown into the air i cried-- oh! i can't tell you how i cried." "you don't need to tell me, ailie, my pet, for your red, swelled-up eyes speak for themselves. but go, you puss, and change your own frock. you've made it as wet as my coat, nearly; besides, i can't undress, you know, while you stand there." ailie said, "i'm so very, very thankful," and then giving her father one concluding hug, which completely saturated the frock, went to her own cabin. meanwhile the crew of the captain's boat were busy in the forecastle stripping off their wet garments, and relating their adventures to the men of the other boats, who, until they reached the ship, had been utterly ignorant of what had passed. it is curious that tim rokens should open the conversation with much the same sentiment, if not exactly the same phrase, as that expressed by the captain. "now boys," said he, slapping his wet limbs, "i'll tell ye wot it is, of all the aggrawations as has happened to me in my life, this is out o' sight the wust. to think o' losin' that there whale, the very biggest i ever saw--" "ah! rokens, man," interrupted glynn, as he pulled off his jacket, "the loss is greater to me than to you, for that was my _first_ whale!" "true, boy," replied the harpooner, in a tone of evidently genuine sympathy; "i feel for ye. i knows how i should ha' taken on if it had happened to me. but cheer up, lad; you know the old proverb, `there's as good fish in the sea as ever came out o't.' you'll be the death o' many sich yet, i'll bet my best iron." "sure, the wust of it all is, that we don't know who was the big thief as got that fish away with him," said phil briant, with a rueful countenance. "don't we, though!" cried gurney, who had been in the mate's boat; "i axed one o' the men o' the stranger's boats--for we run up close alongside durin' the chase--and he told me as how she was the _termagant_ of new york; so we can be down on 'em yet, if we live long enough." "humph!" observed rokens; "and d'ye suppose he'd give ye the right name?" "he'd no reason to do otherwise. he didn't know of the dispute between the other boats." "there's truth in that," remarked glynn, as he prepared to go on deck; "but it may be a year or more before we foregather. no, i give up all claim to my first fish from this date." "all hands ahoy!" shouted the mate; "tumble up there! reef topsails! look alive!" the men ran hastily on deck, completing their buttoning and belting as they went, and found that something very like a storm was brewing. as yet the breeze was moderate, and the sea not very high, but the night was pitchy dark, and a hot oppressive atmosphere boded no improvement in the weather. "lay out there, some of you, and close reef the topsails," cried the mate, as the men ran to their several posts. the ship was running at the time under a comparatively small amount of canvas; for, as their object was merely to cruise about in those seas in search of whales, and they had no particular course to steer, it was usual to run at night under easy sail, and sometimes to lay-to. it was fortunate that such was the case on the present occasion; for it happened that the storm which was about to burst on them came with appalling suddenness and fury. the wind tore up the sea as if it had been a mass of white feathers, and scattered it high in air. the mizzen-topsail was blown to ribbons, and it seemed as if the other sails were about to share the same fate. the ship flew from billow to billow, after recovering from the first rude shock, as if she were but a dark cloud on the sea, and the spray flew high over her masts, drenching the men on the topsail-yards while they laboured to reef the sails. "we shall have to take down these t'gallant-masts, mr millons," said the captain, as he stood by the weather-bulwarks holding on to a belaying-pin to prevent his being washed away. "shall i give the order, sir?" inquired the first mate. "you may," replied the captain. just as the mate turned to obey, a shriek was heard high above the whistling of the fierce wind. "did you hear that?" said the captain anxiously. "i did," replied the mate. "i fear--i trust--" the remainder of the sentence was either suppressed, or the howling of the wind prevented its being heard. just then a flash of lightning lit up the scene, and a terrific crash of thunder seemed to rend the sky. the flash was momentary, but it served to reveal the men on the yards distinctly. they had succeeded in close-reefing the topsails, and were hurrying down the rigging. the mate came close to the captain's side and said, "did you see, sir, the way them men on the mainyard were scramblin' down?" the captain had not time to reply ere a shout, "man overboard!" was heard faintly in the midst of the storm, and in another instant some of the men rushed aft with frantic haste, shouting that one of their number had been blown off the yard into the sea. "down your helm," roared the captain; "stand-by to lower away the boats." the usual prompt "ay, ay, sir," was given, but before the men could reach their places a heavy sea struck the vessel amidships, poured several tons of water on the decks, and washed all the loose gear overboard. "let her away," cried the captain quickly. the steersman obeyed; the ship fell off, and again bounded on her mad course like a wild horse set free. "it's of no use, sir," said the mate, as the captain leaped towards the wheel, which the other had already gained; "no boat could live in that sea for a moment. the poor fellow's gone by this time. he must be more than half-a-mile astern already." "i know it," returned the captain, in a deep sad voice. "get these masts down, mr millons, and see that everything is made fast. who is it, did you say?" "the men can't tell, sir; one of 'em told me 'e thinks it was young boswell. it was too dark to see 'is face, but 'is figure was that of a stout young fellow." "a stout young fellow," muttered the captain, as the mate hurried forward. "can it have been glynn?" his heart sank within him at the thought, and he would have given worlds at that moment, had he possessed them, to have heard the voice of our hero, whom, almost unwittingly, he had begun to love with all the affection of a father. while he stood gazing up at the rigging, attempting to pierce the thick darkness, he felt his sleeve plucked, and, looking down, observed ailie at his side. "my child," he cried, grasping her by the arm convulsively, "_you_ here! how came you to leave your cabin, dear? go down, go down; you don't know the danger you run. stay--i will help you. if one of those seas comes on board it would carry you overboard like a fleck of foam." "i didn't know there was much danger, papa. glynn told me there wasn't," she replied, as her father sprang with her to the companion-ladder. "how? when? where, child? did glynn speak to you within the last ten minutes?" "yes; he looked down the hatch just as i was coming up, and told me not to be afraid, and said i must go below, and not think of coming on deck; but i heard a shriek, papa, and feared something had happened, so i came to ask what it was. i hope no one is hurt." "my darling ailie," replied the captain, in an agitated voice, "go down to your berth, and pray for us just now. there is not _much_ danger; but in all times of danger, whether great or slight, we should pray to our father in heaven, for we never know what a day or an hour may bring forth. i will speak to you about everything to-morrow; to-night i must be on deck." he kissed her forehead, pushed her gently into the cabin, shut the door, and, coming on deck, fastened the companion-hatch firmly down. in a short time the ship was prepared to face the worst. the topsails were close-reefed; the topgallant-masts sent down on deck; the spanker and jib were furled, and, soon after, the mainsail and foresail were also furled. the boats were taken in and secured on deck, and the ship went a little more easily through the raging sea; but as the violence of the gale increased, sail had to be further reduced, and at last everything was taken in except the main spencer and foretopmast-staysail. "i wouldn't mind this much," said the captain, as he and the first mate stood close to the binnacle, "if i only knew our exact position. but we've not had an observation for several days, and i don't feel sure of our whereabouts. there are some nasty coral reefs in these seas. did you find out who the poor fellow is yet?" "it's young boswell, i fear, mr markham is mustering the men just now, sir." as he spoke, the second mate came aft and confirmed their fears. the man who had thus been summoned in a moment, without warning, into the presence of his maker, had been a quiet, modest youth, and a favourite with every one on board. at any other time his death would have been deeply felt; but in the midst of that terrible storm the men had no time to think. indeed, they could not realise the fact that their shipmate was really gone. "mr markham," said the captain, as the second mate turned away, "send a hand in to the chains to heave the lead. i don't feel at all easy in my mind, so near these shoals as we must be just now." while the order was being obeyed the storm became fiercer and more furious. bright gleams of lightning flashed repeatedly across the sky, lighting up the scene as if with brightest moonlight, and revealing the horrid turmoil of the raging sea in which the ship now laboured heavily. the rapidity with which the thunder followed the lightning showed how near to them was the dangerous and subtle fluid; and the crashing, bursting reports that shook the ship from stem to stern gave the impression that mountains were being dashed to atoms against each other in the air. all the sails still exposed to the fury of the gale were blown to shreds; the foretopmast and the jib-boom were carried away along with them and the _red eric_ was driven at last before the wind under bare poles. the crew remained firm in the midst of this awful scene; each man stood at his post, holding on by any fixed object that chanced to be within his reach, and held himself ready to spring to obey every order. no voice could be heard in the midst of the howling winds, the lashing sea, and the rending sky. commands were given by signs as well as possible, during the flashes of lightning; but little or nothing remained to be done. captain dunning had done all that a man thoroughly acquainted with his duties could accomplish to put his ship in the best condition to do battle with the storm, and he now felt that the issue remained in the hands of him who formed the warring elements, and whose will alone could check their angry strife. during one of the vivid flashes of lightning the captain observed glynn proctor standing near the starboard gangway, and, waiting for the next flash, he made a signal to him to come to the spot where he stood. glynn understood it, and in a few seconds was at his commander's side. "glynn," my boy, said the latter, "you won't be wanted on deck for some time. there's little to be done now. go down and see what ailie's about, poor thing. she'll need a little comfort. say i sent you." without other reply than a nod of the head, glynn sprang to the companion-hatch, followed by the captain, who undid the fastenings to let him down and refastened them immediately, for the sea was washing over the stern continually. glynn found the child on her knees in the cabin with her face buried in the cushions of one of the sofas. he sat down beside her and waited until she should have finished her prayer; but as she did not move for some time he laid his hand gently on her shoulder. she looked up with a happy smile on her face. "oh, glynn, is that you? i'm so glad," she said, rising, and sitting down beside him. "your father sent me down to comfort you, my pet," said glynn, taking her hand in his and drawing her towards him. "i have got comfort already," replied the child; "i'm so very happy, now." "how so, ailie? who has been with you?" "god has been with me. you told me, glynn, that there wasn't much danger, but i felt sure that there was. oh! i never heard such terrible noises, and this dreadful tossing is worse than ever i felt it--a great deal. so i went down on my knees and prayed that god, for christ's sake would save us. i felt very frightened, glynn. you can't think how my heart beat every time the thunder burst over us. but suddenly--i don't know how it was--the words i used to read at home so often with my dear aunts came into my mind; you know them, glynn, `call upon me in the time of trouble, and i will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.' i don't know where i read them. i forget the place in the bible now; but when i thought of them i felt much less frightened. do you think it was the holy spirit who put them into my mind? my aunts used to tell me that all my _good_ thoughts were given to me by the holy spirit. then i remembered the words of jesus, `i will never leave thee nor forsake thee,' and i felt so happy after that. it was just before you came down. i _think_ we shall not be lost. god would not make me feel so happy if we were going to be lost, would he?" "i think not, ailie," replied glynn, whose conscience reproached him for his ignorance of the passages in god's word referred to by his companion, and who felt that he was receiving rather than administering comfort. "when i came down i did not very well know how i should comfort you, for this is certainly the most tremendous gale i ever saw, but somehow i feel as if we were in less danger now. i wish i knew more of the bible, ailie. i'm ashamed to say i seldom look at it." "oh, that's a pity, isn't it, glynn?" said ailie, with earnest concern expressed in her countenance, for she regarded her companion's ignorance as a great misfortune; it never occurred to her that it was a sin. "but it's very easy to learn it," she added with an eager look. "if you come to me here every day we can read it together. i would like to have you hear me say it off, and then i would hear you." before he could reply the vessel received a tremendous shock which caused her to quiver from stem to stern. "she must have been struck by lightning," cried glynn, starting up and hurrying towards the door. ailie's frightened look returned for a few minutes, but she did not tremble as she had done before. just as glynn reached the top of the ladder the hatch was opened and the captain thrust in his head. "glynn, my boy," said he, in a quick, firm tone, "we are ashore. perhaps we shall go to pieces in a few minutes. god knows. may he in his mercy spare us. you cannot do much on deck. ailie must be looked after till i come down for her. glynn, _i depend upon you_." these words were uttered hurriedly, and the hatch was shut immediately after. it is impossible to describe accurately the conflicting feelings that agitated the breast of the young sailor as he descended again to the cabin. he felt gratified at the trust placed in him by the captain, and his love for the little girl would at any time have made the post of protector to her an agreeable one; but the idea that the ship had struck the rocks, and that his shipmates on deck were struggling perhaps for their lives while he was sitting idly in the cabin, was most trying and distressing to one of his ardent and energetic temperament. he was not, however, kept long in suspense. scarcely had he regained the cabin when the ship again struck with terrific violence, and he knew by the rending crash overhead that one or more of the masts had gone over the side. the ship at the same moment slewed round and was thrown on her beam-ends. so quickly did this occur that glynn had barely time to seize ailie in his arms and save her from being dashed against the bulkhead. the vessel rose again on the next wave, and was hurled on the rocks with such violence that every one on board expected her to go to pieces immediately. at the same time the cabin windows were dashed in, and the cabin itself was flooded with water. glynn was washed twice across the cabin and thrown violently against the ship's sides, but he succeeded in keeping a firm hold of his little charge and in protecting her from injury. "hallo, glynn!" shouted the captain, as he opened the companion-hatch, "come on deck, quick! bring her with you!" glynn hurried up and placed the child in her father's arms. the scene that presented itself to him on gaining the deck was indeed appalling. the first grey streak of dawn faintly lighted up the sky, just affording sufficient light to exhibit the complete wreck of everything on deck, and the black froth-capped tumult of the surrounding billows. the rocks on which they had struck could not be discerned in the gloom, but the white breakers ahead showed too clearly where they were. the three masts had gone over the side one after another, leaving only the stumps of each standing. everything above board--boats, binnacle, and part of the bulwarks--had been washed away. the crew were clinging to the belaying-pins and to such parts of the wreck as seemed likely to hold together longest. it seemed to poor ailie, as she clung to her father's neck that she had been transported to some far-distant and dreadful scene, for scarcely a single familiar object remained by which her ocean home, the _red eric_, could be recognised. but ailie had neither desire nor opportunity to remark on this tremendous change. every successive billow raised the doomed vessel, and let her fall with heavy violence on the rocks. her stout frame trembled under each shock, as if she were endued with life, and shrank affrighted from her impending fate; and it was as much as the captain could do to maintain his hold of the weather-bulwarks and of ailie at the same time. indeed, he could not have done it at all had not glynn stood by and assisted him to the best of his ability. "it won't last long, lad," said the captain, as a larger wave than usual lifted the shattered hull and dashed it down on the rocks, washing the deck from stern to stem, and for a few seconds burying the whole crew under water. "may the almighty have mercy on us; no ship can stand this long." "perhaps the tide is falling," suggested glynn, in an encouraging voice, "and i think i see something like a shore ahead. it will be daylight in half-an-hour or less." the captain shook his head. "there's little or no tide here to rise or fall, i fear. before half-an-hour we shall--" he did not finish the sentence, but looking at ailie with a gaze of agony, he pressed her more closely to his breast. "i think we shall be saved," whispered the child, twining her arms more closely round her father's neck, and laying her wet cheek against his. just then tim rokens crept aft, and said that he saw a low sandy island ahead, and a rocky point jutting out from it close to the bows of the ship. he suggested that a rope might be got ashore when it became a little lighter. phil briant came aft to make the same suggestion, not knowing that rokens had preceded him. in fact, the men had been consulting as to the possibility of accomplishing this object, but when they looked at the fearful breakers that boiled in white foam between the ship's bow and the rocky point, their hearts failed them, and no one was found to volunteer for the dangerous service. "is any one inclined to try it?" inquired the captain. "there's niver a wan of us but 'ud try it, cap'en, _if you gives the order_," answered briant. the captain hesitated. he felt disinclined to order any man to expose himself to such imminent danger; yet the safety of the whole crew might depend on a rope being connected with the shore. before he could make up his mind, glynn, who saw what was passing in his mind, exclaimed--"i'll do it, captain;" and instantly quitting his position, hurried forward as fast as circumstances would permit. the task which glynn had undertaken to perform turned out to be more dangerous and difficult than at first he had anticipated. when he stood at the lee bow, fastening a small cord round his waist, and looking at the turmoil of water into which he was about to plunge, his heart well-nigh failed him, and he felt a sensation of regret that he had undertaken what seemed now an impossibility. he did not wonder that the men had one and all shrunk from the attempt. but he had made up his mind to do it. moreover, he had _said_ he would do it, and feeling that he imperilled his life in a good cause, he set his face as a flint to the accomplishment of his purpose. well was it for glynn proctor that day that in early boyhood he had learned to swim, and had become so expert in the water as to be able to beat all his young companions! he noticed, on looking narrowly at the foaming surge through which he must pass in order to gain the rocky point, that many of the submerged rocks showed their tops above the flood, like black spots, when each wave retired. to escape these seemed impossible--to strike one of them he knew would be almost certain death. "don't try it, boy," said several of the men, as they saw glynn hesitate when about to spring, and turn an anxious gaze in all directions; "it's into death ye'll jump, if ye do." glynn did not reply; indeed, he did not hear the remark, for at that moment his whole attention was riveted on a ledge of submerged rock, which ever and anon showed itself, like the edge of a knife, extending between the ship and the point. along the edge of this the retiring waves broke in such a manner as to form what appeared to be dead water-tossed, indeed, and foam-clad, but not apparently in progressive motion. glynn made up his mind in an instant, and just as the first mate came forward with an order from the captain that he was on no account to make the rash attempt, he sprang with his utmost force off the ship's side and sank in the raging sea. words cannot describe the intense feeling of suspense with which the men on the lee bow gazed at the noble-hearted boy as he rose and buffeted with the angry billows. every man held his breath, and those who had charge of the line stood nervously ready to haul him back at a moment's notice. on first rising to the surface he beat the waves as if bewildered, and while some of the men cried, "he's struck a rock," others shouted to haul him in; but in another second he got his eyes cleared of spray, and seeing the ship's hull towering above his head, he turned his back on it and made for the shore. at first he went rapidly through the surge, for his arm was strong and his young heart was brave; but a receding wave caught him and hurled him some distance out of his course--tossing him over and over as if he had been a cork. again he recovered himself, and gaining the water beside the ledge, he made several powerful and rapid strokes, which carried him within a few yards of the point. "he's safe," said rokens eagerly. "no; he's missed it!" cried the second mate, who, with gurney and dick barnes, payed out the rope. glynn had indeed almost caught hold of the farthest-out ledge of the point when he was drawn back into the surge, and this time dashed against a rock and partially stunned. the men had already begun to haul in on the rope when he recovered, and making a last effort, gained the rocks, up which he clambered slowly. when beyond the reach of the waves he fell down as if he had fainted. this, however, was not the case; he was merely exhausted, as well as confused, by the blows he had received on the rocks, and lay for a few seconds quite still in order to recover strength, during which period of inaction he thanked god earnestly for his deliverance, and prayed fervently that he might be made the means of saving his companions in danger. after a minute or two he rose, unfastened the line from his waist, and began to haul it ashore. to the other end of the small line the men in the ship attached a thick cable, the end of which was soon pulled up, and made fast to a large rock. tim rokens was now ordered to proceed to the shore by means of the rope in order to test it. after this a sort of swing was constructed, with a noose which was passed round the cable. to this a small line was fastened, and passed to the shore. on this swinging-seat ailie was seated, and hauled to the rocks, tim rokens "shinning" along the cable at the same time to guard her from accident. then the men began to land, and thus, one by one, the crew of the _red eric_ reached the shore in safety; and when all had landed, captain dunning, standing in the midst of his men, lifted up his voice in thanksgiving to god for their deliverance. but when daylight came the full extent of their forlorn situation was revealed. the ship was a complete wreck; the boats were all gone, and they found that the island on which they had been cast was only a few square yards in extent--a mere sandbank, utterly destitute of shrub or tree, and raised only a few feet above the level of the ocean. chapter sixteen. the sandbank--the wrecked crew make the best of bad circumstances. it will scarcely surprise the reader to be told that, after the first emotions of thankfulness for deliverance from what had appeared to the shipwrecked mariners to be inevitable death, a feeling amounting almost to despair took possession of the whole party for a time. the sandbank was so low that in stormy weather it was almost submerged. it was a solitary coral reef in the midst of the boundless sea. not a tree or bush grew upon it, and except at the point where the ship had struck, there was scarcely a rock large enough to afford shelter to a single man. without provisions, without sufficient shelter, without the means of escape, and _almost_ without the hope of deliverance, it seemed to them that nothing awaited them but the slow, lingering pains and horrors of death by starvation. as those facts forced themselves more and more powerfully home to the apprehension of the crew,--while they cowered for shelter from the storm under the lee of the rocky point, they gave expression to their feelings in different ways. some sat down in dogged silence to await their fate; others fell on their knees and cried aloud to god for mercy; while a few kept up their own spirits and those of their companions by affecting a cheerfulness which, however, in some cages, was a little forced. ailie lay shivering in her father's arms, for she was drenched with salt water and very cold. her eyes were closed, and she was very pale from exposure and exhaustion, but her lips moved as if in prayer. captain dunning looked anxiously at dr hopley, who crouched beside them, and gazed earnestly in the child's face while he felt her pulse. "it's almost too much for her, i fear," said the captain, in a hesitating, husky voice. the doctor did not answer for a minute or two, then he said, as if muttering to himself rather than replying to the captain's remark, "if we could only get her into dry clothes, or had a fire, or even a little brandy, but--" he did not finish the sentence, and the captain's heart sank within him, and his weather-beaten face grew pale as he thought of the possibility of losing his darling child. glynn had been watching the doctor with intense eagerness, and with a terrible feeling of dread fluttering about his heart. when he heard the last remark he leaped up and cried--"if brandy is all you want you shall soon have it." and running down to the edge of the water, he plunged in and grasped the cable, intending to clamber into the ship, which had by this time been driven higher on the rocks, and did not suffer so much from the violence of the breakers. at the same instant phil briant sprang to his feet, rushed down after him, and before he had got a yard from the shore, seized him by the collar, and dragged him out of the sea high and dry on the land. glynn was so exasperated at this unceremonious and at the moment unaccountable treatment, that he leaped up, and in the heat of the moment prepared to deal the irishman a blow that would very probably have brought the experiences of the "ring" to his remembrance; but briant effectually checked him by putting both his own hands into his pockets, thrusting forward his face as if to invite the blow, and exclaiming-- "och! now, hit fair, glynn, darlint; put it right in betwane me two eyes!" glynn laughed hysterically, in spite of himself. "what mean you by stopping me?" he asked somewhat sternly. "shure, i mane that i'll go for the grog meself. ye've done more nor yer share o' the work this mornin', an' it's but fair to give a poor fellow a chance. more be token, ye mustn't think that nobody can't do nothin' but yeself. it's phil briant that'll shin up a rope with any white man in the world, or out of it." "you're right, phil," said rokens, who had come to separate the combatants. "go aboord, my lad, an' i'll engage to hold this here young alligator fast till ye come back." "you don't need to hold me, tim," retorted glynn, with a smile; "but don't be long about it, phil. you know where the brandy is kept--look alive." briant accomplished his mission successfully, and, despite the furious waves, brought the brandy on shore in safety. as he emerged like a caricature of old neptune dripping from the sea, it was observed that he held a bundle in his powerful grasp. it was also strapped to his shoulders. "why, what have you got there?" inquired the doctor, as he staggered under the shelter of the rocks. "arrah! give a dhrop to the child, an' don't be wastin' yer breath," replied briant, as he undid the bundle. "sure i've brought a few trifles for her outside as well as her in." and he revealed to the glad father a bundle of warm habiliments which he had collected in ailie's cabin, and kept dry by wrapping them in several layers of tarpaulin. "god bless you, my man," said the captain, grasping the thoughtful irishman by the hand. "now, ailie, my darling pet, look up, and swallow a drop o' this. here's a capital rig-out o' dry clothes too." a few sips of brandy soon restored the circulation which had well-nigh been arrested, and when she had been clothed in the dry garments, ailie felt comparatively comfortable, and expressed her thanks to phil briant with tears in her eyes. a calm often succeeds a storm somewhat suddenly, especially in southern latitudes. soon after daybreak the wind moderated, and before noon it ceased entirely, though the sea kept breaking in huge rolling billows on the sandbank for many hours afterwards. the sun, too, came out hot and brilliant, shedding a warm radiance over the little sea-girt spot as well as over the hearts of the crew. human nature exhibits wonderful and sudden changes. men spring from the depths of despair to the very summit, of light-hearted hope, and very frequently, too, without a very obvious cause to account for the violent change. before the day after the storm was far advanced, every one on the sandbank seemed to be as joyous as though there was no danger of starvation whatever. there was, however, sufficient to produce the change in the altered aspect of affairs. for one thing, the warm sun began to make them feel comfortable--and really it is wonderful how ready men are to shut their eyes to the actual state of existing things if they can only enjoy a little present comfort. then the ship was driven so high up on the rocks as to be almost beyond the reach of the waves, and she had not been dashed to pieces, as had at first been deemed inevitable, so that the stores and provisions in her might be secured, and the party be thus enabled to subsist on their ocean prison until set free by some passing ship. under the happy influence of these improved circumstances every one went about the work of rendering their island home more comfortable, in good, almost in gleeful spirits. phil briant indulged in jests which a few hours ago would have been deemed profane, and gurney actually volunteered the song of the "man wot got his nose froze;" but every one declined to listen to it, on the plea that it reminded them too forcibly of the cold of the early morning. even the saturnine steward, tarquin, looked less ferocious than usual, and king bumble became so loquacious that he was ordered more than once to hold his tongue and to "shut up." the work they had to do was indeed of no light nature. they had to travel to and fro between the ship and the rocks on the rope-cable, a somewhat laborious achievement, in order to bring ashore such things as they absolutely required. a quantity of biscuit, tea, coffee, and sugar were landed without receiving much damage, then a line was fastened to a cask of salt beef, and this, with a few more provisions, was drawn ashore the first day, and placed under the shelter of the largest rock on the point. on the following day it was resolved that a raft should be constructed, and everything that could in any way prove useful be brought to the sandbank and secured. for captain dunning well knew that another storm might arise as quickly as the former had done, and although the ship at present lay in comparatively quiet water, the huge billows that would be dashed against her in such circumstances would be certain to break her up and scatter her cargo on the breast of the all-devouring sea. in the midst of all this activity and bustle there sat one useless and silent, but exceedingly grave and uncommonly attentive spectator, namely, jacko the monkey. that sly and sagacious individual, seeing that no one intended to look after him, had during the whole of the recent storm wisely looked after himself. he had ensconced himself in a snug and comparatively sheltered corner under the afterpart of the weather-bulwarks. but when he saw the men one by one leaving the ship, and proceeding to the shore by means of the rope, he began to evince an anxiety as to his own fate which had in it something absolutely human. jacko was the last man, so to speak, to leave the _red eric_. captain dunning, resolving, with the true spirit of a brave commander; to reserve that honour to himself, had seen the last man, he thought, out of the ship, and was two-thirds of the distance along the rope on his way to land, when jim scroggles, who was _always_ either in or out of the way at the most inopportune moments, came rushing up from below, whither he had gone to secure a favourite brass _finger-ring_, and scrambled over the side. it would be difficult to say whether jim's head, or feet, or legs, or knees, or arms went over the side first,--they all got over somehow, nobody knew how--and in the getting over his hat flew off and was lost for ever. seeing this, and feeling, no doubt, the momentous truth of that well-known adage "now or never," master jacko uttered a shriek, bounded from his position of fancied security, and seized jim scroggles firmly by the hair, resolved apparently to live or perish along with him. as to simply clambering along that cable to the shore. jacko would have thought no more of it than of eating his dinner. had he felt so disposed he could have walked along it, or hopped along it, or thrown somersaults along it. but to proceed along it while it was at one moment thirty feet above the sea, rigid as a bar of iron, and the next moment several feet under the mad turmoil of the raging billows--this it was that filled his little bosom with inexpressible horror, and induced him to cling with a tight embrace to the hair of the head of his bitterest enemy! having gained the shore, jacko immediately took up his abode in the warmest spot on that desolate sandbank, which was the centre of the mass of cowering and shivering men who sought shelter under the lee of the rocks, where he was all but squeezed to death, but where he felt comparatively warm, nevertheless. when the sun came out he perched himself in a warm nook of the rock near to ailie, and dried himself, after which, as we have already hinted, he superintended the discharging of the cargo and the arrangements made for a prolonged residence on the sandbank. "och! but yer a queer cratur," remarked briant, as he passed, chucking the monkey under the chin. "oo-oo-oo-ee-o!" replied jacko. "very thrue, no doubt--but i haven't time to spake to ye jist yet, lad," replied briant, with a laugh, as he ran down to the beach and seized a barrel which had just been hauled to the water's edge. "what are you going to do with the wood, papa?" asked ailie. the captain had seized an axe at the moment, and began vigorously to cut up a rough plank which had been driven ashore by the waves. "i'm going to make a fire, my pet, to warm your cold toes." "but my toes are not cold, papa; you've no idea how comfortable i am." ailie did indeed look comfortable at that moment, for she was lying on a bed of dry sand, with a thick blanket spread over her. "well, then, it will do to warm jacko's toes, if yours don't want it; and besides, we all want a cup of tea after our exertions. the first step towards that end, you know, is to make a fire." so saying, the captain piled up dry wood in front of the place where ailie lay, and in a short time had a capital fire blazing, and a large tin kettle full of fresh water boiling thereon. it may be as well to remark here that the water had been brought in a small keg from the ship, for not a single drop of fresh water was found on the sandbank after the most careful search. fortunately, however, the water-tanks of the _red eric_ still contained a large supply. during the course of that evening _a_ sort of shed or tent was constructed out of canvas and a few boards placed against the rock. this formed a comparatively comfortable shelter, and one end of it was partitioned off for ailie's special use. no one was permitted to pass the curtain that hung before the entrance to this little boudoir, except the captain, who claimed a right to do what he pleased, and glynn, who was frequently invited to enter in order to assist its fair occupant in her multifarious arrangements, and jacko, who could not be kept out by any means that had yet been hit upon, except by killing him; but as ailie objected to this, he was suffered to take up his abode there, and, to do him justice, he behaved very well while domiciled in that place. it is curious to note how speedily little children, and men too, sometimes, contrive to forget the unpleasant or the sad, or, it may be, the dangerous circumstances in which they may chance to be placed, while engaged in the minute details incident to their peculiar position. ailie went about arranging her little nest under the rock with as much zeal and cheerful interest as if she were "playing at houses" in her own room at home. she decided that one corner was peculiarly suited for her bed, because there was a small rounded rock in it which looked like a pillow; so glynn was directed to spread the tarpaulin and the blankets there. another corner exhibited a crevice in the rock, which seemed so suitable for a kennel for jacko that the arrangement was agreed to on the spot. we say agreed to, because ailie suggested everything to glynn, and glynn always agreed to everything that ailie suggested, and stood by with a hammer and nails and a few pieces of plank in his hands ready to fulfil her bidding, no matter what it should be. so jacko was sent for to be introduced to his new abode, but jacko was not to be found, for the very good reason that he had taken possession of the identical crevice some time before, and at that moment was enjoying a comfortable nap in its inmost recess. then ailie caused glynn to put up a little shelf just over her head, which he did with considerable difficulty, because it turned out that nails could not easily be driven into the solid rock. after that a small cave at the foot of the apartment was cleaned out and ailie's box placed there. all this and sundry other pieces of work were executed by the young sailor and his little friend with an amount of cheerful pleasantry that showed they had, in the engrossing interest of their pursuit, totally forgotten the fact that they were cast away on a sandbank on which were neither food nor water, nor wood, except what was to be found in the wrecked ship, and around which for thousands of miles rolled the great billows of the restless sea. chapter seventeen. life on the sandbank--ailie takes possession of fairyland--glynn and bumble astonish the little fishes. in order that the reader may form a just conception of the sandbank on which the crew of the _red eric_ had been wrecked, we shall describe it somewhat carefully. it lay in the southern ocean, a little to the west of the longitude of the cape of good hope, and somewhere between and miles to the south of it. as has been already remarked, the bank at its highest point was little more than a few feet above the level of the ocean, the waves of which in stormy weather almost, and the spray of which altogether, swept over it. in length it was barely fifty yards, and in breadth about forty. being part of a coral reef, the surface of it was composed of the beautiful white sand that is formed from coral by the dashing waves. at one end of the bank--that on which the ship had struck--the reef rose into a ridge of rock, which stood a few feet higher than the level of the sand, and stretched out into the sea about twenty yards, with its points projecting here and there above water. on the centre of the bank at its highest point one or two very small blades of green substance were afterwards discovered. so few were they, however, and so delicate, that we feel justified in describing the spot as being utterly destitute of verdure. ailie counted those green blades many a time after they were discovered. there were exactly thirty-five of them; twenty-six were, comparatively speaking, large; seven were of medium size, and two were extremely small--so small and thin that ailie wondered they did not die of sheer delicacy of constitution on such a barren spot. the greater part of the surface of the bank was covered with the fine sand already referred to, but there were one or two spots which were covered with variously-sized pebbles, and an immense number of beautiful small shells. on such a small and barren spot one would think there was little or nothing to admire. but this was not the case. those persons whose thoughts are seldom allowed to fix attentively on any subject, are apt to fall into the mistake of supposing that in this world there are a great many absolutely uninteresting things. many things are, indeed, uninteresting to individuals, but there does not exist a single thing which has not a certain amount of interest to one or another cast of mind, and which will not afford food for contemplation, and matter fitted to call forth our admiration for its great and good creator. we know a valley so beautiful that it has been for generations past, and will probably be for generations to come, the annual resort of hundreds of admiring travellers. the valley cannot be seen until you are almost in it. the country immediately around it is no way remarkable; it is even tame. many people would exclaim at first sight in reference to it, "how uninteresting." it requires a close view, a minute inspection, to discover the beauties that lie hidden there. so was it with our sandbank. ailie's first thoughts were, "oh! how dreary; how desolate!" and in some respects she was right; but she dwelt there long enough to discover things that charmed her eye and her imagination, and caused her sometimes to feel as if she had been transported to the realms of fairyland. we do not say, observe, that the crew of the _red eric_ were ever blessed with such dreams. jim scroggles, for instance, had no eye for the minute beauties or wonders of creation. jim, according to his own assertion, could see about as far through a millstone as most men. he could apostrophise his eye, on certain occasions, and tell it--as though its own power of vision were an insufficient medium of information--that "that _wos_ a stunnin' iceberg;" or that "that _wos_ a gale and a half, fit to tear the masts out o' the ship a'most." but for any less majestic object in nature, jim scroggles had nothing to say either to his eye, or his nose, or his shipmates. as was jim scroggles, so were most of the other men. hence they grumbled a good deal at their luckless condition. but upon the whole they were pretty cheerful--especially at meal-times--and, considering their circumstances, they behaved very well. glynn proctor was a notable exception to the prevailing rule of indifference to small things. by nature he was of a superior stamp of mind to his comrades; besides, he had been better educated; and more than all, he was at that time under the influence of ailie dunning. she admired what she admired; he liked what she liked; he looked with interest at the things which she examined. had ailie sat down beside the stock of an old anchor and looked attentively at it, glynn would have sat down and stared at it too, in the firm belief that there was something there worth looking at! glynn laughed aloud sometimes at himself, to think how deeply interested he had become in the child, for up to that time he had rather avoided than courted the society of children; and he used to say to ailie that the sailors would begin to call her his little sweetheart, if he spent so much of his time with her; to which ailie would reply by asking what a sweetheart was; whereat glynn would laugh immoderately; whereupon ailie would tell him not to be stupid, but to come and play with her! all the sailors, even including the taciturn tarquin, had a tender feeling of regard for the little girl who shared their fortunes at that time, but with the exception of glynn, none were capable of sympathising with her in her pursuits. tim rokens, her father, and dr hopley did to some extent, but these three had their minds too deeply filled with anxiety about their critical position to pay her much attention, beyond the kindest concern for her physical wants. king bumble, too, we beg his pardon, showed considerable interest in her. the sable assistant of nikel sling shone conspicuous at this trying time, for his activity, good-humour, and endurance, and in connection with phil briant, gurney, and jacko, kept up the spirits of the shipwrecked men wonderfully. close under the rocks, on the side farthest removed from the spot where the rude tent was pitched, there was a little bay or creek, not more than twenty yards in diameter, which ailie appropriated and called fairyland! it was an uncommonly small spot, but it was exceedingly beautiful and interesting. the rocks, although small, were so broken and fantastically formed, that when ailie crept close in amongst them, and so placed herself that the view of the sandbank was entirely shut out, and nothing was to be seen but little pools of crystal water and rocklets, with their margin of dazzling white sand, and the wreck of the ship in the distance, with the deep blue sea beyond, she quite forgot where she actually was, and began to wander in the most enchanting daydreams. but when, as often happened, there came towering thick masses of snowy clouds, like mountain peaks and battlements in the bright blue sky, her delight was so great that she could find no words to express it. at such times--sometimes with glynn by her side, sometimes alone--she would sit in a sunny nook, or in a shady nook if she felt too warm, and invite innumerable hosts of fairies to come and conduct her through interminable tracts of pure-white cloud region, and order such unheard-of wild creatures (each usually wanting a tail, or a leg, or an ear) to come out of the dark caves, that had they been all collected in one garden for exhibition to the public, that zoological garden would have been deemed, out of sight, the greatest of all the wonders of the world! when a little wearied with those aerial journeys she would return to "fairyland," and, leaning over the brinks of the pools, peer down into their beautiful depths for hours at a time. ailie's property of fairyland had gardens, too, of the richest possible kind, full of flowers of the most lovely and brilliant hues. but the flowers were scentless, and, alas! she could not pluck them, for those gardens were all under water; they grew at the bottom of the sea! yes, reader, if the land was barren on that ocean islet, the pools there made up for it by presenting to view the most luxuriant marine vegetation. there were forests of branching coral of varied hues; there were masses of fan-shaped sponges; there were groves of green and red sea-weeds; and beds of red, and white, and orange, and striped creatures that stuck to the rocks, besides little fish with bright coloured backs that played there as if they really enjoyed living always under water-- which is not easy for us, you know, to realise! and above all, the medium of water between ailie and these things was so pure and pellucid when no breeze fanned the surface, that it was difficult to believe, unless you touched it, there was any water there at all. while ailie thus spent her time, or at least her leisure time, for she was by no means an idler in that busy little isle, the men were actively engaged each day in transporting provisions from the _red eric_ to the sandbank, and in making them as secure as circumstances would admit of. for this purpose a raft had been constructed, and several trips a day were made to and from the wreck, so that in the course of a few days a considerable stock of provisions was accumulated on the bank. this was covered with tarpaulin, and heavy casks of salt junk were placed on the corners and edges to keep it down. "i'll tell ye wot it is, messmates," remarked gurney, one day, as they sat down round their wood fire to dine in front of their tent, "we're purvisioned for six months at least, an' if the weather only keeps fine i've no objection to remain wotiver." "maybe," said briant, "ye'll have to remain that time whether ye object or not." "by no means, paddy," retorted gurney; "i could swum off to sea and be drownded if i liked." "no ye couldn't, avic," said briant. "why not?" demanded gurney. "'cause ye haven't the pluck," replied phil. "i'll pluck the nose off yer face," said gurney, in affected anger. "no ye won't," cried phil, "'cause av ye do i'll spile the soup by heavin' it all over ye." "oh!" exclaimed gurney, with a look of horror, "listen to him, messmates, he calls it `_soup_'--the nasty kettle o' dirty water! well, well, it's lucky we hain't got nothin' better to compare it with." "but, i say, lads," interposed jim scroggles, seriously, "wot'll we do if it comes on to blow a gale and blows away all our purvisions?" "ay, boys," cried dick barnes, "that 'ere's the question, as hamlet remarked to his grandfather's ghost; wot is to come on us supposin' it comes on to blow sich a snorin' gale as'll blow the whole sandbank away, carryin' us and our prog overboard along with it?" "wot's that there soup made of?" demanded tim rokens. "salt junk and peas," replied nikel sling. "ah! i thought there was somethin' else in it," said tim, carelessly, "for it seems to perdooce oncommon bad jokes in them wot eats of it." "now, tim, don't you go for to be sorcostic, but tell us a story." "me tell a story? no, no, lads; there's glynn proctor, he's the boy for you. where is he?" "he's aboard the wreck just now. the cap'n sent him for charts and quadrants, and suchlike cooriosities. come, gurney, tell you one if tim won't. how wos it, now, that you so mistook yer trade as to come for to go to sea?" "i can't very well tell ye," answered gurney, who, having finished dinner, had lit his pipe, and was now extended at full length on the sand, leaning on one arm. "ye see, lads, i've had more or less to do with the sea, i have, since ever i comed into this remarkable world--not that i ever, to my knowledge, knew one less coorous, for i never was up in the stars; no more, i s'pose, was ever any o' you. i was born at sea, d'ye see? i don't 'xactly know how i comed for to be born there, but i wos told that i wos, and if them as told me spoke truth, i s'pose i wos. i was washed overboard in gales three times before i comed for to know myself at all. when i first came alive, so to speak, to my own certain knowledge, i wos a-sitting on the top of a hen-coop aboard an east indiaman, roarin' like a mad bull as had lost his senses; 'cause why? the hens wos puttin' their heads through the bars o' the coops, and pickin' at the calves o' my legs as fierce as if they'd suddenly turned cannibals, and rather liked it. from that time i began a life o' misery. my life before that had bin pretty much the same, it seems, but i didn't know it, so it didn't matter. d'ye know, lads, when ye don't know a thing it's all the same as if it didn't exist, an' so, in coorse, it don't matter." "oh!" exclaimed the first mate, who came up at the moment, "'ave hany o' you fellows got a note-book in which we may record that horacular and truly valuable hobserwation?" no one happening to possess a note-book, gurney was allowed to proceed with his account of himself. "ships has bin my houses all along up to this here date. i don't believe, lads as ever i wos above two months ashore at a time all the coorse of my life, an' mostly not as long as that. the smell o' tar and the taste o' salt water wos the fust things i iver comed across--'xcept the line, i comed across that jist about the time i wos born, so i'm told--and the smell o' tar and taste o' salt water's wot i've bin used to most o' my life, and moreover, wot i likes best. one old gentleman as took a fancy to me w'en i wos a boy, said to me, one fine day, w'en i chanced to be ashore visitin' my mother--says he, `my boy, would ye like to go with me and live in the country, and be a gardner?' `wot,' says i, `keep a garding, and plant taters, and hoe flowers an' cabidges?' `yes,' says he, `at least, somethin' o' that sort.' `no, thankee,' says i; `i b'long to the sea, i do; i wouldn't leave that 'ere no more nor i would quit my first love if i had one. i'm a sailor, i am, out and out, through and through--true blue, and no mistake, an' no one need go for to try to cause me for to forsake my purfession, and live on shore like a turnip'--that's wot i says to that old gen'lemen. yes, lads, i've roamed the wide ocean, as the song says, far an' near. i've bin tattooed by the new zealanders, and i've danced with the hottentots, and ate puppy dogs with the chinese, and fished whales in the north seas, and run among the ice near the south pole, and fowt with pirates, and done service on boord of men-o'-war and merchantmen, and junks, and bumboats; but i never," concluded gurney, looking round with a sigh, "i never came for to be located on a sandbank in the middle of the ocean." "no more did any on us," added rokens, "moreover, if we're not picked up soon by a ship o' some sort, we're not likely to be located here long, for we can't live on salt junk for ever; we shall all die o' the scurvy." there was just enough of possible and probable truth in the last remark to induce a feeling of sadness among the men for a few minutes, but this was quickly put to flight by the extraordinary movements of phil briant. that worthy had left the group round the fire, and had wandered out to the extreme end of the rocky point, where he sat down to indulge, possibly in sad, or mayhap hopeful reflections. he was observed to start suddenly up, and gaze into the sea eagerly for a few seconds; then he cut a caper, slapped his thigh, and ran hastily towards the tent. "what now? where away, phil?" cried one of the men. briant answered not, but speedily reappeared at the opening of the tent door with a fishing-line and hook. hastening to the point of rock, he opened a small species of shell-fish that he found there, wherewith he baited his hook, and then cast it into the sea. in a few minutes he felt a twitch, which caused him to return a remarkably vigorous twitch, as it were in reply. the fish and the sailor for some minutes acted somewhat the part of electricians in a telegraph office; when the fish twitched, briant twitched; when the fish pulled and paused, briant pulled and paused, and when the fish held on hard, briant pulled hard, and finally pulled him ashore, and a very nice plump rock-codling he was. there were plenty of them, so in a short time there was no lack of fresh fish, and rokens' fear that they would have to live on salt junk was not realised. fishing for rock-codlings now became one of the chief recreations of the men while not engaged in bringing various necessaries from the wreck. but for many days at first they found their hands fully occupied in making their new abode habitable, in enlarging and improving the tent, which soon by degrees came to merit the name of a hut, and in inventing various ingenious contrivances for the improvement of their condition. it was not until a couple of weeks had passed that time began to hang heavy on their hands and fishing became a general amusement. they all fished, except jacko. even ailie tried it once or twice, but she did not like it and soon gave it up. as for jacko, he contented himself with fishing with his hands, in a sly way, among the provision casks, at which occupation he was quite an adept; and many a nice tit-bit did he fish up and secrete in his private apartment for future use. like many a human thief, jacko was at last compelled to leave the greater part of his ill-gotten and hoarded gains behind him. one day glynn and ailie sat by the margin of a deep pool in fairyland, gazing down into its clear depths. the sun's rays penetrated to the very bottom, revealing a thousand beauties in form and colour that called forth from ailie the most extravagant expressions of admiration. she wound up one of those eloquent bursts by saying-- "oh, glynn, how very, _very_ much i do wish i could go down there and play with the dear, exquisite, darling little fishes!" "you'd surprise them, i suspect," said glynn. "it's rather too deep a pool to play in unless you were a mermaid." "how deep is it, glynn?" "'bout ten feet, i think." "so much? it does not look like it. what a very pretty bit of coral i see over there, close to the white rock; do you see it? it is bright pink. oh, i would like _so_ much to have it." "would you?" cried glynn, jumping up and throwing off his jacket; "then here goes for it." so saying he clasped his hands above his head, and bending forward, plunged into the pool and went straight at the piece of pink coral, head-foremost, like an arrow! glynn was lightly clad. his costume consisted simply of a pair of white canvas trousers and a blue striped shirt, with a silk kerchief round his neck, so that his movements in the water were little, if at all, impeded by his clothes. at the instant he plunged into the water king bumble happened to approach, and while ailie stood, petrified with fear as she saw glynn struggling violently at the bottom of the pool, her sable companion stood looking down with a grin from ear to ear that displayed every one of his white teeth. "don't be 'fraid, missie ally," said the negro; "him's know wot him's doin', ho yis!" before ailie could reply, glynn was on the surface spluttering and brushing the hair from his forehead with one hand, while with the other he hugged to his breast the piece of pink coral. "here--it--ha!--is. my breath--oh--is a'most gone--ailie--catch hold!" cried he, as he held out the coveted piece of rock to the child, and scrambled out of the pool. "oh, thank you, glynn; but why did you go down so quick and stay so long? i got _such_ a fright." "you bin pay your 'spects to de fishes," said bumble, with a grin. "yes, i have, bumble, and they say that if you stare at them any longer with your great goggle eyes they'll all go mad with horror and die right off. have you caught any codlings, bumble?" "yis, me hab, an' me hab come for to make a preeposol to missie ally." "a what, bumble?" "a preeposol--a digestion." "i suppose you mean a suggestion, eh?" "yis, dat the berry ting." "well, out with it." "dis am it. me ketch rock-coddles; well, me put 'em in bucket ob water an' bring 'em to you, missie ally, an' you put 'em into dat pool and tame 'em, an' hab great fun with 'em. eeh! wot you tink?" "oh, it will be _so_ nice. how good of you to think about it, bumble; do get them as quick as you can." bumble looked grave and hesitated. "why, what's wrong?" inquired glynn. "oh, noting. me only tink me not take the trouble to put 'em into dat pool where de fishes speak so imperently ob me. stop, me will go an' ask if dey sorry for wot dey hab say." so saying the negro uttered a shout, sprang straight up into the air, doubled his head down and his heels up, and cleft the water like a knife. glynn uttered a cry something between a yell and a laugh, and sprang after him, falling flat on the water and dashing the whole pool into foam, and there the two wallowed about like two porpoises, to the unbounded delight of ailie, who stood on the brink laughing until the tears ran down her cheeks, and to the unutterable horror, no doubt, of the little fish. the rock-codlings were soon caught and transferred to the pool, in which, after that, neither glynn nor bumble were suffered to dive or swim, and ailie succeeded, by means of regularly feeding them, in making the little fish less afraid of her than they were at first. but while ailie and glynn were thus amusing themselves and trying to make the time pass as pleasantly as possible, captain dunning was oppressed with the most anxious forebodings. they had now been several weeks on the sandbank. the weather had, during that time, been steadily fine and calm, and their provisions were still abundant, but he knew that this could not last. moreover, he found on consulting his charts that he was far out of the usual course of ships, and that deliverance could only be expected in the shape of a chance vessel. oppressed with these thoughts, which, however, he carefully concealed from every one except tim rokens and the doctor, the captain used to go on the point of rocks every day and sit there for hours, gazing out wistfully over the sea. chapter eighteen. matters grow worse and worse--the mutiny--commencement of boat-building, and threatening storms. one afternoon, about three weeks after the _red eric_ had been wrecked on the sandbank, captain dunning went out on the point of rocks, and took up his accustomed position there. habit had now caused him to go to the point with as much regularity as a sentinel. but on the present occasion anxiety was more deeply marked on his countenance than usual, for dark, threatening clouds were seen accumulating on the horizon, an unnatural stillness prevailed in the hot atmosphere and on the glassy sea, and everything gave indication of an approaching storm. while he sat on a low rock, with his elbows on his knees, and his chin resting in his hands, he felt a light touch on his shoulder, and looking round, found ailie standing by his side. catching her in his arms, he pressed her fervently to his heart, and for the first time spoke to her in discouraging tones. "my own darling," said he, parting the hair from her forehead, and gazing at the child with an expression of the deepest sadness, "i fear we shall _never_ quit this dreary spot." ailie looked timidly in her father's face, for his agitated manner, more than his words, alarmed her. "won't we leave it, dear papa," said she, "to go up yonder?" and she pointed to a gathering mass of clouds overhead, which, although heavy with dark shadows, had still a few bright, sunny points of resemblance to the fairy realms in which she delighted to wander in her daydreams. the captain made no reply; but, shutting his eyes, and drawing ailie close to his side, he uttered a long and fervent prayer to god for deliverance, if he should see fit, or for grace to endure with christian resignation and fortitude whatever he pleased to send upon them. when he concluded, and again looked up, dr hopley was standing beside them, with his head bowed upon his breast. "i fear, doctor," said the captain, "that i have broken my resolution not to alarm my dear ailie by word or look. yet why should i conceal from her the danger of our position? her prayers for help ought to ascend, as well as ours, to him who alone can deliver us from evil at any time, but who makes us to _feel_, as well as _know_, the fact at such times as these." "but i am not afraid, papa," said ailie quickly. "i'm never afraid when you are by me; and i've known we were in danger all along, for i've heard everybody talking about it often and often, and i've _always_ prayed for deliverance, and surely it must come; for has not jesus said if we ask anything in his name he will give it to us?" "true, darling; but he means only such things as will do us good." "of course, papa, if i asked for a bad thing, i would not expect him to give me that." "deliverance from death," said the doctor, "is a good thing, yet we cannot be sure that god will grant our prayer for that." "there are worse things than death, doctor," replied the captain; "it may be sometimes better for men to die than to live. it seems to me that we ought to use the words, `if it please the lord,' more frequently than we do in prayer. deliverance from sin needs no such `if,' but deliverance from death does." at this point the conversation was interrupted by tim rokens, who came up to the captain, and said respectfully-- "if ye please, sir, it 'ud be as well if ye wos to speak to the men; there's somethin' like mutiny a-goin' on, i fear." "mutiny! why, what about?" "it's about the spirits. some on 'em says as how they wants to enjoy theirselves here as much as they can, for they won't have much chance o' doin' so ashore any more. it's my belief that fellow tarquin's at the bottom o't." "there's not much spirits aboard the wreck to fight about," said the captain, somewhat bitterly, as they all rose, and hurried towards the hut. "i only brought a supply for medicine; but it must not be touched, however little there is." when the captain came up, he found the space in front of their rude dwelling a scene of contention and angry dispute that bade fair to end in a fight. tarquin was standing before the first mate, with his knife drawn, and using violent language and gesticulations towards him, while the latter stood by the raft, grasping a handspike, with which he threatened to knock the steward down if he set foot on it. the men were grouped round them, some with looks that implied a desire to side with tarquin, while others muttered "shame!" "shame!" cried tarquin, looking fiercely round on his shipmates, "who cried shame? we're pretty sure all on us to be starved to death on this reef; and it's my opinion, that since we haven't got to live long, we should try to enjoy ourselves as much as we can. there's not much spirits aboard, more's the pity; but what there is i shall have. so again i say, who cried `shame?'" "i did," said glynn proctor, stepping quickly forward; "and i invite all who think with me to back me up." "here ye are, me boy," said phil briant, starting forward, and baring his brawny arms, as was his invariable custom in such circumstances. "it's meself as'll stick by ye, lad, av the whole crew should go with that half-caste crokidile." gurney and dick barnes immediately sided with glynn also, but jim scroggles and nikel sling, and, to the surprise of every one, markham, the second mate, sided with the steward. as the opposing parties glanced at each other, glynn observed that, although his side was superior in numbers, some of the largest and most powerful men of the crew were among his opponents, and he felt that a conflict between such men must inevitably be serious. matters had almost come to a crisis when dr hopley and the captain approached the scene of action. the latter saw at a glance the state of affairs, and stepping up to the steward, ordered him at once into the hut. tarquin seemed to waver for a moment under the stern gaze of his commander; but he suddenly swore a terrible oath, and said that he would not obey. "you're no longer in command of us," he said gruffly, "now that you have lost your ship. every man may do what he pleases." "may he?" replied the captain; "then it pleases me to do that!" and, launching out his clenched right hand with all his might, he hit the steward therewith right between the eyes. tarquin went down as if he had been shot, and lay stunned and at full length upon the sand. "now, my lads," cried the captain, turning towards the men, "what he said just now is so far right. having lost my ship, i am no longer entitled to command you; but my command does not cease unless a majority of you choose that it should. tarquin has taken upon himself to decide the question, without asking your opinion, which amounts to mutiny, and mutiny, under the circumstances in which we are placed, requires to be promptly dealt with. i feel it right to say this, because i am a man of peace, as you well know, and do not approve of a too ready appeal to the fists for the settlement of a dispute." "ah, then, more's the pity!" interrupted briant, "for ye use them oncommon well." a suppressed laugh followed this remark. "silence, men, this is no time for jesting. one of our shipmates has, not long since, been taken suddenly from us; it may be that we shall all of us be called into the presence of our maker before many days pass over us. we have much to do that will require to be done promptly and well, if we would hope to be delivered at all, and the question must be decided _now_ whether i am to command you, or every one is to do what he pleases." "i votes for cap'en dunning," exclaimed gurney. "so does i," cried jim scroggles; who, being somewhat weather-cockish in his nature, turned always with wonderful facility to the winning side. "three cheers for the cap'en," cried dick barnes, suiting the action to the word. almost every voice joined in the vociferous cheer with which this proposal was received. "an' wan more for miss ailie," shouted phil briant. even jacko lent his voice to the tremendous cheer that followed, for briant in his energy chanced to tread on that creature's unfortunate tail, which always seemed to be in his own way as well as in that of every one else, and the shriek that he uttered rang high above the laughter into which the cheer degenerated, as some one cried, "ah, pat, trust you, my boy, for rememberin' the ladies!" order having been thus happily restored, and captain dunning having announced that the late attempt at mutiny should thenceforth be buried in total oblivion, a council was called, in order to consider seriously their present circumstances, and to devise, if possible, some means of escape. "my lads," said the captain, when they were all assembled, "i've been ponderin' over matters ever since we were cast away on this bank, an' i've at last come to the conclusion that our only chance of gettin' away is to build a small boat and fit her out for a long voyage. i need not tell you that this chance is a poor one--well-nigh a forlorn hope. had it been better i would have spoken before now, and began the work sooner; but i have lived from day to day in the hope of a ship heaving in sight. this is a vain hope. we are far out of the usual track of all ships here. none come this way, except such as may chance to be blown out of their course, as we were; and even if one did come within sight, it's ten chances to one that we should fail to attract attention on such a low bank as this. "i've had several reliable observations of late, and i find that we are upwards of two thousand miles from the nearest known land, which is the cape of good hope. i propose, therefore, that we should strip off as much of the planking of the wreck as will suit our purpose, get the carpenter's chest landed, and commence work at once. now, what say you? if anyone has a better plan to suggest, i'll be only to glad to adopt it, for such a voyage in so slim a craft as we can build here will be one necessarily replete with danger." "i'll tell ye wot it is, cap'en," said tim rokens, rising up, taking off his cap, and clearing his throat, as if he were about to make a studied oration. "we've not none on us got no suggestions to make wotsomdiver. you've only got to give the word and we'll go to work; an' the sooner you does so the better, for it's my b'lief we'll have a gale afore long that'll pretty well stop work altogether as long as it lasts." the indications in the sky gave such ample testimony to the justness of rokens' observations that no more time was wasted in discussion. dick barnes, who acted the part of ship's carpenter when not otherwise engaged, went out to the wreck on the raft, with a party of men under command of mr millons, to fetch planking and the necessary material for the construction of a boat, while the remainder of the crew, under the captain's superintendence, prepared a place near fairyland for laying the keel. this spot was selected partly on account of the convenient formation of the shore for the launching of the boat when finished, and partly because that would be the lee side of the rocky point when the coming storm should burst. for the latter reason the hut was removed to fairyland, and poor ailie had the mortification in a few hours of seeing her little paradise converted into an unsightly wreck of confusion. alas! how often this is the case in human affairs of greater moment; showing the folly of setting our hearts on the things of earth. it seems at first sight a hard passage, that, in the word of god. "what?" the enthusiastic but thoughtless are ready to exclaim, "not love the world! the bright, beautiful world that was made by god to be enjoyed? not love our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives? not give our warmest affections to all these?" truly, ye hasty ones, if you would but earnestly consider it, you would find that god not only permits, but requires us to love all that is good and beautiful here, as much as we will, as much as we can; but we ought to love himself _more_. if this be our happy condition, then our hearts are not "set on the world"; on the contrary, they are set free to love the world and all that is lovable in it--of which there is very, very much--more, probably than the best of men suppose. else, wherefore does the father love it and care for it so tenderly? but ailie had not set her heart on her possessions on the sandbank. she felt deep regret for a time, it is true, and in feeling thus she indulged a right and natural impulse, but that impulse did not lead to the sin of murmuring. her sorrow soon passed away, and she found herself as cheerful and happy afterwards in preparing for her long, long voyage as ever she had been in watching the gambols of her fish, or in admiring the lovely hues of the weeds and coral rocks in the limpid pools of fairyland. it was a fortunate circumstance that captain dunning set about the preparations for building the boat that afternoon, for the storm burst upon them sooner than had been expected, and long before all the requisite stores and materials had been rafted from the wreck. the most important things, however, had been procured--such as the carpenter's chest, a large quantity of planking, oakum, and cordage, and several pieces of sail cloth, with the requisite thread and needles for making boat sails. still, much was wanting when the increasing violence of the wind compelled them to leave off work. some of the men were now ordered to set about securing such materials as had been collected, while others busied themselves in fixing ropes to the hut and rolling huge masses of coral rock against its fragile walls to steady it. "av ye plaze, sir," said briant to the captain, wiping his forehead as he approached with a lump of tarry canvas which he used in default of a better pocket-handkerchief, "av ye plaze, sir, wot'll i do now?" "do something useful, lad, whatever you do," said the captain, looking up from the hole which he was busily engaged in digging for the reception of a post to steady the hut. "there's lots of work; you can please yourself as to choice." "then i comed fur to suggist that the purvisions and things a-top o' the sandbank isn't quite so safe as they might be." "true, briant; i was just thinking of that as you came up. go and see you make a tight job of it. get rokens to help you." briant hurried off, and calling his friend, walked with him to the top of the sandbank, leaning heavily against the gale, and staggering as they went. the blast now whistled so that they could scarcely hear each other talk. "we'll be blowed right into the sea," shouted tim, as the two reached a pile of casks and cases. "sure, that's me own belaif entirely," roared his companion. "what d'ye say to dig a hole and stick the things in it?" yelled rokens. "we're not fit," screamed phil. "let's try," shrieked the other. to this briant replied by falling on his knees on the lee side of the goods, and digging with his hands in the sand most furiously. tim rokens followed his example, and the two worked like a couple of sea-moles (if such creatures exist) until a hole capable of holding several casks was formed. into this they stowed all the biscuit casks and a few other articles, and covered them up with sand. the remainder they covered with tarpaulin, and threw sand and stones above it until the heap was almost buried out of sight. this accomplished, they staggered back to the hut as fast as they could. here they found everything snugly secured, and as the rocks effectually sheltered the spot from the gale, with the exception of an occasional eddying blast that drove the sand in their faces, they felt comparatively comfortable. lighting their pipes, they sat down among their comrades to await the termination of the storm. chapter nineteen. the storm. a storm in almost all circumstances is a grand and solemnising sight, one that forces man to feel his own weakness and his maker's might and majesty. but a storm at sea in southern latitudes, where the winds are let loose with a degree of violence that is seldom or never experienced in the temperate zones, is so terrific that no words can be found to convey an adequate idea of its appalling ferocity. the storm that at this time burst upon the little sandbank on which the shipwrecked crew had found shelter, was one of the most furious, perhaps, that ever swept the seas. the wind shrieked as if it were endued with life, tore up the surface of the groaning deep into masses and shreds of foam, which it whirled aloft in mad fury, and then dissipated into a thin blinding mist that filled the whole atmosphere, so that one could scarcely see a couple of yards beyond the spot on which he stood. the hurricane seemed to have reached its highest point soon after sunset that night, and a ray of light from the moon struggled ever and anon through the black hurtling clouds, as if to reveal to the cowering seamen the extreme peril of their situation. the great ocean was lashed into a wide sheet of foam, and the presence of the little isle in the midst of that swirling waste of water was indicated merely by a slight circle of foam that seemed whiter than the rest of the sea. the men sat silently in their frail hut, listening to the howling blast without. a feeling of awe crept over the whole party, and the most careless and the lightest of heart among the crew of the _red eric_ ceased to utter his passing jest, and became deeply solemnised as the roar of the breakers filled his ear, and reminded him that a thin ledge of rock alone preserved him from instant destruction. "the wind has shifted a point," said the captain, who had just risen and opened a chink of the rude door of the hut in order to look out. "i see that the keel of the boat is all fast and the planking beside it. the coral rock shelters it just now; but if the wind goes on shifting i fear it will stand a poor chance." "we'd better go out and give it a hextra fastening," suggested mr millons. "not yet. there's no use of exposing any of the men to the risk of being blown away. the wind may keep steady, in which case i've no fear for it." "i dun know," said rokens, who sat beside ailie, close to the embers of their fire, with a glowing cinder from which he re-lighted his pipe for at least the twentieth time that night. "you never can tell wot's a-goin' to turn up. i'll go out, cap'en, if ye like, and see that all's fast." "perhaps you're right, tim; you may make a bolt across to it, and heave another rock or two on the planking if it seems to require it." the seaman rose, and putting aside his pipe, threw off his coat, partly in order that he might present as small a surface to the wind as possible, and partly that he might have a dry garment to put on when he returned. as he opened the little door of the hut a rude gust of wind burst in, filling the apartment with spray, and scattering the embers of the fire. "i feared as much," said the captain, as he and the men started up to gather together the pieces of glowing charcoal; "that shows the wind's shifted another point; if it goes round two points more it'll smash our boat to pieces. look sharp, tim." "lean well against the wind, me boy," cried briant, in a warning voice. thus admonished, rokens issued forth, and dashed across the open space that separated the hut from the low ledge of coral rock behind which the keel of the intended boat and its planking were sheltered. a very few minutes sufficed to show tim that all was fast, and to enable him to place a few additional pieces of rock above the heap in order to keep it down. then he prepared to dart back again to the hut, from the doorway of which his proceedings, were watched by the captain and as many of the men as could crowd round it. just as the harpooner sprang from the shelter of the rock the blast burst upon the bank with redoubled fury, as if it actually were a sentient being, and wished to catch the sailor in its rude grasp and whirl him away. rokens bent his stout frame against it with all his might, and stood his ground for a few seconds like a noble tree on some exposed mountain side that has weathered the gales of centuries. then he staggered, threw his arms wildly in the air, and a moment after was swept from the spot and lost to view in the driving spray that flew over the island. the thing was so instantaneous that the horrified onlookers could scarcely credit the evidence of their eyes, and they stood aghast for a moment or two ere their feelings found vent in a cry of alarm. next instant captain dunning felt himself rudely pushed aside, and briant leaped through the doorway, shouting, as he dashed out-- "if tim rokens goes, it's phil briant as'll go along with him." the enthusiastic irishman was immediately lost to view, and glynn proctor was about to follow, when the captain seized him by the collar, dragged him back, and shut the door violently. "keep back, lads," he cried, "no one must leave the hut. if these two men cannot save themselves by means of their own strong muscles, no human power can save them." glynn, and indeed all of the men, felt this remark to be true, so they sat down round the fire, and looked in each other's faces with the expression of men who half believed they must be dreaming. little was said during the next ten or fifteen minutes; indeed, it was difficult to make their voices heard, owing to the noise of the wind and dashing waves. the captain stood at the door, looking out from time to time with feelings of the deepest anxiety, each moment expecting to see the two sailors struggling back towards the hut; but they did not return. soon the gale increased to such a degree that every one felt, although no one would acknowledge it even to himself, that there was now no hope of their comrades ever returning. the wind shifted another point; and now their lost shipmates were for a time forgotten in the anxieties of their own critical position, for their rocky ledge formed only a partial shelter, and every now and then the hut was shaken with a blast so terrible that it threatened to come down about their ears. "don't you think our house will fall, dear papa?" inquired ailie, as a gust more furious than any that had hitherto passed swept round the rocks, and shook the hut as if it had been made of pasteboard. "god knows, my darling; we are in his hands." ailie tried to comfort herself with the thought that her heavenly father was indeed the ruler of the storm, and could prevent it from doing them harm if he pleased; but as gust after gust dashed against the frail building, and almost shook it down, while the loud rattling of the boards which composed it almost stunned her, an irresistible feeling of alarm crept over her, despite her utmost efforts to control herself. the captain now ordered the men to go out and see that the fastenings to windward and the supports to leeward of the hut remained firm, and to add more of them if possible. he set the example by throwing off his coat and leading the way. this duty was by no means so difficult or dangerous as that which had been previously performed by rokens, for it must be remembered the hut as yet was only exposed to partial gusts of eddying wind, not to the full violence of the storm. it involved a thorough wetting, however, to all who went. in ten minutes the men re-entered, and put on their dry coats, but as no one knew how soon he might again be called upon to expose himself, none thought of changing his other garments. "now, ailie, my pet," said captain dunning, sitting down beside his child on the sandy floor of the hut, "we've done all we can. if the wind remains as it is our house will stand." "but have you not seen rokens or briant?" inquired ailie with an anxious face, while the tears rolled over her cheeks. the captain shook his head, but made no reply, and the men looked earnestly at each other, as if each sought to gather a ray of hope from the countenance of his friend. while they sat thus, a terrible blast shook the hut to its foundation. again and again it came with ever-increasing violence, and then it burst on them with a continuous roar like prolonged thunder. "look out," cried the captain, instinctively clasping ailie in his arms, while the men sprang to their feet. the stout corner-posts bent over before the immense pressure, and the second mate placed his shoulder against one of those on the windward side of the hut, while dick barnes and nikel sling did the same to the other. "it's all up with us," cried tarquin, as part of the roof blew off, and a deluge of water and spray burst in upon them, extinguishing the fire and leaving them in total darkness. at that moment ailie felt herself seized round the waist by a pair of tiny arms, and putting down her hand, she felt that jacko was clinging to her with a tight but trembling grasp. even in that hour of danger, the child experienced a sensation of pleasure at the mere thought that there was one living creature there which looked up to and clung to her for protection; and although she knew full well that if the stout arm of her father which encircled her were removed, her own strength, in their present circumstances, could not have availed to protect herself, yet she felt a gush of renewed strength and courage at her heart when the poor little monkey put its trembling arms around her. "lay your shoulders to the weather-wall, lads," cried the captain, as another rush of wind bore down in the devoted hut. the men obeyed, but their united strength availed nothing against the mighty power that raged without. the wind, as the captain had feared, went round another point, and they were now exposed to the unbroken force of the hurricane. for a few minutes the stout corner-posts of the hut held up, then they began to rend and crack. "bear down with the blast to the lee of the rocks, lads," cried the captain; "it's your only chance; don't try to face it." almost before the words left his lips the posts snapped with a loud crash; the hut was actually lifted off the ground by the wind, and swept completely away, while most of the men were thrown violently to the ground by the wreck as it passed over their heads. the captain fell like the rest, but he retained his grasp of ailie, and succeeded in rising, and as the gale carried him away with irresistible fury he bore firmly down to his right, and gained the eddy caused by the rocks which until now had sheltered the hut. he was safe; but he did not feel secure until he had staggered towards the most sheltered part, and placed his child in a cleft of the rock. here he found gurney and tarquin before him, and soon after glynn came staggering in, along with one or two others. in less than three minutes after the hut had been blown away, all the men were collected in the cleft, where they crouched down to avoid the pelting, pitiless spray that dashed over their heads. it is difficult to conceive a more desperate position than that in which they were now placed, yet there and at that moment a thrill of joy passed through the hearts of most, if not all of them, for they heard a shout which was recognised to be the voice of tim rokens. it came from the rocks a few yards to their right, and almost ere it had died away, rokens himself staggered into the sheltering cleft of rock, accompanied by phil briant. some of the men who had faced the dangers to which they had been exposed with firm nerves and unblanched cheeks, now grew pale, and trembled violently, for they actually believed that the spirits of their lost shipmates had come to haunt them. but these superstitious fears were soon put to flight by the hearty voice of the harpooner, who shook himself like a great newfoundland dog as he came up, and exclaimed-- "why, wot on airth has brought ye all here?" "i think we may say, what has brought _you_ here?" replied the captain, as he grasped them each by the hand and shook them with as much energy as if he had not met them for ten years past. "it's aisy to tell that," said briant, as he crouched down in the midst of the group; "tim and me wos blow'd right across the bank, an' we should no doubt ha' bin blow'd right into the sea, but tim went full split agin one o' the casks o' salt junk, and i went slap agin _him_, and we lay for a moment all but dead. then we crep' in the lee o' the cask, an' lay there till a lull came, when we clapped on all sail, an' made for the shelter o' the rocks, an' shure we got there niver a taste too soon, for it came on to blow the next minit, fit to blow the eyelids off yer face, it did." "it's a fact," added rokens. "moreover, we tried to git round to the hut, but as we wos twice nearly blowed away w'en we tried for to double the point, we 'greed to stay where we wos till the back o' the gale should be broke. but, now, let's hear wot's happened." "the hut's gone," said gurney, in reply. "blowed clean over our heads to--i dun know where." "blowed away?" cried rokens and briant, in consternation. "not a stick left," replied the captain. "an' the boat?" inquired briant. "it's gone too, i fancy; but we can't be sure." "then it's all up, boys," observed briant; "for nearly every morsel o' the prog that wos on the top o' the bank is washed away." this piece of news fell like a thunderbolt on the men, and no one spoke for some minutes. at last the captain said-- "well, lads, we must do the best we can. thank god, we are still alive; so let us see whether we can't make our present quarters more comfortable." setting his men the example, captain dunning began to collect the few boards, and bits of canvas that chanced to have been left on that side of the rocky ledge when the hut was removed to the other side, and with these materials a very partial and insufficient shelter was put up. but the space thus inclosed was so small that they were all obliged to huddle together in a mass. those farthest from the rock were not altogether protected from the spray that flew over their heads, while those nearest to it were crushed and incommoded by their companions. thus they passed that eventful night and all the following day, during which the storm raged with such fury that no one dared venture out to ascertain how much, if any, of their provisions and stores were left to them. during the second night, a perceptible decrease in the violence of the gale took place, and before morning it ceased altogether. the sun rose in unclouded splendour, sending its bright and warm beams up into the clear blue sky and down upon the ocean, which glittered vividly as it still swelled and trembled with agitation. all was serene and calm in the sky, while below the only sound that broke upon the ear was the deep and regular dash of the great breakers that fell upon the shores of the islet, and encircled it with a fringe of purest white. on issuing from their confined uneasy nest in the cleft of the rock, part of the shipwrecked crew hastened anxiously to the top of the bank to see how much of their valuable store of food was left, while others ran to the spot in fairyland where the keel of the new boat had been laid. the latter party found to their joy that all was safe, everything having been well secured; but a terrible sight met the eyes of the other men. not a vestige of all their store remained! the summit of the sandbank was as smooth as on the day they landed there. casks, boxes, barrels--all were gone; everything had been swept away into the sea! almost instinctively the men turned their eyes towards the reef on which the _red eric_ had grounded, each man feeling that in the wrecked vessel all his hope now remained. it, too, was gone! the spot on which it had lain was now washed by the waves, and a few broken planks and spars on the beach were all that remained to remind them of their ocean home! the men looked at each other with deep despondency expressed in their countenances. they were haggard and worn from exposure, anxiety, and want of rest; and as they stood there in their wet, torn garments, they looked the very picture of despair. "there's one chance for us yet, lads," exclaimed tim rokens, looking carefully round the spot on which they stood. "what's that?" exclaimed several of the men eagerly, catching at their comrade's words as drowning men are said to catch at straws. "briant an' me buried some o' the things, by good luck, when we were sent to make all snug here, an' i'm of opinion they'll be here yet, if we could only find the place. let me see." rokens glanced round at the rocks beside which their hut had found shelter, and at the reef where the ship had been wrecked, in order to find the "bearin's o' the spot," as he expressed it. then walking a few yards to one side, he struck his foot on the sand and said, "it should be hereabouts." the blow of his heel returned a peculiar hollow sound, very unlike that produced by stamping on the mere sand. "shure ye've hit the very spot, ye have," cried briant, falling on his knees beside the place; and scraping up the sand with both hands. "it sounds uncommon like a bread-cask. here it is. hurrah! boys, lind a hand, will ye. there now, heave away; but trate it tinderly! shure it's the only friend we've got in the wide world." "you're all wrong, phil," cried gurney, who almost at the same moment began to scrape another hole close by. "it's not our only one; here's another friend o' the same family. bear a hand, lads!" "and here's another!" cried ailie, with a little scream of delight, as she observed the rim of a small keg just peeping out above the sand. "well done, ailie," cried glynn, as he ran to the spot and quickly dug up the keg in question, which, however, proved to be full of nails, to ailie's great disappointment, for she expected it to have turned out a keg of biscuits. "how many casks did you bury?" inquired the captain. "it's meself can't tell," replied briant; "d'ye know, tim?" "three, i think; but we was in sich a hurry that i ain't sartin exactly." "well, then, boys, look here!" continued the captain, drawing a pretty large circle on the sand, "set to work like a band of moles an' dig up every inch o' that till you come to the water." "that's your sort," cried rokens, plunging elbow-deep into the sand at once. "arrah! then, here's at ye; a fair field an' no favour at any price," shouted briant, baring his arms, straddling his legs, and sending a shower of sand behind him that almost overwhelmed gurney, before that stout little individual could get out of the way. the spirits of the men were farther rejoiced by the coming up of the other party, bearing the good news that the keel of the boat was safe, as well as all her planking and the carpenter's tools, which fortunately happened to have been secured in a sheltered spot. from the depths of despair they were all suddenly raised to renewed and sanguine hope, so that they wrought with the energy of gold-diggers, and soon their toil was rewarded by the discovery of that which, in their circumstances, they would not have exchanged for all the golden nuggets that ever were or will be dug up from the prolific mines of australia, california, or british columbia, namely, three casks of biscuit, a small keg of wine, a cask of fresh water, a roll of tobacco, and a barrel of salt junk. chapter twenty. preparations for a long voyage--briant proves that ghosts can drink-- jacko astonishes his friends, and saddens his adopted mother. "wot _i_ say is one thing; wot _you_ say is another--so it is. i dun know w'ich is right, or w'ich is wrong--no more do you. p'raps you is, p'raps i is; anywise we can't both on us be right or both on us be wrong--that's a comfort, if it's nothin' else. wot _you_ say is--that it's morally imposs'ble for a crew sich as us to travel over two thousand miles of ocean on three casks o' biscuit and a barrel o' salt junk. wot _i_ say is--that we can, an', moreover, that morals has nothin' to do with it wotsomediver. now, wot then?" tim rokens paused and looked at gurney, to whom his remarks were addressed, as if he expected an answer. that rotund little seaman did not, however, appear to be thoroughly prepared to reply to "wot then," for he remained silent, but looked at his comrade as though to say, "i'll be happy to learn wisdom from your sagacious lips." "wot then?" repeated tim rokens, assaulting his knee with his clenched fist in a peculiarly emphatic manner; "i'll tell ye wot then, as you may be right and i may be right, an' nother on us can be both right or wrong, i say as how that we don't know nothin' about it." gurney looked as if he did not quite approve of so summary a method of solving such a knotty question, but observing from the expression of rokens' countenance that, though he had paused, that philosopher had not yet concluded, he remained silent. "an', furthermore," continued tim, "it's my opinion--seein' that we're both on us in such a state o' cumblebofubulation, an' don't know nothin'--we'd better go an' ax the cap'en, who does." "_you_ may save yourselves the trouble," observed glynn proctor, who at that moment came up and sat down on the rocks beside them, with a piece of the salt junk that formed an element in the question at issue, in his hand-- "i've just heard the captain give his opinion on that subject, and he says that the boat can be got ready in a week or less, and that, with strict economy, the provisions we have will last us long enough to enable us to make the cape, supposing we have good weather and fair winds. that's _his_ opinion." "i told ye so," said tim rokens. "you did nothin' o' the sort," retorted gurney. "well, if ye come fur to be oncommon strick in the use o' your lingo, i did _not_ 'xactly tell ye so, but i _thought_ so, w'ich is all the same." "it ain't all the same," replied gurney, whose temper seemed to have been a little soured by the prospects before him, "and you don't need to go for to be talkin' there like a great solon as you are." "wot's a solon?" inquired tim. "solon was a man as thought his-self a great feelosopher, but he worn't, he wor an ass." "if i'm like solon," retorted rokens, "you're like a solon-goose, w'ich is an animal as _don't_ think itself an ass, 'cause its too great a one to know it." having thus floored his adversary, the philosophic mariner turned to glynn and said-- "in course we can't expect to be on full allowance." "of course not, old boy; the captain remarked, just as i left him, that we'd have to be content with short allowance--very short allowance indeed." gurney sighed deeply. "how much?" inquired tim. "about three ounces of biscuit, one ounce of salt junk, and a quarter of a pint of water per day." gurney groaned aloud. "you, of all men," said glynn, "have least reason to complain, gurney, for you've got fat enough on your own proper person to last you a week at least!" "ay, a fortnight, or more," added rokens; "an' even then ye'd scarcely be redooced to a decent size." "ah, but," pleaded gurney, "you scarecrow creatures don't know how horrid sore the process o' comin' down is. an' one gets so cold, too. it's just like taking off yer clo's." "sarves ye right for puttin' on so many," said rokens, as he rose to resume work, which he and gurney had left off three-quarters of an hour before, in order to enjoy a quiet, philosophical _tete-a-tete_ during dinner. "it's a bad business, that of the planking not being sufficient to deck or even half-deck the boat," observed glynn, as they went together towards the place where the new boat was being built. "it is," replied rokens; "but it's a good thing that we've got plenty of canvas to spare. it won't make an overly strong deck, to be sure; but it's better than nothin'." "a heavy sea would burst it in no time," remarked gurney. "we must hope to escape heavy seas, then," said glynn, as they parted, and went to their several occupations. the boat that was now building with the most urgent despatch, had a keel of exactly twenty-three feet long, and her breadth, at the widest part, was seven feet. she was being as well and firmly put together as the materials at their command would admit of, and, as far as the work had yet proceeded, she bid fair to become an excellent boat, capable of containing the whole crew, and their small quantity of provisions. this last was diminishing so rapidly, that captain dunning resolved to put all hands at once on short allowance. notwithstanding this, the men worked hard and hopefully; for, as each plank and nail was added to their little bark, they felt as if they were a step nearer home. the captain and the doctor, however, and one or two of the older men, could not banish from their minds the fact that the voyage they were about to undertake was of the most perilous nature, and one which, in any other than the hopeless circumstances in which they were placed at that time, would have been regarded as the most desperate of forlorn hopes. for fourteen souls to be tossed about on the wide and stormy sea, during many weeks, it might be months, in a small open boat, crowded together and cramped, without sufficient covering, and on short allowance of food, was indeed a dreary prospect, even for the men--how much more so for the delicate child who shared their trials and sufferings? captain dunning's heart sank within him when he thought of it; but he knew how great an influence the conduct and bearing of a commander has, in such circumstances, on his men; so he strove to show a smiling, cheerful countenance, though oftentimes he carried a sad and anxious heart in his bosom. to the doctor and tim rokens alone did he reveal his inmost thoughts, because he knew that he could trust them, and felt that he needed their advice and sympathy. the work progressed so rapidly, that in a few days more the boat approached completion, and preparations were being made in earnest for finally quitting the little isle on which they had found a home for so many days. it was observed by the captain that as the work of boat-building drew to a close, glynn proctor continued to labour long after the others had retired to rest, wearied with the toils of the day--toils which they were not now so well able to bear as heretofore, on account of the slight want of vigour caused by being compelled to live on half allowance. one evening the captain went down to the building yard in fairyland, and said to glynn-- "hallo, my boy! at it yet? why, what are you making? a dog-kennel, eh?" "no; not exactly that," replied glynn, laughing. "you'll hardly guess." "i would say it was a house for jacko, only it seems much too big." "it's just possible that jacko may have a share in it," said glynn; "but it's not for him." "who, then? not for yourself, surely!" "it's for ailie," cried glynn gleefully. "don't you think it will be required?" he added, looking up, as if he half feared the captain would not permit his contrivance to be used. "well, i believe it will, my boy. i had intended to get some sort of covering for my dear ailie put up in the stern-sheets; but i did not think of absolutely making a box for her." "ah, you'll find it will be a capital thing at nights. i know she could never stand the exposure, and canvas don't keep out the rain well; so i thought of rigging up a large box, into which she can creep. i'll make air-holes in the roof that will let in air, but not water; and i'll caulk the seams with oakum, so as to keep it quite dry inside." "thank you, my boy, it's very kind of you to take so much thought for my poor child. yet she deserves it, glynn, and we can't be too careful of her." the captain patted the youth on the shoulder, and, leaving him to continue his work, went to see gurney, who had been ailing a little during the last few days. brandy, in small quantities, had been prescribed by the doctor, and, fortunately, two bottles of that spirit had been swept from the wreck. being their whole stock, captain dunning had stowed it carefully away in what he deemed a secret and secure place; but it turned out that some member of the crew was not so strict in his principles of temperance as could be desired; for, on going to the spot to procure the required medicine, it was found that one of the bottles was gone. this discovery caused the captain much anxiety and sorrow, for, besides inflicting on them the loss of a most valuable medicine, it proved that there was a thief in their little society. what was to be done? to pass it over in silence would have shown weakness, which, especially in the circumstances in which they were at that time placed, might have led at last to open mutiny. to discover the thief was impossible. the captain's mind was soon made up. he summoned every one of the party before him, and, after stating the discovery he had made, he said-- "now, lads, i'm not going to charge any of you with having done this thing, but i cannot let it pass without warning you that if i discover any of you being guilty of such practices in future, i'll have the man tied up and give him three dozen with a rope's-end. you know i have never resorted, as many captains are in the habit of doing, to corporal punishment. i don't like it. i've sailed in command of ships for many years, and have never found it needful; but now, more than ever, strict discipline must be maintained; and i tell you, once for all, that i mean to maintain it _at any cost_." this speech was received in silence. all perceived the justice of it, yet some felt that, until the thief should be discovered, they themselves would lie under suspicion. a few there were, indeed, whose well-known and long-established characters raised them above suspicion, but there were others who knew that their character had not yet been established on so firm a basis, and they felt that until the matter should be cleared up, their honesty would be, mentally at least, called in question by their companions. with the exception of the disposition to mutiny related in a previous chapter, this was the first cloud that had risen to interrupt the harmony of the shipwrecked sailors, and as they returned to their work, sundry suggestions and remarks were made in reference to the possibility of discovering the delinquent. "i didn't think it wos poss'ble," said rokens. "i thought as how there wasn't a man in the ship as could ha' done sich a low, mean thing as that." "no more did i," said dick barnes. "wall, boys," observed nikel sling emphatically, "i guess as how that i don't believe it yet." "arrah! d'ye think the bottle o' brandy stole his-self?" inquired briant. "i ain't a-goin' fur to say that; but a ghost might ha' done it, p'raps, a-purpose to get us into a scrape." there was a slight laugh at this, and from that moment the other men suspected that sling was the culprit. the mere fact of his being the first to charge the crime upon any one else--even a ghost--caused them, in spite of themselves, to come to this conclusion. they did not, however, by word or look, show what was passing in their minds, for the yankee was a favourite with his comrades, and each felt unwilling that his suspicion should prove to be correct. "i don't agree with you," said tarquin, who feared that suspicion might attach to himself, seeing that he had been the ringleader in the recent mutiny; "i don't believe that ghosts drink." "och! that's all ye know!" cried phil briant. "av ye'd only lived a month or two in owld ireland, ye'd have seen raison to change yer mind, ye would. sure i've seed a ghost the worse o' liquor meself." "oh! phil, wot a stunner!" cried gurney. "it's as true as me name's phil briant--more's the pity. did i niver tell ye o' the widdy morgan, as had a ghost come to see her frequently?" "no, never--let's hear it." "stop that noise with yer hammer, then, tim rokens, jist for five minutes, and i'll tell it ye." the men ceased work for a few minutes while their comrade spoke as follows-- "it's not a long story, boys, but it's long enough to prove that ghosts drink. "ye must know that wance upon a time there wos a widdy as lived in a small town in the county o' clare, in owld ireland, an' oh! but that was the place for drinkin' and fightin'. it wos there that i learned to use me sippers; and it wos there, too, that i learned to give up drinkin', for i comed for to see what a mighty dale o' harm it did to my poor countrymen. the sexton o' the place was the only man as niver wint near the grog-shop, and no wan iver seed him overtook with drink, but it was a quare thing that no wan could rightly understand why he used to _smell_ o' drink very bad sometimes. there wos a young widdy in that town, o' the name o' morgan, as kep' a cow, an' owned a small cabin, an' a patch o' tater-ground about the size o' the starn sheets of our owld long-boat. she wos a great deal run after, wos this widdy--not that the young lads had an eye to the cow, or the cabin, or the tater-estate, by no manes--but she wos greatly admired, she wos. i admired her meself, and wint to see her pretty fraquent. well, wan evenin' i wint to see her, an' says i, `mrs morgan, did ye iver hear the bit song called the widdy machree?' `sure i niver did,' says she. `would ye like to hear it, darlint?' says i. so she says she would, an' i gave it to her right off; an' when i'd done, says i, `now, widdy morgan, ochone! will ye take _me_?' but she shook her head, and looked melancholy. `ye ain't a-goin' to take spasms?' said i, for i got frightened at her looks. `no,' says she; `but there's a sacret about me; an' i like ye too well, phil, to decaive ye; if ye only know'd the sacret, ye wouldn't have me at any price.' "`wouldn't i?' says i; `try me, cushla, and see av i won't.' "`phil briant,' says she, awful solemn like, `i'm haunted.' "`haunted!' says i; `'av coorse ye are, bliss yer purty face; don't i know that ivery boy in the parish is after ye?' "`it's not that i mane. it's a ghost as haunts me. it haunts me cabin, and me cow, and me tater-estate; an' it drinks.' "`now, darlint,' says i, `everybody knows yer aisy frightened about ghosts. i don't belave in one meself, an' i don't mind 'em a farden dip; but av all the ghosts in ireland haunted ye, i'd niver give ye up.' "`will ye come an' see it this night?' says she. "`av coorse i will,' says i. an' that same night i wint to her cabin, and she let me in, and put a candle on the table, an' hid me behind a great clock, in a corner jist close by the cupboard, where the brandy-bottle lived. then she lay down on her bed with her clo's on, and pulled the coverlid over her, and pretinded to go to slape. in less nor half-an-hour i hears a fut on the doorstep; then a tap at the door, which opened, it seemed to me, of its own accord, and in walks the ghost, sure enough! it was covered all over from head to fut in a white sheet, and i seed by the way it walked that it wos the worse of drink. i wos in a mortal fright, ye may be sure, an' me knees shuk to that extint ye might have heard them rattle. the ghost walks straight up to the cupboard, takes out the brandy-bottle, and fills out a whole tumbler quite full, and drinks it off; it did, the baste, ivery dhrop. i seed it with me two eyes, as sure as i'm a-standin' here. it came into the house drunk, an' it wint out drunker nor it came in." "is that all?" exclaimed several of briant's auditors. "all! av coorse it is. wot more would ye have? didn't i say that i'd tell ye a story as would prove to ye that ghosts drink, more especially irish ghosts? to be sure it turned out afterwards that the ghost was the sexton o' the parish as took advantage o' the poor widdy's fears; but i can tell ye, boys, that ghost niver came back after the widdy became mrs briant." "oh! then ye married the widder, did ye?" said jim scroggles. "i did; an' she's alive and hearty this day av she's not--" briant was interrupted by a sudden roar of laughter from the men, who at that moment caught sight of jacko, the small monkey, in a condition of mind and body that, to say the least of it, did him no credit. we are sorry to be compelled to state that jacko was evidently and undoubtedly tipsy. gurney said he was "as drunk as a fiddler." we cannot take upon ourself to say whether he was or was not as drunk as that. we are rather inclined to think that fiddlers, as a class, are maligned, and that they are no worse than their neighbours in this respect, perhaps not so bad. certainly, if any fiddler really deserves the imputation, it must be a violoncello player, because he is, properly speaking, a base-fiddler. be this, however, as it may, jacko was unmistakably drunk--in a maudlin state of intoxication--drunker, probably, than ever a monkey was before or since. he appeared, as he came slowly staggering forward to the place where the men were at work on the boat, to have just wakened out of his first drunken sleep, for his eyes were blinking like the orbs of an owl in the sunshine, and in his walk he placed his right foot where his left should have gone, and his left foot where his right should have gone, occasionally making a little run forward to save himself from tumbling on his nose, and then pulling suddenly up, and throwing up his arms in order to avoid falling on his back. sometimes he halted altogether,--and swayed to and fro, gazing, meanwhile, pensively at the ground, as if he were wondering why it had taken to rolling and earthquaking in that preposterous manner; or were thinking on the bald-headed mother he had left behind him in the african wilderness. when the loud laugh of the men saluted his ears, jacko looked up as quickly and steadily as he could, and grinned a ghastly smile--or something like it--as if to say, "what are you laughing at, villains?" it is commonly observed that, among men, the ruling passion comes out strongly when they are under the influence of strong drink. so it is with monkeys. jacko's ruling passion was thieving; but having, at that time, no particular inducement to steal, he indulged his next ruling passion--that of affection--by holding out both arms, and staggering towards phil briant to be taken up. a renewed burst of laughter greeted this movement. "it knows ye, phil," cried jim scroggles. "ah! then, so it should, for it's meself as is good to it. come to its uncle, then. o good luck to yer purty little yaller face. so it wos you stole the brandy, wos it? musha! but ye might have know'd ye belonged to a timp'rance ship, so ye might." jacko spread his arms on briant's broad chest--they were too short to go round his neck--laid his head thereon, and sighed. perhaps he felt penitent on account of his wickedness; but it is more probable that he felt uneasy in body rather than in mind. "i say, briant," cried gurney. "that's me," answered the other. "if you are jacko's self-appointed uncle, and miss ailie is his adopted mother, wot relation is miss ailie to you?" "you never does nothin' right, gurney," interposed nikel sling; "you can't even preepound a pruposition. here's how you oughter to ha' put it. if phil briant be jacko's uncle, and miss ailie his adopted mother--all three bein' related in a sorter way by bein' shipmates, an' all on us together bein' closely connected in vartue of our bein' messmates--wot relation is gurney to a donkey?" "that's a puzzler," said gurney, affecting to consider the question deeply. "here's a puzzler wot'll beat it, though," observed tim rokens; "suppose we all go on talkin' stuff till doomsday, w'en'll the boat be finished?" "that's true," cried dick barnes, resuming work with redoubled energy; "take that young thief to his mother, phil, and tell her to rope's-end him. i'm right glad to find, though, that he _is_ the thief arter all, and not one o' us." on examination being made, it was found that the broken and empty brandy-bottle lay on the floor of the monkey's nest, and it was conjectured, from the position in which it was discovered, that that dissipated little creature, having broken off the neck in order to get at the brandy, had used the body of the bottle as a pillow whereon to lay its drunken little head. luckily for its own sake, it had spilt the greater part of the liquid, with which everything in its private residence was saturated and perfumed. on having ocular demonstration of the depravity of her pet, ailie at first wept, then, on beholding its eccentric movements, she laughed in spite of herself. after that, she wept again, and spoke to it reproachfully, but failed to make the slightest impression on its hardened little heart. then she put it to bed, and wrapped it up carefully in its sailcloth blanket. with this piece of unmerited kindness jacko seemed touched, for he said, "oo-oo--oo-oo--ooee-ee!" once or twice in a peculiarly soft and penitential tone, after which he dropped into a calm, untroubled slumber. chapter twenty one. the boat finished--farewell to fairyland--once more at sea. at last the boat was finished. it had two masts and two lug-sails, and pulled eight oars. there was just sufficient room in it to enable the men to move about freely, but it required a little management to enable them to stow themselves away when they went to sleep, and had they possessed the proper quantity of provisions for their contemplated voyage, there is no doubt that they would have found themselves considerably cramped. the boat was named the _maid of the isle_, in memory of the sandbank on which she had been built, and although in her general outline and details she was rather a clumsy craft, she was serviceable and strongly put together. had she been decked, or even half-decked, the voyage which now began would not have been so desperate an undertaking; but having been only covered in part with a frail tarpaulin, she was not at all fitted to face the terrible storms that sometimes sweep the southern seas. each man, as he gazed at her, felt that his chance of ultimate escape was very small indeed. still, the men had now been so long contemplating the voyage and preparing for it, and they had become so accustomed to risk their lives upon the sea, that they set out upon this voyage at last in cheerful spirits, and even jested about the anticipated dangers and trials which they knew full well awaited them. it was a lovely morning, that on which the wrecked crew of the whaler bade adieu to "fairyland," as the islet had been named by ailie--a name that was highly, though laughingly, approved of by the men. the ocean and sky presented that mysterious co-mingling of their gorgeous elements that irresistibly call forth the wonder and admiration of even the most unromantic and matter-of-fact men. it was one of ailie's peculiarly beloved skies. you could not, without much consideration, have decided as to where was the exact line at which the glassy ocean met the clear sky, and it was almost impossible to tell, when gazing at the horizon, which were the real clouds and which the reflections. the bright blue vault above was laden with clouds of the most gorgeous description, in which all the shades of pearly-grey and yellow were mingled and contrasted. they rose up, pile upon pile, in stupendous majesty, like the very battlements of heaven, while their images, clear and distinct almost as themselves, rolled down and down into the watery depths, until the islet--the only well-defined and solid object in the scene--appeared to float in their midst. the rising sun shot throughout the vast immensity of space, and its warm rays were interrupted, and broken, and caught, and absorbed, and reflected in so many magical ways, that it was impossible to trace any of the outlines for more than a few seconds, ere the eye was lost in the confusion of bright lights and deep shadows that were mingled and mellowed together by the softer lights and shades of every degree of depth and tint into splendid harmony. in the midst of this scene captain dunning stood, with ailie by his side, and surrounded by his men, on the shores of the little island. everything was now in readiness to set sail. the boat was laden, and in the water, and the men stood ready to leap in and push off. "my lads," said the captain, earnestly, "we're about to quit this morsel of sandbank on which it pleased the almighty to cast our ship, and on which, thanks be to him, we have found a pretty safe shelter for so long. i feel a sort o' regret almost at leavin' it now. but the time has come for us to begin our voyage towards the cape, and i need scarcely repeat what you all know well enough--that our undertakin' is no child's play. we shall need all our bodily and our mental powers to carry us through. our labour must be constant, and our food is not sufficient, so that we must go on shorter allowance from this day. i gave you half rations while ye were buildin' the boat, because we had to get her finished and launched as fast as we could, but now we can't afford to eat so much. i made a careful inspection of our provisions last night, and i find that by allowing every man four ounces a day, we can spin it out. we may fall in with islands, perhaps, but i know of none in these seas--there are none put down on the charts--and we may get hold of a fish now and then, but we must not count on these chances. now it must be plain to all of you that our only chance of getting on well together in circumstances that will try our tempers, no doubt, and rouse our selfishness, is to resolve firmly before starting--each man for himself--that we will lay restraint on ourselves and try to help each other as much as we can." there was a ready murmur of assent to this proposal; then the captain continued:-- "now, lads, one word more. our best efforts, let us exert ourselves ever so much, cannot be crowned with success unless before setting out, we ask the special favour and blessing of him who, we are told in the bible, holds the waters of the ocean in the hollow of his hand. if he helps us, we shall be saved; if he does not help us, we shall perish. we will therefore offer up a prayer now, in the name of our blessed redeemer, that we may be delivered from every danger, and be brought at last in peace and comfort to our homes." captain dunning then clasped his hands together, and while the men around him reverently bowed their heads, he offered up a short and simple, but earnest prayer to god. from that day forward they continued the habit of offering up prayer together once a day, and soon afterwards the captain began the practice of reading a chapter aloud daily out of ailie's bible. the result of this was that not only were the more violent spirits among them restrained, under frequent and sore privations and temptations, but all the party were often much comforted and filled with hope at times when they were by their sufferings well-nigh driven to despair. "i'm sorry to leave fairyland, papa," said ailie sadly, as the men shoved the _maid of the isle_ into deep water and pulled out to sea. "so am i, dear," replied the captain sitting down beside his daughter in the stern-sheets of the boat, and taking the tiller; "i had no idea i could have come to like such a barren bit of sand so well." there was a long pause after this remark. every eye in the boat was turned with a sad expression on the bright-yellow sandbank as they rowed away, and the men dipped their oars lightly into the calm waters, as if they were loth to leave their late home. any spot of earth that has been for some time the theatre of heart-stirring events, such as rouse men's strong emotions, and on which happy and hopeful as well as wretched days have been spent, will so entwine itself with the affections of men that they will cling to it and love it, more or less powerfully, no matter how barren may be the spot or how dreary its general aspect. the sandbank had been the cause, no doubt, of the wreck of the _red eric_, but it had also been the means, under god, of saving the crew and affording them shelter during many succeeding weeks--weeks of deep anxiety, but also of healthful, hopeful, energetic toil, in which, if there were many things to create annoyance or fear, there had also been not a few things to cause thankfulness, delight, and amusement. unknown to themselves, these rough sailors and the tender child had become attached to the spot, and it was only now that they were about to leave it for ever that they became aware of the fact. the circumscribed and limited range on which their thoughts and vision had been bent for the last few weeks, had rendered each individual as familiar with every inch of the bank as if he had dwelt there for years. ailie gazed at the low rocks that overhung the crystal pool in fairyland, until the blinding tears filled her eyes, and she felt all the deep regret that is experienced by the little child when it is forcibly torn from an old and favourite toy--regret that is not in the least degree mitigated by the fact that the said toy is but a sorry affair, a doll, perchance, with a smashed head, eyes thrust out, and nose flattened on its face or rubbed away altogether--it matters not; the long and happy hours and days spent in the companionship of that battered little mass of wood or wax rush on the infant memory like a dear delightful dream, and it weeps on separation as if its heart would break. each man in the boat's crew experienced more or less of the same feeling, and commented, according to his nature, either silently or audibly, on each familiar object as he gazed upon it for the last time. "there's the spot where we built the hut when we first landed, ailie," said glynn, who pulled the aft oar; "d'ye see it?--just coming into view; look! there it will be shut out again in a moment by the rock beside the coral-pool." "i see it!" exclaimed ailie eagerly, as she brushed away the tears from her eyes. "there's the rock, too, where we used to make our fire," said the captain, pointing it out. "it doesn't look like itself from this point of view." "ah!" sighed phil briant, "an' it wos at the fut o' that, too, where we used to bile the kittle night an' mornin'. sure it's many a swait bit and pipe i had beside ye." "is that a bit o' the wreck?" inquired tim rokens, pointing to the low rocky point with the eagerness of a man who had made an unexpected discovery. "no," replied mr millons, shading his eyes with his hands, and gazing at the object in question, "it's himpossible. i searched every bit o' the bank for a plank before we came hoff, an' couldn't find a morsel as big as my 'and. w'at say you, doctor?" "i think with you," answered dr hopley; "but here's the telescope, which will soon settle the question." while the doctor adjusted the glass, rokens muttered that "he wos sure it wos a bit o' the wreck," and that "there wos a bit o' rock as nobody couldn't easy git a t'other side of to look, and that that wos it, and the bit of wreck was there," and much to the same effect. "so it is," exclaimed the doctor. "lay on your oars, lads, a moment," said the captain, taking the glass and applying it to his eye. the men obeyed gladly, for they experienced an unaccountable disinclination to row away from the island. perhaps the feeling was caused in part by the idea that when they took their last look at it, it might possibly be their _last_ sight of land. "it's a small piece of the foretopmast crosstrees," observed the captain, shutting up the telescope and resuming his seat. "shall we go back an' pick it up, sir?" asked dick barnes gravely, giving vent to the desires of his heart, without perceiving at the moment the absurdity of the question. "why, what would you do with it, dick?" replied the captain, smiling. "sure, ye couldn't ait it!" interposed briant; "but afther all, there's no sayin'. maybe nikel sling could make a tasty dish out of it stewed in oakum and tar." "it wouldn't be purlite to take such a tit-bit from the mermaids," observed gurney, as the oars were once more dipped reluctantly, in the water. the men smiled at the jest, for in the monotony of sea life every species of pleasantry, however poor, is swallowed with greater or less avidity; but the smile did not last long. they were in no jesting humour at that time, and no one replied to the passing joke. soon after this a soft gentle breeze sprang up. it came direct from fairyland, as if the mermaids referred to by gurney had been touched by the kindly feelings harboured in the sailors' bosoms towards their islet, and had wafted towards them a last farewell. the oars were shipped immediately and the sails hoisted, and, to the satisfaction of all on board, the _maid of the isle_ gave indications of being a swift sailer, for, although the puff of wind was scarcely sufficient to ruffle the glassy surface of the sea, she glided through the water under its influence a good deal faster than she had done with the oars. "that's good!" remarked the captain, watching the ripples as they passed astern; "with fair winds, and not too much of 'em, we shall get on bravely; so cheer up, my lassie," he added, patting ailie on the head, "and let us begin our voyage in good spirits, and with hopeful, trusting hearts." "look at fairyland," said ailie, clasping her father's hand, and pointing towards the horizon. at the moment she spoke, an opening in the great white clouds let a ray of light fall on the sandbank, which had now passed almost beyond the range of vision. the effect was to illumine its yellow shore and cause it to shine out for a few seconds like a golden speck on the horizon. no one had ceased to gaze at it from the time the boat put forth; but this sudden change caused every one to start up, and fix their eyes on it with renewed interest and intensity. "shall we ever see land again?" passed, in one form or another, through the minds of all. the clouds swept slowly on the golden point melted away, and the shipwrecked mariners felt that their little boat was now all the world to them in the midst of that mighty world of waters. chapter twenty two. reduced allowance of food--jacko teaches briant a useful lesson. the first few days of the voyage of the _maid of the isle_ were bright and favourable. the wind, though light, was fair, and so steady that the men were only twice obliged to have recourse to their oars. the boat behaved admirably. once, during these first days, the wind freshened into a pretty stiff breeze, and a somewhat boisterous sea arose, so that she was tested in another of her sailing qualities, and was found to be an excellent sea-boat. very little water was shipped, and that little was taken in rather through the awkwardness of king bumble, who steered, than through the fault of the boat. captain dunning had taken care that there should be a large supply of tin and wooden scoops, for baling out the water that might be shipped in rough weather, as he foresaw that on the promptness with which this duty was performed, might sometimes depend the safety of the boat and crew. there was one thing that proved a matter of much regret to the crew, and that was the want of a fowling-piece, or firearm of any kind. had they possessed a gun, however old and bad, with ammunition for it, they would have been certain, at some period of their voyage, to shoot a few sea-birds, with which they expected to fall in on approaching the land, even although many days distant from it. but having nothing of the kind, their hope of adding to their slender stock of provisions was very small indeed. fortunately, they had one or two fishing-lines, but in the deep water, over which for many days they had to sail, fishing was out of the question. this matter of the provisions was a source of constant anxiety to captain dunning. he had calculated the amount of their stores to an ounce, and ascertained that at a certain rate of distribution they would barely serve for the voyage, and this without making any allowance for interruptions or detentions. he knew the exact distance to be passed over, namely, miles in a straight line, and he had ascertained the sailing and rowing powers of the boat and crew; thus he was enabled to arrive at a pretty correct idea of the probable duration of the voyage, supposing that all should go well. but in the event of strong contrary winds arising, no fresh supplies of fish or fowl being obtained, or sickness breaking out among the men, he knew either that they must starve altogether, or that he must at once, before it was too late, still farther reduce the scanty allowance of food and drink to each man. the captain sat at the helm one fine evening, about a week after their departure from fairyland, brooding deeply over this subject. the boat was running before a light breeze, at the rate of about four or five knots, and the men, who had been obliged to row a good part of that day, were sitting or reclining on the thwarts, or leaning over the gunwale, watching the ripples as they glided by, and enjoying the rest from labour; for now that they had been for some time on reduced allowance of food, they felt less able for work than they used to be, and often began to look forward with intense longing to seasons of repose. ailie was sitting near the entrance of her little sleeping apartment--which the men denominated a kennel--and master jacko was seated on the top of it, scratching his sides and enjoying the sunshine. "my lads," said the captain, breaking a silence which had lasted a considerable time, "i'm afraid i shall have to reduce our allowance still farther." this remark was received by gurney and phil briant with a suppressed groan--by the other men in silence. "you see," continued the captain, "it won't do to count upon chances, which may or may not turn out to be poor. we can, by fixing our allowance per man at a lower rate, make quite certain of our food lasting us until we reach the cape, even if we should experience a little detention; but if we go on at the present rate, we are equally certain that it will fail us just at the last." "we're sartain to fall in with birds before we near the land," murmured gurney, with a rueful expression of countenance. "we are certain of nothing," replied the captain; "but even suppose we were, how are we to get hold of them?" "that's true," observed briant, who solaced himself with his pipe in the absence of a sufficiency of food. "sea-birds, no more nor land-birds, ain't given to pluckin' and roastin' themselves, and flyin' down people's throats ready cooked." "besides," resumed the captain, "the plan i propose, although it will entail a little more present self-denial, will, humanly speaking, ensure our getting through the voyage with life in us even at the worst, and if we _are_ so lucky as to catch fish or procure birds in any way, why we shall fare sumptuously." here tim rokens, to whom the men instinctively looked, upon all matters of perplexity, removed his pipe from his lips, and said-- "wot cap'en dunnin' says is true. if we take his plan, why, we'll starve in a reg'lar way, little by little, and p'raps spin out till we git to the cape; w'ereas, if we take the other plan, we'll keep a little fatter on the first part of the voyage, mayhap, but we'll arrive at the end of it as dead as mutton, every man on us." this view of the question seemed so just to the men, and so full of incontrovertible wisdom, that it was received with something like a murmur of applause. "you're a true philosopher, rokens. now doctor hopley, i must beg you to give us your opinion, as a medical man, on this knotty subject," said the captain, smiling. "do you think that we can continue to exist if our daily allowance is reduced one-fourth?" the doctor replied, "let me see," and putting his finger on his forehead, frowned portentously, affecting to give the subject the most intense consideration. he happened to look at jacko when he frowned, and that pugnacious individual, happening at the same instant to look at the doctor, and supposing that the frown was a distinct challenge to fight, first raised his eyebrows to the top of his head in amazement, then pulled them down over his flashing orbs in deep indignation, and displayed all his teeth, as well as an extent of gums that was really frightful to behold! "oh! jacko, bad thing," said ailie, in a reproachful tone, pulling the monkey towards her. taking no notice of these warlike indications, the doctor, after a few minutes' thought, looked up and said-- "i have no doubt whatever that we can stand it. most of us are in pretty good condition still, and have some fat to spare. fat persons can endure reduced allowance of food much better and longer than those who are lean. there's gurney, now, for instance, he could afford to have his share even still further curtailed." this remark was received with a grin of delighted approval by the men and with a groan by gurney, who rubbed his stomach gently, as if that region were assailed with pains at the bare thought of such injustice. "troth, if that's true what ye say, doctor, i hope ye'll see it to be yer duty to give wot ye cut off gurney's share to me," remarked briant, "for its nothing but a bag o' bones that i am this minute." "oh! oh! wot a wopper," cried jim scroggles, whose lean and lanky person seemed ill adapted to exist upon light fare. "well," observed the captain, "the doctor and i shall make a careful calculation and let you know the result by supper-time, when the new system shall be commenced. what think you, ailie, my pet, will you be able to stand it?" "oh yes, papa, i don't care how much you reduce my allowance." "what! don't you feel hungry?" "no, not a bit." "not ready for supper?" "not anxious for it, at any rate." "och! i wish i wos you," murmured briant, with a deep sigh. "i think i could ait the foresail, av it wos only well biled with the laste possible taste o' pig's fat." by supper-time the captain announced the future daily allowance, and served it out. each man received a piece of salt junk--that is, salt beef--weighing exactly one ounce; also two ounces of broken biscuit; a small piece of tobacco, and a quarter of a pint of water. although the supply of the latter was small, there was every probability of a fresh supply being obtained when it chanced to rain, so that little anxiety was felt at first in regard to it; but the other portions of each man's allowance were weighed with scrupulous exactness, in a pair of scales which were constructed by tim rokens out of a piece of wood--a leaden musket-ball doing service as a weight. ailie received an equal portion with the others, but jacko was doomed to drag out his existence on a very minute quantity of biscuit and water. he utterly refused to eat salt junk, and would not have been permitted to use tobacco even had he been so inclined, which he was not. although they were thus reduced to a small allowance of food--a smaller quantity than was sufficient to sustain life for any lengthened period-- no one in the slightest degree grudged jacko his small portion. all the men entertained a friendly feeling to the little monkey, partly because it was ailie's pet, and partly because it afforded them great amusement at times by its odd antics. as for jacko himself, he seemed to thrive on short allowance, and never exhibited any unseemly haste or anxiety at meal-times. it was observed, however, that he kept an uncommonly sharp eye on all that passed around him, as if he felt that his circumstances were at that time peculiar and worthy of being noted. in particular he knew to a nicety what happened to each atom of food, from the time of its distribution among the men to the moment of its disappearance within their hungry jaws, and if any poor fellow chanced to lay his morsel down and neglect it for the tenth part of an instant, it vanished like a shot, and immediately thereafter jacko was observed to present an unusually serene and innocent aspect, and to become suddenly afflicted, with a swelling in the pouch under his cheek. one day the men received a lesson in carefulness which they did not soon forget. breakfast had been served out, and phil briant was about to finish his last mouthful of biscuit--he had not had many mouthfuls to try his masticating powers, poor fellow--when he paused suddenly, and gazing at the cherished morsel addressed it thus-- "shure, it's a purty bit, ye are! av there wos only wan or two more o' yer family here, it's meself as 'ud like to be made beknown to them. i'll not ait ye yit. i'll look at ye for a little." in pursuance of this luxurious plan, briant laid the morsel of biscuit on the thwart of the boat before him, and, taking out his pipe, began to fill it leisurely, keeping his eye all the time on the last bite. just then mr markham, who pulled the bow oar, called out-- "i say, briant, hand me my tobacco-pouch, it's beside you on the th'ort, close under the gun'le." "is it?" said briant, stretching out his hand to the place indicated, but keeping his eye fixed all the time on the piece of biscuit. "ah, here it is; ketch it." for one instant briant looked at the second mate in order to throw the pouch with precision. that instant was sufficient for the exercise of jacko's dishonest propensities. the pouch was yet in its passage through the air when a tremendous roar from tim rokens apprised the unhappy irishman of his misfortune. he did not require to be told to "look out!" although more than one voice gave him that piece of advice. an intuitive perception of irreparable loss flashed across his soul, and, with the speed of light, his eye was again on the thwart before him--but not on the morsel of biscuit. at that same instant jacko sat down beside ailie with his usual serene aspect and swelled cheek! "och, ye bottle imp!" yelled the bereaved one, "don't i know ye?" and seizing a tin pannikin, in his wrath, he threw it at the small monkey's head with a force that would, had it been well directed, have smashed that small head effectually. jacko made a quick and graceful nod, and the pannikin, just missing ailie, went over the side into the sea, where it sank and was lost for ever, to the regret of all, for they could ill afford to lose it. "ye've got it, ye have, but ye shan't ait it," growled briant through his teeth, as he sprang over the seat towards the monkey. jacko bounded like a piece of indiarubber on to gurney's head; next moment he was clinging to the edge of the mainsail, and the next he was comfortably seated on the top of the mast, where he proceeded calmly and leisurely to "ait" the biscuit in the face of its exasperated and rightful owner. "oh,--briant!" exclaimed ailie, who was half frightened, half amused at the sudden convulsion caused by her favourite's bad conduct, "don't be vexed; see, here is a little bit of my biscuit; i don't want it--really i don't." briant, who stood aghast and overwhelmed by his loss and by the consummate impudence of the small monkey, felt rebuked by this offer. bursting into a loud laugh, he said, as he resumed his seat and the filling of his pipe-- "sure i'd rather ait me own hat, miss ailie, an' it's be no means a good wan--without sarce, too, not even a blot o' mustard--than take the morsel out o' yer purty mouth. i wos more nor half jokin', dear, an' i ax yer parding for puttin' ye in sich a fright." "expensive jokin'," growled tarquin, "if ye throw a pannikin overboard every time you take to it." "kape your tongue quiet," said briant, reddening, for he felt somewhat humbled at having given way to his anger so easily, and was nettled at the remark, coming as it did, in a sneering spirit, from a man for whom he had no particular liking. "never mind, briant," interposed the captain quickly, with a good-humoured laugh; "i feel for you, lad. had it been myself i fear i should have been even more exasperated. i would not sell a crumb of my portion just now for a guinea." "neither would i," added the doctor, "for a thousand guineas." "i'll tell ye wot it is, lads," remarked tim rokens; "i wish i only had a crumb to sell." "now, rokens, don't be greedy," cried gurney. "greedy!" echoed tim. "ay, greedy; has any o' you lads got a dickshunairy to lend him? come, jim scroggles, you can tell him what it means--you've been to school, i believe, hain't you?" rokens shook his head gravely. "no, lad, i'm not greedy, but i'm ready for wittles. i won't go fur to deny that. now, let me ax ye a question. wot--supposin' ye had the chance--would ye give, at this good min'it, for a biled leg o' mutton?" "with or without capers-sauce?" inquired gurney. "w'ichever _you_ please." "och! we wouldn't need capers-sarse," interposed briant; "av we only had the mutton, i'd cut enough o' capers meself to do for the sarce, i would." "it matters little what you'd give," cried glynn, "for we can't get it at any price just now. don't you think, captain, that we might have our breakfast to-night? it would save time in the morning, you know." there was a general laugh at this proposal, yet there was a strong feeling in the minds of some that if it were consistent with their rules to have breakfast served out then and there, they would gladly have consented to go without it next morning. thus, with laugh and jest, and good-natured repartee, did these men bear the pangs of hunger for many days. they were often silent during long intervals, and sometimes they became talkative and sprightly, but it was observed that, whether they conversed earnestly or jestingly, their converse ran, for the most part, on eating and drinking, and in their uneasy slumbers, during the intervals between the hours of work and watching, they almost invariably dreamed of food. chapter twenty three. progress of the long voyage--story-telling and journalising. many weeks passed away, but the _maid of the isle_ still held on her course over the boundless ocean. day after day came and went, the sun rose in the east morning after morning, ran its appointed course, and sank, night after night, on the western horizon, but little else occurred to vary the monotony of that long, long voyage. when the sun rose, its bright rays leapt from the bosom of the ocean; when it set, the same bosom of the great deep received its descending beams. no land, no sail appeared to the anxious gazers in that little boat, which seemed to move across, yet never to reach the boundaries of that mighty circle of water and sky, in the midst of which they lay enchained, as if by some wicked enchanter's spell. breezes blew steadily at times and urged them swiftly on towards the circumference, but it fled as fast as they approached. then it fell calm, and the weary men resumed their oars, and with heavy hearts and weakened arms tugged at the boat which seemed to have turned into a mass of lead. at such times a dead silence was maintained, for the work, which once would have been to them but child's play, had now become severe and heavy labour. still they did not murmur. even the cross-grained tarquin became subdued in spirit by the influence of the calm endurance and good-humour of his comrades. but the calms seldom lasted long. the winds, which happily continued favourable, again ruffled the surface of the sea, and sometimes blew so briskly as to oblige them to take in a reef or two in their sails. the oars were gladly drawn in, and the spirits of the men rose as the little boat bent over to the blast, lost her leaden qualities, and danced upon the broad-backed billows, like a cork. there was no rain during all this time; little or no stormy weather; and, but for their constant exposure to the hot sun by day and the cold chills by night, the time might have been said to pass even pleasantly, despite the want of a sufficiency of food. thus day after day and night after night flew by, and week after week came and went, and still the _maid of the isle_ held on her course over the boundless ocean. during all that time the one and a quarter ounces of salt junk and biscuit and the eighth of a pint of water were weighed and measured out to each man, three times a day, with scrupulous care and exactness, lest a drop or a crumb of the food that was more precious than diamonds should be lost. the men had all become accustomed to short allowance now, and experienced no greater inconvenience than a feeling of lassitude, which feeling increased daily, but by such imperceptible degrees that they were scarcely conscious of it, and were only occasionally made aware of the great reduction of their strength when they attempted to lift any article which, in the days of their full vigour, they could have tossed into the air, but which they could scarcely move now. when, however, the fair breeze enabled them to glide along under sail, and they lay enjoying complete rest, they experienced no unwonted sensations of weakness; their spirits rose, as the spirits of sailors always will rise when the waves are rippling at the bow and a white track forming in the wake; and they spent the time--when not asleep--in cheerful conversation and in the spinning of long yarns. they did not sing, however, as might have been expected--they were too weak for that--they called the feeling "lazy," some said they "couldn't be bothered" to sing. no one seemed willing to admit that his strength was in reality abated. in story-telling the captain, the doctor, and glynn shone conspicuous. and when all was going smoothly and well, the anecdotes, histories, and romances related by these three were listened to with such intense interest and delight by the whole crew, that one would have thought they were enjoying a pleasure trip, and had no cause whatever for anxiety. gurney, too, and briant, and nikel sling came out frequently in the story-telling line, and were the means of causing many and many an hour to pass quickly and pleasantly by, which would otherwise have hung heavily on the hands of all. ailie dunning was an engrossed and delighted listener at all times. she drank in every species of story with an avidity that was quite amusing. it seemed also to have been infectious, for even jacko used to sit hour after hour looking steadily at each successive speaker, with a countenance so full of bright intelligence, and grave surpassing wisdom, as to lead one to the belief that he not only understood all that was said, but turned it over in his mind, and drew from it ideas and conclusions far more bright and philosophical than could have been drawn therefrom by any human being, however wise or ingenious. he grinned, too, did jacko, with an intensity and frequency that induced the sailors at first to call him a clever dog, in the belief that his perception of the ludicrous was very strong indeed; but as his grins were observed to occur quite as frequently at the pathetic and the grave as at the comical parts of the stories, they changed their minds, and said he was a "codger"--in which remark they were undoubtedly safe, seeing that it committed them to nothing very specific. captain dunning's stories were, more properly speaking, histories, and were very much relished, for he possessed a natural power of relating what he knew in an interesting manner and with a peculiarly pleasant tone of voice. every one who has considered the subject at all must have observed what a powerful influence there lies in the mere manner and tone of a speaker. the captain's voice was so rich, so mellow, and capable of such varied modulation, that the men listened with pleasure to the words which rolled from his lips, as one would listen to a sweet song. he became so deeply interested, too, in the subject about which he happened to be speaking, that his auditors could not help becoming interested also. he had no powers of eloquence, neither was he gifted with an unusually bright fancy. but he was fluent in speech, and his words, though not chosen, were usually appropriate. the captain had no powers of invention whatever. he used to say, when asked to tell a story, that he "might as well try to play the fiddle with a handspike." but this was no misfortune, for he had read much, and his memory was good, and supplied him with an endless flow of small-talk on almost every subject that usually falls under the observation of sea-captains, and on many subjects besides, about which most sea-captains, or land-captains, or any other captains whatsoever, are almost totally ignorant. captain dunning could tell of adventures in the whale-fishery, gone through either by himself or by friends, that would have made your two eyes stare out of their two sockets until they looked like saucers (to use a common but not very correct simile). he could tell the exact latitude and longitude of almost every important and prominent part of the globe, and give the distance, pretty nearly, of any one place (on a large scale) from any other place. he could give the heights of all the chief mountains in the world to within a few feet, and could calculate, by merely looking at its current and depth, how many cubic feet of water any river delivered to the sea per minute. length, breadth, and thickness, height, depth, and density, were subjects in which he revelled, and with which he played as a juggler does with golden balls; and so great were his powers of numerical calculation, that the sailors often declared they believed he could work out any calculation backwards without the use of logarithms! he was constantly instituting comparisons that were by no means what the proverb terms "odious," but which were often very astonishing, and in all his stories so many curious and peculiar facts were introduced, that, as we have already said, they were very much relished indeed. not less relished, however, were glynn proctor's astounding and purely imaginative tales. after the men's minds had been chained intently on one of the captain's semi-philosophical anecdotes, they turned with infinite zest to one of glynn's outrageous flights. glynn had not read much in his short life, and his memory was nothing to boast of, but his imagination was quite gigantic. he could invent almost anything; and the curious part of it was, that he could do it out of nothing, if need be. he never took time to consider what he should say. when called on for a story he began at once, and it flowed from him like a flood of sparkling water from a fountain in fairy realms. up in the clouds; high in the blue ether; down in the coral caves; deep in the ocean waves; out on the mountain heaths; far in the rocky glens, or away in the wild woods green--it was all one to glynn; he leaped away in an instant, with a long train of adventurers at his heels--male and female, little and big, old and young, pretty and plain, grave and gay. and didn't they go through adventures that would have made the hair of mortals not only stand on end, but fly out by the roots altogether? didn't he make them talk, as mortals never talked before; and sing as mortals never dreamed of? and, oh! didn't he just make them stew, and roast, and boil joints of savoury meat, and bake pies, and tarts, and puddings, such as soyer in his wildest culinary dreams never imagined, and such as caused the mouths of the crew of the _maid of the isle_ to water, until they were constrained, poor fellows, to tell him to "clap a stopper upon that," and hold his tongue, for they "couldn't stand it!" phil briant and gurney dealt in the purely comic line. they remarked-- generally in an undertone--that they left poetry and prose to glynn and the captain; and it was as well they did, for their talents certainly did not lie in either of these directions. they came out strong after meals, when the weather was fine, and formed a species of light and agreeable interlude to the more weighty efforts of the captain and the brilliant sallies of glynn. gurney dealt in _experiences_ chiefly, and usually endeavoured by asseveration and iteration to impress his hearers with the truth of facts said to have been experienced by himself, which, if true, would certainly have consigned him to a premature grave long ago. briant, on the other hand, dealt largely in ghost stories, which he did not vouch for the truth of, but permitted his hearers to judge of for themselves-- a permission which they would doubtless have taken for themselves at any rate. but tales and stories occupied, after all, only a small portion of the men's time during that long voyage. often, very often, they were too much exhausted to talk or even to listen, and when not obliged to labour at the oars they tried to sleep; but "nature's sweet restorer" did not always come at the first invitation, as was his wont in other days, and too frequently they were obliged to resume work unrefreshed. their hands became hard and horny in the palms at last, like a man's heel, and their backs and arms ached from constant work. ailie kept in good health, but she, too, began to grow weak from want of proper nourishment. she slept better than the men, for the comfortable sleeping-box that glynn had constructed for her sheltered her from the heat, wet, and cold, to which the former were constantly exposed. she amused herself, when not listening to stories or asleep, by playing with her favourite, and she spent a good deal of time in reading her bible-- sometimes to herself, at other times, in a low tone, to her father as he sat at the helm. and many a time did she see a meaning in passages which, in happier times, had passed meaningless before her eyes, and often did she find sweet comfort in words that she had read with comparative indifference in former days. it is in the time of trial, trouble, and sorrow that the bible proves to be a friend indeed. happy the christian who, when dark clouds overwhelm his soul, has a memory well stored with the comforting passages of the word of god. but ailie had another occupation which filled up much of her leisure, and proved to be a source of deep and engrossing interest at the time. this was the keeping of a journal of the voyage. on the last trip made to the wreck of the _red eric_, just before the great storm that completed the destruction of that ship, the captain had brought away in his pocket a couple of note-books. one of these he kept to himself to jot down the chief incidents of the intended voyage; the other he gave to ailie, along with a blacklead pencil. being fond of trying to write, she amused herself for hours together in jotting down her thoughts about the various incidents of the voyage, great and small; and being a very good drawer for her age, she executed many fanciful and elaborate sketches, among which were innumerable portraits of jacko and several caricatures of the men. this journal, as it advanced, became a source of much interest and amusement to every one in the boat; and when, in an hour of the utmost peril, it, along with many other things, was lost, the men, after the danger was past, felt the loss severely. thus they spent their time--now pleasantly, now sadly--sometimes becoming cheerful and hopeful, at other times sinking almost into a state of despair as their little stock of food and water dwindled down, while the _maid of the isle_ still held on her apparently endless course over the great wide sea. chapter twenty four. the calm and the storm--a serious loss and great gain--bird-catching extraordinary--saved at last. one day a deep death-like calm settled down upon the ocean. for some days before, the winds had been light and uncertain, and the air had been excessively warm. the captain cast uneasy glances around him from time to time, and looked with a sadder countenance than usual on the haggard faces of the men as they laboured slowly and silently at the oars. "i don't know what this will turn to, doctor," he said, in a low tone; "i don't like the look of it." the doctor, who was perusing ailie's journal at the moment, looked up and shook his head. "it seems to me, captain, that whatever happens, matters cannot be made much worse." "you are wrong, doctor," replied the captain quietly; "we have still much to be thankful for." "did you not tell me a few minutes ago that the water was almost done?" the doctor said this in a whisper, for the men had not yet been made aware of the fact. "yes, i did; but it is not _quite_ done; that is matter for thankfulness." "oh, according to that principle," observed the doctor, somewhat testily, "you may say we have cause to be thankful for _everything_, bad as well as good." "so we have! so we have! if everything good were taken from us, and nothing left us but our lives, we would have reason to be thankful for that--thankful that we were still above ground, still in the land of hope, with salvation to our immortal souls through jesus christ freely offered for our acceptance." the doctor made no reply. he thought the captain a little weak in the matter of religion. if religion is false, his opinion of the captain no doubt, was right, but if true, surely the weakness lay all the other way. that morning the captain's voice in prayer was more earnest, if possible, than usual, and he put up a special petition for _water_, which was observed by the men with feelings of great anxiety, and responded to with a deep amen. after morning worship the scales were brought, and the captain proceeded to weigh out the scanty meal, while the men watched his every motion with an almost wolfish glare, that told eloquently of the prolonged sufferings they had endured. even poor ailie's gentle face now wore a sharp, anxious expression when food was being served out, and she accepted her small portion with a nervous haste that was deeply painful and touching to witness. she little knew, poor child, that that portion of bread and meat and water, small though it was, was larger than that issued to the men, being increased by a small quantity deducted from the captain's own allowance and an equal amount from that of glynn. the latter had noticed the captain's habit of regularly calling off the child's attention during the distribution of each meal, for the purpose of thus increasing her portion at the expense of his own, and in a whispering conversation held soon after he insisted that a little of his allowance should also be transferred to her. at first the captain firmly refused, but glynn said that if he did not accede to his wish he would hand over the whole of his portion in future to the monkey, let the result be what it might! as glynn never threatened without a full and firm resolve to carry out his threats, the captain was compelled to give in. when the water came to be served out that morning the captain paused, and looking round at the anxious eyes that were riveted upon him, said-- "my lads, it has pleased the almighty to lay his hand still heavier on us. may he who has said that he will not suffer men to be tempted above what they are able to bear, give us strength to stand it. our water is almost done. we must be content with a quarter of our usual allowance." this information was received in deep silence--perhaps it was the silence of despair, for the quantity hitherto served out had been barely sufficient to moisten their parched throats, and they _knew_ that they could not exist long on the reduced allowance. jacko came with the rest as usual for his share, and held out his little hand for the tin cup in which his few drops of water were wont to be handed to him. the captain hesitated and looked at the men; then he poured out a few drops of the precious liquid. for the first time a murmur of disapproval was heard. "it's only a brute beast; the monkey must die before _us_," said a voice which was so hollow and changed that it could scarcely be recognised as that of tarquin, the steward. no one else said a word. the captain did not even look up to see who had spoken. he felt the justice as well as the harshness of the remark, and poured the water back into the jar. jacko seems puzzled at first, and held out his hand again; then he looked round on the men with that expression of unutterable woe which is peculiar to some species of the monkey tribe. he seemed to feel that something serious was about to happen to him. looking up in the sad face of his young mistress, he uttered a very gentle and plaintive "oo-oo-ee!" ailie burst into a passionate flood of tears, and in the impulse of the moment handed her own cup, which she had not tasted, to jacko, who drained it in a twinkling--before the captain could snatch it from his hands. having emptied it, jacko went forward as he had been taught to do, and handed back the cup with quite a pleased expression of countenance--for he was easily satisfied, poor thing! "you should not have done that, my darling," said the captain, as he gave ailie another portion. "dear papa, i couldn't help it," sobbed the child; "indeed i couldn't-- and you need not give me any. i can do without it to-day." "can you? but you shan't," exclaimed glynn, with a degree of energy that would have made every one laugh in happier times. "no, no, my own pet," replied the captain. "you shan't want it. here, you _must_ drink it, come." from that day jacko received his allowance regularly as long as a drop of water was left, and no one again murmured against it. when it was finished he had to suffer with the rest. the calm which had set in proved to be of longer duration than usual, and the sufferings of the crew of the little boat became extreme. on the third day after its commencement the last drop of water was served out. it amounted to a couple of teaspoonfuls per man each meal, of which there were three a day. during the continuance of the calm, the sun shone in an almost cloudless sky and beat down upon the heads of the men until it drove them nearly mad. they all looked like living skeletons, and their eyes glared from their sunken sockets with a dry fiery lustre that was absolutely terrible to behold. had each one in that boat possessed millions of gold he would have given all, gladly, for one drop of fresh water; but, alas! nothing could purchase water there. ailie thought upon the man who, in the bible, is described as looking up to heaven from the depths of hell and crying for one drop of water to cool his tongue, and she fancied that she could now realise his agony. the captain looked up into the hot sky, but no blessed cloud appeared there to raise the shadow of a hope. he looked down at the sea, and it seemed to mock him with its clear blue depths, which looked so sweet and pleasant. he realised the full significance of that couplet in coleridge's _ancient mariner_-- "water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink." and, drawing ailie to his breast, he laid his cheek upon hers and groaned aloud. "we shall soon be taken away, dear papa!" she said--and she tried to weep, but the tears that came unbidden and so easily at other times to her bright blue eyes refused to flow now. the men had one by one ceased to ply their useless oars, and the captain did not take notice of it, for he felt that unless god sent relief in some almost miraculous way, their continuing to row would be of no avail. it would only increase their agony without advancing them more than a few miles on the long, long voyage that he knew still lay before them. "o god, grant us a breeze!" cried mr millons, in a deep, tremulous tone breaking a silence that had continued for some hours. "messmates," said tim rokens, who for some time had leaned with both elbows on his oar and his face buried in his hands, "wot d'ye say to a bath? i do believe it 'ud do us good." "p'haps it would," replied king bumble; but he did not move, and the other men made no reply, while rokens again sank forward. gurney and tarquin had tried to relieve their thirst the day before by drinking sea-water, but their inflamed and swollen throats and lips now showed that the relief sought had not been obtained. "it's time for supper," said the captain, raising his head suddenly, and laying ailie down, for she had fallen into a lethargic slumber; "fetch me the bread and meat can." dick barnes obeyed reluctantly, and the usual small allowance of salt junk was weighed out, but there were no eager glances now. most of the crew refused to touch food--one or two tried to eat a morsel of biscuit without success. "i'll try a swim," cried glynn, suddenly starting up with the intention of leaping overboard. but his strength was more exhausted than he had fancied, for he only fell against the side of the boat. it was as well that he failed. had he succeeded in getting into the water he could not have clambered in again, and it is doubtful whether his comrades had sufficient strength left to have dragged him in. "try it this way, lad," said tim rokens, taking up a bucket, and dipping it over the side. "p'raps it'll do as well." he raised the bucket with some difficulty and poured its contents over glynn's head. "thank god!" said glynn, with a deep, long-drawn sigh. "do it again, tim, do it again. that's it,--again, again! no, stop; forgive my selfishness; here, give me the bucket, i'll do it to you now." tim rokens was quickly drenched from head to foot, and felt great and instantaneous relief. in a few minutes every one in the boat, jacko included, was subjected to this species of cold bath, and their spirits rose at once. some of them even began to eat their food, and briant actually attempted to perpetrate a joke, which gurney seconded promptly, but they failed to make one, even a bad one, between them. although the cold bathing seemed good for them at first, it soon proved to be hurtful. sitting and lying constantly night and day in saturated clothes had the effect of rendering their skins painfully sensitive, and a feverish feeling was often alternated with cold shivering fits, so they were fain to give it up. still they had found some slight relief, and they bore their sufferings with calm resignation--a state of mind which was fostered, if not induced, by the blessed words of comfort and hope which the captain read to them from the bible as frequently as his strength would permit, and to which they listened with intense, all-absorbing interest. it is ever thus with men. when death approaches, in almost all instances, we are ready--ay, anxious--to listen with the deepest interest to god's message of salvation through his son, and to welcome and long for the influences of the holy spirit. oh! how happy should we be in life and in death, did we only give heartfelt interest to our souls' affairs _before_ the days of sorrow and death arrive. on the fifth morning after the water had been exhausted the sun arose in the midst of dark clouds. the men could scarcely believe their eyes. they shouted and, in their weakness, laughed for joy. the blessing was not long delayed. thick vapours veiled the red sun soon after it emerged from the sea, then a few drops of rain fell. blessed drops! how the men caught at them! how they spread out oiled cloths and tarpaulins and garments to gather them! how they grudged to see them falling around the boat into the sea, and being lost to them for ever. but the blessing was soon sent liberally. the heavens above grew black, and the rain came down in thick heavy showers. the tarpaulins were quickly filled, and the men lay with their lips to the sweet pools, drinking-in new life, and dipping their heads and hands in the cool liquid when they could drink no more. their thirst was slaked at last, and they were happy. all their past sufferings were forgotten in that great hour of relief, and they looked, and laughed, and spoke to each other like men who were saved from death. as they stripped off their garments and washed the encrusted salt from their shrunken limbs, all of them doubtless felt, and some of them audibly expressed, gratitude to the "giver of every good and perfect gift." so glad were they, and so absorbed in their occupation, that they thought not of and cared not for the fact that a great storm was about to break upon them. it came upon them almost before they were aware, and before the sails could be taken in the boat was almost upset. "stand-by to lower the sails!" shouted the captain, who was the first to see their danger. the old familiar command issued with something of the old familiar voice and energy caused every one to leap to his post, if not with the agility of former times, at least with all the good will. "let go!" the halyards were loosed, and the sails came tumbling down; at the same moment the squall burst on them. the _maid of the isle_ bent over so quickly that every one expected she would upset; the blue water curled in over the edge of the gunwale, and the foam burst from her bows at the rude shock. then she hissed through the water as she answered the helm, righted quickly, and went tearing away before the wind at a speed that she had not known for many days. it was a narrow escape. the boat was nearly filled with water, and, worst of all, the provision can, along with ailie's sleeping-box, were washed overboard and lost. it was of no use attempting to recover them. all the energies of the crew were required to bale out the water and keep the boat afloat, and during the whole storm some of them were constantly employed in baling. for three days it blew a perfect hurricane, and during all that time the men had nothing whatever to eat; but they did not suffer so much as might be supposed. the gnawing pangs of hunger do not usually last beyond a few days when men are starving. after that they merely feel ever-increasing weakness. during the fall of the rain they had taken care to fill their jars, so that they had now a good supply of water. after the first burst of the squall had passed, the tarpaulins were spread over the boat, and under one of these, near the stern, ailie was placed, and was comparatively sheltered and comfortable. besides forming a shelter for the men while they slept, these tarpaulins threw off the waves that frequently broke over the boat, and more than once bid fair to sink her altogether. these arose in enormous billows, and the gale was so violent that only the smallest corner of the foresail could be raised--even that was almost sufficient to tear away the mast. at length the gale blew itself out, and gradually decreased to a moderate breeze, before which the sails were shaken out, and on the fourth morning after it broke they found themselves sweeping quickly over the waves on their homeward way, but without a morsel of food, and thoroughly exhausted in body and in mind. on that morning, however, they passed a piece of floating seaweed, a sure indication of their approach to land. captain dunning pointed it out to ailie and the crew with a cheering remark that they would probably soon get to the end of their voyage; but he did not feel much hope; for, without food, they could not exist above a few days more at the furthest--perhaps not so long. that same evening, several small sea-birds came towards the boat, and flew inquiringly round it, as if they wondered what it could be doing there, so far away from the haunts of men. these birds were evidently unaccustomed to man, for they exhibited little fear. they came so near to the boat that one of them was at length caught. it was the negro who succeeded in knocking it on the head with a boat-hook as it flew past. great was the praise bestowed on king bumble for this meritorious deed, and loud were the praises bestowed on the bird itself, which was carefully divided into equal portions (and a small portion for jacko), and eaten raw. not a morsel of it was lost--claws, beak, blood, bones, and feathers--all were eaten up. in order to prevent dispute or jealousy, the captain made ailie turn her back on the bird when thus divided, and pointing to the different portions, he said-- "who shall have this?" whoever was named by ailie had to be content with what thus fell to his share. "ah, but ye wos always an onlucky dog!" exclaimed briant, to whom fell the head and claws. "ye've no reason to grumble," replied gurney; "ye've got all the brains to yerself, and no one needs them more." the catching of this bird was the saving of the crew, and it afforded them a good deal of mirth in the dividing of it. the heart and a small part of the breast fell to ailie--which every one remarked was singularly appropriate; part of a leg and the tail fell to king bumble; and the lungs and stomach became the property of jim scroggles, whereupon briant remarked that he would "think as much almost o' _that_ stomach as he had iver done of his own!" but there was much of sadness mingled with their mirth, for they felt that the repast was a peculiarly light one, and they had scarcely strength left to laugh or jest. next morning they knocked down another bird, and in the evening they got two more. the day after that they captured an albatross, which furnished them at last with an ample supply of fresh food. it was mr markham, the second mate, who first saw the great bird looming in the distance, as it sailed over the sea towards them. "let's try to fish for him," said the doctor. "i've heard of sea-birds being caught in that way before now." "fish for it!" exclaimed ailie in surprise. "ay, with hook and line, ailie." "i've seen it done often," said the captain. "hand me the line, bumble, and a bit o' that bird we got yesterday. now for it." by the time the hook was baited, the albatross had approached near to the boat, and hovered around it with that curiosity which seems to be a characteristic feature of all sea-birds. it was an enormous creature; but ailie, when she saw it in the air, could not have believed it possible that it was so large as it was afterwards found to be on being measured. "here, glynn, catch hold of the line," said the captain, as he threw the hook overboard, and allowed it to trail astern; "you are the strongest man amongst us now, i think; starvation don't seem to tell so much on your young flesh and bones as on ours!" "no; it seems to agree with his constitution," remarked gurney. "it's me that wouldn't give much for his flesh," observed briant; "but his skin and bones would fetch a good price in the leather and rag market." while his messmates were thus freely remarking on his personal appearance--which, to say truth, was dreadfully haggard--glynn was holding the end of the line, and watching the motions of the albatross with intense interest. "he won't take it," observed the captain. "me tink him will," said bumble. "no go," remarked nikel sling sadly. "that was near," said the first mate eagerly, as the bird made a bold swoop down towards the bait, which was skipping over the surface of the water. "no, he's off," cried mr markham in despair. "cotched! or i'm a dutchman!" shouted. gurney. "no!" cried jim scroggles. "yes!" screamed ailie. "hurrah!" shouted tim rokens and tarquin in a breath. dick barnes, and the doctor, and the captain, and, in short, everybody, echoed the last sentiment, and repeated it again and again with delight as they saw the gigantic bird once again swoop down upon the bait and seize it. glynn gave a jerk, the hook caught in its tongue, and the albatross began to tug, and swoop, and whirl madly in its effort to escape. now, to talk of any ordinary bird swooping, and fluttering, and tugging, does not sound very tremendous; but, reader, had you witnessed the manner in which that enormous albatross conducted itself, you wouldn't have stared with amazement--oh, no! you wouldn't have gone home with your mouth as wide open as your eyes, and have given a gasping account of what you had seen--by no means! you wouldn't have talked of feathered steam-engines, or of fabled rocs, or of winged elephants in the air--certainly not! glynn's arms jerked as if he were holding on to the sheet of a shifting mainsail of a seventy-four. "bear a hand," he cried, "else i'll be torn to bits." several hands grasped the line in a moment. "my! wot a wopper," exclaimed tim rokens. "och! don't he pull? wot a fortin he'd make av he'd only set his-self up as a tug-boat in the thames!" "if only we had him at the oar for a week," added gurney. "hoich! doctor, have ye strength to set disjointed limbs?" "have a care, lads," cried the captain, in some anxiety; "give him more play, the line won't stand it. time enough to jest after we've got him." the bird was now swooping, and waving, and beating its great wings so close to the boat that they began to entertain some apprehension lest any of the crew should be disabled by a stroke from them before the bird could be secured. glynn, therefore, left the management of the line to others, and, taking up an oar, tried to strike it. but he failed in several attempts. "wait till we haul him nearer, boy," said the captain. "now, then!" glynn struck again, and succeeded in hitting it a slight blow. at the same instant the albatross swept over the boat, and almost knocked the doctor overboard. as it brushed past, king bumble, who was gifted with the agility of a monkey, leaped up, caught it round the neck, and the next moment the two were rolling together in the bottom of the boat. the creature was soon strangled, and a mighty cheer greeted this momentous victory. we are not aware that albatross flesh is generally considered very desirable food, but we are certain that starving men are particularly glad to get it, and that the supply now obtained by the wrecked mariners was the means of preserving their lives until they reached the land, which they did ten days afterwards, having thus accomplished a voyage of above two thousand miles over the ocean in an open boat in the course of eight weeks, and on an amount of food that was barely sufficient for one or two weeks' ordinary consumption. great commiseration was expressed for them by the people at the cape, who vied with each other in providing for their wants, and in showing them kindness. ailie and her father were carried off bodily by a stout old merchant, with a broad kind face, and a hearty, boisterous manner, and lodged in his elegant villa during their stay in that quarter of the world, which was protracted some time in order that they might recruit the wasted strength of the party ere they commenced their voyage home in a vessel belonging to the same stout, broad-faced, and vociferous merchant. meanwhile, several other ships departed for america, and by one of these captain dunning wrote to his sisters martha and jane. the captain never wrote to martha or to jane separately--he always wrote to them conjointly as "martha jane dunning." the captain was a peculiar letter-writer. those who may feel curious to know more about this matter are referred for further information to the next chapter. chapter twenty five. home, sweet home--the captain takes his sisters by surprise--a mysterious stranger. it is a fact which we cannot deny, however much we may feel disposed to marvel at it, that laughter and weeping, at one and the same time, are compatible. the most resolute sceptic on this point would have been convinced of the truth of it had he been introduced into the misses martha and jane dunning's parlour on the beautiful summer morning in which the remarkable events we are about to relate occurred. on the morning in question, a letter-carrier walked up to the cottage with the yellow-painted face, and with the green door, so like a nose in the middle; and the window on each side thereof, so like its eyes; and the green venetian blinds, that served so admirably for eyelids, attached thereto--all of which stood, and beamed, and luxuriated, and vegetated, and grew old in the centre of the town on the eastern seaboard of america, whose name (for strictly private reasons) we have firmly declined, and do still positively refuse to communicate. having walked up to the cottage, the letter-carrier hit it a severe smash on its green nose, as good captain dunning had done many, many months before. the result now, as then, was the opening thereof by a servant-girl--the servant-girl of old. the letter-carrier was a taciturn man; he said nothing, but handed in the letter, and went his way. the servant-girl was a morose damsel; she said nothing, but took the letter, shut the door, and laid it (the letter, not the door) on the breakfast-table, and went her way--which way was the way of all flesh, fish, and fowl--namely, the kitchen, where breakfast was being prepared. soon after the arrival of the letter miss jane dunning--having put on an immaculately clean white collar and a spotlessly beautiful white cap with pink ribbons, which looked, if possible, taller than usual-- descended to the breakfast-parlour. her eye instantly fell on the letter, and she exclaimed--"oh!" at the full pitch of her voice. indeed, did not respect for the good lady forbid, we would say that she _yelled_ "oh!" instantly, as if by magic, a faint "oh!" came down-stairs like an echo, from the region of miss martha dunning's bedroom, and was followed up by a "what is it?" so loud that the most unimaginative person could not have failed to perceive that the elder sister had opened her door and put her head over the banisters. "what is it?" repeated miss martha. "a letter!" answered miss jane. "who from?" (in eager surprise, from above.) "brother george!" (in eager delight, from below.) miss jane had not come to this knowledge because of having read the letter, for it still lay on the table unopened, but because she could not read it at all! one of captain dunning's peculiarities was that he wrote an execrably bad and illegible hand. his english was good, his spelling pretty fair, considering the absurd nature of the orthography of his native tongue, and his sense was excellent, but the whole was usually shrouded in hieroglyphical mystery. miss jane could only read the opening "my dearest sisters," and the concluding "george dunning," nothing more. but miss martha could, by the exercise of some rare power, spell out her brother's hand, though not without much difficulty. "i'm coming," shouted miss martha. "be quick!" screamed miss jane. in a few seconds miss martha entered the room with her cap and collar, though faultlessly clean and stiff, put on very much awry. "give it me! where is it?" miss jane pointed to the letter, still remaining transfixed to the spot where her eye had first met it, as if it were some dangerous animal which would bite if she touched it. miss martha snatched it up, tore it open, and flopped down on the sofa. miss jane snatched up an imaginary letter, tore it open (in imagination), and flopping down beside her sister, looked over her shoulder, apparently to make believe to herself that she read it along with her. thus they read and commented on the captain's letter in concert. "`table bay'--dear me! what a funny bay that must be--`my dearest sisters'--the darling fellow, he always begins that way, don't he, jane dear?" "bless him! he does, martha dear." "`we've been all'--i can't make this word out, can you, dear?" "no, love." "`we've been all-worked!' no, it can't be that. stay, `we've been all _wrecked_!'" here martha laid down the letter with a look of horror, and jane, with a face of ashy paleness, exclaimed, "then they're lost!" "but no," cried martha, "george could not have written to us from tablecloth bay had he been lost." "neither he could!" exclaimed jane, eagerly. under the influence of the revulsion of feeling this caused, martha burst into tears and jane into laughter. immediately after, jane wept and martha laughed; then they both laughed and cried together, after which they felt for their pocket-handkerchiefs, and discovered that in their haste they had forgotten them; so they had to call the servant-girl and send her up-stairs for them; and when the handkerchiefs were brought, they had to be unfolded before the sisters could dry their eyes. when they had done so, and were somewhat composed, they went on with the reading of the letter. "`we've been all wrecked'--dreadful--`and the poor _red angel_'"--"oh! it can't be that, martha dear!" "indeed, it looks very like it, jane darling. oh! i see; it's _eric_--`and the poor _red eric_ has been patched,' or--`pitched on a rock and smashed to sticks and stivers'--dear me! what can that be? i know what `sticks' are, but i can't imagine what `stivers' mean. can you, jane?" "haven't the remotest idea; perhaps johnson, or walker, or webster may-- yes, webster is sure to." "oh! never mind just now, dear jane, we can look it up afterwards--`stivers--sticks and stivers'--something very dreadful, i fear. `but we're all safe and well now'--i'm _so_ thankful!--`and we've been stumped'--no `starved nearly to death, too. my poor ailie was thinner than ever i saw her before'--this is horrible, dear jane." "dreadful, darling martha." "`but she's milk and butter'--it can't be that--`milk and'--oh!--`much better now.'" at this point martha laid down the letter, and the two sisters wept for a few seconds in silence. "darling ailie!" said martha, drying her eyes, "how thin she must have been!" "ah! yes, and no one to take in her frocks." "`we'll be home in less than no time,'" continued martha, reading, "`so you may get ready for us. glynn will have tremendous long yarns to spin to you when we come back, and so will ailie. she has seen a lotofun since we left you'--bless me! what _can_ that be, jane?" "very likely some terrible sea monster, martha; how thankful we ought to be that it did not eat her!--`seen a lotofun'--strange!--`a lot--o''-- oh!--`_lot o' fun_!'--that's it! how stupid of me!--`and my dear pet has been such an ass'--eh! for shame, brother." "don't you think, dear, martha, that there's some more of that word on the next line?" "so there is, i'm _so_ stupid--`istance'--it's not rightly divided though--`as-sistance and a comfort to me.' i knew it couldn't be ass." "so did i. ailie an ass! precious child!" "`now, good-bye t'ye, my dear lassies,' "`ever your affectionate brother,' "(dear fellow!) "`george dunning.'" now it chanced that the ship which conveyed the above letter across the atlantic was a slow sailer and was much delayed by contrary winds. and it also chanced--for odd coincidences do happen occasionally in human affairs--that the vessel in which captain dunning with ailie and his crew embarked some weeks later was a fast-sailing ship, and was blown across the sea with strong favouring gales. hence it fell out that the first vessel entered port on sunday night, and the second cast anchor in the same port on monday morning. the green-painted door, therefore, of the yellow-faced cottage, had scarcely recovered from the assault of the letter-carrier, when it was again struck violently by the impatient captain dunning. miss martha, who had just concluded and refolded the letter, screamed "oh!" and leaped up. miss jane did the same, with this difference, that she leaped up before screaming "oh!" instead of after doing so. then both ladies, hearing voices outside, rushed towards the door of the parlour with the intention of flying to their rooms and there carefully arranging their tall white caps and clean white collars, and keeping the early visitor, whoever he or she might be, waiting fully a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, before they should descend, stiffly, starchly, and ceremoniously, to receive him--or her. these intentions were frustrated by the servant-girl, who opened the green-painted door and let in the captain, who rushed into the parlour and rudely kissed his speechless sisters. "can it be?" gasped martha. jane had meant to gasp "impossible!" but seeing ailie at that moment bound into martha's arms, she changed her intention, uttered a loud scream instead, and fell down flat upon the floor under the impression that she had fainted. finding, however, that this was not the case, she got up again quickly--ignorant of the fact that the tall cap had come off altogether in the fall--and stood before her sister weeping, and laughing, and wringing her hands, and waiting for her turn. but it did not seem likely to come soon, for martha continued to hug ailie, whom she had raised entirely from the ground, with passionate fervour. seeing this, and feeling that to wait was impossible, jane darted forward, threw her arms round ailie--including martha, as an unavoidable consequence--and pressed the child's back to her throbbing bosom. between the two poor ailie was nearly suffocated. indeed, she was compelled to scream, not because she wished to, but because martha and jane squeezed a scream out of her. the scream acted on the former as a reproof. she resigned ailie to jane, flung herself recklessly on the sofa, and kicked. meanwhile, captain dunning stood looking on, rubbing his hands,-- slapping his thighs, and blowing his nose. the servant-girl also stood looking on doing nothing--her face was a perfect blaze of amazement. "girl," said the captain, turning suddenly towards her, "is breakfast ready?" "yes," gasped the girl. "then fetch it." the girl did not move. "d'ye hear?" cried the captain. "ye-es." "then look alive." the captain followed this up with a roar and such an indescribably ferocious demonstration that the girl fled in terror to the culinary regions, where she found the cat breakfasting on a pat of butter. the girl yelled, and flung first a saucepan, and after that the lid of a teapot, at the thief. she failed, of course, in this effort to commit murder, and the cat vanished. breakfast was brought, but, excepting in the captain's case, breakfast was not eaten. what between questioning, and crying, and hysterical laughing, and replying, and gasping, explaining, misunderstanding, exclaiming, and choking, the other members of the party that breakfasted that morning in the yellow cottage with the much-abused green door, did little else than upset tea-cups and cream-pots, and sputter eggs about, and otherwise make a mess of the once immaculate tablecloth. "oh, aunt martha!" exclaimed ailie, in the midst of a short pause in the storm, "i'm _so_ very, very, _very_ glad to be home!" the child said this with intense fervour. no one but he who has been long, long away from the home of his childhood, and had come back after having despaired of ever seeing it again, can imagine with what deep fervour she said it, and then burst into tears. aunt jane at that moment was venturing to swallow her first mouthful of tea, so she gulped and choked, and aunt martha spent the next five minutes in violently beating the poor creature's back, as if she deemed choking a serious offence which merited severe punishment. as for the captain, that unfeeling monster went on grinning from ear to ear, and eating a heavy breakfast, as if nothing had happened. but a close observer might have noticed a curious process going on at the starboard side of his weather-beaten nose. in one of his many desperate encounters with whales, captain dunning had had the end of a harpoon thrust accidentally into the prominent member of his face just above the bridge. a permanent little hole was the result, and on the morning of which we write, a drop of water got into that hole continually, and when it rolled out--which it did about once every two minutes--and fell into the captain's tea-cup, it was speedily replaced by another drop, which trickled into the depths of that small cavern on the starboard side of the captain's nose. we don't pretend to account for that curious phenomenon. we merely record the fact. while the breakfast party were yet in this april mood, a knock was heard at the outer door. "visitors!" said martha, with a look that would have led a stranger to suppose that she held visitors in much the same estimation as tax-gatherers. "how awkward!" exclaimed aunt jane. "send 'em away, girl," cried the captain. "we're all engaged. can't see any one to-day." in a moment the servant-girl returned. "he says he _must_ see you." "see who?" cried the captain. "see _you_, sir." "must he; then he shan't. tell him that." "please, sir, he says he won't go away." "won't he?" as he said this the captain set his teeth, clenched his fists, and darted out of the room. "oh! george! stop him! do stop him. he's _so_ violent! he'll do something dreadful!" said aunt martha. "will no one call out murder?" groaned aunt jane, with a shudder. as no one, however, ventured to check captain dunning, he reached the door, and confronted a rough, big, burly sailor, who stood outside with a free-and-easy expression of countenance, and his hands in his trousers pockets. "why don't you go away when you're told, eh?" shouted the captain. "'cause i won't," answered the man coolly. the captain stepped close up, but the sailor stood his ground and grinned. "now, my lad, if you don't up anchor and make sail right away, i'll knock in your daylights." "no, you won't do nothin' o' the kind, old gen'lem'n; but you'll double-reef your temper, and listen to wot i've got to say; for it's very partikler, an' won't keep long without spilin'." "what have you got to say, then?" said the captain, becoming interested, but still feeling nettled at the interruption. "can't tell you here." "why not?" "never mind; but put on your sky-scraper, and come down with me to the grog-shop wot i frequents, and i'll tell ye." "i'll do nothing of the sort; be off," cried the captain, preparing to slam the door. "oh! it's all the same to me, in coorse, but i rather think if ye know'd that it's 'bout the _termagant_, and that 'ere whale wot--but it don't matter. good-mornin'." "stay," cried the captain, as the last words fell on his ears. "have you really anything to say to me about that ship?" "in coorse i has." "won't you come in and say it here?" "not by no means. you must come down to the grog-shop with _me_." "well, i'll go." so saying the captain ran back to the parlour; said, in hurried tones, that he had to go out on matters of importance, but would be back to dine at five, and putting on his hat, left the cottage in company with the strange sailor. chapter twenty six. captain dunning astonishes the stranger--surprising news, and desperate resolves. still keeping his hands in his pockets and the free-and-easy expression on his countenance, the sailor swaggered through the streets of the town with captain dunning at his side, until he arrived at a very dirty little street, near the harbour, the chief characteristics of which were noise, compound smells, and little shops with sea-stores hung out in front. at the farther end of this street the sailor paused before a small public-house. "here we are," said he; "this is the place w'ere i puts up w'en i'm ashore--w'ich ain't often--that's a fact. after you, sir." the captain hesitated. "you ain't afraid, air you?" asked the sailor, in an incredulous tone. "no, i'm not, my man; but i have an objection to enter a public-house, unless i cannot help it. have you had a glass this morning?" the sailor looked puzzled, as if he did not see very clearly what the question had to do with the captain's difficulty. "well, for the matter o' that, i've had three glasses this mornin'." "then i suppose you have no objection to try a glass of my favourite tipple, have you?" the man smiled, and wiping his mouth with the cuff of his jacket, as if he expected the captain was, then and there, about to hand him a glass of the tipple referred to, said-- "no objection wotsomediver." "then follow me; i'll take you to the place where _i_ put up sometimes when i'm ashore. it's not far off." five minutes sufficed to transport them from the dirty little street near the harbour to the back-parlour of the identical coffee-house in which the captain was first introduced to the reader. here, having whispered something to the waiter, he proceeded to question his companion on the mysterious business for which he had brought him there. "couldn't we have the tipple first?" suggested the sailor. "it will be here directly. have you breakfasted?" "'xceptin' the three glasses i told ye of--no." well, now, what have you to tell me about the _termagant_? you have already said that you are one of her crew, and that you were in the boat that day when we had a row about the whale. what more can you tell me? the sailor sat down on a chair, stretched out his legs quite straight, and very wide apart, and thrust his hands, if possible, deeper into his pockets than they even were thrust before--so deep, in fact, as to suggest the idea that there were no pockets there at all--merely holes. then he looked at captain dunning with a peculiarly sly expression of countenance and winked. "well, that's not much. anything more?" inquired the captain. "ho, yes; lots more. the _termagant's_ in this yere port--at--this-- yere--moment." the latter part of this was said in a hoarse emphatic whisper, and the man raising up both legs to a horizontal position, let them fall so that his heels came with a crash upon the wooden floor. "is she?" cried the captain, with lively interest; "and her captain?" "he's--yere--too!" captain dunning took one or two hasty strides across the floor, as if he were pacing his own quarterdeck--then stopped suddenly and said-- "can you get hold of any more of that boat's crew?" "i can do nothin' more wotiver, nor say nothin' more wotsomediver, till i've tasted that 'ere tipple of yourn." the captain rang the bell, and the waiter entered with ham and eggs, buttered toast, and hot coffee for two. the sailor opened his eyes to their utmost possible width, and made an effort to thrust his hands still deeper into his unfathomable trousers pockets; then he sat bolt upright, and gathering his legs as close under his chair as possible, clasped his knees with his hands, hugged himself, and grinned from ear to ear. after sitting a second or two in that position, he jumped up, and going forward to the table, took up the plate of ham and eggs, as if to make sure that it was a reality, and smelt it. "is _this_ your favourite tipple?" he said, on being quite satisfied of the reality of what he saw. "coffee is my favourite drink," replied the captain, laughing. "i never take anything stronger." "ho! you're a to-teetler?" "i am. now, my man, as you have not yet had breakfast, and as you interrupted me in the middle of mine, suppose we sit down and discuss the matter of the whale over this." "well, this is the rummiest way of offerin' to give a fellow a glass as i ever did come across since i was a tadpole, as sure as my name's dick jones," remarked the sailor, sitting down opposite the captain, and turning up the cuffs of his coat. having filled his mouth to its utmost possible extent, the astonished seaman proceeded, at one and the same time, to masticate and to relate all that he knew in regard to the _termagant_. he said that not only was that vessel in port at that time, but that the same men were still aboard; that the captain--dixon by name--was still in command, and that the whale which had been seized from the crew of the _red eric_ had been sold along with the rest of the cargo. he related; moreover, how that he and his comrades had been very ill-treated by captain dixon during the voyage, and that he (captain d) was, in the opinion of himself and his shipmates, the greatest blackguard afloat, and had made them so miserable by his brutality and tyranny, that they all hoped they might never meet with his like again-- not to mention the hopes and wishes of a very unfeeling nature which they one and all expressed in regard to that captain's future career. besides all this, he stated that he (dick jones) had recognised captain dunning when he landed that morning, and had followed him to the cottage with the yellow face and the green door; after which he had taken a turn of half-an-hour or so up and down the street to think what he ought to do, and had at last resolved to tell all that he knew, and offer to stand witness against his captain, which he was then and there prepared to do, at that time or at any future period, wherever he (captain dunning) liked, and whenever he pleased, and that there was an end of the whole matter, and that was a fact. having unburdened his mind, and eaten all the ham, and eggs, and toast, and drunk all the coffee, and asked for more and got it, dick jones proceeded to make himself supremely happy by filling his pipe and lighting it. "i'll take him to law," said captain dunning firmly, smiting the table with his fist. "i know'd a feller," said jones, "wot always said, w'en he heard a feller say that, `you'll come for to wish that ye hadn't;' but i think ye're right, cap'en; for it's a clear case, clear as daylight; an' we'll all swear to a'most anything as'll go fur to prove it." "but are you sure your messmates are as willing as you are to witness against the captain?" "sure? in coorse i is--sartin sure. didn't he lamp two on 'em with a rope's-end once till they wos fit to bust, and all for nothin' but skylarkin'? they'll all go in the same boat with me, 'cept perhaps the cook, who is named baldwin. he's a cross-grained critter, an'll stan' by the cap'en through thick an thin, an' so will the carpenter--box they call him--he's dead agin us; but that's all." "then i'll do it at once," cried captain dunning, rising and putting on his hat firmly, as a man does when he has made a great resolve, which he more than half suspects will get him into a world of difficulties and trouble. "i s'pose i may set here till ye come back?" inquired dick jones, who now wore a dim mysterious aspect, in consequence of the cloud of smoke in which he had enveloped himself. "you may sit there till they turn you out; but come and take breakfast with me at the same hour to-morrow, will ye?" "won't i?" "then good-day." so saying, the captain left the coffee-house, and hurried to his sisters' cottage, where he rightly conjectured he should find glynn proctor. without telling his sisters the result of the interview with the "rude seaman," he took glynn's arm and sallied forth in search of tim rokens and mr millons, both of whom they discovered enjoying their pipes, after a hearty breakfast, in a small, unpretending, but excellent and comfortable "sailors' home," in the dirty little street before referred to. the greater part of the crew of the late _red eric_ (now "sticks and stivers") were found in the same place, engaged in much the same occupation, and to these, in solemn conclave assembled, captain dunning announced his intention of opening a law-suit against the captain of the _termagant_ for the unlawful appropriation of the whale harpooned by glynn. the men highly approved of what they called a "shore-going scrimmage," and advised the captain to go and have the captain and crew of the _termagant_ "put in limbo right off." thus advised and encouraged, captain dunning went to a lawyer, who, after hearing the case, stated it as his opinion that it was a good one, and forthwith set about taking the needful preliminary steps to commencing the action. thereafter captain dunning walked rapidly home, wiping his hot brow as he went, and entering the parlour of the cottage--the yellow-faced cottage--flung himself on the sofa with a reckless air, and said, "i've done it!" "horror!" cried aunt martha. "misery!" gasped aunt jane, who happened to be fondling ailie at the time of her brother's entrance. "is he dead?" "_quite_ dead?" added martha. "is _who_ dead?" inquired the captain, in surprise. "the man--the rude sailor!" "dead! no." "you said just now that you had done it." "so i have. i've done the deed. i've gone to law." had the captain said that he had gone to "sticks and stivers," his sisters could not have been more startled and horrified. they dreaded the law, and hated it with a great and intense hatred, and not without reason; for their father had been ruined in a law-suit, and his father had broken the law, in some political manner they could never clearly understand, and had been condemned by the law to perpetual banishment. "will it do you much harm, dear, papa?" inquired ailie, in great concern. "harm? of course not. i hope it'll do me, and you too, a great deal of good." "i'm _so_ glad to hear that; for i've heard people say that when you once go into it you never get out of it again." "so have i," said aunt martha, with a deep sigh. "and so have i," added aunt jane, with a deeper sigh, "and i believe it's true." "it's false!" cried the captain, laughing, "and you are all silly geese; the law is--" "a bright and glorious institution! a desirable investment for the talents of able men! a machine for justice usually--injustice occasionally--and, like all other good things, often misused, abused, and spoken against!" said glynn proctor, at that moment entering the room, and throwing his hat on one chair, and himself on another. "i've had enough of the sea, captain, and have come to resign my situation, and beg for dinner." "you shall have it immediately, dear glynn," said martha, whose heart warmed at the sight of one who had been so kind to her little niece. "nay, i'm in no hurry," said glynn, quickly; "i did but jest, dear madam, as shakespeare has it. perhaps it was milton who said it; one can't be sure; but whenever a truly grand remark escapes you, you're safe to clap it down to shakespeare." at this point the servant-girl announced dinner. at the same instant a heavy foot was heard in the passage, and tim rokens announced himself, saying that he had just seen the captain's lawyer, and had been sent to say that he wished to see captain dunning in the course of the evening. "then let him go on wishing till i'm ready to go to him. meanwhile do you come and dine with us, rokens, my lad." rokens looked awkward, and shuffled a little with his feet, and shook his head. "why, what's the matter, man?" rokens looked as if he wished to speak, but hesitated. "if ye please, cap'en, i'd raither not, axin' the ladies' parding. i'd like a word with you in the passage." "by all means," replied the captain, going out of the room with the sailor. "now, what's wrong?" "my flippers, cap'en," said rokens, thrusting out his hard, thick, enormous hands, which were stained all over with sundry streaks of tar, and were very red as well as extremely clumsy to look at--"i've bin an' washed 'em with hot water and rubbed 'em with grease till i a'most took the skin off, but they won't come clean, and i'm not fit to sit down with ladies." to this speech the captain replied by seizing tim rokens by the collar and dragging him fairly into the parlour. "here's a man," cried the captain enthusiastically, presenting him to martha, "who's sailed with me for nigh thirty years, and is the best harpooner i ever had, and has stuck to me through thick and thin, in fair weather and foul, in heat and cold, and was kinder to ailie during the last voyage than all the other men put together, exceptin' glynn, and who tells me his hands are covered with tar, and that he can't wash 'em clean nohow, and isn't fit to dine with ladies; so you will oblige me, martha, by ordering him to leave the house." "i will, brother, with pleasure. i order you, mr rokens, to leave this house _at your peril_! and i invite you to partake of our dinner, which is now on the table in the next room." saying this, aunt martha grasped one of the great tar-stained "flippers" in both of her own delicate hands, and shook it with a degree of vigour that tim rokens afterwards said he could not have believed possible had he not felt it. seeing this, aunt jane turned aside and blew her nose violently. tim rokens attempted to make a bow, failed, and grinned. the captain cried--"now, then, heave ahead!" glynn, in the exuberance of his spirits, uttered a miniature cheer. ailie gave vent to a laugh, that sounded as sweet as a good song; and the whole party adjourned to the dining-room, where the servant-girl was found in the sulks because dinner was getting rapidly cold, and the cat was found:-- "prowling round the festal board on thievish deeds intent." [see milton's _paradise regained_, latest edition.] chapter twenty seven. the law-suit--the battle, and the victory. the great case of dunning _versus_ dixon came on at last. on that day captain dunning was in a fever; glynn proctor was in a fever; tim rokens was in a fever; the misses dunning were in two separate fevers--everybody, in fact, on the dunning side of the case was in a fever of nervous anxiety and mental confusion. as witnesses in the case, they had been precognosced to such an extent by the lawyers that their intellects were almost overturned. on being told that he was to be precognosced. tim rokens said stoutly, "he'd like to see the man as 'ud do it"; under the impression that that was the legal term for being kicked, or otherwise maltreated; and on being informed that the word signified merely an examination as to the extent of his knowledge of the facts of the case, he said quietly, "fire away!" before they had done firing away, the gallant harpooner was so confused that he began to regard the whole case as already hopeless. the other men were much in the same condition; but in a private meeting held among themselves the day before the trial, rokens made the following speech, which comforted them not a little. "messmates and shipmates," said tim, "i'll tell ye wot it is. i'm no lawyer--that's a fact--but i'm a man; an' wot's a man?--it ain't a bundle o' flesh an' bones on two legs, with a turnip a-top o't, is it?" "be no manes," murmured briant, with an approving nod. "cer'nly not," remarked dick barnes. "i second that motion." "good," continued rokens. "then, bein' a man, i've got brains enough to see that, if we don't want to contredick one another, we must stick to the truth." "you don't suppose i'd go fur to tell lies, do you?" said tarquin quickly. "in coorse not. but what i mean to say is, that we must stick to what we _knows_ to be the truth, and not be goin' for to guess at it, or _think_ that we knows it, and then swear to it as if we wos certain sure." "hear! hear!" from the assembled company. "in fact," observed glynn, "let what we say be absolutely true, and say just as little as we can. that's how to manage a good case." "an', be all manes," added briant, "don't let any of ye try for to improve matters be volunteerin' yer opinion. volunteerin' opinions is stuff. volunteerin' is altogether a bad look-out. i know'd a feller, i did--a strappin' young feller he was, too, more betoken--as volunteered himself to death, he did. to be sure, his wos a case o' volunteerin' into the louth militia, and he wos shot, he wos, in a pop'lar riot, as the noosepapers said--a scrimmage, i calls it--so don't let any o' us be goin' for to volunteer opinions w'en nobody axes 'em--no, nor wants 'em." briant looked so pointedly at gurney while delivering this advice that that obese individual felt constrained to look indignant, and inquire whether "them 'ere imperent remarks wos meant for him." to which briant replied that "they wos meant for him, as well as for ivery man then present." whereupon gurney started up and shook his fist across the table at briant, and briant made a face at gurney, at which the assembled company of mariners laughed, and immediately thereafter the meeting was broken up. next day the trial came on, and as the case was expected to be more than usually interesting, the house was filled to overflowing long before the hour. the trial lasted all that day, and all the next, and a great part of the third, but we do not purpose going into it in detail. the way in which mr rasp (captain dunning's counsel) and mr tooth (captain dixon's counsel) badgered, browbeat, and utterly bamboozled the witnesses on both sides, and totally puzzled the jury, can only be understood by those who have frequented courts of law, but could not be fully or adequately described in less than six hundred pages. in the course of the trial the resolutions come to by the crew of the _red eric_, that they would tell _nothing_ but the truth, and carefully refrain from touching on what they were not quite sure of, proved to be of the greatest advantage to the pursuer's case. we feel constrained here to turn aside for one moment to advise the general adoption of that course of conduct in all the serious affairs of life. the evidence of tim rokens was clear and to the point. the whale had been first struck by glynn with a harpoon, to which a drogue was attached; it had been followed up by the crew of the _red eric_ and also by the crew of the _termagant_. the boats of the latter over-took the fish first, fixed a harpoon in it, and lanced it mortally. the drogue and harpoon of the _red eric_ were still attached to the whale when this was done, so that, according to the laws of the fishery, the crew of the _termagant_ had no right to touch the whale--it was a "fast" fish. if the drogue had become detached the fish would have been free, and both crews would have been entitled to chase and capture it if they were able. angry words and threats had passed between the crews of the opposing boats, but the whale put a stop to that by smashing the boat of the _red eric_ with its tail, whereupon the boat of the _termagant_ made off with the fish (which died almost immediately after), and left the crew of the boat belonging to the _red eric_ struggling in the water. such was the substance of the evidence of the harpooner, and neither cross-examination nor re-cross-examination by mr tooth, the counsel for the defendant, could induce tim rokens to modify, alter, omit, or contradict one iota of what he had said. it must not be supposed, however, that all of the men gave their evidence so clearly or so well. the captain did, though he was somewhat nervous, and the doctor did, and glynn did. but that of nikel sling was unsatisfactory, in consequence of his being unable to repress his natural tendency to exaggeration. tarquin also did harm; for, in his spite against the crew of the _termagant_, he made statements which were not true, and his credit as a witness was therefore totally destroyed. last of all came jim scroggles, who, after being solemnly sworn, deposed that he was between thirty-five and thirty-six years of age, on hearing which gurney said "oh!" with peculiar emphasis, and the people laughed, and the judge cried "silence," and the examination went on. after some time mr tooth rose to cross-question jim scroggles, who happened to be a nervous man in public, and was gradually getting confused and angry. "now, my man, please to be particular in your replies," said mr tooth, pushing up his spectacles on his forehead, thrusting his hands into his trousers pockets, and staring very hard at jim. "you said that you pulled the second oar from the bow on the day in which the whale was killed." "yes." "are you quite sure of that? was it not the _third_ oar, now?" "yes or no," interrupted mr tooth. "it's so long since--" "yes or no," repeated mr tooth. "yes," roared scroggles, forgetting at the moment, in his confusion and indignation at not being allowed to speak, in what manner the question had been put. "yes," echoed mr tooth, addressing the judge, but looking at the jury. "you will observe, gentlemen. would your lordship be so good as to note that? this witness, on that very particular occasion, when every point in the circumstances must naturally have been impressed deeply on the memories of all present, appears to have been so confused as not to know which oar of the boat he pulled. so, my man" (turning to the witness), "it appears evident that either you are now mis-stating the facts of the case or were then incapable of judging of them." jim scroggles felt inclined to leap out of the witness-box, and knocked the teeth of mr tooth down his throat! but he repressed the inclination, and that gentleman went on to say-- "when the boat of the _red eric_ came up to the whale was the drogue still attached to it?" "in coorse it was. didn't ye hear me say that three or--" "be so good as to answer my questions simply, and do not make unnecessary remarks, sir. was the drogue attached when the boat came up? yes or no?" "yes." "how do you know?" "'cause i seed it." "you are quite sure that you saw it?" "in coorse!--leastwise, tim rokens seed it, and all the men in the boat seed it, and said so to me afterwards--w'ich is the same thing, though i can't 'xactly say i seed it myself, 'cause i was looking hard at the men in the enemy's boat, and considerin' which on 'em i should give a dab in the nose to first w'en we come along side of 'em." "oh, then you did _not_ see the drogue attached to the whale?" said mr tooth, with a glance at the jury; "and you were so taken up with the anticipated fight, i suppose, that you scarcely gave your attention to the whale at all! were the other men in your boat in a similarly unobservant condition?" "eh?" exclaimed scroggles. "were the other men as eager for the fight as you were?" "i s'pose they wos; you'd better ax 'em. _i_ dun know." "no, i don't suppose you do, considering the state of mind you appear to have been in at the time. do you know which part of the whale struck your boat? was it the head?" "no; it was the tail." "are you quite sure of that?" "ho, yes, quite sartin, for i've got a knot on my head this day where the tip of its flukes came down on me." "you're quite sure of that? might it not have been the part of the fish near the tail, now, that struck you, or the fin just under the tail?" "no; i'm quite sartin sure it warn't _that_." "how are you so sure it wasn't that?" "because whales hain't got no fins just under their tails!" replied scroggles, with a broad grin. there was another loud laugh at this, and mr tooth looked a little put out, and the judge cried "silence" again, and threatened to clear the court. after a few more questions jim scroggles was permitted to retire, which he did oppressed with a feeling that his evidence had done the case little good, if not some harm, yet rather elated than otherwise at the success of his last hit. that evening captain dunning supped with ailie and his sisters in low spirits. glynn and the doctor and tim rokens and the two mates, millons and markham, supped with him, also in low spirits; and king bumble acted the part of waiter, for that sable monarch had expressed an earnest desire to become captain dunning's servant, and the captain had agreed to "take him on," at least for a time. king bumble was also in low spirits; and, as a natural consequence, so were aunts martha and jane and little ailie. it seemed utterly incomprehensible to the males of the party, how so good a case as this should come to wear such an unpromising aspect. "the fact is," said the captain, at the conclusion of a prolonged discussion, "i don't believe we'll gain it." "neither do i," said the doctor, helping himself to a large quantity of salad, as if that were the only comfort now left to him, and he meant to make the most of it before giving way to total despair. "i knew it," observed aunt martha firmly. "i always said the law was a wicked institution." "it's a great shame!" said aunt jane indignantly; "but what could we expect? it treats every one ill." "won't it treat captain dixon well, if he wins, aunt?" inquired ailie. "dear child, what can you possibly know about law?" said aunt martha. "would you like a little more tart?" asked aunt jane. "bravo! ailie," cried glynn, "that's a fair question. i back it up." "how much do you claim for damages, george?" inquired aunt martha, changing the subject. ("question!" whispered glynn.) "two thousand pounds," answered the captain. "what!" exclaimed the aunts, in a simultaneous burst of amazement. "all for _one_ fish?" "ay, it was a big one, you see, and dick jones, one of the men of the _termagant_, told me it was sold for that. it's a profitable fishing, when one doesn't lose one's ship. what do you say to go with me and ailie on our next trip, sisters? you might use up all your silk and worsted thread and crooked pins." "what nonsense you talk, george; but i suppose you really do use pretty large hooks and lines when you fish for whales?" aunt martha addressed the latter part of her remark to tim rokens, who seemed immensely tickled by the captain's pleasantry. "hooks and lines, ma'am!" cried rokens, regarding his hostess with a look of puzzled surprise. "to be sure we do," interrupted glynn; "we use anchors baited with live crocodiles--sometimes elephants, when we can't get crocodiles. but hippopotamuses do best." "oh! glynn!" cried ailie, laughing, "how can you?" "it all depends on the drogue," remarked the doctor. "i'm surprised to find how few of the men can state with absolute certainty that they saw the drogue attached to the whale when the boat came up to it. it all hinges upon that." "yes," observed mr millons, "the 'ole case 'inges on that, because that proves it was a fast fish." "dear me, mr millons," said aunt martha, smiling, "i have heard of fast young men, but i never heard of a fast fish before." "didn't you, ma'am?" exclaimed the first mate, looking up in surprise, for that matter-of-fact seamen seldom recognised a joke at first sight. aunt martha, who very rarely ventured on the perpetration of a joke, blushed, and turning somewhat hastily to mr markham, asked if he would "take another cup of tea." seeing that there was no tea on the table, she substituted "another slice of ham," and laughed. thereupon the whole company laughed, and from that moment their spirits began to rise. they began to discuss the more favourable points of the evidence led that day, and when they retired at a late hour to rest, their hopes had again become sanguine. next morning the examination of the witnesses for the defendant came on. there were more of them than dick jones had expected; for the crew of the _termagant_ happened to be partly made up of very bad men, who were easily bribed by their captain to give evidence in his favour. but it soon became evident that they had not previously determined, as captain dunning's men had done, to stick to the simple truth. they not only contradicted each other but each contradicted himself more than once; and it amazed them all, more than they could tell, to find how easily mr rasp turned their thoughts outside in, and caused them to prove conclusively that they were telling falsehoods. after the case had been summed up by the judge, the jury retired to consult, but they only remained five minutes away, and then came back with a verdict in favour of the pursuers. "who's the `pursooers?'" inquired gurney, when this was announced to him by nikel sling. "ain't we all pursooers? wasn't we all pursooing the whale together?" "oh, you grampus!" cried nikel, laughing. "don't ye know that _we_ is the purshooers, 'cause why? we're purshooin' the cap'en and crew of the _termagant_ at law, and means to purshoo 'em too, i guess, till they stumps up for that air whale. and they is the defendants, 'cause they're s'posed to defend themselves to the last gasp; but it ain't o' no manner o' use." nikel sling was right. captain dixon _was_ pursued until he paid back the value of his ill-gotten whale, and was forcibly reminded by this episode in his career, that "honesty is the best policy" after all. thus captain dunning found himself suddenly put in possession of a sum of two thousand pounds. chapter twenty eight. the conclusion. the trouble, and worry, and annoyance that the sum of pounds gave to captain dunning is past all belief. that worthy man, knowing that glynn proctor had scarcely a penny in the world, not even his "kit" (as sailors name their sea-chests), which had been lost in the wreck of the _red eric_, and that the boy was about to be cast upon the world again an almost friendless wanderer--knowing all this, we say, captain dunning insisted that as glynn had been the first to strike the whale, and as no one else had had anything to do with its capture, he (glynn) was justly entitled to the money. glynn firmly declined to admit the justice of this view of the case; he had been paid his wages; that was all he had any right to claim; so he positively refused to take the money. but the captain was more than his match. he insisted so powerfully, and argued so logically, that glynn at last consented, on condition that pounds of it should be distributed among his shipmates. this compromise was agreed to, and thus glynn came into possession of what appeared in his eyes a fortune of pounds. "now, what am i to do with it? that is the question." glynn propounded this knotty question one evening, about three weeks after the trial, to his friends of the yellow cottage with the green-painted door. "put it in the bank," suggested aunt martha. "yes, and live on the interest," added aunt jane. "or invest in the whale-fishery," said captain dunning, emitting a voluminous cloud of tobacco-smoke, as if to suggest the idea that the investment would probably end in something similar to that. (the captain was a peculiarly favoured individual; he was privileged to smoke in the misses dunning's parlour.) "oh! i'll tell you what to do, glynn," cried ailie, clapping her hands; "it would be _so_ nice. buy a cottage with it--a nice, pretty, white-painted cottage, beside a wood, with a little river in front of it, and a small lake with a boat on it not far off, and a far, far view from the windows of fields, and villages, and churches, and cattle, and sheep, and--" "hurrah! ailie, go it, my lass!" interrupted glynn; "and horses, and ponies, and carts, and cats, and blackbirds, and cocks and hens, and ploughmen, and milkmaids, and beggars, all in the foreground; and coaches, and railroads, and steamboats, and palaces, and canals, in the middle distance; with a glorious background of the mighty sea glittering for ever under the blazing beams of a perpetually setting sun, mingled with the pale rays of an eternally rising moon, and laden with small craft, and whale-ships, and seaweed, and fish, and bumboats, and men-of-war!" "oh, how nice!" cried ailie, screaming with delight. "go ahead, lad, never give in!" said the captain; whose pipe during this glowing description had been keeping up what seemed like a miniature sea-fight. "you've forgot the main point." "what's that?" inquired glynn. "why, a palace for jacko close beside it, with a portrait of jacko over the drawing-room fireplace, and a marble bust of jacko in the four corners of every room." "so i did; i forgot that," replied glynn. "dear jacko!" said ailie, laughing heartily, and holding out her hand. the monkey, which had become domesticated in the house, leaped nimbly upon her knee, and looked up in her face. "oh! ailie dear, do put it down!" cried aunt jane, shuddering. "how can you?" said aunt martha; "dirty beast!" of course aunt martha applied the latter part of her remark to the monkey, not to the child. "i'll never be able to bear it," remarked aunt jane. "and it will never come to agree with the cat," observed aunt martha. ailie patted her favourite on the cheek and told it to go away, adding, that it was a dear pet--whereupon that small monkey retired modestly to a corner near the sideboard. it chanced to be the corner nearest to the sugar-basin, which had been left out by accident; but jacko didn't know that, of course--at least, if he did, he did not say so. it is probable, however, that he found it out in course of time; for an hour or two afterwards the distinct marks of ten very minute fingers were visible therein, a discovery which aunt martha made with a scream, and aunt jane announced with a shriek--which caused jacko to retire precipitately. "but really," said glynn, "jesting apart, i must take to something on shore, for although i like the sea very well, i find that i like the land better." "well, since you wish to be in earnest about it," said captain dunning, "i'll tell you what has been passing in my mind of late. i'm getting to be an oldish young man now, you see, and am rather tired of the sea myself, so i also think of giving it up. i have now laid by about five thousand pounds, and with this i think of purchasing a farm. i learnt something of farming before i took to the sea, so that i am not quite so green on such matters as you might suppose, though i confess i'm rather rusty and behind the age; but that won't much matter in a fine country like this, and i can get a good steward to take command and steer the ship until i have brushed up a bit in shore-goin' navigation. there is a farm which is just the very thing for me not more than twenty miles from this town, with a cottage on it and a view _somewhat_ like the one you and ailie described a few minutes ago, though not _quite_ so grand. but there's one great and insuperable objection to my taking it." "what is that?" inquired aunt martha, who, with her sister, expressed in their looks unbounded surprise at the words of their brother, whom they regarded as so thoroughly and indissolubly connected with the sea that they would probably have been less surprised had he announced it to be his intention to become a fish and thenceforward dwell in a coral cave. "i have not enough of money wherewith to buy and stock it." "_what_ a pity!" said ailie, whose hopes had been rising with extraordinary rapidity, and were thus quenched at once. glynn leaped up and smote his thigh with his right hand, and exclaimed in a triumphant manner--"that's the very ticket!" "what's the very ticket?" inquired the captain. "i'll lend you _my_ money," said glynn. "ay, boy, that's just the point i was comin' to. a thousand pounds will do. now, if you lend me that sum, i'm willin' to take you into partnership, and we'll buy the place and farm it together. i think we'll pull well in the same boat, for i think you like me well enough, and i'm sure i like you, and i know ailie don't object to either of us; and after i'm gone, glynn, you can work the farm for ailie and give her her share. what say you?" "done," exclaimed glynn, springing up and seizing the captain's hand. "i'll be your son and you'll be my father, and ailie will be my sister-- and _won't_ we be jolly, just!" ailie laughed, and so did the two aunts, but the captain made no reply. he merely smoked with a violence that was quite appalling, and nodding his head, winked at glynn, as if to say--"that's it, exactly!" the compact thus half-jestingly entered into was afterwards thoroughly ratified and carried into effect. the cottage was named the red eric, and the property was named the whale brae, after an ancestral estate which, it was supposed, had, at some remote period, belonged to the dunning family in scotland. the title was not inappropriate, for it occupied the side of a rising ground, which, as a feature in the landscape, looked very like a whale, "only," as glynn said, "not quite so big," which was an outrageous falsehood, for it was a great deal bigger! a small wooden palace was built for jacko, and many a portrait was taken of him by glynn, in charcoal, on many an outhouse wall, to the immense delight of ailie. as to having busts of him placed in the corners of every room, glynn remarked that that was quite unnecessary, for jacko _almost_ "bu'st" himself in every possible way, at every conceivable time, in every imaginable place, whenever he could conveniently collect enough of food to do so--which was not often, for jacko, though small, was of an elastic as well as an amiable disposition. tim rokens stuck to his old commander to the last. he said he had sailed with him the better part of his life, in the same ships, had weathered the same storms, and chased the same fish, and now that the captain had made up his mind to lay up in port, he meant to cast anchor beside him. so the bold harpooner became a species of overseer and jack-of-all-trades on the property. phil briant set up as a carpenter in the village close by, took to himself a wife (his first wife having died), and became tim rokens' boon companion and bosom friend. as for the rest of the crew of the _red eric_, they went their several ways, got into separate ships, and were never again re-assembled together; but nearly all of them came at separate times, in the course of years, to visit their old captain and shipmates in the red eric at whale brae. in course of time ailie grew up into such a sweet, pretty, modest, loveable woman, that the very sight of her did one's heart good. love was the ruling power in ailie's heart--love to her god and saviour and to all his creatures. she was not perfect. who is? she had faults, plenty of them. who has not? but her loving nature covered up everything with a golden veil so beautiful, that no one saw her faults, or, if they did, would not believe them to be faults at all. glynn, also, grew up and became a _man_. observe, reader, we don't mean to say that he became a thing with long legs, and broad shoulders, and whiskers. glynn became a real man; an out-and-out man; a being who realised the fact that he had been made and born into the world for the purpose of doing that world good, and leaving it better than he found it. he did not think that to strut, and smoke cigars, and talk loud or big, and commence most of his sentences with "aw! 'pon my soul!" was the summit of true greatness. neither did he, flying in disgust to the opposite extreme, speak like a misanthrope, and look like a bear, or dress like a savage. he came to know the truth of the proverb, that "there is a time for all things," and following up the idea suggested by those words, he came to perceive that there is a place for all things-- that place being the human heart, when in a true and healthy condition in all its parts, out of which, in their proper time, some of those "all things" ought to be ever ready to flow. hence glynn could weep with the sorrowful and laugh with the gay. he could wear a red or a blue flannel shirt, and pull an oar (ay, the best oar) at a rowing match, or he could read the bible and pray with a bedridden old woman. had glynn proctor been a naval commander, he might have sunk, destroyed, or captured fleets. had he been a soldier, he might have stormed and taken cities; being neither, he was a greater man than either, for he could "_rule his own spirit_." if you are tempted, dear reader, to think that an easy matter, just try it. make the effort. the first time you chance to be in a towering rage (which i trust, however, may never be), try to keep your tongue silent, and, most difficult of all, try at that moment to pray, and see whether your opinion as to your power over your own spirit be not changed. such were glynn and ailie. "so they married, of course," you remark. well, reader, and why not? nothing could be more natural. glynn felt, and said, too, that nothing was nearer his heart. and ailie admitted-- after being told by glynn that she must be his wife, for he wanted to have her, and was determined to have her whether she would or not--that her heart was in similar proximity to the idea of marriage. captain dunning did not object--it would have been odd if he had objected to the fulfilment of his chief earthly desire. tim rokens did not groan when he heard of the proposal--by no means; on the contrary, he roared, and laughed, and shouted with delight, and went straight off to tell phil briant, who roared a duet with him, and they both agreed that it "wos the most gloriously nat'ral thing they ever did know since they wos launched upon the sea of time!" so glynn proctor and ailie dunning were married, and lived long, and happily, and usefully at whale brae. captain dunning lived with them until he was so old that ailie's eldest daughter (also named ailie) had to lead him from his bedroom each morning to breakfast, and light his pipe for him when he had finished. and ailie the second performed her duties well, and made the old man happy--happier than he could find words to express--for ailie the second was like her mother in all things, and greater praise than that could not possibly be awarded to her. the affairs of the cottage with the yellow face and the green door were kept in good order for many years by one of ailie the second's little sisters--martha by name; and there was much traffic and intercourse between that ancient building and the red eric, as long as the two aunts lived, which was a very long time indeed. its green door was, during that time, almost battered off its hinges by successive juvenile members of the proctor family. and truly deep and heartfelt was the mourning at whale brae when the amiable sisters were taken away at last. as for tim rokens, that ancient mariner became the idol of the young proctors, as they successively came to be old enough to know his worth. the number of ships and boats he made for the boys among them was absolutely fabulous. equal, perhaps, to about a twentieth part of the number of pipes of tobacco he smoked during his residence there, and about double the number of stories told them by phil briant during the same period. king bumble lived with the family until his woolly head became as white as his face was black; and jacko--poor little jacko--lived so long, that he became big, but he did not become less amiable, or less addicted to thieving. he turned grey at last and became as blind as a bat, and finally crawled about the house, enfeebled by old age, and wrapped in a flannel dressing-gown. sorrows and joys are the lot of all; they chase each other across the sky of human life like cloud and sunshine on an april day. captain dunning and his descendants were not exempt from the pains, and toils, and griefs of life, but they met them in the right spirit, and diffused so sweet an influence around their dwelling that the neighbours used to say--and say truly--of the family at the red eric, that they were always good-humoured and happy--as happy as the day was long. the end. seed of the arctic ice by h. g. winter [transcriber's note: this etext was produced from astounding stories february . extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the u.s. copyright on this publication was renewed.] [sidenote: killer whales and seal-creatures tangle ken torrance in an amazing adventure under the ice-roofed arctic sea.] sleepily the lookout stared at the scope-screen before him, wishing for something that would break the monotony of the scene it pictured: the schools of ghostly fish fleeting by, the occasional shafts of pale sunlight filtering down through breaks in the ice-floes above, the long snaky ropes of underwater growth. none of this was conducive to wakefulness; nor did the half-speed drone of the electric engines aft and the snores of some distant sleeper help him. the four other men on duty in the submarine--the helmsman; the second mate, whose watch it was; the quartermaster and the second engineer--might not have been present, so motionless and silent were they. the lookout man stifled another yawn and glanced at a clock to see how much more time remained of his trick. then suddenly something on the screen brought him to alert attention. he blinked at it; stared hard--and thrilled. far ahead, caught for an instant by the submarine _narwhal's+ light-beams, a number of sleek bodies moved through the foggy murk, with a flash of white bellies and an easy graceful thrust of flukes. the watcher's hands cupped his mouth; he turned and sang out: "k-i-i-ll-ers! i see killers!" the cry rang in every corner, and immediately there was a feverish response. rubbing their eyes, men appeared as if from nowhere and jumped to posts; with a clang, the telegraph under the second mate's hand went over to full speed; captain streight rolled heavily out of his bunk, flipped his feet mechanically into sea-boots and came stamping forward. first torpooner kenneth torrance, as he sat up and stretched, heard the usual crisp question: "where away?" "five points off sta'b'd bow, sir; quarter-mile away; swimming slow." "how large a school?" "couldn't say, sir. looks around a dozen." "whew!" whistled ken torrance. "that's a strike!" he pulled on a sweater and strode forward to the scope-screen to see for himself, even as captain streight, all at once testy with eagerness, bawled: "sta'b'd five! torpoon ready, mister torrance! mister torr--oh, here you are. take a look." * * * * * never in the two years of experience which had brought him to the important post of first torpooner had ken failed to thrill at the sight which now met his eyes. directly ahead, now that the _narwhal's_ bow was turned in pursuit, but veering slowly to port, swam a pack of the twenty to thirty-foot dolphins which are called "killer whales," their bodies so close-pressed that they seemed to be an undulating wave of black, occasionally sliced with white as the fluke-thrusts brought their bellies into view. their speed through the shadowed, gloomy water was equal to the submarine's; when alarmed, it would almost double. "three more of 'em will fill our tanks," grunted streight, his chunky face almost glowing. he bit on a plug of tobacco, his eyes never moving from the screen. "now, if only we hadn't lost beddoes.... y' think you can bag three, mister torrance?" "well, if three'll fill our tanks--sure!" grinned ken. the other's eyebrows twitched suddenly. "they're speeding up!" he shouted, and then: "that torpoon ready, there? good." his voice lowered again as ken pulled his belt a notch tighter and snatched a last glimpse of the fish before leaving. "i want you to try for three, son," he said soberly: "but--be careful. don't take fool chances, and keep alert. remember beddoes." ken nodded and walked to the torpoon catapult, hearing streight's familiar send-off echoed by the men of the crew who were nearby: "good hunting!" * * * * * the idea of an underwater craft for the pursuit of killer whales--tremendously valuable since the discovery of valuable medicinal qualities in their oil--had been scoffed at by the majority of the alaska whaling company's officials at the time of its suggestion, but the _narwhal_ after her first two months of service had decisively proved her worth. she was not restricted to the open seas, now swept almost clean of the highly prized killers; she could follow them to their last refuge, right beneath the floe-edges of the arctic circle; and as a result she could bring back more oil than any four surface whalers. with a cruising radius of twenty-five hundred miles, she stayed out from the base until her torpoons had accounted for anywhere from sixty to eighty killers. one by one these sea-animals would be taken to the surface and there cut up and boiled down, until her tanks were full of the precious blubber oil. ever farther she pressed in her quest for the fish schools, dipping for leagues into a silent sea that for ages had been known only to the whale and the seal and their kindred; a sea always dark and mysterious beneath its sheath of ice. the inner catapult door closed behind kenneth torrance, and he slid into his torpoon. twelve feet long, and resembling in miniature a dirigible, was this weapon that made practical an underwater whaling craft. the tapered stern bore long directional rudders, which curved round the squat high-speed propeller: its smooth flanks of burnished steel were marked only by the lines of the entrance port, which the torpooner now drew tight and locked. twin eyes of light-beam projectors were set in the bow, which was cut also by a vision-plate of fused quartz and the nitro-shell gun's tube, successor to the gun-cast harpoon. ken lay full-length in the padded body compartment, his feet resting on the controlling bars of the directional planes, hands on the torpoon's engine levers. a harness was buckled all around him, to keep him in place. his gray eyes, level and sober, peered through the vision-plate at the outer catapult door. suddenly a spot of red light glowed in it; the door quivered, swung out. a black tide swirled into the chamber. there came the hiss of released air-pressure, and the slim undersea steed rocketed out into the exterior gloom, her light-beams flashing on and propeller settling into a blur of speed as she was flung. * * * * * ken turned on her full twenty-four knots, zoomed above the dark bulk of the slower mother ship, whose light-beams flashed across him for a second, and then straightened out in a long, slight-angled dive after the great black bodies ahead. aware that some strange enemy was on their track, the killers had become panicky and were darting away at their full speed, which was only slightly under that of the torpoon's humming motors, and which at times even surpassed it. ken saw that it looked like a long chase, and settled his lean body as comfortably as he could. his mind was not concentrated on the task ahead, for the first part was mere routine and he could follow his quarry almost mechanically. and so, as his steel shell drove through the ever-shadowed, icy sea, he began to think about the disappearance of chan beddoes, the _narwhal's_ second torpooner. dead, now beddoes; it was a week since he had set out on the chase from which he had never returned. ken could only conjecture as to what had stricken him down. there were countless possibilities: perhaps a blow from a dying killer whale's flukes bursting his torpoon's seams; perhaps a crash into underwater ice. whatever it was, it had been sudden, for not even a faint radioed s.o.s. had trembled into the ear-phones of the _narwhal's_ radio-man. for two days they had held hopes that the second torpooner still lived, as the sea-suit stored in each torp contained air-units sufficient for thirty-six hours. but a whole week's passing told them that that vast stretch of glacial sea was now chan beddoes' grave. ken's reflections brought an urge to get the present job over with as quickly as possible. he squeezed another ounce of speed from the torpoon, taxing it to the limit and setting up a slight vibration; then he fondled the nitro-shell gun's trigger and studied the huge fish bodies ahead. "seems as if they're going to run forever," he muttered indignantly. "we'll be to the pole if they keep it up!" * * * * * already the _narwhal_ was miles behind. through the torp's vision-plate a scene of ever increasing mystery and gloom met his gaze. the killers' course had brought them beneath a wide sheet of ice, apparently, for there were no more columns of pale sunlight piercing through. the quarter-light monotone was unbroken, save by deeper drifts of shadow, and as he drummed through it the torpooner wondered at its lifelessness. he discerned no more of the ghostly fish-schools that usually abounded. some enemy possibly had driven them from the region; but not the whale he was pursuing, for they scorned such fare. he was scanning the surrounding murk apprehensively, when, of a sudden, his brain and body tensed. off to one side, far to the right, he thought he had glimpsed a figure. it was hanging motionless, level with him; and at first it looked like a seal. but the flippers seemed longer than a seal's; moreover, no seal would be anywhere near a pack of killer whales; nor did they poise in an upright position. it couldn't be a seal, he told himself. what, then? was it only imagination that made it appear faintly human-shaped? he strove to catch it again with staring eyes, but it was gone, leaving only a jumbled impression of something fantastic in his mind, and the next instant the whole thing was forgotten in the movements of the killer school, now only a few hundred yards ahead. they suddenly began a great sweeping curve to the right, a typical maneuver before standing for attack or breaking up. at once ken swerved to starboard and drove the torpoon's nose for an advance point on the circle the fish were describing. his move swallowed the distance between them; the sleek, thick-blubbered bodies swept close by his vision-plate, their rush tossing the torp slightly. twelve of them went past in a blur, and then came the thirteenth, the invariable straggler of a school. the thin light-beams pencilled through the darkness, outlining the rushing black shape; ken gripped the gun's trigger and jockeyed the torp up a trifle in the seconds remaining, always keeping the sights dead set on the vital spot twelve inches behind the whale's little eye. when only fifteen feet separated them he squeezed the trigger and at once zoomed up and away to get clear of the killer's start of pain and, if the shot were true, its following death flurry. the shell slid deep into the rich outer blubber; and, wheeling, ken watched the mighty mammal quiver in its forward rush. this was merely the reaction from the pain of the shell's entrance; the nitro had not as yet exploded. now it did. the projectiles carried but a small charge, in order not to rip too much the buoyant lungs and so cause the body to sink, but the killer trembled like a jelly from the shock. the heart was reached; its razor-sharp flukes thrashing and tooth-lined jaws clicking, the killer wheeled with incredible speed in its death flurry. a minute later the body shuddered a last time, then drifted slowly over, showing the white belly. it began a gentle rise up toward the ceiling of ice. "one!" grinned ken torrance. he noted his position on the torpoon's dials and gave it to the _narwhal_ by radio. they would then follow and pick up the whale. "i'll have the second in ten minutes," he promised confidently. "signing off!" again the torp darted after its prey. he found it easy, this time, to overhaul them. not many minutes had elapsed before he again caught sight of their rhythmically thrusting flukes and the flash of white under-sides. unaware that one of their fellows had been left a lifeless carcass by the steel fish again nearing them, they had reduced their speed somewhat. ken angled down a hundred feet into the deeper shadows, not wanting to apprise them of his presence. he continued at that level until the belly of the rearmost whale rolled white above him; then he veered off to the left, rising as he did so, in order to bring his assault to bear directly on the killer's flanks. he swung back and streaked in for the kill. it looked like an easy one. but he was never more mistaken in his life. for, as luck had it, he had chosen a tartar, a fighting fish--literally the "killer" which its kind had been named. * * * * * the torpooner knew what he was in for as soon as he fired his first shell. its aim was bad, and instead of sinking into the flesh it merely ripped across the whale's back, leaving a ragged, ugly scar. an ordinary whale would have been scared into panic by the wound and doubled its speed in an effort to get away; but ken torrance saw this one wheel its six-foot snout around viciously until its beady little eyes settled on the torpoon. "i'll be damned!" he muttered. "he's turning to fight. all right, come ahead!" he veered about and fired another shot that missed its mark by feet, but creased the whale's flukes. at once this terrible weapon lashed titanically up and down, and thirty feet of berserk killer came curving towards the lone man inside his shell of steel. ken tensed himself for combat. he would have to keep a good distance from the fish and fire until he got it, as a square smash from its flukes might crumple the torp like an egg-shell. [illustration: _thirty feet of berserk killer came curving towards the lone man_.] but his foe gave him no chance. crazy with pain and anger, it swept up and nipped his dive for the bottom with a fluke-blow that tumbled the torpoon over and dazed its pilot. before he could get straightened out it was on him again, catching him up into a wild whirlpool, butting the shell and flashing round to get its flukes into position. with a wrench, ken jammed the rudder over, shoved his accelerator flat, and got free just as the tail thrashed down. he was breathing hard and sweating as he banked around--to see once more the whale, its wicked jaws wide open, charging directly at him. for a moment he was unable to move. such a mode of attack was totally unexpected, and the sight held him fascinated. he could see the very wrinkles of the monster's skin as it rushed in, with shadowy flukes thrusting behind; could see the lines of dagger-like teeth, the cavernous maw and gullet. and then all vision was blotted out as the jaws closed around the torpoon's nose. ken did not wait for those jaws to crunch shut. he gripped the nitro-shell gun's trigger and squeezed it back. the weapon hissed, flung its shell. he reversed his engines to try and tear free. seconds dragged by with no result. then he felt a mighty jolt; his harness broke; and he was pitched into the torp's engine controls. that was all he knew, save for a vague feeling of falling, falling over and over, which was ended when a second bone-shaking shock brought complete oblivion.... * * * * * it was darkness that met his eyes when they opened, the eery darkness of the floor of the polar sea. darkness! half-conscious as he was, he started in surprise. he looked for the torp's shaded control board-lights, but could not find them. bewildered, he wondered what had happened, and then remembered the whale. in its flurry it had smashed him down. pain was thumping his forehead where he had struck the control levers; with a groan he twisted his body around and felt for his hand-flash. at any rate, there was no water inside the body compartment. the seams had resisted the blow. but why were there no lights? he found his hand-flash, and its beam showed him the reason. playing it on the small water-tight door which separated the main compartment from that in which the machinery was contained, he looked through its fused quartz peep-hole. he gaped in consternation. there was, after all, a leak in the torpoon's shell, and a bad one. the machinery compartment was full of water. "gosh!" he muttered. "that means no light, no radio--no power! guess i'm stranded!" he considered the situation. it was not serious, for he had been in touch with the _narwhal_ after bagging the first whale and had given his position. the submarine would proceed to the kill immediately; then, after a while, not hearing from him, they would scour the neighborhood, just as they had hunted for chan beddoes when he did not return. but they'd find him, ken told himself--and soon. he had no idea how long he had lain unconscious, but probably by now the mother ship had already hooked onto the first whale; maybe she was already hunting for him. "well, i'd better get out and be ready to signal to 'em with the flash," he reflected. "they may miss me here in the mud." * * * * * taking his sea-suit from a long narrow locker, he drew the stiff-woven fabric over his body, turned the air-units on, clamped the face-shield shut, and then, gripping his hand-flash, slowly opened the port in the shell's side. a weird figure he was, fit for the mysterious gloom into which he came. with casque of steel and lead-weighted feet, staring face-shield and metal belt, and equipped with a knife and two or three emergency tools, the sea-suit transformed him into a clumsy, grotesque giant. he sloshed into the muddy sea bottom, stumbling at first from the heavy water resistance and hardly able to see anything. the torpoon itself was a hazy blur at a short distance, but up above the light was better, being almost bright next to the ice ceiling. he adjusted the air pressure inside his suit, floating his feet off the bottom. a few clumsy armstrokes and he went drifting gently upward. knowing that the "bends"--bubbles of air in a diver's veins--come from too rapidly changing pressures when rising, he made his ascent carefully. up twenty feet, then a pause; twenty feet more and another pause. so he rose some ninety feet, and finally arrived at the underside of the ice floe. here he found the water a pale blue-green, increasing, at the limit of his vision, to impenetrable black. nearby was a great dark blur which he recognized as the killer whale that had struck him down. it bobbed lifelessly against the smooth, light ceiling of ice. slowly, he swam over towards it. there was no mark of the havoc his last shot must have wreaked inside. he examined the body with interest, fingering the two inch-long teeth, which even the mighty sperm whale fears and flees from. "pretty wicked," he said aloud, just for the companionship of his voice. "and there's a lot of oil in this brute. streight'll be glad to get him. maybe he won't need a third to fill the tanks." thought of his captain made him look up and around, hoping to see the _narwhal's_ light-beams come threading through the distant murk. he did not see them, but what he did see caused his mouth to drop open, and his veins to chill with a cold that was not that of the sea nor the ice above. "good lord!" he whispered. "that thing--again!" like a specter from the deep, some hundred feet away was a form, seal-like in appearance, yet not wholly seal. it poised there motionless, apparently looking straight at him. fear came over ken as he studied it. its body was perhaps ten feet long, and sleek and fat under a brown-colored hide. but its flippers were not those of a seal; they were too long and slender, especially the hind ones. they unquestionably bore a remote resemblance to human arms and legs. "yet it can't be anything but some kind of seal," ken whispered to himself. "it must be!" but then, too, it did not have the ordinary seal's bullet head, set squat between smoothly tapering shoulders, but rather something bulbous, half like that of a man, in spite of the layers of fat that stream-lined from it to the broad shoulders. it did have, however, two large, staring eyes, and slitted holes inches below them for nostrils--which showed that it breathed air and was therefore warm-blooded. quite motionless, each stared at the other, while minutes passed. then the creature moved slowly up and forward, impelled by a graceful and hardly perceptible roll of its queer flippers. very gradually it came towards kenneth torrance; and he, peering with fear-tinged curiosity at the animal's bold advance, saw two creases of fat that must have been lips slide open in the smooth brown face, baring strong, pointed teeth. not knowing whether it was an attack or merely inquisitiveness, he unsheathed his knife. at this the figure stopped and poised motionless again, perhaps fifty feet away, and after a moment turned its sleek head first to the left and then to the right. automatically, ken gazed around likewise. he drew in his breath with a sharp hiss. like shadows, additional figures had appeared in the distant murk. silently they had come; he could see eleven--twelve--even more. he was surrounded! no longer doubting their purpose, he gripped his knife firmly. he knew he could never get down to the torpoon in time. and then the circle began to close. there was little he could do to resist them, he realized, for what he had seen of their movements told him that they were swift, effortless swimmers. but he braced himself as best he could against the dead whale, to protect his back. he would at least go down fighting. as their spectral shapes slid slowly closer he noted something that had escaped his eyes before. four or five of them were holding dim objects in their arm-like flippers. spears, he made them out to be, rudely fashioned from bone. and others held dark-colored loops, which they were slowly forming into nooses. "they're intelligent, all right," ken muttered. "spears--of whalebone, i guess. and ropes--probably seaweed. weapons! good lord, what kind of seals are these?" easily, gracefully, the silent circle drew in to perhaps twenty feet of him, where they paused again, hanging motionless at regular intervals in the eery, wavering half-light. ken licked his lips nervously. then the one whom he had seen first moved its head slightly, in what was apparently a signal. and in a concerted movement, so bewilderingly rapid that his eyes could not hold them, they rushed him. he had expected speed, but not speed such as this. he had barely swung his knife-arm up when the wave engulfed him. doubling, curving shapes looped around him; blubbery bodies pressed against him; eyes flashed by in streaks of brown; he knew that he was being tumbled and tossed and that his knife and hand-flash had fallen under the shock of the attack. and then there was a sharper sensation. as he struggled to break free, taut cords trussed his legs and arms like any captive animal's. the stream of moving bodies slowed in movement and fell back from a breathless, dazed kenneth torrance. he then got his first clear view since the assault was unleashed. he was upright, many feet away from the killer whale's carcass, his arms bound strongly to his sides with seaweed-rope, his legs locked close together. to one side he glimpsed several of the creatures fastening other rope strands to the whale's flukes. when they had finished, with smoothly thrusting flippers they began to haul the carcass forward, and he felt himself move feet first in the same direction. he forced a wry smile to his lips. "a swell fight i put up!" he grunted. "hold 'em off! yeah--i bet i held 'em for a full tenth of a second." * * * * * he still could hardly believe what had so rapidly befallen him. it was difficult to credit eyes that showed him creatures whose bodies were mainly seal-like, and yet whose weapons and co-ördinated movements spoke for human intelligence. but they were certainly real. at his feet he could feel the pressure of a guard's flippers against him. he was towed in this fashion for some distance when the pressure of the flippers suddenly tightened and he was pulled into a deep-angled swoop toward the sea-bottom below. previously he had seen his captors' amazing speed, but now he felt it. down and down he went, and at last, when it seemed he must crash into the sea floor, his momentum was quickly checked, and he found himself standing in the mud, from which position, lacking support from his guard, he drifted to a horizontal one, face up. and there, lying helpless on the bottom, he saw the reason for the sudden dive. far to the right, piercing faintly through the murk, were two faint interweaving beams of white that preceded a slowly moving dark bulk. the _narwhal_! wild hopes of rescue coursed through him. dimly, as he watched the beams, he was aware of the rest of the creatures dropping down, guiding between them the whale's carcass. then a firm pressure was applied to his side, and he was rolled over, face down in the mud. unable any longer to see his ship, his momentary vision of rescue vanished. "hopeless, i guess," he muttered despairingly. the darkness on the sea-floor was too thick, the wavering shadows too deceptive. and his hand-flash and knife were gone--probably knocked from his grasp during the struggle, he thought. he realized that the seal-like animals were lying low until the submarine passed, its size having awed them. the color of the bodies blended perfectly with the gloom, as did that of his own sea-suit. his bonds prevented him from making even the slightest movement to attract attention. torturing thoughts raced through the torpooner's brain. he saw, in his mind's eye, straight above, a hazy bulk, with shimmering columns of white angling from its nose. his imagination pictured for him the warm, well-lit interior, and the bunks--the coffee steaming on the fire, the men at their posts and streight's anxious, beefy face. he saw it all as plainly as if he were inside, cracking jokes with one of the engineers. * * * * * the minutes passed. the _narwhal_ must now be gone. ken's cheek muscles stood out as he pressed his teeth together. "well, go on!" he exploded in impotent rage. "what are you waiting for? kill me! eat me if you're going to!" and he cursed the silent forms around him till his ears hurt from the reverberation. after the _narwhal_ had vanished in the gloom, the torpooner's captors lifted him from the bottom and propelled him leisurely forward again, the slight, graceful roll of their flippers slipping them along smoothly. a dull hopelessness came over him. no longer could he hope that his submarine would find him. only one thing was certain, and that was that death would soon come. for even if his captors did not kill him at once, he had but thirty-six hours before his air-units would be exhausted. certainly, having captured him, the seal-creatures would not release him. and it was too much to expect them to realize that his sea-unit was only an artificial covering which enabled him to live underwater, and not his own flesh and blood. and as for the chance of breaking loose--the idea was laughable. his speed was snail-like in comparison with theirs. even if he did manage somehow to get away, what good would it do? how could he, a puny, helpless mite, ever hope to locate the _narwhal_ in this vast sweep of arctic sea? his torpoon was wrecked, and he had no means of communication. his situation was quite hopeless. * * * * * far ahead, a dark shape grew in the foggy murk, and as they neared, spread upwards and outwards. they angled up and up; the sea-floor was higher there. ken, peering as best he could, made out that the mountainous, looming bulk was the face of a giant underwater mound, whose uneven formation indicated that it was the result of some long-past upheaval. it was the first of a rolling series of such hillocks, six or seven in all, stretching back into the gloom. their rounded peaks reached to within a few feet of the water's ice-sheathed surface. surely the creatures' home was among these mounds. he was skirted round the base of the first hillock and caught a glimpse of something in its face which was apparently of his captors' construction. it was a hole, dark, mysterious, perhaps fifteen feet in diameter, and barring it were three great gray stakes, reaching from top to bottom. behind the stakes, ken got a jumbled impression of a body, large and sleek, of black streaked with white, that moved restlessly back and forth in the hole and occasionally seemed to lash out in anger. he wondered what it was. before long, he knew. the party of seal-creatures stopped before the second of the row of hillocks. in its face, too, was a hole--a well of blackness--but with no stakes across it. he twisted his head back and saw the carcass of the killer whale he had slain being guided up to the entrance and shoved through. then, from the upper rim of the hole, three stakes similar to the others he had seen slid down and barred it. "storehouses!" he muttered. "storehouses, i'll bet anything. and killer whales are their food. they keep 'em in the holes until they're needed. but i'll swear it was a live whale i saw in the first one--and how in the dickens could they capture a mighty killer with their dinky spears and ropes?" there he had to leave the question, for its answer implied greater intelligence in the creatures than he would admit. intelligence--in seals! and now he was guided smoothly forward to the third hillock, where the leaders of the group glided through a v-shaped cleft in its face. his guards brought him along behind. a wry smile twisted kenneth torrance's lips. to him, the cleft was more than an entranceway. to him it signified the beginning of the hopeless, lonely end of his life.... * * * * * the cleft led into a corridor, and the corridor was softly illuminated with a peculiar light whose source he could not discover. it served to show him a passageway that was wide rather than tall, and gouged from the firm, clayey soil by blunt tools that had left uneven marks. straight ahead it led, and, as they continued, the mysterious illumination brightened, until suddenly, rounding a turn, its source appeared. like will-o'-the-wisps, a score of arrows of light flashed softly into view down the corridor. they were of delicate green and orange and yellow, glowing and luminous, and hovering like humming birds between floor and ceiling. ken looked at them in some alarm until his nearer approach showed him what they were, and then he exclaimed in amazement: "why--they're fish! living electric bulbs!" a school of slender, ten-inch fish they were, each one a radiant, shimmering, lacey-finned gem of orange or green or yellow. in concert they shot to the ceiling over the party of seal-creatures, who still swam impassively ahead, paying no attention to them, and from there scattered in quick darts in all directions, showering the cortege with washes of spectral luminosity. then the corridor crooked again, and with one simultaneous movement they were gone. and the scene that lay revealed before kenneth torrance took his breath from him. in the passageway he had seen a score of the living jewels; now he beheld hundreds. he peered up at a shimmering sheet of brilliance, composed of hundreds of the slender refulgent fish, all swimming in slow rotation. below them was a large cavern, which he guessed had been created by hollowing out one of the underwater hillocks. the sides were rounded, and pitted with holes that represented other passageways, showing dark against the luminosity from above. and streaming out from these dark holes of corridors came dozens of the seal-creatures, gathering in response to some unheard, unseen signal that had called them to witness the strange captive their fellows had brought in.... * * * * * ken's guards gripped him more firmly and he was guided forward and downward to the smooth black floor of soil. scores of large, placid eyes stared at him from the slowly undulating, brown-skinned bodies packed close about him. the sight was so weird, so beyond his imagination, that he laughed a little hysterically. "dreaming!" he said. "dreaming! but what a dream!" silently, a space cleared in the center of the horde. his bonds were taken away, the guards released his arms and he righted himself and stood there on braced legs, the object of a concerted gaze. this, the torpooner felt, was the crucial period. something was about to be decided. if it looked bad he would make a wild--and of course, futile--break for freedom, and die quickly when they punctured his suit. but meanwhile he would stick things out. anything might happen in that fantastic convocation. there came a stir in the tiers of brown bodies. an aisle cleared, and down it a single seal-creature glided slowly towards ken torrance--undoubtedly the leader of the herd, ruler of the underwater labyrinth. gracefully the creature glided up to the lone human, and when only a foot away extended one of its long upper flippers so that its webbed edge rested on his sea-suit's casque. and its placid brown eyes hung close to the face-shield and gazed through inquisitively, intelligently! intelligently! no longer did kenneth torrance doubt that. as he held absolutely motionless under the close-searching scrutiny, his brain rang with the conviction that this creature, this thing of blubbery body and long, webbed flipper-arms and legs--this brown-skinned denizen of the arctic underseas was, with all its fellows, related to him, a man of the upper world. men they were; or, rather, blubber-men! * * * * * previously he had marveled at something suggestively human-like in their appearance; now he recognized human intelligence in his observer's peering brown eyes and questing movements of the flipper over his head casque and suit. warm red blood flowed in its blubber-sheathed body; an intelligent brain lay in the fat round head. and why not? whales, ages ago, were land mammals, animals that walked on the soil of the dim, early world. they had taken to the seas in quest of food, had stayed there and never returned; and nature had guarded their bodies against the cold and great depths by giving them layer upon layer of oily blubber. the ancestors of these creatures before him might well have lived on the soil, walked and run as he did; then, when the ice came, taken to the sea and made a new home for themselves. they had enticed the splendent light-fish into their caverns to give illumination. intelligence almost human. a brain not as highly developed as man's, but a human brain! ken torrance had been almost apathetic toward his eventual fate, but suddenly, now, a great hope came to him--and twin with it, on its heels, came fear. if, or since, this creature inspecting him had an intelligent, human brain, in some way he might be able to correspond with it. he might be able to show that his real body was inside the sea-suit; that he had to have air; that he would die if he were kept underwater, that he could not survive as a prisoner. these creatures appeared to be friendly; seemed to wish him no harm. if he could show them that he was a man of the upper world, they might let him go. if he could do it! he had to make known to the herd leader that he breathed air, and that he'd die if they didn't release him at once. on that depended life and death. ken trembled as he cast about for some way of putting over his idea, and then the plan came. smiling through his face-shield at the brown eyes so close, he drew back slowly and took out a short steel crowbar from the belt at his waist. he bent over and made a line on the soft floor. all eyes watched him; every creature held motionless, apparently interested, eager to understand. under his suit-clad figure the crowbar traced a rude outline of a man in a sea-suit. the torpooner pointed to the drawing and then fingered his suit, repeating the gesture several times. then he drew another figure in the soil, this one intended to represent him without the sea-suit. it was not as bulky; the features were sharper and thinner. ken pointed to the twin dots standing for eyes, then tapped his face-shield; he did this again and again. for a moment the leader did not move; but then he slid forward and stared through the shield. rapidly ken opened and closed his eyes, and pointed again to the dots on the drawing's face. "eyes! eyes!" he said excitedly, voicing the thought his brain was making. "eyes--inside the suit! the suit's not me; i'm inside! eyes!" he waited for a reaction, tense and strained. the blubber-man reached out one flipper-arm and took the steel bar from his hand. a thrill ran through him as the creature dipped its body down and began to draw in the soil. laboriously, crudely, he outlined another sea-suit, and on the circle representing the face-shield marked two dots--eyes. "he's getting it!" ken cried. the blubber-man went on drawing. he sketched a second suit, similar in all respects, and looked up at the torpooner, inquiringly, it seemed. ken nodded rapidly. he tapped the drawings, then his suit; nodded again. "the idea's over!" he told himself. "now i'll make a move towards that corridor to show them that i want to go, and if--" but before he could stir, the leader of the blubber-men, with one quick gesture, summoned two creatures from the innermost circle. swiftly they placed themselves alongside kenneth torrance, lifted him and bore him forward, right across the cavern to another of the passageway-entrances. it was so sudden that for a moment ken could not think clearly. what had happened? were they releasing him? or was he still to be kept a prisoner? no doubt the latter. and he had been so sure that he was communicating with the blubber-man's brain! his lips pressed tight in a hard white line. it was a tough blow to take. "well, that's that," he said. "it was all imagination." he did not know that his drawings _had_ signified something to the leader of the herd--that each had mistaken the meaning of the other. nor did he have any inkling of the greatest surprise of all that now lay just before him. * * * * * the surprise lay in another cavern. a quick turn through a cleft-like entrance brought them into it. the room was only a fraction of the size of the central meeting place, and its light, from but several of the light-fish, was dim and vague, barely enabling ken to see what looked like a pile of rocks in the chamber, heaping upwards. the ceiling was flat and strangely blurred, a rippling veil. as he wondered what caused this, his guards lifted him rapidly towards it, up alongside the rocks. not only towards it, but through it! his head-casque pierced through; rivulets of water gurgled off it--and he realized that the blurred veil he had seen was the top plane of the water, which only filled three-quarters of the cavern. surprise left him breathless. at first he could see nothing, could only feel that his shoulders were above water. then he was pushed slowly upward until he rested almost completely above the surface. how did the cavern come to be but part-filled with water? he wondered. and was this dim emptiness around him air? could he breathe it? then he was vaguely aware of a presence on the top of the rock heap. he sensed rather than heard a stir of movement. then suddenly a ray of light stabbed through the darkness and impinged on his head-casque--white, electric, man-made light! and there came to his ears, muffled by the suit and distorted by echoes, a call that sounded like his own name! "ken! is it you, ken?" bewildered, he motioned the blinding light to one side. it turned upward and backward, and in its glare a face suddenly appeared out of the darkness. "good god!" kenneth torrance cried. it was a pale, drawn face, stubbled with beard, and its eyes were wild. it was the face of chanley beddoes, the lost second torpooner of the _narwhal_. * * * * * ken stared, his body rigid. chan beddoes! the dead brought back! so it at first seemed. and here, in a cavern of the blubber-men! he pulled himself further up on the rock pile, unfastened the clasps on his helmet and took it off--for beddoes wore none, and that meant the space was filled with breathable air. "chan!" he said. "and we were sure you were dead!" a high-pitched, hysterical voice cried in answer! "it's you, ken! they got you too! oh, but it's good to see you! it's been so lonely, so dark.... you are there, ken? i'm not just dreaming again?" ken realized that the other's nerves were shot, and he replied gently: "you're not dreaming, chan. i'm here with you now. steady. take it easy. lord, this air--it's pretty foul, but it smells good to me, and it'll save our units. how ever do they get it down here?" he asked the question in hope of steadying beddoes; giving his mind something definite to occupy it. a soft ripple sounded just then; looking round, ken saw that his two guards had slipped back beneath the water, leaving them alone. chan beddoes' helmet was off, but the rest of his body was still clad in a sea-suit. he half squatted on the rocks, his face raised and peering at the first torpooner fearfully, as if afraid he would disappear as suddenly as he had come. the beam of light came from a hand-flash held in his hand. scattered around were pieces of whitish meat--fish--and the air was sickening with its smell. ten feet above was the chamber's domed ceiling, from which water kept dripping to the slimy rocks below. "air?" repeated beddoes, stupidly. his mind was obviously affected. "they fetch it from the surface with seal-hide bags, and release it. they change it often. all over the caverns. they have to breathe, too. i think they sleep in rooms like this." his voice rose with hysteria. "ken, they're seals and yet they're human! human, down here! they have arms and legs and they breathe air, like whales--and they've kept me here for weeks, years--i don't know! they're devils! it's been so dark and cold and--and--" he began to cough painfully. "i know," ken told him sympathetically. "steady, man. how did you get here? how did they catch you?" * * * * * beddoes' eyes wandered. he sucked his lips. "i can't remember," he said. "no. yes! we left the _narwhal_, both of us, chasing those killers. they broke up and we went after different ones, and i lost sight of you. "i chased mine for a long time, and when i fired i only wounded him. he went like hell, and i after him. after half an hour i was ready to give up; i couldn't get close enough. god! ready to return! to the submarine! to life!" his voice broke, and he paused until he was able to go on. "then i saw another shape ahead of the whale. a queer looking thing--one of these human seals, though i didn't know it then. it seemed to be fleeing from the killer, just as the killer was from me. there was something big and dark ahead--a shadow, i thought, and kept my eyes on the whale. and the next second my torpoon crashed and i was knocked cold. "it's a deliberate scheme," he went on at a tangent. "the seal things get a killer chasing them and lead it towards the traps they've got in the sides of these hillocks. they dart in and the whale follows; then bars drop over the entrance and they've got the killer trapped. they eat them." "but how does the blubber-man get out?" ken asked. beddoes scowled. "oh, they're clever enough! a passage runs off the trap, big enough for the seal thing, but not for a killer.... well, my torp had gone into the trap and was stuck in one of the walls. when i came to i reversed my engines full, but i couldn't get free. the impact had ruined my radio. "through the after peep-holes i could make out the killer in the trap with me, lashing around like mad. the bars over the entrance were wide-spaced enough to let the torp squeeze through--but i couldn't get loose. "as i lay there, wondering what to do, i saw some more of those blubber-men in the corridor raising the bars. they had long spears and knives--and in ten minutes that killer was dead and the place black with its blood. "well, i thought i saw my chance. i got into my sea-suit, thinking i maybe could dig the torp free and escape before the damned fish caught me. i climbed out the port and was hacking at the mud bank with my crowbar when a rope slipped over my head and they had me." ken nodded. "they got me in the same way," he said. "and gave you the once-over in the big room," chan declared. "you'll get plenty more of that." for most of the man's narrative his tone and manner had been sane enough, but now again he broke out wildly. "and i've been here for days! weeks! and nothing but fish to eat, and whale meat, and pieces of ice brought for me to drink, and the darkness and the fish smell! god, it's driven me crazy! i can't stand it any longer, ken, and i won't. i've got to get out right away or kill myself. i've got to!" ken gripped his shoulders and shook. "steady!" he said sharply. "get control over yourself!" "steady!" beddoes gasped. "you don't know how long i've kept control! waiting and hoping, for a chance. one little chance to escape!" "why haven't you tried before? don't they leave you alone here?" chanley beddoes laughed harshly. "just because you can't see them, you think that? hell, no! put on your helmet. look down--down under the water--and you'll see a guard at the entrance. there's always one there--with a spear. and every now and then he comes up, to see what i'm doing. but no matter; now that you're here we can make a break. you've still got your crowbar; they took mine away. i've only had my flash to work with." in spite of his awful experience and intolerable predicament, ken was getting drowsy. he had been through much; he had been short on sleep when he had started out. nevertheless, he forced himself to consider their situation. since the blubber-men had kept chan beddoes a prisoner, they would no doubt keep him one likewise. it did not mean immediate death from suffocation, for there was air of a kind here; and food was brought. but--imprisonment! all around him was damp darkness; the rocks they lay on were jagged and slime coated all over and there were little pools of water here and there. gloom; awful water beneath; slimy rocks to lie on; raw whale meat to eat; stench of rotting fish. imprisonment! weeks of this! suddenly he felt deep admiration for beddoes in having clung to sanity so long. "yes," he said slowly, "we've got to get out. but with that guard on duty.... what's your plan?" the other coughed long, then began: "it all depends on whether they've moved my torpoon from the trap where it stuck. you didn't see it anywhere? well, it's got to be still in the trap, and we've got to get to it. it'll carry both of us. the whale that led me into the trap is dead, and we can finish prying the torp loose with your crowbar." ken nodded. "but the guard?" chanley beddoes said harshly: "i'm going to kill it!" ken looked at him. his pale, drawn face was contorted; his hands clenched and unclenched. he repeated: "yes, kill it! i've a score to settle with these devils, anyway. i'll take him unawares. one blow'll do it, if it's placed right. then, down the corridor and to the trap. i think i remember the way." ken thought it out, and shook his head. "what's the matter?" beddoes asked. "we'd better not," he said "not yet. and never, if we can help it." "why not?" beddoes cried in great surprise. "don't you see? they haven't really harmed us. they're friendly. yes, they've kept you prisoner and they'll keep me, too--but probably they don't think that's any terrible hardship for us. and they don't realize how much we want to get free." "what will we do then?" beddoes broke in impatiently. "when i see the leader again i've got to get it over that we want to be released. it's a better risk than killing this guard, anyway. they're disposed to be friendly; but if you killed one there'd be the devil to pay." ken paused, and his eyes closed. he said wearily: "but, i'm dog tired; no sleep for twenty hours. let me sleep an hour or two; my head'll be much clearer and we'll talk it over." chanley beddoes said nothing. ken yawned and stretched his body as comfortably as he could on the slime-coated rocks. dazed from the rush of amazing events his eyelids closed at once, and soon his breathing settled into a regular beat. * * * * * perhaps half an hour later, a shape moved in the dank gloom of the underwater cavern. the top plane of water rippled softly; little wavelets eddied against the rocks and whispered as the shape slipped down underneath. then there was silence, no movement; and the water again calmed into a black sheet, smooth as glass. for minutes it stayed so, while ken's deep, regular breathing stirred the air. then suddenly the water's calm was broken. through its rippling waves the shape reappeared, rivulets streaming from it. quickly hauling itself up on the rocks, it clambered towards the sleeper. for a moment it paused; then its helmet swung back, revealing chan's tense, pale face. a hand reached out and gripped the sleeper's arm. a voice called: "ken! wake up! hurry!" even as the words reverberated in the close bowl, the black mirror of water stirred once more. something pierced through and drifted idly on the surface. it was a large brown-skinned shape, apparently lifeless. "ken!" called chan anxiously again. the first torpooner stirred. out of the depths of slumber he mumbled: "what's the matter?" "we've got to shove off right now! quick! put on your helmet!" kenneth torrance sat up and peered through half-open eyes. he saw before him the face of chanley beddoes, wild and excited. in one hand he held the steel crowbar. and behind, on the surface of the water, floated the motionless body of a blubber-man, its head beaten in, streamers of red trailing from it. ken said sharply: "you killed him? after what i told you? you fool!" "yes, i killed him!" beddoes answered brazenly. "what of it?" ken said nothing for a moment. bitter reproach trembled on his tongue, but he did not speak the words, for chan's mind was all too clearly on the thin line this side of insanity. he only said: "well, you've forced the issue, and we've got to leave immediately. it may mean our death, but let's forget it. now--how much of your air-units is left?" "about two hours. i lost a lot through a leak." ken took half of his own store of the little cells from his helmet. "i'll share mine. that'll give us both sixteen hours all told--in case we don't find your torpoon. you're sure they killed the whale in that trap? and you know the way?" "i think so," said beddoes excitedly. "you follow me." "all right. on helmets, then." the clasps were fastened down, cutting them off from spoken communication with each other. ken took the hand-flash and crowbar and stuck them in his own belt, and both clumsy, grotesque figures splashed into the water, vanished beneath its surface and ducked under the shadowy body of the dead blubber-man. below, in the dim quarter-light, ken peered out of the entrance to the cell chamber. the corridor seemed safe, there being only the distant colored streaks of light-fish, and occasionally even these disappeared, leaving heaped shadows in the darkened water. he nodded to beddoes and boldly they began their flight. their progress was nerve-rackingly slow, in spite of their utmost exertions. the water that retarded them at times contained unsuspected currents that destroyed their equilibrium and sent them stroking madly with both hands to regain it. far different, this, than the swift, effortless swimming of the blubber-men. their weighted feet stumbled often on the floor of the passage, and several times they lost balance and fell towards the sides. each time that this happened ken was struck with the fear of ripping the fabric of his sea-suit. and all the time there was the apprehension of imminent discovery. at last he saw beddoes wave an arm and enter a dim cleft a few feet ahead in the left side of the wall. in turn he floundered through--and just in time. from around a bend in the corridor shortly ahead there came two blubber-men. in only a few seconds they would pass the niche the two humans had entered. crowbar ready, ken flattened himself against the sidewall, pulling his companion back with him. they waited. * * * * * the seal-men passed by--two sleek, blubbery shapes, flipper-arms and legs weaving gracefully, bodies rolling slightly, eyes apparently directed ahead. close! they had escaped that time, but there was a disturbing thought in ken's mind and in beddoes' too, perhaps--as they resumed their slow-motion flight down the second corridor. "what if those two were going to visit us in the cell-chamber? once they see the dead guard, hell sure will start to pop!" for a period that seemed to be measured in hours they fought their way forward through the retarding pressure of the water. the corridor described a long curve. they were on the last stretch--and still no pursuit! "if only the torp's there!" ken kept exclaiming in his thoughts. "just that!" "if only the torp's there!..." had they come the right way? he had to trust that to the memory of beddoes. beddoes, whose mind had clearly been affected by his seven-day nightmare.... he shook his head. he dared not doubt. they increased their pace a little. imagination stimulated their weary muscles. the _narwhal_! men of their own kind! sun and air! life again! ken could have shouted when he saw his partner stop and gesture excitedly before a dark spot in the wall. it could be nothing but the entrance to a trap. he pressed forward, flicking on his flash and making sure by the water-waved beam it threw. but beddoes was attending to some sight down the corridor; and suddenly he pointed in fright. the first torpooner looked in the indicated direction and saw what was meant. approaching was a wave of menacing brown-skinned bodies, streaming swiftly through the passage several abreast. their escape had been discovered. the blubber-men were coming. at once ken acted, pushing chan into the narrow opening and scrambling after himself. they wormed along for several feet, till they emerged in a large dark chamber at the far end of which was a big circular entrance barred by three great pale stakes. they were certainly in a whale trap. rapidly ken played his flash around, looking for the torp, but it was nowhere visible. to one side was an out-jutting rock with a niche beneath it. it was a promising place and he stumbled his way there, followed by the other. it was then that a most peculiar feeling came over him, a feeling that was instantly a surge of panic. something else was in the trap! his flash arced around and up, and what lay revealed in its ray caused cold shivers to run down the backs of the two men. above them, just over the three-toothed outer entrance, hung a black, sleek body, white-striped. head-on it was, and motionless, eyeing them. a killer whale--alive!--and poised for a lunge! it barred the way to the outer entrance. they could not retrace their steps; already the round brown head of a blubber-men showed in the inner entrance. they were trapped, front and rear, and confronted by the deadliest animal in the sea. a second they watched it, frozen immobile; then the whale's great body curved and its flukes went up, and by purest instinct the men dove for the niche at their feet. head to head, they arrived in it, and just in time, for the great jaws of the killer barely missed their snap. as the monster curved past, the swirling water of its passage nearly dislodged the torpooners, and they made haste to jam themselves into the crevice as tightly as they dared for the safety of their suits. the whale whipped around in a narrow circle and returned. its pointed teeth gleamed as it snapped shut its jaws and muzzled its hard, wicked snout into ken's ribs. again it circled and streaked for the niche; and, helpless, kenneth torrance lay there as the beast tried to slide its head into it. he felt more of the terrifying nuzzling of the snout. but the creature could not dislodge him. "can't bring his teeth to bear," he muttered with a certain relief. "niche isn't high enough. we're safe, i guess, for a couple of minutes. unless the blubber-men come in and kill him like they did the one chan followed last week." * * * * * for several minutes the sea-beast continued its frantic attempt to reach the two humans, and then its attacks became desultory. during one respite ken managed to get up his flashlight and send its beam out over the floor--and what he discovered was the essence of irony. directly opposite, on the floor by the wall, lay a familiar long slim shape, its stern tipped by rudder-planes and propeller, its metal flanks gleaming in the white ray. the torpoon. and utterly useless--a heartbreaking jest--unless they could reach it. but a slight hope grew in the men at its discovery. they had come to the right trap, after all. probably the whale had dislodged the shell from the wall with fluke-blows--possibly, too, the blows had sprung its seams and opened the engine-compartment to water.... ken occupied himself with the problem of how to get to it. it held their only hope. but with all his racking his brains he could think of no way but to make a rush for it. if he could get inside, the torp, lying flat on the ground, would be reasonably safe from the killer until he could get it running. through the face-shields, he met his companion's eyes. the same decision had come to both. there was a tiny space of muddy floor between them. kent doused it with light from the flash. in the mud, with a forefinger he slowly traced these words one at a time, rubbing each one out to make room for the next: "i get torp. kill whale with gun. only way. i go. i senior. if fail, you try." he looked at the other inquiringly. vigorously, chanley beddoes shook his head. he smoothed over the last word ken had marked and in its place, in the same fashion, began: "no. draw lots. only fair." yes, it was fair, and ken knew it. he wrote: "how?" the second torpooner scrabbled around with his fingers. presently he unearthed something, and apparently satisfied showed them to ken. they were two pebbles, of different sizes. beddoes pointed to the larger. he wrote: "large makes attempt." again ken nodded. he marked: "other try keep killer's attention." from time to time a long sleek body slid down to them and edged back and forth, striving its best to dislodge them with its blunt shout. after each failure it would return to a position just over the outer entrance. at the proper moment chanley beddoes jumbled the pebbles in his cupped hands and laid two fists down on the pad. unhesitatingly, ken placed a finger on the left one. beddoes turned and opened it. it was the smaller pebble. * * * * * close as was his face-shield to beddoes', ken could not see what his reaction was. ken stretched forth his hand and clumsily touched his companion's shoulder. "good hunting!" he said; but chan never heard that.... the marked man peered out into the trap. the killer was circling slowly. in the escape hole, the faces of three or four blubber-men were dimly visible. they seemed to be watching with interest. there came a good moment when the killer paused at the three bars of its cell, its head turned in exactly the opposite direction from the two torpooners. beddoes seized the opportunity at once. almost before ken knew it, he had rolled out of the niche. quickly he worked to his feet and started pushing for his goal. the whale had not seen him. arms and legs straining, he floundered slowly ahead. he nearly made it. but the killer, restlessly turning, saw him--and kenneth torrance winced and cried out. the black monster struck. with horrible, beautiful grace it curved down. its snout caught chanley beddoes square in the side and butted him up and around, and both disappeared in a swirl of water into the inky shadows of the trap's ceiling. ken closed his eyes. he knew what was happening. he could not move. but it came to him, as he lay there sick with horror, that he would never have a better chance than now, while the killer was occupied. recklessly he forced himself out of the niche. up above there was commotion, a whirlpool of churning water. the current helped him: he got caught in it and was swept sprawling right over to the torpoon's side. he clutched at the port, expecting each instant the tear of monster fangs; but he made the interior and clicked shut the port. no matter the water that had come into the main compartment with his entrance. he pulled the starter over, and heard the familiar drone of electric engines, safe inside their water-tight division. he felt no relief at this. there was only the same sick horror. he raised the torpoon a little. there was one thing to do. perhaps it was mad to try to destroy that killer whale in so narrow a space, but he was going to attempt it. it would not be so bad to join chan, if he failed.... a terrific blow struck the stern of the torpoon and spun it around dizzily. ken made out the killer lifting its flukes for a second blow. quickly he sped the torp ahead, and turned as best he could. flashing on his powerful bow-beam, he found the killer to his left, slightly above. carefully he maneuvered into firing position: then coldly, with deadly accuracy, he centered the sights of his nitro-shell gun on the vital spot behind the eyes. he pressed the trigger: again, and yet again. the projectiles hurtled out. the monster started; its beady eyes settled on the torpoon; with a lunge it darted forward, jaws gaping wide. and as it came another shell sped true into the tooth-rimmed mouth. it halted then, and doubled in the water. shock after shock shook the torpoon as the shells exploded in the whale. for a little while the sea-beast flurried, and once or twice the torp shivered from chance fluke-blows. but then at last came peace. the body rolled over, showing its white belly, and drifted towards the trap's ceiling.... the brown-skinned heads had disappeared from the inner entrance. kenneth torrance glanced in that direction for a last time, then looked sadly around. "so long, chan," he murmured. "so long." the torpoon squeezed through the bars of the outer entrance and sped forth into the open sea. * * * * * so it was that, perhaps an hour later, the light-beams of the whaling submarine _narwhal_, doggedly scouring the region where last her first torpooner had been heard from, fell across a slim shape of steel that was beating its way at full speed through the foggy murk of the arctic sea. right up to the _narwhal_ she came, swerving at the last moment and hovering outside the starboard torpoon catapult; while, aboard the submarine, an officer whose voice quivered with excitement roused captain henry streight from his bunk, and the men off duty gathered around the inner catapult entrance-port. quickly the outer port swung open. and the lone torpoon slid in--slid home. [illustration: jack telling his stories.] jack mason, the old sailor. with illustrations. for children. by theodore thinker. . the old sailor. jack mason had been to sea a great many times when i first knew him, and he has been a great many times since. he has sailed in a ship almost all over the world. such a host of stories as he can tell! why, i do believe if he could find little boys and girls to talk to, he would begin in the morning as soon as he had got through his breakfast, and do nothing but tell stories about what he has seen, until it was time to go to bed at night. i don't know but he would want to stop once or twice to eat. jack loves a good dinner as well as anybody. jack is the one that you see in the picture, with his pea-jacket on, and a book in his hand. he is in a ship, telling his stories now to that boy sitting on a coil of rope. see, the boy is looking right at the old man, hearing all he says. i wonder what jack is talking about now. he must be telling one of his best stories, i guess; for the boy lifts his head up, as much as to say, "dear me! who ever heard of such a thing!" jack is a good man. he is not like a great many sailors that i have seen. he does not use bad words. he never drinks rum, or any thing of the kind. sailors are apt to swear; but jack mason never swears. he is a christian: he loves to pray and read his bible. the book which he holds in his hand, as he is talking to that boy, is a bible. he often has a bible in his jacket pocket, when he is on board of his ship; and once in a while he stops telling stories about what he has seen, and reads some of the stories in that good book. when i was a little boy, jack fell from the high mast of the ship, and hurt himself so badly that he had to stay at home a long time after that. poor fellow! he did not like to be shut up in the house. it was hard work for him. but he could not go out, until his hip got well. when he was able to sit up in a chair, i used to go and see him, and hear him tell his stories. i did not go every day, because my mother thought i had better not go every day. but i went as often as she would let me go, and staid as long as she would let me stay. jack was always glad to see me, and glad to tell me stories. i was always glad to hear his stories. some sailors, who have spent a great deal of time on board of a ship, and have seen a great many places, are not good men. they do not always tell the truth. so, when they tell stories about what they saw where they went, we do not know whether to believe them or not. but jack mason was a good man, and i knew he would not tell me what was not true. shall i tell you some of the stories that this good old sailor told me when he had to stay at home, because he had broken his hip? i think i can remember some worth telling again. "o yes, mr. thinker, tell us all the stories the old sailor told you." "no, i cannot do that. i cannot remember them all." "well, tell us all you do remember." "i will see about it. i will tell you some of them, at any rate. let me see, what story shall i tell first? shall i tell you his story about what he saw once, when he sailed a great way north? i guess i will." [illustration] jack mason's visit to the north sea. if you should go a great way north, you would find it very cold. the further you go north, the colder it is. i went so far that way one time, that i got almost frozen. the ship i sailed in came close to an iceberg once, and we all thought for a while that the ship would strike the iceberg. if it had struck, it would have been broken all in pieces, and we should have been drowned or frozen, every one of us. god was kind and good to us, though. the wind was blowing very hard, and right toward the iceberg. but just as we had got almost up to it, the wind changed, and blew us away from it. but i forgot that you do not know what an iceberg is. it is a great hill of ice. in the north sea, these ice-hills are often as high as your church, and sometimes a great deal higher. these hills of ice are floating along the water there, and when it is foggy or dark, the sailors cannot always see them. so sometimes the ship strikes them, and is dashed to pieces. sometimes it gets between two of these ice-hills, and gets crushed, as if it was a little boat. then the men in the ship have to get out, and jump upon one of the ice-hills. but they are pretty likely to be frozen to death then. [illustration: the indians.] the indians. in that cold country i saw some indians. they were dressed in skins. i never saw such dirty-looking men and women before in all my life, and i have never seen any such since. they had never seen a ship before, i should think. i thought they did not know much more than the white bears. why, they would sell almost all the clothes they had on, if we would give them a few pieces of glass, or a nail or two. one of the women who came to the ship had a little girl about four years old, and she said she would give us that girl, if we would let her have a tin pan which she saw. these indians tie their children on their backs, when they have to walk a great way. they licked the oil on the outside of our lamps, just as a dog or a cat would have done. oh, what dirty people! they eat their meat raw. we killed a seal one day, and our captain gave it to one of the young women. she took it, and bit it into pieces with her teeth. then she passed it round to the rest of the indians, and they all helped eat it. [illustration] the white bears. there are a great many white bears in that country. sometimes you can see two or three of them sitting on one of these ice-hills. how they ever got there, i am sure i cannot tell. i guess they went out on the ice only a little way from the shore, to get something which they saw was good to eat; and while they were on the ice, it started off, and they could not get to the shore again. one of the men who sailed in the same ship with me, told me a story about a white bear, which made me laugh for an hour after i heard it. he said he was in a small boat with another sailor once, about a mile away from the ship. i forget what they went out in the boat for, but i suppose the captain of the ship sent them out for something. they were rowing along in the boat, and they came close to an iceberg. they saw something alive on the iceberg, but they could not make out what it was: they did not know but it was a man. but they came a little nearer to the great ice-hill, and they soon found out what sort of a thing there was on it. _splash_ something went into the water; and in a minute a great white bear jumped into the boat, as wet as a drowned rat. well, the sailors thought they had got to die, sure enough. what could they do? the first thing that they thought of, was to try to kill the bear with their oars. but they soon gave that up. they saw that the bear was too large and strong to be killed in that way. the next thing they thought of doing, was to jump into the water. but they knew they would die if they did that. what should they do? "i wonder which of us the old fellow will take first," one of the men said to the other. each of them had his oar ready, so that when the bear made a spring at them, he would get his ears boxed pretty sharply. that was all they could do. well, the bear did not seem to be at all in a hurry. the first thing he did, after he got into the boat, was to shake himself as hard as he could, to get the water out of his coat. after that, he walked slowly to one end of the boat, just as if he was quite at home there, and lay down upon a coat which one of the men had brought along, and went to sleep. the sailors saw then that all they had to do was to row the bear to the shore. so they went to work. when they got to the ship, the captain and all the sailors laughed a good deal, you may be sure. the shore was not far off. the sailors rowed until the boat touched the shore, and the bear got out, and walked slowly away. he did not so much as thank the men for the ride he had been taking. but the men were glad to get rid of him, thanks or no thanks. [illustration] catching whales. i went in a whale-ship once. i was gone from home that time more than three years. when we came back, we had our large ship all full of oil and whalebone. we got the oil and the whalebone out of the whales which we had caught. whales, you know, are very large fish. they sometimes get two or three hundred barrels of oil from one single whale. i never shall forget what a long chase i had with a whale once. shall i tell you about it, little friend? there was a man in the ship who was looking out for whales. in a whale-ship there is always one man who gets up as high as he can, and keeps a bright look-out all round for whales. whales do not stay under water all the time. the trout, and the shad, and the eel, and most other kinds of fish can stay under water all the time. they cannot live out of the water only a few minutes, and i suppose they feel almost as bad out of the water as we do in it. but the whale wants to come up to the top of the water. he wants to come up to breathe. well, all at once, the man who was looking out the day i speak of, when i had such a run, sung out as loud as he could, "there she blows!" we all knew what that meant. that is what they always say when they see a whale. it means, "there is a whale come up to breathe." this whale was a great way off. i should think he was a mile from the ship. well, the captain told some of us to get into a boat, and to go out after the whale. we did so. the boats are always kept ready, and it takes only a minute to let the boat down, and start off. we rowed as fast as we could, until we came up near where the whale was lying. oh, what a large whale! as soon as the boat got near enough, one man threw two harpoons at the whale, and they both stuck fast in his flesh. a harpoon is a long and sharp iron, made like a spear, so that when it strikes the whale, it goes in deep, and you cannot pull it out. the harpoon is fastened to a long rope, and the rope is tied to the boat. as soon as the whale felt these irons in his side, he began to run. i never knew before that a whale could swim so fast. it took him only a very little while to run out with all the loose rope; and our boat went through the water pretty fast, you may be sure. i was afraid the whale would take it into his head to dive down towards the bottom. if he had gone down, we should have gone with him, unless we could have cut the rope. but he did not go down. away we went, as fast as if we had been on a railroad. he was all the time taking us further from the ship. "well," we thought, "what is going to become of us!" the whale did not seem to care any thing about that. i suppose he thought that was our look-out, and not his. but the fellow got tired out by and by. he had bled so much, that he began to grow faint. at last he went so slow, that we rowed up to him, and stabbed him with a long knife. he died pretty soon after that, and we got more than two hundred barrels of oil out of him. catching whales seems a cruel business to you. it is a cruel business. i never liked it. but somebody must do it. the butcher who kills oxen, and sheep, and calves, has to be cruel. but we must have butchers. we must have people to kill whales, though you never will catch me chasing after a whale again, as long as my name is jack mason. whales do not always run like the one i have told you about. sometimes they fight. after they are struck with the harpoon, they lift their tail, or _fluke_, as they call it, and strike the boat so hard as to dash it in pieces. then the poor sailors have to swim to the ship if they can. if they cannot, and if there is no other boat near them that they can get into, they must drown. i once saw a whale that had been struck with a harpoon come up close to the ship, and give it such a blow with his fluke, that he tore the copper off at a great rate, and broke a thick plank in half a dozen pieces. [illustration] [illustration: the indian, with his bow and arrows.] more indians. when i went in the whale-ship, i saw another tribe of indians, that were very different from those i told you of before. they knew more than those indians. they used bows and arrows; and you would have been pleased to see how they would hit a mark a great way off, with their arrows. one of them, who had a name so long that i will not try to speak it, used to come every day to our ship, when we were lying near the shore. he liked pieces of glass, and nails and tin, and things of that kind, quite as well as the other indians i told you of. he had seen white men before, so he was not at all afraid of us. i suppose that almost all the white men he had seen before used rum and tobacco. he asked all our sailors for these two things, and kept asking every day. i am sorry to say that some of the men gave him some rum once in a while, and one day he drank so much that he got drunk. poor man! he was not so much to blame, i think, as the bad sailors that gave him the rum. what do you think about it? this man would dive in the water further than anybody i ever saw before or since. some of the sailors used to throw pieces of tin into very deep water, and tell him he might have them if he would dive and bring them up. he was so fond of such things, that he would always gladly dive to get them. i once saw him dive for an old worn-out knife. the water was very deep where it was thrown. it was so deep that none of us thought he would get it. he went down, and staid a long, long time. we thought he never would come up again. the sailor that threw the knife into the water began to be sorry he had done it, because he thought the poor indian was drowned. but, by and by, he came up again, with the knife in his mouth. he had been hunting after the knife on the bottom of the sea. these indians had boats which were made of the bark of trees. they were so light, that an indian could carry one of them on his shoulder. the man who used to come to the ship so often, brought his little girl with him one day. she was not more than six or seven years old. she had never seen any white men before, and at first she was afraid of us all. but when she saw that the white folks would not hurt her any more than the indians would, she liked us very well, and wanted to stay with us all the time. the captain showed her his watch, and she looked at it a long time. she thought she had never seen so strange a thing before. "is it alive?" she asked her father. he could not tell whether it was alive or not, any more than the little girl could. the captain liked the little girl very well. he wanted to take her home with him. so he asked her father if his little girl might go a great way off, where the white men lived. the indians could not talk like us. they could talk, but they did not use the same words. the captain made out to tell the indian what he wanted, by using signs, just as he would have done if he had been talking with a deaf and dumb man. and what do you think the father of that little girl said, when he knew that the captain wanted to take the girl home with him? if anybody should ask your father if he would let you go away and never come back again, you can tell what your father would say. he would say, "no, i cannot spare my dear little child." [illustration] but the indian said, "yes, give me some money, and you can take my little girl, and carry her away with you. i have got more girls in my house." the little indian girl wanted to go with us, so the captain gave her father some money, and when the ship sailed, he took her along with him. but the poor indian girl did not live till our ship got home. she was taken very sick, and died. we all felt very bad when she left us. we had taught her a great many things. she could read a little. she knew all her letters, and could spell out such easy words as there are in your little primers and picture books. she did not know any thing about god, and christ, and heaven, before she came to the ship. but some of us told her about them. she was glad to hear about them. oh, how her bright eyes did sparkle when she heard that christ came into the world, and died for such little girls as she! how happy it made her, to think that he loved her! by and by, she used to pray every night, when she went to bed. i taught her to say that sweet little prayer which you know so well, and love so well: now i lay me down to sleep, i pray the lord my soul to keep: if i should die before i wake, i pray the lord my soul to take. oh, i was very sorry when our little anna died! we called her anna. she had another name at home, but we liked anna better than we did her old name. i was very sorry when she died, and we were all sorry. [illustration: the fishermen.] the little sailor boy. the story i told you about the indian girl makes me think of a little boy that we once had in our ship. he was a very good boy. the captain liked him very much. he was not the captain's child. but the captain used to say that he loved little george as much as if he was his child. the reason the captain loved him, and the reason everybody loved him, was because he was so kind and so good natured, and because he always did just as he was told to do. i must tell you how george first came to live with us in the ship. we were once a great many hundred miles off, and the wind blew very hard. it blew so hard that we could not sail where we wanted to go, and by and by the ship went upon a bank of sand. there we had to stay a good while. we could not get away. nobody was drowned. we ought to have been very thankful for that. i hope we were thankful. while we were lying on the sand bank, the waves dashed against the ship so hard, that we were afraid it would break in pieces. we did not know what to do. some of us thought we might as well jump into the water, and try to swim to the shore. but the captain said that we should certainly get drowned if we tried to do that. you wonder why we did not get into our boat, and row to the shore. we should have done so if we had not lost our boat. but we had no boat. the waves had dashed against it, and tore it away from the place where we kept it, so that we could not get it again. but when we thought we must all be lost, we saw a boat coming toward the ship. some fishermen had seen us, and were so kind that they came to us in their boat, so that we could get to the shore. oh, how glad we were when we saw them coming! but the waves were so high, that for a good while we thought it would sink before it got to us. the men had very hard work to row the boat. the wind blew very hard at one time, and the little boat was blown back again almost to the shore. but they tried again, and after a long time they got to the ship. then some of us got into the boat, and the men rowed us to the shore. after that, the boat went back to the ship again, and got the rest of the men. but i have not told the best of the story yet. when we all got into the house, where it was warm, we told the fishermen that they were very good to come and help us get away from the ship. we thanked them very much. and then they told us that we must not thank them; and they pointed to a little boy about as old as you are, i guess. "there," they said, "that little boy is the one to thank. we should not have gone, if it had not been for him. we were afraid the waves would dash over the boat, and that we should be drowned. we did not dare to go. but this good boy said, 'do go! oh, do go! the poor men in the ship will get drowned, if you do not go. i will go if my father will let me. i do not think father's boat will get lost. god will not let us drown, if we go and try to save the men.'" well, the boy said so much, that the fishermen told him they would go, and they did go. this little boy's name was george, and this is the one that i told you we all liked so well. the captain was so pleased with him, that he asked his father to let the little boy come and sail in his ship. his father said he wished his boy to be a sailor, and the boy wanted to be a sailor, too; and that if the captain would be kind to him, little george might go. so he went, and he was the very best boy i ever saw in my life. he used to talk to the sailors; and when they did wrong, when they said bad words, he would tell them it was naughty, and god would not love them if they did so. the sailors did not get angry with him, because they all saw that little george was good and kind, and that he wanted to do them good. i know of a good many sailors who stopped swearing, because little george told them, in his kind way, that he could not bear to hear them swear, and that god would not love them if they did so. [illustration] [illustration: rocks in the sea.] the wreck. the captain of this ship--the same one that loved little george so well--was drowned not long after that. my little friends, i cannot help crying when i think that this good captain, who used to be so kind to the sailors, was lost at sea. i was not in the ship at the time. i was in another ship. i got sick of catching whales, so i did not want to go in a whale-ship any more. the ship in which this captain was sailing was very near the shore, and there were some high rocks that stood quite down to the edge of the water. it was foggy at the time. the captain did not know that the ship was so near the rocks, because he could not see through the fog. the wind blew very hard, and blew the ship upon the rocks. in a minute the ship broke in pieces, and all but two or three of the men who were in it were lost. the captain was lost among the rest. so was little george. when the storm was over, and the wind stopped blowing, that dear boy was found on the shore, dead. there was a smile on his face, just such a smile as he used to have when he was living. there was a little bible in his pocket. it was all wet with salt water. but there was some writing on one of the leaves which anybody could read. it said, "this book was given to little george by his dear mother." [illustration: the pyramids and the sphynx.] the pyramids. i once went to a place called egypt. there i saw a great many strange things. the pyramids are wonderful enough. did you ever hear about them? they are made of stone, and are very large. i should think it would take a great many years to make one of them, if there were a hundred men at work all the time. they must have been built a very long time. i hardly know how long, but it was a great while before christ was born. i went to the top of the largest pyramid, and went all over it. it was one of the strangest things i ever saw. some people think that the pyramids were built to bury kings in, when they died. if they were not built for that, i am sure i cannot tell what they were built for. there is another odd thing in that country, not far from the pyramids. it is called a _sphinx_. i know you will say that the name must be as odd as the thing is itself. well, it _is_ odd, sure enough. the sphinx is a very large rock, made to look just like a lion with a man's head. it is as large as the house i live in. there is nothing but the head out of the ground. it was all out of the ground once, when it was first made, but the sand has now covered up that part which looks like a lion. a great while ago, people used to call such things as these _gods_. they used to pray to the sphinx, just as if it was a god--just as if it could hear anybody pray, the same as god does. [illustration] the whirlpool. you have seen little whirlpools in the brook, i suppose. i once saw a very large one, a great deal larger than any you ever saw in the brook. it was in the north sea. this whirlpool does mischief sometimes. when vessels happen to get on the edge of it, they begin to go round and round, all the time coming near the middle of the whirlpool. when the captain of the vessel knows that he is in the whirlpool, he can get his vessel out, if it has just begun to go round. but after it has been in a while, he cannot get out. the vessel keeps going round and round. the people on board hear the roar of the whirlpool. it is too late to get away. by and by, the water draws the vessel down. it is dashed to pieces, and all who were in it are lost! i have known little boys and girls get into a whirlpool, too; a different kind of a whirlpool, to be sure, but a great deal worse than this one in the north sea. i mean the whirlpool of _sin_. when they first began to be wicked--when they first began to go round in the whirlpool--they went round very slowly. they could very easily have got out then, if they had tried, and if they had prayed to god to help them. but they did not try. so they kept growing worse and worse. they went round swifter and swifter. by and by, they got so far into the whirlpool that they could not get out. it was too late. they were lost--dashed to pieces on the rocks, in the whirlpool of sin! little boy! little girl! take care that you do not venture even to the edge of this whirlpool. give your heart to god, while you are young, and pray to him to keep you from sin, and to lead you to heaven. proofreaders the world of ice or the whaling cruise of "the dolphin" and the adventures of her crew in the polar regions by robert michael ballantyne author of "the dog crusoe and his master," "the young fur-traders," "the gorilla-hunters," "ungava," "the coral island," &c. preface dear reader, most people prefer a short to a long preface. permit me, therefore, to cut this one short, by simply expressing an earnest hope that my book may afford you much profit and amusement. r.m. ballantyne. contents. chapter i. some of the "dramatis personæ" introduced--retrospective glances--causes of future effects--our hero's early life at sea--a pirate--a terrible fight and its consequences--buzzby's helm lashed amidships--a whaling-cruise begun. chapter ii. departure of the "pole star" for the frozen seas--sage reflections of mrs. bright, and sagacious remarks of buzzby--anxieties, fears, surmises, and resolutions--isobel--a search proposed--departure of the "dolphin" for the far north. chapter iii. the voyage--the "dolphin" and her crew--ice ahead--polar scenes--masthead observations--the first whale--great excitement. chapter iv. the chase and the battle--the chances and dangers of whaling war--buzzby dives for his life and saves it--so does the whale and loses it--an anxious night, which terminates happily, though with a heavy loss. chapter v. miscellaneous reflections--the coast of greenland--upernavik--news of the "pole star"--midnight-day--scientific facts and fairy-like scenes--tom singleton's opinion of poor old women--in danger of a squeeze--escape. chapter vi. the gale--anchored to a berg which proves to be a treacherous one--dangers of the "pack"--beset in the ice--mivins shows an inquiring mind--walruses--gale freshens--chains and cables--holding on for life--an unexpected discovery--a "nip" and its terrible consequences--yoked to an iceberg. chapter vii. new characters introduced--an old game under novel circumstances--remarkable appearances in the sky--o'riley meets with a mishap. chapter viii. fred and the doctor go on an excursion in which, among other strange things, they meet with red snow and a white bear, and fred makes his first essay as a sportsman. chapter ix. the "dolphin" gets beset in the ice--preparations for wintering in the ice--captain guy's code of laws. chapter x. beginning of winter--meetuck effects a remarkable change in the men's appearance--mossing, and working, and plans for a winter campaign. chapter xi. a hunting-expedition, in the course of which the hunters meet with many interesting, dangerous, peculiar, and remarkable experiences, and make acquaintance with seals, walruses, deer, and rabbits. chapter xii. a dangerous sleep interrupted--a night in a snow-hut, and an unpleasant visitor--snowed up. chapter xiii. journey resumed--the hunters meet with bears and have a great fight, in which the dogs are sufferers--a bear's dinner--mode in which arctic rocks travel--the ice-belt. chapter xiv. departure of the sun--effects of darkness on dogs--winter arrangements in the interior of the "dolphin." chapter xv. strangers appear on the scene--the esquimaux are hospitably entertained by the sailors--a spirited traffic--thieving propensities and summary justice. chapter xvi. the arctic theatre enlarged upon--great success of the first play--the esquimaux submit, and become fast friends. chapter xvii. expeditions on foot--effects of darkness on dogs and men--the first death--caught in a trap--the esquimau camp. chapter xviii. the hunting-party--reckless driving--a desperate encounter with a walrus, etc. chapter xix. the northern party--a narrow escape, and a great discovery--esquimaux again, and a joyful surprise. chapter xx. keeping it down--mutual explanations--the true comforter--death--new-year's day. chapter xxi. first gleam of light--trip to welcome the sun--bears and strange discoveries--o'riley is reckless--first view of the sun. chapter xxii. the "arctic sun"--rats! rats! rats!--a hunting-party--out on the floes--hardships. chapter xxiii. unexpected arrivals--the rescue party--lost and found--return to the ship. chapter xxiv. winter ends--the first insect--preparations for departure--narrow escape--cutting out--once more afloat--ship on fire--crew take to the boats. chapter xxv. escape to upernavik--letter from home--meetuck's grandmother--dumps and poker again. chapter xxvi. the return--the surprise--buzzby's sayings and doings--the narrative--fighting battles o'er again--conclusion. chapter i. _some of the "dramatis personæ" introduced--retrospective glances--causes of future effects--our hero's early life at sea--a pirate--a terrible fight and its consequences--buzzby's helm lashed amidships--a whaling-cruise begun._ nobody ever caught john buzzby asleep by any chance whatever. no weasel was ever half so sensitive on that point as he was. wherever he happened to be (and in the course of his adventurous life he had been to nearly all parts of the known world) he was the first awake in the morning and the last asleep at night; he always answered promptly to the first call; and was never known by any man living to have been seen with his eyes shut, except when he winked, and that operation he performed less frequently than other men. john buzzby was an old salt--a regular true-blue jack tar of the old school, who had been born and bred at sea; had visited foreign ports innumerable; had weathered more storms than he could count, and had witnessed more strange sights than he could remember. he was tough, and sturdy, and grizzled, and broad, and square, and massive--a first-rate specimen of a john bull, and according to himself, "always kept his weather-eye open." this remark of his was apt to create confusion in the minds of his hearers; for john meant the expression to be understood figuratively, while, in point of fact, he almost always kept one of his literal eyes open and the other partially closed, but as he reversed the order of arrangement frequently, he might have been said to keep his lee-eye as much open as the weather one. this peculiarity gave to his countenance an expression of earnest thoughtfulness mingled with humour. buzzby was fond of being thought old, and he looked much older than he really was. men guessed his age at fifty-five, but they were ten years out in their reckoning; for john had numbered only forty-five summers, and was as tough and muscular as ever he had been--although not quite so elastic. john buzzby stood on the pier of the sea-port town of grayton watching the active operations of the crew of a whaling-ship which was on the point of starting for the ice-bound seas of the frozen regions, and making sundry remarks to a stout, fair-haired boy of fifteen, who stood by his side gazing at the ship with an expression of deep sadness. "she's a trim-built craft and a good sea-boat, i'll be bound, master fred," observed the sailor; "but she's too small by half, accordin' to my notions, and i _have_ seen a few whalers in my day. them bow-timbers, too, are scarce thick enough for goin' bump agin the ice o' davis' straits. howsom'iver, i've seen worse craft drivin' a good trade in the polar seas." "she's a first-rate craft in all respects; and you have too high an opinion of your own judgment," replied the youth indignantly. "do you suppose that my father, who is an older man than yourself and as good a sailor, would buy a ship, and fit her out, and go off to the whale-fishery in her, if he did not think her a good one?" "ah! master fred, you're a chip of the old block--neck or nothing--carry on all sail till you tear the masts out of her! reef the t'gallant sails of your temper, boy, and don't run foul of an old man who has been all but a wet-nurse to ye--taught ye to walk, and swim, and pull an oar, and build ships, and has hauled ye out o' the sea when ye fell in--from the time ye could barely stump along on two legs, lookin' like as if ye was more nor half-seas-over." "well, buzzby," replied the boy, laughing, "if you've been all that to me, i think you _have_ been a _wet_-nurse too! but why do you run down my father's ship? do you think i'm going to stand that? no! not even from you, old boy." "hallo! youngster," shouted a voice from the deck of the vessel in question, "run up and tell your father we're all ready, and if he don't make haste he'll lose the tide, so he will, and that'll make us have to start on a friday, it will, an' that'll not do for me, nohow it won't; so make sail and look sharp about it, do--won't you?" "what a tongue he's got!" remarked buzzby. "before i'd go to sea with a first mate who jawed like that i'd be a landsman. don't ever you git to talk too much, master fred, wotever ye do. my maxim is--and it has served me through life, uncommon--'keep your weather-eye open and your tongue housed 'xcept when you've got occasion to use it.' if that fellow'd use his eyes more and his tongue less, he'd see your father comin' down the road there, right before the wind, with his old sister in tow." "how i wish he would have let me go with him!" muttered fred to himself sorrowfully. "no chance now, i'm afeard," remarked his companion. "the gov'nor's as stiff as a nor'-wester. nothin' in the world can turn him once he's made up his mind but a regular sou'-easter. now, if you had been _my_ son, and yonder tight craft _my_ ship, i would have said, 'come at once.' but your father knows best, lad; and you're a wise son to obey orders cheerfully, without question. that's another o' my maxims, 'obey orders, an' ax no questions.'" frederick ellice, senior, who now approached, whispering words of consolation into the ear of his weeping sister, might, perhaps, have just numbered fifty years. he was a fine, big, bold, hearty englishman, with a bald head, grizzled locks, a loud but not harsh voice, a rather quick temper, and a kind, earnest, enthusiastic heart. like buzzby, he had spent nearly all his life at sea, and had become so thoroughly accustomed to walking on an unstable foundation that he felt quite uncomfortable on solid ground, and never remained more than a few months at a time on shore. he was a man of good education and gentlemanly manners, and had worked his way up in the merchant service step by step until he obtained the command of a west india trader. a few years previous to the period in which our tale opens, an event occurred which altered the course of captain ellice's life, and for a long period plunged him into the deepest affliction. this was the loss of his wife at sea under peculiarly distressing circumstances. at the age of thirty captain ellice had married a pretty blue-eyed girl, who resolutely refused to become a sailor's bride unless she should be permitted to accompany her husband to sea. this was without much difficulty agreed to, and forthwith alice bremner became mrs. ellice, and went to sea. it was during her third voyage to the west indies that our hero fred was born, and it was during this and succeeding voyages that buzzby became "all but a wet-nurse" to him. mrs. ellice was a loving, gentle, seriously-minded woman. she devoted herself, heart and soul to the training of her boy, and spent many a pleasant hour in that little, unsteady cabin in endeavouring to instil into his infant mind the blessed truths of christianity, and in making the name of jesus familiar to his ear. as fred grew older his mother encouraged him to hold occasional intercourse with the sailors--for her husband's example taught her the value of a bold, manly spirit, and she knew that it was impossible for her to instil _that_ into him--but she was careful to guard him from the evil that he might chance to learn from the men, by committing him to the tender care of buzzby. to do the men justice, however, this was almost unnecessary, for they felt that a mother's watchful eye was on the child, and no unguarded word fell from their lips while he was romping about the forecastle. when it was time for fred to go to school, mrs. ellice gave up her roving life and settled in her native town of grayton, where she resided with her widowed sister, amelia bright, and her niece isobel. here fred received the rudiments of an excellent education at a private academy. at the age of twelve, however, master fred became restive, and during one of his father's periodical visits home, begged to be taken to sea. captain ellice agreed; mrs. ellice insisted on accompanying them; and in a few weeks they were once again on their old home, the ocean, and fred was enjoying his native air in company with his friend buzzby, who stuck to the old ship like one of her own stout timbers. but this was destined to be a disastrous voyage. one evening, after crossing the line, they descried a suspicious-looking schooner to windward, bearing down upon them under a cloud of canvas. "what do you think of her, buzzby?" inquired captain ellice, handing his glass to the seaman. buzzby gazed in silence and with compressed lips for some time; then he returned the glass, at the same time muttering the word, "pirate." "i thought so," said the captain in a deep, unsteady voice. "there is but one course for us, buzzby," he continued, glancing towards his wife, who, all unconscious of their danger, sat near the taffrail employed with her needle; "these fellows show no mercy, because they expect none either from god or man. we must fight to the last. go, prepare the men and get out the arms. i'll tell my wife." buzzby went forward; but the captain's heart failed him, and he took two or three rapid, hesitating turns on the quarter-deck ere he could make up his mind to speak. "alice," he said at length abruptly, "yonder vessel is a pirate." mrs. ellice looked up in surprise, and her face grew pale as her eye met the troubled gaze of her husband. "are you quite sure, frederick?" "yes, quite. would god that i were left alone to--but--nay, do not be alarmed; perhaps i am wrong, it may be a--a clipper-built trading-vessel. if not, alice, we must make some show of fighting, and try to frighten them. meanwhile you must go below." the captain spoke encouragingly as he led his wife to the cabin; but his candid countenance spoke too truthfully, and she felt that his look of anxious concern bade her fear the worst. pressing her fervently to his heart, captain ellice sprang on deck. by this time the news had spread through the ship, and the crew, consisting of upwards of thirty men, were conversing earnestly in knots of four or five while they sharpened and buckled on cutlasses, or loaded pistols and carbines. "send the men aft, mr. thompson," said the captain, as he paced the deck to and fro, casting his eyes occasionally on the schooner, which was rapidly nearing the vessel. "take another pull at these main-topsail-halyards, and send the steward down below for my sword and pistols. let the men look sharp; we've no time to lose, and hot work is before us." "i will go for your sword, father," cried fred, who had just come on deck. "boy, boy, you must go below; you can be of no use here." "but, father, you know that i'm not _afraid_." "i know that, boy--i know it well; but you're too young to fight--you're not strong enough. besides, you must comfort and cheer your mother; she may want you." "i'm old enough and strong enough to load and fire a pistol, father; and i heard one of the men say we would need all the hands on board, and more if we had them. besides, it was my mother who told me what was going on, and sent me on deck to _help you, to fight._" a momentary gleam of pride lit up the countenance of the captain as he said hastily, "you may stay, then," and turned towards the men, who now stood assembled on the quarter-deck. addressing the crew in his own blunt, vigorous style, he said, "lads, yon rascally schooner is a pirate, as you all know well enough. i need not ask you if you are ready to fight; i see by your looks you are. but that's not enough--you must make up your minds to fight _well_. you know that pirates give no quarter. i see the decks are swarming with men. if you don't go at them like bull-dogs, you'll walk the plank before sunset every man of you. now, go forward, and double-shot your muskets and pistols, and stick as many of the latter into your belts as they will hold. mr. thompson, let the gunner double-shot the four big guns, and load the little carronade with musket-balls to the muzzle. if they do try to board us, they'll get a warm reception." "there goes a shot, sir," said buzzby, pointing towards the piratical schooner, from the side of which a white cloud burst, and a round shot ricochetted over the sea, passing close ahead of the ship. "ay, that's a request for us to lay-to," said the captain bitterly, "but we won't. keep her away a point." "ay, ay, sir," sung out the man at the wheel. a second and a third shot were fired, but passed unheeded, and the captain, fully expecting that the next would be fired into them, ordered the men below. "we can't afford to lose a man, mr. thompson; send them all down." "please, sir, may i remain?" said buzzby, touching his hat. "obey orders," answered the captain sternly. the sailor went below with a sulky fling. for nearly an hour the two vessels cut through the water before a steady breeze, during which time the fast-sailing schooner gradually overhauled the heavy west indiaman, until she approached within speaking distance. still captain ellice paid no attention to her, but stood with compressed lips beside the man at the wheel, gazing alternately at the sails of his vessel and at the windward horizon, where he fancied he saw indications that led him to hope the breeze would fail ere long. as the schooner drew nearer, a man leaped on the hammock-nettings, and, putting a trumpet to his mouth, sang out lustily, "ship ahoy! where are you from, and what's your cargo?" captain ellice made no reply, but ordered four of his men on deck to point one of the stern-chasers. again the voice came harshly across the waves, as if in passion, "heave to, or i'll sink you." at the same moment the black flag was run up to the peak, and a shot passed between the main and fore masts. "stand by to point this gun," said the captain in a subdued voice. "ay, ay, sir!" "fetch a red-hot iron; luff, luff a little--a little more steady--so." at the last word there was a puff and a roar, and an iron messenger flew towards the schooner. the gun had been fired more as a reply of defiance to the pirate than with the hope of doing him any damage; but the shot had been well aimed--it cut the schooner's main-sail-yard in two and brought it rattling down on deck. instantly the pirate yawed and delivered a broadside; but in the confusion on deck the guns were badly aimed, and none took effect. the time lost in this manoeuvre, added to the crippled condition of the schooner, enabled the west indiaman to gain considerably on her antagonist; but the pirate kept up a well-directed fire with his bow-chasers, and many of the shots struck the hull and cut the rigging seriously. as the sun descended towards the horizon the wind fell gradually, and ceased at length altogether, so that both vessels lay rolling on the swell with their sails flapping idly against the masts. "they're a-gittin' out the boats, sir," remarked john buzzby, who, unable to restrain himself any longer, had crept upon deck at the risk of another reprimand; "and, if my eyes be'n't deceiving me, there's a sail on the horizon to wind'ard--leastways, the direction which _wos_ wind'ard afore it fell calm." "she's bringing a breeze along with her," remarked the captain, "but i fear the boats will come up before it reaches us. there are three in the water and manned already. there they come. now, then, call up all hands." in a few seconds the crew of the west indiaman were at their stations ready for action, and captain ellice, with fred at his elbow, stood beside one of the stern-chasers. meanwhile, the boats of the pirate, five in number, pulled away in different directions, evidently with the intention of attacking the ship at different points. they were full of men armed to the teeth. while they rowed towards the ship the schooner resumed its fire, and one ball cut away the spanker-boom and slightly wounded two of the men with splinters. the guns of the ship were now brought to bear on the boats, but without effect, although the shot plunged into the water all round them. as they drew nearer a brisk fire of musketry was opened on them, and the occasional falling of an oar and confusion on board showed that the shots told. the pirates replied vigorously, but without effect, as the men of the ship were sheltered by the bulwarks. "pass the word to load and reserve fire," said the captain; "and hand me a musket, fred. load again as fast as i fire." so saying, the captain took aim and fired at the steersman of the largest boat, which pulled towards the stern. "another, fred--" at this moment a withering volley was poured upon the boat, and a savage yell of agony followed, while the rowers who remained unhurt paused for an instant as if paralyzed. next instant they recovered, and another stroke would have brought them almost alongside, when captain ellice pointed the little carronade and fired. there was a terrific crash; the gun recoiled violently to the other side of the deck; and the pirate boat sank, leaving the sea covered with dead and wounded men. a number, however, who seemed to bear charmed lives, seized their cutlasses with their teeth, and swam boldly for the ship. this incident, unfortunately, attracted too much of the attention of the crew, and ere they could prevent it another boat reached the bow of the ship, the crew of which sprang up the side like cats, formed on the forecastle, and poured a volley upon the men. "follow me, lads!" shouted the captain, as he sprang forward like a tiger. the first man he reached fell by a ball from his pistol; in another moment the opposing parties met in a hand-to-hand conflict. meanwhile fred, having been deeply impressed with the effect of the shot from the little carronade, succeeded in raising and reloading it. he had scarcely accomplished this when one of the boats reached the larboard quarter, and two of the men sprang up the side. fred observed them, and felled the first with a handspike before he reached the deck; but the pirate who instantly followed would have killed him had he not been observed by the second mate, who had prevented several of the men from joining in the _mêlée_ on the forecastle in order to meet such an emergency as this. rushing to the rescue with his party, he drove the pirates back into the boat, which was immediately pulled towards the bow, where the other two boats were now grappling and discharging their crews on the forecastle. although the men of the west indiaman fought with desperate courage, they could not stand before the increasing numbers of pirates who now crowded the fore part of the ship in a dense mass. gradually they were beaten back, and at length were brought to bay on the quarter-deck. "help, father!" cried fred, pushing through the struggling crowd, "here's the carronade ready loaded." "ha! boy, well done!" cried the captain, seizing the gun, and, with the help of buzzby, who never left his side, dragging it forward. "clear the way, lads!" in a moment the little cannon was pointed to the centre of the mass of men, and fired. one awful shriek of agony rose above the din of the fight, as a wide gap was cut through the crowd; but this only seemed to render the survivors more furious. with a savage yell they charged the quarter-deck, but were hurled back again and again by the captain and a few chosen men who stood around him. at length one of the pirates, who had been all along conspicuous for his strength and daring, stepped deliberately up, and pointing a pistol at the captain's breast, fired. captain ellice fell, and at the same moment a ball laid the pirate low; another charge was made; fred rushed forward to protect his father, but was thrown down and trodden under foot in the rush, and in two minutes more the ship was in possession of the pirates. being filled with rage at the opposition they had met with, these villains proceeded, as they said, to make short work of the crew, while several of them sprang into the cabin, where they discovered mrs. ellice almost dead with terror. dragging her violently on deck, they were about to cast her into the sea, when buzzby, who stood with his hands bound, suddenly burst his bonds and sprang towards her. a blow from the butt of a pistol, however, stretched him insensible on the deck. "where is my husband? my boy?" screamed mrs. ellice wildly. "they've gone before you, or they'll soon follow," said a savage fiercely, as he raised her in his powerful arms and hurled her overboard. a loud shriek was followed by a heavy plunge. at the same moment two of the men raised the captain, intending to throw him overboard also, when a loud boom arrested their attention, and a cannon-shot ploughed up the sea close in front of their bows. while the fight was raging, no one had observed the fact that the breeze had freshened, and a large man-of-war, with american colours, at her peak, was now within gunshot of the ship. no sooner did the pirates make this discovery than they rushed to their boats, with the intention of pulling to their schooner; but those who had been left in charge, seeing the approach of the man-of-war, and feeling that there was no chance of escape for their comrades, or, as is more than probable, being utterly indifferent about them, crowded all sail and slipped away, and it was now hull-down on the horizon to leeward. the men in the boats rowed after her with the energy of despair; but the americans gave chase, and we need scarcely add that, in a very short time, all were captured. when the man-of-war rejoined the west indiaman, the night had set in and a stiff breeze had arisen, so that the long and laborious search that was made for the body of poor mrs. ellice proved utterly fruitless. captain ellice, whose wound was very severe, was struck down as if by a thunderbolt, and for a long time his life was despaired of. during his illness fred nursed him with the utmost tenderness, and in seeking to comfort his father, found some relief to his own stricken heart. months passed away. captain ellice was conveyed to the residence of his sister in grayton, and, under her care, and the nursing of his little niece isobel, he recovered his wonted health and strength. to the eyes of men captain ellice and his son were themselves again; but those who judge of men's hearts by their outward appearance and expressions, in nine cases out of ten judge very wide of the mark indeed. both had undergone a great change. the brilliancy and glitter of this world had been completely and rudely dispelled, and both had been led to inquire whether there was not something better to live for than mere present advantage and happiness--something that would stand by them in those hours of sickness and sorrow which must inevitably, sooner or later, come upon all men. both sought, and discovered what they sought, in the _bible_, the only book in all the world where the jewel of great price is to be found. but captain ellice could not be induced to resume the command of his old ship, or voyage again to the west indies. he determined to change the scene of his future labours and sail to the frozen seas, where the aspect of every object, even the ocean itself, would be very unlikely to recall the circumstances of his loss. some time after his recovery, captain ellice purchased a brig and fitted her out as a whaler, determined to try his fortune in the northern seas. fred pleaded hard to be taken out, but his father felt that he had more need to go to school than to sea; so he refused, and fred, after sighing very deeply once or twice, gave in with a good grace. buzzby, too, who stuck to his old commander like a leech, was equally anxious to go; but buzzby, in a sudden and unaccountable fit of tenderness, had, just two months before, married a wife, who might be appropriately described as "fat, fair, and forty," and buzzby's wife absolutely forbade him to go. alas! buzzby was no longer his own master. at the age of forty-five he became--as he himself expressed it--an abject slave, and he would as soon have tried to steer in a slipper-bath right in the teeth of an equinoctial hurricane, as have opposed the will of his wife. he used to sigh gruffly when spoken to on this subject, and compare himself to a dutch galliot that made more leeway than headway, even with a wind on the quarter. "once," he would remark, "i was clipper-built, and could sail right in the wind's eye; but ever since i tuck this craft in tow, i've gone to leeward like a tub. in fact, i find there's only one way of going ahead with my poll, and that is right before the wind! i used to yaw about a good deal at first, but she tuck that out o' me in a day or two. if i put the helm only so much as one stroke to starboard, she guv' a tug at the tow-rope that brought the wind dead aft again; so i've gi'n it up, and lashed the tiller right amid-ships." so buzzby did not accompany his old commander; he did not even so much as suggest the possibility of it; but he shook his head with great solemnity, as he stood with fred, and mrs. bright, and isobel, at the end of the pier, gazing at the brig, with one eye very much screwed up, and a wistful expression in the other, while the graceful craft spread out her canvas and bent over to the breeze. chapter ii. _departure of the "pole star" for the frozen seas--sage reflections of mrs. bright, and sagacious remarks of buzzby--anxieties, fears, surmises, and resolutions--isabel--a search proposed--departure of the "dolphin" for the far north_. digressions are bad at the best, and we feel some regret that we should have been compelled to begin our book with one; but they are necessary evils sometimes, so we must ask our reader's forgiveness, and beg him, or her, to remember that we are still at the commencement of our story, standing at the end of the pier, and watching the departure of the _pole star_ whale-ship, which is now a scarcely distinguishable speck on the horizon. as it disappeared buzzby gave a grunt, fred and isobel uttered a sigh in unison, and mrs. bright resumed the fit of weeping which for some time she had unconsciously suspended. "i fear we shall never see him again," sobbed mrs. bright, as she took isobel by the hand and sauntered slowly home, accompanied by fred and buzzby, the latter of whom seemed to regard himself in the light of a shaggy newfoundland or mastiff, who had been left to protect the family. "we are always hearing of whale-ships being lost, and, somehow or other, we _never_ hear of the crews being saved, as one reads of when ships are wrecked in the usual way on the seashore." isobel squeezed her mother's hand, and looked up in her face with an expression that said plainly, "don't cry so, mamma; i'm _sure_ he will come back," but she could not find words to express herself, so she glanced towards the mastiff for help. buzzby felt that it devolved upon him to afford consolation under the circumstances; but mrs. bright's mind was of that peculiar stamp which repels advances in the way of consolation unconsciously, and buzzby was puzzled. he screwed up first the right eye and then the left, and smote his thigh repeatedly; and assuredly, if contorting his visage could have comforted mrs. bright, she would have returned home a happy woman, for he made faces at her violently for full five minutes. but it did her no good, perhaps because she didn't see him, her eyes being suffused with tears. "ah! yes," resumed mrs. bright, with another burst, "i _know_ they will never come back, and your silence shows that you think so too. and to think of their taking two years' provisions with them _in case of accidents!_--doesn't that prove that there are going _to be_ accidents? and didn't i hear one of the sailors say that she was a crack ship, a number one? i don't know what he meant by a number one, but if she's a cracked ship i _know_ she will never come back; and although i told my dear brother of it, and advised him not to go, he only laughed at me, which was very unkind, i'm sure." here mrs. bright's feelings overcame her again. "why, aunt," said fred, scarce able to restrain a laugh, despite the sadness that lay at his heart, "when the sailor said it was a crack ship, he meant that it was a good one, a first-rate one." "then why did he not say what he meant? but you are talking nonsense, boy. do you think that i will believe a man means to say a thing is good when he calls it cracked? and i'm sure nobody would say a cracked tea-pot was as good as a whole one. but tell me, buzzby, do you think they ever _will_ come back?" "why, ma'am, in coorse i do," replied buzzby, vehemently; "for why, if they don't, they're the first that ever, went out o' this port in my day as didn't. they've a good ship and lots o' grub, and it's like to be a good season; and captain ellice has, for the most part, good luck; and they've started with a fair wind, and kep' clear of a friday, and what more could ye wish? i only wish as i was aboard along with them, that's all." buzzby delivered himself of this oration with the left eye shut and screwed up, and the right one open. having concluded, he shut and screwed up the right eye, and opened the left--he reversed the engine, so to speak, as if he wished to back out from the scene of his triumph and leave the course clear for others to speak. but his words were thrown away on mrs. bright, who was emphatically a weak-minded woman, and never exercised her reason at all, except in a spasmodic, galvanic sort of way, when she sought to defend or to advocate some unreasonable conclusion of some sort, at which her own weak mind had arrived somehow. so she shook her head, and sobbed good-bye to buzzby, as she ascended the sloping avenue that led to her pretty cottage on the green hill that overlooked the harbour and the sea beyond. as for john buzzby, having been absent from home full half-an-hour beyond his usual dinner-hour, he felt that, for a man who had lashed his helm amid-ships, he was yawing alarmingly out of his course; so he spread all the canvas he could carry, and steered right before the wind towards the village, where, in a little whitewashed, low-roofed, one-doored, and two little-windowed cottage, his spouse (and dinner) awaited him. to make a long story short, three years passed away, but the _pole star_ did not return, and no news of her could be got from the various whale-ships that visited the port of grayton. towards the end of the second year buzzby began to shake his head despondingly; and as the third drew to a close, the expression of gloom never left his honest, weather-beaten face. mrs. bright, too, whose anxiety at first was only half genuine, now became seriously alarmed, and the fate of the missing brig began to be the talk of the neighbourhood. meanwhile, fred ellice and isobel grew and improved in mind and body; but anxiety as to his father's fate rendered the former quite unable to pursue his studies, and he determined at last to procure a passage in a whale-ship, and go out in search of the brig. it happened that the principal merchant and shipowner in the town, mr. singleton by name, was an intimate friend and old school-fellow of captain ellice, so fred went boldly to him and proposed that a vessel should be fitted out immediately, and sent off to search for his father's brig. mr. singleton smiled at the request, and pointed out the utter impossibility of his agreeing to it; but he revived fred's sinking hopes by saying that he was about to send out a whaler to the northern seas at any rate, and that he would give orders to the captain to devote a _portion_ of his time to the search, and, moreover, agreed to let fred go as a passenger in company with his own son tom. now, tom singleton had been fred's bosom friend and companion during his first year at school; but during the last two years he had been sent to the edinburgh university to prosecute his medical studies, and the two friends had only met at rare intervals. it was with unbounded delight, therefore, that he found his old companion, now a youth of twenty, was to go out as surgeon of the ship, and he could scarce contain himself as he ran down to buzzby's cottage to tell him the good news, and ask him to join. of course buzzby was ready to go, and, what was of far greater importance in the matter, his wife threw no obstacle in the way. on the contrary, she undid the lashings of the helm with her own hand, and told her wondering partner, with a good-humoured but firm smile, to steer where he chose, and she would content herself with the society of the two young buzzbys (both miniature fac-similes of their father) till he came back. once again a whale-ship prepared to sail from the port of grayton, and once again mrs. bright and isobel stood on the pier to see her depart. isobel was about thirteen now, and as pretty a girl, according to buzzby, as you could meet with in any part of britain. her eyes were blue and her hair nut-brown, and her charms of face and figure were enhanced immeasurably by an air of modesty and earnestness that went straight home to your heart, and caused you to adore her at once. buzzby doated on her as if she were his only child, and felt a secret pride in being in some indefinable way her protector. buzzby philosophized about her, too, after a strange fashion. "you see," he would say to fred, "it's not that her figurehead is cut altogether after a parfect pattern--by no means, for i've seen pictur's and statues that wos better--but she carries her head a little down, d'ye see, master fred? and there's where it is; that's the way i gauges the worth o' young women, jist accordin' as they carry their chins up or down. if their brows come well for'ard, and they seems to be lookin' at the ground they walk on, i knows their brains is firm stuff, and in good workin' order; but when i sees them carryin' their noses high out o' the water, as if they wos afeard o' catchin' sight o' their own feet, and their chins elewated, so that a little boy standin' in front o' them couldn't see their faces nohow, i make pretty sure that t'other end is filled with a sort o' _mush_ that's fit only to think o' dress and dancing." on the present occasion isobel's eyes were red and swollen, and by no means improved by weeping. mrs. bright, too, although three years had done little to alter her character, seemed to be less demonstrative and much more sincere than usual in her grief at parting from fred. in a few minutes all was ready. young singleton and buzzby having hastily but earnestly bade mrs. bright and her daughter farewell, leaped on board. fred lingered for a moment. "once more, dear aunt," said he, "farewell. with god's blessing we shall come back soon.--write to me, darling isobel, won't you? to upernavik, on the coast of greenland. if none of our ships are bound in that direction, write by way of denmark. old mr. singleton will tell you how to address your letter; and see that it be a long one." "now then, youngster, jump aboard," shouted the captain; "look sharp!" "ay, ay," returned fred, and in another moment he was on the quarter-deck, by the side of his friend tom. the ship, loosed from her moorings, spread her canvas, and plunged forward on her adventurous voyage. but this time she does not grow smaller as she advances before the freshening breeze, for you and i, reader, have embarked in her, and the land now fades in the distance, until it sinks from view on the distant horizon, while nothing meets our gaze but the vault of the bright blue sky above, and the plane of the dark blue sea below. chapter iii. _the voyage--the "dolphin" and her crew--ice ahead--polar scenes--masthead observations--the first whale--great excitement_. and now we have fairly got into blue water--the sailor's delight, the landsman's dread,-- "the sea! the sea! the open sea; the blue, the fresh, the ever free." "it's my opinion," remarked buzzby to singleton one day, as they stood at the weather gangway watching the foam that spread from the vessel's bow as she breasted the waves of the atlantic gallantly--it's my opinion that our skipper is made o' the right stuff. he's entered quite into the spirit of the thing, and i heard him say to the first mate yesterday he'd made up his mind to run right up into baffin's bay and make inquiries for captain ellice first, before goin' to his usual whalin'-ground. now that's wot i call doin' the right thing; for, ye see, he runs no small risk o' getting beset in the ice, and losing the fishin' altogether by so doin'." "he's a fine fellow," said singleton; "i like him better every day, and i feel convinced he will do his utmost to discover the whereabouts of our missing friend; but i fear much that our chances are small, for, although we know the spot which captain ellice intended to visit, we cannot tell to what part of the frozen ocean ice and currents may have carried him." "true," replied buzzby, giving to his left eye and cheek just that peculiar amount of screw which indicated intense sagacity and penetration; "but i've a notion that, if they are to be found, captain guy is the man to find 'em." "i hope it may turn out as you say. have you ever been in these seas before, buzzby?" "no, sir--never; but i've got a half-brother wot has bin in the greenland whale-fishery, and i've bin in the south sea line myself." "what line was that, buzzby?" inquired david summers, a sturdy boy of about fifteen, who acted as assistant steward, and was, in fact, a nautical maid-of-all-work. "was it a log-line, or a bow-line, or a cod-line, or a bit of the equator, eh?" the old salt deigned no reply to this passing sally, but continued his converse with singleton. "i could give ye many a long yarn about the south seas," said buzzby, gazing abstractedly down into the deep. "one time when i was about fifty miles to the sou'-west o' cape horn, i--" "dinner's ready, sir," said a thin, tall, active man, stepping smartly up to singleton, and touching his cap. "we must talk over that some other time, buzzby. the captain loves punctuality." so saying, the young surgeon sprang down the companion ladder, leaving the old salt to smoke his pipe in solitude. and here we may pause a few seconds to describe our ship and her crew. the _dolphin_ was a tight, new, barque-rigged vessel of about three hundred tons burden, built expressly for the northern whale-fishery, and carried a crew of forty-five men. ships that have to battle with the ice require to be much more powerfully built than those that sail in unencumbered seas. the _dolphin_ united strength with capacity and buoyancy. the under part of her hull and sides were strengthened with double timbers, and fortified externally with plates of iron, while, internally, stanchions and crossbeams were so arranged as to cause pressure on any part to be supported by the whole structure; and on her bows, where shocks from the ice might be expected to be most frequent and severe, extra planking, of immense strength and thickness, was secured. in other respects, the vessel was fitted up much in the same manner as ordinary merchantmen. the only other peculiarity about her worthy of notice was the crow's-nest, a sort of barrel-shaped structure fastened to the fore-mast-head, in which, when at the whaling-ground, a man is stationed to look out for whales. the chief men in the ship were captain guy, a vigorous, earnest, practical american; mr. bolton, the first mate, a stout, burly, off-hand englishman; and mr. saunders, the second mate, a sedate, broad-shouldered, raw-boned scot, whose opinion of himself was unbounded, whose power of argument was extraordinary, not to say exasperating, and who stood six feet three in his stockings. mivins, the steward, was, as we have already remarked, a tall, thin, active young man, of a brisk, lively disposition, and was somewhat of a butt among the men, but being in a position of power and trust, he was respected. the young surgeon, tom singleton, whom we have yet scarcely introduced to the reader, was a tall, slim, but firmly-knit youth, with a kind, gentle disposition. he was always open, straightforward, and polite. he never indulged in broad humour, though he enjoyed it much, seldom ventured on a witticism, was rather shy in the company of his companions, and spoke little; but for a quiet, pleasant _tête-à-tête_ there was not a man in the ship equal to tom singleton. his countenance was spanish-looking and handsome, his hair black, short, and curling, and his budding moustache was soft and dark as the eyebrow of an andalusian belle. it would be unpardonable, in this catalogue, to omit the cook, david mizzle. he was round, and fat, and oily, as one of his own "duff" puddings. to look at him you could not help suspecting that he purloined and ate at least half of the salt pork he cooked, and his sly, dimpling laugh, in which every feature participated, from the point of his broad chin to the top of his bald head, rather tended to favour this supposition. mizzle was prematurely bald--being quite a young man--and when questioned on the subject, he usually attributed it to the fact of his having been so long employed about the cooking coppers, that the excessive heat to which he was exposed had stewed all the hair off his head! the crew was made up of stout, active men in the prime of life, nearly all of whom had been more or less accustomed to the whale-fishing, and some of the harpooners were giants in muscular development and breadth of shoulder, if not in height. chief among these harpooners was amos parr, a short, thick-set, powerful man of about thirty-five, who had been at sea since he was a little boy, and had served in the fisheries of both the northern and southern seas. no one knew what country had the honour of producing him--indeed, he was ignorant of that point himself; for, although he had vivid recollections of his childhood having been spent among green hills, and trees, and streamlets, he was sent to sea with a strange captain before he was old enough to care about the name of his native land. afterwards he ran away from his ship, and so lost all chance of ever discovering who he was; but, as he sometimes remarked, he didn't much care who he was, so long as he was _himself_; so it didn't matter. from a slight peculiarity in his accent, and other qualities, it was surmised that he must be an irishman--a supposition which he rather encouraged, being partial to the sons, and particularly partial to the daughters, of the emerald isle, one of which last he had married just six months before setting out on this whaling expedition. such were the _dolphin_ and her crew, and merrily they bowled along over the broad atlantic with favouring winds, and without meeting with anything worthy of note until they neared the coast of greenland. one fine morning, just as the party in the cabin had finished breakfast, and were dallying with the last few morsels of the repast, as men who have more leisure than they desire are wont to do, there was a sudden shock felt, and a slight tremor passed through the ship as if something had struck her. "ha!" exclaimed captain guy, finishing his cup of chocolate, "there goes the first bump." "ice ahead, sir," said the first mate, looking down the skylight. "is there much?" asked the captain, rising and taking down a small telescope from the hook on which it usually hung. "not much, sir--only a stream; but there is an ice-blink right ahead all along the horizon." "how's her head, mr. bolton?" "nor'-west and by north, sir." before this brief conversation came to a close, fred ellice and tom singleton sprang up the companion ladder, and stood on the deck gazing ahead with feelings of the deepest interest. both youths were well read in the history of polar seas and regions; they were well acquainted, by name at least, with floes, and bergs, and hummocks of ice, but neither of them had seen such in reality. these objects were associated in their young minds with all that was romantic and wild, hyperborean and polar, brilliant and sparkling, and light and white--emphatically _white_. to behold ice actually floating on the salt sea was an incident of note in their existence; and certainly the impressions of their first day in the ice remained sharp, vivid, and prominent, long after scenes of a much more striking nature had faded from the tablets of their memories. at first the prospect that met their ardent gaze was not calculated to excite excessive admiration. there were only a few masses of low ice floating about in various directions. the wind was steady, but light, and seemed as if it would speedily fall altogether. gradually the _blink_ on the horizon (as the light haze always distinguishable above ice, or snow-covered land, is called) resolved itself into a long white line of ice, which seemed to grow larger as the ship neared it, and in about two hours more they were fairly in the midst of the pack, which was fortunately loose enough to admit of the vessel being navigated through the channels of open water. soon after, the sun broke out in cloudless splendour, and the wind fell entirely, leaving the ocean in a dead calm. "let's go to the fore-top, tom," said fred, seizing his friend by the arm and hastening to the shrouds. in a few seconds they were seated alone on the little platform at the top of the fore-mast, just where it is connected with the fore-top-mast, and from this elevated position they gazed in silent delight upon the fairy-like scene. those who have never stood at the mast-head of a ship at sea in a dead calm cannot comprehend the feeling of intense solitude that fills the mind in such a position. there is nothing analogous to it on land. to stand on the summit of a tower and look down on the busy multitude below is not the same, for there the sounds are quite different in _tone_, and signs of life are visible all over the distant country, while cries from afar reach the ear, as well as those from below. but from the mast-head you hear only the few subdued sounds under your feet--all beyond is silence; you behold only the small, oval-shaped platform that is your _world_--beyond lies the calm desolate ocean. on deck you cannot realize this feeling, for there sails and yards tower above you, and masts, and boats, and cordage intercept your view; but from above you _take in_ the intense minuteness of your home at a single glance--you stand aside, as it were, and in some measure comprehend the insignificance of the _thing_ to which you have committed your life. the scene witnessed by our friends at the masthead of the _dolphin_ on this occasion was surpassingly beautiful. far as the eye could stretch the sea was covered with islands and fields of ice of every conceivable shape. some rose in little peaks and pinnacles, some floated in the form of arches and domes, some were broken and rugged like the ruins of old border strongholds, while others were flat and level like fields of white marble; and so calm was it, that the ocean in which they floated seemed like a groundwork of polished steel, in which the sun shone with dazzling brilliancy. the tops of the icy islets were pure white, and the sides of the higher ones of a delicate blue colour, which gave to the scene a transparent lightness that rendered it pre-eminently fairy-like. "it far surpasses anything i ever conceived," ejaculated singleton after a long silence. "no wonder that authors speak of scenes being indescribable. does it not seem like a dream, fred?" "tom," replied fred earnestly, "i've been trying to fancy myself in another world, and i have almost succeeded. when i look long and intently at the ice, i get almost to believe that these are streets, and palaces, and cathedrals. i never felt so strong a desire to have wings that i might fly from one island to another, and go floating in and out and round about those blue caves and sparkling pinnacles." "it's a curious fancy, fred, but not unnatural." "tom," said fred after another long silence, "has not the thought occurred to you that god made it all?" "some such thought did cross my mind, fred, for a moment, but it soon passed away. is it not _very_ strange that the idea of the creator is so seldom and so slightly connected with his works in our minds?" again there was a long silence. both youths had a desire to continue the conversation, and yet each felt an unaccountable reluctance to renew it. neither of them distinctly understood that the natural heart is enmity against god, and that, until he is converted by the holy spirit, man neither loves to think of his maker nor to speak of him. while they sat thus musing, a breeze dimmed the surface of the sea, and the _dolphin_, which had hitherto lain motionless in one of the numerous canals, began slowly to advance between the islands of ice. the breeze freshened, and rendered it impossible to avoid an occasional collision with the floating masses; but the good ship was well armed for the fight, and, although she quivered under the blows, and once or twice recoiled, she pushed her way through the pack gallantly. in the course of an hour or two they were once more in comparatively clear water. suddenly there came a cry from the crow's-nest--"there she blows!" instantly every man in the ship sprang to his feet as if he had received an electric shock. "where away?" shouted the captain. "on the lee-bow, sir," replied the look-out. from a state of comparative quiet and repose the ship was now thrown into a condition of the utmost animation, and, apparently, unmeaning, confusion. the sight of a whale acted on the spirits of the men like wild-fire. "there she blows!" sang out the man at the masthead again. "are we keeping right for her?" asked the captain. "keep her away a bit; steady!" replied the lookout. "steady it is!" answered the man at the wheel. "call all hands and get the boats out, mr. bolton," said the captain. "all hands ahoy!" shouted the mate in a tempestuous voice, while the men rushed to their respective stations. "boat-steerers, get your boats ready." "ay, ay, sir." "there go flukes," cried the look-out, as the whale dived and tossed its flukes--that is, its tail--in the air, not more than a mile on the lee-bow; "she's heading right for the ship." "down with the helm!" roared the captain. "mr. bolton, brace up the mizzen-top-sail! hoist and swing the boats! lower away!" in another moment three boats struck the water, and their respective crews tumbled tumultuously into them. fred and singleton sprang into the stern-sheets of the captain's boat just as it pushed off, and, in less than five minutes, the three boats were bounding over the sea in the direction of the whale like race-horses. every man did his best, and the tough oars bent like hoops as each boat's crew strove to outstrip the others. chapter iv. _the chase and the battle--the chances and dangers of whaling war--buzzby dives for his life and saves it--so does the whale and loses it--an anxious night, which terminates happily, though with a heavy loss._ the chase was not a long one, for, while the boats were rowing swiftly towards the whale, the whale was, all unconsciously, swimming towards the boats. "give way now, lads, give way," said the captain in a suppressed voice; "bend your backs, boys, and don't let the mate beat us." the three boats flew over the sea, as the men strained their muscles to the utmost, and for some time they kept almost in line, being pretty equally matched; but gradually the captain shot ahead, and it became evident that his harpooner, amos parr, was to have the honour of harpooning the first whale. amos pulled the bow-oar, and behind him was the tub with the line coiled away, and the harpoon bent on to it. being an experienced whaleman, he evinced no sign of excitement, save in the brilliancy of his dark eye and a very slight flush on his bronzed face. they had now neared the whale and ceased rowing for a moment, lest they should miss it when down. "there she goes!" cried fred in a tone of intense excitement, as he caught sight of the whale not more than fifty yards ahead of the boat. "now, boys," cried the captain, in a hoarse whisper, "spring hard--lay back hard, i say--_stand up_!" at the last word amos-parr sprang to his feet and seized the harpoon, the boat ran right on to the whale's back, and in an instant parr sent two irons to the hitches into the fish. "stern all!" the men backed their oars with all their might, in order to avoid the flukes of the wounded monster of the deep, as it plunged down headlong into the sea, taking the line out perpendicularly like lightning. this was a moment of great danger. the friction of the line as it passed the loggerhead was so great that parr had to keep constantly pouring water on it to prevent its catching fire. a hitch in the line at that time, as it flew out of the tub, or any accidental entanglement, would have dragged the boat and crew right down: many such fatal accidents occur to whalers, and many a poor fellow has had a foot or an arm torn off, or been dragged overboard and drowned, in consequence of getting entangled. one of the men stood ready with a small hatchet to cut the line in a moment, if necessary; for whales sometimes run out all that is in a boat at the first plunge, and should none of the other boats be at hand to lend a second line to attach to the one nearly expended, there is nothing for it but to cut. on the present occasion, however, none of these accidents befell the men of the captain's boat. the line ran all clear, and long before it was exhausted the whale ceased to descend, and the _slack_ was hauled rapidly in. meanwhile the other boats pulled up to the scene of action, and prepared to strike the instant the fish should rise to the surface. it appeared, suddenly, not twenty yards from the mate's boat, where buzzby, who was harpooner, stood in the bow ready to give it the iron. "spring, lads, spring!" shouted the mate, as the whale spouted into the air a thick stream of water. the boat dashed up, and buzzby planted his harpoon vigorously. instantly the broad flukes of the tail were tossed into the air, and, for a single second, spread like a canopy over buzzby's head. there was no escape. the quick eye of the whaleman saw at a glance that the effort to back out was hopeless. he bent his head, and the next moment was deep down in the waves. just as he disappeared the flukes descended on the spot which he had left, and cut the bow of the boat completely away, sending the stern high into the air with a violence that tossed men, and oars, and shattered planks, and cordage, flying over the monster's back into the seething caldron of foam around it. it was apparently a scene of the most complete and instantaneous destruction, yet, strange to say, not a man was lost. a few seconds after, the white foam of the sea was dotted with black heads as the men rose one by one to the surface, and struck out for floating oars and pieces of the wrecked boat. "they're lost!" cried fred ellice in a voice of horror. "not a bit of it, youngster; they're safe enough, i'll warrant," replied the captain, as his own boat flew past the spot, towed by the whale.--"pay out, amos parr; give him line, or he'll tear the bows out of us." "ay, ay, sir," sang out amos, as he sat coolly pouring water on the loggerhead round which a coil of the rope was whizzing like lightning; "all right. the mate's men are all safe, sir; i counted them as we shot past, and i seed buzzby come up last of all, blowin' like a grampus; and small wonder, considerin' the dive he took." "take another turn of the coil, amos, and hold on," said the captain. the harpooner obeyed, and away they went after the whale like a rocket, with a tremendous strain on the line and a bank of white foam gurgling up to the edge of the gunwale, that every moment threatened to fill the boat and sink her. such a catastrophe is of not unfrequent occurrence, when whalemen thus towed by a whale are tempted to hold on too long; and many instances have happened of boats and their crews being in this way dragged under water and lost. fortunately the whale dashed horizontally through the water, so that the boat was able to hold on and follow, and in a short time the creature paused and rose for air. again the men bent to their oars, and the rope was hauled in until they came quite close to the fish. this time a harpoon was thrown and a deep lance-thrust given which penetrated to the vital parts of its huge carcass, as was evidenced by the blood which it spouted and the convulsive lashing of its tremendous tail. while the captain's crew were thus engaged, saunders, the second mate, observing from the ship the accident to the first mate's boat, sent off a party of men to the rescue, thus setting free the third boat, which was steered by a strapping fellow named peter grim, to follow up the chase. peter grim was the ship's carpenter, and he took after his name. he was, as the sailors expressed it, a "grim customer," being burnt by the sun to a deep rich brown colour, besides being covered nearly up to the eyes with a thick coal-black beard and moustache, which completely concealed every part of his visage except his prominent nose and dark, fiery-looking eyes. he was an immense man, the largest in the ship, probably, if we except the scotch second mate saunders, to whom he was about equal in all respects--except argument. like most big men, he was peaceable and good-humoured. "look alive now, lads," said grim, as the men pulled towards the whale; "we'll get a chance yet, we shall, if you give way like tigers. split your sides, boys--do--that's it. ah! there she goes right down. pull away now, and be ready when she rises." as he spoke the whale suddenly _sounded_--that is, went perpendicularly down, as it had done when first struck--and continued to descend until most of the line in the captain's boat was run out. "hoist an oar!" cried amos parr, as he saw the coil diminishing. grim observed the signal of distress, and encouraged his men to use their utmost exertions. "another oar!--another!" shouted parr, as the whale continued its headlong descent. "stand by to cut the line," said captain guy with compressed lips. "no! hold on, hold on!" at this moment, having drawn down more than a thousand fathoms of rope, the whale slackened its speed, and parr, taking another coil round the loggerhead, held on until the boat was almost dragged under water. then the line became loose, and the slack was hauled in rapidly. meanwhile grim's boat had reached the spot, and the men now lay on their oars at some distance ahead, ready to pull the instant the whale should show itself. up it came, not twenty yards ahead. one short, energetic pull, and the second boat sent a harpoon deep into it, while grim sprang to the bow and thrust a lance with deadly force deep into the carcass. the monster sent up a stream of mingled blood, oil, and water, and whirled its huge tail so violently that the sound could be heard a mile off. before it dived again, the captain's boat came up, and succeeded in making fast another harpoon, while several additional lance-thrusts were given with effect, and it seemed as if the battle were about to terminate, when suddenly the whale struck the sea with a clap like thunder, and darted away once more like a rocket to windward, tearing the two boats after it as if they had been egg-shells. meanwhile a change had come over the scene. the sun had set, red and lowering, behind a bank of dark clouds, and there was every appearance of stormy weather; but as yet it was nearly calm, and the ship was unable to beat up against the light breeze in the wake of the two boats, which were soon far away on the horizon. then a furious gust arose and passed away, a dark cloud covered the sky as night fell, and soon boats and whale were utterly lost to view. "wae's me!" cried the big scotch mate, as he ran up and down the quarter-deck wringing his hands, "what _is_ to be done noo?" saunders spoke a mongrel kind of language--a mixture of scotch and english--in which, although the scotch words were sparsely scattered, the scotch accent was very strong. "how's her head?" "nor'-nor'-west, sir." "keep her there, then. maybe, if the wind holds stiddy, we may overhaul them before it's quite dark." although saunders was really in a state of the utmost consternation at this unexpected termination to the whale-hunt, and expressed the agitation of his feelings pretty freely, he was too thorough a seaman to neglect anything that was necessary to be done under the circumstances. he took the exact bearings of the point at which the boats had disappeared, and during the night, which turned out gusty and threatening, kept making short tacks, while lanterns were hung at the mast-heads, and a huge torch, or rather a small bonfire, of tarred materials was slung at the end of a spar and thrust out over the stern of the ship. but for many hours there was no sign of the boats, and the crew of the _dolphin_ began to entertain the most gloomy forebodings regarding them. at length, towards morning, a small speck of light was noticed on the weather-beam. it flickered for a moment, and then disappeared. "did ye see yon?" said saunders to mivins in an agitated whisper, laying his huge hand on the shoulder of that worthy. "down your helm" (to the steersman). "ay, ay, sir!" "stiddy!" "steady it is, sir." mivins's face, which for some hours had worn an expression of deep anxiety, relaxed into a bland smile, and he smote his thigh powerfully, as he exclaimed, "that's them, sir, _and_ no mistake! what's your opinion, mr. saunders?" the second mate peered earnestly in the direction in which the light had been seen; and mivins, turning in the same direction, screwed up his visage into a knot of earnest attention so complicated and intense, that it seemed as if no human power could evermore unravel it. "there it goes again!" cried saunders, as the light flashed distinctly over the sea. "down helm; back fore-top-sails!" he shouted, springing forward; "lower away the boat there!" in a few seconds the ship was hove to, and a boat, with a lantern fixed to an oar, was plunging over the swell in the direction of the light. sooner than was expected they came up with it, and a hurrah in the distance told that all was right. "here we are, thank god," cried captain guy, "safe and sound. we don't require assistance, mr. saunders; pull for the ship." a short pull sufficed to bring the three boats alongside, and in a few seconds more the crew were congratulating their comrades with that mingled feeling of deep heartiness and a disposition to jest which is characteristic of men who are used to danger, and think lightly of it after it is over. "we've lost our fish, however," remarked captain guy, as he passed the crew on his way to the cabin; "but we must hope for better luck next time." "well, well," said one of the men, wringing the water out of his wet clothes as he walked forward, "we got a good laugh at peter grim, if we got nothin' else by our trip." "how was that, jack?" "why, ye see, jist before the whale gave in, it sent up a spout o' blood and oil as thick as the main-mast, and, as luck would have it, down it came slap on the head of grim, drenchin' him from head to foot, and makin' him as red as a lobster." "'ow did you lose the fish, sir?" inquired mivins, as our hero sprang up the side, followed by singleton. "lost him as men lose money in railway speculations now-a-days. we _sank_ him, and that was the last of it. after he had towed us i don't know how far--out of sight of the ship at any rate--he suddenly stopped, and we pulled up and gave him some tremendous digs with the lances, until he spouted jets of blood, and we made sure of him, when all at once down he went head-foremost like a cannon ball, and took all the line out of both boats, so we had to cut, and he never came up again. at least, if he did it became so dark that we never saw him. then we pulled to where we thought the ship was, and, after rowing nearly all night, caught sight of your lights; and here we are, dead tired, wet to the skin, and minus about two miles of whale-line and three harpoons." chapter v. _miscellaneous reflections--the coast of greenland--upernavik--news of the "pole star"--midnight-day--scientific facts and fairy-like scenes--tom singleton's opinion of poor old women--in danger of a squeeze--escape._ in pursuance of his original intention, captain guy now proceeded through davis' straits into baffin's bay, at the head of which he intended to search for the vessel of his friend captain ellice, and afterwards prosecute the whale-fishery. off the coast of greenland many whalers were seen actively engaged in warfare with the giants of the polar seas, and to several of these captain guy spoke, in the faint hope of gleaning some information as to the fate of the _pole star_, but without success. it was now apparent to the crew of the _dolphin_ that they were engaged as much on a searching as a whaling expedition; and the fact that the commander of the lost vessel was the father of "young mr. fred," as they styled our hero, induced them to take a deep interest in the success of their undertaking. this interest was further increased by the graphic account that honest john buzzby gave of the death of poor mrs. ellice, and the enthusiastic way in which he spoke of his old captain. fred, too, had, by his frank, affable manner and somewhat reckless disposition, rendered himself a general favourite with the men, and had particularly recommended himself to mivins the steward (who was possessed of an intensely romantic spirit), by stating once or twice very emphatically that he (fred) meant to land on the coast of baffin's bay, should the captain fail to find his father, and continue the search on foot and alone. there was no doubt whatever that poor fred was in earnest, and had made up his mind to die in the search rather than not find him. he little knew the terrible nature of the country in which for a time his lot was to be cast, and the hopelessness of such an undertaking as he meditated. with boyish inconsiderateness he thought not of how his object was to be accomplished; he cared not what impossibilities lay in the way; but, with manly determination, he made up his mind to quit the ship and search for his father through the length and breadth of the land. let not the reader smile at what he may perhaps style a childish piece of enthusiasm. many a youth at his age has dreamed of attempting as great if not greater impossibilities. all honour, we say, to the boy who _dreams_ impossibilities, and greater honour to him who, like fred, _resolves to attempt them!_ james watt stared at an iron tea-kettle till his eyes were dim, and meditated the monstrous impossibility of making that kettle work like a horse; and men might (perhaps did) smile at james watt _then_, but do men smile at james watt _now?_--now that thousands of iron kettles are dashing like dreadful comets over the length and breadth of the land, not to mention the sea, with long tails of men and women and children behind them! "that's 'ow it is, sir," mivins used to say, when spoken to by fred on the subject; "i've never bin in cold countries myself, sir, but i've bin in 'ot, and i knows that with a stout pair o' legs and a will to work, a man can work 'is way hanywhere. of course there's not much of a pop'lation in them parts, i've heerd; but there's heskimos, and where one man can live so can another, and what one man can do so can another--that's bin my hexperience, and i'm not ashamed to hown it, i'm not, though i _do_ say it as shouldn't, and i honour you, sir, for your filleral detarmination to find your father, sir, and--" "steward!" shouted the captain down the cabin skylight. "yes, sir!" "bring me the chart." "yes, sir," and mivins disappeared like a jack-in-the-box from the cabin just as tom singleton entered it. "here we are, fred," he said, seizing a telescope that hung over the cabin door, "within sight of the danish settlement of upernavik; come on deck and see it." fred needed no second bidding. it was here that the captain had hinted there would, probably, be some information obtained regarding the _pole star_, and it was with feelings of no common interest that the two friends examined the low-roofed houses of this out-of-the-way settlement. in an hour afterwards the captain and first mate with our young friends landed amid the clamorous greetings of the entire population, and proceeded to the residence of the governor, who received them with great kindness and hospitality; but the only information they could obtain was that, a year ago, captain ellice had been driven there in his brig by stress of weather, and after refitting and taking in a supply of provisions, had set sail for england. here the _dolphin_ laid in a supply of dried fish, and procured several dogs, besides an esquimau interpreter and hunter, named meetuck. leaving this little settlement, they stood out once more to sea, and threaded their way among the ice, with which they were now well acquainted in all its forms, from the mighty berg, or mountain of ice, to the wide field. they passed in succession one or two esquimau settlements, the last of which, yotlik, is the most northerly point of colonization. beyond this all was _terra incognita_. here inquiry was again made through the medium of the esquimau interpreter who had been taken on board at upernavik, and they learned that the brig in question had been last seen beset in the pack, and driving to the northward. whether or not she had ever returned they could not tell. a consultation was now held, and it was resolved to proceed north, as far as the ice would permit, towards smith's sound, and examine the coast carefully in that direction. for several weeks past there had been gradually coming over the aspect of nature a change, to which we have not yet referred, and which filled fred ellice and his friend, the young surgeon, with surprise and admiration. this was the long-continued daylight, which now lasted the whole night round, and increased in intensity every day as they advanced north. they had, indeed, often heard and read of it before, but their minds had utterly failed to form a correct conception of the exquisite calmness and beauty of the _midnight-day_ of the north. every one knows that, in consequence of the axis of the earth not being perpendicular to the plane of its orbit round the sun, the poles are alternately directed more or less _towards_ that great luminary during one part of the year, and _away_ from it during another part. so that far north the days during the one season grow longer and longer until at last there is _one long day_ of many weeks' duration, in which the sun does not set at all; and during the other season there is _one long night_, in which the sun is never seen. it was approaching the height of the summer season when the _dolphin_ entered the arctic regions, and, although the sun descended below the horizon for a short time each night, there was scarcely any diminution of the light at all, and, as far as one's sensations were concerned, there was but one long continuous day, which grew brighter and brighter at midnight as they advanced. "how thoroughly splendid this is!" remarked tom singleton to fred one night, as they sat in their favourite outlook, the main-top, gazing down on the glassy sea, which was covered with snowy icebergs and floes, and bathed in the rays of the sun; "and how wonderful to think that the sun will only set for an hour or so, and then get up as splendid as ever!" the evening was still as death. not a sound broke upon the ear save the gentle cries of a few sea-birds that dipped ever and anon into the sea, as if to kiss it gently while asleep, and then circled slowly into the bright sky again. the sails of the ship, too, flapped very gently, and a spar creaked plaintively, as the vessel rose and fell on the gentle undulations that seemed to be the breathing of the ocean. but such sounds did not disturb the universal stillness of the hour; neither did the gambols of yonder group of seals and walruses that were at play round some fantastic blocks of ice; nor did the soft murmur of the swell that broke in surf at the foot of yonder iceberg, whose blue sides were seamed with a thousand watercourses, and whose jagged pinnacles rose up like needles of steel into the clear atmosphere. there were many bergs in sight, of various shapes and sizes, at some distance from the ship, which caused much anxiety to the captain, although they were only a source of admiration to our young friends in the main-top. "tom," said fred, breaking a long silence, "it may seem a strange idea to you, but, do you know, i cannot help fancying that heaven must be something like this." "i'm not sure that that's such a strange idea, fred, for it has two of the characteristics of heaven in it--peace and rest." "true; that didn't strike me. do you know, i wish that it were always calm like this, and that we had no wind at all." tom smiled. "your voyage would be a long one if that were to happen. i daresay the esquimaux would join with you in the wish, however, for their kayaks and oomiaks are better adapted for a calm than a stormy sea." "tom," said fred, breaking another long silence, "you're very tiresome and stupid to-night, why don't you talk to me?" "because this delightful dreamy evening inclines me to think and be silent." "ah, tom! that's your chief fault. you are always inclined to think too much and to talk too little. now i, on the contrary, am always--" "inclined to talk too much and think too little--eh, fred?" "bah! don't try to be funny, man; you haven't it in you. did you ever see such a miserable set of creatures as the old esquimau women are at upernavik?" "why, what put _them_, into your head?" inquired tom laughing. "yonder iceberg! look at it! there's the nose and chin exactly of the extraordinary hag you gave your silk pocket-handkerchief to at parting. now, i never saw such a miserable old woman as that before, did you?" tom singleton's whole demeanour changed, and his dark eyes brightened as the strongly-marked brows frowned over them, while he replied, "yes, fred, i have seen old women more miserable than that. i have seen women so old that their tottering limbs could scarcely support them, going about in the bitterest november winds, with clothing too scant to cover their wrinkled bodies, and so ragged and filthy that you would have shrunk from touching it--i have seen such groping about among heaps of filth that the very dogs looked at and turned away from as if in disgust." fred was inclined to laugh at his friend's sudden change of manner; but there was something in the young surgeon's character--perhaps its deep earnestness--that rendered it impossible, at least for his friends, to be jocular when he was disposed to be serious. fred became grave as he spoke. "where have you seen such poor wretches, tom?" he asked, with a look of interest. "in the cities, the civilized cities of our own christian land. if you have ever walked about the streets of some of these cities before the rest of the world was astir, at gray dawn, you must have seen them shivering along and scratching among the refuse cast out by the tenants of the neighbouring houses. o fred, fred! in my professional career, short though it has been, i have seen much of these poor old women, and many others whom the world never sees on the streets at all, experiencing a slow, lingering death by starvation, and fatigue, and cold. it is the foulest blot on our country that there is no sufficient provision for the _aged poor_." "i have seen those old women too," replied fred, "but i never thought very seriously about them before." "that's it--that's just it; people don't _think_, otherwise this dreadful state of things would not continue. just listen _now_, for a moment, to what i have to say. but don't imagine that i'm standing up for the poor in general. i don't feel--perhaps i'm wrong," continued tom thoughtfully--"perhaps i'm wrong--i hope not--but it's a fact, i don't feel much for the young and the sturdy poor, and i make it a rule _never_ to give a farthing to _young_ beggars, not even to little children, for i know full well that they are sent out to beg by idle, good-for-nothing parents. i stand up only for the _aged_ poor, because, be they good or wicked, they _cannot_ help themselves. if a man fell down in the street, struck with some dire disease that shrunk his muscles, unstrung his nerves, made his heart tremble, and his skin shrivel up, would you look upon him and then pass him by _without thinking?_" "no," cried fred in an emphatic tone, "i would not! i would stop and help him." "then, let me ask you," resumed tom earnestly, "is there any difference between the weakness of muscle and the faintness of heart which is produced by disease, and that which is produced by old age, except that the latter is incurable? have not these women feelings like other women? think you that there are not amongst them those who have 'known better times'? they think of sons and daughters dead and gone, perhaps, just as other old women in better circumstances do. but they must not indulge such depressing thoughts; they must reserve all the energy, the stamina they have, to drag round the city--barefoot, it may be, and in the cold--to beg for food, and scratch up what they can find among the cinder heaps. they groan over past comforts and past times, perhaps, and think of the days when their limbs were strong and their cheeks were smooth; for they were not always 'hags.' and remember that _once_ they had friends who loved them and cared for them, although they are old, unknown, and desolate now." tom paused and pressed his hand upon his flushed forehead. "you may think it strange," he continued, "that i speak to you in this way about poor old women, but i _feel_ deeply for their forlorn condition. the young can help themselves, more or less, and they have strength to stand their sorrows, with _hope_, blessed hope, to keep them up; but _poor_ old men and old women cannot help themselves, and cannot stand their sorrows, and, as far as this life is concerned, they have _no hope,_ except to die soon and easy, and, if possible, in summer time, when the wind is not so very cold and bitter." "but how can this be put right, tom?" asked fred in a tone of deep commiseration. "our being sorry for it and anxious about it (and you've made me sorry, i assure you) can do very little good, you know." "i don't know, fred," replied tom, sinking into his usual quiet tone. "if every city and town in great britain would start a society, whose first resolution should be that they would not leave one poor _old_ man or woman unprovided for, _that_ would do it. or if the government would take it in hand _honestly_, that would do it." "call all hands, mr. bolton," cried the captain in a sharp voice. "get out the ice-poles, and lower away the boats." "hallo! what's wrong?" said fred, starting up. "getting too near the bergs, i suspect," remarked tom. "i say, fred, before we go on deck, will you promise to do what i ask you?" "well--yes, i will." "will you promise, then, all through your life, especially if you ever come to be rich or influential, to think _of_ and _for_ old men and women who are poor?" "i will," answered fred; "but i don't know that i'll ever be rich, or influential, or able to help them much." "of course you don't. but when a thought about them strikes you, will you always _think it out_, and, if possible, _act it out_, as god shall enable you?" "yes, tom, i promise to do that as well as i can." "that's right; thank you, my boy," said the young surgeon, as they descended the shrouds and leaped on deck. here they found the captain walking up and down rapidly, with an anxious expression of face. after taking a turn or two he stopped short, and gazed out astern. "set the stun'-sails, mr. bolton. the breeze will be up in a little, i think. let the men pull with a will." the order was given, and soon the ship was under a cloud of canvas, advancing slowly as the boats towed her between two large icebergs, which had been gradually drawing near to each other the whole afternoon. "is there any danger, buzzby?" inquired fred, as the sturdy sailor stood looking at the larger berg, with an ice-pole in his hands. "danger? ay, that there is, lad, more nor's agreeable, d'ye see. here we are without a breath o' wind to get us on, right between two bergs as could crack us like a walnut. we can't get to starboard of 'em for the current, nor to larboard of 'em for the pack, as ye see, so we must go between them, neck or nothing." the danger was indeed imminent. the two bergs were within a hundred yards of each other, and the smaller of the two, being more easily moved by the current probably, was setting down on the larger at a rate that bade fair to decide the fate of the _dolphin_ in a few minutes. the men rowed lustily, but their utmost exertions could move the ship but slowly. aid was coming, however, direct from the hand of him who is a refuge in the time of danger. a breeze was creeping over the calm sea right astern, and it was to meet this that the studding-sails had been set a-low and aloft, so that the wide-spreading canvas, projecting far to the right and left, had, to an inexperienced eye, the appearance of being out of all proportion to the little hull by which it was supported. with breathless anxiety those on board stood watching the two bergs and the approaching breeze. at last it came. a few cat's-paws ruffled the surface of the sea, distending the sails for a moment, then leaving them flat and loose as before. this, however, was sufficient; another such puff, and the ship was almost out of danger; but before it came the projecting summit of the smaller berg was overhanging the deck. at this critical moment the wind began to blow steadily, and soon the _dolphin_ was in the open water beyond. five minutes after she had passed, the moving mountains struck with a noise louder than thunder; the summits and large portions of the sides fell with a succession of crashes like the roaring of artillery, just above the spot where the ship had lain not a quarter of an hour before; and the vessel, for some time after, rocked violently to and fro in the surges that the plunge of the falling masses had raised. chapter vi. _the gale--anchored to a berg which proves to be a treacherous one--dangers of the "pack"--beset in the ice--mivins shows an inquiring mind--walruses--gale freshens--chains and cables--holding on for life--an unexpected discovery--a "nip" and its terrible consequences--yoked to an iceberg_. the narrow escape related in the last chapter was but the prelude to a night of troubles. fortunately, as we have before mentioned, _night_ did not now add darkness to their difficulties. soon after passing the bergs, a stiff breeze sprang up off shore, between which and the _dolphin_ there was a thick belt of loose ice, or sludge, while outside, the pack was in motion, and presented a terrible scene of crashing and grinding masses under the influence of the breeze, which soon freshened to a gale. "keep her away two points," said captain guy to the man at the wheel; "we'll make fast to yonder berg, mr. bolton. if this gale carries us into the pack, we shall be swept far out of our course, if, indeed, we escape being nipped and sent to the bottom." being _nipped_ is one of the numberless dangers to which arctic navigators are exposed. should a vessel get between two moving fields or floes of ice, there is a chance, especially in stormy weather, of the ice being forced together and squeezing in the sides of the ship; this is called nipping. "ah!" remarked buzzby, as he stood with folded arms by the capstan, "many and many a good ship has been sent to the bottom by that same. i've see'd a brig, with my own two eyes, squeezed together a'most flat by two big floes of ice, and after doin' it they jist separated agin and let her go plump down to the bottom. before she was nipped, the crew saved themselves by jumpin' on to the ice, and they wos picked up by our ship that wos in company." "there's no dependin' on the ice, by no means," remarked amos parr; "for i've see'd the self-same sort of thing that ye mention happen to a small steamer in davis' straits, only instead o' crushin' it flat, the ice lifted it right high and dry out o' the water, and then let it down again, without more ado, as sound as iver." "get out the warps and ice-anchors there!" cried the captain. in a moment the men were in the boats and busy heaving and planting ice-anchors, but it was not until several hours had been spent in this tedious process that they succeeded in making fast to the berg. they had barely accomplished this when the berg gave indications of breaking up, so they cast off again in great haste, and not long afterwards a mass of ice, many tons in weight, fell from the edge of the berg close to where they had been moored. the captain now beat up for the land in the hope of finding anchoring-ground. at first the ice presented an impenetrable barrier, but at length a lead of open water was found, through which they passed to within a few hundred yards of the shore, which at this spot showed a front of high precipitous cliffs. "stand by to let go the anchor!" shouted the captain. "ay, ay, sir." "down your helm! let go!" down went the anchor to the music of the rattling chain-cable--a sound which had not been heard since the good ship left the shores of old england. "if we were only a few yards farther in, sir," remarked the first-mate, "we should be better. i'm afraid of the stream of ice coming round yonder point." "so am i," replied the captain; "but we can scarcely manage it, i fear, on account of the shore ice. get out a boat, mr. saunders, and try to fix an anchor. we may warp in a few yards." the anchor was fixed, and the men strained at the capstan with a will, but, notwithstanding their utmost efforts, they could not penetrate the shore ice. meanwhile the wind increased, and snow began to fall in large flakes. the tide, too, as it receded, brought a stream of ice round the point ahead of them, which bore right down on their bows. at first the concussions were slight, and the bow of the ship turned the floes aside; but heavier masses soon came down, and at last one fixed itself on the cable, and caused the anchor to drag with a harsh, grating sound. fred ellice, who stood beside the second mate near the companion hatch, looked inquiringly at him. "ah! that's bad," said saunders, shaking his head slowly; "i dinna like that sound. if we're carried out into the pack there, dear knows where we'll turn up in the long run." "perhaps we'll turn bottom up, sir," suggested the fat cook as he passed at the moment with a tray of meat. mizzle could not resist a joke--no matter how unsuitable the time or dreadful the consequences. "hold your tongue, sir!" exclaimed saunders indignantly. "attend to your business, and speak only when you're spoken to." with some difficulty the mass of ice that had got foul of the cable was disengaged, but in a few moments another and a larger mass fixed upon it, and threatened to carry it away. in this extremity the captain ordered the anchor to be hove up; but this was not easily accomplished, and when at last it was hove up to the bow both flukes were found to have been broken off, and the shank was polished bright with rubbing on the rocks. ice now came rolling down in great quantities and with irresistible force, and at last the ship was whirled into the much-dreaded pack, where she became firmly embedded, and drifted along with it before the gale into the unknown regions of the north all that night. to add to their distress and danger a thick fog overspread the sea, so that they could not tell whither the ice was carrying them, and to warp out of it was impossible. there was nothing for it therefore but to drive before the gale, and take advantage of the first opening in the ice that should afford them a chance of escape. towards evening of the following day the gale abated, and the sun shone out bright and clear; but the pack remained close as ever, drifting steadily towards the north. "we're far beyond the most northerly sea that has ever yet been reached," remarked captain guy to fred and singleton, as he leaned on the weather bulwarks, and gazed wistfully over the fields of ice in which they were embedded. "i beg your pardon for differing, captain guy, but i think that captain parry was farther north than this when he attempted to reach the pole," remarked saunders, with the air of a man who was prepared to defend his position to the last. "very possibly, mr. saunders; but i think we are at least farther north in _this_ direction than any one has yet been; at least i make it out so by the chart." "i'm no sure o' that," rejoined the second mate positively; "charts are not always to be depended on, and i've heard that whalers have been up hereabouts before now." "perhaps you are right, mr. saunders," replied the captain, smiling; "nevertheless, i shall take observations, and name the various headlands, until i find that others have been here before me.--mivins, hand me the glass; it seems to me there's a water-sky to the northward." "what is a water-sky, captain?" inquired fred. "it is a peculiar, dark appearance of the sky on the horizon, which indicates open water; just the reverse of that bright appearance which you have often seen in the distance, and which we call the ice-blink." "we'll have open water soon," remarked the second mate authoritatively. "mr. saunders," said mivins, who, having just finished clearing away and washing up the _débris_ and dishes of one meal, was enjoying in complete idleness the ten minutes of leisure that intervened between that and preparations for the next--"mr. saunders, sir, can you _h_inform me, sir, 'ow it is that the sea don't freeze at 'ome the same as it does _h_out 'ere?" the countenance of the second mate brightened, for he prided himself not a little on his vast and varied stores of knowledge, and nothing pleased him so much as to be questioned, particularly on knotty subjects. "hem! yes, mivins, i can tell 'ee that. ye must know that before fresh water can freeze on the surface the whole volume of it must be cooled down to degrees, and _salt_ water must be cooled down to degrees. noo, frost requires to be very long continued and very sharp indeed before it can cool the deep sea from the top to the bottom, and until it is so cooled it canna freeze." "oh!" remarked mivins, who only half understood the meaning of the explanation, "'ow very _h_odd. but can you tell me, mr. saunders, 'ow it is that them 'ere _h_icebergs is made? them's wot i don't comprehend no'ow." "ay," replied saunders, "there has been many a wiser head than yours, puzzled for a long time about icebergs. but if ye'll use yer eyes you'll see how they are formed. do you see the high cliffs yonder away to the nor'-east? weel, there are great masses o' ice that have been formed against them by the melting and freezing of the snows of many years. when these become too heavy to stick to the cliffs, they tumble into the sea and float away as icebergs. but the biggest bergs come from the foot of glaciers. you know what glaciers are, mivins?" "no, sir, i don't." the second mate sighed. "they are immense accumulations of ice, mivins, that have been formed by the freezings and meltings of the snows of hundreds of years. they cover the mountains of norway and switzerland, and many other places in this world, for miles and miles in extent, and sometimes they flow down and fill up whole valleys. i once saw one in norway that filled up a valley eight miles long, two miles broad, and seven or eight' hundred feet deep; and that was only a wee bit of it, for i was told by men who had travelled over it that it covered the mountains of the interior, and made them a level field of ice, with a surface like rough, hard snow, for more than twenty miles in extent." "you don't say so, sir!" said mivins in surprise. "and don't they _never_ melt?" "no, never. what they lose in summer they more than gain in winter. moreover, they are always in motion; but they move so slow that you may look at them ever so closely and so long, you'll not be able to observe the motion--just like the hour hand of a watch--but we know it by observing the changes from year to year. there are immense glaciers here in the arctic regions, and the lumps which they are constantly shedding off into the sea are the icebergs that one sees and hears so much about." mivins seemed deeply impressed with this explanation, and would probably have continued the conversation much longer, had he not been interrupted by the voice of his mischievous satellite, davie summers, who touched his forelock and said, "please, mr. mivins, shall i lay the table-cloth? or would it be better to slump dinner with tea this afternoon?" mivins started. "ha! caught me napping! down below, you young dog!" the boy dived instantly, followed, first by a dish-clout, rolled tightly up and well aimed, and afterwards by his active-limbed superior. both reached the region of smells, cruets, and crockery at the same moment, and each set energetically to work at their never-ending duties. soon after this the ice suddenly loosened, and the crew succeeded, after a few hours' hard labour, in warping the _dolphin_ once more out of the pack; but scarcely had this been accomplished when another storm, which had been gradually gathering, burst upon them, and compelled them once more to seek the shelter of the land. numerous walruses rolled about in the bays here, and they approached much nearer to the vessel than they had yet done, affording those on board a good view of their huge, uncouth visages, as they shook their shaggy fronts and ploughed up the waves with their tusks. these enormous creatures are the elephants of the arctic ocean. their aspect is particularly grim and fierce, and being nearly equal to elephants in bulk they are not less terrible than they appear. in form they somewhat resemble seals, having barrel-shaped bodies, with round, or rather square, blunt heads and shaggy bristling moustaches, and two long ivory tusks which curve downwards instead of upwards, serving the purpose frequently of hooks, by means of which and their fore-flippers they can pull themselves up on the rocks and icebergs. indeed, they are sometimes found at a considerable height up the sides of steep cliffs, basking in the sun. fred was anxious to procure the skull of one of these monstrous animals, but the threatening appearance of the weather rendered any attempt to secure one at that time impossible. a dark sinister scowl overhung the blink under the cloud-bank to the southward, and the dovkies which had enlivened their progress hitherto forsook the channel, as if they distrusted the weather. captain guy made every possible preparation to meet the coming storm, by warping down under the shelter of a ledge of rock, to which he made fast with two good hawsers, while everything was made snug on board. "we are going to catch it, i fear," said fred, glancing at the black clouds that hurried across the sky to the northward, while he walked the deck with his friend, tom singleton. "i suspect so," replied tom, "and it does not raise my spirits to see saunders shaking his huge visage so portentously. do you know, i have a great belief in that fellow. he seems to know everything and to have gone through every sort of experience, and i notice that most of his prognostications come to pass." "so they do, tom," said fred; "but i wish he would put a better face on things till they _do_ come to pass. his looks are enough to frighten one." "i think we shall require another line out, mr. saunders," remarked the captain, as the gale freshened, and the two hawsers were drawn straight and rigid like bars of iron; "send ashore and make a whale-line fast immediately." the second mate obeyed with a grunt that seemed to insinuate that _he_ would have had one out long ago. in a few minutes it was fast; and not a moment too soon, for immediately after it blew a perfect hurricane. heavier and heavier it came, and the ice began to drift more wildly than ever. the captain had just given orders to make fast another line, when the sharp, twanging snap of a cord was heard. the six-inch hawser had parted, and they were swinging by the two others, with the gale roaring like a lion through the spars and rigging. half a minute more and "twang, twang!" came another report, and the whale-line was gone. only one rope now held them to the land, and prevented them being swept into the turmoil of ice, and wind, and water, from which the rocky ledge protected them. the hawser was a good one--a new ten-inch rope. it sang like the deep tones of an organ, loud above the rattle of the rigging and the shrouds; but that was its death-song. it gave way with the noise of a cannon, and in the smoke that followed its recoil they were dragged out by the wild ice, and driven hither and thither at its mercy. with some difficulty the ship was warped into a place of comparative security in the rushing drift, but it was soon thrown loose again, and severely squeezed by the rolling masses. then an attempt was made to set the sails and beat up for the land; but the rudder was almost unmanageable owing to the ice, and nothing could be made of it, so they were compelled to go right before the wind under close-reefed top-sails, in order to keep some command of the ship. all hands were on deck watching in silence the ice ahead of them, which presented a most formidable aspect. away to the north the strait could be seen growing narrower, with heavy ice-tables grinding up and clogging it from cliff to cliff on either side. about seven in the evening they were close upon the piling masses, to enter into which seemed certain destruction. "stand by to let go the anchor!" cried the captain, in the desperate hope of being able to wind the ship. "what's that ahead of us?" exclaimed the first mate suddenly. "ship on the starboard bow, right in-shore!" roared the look-out. the attention of the crew was for a moment called from their own critical situation towards the strange vessel which now came into view, having been previously concealed from them by a large grounded berg. "can you make her out, mr. bolton?" "yes, sir; i think she's a large brig, but she seems much chafed, and there's no name left on the stern, if ever there was one." as he spoke, the driving snow and fog cleared up partially, and the brig was seen not three hundred yards from them, drifting slowly into the loose ice. there was evidently no one on board; and although one or two of the sails were loose, they hung in shreds from the yards. scarcely had this been noted when the _dolphin_ struck against a large mass of ice, and quivered under the violence of the shock. "let go!" shouted the captain. down went the heaviest anchor they had, and for two minutes the chain flew out at the hawse-hole. "hold on!" the chain was checked, but the strain was awful. a mass of ice, hundreds of tons weight, was tearing down towards the bow. there was no hope of resisting it. time was not even afforded to attach a buoy or log to the cable, so it was let slip, and thus the _dolphin's_ best bower was lost for ever. but there was no time to think of or regret this, for the ship was now driving down with the gale, scraping against a lee of ice which was seldom less than thirty feet thick. almost at the same moment the strange vessel was whirled close to them, not more than fifty yards distant, between two driving masses of thick ice. "what if it should be my father's brig?" whispered fred ellice, as he grasped singleton's arm and turned to him a face of ashy paleness. "no fear of that, lad," said buzzby, who stood near the larboard gangway and had overheard the remark. "i'd know your father's brig among a thousand--" as he spoke, the two masses of ice closed, and the brig was nipped between them. for a few seconds she seemed to tremble like a living creature, and every timber creaked. then she was turned slowly on one side, until the crew of the _dolphin_ could see down into her hold, where the beams were giving way and cracking up as matches might be crushed in the grasp of a strong hand. then the larboard bow was observed to yield as if it were made of soft clay, the starboard bow was pressed out, and the ice was forced into the forecastle. scarcely three minutes had passed since the nip commenced; in one minute more the brig went down, and the ice was rolling wildly, as if in triumph, over the spot where she had disappeared. the fate of this vessel, which might so soon be their own, threw a momentary gloom over the crew of the _dolphin_, but their position left them no time for thought. one upturned mass rose above the gunwale, smashed in the bulwarks, and deposited half a ton of ice on deck. scarcely had this danger passed when a new enemy appeared in sight ahead. directly in their way, just beyond the line of floe-ice against which they were alternately thumping and grinding, lay a group of bergs. there was no possibility of avoiding them, and the only question was, whether they were to be dashed to pieces on their hard blue sides, or, perchance, in some providential nook to find a refuge from the storm. "there's an open lead between them and the floe-ice," exclaimed bolton in a hopeful tone of voice, seizing an ice-pole and leaping on the gunwale. "look alive, men, with your poles," cried the captain, "and shove with a will!" the "ay, ay, sir," of the men was uttered with a heartiness that showed how powerfully this gleam of hope acted on their spirits; but a new damp was cast over them when, on gaining the open passage, they discovered that the bergs were not at rest, but were bearing down on the floe-ice with slow but awful momentum, and threatening to crush the ship between the two. just then a low berg came driving up from the southward, dashing the spray over its sides, and with its forehead ploughing up the smaller ice as if in scorn. a happy thought flashed across the captain's mind. "down the quarter boat," he cried. in an instant it struck the water, and four men were on the thwarts. "cast an ice-anchor on that berg." peter grim obeyed the order, and, with a swing that hercules would have envied, planted it securely. in another moment the ship was following in the wake of this novel tug! it was a moment of great danger, for the bergs encroached on their narrow canal as they advanced, obliging them to brace the yards to clear the impending ice-walls, and they shaved the large berg so closely that the port quarter-boat would have been crushed if it had not been taken from the davits. five minutes of such travelling brought them abreast of a grounded berg, to which they resolved to make fast. the order was given to cast off the rope. away went their white tug on his race to the far north, and the ship swung round in safety under the lee of the berg, where the crew acknowledged with gratitude their merciful deliverance from imminent danger. chapter vii. _new characters introduced--an old game under novel circumstances--remarkable appearances in the sky--o'riley meets with a mishap_. dumps was a remarkably grave and sly character, and poker was a wag--an incorrigible wag--in every sense of the term. moreover, although they had an occasional fight, dumps and poker were excellent friends, and great favourites with the crew. we have not yet introduced these individuals to our reader, but as they will act a conspicuous part in the history of the _dolphin's_ adventurous career in the arctic regions, we think it right now to present them. while at upernavik, captain guy had purchased a team of six good, tough esquimau dogs, being desirous of taking them to england, and there presenting them to several of his friends who were anxious to possess specimens of those animals. two of these dogs stood out conspicuous from their fellows, not only in regard to personal appearance, but also in reference to peculiarities of character. one was pure white, with a lively expression of countenance, a large shaggy body, two erect, sharp-pointed ears, and a short projection that once had been a tail. owing to some cause unknown, however, his tail had been cut or bitten off, and nothing save the stump remained. but this stump did as much duty as if it had been fifty tails in one. it was never at rest for a moment, and its owner evidently believed that wagging it was the true and only way to touch the heart of man; therefore the dog wagged it, so to speak, doggedly. in consequence of this animal's thieving propensities, which led him to be constantly _poking_ into every hole and corner of the ship in search of something to steal, he was named _poker_. poker had three jet-black spots in his white visage--one was the point of his nose, the other two were his eyes. poker's bosom friend, dumps, was so named because he had the sulkiest expression of countenance that ever fell to the lot of a dog. hopelessly incurable melancholy seemed to have taken possession of his mind, for he never by any chance smiled--and dogs do smile, you know, just as evidently as human beings do, although not exactly with their mouths. dumps never romped either, being old, but he sat and allowed his friend poker to romp round him with a sort of sulky satisfaction, as if he experienced the greatest enjoyment his nature was capable of in witnessing the antics of his youthful companion--for poker was young. the prevailing colour of dumps's shaggy hide was a dirty brown, with black spots, two of which had fixed themselves rather awkwardly round his eyes, like a pair of spectacles. dumps, also, was a thief, and, indeed, so were all his brethren. dumps and poker were both of them larger and stronger, and in every way better, than their comrades; and they afterwards were the sturdy, steady, unflinching leaders of the team during many a toilsome journey over the frozen sea. one magnificent afternoon, a few days after the escape of the _dolphin_ just related, dumps and poker lay side by side in the lee-scuppers, calmly sleeping off the effects of a surfeit produced by the eating of a large piece of pork, for which the cook had searched in vain for three-quarters of an hour, and of which he at last found the bare bone sticking in the hole of the larboard pump. "bad luck to them dogs," exclaimed david mizzle, stroking his chin as he surveyed the bone. "if i could only find out, now, which of ye it was, i'd have ye slaughtered right off, and cooked for the mess, i would." "it was dumps as did it, i'll bet you a month's pay," said peter grim, as he sat on the end of the windlass refilling his pipe, which he had just smoked out. "not a bit of it," remarked amos parr, who was squatted on the deck busily engaged in constructing a rope mat, while several of the men sat round him engaged in mending sails, or stitching canvas slippers, etc.--"not a bit of it, grim; dumps is too honest by half to do sich a thing. 'twas poker as did it, i can see by the roll of his eye below the skin. the blackguard's only shammin' sleep." on hearing his name mentioned, poker gently opened his right eye, but did not move. dumps, on the contrary, lay as if he heard not the base aspersion on his character. "what'll ye bet it was dumps as did it?" cried davie summers, who passed at the moment with a dish of some sort of edible towards the galley or cooking-house on deck. "i'll _bet_ you over the 'ead, i will, if you don't mind your business," said mivins. "you'd _better_ not," retorted davie with a grin. "it's as much as your situation's worth to lay a finger on me." "that's it, youngster, give it 'im," cried several of the men, while the boy confronted his superior, taking good care, however, to keep the fore-mast between them. "what do you mean, you young rascal?" cried mivins with a frown. "mean!" said davie, "why, i mean that if you touch me i'll resign office; and if i do that, you'll have to go out, for every one knows you can't get on without me." "i say, mivins," cried tom green, the carpenter's mate, "if you were asked to say, '_h_old on _h_ard to this _h_andspike _h_ere, my _h_earties,' how would ye go about it?" "he'd 'it you a pretty 'ard crack _h_over the 'ead with it, 'e would," remarked one of the men, throwing a ball of yarn at davie, who stood listening to the conversation with a broad grin. in stepping back to avoid the blow, the lad trod on dumps's paw, and instantly there came from the throat of that excellent dog a roar of anguish that caused poker to leap, as the cook expressed it, nearly out of his own skin. dogs are by nature extremely sympathetic and remarkably inquisitive; and no sooner was dumps's yell heard than it was vigorously responded to by every dog in the ship, as the whole pack rushed each from his respective sleeping-place and looked round in amazement. "hallo! what's wrong there for'ard?" inquired saunders, who had been pacing the quarter-deck with slow giant strides, arguing mentally with himself in default of a better adversary. "only trod on dumps's paw, sir," said mivins, as he hurried aft; "the men are sky-larking." "sky-larking, are you?" said saunders, going forward. "weel, lads, you've had a lot o' hard work of late, ye may go' and take a run on the ice." instantly the men, like boys set free from school, sprang up, tumbled over the side, and were scampering over the ice like madmen. "pitch over the ball--the football!" they cried. in a second the ball was tossed over the ship's side, and a vigorous game was begun. for two days past the _dolphin_ had been sailing with difficulty through large fields of ice, sometimes driving against narrow necks and tongues that interrupted her passage from one lead or canal to another; at other times boring with difficulty through compact masses of sludge; or occasionally, when unable to advance farther, making fast to a large berg or a field. they were compelled to proceed north, however, in consequence of the pack having become fixed towards, the south, and thus rendering retreat impossible in that direction until the ice should be again set in motion. captain guy, however, saw, by the steady advance of the larger bergs, that the current of the ocean in that place flowed southward, and trusted that in a short time the ice which had been forced into the strait by the late gales would be released, and open up a passage. meanwhile he pushed along the coast, examining every bay and inlet in the hope of discovering some trace of the _pole star_ or her crew. on the day about which we are writing, the ship was beset by large fields, the snow-white surfaces of which extended north and south to the horizon, while on the east the cliffs rose in dark, frowning precipices from the midst of the glaciers that encumber them all the year round. it was a lovely arctic day. the sun shone with unclouded splendour, and the bright air, which trembled with that liquidity of appearance that one occasionally sees in very hot weather under peculiar circumstances, was vocal with the wild music of thousands of gulls, and auks, and other sea-birds, which clustered on the neighbouring cliffs and flew overhead in clouds. all round the pure surfaces of the ice-fields were broken by the shadows which the hummocks and bergs cast over them, and by the pools of clear water which shone like crystals in their hollows, while the beautiful beryl blue of the larger bergs gave a delicate colouring to the dazzling scene. words cannot describe the intense _glitter_ that characterized everything. every point seemed a diamond, every edge sent forth a gleam of light, and many of the masses reflected the rich prismatic colours of the rainbow. it seemed as if the sun himself had been multiplied in order to add to the excessive brilliancy, for he was surrounded by _parhelia_, or _sun-dogs,_ as the men called them. this peculiarity in the sun's appearance was very striking. the great orb of day was about ten degrees above the horizon, and a horizontal line of white passed completely through it, extending to a considerable distance on either hand, while around it were two distinct halos, or circles of light. on the inner halo were situated the mock-suns, which were four in number--one above and one below the sun, and one on each side of him. not a breath of wind stirred the little flag that drooped from the mizzen-peak, and the clamorous, ceaseless-cries of sea-birds, added to the merry shouts and laughter of the men as they followed the restless football, rendered the whole a scene of life, as it was emphatically one of beauty. "ain't it glorious?" panted davie summers vehemently as he stopped exhausted in a headlong race beside one of his comrades, while the ball was kicked hopelessly beyond his reach by a comparatively fresh member of the party. "ah! then, it bates the owld country intirely, it does," replied o'riley, wiping the perspiration from his forehead. it is needless to say that o'riley was an irishman. we have not mentioned him until now, because up to this time he had not done anything to distinguish himself beyond his messmates; but on this particular day o'riley's star was in the ascendant, and fortune seemed to have singled him out as an object of her special attention. he was a short man, and a broad man, and a particularly _rugged_ man--so to speak. he was all angles and corners. his hair stuck about his head in violently rigid and entangled tufts, rendering it a matter of wonder how anything in the shape of a hat could stick on. his brow was a countless mass of ever-varying wrinkles, which gave to his sly visage an aspect of humorous anxiety that was highly diverting--and all the more diverting when you came to know that the man had not a spark of anxiety in his composition, though he often said he had. his dress, like that of most jack tars, was naturally rugged, and he contrived to make it more so than usual. "an' it's hot, too, it is," he continued, applying his kerchief again to his pate "if it warn't for the ice we stand on, we'd be melted down, i do belave, like bits o' whale blubber." "wot a jolly game football is, ain't it?" said davie seating himself on a hummock, and still panting hard. "ay, boy, that's jist what it is. the only objiction i have agin it is, that it makes ye a'most kick the left leg clane off yer body." "why don't you kick with your right leg, then, stupid, like other people?" inquired summers. "why don't i, is it? troth, then, i don't know for sartin. me father lost his left leg at the great battle o' the nile, and i've sometimes thought that had somethin' to do wid it. but then me mother was lame o' the _right_ leg intirely, and wint about wid a crutch, so i can't make out how it was, d'ye see?" "look out, pat," exclaimed summers, starting up, "here comes the ball." as he spoke, the football came skimming over the ice towards the spot on which they stood, with about thirty of the men running at full speed and shouting like maniacs after it. "that's your sort, my hearties! another like that and it's home! pitch into it, mivins. you're the boy for me! now then, grim, trip him up! hallo! buzzby, you bluff-bowed dutchman, luff! luff! or i'll stave in your ribs! mind your eye, mizzle! there's green, he'll be into your larboard quarter in no time. hurrah! mivins, up in the air with it. kick, boy, kick like a spanker-boom in a hurricane!" such were a few of the expressions that showered like hail round the men as they rushed hither and thither after the ball. and here we may remark that the crew of the _dolphin_ played football in a somewhat different style from the way in which that noble game is played by boys in england. sides, indeed, were chosen, and boundaries were marked out, but very little, if any, attention was paid to such secondary matters! to kick the ball, and keep on kicking it in front of his companions, was the ambition of each man; and so long as he could get a kick at it that caused it to fly from the ground like a cannon-shot, little regard was had by any one to the direction in which it was propelled. but, of course, in this effort to get a kick, the men soon became scattered over the field, and ever and anon the ball would fall between two men, who rushed at it simultaneously from opposite directions. the inevitable result was a collision, by which both men were suddenly and violently arrested in their career. but generally the shock resulted in one of the men being sent staggering backwards, and the other getting the _kick_. when the two were pretty equally matched, both were usually, as they expressed it, "brought up all standing," in which case a short scuffle ensued, as each endeavoured to trip up the heels of his adversary. to prevent undue violence in such struggles, a rule was laid down that hands were not to be used on any account. they might use their feet, legs, shoulders, and elbows, but not their hands. in such rough play the men were more equally matched than might have been expected, for the want of weight among the smaller men was often more than counterbalanced by their activity, and frequently a sturdy little fellow launched himself so vigorously against a heavy tar as to send him rolling head over heels on the ice. this was not always the case, however, and few ventured to come into collision with peter grim, whose activity was on a par with his immense size. buzzby contented himself with galloping on the outskirts of the fight, and putting in a kick when fortune sent the ball in his way. in this species of warfare he was supported by the fat cook, whose oily carcass could neither stand the shocks nor keep up with the pace of his messmates. mizzle was a particularly energetic man in his way, however, and frequently kicked with such goodwill that he missed the ball altogether, and the tremendous swing of his leg lifted him from the ice and laid him sprawling on his back. "look out ahead!" shouted green, the carpenter's mate; "there's a sail bearing down on your larboard bow." mivins, who had the ball before him at the moment, saw his own satellite, davie, coming down towards him with vicious intentions. he quietly pushed the ball before him for a few yards, then kicked it far over the boy's head, and followed it up like an antelope. mivins depended for success on his almost superhuman activity. his tall, slight frame could not stand the shocks of his comrades, but no one could equal or come near to him in speed, and he was quite an adept at dodging a _charge_, and allowing his opponent to rush far past the ball by the force of his own momentum. such a charge did peter grim make at him at this moment. "starboard hard!" yelled davie summers, as he observed his master's danger. "starboard it is!" replied mivins, and leaping aside to avoid the shock, he allowed grim to pass. grim knew his man, however, and had held himself in hand, so that in a moment he pulled up and was following close on his heels. "it's an ill wind that blows no good," cried one of the crew, towards whose foot the ball rolled, as he quietly kicked it into the centre of the mass of men. grim and mivins turned back, and for a time looked on at the general _mêlée_ that ensued. it seemed as though the ball must inevitably be crushed among them as they struggled and kicked hither and thither for five minutes, in their vain efforts to get a kick; and during those few exciting moments many tremendous kicks, aimed at the ball, took effect upon shins, and many shouts of glee terminated in yells of anguish. "it can't last much longer!" screamed the cook, his face streaming with perspiration and beaming with glee, as he danced round the outside of the circle. "there it goes!" as he spoke, the ball flew out of the circle like a shell from a mortar. unfortunately it went directly over mizzle's head. before he could wink he went down before them, and the rushing mass of men passed over him like a mountain torrent over a blade of grass. meanwhile mivins ran ahead of the others, and gave the ball a kick that nearly burst it, and down it came exactly between o'riley and grim, who chanced to be far ahead of the others. grim dashed at it. "och! ye big villain," muttered the irishman to himself, as he put down his head and rushed against the carpenter like a battering-ram. big though he was, grim staggered back from the impetuous shock, and o'riley following up his advantage, kicked the ball in a side direction, away from every one except buzzby, who happened to have been steering rather wildly over the field of ice. buzzby, on being brought thus unexpectedly within reach of the ball, braced up his energies for a kick; but seeing o'riley coming down towards him like a runaway locomotive, he pulled up, saying quietly to himself, "ye may take it all yer own way, lad; i'm too old a bird to go for to make my carcass a buffer for a madcap like you to run agin." jack mivins, however, was troubled by no such qualms. he happened to be about the same distance from the ball as o'riley, and ran like a deer to reach it first. a pool of water lay in his path, however, and the necessity of going round it enabled the irishman to gain on him a little, so that it became evident that both would come up at the same moment, and a collision be inevitable. "hold yer wind, paddy," shouted the men, who paused for a moment to watch the result of the race. "mind your timbers, mivins! back your top-sails, o'riley; mind how he yaws!" then there was a momentary silence of breathless expectation. the two men seemed about to meet with a shock that would annihilate both, when mivins bounded to one side like an indiarubber ball. o'riley shot past him like a rocket, and the next instant went head foremost into the pool of water. this unexpected termination to the affair converted the intended huzzah of the men into a yell of mingled laughter and consternation as they hastened in a body to the spot; but before they reached it, o'riley's head and shoulders reappeared, and when they came up he was standing on the margin of the pool blowing like a walrus. "oh! then, but it _is_ cowld!" he exclaimed, wringing the water from his garments. "och! where's the ball? give me a kick or i'll freeze! so i will." as he spoke the drenched irishman seized the ball from mivins's hands and gave it a kick that sent it high into the air. he was too wet and heavy to follow it up, however, so he ambled off towards the ship as vigorously as his clothes would allow him, followed by the whole crew. chapter viii. _fred and the doctor go on an excursion in which, among other strange things, they meet with red snow and a white bear, and fred makes his first essay as a sportsman_. but where were fred ellice and tom singleton all this time? the reader will probably ask. long before the game at football was suggested they had obtained leave of absence from the captain, and, loaded with game-bag, a botanical box and geological hammer, and a musket, were off along the coast on a semi-scientific cruise. young singleton carried the botanical box and hammer, being an enthusiastic geologist and botanist, while fred carried the game-bag and musket. "you see, tom," he said as they stumbled along over the loose ice towards the ice-belt that lined the cliffs--"you see, i'm a great dab at ornithology, especially when i've got a gun on my shoulder. when i haven't a gun, strange to say, i don't feel half so enthusiastic about birds!" "that's a very peculiar style of regarding the science. don't you think it would be worth while communicating your views on the subject to one of the scientific bodies when we get home again. they might elect you a member, fred." "well, perhaps i shall," replied fred gravely; "but i say, to be serious, i'm really going to screw up my energies as much as possible, and make coloured drawings of all the birds i can get hold of in the arctic regions. at least, i would like to try." fred finished his remark with a sigh, for just then the object for which he had gone out to those regions occurred to him; and although the natural buoyancy and hopefulness of his feelings enabled him generally to throw off anxiety in regard to his father's fate, and join in the laugh, and jest, and game as heartily as any one on board, there were times when his heart failed him, and he almost despaired of ever seeing his father again, and these feelings of despondency had been more frequent since the day on which he witnessed the sudden and utter destruction of the strange brig. "don't let your spirits down, fred," said tom, whose hopeful and earnest disposition often reanimated his friend's drooping spirits; "it will only unfit you for doing any good service. besides, i think we have no cause yet to despair. we know that your father came up this inlet, or strait, or whatever it is, and he had a good stock of provisions with him, according to the account we got at upernavik, and it is not more than a year since he was there. many and many a whaler and discovery ship has wintered more than a year in these regions. and then, consider the immense amount of animal life all round us. they might have laid up provisions for many months long before winter set in." "i know all that," replied fred, with a shake of his head; "but think of yon brig that we saw go down in about ten minutes." "well, so i do think of it. no doubt the brig was lost very suddenly, but there was ample time, had there been any one on board, to have leaped upon the ice, and they might have got to land by jumping from one piece to another. such things have happened before frequently. to say truth, at every point of land we turn, i feel a sort of expectation amounting almost to certainty that we shall find your father and his party travelling southward on their way to the danish settlements." "perhaps you are right. god grant that it may be so!" as he spoke, they reached the fixed ice which ran along the foot of the precipices for some distance like a road of hard white marble. many large rocks lay scattered over it, some of them several tons in weight, and one or two balanced in a very remarkable way on the edge of the cliffs. "there's a curious-looking gull i should like to shoot," exclaimed fred, pointing to a bird that hovered over his head, and throwing forward the muzzle of his gun. "fire away, then," said his friend, stepping back a pace. fred, being unaccustomed to the use of fire-arms, took a wavering aim and fired. "what a bother! i've missed it!" "try again," remarked tom with a quiet smile, as the whole cliff vomited forth an innumerable host of birds, whose cries were perfectly deafening. "it's my opinion," said fred with a comical grin, "that if i shut my eyes and point upwards i can't help hitting something; but i particularly want yon fellow, because he's beautifully marked. ah! i see him sitting on a rock yonder, so here goes once more." fred now proceeded towards the coveted bird in the fashion that is known by the name of _stalking_--that is, creeping as close up to your game as possible, so as to get a good shot; and it said much for his patience and his future success the careful manner in which, on this occasion, he wound himself in and out among the rocks and blocks of ice on the shore in the hope of obtaining that sea-gull. at last he succeeded in getting to within about fifteen yards of it, and then, resting his musket on a lump of ice, and taking an aim so long and steadily that his companion began to fancy he must have gone to sleep, he fired, and blew the gull to atoms! there was scarcely so much as a shred of it to be found. fred bore his disappointment and discomfiture manfully. he formed a resolution then and there to become a good shot, and although he did not succeed exactly in becoming so that day, he nevertheless managed to put several fine specimens of gulls and an auk into his bag. the last bird amused him much, being a creature with a dumpy little body and a beak of preposterously large size and comical aspect. there were also a great number of eider-ducks flying about, but they failed to procure a specimen. singleton was equally successful in his scientific researches. he found several beautifully green mosses, one species of which was studded with pale yellow flowers, and in one place, where a stream trickled down the steep sides of the cliffs, he discovered a flower-growth which was rich in variety of colouring. amid several kinds of tufted grasses were seen growing a small purple flower and the white star of the chickweed; the sight of all this richness of vegetation growing in a little spot close beside the snow, and amid such cold arctic scenery, would have delighted a much less enthusiastic spirit than that of our young surgeon. he went quite into raptures with it, and stuffed his botanical box with mosses and rocks until it could hold no more, and became a burden that cost him a few sighs before he got back to the ship. the rocks were found to consist chiefly of red sandstone. there was also a good deal of green-stone and gneiss, and some of the spires of these that shot up to a considerable height were particularly striking and picturesque objects. but the great sight of the day's excursion was that which unexpectedly greeted their eyes on rounding a cape towards which they had been walking for several hours. on passing this point they stopped with an exclamation of amazement. before them lay a scene such as the arctic regions alone can produce. in front lay a vast reach of the strait, which at this place opened up abruptly and stretched away northward, laden with floes, and fields, and hummocks, and bergs of every shade and size, to the horizon, where the appearance of the sky indicated open water. ponds of various sizes and sheets of water whose dimensions entitled them to be styled lakes spangled the white surface of the floes; and around these were sporting innumerable flocks of wild-fowl, many of which, being pure white, glanced like snow-flakes in the sunshine. far off to the west the ice came down with heavy uniformity to the water's edge. on the right there was an array of cliffs whose frowning grandeur filled them with awe. they varied from twelve to fifteen hundred feet in height, and some of the precipices descended sheer down seven or eight hundred feet into the sea, over which they cast a dark shadow. just at the feet of our young discoverers--for such we may truly call them--a deep bay or valley trended away to the right, a large portion of which was filled with the spur of a glacier, whose surface was covered with _pink snow_! one can imagine with what feelings the two youths gazed on this beautiful sight. it seemed as if that valley, instead of forming a portion of the sterile region beyond the arctic circle, were one of the sunniest regions of the south, for a warm glow rested on the bosom of the snow, as if the sun were shedding upon it his rosiest hues. a little farther to the north the red snow ceased, or only occurred here and there in patches; and beyond it there appeared another gorge in the cliffs, within which rose a tall column of rock, so straight and cylindrical that it seemed to be a production of art. the whole of the back country was one great rolling distance of glacier, and, wherever a crevice or gorge in the riven cliffs afforded an opportunity, this ocean of land-ice sent down spurs into the sea, the extremities of which were constantly shedding off huge bergs into the water. "what a scene!" exclaimed tom singleton, when he found words to express his admiration. "i did not think that our world contained so grand a sight. it surpasses my wildest dreams of fairy-land." "fairy-land!" ejaculated fred, with a slight look of contempt; "do you know since i came to this part of the world, i've come to the conclusion that fairy tales are all stuff, and very inferior stuff too! why, this reality is a thousand million times grander than anything that was ever invented. but what surprises me most is the red snow. what can be the cause of it?" "i don't know," replied singleton, "it has long been a matter of dispute among learned men. but we must examine it for ourselves, so come along." the remarkable colour of the snow referred to, although a matter of dispute at the period of the _dolphin's_ visit to the arctic seas, is generally admitted now to be the result of a curious and extremely minute vegetable growth, which spreads not only over its surface, but penetrates into it sometimes to a depth of several feet. the earlier navigators who discovered it, and first told the astonished world that the substance which they had been accustomed to associate with the idea of the purest and most radiant whiteness had been seen by them lying _red_ upon the ground, attributed the phenomenon to innumerable multitudes of minute creatures belonging to the order _radiata_; but the discovery of red snow among the central alps of europe, and in the pyrenees, and on the mountains of norway, where _marine_ animalcula could not exist, effectually overturned this idea. the colouring matter has now been ascertained to result from plants belonging to the order called _algae_, which have a remarkable degree of vitality, and possess the power, to an amazing extent, of growing and spreading with rapidity even over such an ungenial soil as the arctic snow. while singleton was examining the red snow, and vainly endeavouring to ascertain the nature of the minute specks of matter by which it was coloured, fred continued to gaze with a look of increasing earnestness towards the tall column, around which a bank of fog was spreading, and partially concealing it from view. at length he attracted the attention of his companion towards it. "i say, i'm half inclined to believe that yon is no work of nature, but a monument set up to attract the attention of ships. don't you think so?" singleton regarded the object in question for some time. "i don't think so, fred; it is larger than you suppose, for the fog-bank deceives us. but let us go and see; it cannot be far off." as they drew near to the tall rock, fred's hopes began to fade, and soon were utterly quenched by the fog clearing away, and showing that the column was indeed of nature's own constructing. it was a single, solitary shaft of green limestone, which stood on the brink of a deep ravine, and was marked by the slaty limestone that once encased it. the length of the column was apparently about five hundred feet, and the pedestal of sandstone on which it stood was itself upwards of two hundred feet high. this magnificent column seemed the flag-staff of a gigantic crystal fortress, which was suddenly revealed by the clearing away of the fog-bank to the north. it was the face of the great glacier of the interior, which here presented an unbroken perpendicular front--a sweep of solid glassy wall, which rose three hundred feet above the water-level, with an unknown depth below it. the sun glittered on the crags and peaks and battlements of this ice fortress, as if the mysterious inhabitants of the far north had lit up their fires and planted their artillery to resist further invasion. the effect upon the minds of the two youths, who were probably the first to gaze upon those wondrous visions of the icy regions, was tremendous. for a long time neither of them could utter a word, and it would be idle to attempt to transcribe the language in which, at length, their excited feelings sought to escape. it was not until their backs had been for some time turned on the scene, and the cape near the valley of red snow had completely shut it out from view, that they could condescend to converse again in their ordinary tones on ordinary subjects. as they hastened back over the ice-belt at the foot of the cliffs, a loud boom rang out in the distance and rolled in solemn echoes along the shore. "there goes a gun," exclaimed tom singleton, hastily pulling out his watch. "hallo! do you know what time it is?" "pretty late, i suppose. it was afternoon, i know, when we started, and we must have been out a good while now. what time is it?" "just two o'clock in the morning!" "what! do you mean to say it was _yesterday_ when we started, and that we've been walking all night, and got into _to-morrow morning_ without knowing it?" "even so, fred. we have overshot our time, and the captain is signalling us to make haste. he said that he would not fire unless there seemed some prospect of the ice moving, so we had better run, unless we wish to be left behind; come along." they had not proceeded more than half-a-mile when a polar bear walked leisurely out from behind a lump of ice, where it had been regaling itself on a dead seal, and sauntered slowly out towards the icebergs seaward, not a hundred yards in advance of them. "hallo! look there! what a monster!" shouted fred, as he cocked his musket and sprang forward. "what'll you do, tom, you've no gun?" "never mind, i'll do what i can with the hammer. only make sure you don't miss. don't fire till you are quite close to him." they were running after the bear at top speed while they thus conversed in hasty and broken sentences, when suddenly they came to a yawning crack in the ice, about thirty feet wide, and a mile long on either hand, with the rising tide boiling at the bottom of it. bruin's pursuers came to an abrupt halt. "now, isn't that disgusting?" probably it was, and the expression of chagrin on fred's countenance as he said so evidently showed that he meant it; but there is no doubt that this interruption to their hunt was extremely fortunate, for to attack a polar bear with a musket charged only with small shot, and a geological hammer, would have been about as safe and successful an operation as trying to stop a locomotive with one's hand. neither of them had yet had experience of the enormous strength of this white monarch of the frozen regions and his tenacity of life, although both were reckless enough to rush at him with any arms they chanced to have. "give him a long shot--quick!" cried singleton. fred fired instantly; and the bear stopped, and looked round, as much as to say, "did you speak, gentlemen?" then, not receiving a reply, he walked away with dignified indifference, and disappeared among the ice-hummocks. an hour afterwards the two wanderers were seated at a comfortable breakfast in the cabin of the _dolphin_, relating their adventures to the captain and mates, and, although unwittingly, to mivins, who generally managed so to place himself, while engaged in the mysterious operations of his little pantry, that most of the cabin talk reached his ear, and travelled thence through his mouth to the forecastle. the captain was fully aware of this fact, but he winked at it, for there was nothing but friendly feeling on board the ship, and no secrets. when, however, matters of serious import had to be discussed, the cabin door was closed, and mivins turned to expend himself on davie summers, who, in the capacity of a listener, was absolutely necessary to the comfortable existence of the worthy steward. having exhausted their appetites and their information, fred and tom were told that, during their absence, a bear and two seals had been shot by meetuck, the esquimau interpreter, whom they had taken on board at upernavik; and they were further informed that the ice was in motion to the westward, and that there was every probability of their being released by the falling tide. having duly and silently weighed these facts for a few minutes, they simultaneously, and as if by a common impulse, yawned, and retired to bed. chapter ix. _the "dolphin" gets beset in the ice--preparations for wintering in the ice--captain guy's code of laws_. an accident now befell the _dolphin_ which effectually decided the fate of the ship and her crew, at least for that winter. this was her getting aground near the ravine of the giant flagstaff before mentioned, and being finally beset by ice, from which all efforts on the part of the men to extricate her proved abortive, and in which she was ultimately frozen in, hard and fast. the first sight the crew obtained of the red snow filled them with unbounded amazement, and a few of the more superstitious amongst them with awe approaching to fear. but soon their attention was attracted from this by the wonderful column. "och, then! may i niver!" exclaimed o'riley, the moment he caught sight of it, "if there ben't the north pole at long last--_sure_ enough!" the laugh that greeted this remark was almost immediately checked, partly from the feelings of solemnity inspired by the magnificent view which opened up to them, and partly from a suspicion on the part of the more ignorant among the men that there might be some truth in o'riley's statement after all. but their attention and energies were speedily called to the dangerous position of the ship, which unexpectedly took the ground in a bay where the water proved to be unusually shallow, and before they could warp her off the ice closed round her in compact, immovable masses. at first captain guy was not seriously alarmed by this untoward event, although he felt a little chagrin in consequence of the detention, for the summer was rapidly advancing, and it behoved him to return to baffin's bay and prosecute the whale-fishing as energetically as possible; but when day after day passed, and the ice round the ship still remained immovable, he became alarmed, and sought by every means in his power to extricate himself. his position was rendered all the more aggravating by the fact that, a week after he was beset, the main body of the ice in the strait opened up and drifted to the southward, leaving a comparatively clear sea through which he could have pushed his way without much difficulty in any direction; but the solid masses in which they lay embedded were fast to the ground for about fifty yards beyond the vessel, seaward, and until these should be floated away there was no chance of escape. "get up some powder and canisters, mr. bolton," he exclaimed, one morning after breakfast, "i'll try what can be done by blasting the ice. the highest spring tide will occur to-morrow, and if the ship don't move then we shall--" he did not finish the sentence, but turned on his heel and walked forward, where he found buzzby and some of the men preparing the ice-saws. "ay, ay," muttered the mate, as he went below to give the necessary directions, "you don't need to conclude your speech, captain. if we don't get out to-morrow, we're locked up for one winter, at least, if not more." "ay, and ye'll no get oot to-morrow," remarked saunders, with a shake of his head as he looked up from the log-book in which he was making an entry. "we're hard and fast, so we'll just have to make the best o't." saunders was right, as the efforts of the next day proved. the ice lay around the vessel in solid masses, as we have said, and with each of the last three tides these masses had been slightly moved. saws and ice chisels, therefore, had been in constant operation, and the men worked with the utmost energy, night and day, taking it by turns, and having double allowance of hot coffee served out to them. we may mention here that the _dolphin_ carried no spirits, except what was needed for medicinal purposes, and for fuel to several small cooking lamps that had been recently invented. it had now been proved by many voyagers of experience that in cold countries, as well as hot, men work harder, and endure the extremity of hardship better, without strong drink than with it, and the _dolphin's_ crew were engaged on the distinct understanding that coffee, and tea, and chocolate were to be substituted for rum, and that spirits were never to be given to any one on board, except in cases of extreme necessity. but, to return--although the men worked as only those can who toil for liberation from long imprisonment, no impression worth mentioning could be made on the ice. at length the attempt to rend it by means of gunpowder was made. a jar containing about thirty pounds of powder was sunk in a hole in an immense block of ice which lay close against the stern of the ship. mivins, being light of foot, was set to fire the train. he did so, and ran--ran so fast that he missed his footing in leaping over a chasm, and had well-nigh fallen into the water below. there was a whiz and a loud report, and the enormous mass of ice heaved upwards in the centre, and fell back in huge fragments. so far the result was satisfactory, and the men were immediately set to sink several charges in various directions around the vessel, to be in readiness for the highest tide, which was soon expected. warps and hawsers were also got out and fixed to the seaward masses, ready to heave on them at a moment's notice; the ship was lightened as much as possible by lifting her stores upon the ice; and the whole crew--captain, mates, and all--worked and heaved like horses, until the perspiration streamed from their faces, while mizzle kept supplying them with a constant deluge of hot coffee. fred and the young surgeon, too, worked like the rest, with their coats off, handkerchiefs bound round their heads, and shirt-sleeves tucked up to their shoulders. at last the tide rose--inch by inch, and slowly, as if it grudged to give them even a chance of escape. mivins grew impatient and unbelieving under it. "i don't think it'll rise another hinch," he remarked to o'riley, who stood near him. "niver fear, boy. the capting knows a sight better than you do, and _he_ says it'll rise a fut yit." "does he?" asked grim, who was also beginning to despond. "ov coorse he does. sure he towld me in a confidintial way, just before he wint to turn in last night--if it wasn't yisturday forenoon, for it's meself as niver knows an hour o' the day since the sun became dissipated, and tuck to sitting up all night in this fashion." "shut up yer tatie-trap and open yer weather-eye," muttered buzzby, who had charge of the gang; "there'll be time enough to speak after we're off." gradually, as the tide rose, the ice and the ship moved, and it became evident that the latter was almost afloat, though the former seemed to be only partly raised from the ground. the men were at their several posts ready for instant action, and gazing in anxious expectation at the captain, who stood, watch in hand, ready to give the word. "now, then, fire!" he said in a low voice. in a moment the ice round the ship was rent, and upheaved, as if some leviathan of the deep were rising from beneath it, and the vessel swung slowly round. a loud cheer burst from the men. "now, lads, heave with a will!" roared the captain. round went the capstan, the windlass clanked, and the ship forged slowly ahead, as the warps and hawsers became rigid. at that moment a heavy block of ice, which had been overbalanced by the motion of the vessel, fell with a crash on the rudder, splitting off a large portion of it, and drawing the iron bolts that held it completely out of the stern-post. "never mind; heave away--for your lives!" cried the captain. "jump on board, all of you!" the few men who had until now remained on the ice scrambled up the side. there was a sheet of ice right ahead which the ship could not clear, but which she was pushing out to sea in advance of her. suddenly this took the ground and remained motionless. "out there with ice-chisels! sink a hole like lightning! prepare a canister, mr. bolton--quick!" shouted the captain in desperation, as he sprang over the side and assisted to cut into the unwieldy obstruction. the charge was soon fixed and fired, but it only split the block in two and left it motionless as before. a few minutes after the ship again grounded; the ice settled round her; the spring tide was lost, and they were not delivered. those who know the bitterness of repeated disappointment and of hope deferred, may judge of the feelings with which the crew of the _dolphin_ now regarded their position. little, indeed, was said, but the grave looks of most of the men, and the absence of the usual laugh, and jest, and disposition to skylark, which, on almost all other occasions characterized them, showed too plainly how heavily the prospect of a winter in the arctic regions weighed upon their spirits. they continued their exertions to free the ship, however, for several days after the high tide, and did not finally give in until all reasonable hope of moving her was utterly annihilated. before this, however, a reaction began to take place; the prospects of the coming winter were discussed; and some of the more sanguine looked even beyond the winter, and began to consider how they would contrive to get the ship out of her position into deep water again. fred ellice, too, thought of his father, and this abrupt check to the search, and his spirits sank again as his hopes decayed. but poor fred, like the others, at last discovered that it was of no use to repine, and that it was best to face his sorrows and difficulties "like a man!" alas! poor human nature; how difficult do we find it to face sorrows and difficulties _cheerfully_, even when we do conscientiously try! well would it be for all of us could we submit to such, not only because they are inevitable, but because they are the will of god--of him who has asserted in his own word that "he afflicteth not the children of men willingly." among so many men there were all shades of character, and the fact that they were doomed to a year's imprisonment in the frozen regions was received in very different ways. some looked grave and thought of it seriously; others laughed and treated it lightly; a few grumbled and spoke profanely; but most of them became quickly reconciled, and in a week or two nearly all forgot the past and the future in the duties, and cares, and amusements of the present. captain guy and his officers, however, and a few of the more sedate men, among whom were buzzby and peter grim, looked forward with much anxiety, knowing full well the dangers and trials that lay before them. it is true the ship was provisioned for more than a year, but most of the provisions were salt, and tom singleton could have told them, had they required to be told, that without fresh provisions they stood a poor chance of escaping that dire disease scurvy, before which have fallen so many gallant tars whom nothing in the shape of dangers or difficulties could subdue. there were, indeed, myriads of wild-fowl flying about the ship, on which the men feasted and grew fat every day; and the muskets of meetuck and those who accompanied him seldom failed to supply the ship with an abundance of the flesh of seals, walruses, and polar bears, portions of all of which creatures were considered very good indeed by the men, and particularly by the dogs, which grew so fat that they began to acquire a very disreputable waddle in their gait as they walked the deck for exercise, which they seldom did, by the way, being passionately fond of sleep! but birds, and perchance beasts, might be expected to take themselves off when the winter arrived, and leave the crew without fresh food. then, although the _dolphin_ was supplied with every necessary for a whaling-expedition, and with many luxuries besides, she was ill provided with the supplies that men deem absolutely indispensable for a winter in the arctic regions, where the cold is so bitterly intense that, after a prolonged sojourn, men's minds become almost entirely engrossed by two clamant demands of nature--food and heat. they had only a small quantity of coal on board, and nothing except a few extra spars that could be used as a substitute, while the bleak shores afforded neither shrub nor tree of any kind. meanwhile, they had a sufficiency of everything they required for at least two or three months to come, and for the rest, as grim said, they had "stout hearts and strong arms." as soon as it became apparent that they were to winter in the bay, which the captain named the bay of mercy, all further attempt to extricate the ship was abandoned, and every preparation for spending the winter was begun and carried out vigorously. it was now that captain guy's qualities as a leader began to be displayed. he knew, from long experience and observation, that in order to keep up the _morale_ of any body of men it was absolutely necessary to maintain the strictest discipline. indeed, this rule is so universal in its application, that many men find it advantageous to impose strict rules on themselves in the regulation of their time and affairs, in order to keep their own spirits under command. one of the captain's first resolves therefore was, to call the men together and address them on this subject; and he seized the occasion of the first sabbath morning they spent in the bay of mercy, when the crew were assembled for prayers on the quarter-deck, to speak to them. hitherto we have not mentioned the sabbath day in this story, because, while at sea, and while struggling with the ice, there was little to mark it from other days, except the cessation of unnecessary labour, and the reading of prayers to those who chose to attend; but as necessary labour preponderated at all times, and the reading of prayers occupied scarce half-an-hour, there was little _perceptible_ difference between the sabbath and any other day. we would not be understood to speak lightly of this difference. little though it was in point of time and appearance, it was immeasurably great in _fact_, as it involved the great principle that the day of rest ought to be observed, and that the creator should be honoured in a special manner on that day. on the sabbath in question--and it was an exceedingly bright, peaceful one--captain guy, having read part of the church of england service as usual, stood up, and in an earnest, firm tone said:-- "my lads, i consider it my duty to say a few plain words to you in reference to our present situation and prospects. i feel that the responsibility of having brought you here rests very much upon myself, and i deem it my solemn duty, in more than the ordinary sense, to do all i can to get you out of the ice again. you know as well as i do that this is impossible at the present time, and that we are compelled to spend a winter here. some of you know what that means, but the most of you know it only by hearsay, and that's much the same as knowing nothing about it at all. before the winter is done your energies and endurance will probably be taxed to the uttermost. i think it right to be candid with you. the life before you will not be child's play, but i assure you that it may be mingled with much that will be pleasant and hearty if you choose to set about it in the right way. well, then, to be short about it. there is no chance whatever of our getting through the winter in this ship comfortably, or even safely, unless the strictest discipline is maintained aboard. i know, for i've been in similar circumstances before, that when cold and hunger, and, it may be, sickness press upon us--should it please the almighty to send these on us in great severity--you will feel duty to be irksome, and you'll think it useless, and perhaps be tempted to mutiny. now, i ask you solemnly, while your minds are clear from all prejudices, each individually to sign a written code of laws, and a written promise that you will obey the same, and help me to enforce them even with the punishment of _death_, if need be. now, lads, will you agree to that?" "agreed! agreed!" cried the men at once, and in a tone of prompt decision that convinced their leader he had their entire confidence--a matter of the highest importance in the critical circumstances in which they were placed. "well, then, i'll read the rules. they are few, but sufficiently comprehensive:-- " st. prayers shall be read every morning before breakfast, unless circumstances render it impossible to do so." the captain laid down the paper, and looked earnestly at the men. "my lads, i have never felt so strongly as i now do the absolute need we have of the blessing and guidance of the almighty, and i am persuaded that it is our duty as well as our interest to begin, not only the sabbath, but _every_ day with prayer. " nd. the ordinary duties of the ship shall be carried on, the watches regularly set and relieved, regular hours observed, and the details of duty attended to in the usual way, as when in harbour. " rd. the officers shall take watch and watch about as heretofore, except when required to do otherwise. the log-books, and meteorological observations, etc., shall be carried on as usual. " th. the captain shall have supreme and absolute command as when at sea; but he, on his part, promises that, should any peculiar circumstance arise in which the safety of the crew or ship shall be implicated, he will, if the men are so disposed, call a council of the whole crew, in which case the decision of the majority shall become law, but the minority, in that event, shall have it in their option to separate from the majority and carry along with them their share of the general provisions. " th. disobedience to orders shall be punishable according to the decision of a council to be appointed specially for the purpose of framing a criminal code, hereafter to be submitted for the approval of the crew." the rules above laid down were signed by every man in the ship. several of them could not write, but these affixed a cross (x) at the foot of the page, against which their names were written by the captain in presence of witnesses, which answered the same purpose. and from that time, until events occurred which rendered all such rules unnecessary, the work of the ship went on pleasantly and well. chapter x. _beginning of winter--meetuck effects a remarkable change in the men's appearance--mossing, and working, and plans for a winter campaign_. in august the first frost came and formed "young ice" on the sea, but this lasted only for a brief hour or two, and was broken up by the tide and melted. by the th of september the young ice cemented the floes of last year's ice together, and soon rendered the ice round the ship immovable. hummocks clustered round several rocky islets in the neighbourhood, and the rising and falling of the tide covered the sides of the rocks with bright crystals. all the feathered tribes took their departure for less rigorous climes, with the exception of a small white bird about the size of a sparrow, called the snow-bird, which is the last to leave the icy north. then a tremendous storm arose, and the sea became choked up with icebergs and floes, which the frost soon locked together into a solid mass. towards the close of the storm snow fell in great abundance, and when the mariners ventured again to put their heads up the opened hatchways, the decks were knee-deep, the drift to windward was almost level with the bulwarks, every yard was edged with white, every rope and cord had a light side and a dark, every point and truck had a white button on it, and every hole, corner, crack, and crevice was choked up. the land and the sea were also clothed with this spotless garment, which is indeed a strikingly appropriate emblem of purity, and the only dark objects visible in the landscape were those precipices which were too steep for the snow to lie on, the towering form of the giant flagstaff, and the leaden clouds that rolled angrily across the sky. but these leaden clouds soon rolled off, leaving a blue wintry sky and a bright sun behind. the storm blew itself out early in the morning, and at breakfast-time on that day, when the sun was just struggling with the last of the clouds, captain guy remarked to his friends who were seated round the cabin table, "well, gentlemen, we must begin hard work to-day." "hard work, captain!" exclaimed fred ellice, pausing for a second or two in the hard work of chewing a piece of hard salt junk; "why, what do you call the work we've been engaged in for the last few weeks?" "play, my lad; that was only play--just to bring our hands in, before setting to work in earnest!--what do you think of the health of the men, doctor?" "never was better; but i fear the hospital will soon fill if you carry out your threat in regard to work." "no fear," remarked the second mate; "the more work the better health is my experience. busy men have no time to git seek." "no doubt of it, sir," said the first mate, bolting a large mouthful of pork. "nothing so good for 'em as work." "there are two against you, doctor," said the captain. "then it's two to two," cried fred, as he finished breakfast; "for i quite agree with tom, and with that excellent proverb which says, 'all work and no play makes jack a dull boy.'" the captain shook his head as he said, "of all the nuisances i ever met with in a ship a semi-passenger is the worst. i think, fred, i must get you bound apprentice and give you regular work to do, you good-for-nothing." we need scarcely say that the captain jested, for fred was possessed of a spirit that cannot rest, so to speak, unless at work. he was able to do almost anything _after a fashion_, and was never idle for a moment. even when his hands chanced to be unemployed, his brows were knitted, busily planning what to do next. "well now, gentlemen," resumed the captain, "let us consider the order of business. the first thing that must be done now is to unstow the hold and deposit its contents on the small island astern of us, which we shall call store island, for brevity's sake. get a tent pitched there, mr. bolton, and bank it up with snow. you can leave grim to superintend the unloading.--then, mr. saunders, do you go and set a gang of men to cut a canal through the young ice from the ship to the island. fortunately the floes there are wide enough apart to let our quarter-boats float between them. the unshipping won't take long. tell buzzby to take a dozen men with him and collect moss; we'll need a large quantity for fuel, and if another storm like this comes it'll be hard work to get down to it. send meetuck to me when you go on deck; i shall talk to him as to our prospects of finding deer hereabouts, and arrange a hunt.--doctor, you may either join the hunting-party, or post up the observations, etc., which have accumulated of late." "thank you, captain," said singleton; "i'll accept the latter duty, the more willingly that i wish to have a careful examination of my botanical specimens." "and what am i to do, captain?" inquired fred. "what you please, lad." "then i'll go and take care of meetuck; he's apt to get into mischief when left--" at this moment a tremendous shout of laughter, long continued, came from the deck, and a sound as if numbers of men dancing overhead was heard. the party in the cabin seized their caps and sprang up the companion ladder, where they beheld a scene that accounted for the laughter, and induced them to join in it. at first sight it seemed as if thirty polar bears had boarded the vessel, and were executing a dance of triumph before proceeding to make a meal of the crew; but on closer inspection it became apparent that the men had undergone a strange transformation, and were capering with delight at the ridiculous appearance they presented. they were clad from head to foot in esquimau costume, and now bore as strong a resemblance to polar bears as man could attain to. meetuck was the pattern and the chief instrument in effecting this change. at upernavik captain guy had been induced to purchase a large number of fox-skins, deer-skins, seal-skins, and other furs, as a speculation, and had them tightly packed and stowed away in the hold, little imagining the purpose they were ultimately destined to serve. meetuck had come on board in a mongrel sort of worn-out seal-skin dress; but the instant the cold weather set in he drew from a bundle which he had brought with him a dress made of the fur of the arctic fox, some of the skins being white and the others blue. it consisted of a loose coat, somewhat in the form of a shirt, with a large hood to it, and a short elongation behind like the commencement of a tail. the boots were made of white bear-skin, which, at the end of the foot, were made to terminate with the claws of the animal; and they were so long that they came up the thigh under the coat, or "jumper," as the men called it, and thus served instead of trousers. he also wore fur mittens, with a bag for the fingers, and a separate little bag for the thumb. the hair on these garments was long and soft, and worn outside, so that when a man enveloped himself in them, and put up the hood, which well-nigh concealed the face, he became very much like a bear or some such creature standing on its hind legs. meetuck was a short, fat, burly little fellow by nature; but when he put on his winter dress he became such a round, soft, squat, hairy, and comical-looking creature, that no one could look at him without laughing, and the shout with which he was received on deck the first time he made his appearance in his new costume was loud and prolonged. but meetuck was as good-humoured an esquimau as ever speared a walrus or lanced a polar bear. he joined in the laugh, and cut a caper or two to show that he entered into the spirit of the joke. when the ship was set fast, and the thermometer fell pretty low, the men found that their ordinary dreadnoughts and pea-jackets, etc., were not a sufficient protection against the cold, and it occurred to the captain that his furs might now be turned to good account. sailors are proverbially good needle-men of a rough kind. meetuck showed them how to set about their work. each man made his own garments, and in less than a week they were completed. it is true, the boots perplexed them a little, and the less ingenious among the men made very rare and curious-looking foot-gear for themselves; but they succeeded after a fashion, and at last the whole crew appeared on deck in their new habiliments, as we have already mentioned, capering among the snow like bears, to their own entire satisfaction and to the intense delight of meetuck, who now came to regard the white men as brothers--so true is it that "the tailor makes the man!" "'ow 'orribly 'eavy it is, _h_ain't it?" gasped mivins, after dancing round the main-hatch till he was nearly exhausted. "heavy!" cried buzzby, whose appearance was such that you would have hesitated to say whether his breadth or length was greater--"heavy, d'ye say? it must be your sperrits wot's heavy, then, for i feel as light as a feather myself." "o morther! then may i niver sleep on a bed made o' sich feathers!" cried o'riley, capering up to green, the carpenter's mate, and throwing a mass of snow in his face. the frost rendered it impossible to form the snow into balls, but the men made up for this by throwing it about each other's eyes and ears in handfuls. "what d'ye mean by insultin' my mate?--take that!" said peter grim, giving the irishman a twirl that tumbled him on the deck. "oh, bad manners to ye!" spluttered o'riley, as he rose and ran away; "why don't ye hit a man o' yer own size?" "'deed, then, it must be because there's not one o' my own size to hit," remarked the carpenter with a broad grin. this was true. grim's colossal proportions were increased so much by his hairy dress that he seemed to have spread out into the dimensions of two large men rolled into one. but o'riley was not to be overturned with impunity. skulking round behind the crew, who were laughing at grim's joke, he came upon the giant in the rear, and seizing the short tail of his jumper, pulled him violently down on the deck. "ah, then, give it him, boys!" cried o'riley, pushing the carpenter flat down, and obliterating his black beard and his whole visage in a mass of snow. several of the wilder spirits among the men leaped on the prostrate grim, and nearly smothered him before he could gather himself up for a struggle; then they fled in all directions while their victim regained his feet, and rushed wildly after them. at last he caught o'riley, and grasping him by the two shoulders gave him a heave that was intended and "calc'lated," as amos parr afterwards remarked, "to pitch him over the foretop-sail-yard!" but an irishman is not easily overcome. o'riley suddenly straightened himself and held his arms up over his head, and the violent heave, which, according to parr, was to have sent him to such an uncomfortable elevation, only pulled the jumper completely off his body, and left him free to laugh in the face of his big friend, and run away. at this point the captain deemed it prudent to interfere. "come, come, my lads!" he cried, "enough o' this. that's not the morning work, is it? i'm glad to find that your new dresses," he added with a significant smile, "make you fond of rough work in the snow; there's plenty of it before us.--come down below with me, meetuck; i wish to talk with you." as the captain descended to the cabin the men gave a final cheer, and in ten minutes they were working laboriously at their various duties. buzzby and his party were the first ready and off to cut moss. they drew a sledge after them towards the red-snow valley, which was not more than two miles distant from the ship. this "mossing," as it was termed, was by no means a pleasant duty. before the winter became severe, the moss could be cut out from the beds of the snow streams with comparative ease; but now the mixed turf of willows, heaths, grasses, and moss was frozen solid, and had to be quarried with crowbars and carried to the ship like so much stone. however, it was prosecuted vigorously, and a sufficient quantity was soon procured to pack on the deck of the ship, and around its sides, so as to keep out the cold. at the same time, the operation of discharging the stores was carried on briskly; and fred, in company with meetuck, o'riley, and joseph west, started with the dog-sledge on a hunting-expedition. in order to enable the reader better to understand the condition of the _dolphin_ and her crew, we will detail the several arrangements that were made at this time and during the succeeding fortnight. as a measure of precaution, the ship, by means of blasting, sawing, and warping, was with great labour got into deeper water, where one night's frost set her fast with a sheet of ice three inches thick round her. in a few weeks this ice became several feet thick; and the snow drifted up her hull so much that it seemed as if she were resting on the land, and had taken final leave of her native element. strong hawsers were then secured to store island, in order to guard against the possibility of her being carried away by any sudden disruption of the ice. the disposition of the masts, yards, and sails was next determined on. the top-gallant-masts were struck, the lower yards got down to the housings. the top-sail-yards, gaff, and jib-boom, however, were left in their places. the topsails and courses were kept bent to the yards, the sheets being unrove and the clews tucked in. the rest of the binding-sails were stowed on deck to prevent their thawing during winter; and the spare spars were lashed over the ship's sides, to leave a clear space for taking exercise in bad weather. the stores, in order to relieve the strain on the ship, were removed to store island, and snugly housed under the tent erected there, and then a thick bank of snow was heaped up round it. after this was accomplished, all the boats were hauled up beside the tent, and covered with snow, except the two quarter-boats, which were left hanging at the davits all winter. when the thermometer fell below zero, it was found that the vapours below, and the breath of the men, condensed on the beams of the lower deck and in the cabin near the hatchway. it was therefore resolved to convert some sheet-iron, which they fortunately possessed, into pipes, which, being conducted from the cooking-stove through the length of the ship, served in some degree to raise the temperature and ventilate the cabins. a regular daily allowance of coal was served out, and four steady men appointed to attend to the fire in regular watches, for the double purpose of seeing that none of the fuel should be wasted and of guarding against fire. they had likewise charge of the fire-pumps and buckets, and two tanks of water, all of which were kept in the hatchway in constant readiness in case of accidents. in addition to this, a fire-brigade was formed, with joseph west, a steady, quiet, active young seaman, as its captain, and their stations in the event of fire were fixed beforehand; also, a hole was kept constantly open in the ice alongside to insure at all times a sufficient supply of water. strict regulations as to cleanliness and the daily airing of the hammocks were laid down, and adhered to throughout the winter. a regular allowance of provisions was appointed to each man, so that they should not run the risk of starving before the return of the wild-fowl in spring. but those provisions were all salt, and the captain trusted much to their hunting-expeditions for a supply of fresh food, without which there would be little hope of their continuing in a condition of good health. coffee was served out at breakfast and cocoa at supper, besides being occasionally supplied at other times to men who had been engaged in exhausting work in extremely cold weather. afterwards, when the dark season set in, and the crew were confined by the intense cold more than formerly within the ship, various schemes were set afoot for passing the time profitably and agreeably. among others, a school was started by the captain for instructing such of the crew as chose to attend in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in this hyperborean academy fred ellice acted as the writing master, and tom singleton as the accountant. the men were much amused at first at the idea of "goin' to school," and some of them looked rather shy at it; but o'riley, after some consideration, came boldly forward and said, "well, boys, bad luck to me if i don't think i'll be a scholard afther all. my old gran'mother used to tell me, whin i refused to go to the school that was kip be an owld man as tuck his fees out in murphies and potheen,--says she, 'ah! ye spalpeen, ye'll niver be cliverer nor the pig, ye won't.' 'ah, then, i hope not,' says i, 'for sure she's far the cliverest in the house, an' ye wouldn't have me to be cliverer than me own gran'mother, would ye?' says i. so i niver wint to school, and more be token, i can't sign me name, and if it was only to larn how to do that, i'll go and jine; indeed i will." so o'riley joined, and before long every man in the ship was glad to join, in order to have something to do. the doctor also, twice a-week, gave readings from shakespeare, a copy of which he had fortunately brought with him. he also read extracts from the few other books they happened to have on board; and after a time, finding unexpectedly that he had a talent that way, he began to draw upon his memory and his imagination, and told long stories (which were facetiously called _lectures_) to the men, who listened to them with great delight. then fred started an illustrated newspaper once a-week, which was named the _arctic sun_, and which was in great favour during the whole course of its brief existence. it is true, only one copy was issued each morning of publication, because, besides supplying the greater proportion of the material himself, and executing the illustrations in a style that would have made mr. leech of the present day envious, he had to transcribe the various contributions he received from the men and others in a neat, legible hand. but this _one_ copy was perused and re-perused, as no single copy of any paper extant--not excepting _the times_ or _punch_--has ever yet been perused; and when it was returned to the editor, to be carefully placed in the archives of the _dolphin_, it was emphatically the worse for wear. besides all this, a theatre was set agoing, of which we shall have more to say hereafter. in thus minutely recounting the various expedients which these banished men fell upon to pass the long dark hours of an arctic winter, we may, perhaps, give the reader the impression that a great deal of thought and time were bestowed upon _amusement_, as if that were the chief end and object of their life in those regions. but we must remind him that though many more pages might be filled in recounting all the particulars, but a small portion of their time was, after all, taken up in this way; and it would have been well for them had they been able to find more to amuse them than they did, for the depressing influence of the long-continued darkness, and the want of a sufficiency of regular employment for so many months added to the rigorous nature of the climate in which they dwelt, well-nigh broke their spirits at last. in order to secure warmth during winter, the deck of the ship was padded with moss about a foot deep, and down below the walls were lined with the same material. the floors were carefully plastered with common paste and covered with oakum a couple of inches deep, over which a carpet of canvas was spread. every opening in the deck was fastened down and covered deeply over with moss, with the exception of one hatch, which was their only entrance, and this was kept constantly closed except when it was desirable to ventilate. curtains were hung up in front of it to prevent draughts. a canvas awning was also spread over the deck from stem to stern, so that it was confidently hoped the _dolphin_ would prove a snug tenement even in the severest cold. as has been said before, the snow-drift almost buried the hull of the ship, and as snow is a good _non-conductor_ of heat, this further helped to keep up the temperature within. a staircase of snow was built up to the bulwarks on the larboard quarter, and on the starboard side an inclined plane of snow was sloped down to the ice to facilitate the launching of the sledges when they had to be pulled on deck. such were the chief arrangements and preparations that were made by our adventurers for spending the winter; but although we have described them at this point in our story, many of them were not completed until a much later period. chapter xi. _a hunting-expedition, in the course of which the hunters meet with many interesting, dangerous, peculiar, and remarkable experiences, and make acquaintance with seals, walruses, deer, and rabbits_. we must now return to fred ellice and his companions, meetuck the esquimau, o'riley, and joseph west, whom we left while they were on the point of starting on a hunting-expedition. they took the direction of the ice-hummocks out to sea, and, seated comfortably on a large sledge, were dragged by the team of dogs over the ice at the rate of ten miles an hour. "well! did i iver expect to ride a carriage and six?" exclaimed o'riley in a state of great glee as the dogs dashed forward at full speed, while meetuck nourished his awful whip, making it crack like a pistol-shot ever and anon. the sledge on which they travelled was of the very curious and simple construction peculiar to the esquimaux, and was built by peter grim under the direction of meetuck. it consisted of two runners of about ten feet in length, six inches high, two inches broad, and three feet apart. they were made of tough hickory, slightly curved in front, and were attached to each other by cross-bars. at the stern of the vehicle there was a low back composed of two uprights and a single bar across. the whole machine was fastened together by means of tough lashings of raw seal-hide, so that, to all appearance, it was a rickety affair, ready to fall to pieces. in reality, however, it was very strong. no metal nails of any kind could have held in the keen frost--they would have snapped like glass at the first jolt--but the sealskin fastenings yielded to the rude shocks and twistings to which the sledge was subjected, and seldom gave way, or if they did, were easily and speedily renewed without the aid of any other implement than a knife. but the whip was the most remarkable part of the equipage. the handle was only sixteen inches in length, but the lash was twenty _feet_ long, made of the toughest seal-skin, and as thick as a man's wrist near the handle, whence it tapered off to a fine point. the labour of using such a formidable weapon is so great that esquimaux usually, when practicable, travel in couples, one sledge behind the other. the dogs of the last sledge follow mechanically and require no whip, and the riders change about so as to relieve each other. when travelling, the whip trails behind, and can be brought with a tremendous crack that makes the hair fly from the wretch that is struck; and esquimaux are splendid _shots_, so to speak. they can hit any part of a dog with certainty, but usually rest satisfied with simply cracking the whip--a sound that produces an answering yell of terror, whether the lash takes effect or not. our hunters were clothed in their esquimau garments, and cut the oddest imaginable figures. they had a soft, rotund, cuddled-up appearance, that was powerfully suggestive of comfort. the sledge carried one day's provisions, a couple of walrus harpoons with a sufficient quantity of rope, four muskets with the requisite ammunition, an esquimau cooking-lamp, two stout spears, two tarpaulins to spread on the snow, and four blanket sleeping-bags. these last were six feet long, and just wide enough for a man to crawl into at night, feet first. "what a jolly style of travelling, isn't it?" cried fred, as the dogs sprang wildly forward, tearing the sledge behind them, dumps and poker leading and looking as lively as crickets. "well now, isn't it true that wits jump?--that's jist what i was sayin' to meself," remarked o'riley, grinning from ear to ear as he pulled the fur-hood farther over his head, crossed his arms more firmly on his breast, and tried to double himself up as he sat there like an overgrown rat. "i wouldn't exchange it wid the lord mayor o' london and his coach an' six--so i wouldn't.--arrah! have a care, meetuck, ye baste, or ye'll have us kilt." this last exclamation was caused by the reckless driver dashing over a piece of rough ice that nearly capsized the sledge. meetuck did not answer, but he looked over his shoulder with a quiet smile on his oily countenance. "ah, then, ye may laugh," said o'riley with menacing look, "but av ye break a bone o' me body i'll--" down went the dogs into a crack in the ice as he spoke, over went the sledge and hurled them all out upon the ice. "musha! but ye've done it!" "hallo, west! are you hurt?" cried fred anxiously, as he observed the sailor fall heavily on the ice. "oh no, sir; all right, thank you," replied the man, rising alertly and limping to the sledge. "only knocked the skin off my shin, sir." west was a quiet, serious, polite man, an american by birth, who was much liked by the crew in consequence of a union of politeness and modesty with a disposition to work far beyond his strength. he was not very robust, however, and in powers of physical endurance scarcely fitted to engage in an arctic expedition. "an' don't ye think it's worth makin' inquiries about _me_?" cried o'riley, who had been tossed into a crevice in the hummock, where he lay jammed and utterly unable to move. fred and the esquimau laughed heartily while o'riley extricated himself from his awkward position. fortunately no damage was done, and in five minutes they were flying over the frozen sea as madly as ever in the direction of the point at the opposite side of red-snow valley, where a cloud of frost-smoke indicated open water. "now, look you, mr. meetuck, av ye do that again ye'll better don't, let me tell ye. sure the back o' me's brack entirely," said o'riley, as he re-arranged himself with a look of comfort that belied his words. "och, there ye go again," he cried, as the sledge suddenly fell about six inches from a higher level to a lower, where the floe had cracked, causing the teeth of the whole party to come together with a snap. "a man durs'n't spake for fear o' bitin' his tongue off." "no fee," said meetuck, looking over his shoulder with a broader smirk. "no fee, ye lump of pork! it's a double fee i'll have to pay the dacter an ye go on like that." _no fee_ was meetuck's best attempt at the words _no fear._ he had picked up a little english during his brief sojourn with the sailors, and already understood much of what was said to him; but words were as yet few, and his manner of pronouncing them peculiar. "holo! look! look!" cried the esquimau, suddenly checking the dogs and leaping off the sledge. "eh! what! where?" ejaculated fred, seizing his musket. "i think i see something, sir," said west, shading his eyes with his hand, and gazing earnestly in the direction indicated by meetuck. "so do i, be the mortial," said o'riley in a hoarse whisper. "i see the mountains and the sky, i do, as plain as the nose on me face!" "hush! stop your nonsense, man," said fred. "i see a deer, i'm certain of it." meetuck nodded violently to indicate that fred was right. "well, what's to be done? luckily we are well to leeward, and it has neither sighted nor scented us." meetuck replied by gestures and words to the effect that west and o'riley should remain with the dogs, and keep them quiet under the shelter of a hummock, while he and fred should go after the reindeer. accordingly, away they went, making a pretty long detour in order to gain the shore, and come upon it under the shelter of the grounded floes, behind which they might approach without being seen. in hurrying along the coast they observed the footprints of a musk-ox, and also of several arctic hares and foxes; which delighted them much, for hitherto they had seen none of these animals, and were beginning to be fearful lest they should not visit that part of the coast at all. of course fred knew not what sort of animals had made the tracks in question, but he was an adept at guessing, and the satisfied looks of his companion gave him reason to believe that he was correct in his surmises. in half-an-hour they came within range, and fred, after debating with himself for some time as to the propriety of taking the first shot, triumphed over himself, and stepping back a pace, motioned to the esquimau to fire. but meetuck was an innate gentleman, and modestly declined; so fred advanced, took a good aim, and fired. the deer bounded away, but stumbled as it went, showing that it was wounded. "ha! ha! meetuck," exclaimed fred, as he recharged in tremendous excitement (taking twice as long to load in consequence), "i've improved a little, you see, in my shoot--oh bother this--ramrod!--tut! tut! there, that's it." bang went meetuck's musket at that moment, and the deer tumbled over upon the snow. "well done, old fellow!" cried fred, springing forward. at the same instant a white hare darted across his path, at which he fired, without even putting the gun to his shoulder, and knocked it over, to his own intense amazement. the three shots were the signal for the men to come up with the sledge, which they did at full gallop, o'riley driving, and flourishing the long whip about in a way that soon entangled it hopelessly with the dogs' traces. "ah, then, ye've done it this time, ye have, sure enough. musha! what a purty crature it is. now, isn't it, west? stop, then, won't ye (to the restive dogs); ye've broke my heart entirely, and the whip's tied up into iver so many knots. arrah, meetuck! ye may drive yer coach yerself for me, you may; i've had more nor enough of it." in a few minutes the deer and the hare were lashed to the sledge--which the irishman asserted was a great improvement, inasmuch as the carcass of the former made an excellent seat--and they were off again at full gallop over the floes. they travelled without further interruption or mishap, until they drew near to the open water, when suddenly they came upon a deep fissure or crack in the ice about four feet wide, with water in the bottom. here they came to a dead stop. "arrah! what's to be done now?" inquired o'riley. "indeed i don't know," replied fred, looking toward meetuck for advice. "hup, cut-up ice, mush, hurroo!" said that fat individual. fortunately he followed his advice with a practical illustration of its meaning. seizing an axe, he ran to the nearest hummock, and chopping it down, rolled the heaviest pieces he could move into the chasm. the others followed his example, and in the course of an hour the place was bridged across, and the sledge passed over. but the dogs required a good deal of coaxing to get them to trust to this rude bridge, which their sagacity taught them was not to be depended on like the works of nature. a quarter of an hour's drive brought them to a place where there was another crack of little more than two feet across. meetuck stretched his neck and took a steady look at this as they approached it at full gallop. being apparently satisfied with his scrutiny, he resumed his look of self-satisfied placidity. "look out, meetuck--pull up!" cried fred in some alarm; but the esquimau paid no attention. "o morther! we're gone now for iver," exclaimed o'riley, shutting his eyes and clenching his teeth as he laid fast hold of the sides of the sledge. the feet of the dogs went faster and faster until they pattered on the hard surface of the snow like rain. round came the long whip, as o'riley said, "like the shot of a young cannon," and the next moment they were across, skimming over the ice on the other side like the wind. it happened that there had been a break in the ice at this point on the previous night, and the floes had been cemented by a sheet of ice only an inch thick. upon this, to the consternation even of meetuck himself, they now passed, and in a moment, ere they were aware, they were passing over a smooth, black surface that undulated beneath them like the waves of the sea, and crackled fearfully. there was nothing for it but to go on. a moment's halt would have allowed the sledge to break through, and leave them struggling in the water. there was no time for remark. each man held his breath. meetuck sent the heavy lash with a tremendous crack over the backs of the whole team; but just as they neared the solid floe the left runner broke through. in a moment the men flung themselves horizontally upon their breasts, and scrambled over the smooth surface until they gained the white ice, while the sledge and the dogs nearest to it were sinking. one vigorous pull, however, by dogs and men together, dragged the sledge upon the solid floe, even before the things in it had got wet. "safe!" cried fred, as he hauled on the sledge rope to drag it farther out of danger. "so we are," replied o'riley, breathing very hard; "and it's meself thought to have had a wet skin at this minute.--come, west, lind a hand to fix the dogs, will ye?" a few minutes sufficed to put all to rights and enable them to start afresh. being now in the neighbourhood of dangerous ice, they advanced with a little more caution; the possibility of seals being in the neighbourhood also rendered them more circumspect. it was well that they were on the alert, for a band of seals were soon after descried in a pool of open water not far ahead, and one of them was lying on the ice. there were no hummocks, however, in the neighbourhood to enable them to approach unseen; but the esquimau was prepared for such a contingency. he had brought a small sledge, of about two feet in length by a foot and a half in breadth, which he now unfastened from the large sledge, and proceeded quietly to arrange it, to the surprise of his companions, who had not the least idea what he was about to do, and watched his proceedings with much interest. "is it to sail on the ice ye're goin', boy?" inquired o'riley at last, when he saw meetuck fix a couple of poles, about four feet long, into a hole in the little sledge, like two masts, and upon these spread a piece of canvas upwards of a yard square, with a small hole in the centre of it. but meetuck answered not. he fastened the canvas "sail" to a cross-yard above and below. then placing a harpoon and coil of rope on the sledge, and taking up his musket, he made signs to the party to keep under the cover of a hummock, and, pushing the sledge before him, advanced towards the seals in a stooping posture, so as to be completely hid behind the bit of canvas. "o the haythen! i see it now!" exclaimed o'riley, his face puckering up with fun. "ah, but it's a cliver trick, no doubt of it." "what a capital dodge!" said fred, crouching behind the hummock, and watching the movements of the esquimau with deep interest. "west, hand me the little telescope; you'll find it in the pack." "here it is, sir," said the man, pulling out a glass of about six inches long, and handing it to fred. "how many is there, an ye plaze?" "six, i think; yes--one, two, three--i can't make them out quite, but i think there are six, besides the one on the ice. hist! there he sees him. ah, meetuck, he's too quick for you." as he spoke the seal on the ice began to show symptoms of alarm. meetuck had approached to within shot, but he did not fire; the wary esquimau had caught sight of another object which a lump of ice had hitherto concealed from view. this was no less a creature than a walrus, who chanced at that time to come up to take a gulp of fresh air and lave his shaggy front in the brine, before going down again to the depths of his ocean home. meetuck, therefore, allowed the seal to glide quietly into the sea, and advanced towards this new object of attack. at length he took a steady aim through the hole in the canvas screen, and fired. instantly the seals dived, and at the same time the water round the walrus was lashed into foam and tinged with red. it was evidently badly wounded, for had it been only slightly hurt it would probably have dived. meetuck immediately seized his harpoon, and rushed towards the struggling monster; while fred grasped a gun and o'riley a harpoon, and ran to his assistance. west remained to keep back the dogs. as meetuck gained the edge of the ice the walrus recovered partially, and tried, with savage fury, to reach his assailant, who planted the harpoon deep in its breast, and held on to the rope while the animal dived. "whereabouts is he?" cried o'riley, as he came panting to the scene of action. as he spoke the walrus ascended almost under his nose, with a loud bellow, and the irishman started back in terror, as he surveyed at close quarters, for the first time, the colossal and horrible countenance of this elephant of the northern seas. o'riley was no coward, but the suddenness of the apparition was too much for him, and we need not wonder that in his haste he darted the harpoon far over the animal's head into the sea beyond. neither need we feel surprised that when fred took aim at its forehead, the sight of its broad muzzle fringed with a bristling moustache, and defended by huge tusks, caused him to miss it altogether. but o'riley recovered, hauled his harpoon back, and succeeded in planting it deep under the creature's left flipper; and fred, reloading, lodged a ball in its head, which finished it. with great labour the four men, aided by the dogs, drew it out upon the ice. this was a great prize, for walrus-flesh is not much inferior to beef, and would be an acceptable addition of fresh meat for the use of the _dolphin's_ crew; and there was no chance of it spoiling, for the frost was now severe enough to freeze every animal solid almost immediately after it was killed. the body of this walrus was not less than eighteen feet long and eleven in circumference. it was more like an elephant in bulk and rotundity than any other creature. it partook very much of the form of a seal, having two large paw-like flippers, with which, when struggling for life, it had more than once nearly succeeded in getting upon the ice. its upper face had a square, bluff aspect, and its broad muzzle and cheeks were completely covered by a coarse, quill-like beard of bristles, which gave to it a peculiarly ferocious appearance. the notion that the walrus resembles man is very much overrated. the square, bluff shape of the head already referred to destroys the resemblance to humanity when distant, and its colossal size does the same when near. spine of the seals deserve this distinction more, their drooping shoulders and oval faces being strikingly like to those of man when at a distance. the white ivory tusks of this creature were carefully measured by fred, and found to be thirty inches long. the resemblance of the walrus to our domestic land-animals has obtained for it, among sailors, the names of the sea-horse and sea-cow; and the records of its ferocity when attacked are numerous. its hide is nearly an inch thick, and is put to many useful purposes by the esquimaux, who live to a great extent on the flesh of this creature. they cut up his hide into long lines to attach to the harpoons with which they catch himself, the said harpoons being pointed with his own tusks. this tough hide is not the only garment the walrus wears to protect him from the cold. he also wears under-flannels of thick fat and a top-coat of close hair, so that he can take a siesta on an iceberg without the least inconvenience. talking of siestas, by the way, the walrus is sometimes "caught napping." occasionally, when the weather is intensely cold, the hole through which he crawls upon the ice gets frozen over so solidly that, on waking, he finds it beyond even his enormous power to break it. in this extremity there is no alternative but to go to sleep again, and--die! which he does as comfortably as he can. the polar bears, however, are quick to smell him out, and assembling round his carcass for a feast, they dispose of him, body and bones, without ceremony. as it was impossible to drag this unwieldy animal to the ship that night, for the days had now shortened very considerably, the hunters hauled it towards the land, and having reached the secure ice, prepared to encamp for the night under the lee of a small iceberg. chapter xii. _a dangerous sleep interrupted--a night in a snow-hut, and an unpleasant visitor--snowed up_. "now, then," cried fred, as they drew up on a level portion of the ice-floe, where the snow on its surface was so hard that the runners of the sledge scarce made an impression on it, "let us to work, lads, and get the tarpaulins spread. we shall have to sleep to-night under star-spangled bed-curtains." "troth," said o'riley, gazing round towards the land, where the distant cliffs loomed black and heavy in the fading light, and out upon the floes and hummocks, where the frost-smoke from pools of open water on the horizon circled round the pinnacles of the icebergs--"troth, it's a cowld place intirely to go to wan's bed in, but that fat-faced exqueemaw seems to be settin' about it quite coolly; so here goes!" "it would be difficult to set about it otherwise than coolly with the thermometer forty-five below zero," remarked fred, beating his hands together, and stamping his feet, while the breath issued from his mouth like dense clouds of steam, and fringed the edges of his hood and the breast of his jumper with hoar-frost. "it's quite purty, it is," remarked o'riley, in reference to this wreath of hoar-frost, which covered the upper parts of each of them; "it's jist like the ermine that kings and queens wear, so i'm towld, and it's chaper a long way." "i don't know that," said joseph west. "it has cost us a rough voyage and a winter in the arctic regions, if it doesn't cost us more yet, to put that ermine fringe on our jumpers. i can make nothing of this knot; try what you can do with it, messmate, will you?" "sorra wan o' me'll try it," cried o'riley, suddenly leaping up and swinging both arms violently against his shoulders; "i've got two hands, i have, but niver a finger on them--leastwise i feel none, though it _is_ some small degrae o' comfort to see them." "my toes are much in the same condition," said west, stamping vigorously until he brought back the circulation. "dance, then, wid me," cried the irishman, suiting his action to the word. "i've a mortial fear o' bein' bit wid the frost--for it's no joke, let me tell you. didn't i see a whole ship's crew wance that wos wrecked in the gulf o' st. lawrence about the beginnin' o' winter, and before they got to a part o' the coast where there was a house belongin' to the fur-traders, ivery man-jack o' them was frost-bit more or less, they wor. wan lost a thumb, and another the jint of a finger or two, and most o' them had two or three toes off, an' there wos wan poor fellow who lost the front half o' wan fut an' the heel o' the other, an' two inches o' the bone was stickin' out. sure it's truth i'm tellin' ye, for i seed it wid me own two eyes, i did." the earnest tones in which the last words were spoken convinced his comrades that o'riley was telling the truth, so having a decided objection to be placed in similar circumstances, they danced and beat each other until they were quite in a glow. "why, what are you at there, meetuck?" exclaimed fred, pausing. "igloe make," replied the esquimau. "ig--what?" inquired o'riley. "oh, i see!" shouted fred, "he's going to make a snow-hut--igloes they call them here. capital!--i never thought of that. come along; let's help him!" meetuck was indeed about to erect one of those curious dwellings of snow in which, for the greater part of the year, his primitive countrymen dwell. he had no taste for star-spangled bed-curtains, when solid walls, whiter than the purest dimity, were to be had for nothing. his first operation in the erection of this hut was to mark out a circle of about seven feet diameter. from the inside of this circle the snow was cut by means of a long knife in the form of slabs nearly a foot thick, and from two to three feet long, having a slight convexity on the outside. these slabs were then so cut and arranged that, when they were piled upon each other round the margin of the circle, they formed a dome-shaped structure like a bee-hive, which was six feet high inside, and remarkably solid. the slabs were cemented together with loose snow, and every accidental chink or crevice filled up with the same material. the natives sometimes insert a block of clear ice in the roof for a window, but this was dispensed with on the present occasion--first, because there was no light to let in; and, secondly, because if there had been, they didn't want it. the building of the hut occupied only an hour, for the hunters were cold and hungry, and in their case the old proverb might have been paraphrased, "no _work_, no supper." a hole, just large enough to permit a man to creep through on his hands and knees, formed the door of this bee-hive. attached to this hole, and cemented to it, was a low tunnel of about four feet in length. when finished, both ends of the tunnel were closed up with slabs of hard snow, which served the purpose of double doors, and effectually kept out the cold. while this tunnel was approaching completion, fred retired to a short distance, and sat down to rest a few minutes on a block of ice. a great change had come over the scene during the time they were at work on the snow-hut. the night had settled down, and now the whole sky was lit up with the vivid and beautiful coruscations of the aurora borealis--that magnificent meteor of the north which, in some measure, makes up to the inhabitants for the absence of the sun. it spread over the whole extent of the sky in the form of an irregular arch, and was intensely brilliant. but the brilliancy varied, as the green ethereal fire waved mysteriously to and fro, or shot up long streamers toward the zenith. these streamers, or "merry dancers," as they are sometimes termed, were at times peculiarly bright. their colour was most frequently yellowish white, sometimes greenish, and once or twice of a lilac tinge. the strength of the light was something greater than that of the moon in her quarter, and the stars were dimmed when the aurora passed over them as if they had been covered with a delicate gauze veil. but that which struck our hero as being most remarkable was the magnitude and dazzling brightness of the host of stars that covered the black firmament. it seemed as if they were magnified in glory, and twinkled so much that the sky seemed, as it were, to tremble with light. a feeling of deep solemnity filled fred's heart as he gazed upwards; and as he thought upon the creator of these mysterious worlds, and remembered that he came to this little planet of ours to work out the miracle of our redemption, the words that he had often read in the bible, "lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him?" came forcibly to his remembrance, and he felt the appropriateness of that sentiment which the sweet singer of israel has expressed in the words, "praise ye him, sun and moon; praise him, all ye stars of light." there was a deep, solemn stillness all around--a stillness widely different from that peaceful composure which characterizes a calm day in an inhabited land. it was the death-like stillness of that most peculiar and dreary desolation which results from the total absence of animal existence. the silence was so oppressive that it was with a feeling of relief he listened to the low, distant voices of the men as they paused ever and anon in their busy task to note and remark on the progress of their work. in the intense cold of an arctic night the sound of voices can be heard at a much greater distance than usual, and although the men were far off, and hummocks of ice intervened between them and fred, their tones broke distinctly, though gently, on his ear. yet these sounds did not interrupt the unusual stillness. they served rather to impress him more forcibly with the vastness of that tremendous solitude in the midst of which he stood. gradually his thoughts turned homeward, and he thought of the dear ones who circled round his own fireside, and perchance talked of him--of the various companions he had left behind, and the scenes of life and beauty where he used to wander. but such memories led him irresistibly to the far north again; for in all home-scenes the figure of his father started up, and he was back again in an instant, searching toilsomely among the floes and icebergs of the polar seas. it was the invariable ending of poor fred's meditations, and, however successful he might be in entering for a time into the spirit of fun that characterized most of the doings of his shipmates, and in following the bent of his own joyous nature, in the hours of solitude and in the dark night, when no one saw him, his mind ever reverted to the one engrossing subject, like the oscillating needle to the pole. as he continued to gaze up long and earnestly into the starry sky, his thoughts began to wander over the past and the present at random, and a cold shudder warned him that it was time to return to the hut. but the wandering thoughts and fancies seemed to chain him to the spot, so that he could not tear himself away. then a dreamy feeling of rest and comfort began to steal over his senses, and he thought how pleasant it would be to lie down and slumber; but he knew that would be dangerous, so he determined not to do it. suddenly he felt himself touched, and heard a voice whispering in his ear. then it sounded loud. "hallo, sir! mr. ellice! wake up, sir! d'ye hear me?" and he felt himself shaken so violently that his teeth rattled together. opening his eyes reluctantly, he found that he was stretched at full length on the snow, and joseph west was shaking him by the shoulder as if he meant to dislocate his arm. "hallo, west! is that you? let me alone, man, i want to sleep." fred sank down again instantly: that deadly sleep produced by cold, and from which those who indulge in it never awaken, was upon him. "sleep!" cried west frantically; "you'll die, sir, if you don't rouse up.--hallo! meetuck! o'riley! help! here.' "i tell you," murmured fred faintly, "i want to sleep--only a moment or two--ah! i see; is the hut finished? well, well, go, leave me. i'll follow--in--a--" his voice died away again, just as meetuck and o'riley came running up. the instant the former saw how matters stood, he raised fred in his powerful arms, set him on his feet, and shook him with such vigour that it seemed as if every bone in his body must be forced out of joint. "what mane ye by that, ye blubber-bag?" cried the irishman wrathfully, doubling his mittened fists and advancing in a threatening manner towards the esquimau; but seeing that the savage paid not the least attention to him, and kept on shaking fred violently with a good-humoured smile on his countenance, he wisely desisted from interfering. in a few minutes fred was able to stand and look about him with a stupid expression, and immediately the esquimau dragged and pushed and shook him along towards the snow-hut, into which he was finally thrust, though with some trouble, in consequence of the lowness of the tunnel. here, by means of rubbing and chafing, with a little more buffeting, he was restored to some degree of heat, on seeing which, meetuck uttered a quiet grunt and immediately set about preparing supper. "i do believe i've been asleep," said fred, rising and stretching himself vigorously as the bright flame of a tin lamp shot forth and shed a yellow lustre on the white walls. "aslaap is it! be me conscience an' ye have jist. oh, then, may i niver indulge in the same sort o' slumber!" "why so?" asked fred in some surprise. "you fell asleep on the ice, sir," answered west, while he busied himself in spreading the tarpaulin and blanket-bags on the floor of the hut, "and you were very near frozen to death." "frozen, musha! i'm not too sure that he's melted yit!" said o'riley, taking him by the arm and looking at him dubiously. fred laughed. "oh yes; i'm melted now! but let's have supper, else i shall faint for hunger. did i sleep many hours?" "you slept only five minutes," said west, in some surprise at the question. "you were only gone about ten minutes altogether." this was indeed the case. the intense desire for sleep which is produced in arctic countries when the frost seizes hold of the frame soon confuses the faculties of those who come under its influence. as long as fred had continued to walk and work he felt quite warm; but the instant he sat down on the lump of ice to rest, the frost acted on him. being much exhausted, too, by labour and long fasting, he was more susceptible than he would otherwise have been to the influence of cold, so that it chilled him at once, and produced that deadly lethargy from which, but for the timely aid of his companions, he would never have recovered. the arrangements for supping and spending the night made rapid progress, and, under the influence of fire and animal heat--for the dogs were taken in beside them--the igloe became comfortably warm. yet the snow-walls did not melt, or become moist, the intense cold without being sufficient to counteract and protect them from the heat within. the fair roof, however, soon became very dingy, and the odour of melted fat rather powerful. but arctic travellers are proof against such trifles. the tarpaulin was spread over the floor, and a tin lamp, into which several fat portions of the walrus were put, was suspended from a stick thrust into the wall. bound this lamp the hunters circled, each seated on his blanket-bag, and each attended to the duty which devolved upon him. meetuck held a tin kettle over the flame till the snow with which it was filled melted and became cold water, and then gradually heated until it boiled; and all the while he employed himself in masticating a lump of raw walrus-flesh, much to the amusement of fred, and to the disgust, real or pretended, of o'riley. but the irishman, and fred too, and every man on board the _dolphin_, came at last to _relish_ raw meat, and to long for it! the esquimaux prefer it raw in these parts of the world (although some travellers assert that in more southern latitudes they prefer cooked meat); and with good reason, for it is much more nourishing than cooked flesh, and learned, scientific men who have wintered in the arctic regions have distinctly stated that in those cold countries they found raw meat to be better for them than cooked meat, and they assure us that they at last came to _prefer_ it! we would not have our readers to begin forthwith to dispense with the art of cookery, and cast soyer to the dogs; but we would have them henceforth refuse to accept that common opinion and vulgar error that esquimaux eat their food raw _because they are savages_. they do it because nature teaches them that, under the circumstances, it is best. the duty that devolved upon o'riley was to roast small steaks of the walrus, in which operation he was assisted by west; while fred undertook to get out the biscuit-bag and pewter plates, and to infuse the coffee when the water should boil. it was a strange feast in a strange place, but it proved to be a delightful one, for hunger requires not to be tempted, and is not fastidious. "oh, but it's good, isn't it?" remarked o'riley, smacking his lips, as he swallowed a savoury morsel of the walrus and tossed the remnant, a sinewy bit, to dumps, who sat gazing sulkily at the flame of the lamp, having gorged himself long before the bipeds began supper. "arrah! ye won't take it, won't ye?--here, poker!" poker sprang forward, wagging the stump of his tail, and turned his head to one side, as if to say, "well, what's up? any fun going?" "here, take that, old boy; dumps is sulky." poker took it at once, and a single snap caused it to vanish. he, too, had finished supper, and evidently ate the morsel to please the irishman. "hand me the coffee, meetuck," said fred.--"the biscuit lies beside you, west; don't give in so soon, man." "thank you, sir; i have about done." "meetuck, ye haythen, try a bit o' the roast; do now, av it was only to plaze me." meetuck shook his head quietly, and, cutting a _fifteenth_ lump off the mass of raw walrus that lay beside him, proceeded leisurely to devour it. "the dogs is nothin' to him," muttered o'riley. "isn't it a curious thing, now, to think that we're all _at sea_ a-eatin', and drinkin', and slaapin'--or goin' to slaap--jist as if we wor on the land, and the great ocean away down below us there, wid whales, and seals, and walruses, and mermaids, for what i know, a-swimmin' about jist under whare we sit, and maybe lookin' through the ice at us this very minute. isn't it quare?" "it is odd," said fred, laughing, "and not a very pleasant idea. however, as there is at least twelve feet of solid ice between us and the company you mention, we don't need to care much." "ov coorse not," replied o'riley, nodding his head approvingly as he lighted his pipe; "that's my mind intirely--in all cases o' danger, when ye don't need to be afeard, you needn't much care. it's a good chart to steer by, that same." this last remark seemed to afford so much food for thought to the company that nothing further was said by any one until fred rose and proposed to turn in. west had already crawled into his blanket-bag, and was stretched out like a mummy on the floor, and the sound of meetuck's jaws still continued as he winked sleepily over the walrus-meat, when a scraping was heard outside the hut. "sure, it's the foxes; i'll go and look," whispered o'riley, laying down his pipe and creeping to the mouth of the tunnel. he came back, however, faster than he went, with a look of consternation, for the first object that confronted him on looking out was the enormous head of a polar bear. to glance round for their fire-arms was the first impulse, but these had unfortunately been left on the sledge outside. what was to be done? they had nothing but their clasp-knives in the igloe. in this extremity meetuck cut a large hole in the back of the hut, intending to creep out and procure one of the muskets; but the instant the opening was made the bear's head filled it up. with a savage yell o'riley seized the lamp and dashed the flaming fat in the creature's face. it was a reckless deed, for it left them all in the dark; but the bear seemed to think himself insulted, for he instantly retreated, and when meetuck emerged and laid hold of a gun he had disappeared. they found, on issuing into the open air, that a stiff breeze was blowing, which, from the threatening appearance of the sky, promised to become a gale; but as there was no apprehension to be entertained in regard to the stability of the floe, they returned to the hut, taking care to carry in their arms along with them. having patched up the hole, closed the doors, rekindled the lamp, and crept into their respective bags, they went to sleep; for, however much they might dread the return of bruin, sleep was a necessity of nature that would not be denied. meanwhile the gale freshened into a hurricane, and was accompanied with heavy snow, and when they attempted to move next morning, they found it impossible to face it for a single moment. there was no alternative, therefore, but to await the termination of the gale, which lasted two days, and kept them close prisoners all the time. it was very wearisome, doubtless, but they had to submit, and sought to console themselves and pass the time as pleasantly as possible by sleeping, and eating, and drinking coffee. chapter xiii. _journey resumed--the hunters meet with bears and have a great fight, in which the dogs are sufferers--a bear's dinner--mode in which arctic rocks travel--the ice-belt._ on the abating of the great storm referred to in the last chapter, the hunters sought to free themselves from their snowy prison, and succeeded in burrowing, so to speak, upwards after severe labour, for the hut was buried in drift which the violence of the gale had rendered extremely compact. o'riley was the first to emerge into the upper world. having dusted the snow from his garments, and shaken himself like a newfoundland dog, he made sundry wry faces, and gazed round him with the look of a man that did not know very well what to do with himself. "it's a quare place, it is, intirely," he remarked, with a shake of the head that betokened intense sagacity, while he seated himself on a mound of snow and watched his comrades as they busied themselves in dragging their sleeping-bags and cooking utensils from the cavern they had just quitted. o'riley seemed to be in a contemplative mood, for he did not venture any further remark, although he looked unutterable things as he proceeded quietly to fill his little black pipe. "ho! o'riley, lend a hand, you lazy fellow," cried fred; "work first and play afterwards, you skulker." "sure that same is what i'm doin'," replied o'riley with a bland smile, which he eclipsed in a cloud of smoke. "haven't i bin workin' like a naagur for two hours to git out of that hole, and ain't i playin' a tune on me pipe now? but i won't be cross-grained. i'll lind ye a hand av ye behave yerself. it's a bad thing to be cross-grained," he continued, pocketing his pipe and assisting to arrange the sledge; "me owld grandmother always towld me that, and she wos wise, she wos, beyand ordn'r. more like salomon nor anything else." "she must have directed that remark specially to you, i think," said fred--"(let dumps lead, west, he's tougher than the others)--did she not, o'riley?" "be no manes. it wos to the pig she said it. most of her conversation (and she had a power of it) wos wid the pig; and many's the word o' good advice she gave it, as it sat in its usual place beside the fire fore-nint her. but it wos all thrown away, it wos, for there wosn't another pig in all the length o' ireland as had sich a will o' its own; and it had a screech, too, when it wosn't plaazed, as bate all the steam whistles in the world, it did. i've often moralated on that same, and i've noticed that, as it is wid pigs, so it is wid men and women--some of them at laste--the more advice ye give them, the less they take." "down, poker! quiet, good dog!" said west, as he endeavoured to restrain the ardour of the team, which, being fresh and full fed, could scarcely be held in by the united efforts of himself and meetuck, while their companions lashed their provisions, etc., on the sledge. "hold on, lads!" cried fred, as he fastened the last lashing. "we'll be ready in a second. now, then, jump on, two of you! catch hold of the tail-line, meetuck! all right!" "hall right!" yelled the esquimau, as he let go the dogs and sprang upon the sledge. the team struggled and strained violently for a few seconds in their efforts to overcome the _vis inertiæ_ of the sledge, and it seemed as if the traces would part; but they were made of tough walrus-hide, and held on bravely, while the heavy vehicle gradually fetched way, and at length flew over the floes at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour. travelling, however, was not now quite so agreeable as it had been when they set out from the ship; for the floes were swept bare in some places by the gale, while in other places large drifts had collected, so that the sledge was either swaying to and fro on the smooth ice, and swinging the dogs almost off their feet, or it was plunging heavily through banks of soft snow. as the wind was still blowing fresh, and would have been dead against them had they attempted to return by a direct route to the ship, they made for the shore, intending to avail themselves of the shelter afforded by the ice-belt. meanwhile the carcass of the walrus--at least as much of it as could not be packed on the sledge--was buried in the hut, and a spear planted above it to mark the spot. "ha! an' it's cowld," said o'riley, wrapping himself more closely in his fur jumper as they sped along. "i wish we wos out o' the wind, i do." "you'll have your wish soon, then," answered west, "for that row of icebergs we're coming to will shelter us nearly all the way to the land." "surely you are taking us too much off to the right, meetuck," said fred; "we are getting farther away from the ship." "no fee. de win' too 'trong. we turn hup 'long shore very quick, soon--ha!" meetuck accompanied each word with a violent nod of his head, at the same time opening and shutting his mouth and winking with both eyes, being apparently impressed with the conviction that such contortions of visage rendered his meaning more apparent. "look! look! ho! nannook, nannook!" (a bear, a bear!) whispered the esquimau with sudden animation, just as they gained the lee of the first iceberg. the words were unnecessary, however, for the whole party were looking ahead with the most intense eagerness at a bear which their sudden advent had aroused from a nap in the crevice of the iceberg. a little cub was discerned a moment after standing by her side, and gazing at the intruders with infantine astonishment. while the muskets were being loosened and drawn out, meetuck let slip all the dogs, and in a few seconds they were engaged in active warfare with the enemy. "oh! musha! dumps is gone intirely!" the quadruped referred to was tossed to a height of about thirty feet, and alighted senseless upon the ice. the bear seized him with her teeth and tossed him with an incredibly slight effort. the other dogs, nothing daunted by the fate of their comrade, attacked the couple in the rear, biting their heels, and so distracting their attention that they could not make an energetic attack in any direction. another of the dogs, however, a young one, waxing reckless, ventured too near the old bear, and was seized by the back, and hurled high into the air, through which it wriggled violently, and descended with a sounding whack upon the ice. at the same moment a volley from the hunters sent several balls into the carcass of both mother and cub; but, although badly wounded, neither of them evinced any sign of pain or exhaustion as they continued to battle with the remaining dogs. the dogs that had already fallen in the fray had not been used to bear-hunting; hence their signal defeat. but this was not the case with the others, all of which were old campaigners; and poker especially, although not old in years, was a practical fighter, having been trained not to attack but to harass. the systematic and steady way in which they advanced before the bear, and retired, right and left, leading her into a profitless pursuit, was very interesting to witness. another volley from the hunters caused them to make off more rapidly, and wounded the cub severely, so much so that in a few minutes it began to flag. seeing this, the mother placed it in front of her, and urged it forward with her snout so quickly that it was with the utmost difficulty the men could keep up with them. a well-directed shot, however, from fred ellice brought the old bear to the ground; but she rose instantly, and again advanced, pushing her cub before her, while the dogs continued to embarrass her. they now began to fear that, in spite of dogs and men, the wounded bears would escape, when an opportune crack in the ice presented itself, into which they both tumbled, followed by the yelping, and we may add limping, dogs. before they could scramble up on the other side, meetuck and fred, being light of foot, gained upon them sufficiently to make sure shots. "there they go," cried fred, as the she-bear bounced out of the crack with poker hanging to her heels. poker's audacity had at last outstripped his sagacity, and the next moment he was performing a tremendous somersault. before he reached the ice, meetuck and fred fired simultaneously, and when the smoke cleared away the old bear was stretched out in death. hitherto the cub had acted exclusively on the defensive, and intrusted itself entirely to the protection of its dam; but now it seemed to change its character entirely. it sprang upon its mother's body, and, assuming an attitude of extreme ferocity, kept the dogs at bay, snapping and snarling right and left until the hunters came up. for the first time since the chase began a feeling, of intense pity touched fred's heart, and he would have rejoiced at that moment had the mother risen up and made her escape with her cub. he steeled his heart, however, by reflecting that fresh provisions were much wanted on board the _dolphin_; still, neither he nor his shipmates could bring themselves to shoot the gallant little animal, and it is possible that they might have made up their minds to allow it to escape after all, had not meetuck quietly ended their difficulty by putting a ball through its heart. "ah! then, meetuck," said o'riley, shaking his head as they examined their prize, "ye're a hardhearted spalpeen, ye are, to kill a poor little baby like that in cowld blood. well, well, it's yer natur', an' yer trade, so i s'pose it's all right." the weight of this bear, which was not of the largest size, was afterwards found to be above five hundred pounds, and her length was eight feet nine inches. the cub weighed upwards of a hundred pounds, and was larger than a newfoundland dog. the operation of cutting out the entrails, preparatory to packing on the sledge, was now commenced by meetuck, whose practised hand applied the knife with the skill, though not with the delicacy, of a surgeon. "she has been a hungry bear, it seems," remarked fred, as he watched the progress of the work, "if we may judge from the emptiness of her stomach." "och! but she's had a choice morsel, if it was a small wan," exclaimed o'riley in surprise, as he picked up a plug of tobacco. on further examination being made, it was found that this bear had dined on raisins, tobacco, pork, and adhesive plaster! such an extraordinary mixture of articles, of course, led the party to conclude that either she had helped herself to the stores of the _dolphin_ placed on store island, or that she had fallen in with those of some other vessel. this subject afforded food for thought and conversation during the next hour or two, as they drove towards the ship along the ice-belt of the shore. the ice-belt referred to is a zone of ice which extends along the shore from the unknown regions of the north. to the south it breaks up in summer and disappears altogether, but in the latitude which our travellers had now reached, it was a permanent feature of the scenery all the year round, following the curvatures and indentations of bays and rivers, and increasing in winter or diminishing in summer, but never melting entirely away. the surface of this ice-belt was covered with immense masses of rock many tons in weight, which had fallen from the cliffs above. pointing to one of these as they drove along, west remarked to fred,-- "there is a mystery explained, sir. i have often wondered how huge, solitary stones, that no machinery of man's making could lift, have come to be placed on sandy shores where there were no other rocks of any kind within many miles of them. the ice must have done it, i see." "true, west. the ice, if it could speak, would explain many things that now seem to us mysterious; and yonder goes a big rock on a journey that may perhaps terminate at a thousand miles to the south of this." the rock referred to was a large mass that became detached from the cliffs and fell, as he spoke, with a tremendous crash upon the ice-belt, along which it rolled for fifty yards. there it would lie all winter, and in spring the mass of ice to which it was attached would probably break off and float away with it to the south, gradually melting until it allowed the rock to sink to the bottom of the sea, or depositing it, perchance, on some distant shore, where such rocks are not wont to lie--there to remain an object of speculation and wonderment to the unlearned of all future ages. some of the bergs close to which they passed on the journey were very fantastically formed, and many of them were more than a mile long, with clear, blue, glassy surfaces, indicating that they had been but recently thrown off from the great glacier of the north. between two of these they drove for some time, before they found that they were going into a sort of blind alley. "sure the road's gittin' narrower," observed o'riley, as he glanced up at the blue walls, which rose perpendicularly to a height of sixty feet on either hand. "have a care, meetuck, or ye'll jam us up, ye will." "'tis a pity we left the ice-belt," remarked fred, "for this rough work among the bergs is bad for man and dog. how say you, meetuck--shall we take to it again when we get through this place?" "faix, then, we'll nive'r git through," said o'riley, pointing to the end of the chasm, where a third iceberg had entirely closed the opening. the esquimau pulled up, and after advancing on foot a short way to examine, returned with a rueful expression on his countenance. "ha! no passage, i suppose?" said fred. "bad luck to ye!" cried o'riley, "won't ye spaak?" "no rod--muss go bock," replied meetuck, turning the dogs in the direction whence they had come, and resuming his place on the sledge. the party had to retrace their steps half-a-mile in consequence of this unfortunate interruption, and return to the level track of the ice-belt, which they had left for a time and taken to the sea-ice, in order to avoid the sinuosities of the land. to add to their misfortunes, the dogs began to flag, so that they were obliged to walk behind the sledge at a slow pace, and snow began to fall heavily. but they pressed forward manfully, and having regained the shore-ice, continued to make their way northward towards the ship, which was now spoken of by the endearing name of home. chapter xiv. _departure of the sun--effects of darkness on dogs--winter arrangements in the interior of the "dolphin."_ it is sad to part with an old friend, especially if he be one of the oldest and best friends we ever had. when the day of departure arrives, it is of no avail that he tells us kindly he will come back again. that assurance is indeed a comfort after he is gone, and a sweet star of hope that shines brighter and brighter each day until he comes back; but it is poor consolation to us at the time of parting, when we are squeezing his hand for the last time, and trying to crush back the drops that _will_ overflow. the crew of the _dolphin_ had, in the course of that winter, to part with one of their best friends; one whom they regarded with the most devoted attachment; one who was not expected to return again till the following spring, and one, therefore, whom some of them might, perhaps, never see again. mivins became quite low-spirited about it, and said "as 'ow 'e'd 'ave a 'eavy 'eart for _h_ever and _h_ever, _h_amen," after he was gone. o'riley remarked, in reference to his departure, that every man in the ship was about to lose a _son_! yes, indeed he did; he perpetrated that atrocious pun, and wasn't a bit ashamed of it. o'riley had perpetrated many a worse pun than that before; it's to be hoped for the credit of his country he has perpetrated a few better ones since! yes, the period at length arrived when the great source of light and heat was about to withdraw his face from these arctic navigators for a long, long time, and leave them in unvarying night. it was a good while, however, before he went away altogether, and for many weeks after winter set in in all its intensity, he paid them a daily visit which grew gradually shorter and shorter, until that sad evening in which he finally bade them farewell. about the middle of october the dark months overspread the bay of mercy, and the reign of perpetual night began. there was something terribly depressing at first in this uninterrupted gloom, and for some time after the sun ceased to show his disk above the horizon the men of the _dolphin_ used to come on deck at noon, and look out for the faint streak of light that indicated the presence of the life-giving luminary with all the earnestness and longing of eastern fire-worshippers. the dogs, too, became sensibly affected by the continued absence of light, and seemed to draw more sympathetically than ever to their human companions in banishment. a curious and touching instance of this feeling was exhibited when the pack were sent to sleep on store island. a warm kennel had been erected for them there, partly in order that the ship might be kept more thoroughly clean, and partly that the dogs might act as a guard over the stores, in case bears or wolves should take a fancy to examine them. but nothing would induce the poor animals to keep away from the ship and remain beyond the sound of human voices. they deserted their comfortable abode with one consent the first time they were sent to it, preferring to spend the night by the side of the ship upon the bare snow. coaxing them was of no use. o'riley tried it in vain. "ah! then," said he to dumps with a wheedling air and expression of intense affection that would have taken by storm the heart of any civilized dog, "_won't_ ye come now an' lay in yer own kennel? sure it's a beautiful wan, an' as warm as the heart of an iceberg. doo come now, avic, an' i'll show ye the way." but dumps's heart was marble; he wouldn't budge. by means of a piece of walrus, however, he was at length induced to go with the irishman to the kennel, and was followed by the entire pack. here o'riley endeavoured to make them comfortable, and prevailed on them to lie down and go to sleep; but whenever he attempted to leave them, they were up and at his heels in a moment. "och! but ye're too fond o' me intirely, doo lie down agin, and i'll sing ye a ditty?" true to his word, o'riley sat down by the dog-kennel, and gave vent to a howl which his "owld grandmother," he said, "used to sing to the pig;" and whether it was the effects of this lullaby, or of the cold, it is impossible to say, but o'riley at length succeeded in slipping away and regaining the ship, unobserved by his canine friends. half-an-hour later he went on deck to take a mouthful of fresh air before supper, and on looking over the side he saw the whole pack of dogs lying in a circle close to the ship, with dumps comfortably asleep in the middle, and using poker's back for a pillow. "faix, but ye must be fond of the cowld to lie there all night when ye've got a palace on store island." "fond of society, rather," observed captain guy, who came on deck at the moment; "the poor creatures cannot bear to be left alone. it is a strange quality in dogs which i have often observed before." "have ye, capting? sure i thought it was all owin' to the bad manners o' that baste dumps, which is for iver leadin' the other dogs into mischief." "supper's ready, sir," said mivins, coming up the hatchway, and touching his cap. "look here, mivins," said o'riley, as the captain went below, "can you point out the mornin' star to me, lad?" "the morning star?" said mivins slowly, as he thrust his hands into the breast of his jumper, and gazed upwards into the dark sky, where the starry host blazed in arctic majesty. "no, _h_of course, i can't. why, don't you know that there _h_ain't no _morning_ star when it's _night_ all round?" "faix ye're right. i niver thought o' that." mivins was evidently a little puffed up with a feeling of satisfaction at the clever way in which he had got out of the difficulty, without displaying his ignorance of astronomy, and was even venturing, in the pride of his heart, to make some speculative and startling assertions in regard to the "'eavenly bodies" generally, when buzzby put his head up the hatchway. "hallo! messmates, wot's ado now? here's the supper awaitin', and the tea bilin' like blazes!" mivins instantly dived down below, as the sailors express it; and we may remark, in passing, that the expression, in this particular case, was not inappropriate, for mivins, as we have elsewhere said, was remarkably agile and supple, and gave beholders a sort of impression that he went head-foremost at everything. o'riley followed at a more reasonable rate, and in a few minutes the crew of the _dolphin_ were seated at supper in the cabin, eating with as much zest, and laughing and chatting as blithely, as if they were floating calmly on their ocean home in temperate climes. sailors are proverbially light-hearted, and in their moments of comfort and social enjoyment they easily forget their troubles. the depression of spirits that followed the first disappearance of the sun soon wore off, and they went about their various avocations cheerfully by the light of the aurora borealis and the stars. the cabin, in which they now all lived together, had undergone considerable alterations. after the return of fred ellice and the hunting-party, whom we left on the ice-belt in the last chapter, the bulk-head, or partition, which separated the cabin from the hold had been taken down, and the whole was thrown into one large apartment, in order to secure a freer circulation of air and warmth. all round the walls inside of this apartment moss was piled to the depth of twelve inches to exclude the cold, and this object was further gained by the spreading of a layer of moss on the deck above. the cabin hatchway was closed, and the only entrance was at the farther end, through the hold, by means of a small doorway in the bulk-head, to which was attached a sort of porch, with a curtain of deer-skins hung in front of it. in the centre of the floor stood an iron cooking-stove, which served at once the purpose of preparing food and warming the cabin, which was lighted by several small oil lamps. these were kept burning perpetually, for there was no distinction between day and night in mid-winter, either in the cabin or out of doors. in this snug-looking place the officers and men of the ship messed, and dwelt, and slept together; but, notwithstanding the _apparent_ snugness, it was with the greatest difficulty they could keep themselves in a sufficient degree of warmth to maintain health and comfort. whenever the fire was allowed to get low, the beams overhead became coated with hoar-frost; and even when the temperature was raised to the utmost possible pitch, it was cold enough, at the extreme ends of the apartment, to freeze a jug of water solid. a large table occupied the upper end of the cabin between the stove and the stern, and round this the officers and crew were seated when o'riley entered and took his place among them. each individual had his appointed place at the mess-table, and with unvarying regularity these places were filled at the appointed hours. "the dogs seem to be disobedient," remarked amos parr, as his comrade sat down; "they'd be the better of a taste o' meetuck's cat, i think." "it's truth ye're sayin'," replied o'riley, commencing a violent assault on a walrus-steak; "they don't obey orders at all, at all. an' dumps, the blaggard, is as cross-grained as me grandmother's owld pig--" a general laugh here interrupted the speaker, for o'riley could seldom institute a disparaging comparison without making emphatic allusion to the pig that once shared with him the hospitalities of his grandmother's cabin. "why, everything you speak of seems to be like that wonderful pig, messmate," said peter grim. "ye're wrong there intirely," retorted o'riley. "i niver seed nothing like it in all me thravels except yerself, and that only in regard to its muzzle, which was black and all kivered over with bristles, it wos. i'll throuble you for another steak, messmate; that walrus is great livin'.--we owe ye thanks for killin' it, mister ellice." "you're fishing for compliments, but i'm afraid i have none to give you. your first harpoon, you know, was a little wide of the mark, if i recollect right, wasn't it?" "yis, it wos--about as wide as the first bullet. i mis-remember exactly who fired it--wos it you, meetuck?" meetuck, being deeply engaged with a junk of fat meat at that moment, expressed all he had to say in a convulsive gasp without interrupting his supper. "try a bit of the bear," said fred to tom singleton; "it's better than the walrus to my taste." "i'd rather not," answered tom, with a dubious shake of the head. "it's a most unconscionable thing to eat a beast o' that sort," remarked saunders gravely. "especially one who has been in the habit of living on raisins and sticking-plaster," said bolton with a grin. "i have been thinking about that," said captain guy, who had been for some time listening in silence to the conversation, "and i cannot help thinking that esquimaux must have found a wreck somewhere in this neighbourhood and carried away her stores, which bruin had managed to steal from them." "may they not have got some of the stores of the brig we saw nipped some months ago?" suggested singleton. "possibly they may." "i dinna think that's likely," said saunders, shaking his head. "yon brig had been deserted long ago, and her stores must have been consumed, if they were taken out of her at all, before we thought o' comin' here." for some time the party in the cabin ate in silence. "we must wait patiently," resumed the captain, as if he were tired of following up a fruitless train of thought. "what of your theatricals, fred? we must get them set a-going as soon as possible." the captain spoke animatedly, for he felt that, with the prospect of a long dark winter before them, it was of the greatest importance that the spirits of the men should be kept up. "i find it difficult to beat up recruits," answered fred, laughing; "peter grim has flatly refused to act, and o'riley says he could no more learn a part off by heart than--" "his grandmother's pig could," interrupted david mizzle, who, having concluded supper, now felt himself free to indulge in conversation. "och! ye spalpeen," whispered the irishman. "i have written out the half of a play which i hope to produce in a few days on the boards of our arctic theatre with a talented company, but i must have one or two more men--one to act the part of a lady. will you take that part, buzzby?" "wot! _me_?" cried the individual referred to with a stare of amazement. "oh yes! _do_, buzzby," cried several of the men with great delight. "you're just cut out for it." "blue eyes," said one. "fair hair," cried another. "and plump," said a third. "wid cheeks like the hide of a walrus," cried o'riley; "but, sure, it won't show wid a veil on." "come, now, you won't refuse." but buzzby did refuse; not, however, so determinedly but that he was induced at last to allow his name to be entered in fred's note-book as a supernumerary. "hark!" cried the captain; "surely the dogs must have smelt a bear." there was instantly a dead silence in the cabin, and a long, loud wail from the dogs was heard outside. "it's not like their usual cry when game is near," said the second mate. "hand me my rifle, mivins," said the captain, springing up and pulling forward the hood of his jumper, as he hurried on deck followed by the crew. it was a bright, still, frosty night, and the air felt intensely sharp, as if needles were pricking the skin, while the men's breath issued from their lips in white clouds and settled in hoar-frost on the edges of their hoods. the dogs were seen galloping about the ice-hummocks as if in agitation, darting off to a considerable distance at times, and returning with low whines to the ship. "it is very strange," remarked the captain. "jump down on the ice, boys, and search for footprints. extend as far as store island, and see that all is right there." in a few seconds the men scattered themselves right and left, and were lost in the gloom, while the vessel was left in charge of mivins and four men. a strict search was made in all directions, but no traces of animals could be found; the stores on the island were found undisturbed; and gradually the dogs ceased their agitated gyrations, and seemed inclined to resume their slumbers on the ice. seeing this, and supposing that they were merely restless, captain guy recalled his men, and not long after every man in the cabin of the _dolphin_ was buried in profound slumber. chapter xv. _strangers appear on the scene--the esquimaux are hospitably entertained by the sailors--a spirited, traffic--thieving propensities and summary justice._ dumps sat on the top of a hummock, about quarter of a mile from the ship, with an expression of subdued melancholy on his countenance, and thinking, evidently, about nothing at all. poker sat in front of him gazing earnestly and solemnly right into his eyes with a look that said, as plain as if he had spoken, "what a tremendously stupid old fellow you are, to be sure!" having sat thus for full five minutes, dumps wagged his tail. poker, observing the action, returned the compliment with his stump. then poker sprang up and barked savagely, as much as to say, "play, won't you?" but dumps wouldn't; so poker endeavoured to relieve his mind by gambolling violently round him. we would not have drawn your attention, reader, to the antics of our canine friends, were it not for the fact that these antics attracted the notice of a personage who merits particular description. this was no other than one of the esquimau inhabitants of the land--a woman, and _such_ a woman! most people would have pronounced her a man, for she wore precisely the same dress--fur jumper and long boots--that was worn by the men of the _dolphin_. her lips were thick and her nose was blunt; she wore her hair turned up, and twisted into a knot on the top of her head; her hood was thrown back, and inside of this hood there was a baby--a small and a very fat baby! it was, so to speak, a conglomerate of dumplings. its cheeks were two dumplings, and its arms were four dumplings--one above each elbow and one below. its hands, also, were two smaller dumplings, with ten extremely little dumplings at the end of them. this baby had a nose, of course, but it was so small that it might as well have had none; and it had a mouth, too, but that was so capacious that the half of it would have been more than enough for a baby double the size. as for its eyes they were large and black--black as two coals--and devoid of all expression save that of astonishment. such were the pair that stood on the edge of the ice-belt gazing down upon dumps and poker. and no sooner did dumps and poker catch sight of them than they sprang hastily towards them, wagging their tails--or, more correctly speaking, their tail and a quarter. but on a nearer approach those sagacious animals discovered that the woman and her child were strangers, whereupon they set up a dismal howl, and fled towards the ship as fast as they could run. now, it so happened that, at this very time, the howl of the dogs fell upon the ears of two separate parties of travellers--the one was a band of esquimaux who were moving about in search of seals and walruses, to which band this woman and her baby belonged; the other was a party of men under command of buzzby, who were returning to the ship after an unsuccessful hunt. neither party saw the other, for one approached from the east, the other from the west, and the ice-belt, on the point of which the woman stood, rose up between them. "hallo! what's yon?" exclaimed peter grim, who was first to observe the woman. "dun'no'," said buzzby, halting; "it looks like a bear." "faix an' it is, then, it's got a young wan on its back," cried o'riley. "we had better advance and find out," remarked west, as he led the way, while several of the men threw up their arms in token of their friendly intentions. o'riley capered somewhat extravagantly as he drew near, partly with the intention of expressing his feelings of good-will towards the unknown, and partly in order to relieve the excitement caused by the unexpected apparition. these demonstrations, however, had the effect of terrifying the woman, who wheeled suddenly round and made off. "och! it _is_ a man. hooray, boys! give chase." "men don't usually carry babies on their backs and tie their hair up into top-knots," remarked grim, as he darted past in pursuit. a few seconds sufficed to enable grim to overtake the woman, who fell on her knees the instant she felt the sailor's heavy hand on her shoulder. "don't be afeard, we won't hurt ye," said buzzby in a soothing tone, patting the woman on the head and raising her up. "no, avic, we's yer frinds; we'll not harm a hair o' yer beautiful head, we won't. ah! then, it's a swate child, it is, bless its fat face," said o'riley, stroking the baby's head tenderly with his big hand. it was with difficulty that the poor creature's fears were calmed at first, but the genuine tenderness displayed by the men towards the baby, and the perfect complacency with which that conglomerate of dumplings received their caresses, soon relieved her mind, and she began to regard her captors with much curiosity, while they endeavoured by signs and words to converse with her. unfortunately meetuck was not with the party, he having been left on board ship to assist in a general cleaning of the cabin that had been instituted that day. "sure, now, ye don't know how to talk with a girl at all, ye don't; let _me_ try," cried o'riley, after several of the party had made numerous ineffectual attempts to convey their meaning. "listen to _me_, darlint, and don't mind them stupid grampuses. where have ye comed from, now? tell me, dear, _doo_ now." o'riley accompanied the question with a smile of ineffable sweetness and a great deal of energetic pantomime, which, doubtless, explained much of his meaning to himself, but certainly to no one else. "ah! then, ye don't understand me? well, well, now, isn't that strange? look you, avic, have ye seen a brig or a brig's crew anywhere betune this and the north pole?--try, now, an' remimber." he illustrated this question by holding up both arms straight above his head to represent the masts of a brig, and sticking his right leg straight out in front of him, to represent the bowsprit; but the woman gazed at him with an air of obtuse gravity that might have damped the hopes even of an irishman. o'riley prided himself, however, on not being easily beat, and despite his repeated failures, and the laughter of his messmates, was proceeding to make a third effort, when a loud shout from the cliffs caused the whole party to start and turn their eyes in that direction. the cry had been uttered by a figure whose costume bore so close a resemblance to that which they themselves wore, that they thought for a moment it was one of their own shipmates; but a second glance proved that they were mistaken, for the individual in question carried a spear, which he brandished with exceedingly fierce and warlike intentions. "faix it must be her husband," said o'riley. "hallo! lads, there's more on 'em," cried grim, as ten or twelve esquimaux emerged from the rents and caverns, of the ice-belt, and scrambling to the top of surrounding hummocks and eminences, gazed towards the party of white men, while they threw about their arms and legs, and accompanied their uncouth and violent gesticulations with loud, excited cries. "i've a notion," he added, "that it was the scent o' them chaps set the dogs off after yon strange fashion t'other night." it was evident that the esquimaux were not only filled with unbounded astonishment at this unexpected meeting with strangers, but were also greatly alarmed to see one of their own women in their power. "let's send the woman over to them," suggested one of the men. "no, no; keep her as a hostage," said another. "look out, lads," cried buzzby, hastily examining the priming of his musket, as additional numbers of the wild inhabitants of the north appeared on the scene, and crowned the ice-belt and the hummocks around them. "let's show a bold front. draw up in single line and hold on to the woman. west, put her in front." the men instantly drew up in battle array, and threw forward their muskets; but as there were only a dozen of them, they presented a very insignificant group compared with the crowds of esquimaux who appeared on the ice in front of them. "now, then, stand fast, men, and i'll show ye wot's the way to manage them chaps. keep yer weather-eyes open, and don't let them git in rear of ye." so saying, buzzby took the woman by the arm and led her out a few yards in front of his party, while the esquimaux drew closer together, to prepare either to receive or make an attack, as the case might be. he then laid his musket down on the ice, and, still holding the woman by the arm, advanced boldly towards the natives unarmed. on approaching to within about twenty yards of them he halted, and raised both arms above his head as a sign of friendship. the signal was instantly understood, and one big fellow leaped boldly from his elevated position on a lump of ice, threw down his spear, and ran to meet the stranger. in a few minutes buzzby and the esquimau leader came to a mutual understanding as to the friendly disposition of their respective parties, and the woman was delivered up to this big fellow, who turned out to be her husband after all, as o'riley had correctly guessed. the other esquimaux, seeing the amicable terms on which the leaders met, crowded in and surrounded them. "leave the half o' ye to guard the arms, and come on the rest of ye without 'em," shouted buzzby. the men obeyed, and in a few minutes the two parties mingled together with the utmost confidence. the sailors, however, deemed it prudent to get possession of their arms again as soon as possible; and after explaining as well as they could by signs that their home was only at a short distance, the whole band started off for the ship. the natives were in a most uproarious state of hilarity, and danced and yelled as they ambled along in their hairy dresses, evidently filled with delight at the prospect of forming a friendship with the white strangers, as they afterwards termed the crew of the _dolphin_, although some of the said crew were, from exposure, only a few shades lighter than themselves. captain guy was busily engaged with fred ellice and tom singleton in measuring and registering the state of the tide, when this riotous band turned the point of the ice-belt to the northward, and came suddenly into view. "jump down below, fred, and fetch my rifle and sword; there are the natives!" cried the captain, seizing his telescope.--"call all hands, mivins, and let them arm; look alive!" "all 'ands, _ahoy_!" shouted the steward, looking down the hatchway; "tumble up there, tumble up, 'ere come the heskimows. bring your harms with ye. look alive!" "ay, ay!" shouted the men from below, and in a few minutes they crowded up the hatchway, pulling up their hoods and hauling on their mittens, for it was intensely cold. "why, captain, there are some of our men with them," exclaimed tom singleton, as he looked through his pocket-glass at them. "so there are,--i see buzzby and grim. come, that's fortunate, for they must have made friends with them, which it is not always easy to do. hide your muskets, men, but keep on your cutlasses; it's as well to be prepared, though i don't expect to find those people troublesome. is the soup in the coppers, david mizzle?" "yes, sir, it is." "then put in an extra junk of pork, and fill it up to the brim." while the cook went below to obey this order, the captain and half of the crew descended to the ice, and advanced unarmed to meet the natives. the remainder of the men stayed behind to guard the ship, and be ready to afford succour if need be. but the precaution was unnecessary, for the esquimaux met the sailors in the most frank and confiding manner, and seemed quite to understand captain guy when he drew a line round the ship, and stationed sentries along it to prevent them from crossing. the natives had their dogs and sledges with them, and the former they picketed to the ice, while a few of their number, and the woman, whose name was aninga, were taken on board and hospitably entertained. it was exceedingly interesting and amusing to observe the feelings of amazement and delight expressed by those barbarous but good-humoured and intelligent people at everything they saw. while food was preparing for them, they were taken round the ship, on deck and below, and the sailors explained, in pantomime, the uses of everything. they laughed, and exclaimed, and shouted, and even roared with delight, and touched everything with their fingers, just as monkeys are wont to do when let loose. captain guy took aninga and her tall husband, awatok, to the cabin, where, through the medium of meetuck, he explained the object of their expedition, and questioned the chief as to his knowledge of the country. unfortunately awatok and his band had travelled from the interior to the coast, and never having been more than twenty or thirty miles to the north of the bay of mercy, could give no information either in regard to the formation of the coast or the possibility of europeans having wintered there. in fact, neither he nor his countrymen had ever seen europeans before, and they were so much excited that it was difficult to obtain coherent answers to questions. the captain, therefore, postponed further inquiries until they had become somewhat accustomed to the novelty of their position. meanwhile, david mizzle furnished them with a large supply of pea-soup, which they seemed to relish amazingly. not so, however, the salt pork with which it had been made. they did, indeed, condescend to eat it, but they infinitely preferred a portion of raw walrus-flesh, which had been reserved as food for the dogs, and which they would speedily have consumed had it not been removed out of their reach. having finished this, they were ordered to return to their camp on the ice beside the ship, and a vigorous barter was speedily begun. first of all, however, a number of presents were made to them, and it would really have done your heart good, reader, to have witnessed the extravagant joy displayed by them on receiving such trifles as bits of hoop-iron, beads, knives, scissors, needles, etc. iron is as precious among them as gold is among civilized people. the small quantities they possessed of it had been obtained from the few portions of wrecks that had drifted ashore in their ice-bound land. they used it for pointing their spear-heads and harpoons, which, in default of iron, were ingeniously made of ivory from the tusks of the walrus and the horn of the narwal. a bit of iron, therefore, was received with immense glee, and a penny looking-glass with shouts of delight. but the present which drew forth the most uproarious applause was a union jack, which the captain gave to their chief, awatok. he was in the cabin when it was presented to him. on seeing its gaudy colours unrolled, and being told that it was a gift to himself and his wife, he caught his breath, and stared, as if in doubt, alternately at the flag and the captain; then he gave vent to a tremendous shout, seized the flag, hugged it in his arms, and darted up on deck literally _roaring_ with delight. the sympathetic hearts of the natives on the ice echoed the cry before they knew the cause of it; but when they beheld the prize, they yelled, and screamed, and danced, and tossed their arms in the air in the most violent manner. "they're all mad, ivery mother's son o' them," exclaimed o'riley, who for some time had been endeavouring to barter an old rusty knife for a pair of seal-skin boots. "they looks like it," said grim, who stood looking on with his legs apart and his arms crossed, and grinning from ear to ear. to add to the confusion, the dogs became affected with the spirit of excitement that filled their masters, and gave vent to their feelings in loud and continuous howling which nothing could check. the imitative propensity of these singular people was brought rather oddly into play during the progress of traffic. buzzby had produced a large roll of tobacco--which they knew the use of, having been already shown how to use a pipe--and cut off portions of it, which he gave in exchange for fox-skins, and deer-skins, and seal-skin boots. observing this, a very sly, old esquimau began to slice up a deer-skin into little pieces, which he intended to offer for the small pieces of tobacco! he was checked, however, before doing much harm to the skin, and the principles of exchange were more perfectly explained to him. the skins and boots, besides walrus and seal flesh, which the crew were enabled to barter at this time, were of the utmost importance, for their fresh provisions had begun to get low, and their boots were almost worn out, so that the scene of barter was exceedingly animated. davie summers and his master, mivins, shone conspicuous as bargain makers, and carried to their respective bunks a large assortment of native articles. fred, and tom singleton, too, were extremely successful, and in a few hours a sufficient amount of skins were bartered to provide them with clothing for the winter. the quantity of fresh meat obtained, however, was not enough to last them a week, for the esquimaux lived from hand to mouth, and the crew felt that they must depend on their own exertions in the hunt for this indispensable article of food, without which they could not hope to escape the assaults of the sailors' dread enemy, scurvy. meetuck's duties were not light upon this occasion, as you may suppose. "arrah! then, _don't_ ye onderstand me?" cried o'riley, in an excited tone, to a particularly obtuse and remarkably fat esquimau, who was about as sharp at a bargain as himself.--"hallo! meetuck, come here, do, and tell this pork-faced spalpeen what i'm sayin'. sure i couldn't spake plainer av i wos to try." "i'll never get this fellow to understand," said fred.--"meetuck, my boy, come here and explain to him." "ho! meetuck," shouted peter grim, "give this old blockhead a taste o' your lingo, i never met his match for stupidity." "i do believe that this rascal wants the 'ole of this ball o' twine for the tusk of a sea-'oss.--meetuck! w'ere's meetuck? i say, give us a 'and 'ere, like a good fellow," cried mivins; but mivins cried in vain, for at that moment saunders had violently collared the interpreter and dragged him towards an old esquimau woman, whose knowledge of scotch had not proved sufficient to enable her to understand the energetically-expressed words of the second mate. during all this time the stars had been twinkling brightly in the sky, and the aurora shed a clear light upon the scene, while the air was still calm and cold; but a cloud or two now began to darken the horizon to the north-east, and a puff of wind blew occasionally over the icy plain, and struck with such chilling influence on the frames of the traffickers, that with one consent they closed their business for that day, and the esquimaux prepared to return to their snow village, which was about ten miles to the southward, and which village had been erected by them only three days previous to their discovery of the ship. "i'm sorry to find," remarked the captain to those who were standing near him, "that these poor creatures have stolen a few trifling articles from below. i don't like to break the harmonious feeling which now exists between us for the sake of a few worthless things, but i know that it does more harm than good to pass over an offence with the natives of these regions, for they attribute our forbearance to fear." "perhaps you had better tax them with the theft," suggested the surgeon; "they may confess it, if we don't look very angry." a few more remarks were made by several of those who stood on the quarter-deck, suggesting a treatment of the esquimaux which was not of the gentlest nature, for they felt indignant that their hospitality had been abused. "no, no," replied the captain to such suggestions, "we must exercise forbearance. these poor fellows do not regard theft in the same light that we do; besides, it would be foolish to risk losing their friendship. go down, meetuck, and invite awatok and his wife, and half-a-dozen of the chief men, into the cabin. say i wish to have a talk with them." the interpreter obeyed, and in a few minutes the officers of the ship and the chiefs of the esquimaux were assembled in solemn conclave round the cabin table. "tell them, meetuck," said the captain, "that i know they have stolen two pieces of hoop-iron and a tin kettle, and ask them why they were so ungrateful as to do it." the esquimaux, who were becoming rather alarmed at the stern looks of those around them, protested earnestly that they knew nothing about it, and that they had not taken the things referred to. "say that i do not believe them," answered the captain sternly. "it is an exceedingly wicked thing to steal and to tell lies. white men think those who are guilty of such conduct to be very bad." "ah, ye villain!" cried saunders, seizing one of the esquimaux named oosuck by the shoulder, and drawing forth an iron spoon which he observed projecting from the end of his boot. an exclamation of surprise and displeasure burst from the officers, but the esquimaux gave vent to a loud laugh. they evidently thought stealing to be no sin, and were not the least ashamed of being detected. awatok, however, was an exception. he looked grave and annoyed, but whether this was at being found out, or at the ingratitude of his people, they could not decide. "tell them," said the captain, "that i am much displeased. if they promise to return the stolen goods immediately, i will pass over their offence this time, and we will trade together, and live like brothers, and do each other good; but if not, and if any more articles are taken, i will punish them." having had this translated to them, the chiefs were dismissed, but the expression of indifference on some of their faces proved that no impression had been made upon them. in a quarter of an hour the articles that had been mentioned as missing were returned; and in order to restore harmony, several plugs of tobacco and a few additional trinkets were returned by the messenger. soon after, the dogs were harnessed, the sledges packed, and, with many protestations of good-will on both sides, the parties separated. a few cracks of their long whips, a few answering howls from the dogs, and the esquimaux were off and out of sight, leaving the _dolphin_ in her former solitude under the shadow of the frowning cliffs. "fetch me the telescope, mivins," said the captain, calling down the hatchway. "ay, ay, sir," answered the steward. "where's my hatchet?" cried peter grim, striding about the deck and looking into every corner in search of his missing implement. "it's my best one, and i can't get on without it, nohow." the captain bit his lip, for he knew full well the cause of its absence. "please, sir," said the steward, coming on deck with a very perturbed expression of countenance, "the--the--a--" "speak out, man! what's the matter with you?" "the glass ain't nowhere to be seen, sir." "turn up all hands!" shouted the captain, jumping down the hatchway. "arm the men, mr. bolton, and order the largest sledge to be got ready instantly. this will never do. harness the whole team." instantly the _dolphin's_ deck was a scene of bustling activity. muskets were loaded, jumpers and mittens put on, dogs caught and harnessed, and every preparation made for a sudden chase. "there, that will do," cried the captain, hurrying on deck with a brace of pistols and a cutlass in his belt, "six men are enough; let twelve of the remainder follow on foot. jump on the sledge, grim and buzzby; o'riley, you go too. have a care, fred; not too near the front. now, meetuck--" one crack of the long whip terminated the sentence as if with a full stop, and in another moment the sledge was bounding over the snow like a feather at the tails of twelve dogs. it was a long chase, for it was a "stern" one, but the esquimaux never dreamed of-pursuit, and as their dogs were not too well fed they had progressed rather slowly. in less than two hours they were distinguished on the horizon far off to the southward, winding their way among the hummocks. "now, meetuck," said the captain, "drive like the wind, and lay me alongside of awatok's sledge;--and be ready, men, to act." "ay, ay, sir," was the prompt reply, as the heavy whip fell on the flanks of the leaders. a few minutes brought them up with awatok's sledge, and captain guy, leaping upon it with a clasp-knife in his hand, cut the traces in a twinkling, set the dogs free, and turning round, seized the esquimau by the collar. the big chief at first showed a disposition to resent this unceremonious treatment, but before he could move grim seized his elbows in his iron grasp, and tied them adroitly together behind his back with a cord. at the same time poor aninga and her baby were swiftly transferred to the sailors' sledge. seeing this, the whole band of natives turned back and rushed in a body to the rescue, flourishing their lances and yelling fiercely. "form line!" shouted the captain, handing awatok and aninga over to the care of o'riley. "three of you on the right fire over their heads, and let the rest reserve their fire. i will kill one of their dogs, for it won't do to let them fancy that nothing but noise comes out of our muskets. ready--present!" a rattling volley followed, and at the same moment one of the dogs fell with a death-yell on the ice, and dyed it with its blood. "forward!" shouted the captain. the men advanced in a body at a smart run; but the terrified esquimaux, who had never heard the report of fire-arms before, did not wait for them. they turned and fled precipitately, but not before grim captured oosuck, and dragged him forcibly to the rear, where he was pinioned and placed on the sledge with the others. "now, then, lads, that will do; get upon the sledge again. away with you, meetuck.--look after awatok, grim; o'riley will see that aninga does not jump off." "that he will, darlint," said the irishman, patting the woman on the back. "and i shall look after the baby," said fred, chucking that series of dumplings under the chin--an act of familiarity that seemed to afford it immense satisfaction, for, notwithstanding the melancholy position of its father and mother as prisoners, it smiled on fred benignly. in five minutes the party were far on their way back to the ship, and in less than five hours after the esquimaux had closed their barter and left for their village, four of their number, including the baby, were close prisoners in the _dolphin's_ hold. it was not captain guy's intention, however, to use unnecessarily harsh means for the recovery of the missing articles. his object was to impress the esquimaux with a salutary sense of the power, promptitude, and courage of europeans, and to check at the outset their propensity for thieving. having succeeded in making two of their chief men prisoners, he felt assured that the lost telescope and hatchet would soon make their appearance; and in this he was not mistaken. going to the hold where the prisoners sat with downcast looks, he addressed to them a lengthened speech as to the sin and meanness of stealing in general, and of stealing from those who had been kind to them in particular. he explained to them the utter hopelessness of their attempting to deceive or impose upon the white men in any way whatever, and assured them that if they tried that sort of thing again he would punish them severely; but that if they behaved well, and brought plenty of walrus-flesh to the ship, he would give them hoop-iron, beads, looking-glasses, etc. these remarks seemed to make a considerable impression on his uncouth hearers. "and now," said the captain in conclusion, "i shall keep awatok and his wife and child prisoners here, until my telescope and hatchet are returned [awatok's visage fell, and his wife looked stolid], and i shall send oosuck to his tribe [oosuck's face lit up amazingly] to tell them what i have said." in accordance with this resolve oosuck was set free, and, making use of his opportunity, with prompt alacrity he sped away on foot over the ice to the southward, and was quickly lost to view. chapter xvi. _the arctic theatre enlarged upon--great success of the first play--the esquimaux submit, and become fast friends._ the st of december was a great day on board the _dolphin_, for on that day it was announced to the crew that "the arctic theatre" would be opened, under the able management of mr. f. ellice, with the play of "blunderbore; or, the arctic giant." the bill, of which two copies were issued gratis to the crew, announced that the celebrated peter grim, esq., who had so long trodden the boards of the _dolphin,_ with unparalleled success, had kindly consented to appear in the character of _blunderbore_ for one winter only. the other parts were as follows:--_whackinta,_ a beautiful esquimau widow, who had been captured by two polar bears, both of which were deeply in love with her, by frederick ellice, esq. _first bear,_ a big one, by terrence o'riley, esq. _second bear_, a little one, by david summers, esq. _ben bolt_, a brave british seaman, who had been wrecked in blunderbore's desolate dominions, all the crew having perished except himself, by john buzzby, esq. these constituted the various characters of the piece, the name of which had been kept a profound secret from the crew until the morning of the day on which it was acted. fred's duties, as manager and author, upon this occasion were by no means light, for his troop, being unaccustomed to study, found the utmost difficulty in committing the simplest sentences to memory. o'riley turned out to be the sharpest among them, but having agreed to impersonate the first bear, and having to act his part in dumb show--bears not being supposed capable of speech--his powers of memory had not to be exerted. grim was also pretty good; but davie summers could not be got to remember even the general arrangements of the piece; and as for buzzby, he no sooner mastered a line than he forgot the one before it, and almost gave it up in despair. but by dint of much study and many rehearsals in secret, under the superintendence of fred, and tom singleton, who undertook to assist, they succeeded at last in going through it with only a few mistakes. on the morning of the st december, while the most of the crew were away at red-snow valley cutting moss, fred collected his _corps dramatique_ for a last rehearsal in the forecastle, where they were secure from interruption, the place being so cold that no one would willingly go into it except under the force of necessity. a dim lantern lit up the apartment faintly. "we must do it without a mistake this time," said fred ellice, opening his book, and calling upon grim to begin. "'tis cold," began grim. "stop, you're wrong." "oh! so i am," cried grim, slapping his thigh, "i'll begin again." it may be remarked here, that although blunderbore was supposed to be an esquimau monarch, he was compelled to speak english, being unfortunately ignorant--if we may so speak--of his native tongue! "oh! 'tis a dismal thing," began grim again, "to dwell in solitude and cold! 'tis very cold [grim shuddered here tremendously], and--and--(what's next?)" "hunger," said fred. "hunger gnaws my vitals. my name is blunderbore. 'twere better had i been born a blunder_buss_, 'cause then i'd have _gone off_ and dwelt in climes more shootable to my tender constitoosion. ha! is that a bear i sees before me?" "it's not _sees_," interrupted fred. at this moment a tremendous roar was heard, and o'riley bounded from behind a top-sail, which represented an iceberg, dressed from head to foot in the skin of a white bear which had been killed a few days before. "stop, o'riley," cried fred; "you're too soon, man. _i_ have to come on first as an esquimau woman, and when grim says to the woman he wishes he could see a bear, _then_ you are to come." "och! whirra, but me brains is confuged intirely wid it all," said o'riley, rising on his hind legs, and walking off with his tail, literally as well as figuratively, between his legs. "now, buzzby, now; it's _your_ time. when you hear the word 'misery,' come on and fight like a trojan with the bears. the doctor will remind you." fred was remarkably patient and painstaking, and his pupils, though not apt scholars, were willing, so that the morning rehearsal was gone through with fewer mistakes than might have been expected; and when the crew came back to dinner about mid-day, which, however, was as dark as midnight, their parts were sufficiently well got up, and nothing remained to be done but to arrange the stage and scenery for the evening's entertainment--it having been resolved that the performance should commence after supper. the stage was at the after part of the cabin, and raised about a foot above the deck; and its management had been intrusted to the doctor, who, assisted by peter grim, transformed that portion of the ship into a scene so romantically beautiful that the first sight of it petrified the crew with surprise. but until the curtain should rise all arrangements were carefully concealed from every one except the _dramatis personæ_. even the captain and officers were forbidden to peep behind the sail that formed a curtain to the stage; and this secrecy, besides being necessary, was extremely useful, inasmuch as it excited the curiosity of the men, and afforded them food for converse and speculation for a week before the great day arrived. the longed-for hour came at last. the cabin tables having been removed, and rows of seats placed in front of the stage, the men were admitted from the deck, to which they had been expelled an hour previous in order not to impede preliminary arrangements. there was great joking, of course, as they took their seats and criticised the fittings up. david mizzle was of opinion that the foot-lights "wos oncommon grand," which was an unquestionable fact, for they consisted of six tin lamps filled with seal-oil, from the wicks of which rose a compound of yellow flame and smoke that had a singularly luminous effect. amos parr guessed that the curtain would be certain sure to get jammed at the first haul, and several of the others were convinced that o'riley would stick his part in one way or another. however, an end was put to all remarks and expectation raised on tip-toe by the ringing of a small hand-bell, and immediately thereafter a violent pulling at the curtain which concealed the stage. but the curtain remained immovable (they always do on such occasions), and a loud whispering was heard behind the scenes. "clap on extra tackle and call all hands to hoist away," suggested one of the audience. the laugh with which this advice was received was checked in the bud by the sudden rising of the curtain with such violence that the whole framework of the theatre shook again. for a few seconds a dead silence reigned, for the men were stricken dumb with genuine amazement at the scene before them. the stage was covered with white sheets arranged in such a manner as to represent snow, and the more effectually to carry out the idea several huge blocks of real ice and a few patches of snow were introduced here and there, the cold in the after part of the cabin being too great to permit of their melting. a top-gallant-sail, on which were painted several blue cracks, and some strong white lights did duty for an iceberg, and filled up the whole back of the scene. in front of this, in the centre of the stage, on an extemporized hummock, sat peter grim, as the giant blunderbore. his colossal proportions were enhanced by the addition of an entire white bear-skin to his ordinary hairy dress, and which was thrown round his broad shoulders in the form of a tippet. a broad scarlet sash was tied round his waist, and a crown of brown paper painted in alternate diamonds of blue, red, and yellow sat upon his brow. grim was in truth a magnificent-looking fellow, with his black beard and moustache; and the mock-heroic frown with which he gazed up (as one of the audience suggested) at the aurora borealis, while he grasped an enormous club in his right hand, became him well. the first few seconds of dead silence with which this was received were succeeded by a long and loud burst of applause, the heartiness of which plainly showed that the scene far exceeded the expectations of the men. "bravo!" cried the captain, "excellent! nothing could be better." "it beats natur', quite," said one. "all to sticks," cried another. "and wot a _tree_-mendous giant he makes. three cheers for peter grim, lads!" three cheers were promptly given with right goodwill, but the giant did not move a muscle. he was far too deeply impressed with the importance of playing his part well to acknowledge the compliment. having gazed long enough to enable the men to get rid of their first flow of enthusiasm, blunderbore rose majestically, and coming forward to the foot-lights, looked straight over the heads of the men, and addressed himself to the opposite bulk-head. "oh! 'tis a dismal thing," he began, and continued to spout his part with flashing eyes and considerable energy, until he came to the word blunderbuss, when, either from a mistaken notion as to when it was his time to go on, or nervous forgetfulness of the plan of the piece, the little bear sprang over the edge of the iceberg and alighted on the middle of the stage. "oh! bad luck to yees intirely," said the big bear from behind the scenes in an angry whisper, which was distinctly heard by the audience, "ye've gone and spoiled it all, ye have. come off, will ye, and take yer turn at the right time, won't ye?" in the midst of the shout of delight caused by this mistake, o'riley, forgetting that he was a bear, rushed on the stage on his hind legs, seized the little bear by the fore leg, and dragged him off at the other side amid loud applause. blunderbore, with admirable self-possession, resumed his part the instant there was a calm, and carried it successfully to a close. just as he ended, fred waddled on, in the guise of an esquimau woman; and so well was he got up that the crew looked round to see if aninga (who, with her husband, had been allowed to witness the play) was in her place. fred had intentionally taken aninga as his model, and had been very successful in imitating the top-knot of hair. the baby, too, was hit off to perfection, having been made by mivins, who proved himself a genius in such matters. its head was a ball of rags covered with brown leather, and two white bone buttons with black spots in the centre did duty for its eyes. the first thing whackinta did on coming forward was to deposit the baby on the snow with its head downwards by mistake, whereat it began to scream vociferously. this scream was accomplished by davie summers creeping below the stage and putting his mouth to a hole in the flooring close to which the baby's head lay. davie's falsetto was uncommonly like to a child's voice, and the effect was quite startling. of course whackinta tried to soothe it, and failing in this she whipped it, which caused it to yell with tenfold violence. thereafter losing all patience, she covered its face and stuffed its mouth with a quantity of snow, and laying it down on its back, placed a large block of ice on its head. this, as might be expected, had the desired effect, and the baby was silenced--not, however, until whackinta had twice called down the hole in a hoarse whisper, "that'll do, davie; stop, man, stop!" then, sitting down on the hummock which blunderbore had just left--and from behind which he was now eagerly watching her--she began to weep. having given full vent to her feelings in a series of convulsive sobs, whackinta addressed a lengthened harangue, in a melancholy tone of voice, to the audience, the gist of which was that she was an unfortunate widow; that two bears had fallen in love with her, and stolen her away from her happy home in nova zembla; and, although they allowed her to walk about as much as she chose, they watched her closely and prevented her escaping to her own country. worst of all, they had told her that she must agree to become the wife of one or other of them, and if she did not make up her mind and give them an answer that very day, she was to be killed and eaten by both of them. in order the more strongly to impress the audience with her forlorn condition, whackinta sang a tender and touching ditty, composed by herself expressly for the occasion, and sang it so well that it was encored twice. to all this blunderbore listened with apparent rapture, and at length ventured to advance and discover himself; but the instant whackinta saw him she fell on her knees and trembled violently. "spare me, good king," she said; "do not slay me. i am a poor widow, and have been brought here by two bears against my will." "woman," said the giant, "my name is blunderbore. i am, as you perceive by my crown, a king; and i am a lonely man. if i kill the two bears you speak of, will you marry me?" "oh, do not ask me, good blunderbore! i cannot; it is impossible. i cannot love you--you are--forgive me for saying it--too big, and fierce, and ugly to love." blunderbore frowned angrily, and the audience applauded vociferously at this. "you cannot love me! ha!" exclaimed the giant, glaring round with clenched teeth. at this moment the big bear uttered an awful roar, whackinta gave a piercing scream and fled, and blunderbore hid himself hastily behind the hummock. the next moment the two bears bounded on the stage and began to gambol round it, tossing up their hind legs and roaring and leaping in a manner that drew forth repeated plaudits. at length the little bear discovered the baby, and, uttering a frantic roar of delight, took it in its fore paws and held it up. the big bear roared also, of course, and rushing forward caught the baby by the leg, and endeavoured to tear it away from the little bear, at which treatment the poor baby again commenced to cry passionately. in the struggle the baby's head came off, upon which the little bear put the head into its mouth and swallowed it. the big bear immediately did the same with the body; but its mouth was too small, and the body stuck fast and could not be finally disposed of until the little bear came to the rescue and pushed it forcibly down its throat. having finished this delicate little morsel the two bears rose on their hind legs and danced a hornpipe together--tom singleton playing the tune for them on a flute behind the scenes. when this was done they danced off the stage, and immediately, as if in the distance, was heard the voice of a man singing. it came gradually nearer, and at last buzzby, in the character of ben bolt, swaggered up to the foot-lights with his hands in his breeches pockets. "i'm a jolly, jolly tar, wot has comed from afar, an' it's all for to seek my fortin"-- sang buzzby. "but i've not found it yit," he continued, breaking into prose, "and there don't seem much prospect o' findin' it here anyhow. wot an 'orrible cold place it is, ugh!" buzzby was received with enthusiastic cheers, for he was dressed in the old familiar blue jacket, white ducks, pumps, and straw hat set jauntily on one side of his head--a costume which had not been seen for so many months by the crew of the _dolphin_, that their hearts warmed to it as if it were an old friend. buzzby acted with great spirit, and was evidently a prime favourite. he could scarcely recollect a word of his part, but he remembered the general drift of it, and had ready wit enough to extemporize. having explained that he was the only survivor of a shipwrecked crew, he proceeded to tell some of his adventures in foreign lands, and afterwards described part of his experiences in a song, to which the doctor played an accompaniment behind the scenes. the words were composed by himself, sung to the well-known scotch air, "corn riggs," and ran as follows:-- the jolly tar. my comrades, you must know it was many years ago i left my daddy's cottage in the greenwood o! and i jined a man-o'-war an' became a jolly tar, an' fought for king and country on the high seas o! pull, boys, cheerily, our home is on the sea pull, boys, merrily and lightly o! pull, boys, cheerily, the wind is passing free an' whirling up the foam an' water sky-high o! there's been many a noble fight, but trafalgar was the sight that beat the greeks and romans in their glory o! for britain's jolly sons worked the thunder-blazing guns, and nelson stood the bravest in the fore-front o! pull, boys, etc. a roaring cannon shot came an' hit the very spot where my leg goes click-an'-jumble in the socket o! and swept it overboard with the precious little hoard of pipe an' tin an' baccy in the pocket o! pull, boys, etc. they took me down below, an' they laid me with a row of killed and wounded messmates on a table o! then up comes dr. keg, an' says, here's a livin' leg i'll sew upon the stump if i am able o! pull, boys, etc. this good and sturdy limb had belonged to fightin' tim, an' scarcely had they sewed it on the socket o! when up the hatch i flew, an' dashed among the crew, an' sprang on board the frenchman like a rocket o! pull, boys, etc. 'twas this that gained the day, for that leg it cleared the way-- and the battle raged like fury while it lasted o! then ceased the shot and shell to fall upon the swell, and the union jack went bravely to the mast-head o!' pull, boys, etc. we need scarcely say that this song was enthusiastically encored, and that the chorus was done full justice to by the audience, who picked it up at once and sang it with lusty vehemence. at the last word ben bolt nodded familiarly, thrust his hands into his pockets, and swaggered off whistling "yankee doodle." it was a matter of uncertainty where he had swaggered off to, but it was conjectured that he had gone on his journey to anywhere that might turn up. meanwhile, blunderbore had been bobbing his head up and down behind the hummock in amazement at what he heard and saw, and when ben bolt made his exit he came forward. this was the signal for the two bears to discover him and rush on with a terrific roar. blunderbore instantly fetched them each a sounding whack on their skulls, leaped over both their backs, and bounded up the side of the iceberg, where he took refuge, and turned at bay on a little ice pinnacle constructed expressly for that purpose. an awful fight now ensued between the giant and the two bears. the pinnacle on which blunderbore stood was so low that the big bear, by standing up on its hind legs, could just scratch his toes, which caused the giant to jump about continually; but the sides of the iceberg were so smooth that the bears could not climb up it. this difficulty, indeed, constituted the great and amusing feature of the fight; for no sooner did the little bear creep up to the edge of the pinnacle, than the giant's tremendous club came violently down on its snout (which had been made of hard wood on purpose to resist the blows), and sent it sprawling back on the stage, where the big bear invariably chanced to be in the way, and always fell over it. then they both rose, and, roaring fearfully, renewed the attack, while blunderbore laid about him with the club ferociously. fortune, however, did not on this occasion favour the brave. the big bear at last caught the giant by the heel and pulled him to the ground; the little bear instantly seized him by the throat; and, notwithstanding his awful yells and struggles, it would have gone ill with blunderbore had not ben bolt opportunely arrived at that identical spot at that identical moment in the course of his travels. oh! it was a glorious thing to see the fear-nothing, dare-anything fashion in which, when he saw how matters stood, ben bolt threw down his stick and bundle, drew his cutlass, and attacked the two bears at once, single-handed, crying, "come on," in a voice of thunder. and it was a satisfactory thing to behold the way in which he cut and slashed at their heads (the heads having been previously prepared for such treatment), and the agility he displayed in leaping over their backs and under their legs, and holding on by their tails, while they vainly endeavoured to catch him. the applause was frequent and prolonged, and the two esquimau prisoners rolled about their burly figures and laughed till the tears ran down their fat cheeks. but when ben bolt suddenly caught the two bears by their tails, tied them together in a double knot, and fled behind a hummock, which the big bear passed on one side and the little bear on the other, and so, as a matter of course, stuck hard and fast, the laughter was excessive; and when the gallant british seaman again rushed forward, massacred the big bear with two terrific cuts, slew the little bear with one tremendous back-hander, and then sank down on one knee and pressed his hand to his brow as if he were exhausted, a cheer ran from stem to stern of the _dolphin_, the like of which had not filled the hull of that good ship since she was launched upon her ocean home! it was just at this moment that whackinta chanced, curiously enough, to return to this spot in the course of _her_ wanderings. she screamed in horror at the sight of the dead bears, which was quite proper and natural, and then she started at the sight of the exhausted bolt, and smiled sweetly--which was also natural--as she hastened to assist and sympathize with him. ben bolt fell in love with her at once, and told her so off-hand, to the unutterable rage of blunderbore, who recovered from his wounds at that moment, and seizing the sailor by the throat, vowed he would kill and quarter, and stew and boil, and roast and eat him in one minute if he didn't take care what he was about. the audience felt some fears for ben bolt at this point, but their delight knew no bounds when, shading the giant off and springing backwards, he buttoned up his coat and roared, rather than said, that though he were all the blunderbores and blunderbusses in the world rolled together and changed into one immortal blunder-_cannon_, he didn't care a pinch of bad snuff for him, and would knock all the teeth in his head down his throat. this valorous threat he followed up by shaking his fist close under the giant's nose and crying out, "come on'" but the giant did not come on. he fortunately recollected that he owed his life to the brave sailor; so he smiled, and saying he would be his friend through life, insisted on seizing him by the hand and shaking it violently. thereafter he took ben bolt and whackinta by their right hands, and leading them forward to the foot-lights, made them a long speech to the effect that he owed a debt of gratitude to the former for saving his life which he could never repay, and that he loved the latter too sincerely to stand in the way of her happiness. then he joined their right hands, and they went down on one knee, and he placed his hands on their heads, and looked up at the audience with a benignant smile, and the curtain fell amid rapturous cheers. in this play it seemed somewhat curious and unaccountable that whackinta forgot to inquire for her demolished baby, and appeared to feel no anxiety whatever about it. it was also left a matter of uncertainty whether ben bolt and his esquimau bride returned to live happily during the remainder of their lives in england, or took up their permanent abode with blunderbore. but it is not our province to criticise; we merely chronicle events as they occurred. the entertainments were to conclude with a hornpipe from mivins; but just as that elastic individual had completed the first of a series of complicated evolutions, and was about to commence the second, a vociferous barking of the dogs was heard outside, accompanied by the sound of human voices. the benches were deserted in a moment, and the men rushed upon deck, catching up muskets and cutlasses, which always stood in readiness, as they went. the sounds proceeded from a party of about twenty esquimaux who had been sent from the camp with the stolen property, and with a humble request that the offence might be forgiven, and their chief and his wife returned to them. they were all unarmed; and the sincerity of their repentance was further attested by the fact that they brought back, not only the hatchet and telescope, but a large assortment of minor articles that had not been missed. of course the apology was accepted; and, after speeches were delivered, and protestations of undying friendship made on both sides, the party were presented with a few trinkets and a plug of tobacco each, and sent back in a state of supreme happiness to their village, where for a week awatok kept the men of his tribe, and aninga the women, in a state of intense amazement by their minute descriptions of the remarkable doings of the white strangers. the friendship thus begun between the esquimaux and the _dolphin's_ crew was never once interrupted by any unpleasant collision during the months that they afterwards travelled and hunted in company. strength of muscle and promptitude in action are qualities which all nations in a savage state understand and respect, and the sailors proved that they possessed these qualities in a higher degree than themselves during the hardships and dangers incident to arctic life, while at the same time their seemingly endless resources and contrivances impressed the simple natives with the belief that white men could accomplish anything they chose to attempt. chapter xvii. _expeditions on foot--effects of darkness on dogs and men--the first death--caught in a trap--the esquimau camp._ "i don't know how it is, an' i can't tell wot it is, but so it is," remarked buzzby to grim, a week after the first night of the theatricals, "that that 'ere actin' has done us all a sight o' good. here we are as merry as crickets every one, although we're short o' fresh meat, and symptoms o' scurvy are beginning to show on some of us." "it's the mind havin' occupation, an' bein' prewented from broodin' over its misfortins," replied grim, with the air of a philosopher. grim did not put this remark in turned commas, although he ought to have done so, seeing that it was quoted from a speech made by the captain to singleton the day before. "you see," continued grim, "we've been actin' every night for a week past. well, if we hadn't been actin', we should ha' been thinkin' an' sleepin'; too much of which, you see, ain't good for us, buzzby, and would never pay." buzzby was not quite sure of this, but contented himself by saying, "well, mayhap ye're right. i'm sorry it's to come to an end so soon; but there is no doubt that fresh meat is ondispensable. an' that reminds me, messmate, that i've not cleaned my musket for two days, an' it wouldn't do to go on a hunt with a foul piece, nohow. we start at ten o'clock, a.m., don't we?" grim admitted that they did--remarking that it might just as well be ten p.m. for all the difference the _sun_ would make in it--and went below with buzzby. in the cabin active preparations were making for an extended hunting-expedition, which the empty state of the larder rendered absolutely necessary. for a week past the only fresh provisions they had procured were a white fox and a rabbit, notwithstanding the exertions of meetuck, fred, and the doctor, who with three separate parties had scoured the country for miles round the ship. scurvy was now beginning to appear among them, and captain guy felt that although they had enough of salt provisions to last them the greater part of the winter, if used with economy, they could not possibly subsist on these alone. an extended expedition in search of seals and walruses was therefore projected. it was determined that this should consist of two parties, the one to proceed north, the other to travel south in the tracks of the esquimaux, who had left their temporary village in search of walruses, they also being reduced almost to a state of starvation. the plan of the expedition was as follows:-- one party, consisting of ten men, under bolton, the first mate, was to take the largest sledge, and the whole team of dogs, on which, with twelve days' provisions and their sleeping-bags, they were to proceed northward along the coast as far as possible; and, in the event of being unsuccessful, they were to turn homeward on the eighth day, and make the best of their way back on short allowance. the other party, consisting of fifteen men, under saunders, the second mate, was to set off to the southward on foot, dragging a smaller sledge behind them, and endeavour to find the esquimaux, who, it was supposed, could not be far off, and would probably have fresh meat in their camp. it was a clear, cold, and beautiful star-light day when the two parties started simultaneously on their separate journeys. the coruscations of the aurora were more than usually vivid, and the snow gave forth that sharp, dry, _crunching_ sound, under the heels of the men as they moved about, that denotes intense frost. "mind that you hug the land, mr. bolton," said the captain at parting; "don't get farther out on the floes than you can help. to meet with a gale on the ice is no joke in these latitudes." the first mate promised obedience; and the second mate having been also cautioned to hug the land, and not to use their small supply of spirits for any other purpose than that of lighting the lamp, except in cases of the most urgent need, they set off with three hearty cheers, which were returned by captain guy and those who remained with him in the ship. all the able and effective men were sent on these expeditions; those who remained behind were all more or less affected with scurvy, except the captain himself, whose energetic nature seemed invulnerable, and whose flow of spirits never failed. indeed, it is probable that to this hearty and vigorous temperament, under god, he owed his immunity from disease; for, since provisions began to fail, he along with all his officers had fared precisely like the men--the few delicacies they possessed having been reserved for the sick. unfortunately, their stock of lime-juice was now getting low, and the crew had to be put on short allowance. as this acid is an excellent anti-scorbutic, or preventive of scurvy, as well as a cure, its rapid diminution was viewed with much concern by all on board. the long-continued absence of the sun, too, now began to tell more severely than ever on men and dogs. on the very day the expeditions took their departure one of the latter, which had been left behind on account of illness, was attacked with a strange disease, of which several of the team eventually died before the winter came to an end. it was seized with spasms, and, after a few wild paroxysms, lapsed into a lethargic state. in this condition the animal functions went on apparently as well as usual, the appetite continued not only good but voracious. the disease was clearly mental. it barked furiously at nothing, and walked in straight or curved lines perseveringly; or, at other times, it remained for hours in moody silence, and then started off howling as if pursued. in thirty-six hours after the first attack the poor animal died, and was buried in the snow on store island. this was the first death that had occurred on board, and although it was only a dog, and not one of the favourites, its loss cast a gloom over the crew for several days. it was the first blow of the fell destroyer in the midst of their little community, which could ill spare the life even of one of the lower animals, and they felt as if the point of the wedge had now been entered, and might be driven farther home ere long. the expressive delight of the poor dogs on being admitted to the light of the cabin showed how ardently they longed for the return of the sun. it was now the beginning of december, and the darkness was complete. not the faintest vestige of twilight appeared even at noon. midnight and noonday were alike. except when the stars and aurora were bright, there was not light enough to distinguish a man's form at ten paces distant, and a blacker mass than the surrounding darkness alone indicated where the high cliffs encompassed the bay of mercy. when therefore any one came on deck, the first thing he felt on groping his way about was the cold noses of the dogs pushed against his hands, as they frisked and gambolled round him. they howled at the appearance of an accidental light, as if they hoped the sun, or at least the moon, were going to rise once more, and they rejoiced on being taken below, and leaped up in the men's faces for sympathy, and whined, and all but spoke with excess of satisfaction. the effect of the monotony of long-continued darkness and the absence of novelty had much to do also with the indifferent health of many of the men. after the two expeditions were sent out, those who remained behind became much more low spirited, and the symptoms of scurvy increased. in these circumstances captain guy taxed his inventive genius to the utmost to keep up their spirits and engage their minds. he assumed an air of bustling activity, and attached a degree of importance to the regular performance of the light duties of the ship that they did not in reality possess apart from their influence as discipline. the cabin was swept and aired, the stove cleaned, the fittings dusted, the beds made, the tides, thermometers, and barometers registered; the logs posted up, clothes mended, food cooked, traps visited, etc., with the regularity of clockwork, and every possible plan adopted to occupy every waking hour, and to prevent the men from brooding over their position. when the labours of the day were over, plans were proposed for getting up a concert, or a new play, in order to surprise the absentees on their return. stories were told over and over again, and enjoyed if good, or valued far beyond their worth if bad. when old stories failed, and old books were read, new stories were invented; and here the genius of some was drawn out, while the varied information of others became of great importance. tom singleton, in particular, entertained the men with songs and lively tunes on the flute, and told stories, as one of them remarked, "like a book." joseph west, too, was an invaluable comrade in this respect. he had been a studious boy at school, and a lover of books of all kinds, especially books of travel and adventure. his memory was good, and his inventive powers excellent, so that he recalled wonderful and endless anecdotes from the unfathomable stores of his memory, strung them together into a sort of story, and told them in a soft, pleasant voice that captivated the ears of his audience; but poor west was in delicate health, and could not speak so long as his messmates would have wished. the rough life they led, and the frequent exposure to intense cold, had considerably weakened a frame which had never been robust, and an occasional cough, when he told a long story, sometimes warned him to desist. games, too, were got up. "hide and seek" was revived with all the enthusiasm of boyhood, and "fox-chase" was got up with tremendous energy. in all this the captain was the most earnest and vigorous, and in doing good to others he unconsciously did the greatest possible amount of good to himself; for his forgetfulness of self, and the activity of his mind in catering for the wants and amusements of his men, had the effect of imparting a cheerfulness to his manner, and a healthy tone to his mind, that tended powerfully to sustain and invigorate his body. but despite all this, the men grew worse, and a few of them showed such alarming symptoms that the doctor began to fear there would soon be a breach in their numbers. meanwhile saunders and his fifteen men trudged steadily to the southward, dragging their sledge behind them. the ice-floes, however, turned out to be very rugged and hummocky, and retarded them so much that they made but slow progress until they passed the red-snow valley, and doubled the point beyond it. here they left the floes, and took to the natural highway afforded by the ice-belt, along which they sped more rapidly, and arrived at the esquimau village in the course of about five hours. here all was deserted and silent. bits of seal and walrus hide and bones and tusks were scattered about in all directions, but no voices issued from the dome-shaped huts of snow. "they're the likest things to bee-skeps i ever saw," remarked saunders, as he and his party stood contemplating the little group of huts. "and they don't seem to care much for big doors." saunders referred here to the low tunnels, varying from three to twelve feet, that formed the entrance to each hut. "mayhap there's some o' them asleep inside," suggested tom green, the carpenter's mate; "suppose we go in and see." "i daresay ye're no far wrong," replied the second mate, to whom the idea seemed to be a new one. "go in, davie summers, ye're a wee chap, and can bend your back better than the most o' us." davie laughed as he went down on his hands and knees, and creeping in at the mouth of one of the tunnels, which barely permitted him to enter in that position, disappeared. several of the party at the same time paid similar visits to the other huts, but they all returned with the same remark--"empty." the interiors were begrimed with lamp-black and filth, and from their appearance seemed to have been deserted only a short time before. buzzby, who formed one of the party, rubbed his nose for some time in great perplexity, until he drew from davie summers the remark that his proboscis was red enough by nature and didn't need rubbing. "it's odd," he remarked; "they seems to ha' bin here for some time, and yit they've niver looked near the ship but once. wot's become on 'em _i_ don't know." "don't you?" said davie in a tone of surprise; "now that _is_ odd. one would have thought that a fellow who keeps his weather-eye so constantly open should know everything." "don't chaff, boy, but lend a hand to undo the sled-lashings. i see that mr. saunders is agoin' to anchor here for the night." the second mate, who had been taking a hasty glance at the various huts of the village, selected two of the largest as a lodging for his men, and having divided them into two gangs, ordered them to turn in and sleep as hard as possible. "s'pose we may sup first?" said summers in a whining tone of mock humility. "in coorse you may," answered tom green, giving the lad a push that upset him in the snow. "come here, buzzby, i want to speak to 'ee," said saunders, leading him aside. "it seems to me that the esquimaux canna be very far off, and i observe their tracks are quite fresh in the snow leadin' to the southward, so i mean to have a night march after them; but as the men seem pretty weel tired i'll only take two o' the strongest. who d'ye think might go?" "i'll go myself, sir." "very good; and who else, think 'ee? amos parr seems freshest." "i think tom green's the man wot can do it. i seed him capsize davie summers jist now in the snow; an' when a man can skylark, i always know he's got lots o' wind in 'im." "very good. then go, buzzby, and order him to get ready, and look sharp about it." "ay, ay, sir," cried buzzby, as he turned to prepare green for the march. in pursuance of this plan, an hour afterwards saunders and his two followers left the camp with their sleeping-bags and a day's provisions on their shoulders, having instructed the men to follow with the sledge at the end of five hours, which period was deemed sufficient time for rest and refreshment. for two hours the trio plodded silently onward over the ice-belt by the light of a clear, starry sky. at the end of that time clouds began to gather to the westward, rendering the way less distinct, but still leaving sufficient light to render travelling tolerably easy. then they came to a part of the coast where the ice-belt clung close to a line of perpendicular cliffs of about three miles in extent. the ice-belt here was about twenty feet broad. on the left the cliffs referred to rose sheer up several hundred feet; on the right the ice-belt descended only about three feet to the floes. here our three adventurous travellers were unexpectedly caught in a trap. the tide rose so high that it raised the sea-ice to a level with the ice-belt, and, welling up between the two, completely overflowed the latter. the travellers pushed on as quickly as possible, for the precipices on their left forbade all hope of escape in that direction, while the gap between the ice-belt and the floes, which was filled with a gurgling mixture of ice and water, equally hemmed them in on the right. worse than all, the tide continued to rise, and when it reached half-way to their knees, they found it dangerous to advance for fear of stepping into rents and fissures which were no longer visible. "what's to be done noo?" inquired saunders, coming to a full stop, and turning to buzzby with a look of blank despair. "dun'no'," replied buzzby, with an equally blank look of despair; as he stood with his legs apart and his arms hanging down by his side--the very personification of imbecility. "if i wos a fly i'd know wot to do. i'd walk up the side o' that cliff till i got to a dry bit, and then i'd stick on. but, not bein' a fly, in coorse i can't." buzzby said this in a recklessly facetious tone, and tom green followed it up with a remark to the effect that "he'd be blowed if he ever wos in sich a fix in his life;" intimating his belief, at the same time, that his "toes wos freezin'." "no fear o' that," said the second mate; "they'll no freeze as lang as they're in the water. we'll just have to stand here till the tide goes doon." saunders said this in a dogged tone, and immediately put his plan in force by crossing his arms and planting his feet firmly on the submerged ice and wide apart. buzzby and green, however, adopted the wiser plan of moving constantly about within a small circle, and after saunders had argued for half-an-hour as to the advantages of his plan, he followed their example. the tide rose above their knees, but they had fortunately on boots made by the esquimaux, which were perfectly waterproof; their feet, therefore, although very cold, were quite dry. in an hour and three-quarters the ice-belt was again uncovered, and the half-frozen travellers resumed their march with the utmost energy. two hours later and they came to a wide expanse of level ground at the foot of the high cliffs, where a group of esquimau huts, similar to those they had left, was descried. "they're all deserted too," remarked buzzby. but buzzby was wrong, for at that moment a very small and particularly fat little boy in a fox-skin dress appeared at the mouth of one of the low tunnels that formed the entrance to the nearest hut. this boy looked exactly like a lady's muff with a hairy head above it and a pair of feet below. the instant he observed the strangers he threw up his arms, uttered a shrill cry of amazement, and disappeared in the tunnel. next instant a legion of dogs rushed out of the huts barking furiously, and on their heels came the entire population, creeping on their hands and knees out of the tunnel mouths like dark hairy monsters issuing from their holes. they had spears and knives of ivory with them; but a glance showed the two parties that they were friends, and in a few moments awatok and his comrades were chattering vociferously round the sailors, and endeavouring by word and sign to make themselves understood. the esquimaux received the three visitors and the rest of the sledge party, who came up a few hours later, with the utmost hospitality. but we have not space to tell of how they dragged them into their smoky huts of snow; and how they offered them raw seal-flesh to eat; and how, on the sailors expressing disgust, they laughed, and added moss mixed with oil to their lamps to enable them to cook their food; and how they managed by signs and otherwise to understand that the strangers had come in search of food, at which they (the esquimaux) were not surprised; and how they assured their visitors (also by means of signs) that they would go a-hunting with them on the following day, whereat they (the sailors) were delighted, and shook hands all round. neither have we space to tell of how the visitors were obliged to conform to custom, and sleep in the same huts with men, women, children, and dogs, and how they felt thankful to be able to sleep anywhere and anyhow without being frozen. all this, and a great deal more, we are compelled to skip over here, and leave it, unwillingly, to the vivid imagination of our reader. chapter xviii. _the hunting-party--reckless driving--a desperate encounter with a walrus, etc._ late in the day, by the bright light of the stars, the sailors and the esquimaux left the snow-huts of the village, and travelling out to seaward on the floes, with dogs and sledges, lances and spears, advanced to do battle with the walrus. the northern lights were more vivid than usual, making the sky quite luminous; and there was a sharp freshness in the air, which, while it induced the hunters to pull their hoods more tightly round their faces, also sent their blood careering more briskly through their veins, as they drove swiftly over the ice in the esquimau sledges. "did ye ever see walruses afore, davie?" inquired buzzby, who sat beside summers on the leading sledge. "none but what i've seed on this voyage." "they're _re_markable creeturs," rejoined buzzby, slapping his hand on his thigh. "i've seed many a one in my time, an' i can tell ye, lad, they're ugly customers. they fight like good uns, and give the esquimaux a deal o' trouble to kill them--they do." "tell me a story about 'em, buzzby--do, like a good chap," said davie summers, burying his nose in the skirts of his hairy garment to keep it warm. "you're a capital hand at a yarn; now, fire away." "a story, lad; i don't know as how i can exactly tell ye a story, but i'll give ye wot they calls a hanecdote. it wos about five years ago, more or less, i wos out in baffin's bay, becalmed off one o' the esquimau settlements, when we wos lookin' over the side at the lumps of ice floatin' past, up got a walrus not very far off shore, and out went half-a-dozen kayaks, as they call the esquimau men's boats, and they all sot on the beast at once. well, it wos one o' the brown walruses, which is always the fiercest; and the moment he got the first harpoon he went slap at the man that threw it. but the fellow backed out; and then a cry was raised to let it alone, as it wos a brown walrus. one young esquimau, howsiver, would have another slap at it, and went so close that the brute charged, upset the kayak, and ripped the man up with his tusks. seein' this, the other esquimaux made a dash at it, and wounded it badly; but the upshot wos that the walrus put them all to flight and made off, clear away, with six harpoons fast in its hide." "busby's tellin' ye gammon," roared tom green, who rode on the second sledge in rear of that on which davie summers sat. "what is't all about?" "about gammon, of coorse," retorted davie. "keep yer mouth shut for fear your teeth freeze." "can't ye lead us a better road?" shouted saunders, who rode on the third sledge; "my bones are rattlin' about inside o' me like a bag o' ninepins." "give the dogs a cut, old fellow," said buzzby, with a chuckle and a motion of his arm to the esquimau who drove his sledge. the esquimau did not understand the words, but he quite understood the sly chuckle and the motion of the arm, so he sent the lash of the heavy whip with a loud crack over the backs of the team. "hold on for life!" cried davie, as the dogs sprang forward with a bound. the part they were about to pass over was exceedingly rough and broken, and buzzby resolved to give his shipmates a shake. the pace was tremendous. the powerful dogs drew their loads after them with successive bounds, which caused a succession of crashes, as the sledges sprang from lump to lump of ice, and the men's teeth snapped in a truly savage manner. "b-a-ck ye-r t-to-p-sails, will ye?" shouted amos parr. but the delighted esquimau leader, who entered quite into the joke, had no intention whatever of backing his top-sails; he administered another crack to the team, which yelled madly, and, bounding over a wide chasm in the ice, came down with a crash, which snapped the line of the leading dog and set it free. here buzzby caused the driver to pull up. "stop, ye varmint. come to an anchor," said he. "is that a way to drive the poor dogs?" "ye might have stopped him sooner, i think," cried the second mate in wrath. "hai!" shouted the band of esquimaux, pointing to a hummock of ice a few hundred yards in advance of the spot on which they stood. instantly all were silent, and gazing intently ahead at a dark object that burst upwards through the ice. "a walrus!" whispered buzzby. "so it is," answered amos parr. "i've my doobts on that point," remarked saunders. before the doubts of the second mate could be resolved, the esquimaux uttered another exclamation, and pointed to another dark object a quarter of a mile to the right. it was soon found that there were several of these ocean elephants sporting about in the neighbourhood, and bursting up the young ice that had formed on several holes, by using their huge heads as battering-rams. it was quickly arranged that the party should divide into three, and while a few remained behind to watch and restrain the dogs, the remainder were to advance on foot to the attack. saunders, buzzby, amos parr, davie summers, and awatok formed one party, and advanced with two muskets and several spears towards the walrus that had been first seen, the sailors taking care to keep in rear of awatok in order to follow his lead, for they were as yet ignorant of the proper mode of attack. awatok led the party stealthily towards a hummock, behind which he caused them to crouch until the walrus should dive. this it did in a few minutes, and then they all rushed from their place of concealment towards another hummock that lay about fifty yards from, the hole. just as they reached it and crouched, the walrus rose, snorting the brine from its shaggy muzzle, and lashing the water into foam with its flippers. "losh, what a big un!" exclaimed saunders in amazement; and well he might, for this was an unusually large animal, more like an elephant in size than anything else. it had two enormous ivory tusks, with which it tore and pounded large fragments from the ice-tables, while it barked like a gigantic dog, and rolled its heavy form about in sport. awatok now whispered to his comrades, and attempted to get them to understand that they must follow him as fast as possible at the next run. suddenly the walrus dived. awatok rushed forward, and in another instant stood at the edge of the hole with his spear in readiness in his right hand and the coil of line in his left. the others joined him instantly, and they had scarcely come up when the huge monster again rose to the surface. saunders and buzzby fired at his head the moment it appeared above water, and awatok at the same time planted a spear in his breast, and ran back with the coil. the others danced about in an excited state, throwing their spears and missing their mark, although it was a big one, frequently. "give him a lance-thrust, amos," cried saunders, reloading his piece. but amos could not manage it, for the creature lashed about so furiously that, although he made repeated attempts, he failed to do more than prick its tough sides and render it still more savage. buzzby, too, made several daring efforts to lance it, but failed, and nearly slipped into the hole in his recklessness. it was a wild scene of confusion--the spray was dashed over the ice round the hole, and the men, as they ran about in extreme excitement, slipped and occasionally tumbled in their haste; while the maddened brute glared at them like a fiend, and bellowed in its anger and pain. suddenly it dived, leaving the men staring at each other. the sudden cessation of noise and turmoil had a very strange effect. "is't away?" inquired saunders, with a look of chagrin. he was answered almost instantly by the walrus reappearing, and making furious efforts by means of its flippers and tusks to draw itself out upon the ice, while it roared with redoubled energy. the shot that was instantly fired seemed to have no effect, and the well-directed harpoon of awatok was utterly disregarded by it. amos parr, however, gave it a lance-thrust that caused it to howl vehemently, and dyed the foam with its blood. "hand me a spear, buzzby," cried saunders; "the musket-balls seem to hurt him as little as peas. oot o' my gait." the second mate made a rush so tremendous that something awful would infallibly have resulted, had he not struck his foot against a bit of ice and fallen violently on his breast. the impetus with which he had started shot him forward till his head was within a foot of the walrus's grim muzzle. for one moment the animal looked at the man, as if it were surprised at his audacity, and then it recommenced its frantic struggles, snorting blood, and foam, and water into saunders's face as he scrambled out of its way. immediately after, awatok fixed another harpoon in its side, and it dived again. the struggle that ensued was tremendous, and the result seemed for a long time to be doubtful. again and again shots were fired and spear-thrusts made with effect, but the huge creature seemed invulnerable. its ferocity and strength remained unabated, while the men--sailors and esquimau alike--were nearly exhausted. the battle had now lasted three hours; the men were panting from exertion; the walrus, still bellowing, was clinging to the edge of the ice, which for several yards round the hole was covered with blood and foam. "wot a brute it is!" said buzzby, sitting down on a lump of ice and looking at it in despair. "we might have killed it lang ago had i not wet my gun," growled saunders, regarding his weapon, which was completely drenched, with a look of contempt. "give it another poke, awatok," cried amos parr; "you'll know best whereabouts its life lies; i can make nothin' o't." awatok obeyed, and gave it a thrust under the left flipper that seemed to reach its heart, for it fell back into the water and struggled violently. at the same moment davie summers mounted to the top of a hummock, part of which overhung the pool, and launched a harpoon down upon its back. this latter blow seemed to revive its ferocity, for it again essayed to clamber out on the ice, and looked up at davie with a glance of seeming indignation; while buzzby, who had approached, fell backward as he retreated from before it. at the same time saunders succeeded in getting his musket to go off. the ball struck it in the eye, and entering the brain, caused instant death, a result which was greeted with three enthusiastic cheers. the getting of this enormous creature out of the water would have been a matter of no small difficulty had there not been such a large party present. even as it was it took them a considerable time to accomplish this feat, and to cut it up and pack it on the sledges. while the battle above described was going on, two smaller walruses had been killed and secured, and the esquimaux were in a state of great glee, for previous to the arrival of the sailors they had been unsuccessful in their hunts, and had been living on short allowance. on returning home there was a general feasting and merrymaking, and saunders felt that if he remained there long they would not only eat up their own meat, but his also. he therefore resolved to return immediately to the ship with his prize, and leave part of his men behind to continue the hunt until he should return with the sledge. but he was prevented from putting this intention into practice by a hurricane which burst over the arctic regions with inconceivable bitterness, and for two days kept all the inhabitants of the snow-village confined to their huts. this hurricane was the fiercest that had swept over these bleak regions of ice since the arrival of the _dolphin_. the wind shrieked as it swept round the cliffs, and down the ravines, and out upon the frozen sea, as if a legion of evil spirits were embodied and concentrated in each succeeding blast. the snow-drift rose in solid masses, whirled madly round for a few seconds, and then was caught by the blast and swept away like sheets of white flame. the thermometer stood at ° below zero, a temperature that was mild compared with what it usually had been of late, but the fierce wind abstracted heat from everything exposed to it so rapidly that neither man nor beast could face it for a moment. buzzby got a little bit of his chin frozen while he merely put his head out at the door of the hut to see how the weather looked; and davie summers had one of his fingers slightly frozen while in the act of carrying in one of the muskets that had been left outside by mistake. as for the esquimaux, they recked not of the weather. their snow-huts were warm, and their mouths were full, so like wise men and women they waited patiently within doors till the storm should blow itself out. the doings of these poor people were very curious. they ate voraciously, and evidently preferred their meat raw. but when the sailors showed disgust at this, they at once made a small fire of moss mingled with blubber, over which they half-cooked their food. their mode of procuring fire was curious. two small stones were taken--one a piece of white quartz, the other a piece of iron-stone--and struck together smartly. the few sparks that flew out were thrown upon a kind of white down, found on the willows, under which was placed a lump of dried moss. it was usually a considerable time before they succeeded in catching a spark; but, once caught, they had no difficulty in blowing it into a flame. they had also an ingenious contrivance for melting snow. this was a flat stone, supported by two other stones, and inclined slightly at one end. upon this flat stone a lump of snow was placed, and below it was kindled a small fire of moss and blubber. when the stone became heated, the snow melted and flowed down the incline into a small seal-skin cup placed there to catch it. during the continuance of the storm the sailors shared the food and lodging of these esquimaux. they were a fat, oily, hospitable, dirty race, and vied with each other in showing kindness to those who had been thus thrown into their society. as davie summers expressed it, "they were regular trumps;" and according to buzzby's opinion, "they wos the jolliest set o' human walruses wot he had ever comed across in all his travels; and he ought to know, for he had always kep' his weather-eye open, he had, and wouldn't give in on that p'int, he wouldn't, to no man livin'." chapter xix. _the northern party--a narrow escape, and a great discovery--esquimaux again, and a joyful surprise._ it is interesting to meditate, sometimes, on the deviousness of the paths by which men are led in earthly affairs--even when the starting-point and the object of pursuit are the same. the two parties which left the _dolphin_ had for their object the procuring of fresh food. the one went south and the other north; but their field was the same--the surface of the frozen sea and the margin of the ice-girt shore. yet how different their experiences and results were the sequel will show. as we have already said, the northern party was in command of bolton, the first mate, and consisted of ten men, among whom were our hero, fred, peter grim, o'riley, and meetuck, with the whole team of dogs and the large sledge. being fine weather when they set out, they travelled rapidly, making twenty miles, as near as they could calculate, in the first six hours. the dogs pulled famously, and the men stepped out well at first, being cheered and invigorated mentally by the prospect of an adventurous excursion and fresh meat. at the end of the second day they buried part of their stock of provisions at the foot of a conspicuous cliff, intending to pick it up on their return; and thus lightened, they advanced more rapidly, keeping farther out on the floes, in hopes of falling in with walruses or seals. their hopes, however, were doomed to disappointment. they got only one seal, and that was a small one--scarcely sufficient to afford a couple of meals to the dogs. they were "misfortunate entirely," as o'riley remarked; and to add to their misfortunes, the floe-ice became so rugged that they could scarcely advance at all. "things grow worse and worse," remarked grim, as the sledge, for the twentieth time that day, plunged into a crack in the ice, and had to be unloaded ere it could be got out. "the sledge won't stand much o' sich work, and if it breaks--good-bye to it, for it won't mend without wood, and there's none here." "no fear of it," cried bolton encouragingly; "it's made of material as tough as your own sinews, grim, and won't give way easily, as the thumps it has withstood already prove.--has it never struck you, fred," he continued, turning to our hero who was plodding forward in silence--"has it never struck you that when things in this world get very bad, and we begin to feel inclined to give up, they somehow or other begin to get better?" "why, yes, i have noticed that; but i have a vague sort of feeling just now that things are not going to get better. i don't know whether it's this long-continued darkness, or the want of good food, but i feel more downcast than i ever was in my life before." bolton's remark had been intended to cheer, but fred's answer proved that a discussion of the merits of the question was not likely to have a good effect on the men, whose spirits were evidently very much cast down, so he changed the subject. fortunately, at that time an incident occurred which effected the mate's purpose better than any efforts man could have made. it has frequently happened that when arctic voyagers have, from sickness and long confinement during a monotonous winter, become so depressed in spirits that games and amusements of every kind bailed to rouse them from their lethargic despondency, sudden danger has given to their minds the needful impulse, and effected a salutary change, for a time at least, in their spirits. such was the case at the present time. the men were so worn with hard travel and the want of fresh food, and depressed by disappointment and long-continued darkness, that they failed in their attempts to cheer each other, and at length relapsed into moody silence. fred's thoughts turned constantly to his father, and he ceased to remark cheerfully, as was his wont, on passing objects. even o'riley's jests became few and far between, and at last ceased altogether. bolton alone kept up his spirits, and sought to cheer his men, the feeling of responsibility being, probably, the secret of his superiority over them in this respect. but even bolton's spirits began to sink at last. while they were thus groping sadly along among the hummocks, a large fragment of ice was observed to break off from a berg just over their heads. "look out! follow me, quick!" shouted the first mate in a loud, sharp voice of alarm, at the same time darting in towards the side of the berg. the startled men obeyed the order just in time, for they had barely reached the side of the berg when the enormous pinnacle fell, and was shattered into a thousand fragments on the spot they had just left. a rebounding emotion sent the blood in a crimson flood to fred's forehead, and this was followed by a feeling of gratitude to the almighty for the preservation of himself and the party. leaving the dangerous vicinity of the bergs, they afterwards kept more in-shore. "what can yonder mound be?" said fred, pointing to an object that was faintly seen at a short distance off upon the bleak shore. "an esquimau hut, maybe," replied grim.--"what think'ee, meetuck?" meetuck shook his head and looked grave, but made no reply. "why don't you answer?" said bolton. "but come along, we'll soon see." meetuck now made various ineffectual attempts to dissuade the party from examining the mound, which turned out to be composed of stones heaped upon each other; but as all the conversation of which he was capable failed to enlighten his companions as to what the pile was, they instantly set to work to open a passage into the interior, believing that it might contain fresh provisions, as the esquimaux were in the habit of thus preserving their superabundant food from bears and wolves. in half-an-hour a hole, large enough for a man to creep through, was formed, and fred entered, but started back with an exclamation of horror on finding himself in the presence of a human skeleton, which was seated on the ground in the centre of this strange tomb, with its head and arms resting on the knees. "it must be an esquimau grave," said fred, as he retreated hastily; "that must be the reason why meetuck tried to hinder us." "i should like to see it," said grim, stooping and thrusting his head and shoulders into the hole. "what have you got there?" asked bolton, as grim drew back and held up something in his hand. "don't know exactly. it's like a bit o' cloth." on examination the article was found to be a shred of coarse cloth, of a blue or black colour; and being an unexpected substance to meet with in such a place, bolton turned round with it to meetuck in the hope of obtaining some information. but meetuck was gone. while the sailors were breaking into the grave, meetuck had stood aloof with a displeased expression of countenance, as if he were angry at the rude desecration of a countryman's tomb; but the moment his eye fell on the shred of cloth an expression of mingled surprise and curiosity crossed his countenance, and, without uttering a word, he slipped noiselessly into the hole, from which he almost immediately issued bearing several articles in his hand. these he held up to view, and with animated words and gesticulations explained that this was the grave of a white man, not of a native. the articles he brought out were a pewter plate and a silver table-spoon. "there's a name of some kind written here," said bolton, as he carefully scrutinized the spoon. "look here, fred, your eyes are better than mine, see if you can make it out." fred took it with a trembling hand, for a strange feeling of dread had seized possession of his heart, and he could scarcely bring himself to look upon it. he summoned up courage, however; but at the first glance his hand fell down by his side, and a dimness came over his eyes, for the word "_pole star_" was engraven on the handle. he would have fallen to the ground had not bolton caught him. "don't give way, lad, the ship may be all right. perhaps this is one o' the crew that died." fred did not answer, but recovering himself with a strong effort, he said, "pull down the stones, men." the men obeyed in silence, and the poor boy sat down on a rock to await the result in trembling anxiety. a few minutes sufficed to disentomb the skeleton, for the men sympathized with their young comrade, and worked with all their energies. "cheer up, fred," said bolton, coming and laying his hand on the youth's shoulder; "it's _not_ your father. there is a bit of _black_ hair sticking to the scalp." with a fervent expression of thankfulness fred rose and examined the skeleton, which had been placed in a sort of sack of skin, but was destitute of clothing. it was quite dry, and must have been there a long time. nothing else was found, but from the appearance of the skull and the presence of the plate and spoon, there could be no doubt that it was that of one of the _pole star's_ crew. it was now resolved that they should proceed along the coast and examine every creek and bay for traces of the lost vessel. "o bolton! my heart misgives me," said fred, as they drove along; "i fear that they have all perished." "niver a bit, sir," said o'riley, in a sympathizing tone; "yon chap must have died and been buried here be the crew as they wint past." "you forget that sailors don't bury men under mounds of stone, with pewter plates and spoons beside them." o'riley was silenced, for the remark was unanswerable. "he may ha' bin left or lost on the shore, and been found by the esquimaux," suggested peter grim. "is that not another tomb?" inquired one of the men, pointing towards an object which stood on the end of a point or cape towards which they were approaching. ere any one could reply, their ears were saluted by the well-known bark of a pack of esquimau dogs. in another moment they dashed into the midst of a snow village, and were immediately surrounded by the excited natives. for some time no information could be gleaned from their interpreter, who was too excited to make use of his meagre amount of english. they observed, however, that the natives, although much excited, did not seem to be so much surprised at the appearance of white men amongst them as those were whom they had first met with near the ship. in a short time meetuck, apparently, had expended all he had to say to his friends, and turned to make explanations to bolton in a very excited tone; but little more could be made out than that what he said had some reference to white men. at length, in desperation, he pointed to a large hut, which seemed to be the principal one of the village, and dragging the mate towards it, made signs to him to enter. bolton hesitated an instant. "he wants you to see the chief of the tribe, no doubt," said fred; "you'd better go in at once." a loud voice shouted something in the esquimau language from within the hut. at the sound fred's heart beat violently, and pushing past the mate he crept through the tunnelled entrance and stood within. there was little furniture in this rude dwelling. a dull flame flickered in a stone lamp which hung from the roof, and revealed the figure of a large esquimau reclining on a couch of skins at the raised side of the hut. the man looked up hastily as fred entered, and uttered a few unintelligible words. "father!" cried fred, gasping for breath, and springing forward. captain ellice, for it was indeed he, started with apparent difficulty and pain into a sitting posture, and throwing back his hood revealed a face whose open, hearty, benignant expression shone through a coat of dark brown which long months of toil and exposure had imprinted on it. it was thin, however, and careworn, and wore an expression that seemed to be the result of long-continued suffering. "father!" he exclaimed in an earnest tone; "who calls me father?" "don't you know me, father?--don't you remember fred?--look at--" fred checked himself, for the wild look of his father frightened him. "ah! these dreams," murmured the old man; "i wish they did not come so--" placing his hand on his forehead, he fell backwards in a state of insensibility into the arms of his son. chapter xx. _keeping it down--mutual explanations--the true comforter--death--new-year's day._ it need scarcely be said that the sailors outside did not remain long in ignorance of the unexpected and happy discovery related in the last chapter. bolton, who had crept in after fred, with proper delicacy of feeling retired the moment he found how matters stood, and left father and son to expend, in the privacy of that chamber of snow, those feelings and emotions which can be better imagined than described. the first impulse of the men was to give three cheers, but bolton checked them in the bud. "no, no, lads. ye must hold on," he said, in an eager but subdued voice. "doubtless it would be pleasant to vent our feelings in a hearty cheer, but it would startle the old gentleman inside. get along with you, and let us get ready a good supper." "o morther!" exclaimed o'riley, holding on to his sides as if he believed what he said, "me biler'll bust av ye don't let me screech." "squeeze down the safety-valve a bit longer, then," cried bolton, as they hurried along with the whole population to the outskirts of the village. "now, then, ye may fire away, they won't hear ye--huzza!" a long enthusiastic cheer instantly burst from the sailors, and was immediately followed by a howl of delight from the esquimaux, who capered round their visitors with uncouth gestures and grinning faces. entering one of the largest huts, preparations for supper were promptly begun. the esquimaux happened to be well supplied with walrus-flesh, so the lamps were replenished, and the hiss of the frying steaks and dropping fat speedily rose above all other sounds. meanwhile, fred and his father, having mutually recovered somewhat of their wonted composure, began to tell each other the details of their adventures since they last met, while the former prepared a cup of coffee and a steak for their mutual comfort. "but, father," said fred, busying himself at the lamp, "you have not yet told me how you came here, and what has become of the _pole star_, and how it was that one of your men came to be buried in the esquimau fashion, and how you got your leg broken." "truly, fred, i have not told you all that, and to give it you all in detail will afford us many a long hour of converse hereafter, if it please god, whose tenderness and watchful care of me has never failed. but i can give you a brief outline of it thus:-- "i got into baffin's bay and made a good fishing of it the first year, but was beset in the ice, and compelled to spend two winters in these regions. the third year we were liberated, and had almost got fairly on our homeward voyage when a storm blew us to the north and carried us up here. then our good brig was nipped and went to the bottom, and all the crew were lost except myself and one man. we succeeded in leaping from one piece of loose ice to another until we reached the solid floe and gained the land, where we were kindly received by the esquimaux. but poor wilson did not survive long. his constitution had never been robust, and he died of consumption a week after we landed. the esquimaux buried him after their own fashion, and, as i afterwards found, had buried a plate and a spoon along with him. these, with several other articles, had been washed ashore from the wreck. since then i have been living the life of an esquimau, awaiting an opportunity of escape either by a ship making its appearance or a tribe of natives travelling south. i soon picked up their language, and was living in comparative comfort, when, during a sharp fight i chanced to have with a polar bear, i fell and broke my leg. i have lain here for many months, and have suffered much, fred; but, thank god, i am now almost well, and can walk a little, though not yet without pain." "dear father," said fred, "how terribly you must have felt the want of kind hands to nurse you during those dreary months, and how lonely you must have been!" "nay, boy, not quite so lonely as you think. i have learned the truth of these words, 'i will never leave thee, nor forsake thee'--'call upon me in the time of trouble, and i will deliver thee.' this, fred, has been my chief comfort during the long hours of sickness." captain ellice drew forth a soiled pocket bible from his breast as he spoke. "it was your beloved mother's, fred, and is the only thing i brought with me from the wreck; but it was the only thing in the brig i would not have exchanged for anything else on earth. blessed bible! it tells of him whose goodness i once, in my ignorance, thought i knew, but whose love i have since been taught 'passeth knowledge.' it has been a glorious sun to me, which has never set in all the course of this long arctic night. it has been a companion in my solitude, a comfort in my sorrows, and even now is an increase to my joy; for it tells me that if i commit my way unto the lord, he will bring it to pass, and already i see the beginning of the end fulfilled." fred's eyes filled with tears as his father spoke; but he remained silent, for he knew that of late he had begun to neglect god's blessed word, and his conscience smote him. it were impossible here to enter minutely into the details of all that captain ellice related to fred during the next few days, while they remained together in the esquimau village. to tell of the dangers, the adventures, and the hair-breadth escapes that the crew of the _pole star_ went through before the vessel finally went down, would require a whole volume. we must pass it all over, and also the account of the few days that followed, during which sundry walruses were captured, and return to the _dolphin_, to which captain ellice had been conveyed on the sledge, carefully wrapped up in deer-skins, and tended by fred. a party of the esquimaux accompanied them, and as a number of the natives from the other village had returned with saunders and his men to the ship, the scene she presented, when all parties were united, was exceedingly curious and animated. the esquimaux soon built quite a little town of snow-huts all round the _dolphin_, and the noise of traffic and intercourse was peculiarly refreshing to the ears of those who had long been accustomed to the death-like stillness of an arctic winter. the beneficial effect of the change on men and dogs was instantaneous. their spirits rose at once, and this, with the ample supply of fresh meat that had been procured, soon began to drive scurvy away. there was one dark spot, however, in this otherwise pleasant scene--one impending event that cast a gloom over all. in his narrow berth in the cabin joseph west lay dying. scurvy had acted more rapidly on his delicate frame than had been expected. despite tom singleton's utmost efforts and skill, the fell disease gained the mastery, and it soon became evident that this hearty and excellent man was to be taken away from them. during the last days of his illness, captain ellice was his greatest comfort and his constant companion. he read the bible to him, and when doubts and fears arose, as they sometimes did, he pointed him to jesus, and spoke of that love from which nothing could separate him. it was on christmas day that west died. "o sir," said he to captain ellice just an hour before he breathed his last, "how much i regret the time that i have lost! how i wish now that i had devoted more of my precious time to the study of the word and to prayer! how many opportunities of speaking a word for jesus i have neglected. once, everything seemed of importance; now, but _one_ thing is worthy of a thought." "true," answered the captain, "'the one thing needful.' it is strange that we will scarce permit ourselves to think or speak of _that_ till we come to die. but you have thought on jesus long ere now, have you not?" "yes," answered west faintly, "i have; but i take no comfort from that thought. when i think of my past life it is only with regret. my hope is in the lord. what i have been, or might have been, is nothing. one thing i know--i _am_ a sinner; and this i also know--'christ jesus came into the world to save sinners!'" these were the last words the dying man spoke. shortly after, he fell asleep. next day the body of joseph west was put in a plain deal coffin, and conveyed to store island, where it was placed on the ground. they had no instruments that could penetrate the hard rock, so were obliged to construct a tomb of stones, after the manner of the esquimaux, under which the coffin was laid and left in solitude. new-year's day came, and preparations were made to celebrate the day with the usual festivities. but the recent death had affected the crew too deeply to allow them to indulge in the unrestrained hilarity of that season. prayers were read in the morning, and both captain guy and captain ellice addressed the men feelingly in allusion to their late shipmate's death and their own present position. a good dinner was also prepared, and several luxuries served out, among which were the materials for the construction of a large plum-pudding. but no grog was allowed, and they needed it not. as the afternoon advanced, stories were told, and even songs were sung; but these were of a quiet kind, and the men seemed, from an innate feeling of propriety, to suit them to the occasion. old friends were recalled, and old familiar scenes described. the hearths of home were spoken of with a depth of feeling that showed how intense was the longing to be seated round them again, and future prospects were canvassed with keen interest and with hopeful voices. new-year's day came and went, and when it was gone the men of the _dolphin_ did not say, "what a jolly day it was." they _said_ little or nothing, but long after they _thought_ of it as a bright spot in their dreary winter in the bay of mercy--as a day in which they had enjoyed earnest, glad, and sober communings of heart. chapter xxi. _first gleam of light--trip to welcome the sun--bears and strange discoveries--o'riley is reckless--first view of the sun._ the wisest of men has told us that "it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun," but only those who spend a winter in the arctic regions can fully appreciate the import of that inspired saying. it is absolutely essential to existence that the bright beams of the great luminary should fall on animal as well as plant. most of the poor dogs died for want of this blessed light, and had it been much longer withheld, doubtless our navigators would have sunk also. about the th of january a faint gleam of light on the horizon told of the coming day. it was hailed with rapture, and long before the bright sun himself appeared on the southern horizon the most of the men made daily excursions to the neighbouring hilltops to catch sight of as much as possible of his faint rays. day by day those rays expanded, and at last a sort of _dawn_ enlightened a distant portion of their earth, which, faint though it was at first, had much the appearance in their eyes of a bright day. but time wore on, and _real_ day appeared. the red sun rose in all its glory, showed a rim of its glowing disk above the frozen sea, and then sank, leaving a long gladsome smile of twilight behind. this great event happened on the th of february, and would have occurred sooner, but for the high cliffs to the southward which intervened between the ship and the horizon. on the day referred to, a large party was formed to go to the top of the cliffs at red-snow valley to welcome back the sun. "there's scarce a man left behind," remarked captain guy, as they started on this truly joyous expedition. "only mizzle, sir," said buzzby, slapping his hands together, for the cold was intense; "he said as how he'd stop and have dinner ready agin our return." there was a general laugh from the men, who knew that the worthy cook had other reasons for not going--namely, his shortness of wind, and his inveterate dislike to ascend hills. "come, fred," cried captain ellice, who had completely recovered from his accident, "i shall be quite jealous of your friend singleton if you bestow so much of your company on him. walk with me, sirrah, i command you, as i wish to have a chat." "you are unjust to me," replied fred, taking his father's arm, and falling with him a little to the rear of the party; "tom complains that i have quite given him up of late." "och! isn't it a purty sight," remarked o'riley to mivins, "to see us all goin' out like good little childers to see the sun rise of a beautiful mornin' like this?" "so it _his_," answered mivins; "but i wish it wasn't quite so cold." it was indeed cold--so cold that the men had to beat their hands together, and stamp their feet, and rush about like real children, in order to keep their bodies warm. this month of february was the coldest they had yet experienced. several times the thermometer fell to the unexampled temperature of ° below zero, or ° below the freezing-point of water. when we remind our young readers that the thermometer in england seldom falls so low as zero, except in what we term weather of the utmost severity, they may imagine--or rather, they may try to imagine--what ° _below_ zero must have been. it was not quite so cold as that upon this occasion, otherwise the men could not have shown face to it. "let's have leap-frog," shouted davie; "we can jump along as well as walk along. hooray! _hup_!" the "hup" was rather an exclamation of necessity than of delight, inasmuch as that it was caused by davie coming suddenly down flat on the ice in the act of vainly attempting to go leap-frog over mivins's head. "that's your sort," cried amos parr; "down with you, buzzby." buzzby obeyed, and amos, being heavy and past the agile time of life, leaped upon, instead of over, his back, and there stuck. "not so high, lads," cried captain guy. "come, mr. saunders, give us a back." "faix he'd better go on his hands an' knees." "that's it! over you go! hurrah, lads!" in five minutes nearly the whole crew were panting from their violent exertions, and those who did not or could not join panted as much from laughter. the desired result, however, was speedily gained. they were all soon in a glow of heat, and bade defiance to the frost. an hour's sharp climb brought the party almost to the brow of the hill, from which they hoped to see the sun rise for the first time for nearly five months. just as they were about to pass over a ridge in the cliffs, captain guy, who had pushed on in advance with tom singleton, was observed to pause abruptly and make signals for the men to advance with caution. he evidently saw something unusual, for he crouched behind a rock and peeped over it. hastening up as silently as possible, they discovered that a group of polar bears were amusing themselves on the other side of the cliffs, within long gunshot. unfortunately not one of the party had brought fire-arms. intent only on catching a sight of the sun, they had hurried off unmindful of the possibility of their catching sight of anything else. they had not even a spear; and the few oak cudgels that some carried, however effectual they might have proved at donnybrook, were utterly worthless there. there were four large bears and a young one, and the gambols they performed were of the most startling as well as amusing kind. but that which interested and surprised the crew most was the fact that these bears were playing with barrels, and casks, and tent-poles, and sails. they were engaged in a regular frolic with these articles, tossing them up in the air, pawing them about, and leaping over them like kittens. in these movements they displayed their enormous strength several times. their leaps, although performed with the utmost ease, were so great as to prove the iron nature of their muscles. they tossed the heavy casks, too, high into the air like tennis-balls, and in two instances, while the crew were watching them, dashed a cask in pieces with a slight blow of their paws. the tough canvas yielded before them like sheets of paper, and the havoc they committed was wonderful to behold. "most extraordinary!" exclaimed captain guy, after watching them for some time in silence. "i cannot imagine where these creatures can have got hold of such things. were not the goods at store island all right this morning, mr. bolton?" "yes, sir, they were." "nothing missing from the ship?" "no, sir, nothing." "it's most unaccountable." "captain guy," said o'riley, addressing his commander with a solemn face, "haven't ye more nor wance towld me o' the queer thing in the deserts they calls the _mirage_?" "i have," answered the captain, with a puzzled look. "an' didn't ye say there was somethin' like it in the polar seas, that made ye see flags, an' ships, an' things o' that sort when there was no sich things there at all?" "true, o'riley, i did." "faix, then, it's my opinion that yon bears is a _mirage_, an' the sooner we git out o' their way the better." a smothered laugh greeted this solution of the difficulty. "i think i can give a better explanation--begging your pardon, o'riley," said captain ellice, who had hitherto looked on with a sly smile. "more than a year ago, when i was driven past this place to the northward, i took advantage of a calm to land a supply of food, and a few stores and medicines, to be a stand-by in case my ship should be wrecked to the northward. ever since the wreck actually took place i have looked forward to this _cache_ of provisions as a point of refuge on my way south. as i have already told you, i have never been able to commence the southward journey; and now i don't require these things, which is lucky, for the bears seem to have appropriated them entirely." "had i known of them sooner, captain," said captain guy, "the bears should not have had a chance." "that accounts for the supply of tobacco and sticking-plaster we found in the bear's stomach," remarked fred, laughing. "true, boy; yet it surprises me that they succeeded in breaking into my _cache_, for it was made of heavy masses of stone, many of which required two and three men to lift them, even with the aid of handspikes." "what's wrong with o'riley?" said fred, pointing to that eccentric individual, who was gazing intently at the bears, muttering between his teeth, and clinching his cudgel nervously. "sure it's a cryin' shame," he soliloquized in an undertone, quite unconscious that he was observed, "that ye should escape, ye villains. av i only had a musket now--but i han't. arrah! av it was only a spear. be the mortial! i think i could crack the skull o' the small wan! faix, then, i'll try!" at the last word, before any one was aware of his intentions, this son of erin, whose blood was now up, sprang down the cliffs towards the bears, flourishing his stick, and shouting wildly as he went. the bears instantly paused in their game, but showed no disposition to retreat. "come back, you madman!" shouted the captain; but the captain shouted in vain. "stop! halt! come back!" chorused the crew. but o'riley was deaf. he had advanced to within a few yards of the bears, and was rushing forward to make a vigorous attack on the little one. "he'll be killed!" exclaimed fred in dismay. "follow me, men," shouted the captain, as he leaped the ridge: "make all the noise you can." in a moment the surrounding cliffs were reverberating with the loud halloos and frantic yells of the men, as they burst suddenly over the ridge, and poured down upon the bears like a torrent of maniacs. bold though they were, they couldn't stand this. they turned tail and fled, followed by the disappointed howls of o'riley, and also by his cudgel, which he hurled violently after them as he pulled up. having thus triumphantly put the enemy to flight, the party continued their ascent of the hill, and soon gained the summit. "there it is!" shouted fred, who, in company with mivins, first crossed the ridge, and tossed his arms in the air. the men cheered loudly as they hurried up and one by one emerged into a red glow of sunshine. it could not be termed _warm_, for it had no power in that frosty atmosphere, and only a small portion of the sun's disk was visible. but his _light_ was on every crag and peak around; and as the men sat down in groups, and, as it were, bathed in the sunshine, winking at the bright gleam of light with half-closed eyes, they declared that it _felt_ warm, and wouldn't hear anything to the contrary, although saunders, true to his nature, endeavoured to prove to them that the infinitely small degree of heat imparted by such feeble rays could not by any possibility be _felt_ except in imagination. but saunders was outvoted. indeed, under the circumstances, he had not a chance of proving his point; for the more warm the dispute became, the greater was the amount of animal heat that was created, to be placed, falsely, to the credit of the sun. patience, however, is a virtue which is sure to meet with a reward. the point which saunders failed to prove by argument, was pretty well proved to every one (though not admitted) by the agency of john frost. that remarkably bitter individual nestled round the men as they sat sunning themselves, and soon compelled them to leap up and apply to other sources for heat. they danced about vigorously, and again took to leap-frog. then they tried their powers at the old familiar games of home. hop-step-and-jump raised the animal thermometer considerably, and the standing leap, running leap, and high leap sent it up many degrees. but a general race brought them almost to a summer temperature, and at the same time, most unexpectedly, secured to them a hare! this little creature, of which very few had yet been procured, darted in an evil hour out from behind a rock right in front of the men, who, having begun the race for sport, now continued it energetically for profit. a dozen sticks were hurled at the luckless hare, and one of these felled it to the ground. after this they returned home in triumph, keeping up all the way an animated dispute as to the amount of heat shed upon them by the sun, and upon that knotty question, "who killed the hare?" neither point was settled when they reached the _dolphin_, and, we may add, for the sake of the curious reader, neither point is settled yet. chapter xxii. _the "arctic sun"--rats! rats! rats!--a hunting-party--out on the floes--hardships._ among the many schemes that were planned and carried out for lightening the long hours of confinement to their wooden home in the arctic regions, was the newspaper started by fred ellice, and named, as we have already mentioned, the _arctic sun_. it was so named because, as fred stated in his first leading article, it was intended to throw light on many things at a time when there was no other sun to cheer them. we cannot help regretting that it is not in our power to present a copy of this well-thumbed periodical to our readers; but being of opinion that _something_ is better than _nothing_, we transcribe the following extract as a specimen of the contributions from the forecastle. it was entitled-- john buzzby's oppinyuns o' things in gin'ral. mr. editer,--as you was so good as to ax from me a contribootion to your waluable peeryoddical, i beg heer to stait that this heer article is intended as a gin'ral summery o' the noos wots agoin'. your reeders will be glad to no that of late the wether's bin gittin' colder, but they'll be better pleased to no that before the middle o' nixt sumer it's likely to git a, long chawk warmer. there's a gin'ral complaint heer that mivins has bin eatin' the shuger in the pantry, an' that's wots makin' it needfull to put us on short allowance. davie summers sais he seed him at it, an' it's a dooty the guvermint owes to the publik to have the matter investigated. it's gin'rally expected, howsever, that the guvermint won't trubble its hed with the matter. there's bin an onusual swarmin' o' rats in the ship of late, an' davie summers has had a riglar hunt after them. the lad has becum more than ornar expert with his bow an' arrow, for he niver misses now--exceptin', always, when he dusn't hit--an' for the most part takes them on the pint on the snowt with his blunt-heded arow, which he drives in--the snowt, not the arow. there's a gin'ral wish among the crew to no whether the north pole _is_ a pole or a dot. mizzle sais it's a dot, and o'riley swears (no, he don't do that, for we've gin up swearin' in the fog-sail), but he sais that it's a real post, 'bout as thick again as the main-mast, an' nine or ten times as hy. grim sais it's nother wun thing nor anuther, but a hydeear that _is_ sumhow or other a fact, but yit don't exist at all. tom green wants to no if there's any conexshun between it an' the pole that's conected with elections. in fact, we're all at sea, in a riglar muz abut this, an' as dr. singleton's a syentiffick man, praps he'll give us a leadin' article in your nixt--so no more at present from-- yours to command, john buzzby. this contribution was accompanied with an outline illustration of mivins eating sugar with a ladle in the pantry, and davie summers peeping in at the door--both likenesses being excellent. some of the articles in the _arctic sun_ were grave and some were gay, but all of them were profitable, for fred took care that they should be charged either with matter of interest or matter provocative of mirth. and, assuredly, no newspaper of similar calibre was ever looked forward to with such expectation, or read and re-read with such avidity. it was one of the expedients that lasted longest in keeping up the spirits of the men. the rat-hunting referred to in the foregoing "summary" was not a mere fiction of buzzby's brain. it was a veritable fact. notwithstanding the extreme cold of this inhospitable climate, the rats in the ship increased to such a degree that at last they became a perfect nuisance. nothing was safe from their attacks--whether substances were edible or not, they were gnawed through and ruined--and their impudence, which seemed to increase with their numbers, at last exceeded all belief. they swarmed everywhere--under the stove, about the beds, in the lockers, between the sofa cushions, amongst the moss round the walls, and inside the boots and mittens (when empty) of the men. and they became so accustomed to having missiles thrown at them, that they acquired to perfection that art which buzzby described as "keeping one's weather-eye open." you couldn't hit one if you tried. if your hand moved towards an object with which you intended to deal swift destruction, the intruder paused, and turned his sharp eyes towards you, as if to say, "what! going to try it again?--come, then, here's a chance for you." but when you threw, at best you could only hit the empty space it had occupied the moment before. or, if you seized a stick, and rushed at the enemy in wrath, it grinned fiercely, showed its long white teeth, and then vanished with a fling of its tail that could be construed into nothing but an expression of contempt. at last an expedient was hit upon for destroying these disagreeable inmates. small bows and arrows were made, the latter having heavy, blunt heads, and with these the men slaughtered hundreds. whenever any one was inclined for a little sport, he took up his bow and arrows, and retiring to a dark corner of the cabin, watched for a shot. davie summers acquired the title of nimrod in consequence of his success in this peculiar field. at first the rats proved a capital addition to the dogs' meals, but at length some of the men were glad to eat them, especially when fresh meat failed altogether, and scurvy began its assaults. white or arctic foxes, too, came about the ship sometimes in great numbers, and proved an acceptable addition to their fresh provisions; but at one period all these sources failed, and the crew were reduced to the utmost extremity, having nothing to eat except salt provisions. notwithstanding the cheering influence of the sun, the spirits of the men fell as their bodily energies failed. nearly two-thirds of the ship's company were confined to their berths. the officers retained much of their wonted health and vigour, partly in consequence, no doubt, of their unwearied exertions in behalf of others. they changed places with the men at last, owing to the force of circumstances--ministering to their wants, drawing water, fetching fuel, and cooking their food--carrying out, in short, the divine command, "by love serve one another." during the worst period of their distress a party was formed to go out upon the floes in search of walruses. "if we don't get speedy relief," remarked captain guy to tom singleton in reference to this party, "some of us will die. i feel certain of that. poor buzzby seems on his last legs, and mivins is reduced to a shadow." the doctor was silent, for the captain's remark was too true. "you must get up your party at once, and set off after breakfast, mr. bolton," he added, turning to the first mate. "who can accompany you?" "there's peter grim, sir; he's tough yet, and not much affected by scurvy. and mr. saunders, i think, may--" "no," interrupted the doctor, "saunders must not go. he does not look very ill, and i hope is not, but i don't like some of his symptoms." "well, doctor, we can do without him. there's tom green and o'riley. nothing seems able to bring down o'riley. then there's--" "there's fred ellice," cried fred himself, joining the group; "i'll go with you if you'll take me." "most happy to have you, sir. our healthy hands are very short, but we can muster sufficient, i think." the captain suggested amos parr and two or three more men, and then dismissed his first mate to get ready for an immediate start. "i don't half like your going, fred," said his father. "you've not been well lately, and hunting on the floes, i know from experience, is hard work." "don't fear for me, father; i've quite recovered from my recent attack, which was but slight after all, and i know full well that those who are well must work as long as they can stand." "ho, lads! look alive there! are you ready?" shouted the first mate down the hatchway. "ay, ay, sir," replied grim, and in a few minutes the party were assembled on the ice beside the small sledge with their shoulder-belts on, for most of the dogs were either dead or dying of that strange complaint to which allusion has been made in a previous chapter. they set out silently, but ere they had got a dozen yards from the ship captain guy felt the impropriety of permitting them thus to depart. "up, lads, and give them three cheers!" he cried, mounting the ship's side and setting the example. a hearty, generous spirit, when vigorously displayed, always finds a ready response from human hearts. the few sailors who were on deck at the time, and one or two of the sick men who chanced to put their heads up the hatchway, rushed to the side, waved their mittens--in default of caps--and gave vent to three hearty british cheers. the effect on the drooping spirits of the hunting-party was electrical. they pricked up like chargers that had felt the spur, wheeled round, and returned the cheer with interest. it was an apparently trifling incident, but it served to lighten the way and make it seem less dreary for many a long mile. "i'm tired of it intirely," cried o'riley, sitting down on a hummock, on the evening of the second day after setting out on the hunt; "here we is, two days out, an' not a sign o' life nowhere." "come, don't give in," said bolton cheerfully; "we're sure to fall in with a walrus to-day." "i think so," cried fred; "we have come so far out upon the floes that there must be open water near." "come on, then," cried peter grim; "don't waste time talking." thus urged o'riley rose, and throwing his sledge-strap over his shoulder, plodded on wearily with the rest. their provisions were getting low now, and it was felt that if they did not soon fall in with walruses or bears they must return as quickly as possible to the ship in order to avoid starving. it was therefore a matter of no small satisfaction that, on turning the edge of an iceberg, they discovered a large bear walking leisurely towards them. to drop their sledge-lines and seize their muskets was the work of a moment. but, unfortunately, long travelling had filled the pans with snow, and it required some time to pick the touch-holes clear. in this extremity peter grim seized a hatchet and ran towards the bear, while o'riley charged it with a spear. grim delivered a tremendous blow at its head with his weapon; but his intention was better than his aim, for he missed the bear and smashed the corner of a hummock of ice. o'riley was more successful. he thrust the spear into the animal's shoulder; but the shoulder-blade turned the head of the weapon, and caused it to run along at least three feet just under the skin. the wound, although not fatal, was so painful that bruin uttered a loud roar of disapproval, wheeled round, and ran away!--an act of cowardice so unusual on the part of a polar bear that the whole party were taken by surprise. several shots were fired after him, but he soon disappeared among the ice-hummocks, having fairly made off with o'riley's spear. the disappointment caused by this was great, but they had little time to think of it, for soon after a stiff breeze of wind sprang up, which freshened into a gale, compelling them to seek the shelter of a cluster of icebergs, in the midst of which they built a snow-hut. before night a terrific storm was raging, with the thermometer ° below zero. the sky became black as ink, drift whirled round them in horrid turmoil, and the wild blast came direct from the north, over the frozen sea, shrieking and howling in its strength and fury. all that night and the next day it continued. then it ceased, and for the first time that winter a thaw set in, so that ere morning their sleeping-bags and socks were thoroughly wetted. this was of short duration, however. in a few hours the frost set in again as intense as ever, converting all their wet garments and bedding into hard cakes of ice. to add to their misfortunes their provisions ran out, and they were obliged to abandon the hut and push forward towards the ship with the utmost speed. night came on them while they were slowly toiling through the deep drifts that the late gale had raised, and to their horror they found they had wandered out of their way, and were still but a short distance from their snow-hut. in despair they returned to pass the night in it, and spreading their frozen sleeping-bags on the snow, they lay down, silent and supperless, to rest till morning. chapter xxiii. _unexpected arrivals--the rescue party--lost and found--return to the ship._ the sixth night after the hunting-party had left the ship, grim and fred ellice suddenly made their appearance on board. it was quite dark, and the few of the ship's company who were able to quit their berths were seated round the cabin at their meagre evening meal. "hallo, fred!" exclaimed captain ellice, as his son staggered rather than walked in and sank down on a locker. "what's wrong, boy? where are the rest of you?" fred could not answer; neither he nor grim was able to utter a word at first. it was evident that they laboured under extreme exhaustion and hunger. a mouthful of hot soup administered by tom singleton rallied them a little, however. "our comrades are lost, i fear." "lost!" exclaimed captain guy. "how so? speak, my boy; but hold, take another mouthful before you speak. where did you leave them, say you?" fred looked at the captain with a vacant stare. "out upon the ice to the north; but, i say, what a comical dream i've had!" here he burst into a loud laugh. poor fred's head was evidently affected, so his father and tom carried him to his berth. all this time grim had remained seated on a locker swaying to and fro like a drunken man, and paying no attention to the numerous questions that were put to him by saunders and his comrades. "this is bad!" exclaimed captain guy, pressing his hand on his forehead. "a search must be made," suggested captain ellice. "it's evident that the party have broken down out on the floes, and fred and grim have been sent to let us know." "i know it," answered captain guy. "a search must be made, and that instantly, if it is to be of any use; but in which direction are we to go is the question. these poor fellows cannot tell us. 'out on the ice to the north' is a wide word.--fred, fred, can you not tell us in which direction we ought to go to search for them?" "yes, far out on the floes--among hummocks--far out," murmured fred, half unconsciously. "we must be satisfied with that. now, mr. saunders, assist me to get the small sledge fitted out. i'll go to look after them myself." "an' i'll go with 'ee, sir," said the second mate promptly. "i fear you are hardly able." "no fear o' me, sir. i'm better than 'ee think." "i must go too," added captain ellice; "it is quite evident that you cannot muster a party without me." "that's impossible," interrupted the doctor. "your leg is not strong enough nearly for such a trip; besides, my dear sir, you must stay behind to perform my duties, for the ship can't do without a doctor, and i shall go with captain guy, if he will allow me." "that he won't," cried the captain. "you say truly the ship cannot be left without a doctor. neither you nor my friend ellice shall leave the ship with my permission. but don't let us waste time talking.--come, summers and mizzle, you are well enough to join, and, meetuck, you must be our guide. look alive and get yourselves ready." in less than half-an-hour the rescue party were equipped and on their way over the floes. they were six in all--one of the freshest among the crew having volunteered to join those already mentioned. it was a very dark night, and bitterly cold; but they took nothing with them except the clothes on their backs, a supply of provisions for their lost comrades, their sleeping-bags, and a small leather tent. the captain also took care to carry with them a flask of brandy. the colossal bergs, which stretched like well-known land-marks over the sea, were their guides at first; but after travelling ten hours without halting, they had passed the greater number of those with which they were familiar, and entered upon an unknown region. here it became necessary to use the utmost caution. they knew that the lost men must be within twenty miles of them, but they had no means of knowing the exact spot, and any footprints that had been made were now obliterated. in these circumstances captain guy had to depend very much on his own sagacity. clambering to the top of a hummock, he observed a long stretch of level floe to the northward. "i think it likely," he remarked to saunders, who had accompanied him, "that they may have gone in that direction. it seems an attractive road among this chaos of ice-heaps." "i'm no sure o' that," objected saunders; "yonder's a pretty clear road away to the west, maybe they took that." "perhaps they did, but as fred said they had gone far out on the ice _to the north_, i think it likely they've gone in _that_ direction." "maybe ye're right, sir, and maybe ye're wrang," answered saunders, as they returned to the party. as this was the second mate's method of intimating that he _felt_ that he ought to give in (though he didn't give in, and never would give in _absolutely_), the captain felt more confidence in his own opinion. "now, meetuck, keep your eyes open," he added, as they resumed their rapid march. after journeying on for a considerable distance, the men were ordered to spread out over the neighbouring ice-fields, in order to multiply the chances of discovering tracks; but there seemed to be some irresistible power of attraction which drew them gradually together again, however earnestly they might try to keep separate. in fact, they were beginning to be affected by the long-continued march and the extremity of the cold. this last was so great that constant motion was absolutely necessary in order to prevent them from freezing. there was no time allowed for rest--life and death were in the scale. their only hope lay in a continuous and rapid advance, so as to reach the lost men ere they should freeze or die of starvation. "holo! look 'eer!" shouted meetuck, as he halted and went down on his knees to examine some marks on the snow. "these are tracks!" cried captain guy eagerly. "what think you, saunders?" "they look like it" "follow them up, meetuck. go in advance, my lad, and let the rest of you scatter again." in a few minutes there was a cry heard, and as the party hastened towards the spot whence it came, they found davie summers pointing eagerly to a little snow-hut in the midst of a group of bergs. with hasty steps they advanced towards it, and the captain, with a terrible misgiving at heart, crept in. "ah! then, is it yerself, darlint?" were the first words that greeted him. a loud cheer from those without told that they heard and recognized the words. immediately two of them crept in, and striking a light, kindled a lamp, which revealed the care-worn forms of their lost comrades stretched on the ground in their sleeping-bags. they were almost exhausted for want of food, but otherwise they were uninjured. the first congratulations over, the rescue party immediately proceeded to make arrangements for passing the night. they were themselves little better than those whom they had come to save, having performed an uninterrupted march of eighteen hours without food or drink. it was touching to see the tears of joy and gratitude that filled the eyes of the poor fellows, who had given themselves up for lost, as they watched the movements of their comrades while they prepared food for them; and the broken, fitful conversation was mingled strangely with alternate touches of fun and deep feeling, indicating the conflicting emotions that struggled in their breasts. "i knowed ye would come, captain; bless you, sir," said amos parr, in an unsteady voice. "come! av coorse ye knowed it," cried o'riley energetically. "och, but don't be long wid the mate, darlints, me stummik's shut up intirely." "there won't be room for us all here, i'm afraid," remarked bolton. this was true. the hut was constructed to hold six, and it was impossible that ten could _sleep_ in it, although they managed to squeeze in. "never mind that," cried the captain. "here, take a drop of soup; gently, not too much at a time." "ah, then, it's cruel of ye, it is, to give me sich a small taste." it was necessary, however, to give men in their condition a "small taste" at first, so o'riley had to rest content. meanwhile, the rescue party supped heartily, and after a little more food had been administered to the half-starved men, preparations were made for spending the night. the tent was pitched, and the sleeping-bags spread out on the snow. then captain guy offered up fervent thanks to god for his protection thus far, and prayed shortly but earnestly for deliverance from their dangerous situation; after which they all lay down and slept soundly till morning--or at least as soundly as could be expected with a temperature at ° below zero. next morning they prepared to set out on their return to the ship. but this was no easy task. the exhausted men had to be wrapped up carefully in their blankets, which were sewed closely round their limbs, then packed in their sleeping-bags and covered completely up, only a small hole being left opposite their mouths to breathe through, and after that they were lashed side by side on the small sledge. the larger sledge, with the muskets, ammunition, and spare blankets, had to be abandoned. then the rescue party put their shoulders to the tracking-belts, and away they went briskly over the floes. but the drag was a fearfully heavy one for men who, besides having walked so long and so far on the previous day, were, most of them, much weakened by illness, and very unfit for such laborious work. the floes, too, were so rugged that they had frequently to lift the heavy sledge and its living load over deep rents and chasms which, in circumstances less desperate, they would have scarcely ventured to do. work as they would, however, they could not make more than a mile an hour, and night overtook them ere they reached the level floes. but it was of the utmost importance that they should continue to advance, so they pushed forward until a breeze sprang up that pierced them through and through. fortunately there was a bright moon in the sky, which enabled them to pick their way among the hummocks. suddenly, without warning, the whole party felt an alarming failure of their energies. captain guy, who was aware of the imminent danger of giving way to this feeling, cheered the men to greater exertion by word and voice, but failed to rouse them. they seemed like men walking in their sleep. "come, saunders, cheer up, man!" cried the captain, shaking the mate by the arm; but saunders stood still, swaying to and fro like a drunken man. mizzle begged to be allowed to sleep, if it were only for two minutes, and poor davie summers deliberately threw himself down on the snow, from which, had he been left, he would never more have risen. the case was now desperate. in vain the captain shook and buffeted the men. they protested that they did not feel cold--"they were quite warm, and only wanted a little sleep." he saw that it was useless to contend with them, so there was nothing left for it but to pitch the tent. this was done as quickly as possible, though with much difficulty, and the men were unlashed from the sledge and placed within the tent. the others then crowded in, and falling down beside each other were asleep in an instant. the excessive crowding of the little tent was an advantage at this time, as it tended to increase their animal heat. captain guy allowed them to sleep only two hours, and then roused them in order to continue the journey; but short though the period of rest was, it proved sufficient to enable the men to pursue their journey with some degree of spirit. still it was evident that their energies had been overtaxed; for when they neared the ship next day, tom singleton, who had been on the look-out, and advanced to meet them, found that they were almost in a state of stupor, and talked incoherently--sometimes giving utterance to sentiments of the most absurd nature with expressions of the utmost gravity. meanwhile, good news was brought them from the ship. two bears and a walrus had been purchased from the esquimaux, a party of whom--sleek, fat, oily, good-humoured, and hairy--were encamped on the lee side of the _dolphin_, and were busily engaged in their principal and favourite occupation--eating! chapter xxiv. _winter ends--the first insect--preparations for departure--narrow escape--cutting out--once more afloat--ship on fire--crew take to the boats._ winter passed away, with its darkness and its frost, and, happily, with its sorrows; and summer--bright, glowing summer--came at last, to gladden the heart of man and beast in the polar regions. we have purposely omitted to make mention of spring, for there is no such season, properly so called, within the arctic circle. winter usually terminates with a gushing thaw, and summer then begins with a blaze of fervent heat. not that the heat is really so intense as compared with that of southern climes, but the contrast is so great that it _seems_ as though the torrid zones had rushed towards the pole. about the beginning of june there were indications of the coming heat. fresh water began to trickle from the rocks, and streamlets commenced to run down the icebergs. soon everything became moist, and a marked change took place in the appearance of the ice-belt, owing to the pools that collected on it everywhere and overflowed. seals now became more numerous in the neighbourhood, and were frequently killed near the _atluks_, or holes, so that fresh meat was secured in abundance, and the scurvy received a decided check. reindeer, rabbits, and ptarmigan, too, began to frequent the bay, so that the larder was constantly full, and the mess-table presented a pleasing variety--rats being no longer the solitary dish of fresh meat at every meal. a few small birds made their appearance from the southward, and these were hailed as harbingers of the coming summer. one day o'riley sat on the taffrail, basking in the warm sun, and drinking in health and gladness from its beams. he had been ill, and was now convalescent. buzzby stood beside him. "i've bin thinkin'," said buzzby, "that we don't half know the blessin's that are given to us in this here world till we've had 'em taken away. look, now, how we're enjoyin' the sun an' the heat, just as if it wos so much gold!" "goold!" echoed o'riley, in a tone of contempt; "faix i niver thought so little o' goold before, let me tell ye. goold can buy many a thing, it can, but it can't buy sunshine. hallo! what's this?" o'riley accompanied the question with a sudden snatch of his hand. "look here, buzzby! have a care, now! jist watch the openin' o' my fist." "wot is it?" inquired buzzby, approaching, and looking earnestly at his comrade's clinched hand with some curiosity. "there he comes! now, then, not so fast, ye spalpeen!" as he spoke, a small fly, which had been captured, crept out from between his fingers, and sought to escape. it was the first that had visited these frozen regions for many, many months, and the whole crew were summoned on deck to meet it as if it were an old and valued friend. "let it go, poor thing!" cried half-a-dozen of the men, gazing at the little prisoner with a degree of interest that cannot be thoroughly understood by those who have not passed through experiences similar to those of our arctic voyagers. "ay, don't hurt it, poor thing! you're squeezin' it too hard!" cried amos parr. "squaazing it! no, then, i'm not. go, avic, an' me blessin' go wid ye." the big, rough hand opened, and the tiny insect, spreading its gossamer wings, buzzed away into the bright atmosphere, where it was soon lost to view. "rig up the ice-saws, mr. bolton; set all hands at them, and get out the powder-canisters," cried captain guy, coming hastily on deck. "ay, ay, sir," responded the mate. "all hands to the ice-saws! look alive, boys! ho! mr. saunders! where's mr. saunders?" "here 'am," answered the worthy second mate in a quiet voice. "oh, you're there! get up some powder, mr. saunders, and a few canisters." there was a heartiness in the tone and action with which these orders were given and obeyed that proved they were possessed of more than ordinary interest; as, indeed, they were, for the time had now come for making preparations for cutting the ship out of winter-quarters, and getting ready to take advantage of any favourable opening in the ice that might occur. "do you hope to effect much?" inquired captain ellice of captain guy, who stood at the gangway watching the men as they leaped over the side and began to cut holes with ice-chisels preparatory to fixing the saws and powder-canisters. "not much," replied the captain; "but a _little_ in these latitudes is worth fighting hard for, as you are well aware. many a time have i seen a ship's crew strain and heave on warps and cables for hours together, and only gain a yard by all their efforts; but many a time, also, have i seen a single yard of headway save a ship from destruction." "true," rejoined captain ellice; "i have seen a little of it myself. there is no spot on earth, i think, equal to the polar regions for bringing out into bold relief two great and _apparently_ antagonistic truth's--namely, man's urgent need of all his powers to accomplish the work of his own deliverance, and man's utter helplessness and entire dependence on the sovereign will of god." "when shall we sink the canisters, sir?" asked bolton, coming up and touching his hat. "in an hour, mr. bolton; the tide will be full then, and we shall try what effect a blast will have." "my opeenion is," remarked saunders, who passed at the moment with two large bags of gunpowder under his arms, "that it'll have no effect at a'. it'll just loosen the ice roond the ship." the captain smiled as he said, "_that_ is all the effect i hope for, mr. saunders. should the outward ice give way soon, we shall then be in a better position to avail ourselves of it." as saunders predicted, the effect of powder and saws was merely to loosen and rend the ice-tables in which the _dolphin_ was imbedded; but deliverance was coming sooner than any of those on board expected. that night a storm arose, which, for intensity of violence, equalled, if it did not surpass, the severest gales they had yet experienced. it set the great bergs of the polar seas in motion, and these moving mountains of ice slowly and majestically began their voyage to southern climes, crashing through the floes, overturning the hummocks, and ripping up the ice-tables with quiet but irresistible momentum. for two days the war of ice continued to rage, and sometimes the contending forces, in the shape of huge tongues and corners of bergs, were forced into the bay of mercy, and threatened swift destruction to the little craft, which was a mere atom that might have been crushed and sunk and scarcely missed in such a wild scene. at one time a table of ice was forced out of the water and reared up, like a sloping wall of glass, close to the stern of the _dolphin_, where all the crew were assembled with ice-poles ready to do their utmost; but their feeble efforts could have availed them nothing had the slowly-moving mass continued its onward progress. "lower away the quarter-boat," cried the captain, as the sheet of ice six feet thick came grinding down towards the starboard quarter. buzzby, grim, and several others sprang to obey, but before they could let go the fall-tackles, the mass of ice rose suddenly high above the deck, over which it projected several feet, and caught the boat. in another moment the timbers yielded, the thwarts sprang out or were broken across, and slowly, yet forcibly, as a strong hand might crush an egg-shell, the boat was squeezed flat against the ship's side. "shove, lads! if it comes on we're lost," cried the captain, seizing one of the long poles with which the men were vainly straining every nerve and muscle. they might as well have tried to arrest the progress of a berg. on it came, and crushed in the starboard quarter bulwarks. providentially at that moment it grounded and remained fast; but the projecting point that overhung them broke off and fell on the deck with a crash that shook the good ship from stem to stern. several of the men were thrown violently down, but none were seriously hurt in this catastrophe. when the storm ceased the ice out in the strait was all in motion, and that round the ship had loosened so much that it seemed as if the _dolphin_ might soon get out into open water, and once more float upon its natural element. every preparation, therefore, was made. the stores were re-shipped from store island; the sails were shaken out, and those of them that had been taken down were bent on to the yards; tackle was overhauled; and, in short, everything was done that was possible under the circumstances. but a week passed away ere they succeeded in finally warping out of the bay into the open sea beyond. it was a lovely morning when this happy event was accomplished. before the tide was quite full, and while they were waiting until the command to heave on the warps should be given, captain guy assembled the crew for morning prayers in the cabin. having concluded, he said:-- "my lads, through the great mercy of god we have been all, except one, spared through the trials and anxieties of a long and dreary winter, and are now, i trust, about to make our escape from the ice that has held us fast so long. it becomes me at such a time to tell you that, if i am spared to return home, i shall be able to report that every man in this ship has done his duty. you have never flinched in the hour of danger, and never grumbled in the hour of trial. only one man--our late brave and warm-hearted comrade, joseph west--has fallen in the struggle. for the mercies that have never failed us, and for our success in rescuing my gallant friend, captain ellice, we ought to feel the deepest gratitude to the almighty. we have need, however, to pray for a blessing on the labours that are yet before us, for you are well aware that we shall probably have many a struggle with the ice before we are once more afloat on blue water. and now, lads, away with you on deck, and man the capstan, for the tide is about full." the capstan was manned, and the hawsers were hove taut. inch by inch the tide rose, and the _dolphin_ floated. then a lusty cheer was given, and amos parr struck up one of those hearty songs intermingled with "ho!" and "yo heave ho!" that seem to be the life and marrow of all nautical exertion. at last the good ship forged ahead, and, _boring_ through the loose ice, passed slowly out of the bay of mercy. "do you know i feel quite sad at quitting this dreary spot?" said fred to his father, as they stood gazing backward over the taffrail. "i could not have believed that i should have become so much attached to it." "we become attached to any spot, fred, in which incidents have occurred to call forth frequently our deeper feelings. these rocks and stones are intimately associated with many events that have caused you joy and sorrow, hope and fear, pain and happiness. men cherish the memory of such feelings, and love the spots of earth with which they are associated." "ah, father, yonder stands one stone, at least, that calls forth feelings of sorrow." fred pointed as he spoke to store island, which was just passing out of view. on this lonely spot the men had raised a large stone over the grave of joseph west. o'riley, whose enthusiastic temperament had caused him to mourn over his comrade more, perhaps, than any other man in the ship, had carved the name and date of his death in rude characters on the stone. it was a conspicuous object on the low island, and every eye in the _dolphin_ was fixed on it as they passed. soon the point of rock that had sheltered them so long from many a westerly gale intervened and shut it out from view for ever. when man's prospects are at the worst, it often happens that some unexpected success breaks on his path like a bright sunbeam. alas! it often happens, also, that when his hopes are high and his prospects brightest, a dark cloud overspreads him like a funeral pall. we might learn a lesson from this--the lesson of dependence on that saviour who _careth_ for us, and of trust in that blessed assurance that "_all_ things work together for good to them that love god." a week of uninterrupted fair wind and weather had carried the _dolphin_ far to the south of their dreary wintering ground, and all was going well, when the worst of all disasters befell the ship--she caught fire! how it happened no one could tell. the smoke was first seen rising suddenly from the hold. instantly the alarm was spread. "firemen, to your posts!" shouted the captain. "man the water-buckets! steady, men; no hurry. keep order." "ay, ay, sir," was the short, prompt response, and the most perfect order _was_ kept. every command was obeyed instantly with a degree of vigour that is seldom exhibited save in cases of life and death. buzzby was at the starboard and peter grim at the larboard gangway, while the men stood in two rows, extending from each to the main hatch, up which ever thickening clouds of dark smoke were rolling. bucket after bucket of water was passed along and dashed into the hold, and everything that could be done was done, but without effect. the fire increased. suddenly a long tongue of flame issued from the smoking cavern, and lapped round the mast and rigging with greedy eagerness. "there's no hope," said captain ellice in a low voice, laying his hand gently on captain guy's shoulder. the captain did not reply, but gazed with an expression of the deepest regret, for one moment, at the work of destruction. next instant he sprang to the falls of the larboard quarter-boat. "now, lads," he cried energetically, "get out the boats. bring up provisions, mr. bolton, and a couple of spare sails.--mr. saunders, see to the ammunition and muskets. quick, men. the cabin will soon be too hot to hold you." setting the example, the captain sprang below, followed by fred and tom singleton, who secured the charts, a compass, chronometer, and quadrant; also the log-book and the various journals and records of the voyage. captain ellice also did active service, and being cool and self-possessed he recollected and secured several articles which were afterwards of the greatest use, and which, but for him, would in such a trying moment have probably been forgotten. meanwhile, the two largest boats in the ship were lowered. provisions, masts, sails, and oars, etc., were thrown in. the few remaining dogs, among whom were dumps and poker, were also embarked; and the crew hastily leaping in pushed off. they were not a moment too soon. the fire had reached the place where the gunpowder was kept, and although there was not a great quantity of it, there was enough when it exploded to burst open the deck. the wind, having free ingress, fanned the fire into a furious blaze, and in a few moments the _dolphin_ was wrapped in flames from stem to stern. it was a little after sunset when the fire was discovered. in two hours later the good ship was burned to the water's edge. then the waves swept in, and while they extinguished the fire they sank the blackened hull, leaving the two crowded boats floating in darkness on the bosom of the ice-laden sea. chapter xxv. _escape to upernavik--letter from home--meetuck's grandmother--dumps and poker again._ for three long weeks the shipwrecked mariners were buffeted by winds and waves in open boats, but at last they were guided in safety through all their dangers and vicissitudes to the colony of upernavik. here they found several vessels on the point of setting out for europe, one of which was bound for england, and in this vessel the crew of the _dolphin_ resolved to ship. nothing of particular interest occurred at this solitary settlement except _one_ thing, but that one thing was a great event, and deserves very special notice. it was nothing less than the receipt of a letter by fred from his cousin isobel! fred and isobel, having been brought up for several years together, felt towards each other like brother and sister. fred received the letter from the pastor of the settlement shortly after landing, while his father and the captain were on board the english brig making arrangements for their passage home. he could scarcely believe his eyes when he beheld the well-known hand; but having at last come to realize the fact that he actually held a real letter in his hand, he darted behind one of the curious, primitive cottages to read it. here he was met by a squad of inquisitive natives, so with a gesture of impatience he rushed to another spot; but he was observed and followed by half-a-dozen esquimau boys, and in despair he sought refuge in the small church near which he chanced to be. he had not been there a second, however, when two old women came in, and, approaching him, began to scan him with critical eyes. this was too much, so fred thrust the letter into his bosom, darted out, and was instantly surrounded by a band of natives, who began to question him in an unknown tongue. seeing that there was no other resource, fred turned round and fled towards the mountains at a pace that defied pursuit, and, coming to a halt in the midst of a rocky gorge that might have served as an illustration of what chaos was, he sat down behind a big rock to peruse isobel's letter. having read it, he re-read it; having re-read it, he read it over again. having read it over again, he meditated a little, exclaiming several times emphatically, "my _darling_ isobel," and then he read bits of it here and there; having done which, he read the _other_ bits, and so got through it again. as the letter was a pretty long one, it took him a considerable time to do all this. then it suddenly occurred to him that he had been thus selfishly keeping it all to himself instead of sharing it with his father; so he started up and hastened back to the village, where he found captain ellice in earnest confabulation with the pastor of the place. seizing his parent by the arm, fred led him into a room in the pastor's house, and, looking round to make sure that it was empty, he sought to bolt the door. but the door was a primitive one and had no bolt, so fred placed a huge old-fashioned chair against it, and sitting down therein, while his father took a seat opposite, he unfolded the letter, and yet once again read it through. the letter was about twelve months old, and ran thus:-- grayton, _ th july._ my darling fred,--it is now two months since you left us, and it seems to me two years. oh, how i _do_ wish that you were back! when i think of the terrible dangers that you may be exposed to amongst the ice my heart sinks, and i sometimes fear that we shall never see you or your dear father again. but you are in the hands of our father in heaven, dear fred, and i never cease to pray that you may be successful and return to us in safety. dear, good old mr. singleton told me yesterday that he had an opportunity of sending to the danish settlements in greenland, so i resolved to write, though i very much doubt whether this will ever find you in such a wild far-off land. oh, when i think of where you are, all the romantic stories i have ever read of polar regions spring up before me, and _you_ seem to be the hero of them all. but i must not waste my paper thus; i know you will be anxious for news. i have very little to give you, however. good old mr. singleton has been _very_ kind to us since you went away. he comes constantly to see us, and comforts dear mamma very much. your friend, dr. singleton, will be glad to hear that he is well and strong. tell my friend buzzby that his wife sends her 'compliments!' i laugh while i write the word. yes, she actually sends her 'compliments' to her husband. she is a very stern but a really excellent woman. mamma and i visit her frequently when we chance to be in the village. her two boys are the finest little fellows i ever saw. they are both so like each other that we cannot tell which is which when they are apart, and both are so like their father that we can almost fancy we see him when looking at either of them. "the last day we were there, however, they were in disgrace, for johnny had pushed freddy into the washing-tub, and freddy, in revenge, had poured a jug of treacle over johnny's head! i am quite sure that mrs. buzzby is tired of being a widow--as she calls herself--and will be very glad when her husband comes back. but i must reserve chit-chat to the end of my letter, and first give you a minute account of all your friends." here followed six pages of closely-written quarto, which, however interesting they might be to those concerned, cannot be expected to afford much entertainment to our readers, so we will cut isobel's letter short at this point. "cap'n's ready to go aboord, sir," said o'riley, touching his cap to captain ellice while he was yet engaged in discussing the letter with his son. "very good." "an', plaze sir, av ye'll take the throuble to look in at mrs. meetuck in passin', it'll do yer heart good, it will." "very well, we'll look in," replied the captain as he quitted the house of the worthy pastor. the personage whom o'riley chose to style mrs. meetuck was meetuck's grandmother. that old lady was an esquimau, whose age might be algebraically expressed as an _unknown quantity_. she lived in a boat turned upside down, with a small window in the bottom of it, and a hole in the side for a door. when captain ellice and fred looked in, the old woman, who was a mere mass of bones and wrinkles, was seated on a heap of moss beside a fire, the only chimney to which was a hole in the bottom of the boat. in front of her sat her grandson meetuck, and on a cloth spread out at her feet were displayed all the presents with which that good hunter had been loaded by his comrades of the _dolphin_. meetuck's mother had died many years before, and all the affection in his naturally warm heart was transferred to, and centred upon, his old grandmother. meetuck's chief delight in the gifts he received was in sharing them, as far as possible, with the old woman. we say _as far as possible_, because some things could not be shared with her, such as a splendid new rifle and a silver-mounted hunting-knife and powder-horn, all of which had been presented to him by captain guy over and above his wages, as a reward for his valuable services. but the trinkets of every kind which had been given to him by the men were laid at the feet of the old woman, who looked at everything in blank amazement, yet with a smile on her wrinkled visage that betokened much satisfaction. meetuck's oily countenance beamed with delight as he sat puffing his pipe in his grandmother's face. this little attention, we may remark, was paid designedly, for the old woman liked it, and the youth knew that. "they have enough to make them happy for the winter," said captain ellice, as he turned to leave the hut. "faix they have. there's only two things wantin' to make it complate." "what are they?" inquired fred. "murphies and a pig, sure. that's all they need." "wot's come o' dumps and poker?" inquired buzzby, as they reached the boat. "oh, i quite forgot them!" cried fred. "stay a minute, i'll run up and find them. they can't be far off." for some time fred searched in vain. at last he bethought him of meetuck's hut as being a likely spot in which to find them. on entering he found the couple as he had left them, the only difference being that the poor old woman seemed to be growing sleepy over her joys. "have you seen dumps or poker anywhere?" inquired fred. meetuck nodded, and pointed to a corner, where, comfortably rolled up on a mound of dry moss, lay dumps; poker, as usual, making use of him as a pillow. "thems is go bed," said meetuck. "thems must get up then and come aboard," cried fred, whistling. at first the dogs, being sleepy, seemed indisposed to move; but at last they consented, and following fred to the beach, were soon conveyed aboard the ship. next day captain guy and his men bade meetuck and the kind, hospitable people of upernavik farewell, and spreading their canvas to a fair breeze, set sail for england. chapter xxvi. _the return--the surprise--buzzby's sayings and doings--the narrative--fighting battles o'er again--conclusion._ once again we are on the end of the quay at grayton. as fred stands there, all that has occurred during the past year seems to him but a vivid dream. captain guy is there, and captain ellice, and buzzby, and mrs. buzzby too, and the two little buzzbys also, and mrs. bright, and isobel, and tom singleton, and old mr. singleton, and the crew of the wrecked _dolphin_, and, in short, the "whole world"--of that part of the country. it was a great day for grayton that. it was a wonderful day--quite an indescribable day; but there were also some things about it that made captain ellice feel, somehow, that it was a mysterious day, for, while there were hearty congratulations, and much sobbing for joy, on the part of mrs. bright, there were also whisperings which puzzled him a good deal. "come with me, brother," said mrs. bright, at length, taking him by the arm, "i have to tell you something." isobel, who was on the watch, joined them, and fred also went with them towards the cottage. "dear brother," said mrs. bright, "i--i--o isobel, tell him. _i_ cannot." "what means all this mystery?" said the captain in an earnest tone, for he felt that they had something serious to communicate. "dear uncle," said isobel, "you remember the time when the pirates attacked--" she paused, for her uncle's look frightened her. "go on, isobel," he said quickly. "your dear wife, uncle, _was not lost at that time_--" captain ellice turned pale. "what mean you, girl? how came you to know this?" then a thought flashed across him. seizing isobel by the shoulder he gasped, rather than said, "speak quick--is--is she alive?" "yes, dear uncle, she--" the captain heard no more. he would have fallen to the ground had not fred, who was almost as much overpowered as his father, supported him. in a few minutes he recovered, and he was told that alice was alive--in england--_in the cottage_. this was said as they approached the door. alice was aware of her husband's arrival. in another moment husband and wife and son were reunited. scenes of intense joy cannot be adequately described, and there are meetings in this world which ought not to be too closely touched upon. such was the present. we will therefore leave captain ellice and his wife and son to pour out the deep feelings of their hearts to each other, and follow the footsteps of honest john buzzby, as he sailed down the village with his wife and children, and a host of admiring friends in tow. buzzby's feelings had been rather powerfully stirred up by the joy of all around, and a tear _would_ occasionally tumble over his weather-beaten cheek, and hang at the point of his sunburnt and oft frost-bitten nose, despite his utmost efforts to subdue such outrageous demonstrations. "sit down, john dear," said mrs. buzzby in kind but commanding tones, when she got her husband fairly into his cottage, the little parlour of which was instantly crowded to excess. "sit down, john dear, and tell us all about it." "wot! begin to spin the whole yarn o' the voyage afore i've had time to say, 'how d'ye do?'" exclaimed buzzby, at the same time grasping his two uproarious sons, who had, the instant he sat down, rushed at his legs like two miniature midshipmen, climbed up them as if they had been two masts, and settled on his knees as if they had been their own favourite cross-trees! "no, john, not the yarn of the voyage," replied his wife, while she spread the board before him with bread and cheese and beer, "but tell us how you found old captain ellice and where, and what's comed of the crew." "werry good! then here goes." buzzby was a man of action. he screwed up his weather-eye (the one next his wife, _of course_, that being the quarter from which squalls might be expected). and began a yarn which lasted the better part of two hours. it is not to be supposed that buzzby spun it off without interruption. besides the questions that broke in upon him from all quarters, the two buzzbys junior scrambled, as far as was possible, into his pockets, pulled his whiskers as if they had been hoisting a main-sail therewith, and, generally, behaved in such an obstreperous manner as to render coherent discourse all but impracticable. he got through with it, however; and then mrs. buzzby intimated her wish, pretty strongly, that the neighbours should vacate the premises, which they did laughingly, pronouncing buzzby to be "a trump," and his better half "a true blue." "good day, old chap," said the last who made his exit; "tiller's fixed agin--nailed amid-ships, eh?" "hard and fast," replied buzzby, with a broad grin, as he shut the door and returned to the bosom of his family. two days later a grand feast was given at mrs. bright's cottage, to which all the friends of the family were invited to meet with captain ellice and those who had returned from their long and perilous voyage. it was a joyful gathering that, and glad and grateful hearts were there. two days later still, and another feast was given. on this occasion buzzby was the host, and buzzby's cottage was the scene. it was a joyful meeting, too, and a jolly one to boot, for o'riley was there, and peter grim, and amos parr, and david mizzle, and mivins--in short, the entire crew of the lost _dolphin_--captain, mates, surgeon, and all. fred and his father were also there, and old mr. singleton, and a number of other friends, so that all the rooms in the house had to be thrown open, and even then mrs. buzzby had barely room to move. it was on this occasion that buzzby related to his shipmates how mrs. ellice had escaped from drowning on the night they were attacked by pirates on board the west indiaman. he took occasion to relate the circumstances just before the "people from the house" arrived, and as the reader may perhaps prefer buzzby's account to ours, we give it as it was delivered. "you see, it happened this way," began buzzby. "hand us a coal, buzzby, to light my pipe, before ye begin," said peter grim. "ah! then, howld yer tongue, blunderbore," cried o'riley, handing the glowing coal demanded, with as much nonchalance as if his fingers were made of cast-iron. "well, ye see," resumed buzzby, "when poor mrs. ellice wos pitched overboard, as i seed her with my own two eyes--" "stop, buzzby," said mivins; "'ow was 'er 'ead at the time?" "shut up, mivins," cried several of the men; "go on, buzzby." "well, i think her '_ead_ wos sou'-west, if it warn't nor'-east. anyhow it wos pintin' somewhere or other round the compass. but, as i wos sayin', when mrs. ellice struck the water (an' she told me all about it herself, ye must know) she sank, and then she comed up, and didn't know how it wos, but she caught hold of an oar that wos floatin' close beside her, and screamed for help; but no help came, for it wos dark, and the ship had disappeared, so she gave herself up for lost. but in a little the oar struck agin a big piece o' the wreck o' the pirate's boat, and she managed to clamber upon it, and lay there, a'most dead with cold, till mornin'. the first thing she saw when day broke forth wos a big ship, bearin' right down on her, and she wos jist about run down when one o' the men observed her from the bow. "'hard a-port!' roared the man. "'port it is,' cried the man at the wheel, an' round went the ship like a duck, jist missin' the bit of wreck as she passed. a boat wos lowered, and mrs. ellice wos took aboard. well, she found that the ship wos bound for the sandwich islands, and as they didn't mean to touch at any port in passin', mrs. ellice had to go on with her. misfortins don't come single, howsiver. the ship wos wrecked on a coral reef, and the crew had to take to their boats, which they did, an' got safe to land; but the land they got to wos an out-o'-the-way island among the feejees, and a spot where ships never come, so they had to make up their minds to stop there." "i thought," said amos parr, "that the feejees were cannibals, and that whoever was wrecked or cast ashore on their coasts was killed and roasted, and eat up at once." "so ye're right," rejoined buzzby; "but providence sent the crew to one o' the islands that had bin visited by a native christian missionary from one o' the other islands, and the people had gin up some o' their worst practices, and wos thinkin' o' turnin' over a new leaf altogether. so the crew wos spared, and took to livin' among the natives, quite comfortable like. but they soon got tired and took to their boats agin, and left. mrs. ellice, however, determined to remain and help the native christians, till a ship should pass that way. for three years nothin' but canoes hove in sight o' that lonesome island; then, at last, a brig came, and cast anchor off shore. it wos an australian trader that had been blown out o' her course on her way to england, so they took poor mrs. ellice aboard, and brought her home--and that's how it wos." buzzby's outline, although meagre, is so comprehensive that we do not think it necessary to add a word. soon after he had concluded, the guests of the evening came in, and the conversation became general. "buzzby's jollification," as it was called in the village, was long remembered as one of the most interesting events that had occurred for many years. one of the chief amusements of the evening was the spinning of long yarns about the incidents of the late voyage, by men who could spin them well. their battles in the polar seas were all fought over again. the wondering listeners were told how esquimaux were chased and captured; how walruses were lanced and harpooned; how bears were speared and shot; how long and weary journeys were undertaken on foot over immeasurable fields of ice and snow; how icebergs had crashed around their ship, and chains had been snapped asunder, and tough anchors had been torn from the ground or lost; how schools had been set agoing and a theatre got up; and how, provisions having failed, rats were eaten--and eaten, too, with gusto. all this and a great deal more was told on that celebrated night--sometimes by one, sometimes by another, and sometimes, to the confusion of the audience, by two or three at once, and, not unfrequently, to the still greater confusion of story-tellers and audience alike, the whole proceedings were interrupted by the outrageous yells and turmoil of the two indomitable young buzzbys, as they romped in reckless joviality with dumps and poker. but at length the morning light broke up the party, and stories of the world of ice came to an end. * * * * * and now, reader, our tale is told. but we cannot close without a parting word in regard to those with whom we have held intercourse so long. it must not be supposed that from this date everything in the affairs of our various friends flowed on in a tranquil, uninterrupted course. this world is a battle-field, on which no warrior finds rest until he dies; and yet, to the christian warrior on that field, the hour of death is the hour of victory. "change" is written in broad letters on everything connected with time; and he who would do his duty well, and enjoy the greatest possible amount of happiness here, must seek to prepare himself for _every_ change. men cannot escape the general law. the current of their particular stream may long run smooth, but sooner or later the rugged channel and the precipice will come. some streams run quietly for many a league, and only at the last are troubled. others burst from their very birth on rocks of difficulty, and rush, throughout their course, in tortuous, broken channels. so was it with the actors in our story. our hero's course was smooth. having fallen in love with his friend tom singleton's profession, he studied medicine and surgery, became an m.d., and returned to practise in grayton, which was a flourishing sea-port, and, during the course of fred's career, extended considerably. fred also fell in love with a pretty young girl in a neighbouring town, and married her. tom singleton also took up his abode in grayton, there being, as he said, "room for two." ever since tom had seen isobel on the end of the quay, on the day when the _dolphin_ set sail for the polar regions, his heart had been taken prisoner. isobel refused to give it back unless he, tom, should return the heart which he had stolen from her. this he could not do, so it was agreed that the two hearts should be tied together, and they two should be constituted joint guardians of both. in short, they were married, and took mrs. bright to live with them, not far from the residence of old mr. singleton, who was the fattest and jolliest old gentleman in the place, and the very idol of dogs and boys, who loved him to distraction. captain ellice, having had, as he said, "more than his share of the sea," resolved to live on shore, and, being possessed of a moderately comfortable income, he purchased mrs. bright's cottage on the green hill that overlooked the harbour and the sea. here he became celebrated for his benevolence, and for the energy with which he entered into all the schemes that were devised for the benefit of the town of grayton. like tom singleton and fred, he became deeply interested in the condition of the poor, and had a special weakness for _poor old women,_ which he exhibited by searching up, and doing good to, every poor old woman in the parish. captain ellice was also celebrated for his garden, which was a remarkably fine one; for his flagstaff, which was a remarkably tall and magnificent one; and for his telescope, which constantly protruded from his drawingroom window, and pointed in the direction of the sea. as for the others--captain guy continued his career at sea as commander of an east indiaman. he remained stout and true-hearted to the last, like one of the oak timbers of his own good ship. bolton, saunders, mivins, peter grim, amos parr, and the rest of them, were scattered in a few years, as sailors usually are, to the four quarters of the globe. o'riley alone was heard of again. he wrote to buzzby "by manes of the ritin' he had larn'd aboord the _dolfin_," informing him that he had forsaken the "say" and become a small farmer near cork. he had plenty of murphies and also a pig--the latter "bein'" he said, "so like the wan that belonged to his owld grandmother, that he thought it must be the same wan corned alive agin, or its darter." and buzzby--poor buzzby--he also gave up the sea, much against his will, by command of his wife, and took to miscellaneous work, of which there was plenty for an active man in a sea-port like grayton. his rudder, poor man, was again (and this time permanently) lashed amid-ships, and whatever breeze mrs. buzzby chanced to blow, his business was to sail _right before it._ the two little buzzbys were the joy of their father's heart. they were genuine little true-blues, both of them, and went to sea the moment their legs were long enough, and came home, voyage after voyage, with gifts of curiosities and gifts of money to their worthy parents. dumps resided during the remainder of his days with captain ellice, and poker dwelt with buzzby. these truly remarkable dogs kept up their attachment to each other to the end. indeed, as time passed by, they drew closer and closer together, for poker became more sedate, and, consequently, a more suitable companion for his ancient friend. the dogs formed a connecting link between the buzzby and ellice families--constantly reminding each of the other's existence by the daily interchange of visits. fred and tom soon came to be known as the best doctors with which that part of the country had ever been blessed. and the secret of their success lay in this, that while they ministered to the diseased bodies of men, they also ministered to their diseased souls. with skilful hands they sought to arrest the progress of decay; but when all their remedies failed, they did not merely cease their efforts and retire--they turned to the pages of divine truth, and directed the gaze of the dying sufferers to jesus christ, the great physician of souls. when death had done its work, they did not quit the mourning household as if they were needed there no longer, but kneeling down with the bereaved, they prayed to him who alone can bind up the broken heart, and besought the holy spirit to comfort the stricken ones in their deep affliction. thus fred and his friend went hand in hand together, respected and blessed by all who knew them--each year as it passed cementing closer and closer that undying friendship which had first started into being in the gay season of boyhood, and had bloomed and ripened amid the adventures, dangers, and vicissitudes of the world of ice. transcriber's note: minor printer's errors corrected. the sea bride by ben ames williams author of all the brothers were valiant grosset & dunlap publishers new york published by arrangement with the macmillan company copyright, by ben ames williams copyright, by the macmillan company set up and electrotyped. published september, . the sea bride i they were to be married before the open fire, in the big living-room of the old house on the hill. upstairs, bess holt was helping faith dress. faith sat before the old, veneered dressing table with its little mirror tilting on the curved standards, and submitted quietly and happily to bess's ministrations. bess was a chatterbox, and her tongue flew as nimbly as the deft fingers that arranged faith's veil. faith was content; her soft eyes resting on her own image in the little mirror were like the eyes of one who dreams dreams and sees visions. she scarce heard bess at all.... only once she turned and looked slowly about this low-ceiled old room that had been her home: the high, soft bed, with its canopy resting on the four tall posts; the frame of that canopy was split in one place; she had wound it with wire to strengthen it. how many mornings, waking pleasantly as day stole in the little windows, she had seen that twist of wire first of all as her eyes opened. she used to look at it, and dream a little, before she rose.... one window, with its white hangings, was just at the foot of the bed. the cool, salt-laden winds from the sea used to whisper in there and soothe her sleep. she had always loved the sea. would she always love it so, when there was nothing else but the sea on every hand?... when she should have sailed away with big noll wing.... the high chest of drawers, the little dressing table, the delicate chairs.... these were all old and familiar friends--whom she was leaving behind her. and she loved them, loved the ugly paper on the wall, loved the old daguerreotypes above the chest of drawers, loved the crooked sampler by the never-used fireplace. loved them.... she smiled happily and confidently. she loved them ... but she loved big noll wing better. she would not regret.... below stairs, her father, jem kilcup, talked with dr. brant, the minister. they spoke of wind and weather, as men do whose lives lie near the sea. they spoke of oil, of ships, of tedious cruises when the seas were bare of whales.... the minister marked the old harpoon that stood in the corner by the fire, and jem told how with that battered iron he had struck his last whale, a dozen years before.... a good tale. the whale fought hard, left jem with a crushed chest that drove him from the sea. their talk wandered everywhere save where their thoughts were; they did not speak of faith, nor of noll wing. jem could not bear to speak of his girl who was going from his arms to another's; the minister understood, and joined with him in a conspiracy of silence. only, when bess came whispering down to say that faith was ready, old jem gripped dr. brant's arm and whispered harshly into the minister's ear: "marry them tight, and marry them hard, and true, doctor. by god...." dr. brant nodded. "no fear, my friend," he said. "faith is a woman...." "aye," said jem hoarsely. "aye; and she's made her bed. god help her." things began to stir in the big house. noll wing was in the back room with henry ham, who had sailed with him three voyages, and would back him in this new venture. young roy kilcup had found them there.... old jem had a demijohn of cherry rum, thirty years unopened. he sent it in to noll.... and noll wing smacked his lips over it cheerfully, and became more amiable than was his custom. roy kilcup caught him in this mood and took quick vantage of it. when the three came in where jem and dr. brant were waiting, roy crossed and gripped his father's arm. "i'm going," he whispered. "cap'n wing will take me, as ship's boy. he's promised, dad." old jem nodded. his children were leaving him; he was past protesting. "i'm ready," roy told his father. "i'm going to pack, right after they're married." he saw dr. brant smile, and whispered: "be quick as you can, sir." the minister touched the boy's shoulder reassuringly. "quiet, roy," he said. "there's time...." people were gathering in the living-room from the other parts of the house. they came by twos and threes. the men were awkward and uneasy, and strove to be jocular; the women smiled with tears in their eyes. when one woman surrenders herself to one man, all women weep. bess holt, alone, did not weep. she was to play the organ; she sat down upon the stool and spread her pretty, soft skirts about her, and looked back over her shoulder to where jem stood, in the hall, at the stair foot. he was to sign to her when faith was ready. dr. brant crossed and stood beside the fireplace where the logs were laid, ready for the match. noll wing and henry ham took stand with him. ham, the mate, was a big man, and an awkward one. his high collar irked him; his perilously shaven chin moved restlessly back and forth in the effort to ease his tortured throat. he coughed sepulchrally; and a woman giggled in the stillness, and wept quietly into her handkerchief. cap'n noll wing stood easily, squarely upon his spread legs. he, too, was a big man; his chest swelled barrel-like; his arms stretched the sleeves of his black coat. cap'n wing was seldom seen without a cap upon his head. some of those in that room discovered in this moment for the first time that he was bald. the tight, white skin upon his skull contrasted unpleasantly with the brown of his leather cheeks. the thick hair about his ears was tinged with gray. across his nose and his firm cheeks, tiny veins drew lacy patterns of purple. garnished in wedding finery, he was nevertheless a man past middle life, and no mistaking. a man almost as old as jem kilcup, and wedding jem kilcup's daughter. an old man, but a man, for all that; stout, and strong, and full of sap. he had the dignity of mastery; he had the bearing of a man accustomed to command and be obeyed. roy kilcup watched this man with eyes of worship. bess, watching over her shoulder, saw old jem look up the stairs, then turn and nod awkwardly to her. she pressed the keys, the organ breathed, the tones swelled forth and filled the room. still, over her shoulder, she watched the door, as did every other eye. they saw faith appear there, by her father's side; they saw her hand drop lightly on his arm. jem moved; his broad shoulders brushed the sides of the door. he brought his daughter in, and turned with her upon his arm toward where noll wing was waiting. faith's eyes, as she came through the door, swept the room once before they found the eyes of cap'n wing and rested there. that single glance had shown her dan'l tobey, behind the others, near the window; and the memory of dan'l's face played before her as she moved toward where noll waited. poor dan'l. she pitied him as women do pity the lover they do not love. she had been hard on dan'l. not her fault; but still the truth. hard on dan'l tobey.... and misery dwelt upon his countenance, so that she could not forget, even while she went to meet noll wing before the minister. janie cox dropped her handkerchief and dove for it desperately, as faith and jem passed where she stood. janie's swift movement was outrageously conspicuous in that still room. faith looked toward her, and saw poor janie crimson with embarrassment, and smiled at her comfortingly. when she looked forward again, she found herself at noll wing's side, and dr. brant was already speaking.... when they made their responses, noll in his heavy voice of a master, and faith in the level voice of a proud, sure woman, her eyes met his and promised him things unutterable. it is this speaking of eyes to eyes that is marriage; the words are of small account. faith pledged herself to noll wing when she opened her eyes to him and let him look into the depths of her. a woman who loves wishes to give. faith gave all herself in that gift of her quiet, steady eyes. cap'n wing, before them, found himself abashed. he was glad when the word was said, when the still room stirred to life. he kissed faith hurriedly; he was a little afraid of her. then the others pressed forward and separated them, and he was glad enough to be thrust back, to be able to laugh, and jest, and grip the hands of men. the women, and some of the men, kissed faith as she stood there, hanging on her father's arm. her eyes flickered now and then toward noll, her noll wing now. but she could not always be watching him. too many others came to speak with her. dan'l tobey came; dan'l with his round moon-face, and his freckles, and his sandy hair.... dan'l was only a little older than herself; a chubby, strong young man.... little more than a boy, but a man, too.... two cruises behind him.... he was going out as second mate with cap'n wing, this afternoon. faith knew dan'l loved her. she was pleasantly sorry, and at the same time secretly glad. no woman is completely sorry that she is beloved. faith told herself she must help dan'l get over it, on this cruise that was to come. she must.... she decided, while she spoke to him, that she must find a wife for dan'l. what married woman is not a matchmaker? faith had now been a married woman for seven minutes by the tall clock a-ticking in the corner.... dan'l gave way to others; and bess holt cried in dismay, "faith, the fire was never lighted!" it was true. in the swift moments before faith came downstairs, no one had remembered to touch a match to the kindling under the smooth, white birch logs in the great fireplace. when faith saw this, she felt a sudden, swift pang of disappointment at her heart. she loved a fire, an open fire, merrily blazing.... she had always dreamed of being married before this great fire in her father's home. she herself had chosen these logs, and under her eye her brother roy had borne them into the house and laid them upon the small stuff and kindling she had prepared. she had wanted that fire to spring to life as she and noll were married; she had thought of it as a symbol of the new life that was beginning for noll. she was terribly disappointed.... in that first pang, she looked helplessly about for noll. she wanted comfort pitifully.... but noll was laughing in the doorway, talking with old jonathan felt, the owner of his vessel. he had not heard, he did not see her glance. bess holt cried: "somebody light it quick. roy kilcup, give me a match. i'll light it myself. don't look, faith! oh, what a shame...." roy knew how his sister had counted on that fire. "i'll bet faith doesn't feel as though she were really married," he laughed. "not without a fire going.... do you, faith? better do it over, dr. brant...." some one said it was bad luck; a dozen voices cried the some one down. then, while they were all talking about it, round-faced dan'l tobey went down on his knees and lighted the fire that was to have illumined faith's wedding. faith, her hand at her throat, looked for noll again; but he and old jonathan had gone out to that ancient demijohn of cherry rum.... dan'l was looking hungrily at her; hungry for thanks. she smiled at him. they were all pressing around her again.... it was little bess holt who set them moving, at last, down to the wharf. bess was the stage manager that day; every one else was too busy with his or her own concerns. she whisked faith away upstairs to change her dress, and scolded the others out of the house.... all save jem kilcup and roy. roy had packing of his own to do; he was flying at it like a terrier. jem would stay as long as he might with faith. noll, and jonathan felt, and noll's officers went to play host at the wedding supper on the decks of the _sally sims_.... faith's luggage had already gone aboard. when she and jem and bess reached the wharf, the others were at the tables, under the boathouse, aft. they rose, and pledged faith in lifted glasses.... then faith sat down beside her husband, at the head of the board, and old jem settled morosely beside her. they ate and drank merrily. faith was very happy, dreamily happy. she felt the big presence of her husband at her side; and she lifted her head with pride in him, and in this ship which he commanded. he was a man.... once or twice she marked her father's silence; and once she touched his knee with her hand lightly, in comfort.... cap'n wing made a speech. they called on jem, but jem was in no mind for chatter. they called on faith; she rose, and smiled at them, and said how happy she was, and touched her husband's shoulder proudly.... roy came, running, after a time.... and a little later, the tug whistled from the stream, and cap'n wing looked overside, and stood up, and lifted his hands. "friends," he said jocosely, "i'd like to take you all along. come if you want. but--tide's in. them as don't want to go along had best be getting ashore." thus it was ended; that wedding supper on the deck, in the late afternoon, while the flags floated overhead, and the gulls screamed across the refuse-dotted waters of the harbor, and the tide whirled and eddied about the piles. thus it was ended; their chairs scraped upon the deck; the boards that had been set upon boxes and trestles to make tables and seats were thrust aside or overturned. they swept about faith, where she stood at her husband's side, arm linked in his, against the rail.... old jem kissed her first of all, kissed her roundly, crushing her to his breast; and she whispered, in his close embrace: "it's all right, dad. don't worry.... all right.... i'll bring you home...." he kissed her again, cutting short her promise. kissed her, and thrust her away, and stumped ashore, and went stockily off along the wharf and out of sight, never looking back. a solitary figure; somewhat to be pitied, for all his broad shoulders and his fine old head. the others in their turn, little bess holt last of all. bess, now that her tasks were done, had her turn at tears. she wept happily in faith's arms. faith did not weep. she was too happy for even the happiest of tears. she patted bess's brown head, and linked arms with the girl while bess climbed to the wharf, and they kissed again, there.... then every one waited, calling, laughing, crying, while the _sally sims_ was torn loose from her moorings. cap'n wing was another man now; he was never a man to leave his ship to another, faith thought proudly. his commands rang through the still air of late afternoon; his eye saw the hawsers cast off, saw the tug take hold.... the _sally sims_ moved; she moved so slowly that at first one must watch a fixed point upon the wharf to be sure she moved at all. roy was everywhere, afire with zeal in this new experience; his eyes were dancing. faith stood aft, a little way from her husband, calling to those upon the wharf. the tug dragged the _sally_ stern first into the stream, headed her around.... last calls, last cries.... the individual figures on the wharf's end slowly merged into one mass, a mass variegated by the black garments of the men, by the gayer fabrics which the women wore. this mass in turn, as the _sally_ slipped eastward toward the sea, became a dot of color against the brown casks which piled the wharf. faith took her eyes from it to glance toward her husband; when she looked back it was hard to discover the dot again. presently it was gone.... men were in the rigging, now, setting the big, square sails. the wind began to tug at them. the voice of the mate, mr. ham, roared up to the men in profane commands. cap'n wing stood stockily on wide-spread legs, watching, joining his voice now and then to the uproar. the sea, presently, opened out before them, inviting them, offering all its wide expanses to the _sally sims'_ blunt bow. the _sally_ began to lift and tilt awkwardly. the tug had long since dropped behind; they shaped their course for where the night came up ahead of them.... they sailed steadily eastward, into the gathering gloom.... cap'n wing bawled: "mr. tobey." and dan'l came aft to where faith stood with her husband. he did not look at her, so that faith was faintly disquieted. the captain pointed to the litter of planks and boxes and dishes and food where the wedding supper had been laid. faith watched dreamily, happily.... she had loved that last gathering with her friends.... there was something sacred to her, in this moment, even in the ugly débris that remained.... but not to cap'n wing. he said harshly, in his voice of a master: "have that trash cleared up, mr. tobey. sharp, now." "trash?" faith was faintly unhappy at the word. dan'l bawled to the men, and half a dozen of them came shuffling aft. she touched her husband's arm. "i'm going below, now, noll," she whispered. he nodded. "get to bed," he said. "i'll be down." he had not looked at her; he was watching dan'l and the men. her own eyes clouded.... nevertheless, she turned to the cabin companion and went below. ii for two weeks faith had been aboard the _sally sims_, making ready the tiny quarters that were to be her home. when she came down into the cabin now, it was with a sense of familiarity. the plain table, built about the butt of the mizzenmast; the chairs; the swinging, whale-oil lamps.... these were old friends, waiting to replace those other friends she had left behind in her bedroom at home. she stood for a moment, at the foot of the cabin companion, looking about her; and she smiled faintly, her hand at her throat.... she was not lonely, not homesick, not sorry.... but her smile seemed to appeal to these inanimate surroundings to be good to her. then she crossed the cabin quietly, and went into the smaller compartment across the stern which was used by cap'n wing for his books, his instruments, his scant hours of leisure.... this ran almost entirely across the stern of the ship; but it was little more than a corridor. the captain's cabin was on the starboard side, opening off this corridor-like compartment. there was scant room, aft, aboard the _sally sims_. the four mates bunked two by two, in cabins opening off the main cabin; the mate had no room to himself. and by the same token, there was no possibility of giving faith separate quarters. there were two bunks in the captain's cabin, one above the other. the upper had been built in, during the last two weeks. that was all.... faith had not protested. she was content that noll was hers; the rest did not matter. she found a measure of glory in the thought that she must endure some hardships to be at his side while her man did his work in the world. she was, after the first pangs, glad that she must make a tiny chest and a half a dozen nails serve her for wardrobe and dressing-room; she was glad that she must sleep on a thing like a shelf built into the wall, instead of her high, soft bed with the canopy at home. she was glad--glad for life--glad for noll--glad for everything.... she began, quietly, to prepare herself for bed. and while she loosened her heavy hair, and began the long, easy brushing that kept it so glossy and smooth, her thoughts ran back over the swift, warm rapture of her awakening love for noll. big noll wing.... her husband, now.... she, his bride.... she had always worshiped noll, even while she was still a school girl, her skirts short, her hair in a long, thick braid. noll was a heroic figure, a great man who appeared at intervals from the distances of ocean, and moved majestically about the little world of the town, and then was gone again. the man had had the gift of drama; his deeds held that element which lifted them above mere exploits and made them romance. when he was third mate of the old _bertha_, a crazy islander tried to knife him, and fleshed his blade in noll wing's shoulder, from behind. noll had wrenched around and broken the man's neck with a twist of his hands. he had always been a hard man with his hands; a strong man, perhaps a brutal man. faith, hearing only glorified whispers of these matters, had dreamed of the strength of him. she saw this strength not as a physical thing, but as a thing spiritual. no one man could rule other men unless he ruled them by a superior moral strength, she knew. she loved to think of noll's strength.... her breath had caught in ecstasy of pain, that night he first held her close against his great chest, till she thought her own ribs would crack.... not noll's strength alone was famous. he had been a great captain, a great man for oil. his maiden voyage as skipper of his own ship made that reputation for the man. he set sail, ran forthwith into a very sea of whales, worked night and day, and returned in three days short of three months with a cargo worth thirty-seven thousand dollars. a cargo that other men took three years to harvest from the fat fields of the sea; took three years to harvest, and then were like as not to boast of the harvesting. oh, noll wing was a master hand for sperm oil; a master skipper as ever sailed the seas.... he came back thus, cruise after cruise, and the town watched his footsteps with pride and envy; he walked the streets with head high; he spoke harshly, in tones of command; he was, faith thought, a man.... she remembered, this night, her first sight of him; her first remembered sight. it was when her father came home from his last voyage, his chest crushed, himself a helpless man who must lie abed long months before he might regain a measure of his ancient strength again. his ship came in, down at the wharves, at early dawn; and faith and roy, at home with their mother, had known nothing of the matter till big noll wing came up the hill, carrying jem kilcup in his arms as a baby is borne. their mother opened the door, and noll bore jem upstairs to the bed he was to keep for so long.... and faith and roy, who had always seen in their father the mightiest of men, as children do, marveled at noll wing with wide eyes. noll had carried their father in his arms.... faith was eleven, then; roy not much more than half as old. while noll's ship remained in port, she and roy had stolen down often to the wharves to catch a stolen sight of the great man; they had hid among the casks to watch him; they had heard with awe his thundering commands.... and then he sailed away. when he came again, faith was thirteen; and she tagged his heels, and he bought her candy, and took her on his knee and played with her.... those weeks of his stay were witchery to faith. her mother died during that time, and noll was her comforter.... the big man could be gentle, in those days, and very kind.... he came next when faith was sixteen; and the faint breath of bursting womanhood within her made faith shy. when a girl passes from childhood, and feels for the first time the treasures of womanhood within herself, she guards that treasure zealously, like a secret thing. faith was afraid of noll; she avoided him; and when they met, her tongue was tied.... he teased her, and she writhed in helpless misery.... nineteen at his next coming; but young dan'l tobey, risen to be fourth mate on that cruise with noll, laid siege to her. she liked dan'l; she thought he was a pleasant boy.... but when she saw noll, now and then, she was silent before him; and noll had no eyes to see what was in the eyes of faith. he was, at that time, in the tower of his strength; a mighty man, with flooding pulses that drove him restlessly. he still liked children; but faith was no longer a child. she was a woman; and noll had never had more than casual use for women. he saw her, now and then; nothing more.... nevertheless this seeing was enough so that dan'l tobey had no chance at all. dan'l went so far as to beg her to marry him; but she shook her head.... "wait ..." she whispered. "no. no.... wait...." "you mean--you will--some day?" he clamored. and she was frightened, and cried out: "no, i don't mean anything, dan'l. please--don't ask me.... wait...." he told her, doggedly, the day he sailed away, that he would ask her again when he came home. and faith, sure that she would never love dan'l, was so sorry for him that she kissed him good-by; kissed him on the forehead.... the boy was blind; he read in that kiss an augury of good, and went away with heart singing. he did not know the philosophy of kisses. let a girl permit a man to kiss her good-by--on cheek, or forehead, or ear tip, or hand, or lip, or what you will--and there's still a chance for him; but when she kisses him, sisterly, upon the forehead, the poor chap is lost and has as well make up his mind to't, dan'l did not know, so went happily away.... noll wing, on that cruise, passed the great divide of life without knowing it. till then he had been a strong man, proud in his strength, sufficient unto himself, alone without being either lonely or afraid; but when he came home, there was stirring in him for the first time a pang of loneliness.... this was the advance courier of age, come suddenly upon him. he did not understand this; he was not even conscious of the change in him. he left his ship, and climbed the hill to his own house where his sister waited for him; and he submitted to her timid ministrations as he had never submitted before. he found it, somehow, faintly pleasant.... a woman, puttering about him.... but comfortable, just the same, he told himself. a man gets tired of men.... he had never tired of men before, never tired of himself before. now there was something in him that was weary. he wanted comfort. he was worn with spartan living; he was sick of rough life. he hungered for soft ways, for gentle things.... some one to mend his socks.... always wearing full of holes.... some one to talk to, on ship board, besides the rough crew and the respectful officers.... this unrest was stirring in him when he went to see old jem kilcup, and faith opened the door to him, and bade him come in. he came in, tugging at his cap; and his eyes rested on her pleasantly. she was tall, as women go; but not too tall. and she was rounded, and strong, and firm. her hair was thick, and soft; and her voice was low and full. when she bade him good evening, her voice thrummed some cord in the man. a pulse pricked faster in his throat.... he had come to see jem; jem was not at home. faith told him this. in the old days, he would have turned and stamped away. now he hesitated; then looked about for a chair, sat down. and faith, who for the life of her could not hold still her heart when noll wing was near, sat in a chair that faced him, and they fell a-talking together. he talked, as men will do, of himself. nothing could have pleased faith better. nor noll, for that matter.... he loved to talk of himself; and for an hour they sat together, while his words bore her across the seven seas, through the tumult of storm, through the bloody flurry of the fighting whale, through the tense silence of a ship where sullen men plan evil.... she trembled as she listened; not with fear for him, but with pride in him. she was already as proud of noll as though he belonged to her. thus began their strange courtship. it was scarce conscious, on either side. noll took comfort in coming to her, in talking to her, in watching her.... his pulses stirred at watching her. and faith made herself fair for his coming, and made him welcome when he came.... she was his woman, heart and soul, from the beginning. as for noll, he found her company increasingly pleasant. she was a better listener than a man; his tales were fresh and new to her. at the same time, knowing him better, she began to mother him in her thoughts, as women will. she began to mother him, and to guide him. men need guiding, ever. noll might never have known what he wanted; but faith was no weak girl. she had the courage to reach out her hand for the thing that was dear to her; she was not ashamed of her heart.... they came together by chance one night when the moon played hide and seek with dark clouds in the sky; they met upon the street, as faith came home with bess holt; and noll walked with them to bess's house, and then he and faith went on together. she led him to talk of himself, as ever. when they came to her gate, some sudden impulse of unaccustomed modesty seized the man. he said hoarsely: "but pshaw, faith.... you must be sick of my old yarns by now...." she was silent for a moment, there before him. then she lifted her eyes, smiling in the moonlight, and she quoted softly and provokingly: "'... she thank'd me, and bade me, if i had a friend that loved her, i should but teach him how to tell my story, and that would woo her....'" noll wing was no man of little reading. he understood, and cried out hoarsely.... 'twas then, the moon providentially disappearing behind a cloud, that he caught her and held her till her ribs were like to crack, while his lips came fumbling down to find her own.... afterward, faith hid her eyes in shame, and scolded herself for frowardness until he reassured her; she bade him, then, pay court in due form, at her feet. he knelt before her, the big, strong man.... and her eyes filled, and she knelt with him. it was in her heart that she was pledging herself sacredly, with this man, forevermore. * * * * * followed the swift days of preparation; a pleasant flurry, through which faith moved calmly, her thoughts far off. old jem kilcup was wroth; he knew noll wing, and tried to tell faith something of this knowledge. but she, proud and straight, would have none of it; she commanded old jem into silence, then teased him into smiles till he consented and bade her take her man. roy was immensely proud of her. when it was decided that she should go away with noll upon the _sally sims_, roy begged to go. begged fruitlessly, at first; for noll wing, having won the thing he wanted, was already beginning to wonder whether he really wanted it at all. but in the end, he consented.... roy was to go with his sister.... bess holt.... those were wild days for bess; wild days of constant, fluttering excitement. she buzzed about faith like a humming bird about a flower; and faith quietly gave herself to the current of the days. she was so happy that even dan'l tobey could not cloud her eyes. there was one hot hour with dan'l, when he accused, and swore, and begged. but faith had strength in her, so that in the end she conquered him and held him.... he was silenced; only his eyes still accused her.... so.... marriage! it was done, now. done.... she was away, with noll, the world and life before them.... brave noll; strong noll.... she loved him so.... * * * * * when he came down into the cabin, she was waiting for him. she had put on a dressing-gown, a warm and woolly thing that she and bess had made of a heavy blanket, to protect her against the chill winds of the sea. her braids were upon her shoulders; her hair parted evenly above her broad brow. her eyes were steady and sweet and calm.... noll, studying her while his heart leaped, saw where the dressing-gown parted at her throat a touch of white, a spray of broidered blossoms which faith herself had made, with every stitch a world of hope and dreams.... he took off his cap, and his coat and vest. he wore suspenders. when faith saw them, she shivered in spite of herself. they were such hopelessly ugly things.... she lifted her eyes from them, came closer to him. he took her roughly in his arms, and she lifted one arm and drew it around his thick neck, and drew his face down. "ah, noll ..." she whispered proudly. iii faith wing fitted easily into the life aboard the _sally sims_, as the whaler worked eastward before starting on the long southward slant that would bring her at last to her true hunting grounds. the mates saw her daily as a pleasant figure in the life of the cabin; the boat-steerers and the seamen and greenies caught glimpses of her, now and then, when she sat on deck with sewing, or a book, or with idle hands and thoughtful eyes. faith, on her part, studied the men about her, and watched over noll, and gave herself to the task of being a good wife and helpmate to him. the first weeks of the cruise were arduous ones, as they are apt to be on a whaler; for of the whole crew, more than half were green hands recruited from the gutters, the farms, the slums.... weak men, in many cases; rotted by wrong living; slack-muscled, jangle-nerved. weak men who must be made strong; for there is no place for weakness in a whaler's crew. it was the task of the mates to make these weaklings into men. the greenies must learn the rigging; they must learn their duties in response to each command; they must be drilled to their parts in the boats and prepared for the hunts that were to come. your novice at sea has never an easy time of it; he learns in a hard school, and this is apt to be especially true upon a whaler. while the methods of the officers differed according to the habit of the officer, they were never gentle. cap'n wing watched over all this, took a hand here and there. and faith, quietly in the background, saw a new noll, saw in each of the officers a man she had never seen ashore. noll was the master, the commander. when his voice bellowed along the decks, even the greenest man leaped and desperately strove in his efforts to obey. noll was the dominant man; and faith was pleasantly afraid of him and his roaring tones.... she loved being afraid of him.... there were four officers aboard the _sally sims_. these four, with roy--in his capacity of ship's boy--lived with noll and faith in the main cabin. they were faith's family. big henry ham, the mate, was a man of slow wit but quick fist; a man with a gift of stubbornness that passed for mastery. the men of his watch, and especially the men of his boat, feared him acutely. he taught them this fear in the first week of the cruise, by the simple teachings of blows. thereafter he relaxed this chastisement, but held a clenched fist always over their cowering heads. he had what passed for a philosophy of life, to justify this. when faith asked him, pleasantly, one day, whether it was necessary to strike the men, he told her with ponderous condescension that no other measures would suffice. "they've no proper brains at all, ma'am," he explained. "their brains is all in their faces; and when they don't jump at the word, your fist in their mouth jumps them. and next time, they jump without it. that's the whole thing of it, ma'am." and he added further: "they're children, ma'am." he smiled slyly. "when you've babies of your own, you'll understand. take the switch to 'em, ma'am, till they learn what it is. then they'll mind without, and things'll go all smooth." he was, after a fashion, a pecksniffian man, this henry ham. faith did not like him, but she found it hard not to respect him. he was, after all, efficient. dan'l tobey, the second mate, was a man of another sort. faith was startled and somewhat amused to find what a difference there was between dan'l afloat and dan'l ashore. ashore, he was a round-faced, freckled, sandy-haired boy with no guile in him; an impetuous, somewhat helpless and inarticulate boy. afloat, he was a man; reticent, speaking little, speaking to the point when he spoke at all.... shrewd, reading the character of his men, playing upon them as a musician plays upon his instruments. of the five men in his boat, not one but might have whipped him in a stand-up fight. nevertheless, he ruled them. this one he dominated by cutting and sarcastic words that left the man abashed and helpless; that one he flattered; another he joked into quick obedience.... the fourth, a surly giant who might have proved unmanageable, he gave into the keeping of his boat-steerer, a big islander called yella' boy. he taught yella' boy to fear the man, provoked a fight between them in which the giant was soundly whipped, and thereafter used the one against the other and kept them both in balance eternally. dan'l had, faith decided, more mental ability than any man aboard--short of her noll. he ruled by his wits; and this the more surprised her because she had always thought dan'l more than a little stupid. she watched the unfolding of the new dan'l with keenest interest as the weeks dragged by. james tichel, the third mate, was a thin little old man given to occasional bursts of tigerish rage in which he was the match for any man aboard. in his second week, he took the biggest man in his boat and beat him into a helpless, clucking wreck of bruises. thereafter, there was no need for him to strike a second time. faith wondered whether these rages to which the little man gave way were genuine, whether he gave way because he chose to do so. in the cabin, he was distinguished for a dry and acid wit. faith did not like him, even when she guessed the secret fear of the little man that he was passing his usefulness, that he was growing too old to serve. he told her, once, in a moment of confidence, that he had sailed as third mate for fourteen years, and once as second.... "but never as mate; nor as skipper, ma'am," he mourned. she tried to comfort him. "you will, some day," she told him. "every man's chance must come...." he chuckled acridly. "aye--but what if he's dead afore it?" willis cox was fourth mate. he was a youngster; this his first cruise in the cabin. he had been promoted from the fo'c's'le by noll wing on noll's last voyage. by the same token, he worshiped noll as a demigod, with the enthusiasm of youth; and a jealousy not unlike the jealousy of women made him dislike faith, at first, and resent her presence aboard. no one could long dislike faith, however. in the end, he included her in his worship of noll, and gave her all his loyalty. roy, in these new surroundings, flourished. he was tireless, always stirring about the ship or clambering in the rigging, drinking in new impressions like a sponge. he and faith, as is apt to be the case between brother and sister, fought each other constantly, bickering and striving back and forth. faith had somewhat outgrown this way of childhood; but roy was still a boy, and faith felt toward him at times the exasperation which a mother feels toward a child. it came to pass, in the early stages of the voyage, that roy included noll wing in his warfare against faith; and he turned to dan'l tobey. between dan'l and the boy, a strange friendship arose, so that faith often saw them talking together, roy chattering while dan'l listened flatteringly. faith, ashore, had liked dan'l; she was a little afraid of the new man he had become, since they sailed. nevertheless, she was pleased that roy liked him.... all these men had been changed, in subtle ways, by their coming to sea. faith, during the first weeks, was profoundly puzzled and interested by this transformation. there was a new strength in all of them, which she marked and admired. at the same time, there were manifestations at which she was disquieted. noll wing--her noll--had changed with the rest. he had changed not only in his every-day bearing, but in his relations with her. she was troubled, from the very beginning, by these changes; and she was troubled by her own reactions to them. noll, for instance, liked to come down to his cabin in his times of leisure and take off his coat and vest and open his shirt at the throat and lie down. sometimes he took off his shoes. usually, at such times, he went to sleep; and faith, who sometimes read aloud to him, would stop her reading when noll began to snore, and look at her husband, and try to convince herself he was good to look upon. she learned to know, line by line, the slack folds of his cheeks when he lay thus, utterly relaxed. the meandering of the little purple veins beneath his skin fascinated her and held her eyes. there were little, stiff hairs in his ears, and in his nostrils; and where his shirt was open at the throat she could glimpse the dark growth upon his broad chest. his suspenders pressed furrows in the soft, outer covering of flesh which padded the muscles of his shoulders. he was, by habit, a cleanly man; but he was at the same time full-fleshed and full-blooded, and there was always about him a characteristic and not necessarily unpleasant odor of clean perspiration. at times, as she sat beside him while he slept thus, faith tried to tell herself she liked this; at times it frankly revolted her, so that she was ashamed of her own revolt.... she had worshiped the strength of noll; she was in danger of discovering that at too close range, that strength became grossness. the pitiless intimacies of their life together in the cabin of the _sally sims_ were hard for faith. they shared two small rooms; and noll must be up and down at all hours of day and night, when the weather was bad, or the business of whaling engrossed him. faith, without being vain, had that reverence and respect for herself which goes by the name of modesty. her body was as sacred to her as her soul. the necessity that they were under of dressing and undressing in a tiny room not eight feet long was a steady torment to her.... she did not blame noll for what unhappiness there was in these matters; she blamed herself for over-sensitiveness, and tried to teach herself to endure these things as a part of her task of sharing the rigors of noll's daily toil. but there were times when even the nakedness of noll's bald head revolted her. she had been, when she married, prepared for disillusionment. faith was not a child; she was a woman. she had the wisdom to know that no man is a heroic figure in a night shirt.... but she was not prepared to discover that noll, who walked among men as a master, could fret at his wife like a nervous woman. this fretful querulousness manifested itself more than once in the early stages of the voyage. for noll was growing old, and growing old a little before his time because he had spent his life too freely. he was, at times, as querulous as a complaining old man. because he was apt to be profane, in these moods, faith tried to tell herself that they were the stormy outbreaks of a strong man.... but she knew better. when noll, after they lost their second whale, growled to her: "damn tichel.... the man's losing his pith. you'd think a man like him could strike a whale and not let it get away...." faith knew this was no mere outbreak against tichel, but an out and out whine. she knew this, but would not admit it, even in her thoughts. another matter troubled her. noll wing was a drinker. she had always known that. it was a part of his strength, she thought, to be able to drink strong liquor as a man should. but aboard ship she found that he drank constantly, that there was always the sickly sweet smell of alcohol about him.... and at times he drank to stupefaction, and slept, log-like, while faith lay wide-eyed and ashamed for him in the bunk below his. she was sorry; but because she trusted in noll's strength and wisdom, she made no attempt to interfere. she had expected that marriage would shatter some of her illusions; and when her expectations were fulfilled and far exceeded, she thrust her unhappiness loyally behind her, and clung the closer to big noll, striving to lend her strength to him. more than once, when noll fretted at her while others were about, she saw dan'l tobey's eyes upon her; and at such times she took care to look serene and proud. dan'l must not so much as guess it, if noll should ever make her unhappy.... but.... noll make her unhappy? the very thought was absurd. he was her noll; she was his. when they were wedded, she had given herself to him, and taken him as a part of herself, utterly and without reservation. he might fail her high expectations in little things; she might fail him. but for all that, they were one, one body and soul so long as they both should live. she was as loyal to him, even in her thoughts, as to herself. for this was faith; she was noll's forever. she thought that what she felt was hidden; but dan'l tobey had eyes to see. and now and then, when in crafty ways he led big noll to act unworthily before her, he watched for the shadow that crossed her face, and smiled in his own sly soul. iv there was, in dan'l tobey's boat, a little man named mauger. it was he whom dan'l ruled by a superior tongue, deriding the man and scorching him with jests that made mauger crimson with shame for himself. mauger was a greenie; he was a product of the worst conditions of the city. he was little and shrunken and thin, and his shoulders curled forward as though to hug and shelter his weak chest. nevertheless, there was a rat-like spirit in the man, and a rat-like gleam in his black little eyes. he was one of those men who inspire dislike, even when they strive to win the liking of their fellows. the very fo'c's'le baited him. it was through mauger that the first open clash between cap'n wing and faith, his wife, was brought to pass; and the thing happened in this wise. dan'l tobey knew how to handle mauger; and he kept the little man in a continual ferment of helpless anger. when they were off in the boats after a whale, or merely for the sake of boat drill, dan'l gave all his attention to mauger, who rowed tub oar in dan'l's boat. "now if you'll not mind, mauger," he would say, "just put your strength into the stroke there. just a trifle of it. gently, you understand, for we must not break the oars. but lean to it, mauger. lean to it, little man." and mauger strove till the veins stood out upon his narrow forehead, and his black little eyes gleamed.... and within him boiled and boiled a vast revolt, a hatred of dan'l. again and again, he was on the point of an open outbreak; he cursed between his teeth, and slavered, and thought of the bliss of sinking his nails in dan'l's smooth throat.... the wrath in the man gathered like a tempest.... but always dan'l pricked the bubble of this wrath with some sly word that left mauger helpless and bewildered.... he set the man to scrub the decks, amidships, one day after an eighty barrel bull whale had been tried out. there were other men at work, scrubbing; but dan'l gave all his attention to mauger. he leaned against the rail, and smiled cheerfully at the little man, and spoke caustically.... "--not used to the scrub brush, mauger. that's plain to see. but you'll learn its little ways.... give you time...." and.... "lend a little weight to it on the thrust, little man. put your pith into it...." and.... "here's a spot, here by my foot, that needs attention.... come.... no, yonder.... no, beyond that again.... so...." or.... "see, now, how the portugee there scrubs...." and when mauger looked toward the portugee, dan'l rasped: "come.... don't be looking up from your tasks, little man. attention, there...." this continued until mauger, fretted and tormented and wild with the fury of a helpless thing, was minded to rise and fling himself at dan'l's round, freckled face.... and in that final moment before the outbreak must surely have come, dan'l said pleasantly: "so.... that is nicely. go below now, mauger, and rest. ye've worked well...." and the kindliness of his tone robbed mauger of all wrath, so that the little man crept forward, and down to his bunk, and fairly sobbed there with rage, and nerves, and general bewilderment. dan'l was the man's master, fair.... this was one side of the matter; cap'n noll wing was on the other side. noll wing had been harassed by the difficulties of the early weeks of the cruise. it seemed to the man that the whole world combined to torment him. he was, for one thing, a compound of rasping nerves; the slightest mishap on the _sally sims_ preyed on his mind; the least slackness on the part of the mates, the least error by the men sent him into a futile storm of anger.... even toward faith, he blew hot, blew cold.... there were times when he felt the steadfast love she gave him was like a burden hung about his neck; and he wished he might cast it off, and wished he had never married her, and wished ... a thousand things. these were the days when the old strength of the man reasserted itself, when he held his head high, and would have defied the world.... but there were other hours, when he was spiritually bowed by the burdens of his task; and in these hours it seemed to him faith was his only reliance, his only support. he leaned upon her as a man leans upon a staff. she was now a nagging burden, now a peaceful haven of rest to which he could retreat from all the world.... if he felt thus toward faith, whom, in his way, the man did love, how much more unstable was his attitude toward the men about him. in his relations with them, he alternated between storming anger and querulous complaint. once, when they were hauling up to the mainhead a blanket strip of blubber from a small cow whale, the tackle gave and let the whole strip snap down like a smothering blanket of rubber.... the old noll wing would have leaped into the resulting tangle and brought order out of it with half a dozen sharp commands, with a curt blow.... this time, he stood aft by the boat house and nagged at the mate, and cried: "mr. ham, will you please get that mess straightened out? in god's name, why can't you men do things the right way? you...." he flung up his hands like a hysterical woman. "by god, i wish i'd stayed ashore...." and he turned and went aft and sulkily down into the cabin, to fret at faith, while mr. ham and dan'l tobey brought order out of chaos, and dan'l smiled faintly at his own thoughts. now it is a truth which every soldier knows, that a commanding officer must command. when he begins to entreat, or to scold like a woman, or to give any other indication of cracking nerves, the men under him conspire maliciously to torment him, in the hope of provoking new outbreaks. it is instinctive with them; they do it as naturally as small boys torment a helpless dog. and it was so on the _sally sims_. the more frequently noll wing forgot that he was master, the more persistently the men harassed him. his officers saw the change in noll, and tried to hide it or deny it as their natures prompted. the mate, mr. ham, developed an unsuspected loyalty, covering his chief's errors by his own strength; and young willis cox backed him nobly. dan'l tobey, likewise, was always quick to take hold of matters when they slipped from the captain's fingers; but he did it a little ostentatiously.... noll himself did not perceive this ostentation; but the men saw, and understood. it was as though dan'l whispered over his shoulder to them: "see! the old man's failing. i have to handle you for him...." once or twice dan'l bungled some task in a fashion that provoked these outbreaks; and whether or not this was mere chance, faith was always about on these occasions. for example, at dinner one day in the cabin, dan'l looked mournfully at the salt beef that was set before him, and then began to eat it with such a look of resignation on his countenance that noll demanded: "what's wrong with the beef, mr. tobey?" dan'l said pleasantly: "nothing, sir. nothing at all. it's very good fare, and almighty well cooked, i'd say." now it was not well cooked. tinch, the cook, had been hurried, or careless.... the junk he had brought down to the cabin was half raw, a nauseous mass.... and dan'l knew it, and so did noll wing. but noll might have taken no notice but for dan'l, and dan'l's tone.... as it was, he was forced to take notice. and so he bellowed for tinch, and when the cook came running, noll lifted the platter and flung it, with its greasy contents, at the man's head, roaring profanely.... faith was at the table; she said nothing. but when noll looked at her, and saw the disappointment in her eyes--disappointment in him--he wished to justify himself; and so complained: "damned shame.... a man can't get decent food out of that rascal.... if i wasn't a fool, faith, i'd have stayed ashore...." faith thought she would have respected him more if, having given way to his anger, he had stuck to his guns, instead of seeking thus weakly to placate her. and dan'l tobey watched faith, and was well content with himself. it was dan'l, in the end, who brought mauger and cap'n wing together; and if matters went beyond what he had intended, that was because chance favored him. it was a day when mauger took a turn at the awkward steering apparatus of the _sally sims_. the _sally's_ wheel was so arranged that when it was twirled, it moved to and fro across the deck, dragging the tiller with it. to steer was a trick that required learning; and in any sea, the tiller bucked, and the wheel fought the steersman in eccentric and amazing fashion. this antiquated arrangement was one of the curses of many ships of the whaling fleet.... mauger had never been able to get the trick of it.... dan'l's watch came on deck and mauger took the wheel at a moment when cap'n wing was below. faith was with him. dan'l knew the captain would be entering the log, writing up his records of the cruise, reading.... he also knew that if noll wing followed his custom, he would presently come on deck. and he knew--he himself had had a hand in this--that noll had been drinking, that day, more than usual. that faith came up with noll, a little later, was chance; no more. dan'l had not counted on it. mauger, then, was at the wheel. dan'l leaned against the deckhouse behind mauger, and devoted himself amicably to the task of instructing the man. his tone remained, throughout, even and calm; but there was a bite in it which seared the very skin of mauger's back. "you'll understand," said dan'l cheerfully, "you are not rolling a hoop in your home gutter, mauger. you're too impetuous in your ways.... be gentle with her...." this when, the _sally sims_ having fallen off her set course, mauger brought her so far up into the wind that her sails flapped on the yards. dan'l chided him. "not so strenuous, mauger. a little turn, a spoke or two.... you overswing your mark, little man. stick her nose into it, and keep it there...." the worst of it was, from mauger's point of view, that he was trying quite desperately to hold the _sally's_ blunt bows where they belonged. but there was a sea; the rollers pounded her high sides with an overwhelming impact, and the awkward wheel put a constant strain on his none-too-adequate arms and shoulders. when the _sally_ swung off, and he fought her back to her course, she was sure to swing too far the other way; when he tried to ease her up to it, a following sea was sure to catch him and thrust him still farther off the way he should go.... he fought the wheel as though it were a live thing, and the sweat burst out on him, and his arms and shoulders ached; and all the time, dan'l at his back flogged him with gentle jeers, and seared him with caustic words.... the rat-like little man had the temper of a rat. dan'l knew this; he was careful never to push mauger too far. so, this afternoon, he brought the man, little by little, to the boiling point, and held him there as delicately in the balance as a chemist's scales.... with a word, he might at any time have driven mauger mad with fury; with a word he could have reduced the helpless little man to smothering sobs. he had mauger thus trembling and wild when noll wing came on deck, faith at his side. dan'l looked at them shrewdly; he saw that noll's face was flushed, and that noll's eyes were hot and angry. and--behind the back of mauger at the wheel--he nodded toward the little man, and caught noll's eyes, and raised his shoulders hopelessly, smiling.... it was as if he said: "see what a hash the little man is making of his simple job. is he not a hopeless thing?" noll caught dan'l's glance; and while mauger still quivered with the memory of dan'l's last word, noll looked at the compass, and cuffed mauger on the ear and growled at him: "get her on her course, you gutter dog...." which was just enough to fill to overflowing mauger's cup of wrath. the little man abandoned the wheel.... dan'l caught it before the _sally_ could fall away ... and mauger sprang headlong, face black with wrath, at cap'n wing. he was scarce a third noll's size; but the fury of his attack was such that for a moment noll was staggered. then the captain's fist swung home, and the little man whirled in the air, and fell crushingly on head and right shoulder, and rolled on the slanting deck like a bundle of soiled old clothes.... rolled and lay still.... cap'n noll wing, big noll, whom faith loved, bellowed and leaped after the little man. he was red with fury that mauger had attacked him, red with rage that mauger had, for an instant, thrust him back. he swung his heavy boot and drove it square into the face of the unconscious man. faith saw.... the toe of the captain's boot struck mauger in the right eye-socket, as he lay on his side. at the blow, for an instant, the man's eye literally splashed out, bulging, on his temple.... some women would have screamed; some would have flung themselves upon noll to drag him back. faith did neither of these things. she stood for an instant, her lips white.... her sorrow and pity were not for mauger, who had suffered the blow.... they were for noll, her noll, her husband whom she loved and wished to respect.... sorrow and pity for noll, who had done this thing.... she turned quickly and went down into her cabin.... noll came down, minutes later, after she had heard the feet of running men, the voices of men upon the deck. he came down, found her in the cabin which served as his office. she was standing, looking out one of the windows in the stern.... he said thickly: "that damned rat won't try that on me again...." she turned, and her eyes held his. "that was a cowardly thing to do, noll, my husband," she said. v when noll wing kicked the unconscious man, and faith slipped quietly away and went below, the life of the _sally sims_ for an instant stood still. yella' boy and loum, two of the boat-steerers, were lounging at the forward end of the boathouse, and saw. dan'l tobey, who had gripped the wheel, saw. and three or four of the men, amidships, saw. for a space they all stood still, watching, while noll growled above his victim, and mauger, limp and senseless, rolled slackly back and forth upon the deck with the motion of the vessel. then noll looked around, and saw them all watching him with steady, hard, frightened eyes; and their silence irked him, so that he broke it with a cry of his own. "you, yella' boy, sluice him off," he shouted. yella' boy grinned, showed his teeth with the amiability of his dark race; and he took a canvas bucket and dropped it over the rail, and drew it up filled with brine, and flung this callously in mauger's horribly crushed face. the water loosed the blood, washed it away in flecks and gouts.... it bared the skin, and through this skin, from many little slits and scratches like the cracks in a half-broken egg, more blood trickled, spreading moistly. the salt burned.... mauger groaned hoarsely, slumped into unconsciousness again. "douse him again," noll wing commanded. "the dog's shamming." he looked around, saw dan'l at the wheel. "you, mr. tobey, look to him," he commanded. dan'l was one of those men whose hands have a knack for healing. he knew something of medicine; he had gone so far, upon a former cruise, as to trim away a man's crushed fingers after an accident of the whale fisheries had nipped them.... he hailed one of the men in the waist, now, and gave the wheel to this man, and then crossed to where mauger lay and knelt beside him, and dabbed away the blood upon his face.... cap'n wing, leaning against the rail, his knuckles white with the grip he had upon it, watched dan'l, and swayed upon his feet.... and yella' boy, with his bucket still half full of brine, stood by, and grinned, and waited. mauger came slowly back to life under dan'l's ministrations; he groaned, and he began to twitch, and kick.... and of a sudden he cried out, like one suddenly waking from sleep. then consciousness flooded him, and with it came the agony he was enduring, and he howled.... and then his howls grew weak and weaker till he was sobbing.... and dan'l helped him to his feet.... he had put a rough bandage about the man's head, and from beneath this bandage, one of mauger's eyes looked forth, blackly gleaming, wild with the torment he endured. this eye fixed its gaze upon noll wing.... dan'l stepped a little nearer noll, and said in a low voice: "his eye is gone, sir. no good. it ought to be dimmed out.... cleared away...." that shocked the liquor out of noll; his face went white beneath the brown; and mauger heard, and suddenly he screamed again, and leveled a shaking finger at noll wing, and cursed him shrilly.... dan'l whirled and bade him be silent; he signed to yella' boy, and the harpooner half dragged, half carried mauger forward. but as they went, mauger, twisting in the other's arms, shook his thin fist at noll wing and swore terribly.... cursed noll, called death down upon him, vowed that he would some day even the score.... yella' boy cuffed him and dragged him away.... and dan'l watched noll to see what the captain would say. noll said nothing. he took off his cap and rubbed his bald head and looked for an instant like an old man; his eyes shifted furtively from dan'l to the cursing man.... abruptly, he turned and went aft to the stern of the ship and stood there by himself, thinking. he sought reassurance; he abused mauger under his breath, and told himself the little man had been well served.... the _sally_ fell away; he turned and cursed the new man at the wheel, and got relief from the oath he spoke. it gave him a blustering sort of courage.... he wished dan'l tobey would tell him he had done right.... but dan'l had gone forward to the fo'c's'le.... mauger was howling.... noll thought dan'l might be trimming away that crushed eye.... and he shuddered. he was, suddenly, immensely lonely. he wished with all his soul for support, for a word of comfort, a word of reassurance.... he went down into the cabin, thinking to speak with henry ham. mr. ham was always an apostle of violence.... but the mate was sleeping; noll could hear him snore. so was tigerish little james tichel.... noll went into the after cabin, and found faith there. her back was turned, she was looking out of the stern windows. he wished she would look at him, but she did not. so he said, his voice thick with anger, and at the same time plaintive with hunger for a reassuring word.... "that damned rat won't try that again...." then faith turned and told him: "that was a cowardly thing to do, noll, my husband." he had come for comfort; he was ready to humble himself; he was a prey to the instinct of wrong-doing man which bids him confess and be forgiven.... but faith's eyes accused him.... when a man's wife turns against him.... he said, bitter with rage: "keep your mouth shut, child. this is not a pink tea, aboard the _sally sims_. you know nothing of what's necessary to handle rough men." faith smiled a little wistfully. "i know it is never necessary to kick a helpless man in the face," she said. he was so nearly mad with fury and shame and misery that he raised his great fist as though he would have struck even faith. "mind your own matters," he bade her harshly. "the dog struck me.... where would the ship be if i let that go? i should have killed him...." "did you not?" faith asked gently. "i thought he would be dead...." "no; hell, no!" noll blustered. "you can't kill a snake. he'll be poisonous as ever in a day...." "i saw ..." said faith; she shuddered faintly. "i--think his eye is gone." "eye?" noll echoed. "what's an eye? he's lucky to live. there's skippers that would have killed him where he stood.... for what he did...." faith shook her head. "he's only a little man, weak, not used to sea life. you are big, and strong, noll.... my noll.... there was no need of kicking him." the man flung himself, then, into an insane burst of anger at her. he hated the whole world, hated faith most of all because she would not soothe him and tell him never to mind.... he raved at her, gripped her round shoulders and shook her, flung her away from him.... he was mad.... and faith, steadfastly watching him, though her soul trembled, prayed in her heart that she might find the way to bring noll back to manhood again; she endured his curses; she endured his harsh grip upon her shoulders.... she waited while he flooded her with abuse.... and at the end, when he was quiet for lack of words to say, she went to him and touched his arm. "noll ..." she said. he jerked away from her. "what?" "noll.... look at me...." he obeyed, in spite of himself; and there was such depths of tenderness and sorrow in her eyes that the man's heart melted in him. "it's not mauger i'm sorry for," she told him. "it's you, noll.... that you should be so cowardly, noll...." his rage broke, then; he fell to fretting, whining.... she sat down; he slumped like a child beside her. he told her he was tired, weary.... that he was worried.... that his nerves had betrayed him.... that the drink was in him.... "they're all trying to stir me," he complained. "they take a joy in doing the thing wrong.... they're helpless, slithering fools.... i lost myself, faith...." he pleaded with her, desperately anxious to make her understand; and faith understood from the beginning, with the full wisdom of woman, yet let him talk out all his unhappiness and remorse.... and because she loved him, her arm was about him and his great head was drawn against her breast long before he was done. she comforted him with touches of her light hands upon his head; she soothed him with murmurs that were no words at all.... the man reveled in this orgy of self-abasement. he groveled before her, until she began to be faintly contemptuous, in her heart, at his groveling. she bade him make an end of it.... "i was a coward, faith," he cried. "you're right. i was a coward...." "you are a man, noll," she told him. "stronger than other men, and not in your fists alone. that is why i love you so...." "i know, i know," he told her. "oh, you're a wonder, faith...." "you're a man. always remember that," she said. he got up abruptly. he started toward the main cabin; and she asked: "where are you going, noll?" "forward," he said. "i've wronged mauger...." he was drunk with this new-found joy of abasing himself. "i'll tell the man so. i'll right things with him...." and he added thoughtfully: "he cursed me. i don't want the man's hate. i'll right things with him...." she smiled faintly, shook her head. "no, noll...." he was stubborn. "yes. why not? i've...." she said thoughtfully: "noll, you're the master of this ship. old jonathan felt put her in your charge. you are responsible for her.... and that puts certain obligations on you, noll. an obligation to be wise, and to be prudent, and to be brave...." he came back and sat down beside her. she touched his knee. "you are like a king, aboard here, noll. and--the king can do no wrong. i would not go to mauger, if i were you. you made a mistake; but there is no need you should humble yourself before the men. they would not understand; they would only despise you, noll." he said hotly: "let them. they're sneaking, spineless things...." "let them fear you; let them hate you," she told him. "but--never let them forget you are master, noll. don't go to mauger...." he had no real desire to go; he wished only to bask in her new-found sympathy. and he yielded readily enough, at last.... the matter passed abruptly. she rose; he went up on deck; the _sally sims_ went on her way. and for a day or two, noll wing, an old man, was like a boy who has repented and been forgiven; he was offensively virtuous, offensively good-natured. mauger returned to his duties the second day. he wore a bandage across his face; and when it was discarded a week later, the hollow socket where his eye had been was revealed. his suffering had worked a terrible change in the man; he had been morose and desperate, he was now too much given to chuckling, as though at some secret jest of his own. he went slyly about his tasks; he seemed to have a pride in his misfortune; when he saw men shrink with distaste at sight of his scarred countenance, he chuckled under his breath.... dan'l tobey had cut away the crushed eye-ball; the lids covered the empty socket. in the upper lid, some maimed nerve persisted in living. it twitched, now and then, in such a fashion that mauger seemed to be winking with that deep hollow in his face.... the man had a fascination, from the beginning, for noll wing. the captain took an unholy joy in looking upon his handiwork; he shivered at it, as a boy shivers at a tale of ghosts.... and he felt the gleaming glance of mauger's remaining eye like a threat. it followed him whenever they were both on deck together; if he looked toward mauger, he was sure to catch the other watching him. dan'l tobey was cheerfully philosophical about the matter. "he can see as well as ever, with what he has left," he told noll one day. "and he ought to count himself lucky. your boot might have mashed his head in.... and serve him right...." "aye," said noll, willing to be reassured. "he's lucky to live. the dog must know that...." and he looked forward to where mauger lounged amidships, beside the try works, and saw the man's black eye watching him; and mauger caught the captain's glance, and chuckled unpleasantly, his face twisting. noll felt a quiver of horror, far within himself.... he began, even in the fortnight after the affair, to remember mauger's curses and threats as the man was borne away by yella' boy, that day. mauger had threatened to kill him, to cut his heart away.... the meaningless cries of a delirious man, he told himself.... no doubt mauger had forgotten them before this. he tried, one day, the experiment of giving the one-eyed man an order. smoking his pipe, he spilled ashes on the spotless deck; and he bellowed forward to mauger to come aft, and when the man came, he pointed to the smudge of ashes, and: "clean that up," he said harshly. "look sharp, now." mauger chuckled. "aye, sir," he said respectfully, and on hands and knees at the captain's feet performed his task, looking up slyly into noll wing's face as he did so. the lid that closed the empty eye-socket twitched and seemed to wink.... that night, as they were preparing to sleep, noll spoke of mauger to faith. "he does his work better than ever," he said. she nodded. "yes." and something in noll's tone made her attentive. "seems cheerful, too," said noll. he hesitated. "i reckon he's forgot his threat to stick a knife in me.... don't you think he has?" faith's eyes, watching her husband, clouded; for she read his tone. noll wing, strong man and brave, could not hide his secret from her.... she understood that he was deathly afraid of the one-eyed man. vi the _sally sims_ was in the south atlantic on the day when noll wing kicked out mauger's eye. the life of the whaler went on, day by day, as a background for the drama that was brewing. the men stood watch at the mastheads, the _sally_ plunged and waddled awkwardly southward; and now and then a misty spout against the wide blue of the sea halted them, and boats were lowered, and the whales were struck, and killed, and towed alongside. held fast there by the chain that was snubbed around the fluke-chain bitt, they were hacked by the keen spades and cutting knives, the great heads were cut off, and dragged aboard, and stripped of every fleck of oily blubber; and the great bodies, while the spiral blanket strips were torn away, rolled lumberingly over and over against the bark's stout planks. thereafter the tryworks roared, and the blubber boiled, and the black and stinking smoke of burning oil hung over the seas like a pall.... this smell of burning oil, the mark of the whaler, distressed faith at first. it sickened her; and the soot from the fires where the scrapple of boiled blubber fed the flames settled over the ship, and penetrated even to her own immaculate cabin. she disliked the smell; but the gigantic toil of the cutting in and the roar of the tryworks had always a fascination for her that compensated for the smell and the soot. she rejoiced in strength, in the strong work of lusty men. to see a great carcass almost as long as the _sally_ lying helplessly against the rail never failed to thrill her. for the men of the crew, it was all in the day's work; stinking, sweating, perilous toil. for faith it was a tremendous spectacle. it intoxicated her; and in the same fashion it affected noll wing, and dan'l tobey, and tigerish old tichel. when there were fish about, these men were subtly changed; their eyes shone, their chests swelled, their muscles hardened; they stamped upon the deck with stout legs, like a cavalry horse that scents the battle. they gave themselves to the toil of killing whales and harvesting the blubber as men give themselves to a debauch; and afterward, when the work was done, they were apt to surrender to a lassitude such as follows a debauch. there was keen, sensual joy in the running oil, the unctuous oil that flowed everywhere upon the decks; they dabbed their hands in it; it soaked their garments and their very skins drank it in. young roy kilcup took fire, from the beginning, at these gigantic spectacles. he wished to go out in the boats that struck the whales; but he lacked the sinews of a man, he lacked the perfect muscular control of manhood. he was still a boy, nimble as a monkey, but given to awkward gestures and leaps and motions. he could not be trusted to sit tight in a boat and handle his oar when a whale was leaping under the iron; and so he was condemned to stay on the ship. but they could not deny him a part in the cutting in; and when that work was afoot, he was everywhere, his eyes gleaming.... he slashed at the blubber with a boarding knife; he minced it for the boiling; he descended into the blubber room and helped stow the stuff there. faith, watching, loved his enthusiasm and his zeal.... after the matter of mauger, things went smoothly for a space. the whales came neither too fast nor too slow; they killed one or two, at intervals of days; they cut them in; they tried them out, while the fires flared through night and day and cast red shadows on the dark faces of the men, and turned their broad, bared chests to gold. and when the blubber was boiled, they cleaned ship, and idled on their way, and raised, in due time, other whales.... cap'n wing chose to go west, instead of eastward past the tip of africa and up into the indian ocean. so they worked their painful way around the horn, fighting for inches day by day; and when the bleak fog did not blanket them, faith could see gaunt mountains of rock above the northern rim of the sea. and once they passed a clipper, eastward bound. it swept up on them, a tower of tugging canvas; it came abreast, slipped past, and dwindled into a white dot upon the sea behind before night came down and hid it from their eyes. in the morning, though they had idled with no canvas pulling, through the night, the clipper was gone, and they were alone again among the mountains that came down to the sea.... so they slid out at last into the south pacific, and struck a little north of west for the wide whaling grounds of the island-dotted south seas. and struck their whales.... the routine of their tasks.... but during this time, a change was working in noll wing, which faith, and dan'l tobey, and all who looked might see. the matter of mauger had been, in some measure, a milestone in noll wing's life. he had struck men before; he had maimed them. he had killed at least one man, in fair fight, when it was his life or the other's. but because in those days his pulse was strong and his heart was young, the matter had never preyed upon him. he had been able to go proudly on his way, strong in his strength, sure of himself, serene and unafraid. he was, in those days, a man. but this was different; this was the parting of the ways. noll had spent his great strength too swiftly. his muscles were as stout as ever; but his heart was not. drink was gnawing at him; old age was gnawing at him; he was like an old wolf that by the might of tooth and fang has led the pack for long.... he had seen strong men fail; he knew what failure meant; and he could guess the slackening of his own great powers and prevision the end of this slackening. the wolf dreads the day when a young, strong wolf will drag him down; noll dreaded the day when his voice and his eye and his fist should fail to master the men. he had been absolute so long, he could endure no less. he must rule, or he was done.... at times, when he felt this failing of his own strong heart, he blamed faith for it, and fretted at her because she dragged him down. at other times, he was ashamed, he was afraid of the eyes of the men; he fled to her for comfort and for strength. he was a prey, too, to regretful memories. the matter of mauger, for instance.... he was, for all he fought the feeling, tortured by remorse for what he had done to mauger. and he was dreadfully afraid of the one-eyed man. at first, he half enjoyed this fear; it was a new sensation, and he rolled in it like a horse in clover. but as the weeks passed, it nagged at him so constantly that he became obsessed with it. wherever he turned, he saw the one-eyed man regarding him; and this steady scrutiny of mauger's one black eye was like a continual pin-prick. it twanged his nerves.... he tried, for a time, to find relief in blustering; he roared about the ship, bellowing his commands.... it comforted him to see men jump to obey. but from the beginning, this was not utter comfort. he was pursued by the chuckling, mirthless mirth of the one-eyed man. he thought mauger was like a scavenger bird that waits for a sick beast to die. mauger harassed him.... this change in noll wing reacted upon faith. because her life was so close to his, she was forced to witness the manifestations which he hid from the men; because her eyes were the eyes of a woman who loves, she saw things which the men did not see. she saw the slow loosening of the muscles of noll's jaw; saw how his cheeks came to sag like jowls. she saw the old, proud strength in his eyes weaken and fail; she saw his eyes grow red and furtive.... saw, too, how his whole body became overcast with a thickening, flabby garment of fat, like a net that bound his slothful limbs.... noll's slow disintegration of soul had its effect upon faith. she had been, when she came to the _sally sims_ with him, little more than a girl; she had been gay and laughing, but she had also been calm and strong. as the weeks passed, faith was less gay; her laugh rang more seldom. but by the same token, the strength that dwelt in her seemed to increase. while noll weakened, she grew strong.... there were days when she was very lonely; she felt that the noll she had married was gone from her.... she was, for all her strength, a woman; and a woman is always happiest when she can lean on other strength and find comfort there.... but noll.... noll, by this, was not so strong of soul as she.... she was lonely with another loneliness; with the loneliness of a mother.... but noll had told her, brutally, in the beginning, that there was no place for a babe upon the _sally sims_. he overbore her, because in such a matter she could not command him. the longing was too deep in her for words. she could not lay it bare for even noll to see.... thus, in short, faith was unhappy. unhappy; yet she loved noll, and her heart clung to him, and yearned to strengthen and support the man, yearned to bring back the valor she had loved in him.... there could never be, so long as he should live, any man but noll for her. dan'l tobey--poor dan'l, if you will--could not understand this. dan'l, for all his round and simple countenance, and the engaging frankness of his freckles and his hair, had an eye that could see into the heart of a man. he had understanding; he could read men's moods; he could play upon them, guide them without their guessing at his guidance. he managed skillfully. he held the respect, even the affection of the bulk of the crew; he had the liking of all the officers save willis cox, who disliked him for a reason he could not put in words. he bent his efforts to hold roy kilcup; and roy worshiped him. he took care to please noll wing, and noll leaned upon dan'l, and trusted him. dan'l was the only man on the ship who always applauded whatever noll might do; and noll, hungry as an old man for praise, fed fat on dan'l's applause.... dan'l was wise; he was also crafty. he contrived, again and again, that noll should act unworthily in faith's eyes. to this extent he understood faith; he understood her ideals, knew that she judged men by them, knew that when noll fell short of these ideals, faith must in her heart condemn him.... and he took care that noll should fall short.... for one thing--a little matter, but at the same time a matter of vast importance--he used the fact that big noll did not eat prettily. noll, accustomed to the sea, having all his life been a hungry man among men, was not careful of the niceties of the table. he ate quickly; he ate loudly; he ate clumsily. dan'l, somewhat gentler bred, understood this; and at the meals in the cabin when noll was particularly offensive, dan'l used to catch faith into spirited conversation, as though to distract her attention.... he did this in such a way that it seemed to be mere loyalty to noll; yet it served to create an atmosphere of understanding between dan'l and faith, and it showed him in her eyes as a loyal servant, without hiding the fact that big noll was a gross man. when they were all on deck together, and dan'l saw that burning sun or splattering rain was unpleasant to faith, he used to remedy the matter by finding shelter for her; and in doing this he emphasized--by the doing itself--the fact that noll had failed to think of her. how much of these things was, in the beginning, designed to win faith from noll it is impossible to say. dan'l delighted in the very doing; for he loved faith, had loved her for years, still loved her so intensely that there were hours when he could have strangled noll with his bare hands because noll possessed her. dan'l loved faith with a passion that gripped him, soul and body; yet it was not an unholy thing. when he saw her unhappy, he wished to guard her; when he saw that she was lonely, he wished to comfort her; when he came upon her, once, at the stern, and saw that she had tears in her eyes, it called for all his strength to refrain from taking her in his arms and soothing her. he loved her, but there was nothing in his love that could have soiled her. dan'l was, in some fashion, a figure of tragedy.... his heart burst from him, one day when they were two weeks in the south pacific. it was a hard, bitter day; one of those days when the sea is unfriendly, when she torments a ship with thrusting billows, when she racks planks and strains rigging, when she is perverse without being dangerous. there was none of the joy of battle in enduring such a sea; there was only irksome toil. it told on noll wing. his temper worked under the strain. he was on deck through the afternoon; and the climax came when willis cox's boat parted the lines that held its bow and fell and dangled by the stern lines, slatting against the rail of the _sally_, and spilling the gear into the sea. with every lurch of the sea, the boat was splintering; and before the men, driven by dan'l and willis, could get the boat inboard again, it was as badly smashed as if a whale's flukes had caught it square. noll had raged while the men toiled; when the boat was stowed, he strode toward willis cox and spun the man around by a shoulder grip. "your fault, you damned, careless skunk," he accused. "you're no more fit for your job.... you're a...." willis cox was little more than a boy; he had a boy's sense of justice. he was heart-broken by the accident, and he said soberly: "i'm sorry, sir. it was my fault. you're right, sir." "right?" noll roared. "of course i'm right. do i need a shirking fourth mate to tell me when i'm right or wrong? by...." his wrath overflowed in a blow; and for all the fact that noll was aging, his fist was stout. the blow dropped willis like the stroke of an ax. noll himself filled a bucket and sluiced the man, and drove him below with curses. afterward, the reaction sent noll to faith in a rage at himself, at the men, at the world, at her. dan'l, in the main cabin, heard noll swearing at her.... and he set his teeth and went on deck because of the thing he might do. he was still there, half an hour later, when faith came quietly up the companion. night had fallen by then, the sea was moderating. faith passed him, where he stood by the galley; and he saw her figure silhouetted against the gray gloom of the after rail. for a moment he watched her, gripping himself.... he saw her shoulders stir, as though she wept.... the man could not endure it. he was at her side in three strides.... she faced him; and he could see her eyes dark in the night as she looked at him. he stammered: "faith! faith! i'm so sorry...." she did not speak, because she could not trust her voice. she was furiously ashamed of her own weakness, of the disloyalty of her thoughts of noll. she swallowed hard.... "he's a dog, faith," dan'l whispered. "ah, faith.... i love you. i love you. i could kill him, i love you so...." faith knew she must speak. she said quietly: "dan'l.... that is not...." he caught her hand, with an eloquent grace that was strange to see in the awkward, freckled man. he caught her hand to his lips and kissed it. "i love you, faith," he cried.... she freed her hand, rubbed at it where his lips had pressed it. dan'l was scarce breathing at all.... fearful of what he had done, fearful of what she might do or say.... she said simply: "dan'l, my friend, i love noll wing with all my heart." and poor dan'l knew, for all she spoke so simply, that there was no part of her which was his. and he backed away from her a little, humbly, until his figure was shadowed by the deckhouse. and then he turned and went forward to the waist, and left faith standing there. he found mauger in the waist, and jeered at him good-naturedly until he was himself again. faith, after a little, went below. noll was asleep in his bunk above hers. he lay on his back, one bare and hairy arm hanging over the side of the bunk. he was snoring, and there was the pungent smell of rum about him. faith undressed and went quietly to bed. vii "there is a tide in the affairs of men...." their lives ebb and flow like the tides; there are days, or months, or years when matters move slackly, seem scarce to move at all. but always, in the end, the pulses of the days beat up and up.... a moment comes when all life is compressed in a single act, a single incident.... thereafter the tide falls away again, but the life of man is a different thing thereafter. such a tide was beating to the flood aboard the _sally sims_. faith felt it; dan'l felt it; even noll wing, through the fury of his increasing impotence, felt that matters could not long go on in this wise. noll felt it less than the others, because the waxing tension of his nerves was relieved by his occasional outbursts of tempestuous rage. but faith could find no vent for her unhappiness; she loved noll, and she wept for him.... wept for the noll she had married, who now was dying before her eyes.... and dan'l suffered, perhaps, more than faith. he suffered because he must not seem to suffer.... the thing could not go on, dan'l thought; he told himself, in the night watches when he was alone on deck, that he could not long endure the torment of his longing. thus far he had loved faith utterly; his half-unconscious efforts to discredit noll were the result of no malice toward noll wing, but only of love for faith. but the denial of his longing for the right to care for her was poisoning him; the man's soul was brewing venom. the honorable fibers of his being were disintegrating; his heart was rotting in the man. he was at the point where a little thing might have saved him; he was, by the same token, at the point where a little thing could set him forever upon the shameful paths of wrong. noll passed, at this time, into a period of sloth. he gave up, bit by bit, the vigorous habits of his life. he had been accustomed of old to take the deck at morning, and keep it till dusk; and when need arose in the night, he had always been quick to leap from his bunk and spring to the spot where his strength was demanded. he had, in the past, loved to take his own boat after the whales that were sighted; he had continued to do this in the early stages of this cruise, leaving eph hitch, the cooper; and tinch, the cook; and kellick, and a spare hand or so to keep ship with faith and roy kilcup. but when they came into the south seas, he gave this up; and for a month on end, he did not leave the ship. the mates struck the whales, and killed them, and cut them in, while noll slept heavily in his cabin. he gave up, also, the practice of spending most of the day on deck. he stayed below, reading a little, writing up the log, or sitting with glazed eyes by the cabin table, a bottle in reach of his hand. he slept much, heavily; and even when he was awake, he seemed sodden with the sleep in which he soaked himself. he passed, during this time, through varying moods. there were days when he sulked and spoke little; there were days when he swore and raged; and there were other days when he followed at faith's heels with a pathetic cheerfulness, like an old dog that tries to drive its stiff legs to the bounding leaps of puppy play. he was alternately dependent upon her and fretful at her presence.... and always, day by day, he was haunted by the sight of the one-eyed man. he burst out, to faith, one night; he cried: "the man plans to knife me. i can see murder in his eye." faith, who pitied mauger and had tried to comfort him, shook her head. "he's broken," she said. "he's but the shell of a man." "he follows me," noll insisted. "i turned, on deck, an hour ago; and he was just behind me, in the shadow...." faith, seeking to rouse the old spirit in noll, said gently: "there was a man who tried to stab you once. and you killed him with your hands. surely you need not be fearful of mauger." noll brooded for a moment. "eh, faith," he said dolefully. "i was a hard man, then. i've always been a hard man.... wrong, faith. i was always wrong...." "you were a master," she told him. "by the fist. a master by the fist.... a hard man...." he fell to mourning over his own harsh life; he gave himself to futile, ineffectual regrets.... he told over to faith the tale of the blows he had struck, the oaths, the kicks.... this habit of confession was becoming a mania with him. and when faith tried smilingly to woo him from this mood, he called her hard.... he told her, one day, she was un-christian; and he got out a bible, and began to read.... thereafter the mates found him in the cabin, day by day, with the bible spread upon his knees, and the whiskey within reach of his hand.... the disintegration of the master had its inevitable effect upon the crew; they saw, they grinned with their tongues in their cheeks; they winked slyly behind noll's back. one day noll called a man and bade him scrub away a stain of oil upon the deck. the man went slackly at the task. the captain said: "come, sharp there...." and the man grinned and spat over the side and asked impudently: "what's hurry?" noll started to explain; but henry ham had heard, and the mate's fist caught the man in the deep ribs, and the man made haste, thereafter. ham explained respectfully to the captain: "you can't talk to 'em, sir. fist does it. fist and boot. you know that, well's me." noll shook his head dolefully. "i've been a hard man in the past, mr. ham," he admitted. "but i'll not strike a man again...." and the mate, who could not understand, chuckled uneasily as though it were all a jest. "i will, for you, sir," he said. if dan'l tobey had been mate, and so minded, he could have kept the crew alert and keen; but dan'l had his own troubles, and he did not greatly care what came to noll and noll's ship. so, noll's hand slackening, the men were left to mr. ham; and the mate, while fit for his job, was not fit for noll's. matters went from bad to worse.... this growing slackness culminated in tragedy. where matters of life and death are a part of every day, safety lies in discipline; and discipline was lax on the _sally sims_. on a day when the skies were ugly and the wind was freshening, they sighted a lone bull whale, and the mate and willis cox lowered for him while the ship worked upwind toward where the creature lay. the boats, rowing, distanced the bark; the mate struck the whale, and the creature fluked the boat so that its planks opened and it sank till it was barely awash, and dipped the men in water to their necks. silva, the mate's harpooner, cut the line and let the whale run free; and a moment later, willis cox's boat got fast when loum pitchpoled his great harpoon over thirty feet of water as the whale went down.... the big bull began to run headlong, and the men in willis's boat balanced on the sides for a "nantucket sleigh-ride." the whale ran straightaway, so tirelessly they could not haul up on the line.... the weather thickened behind them and hid the _sally_ as she stopped to pick up the mate and his wrecked boat. then a squall struck, and night came swiftly down.... when willis saw it was hopeless to think of killing the whale, he cut. it was then full dark, and blowing. some rain fell, but the flying spume that the wind clipped from the wave tops kept the boat a quarter full of sea water, no matter how desperately they bailed. toward midnight, the thirsty men wished to drink. a whaleboat is always provisioned against the emergency of being cast adrift. biscuits and water are stored in the lantern keg, with matches and whatever else may be needful. the water is replenished now and then, that it may be fresh.... when willis opened the lantern keg, he found the water half gone, and so brackish it was unfit to drink. a condition directly to be attributed to the weakening of discipline aboard the _sally_.... a serious matter, as they knew all too well when the next day dawned bright and hot, with the bark nowhere to be seen. their thirst increased tormentingly; and on the third day, when the searching _sally_ found them, two men were dead in the boat, and the other four were in little better case.... willis had worked his boat toward an island northeast of the position where he lost the _sally_; dan'l tobey had guessed what willis would do, and had persuaded noll to cruise that way. when they picked up the half dead men, noll decided to touch at the island for food and fresh water; and they raised it in mid-morning of the second day. they had seen other lands since the cruise began. but these other lands had been rocky and inhospitable.... the harsh tops, for the most part, of mountains that rose from the sea's depths to break the surface of the sea. men dwelt on them, clinging like goats in the crannies of the rocks.... but they were not inviting. this island was different. when faith, coming on deck at the cry, saw it blue-green against the horizon, she caught her breath at the beauty of it; and while the _sally_ worked closer, she watched with wide eyes and leaping pulses. she felt, vaguely, that it was the portal of a new world; it was lovely, inviting, pleasant.... she was suddenly sick of the harsh salt of the sea, sick of the stinking ship.... she wanted soft earth beneath her feet, trees above her head, flowers within reach of her hand.... this island was fair and smiling; it seemed to promise her all the things she most desired.... she sought noll wing. "are you going ashore, noll?" she asked. he was in one of his slothful moods, half asleep in the after cabin; and he shook his great head. "no.... mates will get what we need. we'll be away by night." she hesitated. "i--want to go ashore," she said. "won't you go with me?" "you can go," he agreed, readily enough. "nobody there but some niggers--and maybe a few whites, on the beach. nothing to see...." "there's land," she told him, smiling. "and trees, and flowers.... do come." "you go along. i'm--tired, to-day." "i'd like it so much more if you came with me." he frowned at her, impatient at her insistence. "stop the talk," he told her harshly. "i'm not going. go if you want to. but be still about it, let a man rest.... i'm tired, faith.... i'm getting old...." "you ought to look after getting the stuff for the ship," she reminded him. "after all--you are responsible for her...." "mr. ham will do that, better than me," he said. "go along." she went out, reluctantly, and sought the mate. his boat and james tichel's were to go ashore, leaving dan'l in charge of the ship. he grinned cheerfully at faith's request, and bade his men rig a stool to lower her into the boat. faith protested, laughingly. "i can jump down, as well as a man," she said; and he nodded assent and forgot her. she was in his boat when they put off presently; she sat astern, while mr. ham stood above her, his legs spread to steady himself against the movement of the boat, his weight on the long steering oar that he always preferred to the tiller. the _sally_ had dropped anchor a mile off shore, and canoes were already spinning out to her. the island spread before them, green and sparkling in the sun; and the white beach shone like silver.... it was more than a coral island; there were two hills, a mile or so inland; and the white-washed huts of a considerable village shone against the trees. the canoes met them, whirled about them; the black folk shouted and clamored and stared.... mr. ham waved to them, talked to them in a queer and outlandish mixture of tongues, bade them go on to the _sally_.... "mr. tobey'll buy what they've got," he told faith, as the whaleboat drove ahead for the shore. james tichel's boat was well astern of them, dragging a raft of floating casks which would be filled with water and towed out to the _sally_. he was still far from shore when they drove up on the beach; and the men jumped out into the shallow water and dragged the boat higher, so that faith, picking her way over the thwarts, could step ashore dry shod from the bow. her feet left scarce a mark upon the hard, white sand. mr. ham said to her: "you come up to the trees; you can be cool there while we're at our business." but faith shook her head. "i'm going to take a walk," she said. "i want to get into the woods. how long will you be here?" he hesitated dubiously. "guess it's all right if you do," he decided. "the niggers are friendly.... most of 'em talk english, in a way. go ahead." "how long have i?" faith asked again. he said they would be ashore an hour, perhaps more. "no matter, anyway," he told her. "stay long as you like. do you want i should send a man with you?" faith told him she was not afraid; he grinned. she turned southward along the beach, away from the huddled village. the smooth sand was so firm it jarred her feet, and she moved up into the shade of the trees, and followed them for a space, eyes probing into the tangle beyond them, lips smiling, every sense drinking in the smells of the land.... when she came, presently, to a well-marked path that led into the jungle-like undergrowth, she hesitated, then turned in. within twenty steps, the trees closed about her, shutting away all sight of the sea. for a little longer she could hear the long rollers pounding on the beach; then that sound, too, became indistinct and dim.... it was drowned in the thousand tiny noises of the brush about her. bird-notes, crackling of twigs, stirring of furry things. once a little creature of a sort she had never seen before, yet not unlike the familiar and universal rabbit, hopped out of her path in a flurry of excitement. she heard, presently, another sound ahead of her; a sound of running, falling water; and when she pressed on eagerly, she came out upon the bank of a clear stream that dropped in bright cascades from one deep, cool pool to another. she guessed this stream must come down between the hills she had seen from the ship.... it was all the things she had unwittingly longed for during the months aboard the _sally_. it was cool, and clear, and gay, and chuckling; the sea was always so turbulent and harsh. she followed the path that ran up the northern bank of the stream, and each new pool seemed more inviting than the last.... she wanted to wade into them, to feel the water on her shoulders and her throat and her arms.... her smooth skin had revolted endlessly against the bite of the salt water in which she bathed aboard the _sally_; it yearned for this cool, crystal flood.... she put aside this desire. the path she was following was a well-beaten trail. people must use it. they might come this way at any time.... she wished, wistfully, that she might be sure no one would come.... and so wishing, she pressed on, each new pool among the rocks wooing her afresh, and urging her to its cool embrace.... she heard, in the wood ahead of her, an increasing clamor of falling water, and guessed there might be a cascade there of larger proportions than she had yet seen. the path left the stream for a little, winding to round a tangle of thicker underbrush; and she hurried around this tangle, her eyes hungry to see the tumbling water she could hear.... hurrying thus, she came out suddenly upon the lip of the pool.... broad, and dark, and deep; its upper end walled by a sheet of plunging water that fell in a mirror-like veil and churned the pool to misty foam. her eyes drank deep; they swung around the pool.... and then, she caught her breath, and shrank back a little, and pressed her hand to her throat.... upon a rock, not fifty feet from her, his back half turned as he poised to dive, there stood a man. a white man, for all the skin of his whole body was golden-brown from long exposure to the open air.... he poised there like some wood god.... faith had a strange feeling that she had blundered into a secret temple of the woods; that this was the temple's deity. she smiled faintly at her own fancy; smiled.... god has made nothing more beautiful than the human body, whether it be man's or woman's. faith thought, in the instant that she watched, that this bronzed man of the woods was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.... she had no sense of shame in watching him; she had only joy in the sheer beauty of him, golden-brown against the green. and when, even as she first saw him, he leaped and swung, smooth and straight, high through the air, and turned with arms like arrows to pierce the bosom of the pool, she gasped a little, as one gasps on coming suddenly out upon a mountain top, with the world outspread below.... then he was gone, with scarce a sound.... she saw for an instant the golden flash of him in the pool's depths.... his brown head broke the water, far across the way.... and he shook back his hair, and passed his hands across his face to clear his eyes.... his eyes opened.... his eyes opened, and he saw her standing there.... there were seconds on end that they remained thus, each held by the other's gaze. faith could not, for her life, have stirred. the spell of the place was upon her. the man, for all his astonishment, was the first to find his tongue. he called softly across the water: "good morning, woman...." his voice was so gentle, and at the same time so gay, that faith was not alarmed. she smiled.... "it's after noon," she said. "good afternoon--man!" viii when faith answered him, the man's face broke in smiles; he told her laughingly: "if you're so familiar with the habits of the sun, you must be a real woman, and not a dream at all.... i'm awake.... i am, am i not?" "i should think you would be," said faith. "that water must be cold enough to wake any one...." he shook his head. "no, indeed. just pleasantly cool. dip your hand in it...." something led her to obey him; she bent by the pool's sandy brink and dabbled her fingers, while the man, a hundred feet away at the very foot of the waterfall, held his place with the effortless ease of an accustomed swimmer, and watched her. "wasn't i right?" he challenged. she nodded. "it's delicious...." he said quickly: "you being here means that a ship is in, of course." "yes." "what ship?" "the _sally sims_--whaler...." "the _sally_! i know the _sally_," the man cried. "is noll wing still captain?..." "of course." his eyes were thoughtful. "i'm in luck, woman," he said. "listen. will you do a thing for me?" "what do you want me to do?" "i've a sort of a home, up on the hill above us here.... observatory.... i've been waiting four months for a ship to come along, keeping a lookout from the top there.... missed the _sally_, somehow.... must have come up after i came down...." "we made the island a little before noon," she said. he chuckled. "ah, i was in my boudoir then.... i want to ship on the _sally_. does she need men?" her eyes clouded thoughtfully. "i--think so," she said. "they lost two, three days ago." "what was it?" he asked quickly. "fighting whale...." she shook, her head. "boat got lost ... and they were short of water. the jug wasn't fresh filled." the man whistled softly. "that doesn't sound like one of noll wing's boats," he said. "noll is a stickler on those things...." faith bowed her head, tracing a pattern in the sand with her forefinger. she said nothing. the man asked: "how long before they sail?" "they're going to wait for me," she said. his eyes lighted, and he chuckled. "good. now, listen.... if you'll be so kind as to turn your back.... you see, i've been running wild here for the past few months, and my clothes are all up at my place. i'll trot up there and get them and come back here.... get a few things that i don't want to leave.... will you turn your back?..." she had done so, and she heard the water stir as he raced for the shore and landed. "i'm going, now," he called. "how long will you be?" she asked. "not over an hour," he told her. "about an hour." "i'm afraid some one may come along this path.... will they?... should i hide from them?..." he laughed. "bless you, this is my private path; it's officially taboo to the natives, by special arrangement with the old witch doctor effect that runs their affairs. there won't be a soul along.... i'll be back in an hour...." "i'll wait," she agreed softly. there was a light of mischief in her eyes. still standing with her face down stream, she heard his bare feet pad the earth of the path for a moment before the sound was lost in the laughing of the waterfall.... a moment later, his shout: "i'm gone." she sat down quickly on the sand, smiling to herself, sure of what she wished to do. she slipped off her shoes and her stockings with quick fingers; and she gathered her skirts high about her thighs and stepped with one foot and then another into the pleasant waters of the pool. they rippled around her ankles; she went deeper.... the waters played above her knees, while she balanced precariously in the swirling current and gathered her skirts high.... the water was soothing as heaven itself, after the salt.... but she was not satisfied.... merely wading.... she stood for a little, listening, gathering courage, striving to pierce the shadows of the bush about her with her eyes.... these first months of her marriage had driven a measure of her youth out of faith; they had been sober days, and days more sober still were yet to come. but for this hour, a gay irresponsibility flooded her; she waded ashore, singing under her breath.... she began swiftly to loosen her skirt at the waist.... * * * * * when the man came trotting down the trail at last, shouting ahead to her as he came, faith was sitting demurely upon the sand, clothed and in her right mind.... she was trying to appear unconscious of the fact that around the back of her neck, and her pink little ears, wet tendrils of hair were curling.... when he came in sight, she rose gravely to meet him; and he looked at her with quick, keen eyes, and laughed.... she turned red as a flame.... "i don't blame you," he said. "it's a beautiful pool...." she wanted to be angry with him; but she could not.... his laughter was infectious; she smiled at him. "i--couldn't resist it," she said.... she was studying the man. he wore, now, the accustomed garments of a seaman, the clothes which the men aboard the _sally_ wore. harsh and awkward garments; yet they could not hide the graceful strength of the man. he was not so big as noll, she thought; not quite as big as even dan'l tobey.... yet there was such symmetry in his limbs and the breadth of his shoulders that he seemed a well-bulked man. his cheeks were lean and brown, and his lips met with a pleasant firmness.... a man naturally gay, she thought; yet with strength in him.... they started down the path toward the sea together. he carried a cloth-wrapped bundle, swinging in his hand. she looked at him sidewise; asked: "who are you? how do you come to be here?" "my name's brander," he said. "i was third mate on the _thomas morgan_." she tried to remember a whaler by that name. "new bedford?" she asked. "no.... nantucketer." faith looked at him curiously. "but--what happened? was she lost?..." brander's face was sober; he hesitated. "no, not lost," he said. he did not seem minded to go on; and faith asked again: "what happened?" he laughed uneasily. "i left them," he said, and again seemed to wish to let the matter rest. but faith would not. "is there any reason, why you should not tell me all about it?" she asked. "no." "then tell me, please...." he threw up his free hand in a gesture of surrender. "all right," he said.... they were following the narrow path down the stream's side toward the sea. faith was ahead, brander on her heels. after a moment, he went on.... "a man named marks was the skipper of the _thomas morgan_. i shipped aboard her as a seaman. i'd had one cruise before.... not with him. i shipped with him.... and i found out, within two days, that i'd made a mistake. "not that they were hard on me. i knew my job, after a fashion; and ... they let me alone. but the men had a tough time of it. it was a tough ship, through and through. marks; and his mate.... mate's name was trant, and i'd not like to meet that man on a dark night. there was murder in him.... the sheer love of it.... he was the sort of man that will catch a shark just for the fun of spiking the creature's jaws and turning him loose again.... i was in taku once.... saw a little china boy catch a dragon fly and tie a twig to its tail and let it go. the twig overbalanced the dragon fly--it went straight up into the air, fast as it could wing.... may be going yet.... that was the sort of trick trant would have liked. "not that he ever actually killed a man on this cruise. better if he had, for the men. but he didn't. "a big fellow. heavy fisted; but he wasn't satisfied with the fist. the boot for him...." they were climbing a little knoll in the path; he fell silent while they climbed; and faith thought of noll wing and mauger.... "well," said brander. "well, you know how things drag along.... we dragged along.... then, one day, we touched.... we'd gone around into the japan sea. marks and trant walked up to the second mate and took him, between them, into a boat, and took him ashore.... they came back without him. he was a man as big as trant, but he had crossed trant, more than once.... trant had a face that was cut to ribbons when he came back aboard; but the other man did not come back at all. i never knew what the particular quarrel was.... "they shoved the third mate up to the second, and put me in as third. i said to myself: 'all right.... but don't go to sleep, brander.' and i didn't. it didn't pay.... i couldn't." he waved his hand as though to dismiss what followed with a word.... nevertheless, he went on: "there was a man in my boat.... he was called 'lead-foot' by every one, because he was a slow-moving man. he was not good for much. he was very much afraid of every one. especially trant. he was bigger than trant, so trant took a certain satisfaction from abusing him. i decided to interfere with this. i told this big coward who was in my boat to keep out of trant's way; and i told trant, jokingly, one day, to leave my men alone. he was huffed at that; growled at me." brander chuckled. "so i swelled up my chest like a fighting cock and told him to keep hands off. oh, i threw a great bluff, i can tell you. but trant was not a coward. he waited his time; and i knew he was waiting.... "and while he waited, he talked to the captain; and i could see them both whispering together. they whispered about me. they did not like to have me about; and once marks threatened to put me back in the fo'c's'le; but he changed his mind. "so matters were till we came past an island to the north of here, forty or fifty miles. we made that island at dusk, and worked nearer it after darkness had fallen. it came on cloudy and dark.... "i met trant on the deck; and i said to him: 'do we go ashore here?' he grinned at me with his teeth and bade me wait till morning and see. and that was enough for me. i knew what was coming. i thought i would hurry it a little; but luck hurried it for me, in a way that worked out very well. "this lead-footed man was at the wheel. when the anchor went down, he started forward and brushed against trant. trant may have meant it to be so. anyway, trant knocked the lead-foot flying, and went after him with the boot, jumping, as lumbermen do. there happened to be a belaying pin handy. so i took it and cracked trant, and he dropped in mid-leap.... then marks jumped me; and i managed to wriggle out from under him, and he fell and banged his head. and he lay still; but trant was up, by then, and at me. "the lead-footed man was yelling in my ear. i told him to go overboard and swim for it; and he did. and just then trant got in the way of the belaying pin again, and this time he did not seem to want to get up. "there was some confusion, you understand. i did not stay to straighten things out. i went over, after lead-foot.... he could swim like a porpoise. he was ahead of me, but half way in he met a shark, and came clamoring back to me to be saved. so i got out of his way for fear he would drag us both under, and then i kicked at the shark, and it went about its business, and we swam on.... they were too busy sluicing the old man and trant to come after us in a boat.... they could have knocked us in the head with an oar.... but they didn't.... "however, lead-foot took the shark so seriously that he swam too fast. or something of the sort.... anyway, he keeled when we touched sand, and i felt him and found that he was dead with heart failure or the like. i didn't stop to work over him. i could hear trant bellowing. he had come to life; and a boat was racing after me. "so i went into the bush and stayed there till the _thomas morgan_ took herself off. after that, not liking the island, which was low and marshy, i borrowed a native canoe and came over here.... and i've been here, since." they were within sound of the rollers on the beach when he finished. faith was silent for a little; then she asked: "were there other white men here? why didn't you stay at the village?" "there was too much society there," said brander, grinning amiably. "i'm a solitary man, by nature. so i went up into the hills. besides, i could watch for ships, there.... i'd no notion of staying here indefinitely, you understand...." faith was filling out the gaps in his narrative from her own understanding of the life aboard a whaler. she could guess what brander must have endured; she thought he had done well to come through it and still smile.... she thought he was a man.... they could see the surf, through the thinning bush, when he said: "you haven't told me how you happen to be aboard the _sally sims_...." faith had almost forgotten, herself. she remembered, and something like a chill of sorrow struck down upon her. but: "i am noll wing's wife," she said. they came out, abruptly, into the white glare of the beach, mr. ham's boat was drawn up, a quarter-mile away. brander looked toward it, looked at faith. "ah," he said quietly. "then yonder is your husband's boat, waiting.... noll wing is an able skipper...." faith said nothing. they went on, side by side, toward mr. ham. ix when mr. ham, waiting by the boat with his men, saw faith coming and saw the stranger at her side, he came to meet them. his bearing was inclined to truculence. faith was ashore here in his charge; if this man had disturbed her.... faith reassured him. "i've a hand for you, mr. ham," she called. "you need men." mr. ham stopped, ten paces from them, with legs spread wide. he looked from faith to brander. brander smiled in a friendly way. "can you use me?" he asked. "i know the work." mr. ham frowned thoughtfully. "what's this, ma'am?" he asked faith. "who's that man?" faith said quietly: "ask him. i believe he wants to ship. i told him we were short." the mate looked to brander. his attitude toward faith had been deferential; toward brander he assumed unconsciously the terrorizing frown which he was accustomed to turn upon the men. "what do you want?" he challenged. brander said pleasantly: "to ship with you." "what are you doing here?" "i was third mate on the _thomas morgan_," said brander. "cap'n marks?" mr. ham asked. "yes." "we've no use for any o' marks's mates aboard the _sally_." brander smiled. "i wasn't thinking of shipping as mate. can you use a hand?" "where's the _thomas morgan_?" "on th' solander grounds, likely." "how come you're not with her?" "i left them, hereabouts." "left them?" "yes." "they've not the name of letting men go." "they had no choice. they were--otherwise engaged when i took my leave." "that's a slovenly ship," said mr. ham. "one reason why i'm not on her now." the mate frowned. "i'm not saying it's not in your favor that you got away from them.... and we do need men." he added hastily: "men; not officers." "that suits me." mr. ham looked around. faith stood a little at one side, listening quietly. the _sally_ rocked on the swells outside.... "well, come aboard," said the mate. "see what the old man says." brander nodded. "thanks, sir," he said. he adopted, easily and without abasement, the attitude of a fo'mast hand toward the officer, and went ahead of the mate and faith to stow his bundle in the boat. the other men waiting there questioned him; but they all fell silent as mr. ham and faith came to where the boat waited. tichel had already taken the water casks out to the whaler. the men took the whaleboat and dragged it down to the water. when it was half afloat, faith and the mate got in. the men shoved off, wading till the water was deep enough for them to clamber aboard and snatch their oars and push out through the rollers.... they worked desperately for a little, till they were clear of the turbulent waters of the beach; then settled to their work.... brander sat amidships, his bundle at his feet, lending a hand now and then on the oar of the man who faced him. once he looked toward faith; she met his eyes.... neither spoke, neither smiled.... the island was receding behind them; brander turned to watch it. they drew alongside the _sally_. dan'l tobey was at the rail to receive them. the mate stood in the tossing boat and lifted faith easily to dan'l at the rail; he swung her aboard. mr. ham followed; then brander; then the men. the mate saw to the unloading of the boat, saw it safely stowed. then turned to brander, "come and see the old man," he said. dan'l tobey heard. "he's asleep," he told mr. ham. "who is this?" the mate said: "he wants to ship. says he was on the _thomas morgan_." dan'l looked at brander. mr. ham added: "the captain's wife found him in the bush." dan'l drawled: "beach comber.... eh?" brander said respectfully: "no, sir. i lived on the hill, there.... the highest one. you can make out my place with the glass...." "he was third mate on the _thomas morgan_," said mr. ham. "we don't need an officer," dan'l suggested. brander sensed the fact that dan'l disliked him; he wondered at it. "i'm asking to ship as a seaman, sir," he said. mr. ham looked at dan'l. "best speak to the captain?" he asked. "oh, set him ashore," dan'l suggested. "he's a troublemaker. too wise for the fo'c's'le...." he looked to brander insolently. "can't you see he's a man of education, mr. ham? what would he want to ship before the mast for?" mr. ham looked puzzled. "how about it?" he asked brander sharply. brander smiled. "i did it, in the beginning, for sport," he said. "now i'm doing it to get home. if you need a man.... if not, i'll go ashore...." faith, standing by, said quietly: "ship him, mr. ham." her words were not a request; they were a command. dan'l looked at her swiftly, shrewdly. mr. ham obeyed, with the instant instinct of obedience to that tone.... it was not till days later that faith wondered why she had spoken; wondered why she had ventured to command.... and wondered why mr. ham obeyed.... it gave her, somehow, a sense of power.... he had obeyed her, as he would have obeyed noll, her husband.... at the moment, however, having spoken, she went below.... she went quickly, a little confused. she found noll asleep, as dan'l had said; and she did not wake him. the _sally_ got to sea.... the island fell into the sea behind them. before it was fully gone, faith, with the captain's glass, had searched that highest hill from the windows of the after cabin; she discerned a little clearing, a rude hut.... brander's home.... she watched it for a space; then put the glass aside with thoughtful eyes. brander's coming, in ways that could hardly be defined, eased the tension aboard the _sally_. when the man went forward to stow his belongings in the fo'c's'le, he found the men surly.... quarrelsome.... they looked at him sidewise.... they covertly inspected him.... the men of a whaler's crew are a polyglot lot, picked up from the gutters and the depths. there were good men aboard the _sally_, strong men, who knew their work.... some of them had served noll wing before; some had made more than one voyage on the ships of old jonathan felt. there was loyalty in these men, and a pride in their tasks.... but there were others who were slack; and there were others who were evil.... the green hands had been made over into able seamen, according to a whaler's standard; and some of them had become men in the process, and some had become something less than men. yet they all knew their work, and did it.... but they were, when brander came among them, surly and ugly. in the days that followed, tending strictly to his own work, he nevertheless found time to study them.... a man with a tongue naturally gay, and a smile that inspired friendship, he began to jest with them.... and little by little, they responded.... their surliness passed.... the officers felt the change. willis cox, still half sick from the ordeal that had killed two of his men, took brander into his boat. brander was only a year or two older than willis, but he was vastly more mature.... he knew men, and he knew the work of the ship; and willis liked him. he let brander have his way with the other men, and his liking for the newcomer led him to speak of it in the cabin, at supper one night. "he's a good man," he said. "the men like him." dan'l tobey said pleasantly: "he's after your berth, will. best watch him." willis said honestly: "he knows more about the work than i do. i don't blame him. but--he keeps where he belongs...." "he will ... till he sees his chance," dan'l agreed. "don't let him get away from you." old james tichel grinned malignantly. "nor don't let him get in my way, mr. cox," he said, showing his teeth. "i do not like the cut of him." the mate looked at cap'n noll wing; but noll was eating, he seemed not to have heard. faith, at her husband's side, said nothing. so mr. ham kept out of the discussion. only he wondered--he was not a discerning man--why dan'l disliked the newcomer. brander seemed to mr. ham to be a lucky find; they had needed a man, they had found a first-rater. that was his view of the matter. brander's coming had worked like a leaven among the men. that was patent to every one.... but this was not necessarily a good thing. a dominant man in the fo'c's'le is, if the man be evil, a dangerous matter. the officers rule their men by virtue of the fact that the men are not united. union among the men against the officers breeds mutiny.... dan'l said as much, now. "he'll get the men after him like sheep," he said angrily. "then--look out." "we can handle that," said mr. ham. dan'l grinned. "aye, that's what is always said--till it is too late to handle them. the man ought to have been left on the beach, where he belonged." faith said quietly: "i spoke for him. it seems to me he does his work." dan'l looked up quickly, a retort on his lips; but he remembered himself in time. "i'm wrong," he said frankly. "brander is a good man. no doubt the whole matter will turn out all right...." cap'n wing, finishing his dinner, said fretfully: "there's too much talk of this man. i'm sick of it. keep an eye on him, mr. ham. if he looks sidewise, clip him. but don't talk so much...." the mate nodded seriously. "i'll watch him, sir." dan'l said: "i've no right to talk against him, sir. no doubt he's all right." noll shook his great head like a horse that is harassed by a fly. "i tell you i want no more words about him, mr. tobey. be still." he got up and stalked into his cabin. faith followed him. the officers, one by one, went on deck. willis, there, came to dan'l. "you really think he means trouble, mr. tobey?" dan'l smiled. "if he were in my boat, i'd keep an eye peeled," he said. young willis cox set his jaw. "by god, i will that," he swore. dan'l pointed forward; and willis looked and saw brander talking with mauger, the one-eyed man, by the lee rail. "mark that," said dan'l. "they're a chummy pair, those two." willis frowned. "that's queer, too," he said. "mauger--he's not much of a man. why should brander take up with him, anyhow?" dan'l smiled, sidewise. "does mauger--is mauger the captain's man?" he asked. "no. hates him like death and hell." "and brander plays up to him...." "because mauger hates the old man. is that it?" willis asked anxiously. "i'm saying no word," protested dan'l tobey. "see for yourself, will." x roy kilcup was another who did not like brander. this was in part a consequence of his position on the _sally_, in part the result of dan'l tobey's skillful tongue. dan'l saw the tendency in roy, and capitalized it. roy lived in the cabin, where his duties as ship's boy kept him for most of the time. it was true that in pay he ranked below the men, that he was of small account in the general scheme of work aboard the whaler; but he lived in the cabin, he was of the select, and to that extent he was set apart from the men. also, he was the brother of the captain's wife, and that gave him prestige. there was no great harm in roy, but he was at that age where boys worship men, and not always the best men. also, he was at what might be called the cocky age. he felt that the fact of his living in the cabin made him superior to the men who hived in the fo'c's'le; and this feeling showed itself in his attitude toward them. he liked to order them around.... they were for the most part willing to obey him in the minor matters with which he concerned himself. roy saw, as soon as any one, that brander was a man above the average. the day brander was found on the island, he had gone ashore with mr. tichel, and roved through the little native village, and returned to the ship with the third mate before faith appeared. faith had suggested that he go with her, but the boy scorned the notion of poking through the woods.... he was thus back on the ship when brander appeared.... but he heard dan'l tobey object to the man, and he took his cue from dan'l. he disliked brander. this dislike was accentuated by a small thing which happened in the second week brander was on the _sally_. they had killed a whale and cut it in; and because the weather was bad, it had been a task for all hands. the men were tired; but after the job was done, the regular watches were resumed.... dan'l tobey's watch, which included brander, took first turn at scrubbing up; and when they went off and the other watch came on, roy was forward, fishing over the bow. he saw the tired men trooping forward and dropping into the fo'c's'le; and he hailed brander. "you, brander," he called, in his shrill, boy's voice. "get my other line, from the starboard rail, under the boathouse. look sharp, now!" now roy had no right in the world to give orders, except as a messenger of authority, and brander knew this. so brander said amiably: "sorry, youngster. i'm tired. your legs are spry as mine...." and he descended into the fo'c's'le with no further word, while roy's face blazed with humiliation, and the men who had heard laughed under their breath. some boys would have stormed, beaten out their strength in futile efforts to compel brander to do their bidding; roy had cooler blood in him. he fell abruptly silent; he went on with his fishing.... but he did not forget.... he told dan'l tobey about it. dan'l was his confidant, in this as in other things. and dan'l comforted him. "best forget it, roy," he said. "no good in going to the old man. the man was right.... he didn't have to do it...." "there was no reason why he should be impertinent," roy blazed. "he holds himself too high." "well, i'll not say he does not," dan'l agreed. "same time, it never hurts to wait." and he added, a little uncomfortably, as though he were unwilling to make the suggestion: "besides, your sister shipped the man. she'd have the say, in any trouble." "i guess not," roy stoutly boasted. "i guess she's nothing but a woman. i guess noll wing is the boss around here." "sure," said dan'l. "sure. but--let's wait a bit." this pleased roy; it had a mysteriously ominous sound. he waited; and he fell into the way of watching brander, spying on the man, keeping the newcomer constantly under his eye. brander marked this at once, smiled good-humoredly.... brander and faith saw very little of each other in those days; they exchanged no words whatever, save on one day when brander had the wheel and faith nodded to him and bade him good morning. for the rest, the convention of the deck kept brander forward of the tryworks; and faith never went forward. but now and then their eyes met, across the length of the _sally_; and one night at the cutting in, she heard brander singing a chanty to inspire the men as they tugged at the capstan bars.... he sang well, a clear voice and a true one. in the shadows of the after deck, she listened thoughtfully. dan'l came upon her there, when he paused for a moment in his work. he saw her before she saw him, saw her face illumined by the light of the flare in the rigging above the tryworks. and for a moment he stood, watching; and the man's lip twisted.... that moment was a turning point in dan'l tobey's life. before, there had been a measure of good in the man; he had loved faith well and decently.... his capacity for mischief had been curbed. but in those seconds while he studied faith's countenance as she listened to brander's singing, he saw something that curdled the venom in the man. when he stepped nearer, and she heard him, he was a different dan'l.... the stocky, round-faced, freckled, sandy young man had become a power for evil.... he was to use this power thenceforward without scruple.... faith smiled at him; he said pleasantly: "the man sings well." "yes," faith agreed. "i like it." then dan'l turned back to his tasks, and faith slipped down into the cabin where noll was, and offered to read aloud to her husband. noll sleepily agreed; he went to sleep, presently, while she read. when she saw he was asleep, she dropped her book in her lap and studied the sleeping man; and suddenly her eyes filled, so that she went down on her knees beside him, and laid her arms gently about his shoulders, and whispered pleadingly: "oh, noll, noll...." * * * * * roy kilcup, coming up from the cabin one day, saw dan'l tobey strike a man. he saw this at the moment his head rose above the companion. dan'l and the man were amidships, and dan'l cuffed him and drove him forward. dan'l was not given to blows; he seldom needed to use them. so roy was curious. he went forward along the deck, and touched dan'l's elbow, and pointed after the cuffed man and asked huskily: "what's the matter? what did he do?" dan'l had not seen roy coming. he took a moment to think before he answered; then he said in a fashion that indicated his unwillingness to tell the truth: "oh--nothing. he was spitting on the deck." now a whaler is, when she is doing her work, a dirty craft; she is never overly clean at best. but it is never permitted, on a ship that pretends to decency, to spit upon the deck. any man who did that on the _sally_ would have been punished with the utmost rigor; and roy knew this as well as dan'l. and dan'l knew that roy knew. roy grinned youthfully, protested: "oh, say, what's the secret about? what did he do?" dan'l smiled in a way that admitted his misstatement; he shook his head. "nothing," he said. roy looked angry. "keep it to yourself if you want to." he had known dan'l all his life, and had no awe of him. "don't tell if you don't want to. if it's a secret, i guess i can keep still about it as well as any one." dan'l looked sorrowful. "just forget it, roy," he said. "it doesn't matter." roy flamed at him. "all right.... keep it to yourself." and dan'l yielded reluctantly. "well, if you've got to know," he said, "i'll tell you.... he was laughing at brander's story of why faith brought him aboard the ship here." roy's cheeks began to burn. "brander.... what did brander say?" dan'l shook his head. "i don't know. i didn't hear. he wasn't here at the time. probably didn't say anything. probably the men just made it up. the fo'c's'le is a dirty place, you know, roy. dirty men.... and dirty talk...." roy said hotly: "by god, i won't have them talking about my sister...." "i felt the same way," dan'l agreed. "but--you can't do anything." "what did brander say? the sneak...." "i don't know that he said anything," dan'l insisted. "probably not. i just heard this man snickering, and telling two others something.... heard him name brander, and your sister.... so i struck in. the others were just listening. they got out of the way. i asked this man what he said; and he wouldn't tell me, so i hit him a clip and told him to keep his tongue still...." roy whirled to look forward. the deck was all but empty, but brander and another man were by the knight's heads, talking casually together. roy said under his breath: "i'm going to...." dan'l caught his arm. "wait...." roy shook loose. "no. this is my family affair, dan'l. let me alone...." he started forward. dan'l hesitated; then he drew back, turned aft, stopped, watched.... he took a malicious pleasure in seeing what would happen. brander had seen roy coming; he was watching the boy, and smiling a little. the other man's back was turned. roy strode forward, head up, eyes blazing; he kept on till he was face to face with brander; he stopped, and his hands trembled. "you, brander," he said thickly. "you keep your tongue off my...." brander moved like a flash of light. he swung roy to him, swung the boy around, pinned his arms with one of his own, clapped his hand over roy's mouth.... he lifted the boy easily and carried him, thus pinned and gagged, aft as far as the tryworks. the other man stared in astonishment; dan'l took a step nearer the two. the others were out of easy hearing when brander stopped. still holding roy's mouth he said quietly: "don't lose your head, youngster. you'll only do harm. speak quietly. what do you want to say?" he released roy and stepped back; and again roy showed that he was more than a boy. he did not spring at brander; he did not curse; he did not weep. he stood, straight as a wire, and his eyes were blazing. his voice, when he found it, was husky and low, so that none but brander could hear. "i don't know what you're saying about my sister," said roy. "whatever it is, it's not true. if you say it again, i'll kill you." brander's eyes shadowed unhappily. he asked: "why do you think i have said anything?" "no matter," said roy harshly. "i know. keep your tongue between your lips, or i'll shoot you like a yellow dog. that's all...." he swung abruptly, and went aft so quickly that brander made no move to stop him. dan'l came quietly across the waist of the ship as brander took a step after roy. "get forward, brander," he said. brander nodded pleasantly; he said: "yes, sir." and he went back to the forward deck, his eyes troubled. he fought, that afternoon, with one of the hands, and whipped the man soundly. dan'l tobey reported this in the cabin that evening; and mr. ham frowned and said: "he'd best learn we'll do all the fist work that's done aboard here." dan'l smiled. "he was an officer once," he reminded the mate. "it's a habit hard to break." big noll was there; he seemed not to listen. his attitude toward the new man was still in doubt. dan'l tobey was wondering about it; and so was faith. it was to be decided, two days later, in a fashion peculiarly dramatic. mauger, the one-eyed man, had an increasing hold on the imagination of noll wing. the captain encountered the other wherever he went; and he never encountered mauger without an uneasy feeling that was half dread, half remorse. he could not bear to look at mauger's face, with the dreadful hollow covered by the twitching lid; and mauger sensed this and put himself in the captain's path whenever he had the opportunity. noll wished he could be rid of the one-eyed man; and in his moments of rage, he thought murderously of mauger. but for the most part, he feared and dreaded the other, and shivered at the little man's malicious and incessant chuckling. again and again he spoke to faith of mauger, voicing his fear, wishing that she might reassure him; till faith wearied of it, and would say no more. he spoke of his dread to mr. ham, who thought he was joking and laughed at him harshly. mr. ham lacked imagination. brander, as has been said, was friendly with mauger. he was sorry for the little man; and he found in mauger a singularly persistent spirit of cheer which he liked. he was, for that matter, a friend of all the men in the fo'c's'le, but because mauger was marked by the cabin, his friendship for mauger was more frequently noted. dan'l had seen it, had pointed it out to willis cox.... cap'n wing came on deck one afternoon, a few minutes before the masthead man sighted a pod of whales to the southward. the captain was more cheerful than he had been for days; he was filled with something like the vigor of his more youthful days. there was a joyful turbulence in him, like the exuberance of an athlete.... he stamped the deck, striding back and forth.... when the whales were sighted, the men sprang to the boats. mauger, since willis cox's tragic experience, had been put in the fourth mate's boat with brander, to fill the empty places there. brander and mauger were side by side in their positions as they prepared the boat for lowering. but the whales were still well away, the _sally_ could cruise nearer them, and noll wing did not at once give the signal to lower. he stalked along the deck.... as he passed where mauger stood, he marked that the line in the after tub was out of coil a little. that might mean danger, when the whale was struck and the line whistled like a snake as it ran. noll wing stopped and swore sulphurously and bade mr. cox put his boat in order. willis snapped: "mauger, stow that line." mauger reached for the tub, but his single eye had not yet learned accurately to judge distance; he fumbled; and brander, at his side, saw his fumbling, and reached out and coiled the line with a single motion.... noll wing saw; and he barked: "brander!" brander looked around. "yes, sir." "when a man can't do his own work here, we don't want him. keep your hands off mauger's tasks." brander said respectfully: "i helped him without thinking, sir. thought the thing was to do the work, no matter who...." noll wing stepped toward him; and his eyes were blazing, not so much with anger as with sheer exuberance of strength. he roared: "don't talk back to me, you...." and struck. now noll wing was proud of his fists, and proud of his eye; and for fifteen years he had not failed to down his man with a single blow. but when he struck at brander, a curious thing happened.... brander's head moved a little to one side, his shoulders shifted.... and noll's big fist shot over brander's right shoulder. the captain's weight threw him forward; brander stepped under noll's arm. the two men met, face to face, their eyes not six inches apart. noll's were blazing ferociously; but in brander's a blue light flickered and played.... the men waited, not breathing; the officers stepped a little nearer. dan'l tobey licked his lips. this would be the end of brander.... it was not etiquette to dodge the old man's blows.... but, amazingly, after seconds of silence, noll wing's grim face relaxed; he chuckled.... he laughed aloud, and clapped brander on the shoulder. "good man.... good man!" mr. ham called: "we'll gally the sparm...." and noll turned, and waved his hand. "right," he said. "lower away, boats...." the lean craft struck the water, the men dropped in, the chase was on. xi when the boats left the _sally_, mr. ham's in the lead as of right, faith came from the after deck to where noll stood by the rail and touched his arm. he turned and looked down at her.... he was already regretting what had happened. his recognition of brander's courage had been the last flame of nobility from the man's soul; he was to go down, thereafter, into lower and lower depths.... he was already regretful and ashamed.... faith touched his arm; he looked down and saw pride and happiness in her eyes; and with the curious lack of logic of the male, he was the more ashamed of what he had done because she was proud of him for it. she said softly: "that was fine, noll." "fine--hell!" he said hoarsely. "i ought to have smashed him." faith smiled; she shook her head.... her hand rested on his arm; and as he turned to look after the departing boats, she leaned a little against him. he mumbled: "fool.... that's what i was. i ought to have smashed him. now he--every man aboard--they'll think they can pull it on me...." his big fists clenched. "by god, i'll show 'em. i'll string him up for a licking, time he gets back." "i was--very proud," she said. "if you had struck him, i should have been ashamed." "that's the woman of it," he jeered. "damn it, faith; you can't run a whaler with kisses...." she studied his countenance. he was flushed, nervous, his lips moving.... he took off his cap to wipe his forehead; and his bald head and his gray hair and the slack muscles of his cheeks reminded her again that he was an old, an aging man.... she felt infinitely sorry for him; she patted his arm comfortingly. he shook her off. "yes, by god," he swore. "when he gets back, i'll tie him up and give him the rope.... show the dog...." roy had come up behind them; neither had heard him. the boy cried: "that's right, sir. the man thinks he's running the _sally_, sir. you've got to handle him." faith said: "roy, be still." he flamed at her: "you don't know what you're talking about, sis. you're just a girl." noll said impatiently: "don't have one of your rows, now. i'm sick of 'em. roy, go down in the cabin and stay there...." "i can't see the boats from there," the boy complained. noll turned on him; and roy backed away and disappeared. noll watched the boats, dwindling into specks across the sea.... beyond he could see, now and then, the white spouts of the whales. once a great fluke was lazily upreared.... faith watched beside him. * * * * * whether, in the normal course of things, noll would have carried out his threat to whip brander cannot be known. chance, the dark chance of the whale-fisheries, intervened. tragedy always hangs above a whaling vessel. this must be so when six men in a puny boat with slivers of iron and steel go out to slay a creature with the strength of six hundred men. when matters go well, they strike their whale, the harpoon makes him fast, he runs out his strength, they haul alongside and prod him with the lance, he dies.... but there are so many ways in which matters may go wrong. the sea is herself a treacherous hussy, when she consorts with the wind, and becomes drunk with his caresses. under his touch she swells and breaks tempestuously; she writhes and flings herself about.... her least wave can, if it chooses, smash the thin sides of a whaleboat and rob the men in it of their strength and shelter; her gentlest tussle with her consort wind can overwhelm them.... and if the sea be merciful, there remain her creatures. she is the wide, blue pasture of the whale; a touch of his flukes, a crunch of his jaw, a roll of his great bulk is enough to crush out the lives of a score of men. if he had wit to match his size, he would be invulnerable; as it is, men with their wits for weapons can strike and kill him in the waters that are his own. it is rare to encounter a fighting whale, a creature that deliberately sets itself to destroy the attacking boats; the tragedies of the whale-fisheries are more often mere incidents, slight mischances, matters of small importance to the whale.... a little, little thing and men die. this day, the day when brander faced noll wing and went unscathed, was bright and fair, with a gentle turbulent wind, and a dancing sea. it was warm upon the waters; the sun burned down upon them and its glare and its heat were reflected from them.... the skin of men's faces was scorched by it. the men, tugging at the oars in the boats, sweated and strove; the perspiration streamed down their cheeks, trickled along the straining cords of their necks, slid down their broad chests.... their shirts clung to them wetly; they welcomed the flying spray that lashed them now and then. the pod of whales was perhaps five miles from the _sally_ when the boats were lowered; but the wind was favoring, and its pressure upon the sail helped them on for a space. when half the distance was covered, the oars were discarded as the boats swung around with the wind almost dead astern, and headed straight for the whales' lay. before they reached the basking, sporting creatures, the whales sounded; and it was necessary for the men to lie upon their oars and wait for a full half hour before the first spout showed the cachalots were back from their browsing in the ocean caves below. the boats swung around and headed toward them, sails pulling.... mr. ham's boat was in the lead; for that is the right of the mate. the others were closely bunched behind him; and as they drew near the pod, they separated somewhat, so that each might strike a whale. dan'l tobey went southward, where a lone bull lay with the waves breaking over his black bulk. willis cox and tichel swung to the north of the mate, into the thick of the pod. the mate marked down his whale; a fat cow that would yield full seventy barrels. he was steering; silva, the harpooner, stood in the bow, knee braced, ready with his irons. the men amidships prepared to bring down mast and sail at the word, and stow them safely away so that they might not hinder the battle that would come. the boat drove smoothly on.... mr. ham, looking north and south, saw that the others were drawing up abreast of him, so that they would strike the whales at about the same time. he thought comfortably that with a little luck they would kill two whales, or perhaps three. that each boat should kill was too much to be hoped for. then he gave his attention to his own prey. they slipped up on the basking cow from almost dead astern, slid alongside her; and mr. ham swung hard on the steering oar. the boat came into the wind; he bellowed: "now, silva; give her iron." the harpooner moved quick as light, for all the power of the thrust he put behind his stroke. he sank his first iron; snatched his second, drove it home as the whale stirred.... threw overboard the loose line coiled forward.... the whale ran. the sail came fluttering down, mast and all; and the four men amidships rolled it awkwardly, stowed it along the gunwale.... silva and the mate, at the same time, were changing places in the boat. silva, the harpooning done, would now come into his proper function as boat-steerer. it is the task of the mates to kill the whales. the boat, half smothered in canvas, with silva and mr. ham passing from end to end, and the whale line already running out through the chock in the bow, was a picture of confusion thrice confounded. in this confusion, anything was possible; anything might happen. what did happen was humiliating and ridiculous. when silva struck home the harpoons, he flung overboard a length of line coiled by his knee. this slack line would allow the whale to run free while the sail was coming down and he and the mate were changing places. he threw it overboard--and failed to mark that one loop of it caught on the point of one of the spare irons in the rack with the lances, at the bow. he leaped for the stern, groped past mr. ham amidships.... the whale was running. as mr. ham reached the bow, the line drew taut. that loop which had caught across the point of the harpoon was straightened like a flash. now a harpoon is shaped, not like an arrow, but like a slanting blade. it has a single barb; and the forward side of this barb is razor-sharp. this razor edge cuts into the blubber and flesh; then the shank of the barb grips and holds. but the edge that will cut blubber will also cut hemp.... the loop of whale line was dragged firmly back along this three-inch blade; it cut through as though a knife had done the trick, and the whale was gone with two irons and thirty fathoms of line. mr. ham and his boat bobbed placidly upon the water; and mr. ham looked, saw what had happened, and spoke sulphurously. then looked about to see what might be done. it was too late to think of getting fast to another whale. the pod was gallied; the great creatures were fleeing. after them went james tichel in his boat, the spray sluicing up from her bows. tichel was fast; the whale was running with him.... mr. ham looked from tichel for the other boats. he saw dan'l tobey in distress. a whale had risen gently under them, opening the seams of their craft; and they were half full of water and sinking. they had cut. willis cox had hold of a whale; and this one had sounded. ham saw willis in the bow, watching the line that went straight down from the chock into the water. this line was running out like a whip-lash, though willis put on it all the strain it would bear without dragging the boat's bow under. it ran down and down.... mr. ham rowed across; and willis called to him: "big fellow. but he's taken one tub." "give him to me," mr. ham said. willis shook his head. "i'd like to handle him. get me the line from mr. tobey's boat. he's mine." mr. ham grinned. "all right; if you're minded to work...." he swung quickly to where dan'l and his men floated to their waists in water, the boat under them. "takin' a swim?" he asked, grinning. dan'l nodded. "just that. you cut, i see. why was that, now?" mr. ham stopped grinning and looked angry. "pass over your tubs," he ordered; and dan'l's men obeyed. mr. ham took the fresh line to willis.... he was no more than just in time. "the black devil's still going," willis said. "second tub's all but gone...." "bound for hell, more'n like," mr. ham agreed. "hold him." dan'l's line was running out by this time; for willis had worked quickly.... and still the whale went down.... mr. ham stood by, waiting.... the line ran out steadily; the whale showed no signs of rising. the bow of willis's boat was held down within inches of the water by the strain he kept upon the line. one tub was emptied; he began to look anxious.... and the whale kept going down. mr. ham said abruptly: "there.... pass over your line. he'll be gone on you, first you know." willis looked at the smoking line.... and reluctantly, he surrendered. with no more than seconds to spare, the end of his line was made fast to the cut end of mr. ham's, and the whale continued to go down. he had taken all the line of two boats--and wanted more. "he's hungry," mr. ham grinned, watching the running rope. "gone down for supper, likely." and a moment later, his eyes lighting: "there.... getting tired.... or struck bottom, maybe." they could all see that the line had slackened. the bow of mr. ham's boat rode at a normal level; the line hung loose. and the mate turned around and bellowed to his men: "haul in." they began to take in the line, hand over hand; it fell in a wide coil amidships, overlapping the sides, spreading.... a coil that grew and grew. they worked like mad.... the only way to kill a whale is to pull up on him until your boat rides against his very flank. all the line this creature had stolen must be recovered, before he could be slain.... they toiled with racing hands.... mr. ham began to look anxiously over the bow, down into the blue water from which the line came up. "he's near due," he said. it is one of the curious and fatal habits of a sounding whale to rise near the spot where he went down. it is as though the creatures followed a well-known path into the depths and up again. this is not always true; often a whale that has sounded will take it into his mind to run, will set off at a double-pace. but in most cases, the whale comes up near where he disappeared.... the men knew this. dan'l tobey, in his sinking boat, worked away from the neighborhood to give the mate room. so did willis. and mr. ham, leaning one knee on the bow, peering down into the water, his lance ready in his hand, waited for the whale to rise.... the line came in.... the nerves of each man tautened.... mr. ham said, over his shoulder: "silva, you coil t'line. rest of you get in your oars. hold ready...." he heard the men obey, knew they were ready to maneuver at his command.... the whale was coming up slowly; the line was still slack, but the creature should have breached long before.... the mate thought he detected a light pull on the line; it seemed to draw backward, underneath the boat; and he said softly: "pull her around." the oars dipped; the boat swung slowly on a pivot.... the line now ran straight down.... abruptly, mr. ham, bending above the water, thought he saw a black bulk far down and down.... a bulk that seemed to rise.... he watched.... it was ahead of the boat; it became more plainly visible.... he waved his hand, pointing: "there ..." he said. "there...." deep in the water, that black bulk swiftly moved; it darted to one side, circling, rising.... mr. ham saw a flash of white, a huge black head, a sword-like, saw-toothed jaw.... the big man towered; he flung his left hand up and back in a tremendous gesture. "starn.... oh, starn all!" he cried. the oars bent like bows under the fierce thrust of the men as they backed water.... the boat slid back.... but not in time.... willis cox, and the men in his boat, saw the long, narrow under jaw of the cachalot--a dozen feet long, with the curving teeth of a tiger set along it--slide up from the water, above the bow of the boat. the bow lifted as the whale's upper jaw, toothless, rose under it.... the creature was on its back, biting.... the boat rolled sidewise, the men were tumbling out.... but that narrow jaw sheared down resistlessly. through the stout sides of the boat, crumpling and splintering ribs and planking.... through the boat.... and clamped shut as the jaws closed across the thick body of the mate.... they saw the mate's body swell as a toy balloon swells under a child's foot.... then horribly it relaxed and fell away and was lost in a smother of bloody foam.... * * * * * loum, willis's boat-steerer, swung them alongside the rolling whale. it was brander who caught a loop of the loose line; and while the creature lay quietly, apparently content with what it had done, they hauled close, and willis--the boy's face was white, but his hand was steady--drove home his lance, and drew it forth, and plunged it in, again and yet again.... the whale seemed to have exhausted its strength. having killed, it died easily enough. spout crimsoned, flukes beat in a last flurry, then the great black bulk was still.... they picked up the men who had been spilled from the mate's boat. not a man hurt, of them all, save only mr. ham. him they never found; no part of him. the sea took him. no doubt, faith thought that night, he would have wished his rough life thus to end. xii mr. ham was dead and gone. faith was surprised to find, in the next few days, how much she missed him. the mate had been harsh, brutal to the men, ready with his fist.... yet somehow she found in her heart a deep affection for the man. he was so amiably stupid, so stupidly good of heart. his philosophy of life had been the philosophy of blows; he believed men, like children, were best ruled for their own good by the heavy hand of a master. and he acted on that belief, with the best will in the world. but there had never been any malice in his blows; he frowned and glared and struck from principle; he was at heart a simple man, and a gentle one.... not the stuff of a leader; never the man to take command of a masterless ship. nevertheless, a man of a certain rude and simple strength of soul.... faith was sorry he was gone; she felt they could have better spared another man.... almost any other, save noll wing. she did not at once perceive the true nature of the change which mr. ham's death must bring about aboard the _sally_. in the balancing of man and man which had made for a precarious stability there, mr. ham had taken a passive, but nevertheless important part. now he was gone; the balance was disturbed. but neither faith nor the others at once perceived this; none of them saw that dan'l tobey as second mate, and dan'l tobey as first mate, with only a step between him and the command, were very different matters.... not even dan'l, in the beginning.... they were all too busy, for one thing; there were the whales to be cut in--for james tichel had killed and towed his booty back to the _sally_ an hour after mr. ham died. tichel's whale, and the one that had killed mr. ham, would give the whole ship work for days; feverish work, hard and engrossing. cap'n wing, who had leaned upon mr. ham in the past, perforce took charge of this work, and the strain of it wearied him. he no longer had the abounding vitality which it demanded.... it wearied him; and what with the death of the mate, and the rush of this work and his own weariness, he altogether forgot his threat to have the man, brander, whipped in the rigging. he forgot brander, tried to drive the men at their tasks, and eventually gave up in a stormy outbreak of impatience and left the matter in the hands of dan'l tobey. dan'l went about the business of cutting in and boiling the blubber in a deep abstraction; he was considering the problem raised by the death of mr. ham, which none of the others--save, perhaps, faith--had yet perceived. this problem was simple; yet it had possibilities of trouble. mr. ham was gone; dan'l automatically became first officer; old james tichel ranked as second, willis as third.... but the place of fourth mate was left empty.... it would have to be filled. the _sally_ could not go on about her business with one boat's crew forever idle. there would have to be a new officer. dan'l was troubled by the problem, for the obvious reason that brander was the only man aboard with an officer's training; that brander was the obvious choice. dan'l did not want brander in the cabin; he had seen too much in faith's eyes that night when she heard brander sing by the capstan.... he had eyes to see, and he had seen. and there was boiling in dan'l a storm of hatred for brander. he was filled with a rancor unspeakable.... no one spoke of this necessity for choosing another officer until the last bit of blubber from the two whales had been boiled; the last drop of oil stowed in the casks; the last fleck of soot scoured from the decks. then it was old tichel who opened the matter. it was at dinner in the cabin that he spoke. cap'n wing was there, and faith, and dan'l, and roy. willis cox was on deck; mr. ham's chair was vacant. old tichel looked at it, and he looked at noll wing, and he said: "who's to set there, cap'n?" he pointed toward the empty chair as he spoke. it was at cap'n wing's right hand, where mr. ham had been accustomed to sit. dan'l tobey had not yet preëmpted it. dan'l was always a discreet man. cap'n wing looked across at tichel. "mr. tobey, o' course," he said. tichel nodded. "natural. i mean--who's goin' to be the new officer? or don't you figure to hev one?" noll had been drinking that day; he was befuddled; his brain was thick. he waved one of his big hands from side to side as though to brush tichel away. "leave it to me," he said harshly. "i don't call for any pointers, mr. tichel. leave it to me...." james tichel nodded again; he got up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and went on deck.... dan'l and roy, faith and noll wing, were left together. dan'l wondered whether it was time for him to speak; he studied noll's lowered countenance, decided to hold his tongue.... he followed tichel to the deck. noll said nothing of the matter all that day. at night, when they were going to bed, faith asked him: "who have you decided to promote to be an officer, noll?" he said harshly: "you heard what i told tichel? leave it to me." "of course," she agreed. "i just wanted to know. of course...." she hesitated, seemed about to speak, then held her peace. brander was the only man aboard who had the training; noll must see that, give him time. faith wanted to see brander in the cabin. she admitted this to herself, quite frankly; she did not even ask whether there was anything shameful in this desire of hers. she knew there was not.... the girl had come to have an almost reverential regard for the welfare of the _sally_; for the prosperity of the cruise. it was her husband's charge; the responsibility lay on him. she wanted matters to go well; she wanted noll to keep unstained his ancient record.... brander, she knew, would help him. brander was a man, an able officer, skillful and courageous; a good man to have at one's back in any battle.... she was beginning to see that noll would need a friend before this cruise was done; she wanted brander on noll's side. it may be that there was mingled with this desire a wish that brander might have the place that was due him; but there was nothing in her thoughts of the man that noll might not have known. she watched noll, next day; and more than once she caught him watching where brander aided with some routine task, or talked with the men. there was trouble in noll's eyes; and because she had come to understand her husband very fully, faith could guess this trouble. noll was torn between respect for brander, and fear of him.... brander, that day of mr. ham's death, had faced noll unafraid; noll knew he was no coward. but by the same token, he had sworn to have brander whipped, and had not done so. he recognized the strength and courage in the man; and at the same time he hated brander as we hate those we have wronged. brander was not afraid of noll; and for that reason, if for no other, noll was afraid of brander. in the old days, when he walked in his strength, noll wing had feared no man, had asked no man's fear. his own fist had sufficed him. but now, when his heart was growing old in his breast, he was the lone wolf.... he must inspire fear, or be himself afraid.... he was afraid of brander. afraid of brander.... but noll was no fool. no man who is a fool can long master other men as noll had mastered them. he set himself to consider the matter of brander, and decide what was to be done. that night, when dark had fallen, and the _sally sims_ was idling on a slowly stirring sea, noll called the mates into the cabin. faith and roy were on deck together; and roy, with a boy's curiosity, stole to the top of the cabin companion to listen to what passed. faith paid him little attention; she was astern, watching the phosphorescent sparks that glowed and vanished in the disturbed water on the _sally's_ wake. the whaler was scarce moving at all; there was no foam on the water behind her; but the little swirls and eddies were outlined in fire.... noll looked around the table at the other mates; and he said heavily: "we've got to have a new officer." they knew that as well as he; the statement called for no reply. only dan'l tobey said: "yes, sir.... and a man we know, and can count on." noll raised his big head and looked at dan'l bleakly. "mr. tobey," he said, "you know the men. who is there that measures up to our wants, d'you think?" dan'l started to speak; then he hesitated, changed his mind.... said at last: "i'm senior officer here, sir. but--i've not the experience that mr. tichel has, for instance. perhaps he has some one in mind." noll nodded. "all right, mr. tichel. if you have, say out." james tichel grinned faintly. "i have. but you'll not mind me, so no matter." "out with it, any fashion," noll insisted. "silva, then," said tichel. "silva!" he looked from one of them to another. noll's face was set in opposition; dan'l's was neutral; willis cox was obviously amazed. "silva," said old tichel, for the third time. "he's a portugee.... all right. but he's a good man; he knows the boat; he's worked with mr. ham. and he can take the boat and make a harpooner out of one or the other of two men in her...." he stopped, unused to such an outbreak. "that's my say, leastwise," he finished. for a moment, no one spoke. then noll looked toward dan'l again. "now, mr. tobey," he said. dan'l leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "i've nothing against silva," he said quietly. "he's a good man. the best man in the crew, i'm thinking.... but.... "the man i have in mind is roy kilcup. no less." noll's eyes widened; and old tichel snapped: "he's never been in a boat." "i know the boy," dan'l insisted. "i'll undertake to teach him all he needs know in a week. he knows boats; he has guts and heart.... all he needs to know is whales...." "aye," said willis cox scornfully. "aye, that's all. but who does know them?" dan'l smiled. "you might well enough ask, mr. cox." willis flushed painfully. "he's just a kid," he protested. "you were almost three months older when you struck your first whale, if i mind right," said dan'l pleasantly. big noll wing interrupted harshly: "that's enough. silva and roy. who would you have, mr. cox?" "only one man aboard," said willis. "that's who.... i've no mind for conundrums." "brander," said cox. "brander!" noll seemed to slump a little in his chair; he smiled wearily. dan'l tobey thought the captain had never looked so old. his big fist on the table moved a little from side to side, then was still. in the silence, they all heard the voice of roy kilcup, from the deck above, crying to faith in a trembling whisper: "dan'l wants to make me mate, sis! he wants to make me mate...." his voice was so tremulous, so obviously the voice of a boy, that every man of them save dan'l tobey smiled. noll said slowly: "he's over youthful yet, dan'l. teach him the trade.... happen, some day, we'll see...." dan'l was betrayed by anger into indiscretion. "over youthful, that may be," he exclaimed. "but not a portugee; and not a beach comber...." noll held up his big hand, silencing dan'l. and he looked from man to man; and he said slowly, as an old man speaks: "i've no liking for brander. he dared me to my face, t'other day. but there's this.... "he holds the crew. they like him. and he's a man; and he knows the job; and he does not know how to be afraid. also, he has a right to the place. if we don't give it to him, he might well enough make a bit trouble for us. leastwise, that's the seeming of it to me...." dan'l said harshly: "i never heard that noll wing feared any man." noll smiled. "age brings wisdom, dan'l. i'm learning to fear.... so...." * * * * * dan'l tobey found brander on the fore deck, ten minutes later. brander was smoking, with two of the men. dan'l touched his shoulder; brander stepped aside. the two men faced each other in the darkness for a moment; and it was as though an electric spark of hostility passed between them. their eyes clashed.... then dan'l said pleasantly: "get your traps and come aft to the cabin, brander." brander chuckled softly; he tapped out his pipe in his palm and tossed the glowing ember over the rail. "thank you, mr. tobey," he said. "i'm pleased to accept your kind invitation." there was a mocking light in his eye that dan'l, even in the dark, could see. another man might have struck; but dan'l was never one for blows. he turned on his heel and went aft; and brander dropped into the fo'c's'le to collect his belongings. xiii thus brander came into the cabin. he and willis cox shared a small compartment off the main cabin; while dan'l and tigerish old tichel shared another. the four mates, roy, noll wing, and faith all lived in a space not much more than twenty-five feet square. this intimacy that could not be escaped served to intensify the clash of man and man. brander and dan'l tobey became, within the week, open and avowed enemies. they made no great show of their enmity, but each understood. dan'l, by virtue of his position as mate, gradually gathered into his own hands the authority that old noll wing was letting slip; he assumed many of the small prerogatives of the captain; and he took advantage of his strength to give brander irksome tasks, to make his work unnecessarily hard. noll saw nothing. he had fallen into something like a stupor; he was rotting at the heart, like a great log that lies prone in the forest. he played with his authority; he had days when he liked to fancy that he was the noll of old; but most of the time he spent in the cabin below, sleeping, or perhaps drinking, or reading the bible and maundering over his own past sins. a wholesome interest in the bible is a good thing for any man; but noll's interest was not wholesome. he was morbidly absorbed in the book; he read it and mourned to think how wicked he had been. he complained to faith as though she were to blame for his ancient crimes. it came to pass that he flooded faith, little by little, with the details of his own misdemeanors. his own orgy of self-depreciation led him to decide that he was not worthy of her; he told her so; and when faith sought to hearten him, the man--to prove his point--recited the tale of the hot blood of his youth. he told her the women he had known, so that faith was sickened; and he begged her to forgive him, and she did. she forgave without rancor.... it was characteristic of faith that she held no anger against noll because he was not what she thought him. she had married him, eyes open.... he was her husband; she was his. she set herself to serve him, to protect him against himself, with all the loyalty that was in her. and more than all, she set herself to uphold noll as the master of his ship. he must bring the _sally_ home with bursting casks; that was faith's creed and prayer. he must fight the good fight; he must meet his responsibility; he must be master.... she worked to this end unceasingly; and on the whole her efforts were without avail. noll steadily degenerated.... his strength fled from him. faith was so concerned with noll that she gave little heed to the hostility between dan'l tobey and brander. these two fought their fight without her interference. and this struggle between them was a curious thing. on dan'l's side, it was a constant and persistent effort to harass brander and discredit him; on brander's side, it was a good-natured opposition to this effort. when dan'l gave brander two men's work to do, brander smiled--and did it. when dan'l blamed brander for what was another's fault, or no fault of any man, brander silently and cheerfully took the blame. now and then he looked at dan'l with a blue flash of anger in his eyes; but for the most part he was good-humored; he seemed amused by dan'l, nothing more. dan'l chose, one day, to take brander to task at dinner in the cabin. noll and faith were there, and the four mates. brander, as was his duty, came down last; he sat at the foot of the board. the _sally_ was cruising idly, watching for a spout. brander and willis cox had been on deck before dinner. there was little for either of them to do, save watch for any chance of harm, or wait for word of a whale. when brander came down, he caught faith's eye from the foot of the companion ladder, and faith nodded and said: "good morning." brander smiled. dan'l looked at faith; and he looked at brander; and he gripped his chair to hold back a hot word that would have ruined him. brander sat down at the foot of the table. noll seemed scarce to know he had come, and faith nodded to brander to pass his plate. brander did so, and faith served him. the plate went back to brander. dan'l said slowly: "mr. brander, the main hatch was not fast when i came down. did you secure it?" brander looked up quickly, smiled. "no, sir," he said. "i...." "why not?" dan'l demanded acidly. "are you waiting for a squall to tear it off?" willis cox said: "i had it made fast, sir. before mr. brander came on deck." dan'l crimsoned in spite of himself; old tichel grinned unpleasantly. brander smiled; and faith looked at dan'l and waited for his word of acknowledgment. dan'l saw her eyes.... he said to brander: "then, of course, you couldn't make it fast. why didn't you say so--since it was done before you came on deck?" brander said soberly: "sorry, sir." but his eyes were twinkling. what use to explain; dan'l could not be in a worse light. and dan'l knew it. he said hotly: "what is so funny?..." noll wing rumbled from the head of the table, where he had seemed concerned only with his food: "let be. let be. the thing is done. that's all that's needful, mr. tobey." and dan'l got hold of himself; he said respectfully: "right, sir." the matter dropped there.... a small thing; but an incident very typical of the tension which was growing in the cabin of the _sally sims_. dan'l, jaundiced by his own hatred of brander, by his disordered passion for faith, was not good company. save roy, all those in the cabin avoided him. roy was fiercely loyal to dan'l; and he hated brander the more because brander had been given the mate's berth to which roy himself had foolishly aspired. that was dan'l's doing, that aspiration; he had taken care to tell roy that he had proposed roy's name. "brander does not belong in the cabin," he told roy. "he is rag tag and bob tail, from god knows where. if i'd been noll wing, you would be fourth mate to-day...." he fed roy's sense of wrong; for the boy might some day prove a useful tool. dan'l was full of venom in those days; but he had not yet formed his ultimate plan. he still loved faith, with some faint traces of the old decency. he knew in his heart that she would never love him; yet he would never be content till he got this from her own lips. the inevitable happened one evening when a new moon's thin crescent faintly lighted the dark seas. noll had gone early to a sodden sleep; faith was not sleepy and went on deck. dan'l, from his cabin, heard her go; he arose and followed her.... there was little wind; the sea was flat; the _sally_ scarcely stirred. dan'l told the man at the wheel to leave her and go forward; he made the wheel fast and let the _sally_ go her own gait. her canvas was all stowed; her yards were bare. when the man was gone, dan'l turned to the after rail, where faith was sitting. the man's mouth was hot and dry, and his pulse was pounding. he came to her; faith said softly: "hello, dan'l...." dan'l mumbled huskily.... "... faith!" he stood beside her, and they looked out across the water, where the starlight played. dan'l was trembling, and faith felt the trouble in the man, as she had felt it for weeks.... she and dan'l had been boy and girl together; she was infinitely sorry for him.... in the end, while he stood rigidly beside her, she laid her hand on his arm. "dan'l," she said, "i wish--you would get over being so unhappy." he looked at her through the dark; his voice was like a croak. "unhappy ..." he repeated. "it's not good for you, dan'l," said faith gently. "unhappiness is--it's like a poison. it burns...." "aye?" said dan'l. "that's true, faith. it burns...." "why not forget it?" she urged. "you're actually growing thin on it, dan'l. your face is lined...." dan'l tried to laugh. "one thing," he said, "the ship's on my hands, now. noll wing--he's aging. he's an old man, faith." faith turned her head away from him quickly; she bit her lip in the darkness. dan'l repeated: "the _sally's_ on my hands, faith. i'm master--without the name of it." she said quietly: "noll wing is master here, dan'l. never think he is not." dan'l turned abruptly away; he stood with his back to her. and as he stood there, the jealousy of brander and all the rancor that was poisoning the man gave way for a moment to his tenderness for faith. he swung back sharply, gripped her shoulders.... "faith," he said harshly, "noll is master. so be it. but, faith--i may still love you. i do. nothing on earth can stop it. it's all there is in me, faith. you.... you.... i would worship you; he kicks you with every word, as he kicks a dog. faith.... faith...." she faced him squarely. "dan'l, you are wrong. you are wrong to tell me this--to speak so.... it is not--manly, dan'l." the reproach in her voice made him shrink; it fired him. he caught her, cried: "by god...." he would have swept her into his arms.... brander said, from the top of the companion: "mr. tobey, shall i set a man at the wheel?... there's wind coming...." dan'l cursed. "hell!" he flung loose from faith, he whirled on brander.... the two men faced each other tensely, dan'l crouching with bared teeth, brander erect.... the starlight showed a little smile on his face. abruptly, dan'l straightened.... "set a man at the wheel--and be damned, brander!" he said. and he brushed past the fourth mate without a glance, and went below. brander called through the darkness to a knot of men on the deck, forward. one came aft.... faith still stood by the rail; brander paid her no heed. the man took the wheel.... brander leaned against the forward end of the deckhouse. after a little, faith stirred, came to the companion to go below. at its top, she paused. "good night, mr. brander," she said. "good night," he called pleasantly. she went below. dan'l, writhing in his bunk below old tichel, who snored above him, heard her cross the cabin and go into noll's. and the nails on his fingers bit his palms. * * * * * the second day after, dan'l came down into the cabin to find noll. "would you mind coming on deck for a moment, sir?" he asked. noll was reading; he looked up resentfully. "what now, mr. tobey? can't you handle the ship?" "i want you to see a thing...." there was a hint of evil in dan'l's tone. faith was there, heard, wondered.... noll looked at the mate; bestirred himself.... they went on deck together; and dan'l pointed forward. brander was there, by the tryworks. facing him, grouped about him, were four of the crew. mauger was among them. brander was talking; and the men were laughing at what he said. one of the men looked aft and saw dan'l and noll wing watching them; and the man's face sobered instantly and he backed away from the group. brander turned around and saw the captain. noll called to him: "come aft, mr. brander." brander came, without haste, yet quickly. noll and dan'l waited for him in silence; they kept silent when he faced them. he met noll wing's sullen and angry eyes. his own were unashamed and unafraid. "what is it, sir?" he asked at last. noll lowered his big head like a bull. "what was your talk with the men, there?" he demanded. brander smiled. "the man hatch tripped on a coil of line and fell. that minded me of a thing that happened on the _thomas morgan_, and i told them of it. a fat greeny caught his foot in the rigging and dove thirty feet overside into the sea.... it was a comical thing, sir. and they laughed at it." "i do not want my mates consorting with the crew," said noll sulkily; and there was more complaint than accusation in his voice. brander said: "it does no harm to be friendly with the men. liking is as good a handle as fear, to hold them with." old noll tried to beat down brander's eyes with his own; but his own were the first to shift. he shrank, the vigor of his anger passed, he was an old man again. "damn it, if you'd rather be forward, go there and stay," he fretted. "do you want to go back to the fo'c's'le, man?" brander said respectfully: "no, sir. i'll do as you say." "for god's sake, do," noll whined. he turned back to the cabin, brushed dan'l. "and you, mr. tobey. don't bother me with such matters." dan'l looked at brander, eyes glinting. "i thought it important, sir," he said. noll grunted and went below. dan'l, with a triumphant grin at brander, followed him. faith was in the main cabin; she looked at the two seriously. "what was it, noll?" she asked. noll shook his head fretfully; he stumped past her toward his own cabin. "the man brander, currying favor forward," he said. "i put a bee in his bonnet." dan'l said: "he meant no harm, sir. i'm sure of it...." noll whirled on him. "then why did you run to me?" "so that you might set him right, and put an end to't," said dan'l. "he's a bit too friendly with the men.... it was time he was told...." "oh, aye," said noll wearily. "come, faith...." the door of the after cabin shut behind them; and dan'l, left alone, smiled at his own thoughts and was content. xiv there was one circumstance that counted against brander in the eyes of james tichel, of mr. cox, and of some of the crew. this was the fact that for close on a month after he was made an officer, the _sally sims_ sighted not one loose whale. there were fish all about them. during the interval, they sighted three other whaling craft, and stopped to gam with them. two of the three were cutting in when the _sally_ sighted them; the third had just finished trying out the blubber of a ninety barrel bull. but the _sally_ sighted not so much as a spout. and old tichel, who had the superstitions of the sea in his blood, began to look sidewise at brander, and whisper that he was a jonah.... that new moon in whose light dan'l tried to plead with faith was another ill omen. noll wing, coming on deck the first night the moon appeared, saw it first over his left shoulder when faith called to him to look. he swung his head to the left.... saw the moon.... and old tichel's cry was too late to stop him. faith laughed at the second mate; noll grumbled at him. but tichel clung to his doubts; and willis cox was converted to them by the indisputable fact that the _sally_ sighted no whales. the men on a whaling vessel have an interest in the cruise. they are not paid for the work they do, for the time they spend.... they are paid according to the earnings of the vessel. their salary, or wage, is called a "lay." this ranges from the captain's lay down to that of the greeny. the captain's is a twelfth; or at least this was noll wing's lay. the greenies on the _sally sims_ were on a hundred and seventy-fifth lay. which, being interpreted, means that out of every twelve barrels of oil which the _sally_ brought home, one belonged to the captain; and out of every hundred and seventy-five, one belonged to each of the green hands. the captain got one in twelve, the mate one in eighteen; the second mate got one in twenty-eight, and so the shares ran down the scale. the lays were so arranged that out of every hundred and seventy-five barrels, some fifty-five went to the officers and crew, while the remainder went to the owner to pay the expenses of the voyage and give him his profits.... three per cent., or six, or a hundred, as the luck of the cruise might decide.... the crew were sure of their money, such as it was, before the owner got his; for it was the custom of old jonathan felt to pay off his men at the current price of oil before figuring his own profit or loss. the effect of this arrangement was to give the mates and the men an incentive to harder effort. the effect was to make them acutely interested in the success of the cruise. and by the same token, the ill luck which now beset the _sally_ tended to fret their tempers and set them growling about their tasks.... some blamed brander; some blamed noll wing; some blamed their luck.... brander felt the strain as much as any of them. he was, in addition, an untried man; he had not yet had his chance to strike a whale, and that is the final test of a whaler's officers. when he was taken into the cabin and given a boat, he was forced to be content with the poorest material aboard. that is the fourth mate's luck. he had mauger, the one-eyed man; he had loum as his harpooner; and he had to fill out his crew three others who were weak hands at the oars and slack at every task. he set himself to whipping this crew into shape; and in the luckless days when the _sally_ idled with double watches at the mastheads, he used to take his boat off and push the men to their work, training steadily, fighting to put pith into them. he was not a man given to the use of his fists; neither had his tongue the acid bite of dan'l tobey's. but he had a way of railing at the men good-naturedly, abusing them with a smile, that made them laugh and tug the harder at their oars; he won from them more than they had ever given before.... and he inspired in them a distinct loyalty which gave birth, in time, to a pride in their boat which pleased brander, and promised well. mauger, in particular, was brander's shadow and slave. the one-eyed man, who had been turned into a chuckling and harmless nonentity by the captain's blow and kick, found brander kindly. and he repaid this kindliness with a devotion that was marked by every man aboard.... this devotion was marked, above all, by noll wing. and noll, in whom fear of the one-eyed man was growing like a cancer, dreaded brander all the more because of it. noll and faith were playing cribbage in the after cabin one night; and the door into the main cabin was open. faith sat on the seat across the stern, and noll was in a chair, his back to the door, his knees supporting the board they used as a table. brander came down from the deck with word that one of the men had cut himself with his clasp knife; he wanted to go to the medicine chest in the after cabin for materials to care for the wound. the sea was turbulent; the _sally_ was rocking on it; the rigging was creaking and the timbers of the old craft groaned aloud. this tumult drowned the noise of brander's footsteps as he came down the ladder and across the main cabin. when he appeared in the doorway behind noll, faith saw him. noll neither saw nor heard till brander said quietly: "sorry to bother you, sir...." noll, whose nerves were shaky, whirled up from his chair; the board slid from his knees, the cards were spilled.... his face was ghastly with fright; and when he saw brander, this fright turned to rage. "damn you, brander," he cried. "don't you sneak up on me like that again...." brander said respectfully: "i'm sorry. i should have...." "what do you want?" noll barked. "get out of here. get out of my sight. don't stand there gawping...." "i want to get some...." "i don't give a damn what you want," noll cried. "get up on deck, where you belong. sharp...." brander stood his ground. "one of my men has cut his hand," he said. "i want some stuff to fix it up." noll wavered.... he threw up his hands. "all right. get what you want.... i can't get rid of you any other way. but don't come sneaking up behind me again. i don't like it, mr. brander." brander made no reply; he crossed to the medicine chest and found what he needed. faith had picked up the fallen board, the cards.... she said quietly: "sit down, noll. we'll deal that hand over again...." big noll sat down, watching brander sidewise. when brander was gone, faith asked: "why were you startled?" "i don't like that man," noll said. "he's too thick with mauger for me. mauger'll stick a knife in me, some night.... he will, faith." faith shook her head. "don't be foolish, noll. mauger's not worth being afraid of." noll laughed mirthlessly. "i tell you, there's murder in that man," he protested. "and brander's with him.... i've a mind...." "it's your crib," said faith, and played a card. "three." noll mechanically took up the game; but faith, watching, saw that his eyes were furtively alert for half an hour thereafter. * * * * * on the twenty-fifth day after the death of mr. ham, at about ten o'clock on a warm and lazy morning, the man at the foremast head gave tongue to the long hail of the whale-fisheries.... "blo-o-o-o-w! ah-h-h-h-h blo-o-o-o-o-o-w!" the droning cry swept down through the singing rigging, swept the decks of the _sally_, penetrated into the fo'c's'le, dropped into the cabin and brought dan'l tobey and noll wing from sleep there to the deck. faith was already there, sewing in her rocking chair aft by the wheel. when dan'l reached the deck, he saw her standing with her sewing gathered in her hands, the gold thimble gleaming on her middle finger, watching brander. brander was half way up the main rigging, glass leveled to the southward. noll wing bellowed to the masthead man: "where away?..." and the man swept a hand to point. noll climbed up toward brander, shouting to mr. tobey to bring the _sally_ around toward where the whale had been sighted. the men from the mastheads and the fo'c's'le and all about the deck jumped to their places at the boats to wait the command to lower. brander took the glass from his eye as noll's weight pulled at the rigging below him, and looked down at the captain, and started to speak; then he changed his mind and waited, glass in hand, while noll scrutinized the far horizon.... noll saw a black speck there, and focused his glass, and stared.... he watched for a spout, watched for minutes on end. none came.... the black speck seemed to rise a little, sluggishly, with the swell.... he looked up to brander. "d'you make a spout?" he asked. brander shook his head. "no, sir." noll looked again, and brander leveled his glass once more. the _sally_ was making that way, now; the speck was almost dead ahead of them, far on the sea. tiny bits of white were stirring over the black thing, like bits of paper in the wind.... noll asked at last: "what do you make of it, mr. brander? a boat.... or a derelict...." "i make it a dead whale," said brander. "no whale," noll argued. "rides too high." "it will be rotten," brander insisted. "swollen.... full of putrid gas." they watched a while longer, neither speaking. the light wind that urged them on was failing; the _sally_ slackened her pace, bit by bit; but her own momentum and some casual drift of the surface water still sent her toward the floating speck. it bulked larger in their glasses. they were within a mile of it before noll wing shut his glass. "aye, dead whale," he said disgustedly, and began to descend from the rigging. brander dropped lightly after him. noll stumped past the men at their stations by the boats till he came to dan'l tobey. "dead whale," he told dan'l. "let it be." brander, at noll's heels, asked: "do we lower?" noll shook his head. "no," he said sharply. the disappointment, coming on the heels of the hope that had been roused, had made him fretful and angry. brander said: "i was thinking...." noll turned on him querulously. "some ships have truck with carrion and dog meat," he snarled. "not the _sally_. i'll not play buzzard." brander smiled. "it's not pleasant, i know.... but, aboard the _thomas morgan_, we got a bit of ambergris out of such a whale.... this one was lean, you saw.... it died of a sickness. that's the kind...." dan'l tobey said, with a grin: "a man'd think you like the smell of it, brander." "ambergris is fool's talk," noll growled. "i've heard tell of it for thirty year, and never saw a lump bigger than a man's thumb. fool's talk, mr. brander. let be...." he turned away; and brander and dan'l stood together, watching as the _sally_ drifted nearer and nearer the dead whale. they could see the feasting sea birds hovering; they caught once or twice the flash of a leaping body as sharks tore at the carcass. here and there the blubber showed white where great chunks had been ripped away. they watched, and drifted nearer; and so there came to them presently the smell of it. an unspeakable smell.... the men caught it first, in the bow; dan'l and brander heard their first cries of disgust before the slowly drifting air brought them the odor. but five minutes later, it had engulfed the ship, penetrated even into the cabin. noll got it; he stuck his head up out of the companion and bellowed: "mr. tobey, get the _sally_ out o' range of that." dan'l said: "not a breath of wind, sir." he went toward the companion, as noll stepped out on deck; and he grinned with malicious inspiration, "mr. brander likes the smell of it, sir.... why not send him off to tow it out of range?" noll nodded fretfully. "all right, all right. send him...." dan'l gave the order. brander assented briskly. "i'll take a boarding knife with me, if you don't object, sir," he said. dan'l chuckled. he was enjoying himself. "i'd suggest a clothespin, mr. brander," he said; and he stood aft and watched brander and his men drop their boat and put away and row toward the lean carcass of the dead whale, a quarter mile away. the jeers of the seamen forward pursued them. dan'l got his glass to enjoy watching brander and his crew tow the whale out of the _sally's_ neighborhood. the men worked hard; and dan'l said to cap'n wing: "they're in haste to be through, you'll see, sir." once the tow was under way, it moved swiftly. men on the _sally_ breathed again.... they saw, after a time, that brander and his men had stopped rowing and brought their boat alongside the whale; and dan'l's glass revealed brander digging and hacking at the carcass with the boarding knife.... brander came back alongside in due time; and long before he reached the _sally_, dan'l could see the exultation in the fourth mate's eyes. as they slid past the bow, brander's men taunted those who had jeered at them. they were like men who have turned the tables on their enemies.... dan'l was uneasy.... the boat slid into position, the men hooked on the tackles, then climbed aboard.... they swung on the falls, the boat rose into its cradle.... and brander turned to dan'l and said pleasantly: "it was worth the smell, mr. tobey." he pointed into the boat; and dan'l looked and saw three huge chunks of black and waxy stuff--black, with yellowish tints showing through--and he smelled a faint and musky fragrance. and he looked at brander. "what is it?" he asked. "what do you think you've found?" "ambergris," said brander. "three big chunks, four little ones. close to three hundred pounds...." one-eyed mauger chuckled at brander's back. "and worth three hundred a pound," he cackled. "worth the smell, mr. tobey!" xv brander's find, laid tenderly upon the deck, studied by noll wing and the officers on their knees, set the _sally_ buzzing with the clack of tongues. there was a romance in the stuff itself that caught attention. it came from the rotting carcass of the greatest thing that lives; it came from the heart of a vast stench.... yet itself smelled faintly and fragrantly of musk, and had the power of multiplying any other perfume a thousand fold. not a man on the _sally_ had ever seen a bit larger than a cartridge, before; they studied it, handled it, marveled at it. cap'n wing stood up stiffly from bending over the stuff at last; he looked at brander. "it's ugly enough," he said. "you're sure it's the stuff you think?" brander nodded. "yes, sir, quite sure." "what's it worth?" cap'n wing asked. "hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars a pound--price changes." noll looked at the waxy stuff again. "it don't look it," he said. "how much is there of it?" "close to three hundred pounds...." noll's lips moved with the computation. he said, in a voice that was hushed in spite of himself: "close to ninety thousand dollars...." brander smiled. "that's the maximum, of course." dan'l tobey said: "you've done the rest of us a service, mr. brander." brander looked at him; and an imp of mischief gleamed in his eye. he said quietly: "the rest of you. i was sent out to remove the carcass, not to dissect it. the digging for this was my private enterprise, mr. tobey." old james tichel gasped under his breath. dan'l started to speak, then looked to noll. they all looked toward cap'n noll wing.... it was for him to deal with brander's claim.... they looked to noll; and big noll stared at the precious stuff on the deck, and at brander.... and he said nothing. brander smiled. he called mauger to come aft and help him, and he proceeded with the utmost care to clean the lumps of ambergris of the filth that clung to them. he paid no further heed to the men about him. noll went below; and faith, who had listened without speaking, followed him. dan'l and old tichel got together by the after rail and talked in whispers. willis cox stood, watching.... the young man's eyes were wide and his cheeks were white. these seven ugly lumps of something like hard, dirty yellow soap were worth more than the whole cruise of the _sally_ might be expected to pay.... they caught willis's imagination; he could not take his eyes from them. brander had mauger fetch whale oil; he washed the lumps in this as tenderly as a mother bathes a child. the black washed away, they became an even, dull yellow in his hands.... here and there, bits of white stuff like bones showed in them.... bits of the bones of the gigantic squid on which the cachalot feeds. their faint, persistent odor spread around them.... when the cleaning was done, mauger fetched steelyards and they weighed the lumps, slinging each with care.... the larger ones were so heavy that they had to make the scales fast to the rigging.... the largest weighed seventy-four pounds and a fraction; the next was sixty-one; the third, forty-eight. the four smaller lumps, weighed together, tipped the beam at nineteen pounds.... the seven totaled two hundred and two pounds.... mauger was disappointed at that; he complained: "i took 'em to weigh three hundred, anyways...." brander looked at willis. "two hundred isn't to be laughed at! eh, mr. cox?" willis said hoarsely: "that must be the biggest find of ambergris ever was." brander shook his head. "the _watchman_, out o' nantucket, brought back eight hundred pounds, in ' . i've heard so, anyways." willis had nothing to say to that; he went aft to join tichel and dan'l tobey and tell them the weight of the stuff.... brander sent for eph hitch, the cooper.... he showed him the ambergris.... "fix me up a cask," he said. "big enough to hold all that.... we'll stow it dry...." eph scratched his head. he spat over the rail. "fix you up a cask?" he repeated. "oh, aye." he emphasized the pronoun; and brander's eyes twinkled. they packed the ambergris away in the captain's storeroom; the compartment at the bottom of the _sally_, under the cabin, in the very stern. it rested there among the barrels and casks of food and the general supplies.... there was no access to this place save through the cabin itself; it was not connected with the after hold where water and general stores and gear were stowed away. brander suggested putting it there; he came to noll wing with his request, and because dan'l tobey was with noll, brander framed his question in a personal form. "i'd like to stow this below us here," he said. "best it be out of reach of the men." dan'l scowled; noll looked up heavily, met brander's eyes. in the end, he nodded. "where you like," he said sulkily. "don't bother me." brander smiled; and the cask was hidden away below.... but it was not forgotten; it could not be forgotten. from its hiding place, the ambergris made its influence felt all over the vessel. it was like dynamite in its potentialities for mischief. the mates could not forget it; the boat-steerers in the steerage discussed it over and over; the men forward in the fo'c's'le argued about it endlessly. it was a rich treasure, worth as much as the whole cruise was like to be worth in oil; and it was all in one lump.... that is to say, it was no more than a heavy burden for a strong man. two men could have carried it.... a thousand acres of well-tilled farm land are worth a great deal of money; but this form of riches is not one to catch the imagination. wealth becomes more fascinating as it becomes more compact. coal is more treasured than an equal value of earth; lead is more treasured than coal; and men will die for a nugget of gold that is worth no more than the unconsidered riches which lie all about them. great value in small compass sets men by the ears.... every man aboard the _sally_ had a direct and personal interest in brander's find of ambergris. and the matter of their debate was this: was the ambergris the property of the _sally_, a fruit of the voyage; or was it brander's? if it was a part of the profits of the cruise, they would all share in it. if it was brander's, they would not.... brander--and this word had gone around the ship--had spoken of it as his own. for which some condemned and hated him; some praised and chose to flatter him. if the worth of the stuff was divided between them all, noll wing and dan'l tobey would have the lion's share, and the men forward would have no more than the price of a debauch. if it were brander's alone, they might beg or steal a larger share from him. or--and not a few had this thought--they might seize the whole treasure and make off with it.... the possibilities were infinite; the potentialities for trouble were enormous. this new tension aboard the _sally_ came to a head in the cabin; the very air there was charged with it. dan'l and old tichel were against brander from the first; cox was inclined to support him. dan'l sought to sound noll wing and learn his attitude.... he said to noll casually, one day: "the 'gris will make this a fat cruise, sir." noll nodded. "oh, aye.... no doubt!" dan'l looked away. "of course, brander doesn't intend to claim it all.... to push his claim...." "ye think not?" noll asked anxiously. "no," said dan'l. "he knows he can't.... it's a part of the takings of the _sally_...." noll wagged his head dolefully: "aye, but will the man see it that way?" "he'll have to." the captain looked up at dan'l cautiously. "did you mark the greed in the one eye of mauger when they came aboard?" he asked. "mauger sets store by the stuff...." dan'l snorted. "mauger! pshaw!" noll shifted uneasily in his chair. "just the same," he said, "mauger holds a grudge against me.... he but waits his chance for a knife in my back.... and brander is his friend, you'll mind." "you're not afraid of the two of them.... there's no need. i'll undertake to see to that...." "you're a strong man, dan'l," said old noll. "a strong, youthful man.... but i'm getting old. eh, dan'l...." his voice broke with his pity of himself. "eh, dan'l, i've sailed the sea too long...." dan'l said, with some scorn in his tone: "nevertheless, you're not afraid...." then faith opened the door from the after cabin; and dan'l checked his word. faith looked from dan'l to her husband, and her eyes hardened as she looked to dan'l again. "you'll not be saying noll wing is afraid of--anything, dan'l," she said mildly. "i'm telling him," said dan'l, "that he should not permit brander to claim the ambergris for himself." faith smiled a little. "you think brander means to do that?" "he has done it," said dan'l stubbornly. "he claimed it in the beginning; he speaks of what he will do with it.... he speaks of it as his own." "i think," said faith, "that something has robbed you of discernment, dan'l. why do you hate brander? is he not a good officer?... a man?" dan'l might have spoken, but brander himself dropped down the ladder from the deck just then; and dan'l stood silently for a moment, watching.... brander looked at faith, and spoke to her, and to the others. then he went into his own cabin and closed the door. they all knew the thinness of the cabin walls; what they might say, brander could hear distinctly. dan'l turned without a word, and went on deck. he met tichel there, and told him what had passed. tichel grinned angrily.... "aye," said the old man. "he comes and jonahs us, so we sight no whale for a month on end.... and then is wishful to hold the prize that the _sally's_ boat found." his teeth set; his fist rose.... and dan'l nodded his agreement. "we'll see that he does not, in the end," he said. "aye," said tichel. "aye, we'll see t'that." roy kilcup was a partisan of dan'l's, in this as in all things; and roy alone faced brander on the matter. he asked the fourth mate straightforwardly: "look here, do you claim that ambergris is yours?" brander smiled at the boy. "why, youngster?" he asked. "because i want to know," said roy. "that's why!" "well," brander chuckled, "others want to know. they're not sleeping well of nights, for wanting...." "do you, or don't you?" roy insisted. brander leaned toward him and whispered amiably: "i'll tell you, the day we touch at home," he promised. "now--run along." * * * * * thus they were all concerned; but noll wing took the matter harder than any, because mauger, whom he feared, was concerned in it. his worry over it gave him one sleepless night; he rose in that night and found the whiskey.... and for the first time in all his life, noll wing drank himself into a stupor. he had always been a steady drinker; he had often been inflamed with liquor. but his stomach was strong; he could carry it; he had never debauched himself. this time, he became like a log, and faith found him, when she woke in the morning, unclean with his own vomitings, sodden and helpless as a snoring log. he lay thus two days.... and he woke at last with a scream of fright, and swore that mauger was at him with a knife, so that dan'l and willis cox had to hold the man quiet till the hallucination passed. xvi faith and brander had not, in this time, spoken a word together since they met mr. ham upon the beach after brander joined faith by the island pool. in the beginning, brander was forward, and a gulf separated them.... not to mention forty feet of deck. faith stayed aft; brander stayed forward. afterward, when brander came into the cabin, there was still a gulf.... they met at table; they encountered each other, now and then, in the cabin or on deck. but brander had his work to do, and did it; and faith was much with noll. in the bush, by the pool, faith had forgotten noll wing for a little space; and in the forgetting, she and brander had become friends very quickly.... his question, as they reached the beach, made her remember noll; and her answer to that question, when she told him she was noll's wife, had reared a wall between them. brander was a man; too much of a man to forget that she was noll's wife.... he did not forget. in the _sally_, after brander came aft, faith was toward him as she was toward the other mates.... with this difference. she had known them since the beginning of the voyage; she had known two of them--dan'l and willis cox--since they were boys. they were ticketed in her thoughts; they were old friends, but they could never be anything more. therefore she talked often with them, as she did with tichel, and as she had done with mr. ham. she forgot they were men, remembering only that they were friends.... brander, on the other hand, was a newcomer, a stranger.... when a woman meets a strange man, or when a man meets a strange woman, there is an instant and usually unconscious testing and questioning. this is more lively in the woman than in the man; she is more apt to put it into words in her thoughts, more apt to ask herself: "could i love him?" for a man does not ask this question at all until he has begun to love; a woman, consciously or unconsciously, asks it at once.... and until this question is answered; until the inner thing that is sex has made decision, a woman is reticent and slow to accept the communion of even casual conversation.... faith, almost unconsciously, avoided brander. she spoke with him; but there was a bar in her words. she saw him; but her eyes put a wall between them. she thought of him; but she hid her thoughts from herself. and brander felt this, and respected it.... there was between them an unspoken conspiracy of silence; an unspoken agreement that held them apart.... this agreement was broken, and broken by faith, on an afternoon some ten days after the finding of the ambergris. the day was fair; the wind was no more than normal.... no whales had yet been sighted by the _sally_, and her decks were clear of oil. mr. tichel's watch had the ship; but tichel himself, old man that he was, had stayed below and was asleep in his cabin. dan'l was asleep there, also; and noll wing dozed in the after cabin. willis cox was reading, under the boathouse; and two of the harpooners played idly at some game of cards in the lee of the rail beside him. brander and the man at the wheel had the after deck to themselves when faith came up from the cabin.... roy was with her; but the boy went forward at once and climbed the rigging to the masthead, to stand watch with the men there. he loved to perch high above the decks, with the sea spread out like a blue saucer below him. he teased faith to go with him; but faith shook her head. there was always a certain physical indolence about faith that contrasted with the vigor of her habits of thought and speech; she liked to sit quietly and read, or sew, or think, and she cared nothing at all for such riotous exertion as roy liked. "no, roy," she told her brother. "you go if you like. i'll stay down here." "come on, sis," he teased. "i guess you're afraid.... you never could even climb a tree without squealing.... come on." she laughed softly. "no. i don't like to do hard things--like that." "i won't let you fall," he promised. "some day, maybe.... run along, roy." the boy went away resentfully; a little more resentfully because brander had heard her refusal. he looked back from the fore rigging, and saw faith standing near brander.... and for a moment he was minded to go back and join them; but the dwindling line of the ropes above him lured him on. he climbed, lost himself among the great bosoms of the sails, stopped to ride a yard like a horse and exult when it pitched and rolled.... climbed, at last, to the masthead perch where the lookouts stood in their hoops with their eyes sweeping the wide circle of the seas.... and faith and brander were together. save for the man at the wheel, whom neither of them heeded, they were alone. brander was at the after rail when she appeared; he nodded to her, and smiled. she stood near him, hands on the rail, looking out across the sea astern. the wind tugged at her, played with the soft hair about her brow, whipped her cheeks to fire.... she did not look at brander, but brander looked at her. the man liked what he saw; he liked not so much the beauty of her, as the strength and poise that lay in her face. her broad, low brow.... her straight, fine nose.... her sweetly molded lips, and rounding chin.... strength there, and calm, and power.... beauty, too; more than one woman's measure of beauty, perhaps. but above all, strength. that was what brander saw. it was no new thing for the man to study faith's countenance. it was firm-fastened in his thoughts; he could conjure it up at will, and it appeared before him, many times, without his volition. faith's eyes were blue, and they were large, and brander could never forget them. the eye of a man or of a woman is a thing almost alive; it seems to have a soul of its own. stand at one side, unobserved, and watch the eyes of your friend; you will feel that you are watching some living personality apart from the friend you know. it is like watching a wild thing which is hiding in the forest. the eye is so alert, so infinitely alert, so quick to swing to right or left at any sound.... women's eyes differ as much as women themselves. faith's eyes were like faith herself; there was no fear or uncertainty in them; and there was no coquettishness, no seduction. they were level and calm and perfectly assured; and brander thought that to look into them was like taking a strong man's hand. he thought faith as fine a thing as woman can be.... brander made sure that faith did not see him studying her thus; nevertheless, faith must have felt his scrutiny. she was conscious of an unaccountable diffidence; and when she spoke to him at last, without looking toward him, her voice was so low he scarcely heard at all. she said some idle thing about the beauty of the sea.... brander smiled. the sky was so clear, and the heavens were so blue that sky and heaven seemed to be cousins or sisters, hands clasping at the far horizon. he said amiably: "always think--looking off into the blue on a day like this is like looking deep into blue eyes.... there seems to be a soul off there, something hidden, out of sight.... but you can feel it looking back at you." faith was so surprised that she looked up at him quickly, sidewise; and she smiled, her cheeks a little flushed. "i never felt--just that," she said. "but--did you ever look at a hill, so far away it is just a deep blue shape against the sky? blue's a beautiful color to look at, i think." he nodded. "from my hill," he said, "i used to be able to see an island northwest of the one where i was.... barely see it. just a line laid down along the sea.... a line of blue." she said nothing in reply to this; and he said no more. they were thus silent for a little before faith asked: "tell me.... you've never had a chance.... how did you live, there? wasn't it lonely? or ... were there others?..." he laughed. "i wasn't lonely, in the least," he explained. "the old devil-devil doctor of the village struck up an acquaintance with me.... he knew whites; and i was the only one there at the time. he used to come and talk to me, and say charms over my garden.... i had a little compass on my watch chain, and i gave it to him, and the old heathen was my slave for life. so i arranged with him to have my path taboo--you remember i told you.... and he was the only company i ever had." "you had a--garden?" "yes. good one. i put up a house, about six feet square--big enough for me, and no more--and i trimmed down some trees around there; and there was a little brook, and a shallow basin in the side of the hill where rich soil had been collecting for a good many centuries, i suppose. i think if i had planted pebbles there, it would have grown bowlders for me. it did grow all i wanted." she was thoughtful for a little, looked at him once. "why did you ever ship as a whaler?" she asked. "you don't look like the men that ship in the fo'c's'le." he laughed. "i know it. maybe because i like the sea. my home was in sight of it; a high old farm up in maine, five miles inland. i used to sit out on the hill there and watch the night come up from the east and blanket the water; and when there was a surf i could hear it; and when i could, i went down and got acquainted with the water, swimming, or poking around in an old dory.... it was bound to get me in the end. my father sent me to school.... he wanted me to be a doctor. but after two years of it, i begged off.... and he let me go." she nodded. "i know--a little--how you feel. i've always loved the smell of the sea at home, and the sight of it.... but...." she grimaced harshly. "i'm getting a bit tired of salt water, all the time.... i want to get ashore." "sure," brander chuckled. "and when you've been a month ashore, you'll be hungry for the sea again. it's like a drug; you get used to it, and you can't do without it." she looked at him. "do you think so?" "i know it. wait and see." after a little, she spoke of the ill luck that had pursued the _sally_. "isn't it unusual to go almost six weeks without getting a whale?" "no, not necessarily," he told her. "you may kill every other day for a year, and not see a fish for three months after. the whale seems to come and go, in some waters...." "these?" she asked. he nodded. "it's uncertain, here. we're working over now into better hunting grounds. the _sally's_ done well, thus far, anyway. almost a thousand barrels, and not out a year. i've heard of ships that came home with empty casks." she looked at him curiously. "i think you know more about the work than most men aboard," she said. "yet you've not had the experience...." "i've picked it up at games, read it, guessed it," he said pleasantly. "they know more about the practical end than i. i haven't been tried out yet, you know." she smiled. "mr. tichel says you're a jonah," she told him. "i think he would be in favor of throwing you overboard." he laughed cheerfully. she added: "i hope you're not one. i'm anxious that cap'n wing should make a big record on this cruise. it's my first with him, you know...." his eyes were sober; but he said: "we'll fill the casks, all right. i wouldn't worry." she looked toward him and said: "yes, we will." there was an immense amount of quiet certainty and determination in her voice. brander looked at her for an instant, then turned to give some direction to the man at the wheel. the _sally_ heeled awkwardly to the thrust of the wind, and battered at the sea with her blunt bows. the rigging creaked and tugged. willis cox, under the boathouse, had dropped his book in his lap and was dozing in his chair; the two harpooners had gone below. forward, faith could see two or three men sprawled on the deck, asleep.... the warm, afternoon wind seemed slumber laden; the _sally sims_ herself was like a ship that walked in her sleep. a hush hung over them all, so that faith and brander unconsciously lowered their voices. faith asked casually: "why is it that you and mr. tobey do not like each other?" if he was surprised at the question, brander did not show it. he said frankly: "i've no dislike for mr. tobey. he's an able officer. he knows his business." "he does not like you," faith said. "why not?" brander smiled. "it may be," he admitted, "that mr. tobey is lacking in a sense of humor. i've a way of laughing at things.... mr. trant, on the _thomas morgan_, used to curse me for grinning so much of the time. perhaps mr. tobey...." he did not finish the sentence; he seemed to consider it unnecessary, or unwise.... faith said nothing.... they stood together, eyes off across the water, balancing unconsciously to the motion of the ship. their shoulders were almost brushing.... brander felt the light contact on his coat; and he moved away a little, inconspicuously.... she turned at last toward the companion; but after one step, stopped and looked back at him. "i think," she said, "that mr. tobey believes you mean to claim that find of ambergris belongs to you." brander smiled, and nodded. "i know he does. there's no harm in puzzling mr. tobey." "there may be harm--for you--in his believing that," she said; and for a moment brander's level eyes met hers, and she saw a flame in his. he said quietly: "i'm not particularly concerned...." she bowed her head, to hide her eyes; and she went below so quickly it was as though she fled from him. xvii faith had assured herself, from the beginning, that brander had no real intention of claiming the ambergris was his personal booty. he was too sensible for that, she felt; and he was not greedy.... she had been sure; but like all women, she wished to be reassured. she had given brander the chance to reassure her, speaking of the 'gris and of dan'l tobey's suspicions in the matter. it would have been so easy for brander to laugh and say: "you know i have no such idea. it belongs to the _sally_, of course...." that would have settled the thing, once and for all.... but brander had not been frank and forthright. he had only said: "there's no harm in puzzling mr. tobey...." and when she had suggested that there might be harm for brander in his attitude, his eyes had hardened with something like defiance in them.... he had said he was not worried as to what dan'l might think or do. he thus remained as much of a puzzle to faith as ever.... if he had deliberately planned to steal a place in her thoughts, he could have taken no better means. faith, with her growing sense of responsibility for the _sally_, for the success of the voyage, for the good renown of noll wing, was acutely concerned when anything threatened that success. the ambergris was properly a part of the _sally's_ takings.... brander must see it so. did he mean to push his claim, to make trouble?... she tried to find her answer to this question in brander's face; she began to study him daily.... she perceived the strength of the man, and his poise and assurance. brander was very sure of himself and of his capabilities, without in the least overrating them. he knew himself for a man; he bore himself as a man.... faith respected him; without her realizing it, this respect and liking grew. unconsciously, brander was ranked now and then in her thoughts beside her husband, noll wing; she compared the two men without willing to make the comparison. and in the process, she studied noll wing more closely than she had ever studied him before. it was at this time that she first marked the fact that noll was shrinking, wasting the flesh from his bones. his skin was becoming loose; it sagged. his great chest was drawing in between his shoulders; his shoulders slumped forward. also faith saw, without understanding, that the great cords of his neck were beginning to stand out under the loose skin, that hollows were forming about them. the man's bull neck was melting away.... faith saw, though she did not fully understand; she knew that noll was aging, nothing more.... she was drawn to noll, at this discovery, by a vast tenderness; but this tenderness was impersonal. she thought it a recrudescence of her old, strong love for the man; it was in fact only such a feeling as she might have had for a sick or wounded beast. she pitied noll profoundly; she tried to make him happy, and comfortable. she sought, now and then, to woo him to cheerfulness and mirth; but noll was shrinking, day by day, into a more confirmed habit of complaint; he whined constantly, where in the old days he would have stormed and commanded. and he resented faith's attentions, resented her very presence about him. one day she went herself into the galley and prepared a dish she thought would please him; when she told him what she had done, he exclaimed: "god's sake, faith, quit fussing over me. i got along more'n twenty year without a woman...." faith would not let herself feel the hurt of this.... but even while she watched over noll, brander more and more possessed her thoughts. her recognition of this fact led her to be the more attentive to noll, as though to recompense him for the thing he was losing.... she had never so poured out herself upon him. it was inevitable that this developing change in faith should be marked by those in the cabin. dan'l saw it, and brander saw it.... brander saw it, and at first his pulse leaped and pounded and his eyes shone with his thoughts.... on deck, about his duties, he carried the memory of her eyes always with him. her eyes as she had looked at him, that day, and many days before. questioning, a little wistful.... a little wondering.... but brander was a strong man; and he put a grip upon himself. he was drawn to faith; he knew that if he let himself go, he would be caught in a whirlwind of passion for her. but he did not choose to let himself go; and by the same token, he took care to have no part in what might be taking place in faith herself. he knew that he might have played upon her awakened interest in him; he knew that it would be worth life itself to see more plainly that which he had glimpsed in her eyes; nevertheless, he put the thing away from him. when she was about, he became reticent, curt, abrupt.... he took refuge in an arrogance of tone, an absorption in his work. he began to drive his men.... dan'l tobey saw. dan'l had eyes to see; and it was inevitable that he should discover the first hints of change in faith. for he watched her jealously; and he watched brander as he had watched him from the beginning. dan'l saw faith and brander drawing together, day by day; and though he hated brander the more for it, he was content to sit still and wait.... he counted upon their working brander's own destruction between them, in the end; and dan'l was in a destructive mood in those days. he hated the strength of brander, the loyalty of faith, the age of old noll wing, and the youth of roy.... he was become, through overmuch brooding, a walking vessel of hate; it spilled out of him with every word, keep his voice as amiable as he might. he hated them all.... but he was careful to hide his resentment against roy; he cultivated the boy, he worked little by little to debase roy's standards of life, and he looked forward vaguely to a day when he might have use for the lad. dan'l had no definite plan at this time save to destroy.... but for all his absorption in faith, he had not failed to see that noll wing's strength was going out of him. if noll were to die, dan'l would be master of the _sally_ and those aboard her.... dan'l never lost sight of this possibility; he kept it well in mind; and he laid, little by little, the foundations upon which in that day he might build his strength. roy was one of these foundations.... dan'l saw one obstacle in his path, even with noll gone. the men forward, and some of the under officers, were hotly loyal to noll wing; and by the same token they looked upon faith with eyes of awed affection. faith had that in her which commanded the respect of men; and dan'l knew that the roughest man in the crew would fight to protect faith, against himself or any other. he never forgot this.... when roy kilcup, last of them all, marked faith's interest in brander, the boy unwittingly gave dan'l a chance to strike a blow at the men's trust in the captain's wife. roy, though he might quarrel with her most desperately, was at his heart devoted to faith, and wild with his pride in her. he marked a look in her eyes one day; and it disturbed him. dan'l found the boy on deck, staring out across the water, his eyes clouded with perplexity and doubt. roy was aft; there was one of the men at the wheel. dan'l glanced toward this man.... one of his own boat crew, by name slatter, with a sly eye and a black tongue.... dan'l spoke to him in passing, some command to keep the _sally_ steady against the pressure of the wind, and stopped beside roy, dropping his hand on the boy's shoulder. "hello, roy," he said amiably. roy looked up at him, nodded. dan'l caught a glimpse of the shadow in his eyes and asked in a friendly tone: "what's wrong? you're worried about something...." roy shook his head. "no." dan'l laughed. "shucks! you can't fool any one with that, roy. if you don't want to talk...." roy hesitated; he studied dan'l for a moment. "dan'l," he said, "you've known faith and me all our lives. i guess i can talk to you if i can to anybody. and i've got to talk to somebody, dan'l." dan'l nodded soberly. "i'm here to be talked to. what's the matter, roy?" the boy asked abruptly: "dan'l--have you noticed the way faith looks at brander?" dan'l had been half prepared for the question; nevertheless his fingers dug into his palms. he remained silent for a minute, thinking.... his thoughts raced.... and his eyes fell on foul-tongued slatter, at the wheel.... there was a piece of luck; an instrument ready to his hand. dan'l still hesitated for a space; his brows twisting.... then the man threw all decency behind him, and flung himself at last into the paths toward which his feet had been tending. he moved to one side, so that roy, facing him, must also face the man at the wheel; so that roy's words would come to slatter's ears. and dan'l was very sure that slatter would take care to hear.... for another moment he did not speak; then he laughed harshly; and he asked: "what do you mean, roy?" roy repeated: "i mean the way faith looks at brander all the time. looking at him.... a queer way...." dan'l tobey seemed to be embarrassed; he looked to right and left, and he said huskily: "shucks--i guess you've got too much imagination, roy." roy shook his head. "no, i haven't, either, i've been watching her.... she looks at him, and her eyes get kind of misty like.... and if you say something to her, sometimes she doesn't hear you at all." "she's got a right to think," dan'l chuckled. "you talk too much, anyway, roy.... no wonder she don't listen to you." his tone was good-natured. roy fell silent for a moment, studying dan'l's face; and dan'l looked confused. roy said sharply: "dan'l, haven't you seen, yourself, what i mean? haven't you, dan'l?" dan'l turned his head away; he would not meet roy's eyes. roy cried: "i knew you saw it.... everybody must see...." dan'l said sternly: "roy, you'd best not see too much. it don't pay. there's times when it's wise to see little and say nothing. if it was me, i'd say this was one of the times." "that's all right," roy admitted. "but i can talk to you...." he added suddenly: "dan'l, noll wing is too old for faith. she ought to have married you, dan'l." children have a disconcerting way of sticking a word like a knife into our secret hearts; they see so clearly, and they have not yet learned to pretend they do not see. roy, for all his eighteen years, was still as much child as man; and dan'l winced. "land, roy," he protested. "get that out of your head. faith and me understand...." roy turned his back, looking aft. dan'l glanced toward slatter at the wheel. slatter's back was toward them; but dan'l could have sworn the man's ears were visibly pricking to miss no word. and dan'l's eyes burned unpleasantly. a woman's strongest armor is her innocence. if faith were tarnished in the eyes of the men in the fo'c's'le, she would have few defenders there.... the roughest man will honor a good woman; but he looks upon one who is soiled with contemptuous or greedy eyes. dan'l was willing, for his own ends, that the fo'c's'le should think evil of faith wing. while they stood thus, brander came on deck, and spoke for a minute with dan'l, then went slowly forward. because he and dan'l clashed so sharply, brander had fallen into the way of spending much time amidships with the harpooners, or forward with the crew.... dan'l's place was aft.... roy watched brander now as he spoke to the mate, watched him walk away. when brander was gone, dan'l looked toward roy. roy said quietly: "dan'l, if brander tries to--to do anything to my sister, i'm going to kill him." dan'l said nothing; and roy moved abruptly past him and went below.... he was not seeking faith; but he came upon her there, in the main cabin. she was at the table, with a book, and paper and pen; and he stopped to look over her shoulder, and saw that she was making calculations.... latitude and longitude.... he asked: "what are you doing?" she looked up at him. "studying navigation, roy. don't you want to?" he stared at her. "what are you doing it for?" "because i want to. besides.... it's a good thing to be able to find out where you are, on a world as big as this.... don't you think?" he flung himself into a chair across from her. "look here, faith.... why do you keep looking at brander? all the time?" faith was startled; she was startled not so much at what roy said, as at what his words revealed to her. nevertheless her voice was steady and quiet as she asked: "what do you mean, roy?" "the way you look at brander. he's not fit for you to talk to.... to look at.... anything. he's not fit to be around you...." she laughed at him. "how do i look at mr. brander, roy?" she asked. "why--like...." roy groped for words; faith was suddenly afraid of what he might say. she interrupted him. "don't be silly, roy. go away.... don't bother me.... i'm busy with this, roy." he said: "you...." but she bent over her book; she paid him no attention for a moment. roy, sitting opposite, studied the top of her head, and thought.... there was an expression in his eyes as though he were trying to remember something familiar that evaded him. in the silence, they could hear cap'n wing snoring in his cabin; they could hear old tichel stir in his bunk at the other side of the ship; they could hear the muffled murmur of the voices of the harpooners, in the steerage. and all about them the timbers that were the fabric of the _sally_ creaked and groaned as they yielded to the tug of the seas. roy still stared with a puzzled frown at the top of faith's brown head.... faith did not look up from her book.... suddenly roy cried, in a low voice: "faith! i know...." and, all in a burst: "you look at brander just like you used to look at noll wing when we were kids...." faith went white; and she rose to her feet so swiftly that the book was overturned on the table, the loose sheets of paper fluttered, the pen rolled across to the edge of the table and fell and stuck on its point in the cabin floor.... with a motion swift as light, forgetting book and paper and pen, faith slipped across, into the after cabin. she shut the door in roy's face, and he heard her slip the catch upon it. roy stared at the closed door; then he went abstractedly around the table and pulled the pen loose from the floor. the steel point was twisted, spoiled. xviii the _sally_ came, abruptly, into a sea that was full of whales. at nightfall they had not smelled oil for weeks; at dawn there were spouts on three quarters of the horizon; and thereafter for more than a month there were never three successive days when they did not sight whales. this turn of the luck brought three things to pass: roy kilcup had his first chance in the boats during the chase; brander killed his first whale as an officer of the _sally_; and noll wing killed the last cachalot that was ever to feel his lance. dan'l tobey had promised roy, at the time when brander was promoted to be mate, that he would give the boy a chance in his boat. he put roy on the after thwart, under his own eye, and roy leaned to the oar and pulled with all his might, and bit his lip to hold back the sobbing of his breath. the boy came of whaling stock; his father and his father's father had been men of the sea. and he did not turn white when the boat's bow slid at last alongside a slumbering black mass, and the keen harpoons chocked home. that first experience of roy's was a mild one. the whale, a fairish bull, showed no fight whatever. he took the irons as a baby takes soothing sirup; and he lay still while they pulled alongside and prodded him with a lance. at the last, when his spout was a crimson fountain, he gave one gigantic forward leap; but he was dead not ten fathoms from the spot where he lay when the first harpoon went home; and thereafter there was only the long toil of towing the monster back to the ship for the cutting in. a small affair, without excitement; yet big for roy. it worked a change in the boy. he came back to the ship no longer a boy, but the makings of a man. he spoke loftily to faith; and he brushed shoulders with the men on equal terms and was proud to do so, altogether forgetting the days when he had liked to think himself their superior, and to order them around. dan'l catered to the new mood in the boy; he told cap'n wing in roy's hearing that the youngster would make a whaleman.... that he had never seen any one so cool at the striking of his first whale.... roy swelled visibly. brander's initiation as an officer of the _sally_ came at the same time; and a bit of luck made it possible for the fourth mate to prove his mettle. when they sighted spouts in three quarters, that morning, the mate had chosen to go after a lone bull; old tichel and brander attacked a small pod to the eastward; and willis cox went north to try for a fish there. brander gave tichel right of way, since the old man was his superior officer; and they came upon the pod with a matter of seconds to choose between them. the whales were disappointingly small; nevertheless tichel attacked the largest, and brander took the one that fell to him. his irons went home a moment after tichel's; his whale leaped into the first blind struggle, not fleeing, but fighting to shake off the iron. now it is customary, among whalemen, to wait till this first flurry has passed, to allow the whale to run out his own strength, and then to pull in for the finishing stroke. but brander was ambitious; the whale was small.... he changed places with loum, and shouted orders to his men to haul in the loose coils of line that had been thrown over with the irons. the whale was circling, rolling, striking with its flukes; it had not seen them, gave them no heed, but the very blindness of its struggles made them a greater menace. they drew in on the whale; and loum at the steering oar swung brander against the monster's flank. brander got home his lance in three thrusts before they were forced to draw clear to avoid the whale's renewed struggles. but those three were enough; the spout crimsoned; he loosed and backed away from the final flurry, and the whale was dead ten minutes from the time when the first iron went home. that was exploit enough to prove brander's ability; his quick kill marked him as a man who knew his job. he could have afforded to be content; but when his whale was fin out, and he looked around, he was in time to see trouble come upon james tichel. the whale tichel struck had sounded; and just after brander killed, it breached before his eyes, under the very bows of tichel's boat. brander saw the black column of its body rise up and up from the sea; it seemed to ascend endlessly.... then toppled, and slowly fell, and struck the water so resoundingly that for a moment the whale and tichel's boat were hidden alike. tichel was dodging desperately to get clear; but the wallowing whale rolled toward him, over him, smothering his craft.... brander, when the tossing and tormented water quieted, saw the bobbing heads of the men, and the boat just awash, and the gear floating all around.... the whale showed no immediate disposition to run; it was rolling in a frenzy, bending double as though to tear at its own wounds.... brander stuck a marking waif in his own whale, drove his men to their oars, cut across to see that tichel and the others were kept afloat by the boat, and then managed to pick up one of the floating tubs of line, to which the whale was still attached. the rest was easy enough; the whale fought its strength away, and brander made his kill. willis cox had failed to get fast; the whales he sought to attack took fright as he approached them, and his game got away with a white slash across the blubber where long jim's desperate cast of the harpoon had gone wild. so willis rowed to join brander, and picked up tichel and his men, and took their boat and tichel's whale which brander had killed, in tow. brander took the other; they worked back to the _sally_. when they got back to the ship, noll wing clapped brander on the shoulder and applauded him. the excitement of the sudden chase, after the weeks of idling, had put life into noll. his cheeks were flushed; his eyes were shining; he had the look of his old self once more.... two whales at a time is as much as any whaler cares to handle; the _sally_ had three. a blow of any violence would have made it impossible for them to cut in even one of the carcasses before the steady heat of the southern seas rendered them unfit; but no squall came. the luck of the _sally_ had turned, and turned in earnest. the men welcomed the hard work after their long idleness; they toiled at the windlass and the gangway with the heartiest will. they raised chants as they walked the blanket pieces up to the main head or slacked them down the deck to be cut and stowed in the blubber room below the main hatch. the intoxication of the toil took possession of them; they went at it singing and exultant and afire; and even noll caught the spirit of the day from them. youth flooded back into the man; his shoulders straightened; his chest seemed to swell before their eyes. faith, watching him, thought he was like the man she had loved.... she was, for a time, very happy.... the fever of it got into noll's blood; and when they killed another whale the third day after, he swore that at the next chance he would himself lower for the chase. he fed on the thought.... faith, fearful for him, ventured to protest; her first thought was ever that on noll's safety depended the safety of the _sally_, that noll's first duty was to bring the _sally sims_ safely home again. she told noll this; told him his place was with the ship. "the _sally_ is your charge," she said. "you ought not to risk yourself.... take chances...." he laughed at her tempestuously. "by god," he cried, "i was never a man to send men where i was afeared to go. so let be, faith. you coddle me like a child; and i am not a child at all. let be." faith surrendered helplessly; but she hoped he would forget, would not keep his word. he might have forgotten as she hoped; he was sinking back into his old lassitude when the masthead men sighted the next whale; but dan'l sought noll out and said anxiously: "best think better of it, sir. this looks like a big whale; a hard customer." noll had so nearly forgotten that he asked: "think better of what, man?" dan'l smiled, as though he were pleased. "i thought you meant to lower," he said. "you do well to change your mind. stay aboard here; leave us to handle him." which was like a goad to noll, as dan'l must have known it would be. the captain laughed angrily, and thrust dan'l aside, and took the mate's own boat with roy on the after thwart, and lowered. faith was anxious; she found chance to say to brander, as the other boats were striking the water: "look after him, mr. brander." and brander nodded reassuringly. dan'l climbed into the rigging to watch the battle; he scarce took his glass from his eye. what he hoped for, whether he thought chance and the whale might wipe noll from his path, only dan'l knew. this whale, as it chanced, was sighted at early morning; and this was as well. a big bull, the creature lay quietly, just awash, while the captain's boat came upon it from behind. he stirred not at all till noll wing swung hard on the long steering oar and brought them in against the black side and bellowed to silva: "let go! let go the irons!" silva knew his work as well as any man; and he got both harpoons home to the hitches, and threw the line clear as the bull leaped bodily forward and upward, half out of the water, and whirled in a smothering turmoil of spray and tortured foam to escape the blades that bit him. noll swung them out of his way, shouted to silva: "aft, now! let me be at him, man...." and silva came stumbling back across the thwarts to take the steering oar, while noll went forward and chose his lance and braced himself in the bow. the whale, his first torment dulled, had stopped his struggle and lay still, swinging slowly around in the water. it was as though he looked about to discover what it was that had attacked him; and old tichel--the other boats were standing by in a half circle about noll and the whale--bawled across the water: "'ware, sir. he's looking for you." noll heard and waved his hand defiantly; and at the same time, the whale saw noll's boat and charged it. the whale, as has been said, would be invulnerable if his wit but matched his bulk. it does not. furthermore, the average whale will not fight at all, but runs; and it is his efforts to escape that blindly cause the damage, and even the tragedies of the fisheries. but when he does attack, he attacks almost always in the same way. the sperm whale, the cachalot, trusts to his jaw; he bites; and his enemy is not the men in the boat, but the boat itself. perhaps he cannot see the men; his eye is small and set far back on either side of his great head. certainly, when once a boat is smashed, it is rare for a whale to deliberately try to destroy the men in the water. the sperm whale tries to bite; the right whale--it is from him your whalebone comes--strikes with his vast flukes. he will lie quietly in the water and brush his flukes back and forth across the surface, feeling for his enemy. if his flukes touch a floating tub, an oar, a man, they coil up like an enormous spring, and slap down with a blow that crushes utterly whatever they may strike. the whalemen have a proverb: "'ware the sperm whale's jaw, and the right whale's flukes." and there is more truth than poetry in that. when a sperm whale destroys a boat with his flukes, it is probably accident; but he bites with malice prepense and pernicious. the whale which noll had struck set out to catch noll's boat and smash it in his jaws. his very eagerness was, for a long time, his destruction. the whale was bulky; a full hundred feet long, and accordingly unwieldy. a man on foot can, if he be sufficiently quick, dodge a bull in an open field; by the same token, a thirty-foot whaleboat, flat-bottomed, answering like magic to the very thought of the men who handle her, can dodge a hundred-barrel bull whale. noll's boat dodged; the men used their oars at noll's command, and silva in the stern swung her around as on a pivot with a single sweep. the whale surged past, the water boiling away from its huge head. surged past, and turned to charge again.... this time, as it passed, noll touched the creature with his lance, but the prick of it was no more than the dart in the neck of a fighting bull. it goaded the whale, and nothing more. he charged with fury; his very fury was their safety. noll struck the whale at a little after nine o'clock in the morning. at noon, the vast beast was still fighting, with no sign of weariness. it charged back and forth, back and forth; and the men swung the boat out of his way; and their muscles strained, their teeth ground together, the sweat poured from them with their efforts. they were intoxicated with the battle. noll, in the bow, bellowed and shouted his defiance; the men yelled at every stroke; they shook their fists at the whale as he raged past them. and silva, astern, snatching them again and again from the jaws of destruction, grinned between tight lips, and plied his oar, and cried to noll to strike. at a little after noon, the whale swung past noll with such momentum that he was carried out to the rim of the circle in which the fight was staged, and saw tichel's boat there. any boat was fair game to the monster; and tichel had grown careless with watching the breath-taking struggle. he had forgotten his own peril; he expected the whale to turn back on noll again.... it did not; it swung for him, and its jaws sheared through the very waist of his boat, so that the two halves fell away on either side of the vast head. the men had time to jump clear; there was no man hurt--save for the strangling of the salt water--and the whale seemed to feel himself the victor, for he lay still as though to rest upon his laurels. willis cox was nearest; he drove his boat that way, and stood in the bow, with lance in hand to strike. but noll, hauling up desperately on the line, bellowed to him: "let be, willis. he's mine." and willis sheered off. then the whale felt the tug of the line, and whirled once more to the battle. willis picked up tichel and his men, towed the halves of the boat away, back to the ship.... the _sally_ was standing by, a mile from the battle. such whales as this could sink the _sally_ herself with a battering blow in the flank. it was dangerous to come too near. willis put tichel and his men aboard, and went back to wait and be ready to answer any command from noll. the fifth hour of the battle was beginning.... the whale was tireless; and noll, in the bow of his boat, seemed as untired as the beast he fought. but his men, even silva, were wearying behind him. it was this weariness that presently gave the whale his chance. he charged, and silva's thrust on the long oar was a shade too late. the boat slipped out of reach of the crashing jaws; but the driving flukes caught it and it was overturned. the gear flew out.... noll, in the bow, clung to the gunwale for an instant as the boat was overthrown. long enough to wrench out the pin that held the line in the boat's bow. silva, astern, would have cut; his hatchet was ready. but noll shouted: "no, by god! let be...." then they were all in the water, tumbling in the surges thrown back by the passage of the monster.... and the whale drove by, turned, saw no boat upon the water, thought victory was come.... brander, at this time, was a quarter-mile away. when the boat went over, he yelled to his men: "pull.... oh, pull!" and they bent their stout oars with the first hot tug; fresh men, untired, hungry these hours past for a chance at the battle. brander started toward where lay the capsized boat, the swimming men.... and noll wing lifted a commanding arm and beckoned him to make all speed. brander urged his men: "spring hard! spring.... hard. now, on!" a whaleboat is as speedy as any craft short of a racing shell; and brander's men knew their work. they cut across the vision of the loafing whale; and the beast turned upon this new attacker with undiminished vigor. brander's eyes narrowed as he judged their distance from the drifting boat; he swerved a little to meet the coming whale head on. the whale plowed at him; they met fifty yards to one side of the spot where the boat was floating; and as they met, brander dodged past the whale's very jaw, and slid astern of him. before the whale could turn, he was alongside the capsized boat, dragging noll over his own gunwale. he dragged noll in; and he saw then that the captain held in his hand a loop of the line that was fast to the whale. and brander grinned with delighted appreciation. noll straightened, brushed brander back out of the way without regarding him, passed the line to the men in brander's boat. "haul in," he roared. "get that stowed aboard here. by god, we'll get that whale...." they worked like mad, coiling the slack line in the waist, while noll fitted it into the crotch and pinned it there. the whale was back at them, by then; they dodged again. and this time, as the creature swung past, loum--brander's boat-steerer--brought them in close against the monster's flank before dodging out to evade the smashing flukes. in that instant, noll saw his chance, and drove home his lance to half its length. it was the first fair wound the whale had taken; a wound not fatal, not even serious. nevertheless, it seemed to take the fight out of the beast. he sulked for a moment, then began--for the first time in more than five hours' fighting--to run. the line whipped out through the crotch in the bow; the men tailed on to it, and let it go as slowly as might be, while loum swung the steering oar to keep them in the creature's track. noll, in the bow, was like a man glorified; his cap was tugged tight about his head; he had flung away his coat, and his shirt was open half way to the waist. the spray lashed him; his wet garments clung to his great torso. his right hand held the lance, point upward, butt in the bottom of the boat; his left rested on the line that quivered to the tugging of the whale. his knee was braced on the bow.... a heroic figure, a figure of strength magnificent, he was like a statue as the whaleboat sliced the waves; and his lips smiled, and his eyes were keen and grim. the line slipped out through the burning fingers of the men; the whale raced on. abruptly noll snapped over his shoulder: "haul in, mr. brander," and brander, at noll's back, gave the word to the men; and they began to take back the line they had given the whale in the beginning. it came in slowly, stubbornly.... but it came. they drew up on the whale that fled before them. they drew up till the smashing strokes of the flukes as the creature swam no more than cleared their bow. drew up there, and sheered out under the thrust of loum's long oar, and still drew on.... they were abreast of the flukes; they swung in ahead of them.... they slid, suddenly, against the whale's very side. the end came with curious abruptness. the whale, at the touch of the boat against his side, rolled a little away from them so that his belly was half exposed. the "life" of a whale, that mass of centering blood vessels which the lance must find, lies low. noll knew where it lay; and as the whale thus rolled, he saw his mark.... he drove the lean lance hard; drove it so hard there was no time to pull it out for a second thrust. nor any need. it was snatched from his hands as the whale rolled back toward them. loum's oar swung; they loosed line and shot away at a tangent to the whale's course. and noll cried exultantly, hands flung high: "let me, let me, be. he's done!" they saw, within a matter of seconds, that he was right. the whale stopped; he slowly turned; he lay quiet for an instant as though counting his hurts. the misty white of his spout was reddened by a crimson tint; it became a crimson flood. it roared out of the spout hole, driven by the monster's panting breath.... and the whale turned slowly on his side a little, began to swim. a tiny trout, hooked through the head and thrown back into the pool, will sometimes race in desperate circles, battering helplessly against the bank, the bottom of the pool, the sunken logs.... thus this monstrous creature now swam; a circle that centered about the boat where noll and the others watched; that tore the water and flung it in on them. faster and faster, till it seemed his great heart must burst with his own labors. and at the end, flung half clear of the water, threw his vast bulk forward, surged idly ahead, slowly.... was still. noll cried: "fin out, by god. he's dead...." a big whale, as big as most whalemen ever see, the biggest noll himself had ever slain. a fitting thing; for old noll wing had driven his last lance. he was tired; he showed it when brander gave the whale to willis for towing back to the ship, and raced for the _sally_ with noll panting in the bow. the fire was dying in the captain's eyes; he pulled brander's coat about his great shoulders and huddled into it. he scarce moved when they reached the _sally_. brander helped him aboard. dan'l tobey cried: "a great fight, sir. six hours; and two stove boats.... but you killed." noll wagged his old head, looked around for faith, leaned heavily upon her arm. "take me down, faith," he said. "take me down. for i am very tired." xix one-eyed mauger sought out brander three days later. brander had been decent to him from the beginning; and mauger, who had been changed from a venomous and evil thing into a cacklingly cheerful nonentity by noll wing's blow and kick, repaid brander with a devotion almost inhuman. he sought out brander three days later.... that is to say, he made occasion, during the work of scrubbing up after noll's last whale, to come to brander's feet; and while he toiled at the planking of the deck there, he looked up at the fourth mate and nodded significantly. brander understood the one-eyed man; he asked: "what's wrong, mauger?" his tone was friendly. mauger chuckled mirthlessly, deprecatingly. "don't want you should git mad," he protested. brander shook his head, his eyes sobering. "of course not. what is it?" "there's chatter, forward," said mauger. "they're talking dirt." brander's voice fell. "who?" "slatter was th' first. others now. dirt." brander looked about the deck; there was no one within hearing. he asked quietly: "what kind of dirt?" mauger looked up and grinned unhappily and apologetically. "you know," he said. "you and--her...." brander's eyes hardened; he said, under his breath: "thanks, mauger." and he walked away from where the one-eyed man was scrubbing. mauger rose on his knees to look after the fourth mate with something like worship in his eyes. brander went aft with his problem. a real problem. faith besmirched.... he would have cut off his right hand to prevent it; but cutting off his right hand would have done no good whatever. he would have fought the whole crew of the _sally_, single-handed; but that would have done even less good than the other. you cannot permanently gag a man by jamming your fist in his mouth. and brander knew it; so that while he boiled with anger and disgust, he held himself in check, and tried to consider what should be done.... must do something.... no easy task to determine what that something was to be. brander considered the members of the crew; the fo'm'st hands. slatter he knew; an evil man. others there were like him, either from weakness or sheer malignant festering of the soul. but there were some who were men, some who were decent.... some who would fight the foul talk, wisely or unwisely as the case might be; some who had eyes to see the goodness of faith, and hearts to trust her.... brander's task was to help these men. he could not himself go into the fo'c's'le and strike; to do so would only spread the filth of words abroad. but--one thing he could do. he saw the way.... avoid faith.... that would not be easy, since their lives must lie in the cabin. avoid faith, avoid speaking to her save in the most casual way, avoid being alone with her. that much he must do; and something more. the crew would be spying on them now, watching, whispering. he must give them no food for whispers; he must go further. he must give them proof that their whispers were ill-founded. he must.... it was this word of mauger's that led brander to a determination which was to threaten him with ruin in the end; it was this word of mauger's that determined brander to give himself to the crew. to keep some of them always near him, always in sight of him; to force them, if he could, to see for themselves that he had little talk with faith and few words with her. that was what brander planned to do. he worked out the details carefully. when he was on deck, he must keep in their sight; and he must keep himself on deck every hour of the day save when he went below for meals. he decided to do more; the nights were warm and pleasant. he had a hammock swung under the boathouse, and planned to sleep there; he laid open his whole life to their prying eyes. let them see for themselves.... he was satisfied with this arrangement, at last. it was the best that could be done; he put it into action at once, and he saw within three days' time that slatter and the others had noticed, and were wondering and questioning. the men were puzzled; the cabin was puzzled. and no one was more puzzled by brander's new way of life than dan'l tobey. he was puzzled, but he was at the same time elated. for he perceived that brander had given him a weapon, a handle to take hold of. and dan'l was not slow to take advantage of it. they were working westward at the time, killing whales as they went. ahead was the bay of islands, and port russell. southward, the solander rock, and the solander grounds, where all the big bull whales of the seven seas have a way of flocking as men flock to their clubs. a cow is seldom or never seen there; the bulls are slain by scores. toward this hunting ground, as famous for its whales as it was infamous for its ugly weather, the _sally sims_ was working. they would touch at port russell on the way.... three days before they were like to make the port, dan'l made an occasion to have words with noll wing. noll was on deck, faith and the officers--save brander, who was with mauger forward--were all below. there was a group of men by the tryworks; and dan'l strolled that way. he moved inconspicuously, approaching them on the opposite side of the ship; and when he came near, he stopped and seemed to listen. noll, aft, was paying him little attention though dan'l made sure that the captain saw. slatter was among the group of men; dan'l scattered them, angrily, and drove them forward. when they were gone, he went aft again; and as he had expected, noll asked: "what was that, dan'l?" dan'l smiled and said it was nothing that mattered; and his tone suggested that it mattered a great deal. noll sternly bade him speak, and dan'l said reluctantly: "it was but the foolish talk of idle men, sir. i bade them keep their tongues still." "what manner of foolish talk?" dan'l would not meet noll's eyes. "why, lies," he said. "chatter." noll said heavily: "i'm not a man to be put off, dan'l. speak up, man." dan'l frowned sorrowfully: "it was just their talk about mr. brander and faith, sir. lies, as i told you. they shut up when i spoke to them." "what talk of brander and my wife?" noll asked slowly. dan'l shook his head. "you can guess it for yourself, sir. the men have nothing better to do than chatter and gossip like old women. they've had no work for three days. we need another whale to shut their mouths." "what talk?" noll repeated. dan'l smiled. "i think too well of faith and of brander to say it for you," he insisted. noll fell silent, his brows lowering for a space; then he waved his great hand harshly. "bosh," he said. "foolishness." dan'l nodded. "of course. nevertheless, i...." he fell silent; and noll looked at him acutely. "you--what?" he asked. "i don't blame mr. brander, you understand," said dan'l. "but--it's in my mind that--being with the crew as much as he is--he should put a stop to it." noll's eyes ranged the deck. brander was amidships now; and mauger was still with him. mauger was scraping at the rail, cleaning away some traces of soot from the last trying out, under brander's eye. they were talking together; and noll frowned and looked at dan'l and asked: "you think mr. brander is too much with the crew?" dan'l shook his head. "no, not too much. it's as well for an officer to be on good terms with the men. leastwise, some think so. i was never one to do it. but--no, not too much. nevertheless, he's much with them." noll thought for a while, his brows lowering; and he said harshly, at the end: "that matter of faith is trash. their clacking tongues should be dragged out...." dan'l nodded. "aye; but that would not stop them. you know the men, sir." and he added: "still it seems brander should be able to hush them." and after a moment more: "you mark, he's all but deserted us in the cabin. he sticks much with the men of late." noll's face contracted. he touched dan'l's arm. "i've seen that he is much with mauger," he agreed. "and mauger...." his muscles twitched; and he said under his breath: "mauger's whetting his knife for me, dan'l. i'm watchful of that man." "he has a slinking eye," said dan'l. "but i make no doubt he's harmless enough, sir. i'd not fear him...." noll said stoutly: "i'm not a hand to fear any man, dan'l. nevertheless, that twitching eye of his frets me...." he shuddered and gripped dan'l's arm the tighter. "i should not have kicked the man, dan'l. i've been a hard man; too hard.... an evil man, in my day. i doubt the lord has raised up mauger to destroy me." dan'l laughed. "pshaw, sir.... even the lord would have small use for a thing like mauger." he waited for a moment thoughtfully. "any case," he said. "if you were minded, you could drop him ashore at port russell and be rid of him." noll moved abruptly. "eh," he said. "i had not thought of that." he seemed to shrink from the thought.... "but it may be he is meant to be about me.... i'd not go against the lord, dan'l...." dan'l looked sidewise at the captain; and there was something like contempt in his eyes. he said slowly: "if it was me, i'd set the man quietly ashore...." he turned away, left noll to think of the matter.... * * * * * dan'l wondered, all that day, whether noll would act; but toward nightfall they raised a spout, and killed as dark came upon them. that held them, for cutting in and trying out, three days where they lay; and they killed once more before they made the bay of islands. they were touching at port russell for water and fresh vegetables; they put in there.... when the anchor went down, noll sent for brander to come down to him in the cabin. they had anchored at nightfall, and would not go ashore till morning. noll sent for brander; and when brander came, noll looked at him furtively.... brander saw the captain had been drinking; noll's hands shook, and his fingers and his tongue were unsteady. the muscles of his face twitched; and there was a bible open in his lap and a bottle beside him. brander held his eyes steady, masked what he felt. noll beckoned with a crooked finger. "come 'ere," he said huskily. brander faced him. they were in the after cabin; and noll sat still. "we're staying here a day," he said. brander nodded. "wood and stores, sir, i suppose." noll nodded heavily. "oh, aye.... but, something else, mr. brander. i'm goin' leave here that man in your boat. mauger...." brander's lips tightened faintly; he held his voice. "mauger?" he echoed. "why? what's wrong with him?" "don' want him around any more," said noll slowly. "why not?" brander insisted. noll's lips twitched with the play of his nerves, and he poured a drink and lifted it to his mouth with unsteady fingers. he set down the glass, spilling a little of the liquor; and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "i had 'casion to discipline mauger," he said, with awkward dignity, his head wagging. "i had 'casion to discipline mauger. an' now he's got a knife for me. he's goin' kill me. i ought kill him; put the man shore, 'stead of that." brander smiled reassuringly. "mauger's harmless, sir. and he does his work." noll shook his head. "i know 'im. he's a murd'rer. i'm goin' put him ashore." the fourth mate hesitated; then he said quietly: "all right. if he goes, i go too." noll's head jerked back as though he had been struck; and his red eyes widened and narrowed again as he peered at brander, and he hesitated unsteadily. "wha's that?" he asked. "wha's that you say?" "i say i'll go if he goes." noll's head drooped and swayed wearily; but after a moment he asked: "wha' for?" "the man shipped for the cruise," said brander. "he does his work. i'll not be a party to putting him ashore--dumping him in this god-forsaken hole." noll raised a hand. "don' speak of god," he said reprovingly. "you don' understand him, mr. brander." brander said nothing; and noll's hand dropped and he whined: "man can't do what he wants on his own ship...." brander said: "do as you like, sir. i think you should let him stay. he means no harm...." noll waved his hand. "oh, a'right," he agreed. "say no more 'bout it at all. let be. keep'm; keep'm, mr. brander. but lis'en." he eyed brander shrewdly. "lis'en. i know one thing. he's goin' to knife me some night. i know. he's a murd'rer. and you're defending him.... pr'tecting him. birds of a feather flock t'gether, mr. brander." the captain got unsteadily to his feet, raised a threatening hand. "when he kills me; just r'member. my blood's on your own head, sir." brander hesitated; his heart revolted. his impulse was to leave the ship, take mauger, trust his luck.... but he thought of faith. this man, her husband, was dying.... he could see that. and when he was gone, there would be trouble aboard the _sally_. faith herself meant trouble; the ambergris in the captain's storeroom meant more trouble.... brander knew it might well be that faith would need him in that day.... he could not leave her.... he said quietly: "i take that responsibility, sir." noll was slumped in his chair again. "go 'way," he said, and waved his hand. "go 'way." * * * * * that night, in the small hours, noll screamed in a way that woke the ship; he had come out of drunken slumber, desperate with a vivid hallucination that appalled him.... he thought that mauger was at him with a sheath knife, and that brander was at mauger's back. faith and dan'l fought to soothe him; faith in her loose dressing-gown, her hair in its thick braid.... dan'l had more eyes for faith than for noll. he had never seen her thus before; never seen her so beautiful; never seen her, he thought, so desperately to be desired.... his lips were wet at the sight of her.... noll's terror racked and tore at the man; it seemed to rip the very flesh from his bones. when it passed, at last, and he fell asleep again, he was wasted like a corpse. dan'l, looking at noll and at faith, wished noll were a corpse indeed. xx a change was coming to pass in faith at this time. as the strength flowed out of noll, it seemed to flow into her. as noll weakened, faith was growing strong. she had never lacked a calm strength of her own; the strength of a good woman. but she was acquiring now the strength and resolution of a man. at first, this was unconscious; the spectacle of noll's degeneration moved her by the force of contrast. but for a long time she clung to the picture of the noll of the past, clung to the hope that the captain would become again the man she had married. and so long as she did this, she made herself a part of him, his support.... she merged herself in him, thought of herself only as his helpmate.... she had always tried to stimulate his pride and strength; she had tried to lead him to reassume the domination of the _sally_ and all aboard her. and in the days before noll went out to kill his whale, she thought for a time she had succeeded. but when noll came back to her that day, exhausted by the struggle, the fire gone out of him, faith perceived that he was a weak vessel, cracking and breaking before her eyes. noll was gone; he was no longer a man. his hands and his heart had not the force needed to enable him to command the _sally_, to make the voyage successful, to bring the bark safely back to port in the end. faith saw this; but she refused to consider the chance of failure. she had married noll when he was at the height of his apparent strength; the signs of his disintegration were not yet apparent. they had swept upon him suddenly.... but she would not have it said of him, when he was gone, that he had sailed the seas too long; that he had failed at last, and shamefully.... she had come to look upon the success of this last voyage of noll's as a sacred charge; and when noll's shoulders weakened, she prepared deliberately to take the burden on her own. the _sally_ must come safely home, with filled casks for old jonathan felt; she must come safely home, no matter what happened to noll--or to herself. the prosperity of the _sally sims_ was almost a religion to faith.... she had begun to study navigation more to pass the long and dreary days than from any other motive; she applied herself to it now more ardently. and she began, at the same time, to study the men about her; to weigh them; to consider their fitness for the responsibilities that must fall upon them. the fo'm'st hands, and particularly the mates, she weighed in the balance. the mates, and above all dan'l tobey. for if noll were to go, dan'l, by all the ancient laws of the sea, would become master of the ship; and their destinies would lie in his hands.... short of the solander grounds, they struck good whaling, and lingered for a time; and day by day the tuns and casks were filled, and the _sally_ sank lower in the water with her increasing load. they were two-thirds full, and not yet two years out. good whaling.... at dinner in the cabin one day, dan'l tobey said to faith: "you've brought us good luck, faith, by coming along, this cruise. we never did much better, since i've been with cap'n wing." faith looked to noll. noll was eating slowly, paying them no attention. silence was falling upon the captain in those days, like a foreshadowing of the great silence into which he would presently depart. he said nothing; so faith said: "yes. we've done well.... i'm glad." old james tichel looked slyly from face to face. "and the 'gris, stowed below us here, will make it a fine fat cruise for old jonathan felt when we come home," he chuckled. at the mention of the ambergris, a little silence fell. brander was at the table, brander and the others. dan'l and willis cox and young roy kilcup looked at brander, as though expecting him to speak. he said nothing, and old tichel, gnawing at his food, chuckled again, as though pleased with what he had said. the ambergris, so rich a treasure in so small a bulk, had never been forgotten for a minute by any man in the cabin; nor by faith. but they had not spoken of it of late; there was nothing to be said, and there was danger in the saying. it was as well that it be forgotten until they were home again.... there were too many chances for trouble in the stuff.... when brander did not speak, however, dan'l gently prodded him. he said to tichel: "you're forgetting that mr. brander claims it for his own." tichel chuckled again. "oh, aye, i was forgetting that small matter," he agreed. "my memory is very short at times." still brander said nothing. dan'l looked toward him. "i'll be warrant mr. brander does not forget," he said. brander looked toward dan'l, and he smiled amiably. "thank you," he told the mate. "keep me reminded. it had all but slipped from my mind." there was so much hostility in the air, in the slow words of the men, that faith said quietly: "we'll be on the solander, soon. i'm looking forward to that, dan'l. you've seen the rock?" she hoped to change them to another topic; but dan'l brought it smoothly back again. "yes," he said. "yes.... last cruise, the _betty howe_, out of port russell, picked up a sizable chunk of 'gris not a week before we touched the grounds. that brought two-sixty to the pound, i heard." "how much was it?" willis cox asked; and dan'l looked to willis and said amiably: "fifteen pound or so. no more than a thimbleful to what we've got.... that is to say, to what mr. brander's got, below here." brander had finished eating; he rose to go on deck. but roy kilcup could no longer hold his tongue. he got to his feet in brander's path, demanded sharply: "do you honestly mean to claim that for your own, mr. brander? are you so much of a hog?" brander looked down at the boy; and he smiled. "i'll give you your share, now, if it will stop your worrying, youngster," he said. "i want to know what you're going to do," roy insisted. "are you going to stick to your claim?" "others want to know," said brander, and stepped to one side to pass roy. roy would have spoken again; but noll said heavily from the head of the table: "roy, let be." that put a moment's silence upon them all. in this silence, brander went on his way to the deck. roy stared after him for a moment, then sat down in his place. his face was sullen and angry.... no one spoke of the matter again; but dan'l saw that faith was thoughtful. faith was puzzling over brander, trying to fathom the man.... she was troubled and uneasy.... dan'l saw that noll had lifted his heavy head and was watching her. afterward, dan'l went with noll into the after cabin. faith had gone on deck; and she and willis cox were talking together, by the wheel, with roy. brander, as usual, had taken himself to the waist where he was under the eye of the crew. his harpooner, loum, was with him. mauger hung within sound of his voice like an adoring dog. dan'l, in the after cabin with noll, made up the log. noll sat heavily on the seat, half asleep. he got up, while dan'l was still writing, and got his bottle. it was almost empty; and he cursed at that, and dan'l looked up and said: "sit down, sir. give that to me. i'll fill it up again." noll accepted the offer without speaking, and gave dan'l the key to his storeroom, where there was a cask of whiskey, and another of rum. dan'l came back presently with the bottle filled.... his eyes were shining with an evil inspiration, but he said nothing for a little. when his work on the log was done, however, he looked across to noll, and after a little, as though answering a spoken question, said: "i wouldn't worry about him, sir." noll looked at him dully. "about who, dan'l?" "brander. i saw you watching him...." noll dropped his head. "i don't like the man." "he's a good officer." "oh, aye...." "i doubt if he means trouble over the 'gris." noll waved a hand fretfully. "he's too much with the crew, mr. tobey." dan'l shook his head. "i doubt it. that's one way to handle men--be one of them. they'll do anything for him, sir." noll's eyes narrowed with the shrewdness of a drunken man. "that's the worst part of it. will they do anything for me, dan'l? or for you?" dan'l said reluctantly: "well, sir, maybe they'd jump quicker for him." "and that's not reassuring," said noll. "is it, now?" "it wouldn't be, if he meant wrong. i don't think he does. any case, he knows the 'gris is not his, in the end...." and he added: "you're concerned over faith and him--the way they are when they're together. but there's no need, sir. faith is loyal...." noll looked at the mate, and he frowned. "how are they, when they're together?" "i thought you had marked it for yourself.... i meant nothing." "nothing? you meant something. you've seen something. what is it you've seen, dan'l?" dan'l protested. "why, nothing at all. there's no harm in their being friends. he's a young man, strong, with wisdom in his head; and she's young, too. it's natural that young folk should be friendly." noll's head sank upon his chest; he said dully: "aye, and you're thinking i'm old." "no, sir," dan'l cried. "not that. you're not so old as you think, sir. not so old but what you might strike, if there was need. i only meant it was to be expected that they should be drawn together, like. faith's young...." noll's eyes were reddening angrily. "speak out, man," he exclaimed. "don't shilly-shally with your tongue. if there's harm afoot, by god, i can take a hand. what's in your mind?" "why, nothing at all. no harm in the world, sir.... i was only meaning to reassure you. i thought you had seen her eyes when she looked at the man...." "her eyes?" "aye." "what's in her eyes?" dan'l frowned uncomfortably. "why--friendship, if you like. liking, perhaps. nothing more, i'll swear. i know faith too well...." noll said heavily: "i'll watch her eyes, dan'l." dan'l said with apparent anxiety: "you should not concern yourself, cap'n wing. it's but the fancy of youth for youth.... i...." noll came to his feet with sudden rage in him. "have done, dan'l. i...." they both heard, then, faith's step in the main cabin; and their eyes met and burned. and dan'l got up quietly, and closed the log, and as faith came in, he went out and closed the door behind him. closed the door and crossed to the companion as though to go on deck; but he lingered there, listening.... listened; but there was little for him to hear. when the door closed behind him, faith had turned to her own cabin, hers and noll's. noll sat down, his eyes sullen.... he watched her through the open door to the cabin where their bunks were. she turned after a moment and came out to him; and he got to his feet with a rush of anger, and stared at her, so that she stood still.... he said hoarsely: "faith.... by god...." his words failed, then, before the steady light in her eyes. she was wondering, questioning him.... she met his eyes so fairly that the soul of the man cowered and shrank. the strength of rage went from him. he drew back. "what is it, noll?" she asked. "why are you--angry?" he lifted a clenched hand over his head; it trembled there for an instant, then came slowly down. he wrenched open the door to the main cabin, and went out and left her standing there.... faith watched him go; perplexity in her eyes. dan'l joined him, and they went on deck together. xxi they came to the solander grounds with matters still in this wise. brander much with the crew; noll wing rotting in his chair in the cabin; faith gaining strength of soul with every day; dan'l playing upon noll, upon roy, upon all those about him to his own ends.... the solander received them roughly; they passed the tall solander rock and cruised to the westward, keeping it in sight. there was another whaling ship, almost hull down, north of them, and the smoke that clouded her told the _sally_ she had her trypots going. dan'l tobey was handling the vessel; and he chose to work up that way. but before they were near the other craft, the masthead men sighted whales.... spouts all about, blossoming like flowers upon the blue water. noll had regained a little of his strength when they came upon the grounds; he took the ship, and bade dan'l and the other mates lower and single out a lone whale.... "they'll all be bulls, hereabouts," he said. "big ones, too.... and we'll take one at a spell and be thankful for that...." the whale was, as noll had predicted, a bull. dan'l made the kill, a ridiculously easy one. the vast creature lifted a little in the water at the first iron; he swam slowly southward; but there was no fight in him when they pulled up and thrust home the lance. the lance thrusts seemed to take out of him what small spirit of resistance there had been in the beginning; and when his spout crimsoned, he lay absolutely still, and thus died.... an hour after lowering, the whale was alongside the _sally_; a monstrous creature, not far short of the colossus cap'n wing had slain. he was made fast to the fluke-chain bitt, and the cutting in began forthwith.... that, too, on noll wing's order. "fair weather never sticks, hereabouts," he said. "work while there's working seas." now the first part of cutting in a whale is to work off the head; and that is no small task. for the whale has no neck at all, unless a certain crease in his thick blubber may be called a neck. the spades of the mates, keen-edged, and mounted on long poles with which they jab downward from the cutting stage, chock into the blubber and draw a deep cut along the chosen line.... the carcass is laboriously turned, the process is repeated.... thus on, till at last the huge mass can be torn free.... before the work on this whale was half done, it became apparent that a gale was brewing. cross swells, angling together at the mouth of foveaux straits, kicked up a drunken sea that made the _sally_ pitch and roll at the same time; a combination not relished by any man. nevertheless, the head was got off and hauled alongside for cutting up.... this work had taken the better part of the night; and with the dawn, there arose a whine in the wind that sang a constant, high note in the taut rigging. with the _sally_ pitching and rolling drunkenly, the fifteen ton junk was got off the head and hoisted aboard, while every strand of rigging creaked and protested at the terrible strain. the blubber was coming in; but the wind was increasing.... in the end, the _sally_ had to let go what remained of her catch and run for it, losing thereby the huge "case" full of spermaceti, and a full half of the blubber. but it was time.... the wind was still increasing.... the _sally_ scudded like a yacht before it.... they ran into port william for shelter, and noll wing swore at his ill luck, and when the ship was anchored, went sulkily below.... dan'l drove the men to their tasks.... the weeks that followed were repetitions of this first experience, with such capricious modifications as the gales and the sea chose to arrange. they killed many big whales; some they lost altogether, and some they lost in part, and some few they harvested. they fell into the way of running for port with their kill as soon as the whale was alongside, rather than risk the storms in the open.... it was hard and steady work for all hands; and as the men had grumbled at ill luck when they sighted no whales, so now they grumbled because their luck was overgood. the deck of the _sally_ was filled with morose and sullen faces.... dan'l found them easy working, ready for his hands; and by a word dropped now and then through these busy times, he led them in the way he wished them to go.... he never let them forget, for one thing, the ambergris beneath the cabin. when they grumbled, he reminded them it was there as a rich reward for all their labors.... and he reminded them, at the same time, that brander claimed it.... neither did he let the men forget that which he wished them to believe of faith and brander. by indirections; by words with roy which he took care they should overhear; by reproofs for chance-caught words, he kept the matter alive in their minds, so that they began to look at faith sidewise when she appeared upon the after deck.... brander was not blind to this; and if he had been blind, mauger's one eye would have seen for him. he knew the matter in the minds of the men; but he could not be sure that dan'l was putting it there.... could not be sure; nevertheless, he spoke to dan'l of it one day.... it was the first time since brander came aboard that he and dan'l had had more than passing word. brander made an opportunity to take the mate aside; and he held dan'l's eyes with his own and said steadily: "mr. tobey, there's ugly talk among the men aboard here that should be put a stop to...." dan'l looked surprised; he asked what brander meant. brander said openly: "they're coupling my name with that of the captain's wife. you've heard them. it should be ended." dan'l said amiably: "i know. it's very bad. but that is a thing you can't stop from the after deck, mr. brander." brander said: "that's true. so what do you think should be done in the matter?" the mate waved his hand. "it's not my affair, mr. brander. it's not me whose name is coupled with faith's. you know that, yourself." brander nodded. "suppose," he said, "suppose i go forward again.... i'll make some occasion to commit a fault: cap'n wing can send me forward and put silva, or another, in my place." dan'l looked at brander sharply; and he shook his head. "the men would be saying, then, that it was because of this matter you were put out of the cabin." "i suppose so." "it is very sure." "what would you suggest?" brander asked, his eyes holding dan'l's. dan'l seemed to weigh the matter. "how if you were to leave the ship completely?" he inquired. brander's eyes narrowed; and dan'l, in spite of himself, turned away his head. if brander left the ship.... there was no other man aboard whom he need fear when the time should come.... if brander but left the ship.... brander's eyes narrowed; he studied dan'l; and after a little he laughed harshly, and nodded his head as though assured of something which he had doubted before. "no," he said. "no. i'll not leave the _sally_...." he could never do that; there might come the day when faith would have to look to him.... "no; i'll stick aboard here...." dan'l's hopes had leaped so high; they fell so low.... but he hid his chagrin. "you are right," he said. "that is a deal to ask, just to stop the idle chatter of the men. stay.... best stay.... it will be forgotten." brander turned abruptly away, to crush down a sudden flood of anger that had clenched his fists. he knew dan'l, now, beyond doubt. he had guessed the mate's eagerness to be rid of him.... dan'l should not have his way in this so easily.... dan'l's own eyes had been opened by this talk with brander. the mate's heart had not yet formed his full design; he was working evil without any further plan than to bring harm and ruin.... but brander's suggestion, the possibility that brander might leave the ship, had revealed to dan'l in a single flash how matters would lie in his two hands if brander were gone. noll wing was nothing; old tichel he could swing; willis cox was a boy; the crew were sheep. only brander stood out against him; only brander must be beaten down to clear his path. with brander gone.... dan'l set himself this task; to eliminate brander. he thought of many plans, a little mishap in the whaling, a kinked line, a flying spade, an ugly mischance.... but these could not be arranged; he could only hope for the luck of them. hope for the luck.... but that need not prevent him working to help out the fates. not openly; he could not do that without setting brander on guard. and brander on guard was doubly to be feared. dan'l remembered an ancient phrase, the advice of an old philosopher to a rebellious soul, he thought. "when you strike at a king, you must kill him...." it was so with brander; he must be destroyed at a blow.... utterly.... noll was a tool that might serve; noll would strike, if he could be roused to the full measure of wrath. dan'l worked with noll discreetly, in hidden words, appearing always to defend brander.... brander and faith meant no harm.... they were friends, no more.... dan'l assured noll of this, again and again; and he took care that his assurances should not convince. noll stormed at him one night: "why must you always be defending faith? why do you stand by her?" and dan'l said humbly: "i've always known faith, sir. i don't want to see her do anything.... that is, i don't want to see you harsh with her, sir." and noll fell into a brooding silence that pleased dan'l mightily.... but still he did not strike at brander.... dan'l reminded the captain that brander still gave much time to the crew; he played on that string.... still hoping noll might be roused to overwhelming rage. but dan'l's poisoned soul was losing its gift of seeing into the hearts of men; the old noll would have reacted to his words as he hoped. this new noll was another matter; this noll, aging and rotting with drink, was led by dan'l's talk to hate brander--and to fear him. his fear of brander and of the one-eyed man obsessed even his sober mind. he would never dare seek to crush brander openly; faith he might strike, but not the man. in the end, even dan'l perceived this; he cast about for a new instrument, and found it in the man, slatter. slatter had crossed brander's path, to his sorrow. the loose-tongued man dropped some word of faith which brander heard, and brander remembered.... he made pretext of slatter's next small failure at the work to beat the man into a bleeding pulp.... no word of faith in this; he thrashed slatter for idling at the windlass when a blanket strip was being hoisted, and for impudence.... and slatter was his enemy thereafter. dan'l saw, and understood.... and he cultivated slatter; he tended the man's hurts, and gave him covert sympathy for the beating he had taken.... and slatter, emboldened, harshly swore that he would end brander for it, give him half a chance. dan'l said hastily, and quietly: "don't talk such matters, man. there's more than you aboard ship would do that if they dared. i'm not saying even noll wing would not smile to see brander gone.... no matter why...." "i know why," slatter swore. "every man forrad knows the why of that...." "well, then you'll not blame noll," said dan'l. "i'm thinking he'd fair kiss the man that had a hand in ending brander, if it was not done too open. but there's none aboard would dare it...." "by god, let me get him forrad, right, and i'll...." "quiet," said dan'l. "here's the man himself...." here was his tool; dan'l waited only the occasion. there was a way to make that. a whaler's crew are for the most part scum; harmless enough when they're held in hand.... harmless enough so long as they're kept in fear. but alcohol drives fear out of a man. and there was whiskey and rum in the captain's storeroom, aft.... it was one of the duties of roy, as ship's boy, to fetch up stores from this room at command; he was accustomed to fill noll wing's bottles now and then. dan'l saw he might use roy; and he did so without scruple. "i've need for liquor, roy," he told the lad. "but i'd not ask noll.... he's jealous of the stuff, as you know. so when next you're down, fill a jug.... fetch it up to me." he said it so casually that roy agreed without question. the boy was pleased to serve dan'l.... dan'l held him, he had captured roy, heart and soul. roy gave him the jug full of liquor next morning, slatter had it by nightfall, and that without dan'l's appearing in the matter. slatter came aft to take the wheel, and dan'l saw to it the jug was in his sight and at hand.... slatter carried it forward with him.... he passed dan'l in the waist; and dan'l looked at the jug and laughed and said: "man, that looks like liquor." slatter grinned uneasily. "oil for the fo'c's'le lamp," he said. dan'l wagged his head. "see that that's so," he said. "if any ructions start in the fo'c's'le, i'll send brander forward to quiet you. you'll not be wanting brander to lay hand on you again." slatter's eyes shifted hungrily; he went on his way with quick feet, and dan'l watched him go, and his eyes set hard. that was at dusk. toward ten that night, when brander was in his hammock under the boathouse, one of the men howled, forward, and there was the sound of scuffling in the fo'c's'le. dan'l was aft, waiting.... he called to brander: "go forward and put a stop to that yammering, mr. brander." brander slid out of his hammock, assented quietly, and started forward along the deck. dan'l watched his dark figure in the night until it was lost in the waist of the _sally_.... he waited a moment.... brander must be at the fo'c's'le scuttle by now.... came cries, blows, a tumultuous outbreak. the _sally_ rang with the storm of battle. then, abruptly, quiet.... at that sudden-falling quiet, dan'l turned pale in spite of himself; he licked his lips. the thing was done.... he ran forward, virtuously ready to take a hand. xxii when brander, at dan'l's command, went forward to quiet the men in the fo'c's'le, he found two or three of the crew on deck about the scuttle, watching the tumult below.... when they heard him and saw him, they backed away. the light from the fo'c's'le lamp dimly illumined their faces; and brander thought there was something murderous and at the same time furtive in their eyes. more than that, he caught the smell of alcohol.... so there was whiskey loose below him. a man boiled up the ladder past him to the deck, saw him and slid away into the dark. another.... six or eight were still fighting below. brander had that sixth sense which men must have who would command other men; he felt, now, the peril in the air. his duty was down there among those fighting men; to get down, he would ordinarily have used the ladder. but to do so would be to engage his hands and his feet, and he might well have need of both these members.... he put his hands on the edge of the fo'c's'le scuttle and dropped lightly to the floor of the fo'c's'le, without touching the ladder. he landed on his toes, poised, ready.... the narrow, crowded, triangular den was thick with the smell of hot men, of whiskey, of burning oil; the air was heavy with smoke. a single swinging lamp lighted the place.... beneath this lamp, four or five men were involved in a battle from which legs and arms were waved awkwardly as their owners struggled. two other men crouched at opposite sides of the fo'c's'le.... watching.... one was mauger; the other slatter. brander cried: "drop it, now...." the character of the struggle changed; the fighting men straightened.... then some one hit the lamp and sent it whirling into darkness; and at the same moment, brander heard slatter scream murderously.... he slipped to one side, backed into a corner, held hands before him, ready to meet an attack.... slatter's charge, if he were attacking brander, should have carried the man past the mate's hiding place. but brander, in the dark, heard a thump of two bodies together, and heard slatter bellowing profanity, and heard heels thumping upon the floor. then two or three men made a rush up the ladder to the deck.... another.... brander stepped forward, tripped over a whirling leg, and dropped upon a smother of two bodies which writhed beneath him. an arm was flying; he gripped for it and felt the prick of a knife in his wrist. so.... death in the air, then.... he dragged that arm down to his face and bit at the wrist and the back of the hand, till he felt the knife drop from the man's fingers.... the three of them were writhing and striking and kicking and strangling.... but the knife was gone.... so much the better. he began to fumble with his right hand, seeking marks for his fists.... he did not strike blindly, but when he struck, his blows went home.... on some one's ribs, and back, and once on the neck at the base of the ear.... they were fighting in silence now.... all had passed so quickly that it was still scarce more than seconds since brander dropped into the fo'c's'le. their bodies thumped the planking resonantly; they struggled in a fashion that shook the ship. they were gasping and choking for breath.... some one screamed terribly in brander's very ear, and a hand that was gripping his neck relaxed and fell away. the bodies of the fighting men were for an instant still; and in that instant's silence, some one asked: "you all right, mr. brander?" brander knew the voice. mauger's. he said: "yes...." mauger squirmed out from under brander.... "what hit slatter?" he asked sharply. "did you get him?..." brander got up, and the body of slatter fell away from him limply. it was about that time that dan'l reached the fo'c's'le scuttle above, and looked down into the darkness. he saw nothing; and he called: "mr. brander?" brander said quietly: "yes, sir, all right." "what's wrong, here?" "slatter tried to knife me," said brander. "have you got him?" "i don't know. he's still. strike a light, if you please...." dan'l was already half way down the ladder; but even before his sulphur match scratched, brander's nostrils told him what had happened. they brought him a smell.... unmistakable.... appalling.... the smell of blood.... he was on his knees beside slatter's body when dan'l bent over him with the flickering match. they saw slatter doubled forward over his own legs, and brander explained swiftly: "i had a full-nelson.... i was forcing him over that way when he yelled...." he lifted slatter's body; and they saw the hilt of a knife that was stuck downward, deep into his right thigh. dan'l cried: "you've killed him." and one-eyed mauger interrupted loyally: "no, he didn't. didn't...." dan'l looked at the one-eyed man. "how do you know?" "i did. i stuck the knife in him...." brander looked at mauger, and he touched the little man's shoulder. "you're a liar, little friend," he said, and smiled. and he turned to dan'l. "i bit the knife out of his hand," he said. "out of slatter's.... it fell against my chest and slid down.... it must have dropped between his body and his legs, and his own body, bending forward, drove it in." dan'l smiled unpleasantly. "all right; but mauger says he did it." brander shook his head. "he didn't. for a good reason. he was flat on the floor, and i was kneeling on his back, between him and slatter, when slatter yelled and quit fighting...." dan'l groped for the whale-oil lamp and lighted it and bent to look at the knife. "how did it kill him, there?" he demanded. "struck the big thigh artery," said brander. "it must have...." then noll wing's voice came to them from the scuttle. "what's wrong, below?" and his big bulk slid down the ladder.... * * * * * brander's explanation was the one that went down in the log, in the end. noll wrote it himself, in the irregular and straggling characters which his trembling fingers formed. and that was faith's doing; for dan'l did not believe, or affected not to believe, and noll was too shaken by the tragedy to know what he believed. dan'l and noll and faith talked it over between them, in the after cabin, the next morning. faith had slept through the disturbance of the night before; but when she heard of it in the morning it absorbed her. she went on deck and found brander and made him tell her what had happened. he described the outbreak in the fo'c's'le; he told how, when he went forward, he smelled liquor on the men.... how he dropped through the fo'c's'le scuttle, and some one knocked the lamp from its hanging, and slatter rushed him. "mauger saw what the man meant," he said. "he jumped on him from the side; and then i took a hand; and we had it for a while, in a heap on the floor." the other men in the fo'c's'le had fled to the deck, leaving slatter to do his own work. "i made him let go of the knife," brander explained, "and after we had banged around for a while, i got him from behind, my arms under his, my hands clasped behind his neck. i bent him over, forward.... he was trying to get hold of my throat, over his shoulder.... and he yelled and let go...." faith's eyes were troubled. "you say the men had been drinking?" "yes." "where did they get it?" brander shook his head; he waited for her to speak. she said: "let me talk to mauger." he sent the one-eyed man to her, and took himself away.... mauger told his story volubly. the little man had added a cubit to his stature by his exploit; he had done heroically, and knew it, and was proud.... he told, straightforwardly, how brander dropped down into the fo'c's'le.... "slatter had fixed it with a man to knock out the light," he explained. "i heard them whispering. i was watching.... i saw slatter had a knife. so when he jumped for mr. brander, i tripped him, and he fell over me, and then mr. brander grabbed him...." the little man chuckled at the joke on himself. "they fit all over me, ma'am," he said, "they done a double shuffle up and down my backbone, right." faith smiled at him and told him he did well. "but where did the men get liquor?" she asked. mauger grinned and backed away. "i dunno, ma'am.... did they have any?..." she said steadily: "mauger, where did the men get the liquor?" the man squirmed, but he stood still under her eyes; he tried to avoid her.... but in the end he came nearer, looking backward and from side to side. came nearer, and whispered at last.... "slatter brought a jug forward after his go at the wheel, ma'am." "slatter?" faith echoed softly.... "slatter.... all right, mauger. and--don't talk too much, forward...." the man escaped eagerly. he had been willing enough to talk about slatter's knife and his own good deed; but this other was another matter. whiskey in the fo'c's'le.... this was in the early morning, before the whole story had spread to every man. faith went quickly below, and asked his keys from noll, and went into the storeroom. found nothing there to guide her.... but while she was there, tinch, the cook, came down to get coffee.... she studied the man thoughtfully.... "tinch," she said, finger pressing her cheek, "i left a jug down here.... it's gone. have you seen it anywhere?" tinch, a tall, lean man with a bald head, looked at her stupidly, and ran a thin finger through his straggly locks and thought. "waal, now, ma'am," he said at last, "i rec'lect i see roy fetch a jug up out o' here, yist'day." "roy?" she asked. "what was he down here for?" "come down to...." he looked at her, and was suddenly confused with fear he had played judas. "waal, now, ma'am," he drawled, "i cal'late you'd best ask the boy that there." she nodded at once. "of course.... thank you, tinch." so faith had this matter in her mind when dan'l came down to find noll, in mid-morning, and ask what was to be done about the tragedy. noll said fretfully: "slide slatter over t'side, mr. tobey. do i have to look after everything aboard this ship?" dan'l nodded. "hitch is fixing for that," he said. "what i mean is, how about mauger? he says he done it." noll said sullenly: "well, if he says he done it, he done it." "that's what i say," dan'l agreed. "only thing is, brander stands up for him. so what do you aim t'do?" "brander stands up for him...." "says he couldn't ha' done it, any ways." noll threw up his fist angrily. "damn it, mr. tobey; don't run to me with this. find out what happened.... then tell me. that's the thing.... my god, this ship is.... god's sake, mr. tobey, be a man." dan'l said steadily: "all right; i say mauger did it." noll's cheeks turned pale and his eyes narrowed on the mate. "stuck the knife in him?" "yes." the captain's hands tapped his knees. "how did he know to stick it in the man's leg so neat? most men would ha' struck for the back.... the man knows the uses of a knife, mr. tobey." dan'l nodded. "oh, aye...." noll looked furtively toward the door. "i've allus said he'd a knife for me.... he'll be on my back, one day...." he was trembling, and he poured a drink and swallowed it. faith, sitting near him, looked up, looked at dan'l, then bent her head over her book again. dan'l said: "i think it's wise to put him in irons." noll roared: "then do it, mr. tobey. don't come whining to me with your little matters. i'm an old man, dan'l.... i'm weary and old.... settle such things.... that's the business of a mate, mr. tobey...." faith said quietly, without looking up: "why make so much talk? mr. brander has explained what happened." the men were silent for an instant, surprised and uneasy. dan'l looked at the captain; noll's head was bent. dan'l ventured to say: "you think mr. brander is right?" "of course." dan'l suggested awkwardly: "you--think he's telling truth?" faith nodded. "any one can see that...." dan'l laughed mirthlessly, "then we'd best write.... we'd best let mr. brander write his story in the log, sir." faith looked at dan'l steadily; then she turned to her husband. "noll," she said, "you write the log. i'll tell you what to write." he looked up at her stupidly, not understanding. she got up and opened the log book and gave him a pen. he protested: "faith, wait...." she touched his shoulder lightly with her hand, silencing him. "write this," she said; and when noll took the pen, she dictated: "some one gave the men liquor this day; they were drinking in the fo'c's'le. when mr. brander went forward to quiet them...." she saw noll had fallen behind with his writing, and waited a moment, then repeated more slowly: "when mr. brander went forward to quiet them, slatter attacked him with a knife. in the struggle, slatter dropped the knife, and a moment later fell on it, dying from the wound." she repeated the last sentence a second time, so that noll got it word for word; and then she took the log from him, and blotted it, and put it away. dan'l tobey protested: "aren't you saying anything about mauger?" faith smiled quietly. "thank you for reminding me," she opened the log again, bade noll write, said slowly: "the man mauger saved mr. brander's life by tripping slatter as he charged." dan'l grimaced as she finished.... "now," said faith, "slatter was not important; at least he is no longer important. but there is one thing, noll, that you must stop.... the whiskey that went forward...." noll looked at her slowly, frowning as though he sought to understand; dan'l said: "that was probably slatter, stole it. the men say so...." "he took it forward," faith agreed. "but he did not get it from the stores. he could not." she hesitated, her lips white; then she set them firmly. "dan'l, fetch roy here," she said. dan'l was so surprised that for an instant he did not stir. "roy?" he repeated. "what's he...." faith looked to her husband. "will you tell him to bring roy?" she asked. noll asked heavily: "what's the boy.... go along, dan'l. fetch him." dan'l got up at once, and went out, closing the door behind him. they heard him go on deck.... a minute later, he was back with roy at his heels, and faith saw her brother's face was white. she asked quickly: "roy, why did you steal a jug of whiskey from the stores?" roy cried, on the instant: "that's a lie." faith studied him. he expected accusation, questioning. instead she nodded. "all right." "who says i stole whiskey?" roy demanded. "i," faith told him. "who.... somebody lied to you...." "no." roy was near tears with bafflement. "why.... what makes you...." faith asked quietly: "don't you want to tell?" "it's a lie, i say." she looked to her husband; and noll saw they were all waiting on him, and he tried to rise to the occasion. "by god, roy.... what did you go and do that for? god's sake, can't a man have a ship without a pack of thieves on her? mr. tobey, you...." he wavered, his eyes swung helplessly to faith. he seemed to ask her to speak for him; and she said to dan'l: "take him on deck, dan'l. till cap'n wing decides...." roy insisted. "i tell you, i didn't...." but dan'l tobey hushed him. dan'l was getting his first glimpse of the new faith; and he was afraid of her. he took roy's arm, led him out and away.... faith and noll were left alone. at noon that day, at noll wing's profane command, roy was put in irons and locked in the after 'tween decks to stay a week on bread and water. the boy cursed faith to her face for that; and faith went to her cabin, and dropped on her knees and prayed. but she kept a steady face for the men, and in particular she kept a steady eye for dan'l tobey. she knew dan'l, now.... dan'l had warned roy, before bringing him to the cabin. he must have warned the boy, for roy was prepared for the accusation. he must have warned the boy, therefore he must have known what faith would assert.... and faith knew enough of dan'l's ascendancy over roy to be sure the mate had prompted her brother's theft. she must watch dan'l, fight him. and ... she thanked god for brander. there was a man, a man on her side.... she was not to fight alone. she dreamed of brander that night. he was battling for her, in her dream, against shadowy and unseen things. and in her dream, she thought he was her husband. xxiii an unrest seized noll wing; an unrest that was like fear. he assumed, by small degrees, the aspect of a hunted man. it was as though the death of slatter prefigured to him what his own end would be. his nerves betrayed him; he could not bear to have any man approach him from behind, and he struck out, nervously, at willis cox one day when willis spoke from one side, where noll had not seen him standing. the continual storms of the solander irked him; the racking work of whaling, when it was necessary to run to port with each kill, fretted the flesh from his bones. they lost a whale one day, in a sudden squall that developed into a gale and swept them far to the southward; and when the weather moderated, and dan'l tobey started to work back to the grounds again, noll would have none of it. "set your course t'the east'ard," he commanded. "i'm fed up with the solander. we'll hit the islands again...." dan'l protested that there was nowhere such whaling as the solander offered; but noll would not be persuaded. he resented the attempt to argue with him. "no, by god," he swore. "a pity if a man can't have his way. hell with the solander, dan'l. i'm sick o' storms, and cold. get north t'where it's warm again...." so they did as he insisted, and ran into slack times once more. the men at first exulted in their new leisure; they were well enough content to kill a whale and loaf a week before another kill. then they began to be impatient with inaction; discontent arose among them. they remembered the ambergris; and their talk was that they need stay out no longer, that the voyage was already a success, that they had a right to expect to head for home. brander, ever among them as he had promised himself he would be, worked against this discontent. he tried to hearten them; they gave him half attention, and some measure of liking.... but their sulking held and grew upon them. there was as much ill feeling aft as forward. roy, released from his irons long before, had not spoken to faith since his release. he hated his sister with that hatred which sometimes arises between blood kin, and which is more violent than any other. let lovers quarrel; let brothers clash; let son and father, or mother and daughter, or brother and sister go asunder, and there is no bitterness to equal the bitterness between them. it is as though the strength of their former affection served to intensify their hate. it is like the hatred of a woman scorned; she is able to hate the more, because she once has loved. roy hated faith; and with the ingenuity of youth, he found out ways to torment her. he perceived that faith must always love him, he perceived that her thoughts hovered over him as do the thoughts of a mother; and he took pleasure in agonizing her with his own misdeeds. he lied for the pleasure of lying; he swore roundly; and once, under dan'l's gentle guidance, he pilfered rum and drank himself into the likeness of a beast. when faith chided him for that, he told her with drunken good nature that she was to blame; that she had driven him to it. faith's sense of justice was strong; she was too level of head to condemn herself; nevertheless, she was made miserable by what the boy had done.... yet she led noll to punish him for this theft, more sternly than before; and afterward, she had roy sent forward to take his place among the men, and the cabin was forbidden ground to him thereafter. noll was wax in faith's hands in these days. his fear, growing upon him, had shaken all the fiber out of the man. he could be swayed by dan'l, by old tichel, by faith, by almost any one.... save in a single matter. he was drinking steadily, now; and drinking more than ever before. he was never sober, never without the traces of his liquor in his eyes and his loose lips and slack muscles. and they could not sway him in this matter. he would not be denied the liquor that he craved. faith tried to win it away from him; she tried to strengthen the man's own will to fight the enemy that was destroying him. she tried to fan to life the ancient flame of pride.... but there was no grain of strength left in noll for her to work on. he waved her away, and filled his glass.... she might have destroyed what liquor remained aboard the _sally_; but she would not. that would not cure; it would only put off the end. at their first port, noll would get what he wanted.... and there were islands all about them; he could reach land within a matter of twenty-four hours, or forty-eight, at any time. she fought to help noll help himself; she would not do more. noll was a man, not a baby desiring the fire which must be kept beyond its reach. he knew his enemy, and he embraced it knowingly. faith never felt more keenly the fact of her marriage to noll than in those last days of his life. she never thought of herself apart from him; and when he debauched himself, she felt soiled as though she were herself degraded. nevertheless, she clung to him with all her soul; clung to him, lived the vows she had given him.... there were other times, after that first, when she dreamed of brander.... but she could not curb her dreams.... he was much in them; but waking, she put the man away from her. she was noll's; noll was hers. inescapable.... brander avoided her. his heart was sick; she possessed it utterly. but he gave no sign; he never relaxed the grip in which he held himself. now and then, on deck, when noll swore at her, or whined, or fretted, brander had to swing away and put the thing behind him. but he did it; he was strong enough to do this; he was almost strong enough to keep his thoughts from faith. almost.... but not quite.... she dwelt always with him; he was sick with sorrow, and pity, and yearning for the right to cherish her. they spoke when they had to, in cabin or on deck; but they were never alone, and they avoided each the other as they would have shunned a precipice.... save for one day, a single day.... a day when faith called brander to her on the deck and spoke to him.... a single day, that would have been, but for the strength of faith, the bloody destruction of them both. this incident was the climax of two trains of events, extending over days.... extending, in the one case, back to that first day when dan'l had roused the brand of jealousy in noll to flame. dan'l had never let that flame die out. he fanned it constantly; and when he saw in faith's eyes, after the matter of roy's first theft of the whiskey, that she had guessed his part in it, he threw himself more hotly into his intrigue. he kept at noll's side whenever it was possible; he whispered.... he spoke openly of brander's fondness for the men, of brander's habit of talking with them so constantly. faith heard him strike this vein, again and again.... he harped upon it to noll, seeming to defend brander at the same time that he accused.... he played upon the strain until even faith's belief in brander was shaken. there was always the matter of the ambergris. brander might have ended it with a word, but he would not give dan'l tobey that satisfaction. he would not say, forthright, that the 'gris belonged to the _sally_.... and dan'l magnified this matter, and many others.... until even faith found it hard not to doubt the fourth mate.... she caught herself, more than once, watching him when he laughed and talked with the men. was there need of that? why did he do it? she could find no answer.... noll feared brander more and more; and dan'l covertly taunted the captain with this fear. he roused noll, time on time, to flagging gusts of rage; but always these passed in words.... and noll fell back into his lethargy of drink again. dan'l began to fear there was not enough man left in noll to act.... he turned his guns on faith, accusing her as he accused brander.... but words were light things. noll, moved though he might be, had in his heart a trust in faith which dan'l found it hard to shake. he might never have shaken it, had not luck favored him.... and this luck came to pass on the day faith sought speech with brander. that move, on faith's part, was the result of an increasing peril in the fo'c's'le. the men were getting drink again. this began one day when a fo'm'st hand came aft to take the wheel and old tichel smelled the liquor on him, and saw that the man's feet were unsteady, and flew into one of his tigerish fits of rage.... he drove the man forward with blows and kicks; and he came aft with his teeth bared and flamed to noll wing, and men were sent for and questioned. three of them had been drinking. they were badly frightened; they were sullen; nevertheless, in the end, under old tichel's fist, one of them said he had found a quart bottle, filled with whiskey, in his bunk the night before.... tichel accused him of stealing it; the man stuck to his tale and could not be shaken. the men could not come at the stores through the cabin; there was always an officer about the deck or below. tichel thought they might have cut through from the after 'tween decks, and the stores were shifted in an effort to find such a secret entrance to the captain's stores. but none was found; there was no way.... three days later, there was whiskey forward again. found, as before, in a bunk.... two men drunk, rope's endings at the rail.... but no solution to the mystery. two days after that, the same thing; four days later, a repetition. and so on, at intervals of days, for a month on end. the whiskey dribbled forward a quart at a time; the men drank it.... and never a trace to the manner of the theft. in the end, roy kilcup found a bottle in his bunk, and drank the bulk of it himself, so that he was deathly sick and like to die. faith, tormented beyond endurance, looking everywhere for help, chose at last to appeal to brander. brander had the deck, that day. willis cox and tichel were sleeping.... dan'l was in the main cabin, alone; noll in the after cabin, stupid with drink. roy had been sick all the night before, with willis cox and tichel working over him, counting the pounding heart-beats, wetting the boy's head, working the poison out of him. roy was forward, in his bunk, now, still sodden. faith came from the after cabin, passed dan'l and went up on deck. something purposeful in her face caught dan'l's attention; and he went to the foot of the cabin companion and listened. he heard her call softly: "mr. brander." dan'l thought he knew where brander would be. in the waist of the _sally_, no doubt. there was a man at the wheel. faith did not wish this man to hear what she had to say. so she met brander just forward of the cabin skylight by the boathouse; and dan'l, straining his ears, could hear. faith said: "mr. brander, i'm going to ask you to help me." brander told her: "i'd like to. what is it you want done?" "it's--roy. i'm desperately worried, mr. brander." "he's all right, mr. cox tells me. he'll be well enough in a few hours...." "it's not just--this drunkenness, mr. brander. it's--more. my brother's.... he is in my charge, in a way. father bade me take care of him. and he's--taking the wrong path." brander said quietly: "yes." dan'l looked toward the after cabin, thought of bringing noll to hear.... but there was no harm in this that they were saying; no harm.... rather, good.... he listened; and faith said steadily: "my husband is not--not the man he was, mr. brander. mr. tobey.... i can't trust him. i've got to come to you...." dan'l decided, desperately, to bring noll and risk it, trust to his luck and to his tongue to twist their words.... he went softly across to the after cabin and shook noll's shoulder; and when the captain opened his eyes, dan'l whispered: "come, noll wing. you've got to hear this...." noll sat up stupidly. "what? hear what?... what's that you say?" dan'l said: "faith and brander are together, on deck, whispering...." he banged his clenched fist into his open hand. "by god, sir.... i've grown up with faith; i like her.... but i can't stand by and see them do this to you...." "what are they about?" noll asked, his face flushing. he was on his feet. dan'l gripped his arm.... "i heard her promise him you would soon be gone, sir.... that you were sick.... that you...." noll strode into the cabin; dan'l whispered: "quiet! come...." he led him to the foot of the companion-stair, bade him listen. and it was then the malicious gods played into dan'l's evil hands; for as they listened, faith was saying.... "try to make him like you.... but be careful. he doesn't, now.... if he guessed...." brander said something which they could not hear; a single word; and faith cried: "you can. you're a man. he can't help admiring you in the end. i--" she hesitated, said helplessly: "i'm putting myself into your hands...." dan'l had wit to seize his fortune; he cried out: "by god, sir...." but there was no need of spur to noll wing now. the captain had reached the deck with a single rush, dan'l at his heels.... faith and brander sprang apart before their eyes; and because the innocent have always the appearance of the guilty, there was guilt in every line of these two now. noll wing, confronting them, had in that moment the stature of a man; he was erect and strong, his eyes were level and cold. he looked from faith to brander, and he said: "brander, be gone. faith, come below." brander took a step forward. faith said quickly to him: "no." and she smiled at him as he halted in obedience. then she turned to her husband, passed him, went down into the cabin. and noll, with a last glance at brander, descended on her heels. dan'l, left facing the fourth mate, grinned triumphantly; and for an instant he saw death in brander's eyes, so that his mirth was frozen.... then brander turned away. xxiv faith went down into the main cabin, crossed and entered the cabin across the stern, turned there to await her husband. he followed her slowly; he came in, and shut the door behind him. the man was controlling himself; nevertheless, he thrust this door shut with a force that shook the thin partition between the cabins.... and he snapped the bolt that held it closed. then he turned and looked at faith. there was a furious strength in his countenance at that moment; but it was like the strength of a maniac. his lips twitched tensely; his eyes moved like the eyes of a man who is dizzy from too much turning on his own heels.... they jerked away from faith, returned to her, jerked away again.... all without any movement of noll's head. and as the man's eyes wavered and wrenched back to her thus, the pupils contracted and narrowed in an effort to focus upon her. for the rest, he was flushed, brick red.... his whole face seemed to swell. he was inhuman; there was an ape-like and animal fury in the man as he looked at his wife.... abruptly, he jerked up his hands and pressed them against his face and turned away; it was as though he thrust himself away with this pressure of his hands. he turned his back on her, and went to his desk, and unlocked a drawer. faith knew the drawer; she was not surprised when he drew out of it a revolver. bending over the desk, with this weapon in his hand, noll wing made sure every chamber was loaded.... he paid her no attention. faith watched him for an instant; then she turned to the bench that ran across the stern and picked up from it a bit of sewing, embroidery.... she sat down composedly on the bench, crossed her knees in the comfortable attitude of relaxation which women like to assume. one foot rested on the floor; the other swayed back and forth, as though beating time, a few inches above the floor. it is impossible for the average man to cross his knees in this fashion, just as it is impossible for a woman to throw a ball. sitting thus, faith began to sew. she was outlining the petal of an embroidered flower; and she gave this work her whole attention. she did not look up at noll. the man finished his examination of the weapon; he turned it in his hand; he lifted it and leveled it at faith. still faith did not look up; she seemed completely unconcerned. noll said harshly: "faith!" she looked up then, met his eyes fairly, smiled a little. "what is it, noll?" "i'm going to kill you," he said, with stiff lips. "all right," she said, and bent her head above her sewing once more, disregarding him. noll was stupefied.... this was not surprise; it was the helplessness which courage inspires in a coward. for noll was a coward in those last days.... his face twisted; his hand was shaking.... he stared over the revolver barrel at faith's brown head. her hair was parted in the middle, drawn back about her face. the white line of skin where the hair was parted fascinated him; he could not take his eyes from it. the revolver muzzle lowered without his being conscious of this fact; the weapon hung in his hand.... his eyes were fixed on faith's head, on the part in her hair.... she wore an old, tortoise comb, stuck downward into the hair at the back of her head, its top projecting upward.... a singular, old-fashioned little ornament.... there was a silver mounting on it; and the light glistened on this silver, and caught noll's eye, and held it.... faith continued her quiet sewing. and noll's tense muscles, little by little, relaxed.... his fingers loosed their grip on the revolver butt; it dropped to the floor with a clatter. the sound seemed to rouse noll; he strode toward faith. "by god," he cried. "you'll...." he swung down a hand and gathered the fabric of her work between harsh fingers. her needle was in the midst of a stitch; it pricked him.... he did not feel the tiny wound. he would have snatched the stuff out of her hands.... he felt as though it were defending her.... but when his hand swept down between hers and caught the bit of embroidery, faith looked up at him again, and she caught his eyes. that halted him; he stood for an instant motionless, bending above her, their faces not six inches apart.... then the man jerked his hand away.... he released his grip on the bit of fancy work; but the needle was deep in his finger, so that he pulled it out of the cloth. the thread followed it; when his quick movement drew the thread to full length, the fabric was jerked out of faith's unresisting hands. it dangled by the thread from the needle that stuck in noll's finger; and he saw it, and jerked the needle out with a quick, spasmodic gesture, and flung it to one side. he did not look at it; he was looking, still, at faith. "put that away," he said hoarsely. faith smiled, glanced toward the bit of white upon the floor. "i'm afraid there's blood on it," she said. "blood ..." he repeated, under his breath. "blood...." she folded her hands quietly upon her knee, waiting. "i want to talk to you," he said. she nodded. "all right. do." his wrath boiled through his lips chokingly. "you ..." he stammered. "you and brander...." her eyes, upon his, hardened. she said nothing; but this hardening of her eyes was like a defiance. he flung his hands above his head. "by god, you're shameless," he choked. "you're shameless.... a shameless woman.... and him.... i took him out of a hell hole.... and he takes you.... i'll break him in two with my hands." she said nothing; he flung into an insanity of words. he cursed her unspeakably, with every evil phrase he had learned in close to thirty years of the sea. he accused her of unnamable things.... his face swelled with his fury, the veins bulged upon his forehead, his eyes were covered with a dry film. his mouth filled with saliva, that splattered with the venom of his words.... it ran down his chin, so that he brushed it away with the back of his hand.... he was uncontrolled, save in one thing. something made him hush his voice; he whispered harshly and chokingly.... what he said could scarce have been heard in the main cabin, six feet away from them.... the man was slavering; there were flecks of foam upon his lips.... and faith watched him in a curious detachment, as though he were something outside the world, below it, beyond it.... she scarce heard his words at all; she was looking at the man's naked soul.... it was so inexpressibly revolting that she had no feeling that this soul had once been wedded to hers; she could not have believed this if she had tried. this was no man, but a beast.... there could be nothing between them. she had married noll wing; not the body of him, nor the face of him, but the soul within the man. and this was not noll wing's soul she saw.... that was dead; this horrible thing had bred festeringly in the carrion.... humanity has an immense capacity for rising to an emergency. the human heart sustains a grief that should kill; it throws this grief aside and is--save for a hidden scar--as gay as it was in the beginning. man meets peril or death, meets them unafraid.... if he had considered these emergencies in the calm and security of his home, his hair would have crawled with terror at the thought of them. the imagination can conjure dreadful things; the heart and soul and body of man can endure catastrophes beyond imagining. there is no load too heavy for this immortally designed fabric of flesh and blood and bone to bear. there is a psychological phenomenon that might be called the duplication of personality. a soldier in battle becomes two men. one of these men is convulsed with lust for blood; he screams, he shoots, he stabs, he kills. the other is calm and serene; he watches the doings of his other self, considers them with calm mind, plans perilous combinations in the twinkling of an eye.... the soldier contains within himself a general who plans, and an army which executes the plan.... it was so with faith. she shrank in spirit and heart before noll's horrible outpouring; yet was she at the same time steady and undisturbed. there was a numbness upon her; a numbness that killed suffering and at the same time stimulated thought.... she was able to perceive the very depths of noll; she looked, at the same time, into her own depths.... she heard him accuse her of foul passion for brander; she knew, instead, that she loved brander completely.... she had never known her love for brander before; noll showed it to her, dragged it out where she could see it beyond mistaking.... and even in that moment she welcomed this love; welcomed it, and saw that it was honest, and wholesome, and splendid, and clean.... she welcomed it, so that she smiled.... her smile struck noll like a blow in the face, stunning and sobering him. he flung out his hands. "come!" he commanded. "what do you say? say something? say...." "what?" she asked. "what shall i say?" "is it true? damn you.... damn you.... is it true?" "could i say anything you would believe?" "no, by god! you're dirty and false as hell. you...." he struck his hands together helplessly. "nothing," he cried. "nothing! nothing you can say.... dirty as hell...." yet his eyes still besought her to speak; she touched the bench beside her. "sit down, noll," she said gently. the man towered above her, hands upraised. his fingers twisted and writhed and clenched as though upon a soft throat that he gripped. his features worked terribly.... and then, before her eyes, a change came upon him. the tense muscles of his fury sagged; the blood ebbed from his veins, so that they flattened; the black flush faded on his cheeks.... he opened his mouth and screamed once, a vast and stricken scream of a beast in pain. it was like the scream of a frightened, anguished horse.... it rang along the length of the _sally_, so that the men forward shrank and looked over their shoulders, and every man aboard the ship was still.... he screamed, and then his great body shrank and collapsed and tottered and fell.... he dropped upon his knees, at her feet. he flung his head in her lap, his arms about her waist, clinging as a drowning man might cling to a rock. his cap dropped off; she saw his bald old head there.... he sobbed like a child, his great shoulders twitching and heaving.... his face was pressed upon her clasped hands; she felt his tears upon her wrists, felt the slaverings of his sobbing mouth upon her fingers.... he cried softly: "eh, faith.... faith.... don't you turn against me, now. i'm old, faith...." and again: "i'm old, faith.... dying, faith.... don't leave me.... don't turn against me now." she bent above him, filled with an infinite pity and sorrow. this was the wreck of her love; she no longer loved him, but her heart was filled with sorrow.... she bent forward and laid her smooth cheek against the smooth parchment of his bald old head. she loosed her hands, and drew them out from beneath his face, and laid them on his shoulders, stroking him gently. "there, noll.... there ..." she murmured. foolish words, meaningless, like the comforting sounds of an inarticulate animal.... yet he understood. there were no words for what was in her heart; she could only whisper: "there.... there.... there...." and gently touch his shoulders, and his head. "they're all against me, faith," he told her, over and over. "all against me. even you...." "no, no, noll. there...." "you love him.... you love him." "no, noll. no...." she lied, not to deceive her husband, but to comfort him. her eyes, above noll's head, seemed to ask her love's pardon for the lie. "no, noll.... you're my husband." his arms tightened about her waist; his great chest pressed against her knees. "you're mine," he begged. "you're mine. don't go away from me." "no. never.... never, forever." he raised his face from her lap at last; and she saw that it was sunken like the countenance of one long dead. cadaverous.... he cried, in utter self-abasement. "eh, faith. i don't deserve you. i'm an old, helpless man...." she smiled at him. "i married you, noll." "i'm no good. they're laughing at me...." her eyes heartened him. "master them. command them. you are the master, noll." "i can't.... there's no strength in me...." "it's there. master them, noll." "i can't hold myself, faith. not even myself. i'm rotted with whiskey, and years, and strife...." "master yourself, noll." "faith, faith.... it's too late. i'm gone. i can't." "you can," she said. she spoke the two words quietly; yet somehow they gave him of her strength, so that his head lifted higher, and the muscles took form beneath his slack cheeks. he stared into her eyes, as though he were drinking her soul through them; his chest swelled as though virtue were going into him. they sat thus, minutes on end.... he got to his feet. his eyes cleared, with the tempestuous and short-lived fire of age in their depths. he swore: "by god, faith. i will. i'll command.... myself and them." "you can," she said again. "you can. so--do, noll." he turned away from her, looking about with new eyes.... she smiled sadly; she knew him too well, now.... she was not surprised when his first act was to go to the lockfast and get his bottle, and drink.... he smacked his lips, chuckled at her. "by god, faith, i'll show these dogs," he cried, and flung open the door. she heard him go out and climb up to the deck.... she sat where he had left her.... sat there, and knew her love for brander. in those minutes while she remained where noll had seen her last, she listened to the singing of new voices in her heart. brander was before her, in her eyes, in her thoughts.... he possessed her, in that moment, more completely than noll had ever done. she gave herself to him completely, without reluctance and without faintest reservation. no need to see him, no need to tell him. she knew, he must know.... she never asked whether he loved her; she had always known that. known it without admitting the knowledge, even in her thoughts. she loved him, body and heart and soul; her eyes yearned for his, her tongue to tell him what her heart was singing, her arms to embrace him.... she got up, at last, a little wearily.... it was only a matter of minutes that she sat there, looking within herself. when she listened, now, she could hear noll's voice, on deck, roaring in the old way.... once she heard brander answer him, from somewhere amidships. again she caught the murmur of dan'l tobey's tones.... brander was her love; but noll.... noll was her husband, she his wife. and faith passed her hand across her eyes as though to wipe away these visions she had looked upon. noll was her husband; her vows were his. she was his, and would be.... nothing he could do would make her less his; he was in her keeping, his life and hers could never take diverging paths. he was her charge, to strengthen, and guide, and support; his tasks were hers, his responsibilities were her responsibilities, his burdens must rest upon her shoulders.... but she did not deceive herself. old noll was dead, old noll wing who had mastered men for year on year. that noll was dead; the noll who lived was a weakling. but she was a part of the living noll; and she was no weakling. so.... her lips set faintly. love brander though she did, there was no place for him in her life. her life was noll; her life belonged to noll. noll was failing; his flesh might live, but his soul was dead and his strength was gone. his tasks fell upon her. quite simply, in that moment, faith promised herself that whatever happened, the _sally sims_ should come safe home again; that no man should ever say noll wing had failed in the end; that no man should ever make a jest of noll's old renown. and if noll could not manage these things for himself, she would.... she began, suddenly, to cry; she locked herself in her cabin and wept bitterly for hours.... but afterward, bathing her eyes, freshening herself to meet noll's eyes, she looked into the mirror, and smiled and lifted her head. "you can do it, faith," she told herself. "you can do it, full as well as he." and then, more seriously: "you must, faith wing. you must bring the _sally_ home." when she stepped out into the after cabin, she saw the revolver still on the floor where noll had left it. she picked it up to return it to its proper drawer.... but on second thought, she changed her mind, and took it and hid it in her bunk. xxv a curious lull settled down upon the _sally sims_ during the days after noll's open accusation of faith, and his collapse before her steady courage. there was an apathy in the air; they saw few whales, lowered for them without zeal, missed more than one that should have been killed.... there was a silence upon the ship, like the hush of listening men who wait to hear an expected call. this paralysis gripped every soul aboard--save noll wing alone. noll, in those last days, stalked his deck like a parody of the man he once had been. faith had put a fictitious courage in the man; he thought himself once more the master, as in the past. his heels pounded the planks; his head was high; his voice roared.... but there was a tremor in his stride; there was a trembling about the poise of him; there was a cracking quaver in his voice. he was like a child who plays at being a man.... they humored him; the men and the mates seemed to enter into a conspiracy to humor him. they leaped to his bidding; they shrank from his curses as though desperate with fear.... and noll was so delighted with all this that he was perpetually good-natured, jovial.... he was, of course, drinking heavily and steadily; but the drink seemed to hearten him and give him strength. certainly it made him lenient; for on three occasions when the men found a bottle, forward, and befuddled themselves with it, noll only laughed as though at a capital jest. noll laughed.... but faith wondered and was distressed and watched to see how the liquor was being stolen. she was disturbed and alarmed; but noll laughed at her fears. "a little of it never hurt a man," he told her boastfully. "look at me, to see that. let be, faith. let be." when she protested, he overrode her; and to show his own certainty of himself, he did a thing that noll sober would never have done. he had the rum drawn from the barrel in his storeroom and served out to the men, a ration daily.... it amused him to see the men half fuddled with it. he forced it on them; and once, while faith watched hopelessly, he commanded a hulking cape verder--the biggest man in the fo'c's'le--to drink a bout with him. they took glass for glass, till the other was helpless as a log; and noll vaunted his own prowess in the matter. dan'l tobey contented himself with the progress of these matters; he no longer stuck a finger in the pie. noll was going; that was plain to any seeing eye. the captain grew weaker every day; his skin yellowed and parched, and the lower lids of his eyes sagged down and revealed the flaming red of their inner surface. these sagging lower lids made crescent-shaped pockets which were forever filled with rheumy fluid.... noll was an ugly thing; and his perpetual mirth, his cackling laughter were the more horrible.... he was a laughing corpse; dissolution was upon him. but he kept himself so steeped with alcohol he did not feel its pangs. faith could do nothing; brander could do nothing. between these two, no further word had passed. but there was no need. meeting face to face on deck, the day after noll surprised them, their eyes met in a long and steady glance.... their eyes met and spoke; and after that there was no need of words between them. there was a pledging of vows in that glance; there was also a renunciation. both saw, both understood.... faith thought she knew brander to the depths.... neither, in that moment, knew that dan'l tobey was at hand; but the mate had seen, and he had understood. he saw, slipped away, held his peace, considered. brander was fighting for roy, to fulfill his pledge to faith. he had set himself to win the boy's confidence and esteem; he applied himself to this with all the strength there was in him. yet he was careful; he did not force the issue; he did not harass roy with his attentions.... he held off, let roy see for himself, think.... there were days when he thought he made some progress; there were days when he thought the effort was a hopeless one. nevertheless, he persisted.... noll wing's good will, in those days, extended even to brander. he offered brander a drink one day.... brander refused, and noll insisted.... and was still refused. noll said hotly, querulously: "come, brander.... don't be stiff, man. it will warm you, do you good.... you're needing warming. you're over cold and calm." brander shook his head, smiling. "thanks; no, sir." "damn it, man," noll complained. "are you too proud to drink with the skipper?" brander refused again; and noll's brows gathered suspiciously. "why not?" "my wish, sir," "ye've a grudge against me. i remember.... you stick with mauger...." "no, sir." noll flung out his hand. "be off. your sour face is too ugly for me to look at. mauger's none so particular.... he'll drink with me." it was true; mauger had more than once accepted drink from noll. noll, at these times, watched the one-eyed man furtively, almost appealingly. it was as though he sought to placate him and make a friend of him. mauger had a weak head; he was not one to stand much liquor. it dizzied him; and this amused noll.... this day, after brander had refused him, noll sent for mauger and made the one-eyed man tipsy, and laughed at the jest of it. then, one day, this state of affairs came abruptly to an end. noll went down into the storeroom to fill his bottle; and the spigot on the whiskey barrel gasped and failed. the whiskey was gone. now noll had given of the rum to the crew; he had exhausted that. but the whiskey he kept jealously. he knew there should be more.... much more than this.... gallons, at the least.... he turned the handle of the spigot again, tipped the barrel, unable to understand.... his bottle was half full.... but no more came.... he frowned, puzzled his heavy head, tried to understand.... he came stumbling up out of the storeroom at last, with the half-filled bottle in his hand.... and the man's face was white. he sought faith, held the bottle out to her. "i say ..." he stammered. "it's gone.... gone, by god...." faith asked sharply: "what is it, noll?" "the whiskey's gone." faith cried: "thank god!" he stared at her thickly. "eh? you had a hand in it.... you've stole it away...." "no." he looked at her and knew she spoke the truth. he shook his head.... "some hound ..." he whispered. "they've stole it...." she questioned him; he had the shrewdness which occasionally characterizes the alcoholic. he had kept some count of the whiskey used during the cruise; he had himself handled the barrel two weeks before. it was then a quarter full. the thefts that had appeared in the fo'c's'le could not account for the rest. there was still a considerable amount that had been stolen, that had not yet appeared. "it's aboard here, by god," he swore at last. "they've got it hid away. you, faith...." she shook her head. he said placatingly: "no, you'd not do that trick. not rob an old man.... i've got to have it, faith...." his eyes suddenly flickered with panic. "it's life, faith. life. i've got to have it, i say...." he was right, she knew. there must still be a hidden store of the liquor aboard the _sally_.... to be doled out to the men by the thief in his own good time.... and faith knew enough of such matters to understand that noll, without the ration of alcohol to which he was accustomed, would suffer torment, would be like a madman.... the stuff must be found.... noll was already trembling at the prospect of deprivation; he hugged to his breast the scant store that remained to him.... and of a sudden, as though afraid even this would be stolen, he tipped the bottle to his lips. he gulped greedily.... before faith could interfere, the last of it was gone.... that fierce draught put some strength and courage back into him; he stamped his feet. "i'll make them give it up, by god," he swore. "watch...." he started for the deck; and faith, afraid for him, followed quietly behind. passing through the main cabin, he roared to the officers who were asleep in their bunks: "on deck, all hands.... on deck, all hands...." they leaped out to obey him, not knowing what to expect. he reached the deck, still bellowing: "on deck, all. on deck, every man of you...." brander was amidships; and he called: "rout out the dogs, mr. brander. fetch them aft." the men came; they tumbled up from the fo'c's'le; they slid down from the mastheads.... harpooners, mates, under officers grouped themselves by the captain; the crew faced him in a huddled group. he cursed them, man by man, for thieving dogs. "now," he swore at last. "now some one o' you has got the stuff hid away. out with it; or i'll cut the heart out of you." he paused, looking about him with flickering, reddened eyes. no man stirred, but dan'l tobey asked: "what's wrong, cap'n wing?" noll told him, told them all, profanely. somewhere there was hidden a store of whiskey; he meant to have it. if the thief gave it up, so much the better. he would get off with a rope's ending. if he persisted in silence, he would die.... noll vowed that by all the oaths he knew. the men stirred; they looked at their neighbors.... and then their eyes fastened on the captain, with a curious intentness. they licked their lips; and faith thought they were enjoying this spectacle of noll's weak rage.... she thought they were like dogs of a pack, with hungry eyes, watching the futile anger of a dying man.... she was afraid of them for an instant; then she was afraid of no man in the world.... she stood by noll wing's side, proud and level-eyed. when noll got no answer, his cackling fury waxed. he swore every man of them should be tied up and flogged unless the guilty spoke. they scowled at that; and one of them said sullenly: "it's no man forra'd a-doing this, sir.... look aft, at them that had the chance." the word seemed to focus the sullen hate among the men; they growled like beasts, and surged a step forward. brander, from the captain's side, moved toward them and lashed at him who had spoken with a swift fist, so that the man fell and lay still as a log. brander looked down at the still man, faced the others. "be silent," he said quietly. "unless you've a word to say to the captain about what he wants. and get back.... back into the waist; and stay...." they gave back before him; and dan'l said softly from brander's back: "they mind you well, mr. brander. you've a rare control of them." the words were innocent enough, but the tone was accusation. brander faced the mate, and dan'l grinned malignantly.... noll passed abruptly from threats to pleadings; he tried to cloak his pleading under a mask of fellowship; he spoke to the men as to friends, beseeching them to yield what he wanted. they remained silent; and his mask fell off, and he abased himself before them with his words, so that old tichel and willis cox were sickened, and dan'l was pleased. brander made no sign; he stood loyally at the captain's side; and faith was on noll's other hand.... she was studying the faces of the men and of the officers, seeking for a shadow of guilt. the men were sullen; but there was no shame in their eyes. there was nothing furtive--save in the countenance of mauger. the one-eyed man had ever a furtive look; the twitching of his closed eye irresistibly suggested a malignant wink. faith watched him; she saw his eyes were fixed on brander.... in spite of herself, a cold pang of doubt touched her.... mauger had reason to hate noll wing.... had he?... she put the thought away, to study dan'l tobey. but dan'l, though he was obviously content with matters, had no trace of guilt or fear in his demeanor. he was perfectly assured, almost triumphant. faith thought he could not appear so if he were the thief.... not dan'l; not willis cox, nor tichel.... not brander; she would not have it so.... yet she could not keep her eyes away from mauger's leering, chuckling, furtive countenance. abruptly, she touched noll's arm. the captain was near a collapse.... he was pleading helplessly, so that some of the men were beginning to grin. faith touched his arm; she said quietly: "noll, do not beg. you are master." he caught himself together with a terrific effort.... he turned and stumbled away down into the cabin, faith after him. dan'l came down a little later, respectful.... "why not put into port somewhere, sir?" he suggested. "get what you want...." noll clutched at that desperately.... "aye, quick, mr. tobey. what's nearest?" dan'l named the nearest island where they were like to find a trading post; noll nodded. "put for it, dan'l. all sail on. for god's sake, quickly, man!" ten minutes later, the _sally_ heeled to a new tack.... and noll, with faith, below in the cabin, bit at his nails, and tried to hold himself, and stifle the appetite that was tearing him. his passion and pleading had burned out the effects of the drink he had taken; his body agonized for more.... by nightfall, noll was shaking with an ague. he would not sleep that night. and toward dawn, a brewing gale caught the _sally_.... she fought that storm till noon, giving way before it; and in the cabin noll passed from tremors to paroxysms of fright. he gnawed at his own flesh; and hallucinations began to prey upon him. faith fought him, bade him lie down, tried to soothe him. she knew the danger of his enforced abstinence; she gave him a draught that should have compelled sleep; but after an hour he woke with a scream, and clutched at her shoulders with fingers that bit the flesh, and flung her away from him, and cowered in the most distant corner, hands before him, shrieking: "back, mauger! get away.... you devil! mauger, get back.... eh, man, get away.... by god, i'll ... i never meant the kick, man.... let be.... my god, let be...." she called softly: "it's faith, noll. it's faith, faith.... not mauger...." he recognized her, and ran and caught her and swung her around before him and besought her to keep mauger and his knife away. she told him, over and over: "he's not here, noll. he's not here. it's faith...." he cried: "look at his knife...." he pointed horribly. "his knife.... it's red, now.... look at the knife. kill him, faith.... drive him away...." she held him against her breast as she would have held a child. brander came to the door, with willis cox. she called to them: "stay away.... he's mine. i'll tend him." noll saw them, and screamed at brander: "there! him! there's a knife in his sleeve...." brander slipped out of sight; she managed to quiet noll for a space; but he broke out again: "mauger! he's coming, faith.... there...." and then, to the man he thought he saw: "mauger! get back, man. let be.... god's sake...." then he wept whisperingly to faith: "see his eye! down on his cheek.... hanging.... make him put it back--where it belongs.... mauger, man...." bit by bit she wooed him back to sanity, or the semblance of it. he was quiet when dan'l tobey came down; and when he saw dan'l, noll demanded: "are we making it, dan'l? are we near there?..." dan'l shook his head. "not with this gale, sir.... we're going away...." noll came to his feet, cat-like. "by god, you're all cowards. i'll bring her in. i'll bring her in, i say...." he shook faith away, went up to the deck with dan'l at his heels. the _sally_, riding high as whalers do, was reasonably dry; but she was fighting desperately in the gale, racking her rigging. the wind seemed to clear noll's head; he looked about, aloft.... bellowed an order to get sail on her.... faith protested: "noll, she'll never stand...." he brushed her away with clenched fist. she took shelter in a corner by the deckhouse, ten feet from him..... and noll wing took the ship, and under his hand the _sally_ did miracles.... that fight with the storm was a thing men still talk about; they say it was an inhuman and a marvelous thing. noll stood aft, legs braced, scorning a hand hold. his voice rang through the singing wind to the remotest corner of the _sally_, and the highest spar. regardless of wind and sea, he crowded on sail, and brought her around to the course he wished to take, and drove her into it.... time and time again, during that afternoon and that long night, every sane man aboard thought her very masts must be torn out of her. three times a sail did go; but noll would never slacken. on the after deck, he raved like a madman, but his commands were seamanly.... a miracle of seamanship, stark madness.... but madness that succeeded. the _sally_ drove into the gale, she fought as madly as noll himself was fighting.... and noll, aft, screamed through the night and drove them on. faith never left her post, so near him. no man aboard had sleep that night. no man dared sleep, lest death find him in his dreams. willis cox and tichel came to noll more than once, beseeching.... but he drove them away. dan'l never interfered with the captain; it seemed there was a madness on him, too. and brander and dan'l tobey between them were noll's right hand and his left, driving the men to the tasks noll set them, holding them sternly in hand.... they could only guess how far they had come through the darkness. an hour before daylight, dan'l stopped to gasp to faith: "we're near there, i'm thinking. if we're not nearer the bottom...." brander took more practical steps; he found mauger, and set the one-eyed man well forward, and bade him watch and listen for first sign of land. mauger nodded chucklingly; he gripped a hold on the taut lines, and set his one eye into the darkness, and tuned his ear to the storm.... the wind, by this time, was moderating; even faith could feel a slackening of the pressure of it that had torn at her garments the night through. she was weak with fighting it; nevertheless she held her post. and the steady thrust of the gale slowly modified and gave way.... the first hints of light showed in the skies.... they caught glimpses of scudding clouds, low overhead.... but the worst was passed; and every man knew it. noll, still standing like a colossus at his post, knew it; and he shook his fist at the skies and the sea, and he cursed the wind and dared it.... faith could see him, dimly, in the coming light.... head bare, eyes frantic, cheeks sunken.... an enormous, but a wasted figure of a man.... the very waters about them were quieting somewhat.... their nerves and their muscles relaxed; they were straining their eyes to see into the dimness of the coming day.... it was mauger, in the bows, who caught first hint of danger. he saw that they drove abruptly from long-rolling swells into quieter waters.... he stared off to windward, looking to see what had broken the force of the seas.... saw nothing; but thought he heard a rumbling roar there.... looked forward, where the less turbulent waters were piling ahead of them.... looked forward, and glimpsed a line of white that lived and never died; and he turned and streamed a warning aft.... ran, to carry the word himself.... screaming as he ran.... brander, amidships, heard him and shouted to noll wing; but noll did not hear. the captain was intoxicated with the long battle; he was delirious with the cry of tortured nerves and starved body.... he did not hear. mauger flashed past brander as he ran.... the one-eyed man's screams were inarticulate now.... too late, in any case.... noll saw mauger coming; and he put up his hands; and his eyes glared. he shrieked with overwhelming terror.... mauger flung on. then the _sally's_ bows drove on the solid sand; mauger sprawled; men everywhere fell headlong. noll was thrown back against the after rail.... mauger rolled over and over where he fell; and it chanced that his sheath knife dropped out in the fall, and touched his hand. he had it in his fingers when he scrambled to his feet, still intent on bearing his warning. he had the knife in his hand, he leaped toward the wheel.... he did not realize it was too late to swerve the _sally_.... toward the wheel, knife in hand, forgetting knife and noll wing.... to noll's eyes, mauger must have looked like a charging fiend; he saw the knife. he screamed again, and turned and flung himself in desperate flight but over the after rail. he was instantly gone. perhaps the undertow, perhaps some creature of the sea, perhaps the fates that had hung over him struck then. but those aboard the _sally sims_ were never to see noll wing, nor noll's dead body, again. xxvi dawn came abruptly; a lowering dawn, with gray and greasy clouds racing past so low they seemed to scrape and tear themselves upon the tips of the masts. no sun showed; there was no light in the sky. the dawn was evidenced only by a lessening of the blackness of the night. they could see; there was no fog, but a steady rain sprang up, and clouded objects at a little distance.... this rain had one good effect; it beat down the turbulence of the waves. faith, from the bow, could see that they had grounded upon a sandy beach which spread like a crescent to right and left. the tips of the crescent were rocky points which sheltered the _sally_ from the force of the seas. she was not pounding upon the sand; she lay where she had struck, heeled a little to one side.... there were breakers about her and ahead of her upon the sand; but these were not dangerous. they were caused by the reflex tumult of the waters, stirred up in this sheltered bay in sympathy with the storm outside. that gale was dying, now. above them the wind still raced and played with the flying clouds; but there was no pressure of it upon what little canvas the _sally_ still flew. they were at peace.... at peace. faith, studying the position of the _sally_, was herself at peace. this was her first reaction to her husband's death; she was at peace. noll was gone, noll wing whom she had loved and married.... poor noll; she pitied him; she was conscious of a still-living affection for him.... there was no hate in her; there was little sorrow.... he was gone; but life had burdened him too long. he was well rid of it, she thought.... well rid of his tormented flesh; well rid of the terror which had pursued him.... when noll went over the stern, dan'l tobey appeared from nowhere, and saw mauger with the knife in his hand, standing paralyzed with horror. dan'l fell upon mauger, fists flying.... he downed the little man, dropped on him with both knees, gripped for his throat.... then brander, coming from the waist of the ship on mauger's heels, caught dan'l by the collar and jerked him to his feet. dan'l's hands, clenched on mauger's throat, lifted the little man a foot from the deck before they let go to grip for brander. the men clustered aft; old tichel's teeth bared.... in another moment, there would have been a death-battle astir upon the littered decks. but faith cried through the gloom: "dan'l. mr. brander. drop it. stand away." there was a command in her clear tones which dan'l must have obeyed; and brander did as she bade instinctively. the two still faced each other, heads forward, shoulders lowered.... behind brander, mauger crawled to his feet, choking and fumbling at his throat. faith said to dan'l: "it was not the fault of mauger, dan'l." "he had a knife...." "he fell," she said. "i saw. he fell when she struck; his knife dropped from its sheath.... he picked it up.... that was all." "all?" dan'l protested. "he drove noll wing to death." she shook her head. "no.... noll's own terrors. noll was mad...." "what was he doing aft, then? he'd no place here...." brander explained: "i had him forward, watching for breakers. he saw them, and yelled, and when no one heard he raced to give the word...." faith nodded. "yes; he was gripping for the wheel to swing it down, even when noll...." dan'l swung to brander. "you're over quick to come between me and the men, mr. brander," he said harshly. "best mend that." "i'll not see mauger smashed for no fault," brander told him steadily. dan'l took a step nearer the other. "you'll understand, i'm master here, now." there was battle in brander's eyes. men's blood was hot that morning.... but faith stepped between. "dan'l. noll's gone. first thing is to get the _sally_ free." dan'l still eyed brander for a moment; then he drew back, swung away, looked around. the island they had struck was barely visible through the drifting rain.... he said: "this is not where we headed." "you know this place?" "no." "then we'll get clear as quick as may be." he smiled sneeringly: "i'm thinking we're here to stay, faith. leastwise, the _sally_...." "the _sally_ does not stay here," faith told him sternly. "she floats; she fills her casks; she goes safely home to jonathan felt," she said. "mark that, dan'l. that's the way of it, and nothing else." dan'l said sullenly: "you're not over concerned for noll's going." "he's gone," said faith. "an end to that. but the _sally_ was his charge; she's my charge now. i mean to see her safe." "your charge?" dan'l echoed. "it's in my mind that when the captain dies, the mate succeeds." "you take his place, if i choose," faith told him. he met her eyes, tried to look her down. mauger had slipped away; old tichel, and willis cox, and brander were standing by. "you take his place, if i choose," faith repeated. and dan'l looked from her to the faces of the officers.... there was a weakness in dan'l's villainy; he could destroy, he could undermine trust, seduce a boy, kill honor.... but he lacked constructive ability. he had known for months that this moment must come, this moment when noll was gone, and the ship and all the treasures aboard her should lie ready to his hand. yet he had made no plan for this crisis; he did not know what he meant to do. even now, by open battle he might have won, carried the day. old tichel was certainly for him; perhaps willis, too. and roy.... and many of the men.... a blow, a fight, and the day might have been his.... but dan'l was never a hand for strife where guile might do as well; he was not by nature a man of battle. also ... faith was within his reach, now; noll was gone; there was no barrier between them; he need not anger her, so long as there was a chance to win by gentler ways.... gentler ways, guileful.... he nodded in abrupt assent. "all right," he said. "you were noll's wife; your interest is a fair one.... i'll work with you, faith...." faith was content with that for the moment. "we'll get the _sally_ away," she said. dan'l smiled. "and--how?..." "get out a kedge; we'll try to warp her off when the tide comes in." he chuckled. "oh, aye.... we'll try." "do," said faith; and she turned and went below. went below, and wept a little for pity of old noll, and then dried her eyes and strengthened her heart for the task before her.... to bring noll's ship safely home.... * * * * * it was mid-tide when the _sally_ struck; and this was in some measure fortunate, because the ebbing waters left her free of the rollers that might have driven her hard and fast upon the sand. they broke against her stern, but with no great force behind them. at the slack on the ebb, the men could wade about her bows, to their waist in the water.... they got the kedge out, astern, and carried a whale line about the capstan; and when the tide came quietly in again, they waited for the flood, then strove at the bars to warp her free.... when she did not stir, though the men strove till their veins were like to burst, some cursed despairingly; but faith did not. nor dan'l. dan'l was quiet, watching, smiling at his thoughts.... he let faith have her way. before the next tide, they had rigged the cutting-in tackle to give a stouter pull at the kedge; but this time the whale line parted and lashed along the decks, and more than one man was struck and bruised and cut by it.... dan'l said then: "you see, we're here to stay. best thing is to lower and make for the nearest port." "leave the ship?" faith asked. "yes. what else?" "no. we'll not leave her." he smiled. "what, then?" "it's a week past full moon," she said. "there'll be higher tides on the new moon.... still higher on the next full. we'll float her, one time or another." dan'l chuckled. "an easterly'll drive her high and dry, 'fore then." faith's eyes blazed. "i tell you, dan'l, we stick with the _sally_; and we get her safe away.... are you afraid to stick?" he laughed, outright, pleasantly. "pshaw, faith.... you know i'm not afraid." he could be likeable when he tried; she liked him, faintly, in that moment. she gripped his hand. "good, dan'l. we'll manage it, in the end...." so they settled for the waiting; and dan'l put the men to work repairing the harm the storm had done the _sally_. her rigging was strained; it had parted here and there. she had lost some canvas. willis cox's boat had been carried away.... they rove new rigging, spread new sails, replaced willis's boat with one of the spares.... there was work for all hands for a month, to put the _sally_ in shape again. one thing favored them. the _sally_, for all her clumsy lines, was staunch; and the shock when, she drove her bow upon the sand had opened never a seam. she was leaking no more than a sweet ship will. they found a cask or two of oil that had burst in the hold; and there was some confusion among the stores.... but these were small matters, easily set right.... the new moon was due on the fifth day after they struck. on the fourth, another bottle of whiskey appeared in the fo'c's'le, and two men were drunk. dan'l had the men whipped.... faith made no objection to this; but she watched the faces of the others.... watched the officers, and brander in particular, and mauger.... brander, since that morning of noll's death, had avoided her more strictly.... he and dan'l did not speak, save when they must. she saw the man was keeping a guard upon himself; and she puzzled over this. she could not know that brander was afire with joy at the new hope that was awakening in him; afire with a vision of her.... he fought against this, held himself in check; and she saw only that he was morose and still and that he avoided her eye.... the high tides of the new moon failed to float them; and there was growling forward. dan'l said, openly, that he believed they would never go free. the men heard; and the superstitions of the sea began to play about the fo'c's'le. there was unrest; the men felt approaching the possible liberation from ship's discipline when they abandoned the _sally_. they remembered the ambergris beneath the cabin. there was a fortune.... they could take no oil with them; but they could take that when the time should come to leave the ship. plenty of room in one boat for it and half a dozen men besides.... they fretted at the waiting, called it hopeless, as dan'l did.... the barrier between officers and men was somewhat lowered; more than one of the men spoke to brander of the ambergris. did he claim it for his own?... faith, one day, heard a man talking to brander amidships; she caught only a word or two. one of these words was "'gris." she saw that the man was asking brander a question; she saw that on brander's answer, the man grinned with greed in his eyes, and turned away to whisper to two of his fellows.... she wondered what brander had said to him, why brander had not silenced the man. and she watched brander the closer, her heart sickening with a fear she would not name.... they had landed before this and explored their island.... low and flat and no more than a mile or two in extent, it had fruit a-plenty, and a spring of good water.... but none dwelt anywhere upon it. it soon palled upon them; they stuck by the ship; and the days held clear and fine and the nights were warm, and the crescent moon above them flattened, night by night, till it was no longer a crescent, but half a circle of silver radiance that touched the beach and the trees and the sea with magic fingers.... that night, with the fall tides still a week away, roy kilcup came into the waist and looked aft. there was no officer in sight at the moment save old tichel, and roy hailed him softly.... tichel went forward to where the boy stood; they whispered together. then tichel went with roy toward the fo'c's'le.... faith was in her cabin; dan'l was in the main cabin; and willis and brander were playing cribbage near him when the outcry forward roused them. a man yelled.... they were on deck in tumbling haste; and faith was at their heels.... came tichel, dragging mauger by the collar. his right hand gripped mauger; his left held a bottle. he shook the one-eyed man till mauger's teeth rattled; and he brandished the bottle. "caught the pig," he cried furiously. "here he is. with this hid under his blanket...." mauger protested: "i never put it there...." tichel cuffed him into silence. dan'l asked sharply: "what's that, mr. tichel?" "whiskey, mr. tobey. he took it forward and hid it in his bunk...." faith said: "tell the whole of it, mr. tichel. what happened?" she looked from tichel to brander. brander was standing stiffly; she thought his face was white. mauger hung in tichel's grip. old tichel had given a promise to roy; roy had begged him not to tell that the boy had spied. tichel said now: "i saw him go forra'd, with something under his coat. never thought for a minute; then it come to me what it might be. i took after him. rest of the men were on deck, sleeping.... it's hot, below, you'll mind. i dropped down quietly. mauger, here, was in his bunk. i routed him out, and rummaged, and there you are, ma'am." he shook the bottle triumphantly. faith asked the one-eyed man: "where did you get it, mauger?" "never knowed it was there," mauger swore. "honest t'the lord, ma'am...." tichel slapped his face stunningly.... faith said: "no more of that, mr. tichel. dan'l, what do you think?" dan'l lifted his hand, with a glance at brander. "why--nothing! somebody's been doing it; him as well as another." "willis," faith asked. "what's your notion?" "i guess mauger done it." "brander?" brander lifted his head and met her eyes. "other men have found whiskey in their bunks without knowing how it got there," he said. "i believe mauger." old tichel snarled: "i'm saying i saw him take it aft." he dropped mauger and took a fierce step toward brander. "ye think i'd lie?" "i think you're mistaken," brander said evenly. tichel leaped at him; brander gripped the other's arms at the elbow, held him. faith, said sharply: "enough of that. we'll end this thing, to-night. mr. tobey, get lanterns, lights, search the ship till you find the rest of this stuff." she took the whiskey bottle, opened it, and poured its contents over the rail. "search it out," she said. "be about it." save dan'l tobey, the officers stood stock still, as though not understanding. dan'l acted as quickly as though he had expected the order. he sent silva, the harpooner, to get the fo'm'st hands together forward and keep them there under his eye. he sent tichel and yella' boy into the main hold; willis and long jim into the after 'tween decks. brander and eph hitch were to search the cabin and the captain's storeroom; and faith went down with them to give them the keys.... loum, kellick, and tinch, the cook, were put to rummaging about the after deck and amidships.... there was no need of lights upon the deck itself; the moon bathed the _sally_ in its rays, and one might have read by them without undue effort. below, the whale-oil lanterns went to and fro.... brander and hitch made short work of their task; and they came on deck with faith. dan'l sent brander to rummage through the steerage where the harpooners slept; and at faith's suggestion, hitch and loum went aloft to the mastheads to make sure there was no secret cache there.... they were an hour or more at their search of the _sally_; and at the end of that time they were no wiser than they were before. faith had gone below before the end; she came on deck as tichel and yella' boy reported nothing found below. she asked dan'l: "have you found anything?" "no." "where have you looked?" dan'l said: "everywhere aboard her, faith. the stuff's well hidden, sure...." faith said quietly: "if it's not on the _sally_, it's near her. search the boats, mr. tobey." dan'l nodded. "but it'd not be in them," he said. "that's sure enough." "it's nowhere else, you say. try...." willis cox and brander turned toward where their boats hung by the rail; and faith called quietly: "willis, mr. brander. let mr. tobey do the searching." willis stopped readily enough; brander--forewarned, perhaps, by some instinctive fear--hesitated; she spoke to him again. "mr. brander." he stood still where he was. dan'l was looking through his own boat at the moment. he passed to old tichel's; to that of willis cox. brander's came last. he flashed his lantern in it as he had in the others, studied it from bow to stern, opened the stern locker beneath the cuddy boards.... there was a jug there; a jug that in the other boats had contained water. he pulled the stopper and smelled.... "by god, faith, it's here!" he cried. xxvii the closer the bond between man and man, or between man and woman, the easier it is to embroil them, one with another. it is hard for an outsider to provoke a quarrel between strangers, or between casual acquaintances; but it is not hard for a crafty man to make dissension between friends; and almost any one may, if he chooses, bring about discord between lovers. and this is a strange and a contradictory thing. when dan'l found the whiskey in brander's boat, and came toward faith with the open jug in his hands, faith stood with a white face, looking steadily at brander, and not at dan'l at all. brander had made one move when dan'l lifted the jug; he had stepped quickly toward the boat, but faith spoke quietly to him, and he stopped, and looked at her.... dan'l was watching the two of them. mauger saw a chance, and as the mate passed where the one-eyed man crouched, mauger leaped at him to snatch the whiskey away. tichel caught mauger from behind, and held him.... the little man had had the best intentions in the world; but this movement on his part completed the evidence of brander's guilt; for mauger was brander's man, loyal as a dog, and faith knew it. she thought quickly, remembering the past days, remembering mauger's furtive air and brander's aloofness, and his support of mauger against tichel.... she was sure, before dan'l reached her with the jug, that mauger and brander were guilty as judas.... that brander was guilty as judas.... she scarce considered mauger at all. dan'l handed her the jug, and she smelled at it. whiskey, beyond a doubt. she took it to the rail and poured it overside as she had poured the contents of the bottle. then came slowly back and handed the empty jug to brander. "this is yours," she said. "you had best rinse it and fill it with water and put it in your boat again." the moon was bright upon them as they stood on the deck. he could see her face, he could see her eyes; and he saw that she thought him guilty. his soul sickened with the bitterness of it; and his lips twisted in a smile. "very well," he said. she looked at him, a little wistfully. "you're not denying it's yours?" he shook his head. "no." if she believed, let her believe. he was furious with her.... "why did you do it?" she asked. he said nothing; and she looked up at him a moment more, and then turned to mauger. "why did you do it?" she asked the little man. mauger squinted sidewise at brander. mauger was brander's man; and all his loyalty was to brander. brander chose not to speak, not to deny the charge she laid against them.... all right; if brander could keep silent, so could he. if brander would not deny, neither would he. he grinned at faith; and the closed lids that covered his empty eye-socket seemed to wink; but he said nothing at all. dan'l tobey chuckled at brander. "eh, brander, i'm ashamed for ye," he said. "such an example t'the crew." brander held silent. he was waiting for faith to speak.... when neither brander nor mauger would answer her, faith turned her back on them all and went to the after rail and stood there alone, thinking.... she knew dan'l would wait on her word.... what was she to do? she needed brander; she would need him more and more.... dan'l was never to be trusted; she must have a man at her back.... brander.... in spite of her belief that he had done this thieving, she trusted him.... and loved him.... loved him so that as she stood there with her back to them all, the tears rolled down her cheeks, and her nails dug at her palms.... why had he done this? why did he not deny? protest? defend himself? she loved him so much that she hated him. if he had offended against herself alone, she might have forgiven.... but by stealing whiskey and giving it to the crew he was striking at the welfare of the _sally sims_ herself.... and the _sally_ was dearer to faith just now than herself. he had struck at the _sally_; she set her lips and brushed the tears from her cheeks and turned back to them. "mr. tobey," she said. "put mr. brander in irons, below. give mauger a whipping and send him forward." she hesitated a moment, glanced at willis. "if you'll come down to the cabin with me," she said, "i'll give you the irons." willis stepped toward her; and with no further glance for brander, she turned and went below. * * * * * they had been two weeks hard and fast on the sand; there was another week ahead of them. an easterly storm would cement them into the sand beyond any help; and the men looked for it daily.... for the rest, there was little to do. the _sally_ was in shape again, ready to be off if she had the chance.... the men, with black faces, loafed about the fore deck and whispered man to man; and dan'l went among them now and then, and talked much with roy, and some with the others.... roy was elated in those days; the boy went about with shining eyes and triumphant lips. every other face among the crew was morose save his.... dan'l was not morose. he was overly cheerful in those days. he spoke in louder tones than was his custom; and there was no caustic bite to his tongue. but his eyes were narrower, and more furtive.... and once or twice faith saw him turn away from a word with some of the crew and catch sight of her watching him, and flush uneasily.... but faith scarce heeded; she was sick with sorrow, and sick with anxiety.... the tides were rising higher every day; she watched for the hour when they should lift the _sally_.... and at each high tide, she made the men stand to the capstan bars, and fight in desperate efforts to fetch the _sally_ free. the day before the night of the full of the moon, she had them fetch up casks from the hold and lower them overside and raft them there.... cask after cask, as many as the men could handle during the day, so that the _sally_ was lighter at nightfall than she had ever been before. the tide was at the flood that night at nine; and for half an hour before, and for a full hour after the waters had begun to ebb, every man of them strove to stir the _sally_.... and strove fruitlessly; for the ship seemed fast-bedded in the sand, beyond moving. at ten o'clock, faith left the deck and went sick-heartedly below.... at half past ten, dan'l knocked on the door of the after cabin, and she bade him come in. he opened the door, shut it behind him, looked at her with his cap in his hands for a space, then sat down on the seat beside the desk where she was sitting. "eh, faith," he said, "we're stuck." for a moment, she did not answer; then she lifted her head and looked at him. "there's a high tide to-morrow night; comes a bit higher than it is on the flood," she said. "we'll get out more casks to-morrow, and to-morrow night we'll float her." dan'l shook his head slowly. "you're brave, faith, and strong.... but the sea's stronger. i've sailed them long enough to know." she said steadfastly: "the _sally sims_ has got to come free. it's in my mind to get her off if we have to take every stick out of her and lift her off ourselves...." "if we could do it, i'd be with you," he told her. "but we can't, faith." "we will," she said. he smiled, studied her for a moment, then leaned toward her, resting his hands on the desk. "faith," he said softly, "you're a wonderful, brave woman." she looked at him with a weary flicker of lips and eyes that might have passed for a smile. "it's not that i'm brave, dan'l," she said. "it's just that i'll not let noll wing's ship rot here when it should be bound home t'the other side of the world." "noll wing's ship?" he echoed. "eh, faith, but noll wing is dead and gone." she nodded. "yes." "he's dead and gone, faith," he repeated swiftly. "he's dead, and gone.... and but for noll wing, faith, you'd have loved me, three year ago." she looked up, then, and studied him, and she said softly: "you'll mind, dan'l, that noll wing is not but three weeks dead.... even now." "three weeks dead!" he cried. "have i not seen? he's been a dead man this year past; a dead man that walked and talked and swore.... but dead this year past. you've been a widow for a year, faith...." she shook her head. "so long as the _sally_ lies here on the sand," she said, "i'm not noll wing's widow; i'm his wife. it was his job to bring her home; and so it is my job, too. and will be, till she's fast to the wharf at home." "then you'll die his wife, faith; for the _sally_'ll never stir from here." "if she never does," said faith, "i'll die noll wing's wife, as you say." he cried breathlessly: "what was noll wing that you should cling to him so, faith?" "he was the man i loved," she said. his face blackened, and his fist banged the desk. "aye; and but for him you'd have loved me. loved me...." "i never told you that, dan'l." "but 'twas true. i could see. you'd have loved me, faith...." "dan'l," she said slowly, "i'm in no mind to talk so much of love, this night." the man sat back in silence for a space, not looking at her; nor did she look at him. in the end, however, he shaped his words afresh. "faith," he said softly, "we were boy and girl together, you and i. grew up together, played together.... i loved you before you were more than a girl. before you ever saw noll wing. can you remember?" he was striving with all his might to win her; and faith said gently: "yes, dan'l. i remember." "when i sailed away, last cruise but one, you kissed me, faith. do you mind?" she looked at him in honest surprise. "i kissed you, dan'l?" "yes. on the forehead...." she shook her head. "i don't remember ... at all." if he had been wholly wise, he would have known that her not remembering was the end of him; but dan'l in that moment was not even a little wise. he was playing for a big stake; faith was never so lovely in his eyes; and there was desperation in him. he was blind with the heat of his own desire.... he cried now: "you do remember. you're pretending, faith. you could not forget. you loved me then; and, faith, you love me now." she shook her head. "no, dan'l. have done." "i love you, faith; you love me, now." "no." he leaned very close to her. "you do not know; you're not listening to your heart. i know more of your heart than you know, faith...." "no, no, no, dan'l," she said insistently. he flamed at her in sudden fury: "if it's not me, it's brander.... him that you...." "brander?" she cried, in a passion. "brander? the thief that's lying now in the irons i put upon him? him? him you say i love?" the very force of her anger should have told him the truth; but he was so blind that it served only to rejoice him. "i knew it," he cried. "i knew it. so you love me, faith?..." "must a woman always be loving?" she demanded wearily. "aye, faith. it's the nature of them.... always to be loving.... some one. with you, faith, it's me. listen and see...." "dan'l," she said steadily, "what's the end of all this? what's the end of it all? what would you have me do?" "love me," he told her. "what else?" "see the truth," he said. "understand that the _sally_ is lost.... fast aground, here, to rot her bones away.... see that it's hopeless and wild to stick by her. we'll get out the boats. you and i and roy and a man or two will take one; the others may have the other craft. it's not fifty miles to..." "leave the _sally_?" she demanded. "yes." "i'll not talk with you, dan'l. i'll never do that." "there's th' ambergris," he reminded her. "we'll take that. it will recompense old jonathan for his _sally_ and her oil." her word was so sharp that it checked him; he was up on his feet, bending above her, pouring out his pleadings.... but she threw him into silence with that last word; and the red flush of passion in his face blackened to something worse, and his tongue thickened with the heat in him. he bent a little nearer, while her eyes met his steadily; and his hands dropped and gripped her arms above the elbows. she came to her feet, facing him.... "dan'l," she said warningly. "if you'll not go because you will, you'll go because you must," he told her huskily and harshly. "go because you must.... whine at my feet afore i'm through with you. beg me to marry you in th' end...." if she had been able to hold still, to hold his eyes with hers, she might have mastered him even then; for in any match of courage against courage, she was the stronger. but the horror of him overwhelmed her; she tried to wrench away. the struggle of her fired him.... in a battle of strength and strength she had no chance. he swung her against his chest, and she flung her head back that her lips might escape him. he laughed. his lips were dry and twitching as she fought to be away from him; he held her for an instant, held her striving body against his own to revel in its struggles.... he had her thus in his arms, forcing her back, crushing her, when the door flung open and roy kilcup stood there. the boy cried in desperate warning: "dan'l, brander is...." then he comprehended that which he saw; and he screamed with the fury of an animal, and flung himself at dan'l, tearing at the man with his strength of a boy. xxviii dan'l had laid his plans well; he had felt sure of success; but he had not counted on trouble with faith. he thought, after their failure to float the _sally_, she would be crushed and ready to fall into his arms; ready at least to yield to his advice and come away and leave the _sally sims_ where she lay. after that, dan'l counted on separating the crew by losing the other boats. the ambergris would be in his; he would master the men with him.... faith and the treasure would be his.... brander was to stay in the _sally_, ironed in the after 'tween decks. dan'l thought brander was destroyed by the evidence of his thieving; he no longer feared the man. not all the crew would go with him when he left the ship. old tichel had refused. "i've waited all my days to be cap'n of a craft," tichel declared. "with you gone, i'm master o' the _sally_, i'll stay and get the feeling of it." and dan'l was willing to let him stay. willis cox agreed to do as faith decided. long jim, the harpooner, was loyal to tichel. loum, dan'l did not trust. the man might stay with brander if he chose. but dan'l had on his side kellick, the steward; and yella' boy, and silva, and four seamen from forward, and seven of those who had shipped as green hands. silva hated brander no less than dan'l, for brander had been given the mate's berth that silva claimed.... silva was dan'l's right-hand man in his plans. and roy, of course, was dan'l's, to do with as he chose. mauger got some whisperings of all this in the fo'c's'le. there was no effort to keep it secret from him; no effort to keep the matter secret at all. dan'l had said openly that if the _sally_ did not float, he was for deserting her; those might come with him who chose. save mauger, there were none openly against him. tichel would stay, willis waited on faith's word, but the rest held off and swung neither one way nor another. all of which mauger, with infinite stealth, told brander, sneaking down into the after 'tween decks at peril of his skin, night after night; and brander, fast-ironed there, and taking his calamities very philosophically, praised the little man. "keep your eyes open," he said. "bring me any word you get. warn me in full time. and--find me a good, keen file." mauger fetched the file, pilfering it from the tool chest of eph hitch, the cooper. brander worked patiently at his bonds, submitting without protest to his captivity. that night of the full moon, after they had failed to float the _sally_, dan'l called silva and bade him prepare two boats. "get food and water into them," he said. "plenty. make them ready. tell the rest of them to lower if they've a mind. i'm for leaving." silva grinned his understanding. he asked a question. dan'l said: "i'm going down, now, to convince her. she'll come, no fear." he went below and left silva to prepare the boats. old tichel was on deck, but willis had gone below. tichel did not molest silva. discipline had evaporated on the _sally_; it was every man for himself. those who were for leaving ship were hotly impatient; and one boat full of men lowered and drew slowly away toward the mouth of the cove where the _sally_ lay. there was no wind; the sea was glassy; and their oars stirred the water into sparkling showers like jewels. kellick and yella' boy and four seamen were in that boat. five of the green hands and tinch, the cook, caught the infection, and dumped food into another and water, and followed.... silva got his boat overside. he had with him two men, men of his choosing who had signed as green hands but were stalwarts now. he saw that the boat was ready, then stood in her by the rail, waiting for dan'l to come with faith. roy was on the after deck, where he would join them. the men in the two boats that had already put off were lying on their oars, half a mile away, watching the _sally_. in all their minds was the thought of the ambergris. they had no notion of leaving that behind; and they did not mean to be tricked of their share in it. silva could see the boats idly drifting.... mauger had slipped down to brander with the word. "two boats gone a'ready," he said. "silva waiting for dan'l tobey, now." "where's faith?" brander asked. "in the cabin. mr. tobey went to her. he've not come up, yet." brander considered. "fetch a handspike," he said; and mauger crawled on deck and returned with it, and brander pried open the irons he had filed apart. he stood up and shook himself to ease the ache of his muscles. "now," he said, "let's go see...." he climbed up on deck, mauger at his heels, and started aft. roy saw him coming, and silva, from the rail, marked his movements and watched. roy dropped into the cabin to warn dan'l; brander leaped to follow him. silva spoke to his two men, and plunged up to the deck and darted after brander. brander was at the foot of the companion ladder in the cabin when roy threw open the door of the after cabin to shout his warning; he saw, as roy saw, dan'l gripping faith and struggling with her. he heard roy's cry.... leaped that way.... roy was before him. roy, grown into a man in that moment. dan'l had told him they would leave the ship, told him nothing more. roy hated his sister, and dan'l knew this, and feared no trouble from the boy. but he forgot that a boy's hate is not over strong. when roy saw faith in dan'l's arms, helplessly fighting against his kisses, he leaped to protect her as though there had never been harsh words between them. roy was on faith's side, thenceforward. the boy gripped dan'l from behind; and for an instant more dan'l clung to faith. his encircling arm tightened about her so that she thought her ribs would crack; and when he flung her away, she was breathless and sick to nausea, and she fell on the floor and lay there, retching and gasping for breath. dan'l flung her away, and swung on roy. "you young fool," he swore, "i'll kill you, now." roy was helpless before him. dan'l held him by the throat, his fingers sinking home, roy beat and tore at the man helplessly for a space, then his face blackened, and his eyes bulged, and dan'l flung him away. brander might have helped him, but for the fact that three men dropped on him from the companion hatch and bore him smothering to the deck. the three were silva and his allies. silva had a knife; and mauger had felt it, on the deck above. the one-eyed man lay there now, twisting and clutching at a hole in his side. silva was first down on brander; and he struck at brander's neck as he leaped. but brander had time to dodge to one side, so that silva hit him on the hip and bore him down. then the other two were upon him.... this sudden tumult in the cabin rang through the _sally_. the night was still; the noise could be heard even by the boats that drifted half a mile away. its abrupt outbreak was unsettling; it jangled taut nerves. the two remaining seamen and long jim, loum, and eph hitch lost courage, raced for a boat, dropped it to the water and pulled off to see what was to come. tichel, who was on deck, ran to try to stop them; but loum struck out blindly and threw the mate off-balance for an instant that was long enough to let them get away. the desertion of these last men left on the _sally_ only the four officers, roy, mauger, silva, and silva's two men. faith was still helpless, so was roy, and mauger had dragged himself upright against the bulwarks and stripped up his shirt to investigate his wound. it was bleeding profusely, but he found he could breathe without difficulty, and told himself shrewdly that he would come out all right. of men able to fight aboard the _sally_, there were left dan'l, silva, and the two seamen on one side, against brander and tichel and cox. the attitude of tichel and cox was in some sort uncertain. but the problem was quickly settled.... dan'l, dropping faith and flinging roy aside, had charged into the main cabin to finish brander; but brander was so inextricably involved in his struggle with his three antagonists that dan'l got no immediate chance at him. he was shifting around the twisting tangle of men, watching, when willis came out of his cabin in a single leap.... willis had been asleep; he was in shirt and trousers, his belt tight-girthed. he stared stupidly, not understanding. dan'l, balked of his chance at brander, took willis for fair game. if he thought at all, it was to remember that willis was loyal to faith. he attacked before willis was fully awake, and bore the other man back into the cabin from which willis had come. he bent willis against the bunks so that for an instant it seemed the man's back would snap; but desperation gave willis the strength to fling himself away.... they whirled into the cabin, still fighting. dan'l was drunk with his own rage by now.... he had thrown himself into a debauch of battle; and he proved, this night, that he could fight when he chose.... he rocked willis at last with a left-hand blow in the ribs, so that the younger man dropped his arms to hug his bruised body; and dan'l drove home his fist to the other's jaw. the blow smacked loudly; and willis went down without a sound, his jaw broken.... if old tichel had come down the companion ladder a minute sooner, he might have saved willis; and he and willis between them might have overcome dan'l. but he was too late for that; he was in time to see willis fall; and before he could speak, dan'l tobey had attacked him. dan'l was pure maniac now; he did not stop to ask whether tichel were friend or foe. and tichel, old man though he was, was never one to refuse a battle. he met dan'l's charge with the tigerish venom that characterized him in his rages; he leaped and was fairly in the air when dan'l struck him. but dan'l's greater weight and the impetus of his charge were too much for old tichel. in the flash of a second, dan'l had him by the throat, down, banging his head against the floor till the skin of his scalp was crushed and the blood flowed, and tichel at last lay still.... dan'l got up, choking for breath, his chin down on his chest. there was blood on him; his shirt was torn; his hair was wild. the mild, round face of the man was distorted by wrinkles of passion. his lip was bruised by a blow, and it puffed out in a surly, drunken way.... he stood there, tottering, looking with blinking eyes at the heap of men fighting at one side of the cabin.... brander was in that heap somewhere. it was still less than thirty seconds since dan'l had smashed willis's jaw. dan'l stepped unsteadily toward the heap of men and peered down at them and laid hands on them to pull them away.... they were too closely intertwined.... he backed off and looked around for a weapon. in a corner of the cabin he saw something that might serve.... the head of a killing lance.... a bar of metal three or four feet long, flattened at one end like the blade of a putty knife, and ground to the keenest edge.... in the whale-fisheries, it would be mounted on a staff; but there was no staff in it now. he picked the thing up, and balanced it in his hands, and walked gingerly back toward the striving knot of men. * * * * * when brander dropped down into the cabin and through the open door saw faith in dan'l's arms, he was for an instant paralyzed.... then, as rage surged up in him, he sensed the danger above him, and dodged to one side as silva leaped down from the deck. silva struck against brander's hip, his knife slitting the air. brander was thrown headlong, and silva flung after him. brander rolled on his back, catching silva in the stomach with both feet, as the other two men dropped across his body. he had put little force into his kick at silva, so that the man was unhurt. brander gripped one of the men who had fallen on him, and whirled him under. at the same time, the other man attached himself to brander's neck, his right arm about brander's neck to choke him. brander wedged his chin down and gripped this arm between his chin and his breast, holding it off a little from his throat. then silva came at him from the left side, and brander's left hand flung out and gripped silva's knife wrist.... brander was past the first flush of anger; he was cool, now, as he was always cool in danger. save silva, the men against him were unarmed. at least, neither made any effort to use a weapon. therefore brander flung the one man out of his arms, and gave his attention to silva. he was just in time. silva had shifted the knife to his other hand. brander grabbed for it, and the blade slid along his fingers, barely scratching them.... then he had the hand that held it; and he dragged it down and wrenched it over, and across, and the fingers opened and the knife fell. brander groped for it, silva swarming over him. he got the knife, but knew he could not use it, so he threw it with the half of his arm which was free. crushed down by the man atop him, he saw that it slid across the floor and flew into the after cabin. he thought silva had not seen it go.... brander had not marked dan'l when the man came first to crouch above them. dan'l was at willis when brander threw the knife. that weapon being gone, brander turned his attention to the man who had his throat. he worked as coolly as though this man was his only antagonist; and while he held off the others with his left hand and his knees, his right went up over his shoulder and found the face of the man who choked him. this groping hand of his came down against the man's face from above. his palm rested against the cheek of his antagonist; and his fingers groped under the other's jaw bone and clenched around it, biting far into the soft flesh at the bottom of the mouth. he got a grip on this that would hold; and the man screamed, and brander jerked him up, and over his shoulder.... the man slid helplessly tearing at brander's clenched fingers. brander, at this time, was sitting up, with silva at his left, arms gripping, fists striking, and the other at the right. the man whose jaw he had came down in brander's lap, and he brought his right knee up with all his force against the other's head and the man became a dead weight across his legs. brander wriggled free of him, thought calmly that one of the three was gone and only two remained, and turned his attention to the others. he had been forced to let them have their will of him for the seconds required to deal with the man who had choked him. they had him down, now, on his back on the cabin floor. one on either side.... he got a left-hand grip on the seaman; he set his right hand on silva's arm and his fingers clenched on silva's biceps. he flung them off a little, freeing himself, so that he might have fought to his feet.... but when he thrust these two back, thus to right and left, and started to sit up, he saw above him dan'l. dan'l, an insane light in his eyes, the whaling lance poised in the thrusting position. it flickered downward like a shaft of light.... brander wrenched with all his strength at silva; he swung silva up and over his own body just in time to intercept the lance. it slid in between two ribs, an inch from silva's backbone, and pierced him through to the sternum.... it struck obliquely, cut half way into the mingled cartilage and bone.... then the soft iron of the shaft "elbowed" at right angles, and dan'l had to twist and fight to pull it free. silva, of course, was as dead as dead. blood poured out of his mouth in brander's very face.... he flung the corpse aside, rolling after it to be on his feet before dan'l should strike again. but the remaining seaman was in his path, grappled him, held him for an instant motionless. dan'l had had no chance to straighten the lance; he lifted it like a hoe to bring it down on brander's back. then faith called, from the door of the after cabin: "dan'l! have done!" dan'l looked and saw her, weak, trembling, gripping the doorsill with her left hand. in her right was a revolver. he leaped toward her, roaring; and faith waited till he was within six feet of her, then shot him carefully through the knee. he fell on his face at her feet, howling. at the same time, brander got home a blow that silenced his last antagonist, and a great quiet settled down upon the _sally sims_. xxix what shadows remained, roy was able to clear away. roy, who had hated brander, and who had hated faith, yet in whom lived a strain of true blood that could not but answer to these two in the end. the evil in dan'l had been writ in his face for any man to see, when roy found him clutching faith; and roy was not blind. the boy abased himself; he was pitifully ashamed. still hoarse from the choking dan'l had given him, he told how he had stolen the whiskey at the man's bidding.... a little at first; a ten-gallon keg in the end.... told how he had himself filled brander's boat jug with the liquor, and hidden a bottle in mauger's bunk, and lied to old tichel in the matter. told the whole tale, and made his peace with them, while faith and brander watched each other over the boy's sobbing head with eloquent eyes.... for the rest; silva was dead, and they buried him in the sand of the beach. mauger had a shallow knife slit along his ribs; willis cox had a broken jaw. the others had suffered nothing worse than bruises, save only dan'l tobey. dan'l's knee was smashed and splintered, and he lay in a stupor in the cabin, willis watching beside him. those who had fled to the boats came shamedly back at last; and faith and brander met them at the rail, and faith spoke to them. they had done wrong, she told them; but there was a chance of wiping out the score by bending to the toil she set them. they were already sick of adventuring; they swarmed aboard like homesick boys. she and brander told them what to do, and drove them to it.... before that day was gone, they had half her load out of the _sally_; and at full tide that night, with every hand tugging at a line or breasting a capstan bar, they hauled her off. she slid an inch, two inches, four.... she moved a foot, three feet.... they freed her, by sheer power of their determination that she must come free. they dragged her full ten feet before the suction of the sand beneath her keel began to slack, and ten feet more before she floated free.... then the boats lowered, and towed her safe off shore, and anchored her there. after that, three days to get the casks inboard again and stowed below. three days in which dan'l tobey passed from suffering to delirium. brander had tended his wound as best he could; but the bone was splintered and the flesh was shattered, and there came an hour when the flesh about the wound turned green and black. it gave off a horrible fetid odor of decay. brander told faith: "he's got to lose either leg or life." she did not ask him if he were sure; she knew him well enough, now, never to doubt him again. but dan'l, in an interval of lucidity, had heard; and he croaked: "take it off, brander. take it off. get the ax, man." brander bent over the man. "i'll do my best for you." dan'l grinned with the old jeer in his eyes. "aye, i've no doubt, mr. brander. go at it, man." they had not so much as a vial of morphia to deaden the pain; but dan'l slumped into delirium at the first stroke of the knife brander had whetted to a razor keenness. his body twitched in the grip of willis cox and loum.... faith helped brander tie the arteries; roy stood by to give what aid he could.... when it was done, faith said the _sally_ would lie at anchor till dan'l died or mended; and in two weeks brander told her the man would live. she nodded. "then we'll go out and fill our casks," she said, "and then for home." brander looked at her with shining eyes. "aye, fill our casks," he agreed, as though it were the most natural thing in the world to stick to that task till it was done. they put to sea. dan'l was going to live; but the man was broken. he was not to quit his bunk through the months of the homeward cruise; he was wasted by the fury of his own passions, by the shock of his crippling injury.... he had aged; there was no longer any strength in the man. so old tichel came into his own at last; he became the titular master of the ship, and faith was content to let him hold the reins, so long as he did as she desired. willis cox yielded precedence to brander; brander was mate. when they sighted whales, all three of them lowered, while faith kept ship. their work had been nearly done before noll died; they lacked less than a dozen whales to fill. young roy, to his vast content, was allowed to take out a boat and kill one of that last dozen, while brander in his boat lay watchfully by. came a day, when the trying out was done, that brander went to faith. "we're bung up," he said. "the last cask's sweating full." faith nodded happily, and swung to mr. tichel. "then let's for home," she said. * * * * * for the rest, the matter tells itself. they hauled in to the nearest island port and overhauled and recoopered the water casks, and took on wood and water for the five months' homeward way. they stocked with potatoes and vegetables. the crow's nests came down, and to'gallant masts were set to carry canvas on the passage. the gear was stripped from the whaleboats and stowed away, and two of the boats were lashed atop the boathouse, with the spares. the rigging had a touch of tar, the hull and spars took a lick of paint, the wood-work shone with scraping.... so, to sea. the first day out saw the dismantling of the tryworks; and broken bricks flew overside for half that day, all hands joining in the sport of it. then a clean deck, and a stout northwest wind behind them, and the long easterly stretch to the horn was begun.... that homeward cruise was a pleasant time for faith and brander. they were much together, speaking little, speaking not at all of themselves.... save once, faith said, smiling at him shyly: "i knew you hadn't done it, even when i told them to put you in irons...." he nodded. "i knew you knew." they both understood; their eyes said what their lips were not yet ready to say. there was a reticence upon them. faith, on the deck of her husband's ship, felt still the shadow of noll wing in her life.... brander felt its presence. it made neither of them unhappy; they respected it. faith was never ashamed of noll. he had been a man.... she had loved him; she was proud that he had loved her.... day by day they were together, on deck or below, while the winds worked for them and the stars in their courses watched over them. through the chill of southern waters as they rounded the cape.... cap'n tichel looking back at it, waved his hand in valedictory; and faith asked: "what are you thinking, mr. tichel?" "saying good-by to old cape stiff there," he chuckled. "i'll not come this way again." "yes, you will," she told him. "you're captain of your own ship, now.... and will be, next cruise." he shook his head. "i know when i'm well off, young lady. old tichel's ready to stick ashore, now...." she left him, staring back across the dull, cold sea.... he stood there stiffly till the night came down upon the waters. after that, they struck warmer winds, with a pleasant ocean all about, and the scud of spray sweet upon their cheeks, and the _sally_ fat with oil beneath their feet. a happy time, when faith and brander, with never a word and never a touch of hand, grew close as man and woman can grow.... never a cloud in the skies from their last kill to the day they picked up the tug that shunted them alongside their wharf at home. * * * * * there are many things that never get into the log. faith had no vengeful heart toward dan'l; the man had reaped what he sowed. with the _sally_, noll wing's ship, safe home again, she was willing to forget what had passed. she told dan'l so. silva was dead; the others were but instruments. the matter was done.... dan'l, possessed by a creeping apathy, nodded his thanks to her and turned away his head. the man was dying where he lay; he would not long survive. old jem kilcup was at the wharf to hug faith against his broad chest. an older jem than when she went away; but a glad jem to see her home again. jonathan felt was with him, asking anxiously for noll. when faith told them noll was gone, old jonathan fell sorrowfully silent. the whole town would mourn noll; he had been one of its heroes.... faith said proudly: "he's dead, sir. but this was his fattest cruise. he never brought home better than he's sent, now." "you're full?" asked jonathan. "aye, every cask.... and more," said faith. and told him of the ambergris. she gave brander so much credit for that, and for other things, that jonathan hooked his arm in that of the young man, and walked with him thus when they all went to the office to hear cap'n tichel make his report. jem sat there, listening, proud eyes on faith, while tichel told the story; and faith listened, and looked now and then at brander, where he stood in the shadows by the window. in the end, tichel said straightforwardly that he was content with what life had brought him, that he was through with the sea. but he pointed toward brander. "there's a man'll beat noll wing's best for you," he said. jonathan got up, spry little old figure, and crossed to grip brander by the hand. "you'll take out a ship o' mine?" he asked; and brander hesitated, and his eyes crossed to meet faith's, as though to ask permission. faith nodded faintly; and brander said: "yes, sir, if you like." "i do like," said jonathan briskly. "i do like; so that's settled and done." afterward, tichel and willis went back to the ship. jem, with faith on his arm, were to go up the hill to faith's old home. they stopped outside jonathan's door to say good-by to brander for a little while. faith was free of the load of responsibility that she had taken on her shoulders; she had put noll wing's ship behind her. she looked up at him with eyes that offered everything. brander said quietly: "i've much to say to you that's never been said. will you let me come to your home this night for the saying?" faith looked up at her father, looked to brander again, and smiled, "do come," she said. the end printed in the united states of america * * * * * may be had wherever books are sold. ask for grosset & dunlap's list zane grey's novels the light of western stars a new york society girl buys a ranch which becomes the center of frontier warfare. her loyal superintendent rescues her when she is captured by bandits. a surprising climax brings the story to a delightful close. the rainbow trail the story of a young clergyman who becomes a wanderer in the great western uplands--until at last love and faith awake. desert gold the story describes the recent uprising along the border, and ends with the finding of the gold which two prospectors had willed to the girl who is the story's heroine. riders of the purple sage a picturesque romance of utah of some forty years ago when mormon authority ruled. the prosecution of jane withersteen is the theme of the story. the last of the plainsmen this is the record of a trip which the author took with buffalo jones, known as the preserver of the american bison, across the arizona desert and of a hunt in "that wonderful country of deep canons and giant pines." the heritage of the desert a lovely girl, who has been reared among mormons, learns to love a young new englander. the mormon religion, however, demands that the girl shall become the second wife of one of the mormons--well, that's the problem of this great story. the short stop the young hero, tiring of his factory grind, starts out to win fame and fortune as a professional ball player. his hard knocks at the start are followed by such success as clean sportsmanship, courage and honesty ought to win. betty zane this story tells of the bravery and heroism of betty, the beautiful young sister of old colonel zane, one of the bravest pioneers. the lone star ranger after killing a man in self defense, buck duane becomes an outlaw along the texas border. in a camp on the mexican side of the river, he finds a young girl held prisoner, and in attempting to rescue her, brings down upon himself the wrath of her captors and henceforth is hunted on one side by honest men, on the other by outlaws. the border legion joan randle, in a spirit of anger, sent jim cleve out to a lawless western mining camp to prove his mettle. then realizing that she loved him--she followed him out. on her way, she is captured by a bandit band, and trouble begins when she shoots kells, the leader--and nurses him to health again. here enters another, romance--when joan, disguised as an outlaw, observes jim, in the throes of dissipation. a gold strike, a thrilling robbery--gambling and gun play carry you along breathlessly. the last of the great scouts. by helen cody wetmore and zane grey the life story of colonel william f. cody, "buffalo bill," as told by his sister and zane grey. it begins with his boyhood in iowa and his first encounter with an indian. we see "bill" as a pony express rider, then near fort sumter as chief of the scouts, and later engaged in the most dangerous indian campaigns. there is also a very interesting account of the travels of "the wild west" show. no character in public life makes a stronger appeal to the imagination of america than "buffalo bill," whose daring and bravery made him famous. stories of rare charm by gene stratton-porter michael o'halloran. illustrated by frances rogers. michael is a quick-witted little irish newsboy, living in northern indiana. he adopts a deserted little girl, a cripple. he also assumes the responsibility of leading the entire rural community upward and onward. laddie. illustrated by herman pfeifer. this is a bright, cheery tale with the scenes laid in indiana. the story is told by little sister, the youngest member of a large family, but it is concerned not so much with childish doings as with the love affairs of older members of the family. chief among them is that of laddie and the princess, an english girl who has come to live in the neighborhood and about whose family there hangs a mystery. the harvester. illustrated by w. l. jacobs. "the harvester," is a man of the woods and fields, and if the book had nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man it would be notable. but when the girl comes to his "medicine woods," there begins a romance of the rarest idyllic quality. freckles. illustrated. freckles is a nameless waif when the tale opens, but the way in which he takes hold of life; the nature friendships he forms in the great limberlost swamp; the manner in which everyone who meets him succumbs to the charm of his engaging personality; and his love-story with "the angel" are full of real sentiment. a girl of the limberlost. illustrated. the story of a girl of the michigan woods; a buoyant, loveable type of the self-reliant american. her philosophy is one of love and kindness towards all things; her hope is never dimmed. and by the sheer beauty of her soul, and the purity of her vision, she wins from barren and unpromising surroundings those rewards of high courage. at the foot of the rainbow. illustrations in colors. the scene of this charming love story is laid in central indiana. the story is one of devoted friendship, and tender self-sacrificing love. the novel is brimful of the most beautiful word painting of nature, and its pathos and tender sentiment will endear it to all. the song of the cardinal. profusely illustrated. a love ideal of the cardinal bird and his mate, told with delicacy and humor. the novels of mary roberts rinehart dangerous days. a brilliant story of married life. a romance of fine purpose and stirring appeal. the amazing interlude. illustrations by the kinneys. the story of a great love which cannot be pictured--an interlude--amazing, romantic. love stories. this book is exactly what its title indicates, a collection of love affairs--sparkling with humor, tenderness and sweetness. "k." illustrated. k. lemoyne, famous surgeon, goes to live in a little town where beautiful sidney page lives. she is in training to become a nurse. the joys and troubles of their young love are told with keen and sympathetic appreciation. the man in lower ten. illustrated by howard chandler christy. an absorbing detective story woven around the mysterious death of the "man in lower ten." when a man marries. illustrated by harrison fisher and mayo bunker. a young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that his aunt is soon to visit him. the aunt, who contributes to the family income, knows nothing of the domestic upheaval. how the young man met the situation is entertainingly told. the circular staircase. illustrated by lester ralph. the occupants of "sunnyside" find the dead body of arnold armstrong on the circular staircase. following the murder a bank failure is announced. around these two events is woven a plot of absorbing interest. the street of seven stars. (photoplay edition.) harmony wells, studying in vienna to be a great violinist, suddenly realizes that her money is almost gone. she meets a young ambitious doctor who offers her chivalry and sympathy, and together with world-worn dr. anna and jimmie, the waif, they share their love and slender means. booth tarkington's novels seventeen. illustrated by arthur william brown. no one but the creator of penrod could have portrayed the immortal young people of this story. its humor is irresistible and reminiscent of the time when the reader was seventeen. penrod. illustrated by gordon grant. this is a picture of a boy's heart, full of the lovable, humorous, tragic things which are locked secrets to most older folks. it is a finished, exquisite work. penrod and sam. illustrated by worth brehm. like "penrod" and "seventeen," this book contains some remarkable phases of real boyhood and some of the best stories of juvenile prankishness that have ever been written. the turmoil. illustrated by c. e. chambers. bibbs sheridan is a dreamy, imaginative youth, who revolts against his father's plans for him to be a servitor of big business. the love of a fine girl turns bibbs' life from failure to success. the gentleman from indiana. frontispiece. a story of love and politics,--more especially a picture of a country editor's life in indiana, but the charm of the book lies in the love interest. the flirt. illustrated by clarence f. underwood. the "flirt," the younger of two sisters, breaks one girl's engagement, drives one man to suicide, causes the murder of another, leads another to lose his fortune, and in the end marries a stupid and unpromising suitor, leaving the really worthy one to marry her sister. kathleen norris' stories sisters. frontispiece by frank street. the california redwoods furnish the background for this beautiful story of sisterly devotion and sacrifice. poor, dear, margaret kirby. frontispiece by george gibbs. a collection of delightful stories, including "bridging the years" and "the tide-marsh." this story is now shown in moving pictures. josselyn's wife. frontispiece by c. allan gilbert. the story of a beautiful woman who fought a bitter fight for happiness and love. martie, the unconquered. illustrated by charles e. chambers. the triumph of a dauntless spirit over adverse conditions. the heart of rachael. frontispiece by charles e. chambers. an interesting story of divorce and the problems that come with a second marriage. the story of julia page. frontispiece by c. allan gilbert. a sympathetic portrayal of the quest of a normal girl, obscure and lonely, for the happiness of life. saturday's child. frontispiece by f. graham cootes. can a girl, born in rather sordid conditions, lift herself through sheer determination to the better things for which her soul hungered? mother. illustrated by f. c. yohn. a story of the big mother heart that beats in the background of every girl's life, and some dreams which came true. james oliver curwood's stories of adventure kazan the tale of a "quarter-strain wolf and three-quarters husky" torn between the call of the human and his wild mate. baree, son of kazan the story of the son of the blind grey wolf and the gallant part he played in the lives of a man and a woman. the courage of captain plum the story of the king of beaver island, a mormon colony, and his battle with captain plum. the danger trail a tale of snow, of love, of indian vengeance, and a mystery of the north. the hunted woman a tale of the "end of the line," and of a great fight in the "valley of gold" for a woman. the flower of the north the story of fort o' god, where the wild flavor of the wilderness is blended with the courtly atmosphere of france. the grizzly king the story of thor, the big grizzly who lived in a valley where man had never come. isobel a love story of the far north. the wolf hunters a thrilling tale of adventure in the canadian wilderness. the gold hunters the story of adventure in the hudson bay wilds. the courage of marge o'doone filled with exciting incidents in the land of strong men and women. back to god's country a thrilling story of the far north. the great photoplay was made from this book. ralph connor's stories of the northwest the sky pilot in no man's land the clean-hearted, strong-limbed man of the west leaves his hills and forests to fight the battle for freedom in the old world. black rock a story of strong men in the mountains of the west. the sky pilot a story of cowboy life, abounding in the freshest humor, the truest tenderness and the finest courage. the prospector a tale of the foothills and of the man who came to them to lend a hand to the lonely men and women who needed a protector. the man from glengarry this narrative brings us into contact with elemental and volcanic human nature and with a hero whose power breathes from every word. glengarry school days in this rough country of glengarry, ralph connor has found human nature in the rough. the doctor the story of a "preacher-doctor" whom big men and reckless men loved for his unselfish life among them. the foreigner a tale of the saskatchewan and of a "foreigner" who made a brave and winning fight for manhood and love. corporal cameron this splendid type of the upright, out-of-door man about which ralph connor builds all his stories, appears again in this book. the novels of grace livingston hill lutz the best man through a strange series of adventures a young man finds himself propelled up the aisle of a church and married to a strange girl. a voice in the wilderness on her way west the heroine steps off by mistake at a lonely watertank into a maze of thrilling events. the enchanted barn every member of the family will enjoy this spirited chronicle of a young girl's resourcefulness and pluck, and the secret of the "enchanted" barn. the witness the fascinating story of the enormous change an incident wrought in a man's life. marcia schuyler a picture of ideal girlhood set in the time of full skirts and poke bonnets. lo, michael! a story of unfailing appeal to all who love and understand boys. the man of the desert an intensely moving love story of a man of the desert and a girl of the east pictured against the background of the far west. phoebe deane a tense and charming love story, told with a grace and a fervor with which only mrs. lutz could tell it. dawn of the morning a romance of the last century with all of its old-fashioned charm. a companion volume to "marcia schuyler" and "phoebe deane." "storm country" books by grace miller white judy of rogues' harbor judy's untutored ideas of god, her love of wild things, her faith in life are quite as inspiring as those of tess. her faith and sincerity catch at your heart strings. this book has all of the mystery and tense action of the other storm country books. tess of the storm country it was as tess, beautiful, wild, impetuous, that mary pickford made her reputation as a motion picture actress. how love acts upon a temperament such as hers--a temperament that makes a woman an angel or an outcast, according to the character of the man she loves--is the theme of the story. the secret of the storm country the sequel to "tess of the storm country," with the same wild background, with its half-gypsy life of the squatters--tempestuous, passionate, brooding. tess learns the "secret" of her birth and finds happiness and love through her boundless faith in life. from the valley of the missing a haunting story with its scene laid near the country familiar to readers of "tess of the storm country." rose o' paradise "jinny" singleton, wild, lovely, lonely, but with a passionate yearning for music, grows up in the house of lafe grandoken, a crippled cobbler of the storm country. her romance is full of power and glory and tenderness. eleanor h. porter's novels just david the tale of a loveable boy and the place he comes to fill in the hearts of the gruff farmer folk to whose care he is left. the road to understanding a compelling romance of love and marriage. oh, money! money! stanley fulton, a wealthy bachelor, to test the dispositions of his relatives, sends them each a check for $ , , and then as plain john smith comes among them to watch the result of his experiment. six star ranch a wholesome story of a club of six girls and their summer on six star ranch. dawn the story of a blind boy whose courage leads him through the gulf of despair into a final victory gained by dedicating his life to the service of blind soldiers. across the years short stories of our own kind and of our own people. contains some of the best writing mrs. porter has done. the tangled threads in these stories we find the concentrated charm and tenderness of all her other books. the tie that binds intensely human stories told with mrs. porter's wonderful talent for warm and vivid character drawing. _ask for complete free list of g. & d. popular copyrighted fiction_ grosset & dunlap, publishers, new york provided by the internet archive a voyage to the arctic in the whaler aurora by david moore lindsay, f. r. g. s. "our infant winter sinks, divested of its grandeur, should our eye astonish'd shoot into the frigid zone." boston: dana estes & company publishers [illustration: ] [illustration: ] [illustration: ] dedicated to sir thomas myles a voyage to the arctic in the whaler aurora chapter i--introduction the following is little more than a diary of a voyage made by me on the whaler _aurora_ of dundee in . i cannot imagine its being read by many, as the subject can only interest a few who have themselves gone down to the sea in ships. the arctic whaling industry is i fear becoming a thing of the past, and this prompts me to have the record of our successful voyage printed. some mention has been made of the greely relief expedition, as the relief ships were with the whalers during the passage to cape york from newfoundland. we were not brought in contact with the _chieftain_ at all during the cruise, but i have told the story of her disaster, as it was the most unfortunate occurrence of the year amongst the arctic whalers, and for the data i am very much indebted to the _dundee advertiser_ and to mr. allen bell and mr. harvey of that paper for the trouble they have taken about it. i am also indebted to mr. robert kinnis of dundee for much interesting whaling information in the appendix. as that gentleman possesses the records of all catches taken by british ships for more than a hundred years, he is in a position to supply very valuable data on the subject. mr. walter kinnis kindly supplied me with many photographs, as did dr. crawford, formerly of the _arctic_, and captain murray of dundee. it has given me great pleasure recalling the scenes described. as i was very young at the time of the voyage they produced an indelible impression. often since have i longed for a few weeks in lancaster sound, and to hear once more the inspiring shout "a fall!" being fond of adventure, and having read as many works on the subject as most boys of my age, it was with great pleasure that i looked forward to hearing a lecture delivered by commander cheyne, r.n. i was then at school, and our tutor thought it would be an education for us to hear him. the lecture was to me intensely interesting and the illustrations splendid. for days after i could not think of anything else. during study at night, i used to spend a good deal of time looking at a map of the arctic seas, and picturing melville bay with its dangers. after leaving school, and while at college, i read walter scott's "pirate." it told about the orkneys and shetlands, and its frequent allusions to the whaling industry set me thinking. i found myself often repeating: "the ship, well laden as barque need be, lies deep in the furrow of the iceland sea. the breeze for zetland blows fair and soft and gaily the garland is fluttering aloft. seven good fishes have spouted their last, and their jawbones are hanging from yard and mast; two are for lerwick, and two for kirkwall, and three for burgh-westra, the choicest of all." as there was no immediate chance of going to greenland, why not see shetland? so when the summer holidays came, i made my way to edinburgh with two friends who had also read the "pirate." we found that steamers sailed from leith and that the best of the fleet, the _st. magnus_, would leave the next morning at six, so we took passage in her and visited orkney and shetland, thoroughly enjoying being off the beaten track. one day we sat on the nab head at lerwick and looked over a calm sea. in the distance a barque could be descried. half an hour later we noticed her much closer, although no sails hung from her yards. then we discovered that while barque rigged she could also steam, and when she anchored we found that she was a whaler, the _eclipse_ of the peter head,--captain gray. we went on board and were shown over the ship. polar bear skins were stretched in frames drying, and we learned that she had , seals on board and bottle-nosed whales, and, what was of far more consequence to me, that she carried a surgeon. years passed; i was a student at the university of edinburgh and had every opportunity of learning about ships sailing from scottish ports. one day in november, , i went to dundee and, leaving the tay bridge station, made my way along the docks to a basin in which were several whalers. they were discharging cargo, and it was unnecessary to see them to know of their presence. two of the ships, though small, were very beautiful to look at. they were the _jan mayen_ and the _nova zembla_. others, the _narwhal, polynia, esquimaux, active_, etc., were not so pretty, but they all had a fascination--they came from the romantic arctic, and i went on board each one. then i visited another dock where three ships lay together. they were the _arctic_, the _aurora_ and the _thetis._ it required no expert to tell that they were vessels of superior quality. i went on board the one nearest the shore, the _thetis_, and interviewed the mate. he told me that all three ships would carry surgeons. the _arctic_ and _thetis_ were bound for davis straits, the _aurora_ for greenland. [illustration: ] the office of the company, wm. steven & son, was near by, so i left the ship very much excited. here was almost a chance to visit the arctic regions. going over to the office, i learned that the captain of a whaler selected his own surgeon, and that captain james fairweather of the _aurora_ had just been there. i obtained his address, and calling a cab, was soon at his house. he was not in, but i waited. seated in a room on the floor of which polar bear rugs were stretched, i began to realize that i was taking a rather serious step without consulting my parents. before long the captain entered, and after a little conversation, i arranged to sail as the _aurora's_ surgeon the following january. so without really meaning to go when i left my rooms in the morning, i found myself in the railway carriage on the way back to edinburgh, booked for an unusual voyage. during the winter i told some friends what i intended to do, and one of them at once went to dundee and secured the _arctic_, the captain of which was an irishman. another was also desirous of going, but said he would wait until i returned and told him how i liked it. however he too went in the end and we met in the north. the _aurora_ was bound for the newfoundland sealing first and afterwards for the greenland whaling; that is to say, she would fish for bottlenosed whales on the east side of greenland in the seas around jan mayen and spitzbergen and make a shorter voyage of it than the davis straits ships. to prepare myself for the experience i read what i could about greenland, and was fascinated by the prospect of seeing its icy mountains and possibly some of its inhabitants; while the very word spitzbergen suggested to me polar bears and icebergs. in january, , a letter from the captain told me he would sail about the end of the month and requested me to be in dundee by the th. [illustration: ] i bought a lot of unnecessary clothing, such as pilot-cloth suits lined with flannel. when the flannel became wet afterwards it wonderfully altered the fit of the things, so i removed it with my knife. i also laid in a supply of literature, arms and ammunition, and left the waverley station at six on the morning of the th. arriving at dundee, i went to a hotel and then to the office, where i met the captain, and went with him to the place where the men were signing on. here i heard some one reading rapidly a lot about the nature of the voyage and what we would have to eat. when i left the building, i was a legal member of the _aurora's_ crew for the coming cruise, and my rating was that of surgeon, with pay as follows: £. s. d monthly pay oil money per ton bone per ton seal skins per , i had to furnish my own cabin and to pay the market price for any trophy of my own shooting which i wanted to keep. as our voyage was in pursuit of arctic animals and as i was a member of the crew sent for that purpose, of course this was quite right. it was possible for me to increase the above pay by being in fast boats. let me explain what i mean: when a boat first strikes a fish it is called a fast boat; and if the whale is killed, every one in the boat receives what is called striking money. the harpooner gets ten shillings for putting in the gun harpoon, and ten and six pence for the hand, or a guinea for both, while every member of the crew receives half a crown in either case. it was my good fortune during the following eight months to increase my wages by two shillings and six pence in this way. having fixed terms and other details i went on board the ship which was to be my home for some months to come. she was a pretty auxiliary barque of tons registered. her engines were about a hundred horse power. she had a top-gallant forecastle and a raised poop. running forward from the poop was the engine room skylight, which ended at the funnel casing, and steps led from the poop to the main deck on each side of it. the funnel was painted buff, the ship outside was black, and the bulwarks inside white and blue. the bridge was across the engine room skylight and in front of the mizzenmast, an iron railing around the poop, offering no protection from the weather, while a companion opened aft in front of our two wheels. the pretty little cabin was furnished in pitch pine and leather. the captain's room occupied the starboard side, while mine was on the port, both opening into the cabin. forward of my room was that occupied by the first and second mates, and this looked into the passage at the foot of the stairs. forward of the passage was the pantry and also the engineer's room. a locker in which things were stowed occupied the stern and opened into the cabin. forward of the cabin table was a stove in which there was a cheerful fire, and in the square skylight hung a bird's cage and a garland, also some plants. finding out what i wanted for my room, i went into the town, ordered the things and had them sent down. _january _. two acquaintances, whose identity i may indicate by the initials h. and p., turned up this day to see me off. i took them over the ship, but they were not very enthusiastic. we afterwards went around the docks and saw the other whalers getting ready for sea. quantities of marmalade and dozens of hams were being put on board the _esquimaux_. two of the whalers had already departed, the _narwhal_ and _polynia_, while others were not starting for a week to come; but as there were uncertainties about the western ocean's passage in winter, captain fairweather had decided not to wait longer than the st. it snowed a little, which made the docks look dreary. i met the captain's wife on board during the afternoon, also his brother, who had command of the _thetis_. the following day armitage arrived. he brought me a big meerschaum pipe, and was delighted with the ship, so pleased that he visited many others to see if he could not secure a berth on one of them. but those carrying surgeons had their medical officers engaged. we wandered around the docks all the morning and at noon i went on board. the _aurora_ left the dock at one p. m. and anchored for a short time in the river to pick up a few belated and more or less incapable members of the crew, and to land some stowaways. my friends stood on the dockhead with hundreds of others to see us off, and as we passed through the gate, old shoes, oranges and other things were thrown on board. [illustration: ] i was walking about the poop with my hands deep in the pockets of my pilot coat and looking at the sea of faces on the dock, when, stumbling over a chain, down i came with a crash in the most ignominious way. however a stumble and fall on board a whaler putting to sea generally passes unnoticed; one would attract more attention by standing up all the time! thus the voyage began,--my position flat on deck, being in keeping with the best traditions of the trade! chapter ii--voyage to newfoundland "a thousand miles from land are we, tossing about on the roaring sea; from billow to bounding billow cast like fleecy snow on the stormy blast." |steaming down the river we landed quite a lot of stowaways at broughty perry about . p. m., just as it was becoming dark. tea was served at five,--my first meal on board the _aurora_. the captain and myself sat on the starboard side of the table. wm. adam, the mate, alexander mckechnie, second mate, and wm. smith, chief engineer, sat on the other side. immediately after tea, i went to my room as we were crossing the bar and going out into a gale of wind. everything was tumbling about, and knowing that in a very short time i should lose all interest in my surroundings, i began making things secure. there were two berths. my bed was in the upper as it had a porthole, and most of my belongings were stowed in the lower. a lot of tobacco had become loose, so i put the little packages of it between my bed and the side of the ship. the port was not screwed very tight and leaked badly for a week or so. this saturated the tobacco and generated an odor which added nothing to my comfort. the motion becoming very pronounced, i turned in, and being tired, slept well. [illustration: ] _february st_. footsteps overhead and the singing of shanties on deck awoke me at daybreak, but i was intensely ill, so stayed in bed all day. my room was illuminated by a small light set in the deck overhead and by a partially submerged port, so it was not cheerful. above my head there was a book shelf. i tried to read, but could not feel interested as it was so very depressing to look forward to months and months of this sort of thing. matters grew worse as the day went on, the climax being reached when rounding duncansby head; but respite came about midnight, when we crept into long hope and let go our anchor. _february nd._ shouting and crying awoke me in the morning, and opening the door of my cabin, i saw the captain teaching two boys that the sea was a bad place to run away to. they had been under an upturned boat and the seas coming on board had almost drowned them out. each boy promised that he would never do it again. they were given two tins of mutton and a small sack of ship's bread, and put on shore. long hope is a well sheltered harbor, between the islands of hoy and south walls. there was a pronounced smell of turf smoke about the place and the land was half covered with snow. two other whalers were at anchor near by, the _narwhal_ and _polynia._ they had left dundee ten days before us and bad been weather bound here for that length of time. i brought my gun up as there were some richardson's skuas flying about, but i did not get a shot at one. the mate, however, shot a herring gull with it and this was the first splash of the ocean of blood shed by us during the voyage. breakfast was a cheerful meal and the horrors of the north sea were soon forgotten. at noon, the tide being favorable and the wind having gone down greatly, we all three steamed out into the pentland firth. the _polynia_ was the first to move; i heard her anchor chain clanking on board to a well-sung shanty. we started next, and as there were some good voices forward we tried to outdo the others. the _narwhal_ followed, never to return, as she was lost during the summer. turning brims ness sharp, we kept on the orcadian side of the firth; and after passing turn ness, we laid our course for cape wrath. across the water we could barely make out thurso. the land lies rather low about the mouth of the thurso river; but on the hoy side the scenery was fine and we soon sighted the old man of hoy. during my trip to orkney and shetland a few years before, i had spent several days on this island, so was interested in seeing it now from the sea on this dismal february afternoon. its sombre cliffs are always grand, but the present atmospheric condition made the scene impressive. [illustration: ] the old man of hoy, in the simple language of the guide book, is, "an insular pillar composed of flagstones and shales. across their denuded edges there stretches the band of amygdaloidal lava which is capped by the red sandstones to the height of four hundred fifty feet." i could make out the ward hill, but clouds lay low on its summit. near there i had visited the celebrated dwarfie stone made famous by scott in his "pirate." it is a huge block of rock twenty-two feet by seventeen and seven deep. there is a passage in it with a bed like a ship's berth hewn out on each side, and it had been, of course, the home of a trold. i turned my back on this land of trolds, and went down the quarter-hatch to see the second mate serving out lime-juice, tea, coffee, tobacco and sugar to the men. i heard their names called and had a good look at them as they came up. our crew was a fine looking lot and the most respectable body of men one could find on any ship, unlike the new bedford or san francisco south sea whalers, which carried very mixed crews of every color. most of our men had spent the greater part of their lives in greenland waters, and though not well informed on current topics and very superstitious, they were self-respecting to a degree and absolutely fearless, and they were all of the same nationality. of course, life on board a whaler is much pleasanter than on any other sort of merchantman, because the ships are well found and the crews very large so that, except when actually engaged in sealing or whaling, they have an easy enough time. the captains in the trade were very humane men, many of them scientific, and they treated their crews well. amongst the harpooners were often found men who had themselves commanded ships and whose stars, no doubt, would again be in the ascendancy. a few unsuccessful years, or the loss of a ship or two, would probably cost a man his command, and bad luck cannot be avoided. before the second mate had finished serving out i retired, as the ship was beginning to feel the heavy swell that was coming in, and by six p. m. i was absolutely "under the weather," and it was blowing hard from the northwest. we passed cape wrath about midnight. the following day a strong gale was blowing with snow and the engines were slowed down. _february th_. blowing a gale, reefed mizzen set and main topmast staysail, with the engines slowed down. during the morning a man was hurt. he was carried aft and held on the cabin table while i--very ill--and also held, sewed his scalp and dressed the wound. _february th_. strong gale. ship under reefed mizzen and main staysail, steaming slow. high sea running and sun obscured all day. this applies to the state of affairs on the th, th, th, th and th, during all of which time i enjoyed the horrors of _mal de mer_. i saw by the log that we had spent our days under fore and afters with a heavy sea running, but i made no original observations, keeping in my berth all the time, wondering during my conscious moments what brought me to sea and vowing that i would never set foot on a vessel again if spared this time. the ship's dog (jock) was a rather sociable and sympathetic collie. he spent a good deal of time with me, and i could not help admiring the old chap when i knew that he really did not belong to any one, but always turned up on the _aurora_ about sailing time and made the voyage with her. at st. john's, jock had lots of friends and visited a good deal, but he was always on board on sailing day. _february th_. a mere shadow of my former self, i got up and did not feel ill. my wash basin was in one corner of the room. i put my head against the corner above it and by sticking one foot against the side of the door and another against the lower berth, was able to apply a little water to my face, but the swing of the ship was so great that it swished nearly every drop out of the basin. i dressed and went to breakfast, feeling absolutely well and ravenously hungry. after breakfast, tucking my breeches inside my sea boots, i went on deck. the door opened aft. as i came out, the stem of the vessel sank low as the bows rose on the sea, and i saw a black mountain of water rolling from us. getting to the mizzen rigging on the port side, i put my arms in the shrouds and stood on a spar lashed on deck. it was very dark for the hour and blowing the greatest storm that i had ever experienced, the wind fairly shrieking through the rigging. we were steaming half speed and had a reefed mizzen and main staysail set. looking forward, i saw the little ship taking tons of dark water over her bows. it came off the forecastle in a cataract, and rushing aft between the engine room and bulwarks, it surged upon the poop. we only had a few feet of free board and were making terrible weather of it. the atmosphere was full of water, as the tops of the waves were blown off in sheets. a great splash came over the quarter about this time and fairly engulfed me. then i learned that it was better to wear one's sea boots inside instead of outside the trousers. this was sufficient for the day, so i retired below to change and dry. during the evening, the captain showed me our position on a chart which was glued to the cabin table under the cloth. we were not yet half way across. the th, th and th were all equally awful, but i had my sea legs and a good appetite, so was thankful. the only pleasure i had was standing on the bridge and watching the ship burying her bows into the big seas and the water coming in tons over the forecastle and filling the main deck. she was indeed a wet ship in bad weather. _february th_. the captain said that he had never seen a lower barometer. a great gale was blowing and the ship was hove to. bags of oil had been put out on the weather side, but the oil did not escape with sufficient freedom so they were hauled in and a lot of punctures made with a knife, but this did not improve matters much. it rendered the sea comparatively smooth to leeward and there was not so much spray flying, but tons of water tumbled over us and we spent a dreadful day. i tried the deck for awhile, but it was dangerous. at night the ship was laboring fearfully and continued to do so for days. _february th_. another fearful day. i had occasion to visit the topgallant forecastle to see the ship-keeper, who had hurt his knee. there was a line from the forecastle door to the main rigging for safety, as one was almost sure to be caught by a sea while going the length of the deck. two men came aft for me, and watching our chance, we reached the forecastle safe. coming back, i decided to try it alone, so waited until a tremendous sea had broken over us, then before she had time to take another, i made a dash, but a body of water splashed over the starboard side and forced me to climb up the inside of the main rigging and stay there until some of it swept off the deck. towards night the wind began to moderate a little. _february st_. pitching and tossing as usual. cloudy, but not much wind; a nasty sea, however, and the canvas did not hold her steady. really in a heavy gale the storm holds a ship down to some extent. the next day, however, the weather had moderated, so i tried stoking and managed quite well. i also tried changing a fire, which was not such a success, but i kept steam up and it was an interesting experience. an end comes to all things. on the morning of the rd the ship for the first time was on an even keel and some sun was shining through my deck light. hitherto attempts at washing had been unsatisfactory, as the motion of the ship in a sea was so quick. now, however, i indulged in a complete toilet, and with a feeling of self-respect went on deck. the day was cloudless and beautiful, the sea smooth as glass, and dotted over it were white specks of ice. in a very short time the pieces of ice became more numerous and larger, and when we were at breakfast we heard and felt the ship crushing and bumping amongst them. by eleven a. m. a breeze came up from the southeast and all sail was set, but by noon the ship stuck hard and fast in the ice, and presented to me a wonderful and beautiful sight. every stitch of canvas was set and drawing, and the engine going full speed, but still for a time we did not move. now was my chance to walk about on the frozen sea, so i went out with the dog and we both enjoyed a race, keeping very close, however, for at any moment the aurora might move. we came on board when the mate called, as a crack was appearing ahead of the ship. we were now two hundred twenty miles from st. john's, and expected to be in ice all the way. during the afternoon i went up to the foretop and valentine thoroughly enjoyed a half hour gazing at the wonderful scene. we were very seldom stuck for any length of time, a few bumps from the ship being generally sufficient to open a crack. [illustration: ] a great many of the men were on deck most of the day, and certainly she was a heavily manned ship with her crew of sixty-five. six of them belonged to the engine room, eight were harpooners, who lived in the topgallant forecastle, as did some of our tradesmen. of these we had two carpenters, a cooper, blacksmith, and sailmaker. the specksioneer also lived there. he was the chief of the harpooners, a splendid old man called george lyon. sixteen of our men were from shetland, a quiet, sober, industrious lot. standing on the forecastle, i watched the ship crunching through several miles of young ice. she never actually stopped once. her bows would rise up on it, then huge slabs would tilt on end as she glided on. sometimes a long crack would open and let her slide in to be almost stuck. by degrees she would gain way and probably steam into an open pool, to strike the opposite side with considerable force, thereby opening a crack in which she would repeat the performance. the engine is the secret of ice navigation. with canvas alone we would have been fast in the ice much of the time, while with heavier engines we could have gone through heavier ice. the night was fine, and we managed to keep moving on our course. _february th_ was a glorious day. one would scarcely expect to find such, weather in february in this neighborhood. in the morning we passed through rather smooth ice. occasionally there were large ponds and in many of these i saw seals. sometimes they were plunging about in numbers, but generally a few heads only were visible looking at us inquisitively as we passed. there were no bergs in sight, but during the afternoon we passed some rafted ice which was piled up six or seven feet above the floes, and once we were fast for an hour in a rather heavy place, when i again tried the walking, but there was snow on the ice which was slightly frozen on the surface, and this made it heavy as one went through the crust. towards evening the sky became cloudy; it was very cold, and snow was falling when i turned in for the night. in the morning cape bonavista was in sight. it was my first view of this new world. all land was beautiful to me after a month at sea and this looked so attractive as we neared it that i wanted to settle on it for the rest of my life. however, we passed on, and during the day steamed through the narrows and tied up astern of the _arctic_ on the south side of st. john's harbor at what was known as stevens wharf. the _arctic_ had sailed ten days after us and had made good weather of it as she was a long ship of nearly double our tonnage, but of nothing like our strength of build. the resolute's wooden funnel lute had also arrived. the latter on the way out had lost her funnel, so a pyramidal structure had been erected of wood lined with tin; this answered very well for a time. some of her bulwarks had been carried away, especially forward of the main rigging on the port side. she was a fine ship, strong and well engined, but the north atlantic in winter leaves its mark on the best. [illustration: ] the _resolute_ was owned in st. john's and commanded by a st. john's captain; but she came out from dundee, where she had been overhauled. so ended my first trip across the atlantic, and, until then, the most uncomfortable experience of my life. chapter iii--newfoundland "such are the charms to barren states assyn'd, their wants but few, their wishes all confin'd." |our first possession across the sea was newfoundland, and i made the voyage to it years after john cabot, the discoverer. the _mathew_ of bristol first sighted cape bonavista, which was the first point seen by the _aurora_. cabot was a venetian sailing out of bristol for a time, and for his great discovery, which gave england her vast american possessions, king henry gave john ten pounds a year. cabot is to-day very well thought of, but nothing much is known of what became of him. the name makes an attractive one for a newfoundland dog. i have known several of them bear it, and it is a sort of geographical education to have them running around; but there is not any place of importance in the world called after this great mariner. the coast of the country is forbidding, being rocky and bleak, except around some of the bays; the most beautiful of those seen by me being bay of islands on the west coast, which reminds one of norway. here and in the valley of the humber, which runs into it, there is some very fertile land, and there are some scenes of peace and prosperity. but the general impression i have obtained after several visits to the country, is that life is a struggle for many of the inhabitants compared with what it is in any other colony which we possess. newfoundlanders are true to the land of their birth, but one familiar with north america at large would never think of advising a colonist to push his fortune in this particular part of it, because the opportunities are comparatively few and the winters are too long for any working man to remain idle. in the interior the soil is as a rule shallow; there are thousands and thousands of acres of barrens, hundreds of lakes of different sizes and numbers of streams. great areas of the country are grown over with small timber, the trees being so close together in places that one can hardly push through them. much of the barren country is moss-grown and boggy, so that it cannot be travelled over by horses or mules; therefore, when one leaves the rivers, it is necessary to carry everything on one's back, and, as a result, travel in the interior is not much indulged in by the inhabitants. to add to the pleasure, mosquitoes and their cousins, the black flies, are in swarms. the whole interior is a deer forest of the first magnitude, teeming with caribou (rangi-fer tarandus). these animals weigh about pounds, and they are very gray about the head and shoulders. i have seen them standing among trees which were grown over with bearded moss, when it was difficult to tell the caribou from the trees. some of the heads are splendid with a great deal of palmation and not at all like greenland or polar american caribou in which the palmation is generally poor and the beam long and straggling, probably due to a difference of environment. migrating to the northern part of the island in summer, they return in september and october to winter in the south, and the sportsman intercepting them on their autumnal trip can have his choice of heads. another attraction is the salmon and trout fishing. the rivers, especially on the west coast, are well stocked, white trout being particularly numerous. st. john's harbor is entered through the narrows. on the left, going in, there is the lighthouse; and on the right, or north side, the signal station. on this side is the city, lying at the foot of low hills, its principal street, water street, being parallel with the shore. from it run side streets down to the wharves and up the hill to the residences and churches. the dundee ships lay on the south side, our yard being nearest the narrows. from it a path led out to the lighthouse point. a hundred yards from the ship one was on the hillside and without the pale of everything, because only a narrow fringe of buildings separated the south shore from the wilds. along the water edge, between our ship and the lighthouse, one passed lots of fish flakes. these were constructed of a framework of vertical and horizontal poles covered over with spruce boughs upon which the split codfish were laid after being salted. the air circulated under and around them well and they soon dried. i saw codfish being dried on the beach in shetland, but they were only spread on the shingle. there are no trees in shetland from which poles could be made, but there is less precipitation there than in newfoundland, so the fish dry well upon the shingle. it is over years since the newfoundland fisheries began to be worked. they proved the country's first attraction and there is nothing of the sort in the world like them. for the five years to ' the export of dried cod was , , quintals of pounds. the basques first appeared on the scene and a port on the west coast to-day bears their name, port aux basques. as early as an english shipmaster, on entering st. john's harbor, found eleven ships from norway, one from breton and ten from portugal, all fishing. in looking over the exports for one notices several interesting items; one is, , tons of cod-liver oil, another item is barrels of cods' heads at $ . per barrel. i fancy, however, their use has not become very general yet when we know that only barrels were exported, and that over sixty million cod were killed. when i speak of the cod fishing, i mean the labrador as well as the banks fishery. in fact, the former is probably the more fished of the two by the newfoundlanders. the day after our arrival our ship began discharging cargo, that is to say, taking off our whale-boats and launch, and taking out all supplies for the whaling voyage. then they began sheathing the deck and bulwarks--even the floor of the cabin was covered with plank. bunks were erected for the men in the 'tween decks, all stores removed from the quarter hatch and bunks put in there for the quartermasters, and the crow's-nest was hoisted up and made fast to the main mast, a few feet below the truck. the crow's-nest or barrel was a most comfortable place. one entered through a trap door in the bottom, and when this was closed there was no draught. around the edge of the barrel and sticking out some distance there was an iron rail upon which the glass could rest, the latter being kept in a canvas bag or pocket inside. from there the ship was navigated, a wire going to the engine room and ringing the bell, but orders to the man at the wheel were called down. while these changes were taking place, in company with the surgeon of the _arctic_, i wandered all over st. john's and the neighborhood, and enjoyed the hospitality of many residents. it was some distance around the end of the harbor to the city, but we could skate across if we liked. the weather was intensely cold and the land was covered with deep snow. the _aurora_ having been converted into a sealer, and having taken on board her supplies and exchanged her beautiful whale-boats for a number of very crude looking punts, moved over to the north side of the harbor, and waited for sailing day to take her crew on board. [illustration: ] it may not be out of place to make a few remarks here about seals and sealing generally. most people know that seal fisheries exist, but few have any idea of their extent. the ice-fields of newfoundland and labrador produce more than anywhere else; but greenland, northern europe, the seas around jan mayen, nova zembla and spitzbergen produce also a great harvest, and the fur-bearing seals of the aleutian islands must not be forgotten. sealing on the east coast of greenland is entirely in the hands of natives, but the industry in other places is chiefly prosecuted by europeans and americans. lindeman tells us that in the ports of the weser sent out ships, that in hamburg sent nineteen which took , seals, that in five german ships took , , five danish , , fifteen norwegian , and twenty-two british , ; so this gives one an idea of the extent to which great britain was represented. in the dundee ships alone took , , valued at over £ , . it was the custom for the british sealers to arrive in bressa sound, shetland, about the end of february, and there pick up a considerable part of their crews, getting to the ice about the middle of march. the young seals were in good condition about this time and had not yet taken to the water, so afforded an easy prey to their foes. around newfoundland, sealing has gone on with great profit to all engaged for probably one hundred and fifty years, and a glance at the following table will give some idea of its extent: in , were taken , , , , , , , , roughly, about , every year, the greatest catch being , in . harvey tells us that in there were nearly four hundred vessels of to tons burthen engaged in the industry, employing altogether , men, and that the year's catch was worth $ , , . now, about eight to ten thousand men are engaged, and the seal fishing yields about one-eighth part of the entire exports of the country. steam was first used in and then the sailing ships began to decrease in number. in more than thirty steamers were used, while the sailing ships had become scarce. with the advent of steam, the dundee owners began casting covetous eyes at newfoundland. the western ocean passage could be made early in the year, and the sealing taken in en route to the whaling. it became necessary to arrange with agents at st. john's, or to build yards where the cargo of seals could be taken care of, leaving the vessel free to proceed north. at this time six ships represented dundee. _arctic_, captain guy _narwhal_, captain phillips _aurora_, captain jas. fairweather _polynia_, captain walker _esquimaux_, captain milne _thetis_, captain alex. fairweather the _resolute_, captain jackman, could hardly be called a dundee ship, and it so happened that the thetis went on other business this year; but the above were the usual six. the seals forming our cargo from the newfoundland ice were harps (phoca greenlandica), so called on account of a peculiar mark on each side of the adult, extending from near the shoulder to near the tail, and hoods (cystophora cristata), so called on account of a large inflatable sac on the nose of the male. on our trip to labrador we secured quite a number of hoods, but on our first trip our cargo was practically one of harps. both these species are migratory, coming south in winter and working north in summer as the ice recedes. as the banks of newfoundland swarm with fish, they form a pleasant winter resort for the seals, and are very convenient to the floes on which they spend february and march. harbor seals (phoca vetulini) and square flippers (phoca barbatus) are also found on the coast. the breeding ice of the seal is the goal of every master in the trade, but there are no rules for finding it. one may consider the influence of currents and winds, and may navigate accordingly only to find the seals are not found where expected. in our own case, the captain told me the day we left st. john's that he had no definite idea of where to go. nevertheless we awoke one morning to find ourselves surrounded by hundreds of thousands. [illustration: ] young seals are born on the newfoundland ice february th to th, and are in perfect condition for the market by march th, as they have been well fed by their mothers until then. they are a yellowish white when born and remain so until they begin to take to the water, when the longish white hair is rapidly shed and the young one quickly loses its condition. owing to the exciting nature of the work, a trip to the ice is the desire of nearly every newfoundland boy. the great danger is fog coming down while the men are sealing far from the ship, and next comes the danger of losing the ship and drifting about on the floes until possibly death takes place from cold and starvation. in one hundred men perished, fifty going down with the _huntsman_ on the coast of labrador. the _bloodhound_ and _retriever_ were lost the same year, their crews escaping to battle harbor after terrible hardships. scoresby tells us of the classical disaster which occurred in about sixty miles east of jan mayen. the sealing fleet, consisting of over fifty vessels, met at the ice edge on march the th. the whole fleet entered the ice streams and their boats went off sealing. a storm suddenly arose, destroying five of the ships and injuring many more, while most of the sealers who were far from their ships were never seen again, almost six hundred men being lost. one could not talk to a sealer long without learning of some horrible accident which had occurred to himself or a friend, and while some of them were given to romance, there could be no question about the perils they encountered or about their bravery and endurance. toward the end of february, the sweilers, as they are called, began to arrive in st. john's looking for berths. as the steamers afforded better opportunities, the able men got them, while the older ones took to the sailing craft, where life was not so strenuous. these men were dressed very much alike and were most athletic; some of them were perfectly wonderful in the way they jumped from pan to pan, barely touching some of the smaller ones in passage. the owners did not overfeed the men on these trips, providing them with sea biscuits and pinnacle tea chiefly, pork and duff being served only three days a week and salt fish on fridays. the water from which the tea was brewed was obtained by thawing pinnacles of ice. when ice floes came together they rafted one on to the other and shattered fragments stuck up in all directions. snow piled upon these and was frozen. when water was wanted, a body of men with axes went on the ice and broke off the pinnacles, which were taken on board and stacked on deck. as water was required these were put into a tank and steam turned on. tea was made with this water, and molasses added in place of cream and sugar. our water for the cabin use was not obtained from this source. on steamers the crew received one-third of the catch, on sailing ships one-half. this was made to the newfoundland men only on the dundee ships, the dundee crew getting paid so much a month, as well as a fraction of the catch. when a ship was amongst the white coats, as the young seals were called, the crew lived well, as they ate the livers, hearts and flippers of the seals. the men carried a supply of livers and hearts in their belts and ate them frozen or cooked as opportunity afforded. it is easy to see how little cooking can be done for a crew of three hundred men on a small ship. i have often seen a man tie a cord to a liver and drop it into a pot of tea sitting on the galley stove, drawing it out when warmed up or when the owner of the pot came for his tea. sailing ships were allowed to leave port on march st, but steamers could not clear for the sealing until march th, and the laws were very strictly enforced. it was not unusual for a ship to have her pans of seals pilfered by another ship during a fog, and this often led to legal complications. i have frequently seen our men cut private marks on the fatty sides of the sculps so that they might be identified afterwards. of course, any ship would pick up a pan which had lost its flag. sometimes the sweilers had great luck, being gone only a week or two and coming back with their pockets full. a sculp was worth $ . to $ . , and as the men received one-third of all taken, it amounted to a good deal for them, and as it came oft at a season when there was nothing else being done, it added greatly to its value. ships engaging in this work had to have their hold hulkheaded off so that, should they encounter bad weather, the cargo would not shift. as the _aurora_ was tanked, that was all that was necessary. if the ship were long in reaching port after taking her seals on hoard, the fat might break down and the oil flood everything, unless the ship had tanks. in our case the sculps were on board such a short time that they were as fresh looking when landed as when taken. the fat was separated from the skin on shore by a man with a long knife. he drew a sculp over a board and caught the edge of it with his left hand; using the knife with his right, in a few sweeps he removed all the blubber. this was thrown into a sausage machine and afterwards steamed in tanks to extract the oil, which was refined by exposure to the sun's rays. the oil was used for machinery and in lighthouses, and the skins were made into harness, boots, etc., farmers using the refuse for fertilizing purposes. when one saw this small army of fine looking, hard working and very poor men, he could not help being sorry that their forefathers in emigrating had not gone a little further and settled in canada or the united states, instead of on this inhospitable land. think of how comparatively easy their lives would have been, and what a return they would have reaped for their work. newfoundland meant to every one of them a life of toil with not much more hope than the mother country could have given them. poor soil and a relentless winter mean this as a rule in a country the mineral resources of which have not been developed. chapter iv--newfoundland sealing "the ice was here, the ice was there, the ice was all around; it cracked and growled, and roared and howled, like noises in a swound." _march th_. at five a. m. all was life on board the _aurora_. on awaking, i had coffee, which was in the cabin, and, muffling up well, i went on deck, as it was bitterly cold. the night was cloudy and dark but the ship was illuminated with torches, and on each side of the gangway stood the mate and ice-master, calling the roll. the newfoundland men came on board as their names were called, about three hundred in all, including the quartermasters, who lived down in the quarter-hatch. the men all wore boots made of untanned seal skin, from which the hair had been removed. they were very light and serviceable and came up to the knee. spikes were driven into the soles to prevent slipping on the ice, and the decks were preserved from these by rough plank sheathing. there was great wrangling and disputing, as many of the men had been celebrating the occasion. at six a. m. we cast loose and by degrees broke our way from the wharf. the scene, when the sun arose, was intensely interesting; all the sealing ships were out, trying to crush their way towards the narrows, and, as the harbor was entirely frozen over, this was hard work. two ships, the _resolute_ and the _polynia_, were behind us, and these last sent two or three hundred to assist our newfoundland crew in pulling on a hawser over our bows, while our scotch crew on board ran backwards and forwards across the deck to make the ship roll. this rolling often helped greatly when the ship put her bows in a crack. our method was to go full speed astern for a few yards, and then full speed ahead, the eight or nine hundred men on the ice pulling for all they were worth at the same time, and the _aurora's_ men on board running across the deck to keep up the roll. as there were thousands of men similarly employed on and about the other ships, and as they were all singing, the scene may be imagined. the _nimrod_ and _neptune_ were moving on, well ahead of us, and when we got into their wake, the _aurora_ moved along faster. it was eight bells by the time we passed through the narrows; there the ice was much looser, so we all pushed off in our various directions to look for the breeding haunts of seals. captain fairweather kept a little nearer shore than the others, and by evening there were only a few ships in sight. i retired early, as i had been up for many hours, and even the bumping and thumping of the ship, as she went full speed ahead and full speed astern every few minutes all night, did not keep me awake. _march th_. when i went on deck, a wonderful arctic scene presented itself. a snow storm was raging and the ship looked as though she had been fast there for years. she was literally buried in snow, and the weather was so cold that the snow had frozen on her yards and rigging. the morning was dark and one could not see very far. under the starboard bow the ice was heavy, causing the ship to lie over to port. the wind was from the southeast and had driven the ice in on us. there was a great deal of creaking and crunching from moving floes and the wind made a lot of noise in the rigging. by noon the weather had moderated and the snow ceased; by night the wind was coming from the northeast and the ice slackened, the ship being upon an even keel. of course, snow was not allowed to remain very long on deck, as our big crew had nothing to do but shovel it off. i looked into the 'tween-decks and saw a horrible mess. the bunks were full of men, many playing cards, as each bunk held four. they must have been stifled. for light, lamps burning seal oil were used, and the reek coming from the main hatch would almost have suggested fire. during the night, the ship got under way, and her bumping awoke me several times. _march th_. in the morning, we were again beset. hearing a noise on deck, i went up. on the poop a lot of duffs were lying about like lb. shot. a crowd of angry men could be seen on the main deck and facing them was the captain. a big newfoundland man came up the steps and, breaking a duff in two, held it up and asked the captain to look at it. it was an awkward moment and called for immediate action. but the captain was a man of action, so he planted a blow between the man's eyes and asked him to look at that; the man dropped back dazed and the trouble came to an end at once. the captain told a story at breakfast about a steward once saying that more tea would not be required for the next voyage as he had been boiling the leaves from the cabin and giving it to the crew. an order was at once issued to serve out good tea of the proper strength instead. next morning all hands came aft to complain about the black stuff the cook was serving out, and demanding that proper tea, such as they had been having, should be served. the weather was now fine, and the world very white, the only visible black being a pond of open water half a mile to the east of us. the wind was again from the east and the cold intense; in fact, one could hardly face it on account of small particles of ice driven by it. after breakfast i took my rifle and went to the lee side of the open water. it was perhaps a fourth of a mile long and a hundred and fifty yards wide. every little while a few seals would bob up at one end of the hole and then, giving a few plunges, disappear. i crouched behind a pinnacle for shelter and, watching past the side of it, soon had a shot. i fancied i heard the bullet strike, but the seal disappeared; presently another came. this time i was sure that i saw the water around bloodstained, but there was a ripple and it was difficult to see anything lying low on it. i spent several hours at this work and was perfectly certain i had hit many seals. on one occasion, i saw the side of one i had shot, with the water breaking over it, but presently it disappeared. i knew that at this season the animals would float, and as i was on the lee side, why did they not drift down to me? cold at last drove me back to the _aurora_, and, on relating my experiences, the ice-master told me that i would find the dead animals at the weather side of the hole, as the ice, drifting before the wind, would travel faster than the dead and almost completely submerged seals. so taking a man with me, i had the satisfaction of seeing seven big male harps pulled out, the first i had ever killed and the first secured by the ship. during the afternoon the ice eased off and the ship again proceeded. she was getting along pretty well at bedtime, but not making any particular course. march th. it was about five a. m. when the steward came to my room and lit the lamp. he said we were among the "white coats" and he seemed greatly pleased. i dressed and, going up, found bright moonlight. the ship was hard and fast. in every direction i could hear sounds like the crying of children. i could also see gangs of men on the ice and some coming on board. the men had been taking advantage of the moonlight to begin their work, and all were in splendid spirits, as a full ship meant much to them. about six the whistle sounded for all hands to come on board for breakfast, and after that they were organized into companies, commanded by their own quartermasters, and proceeded about the slaughter in a well regulated manner. each man carried a spruce pole, on the end of which was a sort of boat hook called a "gaff," and each also had a tow rope. the method of proceeding was as follows: a company would go in a certain direction and then scatter. a man would kill four or five whitecoats by hitting them on the head with his gaff. he would pull them together and sculp them, that is, with his sculping knife he would make an incision on the under surface of the body, its entire length, through the skin and fat. how the skin, with its subcutaneous fat, was very loosely adherent to the rest of the body of the young seal, so with a very few sweeps of the knife the body was separated and thrown away. he then made a few holes along each side of the sculp, which was oblong, and through these laced his tow rope. when the four or five had been thus arranged, he towed them to a selected pan, where they were piled with the others, a pole was stuck up, bearing a flag on which was the name of the ship, and this being done, the sealers moved on and established another pan. while the st. john's men were busy with the sealing, the scotch crew remained on the ship, throwing the coal overboard. the ship, leaving newfoundland, took a lot of coal, as she did not know where she might have to go or how long she might be away. in our case, we found the seals at once, so the coal, being of no further use and of no value, compared with the seals, was thrown overboard. i went aloft to have a look at our surroundings. we were in bonavista bay, and in the distance i saw the _neptune_ sealing. she was a large ship and took an enormous cargo. it seemed too bad that these should be the only two vessels in the midst of this harvest. i saw, with the glass, seals by the thousand; they were principally to the north of us, and it was evident that we would fill the ship, unless a gale broke up the ice too soon. astern, i noticed a patch of ice on which there were lots of old harps. getting my rifle and going over to the place, i found a great many seal holes in the ice. i watched. a seal would stick its head out of one and, seeing me, would instantly go down again. this was going on all over the area before me. sitting down, i decided to take the first head presenting itself. by watching any given hole, one would probably very soon have a shot, but it was more exciting to take the heads as they came up. it was very quick shooting and good sport. every time i hit a seal, i killed it, because only the head could be seen. at this season, the animals, being in prime condition, floated; but getting one out of its hole was very difficult. if one turned it around and seized the hind flippers, the fore flippers caught the ice, and there was nothing to take hold of about its head. i found, that by sticking an empty cartridge through the nose and catching this at each side, a man could manage to pull the seal out by throwing himself back. i amused myself at this game until eight bells, when i went on board for dinner and found the captain in splendid spirits. there was every chance of his filling his ship and being first in, and i questioned whether these honors had ever been obtained by any scotch master at the newfoundland sealing before. after dinner, i took a man with me who pulled out the seals and sculped them, hauling them to the ship, which remained fast. the crew got on well with the coal and soon had several tanks cleaned out and ready for the nearest pan, and by night we had about , on board. i went aloft again and saw our pan flags flying in great numbers, while the men were very busy several miles away. after dark, the sealers came on board and reported having killed probably , . many of the men had given themselves bad cuts with their sharp sculping knives, but all were very happy, forward and aft. [illustration: ] _march th_. every one up at dawn. the ship was alongside a pan when i came on deck, and the winch was going all the time, while the orders "heave away port," "heave away starboard," were being constantly given, and every few minutes a bunch of sculps would be hauled on board and thrown below by the men on deck. when this pan was cleaned up, the officer in the barrel directed the ship's course to the next, and so it went, all day long, a portion of the crew working coal as usual. i went aloft and saw our men, five or six miles away, piling up our cargo. in the afternoon, i went off: in the direction the men were and fortunately i had a gaff: with me. i had on very thick clothes and a pilot jacket over all. when about a mile from the ship, and while walking over a nice, smooth piece of ice, i noticed that it was bending under me. i turned and was getting back to the hummocks, when i went through. fortunately, the gaff caught on both sides and i only went in up to my arms, so was able to climb out. the cold of the water was intense and i had a fright. before reaching the ship, my clothes were frozen hard. one great comfort about the _aurora_ was that she was a steamer, so when any accidents of this kind occurred, it was a great thing, having the top of the boiler to retire to. here one had warmth at any rate. as there was nothing much separating the top of our boiler from the stoke hole, there was a deposit of ashes and soot, but a little thing like that did not much trouble a man fished out of a frozen sea. it was cold and dark when the sealers began coming on board and a fog was settling down, so about nine p. m. we were quite uneasy over some who bad not turned up. the whistle sounded frequently, and it was a relief when the last appeared. some were really very much exhausted and were given rum. we took on board about five thousand seals and the men had killed many thousand more. _march th_. a snow storm blowing, so the men could not go to the sealing, and very little new work was accomplished. however, the ship managed to reach a lot of her pans, and the newfoundland men hauled the sculps from others farther away, so that by night, four thousand more were on board. coal was worked energetically all day. the barometer was rising at night and the snow had ceased, so the weather looked more settled. _march th_. sealers away when i came on deck, and our own crew very busy with the seals and coal. the ice showed a lot of leads and there were seals in the open ponds, so i spent my time at them with the rifle and had some good shooting. at dinner the mate told us we had taken on board over three thousand sculps and by night two thousand more were added to these. about sixteen thousand five hundred were now on board. i spent some time aloft. the glare from the ice was fearfully trying as the sun was very bright. owing to the open character of the ice, we followed the sealers quite well. we found several of our pans broken by the weight of seals on them; in every case we saw sharks in the open water beside the broken pan. once the ship had her engines going ahead to keep her bows against the ice, while she took seals on board (i was looking over the rail aft), when i saw a shark gliding up to the propeller. it hit him on the side and cut a flap out about two feet long. he swam about with this mass hanging from him for awhile and then went back to the propeller, which finished him with an awful gash across the neck. this was the only one i saw killed. the night was clear and the men had no difficulty in getting on board. [illustration: ] march th. it was blowing and the ice was rather tight; there was also some snow, so the sealers were employed bringing sculps on board, as pans were being broken. i saw one split in two. half the sculps had been lost in the water, and there were numbers of sharks around. a man stuck his gaff into one several times, and it did not appear to mind. it was difficult getting the seals on board as the heavy snow squalls prevented our seeing the leads. however, twenty-five hundred more were secured from broken pans in our immediate neighborhood. the ship was drifting south all the time; and the _neptune_ was still in sight when it cleared in the afternoon. _march th._ all hands up early and a good start made. nearly all the coal over the side. i watched the men bringing on board pinnacles in the morning. as they had been sealing steadily for a week and had not paid much attention to their toilets, sleeping in their clothes, etc., and as each one had a fringe of frozen livers sticking in his belt, and the sheathed decks were soaking in oil, the pinnacles had a chance of acquiring a nutritious quality which must have given body to the tea manufactured out of them. however, the men did not mind, and as our cabin supply of water was all right, i did not mind either. the ship picked up a lot of pans and added five thousand more to our collection. towards evening it became foggy and cold, and we had several frights about men being lost. one fellow came on board and stated that he had seen so and so two miles from the ship, unable to proceed. some rum was given to him and with a couple of others he started off to bring the exhausted one in. all were on board safely by nine p. m. there was no doubt but that often the rum served out found its way into throats that were far from being too weak to swallow, but such dreadful accidents have occurred that one acts on the safe side. there was no abuse of liquor on board the _aurora_, but the captain did not hesitate to supply it when absolutely necessary. _march th._ a nice day for sealing, as there was no difficulty getting about to the pans. we brought on board about two thousand, and the ship was practically full. now we began to clear out the 'tween-decks and to throw the men's bunks overboard. they did not object to a few days of supreme discomfort because they received one-third of the catch. we had the bunkers filled with coal and a lot of sacks piled upon the poop, and every available place was cleared out for this valuable cargo. the ship began to look dirty, as she had scraped off her paint, and the coal dust and oil bad been liberally applied. [illustration: ] it began to blow in the afternoon, with snow squalls. all the men were on board in good time. during the day i caught a young seal. it had shed nearly all its long white hair and the short, silvery coat underneath looked very pretty. i amused myself plucking the balance of the original coat. the seal appeared to enjoy it. it was killed accidentally a few days later. _march th_. blowing bard with snow squalls. a number of pans were broken and many sculps lost, but we secured all we wanted; about one thousand came on board and the 'tween-decks were nearly full. march st. a fine day, but the ship beset, so we cleaned up and finished off the 'tween-decks; then we put all on deck that we thought the ship would carry. this would not have been done had the ship had to go any distance, but all the time we were sealing we had been drifting south, so that we were now a very short distance from st. john's. the captain and mate would stand on the ice and look her over and then decide that perhaps she would carry a few more, and so on, until there was not much of the _aurora's_ bull above the water. the ice opened in the afternoon and we laid our course for st. john's, steaming half speed. the ship was decorated with flags, the men cheering and singing--at least two hundred of them without shelter; they stood upon the forecastle head and among the sculps on deck. the wind had died away and it was a beautiful afternoon. there were plenty of leads and the ice becoming more open every hour. _march nd_. during the night we passed through baccalieu tickle and in the morning we were close to the coast. as we steamed through the narrows, the men climbed the rigging and cheered. we had accomplished a wonderful thing. the ship was the first in of the year, and was also full. soon we were tied up at our old berth on the south side, and our crew were busy discharging our cargo of about twenty-eight thousand seals. each young seal counted one in settling with the crew and each old seal counted two; of course, an old seal took up much more room than two young ones, and on a voyage like this, where the ship could be filled with young, the crew were not anxious to kill old ones. on our two trips, the _aurora_ actually killed , , but the crew were paid for , . chapter v--the labrador sealing "now, brothers, for the icebergs of frozen labrador floating spectral in the moonshine, along the low black shore! when the mist the rock is hiding and the sharp reef lurks below and the white squall smites in summer, and the autumn tempests blow." |the work of discharging our cargo began at once--first the sculps on deck, then those in the 'tween-decks and then those in the tanks. thereafter the ship was given a rough cleaning; new berths were erected in the 'tween-decks and quarter-hatch but not so many as before. the bunkers and tanks were coaled and then we cast about for a crew. all the seals taken on this second cruise would have to be shot, so we did not expect to bring back very many; but the _aurora_ had her own scotch crew under pay, and they had to be fed, so she might as well be at sea picking up a few seals as lying in the harbor waiting for may st. it was not so very easy finding a crew as they would have little to eat and could not possibly earn much money. however, at last we were ready and on wednesday, april nd, sailed. we had heard nothing of the _arctic_, and very little of any of the other ships. the _neptune_ came in after us with about , , which was a tremendous cargo, but she was a big ship. there was much more room with our reduced newfoundland crew, and we steamed out of the narrows for the second time with the ship very much more comfortable than on the first occasion. [illustration: ] i must say the appearance of the _aurora_ at this time was disreputable in the extreme. the paint had been scraped off by the ice, and the filthy sheathing covered the decks, while the fragrant bilge water flowed from her side in a pellucid stream. the captain told me that he intended following the seals which were going north towards labrador and that he expected to fall in with great herds of year-olds, called bedlamers. we left port after breakfast and steamed out onto a calm sea, shaping our course north. during the afternoon we saw patches of ice scattered about and when night came we slowed down and kept a bright lookout. _april nd_ was a blustery day with occasional snow showers. there was no sea, however, to tumble the ship about as there was a good deal of ice. we were easily able to avoid the fields by steaming around them. some were very heavy looking, having quantities of rafted ice on them. towards night, it became calm and thick. _april th_. steamed dead slow all night as it was thick. in the morning the sea was calm but still foggy. this was pea-soup day. we always had pea soup on fridays; we also always had fish for breakfast; it was salt cod. the salt was taken out in some way and then the fish was cut into very small pieces and boiled with broken up sea biscuits and butter, pepper, etc. i have never tasted anything so good since. in fact, i have never since tasted anything so good as the food on the whaler after the first month. there was an absurd arrangement about our meals; it was all right at sea, but in greenland, when we walked about during the night perhaps as much as during the day, it was distressing. breakfast was at eight, dinner at noon, and tea at five; there was no regulation meal between five p. m. and eight a. m. i modified this by having a special meal at eleven p. m. at that time i took a pot of coffee from the galley and retired to the pantry for a quiet half hour. _april th_. the day was fine. a good deal of ice was in sight and occasional seals could be seen. when one was seen ahead, or a few points on either bow, the ship bore down upon it. as we came close, the seal would first raise its head to see what was coming, then raise its body upon its flippers and stare. a number of men with rifles were always on the forecastle head and of this number i was generally one. if some one did not try too long a shot and frighten it, we always killed the seal. we had a large number of punts on board and one was towed astern in the daytime and with it every seal was picked up. they all counted. some days we had very good sport and i enjoyed it. _april th. sunday_. huff day. we had plum pudding on sundays and thursdays. the puddings were not round, but oval. the steward made delicious sauce out of condensed milk and, of course, we had the spartan sauce with everything. the captain was very consistent in his observation of sunday--no unnecessary work was done on that day. if there were whales, we fished, but i never saw a man kept at work on sunday if it could be avoided. this day we did the usual shooting from the forecastle head. the temptation to shoot first was dreadful. i dare say we picked up fifteen or twenty seals. this was a sad sunday because of the death of our canary. i was in the cabin when jack, the steward, discovered the fact. he immediately took the seed box out of the cage to the pantry, filled it and brought it back. captain fairweather came down shortly after to breakfast and immediately noticed the absence of the bird, as it was always hopping about and making a noise. jack was called. a look of surprise came over his face when asked about the canary and he immediately climbed on to the seat and, looking into the cage, said, with tears in his eyes, "oh, sir, the poor wee bird is deid;" adding, as he pulled out the drawer, "well, it is not for want of plenty to eat." i don't think for a moment that the bird died of starvation, but jack wanted to simplify the post-mortem inquiry by eliminating that possibility. our steward was a remarkable man and eminently qualified by nature for his position. he could produce a look of absolute innocence or of sympathy at a moment's notice; his _suaviter in modo_ would have fitted him for the diplomatic service; and as a dreamer he was without a peer. [illustration: ] there is a great knack about dreaming. to make a reputation and keep it up even on a whaler requires the judgment of a delphic priest. it was the presence of jack, the steward, that gave the atmosphere of a home to the _aurora's_ cabin and we all liked him. _april th._ i saw a most interesting thing today. it was an old dog hood; to call it cystophora cristata might give the describer some relief; but it would convey no idea of this angry-looking creature as he reared up and gazed at us. how we all resisted firing until he had exhibited himself, i don't know; but when he was looking perfectly terrible and fifty yards away, a dozen copper-nosed bullets found their billets about his head and neck. he was / feet long and a tremendous size around the shoulders. the bag on his head, when fully distended, must have stood eight or nine inches, and extended from the muzzle to four inches behind the eyes. the hood is only found on the male. it is considered ornamental by the females of the same species, but horrible looking by all other animals, i am sure. the beast added about pounds to our little cargo, but the animal, skin and all, certainly weighed seven or eight hundred. during the day we killed quite a number of hoods, but the first was the largest. we did not make much of a run, but dodged about and picked things up. a young hood is rather blue-looking on the back and white underneath. the engine slowed down at night, as usual. _april th_. this was one of the most lovely days, with bright sunshine, and there was dazzling ice in every direction. to the east of us we saw a beautiful barque under canvas; she was playing our game, dodging about and picking up seals. as she was not a steamer, and had a small crew, she was consequently inexpensive to work; there was no reason why she should not pay her owners well, especially if she got amongst the hoods, five or six of which would yield a ton of oil. we kept out to her, and finding she was the _maud_ of dundee, i was sent on board to hear the news. i was hospitably entertained by the captain, who gave me some old dundee papers, but those i brought from the _aurora_ were much more recent. when i returned, i saw a funny thing happen. we had a newfoundland cook, jack; he had a triangular face with the base up; a tuft of hair grew from the apex and was the only decoration. with his long shaved upper lip, he had an amusing look and he was a character. the ship was bearing down towards ice upon which there was a young hood. it had been injured and made no effort to escape. thinking it dead, no one fired and we were almost on to it when jack, looking over the side, saw it. he had not killed a seal that season, so, seizing a gaff, he leaped on to the pan and we all cheered. as jack lit on the ice, it broke in two. the seal slid gracefully off its half, but jack's half, almost submerged, swung around under the ship's quarter, where the propeller was threshing away. jack paused for a moment between scylla and charybdis, and then giving a wild leap, he disappeared in the sea as far from the propeller as he could jump. it was most amusing to see this big man give his wild leap; he was fished out by the punt astern. a small matter, like a man being half drowned, always amused these simple people so much. i have said that the newfoundlanders were not over-fed on this trip. we had, for cabin use, numerous quarters of dundee beef lashed in our tops. they kept splendidly up there. one morning the steward reported a quarter of our dundee beef stolen. one of the newfoundland cooks was sent for at once and i heard the conversation between the angry captain and the astonished cook. i heard the cook report every morning how he was on the track of a thief: "begorra, sor, i have my eye on him;" or, "begorra, sor, i could put my hand on the man," and so on until we got back without the thief having been turned over; i heard afterwards that the cook certainly could have at any moment put his hand on the man who took the beef. _april th_. this was one of the most interesting days i spent. at breakfast, i heard the captain and the mate discussing blinks, that is, reflections. for instance, an ice blink at sea would mean a sort of whitish reflection in the sky over an area of ice, or a water blink would be a dark reflection in the sky over a dark area. we were surrounded by ice and were approaching a dark blink. was it water or seals? before breakfast was over, the report came from the crow's-nest that the seals were ahead. i went aloft and saw an extraordinary sight. the ice ahead of us appeared to be positively black with seals. they covered acres and acres. we steamed right up to them and then about twenty men, with rifles, went on to the ice and a lot of others followed to sculp and haul the sculps to the ship. this ice was not solid but made up of thousands of pans all detached. they were generally touching in places, but two or three sprawls would bring any individual seal to some sort of a hole through which it could escape; therefore, it had to be killed instantly or it would disappear. the shooting began at once, the men kneeling down and opening up at the nearest animals. just as fast as they could consume ammunition, they fired at seals close at hand, and, as these disappeared, at those farther away. there was far too much shooting for much result. presently they began to get closer. a would kneel down and fire as fast as possible so as to use as much ammunition as he could before b would pass him. b would then rush past and begin shooting, and so on. now, with regard to this rushing about,--we were travelling on pans of ice of all sizes, some a few feet square, some as large as a table, some twenty times that size, but we certainly had to watch where we were going. when the men scattered, they shot better, but it was much more dangerous, as the express bullets were singing about everywhere. i had two men who took me off to one side and who gave me the best shooting i ever enjoyed. the seals were inclined to bask in the sun and enjoy themselves; so, if we went about it quietly, we could easily stalk a pan and advance to within fifty or seventy-five yards; then, if we shot carefully and only hit heads, we would not disturb the others. should we wound one, it would not only go down itself but would frighten the others on the same pan. i shot off a number of entire pans by quietly getting close and then picking them off. the seal, properly hit, just drops its head, while the others hold theirs up for you. this was warm work and the barrel of the rifle became so hot that i had constantly to put it on the snow to cool off. i watched some of the newfoundland men shooting when we started and saw several of them miss every shot. all they did was to endanger their fellow men and wound an occasional seal; of course there were some crack shots among them, but it would have paid well to have tested the ability of all before serving out rifles to them. as there was not a cloud in the sky, we were greatly sunburnt and several had a touch of snow-blindness in spite of wearing colored glasses. we probably picked up three or four hundred seals, and had there been about eight or ten men who understood the use of firearms, they would have killed a thousand easily. the sealing cap worn by the dundee men was very suitable. the peak was covered with lamb's wool dyed black, so when turned down it absorbed a great deal of the glare. wool had to be wound around the metal work of the colored glasses we wore on account of the cold. _april th_. nothing makes one rest like a hard day's work in the open air. my shoulder was black and blue with firing and my ears rang with the noise while my eyes smarted and my face burned, but i slept like a log until seven bells. the ship had not moved all night. we were off the coast of labrador, but out of sight of land. there was a great deal of ice everywhere and by dawn we were steaming north as fast as possible in the effort to overtake our game. by noon the seals were in sight and we went through the same performance as the day before. i did not attempt it with the main body, but with two good men went off in a slightly different direction. the express was certainly a good rifle, and its trajectory very flat, when we consider the powder. i examined a great many wounds that day and in every case found the bullet had expanded well if it had hit anything hard. these seals were nearly all bedlamers and we did not kill any hoods either of these days, although we had picked up quite a number coming up the coast. this was a shorter day, and we did not kill so many. it was quite late when the ship took the last of her men on board, for they had become scattered. one man had fallen in several times and was very much exhausted. however, i was able to make him swallow some rum and he soon revived. a sailor is very feeble and dissolution near at hand when a little rum cannot be coaxed down with a spoon or other suitable instrument--even then i would not advise leaving the bottle close to him while looking for the spoon, lest, during his unconscious struggles, he should spill it. [illustration: ] _april th_. we were always on the lookout for the _arctic_, but saw nothing of her. before leaving st. john's we heard that the _thetis_ had been sold to the american government for the greely relief expedition, so she would not appear among the sealers that year. captain fairweather's brother was master of her, so he was disappointed. we kept north in our effort to overtake the seals, the barometer falling a little towards evening, and a swell coming in from the southeast. we were well on the outer or eastern edge of the ice, as the captain did not want to take any chance of being jammed among heavy floes coming down the coast. during the evening we had a most wonderful sunset. the sky was red not only to the west, but nearly all over, and the reflection on the ice was magnificent. the frozen sea is fascinating when the sun goes down and before dark; also by moonlight, or bright starlight. during the day the glare is too great but a moonlight night on a frozen sea is the grandest sight possible. the weird sounds caused by the ever restless ice are a fitting accompaniment. on this friday night, the sounds caused by the ever increasing sea, crunching the pack up, were rather startling at times, but we kept pretty well out of it, so we were safe. there was quite a little motion on board, owing to the swell, and we steamed easy ahead all night, going full speed at daybreak, and by noon had the satisfaction of finding our seals. we went oft, but not quite as usual. the roll of the sea had crunched the pack up and broken all the large sheets of ice, so we were obliged to jump from one pan to another while they were rising and falling on the long swell of the atlantic. there was nothing sudden or uncertain about the motion. the long heavy rollers lifted one up and lowered one down, and when between them, one could not see very far. now occurred a sort of stalking that i have never seen described, i. e., running after a large wave and keeping perfectly still when the following wave overtook one; then repeating the stalk, always running in the trough between the two waves. in this manner i did some efficient work and shot a great many seals. most of the time was spent watching where to put my feet; but, on feeling the rise coming, i stood perfectly still and watched the seals. i was regaled with accounts of men who had been injured and cut in two by this sort of thing; but we did not meet with the slightest accident and every one was picked up by sundown. the ship managed to follow through the ice pretty well, picking up a few seals here and there, as they had been sculped, so that we added several hundreds to our collection. [illustration: ] _april th. sunday_. the day was fine and we picked up occasional seals but did not find a herd. it was a complete day of rest for all hands. the ice to the west of us looked very heavy and the captain was careful to avoid it. we lay to at night, but by daybreak on monday morning we were dodging north again. _april th_. i had my first shot at a walrus, sea-horse, as it is called. shortly after breakfast the usual rifles were on the forecastle head when the officer in the crow's-nest called down that he saw a walrus. the ship was kept down on it, and presently we all saw the big animal with his long white tusks. in this case, they were very long and could be seen from a great distance. he was on a pan with open water all around, so we steamed straight at him. as we approached, he raised himself higher and higher on his flippers and disappeared after having received a fearful fusillade, at less than a ship's length. i would have liked the chance of examining his skin just to count the hits and see the effect. we heard the thud of striking bullets, but the walrus gave a plunge and was seen no more. we did the usual amount of sealing from the ship, but had not any men on the ice. two or three times we had several punts out, but they did not pick up very many. _april th_. we dodged back and forth amongst the floating ice, keeping a little closer to land but not seeing much of interest. there was a very large floe which bore evidence of great rafting; between the hummocks on it there was fresh water, regular ponds with connecting channels. i was on this floe, as we shot a few seals on it, so tasted the water, which was sweet and good. i have often seen quite big ponds on floes fast to bergs, and we took water on board sometimes from these. for the next few days we steamed south without seeing anything of interest. the weather was cold, but fine, and the ice less as we neared st. john's. we were careful after dark and generally steamed slow. the crew were employed in cleaning up. april th. saturday. arrived at st. john's in the morning and took our usual berth. our entire catch of seals for the two trips was , , but the crew were paid for , as there were some large old seals and they counted more. there was great news for us on our arrival. i have already mentioned the sale of the _thetis_ to the american government. we now received orders from dundee to take the place of the _thetis_ and proceed to davis straits. the gear removed from this ship was being sent out to us by an allan boat. we were to keep our eyes open for the lost greely, as a reward had been offered by the united states for any whaler picking him up. [illustration: ] i certainly never intended going on a long trip when sailing, and the captain told me i could leave if i wished, but there was a fascination about the whole thing that i enjoyed. the _aurora_ had been getting more comfortable all the time,--the first awful experience of a fearful atlantic winter passage with the ship loaded, to the scuppers, then the crowded ship at the first sealing, and the much pleasanter trip to labrador. now i could see that the ship would be very comfortable with only her own crew, and the deck clear of boats, as it would be on the next part of the cruise, so i decided to go. it took a very short time to put our seals out, and, as it was saturday afternoon by that time, all the work ceased until monday morning. [illustration: ] i heard an amusing story about a man being nearly drowned in a tank of oil. a sealer came in and four of her tanks nearest to the boiler had the sculps break down into oil, owing to the heat. when the crew were discharging cargo it was the custom for a man to jump into a tank and throw the sculps out. coming to the first of these tanks, and looking in, some sculps could be seen, and, never suspecting that these were a few floating on the surface, the man jumped in and disappeared under, but was presently fished out, every one thoroughly enjoying the incident except, of course, the leading man. chapter vi--something about the greely relief expedition "but 'tis not mine to tell their tale of grief, their constant peril and their scant relief, their days of danger and their nights of pain; their manly courage e'en when deemed in vain." |one of the interesting things about our trip to the arctic seas was the possibility of seeing greely or of possibly finding him or something about him. i shall here give a brief outline of what had been done up to this time towards rescuing the gallant explorer and his intrepid followers. every one i met in newfoundland appeared to know a great deal about greely, because he had started from there three years before in a st. john's ship, and because both of the previous relief expeditions had been in st. john's ships, and a great many of the newfoundland men had been with them, and several of our crew at the sealing had been on the _proteus_. one heard the greely expedition and its relief discussed every day. the consensus of opinion was that as the navy had the matter in hand now, they would succeed. the newfoundlanders, being a maritime people, could not understand how soldiers could be expected to make a success of a voyage of discovery or relief, and the two previous relief trips had been unfortunate. the _raison d'etre_ of the greely expedition was briefly as follows: at a certain scientific conference held in europe a series of circumpolar stations had been decided upon, from which, owing to their proximity to the revolutionary axis of our globe, interesting and useful observations could be made of physical phenomena. as these observations were to be made at the same time in a great many different places, they would probably prove of greater interest and value than those supplied intermittently by expeditions. now the united states was to have two stations, one at point barrow on the behring sea side, and one at lady franklin bay on the davis strait side. a young officer in the american army, lieutenant greely, had volunteered for and been selected to take charge of the lady franklin bay expedition. the steamer _proteus_, a newfoundland sealer, had been chartered to convey the party north. she was a dundee-built ship, about the size of the _aurora_, and her captain and crew were st. john's men. they left st. john's on july , , having on board lieutenant greely and twenty-four men, with supplies for three years. they made the most unprecedented time going north. crossing the dangerous melville bay in thirty-six hours and getting to within a few miles of her destination on august th, a few days later she landed the explorers, and having successfully accomplished her mission she returned to her home port. melville bay, the bugbear of many arctic voyages, is a very different thing when crossed in june by whalers from what it is in july and august; but the whalers must reach their northern station by the end of june, so cannot wait for the ice to drift south. it was arranged that a relief expedition should go north in and another in , while the third in should convey the party back. now these two previous relief expeditions formed the topic of conversation in st. john's when the inhabitants became tired of discussing seals and politics, and i soon heard a good deal about them. for the first, in , our friend and late neighbor, the _neptune_, had been chartered. she was splendid in every way and did as much as any ship of the period could have done towards making the thing a success; but the orders were to leave two hundred fifty rations at littleton island and two hundred fifty at the furthest point reached if the ship failed to get to lady eranklin bay, and that should they fail to reach the bay, the balance of the stores were to be brought back to st. john's. a private in the army had been selected to take charge of this expedition. as he had been accustomed to obeying orders to the letter, he deposited the two hundred fifty rations at littleton island, and two hundred fifty at cape sabine, the most northern point reached. then, as they were unable to reach lady franklin bay, he carefully brought back all the balance of the cargo of food sent up for the starving greely, twenty days' provisions only having been left in the arctic and this according to orders and probably--"well, though the soldier knew some one had blundered." the authorities were a little anxious now about the brave lieutenant, so they began to make preparations for the relief, and this time they chartered the _proteus_ and also sent a small navy ship called the _yantic_, a craft rather unfitted for arctic work. the _proteus_ was commanded by captain pike (the st. john's man who had made such a record taking greely up) and had her newfoundland crew. this expedition was in charge of a soldier, lieutenant garlington, as the government wished it all to be an army affair. owing to an accident, a sergeant selected to go on the _proteus_ was disabled, and lieutenant colwell, u. s. n., was added to the expedition in his place. this was fortunate, as things turned out. one of our quartermasters on the _aurora_ during the first sealing trip had been one of the crew of the _proteus_, and he gave me a lot of interesting information about it. they left st. john's about the end of june and had a nice passage to disco. in fact, they found the road so open that they reached cape sabine in about twenty-five days. as they were in a hurry to reach their destination, lady eranklin bay, little time was spent here and no stores were landed. when the ship moved out into kane sea she was caught almost at once in heavy polar ice. the officers soon realized that the ship's position was serious, so began to take supplies out of the hold. while so engaged the side of the ship burst in and she filled. the pressure of the ice kept her from sinking for a few hours, then some change of wind or tide opened the ice and down she went. a great lot of provisions and stores had been thrown overboard on to the ice, much being lost in so doing. after the ship went down her crew took their own boats and the soldiers took theirs. colwell, with the help of both parties, succeeded in landing a lot of provisions and stores at cape sabine, and here he cached five hundred rations. it was said that many of the soldiers did not know how to row, and that some members of the crew of the _proteus_ behaved very badly after the loss of the ship. they probably did not consider that the saving of government supplies was any of their business, and some of them even are said to have looted these supplies. after a rest at cape sabine, the entire party proceeded south to meet the _yantic_, the supporting vessel. very little attention had been paid to her, as she was slow and ill adapted for the ice, and it was thought that she probably would never attempt melville bay. however, she had crossed this and was following them well, and the series of misunderstandings and misinterpretations of orders which prevented the _proteus_ people going south from meeting the _yantic_ coming north, makes a most remarkable story. [illustration: ] lieutenant garlington and his party, being separated from the crew of the _proteus_ for a time, crossed over to littleton island and left a record of the loss of their ship. they then joined the others and proceeded to cape york. it was here decided to push on to the danish settlements as they did not think the y antic would come as far north as cape york. in the meantime, the _yantic_ had passed up to littleton island and picked up garlington's record. she then zigzagged about looking for the boats, and passing cape york on her way down without calling, she proceeded to upernavik. as the boats were not there, her captain decided to push on home as the season was getting late, so sailed to disco. the boat party at cape york having decided to go south divided. lieutenant colwell, taking a whale boat and crew, struck across melville bay, and after a most difficult and dangerous passage succeeded in reaching upernavik the day after the _yantic_ had left. he followed her, however, for a week, and overtaking her at disco, brought her back to upernavik, where the balance of the _proteus_ people had arrived, and from there they returned to st. john's. now the result of all this had been, in , the deposit of ten days' provisions at littleton island and ten days' provisions at cape sabine, the remainder being brought back. in the _proteus_ had not deposited anything during her life, but after her destruction lieutenant colwell had succeeded in caching at cape sabine five hundred rations or twenty days' supplies saved from the _proteus_. the _yantic_ had been up to littleton island and back without leaving anything behind. another year had passed and now the rescue of greely became imperative. the affair had been handed over to the navy, and commander schley was taking command. the dundee ship _thetis_ and the sealer _bear_ had been bought and added to the navy. a collier, the _lough garry_, had been chartered to take coal up for the expedition, and the _alert_, given by the british government, was also going. at the same time a reward was offered for any whaler picking greely up. the relief ships, except the _alert_, were coming to st. john's and would sail about the same time as the whalers, and as we all knew a good deal about the circumstances, we were certainly all deeply interested in the outcome. it was generally believed among our people that greely would now be at cape york or carey islands, and the _aurora_ stood as good a chance as any other ship of getting there first. commander schley had charge of the expedition and would sail on the _thetis_, while lieutenant emory would command the _bear_, of which ship lieutenant colwell would be an officer. the whalers going to davis strait were-- arctic, narwhal, aurora, nova zembla, cornwallis, polynia, esquimaux, triune, jan mayen, wolf of st. john's. chapter vii--the bottlenose fishing "the arctic sun rose broad above the wave, the breeze now sank, now whispered from his cave." |newfoundland looked more attractive in april than it did when we left, doing about was pleasanter and we saw everything worth seeing in the neighborhood of st john's. on board, great changes took place. all the sheathing was torn off and the ship cleaned inside and out. her overhauling was complete. the rigging was set up, the masts were scraped and oiled and the ship painted. the punts were all cleared away and our beautiful whale-boats took their place. the _aurora_ was peculiar in having two boats, one above the other, on each quarter. we fished ten boats altogether, four down each side and two upper quarter boats. the crew of a whale-boat is six, a harpooner, a boat-steerer and four men pulling. the harpooner rows until ordered by the boat-steerer to stand by his gun. in the bow the harpoon-gun is mounted on a swivel, and fast to the harpoon is the "foregoer." this is a very pliable, untarred rope, about two and a half inches in circumference and eighteen fathoms long. it is coiled in a tub, sitting on the port bow of the boat, while on the starboard side, in a convenient rest, lies the hand-harpoon. the bollard head, around which a turn of the line is taken, is an important structure; it stands in the bow, beside the gun. many a boat has gone down through the line fouling at the bollard head. to the "foregoer" or "foreganger," is attached the whale line. the term "line" means, generally, one rope fathoms long, and there are five of these carried in each boat, one and a half being stowed amidships and the rest aft. they are / -inch ropes, and tarred. the greatest care must be observed in coiling these lines, and by the line manager in the boat as the line runs out. a struck whale generally starts at about seven or eight miles an hour. should the rope, running out at this rate, uncoil unevenly, a kink in it might foul one of the crew and instantly take him down. this has often happened. each boat has several six-foot lances ready for use when the whale is exhausted; the idea being, to sever with the long sharp lance some of the large vessels, thus bleeding the animal to death. the oars in a whale-boat work on mats on the gunwale, and a thole-pin is used instead of rowlocks. an arrangement on the oar keeps it from slipping through the grummet on the thole-pin, when it is let go. the mat is to prevent noise. a little piggin is used for bailing the boat, and, when hoisted on a boat hook, is the signal for more lines. the shaft of the harpoon is made of soft, swedish iron, so that it can be twisted in any conceivable way without breaking. a little barrel of bread and cheese is carried in each boat and this must not be broached until after the boat has been away from the ship a considerable time; water is also carried. the great long steering oar is very important. with it a dexterous boat-steerer can do wonders. he can sweep the boat around very quickly or can scull noiselessly up to a whale when the oars or paddles would frighten it away. the steering oar works on a pin and mat, as do the others. the whale fisher has many incentives. as he is generally a man who has to labor for a living, and as he is partly paid by the result of his work, the capture of a whale means to him a good deal, probably several pounds. this stimulates him. again, the sooner he fills the ship, the sooner he sails for home. while there is not much chance of filling the ship nowadays, the securing of a good summer catch probably saves him a weary, cold autumn, fishing on the west side. last, but not least, the pursuit of whales is often attended with great danger, which is one of the principal factors of good sport. the average game hunter is not exposed to as great risk as the average whaler. what danger is there in the pursuit of any member of the deer or antelope family, and what chance has the animal in these days of high power rifles? sometimes the whale has no chance for its life and the destruction of such a huge creature is not exciting, but, generally, there is danger, as the history of the industry proves. hunting rhino or buffalo is better sport than hunting deer because the former may charge and kill one. the whale hunter may be snatched to instant death by a foul line, or starved to death in an open boat, and these possibilities elevate the sport greatly. one cannot help sometimes being sorry for the animal one has killed, the excitement of the chase over and the beast lying dead, especially when only the head is wanted, and when everything else must be left to spoil. a dead whale means creature comforts to many poor people; and i, personally, have had more qualms at the escape of a wounded buck than i have had over all the whales we killed. fishing for bottlenose, the year before ( ), the _aurora_ lost two men, and the _esquimaux_ lost one this year. while we were killing our whales off hudson straits, he was snatched out of the boats and never seen again. a few years before, this man's father was lost from the same ship. in approaching a black fish, the eye must be avoided. going "eye on" is a serious matter, as the whale is not such a fool as it looks, and the tremendously powerful tail can smite with terrific force. the lifting power of the tail has not been much studied; but a chance to observe it occurred on the _nova zembla_ some time ago when the mate got his boat over one. those who saw the accident say that the tail was lifted without any apparent effort, throwing the boat many feet up and breaking the bottom out of it. fortunately the occupants were spilt out, and fell clear of the danger zone, because the fish struck the boat again and reduced it to match wood. a week after our arrival, the _aurora_ had been pretty well cleaned and greatly changed in appearance. a small spruce tree was fastened to each masthead, the end of each yard-arm, and to the point of the jib-boom. every one now had an easy time until the actual sailing day. quite a number of vessels of all sorts had arrived, as the ice had disappeared from the coast; amongst them was the allen steamer _newfoundland_, from halifax, bringing us english mail. the greely relief ship _bear_ had also come in. _may st. thursday_. the _aurora_ was receiving finishing touches. we were lying at the south side but our launch had steam up and took us across when we wanted to go. _may _. taking a gun, i went with dr. crawford, of the _arctic_, straight up the hill from the ship and found on the other side a growth of little trees so dense as to be practically impenetrable in places. i shot a hare crossing a little open place, and saw a splendid big hawk flying about, but it never came within shot. returning with the hare, the captain stopped me just as i was going on board. a hare was too unlucky, so i gave it to a man on the wharf. captain guy was standing on the _arctic_ and, seeing this, came on shore and cut the hare's feet off, throwing them on to the _aurora_; he was ever fond of a joke. the most unlucky parts of this unlucky animal in no way interfered with our prosperity, however. _may rd._ as the _lough garry_ had come in i went on board. she was an ordinary iron or steel steamer of about , tons and had been chartered to take tons of coal north for the relief expedition. she was not fortified or specially prepared in any way for the work, but still she managed to get along very well as far as her services were required. going on board, i encountered the mate, who recognized me, he having been the mate of the _thetis_ who had given me the information i sought about whaling while in dundee the autumn before. he showed me over the ship and told me many interesting facts about a whaling voyage. the _esquimaux_ sailed this day and the _narwhal_ had already gone. the desire to find greely was certainly starting us all north a couple of weeks before the usual time. _may th. sunday._ the _bear_ sailed. she was unlike any other ship going north this year, because she had her black funnel forward of the main mast and her crow's-nest on the foremast. the _arctic_ had her funnel in the same place, but her crow's-nest was on the mainmast. their rigs also differed. these are small matters, but we soon could recognize any of the ships a long way off by their little peculiarities. during the day i went on board the _polynia_. she was ready for sea and lying in the harbor. captain walker, who had command of her, was a naturalist and sportsman and it was a pleasure meeting him. she proceeded north before morning. [illustration: ] may th. spent some time on board the _arctic_. she was ready for sea and looked clean and nice with her spacious decks and cabins--very unlike a whaler. her lines were graceful, and she had powerful engines, but she could not have stood as much in ice as the _aurora_. captain guy told me about killing a whale with an old eskimo harpoon buried in its blubber. he gave me this interesting souvenir of my voyage and told me about captain mckay of dundee killing a whale in which he found a harpoon with which the fish had been struck forty-two years before. this iron is now in the dundee museum. _may th and th_. took my last look at st. john's and made my cabin comfortable. i had now been in it for three months, so knew exactly what was required. there does not seem to be any connection between a whaler and florida water; but still i venture to say that there was not a sailor on our ship who had not from one to half a dozen bottles of this commodity. some were for trade with the eskimos and some for their sweethearts at home. the captain had laid in a quantity of colored handkerchiefs and such things, which the men were permitted to purchase afterwards from the slop-chest for purposes of barter. the slop-chest was the ship's shop and was superintended by the second mate. one could purchase a wonderful lot of useful things from this institution. _may th_. after breakfast, all being ready, the _aurora_ sailed for the whale fishing. in scotland, a fish means a salmon, but in greenland, a black whale is always spoken of as a fish, never anything else. we sailed out of the narrows and turned north. it was blowing a little from the southeast, so there was some swell. we got square sails on the ship presently, and with this breeze on her quarter, made good time, the engines going full speed. our intention was to try the bottlenose whale fishing off resolution island at the mouth of hudson's straits, for a few days, then go over to the greenland side and follow the usual route. as there were many bergs coming down and quantities of field ice at this season, we kept rather well away from the coast, along which it came. at night the canvas was taken off the ship and a bright lookout kept for ice. for the next three days we steered north. the weather was fine and the sea smooth. going up the labrador coast, we saw some heavy floes, but kept well to the east of them and did not sight land. we did not see anything of interest, so it was rather monotonous. _may th_. it was a lovely morning when i came on deck, with the wind from the southeast. we had our fore and afters set and were steaming full speed. astern of us was the _nova zembla_ and we were towing her, an act of brotherly love. i had seen the ship in dundee and was struck by her beauty. she and the _jan mayen_ were very handsome little ships, and she looked far better at sea than in dock. we towed her part of the day. during the afternoon, the wind died down and the evening was beautiful; not a breath of air, but some swell rolling in from the southeast and the surface of the sea like glass. the people to-day were employed coiling lines in boats and arranging fishing gear as we might see the bottlenose whales any time. [illustration: ] may th. a beautiful calm day. the men were getting ready the whale-boats and filling the bunkers. we were well off cape chidley, the northeast corner of labrador, in the morning. in the evening a school of bottlenose whales was seen, and six boats were lowered away. two of the boats immediately filled as they had been out of the water so long, but the others pulled after the whales. i was oh the bridge watching the sport. it was splendid. the ship and boats rising and falling on a rather heavy swell, the surface of the water like oil, the boats freshly painted, and the harpoons glistening in the sun, presented an interesting picture of the sea; while the school of very lively little whales rolling about like porpoises and then disappearing, to come up suddenly, gave it animation. the boats had several shots, but they were quick and difficult. one, however, was captured by alex. mckechnie, the second mate, and after a short play, killed and brought alongside. this beast (hyperoodon rostratus, or the northern sperm whale) is small, but of remarkable appearance, having a long round beak, which protrudes from the lower part of its large head. its oil is very good; that flowing from the cancellous bones of the head solidifying on deck at a comparatively high temperature, and when solid, looking like spermaceti. many of the men took bottles full of this oil for use in future sprains and bruises. late in the evening another whale was killed by thors, and, from the numbers we saw around, there was no reason why the _aurora_ should not have picked up a profitable cargo in this neighborhood, but the desire for the valuable whalebone took us to the north. _may th._ we were off frobisher's bay and after the little whales again, and another was captured. i was not in the boats at all at this fishing, as the movement of the whales was so fast that they capsized boats frequently and only experienced oarsmen were wanted. i was told that more men lost their lives at this than at the right whale fishing. we learned afterwards that the _nova zembla_ picked up seven here, while the _arctic bagged seventeen_. the whale killed in the morning by mclean was over twenty feet long. the other two were smaller. the heads were brought on board so i had a good look at them. i saw white stalactites of spermaceti hanging from them to stalagmite incrustations of the same on deck, and i noticed that the oil was free from smell. the neighborhood of resolution island was notorious for its awful currents, and the rise and fall of tide about the western end of hudson straits made navigation on these comparatively uncharted waters exceedingly dangerous. [illustration: ] i once heard captain guy tell of a narrow escape he had in the neighborhood of the upper savage islands. from the barrel, he saw a rock ahead, and ordered the lead cast. three fathoms was found, so he backed off and anchored. in a few hours he was astonished to find an island where the submerged rock had been, and he afterwards learned from a reliable source that the rise and fall of tide at this place was over forty feet. caribou were abundant on the north coast of the straits, and musk-ox were also found. sometimes whalers coming down for the southwest fishing, in the autumn, killed numbers of both. the caribou was the barren land variety, and some of the heads were enormous. in this species the beam was long and straggly, and the palmation was not very pronounced. chapter viii--the chieftain disaster "we have fed our sea for a thousand years, and she calls us, still unfed, though there is never a wave of all our waves but marks our english dead." -- kipling. it may be of interest to recount here the story of the _chieftain's_ mishap, which was the worst accident of the year. the _chieftain_ was one of the dundee whaling fleet. when we left she was fitting out for the greenland sealing and bottlenose whaling. leaving dundee on march th, under the command of captain gellatley, she lost four of her boats, on may th, in a fog. these made their way to iceland. one, in charge of the captain, landed at primness. a second, in charge of alex. bain, a harpooner, arrived at tonsberg, having lost overboard her boat-steerer, david buchan. a third landed at ramfarhofu with all alive. the fourth was picked up, and in her there was but one survivor. when this boat left the ship there were three men in her. one died and was duly committed to the deep; another fell into a lethargy which continued so long that mcintosh, the survivor, though hardly able to move his benumbed legs, crawled to the bow of the boat to find out what was the trouble, but found him dead. fearing lest he might yield to the temptation of using the body for food, by a great effort he succeeded in heaving it overboard. the boat was picked up on the fourteenth day off the iceland coast by a passing ship; but mcintosh was compelled to have both legs amputated as mortification had set in. it is terrible to think of what this brave fellow must have endured drifting about in a small boat over this lonely and stormy sea, half frozen and with hardly any food. the following is the account given by captain gellatley of the cause of the accident, and of his experiences during the awful trip to iceland. a school of whales was observed on monday, th of may, and the afternoon being fine, four boats went out in pursuit--one under the command of captain gellatley; the second under the charge of thomas elder, the second mate; john taylor, specksioneer, was in charge of the third; and alexander bain, harpooner, of the fourth. in the course of a short time the captain's boat got fast to a whale, and also the specksioneer's. the second mate assisted the captain. after some time the whale was killed and towed to the ship, which was reached about three o'clock in the morning. by this time a dense fog had settled down, and after his crew had breakfasted, captain gellatley set out to look for the three boats, giving directions that if the fog continued the vessel should be kept in her position, so as to enable them to find her; but that she was to bear down towards the boats if the mist lifted. knowing the bearings of the boats, captain gellatley came up to them after rowing for fully two hours, and found that the whale was still alive and causing great trouble. three additional harpoons were fired into it, and in the course of the forenoon it was killed, and the four boats started in the direction of the ship with the whale in tow. in the meantime the weather cleared, and the ship was descried at a distance of about five miles; but in the course of half an hour the fog again came down, and it was so dense that it was impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. though they pulled from half past ten o'clock in the forenoon until half past four in the afternoon they failed to find the _chieftain_, and no answering signals were returned to their blasts of fog horns. it was then resolved that one of the boats should proceed eastwards and another westwards for some distance, but they returned without having been able to discover the whereabouts of the ship, notwithstanding the most diligent search. at one time a sound like a whistle was heard in one direction and again in another, and the men got utterly fatigued by their protracted search, a fresh breeze springing up and adding to their discomfort. about eight o'clock in the evening a number of the men confidently declared that they heard a ship's whistle sounding in a northeasterly direction, and the second mate was sent away in the hope of finding the ship. some time later captain grellatley decided to follow in the same direction, and accordingly the whale was buoyed and a lance with a handkerchief tied to the end of the handle was stuck into the carcass for identification. the three boats then followed in the course taken by the second mate, but they could never catch up to him, though they repeatedly heard the blast of his fog horn. throughout the night the search was continued without success, and on the morning of the th, the crews being fatigued, the three boats were made fast to one another and a deep sea anchor thrown out for the purpose of stopping their way and allowing the men to rest. in the course of the morning james cairns, an ordinary seaman, accidentally fell overboard, but he was promptly rescued. on the th matters began to assume a serious aspect. the crews had then been two days absent from the ship, and their slender stock of food--a small keg of provisions and a six pound tin of preserved meat in each boat--had become exhausted. in consequence of their privations the men became affected with stupor, and with the view of dispelling this the captain ordered the anchor to be hauled in and the boats to be rowed towards the ice. this exercise had a beneficial effect, and it seemed as if it were to result in a happy rescue, for a barque was noticed sailing away to the windward. signals were made in the hope of attracting attention, but the crews were doomed to disappointment, the fog, which had temporarily cleared, having again fallen and obscured everything from sight. the weather, too, became boisterous, and the boats were in imminent danger of being crushed by the ice. to save the boats from destruction it was found necessary to row out from under the lee of the floes, and during this time captain gellatley narrowly escaped being drowned. whale-boats are all steered by an oar, and while the captain was steering, his oar was struck by a wave and he was knocked overboard. fortunately he was rescued before he had been long in the water, but he suffered much from having to remain in his wet clothes during the remainder of the time he was in the boat. all the men were by this time complaining of the benumbed condition of their hands and feet, and by the morning of friday, th, it was hardly possible to keep them awake. that morning the wind shifted to the westward, and as all hope of falling in with the _chieftain_ had been given up, it was decided, as the only chance of saving their lives, to endeavor to sail to iceland, which was calculated to be about two hundred miles distant. each of the boats possessed a compass, but there was neither mast nor sail, and in their place a couple of boat-hooks were erected by way of a mast, with the ramrod of the gun as a yard, and the line cover, a piece of canvas about five feet by three feet, had to do duty as a sail. thus equipped, and with a supply of frozen snow and pieces of ice to quench their thirst, the crews of the three boats set out on their perilous journey, the master giving the directions for steering. they left the ice about five o'clock in the morning, and were soon scudding along at a rapid rate, there being a strong breeze blowing. about eight o'clock the boat which was in advance was seen to shorten sail, and when the captain came up he was informed that david buchan, while steering, had been knocked overboard and drowned. an attempt was then made to tow this boat; but the sea was running so high that this jeopardized both. it soon became apparent that the boats would be swamped if they continued in tow, and the captain was obliged to cast the second one adrift, telling the crew they must either hoist sails and make for iceland along with him or run back for the ice. they preferred to hold on their course, and the sail was again hoisted. the weather continued moderate until between four and five o'clock in the afternoon, when it shifted to the northward and began to blow hard. a heavy sea arose, and through the night it was with the utmost difficulty that the captain kept his boat afloat. at times she was nearly filled, and the men had to keep almost constantly bailing out the water. the stormy weather continued throughout the whole of friday night and saturday, and it was found necessary to throw the whale lines overboard to lighten the boat. in the meantime the condition of the men was becoming more and more alarming, and the captain was forced to employ various devices to prevent them from falling into a state of stupor, which would soon have proved fatal. to use the oars was an impossibility on account of the heavy seas and the rate at which the boat was sailing, and accordingly the captain persuaded the men to hold up their oars by way of exercise. this had the desired effect for some time, but by sunday morning, the fourth day they had been without food, they were all ready to give up in despair. captain gellatley had been steering constantly from friday morning till sunday morning, and the fatigue, combined with the privations he endured in common with his crew, began to tell severely upon him. only those who have had to steer such a boat in a seaway can understand the irksome and laborious nature of the work, and to this must be added the fact that he had to sit in a cramped position the whole time, his legs being bent under him. the captain stated that a peculiar sensation came over him, a haze gathered before his eyes, and an attack of dizziness obliged him to call the boatswain to take his place. after a brief space the boatswain, who was almost prostrated, had to relinquish the task, and the boat was then hove to, and a deep sea anchor, made up of a grappling iron and other articles, was thrown out, with fifty fathoms of line, by which means the boat's head was kept towards the sea. the weather was then moderating, but the waves continued to break over the boat, and it was as much as the men could do to keep her afloat. a few hours later and the gale sprang up afresh, and as there were still no signs of land, the crew resigned themselves to the fate which they deemed to be inevitable. from this state of despair they were ultimately aroused by the news that the land and a schooner were in sight, the sailmaker being the first to make the joyful announcement. this intelligence reanimated the despairing men, and signals were made to the schooner, but without succeeding in attracting the attention of the crew. a direct course was then steered for the land, but owing to the gale ten hours elapsed before it was reached. a new difficulty was then encountered, there being no visible landing-place along that rock-bound coast. a number of the islanders, however, had noticed the boat, and by means of signs they directed the crew to steer for the only available landing-place, a narrow passage with perpendicular rocks on either side, and a horizontal rock forming a sort of bar. the tide was then ebbing, but under the guidance of captain gellatley, the boat was safely steered into the narrow harbor. by the assistance of the islanders the crew, who had almost lost the power of their legs, were take to a farmer's hut adjoining, where they were hospitably entertained with such cheer as the house afforded; and the black bread and whale blubber which were set out before them proved a feast to the famishing sailors. the point at which they landed was brimness, about ten miles distant from langanaes, and after they had recovered somewhat the islanders made arrangements for transporting them on horseback to the nearest port. however, the norwegian smack, _jemima_, of elekkefjord, hove in sight, and on being signalled, the captain, bernard olsen, readily agreed to take the crew to seydisfjord, where a steamer was shortly to sail for scotland. on their arrival at seydisfjord on the th of june, the governor had them conveyed to a hotel, and a messenger was dispatched for a doctor, who arrived in the course of two days, his journey requiring twenty-four hours to accomplish. under his treatment captain gellatley and his crew made a satisfactory recovery, and on the th they left seydisfjord on board the mail steamer _thym_, for granton. chapter ix--a greenland settlement "the shuddering tenant of the frigid zone boldly proclaims the happiest spot his own; extols the treasures of his stormy seas, and his long nights of revelry and ease." |we were now crossing davis straits and felt that the whaling voyage had fairly begun. reference was seldom made to the places already visited, but those we expected to see were discussed, and stories told of previous experiences there. nothing was spoken of but greenland and its settlements. the weather was very cold and on thursday, may th, snow squalls reminded us of our latitude. the wind was fair, however, and the ship made good time under steam and some canvas. _friday, may th._ the morning was fine and the men of the watch were employed coaling the bunkers; coal dust was thick in the 'tween-decks and the tarts we had for tea were black with it as the galley opened oft the tween-decks. in spite of their color, however, they were better tarts than any i ever tasted on shore. as we expected to be on the greenland coast the following day, a few remarks about the country may not be out of place. the west coast settlements had prospered under the fostering care of the moravian missionaries and the danish government and were divided into two districts, the northern and the southern, holstenborg, to which we were bound, being the northern settlement of the southern district. the most northern settlements of the northern district had native governors, but the southern had danish, and inspectors supervised the work of these. one or two ships from copenhagen visited the coast every year with supplies, taking back oil and skins. we have all sung about the icy mountains of greenland, and most of us have in a vague way connected the country with whales, without having any idea of how great this whaling industry was some years ago. in the appendix it will be seen that great britain alone sent one hundred and fifty-nine ships to greenland waters in , and, of course, the norwegians and dutch, the danes, germans and others also profited by the fisheries. many words in the modern whaler's vocabulary are of dutch origin, as these hardy people were conspicuous among the most daring followers of this dangerous trade. greenland has a past, but its history, viewed through the mists of centuries, and always more or less traditional, is anything but distinct. the country was discovered toward the end of the tenth century; and a banished norwegian, called erick, wintered at what is now called erick sound, shortly after. the unscrupulous erick, in order to promote colonization, called the new country greenland. a fleet of twenty-five sail started for the country with colonists. many were lost, but about half of them settled there and were joined by others, forming quite a colony. [illustration: ] christianity was introduced about and a bishop was appointed. by degrees the colonists in the south formed other colonies, churches were built, and the people prospered for a time. grant tells us in his history of greenland that there were about one hundred hamlets on these coasts. the colonies on the east coast have disappeared. some ruins have been found, but where are the people? nothing has been heard definitely from them since , when the east greenland trade ceased. some think that black death destroyed them, others say that polar ice, coming down, closed the coast from intercourse with the parent country, so that they starved. according to one kojake, who has written on the subject, they became eaters of human flesh, owing to a famine, but afterwards they are said to have relished it. that they were nice about it is evident when we read that they only consumed old people, forsaken orphans and unnecessary persons. a rumor reached norway in about a vessel having been wrecked oft the coast of greenland and of the crew having been eaten voraciously by savages. the word voracious suggests relish, and possibly these savages were descendants from the good, old norwegian stock, who ate unnecessary persons only a few hundred years before and who had a bishop in . _may th. saturday_. we expected to sight the land, so were on the lookout. the weather was cloudy and there was a southeast breeze, so everything was set and drawing. the clouds lifted about noon and in the distance the snow-covered mountains of greenland could be seen. at first it was difficult to tell which was mountain and which cloud. by and by, however, the forbidding coast grew distinct. our objective point was holstenborg and the mate was in the crow's-nest examining the shore for the danish colors. some small bergs were scattered over the water and a narrow shore floe was fast to the coast. to the north of us the knights reefs ran far out to sea and on these some larger bergs had grounded. the ship was slowed down and all her canvas stowed. finally the engines were stopped, and after a little while, the captain ordered the ship put about as he could not pick up the settlement. i heard the order given and was greatly disappointed as i longed to see an eskimo. just then the mate called out that he saw a kayak coming off, so the ship lay to and waited. i repaired to the fore top and presently saw two kayaks coming toward us. there was quite a splash on, but the sun had now come out and the scene interested me intensely. the little boats were almost submerged and the occupants were wet and glistened in the sunlight. when they came alongside, i saw that the kayaks were about feet long, with little knobs of ivory decorating bow and stern, and were about inches wide at the widest part and covered with skin. one eskimo sat in each. the edge of the hole in which he sat was raised a couple of inches and over this he had pulled his skin coat, wrapped a lash around it and made it water-tight. the paddle was trimmed with ivory and the dusky faces of the almond-eyed navigators were all smiles as they looked at us and showed their white teeth. a whale boat was lowered and each canoe lifted in, eskimo and all, then they left their boats, shook hands with every one around and went on to the bridge, where they remained until the ship was at anchor off the village. holstenborg consisted of a church, which was also a schoolhouse, a shop where the deputy governor lived, and the governor's house. there were a number of native houses--awful places, built of turf. a long low passage led to the door of each. as the weather was comparatively warm, this passage was generally very wet, and when the door of the house opened, the smell was overpowering. inside sat women at work with their needles, or dressing skins. when the ship came to anchor off the shore floe, a boat-load of ladies came on board. a greenland belle was a well dressed person. her hair was folded several times and then wound about with a ribbon, so that it stood up upon the top of the head; the fold of the hair above the ribbon was rather fanshaped, and the color of the ribbon indicated whether the lady was married, single, or a widow. possibly there were degrees of wrapping, and shades of the color, indicating the number of times she had been married, and the depths of despair into which her various bereavements had reduced her. this simple record of her past was an excellent arrangement in a country where there were no society papers,--a sort of personal totem carried on the head, so that he or she who ran might read. of course, in lower latitudes, where high civilization and divorce courts exist, shortness of hair would render some records so incomplete that the greenland method is never likely to supplant the present ready references to be found amongst interested and observing neighbors. a bodice was worn, made of some cheerful colored stuff procured at the shop or from whalers. tight fitting trousers, made of bay seal skin and extending down to the knees, came next, and very gaudy boots of colored skin. down the front of each leg of the trousers was a stripe / inches wide, of colored skin, and the boots, especially around the tops, were very ornate. many of the girls were good-looking, and on their arrival a ball commenced in the 'tween-decks which lasted while they were there; fiddles and concertinas supplying the music. these instruments were played by whalers and eskimos equally well, and they knew the same airs. most of our visitors had articles to barter and they wanted bread in return more than anything else, but accepted colored handkerchiefs and other trifles. slippers and tobacco pouches were their principal stock in trade, but there were some down quilts, prettily bordered with the green necks of the eider duck. captain fairweather and myself spent a pleasant evening with the governor and his deputy, and it was interesting to hear the music of civilization played on a piano by the wife of the latter. coming away, they gave us a lot of quaint ivories made by the natives, from walrus tusks, such as brooches, pipes, paper knives, etc., etc. _may th. sunday_. i went on shore early, and seeing a lot of snow buntings, spent some time looking for their nests, but without result. on the sunny sides of the rocks the snow had gone; there was some dead grass, but indeed the country was, for the most part, covered with it. there were several pairs of ravens about, but i could not find their nests, so i borrowed a pair of skies, and ascending a hill close by, enjoyed the exhilarating sport of sliding down its snowy slope. during the afternoon i made a house-to-house visitation in the native quarter and saw much of interest. the older portion of the population i found at home, but the youth and beauty of the place had gone on board the _aurora._ about dinner time i came on board and acquired a further collection of eskimo ware, including ladies' clothing, for which even my bed curtains were bartered. it was late when i retired for the night, surfeited with the pleasure of my first long day in greenland. _may th. monday_. i wrote letters home this morning and sent them on shore. during the summer they arrived via copenhagen, having gone by the danish mail ship which visited the settlement every year. by breakfast time we were under way. it was a beautiful day. there was a breeze from the southwest, so the ship soon had all her canvas set and we stood away, clear of the land. the knights reef, running out to sea north of holstenborg, had to be weathered. on the heavy ice around there, we saw a number of walrus, but did not disturb them. by noon we were sailing up the coast amid floe ice, so the canvas was taken off and we steamed slowly through it. a sharp lookout was kept for whales, as we were then on a very good ground for spring fishing, sixty miles from disco and sixty miles from riffkol being the neighborhood where the ships in olden times killed fine cargoes. "with riffkol hill and disco dipping, there you will find the whale fish skipping," is an old saying amongst whalers. [illustration: ] chapter x--polar bear shooting "the shapeless bear with dangling ice, all horrid, stalks forlorn, slow paced, and sourer as the storms increase, he makes his bed beneath the inclement drift, and with stem patience, scorning weak complaint, hardens his heart against the assailing want." _may th. tuesday._ we were quite close to disco in the morning. however, the captain decided not to go into the settlement, godhaven, where many other ships lay, but to go west, as the straits appeared tolerably free from ice in that direction. accordingly, about noon, we turned our bows westward, having a solid looking floe to the north of us and open water to the south. this was all good fishing ground and we might have picked up a big whale, but we did not see a single spout while we were in the neighborhood. birds were getting numerous, now that we were amongst the ice, and the edge of the floe was lined with little auks in some places. they were important-looking fellows, like diminutive penguins. disco looked wild and forbidding as we steamed away from it, with snow lodged in all the sheltered places. the island rose to a height of about three thousand feet and much of the coast on the west side of it was precipitous and exposed, so that there were always bare rock faces, which gave a patchy appearance to that place. to the north of us, many big bergs could be seen, which had come originally from waggate straits. two tremendous ones were at one time aground in this place, in very deep water. they were described by crants, who tells us that they were there for years. we had steamed for some distance to the west, along the floe edge, when the lookout called down that he saw a bear on an island of ice, a few points on our starboard bow. i heard him, so immediately went for my rifle. a boat was lowered and we rowed to the island. george matheson, one of our harpooners, and myself immediately landed, and the boat left us, intending to row around the island so as to intercept bruin, should he attempt to swim to the main floe. as this was the first wild bear i had ever seen, i was unfamiliar with their ways, but learned afterwards that unless the hunter came suddenly upon one, or unless it had cubs, it would almost invariably retreat and probably take to the water. of course, it might not know the whereabouts of the hunter, and in that case it would be as liable to go in his direction as any other. this particular animal was an exception to all rules; for before we had gone very far we found that he was coming straight toward us. owing to the nature of the ice, he could not always be seen, but occasionally he would stand up and take his bearings, when we could see each other. i was an active youth, george was a heavy man in excellent condition, and if it came to running, he would have had no chance with me, and no sensible bear would pass him to pursue me. [illustration: ] realizing these things, i had no misgivings, so knelt down and put out a box of ten cartridges. the har-pooner, seeing my preparations, said: "for god's sake, don't shoot." he had had experiences with wounded bears before, which he did not wish to repeat. it seemed to me, however, that, between the two of us, we had things our own way as we had had such splendid practice at seals a short time before and our hands were in, so, when bruin stood up to have a look at us, less than a hundred yards away, i fired and hit him in the head. i was intensely pleased as it was my first bear and also the first seen that year by any of the ships. we had, as spectators, the entire crew, as the ship was not far away and every one on board was watching. a bear is considered lucky, considerable trouble being taken to pick one up. as they looked very yellow in the white ice, they were easily seen. curiosity, no doubt, drew this one to us, as we were kneeling down and not moving when he stood up to look. had we moved, he would probably have gone away. i kept the skull, the entire occipital portion of which was shattered, although the skin wound was small, as the copper-nosed bullets only expanded well on striking something hard. the boat came back for us and, after skinning the prize, we went on board. as there was much heavy ice to the west, we steamed back towards disco, and a lead, opening to the north, later in the day, gave us a chance of going a few miles in the right direction. _may st. wednesday_. we had come rather close to the land by morning and were off disco fiord. there was very heavy ice coming down and numbers of bergs about, so navigation was exceedingly difficult and dangerous, and we made little or no progress until noon, when the ice slackened and let us go ahead, the wind blowing from the north and loosening it. in the evening it was very cold, with snow squalls. i got an ivory gull this day (p. eburnea) and also a glaucous gull (larus glaucus). the ivory gull positively looked like ivory as it stood on the ice, and the glaucous gull, with its great spread of snow-white wings, was beautiful. [illustration: ] we were sorry that the ship did not stop at godhaven, or lieveley, as it was generally called, because of its importance as a point of departure for expeditions. they generally obtained dogs there, and whalers, for a century and more, had made it a port to call, but this was a race for the north and no time was to be wasted. we managed to work on our course all afternoon and during the night, as the wind had slackened the ice. _may nd. thursday_. during the night, the ship had made considerable progress, so at noon we were off hare island. after tea, we were hooked on in a pool of water for several hours. i took my gun and went out for a stroll, killing a number of little auks (alca allé or roach) and a richardson's skua. these latter were called, by the sailors, boatswain birds, because of the long feathers in the tail, resembling a marlinspike. as at this time we had the sun night and day, it made me exceedingly restless. about ten p. m. we were fast again, so, taking my gun, i shot some black guillemot (u. grylle), these birds being very numerous. i returned to the ship about midnight, when it was blowing rather hard. _may rd. friday_. the wind had died down by morning and the day was beautiful. we were off nugsuak peninsula. there were many tremendous bergs about and the floe was heavy. in the dim distance we saw a ship and made our way towards her. to the east of us was the entrance to hmanak fiord, one of the largest on the west coast of greenland. from where we were, all fiords looked alike, and it was impossible to tell islands from mainland. it resembled a sea of ice out of which protruded rocks and hills, which, excepting on the steep places, were covered with snow. black guillemot and little auks were everywhere in thousands, and it was pretty to see rows of the latter along the ice edge. they stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the water, and were very indifferent to our presence. by night we had made little progress and the new ship was still far away. we had been about with the whalers enough by this time to recognize any of them a long way off by their rigging, smoke or funnel, so, long before we reached this new vessel, we recognized that she was a stranger, and she turned out to be the _cornwallis_. when we left dundee, she was outfitting for the greenland fishing, that is, for the voyage we ourselves originally intended taking, after leaving newfoundland. the high price of whalebone, however, had induced her owners to send her to davis straits instead. by tea time we were hooked on within a quarter of a mile of her, and after that meal the captain sent me on board to see whether there was any mail for our ship. climbing on board, i was amazed to find my friend armitage there, with a yellow beard and sea boots; i would not have recognized him. he was greatly surprised to see me because he believed that i had gone from newfoundland to the jan mayen fishing, not knowing of our altered arrangements. the _cornwallis_ was an old barque, formerly in the south american trade. she had had engines put in, and been fortified for arctic ice. after i sailed from dundee, armitage, in going around the docks, saw her. he went on board and, finding captain nicol, arranged to sail with him later in the year. sending back to the _aurora_ mail and papers, also some fresh mutton, which had been sent out to us, i remained on the _cornwallis_ and heard the news. i saw her peculiar and useless engines. captain nicol said they spoilt her for sailing and she steamed badly. _may th. saturday._ it was a beautiful arctic day when i came on deck before breakfast. ahead of us, the world was white, not a break to be seen anywhere, astern some open water. the _cornwallis_ was lying on our port side a few hundred yards away, so that about eleven i went on board, and, with armitage, started off to look for something to shoot, among the hummocks, three or four miles north of where we lay. we spent hours tramping over the ice, but did not see a track, so we returned to our ships about six p. m. this hummock belt extended east and west and had been caused by the rafting of great floes. it was quite smooth from the ship to the hummocks and also on the other side of them. half a mile beyond the ridge, however, there was a great berg which appeared to be aground. when i returned on board the _aurora_, the captain told me to go below and have my tea and then to go with the mate back to where i had been, because he had seen a bear close to us all the time we were there. it certainly was curious that neither of us had seen him or his tracks. when we were about a mile away from the ships, i saw armitage hurrying after us. i was anxious to wait for him, but the mate insisted on pushing on, as it would be a fearfully unlucky thing for a member of another crew to shoot a bear first seen by us. after a little, we reached a crack in the ice, about two feet wide, so we stepped across and hurried on. armitage, coming up shortly after, was unable to cross as the crack was then eight or ten feet wide and extended indefinitely in each direction. so the situation righted itself, and my friend returned to the ship while the mate and i kept on to where the bear had been seen and there we found tracks in abundance, but no bear. after an hour's searching, we were returning to the ship when we saw her jib hauled up as a signal for us to go ahead again, the game having been spotted by the lookout in the crow's nest. returning to the hummocks, we saw the bear strolling from behind the berg beyond. he was coming straight towards us, so we got down behind the rafted ice and awaited his approach. it was decided that i should have the first shot as the mate had killed so many. i allowed the bear to get about a hundred and fifty yards away before firing, and then put a bullet into him. i don't know where it hit, but he came down, to be up again at once and to keep on coming. the mate fired and down he went again, and we kept it up until the bear was hit many times. sometimes he fell, sometimes he bit at the place, and by the time he reached the ridge he was very lame and badly shot up. he had gone some distance to the west of us, so i stood up on a slab of ice and finished him, as we thought, by putting a bullet in his shoulder and dropping him in his tracks. we hurried up our side of the ridge until we arrived at where he was. then, climbing over, i was surprised to find him sitting up. this time my bullet finished him. our shooting was nothing to be proud of, and went to show how careful one should be with bears, because if not hit right, they take a lot of lead. this was about the only one of those killed that took more than one or, at the most, two shots. [illustration: ] as neither of us had a hunting knife, we had a long job skinning him with pocket knives. then we started for the ship, towing the skin, but when we reached the crack in the ice, it had opened about twenty-five yards, so we were fairly caught. the mate, with his usual ingenuity, loosened a pan of ice, and on this we crossed, using the butts of our rifles as paddles. arriving at the other side, we were met by two sailors, sent from the ship, as we were being watched from the barrel, and they took the bear skin in charge while we made our way on board. as it was late, we retired as soon as we had had something to eat. _may th.. sunday._ in the morning, armitage came on board and saw the bear skin. he had never seen a polar bear on the ice, so was very much disappointed that he had not been with us. both ships unhooked about ten a. m. and stood north through a lead. we moved along fairly well and by evening were hooked on close to each other in a hole of water with a good ice edge. the _bear_ and _triune_ were now in sight, the latter having come from dundee direct. we were off svartin huk, a great peninsula, but i only knew this by consulting the chart glued to the cabin table. the _cornwallis_ was the "lame duck" of the fleet. steaming in open water, she had not more than half our speed, and in heavy ice she could do little, as her power was so weak. of course, she could wriggle her way around floes and along tortuous leads fairly well, especially if some of the better ships had just been through ahead of her and broken the trail. the _cornwallis_ was the only one of the ships coming direct from dundee which carried a surgeon, but there were three on the newfoundland fleet. _may th. monday_. we both moved a few miles north this day, but the ice was very heavy and the conditions for advance unfavorable. some distance astern, we saw the _bear_, but she was not making much headway and we all three were tied up by noon. a ship, when anchored to a floe, has her bows against it and a cable out to an ice anchor on one bow or on both, according to the weather. from the jib-boom a rope ladder always hangs, so that one can easily get on to or leave the floe. there is generally a man on the ladder when the ship approaches the ice, and as she touches, he drops off! and, with an ice drill, makes a hold for the ice anchor. bringing armitage, we went to a crack up which looms were flying, and had a pleasant afternoon shooting them. they were fast-flying birds, and the knowledge of the fact that they would not be wasted gave zest to our sport. shooting guillemot rising off the water would not be much fun, but picking off single birds as they passed was good practice. the looms we saw in such thousands were, i believe, uria brunichii. the ships were tied up when i turned in. _may th. tuesday_. the ice was slack, so we kept in a northerly direction, making good headway. we left the _cornwallis_ and, following a good lead, passed the _narwhal_, which had been the leading ship for some days. during the evening, the _bear_ came after us, but we were able to keep ahead. captain fair-weather decided to give upernivik a wide berth, as he once had had an unpleasant experience with the rocks of that charming greenland summer resort, so we kept going north all night. there was a wonderful amount of life on board a whaler, on account of the crew being so large. in the 'tween-decks, one generally found a number of men at work, picking oakum, spinning rope yarn, or other yarns, and weaving sennet. the carpenter and his assistant were found at work in one place, the cooper busy in another, while the sailmaker sat and sewed. on the deck, in some sheltered corner, one found the blacksmith at work, and there were always jobs being done in the engine room. but it was easy work, none of the dog's life one saw on other ships. there are said to be runic monuments in the vicinity of upernivik, and one on woman's island is said to bear the date of . the early travellers, who are supposed to be responsible for these records, are also said to have visited lancaster sound. when one considers that baffin circumnavigated the bay which bears his name, in , in a craft of fifty-five tons, and when one examines a viking ship of a thousand years ago and finds it a substantial clinker built boat, a hundred feet long with fine beam, one sees no reason why a twelfth century vessel could not make her way to lancaster sound. _may th. wednesday_. we had a day racing with the bear. she managed to pass us just before we reached browns island, and hooked on to the floe some distance from us. after a little, the _narwhal_ joined us, and later the _cornwallis_. armitage and i went off in our dingey and had a few pleasant hours shooting looms. we shot a lot of them, which were divided between the two ships. it took me some time to overcome a prejudice and to become accustomed to seeing looms on the table in any shape or form, but they were really much better than any ducks we killed, because they were not at all fishy and our cook understood about skinning them. they tasted rather like roast hare. during the afternoon, the weather was thick and it was snowing. the coast of greenland, at this point, was fringed by hundreds of islands of all sizes and shapes. they were everywhere and some had names while others had not. one navigated there by rule of thumb, only moving when landmarks could be seen, and avoiding visible dangers. occasionally, something one did not see, destroyed the ship, as there were hundreds of uncharted rocks. in approaching a settlement, a native generally came on hoard and pointed out the way, but the coast was a dangerous one and the ships only kept close to it in order that they might avoid the terrible middle pack. [illustration: ] _may th. thursday._ we were bumping along towards the west when i came on deck, as the ice looked slacker in that direction, but we had to return shortly after breakfast and, after thrashing around for most of the morning, we managed to strike a good lead and gain a few miles. there was no shooting, as the ship did not stop. the _cornwallis_ kept near us all day, and the _narwhal_ was not far away. as we were now on the edge of the notorious melville bay, it became interesting. greely's famous thirty-six hour passage was not going to be repeated by us, that was evident. i recalled cheynes' account of its dangers, but we were so comfortable on board the _aurora_, and meals were served with such regularity, that it was only possible to realize the danger by watching floes crunch into each other as they were pressed together by irresistible forces. we hooked on at night with little in sight but floes and bergs. it is a wonderful thing to see a berg ploughing its way through a frozen sea, slowly but surely, overcoming all obstacles, provided, always, that the water was deep enough to keep its mighty base from grounding. on this day there were dozens in sight. they were in every direction and one could easily understand the hopelessness of a sailing ship's position, beset in these waters, with a gale driving bergs down upon her. _may th. friday_. we were lying, hooked on to the floe, in the forenoon, when i looked over the side and saw a beautiful male king eider duck (s. spectabilis) sitting on the water within ten feet of the captain's port. the captain was in bed, as he had been in the crow's nest for days, nearly all the time. his port was open and i did not want to wake him, so, taking a gun, i went on the ice and, firing from there, killed the bird without the report being heard in the cabin, and the dog, jock, went out and brought the bird in. it was the first king eider i had shot and it looked beautiful in its spring plumage. the striking thing about the bird was the enormous frontal processes bulging high above the bill and brightly colored. these were soft and shrank rapidly as they dried, losing their color. the plumage was a mixture of black, white, pearl gray and sea green, making a gorgeous whole. the first bird one sees of a beautiful species always excites more admiration than the others, and so i was delighted with this and carefully skinned it. the evening made no change in the conditions and we remained fast all night. _may st. saturday_. all the ships were stuck in the morning. the _cornwallis_ and _narwhal_ were some distance astern, the _arctic_ near the shore, the _nova zembla_ and _polynia_ close together to the west of us. there were an immense number of bergs, some of them, no doubt, aground, as there were many islands and rocks. we were lying off tassuisak, a not very populous place, and i was in hope that some natives, seeing the ships, would come off. [illustration: ] during the afternoon, we got under way and poked about without moving much further north. when we were crossing any open places, the ship steamed very slowly and a man was kept forward, on the lookout for submerged rocks. chapter xi--melville bay "and hark! the lengthening roar continuous runs athwart the rifted deep, at once it bursts and piles a thousand mountains to the clouds." _june st. sunday_. owing to a change of wind the ice had loosened and during the night we managed to push on to berry island. the _bear_ and _thetis_ appeared upon the scene during the afternoon, and we saw the _bear_ strike a sunken rock. we hooked on to the small island with several of the other ships, the _bear_ being on our starboard side, and the _narwhal, arctic and thetis_ on the port. i saw commander schley going on board the _bear_ and examining her with a water telescope. his boat passed very close to our quarter and the captain spoke to him as he went. the ships were all lying close to the shore floe with this low island in front of them, and it looked as if they might be there some time, so i went on shore with the surgeon of the _arctic_. there was a camera sitting on the ice near the _thetis_, so the ships were evidently being photographed. we wandered about the inhospitable place for a time and came on board. the perpetual daylight made me very irregular in my movements, coming and going at all hours; my day was regulated by my meals. those who had watches to keep slept and got up with their usual regularity. _june nd. monday_. the day fine, and we were still tied up at the island. i took a gun and went on shore after breakfast, but there was not much to shoot. in a little valley i saw a quantity of dead grass sticking out of the ice. on going over and examining, i found a number of _human skeletons_. wherever there was a big bunch of grass, there i found an ice-covered skeleton. probably they were eskimos. when i returned to the ship there were a number of natives on board. they came from tassuisak and had some seal skins to trade. some of our men had visited the _arctic_. she had been in godhaven, so had much trade and our men procured some of it. afterwards i bought a kayak model from one of these. it was very beautifully made. the skin tobacco pouches and slippers made by natives in godhaven looked nicer than any i saw from other settlements. the southern greenland towns were better than those further north, but the whalers seldom called at any further south than holstenborg. i went on board the _bear_ for awhile during the evening with dr. crawford and met lieutenant emory. during the day i saw several very beautiful glaucous gulls. they are called burgomasters by the sailors. _june rd. tuesday_. immediately to the north of where we lay there were a great many icebergs. they presented a very fine appearance with the sun shining on them. the _thetis_ and _bear_ started off amongst these bergs. we tried to move out to the west, but did not accomplish much; for when evening came we were no further north than when we started. in the distance and to the west of us we saw a berg on the top of which there was a black spot. what could it be? from the crow's nest the telescope revealed nothing but a black spot on the icy slope. there was a narrow lead going in this direction, so the mate and myself went with a boat's crew to solve the mystery. we were able to take a whale boat a long distance through the lead, and then we walked the rest of the way. i had brought a rifle in case there should be a chance of a shot. on getting up to the berg we found that it was not fast, but that owing to its great depth in the water it had a motion independent of its floe. on one side there had been a great slide, and up this we proposed going. just at this place the motion of the berg had ground up a lot of ice at its base, and also some of the floe, so that one had very unstable footing to jump to and from in crossing the surrounding fissure. however, we all managed without mishap and ascended the slide to within six or eight feet of the top. i was then pushed up this little cliff and found that, with the exception of the place we had come up, the sides were sheer precipices. it was necessary to traverse a snowy undulation before the black object came into view. the mate joined me with some of the others and it was exciting for a few minutes, but disappointing when we found only a big black stone which the berg had picked up probably during its glacial days. the islands of ice often turn over owing to the frost splitting them when the weather is cold. this frequent alteration of their centre of gravity makes them very undesirable neighbors, especially in the autumn. while it was disappointing finding only a stone when we expected something wonderful, yet the view from the summit was magnificent. immediately around little but ice could be seen, with here and there some black threads of water and many great bergs scattered about. in the distance the coast of greenland looked bold. it had been rather high all the way up from upernivik, but cape shackleton, rising to a height of thirteen hundred feet, looked very imposing, being precipitous. there was a great loomery on its cliffs, which was probably the home of the thousands of those birds which we saw every day flying along the cracks, or about the pools of open water. there was much less trouble getting down the berg than getting up, but we were all tired when we reached the ship as we were not accustomed to long walks. _june th. wednesday_. the morning was fine, and many ships were in sight. during the night we had passed cape shackleton. to the south we saw the _thetis_, evidently in the rips off horse heade, with the _bear_ astern of her. the _nova_ _zembla_ and _triune_ were several miles to the west, and caught in the pack, while all the other ships were together. during the morning the _thetis, bear_ and _polynia_ came up and joined us in our feeble attempt to push along. later in the day the weather turned cold and cloudy, but no storm came, and the ice was very tight at bedtime. _june th. thursday_. a beautiful day with sunshine and blue sky. nearly all the ships were anchored to the ice or stuck in our immediate vicinity. we were hooked on in a large lake and close to us there were a number of great bergs. during the morning i took the dingey and rowed amongst them, as there was no floe ice near. the silence was very impressive, the only sound being that made by the splashing of water as it trickled down the icy sides of the bergs, or the cry of some seabird. i traced the base of one of these hoary giants a long way into the depths, but the water of the arctic sea is by no means clear, owing to the vast numbers of animalculae which inhabit it. i shot a big bag of little auks here, but was careful not to do any shooting whilst close to the bergs, as the concussion might have brought down ice. during the afternoon the floe opened a little, and the expedition ships came close to us, but the _nova zembla_ and _triune_ still appeared to be held in the pack. we all watched like hawks for a chance to reach the duck islands, now only a few miles ahead. greely might have been there. [illustration: ] _june th. friday_. this was one of the most exciting days we had--eight of us all on edge and each trying to get ahead of his neighbor. this friendly rivalry added zest to the trip. we were quite close to the duck islands, which made the starting point of the melville bay passage. the day was glorious and we spent most of it fast to a floe. the exciting thing was when late in the evening a crack occurred near the arctic. it was not more than a mile or two across the floe to the open water at the duck islands, and this crack appeared to extend the whole way. when it was wide enough the _arctic_ and _aurora_ immediately entered, but before we had gone any distance, the ice closed astern of us, preventing any of the others entering. for a short time we were caught, and it looked like the nips, then the floe seemed to swing, closing behind us and opening in front, so that we steamed away with a cheer, leaving the others barred out. the _bear_, after a short time, succeeded in breaking a way for herself and the _thetis_, and all the rest followed like ducks. i was aloft for a time watching this game of follow the leader and keenly interested in this arctic race. we entered the patch of open water about midnight, and steaming across made fast to the ice at the islands. _june th. saturday_. it was wonderful how little we slept when there was excitement. i enjoyed it' so much that i was afraid of missing anything by going below, but after the race we had just finished, as we had all hooked on, i felt that it was safe to turn in as there was nothing but dense pack ahead. the _arctic_ and _aurora_ were lying very close to the _bear_, and the _thetis_ was not far off. we were on the west side of the middle duck, the rest of the fleet being on the other side. it was evident that there were no explorers here to be rescued, for the approach of the fleet was rather imposing and they would have seen it. after a rest, taking a gun i made my way on shore. we were too early for eggs, but there were plenty of ducks and the shooting was rather good. numbers of phalarope (lobipes hyperboreus) were about. they were graceful little birds and no doubt bred here later. coming back for the dingey i rowed out to a point of ice past which there was a flight of ducks, but was astonished to find the birds so shy in such a quiet place. perhaps the sight of the ships invading this sanctuary made them a little nervous. i managed, however, to add considerably to my bag. there did not appear to be any loosening of the ice, so none of the ships made any effort to move. i went on board the _arctic_ during the afternoon and received a supply of apples from captain guy. the surgeon returned with me and spent the evening on the _aurora_. as our boiler required some repair this was attended to during the day and it made a wonderful difference to the temperature of the cabin having no heat in the engine room for a few hours. _june th. sunday_. a peaceful day and perfectly calm with some fog. all the ships were hooked on to the floe. crawford of the _arctic_ came on board and we took our dingey and went to one of the islands. some men from the relief ships were there. they were shooting with eight bores, the first time i had ever seen guns of that calibre; i saw them make some long shots. we secured a few ducks, eider and long tailed. during the afternoon we went on board the _bear_, and again met lieutenant emory and his officers. lieutenant colwell showed us the ship. the arrangement of the berths in the cabin was splendid; they were curtained off by drawing out poles, and by pushing these in the sleeping quarters were reduced in size, and the saloon enlarged. i should say that the _bear_ was the fastest ship of the fleet, except, perhaps, the _arctic_, which had powerful engines. the only thing against the _arctic_ was her great length which made it difficult to turn her about in small water holes, and to manouvre amongst the ice as some of the others were able to do. the _wolf_ and _narwhal_ had moved off and were caught in the pack by bedtime. we were then on the threshold of melville bay, the reputation of which was most unsavory. perhaps the most interesting occurrence there during historic times was the loss of nineteen ships and a total of £ , damage to the fleet on june th, . this event has been called the baffin's bay fair, because the one thousand men who suddenly found themselves homeless upon the ice, made the best of their circumstances and enjoyed themselves immensely. before the ships went down they secured quantities of liquor and food and afterwards established comfortable camps. there was an abundance of wood from the wrecks, so they made bonfires around which they danced. the curious part of it was that no lives were lost, and that the entire party ultimately reached home safe. there is an interesting oil painting of this event in the museum at peterhead. _june th. monday_. we seemed permanent fixtures now and felt that we owned the place in spite of the ducks. i took the dingey with a boy and pulled off to a long point of ice on the west side of the island not far from where we lay. we were able to hide behind a heavy piece of ice with the boat and i shot a number of ducks in the handsome plumage of that season. then landing, found numbers of old nests made of feathers and down. they had been driven into crevices of rock by storms and one could have collected a quantity of down. while on the island i saw and heard my first finner whale. he was making a great noise as he breathed. finners have little oil and short bone, so they are not pursued. they are also very quick in their movements and consequently dangerous. this one came up several times in different water holes about the islands and then disappeared. at dinner we were discussing vegetables and all agreed that the best on board the ship were the tinned carrots. they were simply boiled and put up in pieces six or seven inches long. they were absolutely as fresh and sweet as the day on which they were prepared. we called them carnoustie carrots, as they had come from that place. our dundee meat was excellent at this time. we had a good supply of it, and very seldom saw salt beef or salt pork on the cabin table during the voyage. the steak for breakfast was served on a sort of metal basket; a handle crossed the middle of this and on each side there was a lid. the steak was under one lid and fried onions under the other. we also had hot rolls every morning, although ship's bread was always on the table. _june th. tuesday_. early in the morning the _aurora_ unhooked and for a little while managed to push her way northwest. the _wolf_ and _narwhal_ had gained by moving on. there was always a chance of a lead opening and letting one through. we had reached the duck islands first, by taking the lead while the others hesitated. we now entered the pack further than we wished to and then spent some time trying to extricate ourselves. there was always danger of being beset in the pack and carried down the straits again; in it there was no safe anchorage, as it might twist and turn in any direction, and a low temperature might even freeze the ship up, whereas following the shore floe gave one a lead of open water every time the pack floated off, and should it be driven in the ship could generally find a bay or indentation in which she was fairly safe. in consequence of this the captains became nervous when they found themselves beset in the pack. at night we were almost out of sight of the islands. the _wolf_ and _narwhal_ were not far from us. _june th. wednesday_. before morning we managed to work north some distance. the _wolf_, _narwhal_ and _arctic_ were close to us. the relief ships during the day were joined by the _triune, cornwallis and nova zembla_. we all made some headway, but in the afternoon we were so nearly caught once or twice that we steamed back towards the islands and arrived almost at our old anchorage by the following morning. _june th. thursday._ in the morning a lot of us were back at the old anchorage again, but the _arctic_ was still to the north, close to the _thetis and bear_. the _wolf and narwhal_ were out in the pack to the west of us, but in the afternoon these last joined us. during the day i shot a lot of ducks, all eider and king eider, afterwards landing on a floe from which a peninsula ran out having a narrow isthmus covered with very high hummocks. crossing this isthmus to the peninsula beyond, i came upon the perfectly fresh footprints of a bear and two cubs, leading from the water to the big hummocks over which i had come and over which my route back lay. having only a sixteen bore and number four shot, this discovery was disquieting for a time, as a bear with cubs might fight. however, she did not materialize. all the other ships were closer inshore during the evening, while we moved west a little. during the night we moved off up a lead. [illustration: ] _june th. friday_. we were hard and fast, the _cornwallis, triune, esquimaux and narwhal_ in sight close inshore. the _arctic and wolf_ out with the expedition ships. they were apparently beset. we lay frozen up all day, with not even a duck to shoot. the sugarloaf, a high mountain on the greenland coast, showed up well and made a good landmark. _june th. saturday_. the day began with a heavy snow storm, but shortly after breakfast it cleared off. the ice opened to the west, so we steamed in that direction, leaving the fleet of older ships apparently fast inshore, and we did not see any of them again for a long time. we made very little headway at first, but found the ice slack after dinner and managed to push through it. later a series of good leads opened up and we worked a long way north. when i turned in, the relief ships with the _arctic and wolf_ were in sight ahead of us. we passed a curious pillar of rock called the devil's thumb; it was a long way off. every one took off his hat to it as was the custom. steering amongst ice was sometimes very dangerous for the man at the wheel, because the ship going astern was liable to bump her rudder against the ice. this, of course, sent the wheel flying around. we had a man hurt in this way by receiving a blow from the wheel during the afternoon. _june th. sunday_. we had good leads all the morning and were never blocked for any length of time. by breakfast time we overtook the _arctic and wolf_ with relief ships. then we all hooked on to a heavy floe in an open pool of water. very shortly we were off again, but it looked dangerous, so we tied up. the _wolf_ was the first to be free. she entered a lead and it closed behind her, exactly as it had done with us at the duck islands. however, later in the day the pack drew off and we all steamed along the edge of the shore floe, the _thetis_ bringing up the rear. this was an exciting race, and no one turned in while the water remained open. the _wolf_ had the lead, the _arctic and aurora_ being together. occasionally some of us would diverge a little, but we were in line pretty well all the time. _june th. monday._ i turned in when i found the way blocked and all the ships tied up, as everything seemed frozen solid, except the pool in which we lay. seven bells awoke me to find things as they had been. captain fairweather shot a sabine gull after breakfast and i shot some looms, which were picked out of the water by jock the dog, who retrieved very well. i went on board the _wolf_ with the captain, and saw captain burnette. during the evening the arctic steamed off and we followed with the _wolf_, but the lead closed so we all were caught. the aurora. managed to push out into the loose ice in a little while, but the wolf remained and the arctic was fairly in the nips. the evening was fine and we saw land to the north and dozens of bergs to the east of us. there was a crack running into the floe for two hundred yards close to our ship. it was probably twenty-five yards wide at the entrance. a great many looms flew up this and returned when they found it a blind lead. the dingey was lowered and the captain and myself had a few hours' shooting and secured a great many. they were tied in bunches and hung upon the chains connecting the quarter davits. _june th. tuesday_. all were frozen up. i tried stalking a seal, as there were several in sight, but i could not get near any of them. the _arctic_ was still nipped, the _wolf_ was with us and the relief ships a little way east. during the evening we were all moving around, except the _arctic._ we were ahead and the _wolf_ next, the _bear_ bringing up the rear. later the _thetis_ fell back, for she could not keep up. cape york was in sight and all four of us were rather close together. with the _aurora_ leading, we kept this up all night, every one greatly excited. in the small hours we were all up to a barrier. among the arctic ice it would have been useless to roll the ship as we had done at newfoundland, the young ice on that coast being very different from the arctic floe met with in melville bay. _june th. wednesday._ the race for cape york and the north was far too exciting to permit of sleep, so for the following few days i never undressed, but kept going up and down all the time. if we stuck i lay down, and when the engine started i went up. at one a. m. we were with the _wolf_ and relief ships, pounding away at the floe which separated us from the open water at cape york. the _aurora_ was the first to break through, when we all gave a great cheer and shouted, "the north water!" i immediately went forward, and sitting on the jib-boom, realized that i was the nearest white man to greely, possibly the nearest to the pole. i sat there for a long time as we were steaming fast towards the land through open water. as we neared the shore the _bear_ passed us. she was a faster ship and she reached the shore floe some minutes before us. seeing a party land on the ice from the _bear_, we turned off southwest. as the _thetis and wolf_ were coming up, the captain went on board the former and bade the commander good-by, and good luck, then we crept off to the southwest with the _wolf_. the _bear_ having spoken the _thetis_, steamed west after us, the weather being rather thick. finding the ice heavy to the west, we tried a lead to the north, but were beset for some time. [illustration: ] the fog was so thick that nothing could be seen ahead. we saw nothing further of the _thetis_ as she remained at cape york to pick up the party landed by the _bear._ i turned in for a time during the night, as the ship was beset by heavy ice. we had now completed the passage of melville bay without accident and nearly every one on board felt that the greatest danger of the voyage was over, so we would work our way to the west and look for whales. in the race from st. john's to cape york we had been beaten by the _bear_ only, and that by just a few minutes. the _arctic, thetis and wolf_ were all close, but in the last lap the _aurora and bear_ were neck and neck almost to the winning post. chapter xii--cape york to carey islands "and now there came both mist and snow and it grew wondrous cold, and ice, mast-high, came floating by as green as emerald." |i noticed a rather curious phenomenon while coming up the greenland coast, but thinking that there was probably some simple explanation, made no note of it. one evening while in the passage at the foot of the stairs i heard a peculiar whistling. it was like the noise one sometimes hears when standing beside a telegraph pole. the steward was in the pantry and i drew his attention to it. the sound was very distinct in the pantry, and not noticeable in the saloon, which was on the same deck but a little further aft. the steward said he had heard it before and we concluded it was due to a vibration of the taut rigging conducted down the mizzenmast to this particular place. the engine was silent at the time, otherwise the noise of machinery would have drowned everything else. i listened to the peculiar whistle several times after and always heard it very distinctly in the pantry. the steward had sailed arctic waters for years, but he made no comment on this subject and never mentioned having heard it on other ships, nor did any; one else on board the _aurora_ speak of it at all; in fact, we were probably the only two who noticed it. years after i came across the following passage in "old whaling days," by captain barron: "from latitude n. to latitude n. on the east side and in melville bay, not far from the land, a strange phenomenon is heard resembling a very weird whistling in a high note and gradually dying away to a very low one. it is only heard when it is calm, and most distinctly when in a boat or in a ship's lazarette which is nearly level with the water. on deck it is seldom heard." the above interested me as it describes what i noticed. captain barron believes it to be connected with the aurora borealis, which he states can be heard but not seen when the sun shines on a summer's night in the arctic. _june th. thursday._ the engine starting up brought me on deck. the fog had lifted and the _arctic and wolf_ could be seen astern, while the _bear_ was to the north of us. some time after we were steaming through a nice lead into open water ahead. i was on the bridge, where the second mate was in charge, and the captain was in the crow's nest, which he seldom left. presently we noticed the lead very narrow, being little wider than the ship. a moment later we were among crunched up ice and within twenty or thirty yards of the open water and the ship was slowing up owing to her progress being impeded by the ice. the captain called down, "get over there, some of you men, and push that ice out of the way with poles." we were almost through, and it looked as though a few pieces pushed away would relieve the situation. specksioneer lyon and twenty others were immediately over, and began pushing. almost at once lyon called up, "it's coming together, sir," and sure enough we were caught between two points of great floes coming together and the _aurora_ was in the greatest danger of being lost within the next few minutes. the captain immediately came down and began giving orders. all boats were provisioned and lowered away. i rushed to my cabin and was rolling up my blankets, when he brought the log, which he asked me to put with my things. i took my bundles on deck with a rifle and gun, and by this time the ship was so squeezed that my door would not open or shut, and she had a heavy port list. as the _arctic and wolf_ were a short distance astern of us, there was no danger to life and i thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of being shipwrecked so comfortably. with a bump the ship righted herself greatly and presently, after straining and groaning, she slipped up considerably. her water line was now above the crunching ice and she was for the time being tolerably safe. this all happened in a very short time and it was a wonderful escape. i went on to the ice forward with the mate and engineer; and while there the ship slipped up higher still, so that she was almost out of the water. [illustration: ] the surgeon of the _arctic_ paid us a visit at this time and took the two photographs here reproduced after some retouching. the first one shows the ship in the nips; in it i happened to be in the foreground. in the second she has slipped up and is almost out of the water. the mate, engineer and myself were on the ice in front at the time. sailors were a little superstitious, and did not like their ship being photographed while in distress, so these pictures were very hurriedly taken. for some hours the _aurora_ rested in this position and we knew that eventually the ice would open and let her into the water. our principal anxiety was about the stem post and rudder; but these fortunately escaped injury. our propeller had only two blades, so when the ship was sailing or stuck in the ice the propeller was always stopped with the blades up and down. while in this position the whole thing could easily be unshipped, and we carried an extra one. as looms were flying about in numbers along the floe edge just in front of the ship i shot a big bag of them. they fell into the water, but drifted against the ice edge where i picked them up. the _arctic and wolf_ were pretty tightly caught astern of us, but they had not to abandon the ships as we had. during the afternoon the pack was tighter than ever and it made weird sounds at times. we had our meals on board and were all very happy at our wonderful escape, especially the captain, who was determined to take home a cargo of whales in his own ship instead of returning as passenger on one of the others. during the night a crack occurred under the bows. this opened by degrees, letting the ship down. we hoisted up our boats and the shipwreck was over. when whalers go into melville bay they generally arrange a quantity of provisions so that it can be easily reached in event of their suddenly having to leave the ship as we had done. _june th. friday._ after our escaping from the nips, we steamed in a northerly direction, with the _arctic and wolf_ a heavy fog came on. i was very tired, so went and lay down. as the engine room was aft, a person in any of the staterooms could easily hear the bell there being rung from the crow's nest. how long i had been lying down, i don't know, but something awoke me. i knew, from the sound of the engine, we were going fast ahead, but i heard the bell ring, "stop her," and then immediately full speed astern. knowing that something was wrong, i rushed on deck; it was very thick and i heard some one say, "o my god, we are lost!" and just then on the starboard side of the ship, i saw a great berg towering above us. we just missed it! all was well! we steamed dead slow for awhile and i realized that those who "went down to the sea in ships" could have a great deal of excitement in two days. about an hour after this a steam whistle blew right ahead. the fog instantly lifted a little and there was the arctic shooting across our bows. we both stopped, and the captain went over to her. when the captain came on board again the fog was gone and we were off conical rock. the ice was loose here and the two ships kept together until we passed cape dudley diggs. here we drifted farther apart, but were within sight of each other all the way to wolstenholm island. during the night we arrived at the island, but found that the _rear_ had been there ahead of us, so we directed our course towards carey islands, the ice being loose, but the weather pretty thick. june st. saturday. heavy fog and plenty of ice, so our speed was slow. sometimes it cleared a little and we could see for several miles ahead. there were numbers of birds about, principally guillemot and eider duck. they probably had headquarters at wolstenholm, and carey islands. natives repaired to wolstenholm at this season of the year and collected eggs; but carey islands were in the middle of the sound and, i fancy, left pretty well undisturbed. during the afternoon it became very thick, and for a time we stopped steaming, as we could not make out the leads and there was some heavy ice about. late in the evening it cleared a little and we ran in to carey island. the _arctic_ was ahead of us, and the _wolf_ in the distance. i wrote some letters in the evening as i thought there might be a chance of sending them on board the _bear_. our captain had decided to go from this place to the whaling ground, and leave the greely part of it to the expedition ships, as the owners would not thank him for risking the vessel in higher latitudes and possibly missing his chance for whales in lancaster sound. the _arctic_ had a boat on shore, but saw nothing of explorers or records. the _bear_ left the islands after midnight, but was not near us, so i had no chance of sending my letters. this was the last we saw of the relief ships. they picked greely up within twenty-four hours at cape sabine. we knew nothing of it until later, when we heard the news from some of the slower ships, which met the expedition returning with the rescued, and their story was as follows: june nd. after the _bear_ left carey islands, she joined the _thetis_ and they proceeded to cape sabine, where they arrived during the evening. from records found on brevoort island near cape sabine, they knew where the explorer was, and he was picked up by lieutenant colwell of the _bear_ almost at the place where he, colwell, landed after the loss of the _proteus_. of the twenty-five who left with greely a few years before, but seven were now alive, and the story they told of starvation and death was in tune with others we have all read of arctic exploration and was doubly impressive when told to us, situated as we were in the dreary regions where the tragedy had been enacted. greely had done his work well. his two years at fort conger had been well spent. lockwood had attained latitude ° ' in , beating all previous records. most valuable magnetic observations had been made and the interior of grinnell land had been explored. the orders to abandon fort conger were carried out in and then their troubles began. relief had not come, depots of provisions had not been established, and in a very dejected state they had arrived at cape sabine, where they established their final camp, the history of which supplies arctic literature with its blackest chapter. [illustration: ] on june nd schley arrived at cape sabine. no arctic expedition had ever done so well by this date, its first year. a week or two later there would probably not have been one survivor. this relief expedition had been perfectly successful in its gallant dash and had arrived not a minute too soon. chapter xiii--carey islands to lancaster sound "here winter holds his unrejoicing court; and through his airy hall the loud misrule of driving tempest is forever heard. here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath, here arms his winds and all-subduing frost. moulds his fierce hail and treasures up his snows with which he now oppresses half the globe." _june nd. sunday_. it was blowing very hard from the south, and there was much ice, so we had a difficult time picking our way. the weather was also bitterly cold. again birds were very numerous. we were making our way to princess charlotte's monument on the west side, and it was slow work. the _arctic_ was ahead of us and not moving on any faster. we felt the loss of the relief ships. they were always a cause of some excitement, and there was a chance of finding greely so long as we kept going north. now that that interest was removed, i consoled myself with the knowledge that we were nearing the magnetic pole, and would soon be steaming up lancaster sound, the highway to the northwest along which so many brave men had gone never to return. during the afternoon it became more squally, and when i turned in we were making little headway, but the wind was going down. _june rd. monday_. we were steaming in tolerably open water when i came on deck. the _arctic_ was ahead. birds were numerous--some geese with hundreds of eider and guillemot. after breakfast we saw land ahead, that is, to the west, and during the afternoon were within a mile or so of it,--princess charlotte's monument. there was much loose ice to the south and a straight floe edge to the north of us, and to this we hooked on two hundred yards to the east of the _arctic_. we did not care to go closer to the rocks lest the ice should come in on us. i saw dr. crawford take the _arctic's_ launch and go ashore to look for eggs. returning a couple of hours after, steam went down and the _arctic_ was obliged to unhook and go after them. it appeared that the boiler was too exposed and the cold so intense that they simply could not keep steam up. the launch had been keeping under the lee of the floe as much as possible, and when steam went down she began to drift away from this into rough water. for a few minutes things looked bad for her, as she was a wretched sea boat with her heavy boiler and engine. during the night we unhooked and worked our way towards the south. _june th. tuesday._ day fine, but blowing from the south. a lot of ice on the coast, and to the south and east all was white. we were now where whales might be seen and preparations were made. foregoers and lines were tested, harpoons examined, guns cleaned and fired to make sure they would work, lines coiled away in boats, and every one was on the lookout. we never heard of disco or cape york now. all was lancaster sound and pond's bay, with weird tales of cold days spent rock-nosing off cape kater and in cumberland gulf. all these preparations did not hurry matters in the least. the king of this country decided that we should remain for a day or two where we were, and so in the evening we were hooked on almost where the morning found us. june th. wednesday. about noon the wind died down and the currents, setting south, took the ice off the coast so that we were able to crawl along a little; but a few hours later we made fast to the land floe off cape horsburgh, as the pack was drifting in again. we saw many walrus here, but did not like to spend time at them, as we wanted to be the first ship up the sound. at tea time we moved along a little further and by bedtime we tied up again. some of our tanks were pumped out and cleaned, ready for the anticipated oil. there were a number of seals in sight, but they were left alone, as the time was precious. june th. thursday. as the ship was hard and fast i took a rifle and went after some seals which were to be seen a mile away. before going very far i found myself climbing over hummocks of old ice which had drifted down jones sound, and it was very difficult walking. on one side of a hummock the snow would be perfectly smooth and frozen hard, while on the other side it would be so soft that one at once went through the surface and had to clamber along in several feet of it. again, one would come to a perfectly rotten and honeycombed piece of ice underneath which there was a foot or two of water, and below the water could be seen the solid old floe; this made walking so difficult that i returned to the ship without getting a shot. [illustration: ] _june th and th_ were uneventful. we moved little, and cape horsburgh was in sight all the time, but on: _june th, sunday,_ we had a good lead along the shore floe and were steaming fast through it when i came on deck. a number of bears were seen about noon, but the wind was from the south and the ice was coming in, so we hurried along. as there were a number of them, they were probably attracted by some dead beast. barron tells of seeing once about one hundred bears around a dead whale. he also tells of men being devoured by these creatures. in the days of muzzle-loaders there was more risk than there is now, because if one came suddenly upon a bear with cubs and missed his shot, there might not be time to load again. late in the evening we were off: cape warrender and were steaming amongst loose ice at bedtime. several narwhals were seen during the afternoon, but we paid no attention to them. _june th. monday._ steaming up the sound towards a solid floe at breakfast time with many white whales in sight. we steered south along the ice edge, and seeing an eskimo standing on it, we sailed up to him. he was a very uncouth looking individual after the smartly dressed gentlemen on the greenland side. his clothes did not fit and he was otherwise careless about his appearance. he had in his hand a narwhal's tusk, and as we came close we heard him singing "bonny laddie--highland laddie." this he had probably learned from his parents, they having learned it from the whalers in sailing-ship days. in old times it was customary to lower the boats and tow the ship through the leads to the above tune. i was told this, so it may be true. the native came on board. he was much more like an american indian than a greenland eskimo. before he had been many minutes on board he was taken aft and relieved of his tusk by the second mate, getting in return some trifle: the gentleman belonged to navy board inlet, on the south side, and not far away. the captain had had a lot of paddles made for some of the boats. it was possible to approach whales with very little noise when the paddles were used, so we tried them frequently for narwhal hunting. as there were numbers of these creatures in sight, we had a couple of boats out after them. a sharp lookout was kept from the crow's nest for whales coming up the sound. we hooked on to the ice about two miles from the south shore, and put a boat out on either side of the ship and about a hundred yards away. these boats were hooked on by laying the long steering oar on the ice. our narwhal hunters had no luck, so they came on board. _july st. tuesday_. we were fast to the ice with a boat on each side all day. the captain had a long interview with the native on the subject of whales. he seemed to understand maps well, and was able to point out where he had seen fish; from what i could make out, a good number had been in the sound. i spent the afternoon in a boat with the captain trying to get a narwhal. we saw dozens and came pretty close to several lots, but did not get one good shot, although we fired several times. the harpoons we used for this work were much smaller than the regular whaling harpoon and were made of the same tough swedish iron. before turning in i spent an hour on deck and heard narwhals and white whales breathing about us all the time. everything looked propitious. _july nd. wednesday._ i had a dream during the night that we had succeeded in killing a narwhal and that our youngest harpooner, gyles, had killed it. dreams were often recounted at the breakfast table, so i told this, and, as luck would have it, before dinner gyles killed our first narwhal. my night visions were subsequently treated with great respect, except by the steward, who felt, no doubt, that i was infringing a little on his rights. a coldness sprang up between us such as only professional jealousy can create, and which evinced itself the following day when he did not ask me to help him to pick the raisins for the duff--thursday being duff day. the forenoon success gave quite an impetus to the narwhal fishing, but no more were captured, as the elusive beasts always went down just as we were almost within shot. the narwhal (monodon monoceros) is to me the most beautiful of the whale species. the one captured by us was twelve feet long without the tusk. this measured four feet in length and about four inches around the base. it ended in a rather sharp point and had a spiral groove running from right to left. the horn, or rather tooth, protrudes from the upper jaw of the male, generally on the left side. it only protrudes from the female head as a freak. on the right side a small undeveloped horn is found embedded in the skull of the male, but two undeveloped teeth are found in the female. the narwhal is the only vertebrate animal in which bilateral symmetry is not the rule. the body is whitish, marbled with blackish brown, and about four of them yield a ton of oil. with an axe i easily split the cancellous skull and removed the embedded tusk. we saw hundreds of white whales this day (delphinapterus leucas). these are cousins of the narwhals, but generally a little larger. the _aurora_ had great luck the previous year up prince regent's inlet in getting a good catch of them. this was managed by driving them ashore. they were skinned and the skin made into leather. each side counted as one skin. they go in schools like porpoises, but generally only three or four abreast, therefore, it takes a large school a considerable time to go past. they are peculiar in having no dorsal fin, and their yellowish white colour makes them rather conspicuous. _july rd. thursday._ 'before breakfast a bear was seen in the water and shot by mclean from a boat. bears are always lucky and we knew that something better would soon come. while at breakfast a female narwhal was killed. it must have been fourteen feet long. i removed the two little embedded horns. narwhals were very difficult to capture with the appliances in use at this time, the harpoon gun being only effective at ten or fifteen yards. as the beast generally went down when one was about twenty yards away, a long shot had to be taken with a very clumsy gun. very little of the narwhal showed above water, just the top of its head and back. of course there was a good sized animal immediately under the water, so that a harpoon might miss the back and still lodge in the whale. it was very cold and we had several snow showers. the bear was skinned and the skin salted and put in a barrel, no attempt being made to dry or otherwise cure any of the bear skins taken during the voyage. they were kept green. _july th. friday_. during the night there was a fall of snow and a breeze from the east had driven some loose ice up the sound, and pieces were constantly breaking off the floe. these drifted down the sound with the current; but when there was wind from the east much of this broken ice would drift up and surround us. we were dodging about under canvas in the morning, and the wind, which was bitterly cold, was going down. during the forenoon we sailed up to the floe edge and hooked on about eight miles from the south side, putting two boats on the bran, that is, one on each side of the ship. the loose ice had drifted away, and as the afternoon was very fine the captain decided to try the unies, as the narwhals were called, and i went with him. one does not generally see very many unies together, but they were in fours and fives all over the place this afternoon and very shy. just as the boat would get within twenty-five yards or so, off they would go. the captain made a long shot at one and got fast. for a few minutes the line ran out rapidly, but the shot had been a long one and the harpoon drew, so we came on board disappointed. paddles were used instead of oars, as they made less noise. on the fishing ground we avoided noise as much as possible and for this reason the ship seldom steamed, but kept her fires banked and moved about under canvas. chapter xiv--our first whale "hoist out the boat at once and slacken sail." _july th. saturday_. a beautiful day. after breakfast i was in a bran boat on the starboard side of the ship and one hundred and fifty yards away, when i heard a commotion on board, and in less time than it takes to tell, all our boats, except the upper quarter ones, were in the water and hurrying off: towards us. our steering oar was holding the boat to the ice, so it did not take long to get away, and we pulled hard for several minutes before the boat-steerer whispered: "avast pulling." at this time the boats were scattered along the ice edge a hundred yards apart. a whale had been seen coming up the sound. we knew that it would continue up under the ice, and failing to find a hole through which it could breathe, it would turn and come to the surface near the edge of the ice and close to some of the boats, and that unless we had very bad luck, it was doomed. in a few minutes we saw it a quarter of a mile down the sound; it looked like two black islands, one the head and the other the back. it lay there for several minutes and we could distinctly hear it breathe. we saw the spout, then it sank slowly and disappeared. the excitement was now' intense. the next time it would be beside a boat--which boat? would it come up under us or beside us? perfect silence was observed and the suspense of waiting for the first whale, i shall never forget. probably ten minutes passed, when up came the fish almost beside the boat in which george matheson was har-pooner. as he was already standing by his gun, no order was given, and one sweep of the boat-steerer's oar gave him his shot. the gun went off, the foregoer sprang into the air and every man shouted: "a fall! a fall!" the whale hesitated a few seconds before going down, and matheson put in a hand-harpoon also. he was not ten feet from the whale when he fired, and almost touching when he put in the hand-harpoon. the fast boat now hoisted its jack and the fish went down and started towards the south side of the sound, past the ship's stern. we pulled in this direction for all we were worth, the boat nearest the fast boat standing by it so as to supply more lines if necessary. when we had pulled hard for ten minutes, we slowed down, the boats keeping some distance apart, and shortly after, fifty yards from us, the whale came up. immediately a second boat, the mate's, got fast, the huge creature going down at once, and away we went again. when our quarry next appeared, about fifteen or twenty minutes later, the nearest boat immediately began lancing, and presently we were at it. unfortunately we all had our backs to the scene of action, except the boat-steerer and harpooner. the heavy blast, every time it breathed, sounded uncomfortably close. in a few minutes the boat-steerer called, "back, all!" and we immediately backed water, the whale hitting the water once or twice with his tail and going down; again we were off, but not so far this time. when he next appeared he rolled about a good deal and we were afraid to go close, so the second mate fired a welsh's rocket under one of his flukes and then we all backed off. the rocket was fired from a harpoon gun. it had a charge of powder in its trocar-shaped head, and a fuse running down the shaft. when this exploded the whale plunged fearfully and lashed the water with his huge horizontal tail. after this he was quiet and the water shot from his blow-hole was blood-stained. we now closed in again, and lances were plunged into his neck and churned up and down. breathing became labored, and after a final flurry, his spirit passed and his blubber and bone were ours. what a cheer we gave! what a feeling of exultation! how near i felt to happy, unconventional, primitive man at that moment! as the whale was lying on its back with the flukes hanging out, a round hole was cut in each of these, through which a piece of rope was run and the flukes reverently folded across his breast; with a knife all lines attached to harpoons were cut free so that the fast boats might haul them in. the tail was fastened to the bow of a boat, and, getting in line, we all proceeded to tow the fish back to the ship, which, by the way, made no effort to help us, as the weather was fine and there was nothing in sight. arriving alongside, the tail was fastened forward and the head aft along the port side. we went on board, and after dinner, as i sat smoking with the captain on the cabin skylight, i could not help feeling that the life of a whaler was the only one for me. [illustration: ] at . p. m., all hands were called to flense the whale alongside. by means of tackle made fast to the lower jaw, called the nose tackle, the mouth could be opened and the tongue and the bone removed. the right whale (balaena mysticetus), of which this was a specimen, supplies practically all the whalebone. it grows from the sides of the upper jaw, three hundred blades hanging down on each side. they are ten and twelve inches wide where inserted into the gum, and narrow as they descend. the inner edge is frayed and the outer unbroken. these frayed inner edges form a sort of sieve through which the water passes when the whale shuts its mouth, but through which the whale food cannot pass. the bone from each side is brought on board generally in one piece, sufficient gum being taken with it to hold the lamellae together. this is divided with a wedge into smaller pieces of about a dozen lamellae each, and subsequently each lamella is slit off with the wedge and freed from gum and oil. the longest blades are those in the centre on each side and they vary in length according to the size of the animal--twelve feet being large. the size of a whale is estimated by the length of the longest blade, "a twelve-foot fish" being one in which this measures twelve feet. the bone is about a quarter of an inch thick and tears easily into long pieces. it is an albuminous substance, containing calcium phosphate, and can be moulded when heated by steam, retaining its shape if cooled under pressure. [illustration: ] the busy part of a whaler during flensing is the deck between the main mast and foremast. between these masts is the blubber guy, a stout wire rope to which blocks are strapped, and through these are rove the tackles which haul the long strips of blubber on board as they are pulled off the whale. the specksioneer and all the harpooners except the mate get on to the whale or into the mollie boats in attendance; they have spikes on their boots to keep them from slipping; and they remove the blubber and bone with their knives and spades. the mate of a ship is a busy man, but the mate of our whaler flensing was, i think, the busiest person i ever saw. acting under the captain's directions and from his own initiative, he was everywhere, giving orders and seeing them carried out. in removing the blubber the first thing done is to start cutting a ribbon of it around the neck, called the kant. this piece, probably two feet wide, when pulled upon, turns the carcass, and from it, running towards the tail, the long strips are cut and hauled on board. first the piece around the neck is well started. then with spades a strip is started. as this is hauled on by the capstan the men with spades cut along each side and it is simply peeled off. when the piece raised up is several hundred pounds, it is cut off, hoisted on board, and the tackle refastened. when the exposed part has been flensed, the neck piece or kant is again pulled on by the windlass, which turns the whale over a little, and so on. when all the blubber has been removed, the head tackle is cut out and the carcass, or kreng as it is called, sinks as soon as the tail is cut off. the tail is taken on board and used afterwards for chopping blubber on. the blubber as it comes on board is cut into smaller pieces by the boat-steerers and thrown into the 'tween-decks by the line managers, from which it is taken a day or two later, cut small and put into tanks. flensing a fish is a very cheerful occupation and the ship is certainly oily, but there is no unpleasant smell. as soon as a whale is killed, the fulmar petrels (p. glacialis) come in swarms, and they gorge themselves with fat until they cannot sit up; then they become dreadfully ill and begin all over again. there was always a current where we flensed and this current would carry away a stream of overgorged birds, too full to do anything but drift. i sat in a boat one day and amused myself catching the birds as they paddled past until i had numbers in the boat. i found it better, however, to leave them in the water, or to let them stagger about among the men's feet at work. this was a ten-foot fish and would probably yield thirteen tons of oil. the following is a copy of the scale used long ago by whalers:-- [illustration: ] of course there are exceptions to this old rule. the afternoon clouded up while we were so busy, and by the time we had finished, it was blowing. when i turned in there was some snow and it was much colder. [illustration: ] _july th. sunday._ i found the ship with the main yard aback, dodging about in a rather choppy sea. the sky was cloudy and it looked like winter. three ships were in sight down the sound, all under canvas. we were quite close to the south side, as the captain believed that fish would come up that way, and it proved that he was correct. after breakfast a whale was seen blowing among some loose ice to the north of us. six boats put off in pursuit, while the ship followed. two of the boats kept straight to the ice while the other four, including jack mclean's, in which i was, kept around it. the sea was quite choppy and the air cold, but we warmed up with the rowing. the boats going straight to the ice were able to pass through and entered open water beyond before we got around to it. the fish came up and gave the second mate a long shot just as she was going down; but a harpoon easily enters a whale's bent back so he got fast and "a fall! a fall!" was joyfully shouted by us all. as we passed the fast boat we saw her jack flying proudly and her bow enveloped in smoke as mckechnie tightened the line around the bollard head. gyles was standing by, so with the other boats we pulled in the direction the fish had gone, and as we were getting close to more loose ice, those of us who were rowing and consequently looking astern saw the fast boat--which had been well down by the bow--right herself and we knew that the iron had drawn. we pulled away however in the hope of again getting fast, but this whale was only seen once more, a long way off, and after a hard row through loose ice we gave up. the ship had followed and she now picked us up. as the wind had gone down we sailed back towards the south side and made fast to the solid floe, getting our bran boats out before tea time. we picked up the fast boat on the way, she having her lines on board. the weather looked very settled at bedtime and the unusual exertion of the past two days made me sleep well. [illustration: ] _july th. monday_. summer had returned by morning and the making off had already begun when i came on deck. we were lying almost opposite the mouth of admiralty inlet and fast to a nice straight floe edge with not a bit of loose ice any place. there was more life on deck at the "making off" than there was at the flensing and every one was busy. the blubber had been cut into pieces two or three feet square and put down the main hatch. these big cubes of a faint orange color were taken on deck with the winch, and any pieces of adherent flesh being removed they were cut into blocks of a few pounds each. along each side of the deck stood uprights; on the top of each was a plate with spikes called a clash, and beside each stood a harpooner with a long sharp knife. a block of blubber was lifted by a man with clash hooks and stuck on the clash spikes, with the skin up. the harpooner cut the skin off and the piece was then thrown into a heap in front of the speck trough. the speck trough, which was about two and a half feet square, was placed across the deck over the hatch; forward of this stood the boat-steerers and in front of each was a block of whale's tail resting on the opened back lid of the trough. each man had a chopper, and as the pieces of blubber from the heap were thrown to them, they chopped them into little bits and swept them into the speck trough, from which they were conducted to the tanks through a canvas tube attached to an opening underneath. a man in the 'tween-decks directed this tube to the tank he desired to fill. the bone was stowed down the quarter hatch. it was always important to keep the ship clean and get the blubber away, as there was no regularity about the appearance of fish. a number might come at once, and several being killed, the crew could be blocked with work, while again there might not be another seen for a month. when the making off was over, the decks were scrubbed down. _july th. tuesday._ the _arctic, esquimaux and narwhal_ were all in sight to the north of us. during the forenoon we lowered away for a fish, six boats going after it. we saw the spout near the ice edge and were ready for its return, but it came not, probably finding a breathing place somewhere and after resting coming out north of us. we waited a long time and had a tiresome row back. the native picked up by us when we first came had been landed near the south shore, where he had his dogs. now we saw three coming along the floe and we picked them up, sledges, dogs and all. they belonged to navy board inlet. hardly were they on board when all hands were called and the boats were away, as spouting had been seen astern. i was in one of the four boats between the ship and the south coast, and we must have sat there half an hour before anything occurred; in fact, we thought the fish had gone elsewhere. the men were all pretty restless, when suddenly the water broke two boats from me and the report of a gun was followed by the cry--"a fall." i saw the whale throw its tail straight up as it went slowly down; then it started north and we pulled past the ship in that direction and scattered out to wait its reappearance. in the usual length of time the fish appeared in our midst and another iron was put in. away we went again in the best of spirits. of course, the fast boat in each case remained and moved only as towed by the whale. i was in watson's boat, and at the whale's next appearance we were almost on the top of it and he immediately lanced, but the game stood very little tickling of that sort and was soon off. again it came up beside us, and this time very breathless as it had such a short breathing spell before. three boats were at once busy with lances, and in a very short time we registered a kill. when the lines were cut, and the flukes and tail attended to, we returned to the ship, pulling to the shanty, "a-roving, a-roving, since roving has been my ruin," and having the whale in tow, we were very much elated by our afternoon's work, but there was a great surprise in store for us. arriving on board, the whale was made fast and i went down to have some coffee. when i came up i found that the crew of the first fast boat, having taken their line to the ice to facilitate pulling it in, had utterly failed to get it beyond a certain point. thinking it had fouled something at the bottom, they were ordered to come on board and take their line in with the steam winch. this was done, and when after great pulling the very tight line was almost in, behold, there was a dead whale at the end of it. one must be on board a whaler to appreciate a pleasant surprise like this. it is not so much the extra money, as the satisfaction of success. what had happened was this. the first harpoon fortunately struck deep in the shoulder of whale no. , which immediately sounded in shallow water and broke its neck. no. was not a fast fish at all when we first saw it. now, we had a fish on each side, and as soon as the crew had refreshed themselves with supper, the work of flensing started with a will. when things were well under way i turned in, very tired, and when i tumbled out four hours after, one fish was on board. the men were now ordered to turn in for four hours, except, of course, the lookout and a few nondescript people like myself and the engineer. i learned another thing about the ways of the arctic this morning; directly the crew had turned in, the clock in the companion was put forward an hour, and when two hours had passed it went on another hour, then all hands were called and our second whale taken on board. this fish was flensed in about three hours, the crew turning in, except a boat's crew on the bran and the lookout. the _esquimaux_ came steaming towards us during the night, which annoyed us greatly, as the fish were coming up the south side and we thought our berth rather good. she steamed past and hooked on five or six hundred yards south of us. the aurora immediately unhooked and passed her, while she repeated the performance mid a storm of abuse from both barrels. our captain was afraid to go closer to the shore, so we remained where we were. when we hooked on first, the natives had left us, going north to the other ships. we now saw a number of well loaded sledges coming up the south coast. it was evident that they would board the _esquimaux_ first, so we would lose the chance of bartering with them. consequently, we sent a boat off to pick them up and bring them on board. our opponents saw what we were doing, so sent a boat also. as it had a shorter distance to go than ours, it picked up the whole caravan and brought it back. our boat noticing a sledge far away with two people in it, waited for them and brought them to the aurora. it happened that these two old natives owned all the barter on the other sledges, and as we kept them on board, everything had to be turned over to the aurora by the other ship, greatly to their disgust. the captain obtained from them quite a lot of narwhals' tusks and bear skins. the incident amused us very much. _july th. wednesday._ two boats on the bran and the balance of the crew washing down the ship. i had my first ride on an eskimo sled. giving a native a plug of tobacco, he removed from his sled all the movable things and i got on. then addressing a few remarks to his dogs, off they started. as the ice was smooth i enjoyed it at first, but we came to a hummocky place where it was not so pleasant. i did my best to stop the dogs, but they followed their leader, and finally i tumbled off and returned to the ship, the dogs going on probably home. the runners of the sledge were made of whales' jaws with bone cross pieces lashed to them. when i went on board i found a boat just starting for a bear to the north of us. i don't think i ever saw one any distance from the water; this was along the floe edge and several miles away. between us there was a peninsula of ice on which there were some hummocks. i landed here to try a stalk and the boat rowed around. for a time i did very well, the bear wandering aimlessly and slowly about, but before i got within three hundred yards of him, he had seen me and was off to the water. i fired several times, but without effect. he plunged in and started to swim across from the peninsula to the main floe. the boat had by this time doubled the cape and bruin had a bullet in his head before he had gone very far. we hauled him on to the ice and skinned him. the men cut some steaks for themselves, but i never had the pleasure of trying polar bear, as the captain did not care for carnivorous animals as a food. a great many white whales were now around. i wished we could have driven a school of them up a fiord the way they drive the potheads up the shetland voes. when we returned we found that a narwhal had been killed, but we did not like to disturb the right whales by hunting these very much. as the ship was generally hooked on to the floe which extended across the sound, her bow was pointed up and her stern down, consequently astern nearly always meant down the sound, as the current setting in that direction held the ship in that position. chapter xv--floe edge fishing "look through the sleet and look through frost, look to the greenlands' caves and coast. by the iceberg is a sail chasing of the swarthy whale; mother doubtful, mother dread, tell us, has the good ship sped?" _july th. thursday._ we moved from our neighbor, the _esquimaux_, and dodged north under canvas, hooking on five or six miles away. the sound was frozen completely across this year, and during our stay, the ice never opened. probably we could have forced our way in had we been bent on exploration, but the ice floe edge fishing was very desirable and suited us exactly. all hands were employed making off when i came up and we had a busy day getting two whales into our tanks. although they were not very large, it took many hours and every one was tired when it was over. the sound being frozen over was a great disappointment to me as it prevented our going up barrow strait, or visiting beechy island, where sir john franklin spent his last winter. there i was, within a few miles of the place consecrated to the memory of those heroes and doomed to return home without seeing it. up this waterway, sir james ross and mcclure had passed to make their great discoveries of the magnetic polar area and the northwest passage. there had been, at one time or another, nearly all the arctic explorers, of whom i had ever heard. as the clock in the companion had been moved about so much lately, and as there was not a watch, on the ship, going, our ideas of time were vague in the extreme. _july th. friday._ the weather was fine, and during the afternoon, positively warm. the boats spent the day on the bran, but there were no whales in sight. an interesting phenomenon was, however, in evidence, namely, refraction. byam martin's mountains looked wild and precipitous, and the coast line appeared as a continuous high cliff, quite unlike the land we had been beside for the past week. what i found most interesting was to watch the _narwhal_, which was lying not far off. at one moment her hull stretched up, making her look like an old line of battle ship, while her masts shrank down, then the hull would close down like a concertina and the masts would stretch up to the sky. pieces of ice and little hummocks became great white chimneys and big icy mountains. i saw a row of white masses far above the ice. they looked like puffs of smoke from a battery, the guns being pointed up. presently a white lump would appear on the ice underneath each puff and in a minute they would become connected and look like a row of top-heavy white pillars. the middle part would then become attenuated until it resembled a white thread and then the tops of the pillars would settle down and disappear. the changes were kaleidoscopic and one could watch them by the hour. when the sun was warm, we often had this phenomenon, owing to the different densities of the various atmospheric strata. _july th. saturday._ hearing "all hands" during the night, i tumbled out of bed, picked up my bundle of clothes, ran on deck and got into a lower quarter boat that was being lowered. probably within sixty seconds after being asleep i was pulling for dear life towards some loose ice north of us, beyond which a whale had been seen. when we reached the ice, we rested and put on some clothes. the fish was just as likely to come up where we were as at any other place, so we did not want to frighten him by disturbing the ice. after a wait of ten minutes, we saw and heard the blast of a fish to the northeast. it had turned and was going out again. we pulled through the ice with difficulty; it cannot be pushed about by a whale boat, but we kept on in the direction in which the whale was last seen. however it did not come up again where we could see it, and so we returned to the ship. it was very cold coming back and had begun to blow. the sky was much overcast during the afternoon, and as it was blowing hard, the boats were taken in before bedtime. _july th. sunday._ there was a regular little gale this day, so we kept in open water, with the main yard aback and the fires banked. we received news of the greely party from the _arctic_ as she had spoken some of the slower ships and heard it from them. during the afternoon quite a choppy sea was on and ice was coming in as the wind was blowing up the sound. we dodged out through this ice and then sailed north, sighting nearly all the other ships of the fleet. sundays were stormy days in this place, and to sit on a ship all day, listening to her strain, and to the wind howling through the shrouds, was not pleasant, especially when we were only killing time and accomplishing nothing. when i turned in, we were still under canvas. _july th, monday_, was a gloomy day. we were hooked to the ice, with a boat out on each side. the crew were busy filling the bunkers and then cleaning up, also overhauling some fishing gear. the blacksmith was employed straightening out harpoons. the iron of which they are made is soft and tough. it bends and twists every way but does not break. i amused myself polishing little tusks which i had taken out of the female narwhals' heads. we were very restless, knowing that the _arctic_ had more whales than we had. we heard from her that all the ships had fish a few days before. _tuesday._ two narwhals were killed, male and female. i was in a boat with the captain, but we did not get any. we used paddles instead of oars, as we could approach more quietly with them. _july th. wednesday_. we were still hanging on to the ice with a boat on the bran on each side. again we pursued narwhals and secured another fine male with a four-foot horn. there were such crowds of these beautiful creatures that i wished the captain would turn all hands after them, but he was afraid of disturbing any whales which might be around so we did not pursue them vigorously. some white whales passed us, but we were not far enough up the sound for white whaling. narwhals are playful creatures and very noisy. the first thing any whale does on coming up is to blow most of the air out of its lungs, and this in a very noisy manner. for its size, the narwhal makes more noise than the others. before going down, they generally take a deep, noisy inspiration. nearly all the time we were in lancaster sound, if calm, we could hear whales of some kind puffing and blowing around. i often saw narwhals raise their tusks out of the water, and when black whales were taking a final header, on starting for a long dive, they generally threw the tail up in the air in a graceful manner. we did not like to see one going tail up, as it meant that probably we had seen the last of that particular fish. _july th, thursday,_ was a fine day with mirage in the morning; the effects were wonderful. a small piece of ice, miles away, would look like a berg. about noon we made out that the _polynia_ had a fish and this was more than we could bear. we decided that there was a jonah on board and circumstances pointed strongly to one of the crew. a suit of his clothes was procured, with his cap, half a pound of powder was packed into it with a fuse attached and it was run up to the main yard arm. the captain went below and turned in, but rifles and ammunition were supplied and we had a lively practice at the effigy for a time; then the fuse was touched off and bang went jonah. this performance cleared the atmosphere forward completely, every one believing that the spell was broken and that we would now find fish. in the cabin, jack, the steward, greased the horseshoe and that made the after guard feel better, and to crown it all, a bear was killed during the evening, in the water near the ship. personally, i felt greatly encouraged by these ceremonies, and went to bed feeling that at any moment "a fall! a fall!" might be heard. if some misfortune happens to a whaler--such as having his harpoon gun passed to him through the rigging, instead of around it, or if his boat should start away from the ship stern first and not be brought back, hooked on, hauled up and lowered again--then he would go after a whale certain that he would miss it, whereas, should he dream the night before that he had got fast to a fish, then he would approach it with the utmost confidence. _july th. friday_. i had an undisturbed night and awoke to find it blowing and the ship under sail. going on deck, i found the topsails aback and much loose ice about. after breakfast, all hands were away after a whale seen among the loose ice. this was a hopeless kind of rowing, so we scattered about, following different leads. we saw the fish blowing in several different places, but could not get near it, so came on board. during the afternoon, the wind went down and the loose ice drifted out again, so we hooked on to the solid floe about three miles from the south side and a boat was put on each side, as usual. numbers of narwhals around during the afternoon, induced a boat to follow them, and a big female was secured with a calf. the undeveloped tusks of the latter were hollow like cigarette holders. _july th. saturday_. i had not been asleep long when i heard "all hands!" and, rushing up, went off in my usual boat, the lower quarter boat on the starboard side. i heard that a fish had been seen spouting down the sound. in a few minutes, we all saw it off the south shore, a mile from the ship. we gave way with a will and soon had the boats in open order along the floe, where we thought it had passed under. our patience was rewarded when it came up between the mate and watson. mr. adam, being the nearer, swept down on its quarter and, as it made a back to sound, he gave it both gun and hand in the shoulder. this was a big fish and a fine chase began. i had seen the mate strike and i knew the irons would not draw. straight down the sound we went, the wounded animal taking out much line. sometimes a fish goes deep and does not travel very far, but this one was a traveller. we pulled for about twenty minutes or more and then halted, the whale coming up ahead of us and going down again at once. the mate's boat had signalled for more lines by putting a piggin on a boat-hook, and another boat had stood by and bent on. before long, the wounded one came up and another iron was put in; it was well puffed after its run and stayed up long enough to get some lances stuck in. a lance, cutting any large vessel in the neck or thorax, would cause it to bleed to death very quickly, but none of these lances touched vital parts, for the whale went down in a very lively way with four or five sticking in it, and it must have stayed down fifteen minutes, travelling fast all the time. when it reappeared, we were on to it at once, and it soon began to blow blood and give other evidences of approaching dissolution. its plunges were dangerous and the reports caused by striking the water with its tail, were very loud. we always backed well off during one of these demonstrations, but were on to it at once when they ceased. there was much more danger from the flukes than the tail, as we were touching its sides with the boats. after one or two terrific blasts of blood and water, and a great flurry, it turned up its toes, and after the usual formalities, the long tow to the ship began. shanties were sung with vigor and we pulled with a will. as i had not had anything to eat since ten p. m., the day before, and as we had been working hard all night, i was ready for breakfast when we reached the ship. the fast boats had come on board, taking their lines in with the winch. after breakfast all hands were called and it took many hours to flense this big fish, the bone of which was / feet. i examined the flukes after the blubber had been removed from them; they were like huge hands with nicely proportioned fingers. i entered in the log the death of the fish, and a little picture of its tail. this is the custom. in the log there was a paper model, which was held on the page with the finger and traced around the edge with a pencil. then it was shaded, according to the ability of the artist, and the name of the harpooner was written above. on each side was stated whether killed by gun or hand, or both, and below was written the length of the bone. should the harpoon draw, and the whale be lost, half a tail was sketched. [illustration: ] during the flensing, one of our firemen, bob graham, appeared at the engine room door with six pieces of rope yarn tied together, and to the free end of each he had fastened a piece of blubber, just big enough to pass comfortably through the throat of a mollie (as fulmars are called), either way. graham was an ingenious fellow and remarkable for his fertility of resource; he was always amusing himself by devising little surprises to make life pleasant for others. he threw this affair into the sea and the six pieces of fat were instantly swallowed by the same number of mollies. all went well until it became evident that the birds were not of the same opinion as to the direction of their next move. this performance seemed to me cruel at first, but after watching it for a little while, i decided that the exercise was good for the fulmars and did not hurt them. of course, there were little disappointments connected with it, but then creatures, higher in the social scale, have their disappointments also. it is just possible that the bird which played the game out and eventually swallowed all six pieces and the string, may have had regrets, but from what i have seen of this particular species, i don't think it suffered much. when the flensing was over, every one was tired, and the men were ordered to turn in, excepting the lookout, all having been busy during the day. as whaling was a very irregular sort of life, it was the custom to sleep while one could, and as i had done a lot of rowing during the previous twenty-four hours, i sought my cabin. our specksioneer, george lyon, was an old man, but he was absolutely indefatigable, and when this order was given, he decided to go on the bran instead of to bed. accordingly, he raised a crew of volunteers, but being short one man, he thought of me. there was one way of always bringing me on deck and that was to go to the companionway and shout down the word "bear." this george did and i at once appeared, rifle in hand. seeing the boat being lowered, i tumbled in, and in a minute we were away; i then asked where the bear was and the specksioneer said that we might see one; so i knew his trick. we went some distance south of the ship and, hacking the boat up to the ice, laid the steering oar on it, which held us there, then we talked and smoked. about midnight all was quiet, except for the heavy breathing of the narwhals and white whales in the sea, and of those who slept in the boat; it was easy enough to sleep, sitting at an oar. i was awake, the boat-steerer was standing on the ice, and the man in the ship's barrel was scanning the sound for fish, when suddenly, without the slightest warning, there was a great commotion in the water, at the side of our boat, and up came a whale with a fearful blast. this first blast of a whale, which has been holding its breath for a long time, sounds very loud, when one is within ten feet of it. it reminds one of a train coming suddenly out of a tunnel. the boat-steerer instantly pushed the boat well off, getting in at the same time he then said "give way," which we did. the whale was moving very slowly, and one sweep of the boat-steerer's oar brought us around to it, then i heard the orders, "stand by your gun!" and "avast pulling!" i would have given anything for one look; but the lives of all the crew depended upon each man doing as he was told, so i sat perfectly still and leaned well away from the line running up the middle of the boat. presently there was a bang, and the line began running out, while every one called "a fall." i was now in a boat, fast to a fresh whale, which was an experience the average amateur rarely had. as the harpooner took a turn of the line around the bollard head in the bows, and paid the line out through his hands, the bow of the boat was dragged very low and the stern tilted very high, but the speed we travelled at was not so great as i had expected. the whale came up between the boat and the ship, and we were being towed down the sound. all the boats were away from the ship in a minute. we called out the number of lines out, and they had no difficulty in finding about where the whale was, and being ready for it when it came up. a second iron was put in when it appeared and off it went again. the water being absolutely free from ice, the chase was an easy one, as a boat could generally go faster than a whale. all i had to do was to sit quiet and keep well away from the line. as there was no ice to endanger the boat, the line was put several times around the bollard head and kept very tight, so we were towed much faster than if it had been loose. after the whale was killed and all the lines cut free, we were called on board to have or lines hauled in, after which the ship unhooked and steamed off to pick up her boats. the sky was very much overcast when we brought the whale alongside, and the tired crew, after getting some food, had to flense at once, as a change of weather might have been serious. the _aurora_ now looked as a successful whaler should--a big whale in the 'tween-decks and another alongside tons and tons of blubber lying about everywhere, and the passage between the engine room and skylight, and the bulwarks, piled with bone. before the flensing was over, it had commenced to blow and it was quite rough by the time we had finished. then we unhooked and ran down the sound a little way, while the crew turned in for a watch. as our main yard was aback, it required very few men to handle the ship. all night we were dodging about. _july st. monday_. for some time, the clock had not been watched. had it been, it would have conveyed little information, because, when it suited, it was put backward or forward. when a man going to bed saw by the clock that it was midnight, and when he arose and saw by the same clock that it was six, he probably felt refreshed. in the end, of course, it would tell on him if the full amount of rest registered had not been obtained; but for a time it worked very well. it certainly took a long time to make off our two whales, and it gave us a substantial feeling to be able to say, "five fish on board." when the decks were cleared up, the crew were ordered below, excepting the lookout, but shortly after, it came on to blow hard and the sky was much overcast. later, some rain fell, so we unhooked and lay off the ice edge with the main yard aback. chapter xvi--whaling in lancaster sound "white, quiet sails from the grim icy coasts, that bear the battles of the whaling hosts, whose homeward crews, with feet and flutes in tune, and spirits roughly blithe, make music to the moon." _july nd. tuesday._ during the night the rain changed into snow and in the morning it was blowing a gale. in fact, it was a wild, winter's day. we were amongst loose ice, with our main yard aback and there was no open water to be seen anywhere. during the day the snow ceased but the wind kept up until late in the afternoon, when we found ourselves in a triangular pool of water, the sides of the triangle being about half a mile long and the base, three or four hundred yards. the ship was anchored to one side and she lay parallel with the base and twenty or thirty yards away from it. this hole appeared to have been formed by large floes. it was quite free from ice and afforded us an ideal harbor. _july rd. wednesday_. all hands turned out shortly after four in the morning as a whale was seen at the apex of this triangle. one boat had been left fast to the ship's stern. this went in pursuit and the others lowered away, the one i was in being ordered to remain fast to a line from the ship's stem. long before the boats reached the whale, it sounded and did not appear again, so they came on board, all but the one i was in. our bows were towards the ship's stern and the boat's side was twenty yards from the ice edge. we had been there about an hour when, with a great commotion, a tremendous whale came up between the ship and the ice edge. its head was alongside our boat before we realized what had happened; and by the time we had slipped the line the leviathan had passed us, as it was going fast. we could almost have touched him with the oars, but by the time we turned the boat and were under way, down went the fish to look for another breathing place elsewhere and we returned to our berths. had the bow of the boat been the other way, we could have fastened the whale easily. at eight bells, we came on board for breakfast. just as i entered the cabin, i heard the rushing on deck and, going up, found two boats off after a whale. it had simply come up to breathe and, having breathed, it went down again and disappeared from our harbor. one boat remained at the apex of the triangle and the other returned; and, on the way, a fish came up a hundred yards in front of it. they pulled hard and took a long shot as it humped its back going down. they got fast and the whale went off! under the ice. from the barrel, a small water hole could be seen half a mile away, and to this several ran, carrying a rocket gun which could be fired from the shoulder. before they had gone very far, however, the harpoon drew and, as there was no use firing rockets into a free fish, they came on board again. it was now blowing pretty hard and very cold, but we still kept a boat at the apex of the triangle and one beside the ship. now occurred a very exciting race. a whale came up half way along one side of the hole, and was travelling slowly towards the base. the boat at the apex followed, the one by the ship did not move, and every man on board was watching what would happen. reaching the base, the whale halted to take a few long breaths before going down, the boat rapidly neared, the whale humped its back and the boat had to fire. from where we were, we saw the harpoon fly up into the air with the foregoer wriggling after it, then it fell, missing the whale as completely as if it had not been fired at it. i was sorry for that harpooner. he was a big man from aberdeen, with a yellow beard, and he was a nervous wreck when he came on board. this fearfully bad luck was maddening, and we were all on edge; for, though the place was swarming with whales, we never got one. had we got fast to half a dozen, we would have lost them all through lines being cut by the ice, or fouling. by the evening, the wind had gone down and the ice was slacker, the whole east side of our pool moving away. _july th, thursday_, was a beautiful day after the storm and we had open water astern once more. we unhooked after breakfast and steamed slowly towards the south side again, and while steaming, we sighted a whale down the sound. the ship was anchored to the ice and the boats distributed in the usual way. this whale did not come up after being first seen until it was at the ice edge, when one of our boats got fast. it then went under the floe--a most unusual proceeding when it had lots of open water. we were along the ice edge, nearly a mile from the fast boat, and wondering what would happen next, when, in a very small hole, yards from my boat, up came the head of the whale. the hole was not many times larger than the head. the under surface of the lower jaw was towards us. it had a very white appearance. the head turned around very slowly presenting a wonderful sight. gyles, the harpooner, in whose boat i was, seized a rocket gun and, running to the hole, fired, and the head went down as slowly as it came up. presently the fish appeared in the open water and was immediately harpooned again. its experience under the ice, or gyle's rocket, had affected it so that it did not remain down but soon came up again and submitted patiently to the lancing operation which ended its life. this removed the gloom caused by the awful luck of the previous day. we had now more than three tons of bone, and that alone would be a fair voyage. the flensing began just as soon as the crew had food and was not finished until bedtime. _july th. friday._ every one was cheerful. some of the hands were cleaning bone, two boats were on the bran, and one after narwhals, as there were many of them about. i painted the figurehead, as the _aurora_ was looking a little dissipated with her out-stretched arm unhooked. this was only in commission when in port; consequently, it looked younger than her seagoing arm, which was a fixture across her breast and which had stood the brunt of many gales. _july th. saturday._ all hands were "making off" the fish. they were at it early and had finished by noon, and then there was a general clean up for sunday, but strict watch was kept. there were only white whales and some narwhals around. the tusks we took from those we killed and those we had bartered for, always lay on the after grating, which covered the well down which the auxiliary propeller went; there was never enough motion to roll them off. july th. the usual sunday gale was blowing and we were dodging about under canvas all day. i was out on a yard during a snow squall and found it very exciting. this was my first attempt at taking in sails when there was much wind. we spoke the _narwhal_; she had seven whales and reported the _arctic_ as having eight and all the rest well fished. towards evening we sailed to our favorite fishing ground on the south side. july th. monday. all hands were away after a whale at six a. m. we had a long pull, and lost her for a time amongst the loose ice. rounding tins, however, we reached her again and the mate got fast, mclean putting in a second. we passed both boats and were in at the kill. when we had backed off once for a flurry, i looked around and saw watson lancing. i thought the flukes would have smashed his boat, he took such awful chances. this whale rolled about a great deal, and bristled with lances which she had torn from the men's hands by rolling. she was also dreadfully tangled up with lines which had caught on the lances. there is sometimes danger from being caught under these lines and cut in two. when a dead whale is lying on its back, the abdomen lies very low in the water, and, when freshly killed, sinks with a man when he walks along it. as we were a long way from the ship, she came after us and we soon had the whale alongside. the capstan was used for taking on board the big blanket pieces. at the order, "heave away capstan," a shanty was struck up by the men marching around. [illustration: ] they sang so loud that we could often hear their weird songs coming over the water from other ships similarly engaged. our friends, the fulmar petrels, were always with us upon occasions of this kind, and all that were in the sound, i think, spent the day with us. the outer skin of the whale is about as thick as stiff paper, and black. it peels off readily, and the men cut book markers out of it. under this comes a layer, nearly an inch thick, of rather gelatinous stuff, which the eskimos eat raw, then the blubber between this and the superficial fascia, by which the body heat is preserved. it took us practically all the rest of the day to flense. _july th. tuesday_. we had a visit from two natives; they were prosperous looking people with a good sled and dogs. i admired the protection from the sun which they wore. it was a piece of wood with a slit cut in it. this was very efficacious, but unbecoming. we learned from these people that many whales had been seen by them this year. they had some bear skins with them for trade, and some walrus ivory. this was much inferior to the narwhal ivory, which was very fine and was worth, at this time, i think, one pound ten per pound, that of the walrus being only worth half a crown. i had a long walk with a gun but did not see anything. _july th. wednesday_. all hands "making off." i tried to skin a fulmar, but could not do it, it was so fat. i wanted a skin badly, but this was too much for me. all the birds we killed were fat, a provision of nature against cold. the men said, however, that they could not wear oil soaked clothes in cold weather. i was in the "crow's nest" a good while. it was most difficult to see anything at a distance owing to the mirage. during the afternoon i tried to shoot some narwhal near us. i shot at their heads with a rifle from the boat, and although they had sometimes been killed with the rifle, so little of the head showed when the beast was lying on the surface, that i fancy they must have been shot from the ship, which stood high. _july st_. immediately after breakfast, four boats were away after a whale. i remained on board and watched from the barrel. it was a long pull and the whale got away amongst loose ice without giving the boats a chance. we captured a female narwhal in the afternoon. _august st. friday_. lovely day but very cold. in the morning i was sitting on the after grating, scraping a bear's skull, when a hundred yards or so astern of us arose a whale with the usual blast. the water was like a mirror and the fish lay there for several minutes and breathed heavily. no one spoke or moved. there in front of us was a fine whale, its jet black head and back showing up well and reflected on the absolutely glassy surface of the sea. when it slowly sank with its head towards us, we knew it would go under the ice, but we would not lower away until we were sure it was under. i was leaning over the after rail, peering into the water, when i saw the whale coming slowly under where i was standing. i first noticed a large, gray bow coming towards me; it was the under jaw, and as it passed beneath the vessel i could see distinctly the large round, dark spots on the huge lower lip. it passed a very short distance under our keel. there was no movement of either flukes or tail. i watched the great horizontal tail in the hope of seeing some movement. only the man in the "crow's nest" and i alone saw the fish passing under the ship, and as soon as we were sure that it was safe, the boats went away as noiselessly as possible and we waited for the result with bated breath. it came up almost beside the ship and jimmy watson put in both gun and hand harpoons, then came the joyful shout "a fall," and we started down the sound. as the fish was well fastened, it was safe to snub the line around the bollard head of the boat; there was no fear of the irons drawing and it made a heavy drag on the whale. the line, in running out, passes through the hands of the har-pooner before going around the bollard head. of course, he wears several pairs of mittens, but these are generally torn to pieces. our friend shortly came to the surface rather exhausted, as the line had been well snubbed, but thor put another iron into him. this smarted and one could have heard his tail strike the water miles away. he lashed it with such force that no boat could go close; and before a rocket could be fired into him, he was off. this time the drag was very heavy, for he had two boats. it did seem absurd that this huge monster, more than sixty feet long and forty around the waist, could be conquered by having those little bits of harpoons stuck in with their little threads of lines attached, but whales of this species are clumsy and stupid and turn very slowly, and it is this inability to turn fast that proves their undoing. upon appearing the next time, a rocket was instantly fired into a vital place and the final flurry came at once and made lancing unnecessary. the row back was a pleasure, and our joyful shanties could be heard for a long distance. we were alongside by midday, and after dinner, flensing commenced. i amused myself again with the fulmars. getting a boat, i laid my left elbow over the side so that i could look between it and the gunwale. every time a fulmar came under, i darted my right hand over, catching him by the neck and taking him on board. when i had a great flock of them, i put them on the poop, around which there was a base board about four inches high, and above this the iron railing. the birds had eaten so much blubber that they could not get over the base board. one had to be careful of bites, as they had the curved, pointed bills peculiar to the albatross, shearwater and other birds of this tribe. it is curious that the great albatross and diminutive storm petrel, the wren of the sea, should belong to the same species. in a very short time, i saw the advisability of throwing my flock of pets overboard. we did not go below for supper until the fish was flensed. _august nd, saturday,_ was cold and cloudy, but no wind. we were hooked on with two boats on the bran; all hands making off during the afternoon. _august th. monday_. three of the four boats were after a whale among some loose ice to the north of us. one boat got fast and all immediately lowered away. when we reached the ice, navigation became difficult and the fish came up where we could not touch it. several boats came out of the ice and tried to row around. ours was one of these; then we found that the harpoon had drawn and the whale had vanished. we pursued some distance down the sound and had nothing for our trouble but exercise. _august th. tuesday_. much loose ice in the sound, caused by wind during the night. narwhal were abundant, and two boats went after them with no result. later the ship unhooked and steamed east looking for open water. i spent a long time in the "crow's nest," and, as there was no mirage, got a beautiful view of the south coast--very wintry at bed time. _august th. wednesday_. the rushing of feet overhead brought me to the deck on a gloomy cold morning, and before i had time to add anything to the clothes in which i slept, we were a mile from the ship. a whale had been seen some distance to the north and four boats pursuing it. we paused and put on some more clothes to keep out the keen arctic air, and then we went off again, as the whale had come up. long before the leading boat got near, it had disappeared, but we were not discouraged, so kept on, and this hard work continued until we were far from the ship and getting amongst pans of loose ice. the whale we were following was a fast traveller and we were ultimately obliged to give up the chase and return. the row back was long and wearisome, and when i reached the ship i had my long delayed breakfast and retired, but the moment i turned in to my berth, the rush above told of more whales in sight, so i went on deck. a fish had been seen blowing a long way down the sound and six boats were away, but bed appealed to me more than another long pull, so i returned to it and remained there until the following morning. our boats did not get a shot but had a long chase and did not return until very late. the day was cold and the density of the atmosphere uniform, so i was able to see all the other ships distinctly with the glass. some swell had broken up the edge of our floe and some pieces had been driven up the sound, so it looked more icy than any day since the time when all the whales came. during the afternoon we hooked on to a large floe. the _polynia and esquimaux_ were near us, but to the south; the _arctic_ was some distance down the sound. swarms of white whales were about us in the open places. _august th. thursday_. the loose ice was gone. we had unhooked during the night and steamed west to the fast floe. i went up to the barrel and the captain went down to get his pipe. while gazing at distant things, i heard a noise on deck and, looking over, saw all hands lowering away for two whales astern of us. i must have been looking in another direction when they appeared, because the first i knew of it, was the noise below. our boats lay about half on each side and were playing the usual waiting game. the captain came up to the barrel and i went down, but too late to enter a boat, as they had all gone, except the two upper quarter boats. this was a great disappointment to me, as i had assisted in killing every whale we had taken on board. after a while, one fish came up on the south or port side and was fastened by the farthest south boat. the whale went under the ice, but came out nearer the ship and was fastened again. this proved the worst whale we had seen. it did not go down again but rolled about so much and slapped the water with its flukes to such an extent that the boats were rather afraid of it. this went on for a long time, when the captain called out that he would kill it himself, so he came down and ordered the port upper quarter boat launched. all boats had their gear ready, whether we used them or not. a crew of irregulars was called, the captain as harpooner, myself next, the sailmaker next, third engineer, cooper, etc. the captain went up at once and, driving a lance into the whale's neck, began churning it up and down. the fish allowed itself to sink a few feet, and the bows of the boat glided over it as the captain held on to the lance. then coming to the surface again, it tumbled the boat over on its starboard side and instantly gave a great blast from its lungs. my oar came out of the water, so i let it go and, grasping the seat with my right hand and putting my left on the whale's back, i got the full charge of blood and water over my side and shoulder, as i was almost over the blow-hole, and such was the force, that my thick pilot coat was soaked with-blood, and also the thick coat underneath. i saw the sailmaker, who was in front of me, turn around; his face was green, in spite of the tan. he was almost in the water. the boat, fortunately, slid off the slippery neck and a serious accident was averted. the great danger would have been from being caught between the whale and the many lines it had wound around itself. after this, a couple of rockets were put in and the most troublesome fish of the season gave up its ghost. as all this happened beside the ship, we were saved the usual tedious tow, and in an hour flensing was commenced. it was six when we had all on board. the second whale did not reappear--probably finding a breathing place in the floe. the sky was overcast at bedtime and there was a bitterly cold wind. having the engines aft made a great difference to the temperature of the cabin, as the bulkhead between the pantry and engine room was always hot. _august th. friday_. we were off cape hay when i came on deck and sailing east under topsails. this cape was a wonderful place for looms. they bred there in thousands; but we did not land or go very close, so i had no chance of seeing much. quite a number of the ships had already left the sound, among others the _arctic_. her captain, having secured thirteen black whales, had decided to try his luck in repulse bay, fox channel, where he had had former success. owing to the amount of ice in the sound and on the west coast, he had come to this decision. consequently he had sailed to hudson's straits, passing from frobisher bay through gabriel straits and encountering the dreadful current for which the neighborhood is noted. ice was met with about salisbury island, and beyond this he was unable to take his ship, so he returned to cumberland gulf and from there home without adding to his cargo. lancaster sound was beginning to look and feel like winter, the weather being very frosty. the mountains on the south side, which are about two thousand feet high, were very white, as a number of snow storms had passed over them. we were anticipating with pleasure a visit to pond's bay and the points usually called at on the west coast. one can generally take a ship by navy board inlet through eclipse sound to ponds bay, but this year the ice precluded such a trip. we kept under sail, to save our coal, and ended off wollaston islands at the entrance of navy board inlet, without having seen any whales. here we hooked on to a large floe. _august th. saturday._ after breakfast all hands were called to make off. it was a very cheerful performance, our men being in good spirits. the day was bitterly cold, but work kept them warm. ice formed where the sun did not strike the water as there was hardly any wind to disturb it. by dinner time the whale was made off and during the afternoon the watch employed cleaning up. we remained hooked on all night. sunday was a bitterly cold day and blowing a little, so we went further down the sound under topsails. about ten a. m. we sighted a whale and sent four boats in pursuit. i was in the second mate's. after a long chase the mate got fast. there was much ice about, so it was dangerous work for the fast boat, as it was impossible to avoid the pieces when being towed, and should the boat strike a floe it would be smashed at once and all hands would have to jump. when the fish came up first there was no boat near, but on coming up a second time watson got in an iron and we had a very lively run down the sound. with two harpoons in, there was a considerable drag on, and in a short time she reappeared and a boat was soon lancing. our boat had been delayed by pieces of ice, so that it was late when we arrived on the scene. however this was a very vital whale and difficult to kill. i saw our specksioneer lyon's boat almost smashed by one of the flukes during a flurry. the perfectly fearless old man was so absorbed in his lancing operations that he did not notice the fluke coming, and but for the quick action of his boat-steerer, an accident would have occurred. the ship had followed us, so we had no towing when the battle was over, as she picked the boats up, taking the whale with her to a floe where she anchored. two more boats had been lowered away when they heard "a fall" called. one had gone to help the mate with more line, and the other had taken part in the chase. after having something to eat, flensing was the order of the day, our cheerful crew singing with great spirit to the orders "heave away capstan" and "heave away windlass." this, our tenth whale, was a heavy one and it was late when we got it all on board. the ship remained at the floe all night, drifting with it down the sound. _monday, the th_, was a wintry day, bitterly cold and an overcast sky. during the afternoon we had some snow squalls. we dodged about under topsails, but did not see even a narwhal. it was evident that our chance of catching white whales this year in prince regent inlet was small. we anchored to the ice off cape liverpool at night. _tuesday, august th_, all hands were engaged making off in the morning and doing a general clean up during the afternoon. [illustration: ] chapter xvii--lancaster sound to dundee "to claim the arctic came the sun, with banners of the burning zone unrolled upon their airy spars. they froze beneath the light of stars, and there they float, those streamers old, those northern lights, forever cold." |the neighborhood of cape byam martin was considered good whaling ground, so we spent the next few days cruising off it and the coast further down, but without seeing anything of interest. even seals were scarce. it was remarkable how few we saw north of the arctic circle. by going aloft, one could always see, in some direction on the ice, a black dot, which represented a seal, but after the tens of thousands seen on the coasts of newfoundland and labrador, they were scarce indeed; in fact, i never shot one during the whole northern trip. we found ponds bay that paradise of the old whalers so full of ice that we were unable to visit the natives, which was a great disappointment to us all. it was a bad year for seeing much of the land as there was so much ice coming down. from the ship, the line of the shore looked straight, except off the bay, but there were great fiords running into the land for miles. one of them, known as "hell's kitchen," had been a noted place for whalers. two branches of it, named respectively, "morris" and "cooney" extended far into the country, one of them having been navigated by captain guy for about forty miles. ponds bay was a celebrated place for salmon fishing, the whalers often getting wonderful catches there, thereby improving their menu greatly. at this time, the weather was very wintry, frost and snow reminding us of where we were, and by the night of sunday, the th, we were only off cape bowen. monday was a beautiful day and we were fast to the shore floe, a long way from the land. the captain decided to improve the shining hour by having the ship painted, so the boats were put upon the ice and the men employed, cleaning and painting. the _aurora_ was comparatively new, so it was very easy cleaning her, as her woodwork was good and she had been well kept up. even washing her down with the alkaline solution used gave her a nice appearance. by evening, a great deal had been accomplished and inside she looked very neat. the little auks were numerous about here. one of our firemen killed three with a broom handle and i shot a fine bag. there was a good flight of ducks along the floe edge and i had several shots at them. as the birds were young, they were worth having, being free from the fishy flavor peculiar to their parents. [illustration: ] _august th._ we finished painting the boats, but left them on the ice, excepting two from which the lines had not been removed. our fishing, so far, had nearly all been floe edge. we had not entered the middle pack very far, where the whales were sometimes numerous at this season. the enormous amount of ice made the captain think twice about pushing his ship, with her valuable cargo, into it, and so we kept quietly down the coast, occasionally going out a little where the ice was loose, but remembering sir leopold mcclintock's winter in the middle pack with the _fox._ the southwest fishing, to which we were now going, was generally prosecuted in the autumn. the ships lay at anchor in some harbor, and every morning the boats rowed out and watched for whales. it was cold, dreary work and very unpopular with the men; but whales killed late in the season were often large and well worth looking for. _august th. wednesday_. the boats were hoisted up this day and, with the captain, i went on the ice to look at the ship. it was cold and i had on half-boots, a thick double-breasted monkey jacket, with leather gauntlets and a leather sealing cap. we walked to where the painting had been done and there admired the ship. she looked well, sitting rather down by the stern. all the crew, practically, had been standing on this ice for the last two days and nothing had happened: i went rather close to the edge and the piece i was standing on gave way and i went down at once, but on coming up, with one or two strokes, reached the ice edge. it took some seconds for my clothes to soak as i had so much on, and by that time, one of the men, jock fairly, came with a boat hook, by the help of which i was pulled out. my clothes were so completely water-logged that, without assistance, getting out would have been impossible. again the gentle warmth of the top of the boiler proved a comfort. _august st. thursday_. hooked on, with a stiff breeze blowing and the sky overcast. ducks were flying in great numbers past a point half a mile away, so, taking the dingey, i went off to it. there was no shelter and, although every bird must have seen me, the silly things would not leave the ice edge, but would just swing out far enough to make my shots effective. this shooting both barrels into the "brown," as the ducks passed, was not so much fun as getting them in pairs, but one soon picks up a good bag, and as i was shooting for the pot, a bag was what i wanted. when i came on board, the birds were tied in bundles and hung up on the davit guys above the quarter boats. august nd. during the afternoon, a bear was seen, so we went off in a boat to capture it. as there was no solid ice, the beast had to get out of and into the water so many times that he could not escape, and he was killed from the boat by the mate. i landed and tried to stalk him, but he left my pan and i could not follow him. two ships were in sight southeast of us. one of them was the _cornwallis,_ which we had not seen for some time. i was anxious to get near her as armitage was on hoard, but she was a long way off. we always knew the other, the _esquimaux_, by her mizzentop, as she had once been a full-rigged ship, although now a barque. on saturday, the wind blew a gale, which kept us dodging under the canvas; but by sunday the weather had improved. during the morning we sailed up to the shore floe, as we saw some natives there, and picked them up. they had tusks and dog skins for trade. we took them, with their dogs and sledges, on board. one of them was a good-looking, pleasant native, called enu. he added greatly to my eskimo vocabulary during the next few days, and he told me that deer were plentiful in certain places and that salmon abounded. we steamed south all day, after picking up the natives, the weather being cold but fine. _august th. monday_. steaming down the coast and the weather quite fine. during the afternoon, a black spot inshore indicated the mouth of a river. the shore floe at this point was a mile wide, but the ice was smooth. a boat and the dingey with a net and ten men were sent to try to catch some salmon. a number of men were sent to haul the boats across the floe to the open water of the river mouth, and the natives came also. mr. adam took the boat and i took the dingey. we had a boat's sail, plenty of coal, two ship's kettles, coffee, sugar, salt, biscuits and tins of mutton. arriving at the open water, our helpers returned to the ship, and the natives, after turning their sleds upside down, so that the dogs could not run away with them, came with us in the boats. we rowed into a river, which was about thirty or forty yards wide at the mouth, shallow and placid. we went up a short distance and camped on the right bank. above our camp, the river was a nice-looking little salmon stream; but below, it was more pretentious looking on account of its width. the net was drawn, with no result. it was tried in another place without getting a fin. then, as it was growing late, we returned to camp. tying two oars together, with their blades crossed, we laid the end of the long steering oar between these and this gave us an excellent frame for our tent, completed by throwing the large square boat's sail over it and tucking two of the corners underneath. then a fine coal fire was started, a kettle of coffee made, and an excellent hash prepared, by mixing tinned mutton, sea biscuits, snow, pepper and salt. we enjoyed this thoroughly and i sat by the camp fire afterwards and listened to these men tell tales of happenings in former years. thus, on the unhospitable shores of baffin bay, i had my first experience of camp life. after awhile i noticed that in spite of my clothing, my back was cold, so i turned it to the fire. then my face was nearly frozen, so i turned back. in the excitement of starting, i had thrown a rug into the boat and not thought of blankets. now i began to wish i had brought some, for i spent a miserable night, waking up very often with the cold. _august th._ at last the tedious night came to an end, and breakfast thawed us out and made things look more cheerful. the day was fine, so the _aurora_ was safe, and preparations were made for further fishing. had the morning looked threatening, the ship would probably have signalled us to come on board. i am a keen fisherman, but the net did not appeal to me very much; so i decided to see what the country looked like and, taking enu with me, went up the river. the bitterly cold night had caused some ice, so the men waited for a higher sun to dissipate this before we left camp. i found the country flat, as a whole, with low hills in the background. the native gave me to understand that beyond these hills was the caribou country, but one dared not risk going far from the ship, and so my chance of bagging a barren land head was small. little gulches led away from the river, on the exposed sides of which there was no snow, but boggy ground and bad walking; while on the shady sides the ground was frozen and covered with patches of snow. i saw some places on the river which made me long to try the fly, and i am sure good sport could have been obtained. after a very tiresome walk of some hours, during which i did not see a bird or beast, i returned to camp. on coming close, i saw a man walking from the river with a salmon in each hand, the first two caught. they had tried a number of places and had caught only these, so they sent them to camp for dinner. one was put in a big ship's kettle to boil, and the other split and cut into pieces which were hung around the fire on stakes made from driftwood. each salmon weighed about ten pounds, the flesh being very red, and while they did not compare with those from home rivers, we considered them excellent, as they were the first fresh fish we had had on the voyage. leaving camp, i went down to the boat and found they had just taken a splendid haul; the net was shot several times and a grand total of fish counted out. dinner was ready when we reached the fire and some more fish were staked out to cook. this delicate repast over, our things were carried down to the boats and we made our way back as we had come. seeing us from the ship, help had been sent to bring the boats across the ice. many of the whalers fish for salmon every year and sometimes catch great numbers. the best place is, as stated before, a river flowing into ponds bay. here several thousands are often taken. the eskimo dogs had eaten their harness and gone away, excepting two lame fellows, and the natives made these pull them to the ship. [illustration: ] _august th. wednesday._ enu, with his menage, left for home, and after breakfast we unhooked, and stood along the floe edge. from the "crow's nest" i saw with the glass a number of eskimo sledges travelling north. they made no attempt to come near us, but kept close to the shore. at noon we were going among some loose ice, so hooked on. i had a very pleasant afternoon at the ducks and secured a good bag. all the birds killed were young eider. in fact, on the voyage, i only killed three varieties of duck, eider, king eider and long tail. _august th. thursday_. two sledges with natives came off. there was a very hungry woman with them. i saw her picking at everything soft on board. she found the side of a box in which plug tobacco had been packed, and picked it up; there were some leaves of tobacco adhering to it. i saw her picking pieces of them and eating them. [illustration: ] dividing the 'tween-decks from the lower forecastle, there was a partition with a door. just outside of this door stood a barrel into which the cook threw refuse from the gallery, which was just within the forecastle. i saw this polar american beauty put her arm into the barrel and bring forth a duck's skin, which had a tremendous coating of fat. she seized the skin with both hands and pulled the fat off with her teeth, devouring it greedily. when she came to the neck, she chewed it, bones and all. there were some most interesting children on board and they thoroughly enjoyed the coffee and biscuit with which they were supplied by the captain's orders. we got some dog skins and small articles from these people, but they had already been visited by some of the ships and their bear skins and horns taken. _august th_. on friday the natives left us early. we unhooked and sailed east, with a breeze from the south. we saw a bear and cub on the ice, so lowered away and went after them. both took to the water, and we had to go around a large island of ice before we could reach them. i landed on this, and running across, tried a shot at them in the water, but they had gone too far and were behind hummocks of ice, so that i could not see them. the boat then overtook them and the mate shot both. as nothing more was seen among the loose ice we steamed to the floe edge and hooked on. i bagged a few ducks in the evening. _august th. saturday_. we steamed down the coast and hooked on off cape raper. two natives came on board, and we bought a live fox from one of them. it was young and blue, and spent the rest of the voyage walking about the funnel casing, where its home was in a lime-juice box. the natives left during the afternoon and we remained at the floe edge all night. it was a beautiful calm sunday and the last day of august on which we arrived at cape kater. the _cornwallis_ very soon afterwards came in and i went on board at once. they had had a most unsuccessful voyage as the ship had been spoiled for sailing by having an engine put in which was of no use. they had killed a whale and picked up a dead one, having one ton of bone from the two. poor old captain nichol was very much depressed. every one said he was a fine sailor; that his blood was tar and his flesh rope yams. they told us that the other ships had done well, the _nova zembla_ having eight, the _polynia_ six and the _esquimaux_ ten whales when last seen. armitage came on shore with me and we visited some native habitations. they were tents made of skin, and the sun beating on them made them warm inside; but as there was not a particle of ventilation, the odor was the worst possible. we saw in them the stone lamps in which the seal oil was burned, moss being used as a wick; sometimes old tins served the purpose instead of stone. [illustration: ] this country is generally called baffin land. there is, however, no reason to believe that it is not divided up by channels into many islands. no doubt passages exist connecting davis straits with fox channel. much of the coast line is uncharted, especially north of fox land. fiords running south from eclipse sound have been visited by whalers, but not explored; possibly they could be traced to fury and hecla straits. whaling stations have several times been established on the west coast, at exeter sound and cumberland gulf--the first party wintering at the latter place in , to the detriment of the natives. these improvident people with modern rifles would kill all the game they could shoot, use what they required at the time and waste the rest, whereas in old times they could just secure enough for their wants. again, children were brought up formerly in a hardy way, and taught how to wrest a living from the inhospitable country. now by loafing around a settlement they acquire some of the pernicious habits of civilized men, and learn to depend upon the european and his ship, forgetting that these might be withdrawn at any time. [illustration: ] monday was spent wandering about, but without seeing anything of interest. the _cornwallis_ was still hooked on when we left cape kater, on tuesday. we kept away from the coast to look for a berg from which we might water. the weather was clear and frosty, and at night the aurora borealis was very beautiful. _september rd. wednesday._ we found a floe fast to the base of a very large berg, and on this there was a lake of fresh water frozen over. the ship being made fast, a hole was drilled in the ice and our water tanks filled. on the berg there was a white fox, but no shooting at it was allowed lest the concussion should bring down masses of ice. by evening we moved away and made fast to a floe far from our dangerous neighbor. the cold was intense and bay ice formed around the ship. i heard the thunder of splitting bergs several times during the night; they sounded like avalanches among the alps in the springtime. at this season, especially on very cold nights, bergs often split and turn over owing to water freezing in crevices formed by the warm summer sun, and for this reason they are avoided as much as possible. we now spent five days dodging about under canvas with fires banked. part of the time we were off cape hooper and part off home bay, but we did not see a single whale. the weather was for the most part fine, but bitterly cold. if a mist arose at night the ship presented a curious spectacle in the morning, her rigging being coated with ice. our handy tradesmen during this period made some pretty things. the carpenter presented the captain with a neat model of a ship, while the cooper turned out a tobacco box which was a work of art. _september th. monday_. we bore up for home. what cheerful news it was! passage sails were bent, boats taken in and placed on skids, bunkers were coaled and all was life and bustle. every one was happy. the voyage had been a success, and we had not had a serious accident. the "crow's nest" was sent down, nautical time adopted and the watch set. to crown all, a fresh breeze sprang up, and with everything set and steaming full speed we started down the straits. by bedtime we were in a heavy fog, so the canvas was taken off and the engines slowed down. during the night the phosphorescence was very beautiful. pieces of ice thrown away by the propeller looked like balls of fire, while the water immediately around the stern seemed all aflame. for the next two days we had fog, so made little progress at night. during the day the men were employed washing lines and stowing them away. guns and harpoons were cleaned and greased and the ship was thoroughly washed. on the th, we had a strong gale with a dark and cloudy sky. it was strange to be at sea and feel the motion of the ship after weeks of smooth water amidst the ice. after this the sea was smooth, and we had fog all the time until, off cape farewell on the th, the day being fine, the ship was hove to and painted outside. a dense fog came down that night, and we did not make another observation until off the scottish coast. on saturday, september th, the fog was very dense and we steamed slowly until noon, when it lifted for a short time and showed us the island of st. kilda. i was sorry we could not land here as it was a wonderful breeding place for the fulmar petrels; but home was in sight, and captain fairweather did not want to linger on a rock-bound coast, so we steered north and on sunday morning, the st, we were off the butt of lewis. it was thick at times during the morning, but cleared in the afternoon and gave us a view of the orkneys. the captain decided to go north of orkney, as he did not like the pentland firth with so much fog about. at night the weather was perfectly clear. _september nd. monday._ on deck in the morning every one was looking pleasant, and the ship neat. we were crossing the moray firth and coming close to the aberdeen coast. a fishing boat from fraserborough was hailed and an assortment of fish purchased for breakfast. these were paid for with tobacco, and the pay was liberal. the first question asked by us was, "is england at war?" this being answered in the negative, greatly pleased those of the crew who were naval reserve men. eight bells struck and my last breakfast on board the _aurora_ was served. after breakfast we passed peterhead, formerly a great port for whalers, and then we steamed south close to the coast. the yellow fields of grain and stubble, the cottages and the trees, looked to our snow-dazzled eyes like fairy land. we passed aberdeen and stonehaven. we were close enough to see dunottar's grim ruin, then montrose, and in a short time our pilot was on board with all the news, and we were at home. of the davis straits ships in one was lost, the _narwhal_; but now, with the exception of the _active and aurora_, the weed-grown ribs of the entire fleet rest beneath the waters of the cold northern seas and the records of their crews' escapes and hardships would fill volumes. appendix notice of arrival of whalers in _dundee advertiser_ of september rd: dundee advertiser, september rd, . the esquimaux--the loss of two men. the _esquimaux_, capt. milne, arrived in the tay last night from davis straits, and will be docked with this morning's tide. the esquimaux was unsuccessful at the newfoundland seal fishing, only , seals having been secured; but she has brought a fair cargo from davis straits, consisting of whales, which will yield tons of oil and tons of whalebone. two fatalities have, unfortunately, occurred during the voyage. early in the season a young man named allan smith, a native of dundee, was dragged overboard by the line catching him after a bottle-nosed whale had been struck, and he was never seen again. it is a painful circumstance that smith's father was lost from the same ship several years ago. another of the crew was lost during the passage home. he accidentally fell overboard, and a boat was sent in search of him. after some time he was picked up in semi-lifeless state, and all attempts to restore animation failed. dundee advertiser, september rd, . davis straits whale fishing--arrival of aurora. the steamer aurora, belonging to messrs. alex. stephen & sons, arrived at dundee yesterday afternoon from the davis straits whale fishing. the _aurora_, commanded by capt. jas. fair-weather, has had a very successful voyage. at newfoundland , seals were secured during the two trips, the _aurora_ being the only one of the dundee fleet which was fortunate in securing a good catch. on the th may she left st. john's for davis straits, and on reaching disco fell in with the _thetis_ and _bear_, on their way north in search of the greely expedition. the three ships thereafter kept in company until they reached the north water, when capt. fairweather steamed across to lancaster sound. an impenetrable barrier of ice blocked the sound, a circumstance which told in favor of the fishing, as a large number of whales were secured at the edge of the ice. the crew were successful in capturing ten, and also three bottle-noses, which will yield tons of oil and about tons of whalebone. as the season advanced the fishing was prosecuted along the west coast of davis straits, but without success, owing to the immense quantities of ice, which seemed never to have been driven out of the straits this year. the frost came on unusually early and very severe, to degrees being registered in august. capt. fairweather bore up for home on the th sept, and experienced a good deal of foggy weather in crossing the atlantic. he confirms the news previously received of the catches of the fleet, and mentions that the _polynia_ is the only vessel which has added to her cargo, which now consists of whales, equal to tons of oil. the _triune_ sailed for home on the th sept. capt. fairweather has brought home a fine specimen of the sabine gull, a bird rarely to be met with in davis straits. it ought to be mentioned that the crew of the _aurora_, after receiving the news of the _chieftain_ disaster from the pilot at the mouth of the river, subscribed the sum of £ s. to the fund. whalers sailing from dundee in : [illustration: ] a list of greenland and davis straits ships sailing from holland, from dr. lang's book: [illustration: ] ships at greenland and davis straits, with number of whales killed: [illustration: ] the above list shows how the trade changed in a few years from london to hull, and it also shows how scotland increased her fleet, while england reduced hers. in an old work--"mcpherson's annals of commerce," is found the following list of ships sent to the whaling: [illustration: ] whaling was now confined to dundee peterhead, and remained so until , when peterhead sent her last whaler to sea, and since then the industry has been carried on by dundee alone. in a bounty of twenty shillings a ton on ships over two hundred tons was given by the english government, and in this was doubled to induce competition with the dutch. [illustration: ] [illustration: a whale biting a boat in two.] the arctic whaleman; or, winter in the arctic ocean: being a narrative of the wreck of the whale ship citizen, of new bedford, in the arctic ocean, lat. ° ' n., lon. ° w., sept. , , commanded by thomas howes norton, of edgartown, and the subsequent sufferings of her officers and crew during nine months among the natives. together with a brief history of whaling. by rev. lewis holmes. boston: wentworth & company, washington street. . entered, according to act of congress, in the year , by wentworth & company, in the clerk's office of the district court of the district of massachusetts. stereotyped at the boston stereotype foundry. to whalemen, in whose employment, daring adventures, and many deprivations, the author feels a deep interest, this volume is most respectfully inscribed. preface. of all classes of fishermen, the whaleman takes the precedence. this front position will be readily conceded to him, whether we consider the stupendous object of his pursuit, or the vast extent of waters over which he roams to secure his prey, or the dangers and perils peculiar to his avocation, or the immense pecuniary outlay with which the enterprise is carried on. some of the reasons which induced the author to present to the public this narrative containing an account of the wreck of the whale ship _citizen_, and the subsequent exposure and sufferings of her officers and crew in the arctic ocean, are the following:-- . the instance has never been recorded in the history of marine disaster, in which a ship's company, consisting of _thirty-three_ persons, lived so many months among the natives in so high a latitude. . being cast helpless and almost destitute upon such a desolate coast, they had to depend principally upon the kindness and generosity of the natives for protection, food, and clothing. . considering the unfavorable and forbidding circumstances of their condition, in living as the natives lived, and their travels in the depths of winter from one settlement to another in order to avoid starvation, it is remarkable that so many of them, with so little sickness, should be rescued the following year. a plain statement of these facts the author felt was due to his fellow-townsmen, and would probably be of some considerable interest to all classes of readers, and therefore meriting a permanent record with the varied experience of whalemen. the limited time the author spent with captain norton,[a] who was then preparing for sea, from whom he received the leading facts in the narrative, after it was concluded to give it to the public, is his only apology for not introducing more extended particulars. mr. abram osborn, jr.,[b] mr. john p. fisher,[c] and mr. john w. norton,[d] now absent at sea, confirmed the report of the captain, besides having contributed important materials to the narrative themselves. any information respecting the physical features of the arctic region, and the character of its inhabitants, is not only deeply interesting, but highly useful. the recent explorations of dr. kane, in the american arctic, has largely increased the bounds of knowledge respecting that remarkable portion of the earth's surface. though less attention, perhaps, has been given to the exploration of the asiatic arctic, through behring's straits, it is, however, a region which is yearly visited by scores of american whalemen, and who have become quite familiar both with its eastern and western coasts, even to the impassable ice barrier, which forbids all further approaches to the north. the acquaintance which the officers and crew of the _citizen_ formed with the natives during the space of _nine months_ in which they lived with them, and thus had so favorable an opportunity to learn their characters and habits, has probably never been surpassed by any other company of men within the present century. the history of whaling will give the reader a succinct view of the commencement, progress, and present state of the enterprise. the author would here express his acknowledgments to whalemen who have readily furnished him with many valuable incidents connected with the details of their employment. l. h. edgartown, june, . illustrations. . a whale biting a boat in two, frontispiece. . walrus among icebergs, . wreck of the citizen, . native costume, . hunting the polar bear, . polar bears, . a ship after a gale, . whales raised, . lowering for whales, . two ships near shore, . perilous situation of whalemen, . enemies of the whale, . harpooning a whale, . cutting in a whale, . boiling out, contents. chapter i. ship citizen sails from new bedford.--captain, officers, and crew.--interest centred in a whale ship.--accompanying ships. --seasickness and homesickness.--arrival at cape verd islands. --an agreement with captain sands, of the ship benjamin tucker. --whales raised.--christmas supper on board of the citizen. --a whale scene.--"an ugly customer."--a whale incident, copied from the vineyard gazette.--arrival at hilo.--sandwich islands chapter ii. recruited for the arctic.--departure.--coast of kamtschatka.-- copper island.--going into the ice with captain crosby.--gale of wind.--dangerous sailing in the ice.--captain thaddeus. --bay of the holy cross.--plover bay.--dead whale.--st. lawrence bay.--whales working north.--loose, floating ice.-- ice covered with walrus.--fine weather.--striking an iceberg. --ship leaking.--return to st. lawrence bay.--damage repaired.--arrival in the arctic chapter iii. northern lights.--high winds.--spoke with captain clough. --ships seen in the distance.--storm increasing.--no observations.--blowing heavily.--scene awfully sublime.-- ship struck by a sea.--shoal water.--rocks and breakers.-- ship unmanageable.--fore and mizzen topsails carried away.-- ship striking astern, bow, and midships.--foremast cut away. --narrow escape of captain norton.--mizzenmast gone by the board.--sad condition of the seamen.--land in sight--ship drifting towards the shore.--undertow.--the lantern keg. --mainmast cut away, and falling towards the shore.--men escaping on the mast.--trying scene.--captain washed ashore. --affecting deaths.--wreck piled up on shore.--fire made.-- men perishing with cold.--five missing.--prospects dark.-- destitution.--tent erected.--merciful circumstances connected with the wreck chapter iv. first night on shore.--sleeping in empty casks.--parties of exploration.--dog tracks.--arrangements to leave the wreck. --desire to reach east cape.--reflections upon our condition. --the dead hog roasted.--the "pet hog."--company travel towards the south and east.--two natives seen.--parley.-- directed to the settlement.--the old woman and her ceremony.-- the second settlement.--head man cordial.--men distributed among the huts.--not able to reach east cape.--company entertained.--motives for it.--government should reward the natives chapter v. no prospect of reaching east cape.--painful conviction.-- the province of christian faith.--the wreck visited.--the natives.--hope unexpectedly revived.--ship in sight.--comes near.--signals from the land.--no assistance offered.-- sails down the coast.--indescribable state of our minds.-- card in the polynesian chapter vi. our sad and desolate feelings after the departure of the ship. --what we should soon witness of arctic winter.--the wreck visited from time to time.--provisions transported to the settlement.--the weather.--whales near shore.-- severe gale of wind.--fall of snow.--ocean frozen over. --sudden introduction of winter, and its dreariness.--not to be described.--the sun falling, nights lengthening.-- disappearance of the sun.--long night.--how we passed our time.--confined to the huts.--singing.--neither book nor chart, nor writing materials, except pieces of copper.--hope of liberation another year.--captain norton's method of keeping time.--the razor.--our clothing.--provisions getting low. --natives both eating and stealing ours.--a new chapter.-- commenced living on blubber with the natives.--native stock diminishing.--winters in the arctic vary.--the native manner of capturing the whale.--preparing their food.--native bread. --description of their huts.--their peculiar locality.-- their method of lighting and warming them.--the filthiness of the natives. chapter vii. health of the natives.--their diseases.--captain n. prescribes a remedy.--their superstitious notions.--mr. osborn prescribes for the sick.--a fatal case.--they surround mr. o. with threatening gestures.--native remedy for nose bleeding and sore eyes.--burial ceremony.--marriages.--general appearance of the natives.--their character.--their habits of industry.--property.--language.--icebergs.--their formation.--the distance to which icebergs float.--their magnitude.--field ice.--the sudden disappearance of ice.-- how accounted for.--icy vapor.--poisoning. chapter viii. provisions of the natives getting low.--new calamity threatened. --health and strength failing.--necessity of seeking other quarters.--the only alternative.--report of a wreck.-- parties leave.--dreadful traveling and exposures.--report by the natives that our men were frozen to death.--an instance of treachery.--the captain and his party leave.--the weather.-- traveling.--thoughts of home.--preservation.--one of the party unable to walk.--left behind.--found by the natives.-- the fate before us.--division of the biscuit.--another fails, sits down, and is frozen to death.--reflections.--captain norton encourages his only remaining companion.--singular appearance upon the ice.--dog teams.--part of mr. fisher's company.--encouragement to our minds.--natives unwilling to help us.--the danger of riding.--last effort.--the music of barking dogs.--our manner of traveling.--dreadful condition of our feet.--captain norton falls exhausted.--native kindness. chapter ix. mr. fisher's party a short distance from this settlement.--next day left for another settlement.--our men arriving in small companies.--health improving.--cross the river.--no signs of water.--settlement.--ham.--the wreck of a new bedford ship.--when lost, and the circumstances.--travel to another settlement.--the head man a savage fellow.--traveling towards east cape.--seaboard route.--natives kind.--begging by the way.--the whale boat.--the broadside of a ship.--ship in the ice.--drift stuff.--sun's reflection.--sore eyes.-- snow blindness.--the blind led with strings.--partial remedy. --east cape reached.--cordially received by the natives. chapter x. east cape, a point of observation.--the greater part of our men gathered here.--the _kanaka_.--weather softening.--ice still firm.--arctic scenes.--icequakes.--migratory fowl. --a whale discovered.--gala time among the natives.--the natives thorough drinkers.--a drunken "spree."--cruise into the country.--birds-egging.--incidents.--native manner of killing fowl.--amusements of the natives.--vegetation.-- face of the country.--fish.--fowl.--the ochotsk sea and country. chapter xi. the ocean still frozen over on the d of june.--on the th the ice began to break up.--whales appear.--walrus follow the ice.--daily looking for ships.--report of our wreck five hundred miles below east cape.--method of sending news by the natives.--ships notified of our condition.--how.-- the resolution of captains jernegan and goosman.--arrival of two ships off east cape.--natives first spy them.--stir in the settlement.--happy day of deliverance.--words feeble to express our joy.--a fit occasion for gratitude and thanks to god.--preparations to go on board.--the welcome of captain goosman.--captain norton with captain jernegan.--crew collected.--changed our native for sailor dress.--liberality of the officers and crews in furnishing clothes.--a review of the past.--the settlement visited.--dinner.--arrival at the islands.--a card. chapter xii. a whaling community.--interest felt for absent ones.--the first intelligence from the whaling fleet.--california mail.-- further news from the islands.--"missing ships."--no report of the citizen.--no letters.--fears as to her safety.--when last spoken with.--either lost or frozen up in the arctic. --supposed fate of officers and crew.--distressing suspense. --hoping against hope.--prayer answered.--the first intelligence from the citizen.--joy in families.--captain norton's arrival at home, and subsequently the arrival of his officers belonging to this place. chapter xiii. the ocean.--the seaman's home.--confidence of the mariner in his ship.--shipwreck.--moral and religious claims of seamen. --the spirit of the age.--interest in the mariner's meeting. --seaport places.--sudden intelligence.--seamen remembered elsewhere.--ships supplied with books.--bible and tract societies.--good seed sown.--field for usefulness.--the american seaman.--concert of prayer.--all interested.--the most important reform for seamen. * * * * * history and details of whaling. chapter i. whale fishery.--its origin.--where first carried on.--by whom.--whaling in the northern ocean by the dutch and english. --contentions between them.--the success of the dutch.-- its commencement in new england.--"london documents."--the first whale scene in nantucket.--boat whaling.--the number of whales taken in one day.--the first spermaceti whale.-- the interest it excited.--its supposed value.--the first sperm whale captured.--new life to the business.--whaling in massachusetts in - .--burke's eulogy on new england whalers.--sperm whaling in great britain.--revived in france.--the american and french revolutions nearly destroyed the business.--loss to nantucket.--its commencement in new bedford.--tabular view of the number of vessels engaged in whaling, and places to which they belong. chapter ii. the whale.--its zoölogy.--the largest known animal.--sperm whale.--right whale.--finback.--bowhead. chapter iii. whale blubber.--enemies of the whale.--affection of the whale for its young.--instances. chapter iv. whale grounds.--whaling seasons, and where species of whales are found.--sperm whale grounds.--right whale grounds.-- humpbacks and bowheads, where found.--right whale not crossing the equator.--arctic passage for whales.--maury's opinion of the haunts of the whale in the polar sea.--confirmed by dr. kane.--vessels fitted for whaling.--several classes.--time of sailing.--arrival at home.--length of voyages.--seasons and between seasons. chapter v. increased length of whaling voyages.--capital.--value of oils and bone.--value of several classes of whaling vessels.--"lay." --boat's crew.--whaleboats.--approaching a whale.-- harpooning.--whale warp.--danger when the line runs out.-- locomotive power of the whale.--lancing.--flurry.--cutting in.--boiling out.--the "case and junk."--the rapidity with which oil may be taken. chapter vi. outfitting and infitting.--"runners."--remedy.--articles of clothing.--whaling business.--promotion.--whale killing.-- dangers.--general success of the enterprise. chapter vii. the manufacture of oil. introduction. a father once said to his son, respecting books, "read first the introduction; if that be good, try a few pages of the volume; if they are excellent, then, but not else, read on." but i do not wish this criterion to be applied in the present instance. for if the reader find the introduction uninteresting, he will be compensated by a careful perusal of the narrative itself. it may be relied on as stating matters of fact. the information it contains respecting the adventurous and exciting business of the whale fishery is derived from authentic sources. the volume presents matters of deep and general interest to every reader. it will remind him of some of the scenes so vividly portrayed by the late dr. kane in his arctic explorations. many "that go down to the sea in ships, and do business in the great waters," come from remote parts of the country. here is the information which will convey to relatives at home some just idea of the toils and privations of those loved ones who are ploughing the trackless ocean. the young men, who are looking forward to a life on the ocean wave, will read the following narrative with eagerness and delight. their ardent temperament and roving disposition have pictured in fancy's halls bright scenes on the briny deep. such will find in this work a true view of a mariner's life, accompanied with valuable counsels. it is neither, as i judge, the tendency nor the design of the book, to deter any from a seafaring life that love adventure, and believe there is no royal road to fortune. to employ a nautical phrase, "none need expect to creep in by the cabin windows; all must crawl through the hawser hole." he must endure hardship and privation before he can enjoy promotion. young men of sound health, steady purpose, moral courage, and trustworthiness, will, by the blessing of providence, be sure of promotion. if, however, these qualities are lacking in a young man, the discovery is generally made during his first voyage. his reputation, good or bad, will reach home long before the ship returns to port. owners and agents know what is in him, and what may be expected from him in future. if he stands the test, if he is faithful and prompt in the discharge of duty, all who have an interest in the success of voyages will want his services. this book gives valuable information to parents whose sons are inclined to go to sea. resistance should not be carried to such a degree as to drive the young man to expedients in order to get away from home clandestinely. this course always throws him into the hands, and places him under the power, of those who have no ultimate object but to make all possible profit out of his toil. many young men, in consequence of obstacles thrown in their way, never divulge at home their longing desire to try the sea. hence, some, who are physically unfit to bear the fatigue, have taken their first step by running off to some seaport; and after being involved in expense, although they may have changed their mind, they cannot retrace their steps. once shipped, they will have one life-long regret. let parents do all they possibly can to render their would-be sailor sons independent of the "landsharks." clergymen and sabbath school teachers are in a position to know something of the tendencies and aptitudes of their respective charges. they may, by availing themselves of the contents of this volume, prevent many mistakes and unavailing regrets. the object to be sought is, to secure those who will go to sea from doing so under false apprehensions of the kind of life, and the essential qualifications for success in the sailor's avocation. seamen are in demand, and if commerce continues to extend, many more able-bodied sailors will be required to man our ships. when the extent and value of the interests involved are thought of, it seems surprising that efforts are not made to improve the character and condition of the sailor. millions of property are intrusted to his care. thousands of precious lives are in his hands for weeks and months; yet many sailors are the refuse of jails, penitentiaries, and state prisons. the sentiment too often prevails that the worse man makes the better sailor. hence we may easily account for many shipwrecks, vessels cast away, sunk, and burned. this is becoming too expensive. as total abstinence on board ship has reduced the rates of insurance, so will greater security to life and property be experienced at sea, when more attention shall be paid to the character and condition of sailors. the profit may be proportionally divided between the owners and the crew. combined and earnest efforts should be made by parties, especially by those more immediately concerned. a beginning must be made somewhere. individual effort has done something, but these attempts are limited by others who have it in their power to hinder the operation of beneficial changes. difficulties can be overcome effectually when all combine to remove them. the temporal and spiritual welfare of so many thousands of our fellow-men afloat on the great deep demand much at our hands. the moral and religious element must lie at the foundation of all physical and social reforms. when, therefore, owners, captains, agents, officers, and crews will agree not to lower their boats, even if a fish is seen, on sabbath, an important step will be taken in the right direction. for while all are systematically violating the law of god, there can be no law on board ship but brute force. why should any one feel at liberty to prosecute his daily employment at sea, when he would be ashamed to do so on land? is the sailor less dependent on the blessing of a gracious god than the husbandman? he is a very godless farmer who will plough or sow on sabbath because it rained on saturday, or may rain on monday. the difficulties are not insuperable. meet them at the outset. the responsibility must not be wholly devolved on the captain, to do what he thinks best after he has gone to sea. let the owners distinctly and unequivocally express their will in the case. then captain, officers, and crew will be shipped with this stipulation: no fishing on sabbath. many captains and others now engaged in the whaling fleet will welcome such an arrangement. the effect of it on the whole ship's company will be salutary. as the business is now conducted, there are doubtless many uneasy consciences. some are glad when no fish is seen on sabbath. but when the cry is raised, "there she blows!" what a struggle takes place in the mind of the pious and god-fearing men! but the rest think, if the boats are not lowered, that their rights and interests are infringed; and even the owners might afterwards complain that, when fish were seen, they were not taken. so the order is given, "lower away the boats." but this does not settle the question, for the captain feels his moral power diminished. he cannot next day with a clear conscience read and pray with his officers, nor call all hands together next sabbath to hear the word of god read. thus nearly all that is done for the moral improvement of sailors in port is neutralized by one act of disobedience to god. in new bedford, something is attempted for the good of the sailor. "the sailor's home" is well conducted. the port society sustains the bethel and its indefatigable minister. all the bibles needed for the ships come from the new bedford bible society. but something further is required to induce habits of bible reading on board ship. let owners and others think of some of the hints given above. if this volume, now presented to the public, containing a narrative of so much interest, will improve the condition of the weather-beaten sailor, and promote the honor of god, our desire is accomplished. j. girdwood. new bedford, mass., _june, _. [illustration: the polar bear.] the whaleman; or, nine months in the arctic. chapter i. ship citizen sails from new bedford.--captain, officers, and crew.--interest centred in a whale ship.--accompanying ships. --seasickness and homesickness.--arrival at cape verd islands. --an agreement with captain sands, of the ship benjamin tucker. --whales raised.--christmas supper on board of the citizen. --a whale scene.--"an ugly customer."--a whale incident, copied from the vineyard gazette.--arrival at hilo.--sandwich islands. the whale ship citizen, of new bedford, owned by j. howland & co., fitted for three or four years, and bound to the north pacific on a whaling voyage, sailed from the port of new bedford, october , . she was commanded by thomas howes norton, of edgartown, martha's vineyard. her officers were the following, namely: first mate, lewis h. roey, of new bedford; second mate, john p. fisher, of edgartown; third mate, walter smith, of new bedford; fourth mate, william collins, of new bedford. four boat steerers, namely: abram osborn, jr., and john w. norton, of edgartown, john blackadore and james w. wentworth, of new bedford. the following were nearly all the names of her crew: charles t. heath, william e. smith, christopher simmons, george w. borth, darius aping, william nye, manuel jose, jose joahim, charles c. dyer, charles noyes, edmund clifford, george long, charles adams, bernard mitchell, nicholas powers, william h. may, alpheus townshend, barney r. kehoe, joseph e. mears, james dougherty, and peter m. cox. the whole number on board when she sailed was thirty-three persons. in addition to the above, five seamen were shipped at the verd islands, which made thirty-eight, all told. as is generally the case, the majority of these were strangers, and perhaps had never seen each other's countenances until they appeared on the deck of the ship, henceforth to be their new home for months, and it may be for years. besides, in this number there were representatives from different and distant sections of the country, and not unfrequently an assortment of nations, and even races. here were gathered for the first time many a wandering youth, attracted to the seaboard by the spirit of romantic adventure, to see the world of waters, and to share in the excitement of new scenes. his wayward history, in breaking away from the wholesome restraints and watchcare of home, may be found written, perhaps, in many sorrowful hearts which he has left behind. years may pass away before either parents or relatives shall hear again from the absent one, and it may be never. such instances are not uncommon. how much interest there is centred in a whale ship, as she is about to leave port! it is felt not only by those who embark their property and lives in her, but there are other attractions towards the ship. they are found in the desolateness which is felt in many home circles, in bidding adieu to husbands, sons, and brothers. when the anchor is weighed, and the sails are spread to the faithful breeze, sadness reigns in many households and in many hearts. the thoughts are not only painfully busy concerning _present_ separations, but they bound forward to the future, and anticipate what may be the experience of a few years to come. changes! one hardly dares think of them! amid the perils and dangers of the deep, how long will the ship's company remain unbroken? will the _ship_ ever return, and reënter her port again? will those who have just released themselves from the embraces of friends, and wiped away the falling tear, and barred their hearts to the separation, will _they_ ever return? or, if they should, will they ever see again those whom they are now leaving? these inquiries and reflections find expression only in painful emotions, sadness, and sorrow. time will make changes, and leave its ineffaceable footprints with every passing year. the land was lost sight of in the evening of the day upon which we sailed, with a strong south-west wind. we were accompanied out of the bay by two other outward bound whale ships--the columbus, of fairhaven, captain crowell, and the hunter, of new bedford, captain holt. after the usual passage, with variable winds, and no particular incident of marked importance, except the ordinary and certain amount of seasickness on board, which generally attends the uninitiated in their first interviews with "old neptune," cape verd islands were made on the th of december. with seasickness, homesickness follows; and then it is that many of the inexperienced, having left good homes and quiet life, wish a thousand times that they had never "learned the trade." but all such wishes are now in vain. with a new life on shipboard and in the forecastle, romance passes away, and leaves in its place the stern outlines of a living reality. seasickness, however, is only a temporary affair; in most cases, indeed, it soon subsides, and then spirits and hope revive with recruited and invigorated health. we took our departure from the islands on the th, in company with the ship benjamin tucker, captain sands; strong breezes, north-east trades. the first whales were seen about lat. ° s., lon. ° ´ w., distant about seven miles--light winds. we set signal for the benjamin tucker, four or five miles distant, to notify captain sands that whales were in sight--an agreement we made while sailing in company. boats were lowered; the mate fastened to a whale, which brought the shoal to. the second mate was less successful; his boat was stoven by a whale, and his men were floating about upon scattered and broken pieces of the wreck. other boats soon came up and rescued their companions. the ship now ran down to the boat which was fastened to the whale. the whale, however, was lost, in consequence of cutting the line in the act of lancing him. after a pursuit of an hour or more, the mate fastened to another whale, and finally secured it, though it proved to be of but little pecuniary value. at the same time the boats of the benjamin tucker captured a whale, but they could not boast of much superiority. it made them _three_ barrels. thus ended the first whaling scene on the voyage, and certainly not a very profitable day's work. the citizen was put on her course. we passed several ships--weather good. december , lat. ° s., whales were raised again, but took no oil. still in company with the benjamin tucker. on christmas eve, captain sands and his wife took tea on board of our ship, thus reviving remembrances of home and friends, though thousands of miles distant from our native port. the next incident of more than ordinary interest was another whale scene, of sufficient excitement and peril to satisfy the most ardent and aspiring. the benjamin tucker had luffed to, headed to the westward, with signal to the citizen that whales were in sight. the ship columbus was then in company. the three ships were in full pursuit of the monsters of the deep. the school was overtaken in course of an hour or two working to the leeward. at first, one of the boats was lowered from the citizen, and then another, and another, until four boats were bounding over the waves, each seeking to be laid alongside of his victim, and join in the uncertain conflict. from the three ships there were twelve boats pressing forward with the utmost celerity to share in the encounter, and each emulous to bear off his prize. the fourth boat despatched from the citizen fastened to a whale. he was shortly lanced, and spouted blood--a sure indication that he had received his death wound. in mortal agony, he plunged, and floundered, and mingled the warm current of his own life with the foaming waters around him. conscious, apparently, of the authors of his sufferings, with rage and madness he at once attacked the boat, and with his ponderous jaws seized it, and in a moment bit it in two in the centre. nor was there any time to be lost by the humble occupants of the boat. the rules of courtesy and ordinary politeness in entertaining a superior were for the time being laid entirely aside. each seaman fled for his life--some from the stern, and others from the bow, while the cracking boards around and beneath them convinced them that the whale had every thing in his own way. besides, the sensation was any thing but pleasant in expecting every moment to become fodder to the enraged leviathan of the deep. in quick succession those enormous jaws fell, accompanied with a deep, hollow moan or groan, which evinced intense pain, that sent a chill of terror to the stoutest hearts. they felt the feebleness of man when the monster arose in his fury and strength. a boat was soon sent to the rescue of their companions, who were swimming in every direction, to avoid contact with the enraged whale, which seemed bent on destroying every thing within his reach. he really asserted his original lordship in his own native element, and was determined to drive out all intruders. he therefore attacked the second boat, and would probably have ground it to atoms, had not a fortunate circumstance of two objects perhaps somewhat disconcerting him, and dividing his attention, turned him off from his purpose. the captain of the citizen, observing the affray from the beginning, was soon convinced that matters were taking rather a serious direction, and that not only the boats but the lives of his men were greatly imperilled. he therefore ordered the fifth boat to be instantly lowered, manned with "green hands," the command of which he himself assumed, and directed in pursuit of the whale. five boats were now engaged in the contest, with the exception of the one stoven, and all the available crew and officers, including the captain, concentrated their efforts and energies in order to capture this "ugly customer." just at the moment he was attacking or had already attacked the second boat, the captain's boat appeared on the ground, and from some cause best known to himself, the whale immediately left the former and assailed the latter. what the whale had already done, and what he appeared determined still to do, were by no means very flattering antecedents, and would very naturally impress the minds of "green hands," especially, that whaling, after all, was a reality, and not an imaginary affair or ordinary pastime. on, therefore, the whale came to the captain's boat, ploughing the sea before him, jaws extended, with the fell purpose of destroying whatever he might chance to meet. as he approached near, the lance was thrust into his head and held in that position by the captain, and by this means he was kept at bay, while the boat was driven astern nearly half a mile. in this manner he was prevented from coming any nearer to the boat, the boat moving through the water as fast and as long as he pressed his head against the point of the lance. this was the only means of their defence. it was a most fortunate circumstance in a most trying situation. if the handle of the lance had broken, they would have been at the mercy of a desperate antagonist. the countenances of the boys were pallid with fear, and doubtless the very hair upon their heads stood erect. it was a struggle for life. it was death presented to them under one of the most frightful forms. they were, however, as singularly and as suddenly relieved as they were unexpectedly attacked. the whale caught sight of the ship, as was supposed, which was running down towards the boats, and suddenly started for the new and larger object of attack. this was observed by the captain, who immediately made signal to keep the ship off the wind, which would give her more headway, and thus, if possible, escape a concussion which appeared at first sight inevitable. the whale started on his new course towards the ship with the utmost velocity, with the intention of running into her. the consequences no one could predict; more than likely he would have either greatly disabled the ship, or even sunk her, had he struck her midships. to prevent such a catastrophe--the injury of the ship, and perhaps the ruin of the voyage--every thing now seemed to depend upon the direction of the ship and a favoring wind. every eye was turned towards the ship; oars were resting over the gunwale of the boats, and each seaman instinctively fixed in his place, while anticipating a new encounter upon a larger scale, the results of which were fearfully problematical. a good and merciful providence, however, whose traces are easily discernible in the affairs of men both upon the ocean and upon the land, opportunely interfered. the ship was making considerable headway. the whale started on a bee line for the ship, but when he came up with her, in consequence of her increased speed before the wind, he fell short some ten or twelve feet from the stern. the crisis was passed. on he sped his way, dragging half of the boat still attached to the lines connected with the irons that were in his body. his death struggle was long and violent. in about half an hour he went into his "flurry, and turned up." colors were set for the boats to return to the ship; the dead whale was brought alongside, cut in, boiled out, and seventy-five barrels of sperm oil were stowed away. we copy the following whale incident from the _vineyard gazette_ of october , . the editor says,-- "we are indebted to captain thomas a. norton, of this town, one of the early commanders of the whale ship hector, of new bedford, for the following interesting particulars relative to an attack upon and final capture of an ugly whale. captain norton was chief mate of the hector at the time. "'in october, , when in lat. ° s., lon. ° w., the ship ninety days from port, we raised a whale. the joyful cry was given of "there she blows!" and every thing on board at once assumed an aspect of busy preparation for the capture. the boats were lowered, and chase commenced. when we got within about three ships' lengths of him, he turned and rushed furiously upon us. he struck us at the same moment we fastened to him. he stove the boat badly; but with the assistance of sails which were placed under her bottom, and constant bailing, she was kept above water. the captain, john o. morse, came to our assistance. i told him he had better keep clear of the whale; but he said he had a very long lance, and wanted to try it upon the rascal. captain morse went up to the whale, when all at once he turned upon the boat, which he took in his mouth, and held it "right up on end," out of the water, and shook it all to pieces in a moment. the men were thrown in every direction, and captain morse fell from a height of at least thirty feet into the water. not being satisfied with the total destruction of the boat, he set to work and "chewed up" the boat kegs and lantern kegs, and whatever fragments of the boat he could find floating on the water. at this stage of the "fight," i told captain morse that if he would give me the choice of the ship's company, i would try him again. it was desperate work, to all appearance, and up to this time the vicious fellow had had it all his own way. the captain was in favor of trying him from the ship, but finally consented for us to attack him again from a boat. with a picked crew, we again approached the whale, now lying perfectly still, apparently ready for another attack, as the event proved. seeing our approach, he darted towards us with his mouth wide open, his ponderous jaws coming together every moment with tremendous energy. we gave the word to "stern all," which was obeyed in good earnest. as we passed the ship, i heard the captain exclaim, "there goes another boat!" she did go, to be sure, through the water with all speed, but fortunately not to destruction. the monster chased us in this way for half a mile or more, during most of which time his jaws were within six or eight inches of the head of the boat. every time he brought them together, the concussion could be heard at the distance of at least a mile. i intended to jump overboard if he caught the boat. i told mr. mayhew, the third mate, who held the steering oar, that the whale would turn over soon to spout, and that then would be our time to kill him. after becoming exhausted, he turned over to spout, and at the same instant we stopped the boat, and buried our lances deep in "his life." one tremendous convulsion of his frame followed, and all was still. he never troubled us more. we towed him to the ship, tried him out, and took ninety barrels of sperm oil from him. "'when we were cutting him in, we found two irons in his body, marked with the name of the ship barclay, and belonging to the mate's boat. we afterwards learned that three months before, when the same whale was in lat. ° s., lon. ° w., he was attacked by the mate of the ship barclay, who had a desperate struggle with him, in which he lost his life.' "captain norton, at the time of the adventure with this whale, had 'seen some service,' but he freely confesses that he never before nor since (though he has had his buttons bitten off his shirt by a whale) has come in contact with such an ugly customer as 'the rogue whale,' as he was termed in sailor parlance. he seemed to possess the spirit of a demon, and looked as savage as a hungry hyena. our readers may imagine the effect such an encounter would have upon a crew of 'green hands.' during the frightful chase of the boat by the whale, their faces were of a livid whiteness, and their hair stood erect. on their arrival at the first port, they all took to the mountains, and few, if any of them, have ever been seen since." the citizen was put on her course again, with strong breezes and fair wind. about five days after, we spoke with the benjamin tucker, but captain sands had taken no oil. in lat. ° s. another whale was raised; three boats were lowered in pursuit, but before he could be reached by the irons, he turned flukes, and was seen no more. lost sight of the benjamin tucker. we shaped our course for statan land. in lat. ° s. we experienced a very heavy gale from the south-west, which continued with great severity for twenty-four hours. we spoke with the bark oscar, captain dexter, bound round the cape. statan land in sight, passed seventeen ships, all bound for the cape. the citizen was eleven days in doubling the cape, and experienced very heavy weather. in lat. ° s. we raised the first right whale, but, blowing hard, could not lower. whales were in sight several days in succession, but we could not lower, on account of rugged weather. in lat. ° s. a ship was discovered with her boats down in pursuit of whales; came up with her; lowered for right whales, and chased them for an hour or more, but took none. at this time we spoke with the ship columbus again, with one of her boats fastened to a whale. she had one boat stoven. passed st. felix islands, on the coast of chili, and sighted the gallipagos. in crossing the equator, it was calm for twenty-seven days, and but little progress was made during that time. on the th of april, , after a passage of more than five months from new bedford, we entered the port of hilo. hilo is a port on the island of hawaii, one of the cluster of islands in the north pacific ocean called sandwich islands. they were discovered by captains cook and king in , who gave them their present name, in honor of the first lord of the admiralty. the group consists of ten islands, but all of them are not inhabited; they extend from lat. ° ´ to ° ´ n., and from lon. ° ´ to ° ´ w., lying about one third of the distance from the western coast of mexico to the eastern coast of china. by the census of , the population of seven of the islands is given as follows: hawaii, , ; oahu, , ; maui, , ; kauhai, , ; molokai, , ; nuhua, ; lanai, ; amounting to , . most of these islands are volcanic and mountainous. in several places the volcanoes are in activity. some of the mountains are of great height, being estimated at fifteen thousand feet. the climate is warm, but not unhealthy, the winter being marked only by the prevalence of heavy rains between december and march. a meteorological table gives as the greatest heat during the year, ° of fahrenheit; as the least, °. some of these islands are distinguished for the cultivation of the yam, which affords quite a valuable supply for ships. the situation of the sandwich islands renders them important to vessels navigating the northern pacific, and especially so to whalemen. the ports of hilo, lahaina, honolulu, and a few others, are the resort of a large number of whale ships, for the purpose of obtaining recruits. they may be considered as a central point, where ships meet both in the fall and spring, and from whence all matters of intelligence are transmitted to san francisco, and from the latter place to the atlantic states. formerly all ship news and letters were brought from the islands to the atlantic states by homeward bound ships around the horn, which required for their passages from three and a half to five months. but now, in consequence of mail communications across the isthmus to san francisco, and from thence to the islands, letters and other public intelligence from the last-named place reach us in six weeks or two months from date. chapter ii. recruited for the arctic.--departure.--coast of kamtschatka. --copper island.--going into the ice with captain crosby.-- gale of wind.--dangerous sailing in the ice.--cape thaddeus. --bay of the holy cross.--plover bay.--dead whale.--st. lawrence bay.--whales working north.--loose, floating ice.-- ice covered with walrus.--fine weather.--striking an iceberg. --ship leaking.--return to st. lawrence bay.--damage repaired.--arrival in the arctic. at the port of hilo the ship was recruited for the arctic. we remained in port fifteen days, sailed for honolulu, and left letters for owners and for home. we touched at another port before proceeding to the north, and there we took in an additional supply of provisions, and then directed our course towards the straits. in lon. ° w. we hauled to the north towards the coast of kamtschatka. passed copper island. we saw many ships on our passage thus far, but we took no whales until june. about this time we captured two whales off shore, and found great quantities of ice. spoke with captain crowell, of the ship columbus, and captain crosby, of the ship cornelius howland. we went into the ice with captain crosby, in search of whales, and soon found them; boats were lowered; pursuit commenced; several were struck; but our irons drew, and we therefore lost them. a gale of wind coming on and increasing, we worked out of the ice as soon as possible. we were at that time, when the gale commenced, some fifteen or twenty miles in the floating and broken masses, of varied thickness and dimensions, greatly obstructing the course of the ship, and rendering her situation at times exceedingly dangerous. but by constant tacking and wearing in order to avoid concussion with the ice, or being jammed between opposite pieces, both ships were finally worked out of the ice in safety. on the inside of cape thaddeus, we saw a large number of ships; spoke with several, but they reported that whales were scarce. we now put the ship on her course for behring straits. we took one whale off the bay of the holy cross, which made the fourth since we left port. we sailed along the coast towards the east; land frequently in sight; foggy; heard many guns from ships for their boats. when off plover bay, ten miles from land, we picked up a dead whale, having no irons in him, nor anchored, and therefore a lawful prize. many dead whales are found by ships in course of the season, and especially when ice is prevalent. they are struck by different boats, and if in the vicinity of ice, they will surely make for it, and go under it or among it; under these circumstances the lines must be cut. after some time, the badly wounded whales die, and are picked up as before stated. we passed between st. lawrence island and the main land, or indian point. the huts of the natives were plainly seen from the ship's deck; still working our way towards the straits. at this time, we were in company with the ship montezuma, captain tower, and the ship almira, captain jenks. whales were seen going towards the north, as it is usual for them to do so at this season of the year. we anchored in st. lawrence bay; weather foggy. the natives came off to trade, and brought their accustomed articles for traffic, such as deer and walrus skins, furs, teeth, &c. they take in exchange needles, fancy articles, tobacco, &c. after a few days, the fog having cleared away somewhat, we stood towards the north again; heard guns; saw whales; still in company with afore-mentioned ships; blowing heavy; all the ships in sight were under double-reefed topsails; beating. passed east cape. saw whales, but they were working quickly to the north; we followed them in their track with all the sail we could carry on the ship; they came to loose, floating ice, into which they went and shortly disappeared. a novel, and yet a common sight was now witnessed; the ice was covered with a vast number of walruses, which, to appearance, extended many miles. the weather being fine for the season, the last part of june, in company with the almira, captain jenks, we concluded we would go into the ice again, and if good fortune would have it so, we might capture a few whales. [illustration: walrus among icebergs.] accidents occur not unfrequently when least expected, and sad ones, too, arise sometimes from the slightest circumstance, or inattention. contact with icebergs, or large masses of block ice, when a ship is under sail, is highly dangerous. a momentary relaxation of vigilance on the part of the mariner may bring the ship's bows on the submerged part of an iceberg, whose sharp, needle-like points, hard as rock, instantly pierce the planks and timbers of a ship, and perhaps open a fatal leak. many lamentable shipwrecks have doubtless resulted from this cause. in the long, heavy swell, so common in the open sea, the peril of floating ice is greatly increased, as the huge angular masses are rolled and ground against each other with a force which nothing can resist. the striking of the citizen against a mass of ice, which nearly resulted in the loss of the ship and the destruction of the voyage, was simply inattention or misunderstanding the word of command. the man at the wheel was ordered not to "luff" the ship any more, but "steady," as she was approaching a mass of ice; indeed, ice was all around us, which would have passed us on our larboard bow, and thus we should have escaped a concussion; but instead of doing this, he put the wheel down, which brought the ship into the wind, and the consequence was, a large hole was stoven in her larboard bow; the ship began to leak badly. casks were immediately filled with water, and placed on the starboard side of the ship, and thus in a measure heeled the ship, which brought the leak to a considerable extent out of the water; otherwise, she must have sunk in a very little time. so far as we were able, we temporarily repaired the injury, and made all possible sail on the ship, in order to seek some place of safety, where the whole extent of the damage could be ascertained. in the present disabled and crippled condition of the ship, we felt it was exceedingly perilous and unsafe to remain even a single day in the arctic. we therefore left the whale ground, and though our progress was slow, yet we put upon the ship all the sail she would bear, since on account of the leak she was very much heeled, and we were obliged to sail her in that condition. nor was it safe for our ship to be left alone to beat her way back two hundred miles or more, unaccompanied by another vessel, lest by some unforeseen circumstance,--an event not altogether improbable,--the ship might founder at sea, and all on board perish. captain jenks, of the ship almira, therefore, kindly proffered his services, with whatever aid he could give, and accompanied our ship nearly to the point of her destination, to the bay of st. lawrence, which was about two hundred miles distant from the place where the accident occurred. when off east cape, we obtained some plank from the ship citizen, captain bailey, of nantucket. we passed the heads of the bay, and, with shortened sail, we worked our way up more than thirty miles beyond the direction of any chart, our boats being sent ahead, and sounding the depth of water. we finally reached a point, and came to anchor in a little basin, or inlet, about one hundred and sixty feet from the shore, in five fathoms of water, completely landlocked. here in good earnest we commenced breaking out the fore hold abreast of the leak, and took out casks, shooks, &c., and careened the ship still more, which exposed at once the full extent of the damage which the ship had sustained from the ice. it was found that several planks and timbers were badly stoven. repairs were made with the utmost expedition; and in seven days from the time the ship went into the bay, she was out again, and on her way towards the north, as strong, and perhaps stronger than she was before. we passed through the straits, and came to anchor north of east cape, in company with the ship e. frazer, captain taber, and the bark martha, captain crocker. after lying there three or four days, we got under weigh and stood towards north by west, with high winds, and foggy. we heard whales blowing in the night. the next day whales were seen going north; we followed, and finally passed the "school." we changed the course of the ship, beat back, found them again, and commenced taking oil. about the first of august, the fog having cleared away, we saw a large number of ships "cutting in" and "boiling out," actively engaged in securing a good season's work. we took several whales at this time. all were busy, and at work as fast as possible, in capturing whales, cutting and boiling. the whole scene, in which were some forty or fifty ships taking whales and stowing away oil, was one of exciting and cheering interest. such times as these are the whalemen's harvests. on the th of august, during a heavy blow, we lost run of the whales. we spoke with several ships about this time, among which were the benjamin morgan, captain capel, and the general scott, captain alexander fisher. from this last date to the d of september, we spoke with a great number of ships; sometimes whales were plenty, and at other times scarce; and the weather equally changeable; sometimes heavy blows, rainy, and foggy; and then again mild and pleasant. among others we spoke with captain henry jernegan, and captain john fisher, both of whom are now no more, having finished their earthly voyages, and gone to their "long home." chapter iii. northern lights.--high winds.--spoke with captain clough. --ships seen in the distance.--storm increasing.--no observations.--blowing heavily.--scene awfully sublime.-- ship struck by a sea.--shoal water.--rocks and breakers.-- ship unmanageable.--fore and mizzen topsails carried away.-- ship striking astern, bow, and midships.--foremast cut away. --narrow escape of captain norton.--mizzenmast gone by the board.--sad condition of the seamen.--land in sight.--ship drifting towards the shore.--undertow.--the lantern keg.-- mainmast cut away, and falling towards the shore.--men escaping on the mast.--trying scene.--captain washed ashore.-- affecting deaths.--wreck piled up on shore.--fire made.-- men perishing with cold.--five missing.--prospects dark.-- destitution.--tent erected.--merciful circumstances connected with the wreck. on the st of september, we finished cutting in a whale, about twelve o'clock, midnight, wind high from the north-east. the northern lights were uncommonly brilliant, which prognosticated a storm; and the broken water and flying spray round the vessel seemed as if composed of an infinite number of diamonds glistening in the rays of the sun. the season of the year had now arrived in which, in those high latitudes, sudden changes and violent storms were expected. at three o'clock on the morning of the d, the ship was put under short sail; rough; unable to keep fires in the furnace; ship heading to the south-east. we spoke with captain clough, who had just taken in a "raft" of blubber. we took a whale; and for a little time the wind moderated, which gave us hope that we should have favorable weather some time longer. captain clough left us that day, and turned his ship towards the straits, saying, "i am bound out of the ocean, and have enough." his ship was full; he had thirty-two hundred barrels of oil on board. we concluded to remain on the ground a while longer, in lat. ° n. the wind, which had in a measure subsided, now began to rise and increase, until it had reached a heavy gale. we saw in the distance several ships steering for the straits, and bound for the islands. on the d, it blew hard, and we were unable to boil. we judged we were, at this time, about one hundred and fifty miles from land. the weather had been thick for several days past, and therefore we were unable to get an observation. we saw several ships lying to, and heading some one way and some another. the water, we perceived, was very much colored, which indicated that we were drifting towards the eastern shore of the arctic. at twelve o'clock, wore ship, heading north-west by north. at the same hour that night, wore ship again, heading north-east. we passed a ship, within the distance of half a a mile, under bare poles, laboring very hard. on the th, four o'clock, wore ship north-north-west, wind blowing very heavily from the north-east. we saw great quantities of drift stuff, such as barrels, wood, &c., probably the deck load of some ship swept by the sea. at twelve o'clock, wore ship again; the wind appeared to lull somewhat, but the sea was very rugged; we judged we were about one hundred or one hundred and twenty miles distant from land; weather thick, with rain, sleet, and fog. about one o'clock, on the morning of the th, the wind increased, and swept over the ocean with the violence of a hurricane. the darkness of the night added to the tumultuous and mountainous waves that were running at that time; the surface of the ocean lashed into fury by the thickening storm, still gathering its strength; the noble ship now rising the crested billow, and then sinking into the watery valley beneath, and pressed down by the beating and overwhelming elements, made the scene one of indescribable grandeur and awfulness. with the return of morning light, an ugly sea struck the ship, and took her spars from the bow, and carried away one of the starboard boats. the mate immediately reported to the captain, who was below at the time, that the ship was in shoal water. as soon as he reached the deck, he ordered to set the fore and mizzen topsails. about the same time, the fourth mate reported that there were rocks and breakers just before and under the bows of the ship. from the house, the captain saw projecting rocks through the opening waters, and land all around to the leeward, while the sea was breaking with tremendous violence between the ship and shore. it now became a certainty, which no earthly power could change, that the ship must go ashore; and the only hope for any one on board was to avoid, if possible, the fatal reef, which appeared to extend out some distance from the land. to strike upon that reef was certain destruction; we saw no way of escape. the man at the wheel was ordered to put the helm hard up, and at the same time command was given to the seamen to sheet home the fore topsail. the ship immediately paid off two or three points, when she was struck again by another sea, that threw her round on the other tack. the ship was now in the midst of the rollers, pitching and laboring dreadfully, while the sea was flying all over her deck, and the spray reaching nearly or quite to her fore and main yards. she was utterly unmanageable; and, at this instant, another sea boarded her, and took off three boats. the yards were ordered to be braced round as soon as possible; but, in the act of bracing them, a terrible blast of wind struck and carried away the fore and mizzen topsails, half-sheeted home. the foresail was now ordered to be set, the ship still pitching, tumbling, and rolling frightfully, and tossed about as a mere plaything at the mercy of winds and waves. in the act of setting the foresail, the weather clew was carried away, and with the next sea the ship struck aft very heavily, and knocked her rudder off, and sent the wheel up through the house. from five to eight minutes she struck forward with such stunning and overwhelming effect that the try-works started three or four feet from the deck, and opened a hole so large in her starboard bow that the largest casks came out. about this time, the foremast was cut away, with the hope of temporarily relieving the foundering vessel. shortly after this, the ship struck midships; and the dreadful crash which followed showed that her entire framework was shattered, while the standing masts bent to and fro like slender reeds when shaken by the wind. this was in effect the finishing blow; and what was to be done towards rescuing any thing below deck must be done soon or never. the captain, at this critical juncture, went into the cabin to secure what articles he could, such as clothes, nautical instruments, money, &c. while there, the stern burst in, and the water came in between the opening timbers in such torrents as to send him backward and headlong with the few articles he had hastily gathered, and scattered them in every direction. the floor of the cabin opened beneath his feet. there was no time for delay. his life was in imminent peril. he at once started for the deck, but was unable to reach it on account of the house having been thrown down upon the gangway, and the mizzenmast having gone by the board, one part of which rested upon the rail. all access to the deck by the cabin doors was thus cut off. mr. fisher became aware of the condition of the captain in the cabin, and called to him to come to the skylight; and as he jumped, he was caught by his arms, and drawn up by several who had come to his rescue. on reaching the deck, the captain saw at once the sad condition of his men. the sea was making a clear breach over the vessel, and they were huddled together round the forecastle and forward part of the ship, amazed, stupefied, cold, and shivering, and had apparently given themselves up to the fate which awaited them. the fog having in a measure cleared away, the land was more plainly seen, and just at hand--not more than three hundred yards distant. the mainmast was still standing; and there was every indication that the entire top of the vessel, including the first and second decks, had become separated from her bottom, and was drifting in towards the shore. this proved to be the case. the standing mast was now inclining towards the shore, which seemed to present the only way to deliverance and life. the captain, therefore, encouraged his men to seize the first opportunity which should occur, and escape to land, and the sooner they did so the safer and better. as the ship changed her position by the action of the waves, which swept over and around her with resistless fury, the end of the flying jib boom, at one time, was brought quite near the shore. the seamen were again urged to make an effort to save themselves. it was, indeed, a most desperate chance to venture an escape even from a present danger, with the liability of falling into another, unknown, and perhaps more to be dreaded. though so near the solid land, towards which every eye looked and every heart panted, still the surging billows and receding undertow around the bow of the ship, were sufficient to appall the most courageous mind. about this time, as near as can be recollected, the cooper and one of the boat steerers, having dropped themselves from the bow, reached land in safety. the captain, having observed that two had gained the shore, and knowing the utter impossibility of getting fire ashore if it was deferred until the breaking up of the ship, and without it all must unavoidably perish, even if they were saved from a watery grave, held up the lantern keg to attract their attention, and, making signs to them as far he was able for them to look after and save it, tossed the keg overboard. it was borne on the advancing and retreating waves back and forth for more than a quarter of a mile, before it was finally secured. in this keg, which was air-tight, there were candles, matches, tinder, and other combustible materials. it was indeed a most timely and fortunate rescue. an effort was now made to get a line ashore. one of the crew fastened a line round his body, and attempted to reach the shore, the captain paying out the warp as was necessary. but in consequence of the great force of the current and undertow around the bow of the ship, the line swayed out so far that the man was compelled to let it go in order to save his life. it was with the greatest difficulty he reached the shore. as the only and last resort which remained, offering reasonable prospect of deliverance, the mainmast was cut away. the ship was now lying nearly broadside to the shore, with her deck inboard, and so much heeled that it required the greatest attention to prevent one from falling off. the mast fell in the direction of the shore, and nearly reached land. the sea was still breaking with fearful power over the vessel, and its spray flying in dense masses over every thing around us, and the din of the thundering billows, as they beat upon the wreck and upon the shore, drowned all human voices to silence. again the captain passed along to the forward part of the ship, and once more remonstrated, urged and entreated his men to exert themselves for their safety and lives, as they had now the same means of getting ashore that the officers had; and, furthermore, that in a short time the deck would go to pieces, and then there would be but little, if any hope of their being saved. he resolved he would not leave the wreck until he saw his men in a fair way of escape. up to this time, no one, it is supposed, had been lost; several had reached land in safety, but those still on the wreck were exposed every moment to a watery grave. at length, the steerage boy lowered himself down from the bow, and with manly efforts sought to gain the land. he was immediately swept away, and was never seen after. about this time, many began to crawl down on the mainmast, still lying in the direction of the shore. in working their way along on the mast, their progress was not only slow, but they were chilled, benumbed with cold, their clothes thoroughly wet to their backs, and the sea at the same time flying over them. it was with the greatest difficulty they could hold on. the sight was a most affecting one. it was a period of painful anxiety. how many of these seamen will be saved?--how many will be lost? while attempting thus to escape upon the mast, the advancing or the returning waves would frequently wash numbers off, and then they would struggle with all their energies to regain the mast or the rigging; while those who were more fortunate, and had retained their hold, would aid them as far as possible in getting on to the mast again. it was a most trying and heart-rending scene. [illustration: wreck of the citizen.] the captain and mr. fisher were on the quarter deck, and observed a part of a boat hanging by the side of the ship; and they proposed to get into it, and, if possible, reach the land. their purpose was to hold on to the boat, and thus be borne by the sea towards the shore. they did get into it; but whether it was carried towards the shore or not, or what became of the piece of the boat, they have no recollection. they were struck by a sea, and probably stunned. the first returning consciousness the captain had, he found himself floating alongside of the ship. he knew not what had become of mr. fisher until some time after. he regained a foothold on the quarter deck again, and seemed awakened more fully than ever to the conviction that he must do something, and that soon, in order to save his own life. he was chilled, benumbed, and exhausted; chances of escape appearing less and less probable, as a last resort, said captain norton, "i threw myself into the water, among casks, broken pieces of the wreck, and, besides, my own men floating all around me, that i might, if possible, gain the shore. i was probably insensible for some time. i knew nothing of what took place around me. when i came to myself, i found i was lying near the edge of the water, having been cast ashore by some friendly wave. i looked around, and the first man i saw was the fourth mate, floating about in the water a short distance from me. mr. fisher was washed ashore about the same time i was. we hastened to the fourth mate as soon as we were able; and one held on to the hand of the other, and hauled him ashore, supposing him to be dead. he, however, revived." a heavy sea came along, and washed a number from the mast, and brought them ashore; but one man was carried off by the undertow outside the ship. the next sea brought him near to the shore again; and four of those on shore took hold of each other's hands, and ventured as far as safety would allow into the water, and succeeded in drawing him safe to land. the condition of the carpenter was painful and distressing in the highest degree; yet no one could help him--no earthly power could afford him any assistance. he was plainly seen by those on shore. he was probably washed from the mast, with some others, and carried out to the deck again; and while there, he was doubtless caught in between the opening planks and timbers, and held fast by his legs; and it may be he was otherwise injured. he answered no signs made to him from the shore; he made no effort to free himself or to escape; and, in his case, an escape was an impossibility. in that position, his head dropped upon his breast, and there he died. soon after, another sea struck the deck, and broke it all to pieces. the largest part that could be seen was that from the bow to the fore chains. another painful occurrence was witnessed by those on the shore. a portuguese sailor was discovered floating about among the broken pieces of the wreck, among casks, barrels, &c. his efforts for self-preservation were remarkable. his shipmates would most gladly have given him a helping hand, but it was impossible to do so. every heart was moved with sympathy for him. as the towering wave would hurl towards him some piece of the wreck, or a cask or barrel, he was seen to dive, and thus avoid being crushed by it. this he did repeatedly, until, from exhaustion or injury, or both, he sunk to rise no more. we had three dogs on board, but they were all either killed or drowned; and of three hogs, only one got ashore alive. within two hours from the time the ship first struck, the wreck was piled up on shore, opposite to where the disaster occurred, to the height of ten feet or more. spars, timbers, planks, casks both whole and broken, shooks, &c., were thrown together in frightful confusion; and in this promiscuous mass we saw what was once our home and hope on the deep. here we saw before our eyes a striking illustration of the feebleness of man's frail bark, and with what ease it is torn to pieces, and scattered far and wide, by the resistless power of the elements. all who were living of our number had reached the shore. those that were saved had become greatly chilled, and some were nearly perishing. notwithstanding it was storming at the time, one of the first efforts of a part of our men was to make a fire over a cliff some little distance from the shore, affording a partial protection from the wind and rain. in searching for articles as they came ashore, we discovered a small keg of spirits, which, in our condition of cold and destitution, was somewhat reviving to all our minds. five casks of bread, also, were cast upon the beach; but neither beef nor pork was found. the latter probably sunk where the ship left her bottom. the whole company was soon gathered round the fire, in order to dry our clothes, and, if possible, to obtain some additional warmth. all, however, of our former number were not there; it was a solemn gathering, and the appearance of all of us indicated that we had a narrow escape. alas! some of our comrades and fellow-seamen were left behind in the surges of the deep, or mingled with the floating wreck, or cast with it upon the shore. the roll was called by the captain, and thirty-three answered to their names; five were numbered with the dead. the few hours of the past had been full of painful and distressing interest. the majority of our number had been mercifully rescued; but we were cast shelterless, with a small supply of provisions, with no clothing, only what was upon our backs, upon the most barren and desolate region of the earth. what were our present prospects? they were dark and ominous indeed. a new voyage, in effect, was just opening before us, with diminished numbers, of the progress and termination of which we could not even entertain a reasonable conjecture; yet one thing was certain--its commencement was inauspicious. and, though hope might measurably sustain our minds, still the prospective view before this company of castaway seamen--the rigors of the arctic winter before us, wholly unprepared with clothing to withstand the merciless and long-continued cold of the north, uncertain whether there would be any deliverance for us by any friendly sail, or what would be our reception among the natives,--indeed, the prospect before us was any thing but cheering and encouraging. but here we were, in the providence of god, vessel and boats gone, at an unknown distance from civilized life and from the settlements of the natives; this was our present lot. self-preservation, therefore, prompted us to make immediate efforts, in anticipation of what we might need in the future. a common misfortune united all our interests and exertions. the captain ordered that every thing of value to them in their present circumstances found among the wreck--such as provisions, casks of sails, pieces of canvas, ropes, broken spars, tools, whale gearing, &c. --should be selected, and brought out of the reach of the surf and the accumulation of ice upon the shore. more than a thousand barrels of oil had drifted ashore, and could have been saved had some vessel arrived about that time. a temporary tent was erected as soon as possible, in which various articles could be stored, as well as afford some protection to us from the inclemency of the weather. there were two circumstances exceedingly favorable in our disaster. it might have been much worse, and no one might have lived to relate the sad event. we realized, upon the review, that this would have been our certain fate, had the ship gone ashore in the night time. it was, however, daylight, and thus we had a clear view of our condition, danger, and prospects. had it been otherwise, and the same general features of the wreck been transferred to the darkness of night, we do not believe that one soul of us would have been saved. the other favorable circumstance was, we were not cast upon a rocky part of the coast, or against some high and precipitous cliffs, which lift their bold and defiant fronts against the surges of the ocean far into deep water; to strike against such as we saw, would, at the first concussion, have been the last of the ship and of all on board. in the good providence of god, however, we drifted upon a part of the coast which presented, for half of a mile or more, quite a plain, sandy beach. we were, therefore, wrecked in the most fortunate spot. on both sides of us, to the west and south-east, cliffs began to rise, and broken and abrupt ledges extended some distance into the sea. though five of our number found a watery grave, yet the fact that so many of us reached the shore was a matter of profound gratitude to that god who controls the elements, and before whom the sparrow does not fall to the ground without his notice. chapter iv. first night on shore.--sleeping in empty casks.--parties of exploration.--dog tracks.--arrangements to leave the wreck. --desire to reach east cape.--reflections upon our condition. --the dead hog roasted.--the "pet hog."--company travel toward the south and east.--two natives seen.--parley.-- directed to the settlement.--the old woman and her ceremony.-- the second settlement.--head man cordial.--men distributed among the huts.--not able to reach east cape.--company entertained.--motives for it.--government should reward the natives. the first night we spent on shore was a very stormy one. there were rain, sleet, and high winds above and around us; below us, on the ground, ice, snow, and water in abundance. our tent, which was a hasty and temporary construction, afforded us, after all, but little permanent shelter. the water came through and under it in every direction. here we found an additional exposure, and the prospect of increased suffering both from the cold and wet. had it not been for our oil, we could never have kindled a fire at first, nor continued it afterwards. but necessity gives origin to many inventions and improvements. it suggests new plans, and urges to more favorable shifts and expedients. if, therefore, our arrangements for the first night's lodging on land should seem somewhat novel, or even unheard of before, let it be remembered that sad necessity drove us to this device. if our frail tent with a few yards of torn sails stretched over us cannot shield us from the drenching rain, something else can. most of us, on that sad and sorrowful night, got into empty casks; some were oil, others water or bread casks; it mattered not what, if we could only be protected from the violence of the storm, or rest in some place, instead of making the icy earth our bed. with one head of the cask knocked out, and resting upon its bilge, one or two would get into each cask, and find within it quite a dry retreat. at the same time, a fire was kept burning not far from the open heads of the several casks, placed in a circle around the fire, and thus we were made as comfortable, perhaps, as our circumstances would permit. this was our first night's experience on land. the next day, arrangements were made to form parties of exploration. we knew not where we were. of this, however, we were quite certain--that we were north of the straits; but upon what part of the arctic coast we were cast away, we could not tell. therefore, our first object was, if possible, to ascertain our true position. the thick, foggy, and stormy weather which had prevailed for many days before the wreck, contributed greatly to mislead us. neither sun, moon, nor stars had appeared for some time, by which we might have been guided in our course through the trackless deep. all above us had been shrouded with dense clouds, while strong and variable winds, approaching to the severity of tornadoes, and even hurricanes, had carried our ship far out and beyond her true course. the last, and not the least perhaps, of the causes which resulted in our wreck, was the current, which appeared to change its course during the storm, as it not unfrequently does. at this time, it set from the eastern to the western shore of the arctic. under the combined influence of the current coming from the north and east, and a severe gale of wind, accompanied with hail, rain, and fog, our ship was constantly pressed upon the western shore, until she struck and went to pieces. two companies were now formed, one to take an easterly course, and the other a westerly one. those who were left behind were to be employed in making sacks out of canvas, for the purpose of carrying bread and other provisions in our anticipated travels. this expedition was intended only as an introductory one to our final removal from the place, when we should ascertain more particularly where we were. it was the opinion of some that we were cast away upon an island; and in so far as we could judge at this time, this opinion was rather confirmed. the captain with his party took their departure towards the east, and mr. fisher and his party went towards the west. each man was armed with whatever defensive and offensive weapon he could well carry along with him. these weapons were neither guns nor swords, but a few knives, a hatchet, a broken whale lance, and a spade. we knew not with what we should meet, whether savage beasts, or more savage men. the parties, as they traveled in opposite directions, soon found they were not upon an island, as they at first imagined, but merely upon an extended projection, as it appeared to be, from the main land. the captain's party, after having traveled in an easterly direction about ten miles, discovered tracks of dog teams, and the footmarks of those who accompanied them. these facts assured the explorers that human habitations of some sort were not probably far distant. they therefore returned immediately to the tent to inform their companions, and to make particular arrangements for more extended researches. the western party also returned to the tent soon after the other, having made no very definite discoveries. we became satisfied at this time, from the direction of the coast, and the general aspect of the country, that we were north of east cape; but how far distant from it, we had no means of determining. it was likewise a matter of equal uncertainty whether we were east or west of east river. if we were west of this river, the prospect of our liberation the coming winter, or of meeting with any friendly sail, was extremely small. if, however, we were east of the river, we had strong hopes of deliverance before the winter should fairly set in, and that we should be able to reach east cape in season to intercept some ship bound out of the ocean. thus we reasoned upon and discussed those matters which pertained to our speedy deliverance, or our bondage for months to come in the dreadful and merciless winter of the polar region; or it may be that no one of our number would escape to tell the wreck of the ship, and the catastrophe which would befall his fellow-companions. besides, considerations were urgent and pressing why we should make all possible haste, either to find some suitable habitation for the winter, or, perchance, fall in with some friendly vessel. with the advance of the season, we were assured that traveling would become more and more difficult, and that borean storms would soon burst upon us with resistless fury. and hence, to remain where we were first cast upon the shore, without persevering efforts to save our lives, would be the height of presumption. with nothing more to protect us than the frail tent which we had erected, thinly clad, and all we had on our backs, a limited supply of provisions from the wreck, if we should remain at our first landing place until deliverance should come to us, then, indeed, before the opening of another spring, all of us would have fallen victims to inexorable death. at this distance from the place where the scene of our sufferings commenced, how little can our readers appreciate what were then our condition, wants, and prospects! indeed, ice and snow already began to largely increase, though we were in the region of eternal frosts, where they never wholly disappear. both upon the shore, and as far as the eye could reach in an inland direction, the ice and snow were perennial occupants of the country. neither the rains of spring nor the suns of summer are able to melt away and dissolve the deep foundations of a polar winter. the surface of the country was much broken and uneven, and especially in the interior, alternating in valleys, deep gorges, precipitous cliffs, rugged and rocky eminences, one elevation rising above another, until the remote horizon exhibited lofty mountain ranges. the entire panoramic view presented an aspect at once sublime and frightful to behold. it should be remembered that, amid our hopes and fears, we stood at this time on the borders of human habitations; and beyond this locality, as we afterwards ascertained, especially on this coast, there was but one known settlement of the natives to the north of us. the dead hog that drifted ashore was skinned and roasted for supper on the second night after the wreck, and for breakfast next morning. utensils for cooking were very scarce; only a few small articles had come ashore. the hog was suspended over the fire, and turned over and around when necessary, until it was baked suitable for eating. preparations were made on the coming day for another traveling-exploring expedition, in which all were to be included as one company. the grand purpose we now had in view was to find a passage to east cape, or to fall in with the huts or settlements of the natives. before leaving, however, a grave question arose as to what should be done with the live hog, which had thus far shared with us in our deliverance from the wreck, and from his general deportment seemed to realize his forlorn condition. this was a "pet hog" among the seamen; he knew his name, and appeared to have more than ordinary intelligence; at least, this was his reputation on board of the ship. his weight was not far from twelve score. he was washed from the deck at the time it was broken up by the sea, and discovered, by mr. fisher, floating about in the surf, and supposed to be dead. he went to him, and struck a smart blow upon his back, and said to him, "jack, what are you doing here?" he immediately gave a grunt or two, started upon his feet, and struggled for the shore. he went with us to the tent, and made that his home. he would frequently wander forth some distance from the tent, apparently ruminating upon the sad state of things; and after a while he would return and take up his position at the entrance of the tent. in the estimation of the crew, he was indeed one of the "_learned_ hogs." when the question came up, what should be done with "jack," many at once resolved they would never eat him, because he knew so much; and being so strongly attached to him, he really seemed like one of our number: "old jacky must not be eaten." a different counsel finally prevailed. if we should leave him behind, he would soon be destroyed by wild beasts, and especially bears, that swarm the region; or he would perish with hunger. in view of these considerations, it was decided to kill the favorite hog, more from necessity than choice. he was accordingly killed and roasted, and a division made of him, each man taking his proportionate share. a cheese was also divided into as many parts as there were men, and distributed to each. each man carried a sack containing thirty biscuits, in addition to other articles of provision just mentioned. we were particular also before leaving, though it was quite uncertain whether we should ever see the spot again, to save from the wreck and stow away in the tent whatever we thought might be necessary for future use. this was a judicious precaution. as a last resort, if all other sources of deliverance should fail us, neither finding the settlements of the natives, or being received by them, nor seeing any ship to take us off, then we must return to the wreck, and make the best of what we had, and live as long as we could. we furthermore agreed to travel seven days from the wreck, and if we found no help or deliverance from any quarter, then we would return, which would require seven days more--about as long as we supposed our provisions would last us. the direction we took was towards the east and south, along shore, which was less difficult to travel than farther back in the country; besides, there were less snow and ice on the seaboard at that time. we had traveled, as was supposed, about fifteen miles, when we saw two natives, some little distance before us, in an inland direction. at first they were unwilling to stop, probably aware from our appearance that we were foreigners. while we all kept together the natives continued on their way. captain norton and two of his officers separated themselves from the rest of the company, making signs, thus indicating peaceable intentions, and advanced towards them. the natives then stopped. the captain and those with him approached them and shook hands with them. the natives appeared to understand the signals and signs, and at once desired that all the company that was behind some distance would come forward to them. this they did. the natives pointed in the direction of their settlement, and furthermore desired all the company to follow them. we followed them until we came in sight of their huts. here the whole company was requested to stop, with the exception of the captain and two of his officers. we went with the natives into the settlement, and were immediately conducted into the presence of a very old woman, who marked one side of our faces with two lines, and our hands in the same manner, with a burnt stick. after this singular manoeuvre was over, she made signs to the captain to call all his men, and they also were marked upon their faces and hands. it is altogether probable that the marking of our faces and hands by this old woman with a burnt stick was some sacred rite, and that she might have been a sort of priestess or prophetess among the natives, and that the ceremony was a mark of her approval, or that she secured the protection of some divinity in our behalf. it was ascertained afterwards, that this old woman was held in very high repute among the natives, and that she was supposed to be a personification of a certain deity which inhabited some remote mountain in the interior of the country. we also learned that the purpose she had in view in marking our faces and hands, was, that we might not _poison_ those with whom we should eat, or contaminate any thing we should take hold of with our hands. we were distributed among the several huts, and remained there that night. the natives set before us something to eat in the form of whale and walrus blubber, and deer meat. this "bill of fare" had not the recommendation of being cooked, but in its original state, with no other condiment than what age imparted to it. but whether the whole company found their appetites or necessities such as to pass immediately into this new regimen, was quite, if not altogether, improbable. this settlement appeared to be of a temporary character; the natives with their families having come from another region or section of the country for the purpose of trading and hunting. there were but five huts in all. our company, therefore, of thirty-three persons, occupied all the room they had to spare. it was close stowage but far better for us than to be exposed and unprotected during a long and chilly night. after our arrival at this settlement, and some time during the night, word was sent by the natives, as we afterwards learned, to another and larger settlement, to inform the natives there that a company of shipwrecked mariners (_raumkidlins_) had come, and wanted shelter. accordingly next morning, ten or fifteen dog teams, with their drivers, made their appearance, having come from a settlement east of us for the purpose of transporting us, with our effects, to new and larger quarters. we arrived at this latter place about four o'clock in the afternoon, distance about twenty miles. the captain, with two others, went directly to the head man of the settlement, whose name was _taunty_, and made him understand, by signs and gestures, that they wished him to take care of the whole company. he readily assented to our request. he manifested a most kind and obliging disposition. he showed a degree of sympathy for us in our destitute and dependent condition wholly unlooked for, and altogether unexpected. such accommodations as he and his people had were promptly offered to us. [illustration: native costume.] in this instance of cordial reception by the natives, the hand of a good and merciful providence can be easily discovered. what if, at this time of our need, the natives had thrust us away from their dwellings, and refused us shelter for the night, or a protection from the storm? or if they had exhibited towards us the spirit of hostility and war? augmented sufferings would have been added to our otherwise unhappy lot. there would have been no escape for us from the arctic region. but we found friends when we most needed them. we were distributed among the natives in the following manner: four men and one officer were to constitute a company; and in this proportion we occupied our respective huts, lived with the families, and shared in their accommodations. compared with the first settlement, where we stopped for the first night in our travel, this one was quite respectable, numbering twenty or more huts. we had no intention of making this settlement a permanent resting place for the winter, if by any means we could find a more southern locality. we cherished strong hope of being able to reach east cape, and thus being taken off by some ship passing through the straits, before the approach of winter. nor was there any time to be lost towards completing such an arrangement as this. one of the first things which we did, was to make known our wants to the head man of the settlement. so far as we were able, we conversed with him by signs, and thus endeavored to explain to him what we wished to do. he gave us to understand that it was impossible for us to travel down to east cape this season of the year, and that the distance to the cape was very great, and it was therefore impossible to get there. not knowing our precise locality upon the coast, we could not tell whether the cape was three or five hundred miles from us. we concluded it would be safer to remain where we were than to venture upon such an uncertainty. it was afterwards ascertained that we were distant from east cape about two hundred and fifty miles. the head man gave us to understand, in his way, that there was a very great river to cross before we could get to east cape, and that it could not be crossed now; and still further, if we should perish on the way, great ships (_laloutoutlines_) would come, kill him, and destroy all their huts. on the whole, we judged that it was the desire of the head man that we should remain with him and his people, and live among them for the present; and nothing occurred in all our subsequent acquaintance with the natives in this settlement to remove this impression from our minds. it may be, however, that they anticipated some remuneration for their attention to us, which, by the way, they had a right to expect. this was not unlikely a motive which induced them to desire that we might live with them. we sincerely hope the time may speedily come, when they shall be amply recompensed by our government for their kindness towards _thirty-three american seamen_, whom they protected, clothed, and fed, during three quarters of a year. chapter v. no prospect of reaching east cape.--painful conviction.-- the province of christian faith.--the wreck visited.--the natives.--hope unexpectedly revived.--ship in sight.--comes near.--signals from the land.--no assistance offered.-- sails down the coast.--indescribable state of our minds.-- card in the polynesian. the prospect of reaching east cape for the present was at length abandoned. a conclusion was arrived at, from the necessity of our condition, which was full of disappointed hope, and which required an unusual degree of patient courage to sustain our minds under the painful conviction that we must, after all, spend the next three quarters of a year, if we should live, in the northern regions. how the mind of man becomes shaped and adjusted to meet certain conditions of his being! if viewed in the light of unavoidable necessity, we see the force and independence of mind grappling with adverse circumstances, thus proving its original superiority over all outward disadvantages. it is, however, the province of _christian_ faith in the providences of an all-wise god, which secures to the mind true reconciliation, imparts hope in adversity, and awakens unearthly joy in seasons of sorrow and disappointment. the next day after our arrival at our new habitations, the whole company rested, and got somewhat recruited as to our bodies, and, not the least in our circumstances of anticipated captivity for months, our minds became partially settled that we must make the best of a common disaster and a common destiny. the day following, preparations were made by ourselves, in connection with the natives and their dog teams, to visit the wreck. one of the first questions asked, and the principal one in which the natives were more interested than in any other, was, whether there was any rum at the wreck. a keg of spirits had been washed ashore, as before stated, and a part of it had been used, and the remainder was in the keg in the tent, stowed away with other articles from the wreck. a difficulty was now apprehended. if the natives should find the keg of rum, and become intoxicated, as they probably would, serious and perhaps fatal consequences might take place. to avoid any fears of this sort, and remove all grounds of contention, the captain sent two of his men ahead, with orders to knock in the head of the rum keg. it was done as commanded; no further difficulty, therefore, could arise from this source. self-preservation prompted to this; but in a multitude of instances no less striking, where property, reputation, and even life itself are concerned, a like decision, to knock in the head of the rum keg, or break jugs and bottles, and pour the source of evil upon the ground, would be highly commendable, and fraught with the most happy results. in due time we reached the wreck, and, as was expected, the natives began to search for spirits; but for their advantage, as well as ours, they found none. they sought every where for it, ransacked every nook and corner, hauled over wreck stuff, looked into barrels, knocked to pieces oil casks, &c., to find it, but all in vain. it appeared, furthermore, as if the natives supposed they had a _right_ to whatever they could lay their hands upon, and what they found among the wreck, or on shore, was a lawful prize. several pieces of white and blue cotton cloth had washed ashore since the wreck was last visited; these the natives appropriated to their own use. a slate was found, and upon it we wrote the name of the ship, her captain, and where the crew could be found, and placed it in a prominent position near the wreck, hoping that it might possibly meet the eye of some deliverer, though an event so much desired could now hardly be expected. the company remained in the vicinity of the wreck until towards night, and then each man took with him a bag of bread, and, with the natives and their dog teams, we left for the settlement, which was about fifteen miles distant. it was exceedingly hard to visit the scene of our recent disaster, and behold the desolation and end of the noble ship that had withstood so many storms and weathered so many gales, but now a promiscuous mass of broken timbers, planks, and spars; besides, her cargo thrown upon the beach. if possible, it was even harder to leave what remained of her behind, and to carry away a small quantity of provisions to eke out an existence which, under the most favorable circumstances, among the natives, must be most trying and painful. and then, again, all the provisions we expected to obtain from the wreck could last us but a few months, at the longest. if our lives, therefore, should be prolonged, we saw before us the only alternative of living as the natives did, being constant spectators of their extreme filthiness in person and habits, and sharing with them in the peculiarly offensive and disgusting character and preparation of their food. the next day, the company remained in the settlement, wearied with the labor of the preceding day, and, the greatest calamity of all, oppressed in our minds, as we contemplated the future; and as we began to realize more and more what would probably be our destination for many long months to come. "hope deferred maketh the heart sick;" but hope revived--when well nigh abandoned and ready to expire, like the last flickerings of the lamp--hope revived imparts new life, and sends a thrill of joy through languishing minds. thus the weak become strong, and the disheartened are animated and encouraged to put forth more earnest efforts. hope revived under the circumstances in which these shipwrecked mariners were placed was like the introduction of light, comfort, and home into their wintry habitations. what intelligence more to be desired and sincerely asked for than the announcement of a sail in sight? think of them, as brooding over their anticipated doom; settling it, or having settled it in their minds, that their abode was doubtless fixed for the present; thoughts of home now and then rushing into their minds with overwhelming force, or, it may be, with the only exception of their sleeping moments, never out of their minds; indeed, their very dreams shaded, colored, and made treacherously illusive with joyous meetings of companions, parents, relatives, and friends! think of them at such a time as this, when the hope of deliverance had taken its lowest dip, like the wintry sun of the arctic passing below the horizon, its light and comfort quite departing; so hope in the minds of this company of wrecked mariners had fallen beyond any reasonable expectation of deliverance. severe and terrific storms of wind, rain, hail, and snow had swept over the northern ocean, and ere this it was supposed that every ship had sought a more southern and genial clime. what, then, was our unexpected and glad surprise, on the following day, when, amid the tumult and confusion, as well as the excitement of the natives, both in and around the huts, it was announced that a _sail_ was in sight! with all possible speed we hastened to a high cliff bordering the sea shore, and there we saw, indeed, what our eyes delighted to behold, and our bosoms swelled with grateful emotions to contemplate--a ship under sail, some ten or twelve miles distant, and standing in directly for the shore. as we looked, never before with more exhilarated spirits and reviving hope, on, on the vessel came, approaching nearer and nearer, until her davits were plainly seen, and men walking to and fro on deck. the ship now was not more than two miles distant. she came to, main yard hauled back, and lay in that position a quarter of an hour or more. with these indications, all doubt had nearly or quite left our minds that the intentions of those on board were to take us off. still, no boat was lowered, nor was there any answering signal. this surely was mysterious, and betokened fear. and yet could it be that within so short a distance no deliverance would be extended? it was contrary to reason to believe so; the thought must not be cherished a single moment. we should soon tread a friendly deck, and share again a sailor's home on the deep. thus whispered hope, suddenly revived in all our hearts. but in order to make the case doubly sure, and remove all suspicion in the minds of those on board that those on shore were not all natives, two colors, one white and the other blue, were raised upon poles to the height of full thirty feet. it was plainly seen by those on board, as subsequent testimony from the officers abundantly proved. besides, these were signals of civilization, of common brotherhood, of pressing emergency, and strongly excited hope. but, alas! they met with no response from that vessel's deck. lest there should be a lurking distrust in the minds of the captain and officers of the ship that these signals were a mere trickery or device of the natives to get on board of the ship, or for the ship to send a boat ashore, the company on shore separated themselves from the natives, so that with the aid of a glass, or even with the naked eye, a distinction in manner, movement, and dress could be easily seen by those on shipboard. this expedient also failed. as another resort to attract attention, a fire was kindled; and yet the rising and curling smoke met with no cordial response, no friendly salutation; no boat came to our rescue. shortly after, the ship filled away, passed down the coast, and was seen no more. we felt, what no language can adequately express, that this was an instance of cold, deliberate, and even infamous neglect. could it be they were ignorant of the ordinary laws of humanity, and wilfully misconstrued the most obvious signs of needy and suffering seamen? instances have, indeed, occurred, in which vessels at sea have been known to pass near shipwrecked mariners, and yet they were not discovered. they were upon a low raft, perhaps, or had no means of raising a signal, and were therefore passed. the imploring cries and stretched-out hands of the sufferers were alike unheeded; not from any intentional neglect, by any means, but simply because they were not seen from the vessel's deck. it is sad to contemplate an oversight even like this, in which the hopes and lives of a number of unfortunate seamen were suspended upon the bare possibility of being recognized by the passing ship. how many, many have doubtless perished in mid ocean, whose eyes beheld again and again the approaching and departing sail, whose hearts alternately rose in hope and sunk in despondency, and yet at last died without the precious boon of deliverance! other instances have, however, occurred, of a far different character. suffering, exhausted, and dying mariners, either upon wrecks or rafts, have been left uncared for and abandoned by the passing ship. if the records of the past did not furnish conclusive evidence of the truth of the foregoing statement, it would seem that the bare announcement of the fact would be sufficient not only to appall the hardest heart, and cover with deep and lasting shame the perpetrators of such a deed, but to place it in the frightful category of those events absolutely beyond both human experience and credulity. revelation informs us that "the sea shall give up its dead;" so will there be a resurrection both of the good and bad in human conduct. a virtuous and benevolent act performed upon the ocean will never be concealed. the winds, as they sweep over its surface, will declare it. and so, on the other hand, an act of inhumanity, capriciousness, cruelty, or turning a deaf ear to the expostulations and entreaties of the dependent and suffering, will never slumber. the mighty waves, as they traverse the great deep, will speak in thunder tones that the deed lives. the hopes of _thirty-three_ persons in the cold and dreary region of the north, in the province of perpetual ice and snow, were suddenly and unexpectedly revived by the near approach of a ship within trumpet hail; signals of wrecked mariners on shore, the ship remaining more than fifteen minutes with her yards back, and those on board beholding the demonstrations of intense anxiety of those on shore that deliverance might be sent to them, and yet not one motion made for our rescue! the ship is soon on her way, and out of sight. if hope was ever suddenly and unexpectedly revived, it was then; if hope was ever suddenly cast down to its lowest depths, it was then. nor could our eyes hardly believe what we were beholding. was it all illusion, dream, or magic? no; it was a reality. we had been tantalized. the cup of the greatest earthly blessing had been held to our lips, and yet we were not allowed to drink of it, but it was dashed to the earth in our very presence. the departure of that ship was the departure of mercies to us, to procure which we would have been willing to make the greatest earthly sacrifice. what a day of joy and sorrow was that to us! how many hitherto downcast countenances were lighted up! what words of good cheer passed from one to another! how many hearts bounded with thankfulness and gratitude at the thought of so speedy a deliverance! our families and friends at home were thus far ignorant of the distressing scenes through which we had passed, and also of our present condition; but ere long, as we believed, on our arrival at the islands, we should communicate to them the wreck of our ship, the loss of the voyage, and the fortunate rescue of so many of our number from a watery grave. we felt that we had much for which to be thankful to god, and that soon we should be able to send to anxious ones at home the happy intelligence that we were among the saved. such is hope when strongly excited. it ennobles and invigorates the human soul; it adorns the horizon with the gorgeous drapery of morning clouds; it paints the evening with the glories of departing day; it forgets the past; it is the elixir of life itself; without it man lives only in the present, and anticipates no future good. but that was a day of sorrow too! it seemed as if we should sink into the very earth, and that we were unable to stand, with such a load and pressure upon our spirits. we were crushed both in body and mind. contending emotions of indignation, abandoned hope, unmitigated grief, and poignant sorrow, swayed and strongly agitated every bosom. the whole company wept like children. it may be asked, "why did not the officers and crew avail themselves of the canoes of the natives, and go off to the ship?" it is true there were several canoes near the shore, but the natives were unwilling they should be touched; from what cause we could not understand. our acquaintance with them, and theirs with us, had thus far been very slight; and it may be they had serious suspicions in their minds that we designed some evil towards them. they were doubtless governed by some notions, in refusing us the aid of their canoes, in keeping with their half-civilized or barbarous natures. the captain and others offered to hire the canoes, at the same time presenting to them some little articles they had with them, as a pocket or jack knife, but all to no purpose. they resisted every proposition. the officers and some of the crew were so anxious to get to the ship that they proposed twice to the captain to take forcible possession of the canoes, and follow the ship; and they would have done it, and risked all the consequences, had the captain approved of it. he, however, opposed this plan, on the ground that though a few might succeed in reaching the ship, yet those who were left behind, being entirely unarmed, would probably be instantly killed, and, therefore, it was bad policy to expose the lives of a majority of the company for the safety of only a few. or, it may be, in their first efforts to seize the canoes, and before they could even get them into the water, the natives would fall upon us, and massacre the whole company on the spot. and still farther, we were wholly in their power, both for the present and for months to come, and without their kindness and good will we had no sort of chance for life; therefore the least misunderstanding or violent collision between the parties might lay the foundation for causes which would result, if not now, yet in some future time, in the destruction of the whole company. these considerations, suggested by the captain, dissuaded his men from attempting a forcible seizure of the canoes of the natives; and, therefore, for the good of the whole, that means whereby a few possibly might have reached the ship, was given up. we leave this painful reminiscence of the past by copying from _the polynesian_, published at honolulu, november , , the following card. "the undersigned, late master of the whale ship citizen, of new bedford, feels it a duty he owes alike to the living and the dead to make known the following circumstances. "on the th of september, , in the arctic ocean, in lat. ° ´ n., the ship citizen was wrecked, and five men were lost; himself and the balance of the crew reached the shore, without any thing but the clothes they stood in. it was very cold, and they kept alive by burning casks of oil that had floated ashore from the wreck; that they lived near the wreck until october , when the whale ship citizen, of nantucket, captain bailey, hove in sight; they immediately hoisted a flag upon a pole thirty feet high, and made every signal they could of distress; that the ship at first stood in as though she saw them, then hauled up and shivered in the wind, and afterwards filled away and left them. she was so close at one time that those on shore could see her davits. the feelings with which they saw the vessel leave them are indescribable, as no hope was left them but to endure the rigors of a winter's residence in that cold, bleak, and desolate region, if they should escape the tomahawk of the savage. that their signals were seen by captain bailey there can be no doubt, as captain b. reported seeing his signals last fall. the mate of captain bailey's vessel reported to captain b. that he could see sailors on shore, and requested a boat to go to their relief, which captain b. refused. "through the inhumanity of captain bailey, we were compelled to remain _nine months_ in that barren region, destitute of clothing and food, other than the natives could supply us from their scanty stores of blubber and furs. during this time, two of the crew perished from cold, and left their bones to bleach among the snows of the north, as a monument of 'man's inhumanity to man.' "the natives were humane, kind, and hospitable to us, though wretchedly poor. thomas h. norton." [illustration: hunting the polar bear.] chapter vi. our sad and desolate feelings after the departure of the ship. --what we should soon witness of arctic winter.--the wreck visited from time to time.--provisions transported to the settlement.--the weather.--whales near shore.-- severe gale of wind.--fall of snow.--ocean frozen over. --sudden introduction of winter, and its dreariness.--not to be described.--the sun falling, nights lengthening.-- disappearance of the sun.--long night.--how we passed our time.--confined to the huts.--singing.--neither book nor chart, nor writing materials, except pieces of copper.--hope of liberation another year.--captain norton's method of keeping time.--the razor.--our clothing.--provisions getting low. --natives both eating and stealing ours.--a new chapter.-- commenced living on blubber with the natives.--native stock diminishing.--winters in the arctic vary.--the native manner of capturing the whale.--preparing their food.--native bread. --description of their huts.--their peculiar locality.-- their method of lighting and warming them.--the filthiness of the natives. the next day after the departure of the ship, as well as the departure of our highest earthly hopes,--hopes which had been excited in us immeasurably beyond any former experience,--we remained principally in our huts, having neither desire nor energy, heart nor hope, to go abroad, but what was most fitting in our present condition, and future prospects, to indulge in sad and melancholy reflections upon the few past hours. there was a singular solitariness pervading all our minds, such as we never felt before. we were now painfully sensible that the ice, snow, and cold, peculiar to this region of the north, such as we never witnessed before, would ere long form around us an impassable barrier, frightful even to contemplate, and through which there would be to us no present egress. what remained of provisions still at the wreck, and other articles which may have washed ashore, reason and the instinct of self-preservation taught us, it was our duty at once to secure. accordingly, the day following, the whole company were again assembled, and went to the wreck. we made a division of the provisions, especially of bread, between the different parties occupying different huts, and each party transported its respective share to the settlement. the natives were present with the crew during the day, and ever ready to appropriate to their own benefit whatever they saw fit to take, or were disposed to lay hold of. there were several casks of molasses which came ashore; and since these could not be very well divided at the wreck, it was resolved to construct a species of sled, upon which a whole cask could be drawn to the settlement at one time. this we did, though it required many tedious hours and severe labor. by the aid of ropes, and a combination of all our efforts, we succeeded in getting all the molasses to the huts. we managed in the same way with a number of barrels of flour which came ashore about this time. several tin plates and basins were also found on the beach, and these answered an excellent purpose, as they afterwards proved; because in them we mixed our flour and molasses together, and thus made very luscious pancakes. we usually baked them outside of the huts, as no fire was allowed within, except very rarely; nor were we permitted to make any outside when the wind was in a northerly direction, lest the smoke should frighten away the seals from the shore and region. so reasoned the natives. we continued to visit the wreck and obtain whatever we could, until the weather became so severe, and the traveling so bad, that it was no longer safe to expose ourselves. after having gathered all the provisions we could find at the wreck, such as bread, flour, and molasses, we judged that with economy, and with ordinary allowance, it would last the ship's company three or four months. but the great drawback which we apprehended, and which we found to be true, was, the natives acted as if they had as good a right to our provisions as we had ourselves. they not only joined us in eating what belonged to us, but they took what they wanted, both openly and secretly. the weather continued quite moderate, we should judge, for this region of the north, not intensely cold, still gradually increasing, until the th of november. while the sea was open, whales were very plenty. they came near the shore where our settlement was located, and sported among the breakers, and in some instances, would rest their huge heads upon the rocks, just on the surface of the water. about this time, a very severe gale of wind blew from the north, more furious and winterish than had occurred since our abode in this region, accompanied with a heavy fall of snow. the wind was so violent that it prostrated several native huts. this storm was doubtless a forerunner of winter indeed, and which brought from the remote wastes of the northern sea vast quantities of ice, which, in connection with that which had been forming along the coast, closed up the whole ocean as far as the eye could reach. indeed, all water entirely disappeared. this was an uncommon and singular feature in our experience of an arctic winter. it thus began in earnest to put on the sterner and more terrible attributes of dreariness and desolation. there was something profoundly dreadful and awe-inspiring in the giant march of a polar winter, prodigious in its increase of snow and the vast accumulation of ice. it was upon a scale of operation so sublime and awful as to baffle all human description, and throw wholly into the shade, as absolutely insignificant, the intensest winter ever experienced in our native country. it is utterly impossible to give to any one who has not shared somewhat in the tremendous reality of the scene a just conception of it. the sun was now falling rapidly, and showing its bright disk only a few hours above the horizon. the nights were very long, and the days were becoming shorter and shorter. it seemed as if the luminary of day was indisposed to throw abroad his own rays upon a region of the earth's surface where either human or animal life could with so much difficulty exist. in a few weeks, the sun had wholly disappeared, though his track of light could be distinctly traced in his course below a section of the horizon; but still it was becoming fainter and fainter, until total darkness and a long night of nearly a month enveloped the outward world, as well as enshrouded our own minds in indescribable gloom and sadness. our readers may inquire how we passed our time during our detention among the natives, and especially during the coldest of the weather, or during the long night of polar darkness. when the thermometer, during the depth of winter, would doubtless have indicated scores of degrees less than zero, we rarely ventured forth out of the huts. but far otherwise with the natives. they would go out and travel from settlement to settlement, even in the coldest weather. at times, however, they would return from their winter excursions somewhat frost-bitten. we also became, in a measure, accustomed to the intense cold, and being clothed in the garments of the natives, consisting wholly of skins and furs, we could endure a great degree of cold. if there was any outward relief to be found to our minds during the long nights of the arctic, and the entire absence of the sun for several weeks, it consisted in the peculiar and uncommon brilliancy which marked the course of the moon in those clear skies. nor was this all. the aurora borealis there is seen in all its native beauty and grandeur. it illumined the sky with a light but little inferior to that of moonlight. it would from time to time shoot up and spread itself over the whole northern horizon, and with its sparkling scintillations and brightly-colored coruscations, it would form a splendid arch over our heads. and then, again, as the advancing column of warriors rushes into battle, so the bright line above us, with its moving front and wheeling battalions, would seem to change its hue and position, and thus prepare for a fresh onset. the aurora borealis of the arctic and polar region is one of nature's grandest and most sublime scenes ever beheld by mortals. as we were confined within the huts of the natives during a greater part of our abode with them, and as nothing particular occurred demanding our exposure out of doors, we had sufficient time to sleep, if sleep we could. to pass away time was extremely hard and irksome. its wheels rolled slowly and heavily along. some of us would sing to the natives, which tended not only to divert and encourage our own minds, but to please them. we found, however, they were wonderfully pleased with our singing, and so much interested were they in it, that nothing would satisfy them unless some one of us was singing to them. thus they laid an oppressive task upon us, which we were not able to perform. what we commenced, therefore, as a sort of pastime, in order to while away tedious hours, days, and months, finally became, through the constant importunity of the natives, a grievous burden to us. we had neither book nor chart of any description in our possession, with which to divert or instruct our minds. we had nothing upon which to write any event or fact, except small pieces of copper, and a few stray leaves which we happened to find in the huts of the natives. our time, as all must see, was spent comparatively in a most listless and unprofitable manner; it was simply the endurance of life, and the prolonged hope that another year, if we should live to see it, would bring to us the day of deliverance. captain norton kept, by the aid of a piece of twine, in which he tied knots, an account of every day, from the time of the wreck until our rescue at east cape, with the single exception of only one knot too many, which he supposed he must have added during the long night. the only razor, which was a great favorite with the company, and which we frequently used to the best of our ability, without either soap or brush, was an ordinary jackknife. it was necessary to keep our beards trimmed within proper limits; otherwise our breath, even in the huts, and especially when exposed to the air outside, would reduce them to a mass of solid ice. these two articles, viz., the twine and the knife, were about all the significant and expressive mementoes which we brought with us from our arctic quarters. these, however, were sufficient to bring most distinctly and vividly to our minds a painful episode in our ocean life. the clothing with which we were furnished by the natives, and without which we must have perished, was composed of skins and furs. we dressed as the natives did. an observer could have seen no difference in this respect between us and them. our shoes, pants, and a kind of jacket, and caps, were wholly of skins, with the hair inside, and then over these another dress, with the hair outside. thus clothed, we were protected from the keen, piercing air--a protection secured to us which no other substitute could provide. about the st of january, in the depth of winter, we began to perceive that nearly all the provisions we obtained from the wreck were about gone. the natives had shared with us in the several huts to a considerable extent in consuming what belonged to us. they were very fond of our flour, molasses, and bread. they wanted to eat what we ate, and when they could not get it by fair play, they would indulge in their natural propensity, and steal it. what we greatly feared was now coming upon us. a new chapter in our history began to open. the food of the natives must henceforth be for our support. to their credit, however, be it said, there appeared no disposition on their part to confine us down to a mere pittance, while they themselves had their usual allowance. what they had was freely offered to us, and both parties fared about the same while food lasted. their supply of provisions for the winter, so far as we could judge, was not large; but now the addition of thirty-three persons to their number soon diminished their usual stock. winters even in the arctic are variable, as we learned from the natives; some were very severe, and other less so. we ascertained that an entire settlement to the north of the one in which we lived, and north of the wreck, perished a few years before in consequence of the intense cold, and the want of provisions. some idea perhaps may be entertained by the reader of the principal kind of food the natives eat, and what we lived upon for months while with them. their manner of capturing the whale. as the whale approaches quite near the shore, the natives are not greatly exposed by following him to a great distance in their canoes. they take their own time and opportunity for killing the whale. both men and women are in the canoes on such occasions. it is regarded by them as a family affair. they go sufficiently near the whale to throw a harpoon into his body. their harpoons are somewhat different from ours, yet in principle they are precisely the same. when they have thrown one or two irons into the whale, they cast overboard two air-tight and inflated seal skins attached to the lines. every canoe in pursuit of whales has two skins of this sort. if the whale is disposed to turn flukes and go down, he must of course carry with him these full blown skins. the lines are very strong, being made of walrus skin. when the whale makes his appearance again, he is struck by another canoe, and two more seal skins are attached to his body. thus they go on fastening irons into his body, and impeding his course by any number of seal skins, until he is wearied out, and then they go up to him and lance him. whales have been picked up, by ships and boats, having several seal skins attached to them. one whale was found, several years since, which had _twenty-eight_ full-blown seal skins trailing after him. preparing their food. having captured the whale and drawn him ashore, they then proceed to the work of cutting him up, and stowing him away for future use. both the blubber and entrails are deposited in a place together, especially prepared for the purpose. the place is a circular cavity, in the form of a cellar under ground, from five to eight feet deep, and with varied diameter, from three to five feet. these depositories are placed along shore, some distance apart, most convenient for receiving the whale when taken. in this cellar they deposit not only the whale blubber and its intestines, but also the blubber of the walrus and seal, and occasionally a deer is thrown in, with all that appertains to it, except its skin and perhaps its feet. the whole is thus mingled together in due proportions, and eaten by the natives with no further change in the promiscuous and offensive elements than what time itself would produce. it was from such storehouses as these that the natives drew out their chief support for the winter, and nearly for the whole year. it is quite impossible to define this compound, and even if we could it would answer no good purpose; for with us it is profoundly obnoxious even to think of it. absolute necessity--the simple fact of an existence, compelled us to live upon such qualities of food, compared with which our hogs have dainties, and luxuriate upon the fat of the land. there were, however, some exceptions. now and then a fresh seal was caught, a bear, a walrus, or a deer brought in. but whatever other good qualities the food might have had, it was all eaten raw; at least this was the case with the more northern settlements, and particularly the one in which we spent most of the winter. the natives farther south exhibited some slight improvement in the manner of preparing their food; yet on the whole, the difference was very small, and not worth mentioning. at the time of our meals, if they can be called such, all the members of the hut would gather around a large dish, or tray, or trough, as much like the ordinary hog's trough as it could well be, and then each one would either help himself to what there was in it, with his hands and fingers, or receive his piece of blubber from the head man of the hut. in this manner the natives took their meals. from the necessity of our condition we had to conform in a measure to this foul and disgusting custom, to say nothing of the filthy nature of the food; we were compelled to eat or starve. the bread used among the natives was made by boiling a vine, which they find on the ground in those places where the snow melts off during summer. this vine is somewhat bitter. they make a practice of collecting it during the summer months. after it is thoroughly boiled, they pack it away in seal skins for future use. this is all the bread they have. huts. a brief description of the huts of the natives may not be out of place in this connection. the huts are generally round, differing in size in proportion to the family, and averaging, perhaps, from twelve to thirty feet in diameter. the lower part of the hut, and to the height of four or five feet, is well secured with upright stakes, situated a few feet apart, and fastened to each other by cords of walrus skin. the huts, and especially those where we were located during the winter, were not made partly underground, as was the case with some we saw in the direction of east cape, but so constructed on the surface of the ground as to be easily taken down and removed. from the lower, or upright part, the roof extended in an oval form to the height of ten or twelve feet. at the termination of the top, or apex, there is an opening, which is closed or otherwise, according to the state of the weather. this opening affords about all the egress to the smoke of the lamps and fire, when made in the huts. it is very rarely, however, that fire is made in the huts. the covering of the huts is usually of walrus skins, and impermeable to water. there is generally but one door to the hut, which is somewhat smaller than ordinary doorways. the interior of the hut is divided into two principal rooms, or apartments, one of which may be called the eating room, and the other the sleeping room. the sleeping apartment is separated from the other by a temporary screen, which can be easily drawn aside or gathered up. the sleeping apartment is again subdivided into smaller sections, to suit the convenience of the family. the partitions are of walrus or deer skins, as a matter of course. these rooms are much warmer than one would naturally expect to find in this cold region of country. the bedsteads (so to speak) are the skins of walruses, stretched upon and fastened to the tops of stakes about one foot from the ground, under which a bedding of coarse rushes is placed. the pillow, or that upon which the head may rest, is made by drawing the walrus skin over one end of a stick, or log. the peculiar _locality_ of the huts or settlements is another consideration deserving a passing notice. the natives select the bleakest spot in the region for their settlements, where the wind blows without any obstruction. they, therefore, avoid all shelter behind hills, or cliffs, or in valleys. in placing their huts in such exposed localities, as for example, upon a plain, or level, near the sea shore, their purpose is to secure protection from the drifting snow, which otherwise, were they in the lee of some hill, or rising ground, or in a valley, would cover them up, and overwhelm them. besides, the huts being circular, the wind and snow have opportunity of circulating in such a manner as generally to leave a clear space of several feet or more around the hut. notwithstanding all the precautions of the natives to avoid the drifting snow, still it was so deep at times upon a level, that when passing along, and even quite near the huts, we could not discern the tops of them, and should not have known that we were in their immediate vicinity, had it not been for tracks we discovered in the snow, or from the barking of the dogs. the method of lighting their huts. the lamps are in the form of a hollow, circular dish, somewhat in the shape of a bowl, made of clay. this vessel is filled with seal's blubber, and around the edge of the lamps inside, is placed a row of moss of fine quality, obtained from the mountains. this moss is set on fire, and by its heat the blubber in the vessel is converted into oil, which in turn feeds the moss, and thus good light is obtained. two or three such lamps in a hut would afford considerable heat. the smoke, however, which proceeds from them is immense, and exceedingly offensive. it is so thick, that every article in the hut is covered and blackened with it. when one comes to clear air and breathes, there will be seen a volume of darkened vapor going forth from his nostrils and mouth. these lamps are burning nearly all the time, and especially when the days are short, and during the long night of darkness in midwinter. neither the smoke from the lamps, nor the quality of food we had to eat, nor the manner of eating it, nor constantly observing the filthy habits of the natives, was all the degradation we felt and experienced. with the strictest propriety it can be said the natives were loaded with vermin; and yet as indifferent, apparently, to such a condition, as if it were the most trivial circumstance in the world. indeed, they appeared to enjoy the presence of the innumerable hosts that swarmed in all parts of their huts. their persons, garments, skins in the huts, sleeping apartments, &c., were literally alive with them. the misery of such a state we have neither words nor heart to attempt to describe. [illustration: polar bears.] chapter vii. health of the natives.--their diseases.--captain n. prescribes a remedy.--their superstitious notions.--mr. osborn prescribes for the sick.--a fatal case.--they surround mr. o. with threatening gestures.--native remedy for nose bleeding and sore eyes.--burial ceremony.--marriages.--general appearance of the natives.--their character.--their habits of industry.--property.--language.--icebergs.--their formation.--the distance to which icebergs float.--their magnitude.--field ice.--the sudden disappearance of ice.-- how accounted for.--icy vapor.--poisoning. the health of the natives. so far as we could learn, they had the usual share of health with other communities. a good proportion of them reached an advanced age in life; and some, we should judge from their appearance, were much older than the oldest among our own countrymen. diseases. one of the most common diseases among the natives appeared to be that of worms--originating, probably, from the character of their diet. their medicinal preparations were but few and simple. captain norton had in his possession a package of wormwood, which he picked up on the shore near the wreck. though it had been saturated with salt water, yet, from time to time, he administered a strong drink of it for the above disease, with complete success. as proof of their appreciation of his services, they would put a dried crow's head upon his arm. his success went so far, that he had as many crows' heads as could be strung from his wrist to his elbow. captain norton, however, was wisely cautious in one respect, and that was, he would not prescribe in any given case of sickness, unless he was well convinced there was no immediate danger to the patient, or that he could afford some temporary relief. their superstitious notions were such that, if any prescription should fail, and the patient should not recover, they would suppose at once that the proposed remedy was the cause of death. it required great prudence, therefore, to manage, not only the sick, but also those who were well. a case occurred of a very trifling character at first, but finally it proved fatal. the face of a person, a woman, was somewhat swelled; the cause of it, so far as we could ascertain, originated in a defective tooth. mr. osborn acted the part of a physician at this time. he applied a poultice of sea bread, in order to reduce the inflammation, which he supposed it would shortly do. the woman, however, did not get immediately better; and her friends took the poultice off, and in the place of it they tied a string very tight round her chin, in order, as they believed, to prevent the disease or swelling from going downwards. the string rather increased the inflammation; and then it was taken off, and placed still lower down, until the swelling had very much increased, and had reached her breast. the string was now tied tighter than ever, until it became embedded in the flesh. since mr. osborn's remedy had failed to benefit her, the natives, from their appearance and gestures, supposed that the poultice was an injury, instead of an advantage, to the woman. they therefore gathered round mr. osborn in the most threatening attitude, and he greatly feared they were about to injure or kill him. at any rate, he learned one important lesson--to be more cautious, in future, in prescribing remedies to the sick among the natives. they were superstitious, and therefore unreasonable. the natives were subject to nose bleeding; the excessively cold weather was doubtless the chief cause of it. the remedy which they employed, and in use among them, was the application of a frosty stone, or piece of ice to the back of the neck. sore eyes were quite prevalent among them, more so in some seasons of the year than in others. this disease is caused by the reflection of sunlight upon an almost boundless surface of snow and ice. the simple remedy, in ordinary cases among them, was in making a slight incision with a thorn or some sharp instrument in the flesh, directly between the eyes, so as to draw several drops of blood. the effect of this treatment was to reduce the inflammation, and thus carry off the soreness from the eyes. in some instances, however, the eyes of the natives had wholly run out. burial ceremony. this, in many respects, was very peculiar, and quite different from the great majority of semi-barbarous or half-civilized tribes and nations. when one dies, a wife, for example,--as this instance did occur in one of the huts,--the following ceremonies were observed to take place:-- immediately on the death of the person, or just before death took place, the relatives and friends gathered in the hut, and commenced a most bitter and vociferous wailing or mourning. the usual means to expel the disease, whatever it might be, had been employed in vain. several skins, stretched over hoops varying in size, had been broken by furious beating, accompanied with fantastic gesticulations and almost unearthly sounds, if possible, to cure the patient. but all to no purpose. they now found that death was approaching; and since every effort of theirs had not benefited her, they pronounced her incurable, and proceeded at once to terminate her existence. she was not permitted to die wholly from the natural effects of the disease; but a small cord was placed round her neck, and gradually drawn closer and closer by those who stood on each side of her, until life became extinct. during the last scene, she gave various presents to her relatives and friends. she died with singular indifference, and without a groan. whether all the sick, who, they supposed, would not recover, were thus put to death, as in the foregoing instance, may be a question. yet, in so far as could be ascertained from observation and from conversation with the natives, it is the opinion of those who lived with them for several months that this was generally the case. soon after, all the remaining property which she possessed--her clothing, needles, combs, beads, &c., besides some tobacco--was sewed up with her in the dress she usually wore, or in which she died. a new sled was then made for the deceased, and two of the best dogs in the family were selected to bear away the corpse. instead of carrying the body out of the ordinary doorway, an opening was made through the side of the hut sufficiently large for the body to pass and those accompanying it. the relatives and friends followed the remains to the place of the dead, two or three miles distant, upon some hill side. there it remained untouched for five days. the face only of the deceased was exposed. on the return of the family connections to the hut, one of the dogs was killed. during the five days which intervened, the husband forsook the hut altogether, and all other huts, and wandered about from place to place, living in temporary exile from all connection with his former home, or family and friends. and during this time, also, food was carried to the dead body, and also placed outside the hut, on the supposition that she would need it. on the sixth day, the deceased was visited again by the relatives for the purpose of disposing of what was left of her remains. the crows and beasts of prey had nearly or quite completed the work of destroying every vestige of the body. thus, in a very short time, nothing remained but here and there a bone mingled indiscriminately with others in the place of the dead. the company then returned to the hut, and another scene of wailing and mourning ensued. during this last act, the hut was surrounded by the relatives of the deceased; and all at once, at a given signal, the whole company rose up, and pulled the hut down, and removed it to another place. before it was erected again, however, the second dog was killed, and its blood sprinkled over the newly-selected spot. with the change in the locality of the hut a new order of things took place. the husband assumed his former relations to the family, and ceremonies were at an end respecting the deceased. from what could be learned from the natives, they supposed that, in leaving the face of the deceased uncovered, the crows would pick out her eyes, and then she would be unable to find her way back to the hut. the opening made in the side of the hut, through which to carry the corpse, was another superstitious idea. they believed she would not enter the hut again, if she was not carried out by the door. the removal of the hut to a new place was in accordance with their notions that she would be unable to find it again. they have a general belief of an existence after death; yet so crude, ill-defined, and dark was this belief, that it stands allied with the grossest forms of paganism and idolatry. the glorious gospel of christ, "which brings life and immortality to light," finds no place in their hopes for the future, nor does it afford any consolation to them on their pilgrimage to the tomb. they are living, as the apostle said the heathen did in his day, "having no hope, and without god in the world." marriages. they are polygamists. they have as many wives as they see fit to take, or as they can support. they have a custom among them of temporarily exchanging their wives with each other. the evils of polygamy were obvious among the natives, in the jealousy, contention, wrath, and fighting observable between the different wives. general appearance. from their appearance, we should judge they belonged to the race of esquimaux. in stature, they are rather below medium height, thick set, strongly built, muscles fully developed, and capable of great endurance; and in complexion, copper color. their countenances are far from being prepossessing; high cheek bones, flat noses, and large mouths. a stranger, upon first sight, would be led to infer from their general appearance that they were fierce, cruel, and prepared for any act of barbarity. what they would become, if injured or abused, we had no opportunity of knowing. nor did we discover in them any unfriendly feelings towards other settlements or tribes, whether near or more remote, or that of late years there had been any contention, or fighting, or war between the different tribes in that region. they had instruments of war, such as bows and arrows, lances, clubs, &c.; but they probably needed them in destroying the savage beasts, and especially bears, that infest the country. we found them kind and hospitable to us, or otherwise we all must have perished. they treated us, we believe, according to their knowledge and circumstances, with more than ordinary attention. they exhibited love and sympathy towards the members of their respective families, and were particularly affectionate to their children. as to their moral character, we could not discover that they had any idea of the one god, the maker and upholder of all things and beings, nor of providence, nor of accountability, nor of moral right and moral wrong. they believed, however, as all heathen idolaters and pagans do, that there were superior divinities. they seemed to fear evil spirits, if they had no reverence for good ones. they had an idea that somewhere, in some remote mountain in the interior, their god lived, and that the dead would in some way or other go thither; though they never gave us their views particularly upon this subject. they had no idols nor household gods. they paid profound homage to the crow, and regarded it in some sort as sacred. they wore crows' heads as amulets upon their persons. with the exception of the kindness they manifested towards us, and natural affection towards their children and to one another, in their social habits, intellectual ignorance, and moral darkness, they must be classed among the most degraded of the human race. their habits of industry correspond with the general features of their character. thus fishing, hunting, making sleds, training dogs in their teams, running races, occasional traffic with tribes in the interior, &c., constitute the principal routine of their employments and amusements. their manner of life presented no inducement for them to labor beyond their present necessities. by the way, the females had a large part of the necessary work to perform. property. their property consisted chiefly in dogs and huts. he who owned the best dog teams, and had possession in huts, was considered the most wealthy man. the head man of the settlement was supposed not only to possess the greatest amount of property, but he excelled in bodily strength. with these qualifications, he commanded the greatest influence, and was acknowledged as the head and leader of the settlement. we found some among the natives who were considered rich,--rich in dogs and dog teams, &c.,--and others that were poor. language. it is quite probable that all, or nearly all, the tribes or settlements on the shores of the arctic, both on the asiatic and american sides, have a common language, though differing, as we found, in some words, and also in pronunciation. the language is that of the esquimaux race. those with whom we lived, and other settlements or tribes on the asiatic coast with whom we have had any acquaintance, from east cape to the north as far as our wreck, have no written language. we could not learn from them that any one had ever attempted to instruct them, or reduce their language to some system, or that any teacher in religion had ever visited them. without a written language, or books, or teachers, or oral instruction in some form, the certain results must invariably be, that from age to age, they will continue in the same condition of mental ignorance, moral blindness, and physical degradation. it was the opinion of mr. abram osborn, jr., who became a proficient in the language of the natives, and could converse with them with ease and fluency, that it was simple, and he believed could be readily reduced to some systematic form. the method he resorted to, in order to acquire the language, was simply this: when he heard a native word, he would write it, according to its sound, upon a piece of copper, and place opposite to it its english definition. he made inquiries of the natives as to the meaning of their words, and what they called certain things. in this manner he became very familiar with all the terms and phrases which they used. the following are a few specimens of native language. english words are placed in the first column, and the esquimaux in the second. english. esquimaux. dog, attat. sled, woncoose. deer, korong. fox, tricokadlekin. legs, mingara. feet, partakou. fingers, riddlegus. arms, mingukou. hands, mungit. head, eloout. hair, kidweed. nose, yacka. sick, atke. death, youedlin. striking, to kill, kittegerayouedlin. wrestling, mupperrudle. dancing and frolicking, katepangarrakim. soup, opanga. hat, yarang. spear, poegan. arrow, kekimbo. whale, draow. boat, atuat. ship, laloutoutline. snow, addledadle. ice, retinute. water, memut. skin, naglegin. walrus, redica. woman, youan. seal, mamut. hill, youket. mountain, nutamut. seamen, raumkidlins. father, etletuen. mother, etlita. son, youakek. ocean, numaumkimmemut. land, nuteskin. sea shore, beach, nutanute. jacket, eran. cap, kile. shoes, pomeat. "o dear me," hokeenonkanum. mad, anguenipo. trousers, konitre. numbers. one, ennan. two, gera. three, giro. four, gerack. five, miltingum. six, ennan miltingum. seven, gera miltingum. eight, amgrokim. nine, conizinkin. ten, mingitkim. twelve, mingitkim gera parole. thirteen, mingitkim giro parole. fourteen, mingitkim gerack parole. fifteen, kiddegitten. sixteen, kiddegitten ennan parole. seventeen, kiddegitten gera parole. eighteen, kiddegitten giro parole. nineteen, kiddegitten gerack parole. twenty, kalekin. thirty, kalekin mingitkim parole. forty, gerack kalekim. fifty, miltingum mingitkim parole. sixty, gera kalekim mingitkim parole. seventy, giro kalekim mingitkim parole. eighty, gerack kalekim. ninety, gerack kalekim mingitkim parole. one hundred, miltingum kalekin, icebergs. some of the most remarkable phenomena seen in the northern ocean, and the manner of their formation, are icebergs. they are greatly feared by seamen, and a contact with them would be equivalent to striking a rock. they are formed far up in the polar region during the intense and protracted cold of winter; and in the change of the season in summer, though ice is always accumulating in high latitudes, they drift with the currents into lower latitudes, where they melt, and finally disappear. they are of varied dimensions, indicating by these facts somewhat the sources whence they come, and wearing every conceivable exterior form. they are formed by the falling of snow over steep and high cliffs on the borders of the sea; "little by little the incrustations on the shore and cliffs increase to the size of mountains, and then, being torn away from their fastenings, either by the winds, or by their own weight, or by the action of the sea beating against their bases or undermining them, are swept into the ocean, where they continue to accumulate by the falling of snow and frozen water, and finally resemble great islands." large masses of ice, which take the form of bergs, are formed along the rocky-bound coast of the arctic. on the fall of the tide, after the ocean has been frozen over, the localities of the rocks and ledges are clearly observable. when the tide rises, the superincumbent mass is lifted up, and a new layer is formed underneath. this process goes on with the rise and fall of the tides and the accumulation of ice, until vast ridges, broken and dislocated, assuming every variety of appearance, are thus pressed up to a great height. we observed the gradual rise of one of these immense piles of ice not far from our winter quarters. it appeared to be more than twenty-five feet above the ordinary ice around it. the cliffs upon whose sides we have seen icebergs form rise to the enormous height of two to four hundred feet. and the shore was so bold, and the depth of water so great at their bases, that a ship would probably strike her yards against their precipitous sides before she would ground. a vessel, therefore, being dashed against those adamantine walls in a gale of wind, would instantly fly to pieces, and not a seaman would be saved. "the distance to which icebergs float from the polar regions on the opposite sides of the line is, as may be supposed, very different. their extreme limit in the northern hemisphere is judged to be about lat. °, though they are occasionally seen in lat. ° n., near the termination of the great bank of newfoundland, and at the azores, lat. ° n., to which they have sometimes drifted from baffin's bay. "but in the other hemisphere, they have been seen, within the last few years, at different points off the cape of good hope, between lat. ° and °. one of these was two miles in circumference and one hundred and fifty feet high, appearing like chalk when the sun was obscured, and having the lustre of refined sugar when the sun was shining upon it. others rose from two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet above the level of the water, and were therefore of great volume below; since it is ascertained by experiments on the buoyancy of ice floating in sea water, that for every cubic foot seen above, there must at least be eight cubic feet below water." captain sir john ross saw several icebergs in baffin's bay aground in water fifteen hundred feet deep! many of them are driven down into hudson's bay, and, accumulating there, diffuse excessive cold over the entire continent; so that captain franklin reports that, at the mouth of haye's river, which lies in the same latitude as the north of prussia or the south of scotland, ice is found every where, in digging wells, in summer, at the depth of four feet. "it is a well-known fact that, every four or five years, a large number of icebergs floating from greenland double cape langaness, and are stranded on the west coast of iceland. the inhabitants are then aware that their crops of hay will fail in consequence of fogs, which are generated almost incessantly; and the dearth of food is not confined to the land, for the temperature of the water is so changed that the fish entirely desert the coast." as to the relative thickness of common field ice where it remained unbroken through the winter, we found it varied from ten to twenty-five feet in thickness. we had an opportunity of judging, from the fact that we examined several openings which the natives had made in the ice off east cape for the purpose of taking seal. the sudden disappearance of large and extended tracts of ice in the northern seas, in addition to its being carried away by the force of currents towards the south, is attributed by many to its sinking. how ice should sink, when its specific gravity is lighter than water, is a question for the speculative to discuss--unless there be some other preponderating element mingled with it, such as fragments of rock, sand, or gravel. whalemen have frequently affirmed that they have not only been surrounded by fields or large tracts of ice at night, but in the morning it had wholly disappeared from the surface of the water. therefore many have arrived at the conclusion, that in certain states of the ice, in the process of breaking up and thawing, it actually sinks below the surface of the water, if not to the bottom. there was another phenomenon which we observed. during the coldest season of the year, and in certain states of the atmosphere, the air deposits its moisture in the form of frozen fog. it has the appearance of a fine gossamer netting or icicles, and these are dispersed through the atmosphere, and so extremely minute that they seem to pierce and excoriate the skin; and, especially when the wind blew, it was impossible to face this storm of icy vapor. we have seen a deposition of this frost from four to six inches during the space of twelve hours. a case of poisoning. we observed that the natives ate all parts of the bear except the liver. experience had probably taught them that it was not proper to eat, or, it may be, they had seen the fatal effects of eating it among themselves. a bear, during the early part of winter, was brought into the settlement, which the natives had killed. some of our company concluded to make a mess out of the liver, and invite others to partake of the dainty. it was eaten, and the consequences were nearly fatal to all of us who partook of it. it produced distress in our stomachs and diarrhoea. we find the following in dr. kane's "arctic explorations:" "when i was out in the advance, with captain de haven, i satisfied myself that it was a vulgar prejudice to regard the liver of the bear as poisonous. i ate of it freely myself, and succeeded in making it a favorite dish with the mess. but i find to my cost that it may be more savory than safe. the cub's liver was my supper last night; and to-day i have the symptoms of poison in full measure--vertigo, diarrhoea, and their concomitants." [illustration: a ship after a gale.] chapter viii. provisions of the natives getting low.--new calamity threatened. --health and strength failing.--necessity of seeking other quarters.--the only alternative.--report of a wreck.-- parties leave.--dreadful traveling and exposures.--report by the natives that our men were frozen to death.--an instance of treachery.--the captain and his party leave.--the weather.-- traveling.--thoughts of home.--preservation.--one of the party unable to walk.--left behind.--found by the natives.-- the fate before us.--division of the biscuit.--another fails, sits down, and is frozen to death.--reflections.--captain norton encourages his only remaining companion.--singular appearance upon the ice.--dog teams.--part of mr. fisher's company.--encouragement to our minds.--natives unwilling to help us.--the danger of riding.--last effort.--the music of barking dogs.--our manner of traveling.--dreadful condition of our feet.--captain norton falls exhausted.--native kindness. in february, it became apparent to all of us, that the provisions of the natives were getting low; we saw it in our daily fare--diminished in quantity, if not poorer in quality. a new and unexpected calamity now threatened us. one misfortune after another had followed us since the wreck of the ship; deliverance had failed us when it was just within our reach; disappointment and untold deprivation had taken its place; but now, as if our past trials were only preparatory for another,--one more frightful than any we had contemplated or looked upon,--the question was presented to us in its most distressing form, whether we should remain among the natives, and, from present appearances, _starve_ to death, or whether, while any strength remained, we should make one more, and perhaps the last effort to reach some other settlement, where we might get provisions enough to live upon. our prospects never looked more gloomy than at this time. we were well assured there were huts down along upon the coast, but how far we could not tell; and therefore it was a most hazardous journey, and altogether uncertain whether any one of us would live to reach them. we were at this time very much reduced in flesh and strength in consequence of short allowance, and therefore greatly incapacitated to endure the labor and fatigue of traveling through the snow, or to withstand for any considerable season the intense cold which then prevailed. and still further, we were aware there would be no protection for us during the long night we should be out; or, it may be, a number of days and nights we should find no shelter. how many fearful odds were against us! of this fact we were certain: to remain where we were, we should all perish by degrees with starvation; we came therefore to the conclusion, we could but die if we should venture to travel to the next settlement. the haggard and emaciated countenances of our companions told but too plainly that a change must take place in our living, or soon we should "go the way of all the earth." if our friends at home could have looked in upon us in this time of our last extremity, they would neither have known us, nor would they have supposed, from our appearance, that we could long survive our misfortunes. it is well that we do not always know either the condition or the sufferings of our fellow-men. it was about this time, while we were anxiously considering our state --what should be done, in what direction to seek for life--a report reached us by means of the natives, that a ship had been cast away on the coast, from seventy to one hundred miles distant, as near as we could judge. a single _ham_ was brought to the settlement by the natives, which confirmed the truth of the wreck. this circumstance greatly encouraged us, and determined the first party, consisting of only two, to leave one morning, and to travel in the direction of east cape. in the afternoon of the same day another party of three left, mr. fisher and two others, taking the same course as those did in the morning. the last party soon came up with the first one, and found the two men nearly exhausted, and overcome by the difficulties of traveling, and by the intenseness of the cold; but by encouragement and hope held out to them, that another day they might find a native settlement, they struggled on through that night. the next day, they pressed on the best they could, making, however, but very slow progress, and seeing but little before them to animate their minds, or to raise up their spirits. they had gone as far as strength, or hope, or the love of life could carry them. they became bewildered, chilled, frost-bitten, and blinded by the flying snow; and as their last resort before they should lie down in death, having given up all prospect of getting any farther, they traveled round and round in a circle; and they were found in this condition when discovered by several natives, who immediately led them to their huts, which were only a mile or two distant. how these men were kept alive during the time they were exposed to the intense cold of the day, and especially of the cheerless arctic night, seeking the best track they could through an unknown region of valleys, cliffs, ice, snow banks, &c.,--how these men were kept alive, is a matter of profound surprise, and certainly one of those instances of special providence in behalf of the needy and suffering sons of men. mr. fisher said, all he had with him to eat by the way, when he left the settlement, was "some burnt coffee in his pocket." the others with him were no better off. it is wonderful that they lived amid so much destitution and exposure. what will not necessity compel men to do! mr. fisher, with the rest, asked the natives for something to eat; and he obtained a small piece of frozen whale's blubber. in less than two hours they were brought to the huts, and to their great joy found provisions more abundant. the whole distance they had traveled exceeded twenty miles. a few days after the departure of mr. fisher's company, and the one that preceded his, word was brought to the settlement by some of the traveling natives, that the whole party were frozen to death. this was sad intelligence indeed, and yet it was what we greatly feared. we, however, had our doubts as to the truth of the report. we had some very strong reasons for suspecting the natives of lying-- a habit we perceived identified with another, viz., that of stealing. and yet the report could not fail to produce in all our minds intense solicitude respecting the fate of our companions. they ventured forth, risking their own lives, in order to find better accommodations for the company. as soon as they should find better quarters, and the prospect of preserving us from starvation, the agreement was, to send us immediate word; and then small companies would follow them from time to time, so as not to discommode a small settlement of only a few huts with our whole number coming into it at once. the reluctance of the natives in our settlement to assist us in finding new quarters, when they knew their provisions were getting wretchedly low, and when they knew, too, that we had not more than one third of our ordinary fare, and that we were becoming weaker and more emaciated day after day, their reluctance to assist us, or to direct us to the nearest settlement, can be accounted for only on the principle that if we died, they wanted us to die with them; or that they did not desire we should go to any other settlement. what their particular motive was in this respect, we could not satisfactorily ascertain. during this time of uncertainty concerning the fate of mr. fisher and those with him, captain norton called the company together, and proposed that another party should go out and look for their companions, and ascertain, if possible, whether they were living or not. eight or ten days had thus passed away, and nothing was heard from the first party, nor could we learn any thing definitely about them from the natives, though we had reason to believe they knew more about them than we did. on the supposition, however, that mr. fisher and his party had perished by the way, as reported by the natives, and lest those who might follow should meet with the same calamity, and thus party after party be lost in those trackless wastes of the arctic, it was thought advisable, if possible, before any more of us followed, to send word by the traveling natives to all the settlements, both near and more remote, whether five seamen had arrived at any one of them, or whether they had been discovered frozen to death. word was sent to mr. fisher from captain norton by means of pieces of copper written upon with lead, and forwarded by the natives. mr. fisher also sent word to captain norton in the same manner after his arrival at the settlement; but neither heard from the other, and therefore both parties were left in painful suspense, and especially those who were left behind. in this instance we discovered another treachery of the natives towards us, and which we found it impossible to account for, considering their kindness towards us in many other respects. since nothing had been heard from mr. fisher for many days, the captain stated to his men, that he had made up his mind to leave the settlement, and ascertain if possible the fate of mr. fisher, and find better quarters. one thing was certain; he assured them he could not live there; that was out of the question. he was greatly debilitated, had scarcely any thing to eat, and for three days past had not eaten a piece of blubber larger than his three fingers. accordingly, on the last day of february, the captain left with a company of three besides himself. we took our departure at sundown, or late in the afternoon, in order to avoid the effect of sunlight upon our eyes. we learned from the experience of the natives to avoid, if possible, this evil; and hence we took the latter part of the day to commence our perilous journey, and chose darkness rather than light. our intentions were to travel until we should find more comfortable quarters, or perish in the attempt. we were sensible that from the severity of the cold, we must travel all the time, night and day; there could be no rest or respite for us, with safety, out of doors. if we should stop for any length of time, or sit down, death would be inevitable. it was intensely cold when we left--such an air as is felt only in the arctic. the northern lights shone very brightly that night; wind quite high; occasionally the snow flying in dense masses around us; and besides, slumping into the snow from six inches to two feet at almost every step. thus we traveled, or rather, as it seemed to us, crawled along during that night, keeping our course by the sea shore as much as we could. we found no well-beaten road, or path, but we had to make one for ourselves; no plain before us, but a rugged and broken surface, both upon the frozen ocean and upon the land; immense piles of snow, wrought into a great variety of forms by the circling winds; indeed the whole scene before us was one of the wildest, grandest, and most terrific, that winter could present to mortal eyes, and such as can be seen only where winter asserts his undisputed supremacy. and what a night was that for human beings to be out and exposed, with no covering above us but the bright stars, and the brighter coruscations, as they would flash up from the pole and overspread the northern sky! then we thought of home,--far distant home,--and friends, and the contrast, the strange contrast between their condition and ours! but words are poor vehicles to convey to the reader the emotions of our minds as we felt the loneliness of our condition, and the dreariness of our prospects on that dreadful night. it will never be effaced from the tablet of our memories, and in our hearts may we ever record, as long as life shall continue, the goodness of god in preserving us, and causing our eyes to behold the light of another day. about ten o'clock on the following day, one of our number began to exhibit more than ordinary weariness, languor, and stupidity. we found he began to lag behind, and was unable to keep up with us, though we were much exhausted, and only by the greatest possible exertion were we able to keep on our feet. we had not stopped, except for a moment, since we left the settlement. tired and overtasked nature, however, could not always endure. we all traveled slowly; but one of our number was really making little or no progress at all. we, who were ahead, would slacken our pace, or return to meet him, assist him, and encourage him to hold out and press on. this we did many times, but we found it absolutely impossible for him to keep up with us. we had no strength to carry him; this was out of the question; and to attempt to help him along for any considerable time, or to wait for him or stay by him, it was certain we should never get any where, and all die together. the only alternative, therefore, to which, from necessity, we were brought, was to leave him behind. sad as was our decision in this instance, yet it was distressingly true that, if we had tarried by the way or sat down, we never should have risen again. we pressed on for our lives. we soon lost sight of our companion in the distance, either resting or making ineffectual efforts to get along. in leaving him in those wintry wilds, we left him, as we supposed, to die. we saw no chance for his escape. about eight days from this time, we learned that, a few hours after we left him, he was found by some natives in a perfectly helpless state, and carried by them to a settlement several miles distant, where he was taken care of, and finally joined the company at east cape. in regard to those of us who were still able to proceed through the drifted snow, how slight the hope that we should long continue our perilous journey, and how probable that each one of us in turn would lag behind, and finally lie down to rise up no more! we saw in our companion an example of what our own fate might shortly be. whatever of heart or hope there was left, the captain encouraged those with him to put forth all their strength and energies, as every thing they held dear on earth--even life itself--was now at stake. if they faltered, death was certain; if they pressed on, there might be some remote chance of safety and of life. when captain norton left the settlement, he took with him as his only supply of food, both for himself and his three companions, three sea biscuits, which he hid away the first of the winter as a last resort, not knowing what necessity the future might bring along with it. the last and final emergency had now arrived. he therefore took one of the biscuits, and divided it into three parts, retained one for himself, and gave the other two to his companions. soon after the division of the biscuit, we found a temporary shelter under the lee of a precipitous and broken line of hills, which extended some distance, and which protected us from the cold and piercing north wind. captain norton never allowed himself to sit down, because he was convinced, so weak as he was, and nearly worn out, if he should yield to the promptings of his almost exhausted body, and sit down, he would never rise up again; and therefore he continued on his feet, and moving about from place to place. he warned his companions again and again, if they valued life, not to think of finding rest by sitting down, or seeking repose in any manner; if they should, death would shortly ensue. there was "but a step between us and death." yet, notwithstanding the entreaties, persuasions, and warnings of captain norton, another one was observed to falter and disposed to sit down. being but a short distance from him, we perceived he made no effort to eat his biscuit, and also exhibited that singular dulness and stupidity which are the silent and stealthy precursors of the sleep of death. he was then sitting down in an easy and natural posture. the captain spoke to him several times; but he gave no answer, nor made any movement of any kind. he went to him immediately, though he was not twelve feet distant, to ascertain the cause, and found what we greatly feared; alas! the poor fellow's eyes were set, his limbs were rigid, the piece of biscuit was still in his hand. he was frozen to death; his mortal life had fled; his spirit had gone to god, who gave it! in the winding sheet of drifting snow we let him remain. what a scene that was to us! we were struggling for life amid elements of destruction such as but few of our countrymen ever witnessed, and, we trust, never will. only two of us were now left to pursue our sad, and in some respects almost hopeless, journey. it seems quite incredible that we should have had any courage to make another effort in struggling forward, after what we had just witnessed, and that, at once, we should not have surrendered ourselves to the fate which appeared to follow and surround us. the captain said to cox, his only remaining companion, "the best foot forward now, or we shall be left out here; and to be out one more night, we are gone." having traveled two or three miles, as we should judge, from the place where our shipmate died, we discovered something in the distance, from one to two miles, skimming along apparently on the ice, which at first had the appearance of a flock of crows. cox said to the captain, "the crows have come for us already." but upon further inspection, and the object approaching nearer, it turned out to be four or five dog teams, with three of mr. fisher's party and a number of natives, bound back to the settlement to let their companions know that they had found good quarters, and also to bring some of them away with them. this was cheering news indeed--cheering because mr. fisher and his party were alive, cheering because it revived our desponding spirits, and infused new hope into our minds that permanent help was not far off. those who accompanied the natives with the dog teams saw at once how nearly exhausted the captain and cox were, but yet the natives were unwilling to take them to the nearest settlement. and, besides, there would have been as great danger, and perhaps even greater, for us to have ridden on the supposition that the natives had been disposed to carry us, than for us to have walked. we should have been chilled to death, if we had remained still or quiet, in a very short time. the direction to the nearest settlement on the coast was pointed out to us; and we were put upon the track made by the dog teams, and told that the distance to it was six or eight miles. the captain told cox, "we must reach the place before dark; the last effort must now be put forth--the best foot forward." it was now about twelve o'clock, m. we started in the direction of the huts, and traveled on as fast as we could, though at the best very slow. the snow was deep, and hard to travel. all the mental and physical energy which we possessed was called into requisition to aid us in reaching a resting place before night. it was our last exertion. it was indeed a merciful providence that we happened to meet our friends and the natives, otherwise, beyond a reasonable doubt, we should have perished; but meeting them, however, we received great encouragement to our minds, and, furthermore, knew for a certainty the direction and about the distance of the huts. without such a stimulus as this, and just the one we needed,--for our lives were suspended upon it,--our last resting place on earth would have been made amid the drifting snows of the arctic. with severe labor and painful exertion, we finally reached the settlement just at night. before we saw the huts, which were concealed from our view by banks of snow, we were heralded by the barking of the dogs. we knew, therefore, that we were near the abode of human beings. the sound fell on our ears ten thousand times more sweetly than the music of an Æolian harp. but we hardly knew how we were carried through the last part of our journey. strength was given to us by the great father of all. it was of the lord's mercies that we did not yield to final despondency, and utterly despair of ever beholding the countenances of our friends again. hope and heart were in the ascendant; if they had once fallen, all would have been over with us. sometimes we crawled along on our hands and knees; at other times we would fall down, both upon the right hand and upon the left, and it seemed to us that we could not rise; and then, again, we would get up and struggle on. in this manner we traveled miles, and especially the last part of the way. indeed, our feet had become dreadfully inflamed, and large blisters had formed on the sides of them, which made the labor of walking exceedingly and distressingly difficult. captain norton was so completely overcome and exhausted when he reached the hut, that he fell prostrate upon the floor, unable to advance one step farther, and lay almost senseless. not only were our feet inflamed and blistered in the most shocking manner, but our clothes were stiff with frost in consequence of perspiration, by our extraordinary efforts to reach the settlement before night. we were treated with great kindness by the natives; our stiff and frosty clothes were soon exchanged for dry ones. after a season of rest, a good supper was prepared for us, consisting of walrus blubber, deer meat, and "ice cream" made of the fat of the deer mixed with snow. [illustration: whales raised.] chapter ix. mr. fisher's party a short distance from this settlement.--next day left for another settlement.--our men arriving in small companies.--health improving.--cross the river.--no signs of water.--settlement.--ham.--the wreck of a new bedford ship.--when lost, and the circumstances.--travel to another settlement.--the head man a savage fellow.--traveling towards east cape.--seaboard route.--natives kind.--begging by the way.--the whale boat.--the broadside of a ship.--ship in the ice.--drift stuff.--sun's reflection.--sore eyes.-- snow blindness.--the blind led with strings.--partial remedy. --east cape reached.--cordially received by the natives. the night upon which we arrived at the settlement, we learned that mr. fisher was only a short distance from us, perhaps four or six miles. mr. f. heard also by the natives that some of his countrymen had arrived at the settlement below. the next day we were exceedingly sore and tired, not only indisposed to move, but quite unable so to do. mr. fisher, however, having come with several dog teams, accompanied by the natives, in order to carry us to his settlement, persuaded us to go with him, assuring us that he found first rate fare. we accordingly went with him. this place was called calushelia, a small settlement upon the seaboard west by north from east river. we remained about twenty days in this settlement, in company with mr. fisher and his party. we were now, so far as we could judge, about seventy miles south-east of the place where our ship was wrecked. since communication was now fairly open between this settlement and the place where we spent the first part of the winter, and since it was known that intermediate huts were scattered along in this direction, our men began to arrive in small companies of four or five, as they could thus be better accommodated by the way than in larger numbers. a few weeks only had passed away before there was a very perceptible improvement in the general health of all of us. at this time, two thirds of our entire company had arrived. we thought it advisable, as soon as expedient, to form another party, and proceed still farther towards the south in the direction of east cape. accordingly, the captain, with fisher, osborn, blackadore, norton, and three others, crossed the river on the ice; the river was just south of us. on both sides of the mouth of this river there were native huts. where the river discharges its waters into the sea or ocean, it is quite wide, having the appearance of a capacious bay. the river flows towards the north. at this time, which was in march, we could discover no signs of water either in the river or in the ocean. both were strongly bound in chains of almost perennial ice. having passed over this river, we found a temporary shelter and cordial reception in another settlement. here we remained a number of days, in consequence of a heavy fall of snow and a severe gale of wind. it being now towards the middle of march, we could plainly perceive a change in the atmosphere. it is true, we were farther south, which made some difference in the temperature; but the air had lost much of that sharp and piercing sensation which we felt in the winter, and which is experienced, we believe, only in this part of the earth's surface. much to our surprise and pleasure, during our abode in this settlement, we were served with ham--a new article of food indeed to us, though we had not a great deal of it, still a most agreeable exchange, if only for one meal, in the place of whale and walrus blubber. we ascertained that these hams were taken from the wreck of the ship bramin, of new bedford, by the natives. this ship, as we afterwards learned, came into collision with another ship off the mouth of east river, during the same gale in which the citizen was lost. it appeared she was abandoned by her officers and crew, who effected their escape on board of the accompanying ship. in the concussion which took place her foremast was carried away and otherwise seriously damaged; besides, being near to land, and on a lee shore, it was impossible to save her. from the position in which we found a portion of her remains, it seemed that, after she was abandoned, she must have beat over a ledge of rocks that stretches across the mouth of the river, and by the force of the gale driven up the river to the distance of nearly ten miles. we visited the wreck with the natives, who directed us to the spot. we saw a part of her quarter deck, with the ice piled up around it. we saw, also, upon the shore, close by, some of her timbers and broken casks partly covered up with huge masses and blocks of ice. it was doubtless the report of this wreck which reached us in our winter quarters. but how far it was east of us, or the circumstances attending the wreck, how many were saved or lost, or whether all were lost, we obtained no satisfactory information from the natives at that time. nor did those natives who went with us to the wreck know any thing about the fate of the crew. as they had never seen any of them, nor heard of their being in any of the settlements near by, we naturally inferred that all on board were lost, or that they were immediately taken off of the wreck or from the shore by some accompanying ship. the night before we left this settlement, and where we were well used, another party of our men arrived. we passed on to another collection of huts, about fifteen in number. the head man of this settlement, and in whose hut we happened to stop, was one of the most crabbed, savage-like fellows with whom we had met in all our past acquaintance with native life. he appeared to take real delight and satisfaction in degrading and mortifying us all he could. he would cut the meat or blubber, whatever it might be, into small pieces, and reach them to us on the end of a stick, for us to take them, or bite them off as a dog. indeed, we were treated by him in the same line of courtesy as he treated his dogs. we quietly submitted to all manner of such ill behavior on his part, simply for the sake of peace and safety. we were completely in his power, and he could use us as he saw fit; and the least we said about it the better. this head man was an exception to all whom we saw among the natives for real ugliness. he was a regular savage. we were glad to be off. we shortly left this settlement, and passed on towards east cape, following the direction of the sea coast, which from the river is nearly, as laid down in the chart, in the form of a half circle. we observed that the huts and settlements increased as we came farther south; and sometimes, in course of a day or two, we would pass through several small settlements. when we became wearied and exhausted by traveling, though it was difficult to make very rapid progress in the snow, or when we were hungry, we would stop, rest ourselves, get some blubber to eat, and then travel on again. generally we found the natives ready and willing to help us with what they had. we had nothing to give them in return. we were a company of beggars. they saw our destitution and poverty, and therefore their kindness to us must be attributed to the dictates of human sympathy or pity, which in some way or other shows itself in the most barbarous and uncivilized forms of society. in our journey upon the coast, we discovered a new whale boat, which the natives had probably drawn out of the reach of the water and ice. we saw, also, the broadside of a ship in the ice near the shore, supposed to be lost the season before. another ship was reported to have been seen by some of our party in the ice, some distance from the land, with her masts still standing. there were tracks in that direction in the snow upon the ice, which showed that the natives had been to her with their dog teams. as we passed along, we saw considerable drift stuff, such as wood, broken casks, &c. we continued on in our course on the coast mostly, finding huts from time to time, in which we obtained provisions for our present necessities, until we came within thirty or forty miles of east cape, or about half the distance between the river and the cape. as the spring advanced, the sun was constantly attaining a higher altitude--not only imparting some additional heat, but its rays were powerfully reflected from one dense, unbroken surface of ice and snow, which every where met the eye of the beholder. a new misfortune now assailed us in the form of sore eyes, or snow blindness, which caused intense pain in them, besides being much swollen. all light, especially bright light, became exceedingly distressing to us. we therefore were compelled to suspend our traveling in a great measure during the middle of the day, and took the morning and afternoon, and even the night time, as more agreeable to our diseased eyes. our eyes were in such a sad condition that we could not endure the powerful and brilliant reflection of the sunlight upon snow of sparkling and perfect whiteness. while the eyes of all of us were very sore and much swollen, some of our number were so blind that they could not see any thing for several days. we were very anxious to complete our journey to east cape. those, therefore, who could see, and were more fortunate in this particular than others, led along those who were blind with the aid of strings. one or two would take hold of the string, and another would guide them. thus we worked along for miles in deep snows, through narrow paths, up hills and down declivities, over broken ice, now and then pitching into some cavity concealed by the snow. in this manner we who could see, though our eyes were highly inflamed, led those who could not, both by the hand and with the aid of strings or walrus cord. it was slow and tedious traveling, it is true; yet every mile we gained in the direction of east cape we felt was bringing us nearer to deliverance. all were animated with the desire to reach this goal of our highest earthly hopes. and hence, notwithstanding the many obstructions which impeded our course, still with perseverance and unyielding purpose we pressed on our way. when our eyes were in their worst state, we were compelled to suspend our travels altogether; and when they were better, then we started again, and again led each other with strings, until sight returned to all. the remedy resorted to in order to cure our eyes was that prescribed by the natives, and which they invariably employ, with considerable success, in the removal of this disease, to which they are subject. some of us will carry the scars to our graves. an incision was made in the fleshy part of the nose, between the eyes, by a sharp-pointed knife or some other instrument. the effect of this treatment was, that by letting out a small quantity of blood, it reduced the inflammation in our eyes. we reached the long looked for and wished for east cape on the th day of march, just six months after we were cast away. we would, therefore, as we review the past,--its scenes of danger, exposure, and suffering amid the intensest cold and death-bearing winds of an arctic winter,--gratefully acknowledge the special watchcare of a benignant providence, which has protected us until the present hour. having arrived at east cape, we were received by the natives with the most cordial welcome. they had heard before we came that a company of shipwrecked mariners was on their way down the coast; and, still further, the report of the wreck, and the uncommon circumstance of so great a number of men having lived with the natives for so many months, had even extended several hundred miles south of east cape. the natives in this settlement expressed great joy in seeing captain norton, whom they had known before, and with whom they had traded. arrangements were made by the head man of the settlement to provide for all the company as they should come along, in small parties, from time to time. here, also, we were provided with some new native clothes, such as coats and pants, moccasons and caps. chapter x. east cape, a point of observation.--the greater part of our men gathered here.--the _kanaka_.--weather softening.--ice still firm.--arctic scenes.--icequakes.--migratory fowl. --a whale discovered.--gala time among the natives.--the natives thorough drinkers.--a drunken "spree."--cruise into the country.--birds-egging.--incidents.--native manner of killing fowl.--amusements of the natives.--vegetation.-- face of the country.--fish.--fowl.--the ochotsk sea and country. we had now reached nearly or quite the end of our journey; at least we had attained one of the great objects of our desires and exertions. it was from this place as a point of observation, that most, if not all, the ships passing into the arctic ocean on the breaking up of the ice could be seen; and hence this place was the most suitable locality, from which we could be easily taken off. while the greater part of our company remained at this place, one party of our number, consisting of six or seven, passed down the coast some considerable distance, perhaps twenty miles or more; and another party of four took up their abode at a less distance. our purpose, and, indeed, the chief one we had in view, was that, in thus distributing ourselves along on the coast, we should be more likely to see and notify any ship or ships that might by chance be early upon the coast, as to the locality and condition of the citizen's officers and crew. at this time, which was the first of april, all of the ship's company that had survived the horrors of an arctic winter were at east cape, and at places just south of it, except one poor _kanaka_, who, in consequence of frozen feet, was unable to travel with the rest of us, and was therefore left behind about one hundred miles among the natives. the weather was now softening very perceptibly, though there appeared to be but little diminution of ice and snow. the ocean was not yet broken up, but presented one immovable body of granite ice. those who are familiar with arctic scenes well remember the report of concussions between huge masses and blocks of ice, the hoarse and dismal chafings between contending pieces, and their violent agitation by the action of a heavy swell, or winds, or currents; at such times it seemed as if the fabled giants or gods of mythology were engaged in some fierce and terrible encounter. but now, while the ocean was frozen over with an incrustation like one of the strata of the earth's surface, we were frequently startled at the deep and prolonged sounds, or rumblings, falling upon our ears like peals of thunder, or discharges of cannon from this sea of solid ice; and then their varied echoes and reverberations would roll away in the distance, forming a most sublime _finale_ to the music of an arctic winter. these icequakes, as we might properly call them, at the north, may be placed in the same chapter with earthquakes, exhibiting on a scale of astonishing magnitude and inconceivable energy the throes of nature. fogs began to prevail, and so dense that we could discover an object only a very short distance from us; and besides, so saturating that they were equivalent to rain. in the months of october and november, various species of birds and sea fowl, with the exception of the crow, which is a permanent fixture in all climates and regions, migrate to the south. in the months of april, may, and june, they return again in immense numbers, beyond all calculation. the air seemed to be alive with the feathered tribe. the last part of april and the first of may, the snow began to waste away, and objects which had for months been concealed were now made visible. it was about this time that an incident occurred which created great delight in the minds of the natives. the thawing away of the snow had revealed to their rejoicing eyes a dead whale, which was found three or four miles distant from the settlement. it was probably driven ashore the season before, and thus preserved in the snow and ice. it was a gala time with these simple-hearted and ignorant people. all that could go--men, women, and children, hastened to the dead whale for the purpose of cutting blubber. it furnished a fresh stock of provisions for them; a new bite, far better, we presume, than the old, which had become not only reduced, but rather stale. nor did we fail of receiving our supply from this newly-cut blubber. it was deeply interesting, as well as amusing, to witness the zeal of the natives in cutting up the whale, and sledding home the blubber with their dog teams. this was a valuable prize to them, and the staff of life. as we remarked before in the former part of this narrative, at the time of our visiting the wreck with the natives, they were very inquisitive to know whether we had any thing to drink which would make them dance and sing, and such like. from their gestures, words, and actions, we knew they meant _rum_. in addition to our previous knowledge of their habits in this particular, our further acquaintance with them, for half a year or more, confirmed us in the opinion that they loved ardent spirits, and whenever and wherever they could get it, they would drink to excess. we found they were no half-hearted, occasional, genteel drinkers. they had no idea of making a quantity of spirits continue its enlivening and kicking effects through several days and weeks; but they wanted, and they would have, if furnished with the means, one grand "_burst up_," one tremendous "_spree_," and that would end it for the present, until the next supply could be obtained. they went on the principle that many others tolerate, "they could not have too much of a good thing." some spirits had been brought to the settlement, obtained probably by way of traffic from other tribes in the interior, on the borders of the ochotsk sea. when the "fire water" arrived at the settlement, it happened to be in the night time; and before much, if any, of it was drunk, the head man came to captain norton, called him up, and wanted he should "take a little," as a token of his respect for the captain, as was supposed. by morning, many of the natives who had drank to excess were laid away as those who belong to the class of quiet ones; but others were noisy, confident, and brave--full of their gabble-- rich--possessing the whole creation, and a little more. under these circumstances they endeavored to display their agility and strength, and perform wonderful feats; such, for instance, as climbing the pole in the hut. this the head man attempted to do, who was, as we should judge, "three quarters over," and after repeated efforts succeeded in climbing up the pole six or eight feet. his wife, being actuated by the same impulse, concluded she would follow her husband, and climb up after him. this she did, and had got up only a few feet, when her husband's strength, under these circumstances more quickly developed than lasting, gave out; and yielding to the simple force of gravity which he could not well resist, came down upon the head and shoulders of his wife; and by his accelerated momentum both were brought to the ground in double compound confusion, to the great merriment of those of us who were looking on and observing the progress of the scene. it was one of the most laughable incidents we ever witnessed in our lives. again, the natives would display, in the most boisterous manner, their skill in harpooning or lancing the whale, or walrus, and thus brandish their weapons with uplifted arms, as if they were about to strike their prey. one of this class was so stimulated with alcoholic strength and courage, that suiting his action to the word or impulse, he threw his spear with all his might into the broadside of one of the huts, and it passed within a short distance of the captain's head. he at once concluded it was time for him to seek a place of safety a little farther off, out of the reach of such dangerous missiles thrown by irresponsible hands. he was careful, however, as it was necessary for our protection, not to exhibit any signs of fear in their presence. they had a regular, thorough-going drunken time. allow us to say, that _excessive_, _moderate_, or _occasional_ drinking of alcoholic stimulants from love to the "dear creature," makes fools not only of the poor natives inhabiting the shores of the arctic, but also fools, and greater ones too, of those dwelling in the more civilized, and even christianized, portions of the earth. in the month of may captain norton took a short cruise into the interior, about one hundred miles, with the head man and several others, accompanied by their dog teams. the settlement he visited was called _souchou_. the principal food among the natives there was deer meat. articles of traffic carried from the coast were whalebone, whale, walrus, and seal's blubber; in return the natives bring to the coast deer meat, tobacco, spirits, &c. in order to while away our time at east cape before ships would make their appearance, or the ice break up, we would frequently go bird's-egging. the cliffs facing the ocean were high and steep, and various kinds of birds would make their nests and lay their eggs in the crevices and holes of the rocks. no one could ascend them unaided from the bottom, nor would any one dare descend them from the top of the cliff. we would, therefore, lower down one and another from the top by means of ropes, or walrus cord, fastened around his body; with this precaution, he could penetrate into recesses in the cliff, and obtain as many eggs as were wanted, and then those at the top would draw him up again. this exercise furnished a source of amusement, emulation, and personal daring; and the last, though not the least, the eggs thus obtained gave an agreeable variety to our "bill of fare." one incident occurred which came near having a sad termination. mr. osborn fell down a steep declivity ten feet or more, and in his descent he happened to strike a narrow, shelving piece of rock, "just large enough," he said, "to stand upon," which saved him from instant death. the distance below him was more than one hundred and fifty feet. the orkney islands are a famous resort for fowls, which build their nests in the caverns of perpendicular cliffs; and individuals obtain eggs in those places in the manner before described, by letting down one and another from the top of the cliff by means of ropes. a writer remarks, "i have heard of an individual, who, either from choice or necessity, was accustomed to go alone on these expeditions; supplying the want of confederates above by firmly planting a stout iron bar in the earth, from which he lowered himself. one day, having found a cavern, he imprudently disengaged the rope from his body, and entered the cave with the end of it in his hand. in the eagerness of collecting eggs, however, he slipped his hold of the rope, which immediately swung out several yards beyond his reach. the poor man was struck with horror; no soul was within hearing, nor was it possible to make his voice heard in such a position; the edge of the cliff so projected that he never could be seen from the top, even if any one were to look for him; death seemed inevitable, and he felt the hopelessness of his situation. he remained many hours in a state bordering on stupefaction; at length he resolved to make one effort, which, if unsuccessful, must be fatal. having commended himself to god, he rushed to the margin of the cave, and sprang into the air, providentially succeeded in grasping the pendulous rope, and was saved." june had now come, with no very particular incident in the monotony of hut life, except, perhaps, that of increased earnestness and desire to behold once more the sail of a friendly vessel, and once more to tread her decks. as the time approached when we should realize such an event, hours seemed days, and weeks months. we visited again and again the high eminence on east cape, where we had a commanding view of the ocean, to see if there was any immediate prospect of the ice breaking up and drifting away. [illustration: lowering for whales.] the manner of killing ducks and other fowl practiced by the natives. in migrating either to the north or south, ducks and other fowl usually fly in large flocks, and generally very low. in order to kill the greatest number, the natives would station themselves at one end of a valley, near the bottom of it; and, if possible, they would conceal themselves from the ducks behind little hillocks. or if at the termination of a valley there should be a precipitous descent of several feet, the natives would be sure to take their position in such a locality. the fowl usually flew along in valleys running north and south. thus stationed, with neither guns, bows, nor arrows, but with a number of small balls in their hands, connected with each other by strings from twelve to eighteen inches in length, they await the approach of their game. when the fowl are sufficiently near for their purpose, the natives rise up, and throw, with singular force and precision, these balls at the flock of passing ducks. at first, when these balls leave their hands, they are all together and compact; but with increasing distance, they will open and spread themselves to the extent of the strings by which they are tied together, and, by the time they get into the midst of the flock, they are fully extended; and then these balls, meeting with resistance, will twist around the necks, legs, and wings of the fowl, and bring them to the ground. the ducks are killed by the natives, not by cutting off their heads, or breaking their necks, but by pressing the foot upon them until they cease to breathe. amusements among the natives. dog races are favorite amusements among the natives. their chief emulation appeared to be, who should possess the best dog team. he who beat in a race of several miles obtained a number of fathoms of walrus cord. these dog teams would sometimes contain as many as twenty dogs. at the time of a race, in which all the settlement was greatly interested, the head man would make a feast, and the most important article on the occasion would be seals' heads; and for some purpose, which they understood better than we did, they would put coals of fire, or brands, in the mouths of these heads. there was another kind of amusement in which they at times engaged. a circle was formed from twenty-five to fifty feet in diameter, and in this circle any number who chose might enter, and then commenced the race. he who could run the longest, and thus tire the others out, obtained the prize, whatever it might be. the head man of the settlement would sometimes get up a _woman's_ race, and they would run the distance with the greatest fleetness. she who won in the race secured beads, needles, combs, &c. probably the most exciting of all their amusements was that of jumping. a large walrus skin was prepared with holes made in the border of it, as near as possible for the men to stand side by side, taking hold of the skin, lifting it up a foot and a half from the ground, and drawing it tight. an individual who wished to try his or her skill in jumping would get upon this skin. by his exertion, and that of the men who held up the skin, he would jump to a great height; and as he came down, he would meet the upward motion of the skin, which would cause a sudden rebound to the jumper. this process would continue until the individual who was trying his skill in jumping was brought down upon his knees, and then there would be a great shout and laughter. another would then take his place upon the skin. this amusement was shared in mutually, both by men and women. occasionally we would try our skill in jumping. those most expert among the natives, and especially among the women, would for a long time maintain their standing upon their feet, notwithstanding the efforts of those who held the skin to get them down upon their knees. vegetation. of vegetation in the arctic region we can say but little. in the valleys, and along shore, there was a variety of coarse grass. the entire region being destitute of wood, and almost of every species of shrubbery that could really be called such, the soil consequently was exceedingly barren of vines, plants, or flowers. there were, however, a few flowering plants which made their appearance in the transient summer allotted to them. the rocks were covered with coarse moss, and wherever the sun melted away the snow from the hill sides, or plains, or valleys, a small vine would start into life; this vine afforded, as has before been observed, the only bread of the natives. we never learned that the natives north of east cape ever attempted to plant any seed, or to raise any kind of vegetables. the face of the country. the shores of the arctic are bold and rocky, and bordered with high, frowning cliffs. as far as the eye could extend in an inland direction, snow-capped peaks, and finally lofty mountain ranges, filled the whole field of vision. fish. besides the whale, which is the sovereign of those seas, there are seals, walruses, sharks, narwhal, cod, salmon, &c. fowl. geese and ducks are abundant, besides a great variety of other water-fowl. the country bordering on the ochotsk sea, a place visited by hundreds of whalemen, presents a scenery in some respects quite different from that of the arctic. while the surface of the country is uneven, interspersed with hills, valleys, and mountains, yet it is quite well wooded, especially on the seaboard. as far north as ° we have found patches of potatoes, turnips, barley, &c. as soon as the snow leaves the earth, numberless wild flowers of every hue and color, and some of them very odorous, immediately start into life and beauty, and adorn both the valley and hill side. and what is most remarkable in the multitude of flowers which follow the line of retreating frost and snow, we find in nature, as in opposite and antagonistical views and principles, that extremes meet. vegetation here in this region thrives with the greatest possible rapidity. it seems sometimes to put on the air even of romance, or fiction. one season we were in the ochotsk sea, which was the th of june, and then we found the country covered with snow; but in less than ten days from that time, the forests were leaved out, and every thing wore the dress of summer. on the shores of the sea in different localities, we found growing in great profusion, berries of various sorts, such as whortleberry, cranberry, blackberry, mossberry, &c. we found in the ochotsk sea, besides the whale, salmon, trout, cod, eels, butts, and flounders. in addition to large sea fowl, which were very numerous, an immense number of little birds swarmed the air, some of them of beautiful plumage, and excelling in melodious notes. many of them were so tame that they would light upon the ship's rigging and yards, and even descend to the deck to pick up crumbs, or little particles of food. chapter xi. the ocean still frozen over on the d of june.--on the th the ice began to break up.--whales appear.--walrus follow the ice.--daily looking for ships.--report of our wreck five hundred miles below east cape.--method of sending news by the natives.--ships notified of our condition.--how.-- the resolution of captains jernegan and goosman.--arrival of two ships off east cape.--natives first spy them.--stir in the settlement.--happy day of deliverance.--words feeble to express our joy.--a fit occasion for gratitude and thanks to god.--preparations to go on board.--the welcome of captain goosman.--captain norton with captain jernegan.--crew collected.--changed our native for sailor dress.--liberality of the officers and crews in furnishing clothes.--a review of the past.--the settlement visited.--dinner.--arrival at the islands.--a card. on the d of june, every thing, so far as the eye could reach, remained the same upon the ocean as in midwinter; and, to appearance, there was no immediate prospect that the ice would break up for some time to come. on the th, however, only two days afterwards, vast masses of ice had left the ocean, water appeared in every direction, though the shore along the coast was piled up with immense blocks and sheets of ice; and in the distance we could clearly perceive varied elevations of icebergs, differing in dimensions and form, scattered here and there upon the surface of the water. the scene presented to our view was that of an awful wreck or convulsion in nature, while those stupendous fragments exhibited the force and energy which had been displayed. the next day, the th, we saw whales close in to the edge of the ice on shore; they remained in the vicinity several days, and then went south again, or to some other part of the ocean, as we supposed, for their food. the ice having left this region more suddenly than common, greatly disappointed the usual expectations of the natives in taking a large number of walrus, which are highly prized among them. they serve about the same purpose with them as the reindeer does to the laplander. the walrus follow the ice; and they are usually found in great abundance among it, and especially upon the edges of extensive tracts both of floating and field ice. after the ice had passed away, and the ocean was once more free from the embargo which winter had laid upon it, we anxiously and daily looked for some approaching sail. we knew that arctic whalemen would soon be along, and pressing their way up towards higher latitudes, an open sea would invite them to secure a profitable season's work. we afterwards ascertained that intelligence of our condition had been carried down the coast full five hundred miles below or south of east cape, and that the ships which first touched upon the coast were made acquainted with the fact of the citizen's wreck, and that her officers and crew were among the natives. captain newal, of the ship copia, was the first one who heard of the fate of the citizen. the method by which the news of the ship's disaster, and the condition of her crew, was conveyed down the coast, is at once striking and significant. tracts, those little messengers of truth, become oftentimes the appointed vehicles both of temporal and spiritual blessings. tracts were found in several huts of the natives, carried thither, we suppose, by seamen; and with the exception of pieces of copper, they were all that could be written upon, and thus the only reliable means of communication. from the first, therefore, the captain and his officers availed themselves of this instrumentality; and, whenever they found a leaf of a book or a tract, or a piece of copper, if opportunity occurred, they would send it down the coast by the natives, carefully enclosed in a piece of walrus or deer skin, giving some account of the shipwreck, officers, and crew, and where they could be found. we hoped by this means that the news of our condition would, sooner or later, reach the ear of some navigator early on the coast, and thus bring to pass a more speedy deliverance. in this, as the sequel will show, we were not disappointed. the natives had no idea of written language; and, believing that something of great importance was marked upon either the paper or copper, or both, they preserved it with the greatest care, and almost with superstitious reverence. they had an impression that we could converse with our countrymen and absent friends in this way, which was true; but what they supposed was, that we could talk to them at any time by those mysterious marks. and hence they frequently urged us to speak to them, and obtain some assistance from them, or that they might send some aid to us. mr. reoy, one of our company, was the first to get on board of a ship,--the bartholomew gosnold,--he being down some two hundred miles below east cape. he therefore gave immediate information as to the locality of the officers and crew of the citizen. about this time there were five ships at or near indian point, working their way towards the north through the floating ice. the news of the shipwreck was brought to these ships by the natives, bearing in their hands tracts and pieces of copper, written upon by the captain and his officers, stating the wreck, where the company could be found, and their earnest desire to be taken off. the natives approached the ships, lying off a short distance from the shore, holding up in their hands those mysterious parchments, in order to attract the attention of those on board. the story was soon told. the tracts and pieces of copper at once removed all uncertainty which had for months surrounded the fate of the citizen and the condition of her officers and crew. the announcement that so many fellow-seamen were still in the land of the living; that they had survived the rigors of an arctic winter; that they were not far up the coast,--less than a day's sail,--and that they were anxiously and hourly looking and waiting for approaching ships, was enough to stir the deepest sympathies of every mariner's heart. with the least possible delay, being impelled not only by a sense of duty, but actuated by the most generous and philanthropic sentiments and emotions, captain jernegan, of the ship niger, and captain goosman, of the ship joseph hayden, left immediately to secure the unfortunate ones on east cape, firmly resolving, like true sons of the ocean, "we will have them on board before to-morrow night." this was early in the morning. they were distant from east cape more than fifty miles. with a favoring wind, and success attending their efforts in getting through the drifting ice, they reached the cape next day, about two o'clock in the morning, only a few miles in the offing, and in sight of the settlement. the natives were the first to spy the ships, and one immediately rushed in and informed captain norton they had come. though it was an event which we all had long looked for and earnestly desired, and time indeed had rolled heavily on its wheels in bringing the happy day of deliverance, yet when it was announced to us, we could hardly believe it. somehow or other, having been so long inured to disappointment, we felt for the moment it was too much and too good news to credit. the native who informed the captain at this time had several times before told him that ships were coming, but which proved false. he was therefore inclined to give but partial credit to his statement now. the native came again and again to the captain with the same report, and manifested so much earnestness and interest that the captain said to mr. osborn, who was near him, "there must be something in this fellow's statement; get up, and see if it is so." besides, there was increasing stir, loud talk, and running hither and thither in the settlement--all of which convinced the doubtful that the ships were indeed in sight, and that the joyous day of deliverance had surely arrived. well, we went out of the settlement to see, and it was too true to doubt any longer; the ships were in sight, and standing in towards the land. by this time every man in our company had been aroused, and was on the lookout; and the natives also seemed to partake of the common joy in anticipation of our deliverance being so near. how feeble are words to express the emotions of gratitude and joy that thrilled through every mind! if tears of sorrow had been shed in months past over prolonged disappointment and subsequent suffering,--if our spirits had become hardened by repeated misfortunes and deprivations, which no language can depict,--tears now fell, prompted by far different feelings; our hearts were no longer indurate, but dissolved like water; and every countenance gave expressions of joyous and exhilarating hope. what a fit occasion was this for a most hearty and unanimous recognition from all our company of profound gratitude to god that so many of us had been thus far preserved, and were now indulging in the animating prospect of seeing our native homes, relatives, and friends once more! the god of heaven and earth should in this manner be honored and glorified in the presence of pagans, and thus put to silence their vain and imaginary superstitions. indeed, one of our number was so deeply affected and overcome with the sight before him, and prompted by a sense of the deliverance which a merciful providence was working out for him and his companions, that he fell upon his knees and blessed the lord that he was permitted "to see once more another ship under sail." [illustration: two ships near shore.] the two ships that were in sight, and approaching land, were the niger, captain jernegan, and the joseph hayden, captain goosman. preparations were now made, in the most expeditious manner possible, to go on board. the canoes of the natives were got ready; but before any thing could be done towards carrying us to the ships, they first made a fire in the boats in order to drive out the evil one; and then, that we might not pollute their boats, some "ice cream"--deer fat and snow--must be given to them to eat, as they supposed. thus reasoned the natives. soon, however, we were on our way to the ships. most gladly we turned away our eyes from the shore, and turned them towards our better home on the deep. the ship which was the nearer of the two to the shore, and on board of which captain norton and his officers first went, was the joseph hayden. when captain norton landed on deck, dressed in native costume, unshorn, and uncouth in appearance, as all were, captain goosman asked, as well he might, and as any other one would, "is this _norton_, captain of the citizen?" he replied, "he used to be, and probably was now." captain goosman then embraced him in true sailor fashion, and cordially welcomed him and his officers to the hospitalities of his ship. in a few days, nearly all of our number were collected from the different settlements, and divided between the two ships. captain norton, being a fellow-townsman and formerly a schoolmate with captain jernegan, felt disposed, from this previous acquaintance, to take up his abode on board of the niger. every facility and comfort the ship afforded was most cheerfully offered by captain jernegan to captain norton and those of his officers on board with him. we soon exchanged the burdensome and unwieldy deer-skin clothes, which had so long identified us with arctic natives and arctic life, for the lighter and more agreeable dress of the sailor. in supplying our company with such articles of clothing as we needed, (indeed, we were absolutely destitute, having nothing but what we stood in,) the officers and sailors of the respective ships most generously contributed to relieve our present necessities. they rejoiced in the opportunity of effecting the deliverance of their fellow shipwrecked mariners, and considered it one of the most joyous events in their lives that they had done something towards augmenting the sum of human happiness, and thus becoming the means of kindling anew, in many minds, aspirations and hopes which had well nigh become extinguished. thus, after a series of sufferings and painful reminiscences,--the loss of our ship, with five of our number at the time of the wreck, and one frozen to death while traveling,--having experienced the dreadful rigors of a northern winter and life among the natives, amid untold filthiness and degradation,--shut out from the hearing and company of friends and the whole civilized world,--after nine months and eight days, on the th of july, , we found ourselves safe and happy on the decks of friendly vessels, with excellent accommodations, and all that fellow-seamen could do to make us comfortable and contented. * * * * * four or five days after, the two ships above mentioned, with some others, put into east cape. the natives came off in their canoes, as usual, to trade. captain norton, with several masters of ships, went ashore, and visited the settlement where he and his men had lived, and called for dinner at one of the huts. his object was that his friends might have some idea of the manner of cooking, as well as the articles of food, among the natives, and how they prepared dinner. the sight was enough for captain jernegan, who left the hut as soon as possible, while his stomach sought to relieve itself by several involuntary throws! captain norton made some little presents to the natives in consideration of their interest in him and his men during their abode with them. he collected various articles from the ships,--such as needles, combs, tobacco, pipes, &c.,--and distributed them among the boys, girls, fathers, and mothers. they were delighted with these unexpected gifts, and expressed their joy in a great many fantastic ways. the next morning, a violent blow came on, and the niger was obliged to take her anchor, and go to sea. several ships parted their chains. the captain remained on board of the niger most of the season, when an opportunity occurred for him to take passage in the ship helen augusta, captain fales, bound to the islands. this he did, and arrived at honolulu on the th of october, . the officers and crew of the citizen were distributed among the ships in the fleet as their services were needed. the report of the disaster of the citizen, and the rescue of her crew, preceded him, and had already reached the islands before captain norton's arrival. the news was brought by a ship which left the arctic about the middle of the whale season, and touched at san francisco, and from thence was sent to the islands and to the atlantic states, to new bedford, and edgartown. a few weeks after the captain's arrival, eighteen of his former crew had come along in different ships, and were well cared for, as shipwrecked seamen, by the american consul at honolulu. not long after, the officers, and all the crew with the exception of two, had arrived at the islands. it is proper here to state the readiness with which aid was proffered in supplying the necessary wants of the destitute among our number. the shipwreck and nine months in the arctic had left some of our companions absolutely destitute; and when they arrived at the islands, after more than a year's absence at the north, they had but little, if any thing more than in what they stood, or what they had on. there were not wanting, however, kind friends, willing minds, and generous hearts at the islands, both among the citizens of the place and officers of ships in port, who cheerfully rendered immediate aid to the needy and destitute. the following card was published in _the polynesian_ november , :-- "captain thomas h. norton, late of the whaleship citizen, of new bedford, wrecked in the arctic ocean september , , returns his thanks to captain goosman, of the ship joseph hayden, for relief afforded himself and men, in taking them off east cape, and providing them with necessaries when they were destitute. "captain n. would also return his thanks to captain fales, of the helen augusta, captains jernegan, tilton, pierce, and gardner, for many acts of kindness and relief afforded himself and crew. thos. h. norton. nov. , ." having disposed of some oil and provisions which were stored at hilo, captain norton now turned his face towards home, and engaged a passage in the ship harriet hoxie, captain m. passages, however, were freely and cordially offered to him in other ships. before the sailing of the ship, captain stott, of the ship northern light, proposed to captain norton to take his ship for another season, as he himself did not wish to go in her the third season to the north. captain norton had made up his mind, and felt anxious to return home to his family and friends, and reluctant to remain away any longer, since his life had been spared amid so many scenes of trial and suffering through which he had passed. upon further reflection, however, captain norton changed his purpose; and the terms which he named to captain stott being accepted, he concluded he would try his success in the northern light, and, if possible, retrieve his past misfortune. chapter xii. a whaling community.--interest felt for absent ones.--the first intelligence from the whaling fleet.--california mail.-- further news from the islands.--"missing ships."--no report of the citizen.--no letters.--fears as to her safety.--when last spoken with.--either lost or frozen up in the arctic.-- supposed fate of officers and crew.--distressing suspense. --hoping against hope.--prayer answered.--the first intelligence from the citizen.--joy in families.--captain norton's arrival at home, and subsequently the arrival of his officers, belonging to this place. in a community like ours, in which the chief and principal occupation of the male portion of it is in the whale fishery, there is scarcely a family, and perhaps not one, but has some near or more remote relative absent at sea. it is, therefore, by no means surprising that more than ordinary interest should be felt and manifested in behalf of those who "do business upon the great waters." in some towns upon the seaboard, the inhabitants are engaged in other kinds of fishery, such as the cod and mackerel fishery; but from the port of edgartown not a solitary vessel of this description sails. it is wholly whaling, with but few exceptions in case of those who are engaged in the merchant or freighting service, and they sail from other ports. as a general thing, the boys and young men contemplate whaling as chiefly worthy of their emulation and pursuit. it is identified with their first impressions; and subsequent years only tend to deepen those impressions, and ripen them into irrepressible desire and relish for the whaling business. a very large proportion of captains and officers belonging to this place and other parts of the island sail in ships owned principally both in new bedford and fairhaven. indeed, they have contributed in no small degree to the commercial prosperity of those places. it is worthy of remark, however, in passing, just to state that the number of vessels connected with the business of whaling, belonging to this place, has doubled within four years. this shows an active spirit of enterprise which we trust will be largely increased in coming years. the first partial intelligence from the northern whaling fleet usually arrives at home ports some time in the month of october. the early arrival of a ship at the islands, or at some port on the pacific, from the whale ground, furnishes this report as to the general success of whalemen about the middle of the season--whether the "catch" has been good or moderate, very good or deficient. a few scattering letters are also brought by this early means of conveyance, which, being deposited in the mail, soon find their way across the isthmus, into the hands of relatives and friends at home. about this time, solicitude begins to be apparent in the inquiries made respecting absent husbands, sons, relatives, and townsmen, as to the probable results of the "whale season," how the ships have done, and the health and lives of those who are abroad. every california mail will, therefore, for months to come, be looked for with increasing interest, because it may be the bearer either of joy or sorrow to many hearts and family circles. in the month of november, still further intelligence is received from the whaling fleet; previous reports are corrected, and additional ones are given. the first section of the fleet has already arrived at the islands. in the months of december and january, the mail brings still additional news, and more correct than hitherto. the great majority of the ships that intended to touch at the islands on their return from the north are reported at this time. the ordinary vehicles of public intelligence--newspapers and letters, both from the islands and from the pacific coast--unite in announcing the grand rendezvous or arrival of northern whalemen. if, now, there should be ships not included in the late report, and from which no recent letters have been received either by owners or relatives, and those ships not having been spoken with by others, they are specially marked as "missing ships," and serious apprehensions begin to be entertained lest some disaster may have befallen them. the mail in february or march is supposed to bring from the islands and intermediate ports all the reliable information respecting those ships that have arrived during the last four months. therefore a ship not reported now must have either gone to some other port, or never left the northern seas, or been wrecked and lost. this was the case with the ship citizen. there was no account of her arrival at the islands, agreeably to the intention of captain norton on his return from the arctic; his friends at home, therefore, looked for the report of his arrival, if not among the first, certainly among the last. besides, there were neither letters from him or his officers, none to relatives, none to the owners of the ship. other families had heard from absent ones, and were made to rejoice; those interested in the fate of the citizen, however, were filled with sadness and sorrow. the absence of letters was ominous of something fearful and distressing. captain clough spoke with captain norton on the d of september, in the arctic ocean, lat. ° or ° n.; and this was the last and only intelligence from the missing ship. this occurred, as it appeared, only two days before the wreck of the citizen. not having arrived at the islands, nor reported from any other place, the conclusion to which all came was at once reasonable and just--either that the ship was frozen up in the arctic, or cast away on the coast, and her officers and crew, if living, among the natives. reflections of this sort gave confirmation to the worst of fears, and wrought in the minds of relatives and friends, and the community at large, an alternation of some slight hope, on the one hand, that they might after all be safe, and, on the other, the distressing fear that they had completed their last voyage on earth, or perhaps were lingering out a miserable existence amid the rigors of an arctic winter. how little there was upon which to build a favorable hope! how weak and superficial the foundation which engrossing and prevailing apprehensions would not instantly sweep away and scatter to the winds! indeed, whatever conclusions might have been drawn respecting the fate of the citizen, her officers, and crew, how small encouragement there was in the whole field of imaginary probabilities in their favor, to relieve the minds of those at home from the constantly pressing weight of corroding anxiety and distressing solicitude respecting them! uncertainty and suspense with regard to an important event is one of the most trying states of mind in which an individual can be placed. how true this is when the life of some friend appears to be suspended upon the slightest possible contingency! now indications seem auspicious and hopeful; then, again, adverse and threatening symptoms dissipate every cherished anticipation. instances have been recorded in which those who were shipwrecked and threatened with instant death on every side, while the prospect of deliverance was exceedingly small or absolutely cut off, have even desired the approaching crisis, however decisive it might be, whether of life or death, as far less distressing than the dreadful suspense which for hours, and even days, hung over them. for years, until all hope has at length been abandoned, the civilized world, and especially the commercial part of it, was in a state of profound suspense respecting the fate of sir john franklin and his companions, entombed in the arctic. how much sympathy there was felt and expressed for the distinguished lady of the explorer, who was unwilling to withhold any reasonable and even extraordinary efforts for his deliverance while the faintest color of encouragement existed in his favor! wealth was poured out like water; and strong, self-denying, adventurous men started up and volunteered their services to traverse again the inhospitable regions of the north; peradventure they might find some traces of the explorers, whether living or dead. through scores of months of hope and fear, distracting anxiety and painful apprehensions, she suffered for her husband a thousand times more than the certainty which his death would have caused. it was precisely this state of mind which excited and agitated many families in edgartown in relation to the uncertainty which surrounded the fate of the citizen and those who sailed in her. there was a remote, and yet very slender clinging to a bare possibility that they might be among the living; but at the same time, as if to extinguish every spark of hope, the imagination could hardly picture or conceive a condition in which they could live in the arctic regions. while "hoping against hope," and even beyond it, because hope is the only preservative against despair, yet it seemed as if forlornness stood ready to mock the fugitive idea that it could be well with them. thus more than twelve months rolled their rounds, and no ray of light was shed upon this dark event of providence. how many times the relatives met to talk over this common affliction and calamity! to mingle together their sympathies, for adversity binds kindred hearts! to send up united desires to god that deliverance in some way which they knew not, but which infinite wisdom only knew, might be wrought out for the husband, and sons, and brothers, if still in being! if meetings and partings, however, brought no outward, substantial relief, nor removed in the least degree the same appalling uncertainty which enshrouded the future, this great truth they learned in many sleepless nights, and tedious days, weeks, and months--that they should "trust in god," and stay themselves upon his mighty hand. not only was private prayer offered to him whose ear is ever attentive, who knows and records the pleadings of every humble worshipper, who marks the beatings of every burdened heart, but the spirit of supplication was manifested in the house of god, and one general desire pervaded the community that he who can "bring light out of darkness," and sustain when all human helpers fail, would grant a great deliverance, and return the absent ones once more to their families and friends. prayer was heard; and tidings of good, of hope, and safety were already being borne over the ocean wave, and hastening homewards upon the wings of the wind. in october, by an early arrival at san francisco from the arctic, it was reported that the ship citizen had been wrecked the year before, in september; that a number of her crew were lost at the time of the wreck; that the captain, officers, and remaining part of the men had wintered among the natives; that they were now on board of several ships in that ocean, and, at the close of the whaling season, they would be at the islands. this was the first intelligence from the ship, for more than twelve months, which imparted the least reasonable hope to the friends at home. it was indeed hailed with joyous emotions, and profound gratitude to god. it at once lifted off a ponderous load of anxiety, solicitude, and sorrow from many hearts. spring and summer, with their singing birds, radiant suns, balmy air, refreshing showers, verdant landscapes, and placid waters, had come and gone; nature had put off the freshness and beauty of a renewed creation, and once more dressed in her autumnal robes, yet this single item of news, brought from a distant ocean, was the dawn of a brighter day, and the precursor of higher happiness than all the outward world could furnish! it chased away the sorrows of the mind; it breathed new life into the spirits; it taught the hitherto disconsolate ones that the hand of a delivering god should now be recognized and adored. public sympathy flowed in the same channel with those who could now rejoice, as it was heretofore expressed with those who wept. november news from the islands confirmed the report of the preceding month, cleared away every doubt which distrust might venture to create, and reassured the wife that her husband was safe, and parents and members of the respective families that their sons and brothers had survived the untold severities of an arctic winter. about one year from this time,--november , ,--captain norton had arrived at lahaina, from a cruise in the ochotsk, in the ship northern light, of fairhaven. he left that port in december for home; and, after a passage of one hundred and ten days, the ship was anchored in the harbor of new bedford, on the th of april, . a day or two after, he reached his native place, to greet relatives, friends, and townsmen, whose apprehensions for a long time had been that they should see his face no more. the results of his three and a half years' absence from home are briefly these: the first season in the arctic, in the citizen, he obtained twenty-six hundred barrels of oil, which were wholly lost when the ship was cast away; seventy barrels of sperm were left at the islands, which he took on his outward-bound passage--this was saved; nine months and eight days among the natives, and taken off in july; the second season on board of other ships, in the capacity of guest and passenger; the third season in the northern light, in the ochotsk sea, where he obtained twenty-four hundred barrels of oil. thus, in misfortune, there was still a good share of prosperity. not only was one cargo lost, but it was nearly replaced again by another in the ordinary time for which ships are fitted out. but the greatest and crowning mercy of all was, in returning once more, with such good health, from so many dangers, exposures, and perils which have attended the present voyage. mr. john w. norton arrived home in october, ; mr. john p. fisher, and mr. abram osborn, jr., arrived home in april, ;--making the time since they sailed from new bedford, october, , four years for the first, and four and a half years for the last two. chapter xiii. the ocean.--the seaman's home.--confidence of the mariner in his ship.--shipwreck.--moral and religious claims of seamen. --the spirit of the age.--interest in the mariners' meeting. --seaport places.--sudden intelligence.--seamen remembered elsewhere.--ships supplied with books.--bible and tract societies.--good seed sown.--field for usefulness.--the american seaman.--concert of prayer.--all interested.--the most important reform for seamen. whatever pertains to seamen in their adventures, explorations, privations, and disasters, never fails to be of interest to all classes in the community. the ocean is a vast and mysterious world in itself; a world of mighty waters, grand, sublime; an image of eternity, a scene of wonders and terrors, which no mortal tongue can adequately describe. man, with his frail bark, borne on its ever restless and heaving bosom, is but a mere particle on the surface of the boundless expanse. those, however, whose "home is on the deep," inured both to its smiles and frowns, are familiar with this mode of life, and thus become daily conversant with its varied phases around them. with a good ship, firm deck beneath his feet, well manned, plenty of sea room, the experienced mariner fears but little the rising wind or the surging main. "a storm at sea" which would appall perhaps the heart of a landsman, and lead him to abandon all hope of safety, and that the noble vessel would be utterly incapable of contending with the frightful odds against her, is, to the seaman, who looks calmly on the same scene, only as an ordinary episode in ocean experience; indeed, in some respects, a gale of wind is far preferable to a calm. with what confidence and energy the navigator gives his orders, and is quickly obeyed; soon the faithful ship is trimmed to meet the storm; and true to her native instinct, former antecedents, and original design, she parts the crested billow, and bounds over the waves as a "thing of life"! the destruction of a dwelling, either by fire or by a tornado, and the inmates flying from threatened death, is a sad calamity; and the occurrence of such an event enlists the sympathies of all who hear of it. but sadder by far is the wreck of a ship at sea, or when cast away upon some remote or hostile shore. alas! how frequently it is true, that with the foundering ship, the breaking up of the sailor's home, his house, his refuge, his all, upon the deep, a number of the crew, and sometimes all on board, find a watery grave! the sufferings incident, in many cases, to shipwrecked mariners, both upon the sea and upon the land, have furnished the most affecting themes of prose and poetry; and their recital uniformly touches an answering chord in every sensitive heart. we feel that it is due to all classes of seamen, to whom we are so much indebted as the carriers of the products of all climes upon the world's great highway, and by whom we are provided both with the necessaries, and even luxuries, of life,--it is due to them, that their religious wants especially, should claim a share of our attention and interest. the time was when this class of our fellowmen were thought but little of, and cared less about, in so far as it concerned their religious welfare; but with the progressive spirit of the age in which we now live, the lover of his country, the philanthropist and christian, cherish a generous solicitude in their behalf. during the meetings of our religious anniversaries, there is no gathering, perhaps, that awakens more general interest than that pertaining to seamen. this fact, in connection with what is being done in the cause of seamen, both at home and abroad, is sufficient to prove that there is a growing, and, we trust, an increasing desire to promote the religious good of the sons of the ocean. in seaport places, it would be natural to suppose that both the temporal and spiritual welfare of seamen would occupy a prominent place in the minds of the people generally. this is to some extent true. in such localities, especially, one discovers that the trains of thought, general conversation, domestic arrangements, family anxieties, prospects for years to come, all, or nearly all, are shaped and controlled by the leading idea of "_business in great waters_." this presiding spirit, as it may be justly termed, pervades every department of life. we meet it at every turn, and are reminded, wherever we go, that we live in a seafaring community. we find this fact verified in public resorts for trade, in the family circle, in the prayer and conference meeting, in the sanctuary, in the chamber of sickness, in the house of mourning, and we read the memorials of it upon the tombstone in the silent repositories of the dead. there is another feature to a seaport place, and especially to a whaling community, which it would be proper just to mention, and that is, the suddenness with which sad intelligence from absent friends falls upon the ears of those at home. many have had painful experience in these particulars. wives, parents, and relatives have been as suddenly reminded of the decease of those near and dear to them, as would be the change of noonday into the darkness of midnight. how many hearts have been made to bleed in anguish! how many earthly prospects, hitherto bright, have suddenly become shaded and overcast at such an announcement! indeed, they shortly expected to hear that those abroad were in health and prosperity; or soon to embrace them on the homeward arrival of the ship; but alas! some mysterious contingency in providence supervened, and terminated their earthly voyage. broad oceans, remote seas, distant islands, and foreign ports are consecrated to the memory of seamen, as their last resting places on earth. indeed, such localities are of impressive and affecting significance, illustrating at once both the nature of the employment and daring adventures of whalemen. but interest for the sailor may not be wholly confined to seaport places. nor is it. wherever intelligence reaches, or the public print finds its way through the various avenues of society, or wherever works pertaining to seamen are scattered abroad, even to the farthest limits of civilization, there the sailor will be remembered, and the recorded experience of his ocean life will be read again and again with thrilling emotions. but this is not all. there are hundreds of young men, from inland country towns, and from every part of the united states, whose home is now on the ocean wave, and exposed to the dangers and perils of the deep. it is, therefore, reasonable to suppose, that many a father's and mother's heart follows in affection, hope, and imagination, the absent son upon the unknown waste of waters, or into distant lands; or the wife, anxiously looking for favorable intelligence, offers daily prayer for the successful and speedy return of her husband. thus, in these respects, those living in the country share in a mutual sympathy with those on the seaboard. in those places, especially, where large numbers of seamen usually congregate, bethel services on the sabbath are means of securing to them a great amount of moral and religious instruction. besides, colporteur seamen become an efficient instrumentality in directing many a weather-beaten mariner to the house of god, and to the saviour of sinners. when whale ships are about to leave our port for a cruise of two, three, or four years, it is the purpose of the friends of seamen connected with the several religious denominations in seaport towns, to place on board of such vessels copies of the word of god, moral and religious books, the family library, tracts, &c. we believe this is the usual practice in other whaling ports;[e] but to what extent this arrangement is generally carried out we are unable to say. we acknowledge with gratitude the repeated donations of bibles and testaments both from the american and foreign bible society, and the american bible society, for gratuitous distribution among the sons of the ocean. nor would we forget to mention our obligations to the american tract society for thousands and tens of thousands of pages of tracts, generously given to be placed on shipboard or put into the hands of seamen. we believe that the good seed of divine truth, thus sown broadcast from year to year, will not wholly fall on unpropitious soil. we are encouraged and strengthened in this benevolent work by the express and significant promises of inspiration: "cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days;" and, again, "sow beside all waters." more, however, should and ought to be done for seamen. the benevolent and the religious, if so disposed, may find here an ample field for the exercise of their liberality. while something is being done for seamen with reference to their moral and spiritual improvement, yet, when we take into consideration the scores of thousands that yearly leave seaport places in our country, the thousands that are now traversing seas and oceans both near and remote, and visiting almost every part of the earth's surface, how limited are the means employed in behalf of their religious welfare, that christ may become the pole star of hope to the wandering and tempest-tossed! the american seaman, in a certain sense, is our representative abroad; and, wherever the stars and stripes are given to the wind and fly from the mast head, there he leaves the impress of his influence. how important it is, then, as he departs from the land of his birth and from the scenes of his early associations, and goes out upon the ocean to meet its dangers and perils, as he is assailed by temptations, or mingles with foreigners in other ports, how immensely important it is, that he should be a true representative of christian institutions and principles at home, and bear about in his own bosom, amid the vicissitudes of ocean life, the "witness of the spirit" as his true and lasting treasure! it is true, there are religious captains, officers, and seamen; but what we earnestly desire is, that the number may be increased a thousand fold. under the benign influence of the spirit of religion and the fear of god, neither sabbath breaking, nor profane language, nor vice, nor disorder, nor cruelty, nor mutiny would find a place on shipboard. "thus officered, manned, and conducted, does any man who believes there is a god, who rules the winds and waves and the monsters of the deep, doubt the success of such a ship?" by no means. there is another instrumentality fitted to promote the religious interests of seamen, which we would not fail to mention, and that is, the _concert of prayer_. we are taught to "pray for all men;" therefore seamen may be included in the devout supplications of the people of god --not only that they may be mercifully shielded in the hour of danger, and meet with success in all lawful undertakings, but that spiritual blessings in christ jesus may be their enduring portion. the concert of prayer for seamen is one of the most interesting and profitable meetings held in a seaport place, and which the month brings around. in such a gathering all are interested. some of the members of congregations and churches are upon the ocean, and have been gone for months and years; others, perhaps, have just left for long voyages, and others still on their homeward-bound passages. at such a meeting as this, the absent ones are brought vividly before the mind. the bare mention of the words husband, son, brother, endeared friend, finds at once a response in many hearts. it is, therefore, alike the dictate of nature as well as the great law of grace to look to him "whose way is in the sea, and whose path is in the great waters," that he would be with the mariner in the storm and tempest, and at the appointed time return him to his native port and to the bosom of his family. temperance and other reforms have wrought, and still are working, gradual and essential changes and improvements among all classes of seamen; but the most important, and that which stands higher than all others, is, that those who behold the wonders of god in the deep may become the friends and followers of the saviour. the following hymn, which, with others of like character, is frequently sung, shows at once the sentiments and spirit of the seamen's concert of prayer. o, pray for the sailor, now far on the billow; o, think of his hardships, temptations, and pain. his home is the ocean; his hammock his pillow; he toils for our pleasure; his loss is our gain. while we are securely and peacefully sleeping, he stands at the helm and his duty performs; now walking the deck and his painful watch keeping, or sits at the mast head 'mid perils and storms. o, pray for the sailor, to banishment driven, enduring privation, oppression, and care,-- shut out from the gospel, a stranger to heaven, the victim to vice and a prey to despair. and, while we thus pray for the sons of the ocean, a kind, peaceful home to him must be given; the mariners' bethel allures to devotion; the bible and preacher direct him to heaven. seamen, of all classes, you are remembered by thousands and tens of thousands, throughout the land and world, who are deeply interested in your welfare. day and night you are thought of and prayed for by those whom you have left behind; and many a desire is breathed out in the presence of him who alone can save, that you may be protected in your absence, shielded from temptations, and returned again to your friends. may the "star of bethlehem, which alone can "fix the sinner's wandering eye," guide many a son of the ocean, and lead him to say,-- it was my guide, my light, my all; it bade my dark forebodings cease; and, through the storm and danger's thrall, it led me to the port of peace. now, safely moored, my perils o'er, i'll sing, first in night's diadem, forever, and forevermore, the star--the star of bethlehem! [illustration: perilous situation of whalemen.] a brief history of whaling, with some of its interesting details. chapter i. whale fishery.--its origin.--where first carried on.--by whom.--whaling in the northern ocean by the dutch and english. --contentions between them.--the success of the dutch.-- its commencement in new england.--"london documents."--the first whale scene in nantucket.--boat whaling.--the number of whales taken in one day.--the first spermaceti whale.-- the interest it excited.--its supposed value.--the first sperm whale captured.--new life to the business.--whaling in massachusetts in - .--burke's eulogy on new england whalers.--sperm whaling in great britain.--revived in france.--the american and french revolutions nearly destroyed the business.--loss to nantucket.--its commencement in new bedford.--tabular view of the number of vessels engaged in whaling, and places to which they belong. "no species of fishery, prosecuted any where on the surface of the ocean, can compare in intensity of interest with the whale fishery. the magnitude of the object of the chase, and the perilous character of the seas which it frequents in all climates and latitudes, are features which prominently distinguish the whale fishery from all similar pursuits, and which invest the details of its history with the strong charm inseparable from pictures and verities of stirring exertion, privation, adventure, daring, and danger." in a word, it is fishery upon a gigantic scale, in which romance and reality are strangely blended. "the whale fishery is a practice of long standing in the world. it is supposed that the norwegians began to prosecute this hazardous and arduous enterprise as early as the closing part of the ninth century. from rather vague statements, on this subject, which have come down to us, it would seem that they confined themselves to the capturing of a few whales in their bays and harbors. "the shores of the bay of biscay, where the normans formed early settlements, became famous through them for the whale fishery there earned on. in the same region, it was first made a regular commercial pursuit; and as the whales visited the bay in large numbers, the traffic was convenient and easy. "the biscayans maintained it with great vigor and success in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. "we find from a work of noel, 'upon the antiquity of whale fishing,' that, in , a tithe was laid upon the _tongues_ of whales imported into bayonne, they being then a highly esteemed species of food. in , edward iii. relinquished to peter de puyanne a duty of six pounds sterling laid on each whale brought into the port of biarritz, to indemnify him for the extraordinary expenses he had incurred in fitting out a fleet for the service of his majesty. "the biscayans, however, soon gave up the whale fishery for the want of fish, which ceased to come southward, no longer leaving the icy seas. "in process of time, voyages both of the dutch and english were undertaken to discover a passage through the northern ocean to india; and though they entirely failed in their primary object, yet they laid open the remote haunts of the whale, and immediately began to prosecute the enterprise of their capture. even then, it was said, they employed the biscayans as their harpooners, and for a considerable part of their crew. the dutch and english prosecuted the business with varied success, each claiming the ground for whale fishery in the seas around spitzbergen. large companies were formed, and many ships were sent to those northern regions, each armed and prepared to maintain his right and supremacy over the seas. thus one party would obtain a charter from its own government, to the exclusion of the other and all others--at the same time, each claiming the prior right of possession by discovery. "at length, in , a general engagement took place, in which the english were defeated. hitherto the two governments had allowed the fishing adventurers and companies to fight out their own battles; but in consequence of this event, it was considered prudent by each party to divide the spitzbergen bay and seas into fishing stations, where the companies might fish and not trouble each other. "after this period, the dutch quickly gained a superiority over their rivals. while the english prosecuted the trade sluggishly and with incompetent means, the dutch turned their fisheries to great account, and, in , had about two hundred and sixty ships and fourteen thousand seamen employed in them."[f] "from the year , or forty years after the landing of our pilgrim fathers on the shores of new england, down to the end of the seventeenth century, there seem to have been various, and, as far as now can be ascertained, nearly simultaneous and independent attempts to prosecute this business by the inhabitants of cape cod, those of nantucket and martha's vineyard, and some of the british subjects in the bays around the bermuda islands." the following interesting facts respecting the early history of whaling in this country were obtained from manuscripts in the new york state library, by r. l. pease, esq., of edgartown. they were copied from the originals in london, by mr. brodhead, under the authority of the state of new york, and called "london documents." vol. iv. pp. - . in the instructions of the duke of york to his agent, john lewen, he is directed to "inquire what number of whales have been killed near ye place within six years last past, and what quantities of whale bone and oyle have been made or brought in there, and how much my share hath amounted to in that time.... and you are also to informe yourself how many whales are taken and brought in there, commibus annis. given may th, ." ibid. p. . in his answer, lewen says "that the number of whales killed is never observed by any person, nor the oil or bone." ibid. p. . general andros, on this point, states, december , , that "very few whales have been driven on ashore but what have been killed and claymed by the whalers; and, if not proved theirs, then claymed by the indian natives, or christians clayming the shores in said indian's right. and tho i have not been wanting in my endeavors, i never could recover any part thereof for his royal highness." vol. ii. p. . "on ye east of long island there were or whales taken before ye end of march, and what since wee heare not; here are some dayly seen in the very harbour, sometimes within nutt island. out of the pinnace, the other week, they struck two, but lost both; the irons broke in one, the other broke the warpe. samuel maverick. july , ." "the first whaling expedition from nantucket was undertaken by some of the original purchasers of the island, the circumstances of which are handed down to us by tradition, and are as follows: a whale of the kind called the 'scragg' came into the harbor, and continued there three days. this excited the curiosity of the people, and led them to devise measures to prevent his return out of the harbor. they accordingly invented, and caused to be wrought for them, a harpoon, with which they attacked and killed the whale. this first success encouraged them to undertake whaling as a permanent business, whales being at that time numerous in the vicinity of the shores. finding, however, that the people of cape cod had made greater proficiency in the art of whale catching than themselves, the inhabitants, in , sent thither and employed a man by the name of ichabod paddock to instruct them in the best manner of killing whales and extracting their oil. the pursuit of whales was commenced in boats, and was carried on from year to year until it became a principal branch of business to the islanders. the indians readily joined the whites in this new enterprise; and the most active among them soon became boat steerers and experienced whalemen, and were capable of conducting any part of the business. boat whaling from the shore continued until about the year , when the whales became so scarce that it was wholly laid aside. the greatest number of whales ever killed and brought to the shore in one day was eleven. in , they were very plenty; forty-six were taken during that year--a greater number than ever was obtained in one year either before or since this date. it is a remarkable fact that, notwithstanding the people had to learn the business and carry it on under many hazardous circumstances, yet not a single white person was known to be killed or drowned in the pursuit of whales in the course of seventy years preceding . the whales hitherto caught near the shores in boats were of the 'right' species. the first spermaceti whale known to the inhabitants was found dead and ashore on the west end of the island. it caused great excitement-- some demanding a part of the prize under one pretence and some under another, and all were anxious to behold so strange an animal. the natives claimed the whole because they found it; the whites, to whom the natives made known the discovery, claimed it by a right comprehended, as they affirmed, in the purchase of the island by the original patent. an officer of the crown made his claim to it, and pretended to seize the fish in the name of his majesty, as being property without any particular owner. after considerable discussion between the contending parties, it was finally settled that the white inhabitants who first found the whale should share the prize equally among themselves. the teeth, however, which were considered very valuable, had been extracted by a white man and an indian before any others had any knowledge of the whale. all difficulty having been settled, a company was then formed that commenced cutting the whale in pieces convenient for transportation to the try works. the sperm procured from the head was thought to be of great value for medicinal purposes. it was used both as an internal and external application; and such was the credulity of the people that they considered it a certain cure for all diseases; it was sought with avidity, and for a while was esteemed to be worth its weight in silver." "the first sperm whale taken by the nantucket whalers was killed by christopher hussey. he was cruising near the shore for 'right' whales, and was blown off some distance from the land by a strong northerly wind, when he fell in with a school of that species of whale, and killed one, and brought it home. "at what date this adventure took place is not fully ascertained, but it is supposed that it was not far from . this event imparted new life to the business, for they immediately began to build vessels, of about forty tons, to whale out in the 'deep,' as it was then called, to distinguish it from 'shore whaling.' they fitted three vessels for six weeks, carried a few hogsheads, sufficient to contain the blubber of one whale, and tried out the oil after they returned home. "in , there were six vessels engaged in the whaling business, (all sloops, from thirty to forty tons burden each,) and which produced an income of nearly five thousand dollars."[g] as the enterprise increased, more capital was invested, larger vessels were built, longer voyages were undertaken, and new localities or grounds for whales were discovered. fifty years later,--viz., from to ,--massachusetts alone employed annually one hundred and eighty-three vessels in the north atlantic ocean, and one hundred and twenty-one vessels of larger burden in the south atlantic ocean. "look at the manner," says burke, ( ,) "in which the new england people carry on the whale fishery. while we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of hudson's bay and davis's straits; while we are looking for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold--that they are at the antipodes, and engaged under the frozen serpent of the south. falkland island, which seems too remote and too romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and resting place to their victorious industry. nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them than the accumulated winter of both the poles. we learn that, while some draw the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of africa, others run the longitude, and pursue their gigantic game, along the coast of brazil." such was the eloquent commendation given to the energy and perseverance of new england whalers by one of the most distinguished of british statesmen. "the first attempt to establish the sperm whale fishery from great britain was made in . nine years later, the french undertook to revive the prosecution of this business. the king, louis xvi., fitted out six ships himself from dunkirk, and procured his experienced harpooners from nantucket; others emulated the example of that monarch; so that, before the french revolution, that nation had forty ships in the service. "the revolutionary war of the american colonies, and the wars of the french revolution, nearly destroyed this flourishing branch of marine enterprise in both countries. just previous to the war, massachusetts employed in this service three hundred vessels and four thousand seamen, about half of whom were from nantucket alone. during that war, fifteen vessels belonging to this island were lost at sea, and one hundred and thirty-four were captured by the enemy. the loss of life in prison ships and elsewhere, and the immense loss of property, show that nantucket paid as dearly in the struggle for liberty as any portion of our country. "it was not until the year , many years after the commencement of the enterprise in nantucket, cape cod, martha's vineyard, and other places on the sound, that the attention of the people of new bedford was turned towards the whale fishery."[h] from this date until the present time, no permanent obstruction, with the exception of the war of - , has occurred to impede the gradual and increasing interest given to this enterprise, and which now assumes commanding commercial importance, and develops unrivaled energy in its prosecution. the number of vessels in this country employed in the whale fishery far exceeds that of all others engaged in the same pursuit. the following tabular view will present to the reader the number and class of vessels engaged in the whale fishery, belonging to their respective places in the united states, as reported in the "whaleman's shipping list and merchant's transcript" for october, :-- ---------------+--------+--------+--------+---------+--------+-------- places. | ships. | barks. | brigs. | sch'rs. | total. | tonn. ---------------+--------+--------+--------+---------+--------+-------- new bedford | [*] | [*] | | | | , dartmouth | | | | | | , sippican | | | | | | westport | | | | | | , wareham | | | | | | sandwich | | | | | | fairhaven | | | | | | , mattapoisett | | | | | | , nantucket | | | | | | , edgartown | | | | | | , holmes's hole | | | | | | , falmouth | | | | | | , provincetown | | | | | | , orleans | | | | | | beverly | | | | | | salem | | | | | | lynn | | | | | | fall river | | | | | | warren, r.i. | | | | | | , newport | | | | | | , providence | | | | | | new london | | | | | | , stonington | | | | | | , greenport | | | | | | , mystic | | | | | | , sag harbor | | | | | | , cold spring | | | | | | , san francisco | | | | | | , ---------------+--------+--------+--------+---------+--------+-------- [*] ships reckoned at tons, and barks at . the whole number of vessels employed in the whale fishery in this country, as before reported, is number of ships, number of barks, number of brigs number of schooners the tonnage may be put down at , . value of property, at $ per ton, $ , , . the number of seamen engaged in this business, allowing for each ship, for a bark, for a brig, and for a schooner, would be more than , . importations of sperm and whale oil and whalebone into the united states in are as follows:-- sperm oil, , bbls. right whale oil, , bbls. whalebone, , , lbs. chapter ii. the whale.--its zoölogy.--the largest known animal.--sperm whale.--right whale.--finback.--bowhead. the whale is the general name of an order of animals inhabiting the ocean, arranged in zoölogy under the name of _cete_, or _cetacæ_, and belonging to the class _mammalia_ in the linnæan system. this animal is named whale from roundness, or from rolling. "while living in part or wholly in the ocean, it differs in many important respects from the fish tribes, and it is these peculiarities which render it a link between the creature of the land and of the sea. while it has the power of locomotion in the water, like other fishes, yet in other particulars it has no affinity with them; it is as much a mammal as the ox, or the elephant, or the horse--having warm blood, breathing air, bringing forth living young, and suckling them with true milk." the whale is the largest of all known animals. some remarks upon the whale and its varieties will form the subject of the present chapter. . the sperm whale. the _cachalot_, or _physeter macrocephalus._ the principal species are the black-headed, with a dorsal fin, and the round-headed, without a fin on the back, and with fistula in the snout. this whale is known at a distance by the peculiarity of his "spoutings" or "blows." he can be easily detected by whalemen, if he happens to be in company with other species of whales. he blows the water or vapor from his nostrils in a single column, to the height, perhaps, of twelve feet, inclining in a forward direction in an angle of forty-five degrees with the horizon, and visible for several miles. there is also a wonderful regularity as to time in which he "blows"--perhaps once in ten minutes. he remains on the surface of the water from forty-five to sixty minutes, and under water about the same time. unless the whale is frightened, whalemen make quite correct calculation as to the chances of overtaking him, or meeting him, or when he will rise to the surface after he has "turned flukes." when the sperm whale is near, he can be easily distinguished by the form of his head, unlike any other variety of whale. its head is enormous in bulk, being fully more than one third of the whole length of its body; and it ends like an abrupt and steep promontory, and is so hard for several feet from its front that it is quite difficult, if not impossible, for an iron to enter it--as impervious, indeed, to a harpoon as a bale of cotton. besides, the sperm whale has a hump on his back, which distinguishes him from others. this hump is farther forward than the fin on the finback whale. sperm whales have been captured from seventy to ninety feet in length, and from thirty to forty-five feet in circumference round the largest part of their bodies. it is supposed by whalemen, from their appearance, that they live, or some of them at least, to a great age. one writer on this subject thought that the sperm whale would attain the age of many hundred years, and even to a thousand years. this, however, is mere conjecture, because there are no dates or facts upon which to found a correct opinion. some whales have been taken having their teeth worn off level with the gums; and then, again, in other instances, part of their teeth have been broken off, or torn out by some violent effort. the whole number of teeth in a sperm whale is about forty-two; they are wholly in the lower jaw, which alone is movable, with the exception of a natural movement of the entire head of the fish. the teeth admirably fit into sockets in the upper jaw. when the whale is in search for his food, or contending with his foes, he drops his lower jaw, if he sees fit, nearly to a right angle with the under part of his body, and then brings his jaws together with incredible energy and quickness. sperm whales engage in fearful and dreadful struggles and conflicts with each other. one was captured, a few years since, having his lower jaw, which was more than fifteen feet long, and studded with sharp-pointed teeth, twisted entirely around at a right angle with his body; he was swimming in that manner when he was harpooned. this was an instance of a most desperate encounter. another whale was captured having a part of his enormous jaw broken entirely off. the front and sides of their heads, as well as their bodies, not unfrequently exhibit deep lines or furrows produced by the teeth of some powerful antagonist. it is supposed that, as the sperm whale advances in age, his head not only retains its ordinary proportions, and to appearance becomes enlarged, but the truth is, the other parts of his body, especially his extremities, do actually diminish in bulk and circumference. in some instances, more oil has been taken out of the head of a sperm whale than from the other part of his body. the principal food of the sperm whale is "squid," a molluscous animal. "this is an animal of so curious an order as to merit a word of special notice. the principal peculiarity of this molluscous tribe is the possession of powerful tentacula or arms, ranged round the mouth, and provided with suckers, which give them the power of adhering to rocks or any other substances with surprising tenacity. some of this tribe attain to a great size, and, as large as the whale is, will furnish it with no contemptible mouthful. in the gullet of one sperm whale, an arm or tentaculum of a sea-squid was found measuring nearly twenty-seven feet long." whalemen frequently discover large masses or junks of squid floating about, probably torn in pieces by whales in their search after food. the flesh of the squid is soft, without bones, and somewhat transparent, like the common sunfish seen on our shores. it is said that squid have been seen as large as an ordinary whale. this food for the sperm whale is found in great abundance in the pacific seas. . the right whale. the whale having this general cognomen belongs to the species of _balæna mysticetus_. there are several varieties included in this species, as we shall hereafter observe, and which are distinguished by whalemen both in regard to some external peculiarity as well as the different localities where they are usually found. the right whale differs from the sperm in the following particulars: his head is sharper, more pointed; he has no "hump" on his back; the column of water which he throws up when he "blows" is divided like the tines of a fork; and it rises from his breathing holes in a perpendicular direction from eight to twenty feet. the right whale furnishes the bone (baleen) so much in common use, and called "whalebone." this bone is taken from the mouth and upper jaw of the whale, and is set along laterally, in the most exact order, several inches apart, decreasing in length from the centre of his mouth, or the arch of his palate, and becoming shorter farther back, while towards the lips the bone tapers away into mere bristles, forming a loose hanging fringe or border. at the bottom of this row of bone, where it penetrates the gum, and from eighteen to thirty inches downward, we find a material that resembles coarse hair, entwining and interlacing the bone, and thus forming a sort of network, and so thick that, when the whale closes his lips to press out the water, the smallest kind of fish are caught in the meshes, and are unable to escape. indeed, the edges of the bones, or slabs, as they might be termed, are fringed with this coarse hair, and it extends to their extremities, as may be seen in the rough state when landed from whale ships. the length of the bones or slabs[i] vary in a great measure according to the size of the fish, though some varieties of this species have larger and better bone than others. the value of the bone is enhanced, as a general thing, in proportion to its length. the principal food of the right whale is a very small, red fish, called "brit." immense shoals of these fish are seen on whale grounds; and the water to a great distance, even for miles, becomes colored with them. when the whale takes his food, he throws open his lips, or lets them fall, and, swimming with great velocity, he scoops up an infinite number of these small fish and others that accompany them, some of them scarcely larger than half of an ordinary sized pea; he then closes his lips, and pressing out the water from his mouth, every particle of solid matter is securely retained within. "the mouth of the whale is an organ of very wonderful construction. in a large specimen of the race, it may measure, when fully opened, about sixteen feet long, twelve feet high, and ten feet wide--an apartment, in truth, of very good dimensions. notwithstanding the enormous bulk of this creature, its throat is so narrow that it would choke upon a morsel fitted for the deglutition of an ox. its food, therefore, must be, as it really is, in very small particles. such is the wonderful contrivance of nature, and in which we can discover an instance of remarkable wisdom in the creator and provider of his creatures." the right whale does not fight or contend with his mouth or head, as the sperm whale does; but his means of attack and defence are chiefly in his enormous flukes. he will, however, when struck, "root around," as whalemen say, and not unfrequently in this manner upset a boat. this kind of whale, and other varieties, distinguished by the baleen or bone, have no regular time for remaining on the surface of the water after they "breach," nor in remaining under water after they "turn flukes." the length of a large right whale is about eighty feet, and some have yielded their captors two hundred and fifty to three hundred barrels of oil. such a whale would perhaps weigh not far from eighty tons. allowing one ox to weigh twenty-five hundred or three thousand pounds, he would weigh down more than fifty of such animals. and what a sublime sight it must be--and whalemen have often observed it--to see such a prodigious living mass leaping right into the air, clear, altogether out of the water, so that the horizon can be seen between the fish and the ocean! these stupendous exercises and gambols of such huge creatures are termed "breaching." sometimes a whale will turn its head downwards, and, moving its tremendous tail high in the air, will lash the water with violence, raising a cloud of vapor, and sending a loud report to the distance of two or three miles. this is called "lobtailing" by whalemen. the oil of this species of whale is less valuable than the sperm. the "whalebone," which now has an advanced price in the market far beyond any previous value attached to it, is obtained from the mouth of the whale about in proportion of a thousand pounds to a hundred barrels of oil. . the finback whale. this is a smooth, slim fish--smaller usually than a right whale. he is found in nearly all latitudes. his head and mouth are of the same construction with those of the right whale. this whale is known by whalemen, when seen at a suitable distance, by his "blows." the column of vapor rises in a single stream in a vertical or perpendicular direction. this fish is termed _finback_ on account of a fin on his back, differing in this particular from all other species of whale. the oil obtained from him is of the same quality as the right whale oil. . bowhead whale. this whale is smooth all over, having no "bonnet on his head," as whalemen say, and as right whales have. their heads differ in shape somewhat from other whales, and hence the name _bowhead_ given to them. this species of whale, so far as known, has never been found except in the ochotsk sea and arctic ocean. the greenland whale, and also the species called the _great rorqual_, are doubtless included in the name which our whalemen give to the bowhead. there are several other varieties of the whale tribe, and different names are attached to them, such as the "scragg," the "humpback," &c.; but the foregoing are all the kinds whether of interest or profit to whalemen. chapter iii. whale blubber.--enemies of the whale.--affection of the whale for its young.--instances. whale blubber. the following furnishes a succinct statement of whale blubber: "that structure in which the oil is, denominated blubber, is the true skin of the animal, modified, certainly, for the purpose of holding this fluid oil, but still being the true skin. upon close examination, it is found to consist of an interlacement of fibres, crossing each other in every direction, as in common skin, but more open in texture, to leave room for the oil. taking as an example that of an individual covered with an external layer of fat, we find we can trace the true skin without any difficulty, leaving a thick layer of cellular membrane loaded with fat, of the same nature as that in the other parts of the body; on the contrary, in the whale, it is altogether impossible to raise any layer of skin distinct from the rest of the blubber, however thick it may be; and, in _flensing_ a whale the operator removes this blubber or skin from the muscular parts beneath, merely dividing with his spade the connecting cellular membrane. "such a structure as this, being firm and elastic in the highest degree, operates like so much india rubber, possessing a density and power of resistance which increases with the pressure. but this thick coating of fat subserves other important uses. an inhabitant of seas where the cold is most intense, yet warm blooded, and dependent for existence on keeping up the animal heat, the whale is furnished in this thick wrapper with a substance which resists the abstraction of heat from the body as fast as it is generated, and thus is kept comfortably warm in the fiercest polar winters. again, the oil contained in the cells of the skin, being superficially lighter than water, adds to the buoyancy of the animal, and thus saves much muscular exertion in swimming horizontally and in rising to the surface; the bones, being of a porous or spongy texture, have a similar influence." [illustration: enemies of the whale.] enemies of the whale. "the whales, gigantic as they are, and little disposed to injure creatures less in bulk and power than themselves, find, however, to their cost, in common with nobler creatures, that harmlessness is often no defence against violence. several species of the voracious sharks make the whale the object of their peculiar attacks; the arctic shark is said, with its serrated teeth, to scoop out hemispherical pieces of flesh from the whale's body as big as a man's head, and to proceed without any mercy until its appetite is satiated. "another shark, called the thrasher, which is upwards of twelve feet long, is said to use its muscular tail, which is nearly half its own length, to inflict terrible slaps on the whale; though one would be apt to imagine that if this whipping were all, the huge creature would be more frightened than hurt." a sperm whale was killed off the coast of peru several years since, whose sides were found to be greatly bruised, and portions of the blubber were reduced nearly to a fluid state. two thrashers probably attacked the whale, one on one side of it, and the other on the other, and beat him in the manner above described. this fact shows that thrashers are not only able to injure the whale, but most likely by repeated attacks even to kill it. "the sword fish, in the long and bony spear that projects from its snout, seems to be furnished with a weapon which may reasonably alarm even the leviathan of the deep, especially as the _will_ to use his sword, if we may believe eye witnesses, is in no wise deficient." thus sharks, thrashers, and sword fish, in pursuit of the whale, and meeting him at every turn, and in all directions, must be powerful antagonists, even with the monster of the deep; and it is not at all unlikely but that, in the conflicts with him, they finally conquer and destroy him. but there is another, and, without doubt, the most powerful and persevering enemy with which the right whale has to contend. this is a fish about sixteen feet long, and called by his appropriate name, "whale killer." a company of these fish attacking the whale will almost surely overcome and kill him. besides, the whale appears to be sensible of the superiority of his enemy. though the whale can and does frequently elude and outstrip the velocity of the fastest boats of the whalemen, yet, when attacked by "killers," he seems to lose all power of resistance, and submits, without any apparent effort to escape. the "killers," in their relish to fight the whale, have been known to attack a dead one which whalemen had harpooned, and were towing to the ship. and so furious and determined were they, that notwithstanding they were lanced and cut most dreadfully by the whalemen in order to drive them off, yet they finally succeeded in getting the whale, and carried him to the bottom. old whalemen say that "killers" will eat no part of the whale but his _tongue_. they attack him by the head, and if possible get into his mouth and eat up his tongue. the "killers" are a remarkably active fish, and endowed with a set of sharp teeth which may well constitute them a powerful adversary even to the whale, and whose particular and personal enemy they appear to be. the whale's love and care for its offspring. the strong affection of the whale towards its young has been many times witnessed by whalemen; and yet the nature of their occupation is such, that they turn this interesting and affecting feature of its character to a most fatal account. they will try to strike the young one with the harpoon, and if they effect this, are sure of the old one, for they will not leave it. mr. scoresby mentions a case where a young whale was struck beside its dam. she seized it and darted off, but the fatal line was fixed in its body. regardless of all that could be done to her, she remained beside her dying offspring until she was struck again and again, and finally perished. sometimes, however, she becomes furious on these occasions, and extremely dangerous. another writer gives the following account of a case which he witnessed in the atlantic. being out with fishing boats, "we saw," says he, "a whale with her calf playing around the coral rocks; the attention which the dam showed to its young, and the care which she took to warn it of danger, were truly affecting. she led it away from the boats, swam around it, and sometimes she would embrace it with her fins, and roll over with it in the waves. we tried to get the 'vantage ground' by going to seaward of her, and by that means drove her into shoal water among the rocks. aware of the danger and impending fate of her inexperienced offspring, she swam rapidly around it in decreasing circles, evincing the utmost uneasiness and anxiety; but her parental admonitions were unheeded, and it met its fate. the young one was struck and killed, and a harpoon was fixed in the mother. roused to reckless fury, she flew upon one of the boats, and made her tail descend with irresistible force upon the very centre of our boat, cutting it in two, and killing two of the men; the survivors took to swimming for their lives in all directions. her subsequent motions were alarmingly furious; but afterwards, exhausted by the quantity of black blood which she threw up, she drew near to her calf, and died by its side, evidently, in her last moments, more occupied with the preservation of her young than of herself." chapter iv. whale grounds.--whaling seasons, and where species of whales are found.--sperm whale grounds.--right whale grounds.-- humpbacks and bowheads, where found.--right whale not crossing the equator.--arctic passage for whales.--maury's opinion of the haunts of the whale in the polar sea.--confirmed by dr. kane.--vessels fitted for whaling.--several classes.--time of sailing.--arrival at home.--length of voyages.--seasons and between seasons. whale grounds, or places where whales may be taken. the following embrace all or nearly all the prominent localities which are familiar to whalemen as whale grounds. the charleston ground, brazil banks, tristan de cuna islands, indian ocean, sooloo sea, new holland, new zealand, king mill's group, japan and japan sea, peru coast, chili off shore ground, california, kodiak, ochotsk sea, and arctic ocean. whale seasons and the places where different species of whale are found. sperm whales are taken in the north and south atlantic oceans in every month of the year. sperm whales are taken on the coast of chili from november to april, and on the coast of peru in every month of the year. in the vicinity of the gallipagos and king mill's group, sperm whales are found. on the coast of japan, they may be taken from april to october. they are also taken off new zealand and navigator's island, from september to may. from november to march, there is good sperm whaling south of java and lombock. in june and july, sperm whales may be found off the north-west cape of new holland. march, april, and may are considered good months for sperm whaling off the bashee islands, but ships are obliged to leave this ground after that time, in consequence of typhoons. from march to july, there is good ground for sperm whaling in the sooloo sea, to the west of the serengani islands. in the same months, sperm whales are found off cape rivers and canda, close in to the land. in the molucca passage, there is good sperm whaling the year round; the best months, however, are january, february, and march. the english whalemen have taken, in years past, a large number of sperm whales in the red sea. the area over which sperm whales roam may include the immense space of the ocean or oceans included between the parallels of ° of latitude, on both sides of the equator. "the sperm whale is a warm water fish," and, according to the opinion of maury, though it "has never been known to double the cape of good hope, he doubles cape horn." _right_ whale season off tristan de cuna is from november to march; and from january to march off crozetts and desolation islands. sperm whales are seldom seen near these islands. right and sperm whaling off the south coast of new holland, from october to march. in august, there is good ground for humpback whaling around the rosemary islands. right whales are taken in the japan sea from february to october, but bowhead whales have never been seen there. right whales are taken on the kodiak ground from may to september; and from march, or as early as the sea is free from ice, until november, in the ochotsk sea. right whales are found in the _southern_ part of the sea, and _bowheads_ are found in the _north_ and _western_ part of it at the same time. bowhead whales are found and captured in the arctic ocean as soon as the ice breaks up, which is usually in june, until october. the right whale is a cold water fish. it has been found by the examination of "records kept by different ships for hundreds of thousands of days, that the tropical regions of the ocean are to the _right_ whale as a sea of fire, through which he cannot pass, and into which he never enters." it has also been supposed, that since the right whale does not cross the torrid zone, which to him is as a belt of liquid fire through which he cannot pass, therefore "the right whale of the northern hemisphere is a different animal from that of the southern." it is, however, a well-established fact, "that the same kind of whale which is found off the shores of greenland, in baffin's bay, etc., is also found in the north pacific, and about behring straits; the inference therefore is, that there must be an opening for the passage of whales from one part of the arctic ocean to the other." the following facts are taken from maury's recent work on "the physical geography of the sea," and cannot fail of being interesting to whalemen, and indeed to all classes of readers:-- "it is the custom among whalers to have their harpoons marked with date and name of the ship; and dr. scoresby, in his work on 'arctic voyages,' mentions several instances of whales that have been taken near behring's straits side with harpoons in them bearing the stamps of ships that were known to cruise on the baffin's bay side of the american continent; and as, in one or two instances, a very short time had elapsed between the date of capture in the pacific and the date when the fish must have been struck on the atlantic side, it was argued, therefore, that there was a _north-west_ passage by which the whales passed from one side to the other, since the stricken animal could not have had the harpoon in him long enough to admit of a passage around either cape horn or the cape of good hope. "thus the fact was approximately established that the harpooned whales did not pass around cape horn or the cape of good hope, for they were of the class that could not cross the equator. in this way we are furnished with circumstantial proof affording the most irrefragable evidence that there is, at times at least, open water communication through the arctic sea from one side of the continent to the other; for it is known that the whales cannot travel under the ice for such a great distance as is that from one side of the continent to the other. "but this did not prove the existence of an _open_ sea there; it only established the existence--the occasional existence, if you please-- of a channel through which whales had passed. therefore we felt bound to introduce other evidence before we could expect the reader to admit our proof, and to believe with us in the existence of an open sea in the arctic ocean. "there is an under current setting from the atlantic through davis's strait into the arctic ocean, and there is a surface current setting out. observations have pointed out the existence of an under current there, for navigators tell us of immense icebergs which they have seen drifting rapidly to the north, and against a strong surface current. these icebergs were high above the water, and their depth below, supposing them to be parallelopipeds, was seven times greater than their height above. no doubt they were drifted by a powerful under current." dr. kane reports an open sea north of the parallel of °. to reach it, his party crossed a barrier of ice or miles broad. before reaching this open water, he found the thermometer to show the extreme temperature of ° below zero. passing this ice-bound region by traveling north, he stood on the shores of an iceless sea, extending in an unbroken sheet of water as far as the eye could reach towards the pole. its waves were dashing on the beach with the swell of a boundless ocean. the tides ebbed and flowed in it, and it is apprehended that the tidal wave from the atlantic can no more pass under this icy barrier to be propagated in seas beyond, than the vibrations of a musical string can pass with its notes a fret upon which the musician has placed his finger.... these tides, therefore, must have been born in that cold sea, having their cradle about the north pole. if these statements and deductions be correct, then we infer that most, if not all, the unexplored regions about the pole are covered with deep water; for, were this unexpected area mostly land or shallow water, it could not give birth to regular tides. indeed, the existence of these tides, with the immense flow and drift which annually take place from the polar seas into the atlantic, suggests many conjectures concerning the condition of the unexplored regions. whalemen have always been puzzled as to the place of breeding for the right whale. it is a cold water animal; and, following up this train of thought, the question is prompted, is the nursery for the great whale in this polar sea, which has been so set about and hemmed in with a hedge of ice that man may not trespass there? this providential economy is still further suggestive, prompting us to ask, whence comes the _food_ for the young whales there? do the teeming waters of the gulf stream convey it there also, and in channels so far down in the depths of the sea that no enemy may waylay and spoil it on the long journey? these facts therefore lead us to the opinion that the polar sea may be an exhaustless resource for the supply of whales for other seas, as well as a common rendezvous for them during the intense cold of arctic winters. dr. kane found the temperature of this polar sea only °! vessels that are fitted out for the purpose of whaling, whether for _sperm_ or _right_ whaling, and the time for which they are fitted, may be classed as follows:-- . small vessels, principally schooners, though barks and brigs are included, cruise in the north and south atlantic oceans. they are fitted for six to eighteen months, and even two years. . ships and barks that cruise in the south atlantic and indian oceans are usually fitted for two to three years. . ships and barks that cruise on the peru coast, or off shore ground, are fitted for two to four years. . ochotsk sea and arctic ocean whalers are fitted for two, three, and four years. . new zealand whalers, sperm and right, are fitted for two, three, and four years. the time when whaling vessels sail to their respective whale grounds. ships and barks fitted for the north pacific, the ochotsk sea, the kodiak, or the arctic ocean, usually leave our ports in the fall of the year, so as to make the passage of the horn, or cape of good hope, in the southern summer; these ships will arrive at the sandwich islands in march or april, remain in port a week or two, recruit, and sail to the north. on their return from the north in october and november, and sometimes as late as december, they usually touch at the islands again, take in a fresh supply of provisions, it may be ship their oil home, and sail to some other whale ground in a more southern latitude, either for sperm or right whaling, or both, and continue this cruise until the season comes around for them to go to the north again. the first is called the "regular season" for whaling, and the second "between seasons." ships that have completed their voyages, and intend returning home, when they leave the ochotsk or arctic, generally touch at the islands, or some other intermediate port, for recruits, and arrive on our coast some time in the spring months, and even as early as february or march, though not generally. the great majority of the ships sail in the autumn, and the largest arrivals are usually in the spring. the length of a whale voyage is determined by the number of seasons. one season in the ochotsk or arctic, including the outward and homeward passages, consumes _one year and a half_. two seasons at the north, including the passages outward and home, and one "between seasons," require _two and a half years_. three seasons, including the passages and two "between seasons," will require _three and a half years_. sperm whalemen, who are not governed by these seasons and between seasons, as right whalers are, are absent from home three and a half and four years, and sometimes longer. indeed, the success or ill success of whalemen in obtaining oil determines essentially the length of voyages. chapter v. increased length of whaling voyages.--capital.--value of oils and bone.--value of several classes of whaling vessels.--"lay." --boat's crew.--whaleboats.--approaching a whale.-- harpooning.--whale warp.--danger when the line runs out.-- locomotive power of the whale.--lancing.--flurry.--cutting in.--boiling out.--the "case and junk."--the rapidity with which oil may be taken. the voyages of all classes of whalemen are much longer and more tedious now than formerly. whales are more scarce, more easily frightened; they change their grounds or haunts oftener; and besides, the number of vessels engaged in their capture, in all seas, is largely increased, compared with the number twenty years since, or even later. [illustration: harpooning a whale.] more capital is now employed in this enterprise than ever before; and, were it not for the greatly advanced prices of oils and bone beyond what they were a few years ago,--taking into account the scarcity of whales, the long time occupied on a voyage, the augmented expense of fitting out ships, in the high prices of provisions and other incidentals,--the enterprise could hardly be sustained a single year; and certainly but a few years. immense losses would pervade all departments of this wide-spread system of commercial operation. a few years since, the price of _sperm_ oil by the quantity was only _fifty_ to _seventy-five_ cents per gallon; but now it brings _one dollar_ and _forty cents_ per gallon by the cargo. right whale oil was formerly sold as low as _twenty-five_ cents per gallon by the cargo; but now it brings in the market _seventy_ and _eighty_ cents per gallon by the quantity. whalebone, which formerly was sold as low as _six cents_ per pound,--and almost a drug at that,--in consequence of the increased demand for it, and the various and _extraordinary_ uses to which it is applied, now readily commands _eighty_ cents per pound. thus a cargo of three thousand barrels of sperm oil, at the present market value of the article, will amount to more than one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. a cargo of three thousand barrels of right whale oil, including the bone, will command in the market, as their value now is, more than ninety thousand dollars; a _ship_ of four hundred tons burden, fitted for a whaling voyage, may be estimated to be worth from thirty to sixty thousand dollars; a _bark_ of three hundred tons, valued from twenty-five to forty-five thousand dollars; a _brig_ of two hundred tons, valued from fifteen to twenty-five thousand dollars; a _schooner_, valued from eight to twelve thousand dollars. a vessel owned by a number of persons, or a company, is usually divided into halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths, thirty-seconds, sixty-fourths, &c. the "lay" for which an individual agrees to go on a whaling voyage, is the proportion of oil, or its equivalent in money, according to the current value of oil, which comes to his share at the termination of the voyage. a short voyage and a full ship will be a profitable enterprise. since each and all on board know their individual lays, all, therefore, have urgent, personal considerations to secure both for themselves and employers the greatest quantity of oil. the captain's lay is from one tenth to one eighteenth of all the oil which is obtained; the first officer's, or mate's lay, from one seventeenth to one twenty-fifth; the second officer, from one thirtieth to one fortieth; the third mate, from one fortieth to one fiftieth; the fourth mate, from one fiftieth to one sixtieth; four boat steerers, each about one eightieth; "green hands," or those "before the mast," not far from one hundred and seventy-fifth lay. each whale boat, when properly _pointed_, has six men. some ships man five boats, others four; barks four, brigs three, and schooners two and three. each vessel carries nearly double the number of whale boats which it needs. the whale boats, which combine lightness and strength, are always kept hanging over the sides and upon the quarters of the ship, ready furnished for pursuit, so that, on the appearance of a whale being announced from aloft, one or more boats can be despatched in less than a minute. when a boat approaches the whale sufficiently near to strike, which is sometimes close alongside, and at other times on the top of his back, the boat steerer, who has the forward oar, immediately "peaks" it, and taking his position at the head of the boat, with harpoon in hand, he hurls it with all his energy, and generally with such force and precision, that he buries the fatal iron in the body of the whale, and sometimes he is killed almost instantly. "the harpoon with which the whale is first struck is a most important weapon, made of the toughest iron, somewhat in the form of an anchor, but brought to an edge and point. instead of steel being employed, as is commonly supposed, the very softest iron is chosen for this important implement, so that it may be scraped to an edge with a knife. a long staff is affixed to the harpoon by which it is wielded. connected with the harpoon there is a strong line regularly coiled in the tub; when the whale is struck, and is disposed to dart away or dive down to the depths of the ocean, he carries the iron sticking fast by the barbs, while the coiled line runs out with amazing velocity. from a tub near the stern of the boat, it passes around a loggerhead, and over the seats of the oarsmen, to the bow of the boat, and then a sheeve or pulley is provided, over which it passes to the whale. the friction sometimes is so great in consequence of the rapidity with which the line is carried out by the whale, if by accident it gets out of its place, the bow of the boat is speedily enveloped in smoke, and would burst into a flame provided water was not instantly applied to prevent or allay all friction. "it is at such a time as this, when by some slight accident the line gets 'foul,' or, by the overturning of the boat, the warp becomes 'tangled' up with the men, many a poor sailor has been carried out of the boat, and carried down into the depths below, and never seen after. such sad occurrences as these are not wholly unfamiliar with whalemen. "as soon as the whale is struck, orders are given to 'stern all,' in order to get out of the way of his flukes, or if he is disposed to be frantic and run, to give him the line. sometimes the lines of several boats are bent on, and more than eight hundred fathoms are run out, and yet the whale would sink the boats were not the line cut. the force that can drag more than three thousand feet of whale warp through the water, including a whale boat, and sometimes more than one, at the rate of _ten_, _twelve_, and _fourteen_ miles per hour, must be tremendous. such is the locomotive energy of the whale. it is supposed that with equal ease he could swim off with a ship. "when, however, the whale becomes so exhausted, having been perhaps harpooned by some other boats, that the warp can be hauled in, and the boat or boats approach the whale again, the lancer, who is generally one of the mates of the ship, exchanges places with the boat steerer, and takes his position at the bow of the boat, with a lance ten or twelve feet long; as soon as he comes near enough to reach him, he thrusts the slender and fatal steel into the very vitals of the animal; blood mixed with water is discharged from the blow holes, and presently streams of blood alone are ejected, which frequently drench the boats and men, and cover the sea far around. sometimes the last agony of the victim is marked by convulsive motions with the tail, and violent contortions of his whole body; and, as we have seen, in its dying moments it turns its rage towards the authors of its sufferings. the whale is now in his 'flurry;' he dashes hither and thither, snaps convulsively with his huge jaws, rolls over and over, coiling the line around his body, or leaps completely out of the water. the boats are often upset, broken into fragments, and the men wounded or drowned. the poor animal whirls rapidly around in unconsciousness, in a portion of a circle, rolls over on its side, and is still in death. at other times, after it is lanced, the whale yields up its life quietly, and dies with scarcely a struggle." besides harpoons, which are the most important instruments upon which whalemen depend for capturing the whale, the harpoon gun and bomb lance are now used for the same purpose. they are not, however, considered as substitutes for the harpoon, except in cases of emergency, when the whale cannot be approached by a boat, or when he manifests ugliness or ferocity. the harpoon gun, designed to throw a harpoon, is but little used by american ships, though quite generally among english whalers. nearly all of our whale ships, however, are supplied with the fatal and destructive bomb lance. the gun, into which the lance exactly fits, is heavier, shorter, and its barrel larger than common guns. it is loaded with powder, in the same manner as other guns. the lance is then put into the barrel of the gun, until one end of it comes in contact with the charge of powder; the opposite extremity has three edges, sharp, and tapering to a point. the entire length of the lance is about eighteen inches. the lance is prepared with a hollow tube, extending half or two thirds of the distance through it; and this tube is filled with a combustible material that readily ignites when the gun is fired. when the lance has buried itself in the huge body of the whale, the fire communicates with the explosive part of the filling in the tube, situated about in the centre of the lance, and in a few moments, thirty seconds perhaps, it bursts like a bomb, and destroys the life of the whale. the bomb lance may be fired with effect at a whale, at a distance of about fifty yards or more. "the huge body is now towed to the ship; a hole is cut into the blubber near the head, into which a strong hook is inserted--a difficult and dangerous operation. a strong tension is then applied to this hook, and by it the blubber is hoisted up, as it is generally cut by the spades in a spiral strip, going round and round the body, the whale being secured alongside of the ship, and somewhat stretched by tackles both at the head and tail. as this strip or band of blubber is pulled off, weighing from one half to two tons, the body of course revolves, until the stripping reaches the 'small,' when it will turn no more. "the head, which at the commencement of the process was cut off and secured astern, is now hoisted into a perpendicular position, the front of the muzzle opened, and the oil dipped out of the case by a bucket at the end of a pole." a ship has no purchase sufficiently strong to hoist in on deck the head of a large sperm whale. it is so heavy that it would take the masts out of her if attempted, or bring her keel out of water. besides, it is so bulky that it would more than fill up the entire waist of the ship. the head sometimes contains more than fifty barrels of oil. after the oil has been dipped out of the "case," the "junk" is then cut into oblong pieces and taken in on deck; the remainder of the head and carcass are then cut adrift. the oil is afterwards extracted from the blubber and junk, being cut into small pieces by the "mincing knife," and exposed to the action of fire in large pots, the skinny portions which remain serving for fuel. it should be observed that it is usual to secure the "junk" before dipping the oil from the "case." the "junk," which is the forward part of the head, contains the purest spermaceti, and therefore more valuable on that account. it is deposited in the front part of the head in a solid mass, about the consistence of lard, and divided occasionally by a narrow layer of "white horse," a substance resembling the cords of animals, only harder. after passing through a "cooler," the oil is conveyed through leathern hose to large stationary casks which constitute the bottom tier in the hold of the ship. when whales are plenty, which is the harvest time with whalemen, they usually stow away one hundred barrels of oil in twenty-four hours. at such times as these, the fires in the "try works" never go out. if whales were abundant, whalemen would fill a ship carrying three thousand barrels in less than two months. chapter vi. outfitting and infitting.--"runners."--remedy.--articles of clothing.--whaling business.--promotion.--whale killing.-- dangers.--general success of the enterprise. in connection with the enterprise of whaling, a system of _outfitting_ and _infitting_, as they are termed in common parlance, has sprung up, become established, and which is now closely identified and associated with it. this system, from its novel and somewhat singular operation, is like the vine, which entwines itself around the huge and gigantic oak, and thus it grows and expands according to the height and dimensions of its support. such is the outfitting and infitting business in its relations to whaling. [illustration: cutting in a whale.] there are many establishments of this sort, in those places where whaling is carried on, whose principal business is to fit out recruits for whale ships. hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of young men from the country, who have a desire to go to sea, and particularly whaling, naturally direct their steps to seaport places. there are others, also, who compose the floating, shifting, and in many cases the vicious class of young men, such as are found in all our large cities and prominent seaport towns; these, as a last resort, and in keeping with their roving and roaming habits, enlist in the whaling service. such, too, are generally poor, wanderers it may be from good homes, becoming associated with bad company, and having no particular means of helping themselves in the time of emergency; therefore they are willing to be assisted in any way by others. indeed, a change to them is a new fortune. advertisements or handbills sent abroad from place to place, proclaiming the want of seamen, are the measures usually adopted, besides some others, for collecting the materials which supply, to a considerable extent, the whaling fleet with "green hands." the outfitters take the general charge of these men, pay their board bills and other incidentals while in port, or before going to sea, and thus supply agents of ships in want of seamen. scores and hundreds are shipped in this manner who never see the vessels in which they are to sail until they go on board for the voyage. the outfit is supposed to embrace such articles of clothing, as to quality and value, which seamen need for the cruise, whether longer or shorter, according to the time for which they are shipped. there is scarcely one young man, unless he has had some previous information on this point, or is otherwise familiar with the facts, who knows what he most needs in the line of clothing for a voyage of two, three, and four years. the outfitter, however, is supposed to know just what the young man needs. he is therefore provided with a sea chest, and in the chest, his stock, or outfit of clothing, is supposed to be placed by the outfitter, according to the amount for which the respective agents of ships wanting men will be responsible, and for which agents will settle with the outfitters after the sailing of their ships. outfitters are thus limited by agents of ships as to the amount of the bills of clothing charged against each seaman respectively. the amounts of the bill of goods, or outfit, authorized by an agent, and so understood by the outfitter, will average from sixty to one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each seaman, or some of the lower officers, as boat steerers or fourth mates. besides, all the expenses which the outfitter has been at in procuring men, and while on their hands before the ship sails, are charged in the several bills against the seamen. after the sailing of the ship, the outfitter presents his bills to the agent, which he has against the men whom he has furnished for the ship, and these bills are immediately settled. now, the amount of the bills thus paid to the outfitter is charged by the agent of the ship to each seaman, according to his bill of outfit, or which the outfitter has against him. in the transfer of the bills from the outfitter to the agent who settles them, the agent adds twenty per cent. to each seaman's bill; and thus the seaman, by this change, becomes indebted to the owners of the ship in which he sails. the outfitter, however, must see his men on board of the ship before she sails; if they are not there, or if they have taken "a land tack," which they sometimes do, clothes and all, the outfitter is the chief and only loser in the affair. special care, therefore, is taken by the outfitter, that the chests of clothing belonging to seamen shall accompany them when they go on board to go to sea. again, seamen are furnished for the whaling fleet by another method: an agent, for example, wishes to procure a certain number of whalemen; and for this purpose he sends to an outfitter, who secures the number that is wanted, gives them an outfit, as before noticed, and places them on board a day or two before the ship sails. this course is now usually adopted with reference to ordinary seamen or green hands. thus we see the operation of the _outfitting_ system. we would respectfully suggest in this connection, that in our opinion, this method of supplying ships with "fresh hands" is one of the most prolific sources of unhappiness, discord, and every evil work, which not unfrequently take place between officers and crews. the very lowest dregs of society in this way are thus placed on shipboard as foremast hands; and among them there will be found those of desperate characters, and prepared for every work of disturbance and crime. the _infitting_ may be stated in the following brief manner. when a ship arrives in port from a whaling voyage, there are individuals ready to go on board before she approaches the wharf, or even casts anchor in the outer harbor, whose object is to supply seamen, or those whom they have formerly outfitted, as soon as they come ashore, with new clothes; or, in other words, to give them a regular infit. these individuals are called by agents, whalemen, and others, "runners," or "sharks," and are connected with the outfitting and infitting establishments. the seamen are soon provided with new suits of clothing from head to foot, which they greatly need after a three or four years' voyage around the horn. the results of the voyage, however, if any thing shall be due to the returned seamen at the time of settlement with the agent, are held available to the outfitter; he looks to this source wholly, to meet this additional bill of clothing, or infit, which he has against the young whaleman. if this were all upon which the "sharks" were disposed to lay their hands, it might be construed into a virtue, perhaps, instead of a fault. but could the history of large numbers of returned seamen, both whalemen and others, be only partially opened and spread out before the public eye, as it not unfrequently is, in that history we should find scenes of temptation, dissipation, and vice, in which not only the hard-earned fruits of years of toil, but character likewise, reputation, and happiness, have disappeared before the voracious grasp of those who lie in wait to destroy. there are, doubtless, honorable and creditable men in the outfitting and infitting business, as well as in other avocations and callings. such we do not mean. it is not so much the enterprise as it is the disreputable proceedings of those who are bent on securing unrighteous gain, and to whom, in far too many instances, alas! the unsuspecting sailor falls an easy prey. it is persons of this description, called "runners," or "sharks," that are not even allowed on board of some ships when they come into port, and before the crew are discharged. the purpose of their visits is well known, both to the officers and owners, and therefore they are denied the liberty of coming on board. seamen, beware! there are shoals, quicksands, and death-pointed rocks upon the land as well as upon the ocean! be not led astray. be men, upright, honest. shun the cup, and all the gilded and winning blandishments that line the pathway to ruin! husband, with becoming interest and economy, the results of your toil. remember that virtue, and the fear of god, united with a conscientious discharge of your duty, both upon the sea and upon the land, will be a sure precursor to happiness, usefulness, and success in life. take this course, and we assure you, as friends to your temporal and religious welfare, you will escape many a snare spread for your feet, into which others, with less circumspection and watchfulness, sadly and fatally fall. it sometimes happens, that a seaman who has been on a voyage of several years, finds on his return that he has not made enough to pay his outfit and infit, nor money enough in his pocket to get home to his relatives and friends in the country. the voyage, perhaps, had been an unsuccessful one, and he, therefore, with others, suffers a common loss. worthy young men experience such instances of misfortune as these; having made little or nothing during their absence from home, they are induced, from a sense of mortified pride, perhaps, to remain away years longer, hoping thereby to gain during the next voyage what they failed to secure in the last one. thus they ship again, and go through nearly the same routine, the second time, as they did the first; with this exception, however, if they have given proof of efficiency and aptitude in whaling, they will be promoted to the position of boat steerers, and even to higher offices. the writer on one occasion conversed with a young man, on board of one of our outward bound whale ships, respecting his parents, the place of his nativity, how long he had been in the whaling business, when he left home, &c. he informed the writer that he had a widowed mother in an adjoining state; that he returned from sea in june last, and having made nothing, he was therefore unable to go home and see his mother. soon after his arrival in new bedford he shipped again, and is now on another cruise of three and a half years. when allusion was made to his mother, and that in some way he ought to have gone and seen her, the tear instantly gathered in his eye, which showed that beneath a weather-beaten exterior there was something in his bosom which quickly responded to the endearing name--_mother_. the system of outfitting, to which allusion has been made, and which might be carried on with honesty and integrity, yet nevertheless, as all must see, furnishes an opportunity for the unprincipled and avaricious to defraud and grossly cheat the ignorant and unsuspecting. the following are the ways in which it may be done. . _in the poor and miserable quality of cloth of which seamen's garments are made._ they have been known to fail to pieces after being worn only a few times, which clearly proved that the material called cloth was just strong enough to be put into the _shape_ of clothes, and that was all. it was poor and cheap, and the buyer of the article probably knew it; it being for whalemen, and outfits justified the purchase. . _in the loose and imperfect manner in which seamen's garments are put together._ this is not true of all. the price paid for making is the minimum, or starving price; and therefore the garments are made accordingly. there are two losers by this arrangement, and one winner. the maker and buyer are the losers, while the profit passes into the hands of the seller. . _in the exorbitant charges which are sometimes made for articles of clothing in the bill of outfit._ some astounding facts might be mentioned illustrating this point; but we let them pass, hoping they will never be reënacted again. besides, instances have been known, in which there was a sad discrepancy between the seaman's bill of clothing, and the number of articles actually found in his chest, when he first examined it, after the ship was got under weigh, and bound out to sea. it is when whalemen are beyond our coast, and around the horn, and their outfits have been put to some service, they find that the winds, storms, and exposures have made sad havoc of their supposed sound and reliable chest of clothing. the fact that they are not present, but absent, and will be for months and years, and therefore unable to speak for themselves, face to face, to those by whom they have been _sold_, poorly and wretchedly justifies frauds, which may not be heard from for months, and perhaps for years. time, however, stereotypes, instead of obliterating, a wrong. and still further, extravagant and unreasonable inducements and promises held out to influence thoughtless youth to engage in the business of whaling, are connected with the evils which have grown out of the system of outfitting, and of which whalemen and others have justly complained. these evils, however, if they now exist, could be measurably removed, if agents of the respective ships would carefully examine the bill of clothing which each seaman brings from the outfitter, article by article, contained in his chest; or if captains and officers should take this thing in hand after the sailing of their ships from port, and thus ascertain from personal inspection whether their crews have been justly dealt with as to the quality and number of articles in their bill of outfits. were this course thoroughly pursued, it would put at once, we are free to assert, a wholesome check upon any further attempts to defraud the ignorant and unsuspecting. we may go even yet further, and say, that it is clearly the _duty_ of agents and officers of ships to look after the interests of inexperienced seamen who sail in their employ, and under their command; and if they did as suggested, it would doubtless greatly conduce to the contentment of seamen on shipboard, and likewise promote mutual good will and understanding, in regard to the purposes of the voyage. it is hoped, however, there is less disposition now than formerly to defraud the unsuspecting, either in the quality or number of articles included in their outfit, or to deceive the ignorant by presenting to their minds unreasonable and extravagant promises, which would never be realized; and that honesty, which is always the best and safest policy at all times, and under all circumstances, will henceforth be more obviously seen in this branch of business connected with the whale fishery. the following is an inventory of the principal articles of clothing, and a few incidentals, included in a young whaleman's outfit for a voyage, of two, three, or four years. it may serve as a sort of directory, and thus be of considerable advantage to those who would prefer a good, substantial outfit, compared with one which may have a name simply, but deficient in a great measure in real worth and service. monkey jacket, reefing do., oil suit, pairs thick pants, thick shirts, undershirts, pairs thin pants, thin shirts, pairs thick drawers, guernsey frock, thin frock, pairs shoes, good, pairs stockings, jackknives, tin pot, spoon, tin pan, bed, (mattress,) quilt, blanket, pillow, &c., &c.; razor, strop, soap, needles, thread, brush, &c. the chief purpose the writer had in view in bringing together these facts connected with the history and details of whaling, was not only to interest the general reader, but that young men from the country, and elsewhere, who are desirous of engaging in this branch of employment, may know somewhat of its character and pecuniary importance in a commercial point of view. men of the first business talents are enlisted in this enterprise at home; and a more hardy, thorough-going, energetic, and generous class of men, as captains and officers of ships, do not traverse the ocean. that there are exceptions to this general rule, none will deny. capriciousness, tyranny, crossness, and inhumanity are exhibited by some upon the sea as well as upon the land. he who cannot govern himself is ill prepared to be the leader of others. it may be said that whalemen are at home on the ocean. during the first fifteen or twenty years of their service, they scarcely remain at home with their families and friends as many months. it is no mean and unworthy profession, but one highly honorable and creditable for any aspirant. nor is the responsible position of a captain, or officer, attained at once. promotion comes not from the cabin windows, but in a direct line from the forecastle. there must be a regular apprenticeship gone through with, before one can expect to succeed in the hazardous undertaking of capturing the monsters of the deep. it is a _trade_, and in this regard it is far different from the merchant service. in addition to good seamanship,--and, by the way, whalemen are acknowledged to be among the best navigators in the world,--it is _whale killing_, an aptitude for this particular kind of work, that gives promise of attainment and success in the profession. this business, then, we say, holds out many reasonable inducements to a young man desirous of engaging in it. with a good common school education, energetic, faithful to himself and his employers, temperate, and withal having a purpose to be something and do something in the world, there are but few paths to honorable respect, character, influence, and pecuniary competence, more inviting than this. there are trials, and peculiar ones too, in the whaling service; and in what branch of industry are there not? but making all the allowances for long absences from home, which, without doubt, are the greatest deprivations of all, yet there are other considerations, which, it is believed, counterbalance these disadvantages. there are dangers also connected with whaling; aside from the storms and sufferings which whalemen experience in navigating those remote northern seas and oceans, the greatest exposure to life is doubtless in the work of whaling. yet, taking into the account the number of vessels and seamen engaged in this business, the distant places visited by them, and the character of their employment, and we venture the assertion, that there is no department of commercial enterprise, whether coastwise or foreign, that can present a list more free from disaster, loss of life, or bad health among seamen, than the whaling fleet. while varied success attends the labors and deprivations of whalemen, yet, on the whole, we must conclude that the enterprise is as profitable, and furnishes as strong inducements for the investment of capital, as almost any other. there have been partial and individual reverses in the whaling business, it is true, and unforeseen contingencies will ever happen; yet this fact is most obvious and plain to be seen, that from the whole history of whaling in this country, those seaport places in which the business has been perseveringly carried on, will advantageously compare with inland manufacturing and farming communities, in enterprise, wealth, educational appliances, and in all the comforts, and even the luxuries, of life. chapter vii. manufacture of oil. crude oil, or oil in its natural state, is that which is obtained from the blubber of the whale in the process of "trying out" on shipboard. the oil, then, which is taken from whale ships and carried to the oil manufactory, is said to be in its _crude_ state. we will speak first of the manufacture of _crude sperm oil_.[j] the first step in the process of manufacture, is to take the oil in its crude state, and put it into large kettles, or boilers, and subject it to a heat of one hundred and eighty to two hundred degrees, and then all the water which happened to become mixed with the oil, either on shipboard or since, will evaporate. winter strained sperm oil. in the fall, or autumn, the oil is boiled for the purpose of granulation during the approaching cold weather. the oil thus passes from a purely liquid into a solid state, or one in which it is in grains, or masses. [illustration: boiling out.] when the temperature of the atmosphere rises, or the weather slackens during the winter, the oil which has been frozen, but is now somewhat softened, is shovelled out of the casks and put into strong bags that will hold half a bushel or more, in order to be pressed. the oil which is now obtained from this first pressing is called _winter strained sperm oil_. spring sperm oil. what remains in the bags after the first pressing, is again heated by being put into boilers, after which it is baled into casks again, and upon cooling, it becomes more compact and solid than it was before. during the month of april, when the temperature is about fifty degrees, the oil becomes softened; it is then put into bags, and goes through a second process of pressing similar to the first. the oil from this pressing is called _spring strained sperm oil_. tight pressed oil. that which is left in the bags after the second pressing, is again melted, and put into tin pans or tubs which will hold about forty pounds each. when this liquid is thoroughly cooled, as each pressing makes what is left harder, in consequence of extracting the oil, the cakes taken from the tubs are then carried into a room heated to about ninety degrees; and as they begin to yield to the influence of this high temperature, or the remaining oil begins to soften the cakes, they are taken and shaved into very fine pieces, or ground up as in some instances, deposited in bags as hitherto, and put into the hydraulic press. the room being at the temperature indicated above, and the bags subjected to a powerful pressure of three hundred tons or more, all the oil is extracted from them, and what is left is perfectly dry, free from any oily matter, and brittle. the oil thus obtained by this last pressing is called _tight pressed_, or _summer oil_. spermaceti. what remains after the several pressings, and the removal of all the oil, is called _stearine_, or _spermaceti_. spermaceti is not confined to the head matter of the whale, as some suppose, nor does the head matter have any thing to do with the brains of the whale, as others have falsely conjectured; but spermaceti is found in the entire oil from the sperm whale. it should be observed, however, that the spermaceti from the body oil of the whale makes harder candles than the spermaceti from the head matter; but the head oil or matter gives a greater proportion of spermaceti, and is more valuable than that from the body oil. besides, the spermaceti from the head oil is quite different from that of the body oil; the former presents fine, bright, transparent scales, like small particles of isinglass, while the latter is more compact, something like dough. in cooling, one exhibits a sparry, crystalline structure, the other that of clay. head oil or matter is usually manufactured with the body oil of the whale, and mixed in proportion to one third of the former to two thirds of the latter. spermaceti candles. that which remains in the bags after the hydraulic pressure is both dry and brittle. the oil, it is supposed, is wholly extracted, and nothing now remains but the spermaceti. its color, however, is not white, but interspersed with grayish streaks, bordering on the yellow. the spermaceti is put into large boilers adapted for the purpose, and heated to the temperature of two hundred and ten degrees. it is refined and cleared of all foreign ingredients by the application of alkali. afterwards water is added, which, with a temperature of two hundred and forty degrees, throws off the alkali in the form of vapor. the liquid which remains is as pure and clear as the crystal water, and ready to be made into the finest spermaceti candles. right whale oil. the manufacturing of this variety of oil is of recent date, (within twenty-five years.) at first, in preparing it for sale, it was taken in its crude state and "recked off," that is, simply pumped out of the casks, and leaving the sediment behind. this kind of oil then was as cheap as milk is now. bleaching oil. crude oil is bleached in the first place by putting it into large kettles, applying alkali to it in proportion of one quart of alkali to one barrel of oil, and then heating it to a temperature of one hundred and ten degrees. this process destroys the watery acid in the oil. winter strained whale oil. whale oil, after bleaching, is made into winter oil by exposing it in casks to cold weather, or by artificial freezing in the summer. when frozen it is granulated, or separated into grains, or masses, like sperm oil. at a temperature when the oil begins to exhibit liquid particles, it is taken from the casks, and put into double cotton strainers. the oil which comes from this straining is called _winter strained whale oil_. the following facts respecting winter strained whale oil may not be wholly destitute of interest. it is found that it will endure a greater degree of cold at the same temperature than winter pressed sperm oil; it will burn longer, and its specific gravity is heavier; but it will not give so brilliant a light as sperm oil. spring whale oil. what remains after straining the first time, goes through the process of heating, cooling, and pressing, similar to spring sperm oil; and thus is obtained the _spring whale oil_. that which is left after straining and pressing is called _whale foots_. the following are a few of the uses to which whale foots are applied. in making an inferior kind of candles, in making some kinds of bar soap, and likewise used on railways and in ship yards. the _adamantine candles_ are made of spermaceti mixed with wax, in proportion of one ounce of wax to a pound of spermaceti, and subjected to powerful steam pressure. they are not only much harder than spermaceti candles, and variously colored, but they command a higher price in the market. there is a manufactory of this description in philadelphia. _oil soap_ is made from the deposit of alkali, in the process of bleaching. if, after pressing and bleaching, the oils should retain too dark a color, they are then bleached again. some varieties of oil are darker than others, which requires additional labor in this respect. there is another method, and usually the ordinary one, by which oils are clarified and prepared for the market. it is termed _panning_. for this purpose, after it has been bleached, strained, or pressed, and it does not assume the right color or shade, it is pumped into large, leaded, superficial vats, or pans, located in a building near by, whose side roof is wholly of glass, like a glass house, and so arranged that both air and sun can act upon large bodies of oil in different stages of whitening. this process not only whitens the oil, but whatever particles or thickness there may have been in the oil, not discernible before, is now all removed and deposited on the bottom of the pan. the oil taken from these pans is put into barrels or casks, and is ready for the market. government test of sperm oil. the lighthouses upon our seaboard, and also upon the lakes, are furnished with the best quality of sperm oil. sperm oil has a standard weight established or recognized by the government, and according as varieties fall short or go beyond this measure, or standard, indicated by a nicely adjusted oilometer, its true weight and value are ascertained. winter strained sperm oil is heavier, and burns away faster than spring strained sperm oil, for the simple reason that the winter oil is freer from spermaceti than the spring strained oil. sperm oil is tested by authority of government, when contracts are made with the manufacturer to furnish oil for lighthouses, in the following manner: a common tin lamp of a cylindrical form is taken, and fitted with a wick which reaches to the bottom of the lamp. it is then filled with oil, and kept burning until all the oil in the lamp is burned up, and the wick so dry that not a drop of oil will fall from it. the number of hours which a given quantity of oil will burn, is another consideration included in determining the relative quality of oil. mixing or adulterating oils. sperm oil is the purest and best of all varieties of whale oil, and brings the highest price in the market. sperm oil is frequently mixed in greater or less proportions with right whale oil, which is an inferior kind of oil, and labelled _sperm oil_. this is a fraud, and it is practised more extensively than people are aware of. the fraud may be detected if either the right whale oil or sperm oil happens to differ in its shade or color, the one from the other. sperm oil is lighter than right whale oil. if sperm oil is carefully put into a glass containing right whale oil, the former will not displace the latter, but remain separate; and the line of separation between the two kinds of oil, providing the color is somewhat different, may be easily detected. the smell and taste of oil, likewise, determine whether it be _bogus_ sperm oil or not. but the surest and most certain test of all others, as to the quality of oils, is by the oilometer,[k] (elaiometer.) this instrument is not only authorized by government, and employed for the purpose of securing genuine sperm oil, but it is used in all oil manufactories to determine both in buying and selling the different varieties of oils. it should be observed, however, that the mixing or adulteration of oils is never practised by the oil manufacturer. it would be fatal to his business if he should do it. there is no such article in an oil factory for sale as mixed or adulterated oils. it is either sperm or otherwise. the mixing takes place after it passes into the hands of the second, third, and it may be the fourth purchaser, or retailer. it is believed that but little genuine sperm oil reaches far back in the country, except, perhaps, for the purpose of lubrication in machinery; and even then, much of that, if tested by the proper measure, would probably be found badly mixed with an inferior quality of oil. since preparing the present chapter on the manufacture of oil, the following just remarks came under our observation, selected from the _new bedford mercury_, january , , and are worthy of the attention of all. "we embrace the present opportunity to offer some remarks and suggestions in the matter of the adulteration of sperm oil, which has been carried on to such an extent as to form one of the causes, we may safely say, for the decline of the article in price. like every other commodity, it is liable to be counterfeited; and we know, after it has passed out of the hands of importers and manufacturers, adulteration has been practised to a wide extent. this is an evil beyond the control of our merchants, however much they may deprecate its influence upon the trade. to say that a system of adulteration is practised here, is a charge which cannot be substantiated by facts; and to suppose that the manufacturer would knowingly injure or damage his own business, is too absurd to require refutation.... we believe it would be a wise and judicious policy to establish agencies in different sections of the country, with agents of known honesty and integrity, for the wholesale and retail of the article; and that each barrel and cask bear the name of the manufacturer as a guaranty of its purity. "consumers, especially those who buy for machinery purposes, would then know where to make their purchases, and have the assurance of 'value received.'" footnotes: [a] master of the ship _south seaman_, of new bedford. [b] master of the ship _william wirt_, of new bedford. [c] first officer of the ship _general pike_, of new bedford. [d] first officer of the ship _william henry_, of fairhaven. [e] see the report of the new bedford port society for . [f] chambers. [g] macy's history of nantucket. [h] christian review, vol. xii. [i] average, eight feet; longest, fourteen feet. [j] the author is indebted to charles j. barney, esq., foreman of dr. daniel fisher's oil factory, in edgartown, one of the largest, if not the largest in the country, for the principal facts respecting the manufacture of oil. [k] harris. some of wentworth & co.'s publications. life among the flowers. by laura greenwood. this whole work forms a delightful gift book for any and all seasons of the year, particularly when god's choice and beautiful ornaments adorn our land, and fill the air with their fragrance. the writers of our own country are well represented, and in the language of another, "whoever 'laura greenwood' may be, she has the taste and skill of an accomplished editor." as such, "we cheerfully recommend the 'life among the flowers' to every man, woman, and child who has a taste for the good and beautiful." the work is printed in bold, clear type, on the first quality of paper, and bound in a superior manner. mo., pages. happy hours at hazel nook. by harriet farley. this work contains twelve exquisite tales, related by a family circle, containing wisdom for the old, amusement for the young, and thoughts for the middle-aged. embellished with fourteen superb illustrations by the best artists in america; and to make this _the_ gift book of the season, we have colored the engravings in the beautiful and natural style introduced with such unprecedented success in our historical works. bound in elegant muslin, mo., full gilt or plain. love each other, or strive to be good. stories designed to advance the young in virtue & morality. by mrs. livingston. this book, as its title imports, is designed for the instruction of youth, and we cannot recommend a more welcome present than this for the young folks. the book is extensively illustrated, and elegantly bound. price only cents. angel whispers, or the echo of spirit voices. by rev. d. c. eddy. "the public have long felt the need of some specific book, which treats upon specific cases of affliction, to put into the hands of those whose friends have been taken from them by death. the present work is therefore gathered from a number of addresses made on funeral occasions, taking away the pulpit style, and interspersing them with appeals to the heart and conscience of the reader." the christian counsellor, or jewels for the household. this is a work of condensed thought and striking anecdote--a work of sound maxims and truthful apothegms. it will impress on the mind a thousand valuable suggestions, and teach your children a thousand lessons of truth. such a book is a casket of jewels for your household. the work contains octavo pages, handsomely illustrated with appropriate engravings, printed with new type on fine paper. agents can have constant employment by circulating this important work. fleetwood's life of our lord and savior jesus christ. _containing a full and accurate history from his taking upon himself our nature to his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, together with the lives, transactions, and sufferings of his holy evangelists, apostles, and other primitive martyrs. to which is added a complete history of the jews._ the work is in large royal octavo form, superbly bound in extra gilt imitation turkey red morocco binding, containing pages, with numerous steel engravings, and a frontispiece of the infant jesus disputing with the doctors. this work is sold only by subscription, for which exclusive right of territory in all cases will be given. five hundred agents wanted. please address the publishers, wentworth & co., washington street, boston. daughters of the cross, or woman's mission. by daniel c. eddy. the _object_ of this work is to give a series of brief memoirs of the lives of the most prominent females in the christian cause, who deserve more honor than the fallen warrior or the titled senator--such as harriet newell, ann h. judson, elizabeth hervey, harriet b. stewart, sarah l. smith, eleanor macomber, sarah d. comstock, henrietta shuck, sarah b. judson, annie p. james, mary e. van lennep. the young man's friend. by daniel c. eddy. this work has passed through fifty editions, and has had a very extensive sale. it has received universal commendation from the press, as may be seen by the following notices:-- "the writer has elevated views of life and duty, good taste, and that stir and energy of style which takes hold of the sympathies of young men."--_new york evangelist._ "the work reflects credit on its author, and is rightly named." --_watchman and reflector._ "the style of the book is vigorous, and its lessons well studied."--_zion's herald._ "an earnest word from an earnest man."--_concord democrat._ "the author is one who has well read the human heart, who is well versed in the temptations of the young, and who has a lively sympathy for the class whom he seeks to benefit."-- _independent._ the oasis, or golden leaves of friendship. by m. j. percival. this book commends itself to the consideration of those who do themselves the pleasure of falling in with the customs and usages of the times in exchanging presentations, felicitations, and congratulations. this work is well printed in large, bold, clear type, on first quality paper, and bound in rich muslin, full gilt, at an exceedingly low price. mo., pages. the cloven foot. this is a book of pages, designed to expose the roman catholic conspiracy against the government of the united states. by a protestant clergyman. the talent and research displayed on every page of this work, together with the _startling facts_ which it relates, will place it far in advance of the many hasty productions with which the press has teemed for the last six months. native american agents wanted to sell this work. history of democracy in the united states. by the author of "the republic of the united states," &c. this important work is now in press, the first volume of which will be issued early in the year of . letters in respect to the character and objects of this work have been received from the late judge woodbury, hon. george m. dallas, hon. james buchanan, hon. william l. marcy, hon. robert j. walker, hon. samuel houston, hon. isaac toucey, hon. jefferson davis, hon. thomas h. seymour, hon. r. j. ingersoll, hon. edmund burke, hon. b. f. hallett, hon. lewis cass, hon. thomas w. dorr, etc. a new pictorial history of the united states. by john frost. we hesitate not to say that this is the best pictorial history of the united states to be found in the wide world. this work is copiously illustrated with over engravings from original designs, containing over pages, printed on the first quality of paper, with bold, clear type, and bound in leather binding, with spring back and heavy sides, in the most durable manner. the book should be in the hands of every family in the united states, especially of our adopted citizens, from the shores of the pacific, on the west, to that of the extreme atlantic, on the east. no man or woman who wishes to become acquainted with our institutions,--character, rise, progress, and commerce of our adopted country,--will fail to procure a copy of this work of intrinsic merit. five hundred active men wanted to circulate this work through the country. pioneer heroes of the new world, comprising the lives of the most famous discoverers, explorers, and conquerors of north and south america; an account of the foundation of colonies and the settlement of states and provinces; the history of the sufferings and privations of the early settlers, and their wars with the native inhabitants; a description of the most important expeditions of survey; and a view of the gradual extension of discovery and civilization in the western hemisphere. by henry howard brownell, a. m. our hearts are closely linked to the stirring deeds of our pioneer fathers, and in this volume is found the most reliable and graphic account of their unexampled achievements and thrilling adventures ever written. transcriber's notes: punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained and are not individually noted here. ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. page : the list of illustrations is incomplete. page : "beneath his feet" was misprinted as "beneath hi feet" (with extra space where the "s" belongs); corrected here. the cruise of the "cachalot" round the world after sperm whales frank t. bullen, f.r.g.s. first mate to miss emily hensley in grateful remembrance of thirty years' constant friendship and practical help this work is affectionately dedicated by her humble pupil. preface in the following pages an attempt has been made--it is believed for the first time--to give an account of the cruise of a south sea whaler from the seaman's standpoint. two very useful books have been published--both of them over half a century ago--on the same subject; but, being written by the surgeons of whale-ships for scientific purposes, neither of them was interesting to the general reader. ["narrative of a whaling voyage round the globe," by f debell bennett, f.r.c.s. ( vols). bentley, london ( ). "the sperm whale fishery," by thomas beale, m.r.c.s. london ( ).] they have both been long out of print; but their value to the student of natural history has been, and still is, very great, dr. beale's book, in particular, being still the authority on the sperm whale. this book does not pretend to compete with either of the above valuable works. its aims is to present to the general reader a simple account of the methods employed, and the dangers met with, in a calling about which the great mass of the public knows absolutely nothing. pending the advent of some great writer who shall see the wonderful possibilities for literature contained in the world-wide wanderings of the south sea whale-fishers, the author has endeavoured to summarize his experiences so that they may be read without weariness, and, it is hoped, with profit. the manifold shortcomings of the work will not, it is trusted, be laid to the account of the subject, than which none more interesting could well be imagined, but to the limitations of the writer, whose long experience of sea life has done little to foster the literary faculty. one claim may be made with perfect confidence--that if the manner be not all that could be wished, the matter is entirely trustworthy, being compiled from actual observation and experience, and in no case at second-hand. an endeavour has also been made to exclude such matter as is easily obtainable elsewhere--matters of common knowledge and "padding" of any sort--the object not being simply the making of a book, but the record of little-known facts. great care has been taken to use no names either of ships or persons, which could, by being identified, give annoyance or pain to any one, as in many cases strong language has been necessary for the expression of opinions. finally, the author hopes that, although in no sense exclusively a book for boys, the coming generation may find this volume readable and interesting; and with that desire he offers it confidently, though in all humility, to that great impartial jury, the public. f.t.b. dulwich, july, . contents chapter i--outward bound adrift in new bedford--i get a ship--a motley crowd--"built by the mile, and cut off as you want 'em"--mistah jones--greenies--off to sea. chapter ii--preparing for action primitive steering-gear--strange drill--misery below--short commons--goliath rigs the "crow's-nest"--useful information--preparing for war--strange weapons--a boat-load. chapter iii--fishing begins the cleanliness of a whale-ship--no skulking--porpoise-fishing--cannibals--cooking operations--boat-drill--a good look-out--"black-fishing"--roguery in all trades--plenty of fresh beef--the nursery of american whalemen. chapter iv--bad weather nautical routine--the first gale--comfort versus speed--a grand sea-boat--the sargasso sea--natural history pursuits--dolphin--unconventional fishing--rumours of a visit to the cape verdes--babel below--no allowance, but not "full and plenty"--queer washing--method of sharing rations--the "slop-shop" opened--our prospects. chapter v--actual warfare. our first whale premonitions--discussion on whaling from unknown premisses--i wake in a fright--sperm whales at last--the war begins--warning--we get fast--and get loose--in trouble--an uncomfortable situation--no pity-only one whale--rigging the "cutting-stage"--securing the whale alongside. chapter vi--"dirty work for clean money" goliath in trouble--commence "cutting-in"--a heavy head--a tank of spermaceti--decks running with oil--a "patent" mincing-machine--extensive cooking--dangerous work--three tuns of oil--a horrible mess--a thin-skinned monster--a fine mouth of teeth. chapter vii--getting southward captain slocum's amenities--expensive beer--st. paul's rocks--"bonito"--"showery" weather--waterspouts--calms--a friendly finback--a disquisition on whales by mistah jones--flying-fishing. chapter viii--abner's whale abner in luck--a big "fish" at last--a feat of endurance--a fighting whale--the sperm whale's food--ambergris--a good reception--hard labour--abner's reward--"scrimshaw". chapter ix--our first calling-place a forced march--tristan d'acunha--visitors--fresh provisions--a warm welcome--goliath's turn--a feathered host--good gear--a rough time--creeping north--uncertainty--"rule of thumb"--navigation--the mozambique channel. chapter x--a visit to some strange places tropical thunderstorms--a "record" day's fishing--cetacean frivolities--mistah jones moralizes--a snug harbour--wooding and watering--catching a turtle--catching a "tartar"--a violent death--a crooked jaw--aldabra island--primeval inhabitants--a strange steed--"pirate" birds--good eggs--green cocoa-nuts--more turtle--a school of "kogia". chapter xi--round the cocos and seychelles we encounter a "cyclone"--a tremendous gust--a foundering ship--to anchor for repairs--the cocos--repairing damages--around the seychelles--a "milk" sea--a derelict prahu--a ghastly freight--a stagnant sea. chapter xii--which treats of the kraken "eyes and no eyes" at sea--of big mollusca--the origin of sea-serpent stories--rediscovery of the "kraken"--a conflict of monsters--"the insatiable nightmares of the sea"--spermaceti running to waste--the east indian maze. chapter xiii--off to the japan grounds a whale off hong kong--the skipper and his "'bomb-gun"--injury to the captain--unwelcome visitors--the heathen chinee--we get safe off--"death of portagee jim"--the funeral--the coast of japan--port lloyd--meeting of whale-ships. chapter xiv--liberty day--and after liberty day--i foregather with a "beach-comber"--a big fight--goliath on the war-path--a court-martial--wholesale flogging--a miserable crowd--quite a fleet of whale-ships--i "raise" a sperm whale--severe competition--an unfortunate stroke--the skipper distinguishes himself. chapter xv--which comes uncomfortably near being the last i come to grief--emulating jonah--sharing a flurry--a long spell of sick-leave--the whale's "sixth sense"--off to the kuriles--prepare for "bowhead" fishing--the sea of okhotsk--abundant salmon--the "daintiness" of seamen. chapter xvi--"bowhead" fishing difference between whales--popular ideas exploded--the gentle mysticetus--very tame work--fond of tongue--goliath confides in me--an awful affair--captain slocum's death--"not amurath an amurath succeeds"--i am promoted. chapter xvii--visit to honolulu towards honolulu--missionaries and their critics--the happy kanaka--honolulu--a pleasant holiday. chapter xviii--on the "line" grounds i get my opportunity--a new harpooner--feats under the skipper's eye--two whales on one line--compliments heavy towage--a grand haul. chapter xix--edging southward monotony--a school of blackfish--a boat ripped in half--a multitude of sharks--a curious backbone--christmas day--a novel christmas dinner--a find of ambergris. chapter xx--"humpbacking" at vau vau "gamming" again--a whitechapel rover--arrive at vau vau--valuable friends--a sunday ashore--"hollingside"--the natives at church--full-dress--very "mishnally"--idyllic cruising--wonderful mother-love--a mighty feast. chapter xxi--progress of the "humpback" season a fruitless chase--placid times--a stirring adventure--a vast cave--unforeseen company--a night of terror--we provide a feast for the sharks--the death of abner--an impressive ceremony--an invitation to dinner--kanaka cookery. chapter xxii--farewell to vau vau ignorance of the habits of whales--a terrific encounter--vae victis--rewarding our "flems"--we leave van vau--the outward bounder--sailors' "homes"--a night of horror--sudden death--futuna. chapter xxiii--at futuna, recruiting a fleet of nondescripts--"tui tongoa" otherwise sam--eager recruits--devout catholics--a visit to sunday island--a crusoe family--their eviction--maori cabbage--fine fishing--away for new zealand--sight the "three kings"--the bay of islands. chapter xxiv--the bay of islands and new zealand coast sleepy hollow--wood and water--liberty day--a plea for the sailors' recreation--our picnic--a a whiff of "may"--a delightful excursion--to the southward again--wintry weather--enter foveaux straits. chapter xxv--on the solander grounds firstfruits of the solander--an easy catch--delights of the solander--port william--the old chance--"paddy gilroy"--barbarians from the east end--barracouta-fishing--wind-bound--an enormous school of cachalots--misfortune--a bursting whale--back on the solander again--cutting-in at port william--studying anatomy--badly battered yankees--paddy in luck again. chapter xxvi--paddy's latest exploit we try preservation inlet--an astounding feat of paddy gilroy's. chapter xxvii--port pegasus port pegasus--among old acquaintances--"mutton birds"--skilled auxiliaries--a gratifying catch--leave port again--back to the solander--a grim escape--our last whales--into port william again--paddy's assistance--we part with our kanakas--sam's plans of conquest. chapter xxviii--to the bluff, and home and last--in high-toned company--another picnic--depart from the bluff--hey for the horn!--among the icebergs--"scudding"--favouring trades--a narrow escape from collision--home at last. introduction without attempting the ambitious task of presenting a comprehensive sketch of the origin, rise, and fall of whale-fishing as a whole, it seems necessary to give a brief outline of that portion of the subject bearing upon the theme of the present book before plunging into the first chapter. this preliminary is the more needed for the reason alluded to in the preface--the want of knowledge of the subject that is apparent everywhere. the greenland whale fishery has been so popularized that most people know something about it; the sperm whale fishery still awaits its scoresby and a like train of imitators and borrowers. cachalots, or sperm whales, must have been captured on the coasts of europe in a desultory way from a very early date, by the incidental allusions to the prime products spermaceti and ambergris which are found in so many ancient writers, shakespeare's reference--"the sovereign'st thing on earth was parmaceti for an inward bruise"--will be familiar to most people, as well as milton's mention of the delicacies at satan's feast--"grisamber steamed"--not to carry quotation any further. but in the year the brave and hardy fishermen of the north-east coasts of north america established that systematic pursuit of the cachalot which has thriven so wonderfully ever since, although it must be confessed that the last few years have witnessed a serious decline in this great branch of trade. for many years the american colonists completely engrossed this branch of the whale fishery, contentedly leaving to great britain and the continental nations the monopoly of the northern or arctic fisheries, while they cruised the stormy, if milder, seas around their own shores. for the resultant products, their best customer was the mother country, and a lucrative commerce steadily grew up between the two countries. but when the march of events brought the unfortunate and wholly unnecessary war of independence, this flourishing trade was the first to suffer, and many of the daring fishermen became our fiercest foes on board their own men-of-war. the total stoppage of the importation of sperm oil and spermaceti was naturally severely felt in england, for time had not permitted the invention of substitutes. in consequence of this, ten ships were equipped and sent out to the sperm whale fishery from england in , most of them owned by one london firm, the messrs. enderby. the next year, in order to encourage the infant enterprise, a government bounty, graduated from l to l per ship, was granted. under this fostering care the number of ships engaged in the sperm whale fishery progressively increased until , when it attained its maximum. this method of whaling being quite new to our whalemen, it was necessary, at great cost, to hire american officers and harpooners to instruct them in the ways of dealing with these highly active and dangerous cetacea. naturally, it was by-and-by found possible to dispense with the services of these auxiliaries; but it must be confessed that the business never seems to have found such favour, or to have been prosecuted with such smartness, among our whalemen as it has by the americans. something of an exotic the trade always was among us, although it did attain considerable proportions at one time. at first the fishing was confined to the atlantic ocean; nor for many years was it necessary to go farther afield, as abundance of whales could easily be found. as, however, the number of ships engaged increased, it was inevitable that the known grounds should become exhausted, and in messrs. enderby's ship, the emilia, first ventured round cape horn, as the pioneer of a greater trade than ever. the way once pointed out, other ships were not slow to follow, until, in , the british whale-ship syren opened up the till then unexplored tract of ocean in the western part of the north pacific, afterwards familiarly known as the "coast of japan." from these teeming waters alone, for many years an average annual catch of , barrels of oil was taken, which, at the average price of l per barrel, will give some idea of the value of the trade generally. the australian colonists, early in their career, found the sperm whale fishery easy of access from all their coasts, and especially lucrative. at one time they bade fair to establish a whale fishery that should rival the splendid trade of the americans; but, like the mother country, they permitted the fishery to decline, so that even bounties could not keep it alive. meanwhile, the americans added to their fleet continually, prospering amazingly. but suddenly the advent of the civil war let loose among those peaceable cruisers the devastating alabama, whose course was marked in some parts of the world by the fires of blazing whale-ships. a great part, of the geneva award was on this account, although it must be acknowledged that many pseudo-owners were enriched who never owned aught but brazen impudence and influential friends to push their fictitious claims. the real sufferers, seamen especially, in most cases never received any redress whatever. from this crushing blow the american sperm whale fishery has never fully recovered. when the writer was in the trade, some twenty-two years ago, it was credited with a fleet of between three and four hundred sail; now it may be doubted whether the numbers reach an eighth of that amount. a rigid conservatism of method hinders any revival of the industry, which is practically conducted to-day as it was fifty, or even a hundred years ago; and it is probable that another decade will witness the final extinction of what was once one of the most important maritime industries in the world. the cruise of the "cachalot" chapter i. outward bound at the age of eighteen, after a sea-experience of six years from the time when i dodged about london streets, a ragged arab, with wits sharpened by the constant fight for food, i found myself roaming the streets of new bedford, massachusetts. how i came to be there, of all places in the world, does not concern this story at all, so i am not going to trouble my readers with it; enough to say that i was there, and mighty anxious to get away. sailor jack is always hankering for shore when he is at sea, but when he is "outward bound"--that is, when his money is all gone--he is like a cat in the rain there. so as my money was all gone, i was hungry for a ship; and when a long, keen-looking man with a goat-like beard, and mouth stained with dry tobacco-juice, hailed me one afternoon at the street-corner, i answered very promptly, scenting a berth. "lookin' fer a ship, stranger?" said he. "yes; do you want a hand?" said i, anxiously. he made a funny little sound something like a pony's whinny, then answered, "wall, i should surmise that i want between fifty and sixty hands, ef yew kin lay me onto 'em; but, kem along, every dreep's a drop, an' yew seem likely enough." with that he turned and led the way until we reached a building around which were gathered one of the most nondescript crowds i had ever seen. there certainly did not appear to be a sailor among them. not so much by their rig, though that is not a great deal to go by, but by their actions and speech. one thing they all had in common, tobacco chewing but as nearly every male i met with in america did that, it was not much to be noticed. i had hardly done reckoning them up when two or three bustling men came out and shepherded us all energetically into a long, low room, where some form of agreement was read out to us. sailors are naturally and usually careless about the nature of the "articles" they sign, their chief anxiety being to get to sea, and under somebody's charge. but had i been ever so anxious to know what i was going to sign this time, i could not, for the language might as well have been chinese for all i understood of it. however, i signed and passed on, engaged to go i knew not where, in some ship i did not know even the name of, in which i was to receive i did not know how much, or how little, for my labour, nor how long i was going to be away. "what a young fool!" i hear somebody say. i quite agree, but there were a good many more in that ship, as in most ships that i have ever sailed in. from the time we signed the articles, we were never left to ourselves. truculent-looking men accompanied us to our several boarding-houses, paid our debts for us, finally bringing us by boat to a ship lying out in the bay. as we passed under her stern, i read the name cachalot, of new bedford; but as soon as we ranged alongside, i realized that i was booked for the sailor's horror--a cruise in a whaler. badly as i wanted to get to sea, i had not bargained for this, and would have run some risks to get ashore again; but they took no chances, so we were all soon aboard. before going forward, i took a comprehensive glance around, and saw that i was on board of a vessel belonging to a type which has almost disappeared off the face of the waters. a more perfect contrast to the trim-built english clipper-ships that i had been accustomed to i could hardly imagine. she was one of a class characterized by sailors as "built by the mile, and cut off in lengths as you want 'em," bow and stern almost alike, masts standing straight as broomsticks, and bowsprit soaring upwards at an angle of about forty-five degrees. she was as old-fashioned in her rig as in her hull; but i must not go into the technical differences between rigs, for fear of making myself tedious. right in the centre of the deck, occupying a space of about ten feet by eight, was a square erection of brickwork, upon which my wondering gaze rested longest, for i had not the slightest idea what it could be. but i was rudely roused from my meditations by the harsh voice of one of the officers, who shouted, "naow then, git below an' stow yer dunnage, 'n look lively up agin." i took the broad hint, and shouldering my traps, hurried forward to the fo'lk'sle, which was below deck. tumbling down the steep ladder, i entered the gloomy den which was to be for so long my home, finding it fairly packed with my shipmates. a motley crowd they were. i had been used in english ships to considerable variety of nationality; but here were gathered, not only the representatives of five or six nations, but 'long-shoremen of all kinds, half of whom had hardly ever set eyes on a ship before! the whole space was undivided by partition, but i saw at once that black men and white had separated themselves, the blacks taking the port side and the whites the starboard. finding a vacant bunk by the dim glimmer of the ancient teapot lamp that hung amidships, giving out as much smoke as light, i hurriedly shifted my coat for a "jumper" or blouse, put on an old cap, and climbed into the fresh air again. for a double reason, even my seasoned head was feeling bad with the villainous reek of the place, and i did not want any of those hard-featured officers on deck to have any cause to complain of my "hanging back." on board ship, especially american ships, the first requisite for a sailor who wants to be treated properly is to "show willing," any suspicion of slackness being noted immediately, and the backward one marked accordingly. i had hardly reached the deck when i was confronted by a negro, the biggest i ever saw in, my life. he looked me up and down for a moment, then opening his ebony features in a wide smile, he said, "great snakes! why, here's a sailor man for sure! guess thet's so, ain't it, johnny?" i said "yes" very curtly, for i hardly liked his patronizing air; but he snapped me up short with "yes, sir, when yew speak to me, yew blank lime-juicer. i'se de fourf mate ob dis yar ship, en my name's mistah jones, 'n yew, jest freeze on to dat ar, ef yew want ter lib long'n die happy. see, sonny." i saw, and answered promptly, "i beg your pardon, sir, i didn't know." "ob cawse yew didn't know, dat's all right, little britisher; naow jest skip aloft 'n loose dat fore-taupsle." "aye, aye, sir," i answered cheerily, springing at once into the fore-rigging and up the ratlines like a monkey, but not too fast to hear him chuckle, "dat's a smart kiddy, i bet." i had the big sail loose in double quick time, and sung out "all gone, the fore-taupsle," before any of the other sails were adrift. "loose the to-gantsle and staysles" came up from below in a voice like thunder, and i bounded up higher to my task. on deck i could see a crowd at the windlass heaving up anchor. i said to myself, "they don't waste any time getting this packet away." evidently they were not anxious to test any of the crew's swimming powers. they were wise, for had she remained at anchor that night i verily believe some of the poor wretches would have tried to escape. the anchor came aweigh, the sails were sheeted home, and i returned on deck to find the ship gathering way for the heads, fairly started on her long voyage. what a bear-garden the deck was, to be sure! the black portion of the crew--portuguese natives from the western and canary islands--were doing their work all right in a clumsy fashion; but the farmers, and bakers, and draymen were being driven about mercilessly amid a perfect hurricane of profanity and blows. and right here i must say that, accustomed as i had always been to bad language all my life, what i now heard was a revelation to me. i would not, if i could, attempt to give a sample of it, but it must be understood that it was incessant throughout the voyage. no order could be given without it, under the impression, apparently, that the more curses the more speed. before nightfall we were fairly out to sea, and the ceremony of dividing the crew into watches was gone through. i found myself in the chief mate's or "port" watch (they called it "larboard," a term i had never heard used before, it having long been obsolete in merchant ships), though the huge negro fourth mate seemed none too well pleased that i was not under his command, his being the starboard watch under the second mate. as night fell, the condition of the "greenies," or non-sailor portion of the crew, was pitiable. helpless from sea-sickness, not knowing where to go or what to do, bullied relentlessly by the ruthless petty officers--well, i never felt so sorry for a lot of men in my life. glad enough i was to get below into the fo'lk'sle for supper, and a brief rest and respite from that cruelty on deck. a bit of salt junk and a piece of bread, i.e. biscuit, flinty as a pantile, with a pot of something sweetened with "longlick" (molasses), made an apology for a meal, and i turned in. in a very few minutes oblivion came, making me as happy as any man can be in this world. chapter ii. preparing for action the hideous noise always considered necessary in those ships when calling the watch, roused me effectively at midnight, "eight bells." i hurried on deck, fully aware that no leisurely ten minutes would be allowed here. "lay aft the watch," saluted me as i emerged into the keen strong air, quickening my pace according to where the mate stood waiting to muster his men. as soon as he saw me, he said, "can you steer?" in a mocking tone; but when i quietly answered, "yes, sir," his look of astonishment was delightful to see. he choked it down, however, and merely telling me to take the wheel, turned forrard roaring frantically for his watch. i had no time to chuckle over what i knew was in store for him, getting those poor greenies collected from their several holes and corners, for on taking the wheel i found a machine under my hands such as i never even heard of before. the wheel was fixed upon the tiller in such a manner that the whole concern travelled backwards and forwards across the deck in the maddest kind of way. for the first quarter of an hour, in spite of the september chill, the sweat poured off me in streams. and the course--well, if was not steering, it was sculling; the old bumboat was wobbling all around like a drunken tailor with two left legs. i fairly shook with apprehension lest the mate should come and look in the compass. i had been accustomed to hard words if i did not steer within half a point each way; but here was a "gadget" that worked me to death, the result being a wake like a letter s. gradually i got the hang of the thing, becoming easier in my mind on my own account. even that was not an unmixed blessing, for i had now some leisure to listen to the goings-on around the deck. such brutality i never witnessed before. on board of english ships (except men-of-war) there is practically no discipline, which is bad, but this sort of thing was maddening. i knew how desperately ill all those poor wretches were, how helpless and awkward they would be if quite hale and hearty; but there was absolutely no pity for them, the officers seemed to be incapable of any feelings of compassion whatever. my heart sank within me as i thought of what lay before me, although i did not fear that their treatment would also be mine, since i was at least able to do my duty, and willing to work hard to keep out of trouble. then i began to wonder what sort of voyage i was in for, how long it would last, and what my earnings were likely to be, none of which things i had the faintest idea of. fortunately, i was alone in the world. no one, as far as i knew, cared a straw what became of me; so that i was spared any worry on that head. and i had also a very definite and well-established trust in god, which i can now look back and see was as fully justified as i then believed it to be. so, as i could not shut my ears to the cruelties being carried on, nor banish thought by hard work, i looked up to the stately stars, thinking of things not to be talked about without being suspected of cant. so swiftly passed the time that when four bells struck: (two o'clock) i could hardly believe my ears. i was relieved by one of the portuguese, and went forward to witness a curious scene. seven stalwart men were being compelled to march up and down on that tumbling deck, men who had never before trodden anything less solid than the earth. the third mate, a waspish, spiteful little yankee with a face like an angry cat, strolled about among them, a strand of rope-yarns in his hand, which he wielded constantly, regardless where he struck a man. they fell about, sometimes four or five at once, and his blows flew thick and fast, yet he never seemed to weary of his ill-doing. it made me quite sick, and i longed to be aft at the wheel again. catching sight of me standing irresolute as to what i had better do, he ordered me on the "look-out," a tiny platform between the "knight heads," just where the bowsprit joins the ship. gladly i obeyed him, and perched up there looking over the wide sea, the time passed quickly away until eight bells (four o'clock) terminated my watch. i must pass rapidly over the condition of things in the fo'lk'sle, where all the greenies that were allowed below, were groaning in misery from the stifling atmosphere which made their sickness so much worse, while even that dreadful place was preferable to what awaited them on deck. there was a rainbow-coloured halo round the flame of the lamp, showing how very bad the air was; but in spite of that i turned in and slept soundly till seven bells ( . a.m.) roused us to breakfast. american ships generally have an excellent name for the way they feed their crews, but the whalers are a notable exception to that good rule. the food was really worse than that on board any english ship i have ever sailed in, so scanty also in quantity that it kept all the foremast hands at starvation point. but grumbling was dangerous, so i gulped down the dirty mixture mis-named coffee, ate a few fragments of biscuit, and filled up (?) with a smoke, as many better men are doing this morning. as the bell struck i hurried on deck--not one moment too soon--for as i stepped out of the scuttle i saw the third mate coming forward with a glitter in his eye that boded no good to laggards. before going any farther i must apologize for using so many capital i's, but up till the present i had been the only available white member of the crew forrard. the decks were scrubbed spotlessly clean, and everything was neat and tidy as on board a man-of-war, contrary to all usual notions of the condition of a whaler. the mate was in a state of high activity, so i soon found myself very busily engaged in getting up whale-lines, harpoons, and all the varied equipment for the pursuit of whales. the number of officers carried would have been a good crew for the ship, the complete afterguard comprising captain, four mates, four harpooners or boat-steerers, carpenter, cooper, steward and cook. all these worthies were on deck and working with might and main at the preparations, so that the incompetence of the crowd forrard was little hindrance. i was pounced upon by "mistah" jones, the fourth mate, whom i heard addressed familiarly as "goliath" and "anak" by his brother officers, and ordered to assist him in rigging the "crow's-nest" at the main royal-mast head. it was a simple affair. there were a pair of cross-trees fitted to the mast, upon which was secured a tiny platform about a foot wide on each side of the mast, while above this foothold a couple of padded hoops like a pair of giant spectacles were secured at a little higher than a man's waist. when all was fast one could creep up on the platform, through the hoop, and, resting his arms upon the latter, stand comfortably and gaze around, no matter how vigorously the old barky plunged and kicked beneath him. from that lofty eyrie i had a comprehensive view of the vessel. she was about tons and full ship-rigged, that is to say, she carried square sails on all three masts. her deck was flush fore and aft, the only obstructions being the brick-built "try-works" in the waist, the galley, and cabin skylight right aft by the taffrail. her bulwarks were set thickly round with clumsy looking wooden cranes, from which depended five boats. two more boats were secured bottom up upon a gallows aft, so she seemed to be well supplied in that direction. mistah jones, finding i did not presume upon his condescension, gradually unbent and furnished me with many interesting facts about the officers. captain slocum, he said, was "de debbil hisself, so jess yew keeps yer lamps trim' fer him, sonny, taint helthy ter rile him." the first officer, or the mate as he is always called par excellence, was an older man than the captain, but a good seaman, a good whaleman, and a gentleman. which combination i found to be a fact, although hard to believe possible at the time. the second mate was a portuguese about forty years of age, with a face like one of vandyke's cavaliers, but as i now learned, a perfect fiend when angered. he also was a first-class whaleman, but an indifferent seaman. the third mate was nothing much but bad temper--not much sailor, nor much whaler, generally in hot water with the skipper, who hated him because he was an "owner's man." "an de fourf mate," wound up the narrator, straightening his huge bulk, "am de bes' man in de ship, and de bigges'. dey aint no whalemen in noo bedford caynt teach me nuffin, en ef it comes ter man-handlin'; w'y i jes' pick 'em two't a time 'n crack 'em togerrer like so, see!" and he smote the palms of his great paws against each other, while i nodded complete assent. the weather being fine, with a steady n.e. wind blowing, so that the sails required no attention, work proceeded steadily all the morning. the oars were sorted, examined for flaws, and placed in the boats; the whale-line, manilla rope like yellow silk, / inch round, was brought on deck, stretched and coiled down with the greatest care into tubs, holding, some fathoms, and others fathoms each. new harpoons were fitted to poles of rough but heavy wood, without any attempt at neatness, but every attention to strength. the shape of these weapons was not, as is generally thought, that of an arrow, but rather like an arrow with one huge barb, the upper part of which curved out from the shaft. the whole of the barb turned on a stout pivot of steel, but was kept in line with the shaft by a tiny wooden peg which passed through barb and shaft, being then cut off smoothly on both sides. the point of the harpoon had at one side a wedge-shaped edge, ground to razor keenness, the other side was flat. the shaft, about thirty inches long, was of the best malleable iron, so soft that it would tie into a knot and straighten out again without fracture. three harpoons, or "irons" as they were always called, were placed in each boat, fitted one above the other in the starboard bow, the first for use being always one unused before, opposite to them in the boat were fitted three lances for the purpose of killing whales, the harpoons being only the means by which the boat was attached to a fish, and quite useless to inflict a fatal wound. these lances were slender spears of malleable iron about four feet long, with oval or heart-shaped points of fine steel about two inches broad, their edges kept keen as a surgeon's lancet. by means of a socket at the other end they were attached to neat handles, or "lance-poles," about as long again, the whole weapon being thus about eight feet in length, and furnished with a light line, or "lance-warp," for the purpose of drawing it back again when it had been darted at a whale. each boat was fitted with a centre-board, or sliding keel, which was drawn up, when not in use, into a case standing in the boat's middle, very much in the way. but the american whalemen regard these clumsy contrivances as indispensable, so there's an end on't. the other furniture of a boat comprised five oars of varying lengths from sixteen to nine feet, one great steering oar of nineteen feet, a mast and two sails of great area for so small a craft, spritsail shape; two tubs of whale-line containing together feet, a keg of drinking water, and another long narrow one with a few biscuits, a lantern, candles and matches therein; a bucket and "piggin" for baling, a small spade, a flag or "wheft," a shoulder bomb-gun and ammunition, two knives and two small axes. a rudder hung outside by the stern. with all this gear, although snugly stowed, a boat looked so loaded that i could not help wondering how six men would be able to work in her; but like most "deep-water" sailors, i knew very little about boating. i was going to learn. all this work and bustle of preparation was so rapidly carried on, and so interesting, that before supper-time everything was in readiness to commence operations, the time having gone so swiftly that i could hardly believe the bell when it sounded four times, six o'clock. chapter iii. fishing begins during all the bustle of warlike preparation that had been going on, the greenhorns had not suffered from inattention on the part of those appointed to look after them. happily for them, the wind blew steadily, and the weather, thanks to the balmy influence of the gulf stream, was quite mild and genial. the ship was undoubtedly lively, as all good sea-boats are, but her motions were by no means so detestable to a sea-sick man as those of a driving steamer. so, in spite of their treatment, perhaps because of it, some of the poor fellows were beginning to take hold of things "man-fashion," although of course sea legs they had none, their getting about being indeed a pilgrimage of pain. some of them were beginning to try the dreadful "grub" (i cannot libel "food" by using it in such a connection), thereby showing that their interest in life, even such a life as was now before them, was returning. they had all been allotted places in the various boats, intermixed with the seasoned portuguese in such a way that the officer and harpooner in charge would not be dependant upon them entirely in case of a sudden emergency. every endeavour was undoubtedly made to instruct them in their duties, albeit the teachers were all too apt to beat their information in with anything that came to hand, and persuasion found no place in their methods. the reports i had always heard of the laziness prevailing on board whale-ships were now abundantly falsified. from dawn to dark work went on without cessation. everything was rubbed and scrubbed and scoured until no speck or soil could be found; indeed, no gentleman's yacht or man-of-war is kept more spotlessly clean than was the cachalot. a regular and severe routine of labour was kept up; and, what was most galling to me, instead of a regular four hours' watch on and off, night and day, all hands were kept on deck the whole day long, doing quite unnecessary tasks, apparently with the object of preventing too much leisure and consequent brooding over their unhappy lot. one result of this continual drive and tear was that all these landsmen became rapidly imbued with the virtues of cleanliness, which was extended to the den in which we lived, or i verily believe sickness would have soon thinned us out. on the fourth day after leaving port we were all busy as usual except the four men in the "crow's-nests," when a sudden cry of "porps! porps!" brought everything to a standstill. a large school of porpoises had just joined us, in their usual clownish fashion, rolling and tumbling around the bows as the old barky wallowed along, surrounded by a wide ellipse of snowy foam. all work was instantly suspended, and active preparations made for securing a few of these frolicsome fellows. a "block," or pulley, was hung out at the bowsprit end, a whale-line passed through it and "bent" (fastened) on to a harpoon. another line with a running "bowline," or slip-noose, was also passed out to the bowsprit end, being held there by one man in readiness. then one of the harpooners ran out along the backropes, which keep the jib-boom down, taking his stand beneath the bowsprit with the harpoon ready. presently he raised his iron and followed the track of a rising porpoise with its point until the creature broke water. at the same instant the weapon left his grasp, apparently without any force behind it; but we on deck, holding the line, soon found that our excited hauling lifted a big vibrating body clean out of the smother beneath. "'vast hauling!" shouted the mate, while as the porpoise hung dangling, the harpooner slipped the ready bowline over his body, gently closing its grip round the "small" by the broad tail. then we hauled on the noose-line, slacking away the harpoon, and in a minute had our prize on deck. he was dragged away at once and the operation repeated. again and again we hauled them in, until the fore part of the deck was alive with the kicking, writhing sea-pigs, at least twenty of them. i had seen an occasional porpoise caught at sea before, but never more than one at a time. here, however, was a wholesale catch. at last one of the harpooned ones plunged so furiously while being hauled up that he literally tore himself off the iron, falling, streaming with blood, back into the sea. away went all the school after him, tearing at him with their long well-toothed jaws, some of them leaping high in the air in their eagerness to get their due share of the cannibal feast. our fishing was over for that time. meanwhile one of the harpooners had brought out a number of knives, with which all hands were soon busy skinning the blubber from the bodies. porpoises have no skin, that is hide, the blubber or coating of lard which encases them being covered by a black substance as thin as tissue paper. the porpoise hide of the boot maker is really leather, made from the skin of the beluga, or "white whale," which is found only in the far north. the cover was removed from the "tryworks" amidships, revealing two gigantic pots set in a frame of brickwork side by side, capable of holding gallons each. such a cooking apparatus as might have graced a brobdingnagian kitchen. beneath the pots was the very simplest of furnaces, hardly as elaborate as the familiar copper-hole sacred to washing day. square funnels of sheet-iron were loosely fitted to the flues, more as a protection against the oil boiling over into the fire than to carry away the smoke, of which from the peculiar nature of the fuel there was very little. at one side of the try-works was a large wooden vessel, or "hopper," to contain the raw blubber; at the other, a copper cistern or cooler of about gallons capacity, into which the prepared oil was baled to cool off, preliminary to its being poured into the casks. beneath the furnaces was a space as large as the whole area of the try-works, about a foot deep, which, when the fires were lighted, was filled with water to prevent the deck from burning. it may be imagined that the blubber from our twenty porpoises made but a poor show in one of the pots; nevertheless, we got a barrel of very excellent oil from them. the fires were fed with "scrap," or pieces of blubber from which the oil had been boiled, some of which had been reserved from the previous voyage. they burnt with a fierce and steady blaze, leaving but a trace of ash. i was then informed by one of the harpooners that no other fuel was ever used for boiling blubber at any time, there being always amply sufficient for the purpose. the most interesting part of the whole business, though, to us poor half-starved wretches, was the plentiful supply of fresh meat. porpoise beef is, when decently cooked, fairly good eating to a landsman; judge, then, what it must have been to us. of course the tit-bits, such as the liver, kidneys, brains, etc., could not possibly fall to our lot; but we did not complain, we were too thankful to get something eatable, and enough of it. moreover, although few sailors in english ships know it, porpoise beef improves vastly by keeping, getting tenderer every day the longer it hangs, until at last it becomes as tasty a viand as one could wish to dine upon. it was a good job for us that this was the case, for while the porpoises lasted the "harness casks," or salt beef receptacles, were kept locked; so if any man had felt unable to eat porpoise--well, there was no compulsion, he could go hungry. we were now in the haunts of the sperm whale, or "cachalot," a brilliant look-out being continually kept for any signs of their appearing. one officer and a foremast hand were continually on watch during the day in the main crow's-nest, one harpooner and a seaman in the fore one. a bounty of ten pounds of tobacco was offered to whoever should first report a whale, should it be secured, consequently there were no sleepy eyes up there. of course none of those who were inexperienced stood much chance against the eagle-eyed portuguese; but all tried their best, in the hope of perhaps winning some little favour from their hard taskmasters. every evening at sunset it was "all hands shorten sail," the constant drill rapidly teaching even these clumsy landsmen how to find their way aloft, and do something else besides hold on to anything like grim death when they got there. at last, one beautiful day, the boats were lowered and manned, and away went the greenies on their first practical lesson in the business of the voyage. as before noticed, there were two greenies in each boat, they being so arranged that whenever one of them "caught a crab," which of course was about every other stroke, his failure made little difference to the boat's progress. they learned very fast under the terrible imprecations and storm of blows from the iron-fisted and iron-hearted officers, so that before the day was out the skipper was satisfied of our ability to deal with a "fish" should he be lucky enough to "raise" one. i was, in virtue of my experience, placed at the after-oar in the mate's boat, where it was my duty to attend to the "main sheet" when the sail was set, where also i had the benefit of the lightest oar except the small one used by the harpooner in the bow. the very next day after our first exhaustive boat drill, a school of "black fish" was reported from aloft, with great glee the officers prepared for what they considered a rattling day's fun. the black fish (phocaena sp.) is a small toothed whale, not at all unlike a miniature cachalot, except that its head is rounded at the front, while its jaw is not long and straight, but bowed. it is as frolicsome as the porpoise, gambolling about in schools of from twenty to fifty or more, as if really delighted to be alive. its average size is from ten to twenty feet long, and seven or eight feet in girth, weight from one to three tons. blubber about three inches thick, while the head is almost all oil, so that a good rich specimen will make between one and two barrels of oil of medium quality. the school we were now in sight of was of middling size and about average weight of individuals, and the officers esteemed it a fortunate circumstance that we should happen across them as a sort of preliminary to our tackling the monarchs of the deep. all the new harpoons were unshipped from the boats, and a couple of extra "second" irons, as those that have been used are called, were put into each boat for use if wanted. the sails were also left on board. we lowered and left the ship, pulling right towards the school, the noise they were making in their fun effectually preventing them from hearing our approach. it is etiquette to allow the mate's boat first place, unless his crew is so weak as to be unable to hold their own; but as the mate always has first pick of the men this seldom happens. so, as usual, we were first, and soon i heard the order given, "stand up, louey, and let 'em have it!" sure enough, here we were right among them. louis let drive, "fastening" a whopper about twenty feet long. the injured animal plunged madly forward, accompanied by his fellows, while louis calmly bent another iron to a "short warp," or piece of whale-line, the loose end of which he made a bowline with around the main line which was fast to the "fish." then he fastened another "fish," and the queer sight was seen of these two monsters each trying to flee in opposite directions, while the second one ranged about alarmingly as his "bridle" ran along the main line. another one was secured in the same way, then the game was indeed great. the school had by this time taken the alarm and cleared out, but the other boats were all fast to fish, so that didn't matter. now, at the rate our "game" were going it would evidently be a long while before they died, although, being so much smaller than a whale proper, a harpoon will often kill them at a stroke. yet they were now so tangled or "snarled erp," as the mate said, that it was no easy matter to lance them without great danger of cutting the line. however, we hauled up as close to them as we dared, and the harpooner got a good blow in, which gave the biggest of the three "jesse," as he said, though why "jesse" was a stumper. anyhow, it killed him promptly, while almost directly after another one saved further trouble by passing in his own checks. but he sank at the same time, drawing the first one down with him, so that we were in considerable danger of having to cut them adrift or be swamped. the "wheft" was waved thrice as an urgent signal to the ship to come to our assistance with all speed, but in the meantime our interest lay in the surviving black fish keeping alive. should he die, and, as was most probable, sink, we should certainly have to cut and lose the lot, tools included. we waited in grim silence while the ship came up, so slowly, apparently, that she hardly seemed to move, but really at a good pace of about four knots an hour, which for her was not at all bad. she got alongside of us at last, and we passed up the bight of our line, our fish all safe, very much pleased with ourselves, especially when we found that the other boats had only five between the three of them. the fish secured to the ship, all the boats were hoisted except one, which remained alongside to sling the bodies. during our absence the ship-keepers had been busy rigging one of the cutting falls, an immense fourfold tackle from the main lowermast-head, of four-inch rope through great double blocks, large as those used at dockyards for lifting ships' masts and boilers. chain-slings were passed around the carcases, which gripped the animal at the "small," being prevented from slipping off by the broad spread of the tail. the end of the "fall," or tackle-rope, was then taken to the windlass, and we hove away cheerily, lifting the monsters right on deck. a mountainous pile they made. a short spell was allowed, when the whole eight were on board, for dinner; then all hands turned to again to "flench" the blubber, and prepare for trying-out. this was a heavy job, keeping all hands busy until it was quite dark, the latter part of the work being carried on by the light of a "cresset," the flames of which were fed with "scrap," which blazed brilliantly, throwing a big glare over all the ship. the last of the carcases was launched overboard by about eight o'clock that evening, but not before some vast junks of beef had been cut off and hung up in the rigging for our food supply. the try-works were started again, "trying-out" going on busily all night, watch and watch taking their turn at keeping the pots supplied with minced blubber. the work was heavy, while the energetic way in which it was carried on made us all glad to take what rest was allowed us, which was scanty enough, as usual. by nightfall the next day the ship had resumed her normal appearance, and we were a tun and a quarter of oil to the good. black fish oil is of medium quality, but i learned that, according to the rule of "roguery in all trades," it was the custom to mix quantities such as we had just obtained with better class whale-oil, and thus get a much higher price than it was really worth. up till this time we had no sort of an idea as to where our first objective might be, but from scraps of conversation i had overheard among the harpooners, i gathered that we were making for the cape verde islands or the acores, in the vicinity of which a good number of moderate-sized sperm whales are often to be found. in fact, these islands have long been a nursery for whale-fishers, because the cachalot loves their steep-to shores, and the hardy natives, whenever and wherever they can muster a boat and a little gear, are always ready to sally forth and attack the unwary whale that ventures within their ken. consequently more than half of the total crews of the american whaling fleet are composed of these islanders. many of them have risen to the position of captain, and still more are officers and harpooners; but though undoubtedly brave and enterprising, they are cruel and treacherous, and in positions of authority over men of teutonic or anglo-saxon origin, are apt to treat their subordinates with great cruelty. chapter iv. bad weather nautical routine in its essential details is much the same in all ships, whether naval, merchant, or whaling vessels. but while in the ordinary merchantman there are decidedly "no more cats than can catch mice," hardly, indeed, sufficient for all the mousing that should be done, in men-of-war and whaleships the number of hands carried, being far more than are wanted for everyday work, must needs be kept at unnecessary duties in order that they may not grow lazy and discontented. for instance, in the cachalot we carried a crew of thirty-seven all told, of which twenty-four were men before the mast, or common seamen, our tonnage being under tons. many a splendid clipper-ship carrying an enormous spread of canvas on four masts, and not overloaded with tons of cargo on board, carries twenty-eight or thirty all told, or even less than that. as far as we were concerned, the result of this was that our landsmen got so thoroughly drilled, that within a week of leaving port they hardly knew themselves for the clumsy clodhoppers they at first appeared to be. we had now been eight days out, and in our leisurely way were making fair progress across the atlantic, having had nothing, so far, but steady breezes and fine weather. as it was late autumn the first week in october--i rather wondered at this, for even in my brief experience i had learned to dread a "fall" voyage across the "western ocean." gradually the face of the sky changed, and the feel of the air, from balmy and genial, became raw and cheerless. the little wave tops broke short off and blew backwards, apparently against the wind, while the old vessel had an uneasy, unnatural motion, caused by a long, new swell rolling athwart the existing set of the sea. then the wind became fitful and changeable, backing half round the compass, and veering forward again as much in an hour, until at last in one tremendous squall it settled in the n.w. for a business-like blow, unlike the hurried merchantman who must needs "hang on" till the last minute, only shortening the sail when absolutely compelled to do so, and at the first sign of the gales relenting, piling it on again, we were all snug long before the storm burst upon us, and now rode comfortably under the tiniest of storm staysails. we were evidently in for a fair specimen of western ocean weather, but the clumsy-looking, old-fashioned cachalot made no more fuss over it than one of the long-winged sea-birds that floated around, intent only upon snapping up any stray scraps that might escape from us. higher rose the wind, heavier rolled the sea, yet never a drop of water did we ship, nor did anything about the deck betoken what a heavy gale was blowing. during the worst of the weather, and just after the wind had shifted back into the n.e., making an uglier cross sea than ever get up, along comes an immense four-masted iron ship homeward bound. she was staggering under a veritable mountain of canvas, fairly burying her bows in the foam at every forward drive, and actually wetting the clews of the upper topsails in the smothering masses of spray, that every few minutes almost hid her hull from sight. it was a splendid picture; but--for the time--i felt glad i was not on board of her. in a very few minutes she was out of our ken, followed by the admiration of all. then came, from the other direction, a huge steamship, taking no more notice of the gale than as if it were calm. straight through the sea she rushed, dividing the mighty rollers to the heart, and often bestriding three seas at once, the centre one spreading its many tons of foaming water fore and aft, so that from every orifice spouted the seething brine. compared with these greyhounds of the wave, we resembled nothing so much as some old lightship bobbing serenely around, as if part and parcel of the mid-atlantic. our greenies were getting so well seasoned by this time that even this rough weather did not knock any of them over, and from that time forward they had no more trouble from sea-sickness. the gale gradually blew itself out, leaving behind only a long and very heavy swell to denote the deep-reaching disturbance that the ocean had endured. and now we were within the range of the sargasso weed, that mysterious fucus that makes the ocean look. like some vast hayfield, and keeps the sea from rising, no matter how high the wind. it fell a dead calm, and the harpooners amused themselves by dredging up great masses of the weed, and turning out the many strange creatures abiding therein. what a world of wonderful life the weed is, to be sure! in it the flying fish spawn and the tiny cuttle-fish breed, both of them preparing bounteous provision for the larger denizens of the deep that have no other food. myriads of tiny crabs and innumerable specimens of less-known shell-fish, small fish of species as yet unclassified in any work on natural history, with jelly-fish of every conceivable and inconceivable shape, form part of this great and populous country in the sea. at one haul there was brought on board a mass of flying-fish spawn, about ten pounds in weight, looking like nothing so much as a pile of ripe white currants, and clinging together in a very similar manner. such masses of ova i had often seen cast up among the outlying rocks on the shores of the caribbean sea, when as a shipwrecked lad i wandered idly about unburying turtle eggs from their snug beds in the warm sand, and chasing the many-hued coral fish from one hiding-place to another. while loitering in these smooth waters, waiting for the laggard wind, up came a shoal of dolphin, ready as at all times to attach themselves for awhile to the ship. nothing is more singular than the manner in which deep-sea fish will accompany a vessel that is not going too fast--sometimes for days at a time. most convenient too, and providing hungry jack with many a fresh mess he would otherwise have missed. of all these friendly fish, none is better known than the "dolphin," as from long usage sailors persist in calling them, and will doubtless do so until the end of the chapter. for the true dolphin (delphinidae) is not a fish at all, but a mammal a warm-blooded creature that suckles its young, and in its most familiar form is known to most people as the porpoise. the sailor's "dolphin," on the other hand, is a veritable fish, with vertical tail fin instead of the horizontal one which distinguishes all the whale family, scales and gills. it is well known to literature, under its sea-name, for its marvellous brilliancy of colour, and there are few objects more dazzling than a dolphin leaping out of a calm sea into the sunshine. the beauty of a dying dolphin, however, though sanctioned by many generations of writers, is a delusion, all the glory of the fish departing as soon as he is withdrawn from his native element. but this habit of digression grows upon one, and i must do my best to check it, or i shall never get through my task. to resume then: when this school of dolphin (i can't for the life of me call them coriphaena hippuris) came alongside, a rush was made for the "granes"--a sort of five-pronged trident, if i may be allowed a baby bull. it was universally agreed among the fishermen that trying a hook and line was only waste of time and provocative of profanity! since every sailor knows that all the deep-water big fish require a living or apparently living bait. the fish, however, sheered off, and would not be tempted within reach of that deadly fork by any lure. then did i cover myself with glory. for he who can fish cleverly and luckily may be sure of fairly good times in a whaler, although he may be no great things at any other work. i had a line of my own, and begging one of the small fish that had been hauled up in the gulf weed, i got permission to go aft and fish over the taffrail. the little fish was carefully secured on the hook, the point of which just protruded near his tail. then i lowered him into the calm blue waters beneath, and paid out line very gently, until my bait was a silvery spot about a hundred feet astern. only a very short time, and my hopes rose as i saw one bright gleam after another glide past the keel, heading aft. then came a gentle drawing at the line, which i suffered to slip slowly through my fingers until i judged it time to try whether i was right or wrong, a long hard pull, and my heart beat fast as i felt the thrill along the line that fishermen love. none of your high art here, but haul in hand over hand, the line being strong enough to land a pound fish. up he came, the beauty, all silver and scarlet and blue, five feet long if an inch, and weighing pounds. well, such a lot of astonished men i never saw. they could hardly believe their eyes. that such a daring innovation should be successful was hardly to be believed, even with the vigorous evidence before them. even grim captain slocum came to look and turned upon me as i thought a less lowering brow than usual, while mr. count, the mate, fairly chuckled again at the thought of how the little britisher had wiped the eyes of these veteran fishermen. the captive was cut open, and two recent flying-fish found in his maw, which were utilized for new bait, with the result that there was a cheerful noise of hissing and spluttering in the galley soon after, and a mess of fish for all hands. shortly afterwards a fresh breeze sprang up, which proved to be the beginning of the n.e. trades, and fairly guaranteed us against any very bad weather for some time to come. somehow or other it had leaked out that we were to cruise the cape verd islands for a spell before working south, and the knowledge seemed to have quite an enlivening effect upon our portuguese shipmates. most of them belonged there, and although there was but the faintest prospect of their getting ashore upon any pretext whatever, the possibility of seeing their island homes again seemed to quite transform them. hitherto they had been very moody and exclusive, never associating with us on the white side, or attempting to be at all familiar. a mutual atmosphere of suspicion, in fact, seemed to pervade our quarters, making things already uncomfortable enough, still more so. now, however, they fraternized with us, and in a variety of uncouth ways made havoc of the english tongue, as they tried to impress us with the beauty, fertility and general incomparability of their beloved cape verds. of the eleven white men besides myself in the forecastle, there were a middle-aged german baker, who had bolted from buffalo; two hungarians, who looked like noblemen disguised--in dirt; two slab-sided yankees of about from farms in vermont; a drayman from new york; a french canadian from the neighbourhood of quebec; two italians from genoa; and two nondescripts that i never found out the origin of. imagine, then, the babel of sound, and think--but no, it is impossible to think, what sort of a jargon was compounded of all these varying elements of language. one fortunate thing, there was peace below. indeed, the spirit seemed completely taken out of all of them, and by some devilish ingenuity the afterguard had been able to sow distrust between them all, while treating them like dogs, so that the miseries of their life were never openly discussed. my position among them gave me at times some uneasiness. though i tried to be helpful to all, and was full of sympathy for their undeserved sufferings, i could not but feel that they would have been more than human had they not envied me my immunity from the kicks and blows they all shared so impartially. however, there was no help for it, so i went on as cheerily as i could. a peculiarity of all these vessels, as i afterwards learned, was that no stated allowance of anything was made. even the water was not served out to us, but was kept in a great scuttle-butt by the cabin door, to which every one who needed a drink had to go, and from which none might be carried away. no water was allowed for washing except from the sea; and every one knows, or should know, that neither flesh nor clothes can be cleansed with that. but a cask with a perforated top was lashed by the bowsprit and kept filled with urine, which i was solemnly assured by goliath was the finest dirt-extractor in the world for clothes. the officers did not avail themselves of its virtues though, but were content with lye, which was furnished in plenty by the ashes from the galley fire, where nothing but wood was used as fuel. of course when rain fell we might have a good wash, if it was night and no other work was toward; but we were not allowed to store any for washing purposes. another curious but absolutely necessary custom prevailed in consequence of the short commons under which we lived. when the portion of meat was brought down in its wooden kid, or tub, at dinner-time, it was duly divided as fairly as possible into as many parts as there were mouths. then one man turned his back on the carver, who holding up each portion, called out, "who's this for?" whatever name was mentioned by the arbitrator, that man owning it received the piece, and had perforce to be satisfied therewith. thus justice was done to all in the only way possible, and without any friction whatever. as some of us were without clothes except what we stood upright in, when we joined, the "slop chest" was opened, and every applicant received from the steward what captain slocum thought fit to let him have, being debited with the cost against such wages as he might afterwards earn. the clothes were certainly of fairly good quality, if the price was high, and exactly suited to our requirements. soap, matches, and tobacco were likewise supplied on the same terms, but at higher prices than i had ever heard of before for these necessaries. after much careful inquiry i ascertained what, in the event of a successful voyage, we were likely to earn. each of us were on the two hundredth "lay" or share at $ per tun, which meant that for every two hundred barrels of oil taken on board, we were entitled to one, which we must sell to the ship at the rate of l per tun or l per barrel. truly a magnificent outlook for young men bound to such a business for three or four years. chapter v. actual warfare. our first whale simultaneous ideas occurring to several people, or thought transference, whatever one likes to call the phenomenon is too frequent an occurrence in most of our experience to occasion much surprise. yet on the occasion to which i am about to refer, the matter was so very marked that few of us who took part in the day's proceedings are ever likely to forget it. we were all gathered about the fo'lk'sle scuttle one evening, a few days after the gale referred to in the previous chapter, and the question of whale-fishing came up for discussion. until that time, strange as it may seem, no word of this, the central idea of all our minds, had been mooted. every man seemed to shun the subject, although we were in daily expectation of being called upon to take an active part in whale-fighting. once the ice was broken, nearly all had something to say about it, and very nearly as many addle-headed opinions were ventilated as at a colney hatch debating society. for we none of us knew anything about it. i was appealed to continually to support this or that theory, but as far as whaling went i could only, like the rest of them, draw upon my imagination for details. how did a whale act, what were the first steps taken, what chance was there of being saved if your boat got smashed, and so on unto infinity. at last, getting very tired of this "portugee parliament" of all talkers and no listeners, i went aft to get a drink of water before turning in. the harpooners and other petty officers were grouped in the waist, earnestly discussing the pros and cons of attack upon whales. as i passed i heard the mate's harpooner say, "feels like whale about. i bet a plug (of tobacco) we raise sperm whale to-morrow." nobody took his bet, for it appeared that they were mostly of the same mind, and while i was drinking i heard the officers in dignified conclave talking over the same thing. it was saturday evening, and while at home people were looking forward to a day's respite from work and care, i felt that the coming day, though never taken much notice of on board, was big with the probabilities of strife such as i at least had at present no idea of. so firmly was i possessed by the prevailing feeling. the night was very quiet. a gentle breeze was blowing, and the sky was of the usual "trade" character, that is, a dome of dark blue fringed at the horizon with peaceful cumulus clouds, almost motionless. i turned in at four a.m. from the middle watch and, as usual, slept like a babe. suddenly i started wide awake, a long mournful sound sending a thrill to my very heart. as i listened breathlessly other sounds of the same character but in different tones joined in, human voices monotonously intoning in long drawn-out expirations the single word "bl-o-o-o-o-w." then came a hurricane of noise overhead, and adjurations in no gentle language to the sleepers to "tumble up lively there, no skulking, sperm whales." at last, then, fulfilling all the presentiments of yesterday, the long dreaded moment had arrived. happily there was no time for hesitation, in less than two minutes we were all on deck, and hurrying to our respective boats. there was no flurry or confusion, and except that orders were given more quietly than usual, with a manifest air of suppressed excitement, there was nothing to show that we were not going for an ordinary course of boat drill. the skipper was in the main crow's-nest with his binoculars presently he shouted, "naow then, mr. count, lower away soon's y'like. small pod o'cows, an' one'r two bulls layin' off to west'ard of 'em." down went the boats into the water quietly enough, we all scrambled in and shoved off. a stroke or two of the oars were given to get clear of the ship, and one another, then oars were shipped and up went the sails. as i took my allotted place at the main-sheet, and the beautiful craft started off like some big bird, mr. count leant forward, saying impressively to me, "y'r a smart youngster, an' i've kinder took t'yer; but don't ye look ahead an' get gallied, 'r i'll knock ye stiff wi' th' tiller; y'hear me? n' don't ye dare to make thet sheet fast, 'r ye'll die so sudden y' won't know whar y'r hurted." i said as cheerfully as i could, "all right, sir," trying to look unconcerned, telling myself not to be a coward, and all sorts of things; but the cold truth is that i was scared almost to death because i didn't know what was coming. however, i did the best thing under the circumstances, obeyed orders and looked steadily astern, or up into the bronzed impassive face of my chief, who towered above me, scanning with eagle eyes the sea ahead. the other boats were coming flying along behind us, spreading wider apart as they came, while in the bows of each stood the harpooner with his right hand on his first iron, which lay ready, pointing over the bow in a raised fork of wood called the "crutch." all of a sudden, at a motion of the chief's hand, the peak of our mainsail was dropped, and the boat swung up into the wind, laying "hove to," almost stationary. the centre-board was lowered to stop her drifting to leeward, although i cannot say it made much difference that ever i saw. now what's the matter, i thought, when to my amazement the chief addressing me said, "wonder why we've hauled up, don't ye?" "yes, sir, i do," said i. "wall," said he, "the fish hev sounded, an' 'ef we run over 'em, we've seen the last ov'em. so we wait awhile till they rise agin, 'n then we'll prob'ly git thar' 'r thareabonts before they sound agin." with this explanation i had to be content, although if it be no clearer to my readers than it then was to me, i shall have to explain myself more fully later on. silently we lay, rocking lazily upon the gentle swell, no other word being spoken by any one. at last louis, the harpooner, gently breathed "blo-o-o-w;" and there, sure enough, not half a mile away on the lee beam, was a little bushy cloud of steam apparently rising from the sea. at almost the same time as we kept away all the other boats did likewise, and just then, catching sight of the ship, the reason for this apparently concerted action was explained. at the main-mast head of the ship was a square blue flag, and the ensign at the peak was being dipped. these were signals well understood and promptly acted upon by those in charge of the boats, who were thus guided from a point of view at least one hundred feet above the sea. "stand up, louey," the mate murmured softly. i only just stopped myself in time from turning my head to see why the order was given. suddenly there was a bump, at the same moment the mate yelled, "give't to him, louey, give't to him!" and to me, "haul that main sheet, naow haul, why don't ye?" i hauled it flat aft, and the boat shot up into the wind, rubbing sides as she did so with what to my troubled sight seemed an enormous mass of black india-rubber floating. as we crawled up into the wind, the whale went into convulsions befitting his size and energy. he raised a gigantic tail on high, threshing the water with deafening blows, rolling at the same time from side to side until the surrounding sea was white with froth. i felt in an agony lest we should be crushed under one of those fearful strokes, for mr. count appeared to be oblivious of possible danger, although we seemed to be now drifting back on to the writhing leviathan. in the agitated condition of the sea, it was a task of no ordinary difficulty to unship the tall mast, which was of course the first thing to be done. after a desperate struggle, and a narrow escape from falling overboard of one of the men, we got the lone "stick," with the sail bundled around it, down and "fleeted" aft, where it was secured by the simple means of sticking the "heel" under the after thwart, two-thirds of the mast extending out over the stern. meanwhile, we had certainly been in a position of the greatest danger, our immunity from damage being unquestionably due to anything but precaution taken to avoid it. by the time the oars were handled, and the mate had exchanged places with the harpooner, our friend the enemy had "sounded," that is, he had gone below for a change of scene, marvelling no doubt what strange thing had befallen him. agreeably to the accounts which i, like most boys, had read of the whale fishery, i looked for the rushing of the line round the logger-head (a stout wooden post built into the boat aft), to raise a cloud of smoke with occasional bursts of flame; so as it began to slowly surge round the post, i timidly asked the harpooner whether i should throw any water on it. "wot for?" growled he, as he took a couple more turns with it. not knowing "what for," and hardly liking to quote my authorities here, i said no more, but waited events. "hold him up, louey, bold him up, cain't ye?" shouted the mate, and to my horror, down went the nose of the boat almost under water, while at the mate's order everybody scrambled aft into the elevated stern sheets. the line sang quite a tune as it was grudgingly allowed to surge round the loggerhead, filling one with admiration at the strength shown by such a small rope. this sort of thing went on for about twenty minutes, in which time we quite emptied the large tub and began on the small one. as there was nothing whatever for us to do while this was going on, i had ample leisure for observing the little game that was being played about a quarter of a mile away. mr. cruce, the second mate, had got a whale and was doing his best to kill it; but he was severely handicapped by his crew, or rather had been, for two of them were now temporarily incapable of either good or harm. they had gone quite "batchy" with fright, requiring a not too gentle application of the tiller to their heads in order to keep them quiet. the remedy, if rough, was effectual, for "the subsequent proceedings interested them no more." consequently his manoeuvres were not so well or rapidly executed as he, doubtless, could have wished, although his energy in lancing that whale was something to admire and remember. hatless, his shirt tail out of the waist of his trousers streaming behind him like a banner, he lunged and thrust at the whale alongside of him, as if possessed of a destroying devil, while his half articulate yells of rage and blasphemy were audible even to us. suddenly our boat fell backward from her "slantindicular" position with a jerk, and the mate immediately shouted, "haul line, there! look lively, now, you--so on, etcetera, etcetera" (he seemed to invent new epithets on every occasion). the line came in hand over hand, and was coiled in a wide heap in the stern sheets, for silky as it was, it could not be expected in its wet state to lie very close. as it came flying in the mate kept a close gaze upon the water immediately beneath us, apparently for the first glimpse of our antagonist. when the whale broke water, however, he was some distance off, and apparently as quiet as a lamb. now, had mr. count been a prudent or less ambitious man, our task would doubtless have been an easy one, or comparatively so; but, being a little over-grasping, he got us all into serious trouble. we were hauling up to our whale in order to lance it, and the mate was standing, lance in hand, only waiting to get near enough, when up comes a large whale right alongside of our boat, so close, indeed, that i might have poked my finger in his little eye, if i had chosen. the sight of that whale at liberty, and calmly taking stock of us like that, was too much for the mate. he lifted his lance and hurled it at the visitor, in whose broad flank it sank, like a knife into butter, right up to the pole-hitches. the recipient disappeared like a flash, but before one had time to think, there was an awful crash beneath us, and the mate shot up into the air like a bomb from a mortar. he came down in a sitting posture on the mast-thwart; but as he fell, the whole framework of the boat collapsed like a derelict umbrella. louis quietly chopped the line and severed our connection with the other whale, while in accordance with our instructions we drew each man his oar across the boat and lashed it firmly down with a piece of line spliced to each thwart for the purpose. this simple operation took but a minute, but before it was completed we were all up to our necks in the sea. still in the boat, it is true, and therefore not in such danger of drowning as if we were quite adrift; but, considering that the boat was reduced to a mere bundle of loose planks, i, at any rate, was none too comfortable. now, had he known it, was the whale's golden opportunity; but he, poor wretch, had had quite enough of our company, and cleared off without any delay, wondering, no doubt, what fortunate accident had rid him of our very unpleasant attentions. i was assured that we were all as safe as if we were on board the ship, to which i answered nothing; but, like jack's parrot, i did some powerful thinking. every little wave that came along swept clean over our heads, sometimes coming so suddenly as to cut a breath in half. if the wind should increase--but no--i wouldn't face the possibility of such a disagreeable thing. i was cool enough now in a double sense, for although we were in the tropics, we soon got thoroughly chilled. by the position of the sun it must have been between ten a.m. and noon, and we, of the crew, had eaten nothing since the previous day at supper, when, as usual, the meal was very light. therefore, i suppose we felt the chill sooner than the better-nourished mate and harpooner, who looked rather scornfully at our blue faces and chattering teeth. in spite of all assurances to the contrary, i have not the least doubt in my own mind that a very little longer would have relieved us of all our burdens finally. because the heave of the sea had so loosened the shattered planks upon which we stood that they were on the verge of falling all asunder. had they done so we must have drowned, for we were cramped and stiff with cold and our constrained position. however, unknown to us, a bright look-out upon our movements had been kept from the crow's-nest the whole time. we should have been relieved long before, but that the whale killed by the second mate was being secured, and another boat, the fourth mate's, being picked up, having a hole in her bilge you could put you head through. with all these hindrances, especially securing the whale, we were fortunate to be rescued as soon as we were, since it is well known that whales are of much higher commercial value than men. however, help came at last, and we were hauled alongside. long exposure had weakened us to such an extent that it was necessary to hoist us on board, especially the mate, whose "sudden stop," when he returned to us after his little aerial excursion, had shaken his sturdy frame considerably, a state of body which the subsequent soaking had by no means improved. in my innocence i imagined that we should be commiserated for our misfortunes by captain slocum, and certainly be relieved from further duties until we were a little recovered from the rough treatment we had just undergone. but i never made a greater mistake. the skipper cursed us all (except the mate, whose sole fault the accident undoubtedly was) with a fluency and vigour that was, to put it mildly, discouraging. moreover, we were informed that he "wouldn't have no adjective skulking;" we must "turn to" and do something after wasting the ship's time and property in such a blanked manner. there was a limit, however, to our obedience, so although we could not move at all for awhile, his threats were not proceeded with farther than theory. a couple of slings were passed around the boat, by means of which she was carefully hoisted on board, a mere dilapidated bundle of sticks and raffle of gear. she was at once removed aft out of the way, the business of cutting in the whale claiming precedence over everything else just then. the preliminary proceedings consisted of rigging the "cutting stage." this was composed of two stout planks a foot wide and ten feet long, the inner ends of which were suspended by strong ropes over the ship's side about four feet from the water, while the outer extremities were upheld by tackles from the main rigging, and a small crane abreast the try-works. these planks were about thirty feet apart, their two outer ends being connected by a massive plank which was securely bolted to them. a handrail about as high as a man's waist, supported by light iron stanchions, ran the full length of this plank on the side nearest the ship, the whole fabric forming an admirable standing-place from whence the officers might, standing in comparative comfort, cut and carve at the great mass below to their hearts' content. so far the prize had been simply held alongside by the whale-line, which at death had been "rove" through a hole cut in the solid gristle of the tail; but now it became necessary to secure the carcase to the ship in some more permanent fashion. therefore, a massive chain like a small ship's cable was brought forward, and in a very ingenious way, by means of a tiny buoy and a hand-lead, passed round the body, one end brought through a ring in the other, and hauled upon until it fitted tight round the "small" or part of the whale next the broad spread of the tail. the free end of the fluke-chain was then passed in through a mooring-pipe forward, firmly secured to a massive bitt at the heel of the bowsprit (the fluke-chain-bitt), and all was ready. but the subsequent proceedings were sufficiently complicated to demand a fresh chapter. chapter vi. "dirty work for clean money" if in the preceding chapter too much stress has been laid upon the smashing of our own boat and consequent sufferings, while little or no notice was taken of the kindred disaster to mistah jones' vessel, my excuse must be that the experience "filled me right up to the chin," as the mate concisely, if inelegantly, put it. poor goliath was indeed to be pitied, for his well-known luck and capacity as a whaleman seemed on this occasion to have quite deserted him. not only had his boat been stove upon first getting on to the whale, but he hadn't even had a run for his money. it appeared that upon striking his whale, a small, lively cow, she had at once "settled," allowing the boat to run over her; but just as they were passing, she rose, gently enough, her pointed hump piercing the thin skin of half-inch cedar as if it had been cardboard. she settled again immediately, leaving a hole behind her a foot long by six inches wide, which effectually put a stop to all further fishing operations on the part of goliath and his merry men for that day, at any rate. it was all so quiet, and so tame and so stupid, no wonder mistah jones felt savage. when captain slocum's fluent profanity flickered around him, including vehemently all he might be supposed to have any respect for, he did not even look as if he would like to talk back; he only looked sick and tired of being himself. the third mate, again, was of a different category altogether. he had distinguished himself by missing every opportunity of getting near a whale while there was a "loose" one about, and then "saving" the crew of goliath's boat, who were really in no danger whatever. his iniquity was too great to be dealt with by mere bad language. he crept about like a homeless dog--much, i am afraid, to my secret glee, for i couldn't help remembering his untiring cruelty to the green hands on first leaving port. in consequence of these little drawbacks we were not a very jovial crowd forrard or aft. not that hilarity was ever particularly noticeable among us, but just now there was a very decided sense of wrong-doing over us all, and a general fear that each of us was about to pay the penalty due to some other delinquent. but fortunately there was work to be done. oh, blessed work! how many awkward situations you have extricated people from! how many distracted brains have you soothed and restored, by your steady irresistible pressure of duty to be done and brooking of no delay! the first thing to be done was to cut the whale's head off. this operation, involving the greatest amount of labour in the whole of the cutting in, was taken in hand by the first and second mates, who, armed with twelve-feet spades, took their station upon the stage, leaned over the handrail to steady themselves, and plunged their weapons vigorously down through the massive neck of the animal--if neck it could be said to have--following a well-defined crease in the blubber. at the same time the other officers passed a heavy chain sling around the long, narrow lower jaw, hooking one of the big cutting tackles into it, the "fall" of which was then taken to the windlass and hove tight, turning the whale on her back. a deep cut was then made on both sides of the rising jaw, the windlass was kept going, and gradually the whole of the throat was raised high enough for a hole to be cut through its mass, into which the strap of the second cutting tackle was inserted and secured by passing a huge toggle of oak through its eye. the second tackle was then hove taut, and the jaw, with a large piece of blubber attached, was cut off from the body with a boarding-knife, a tool not unlike a cutlass blade set into a three-foot-long wooden handle. upon being severed the whole piece swung easily inboard and was lowered on deck. the fast tackle was now hove upon while the third mate on the stage cut down diagonally into the blubber on the body, which the purchase ripped off in a broad strip or "blanket" about five feet wide and a foot thick. meanwhile the other two officers carved away vigorously at the head, varying their labours by cutting a hole right through the snout. this when completed received a heavy chain for the purpose of securing the head. when the blubber had been about half stripped off the body, a halt was called in order that the work of cutting off the head might be finished, for it was a task of incredible difficulty. it was accomplished at last, and the mass floated astern by a stout rope, after which the windlass pawls clattered merrily, the "blankets" rose in quick succession, and were cut off and lowered into the square of the main batch or "blubber-room." a short time sufficed to strip off the whole of the body-blubber, and when at last the tail was reached, the backbone was cut through, the huge mass of flesh floating away to feed the innumerable scavengers of the sea. no sooner was the last of the blubber lowered into the hold than the hatches were put on and the head hauled up alongside. both tackles were secured to it and all hands took to the windlass levers. this was a small cow whale of about thirty barrels, that is, yielding that amount of oil, so it was just possible to lift the entire head on board; but as it weighed as much as three full-grown elephants, it was indeed a heavy lift for even our united forces, trying our tackle to the utmost. the weather was very fine, and the ship rolled but little; even then, the strain upon the mast was terrific, and right glad was i when at last the immense cube of fat, flesh, and bone was eased inboard and gently lowered on deck. as soon as it was secured the work of dividing it began. from the snout a triangular mass was cut, which was more than half pure spermaceti. this substance was contained in spongy cells held together by layers of dense white fibre, exceedingly tough and elastic, and called by the whalers "white-horse." the whole mass, or "junk" as it is called, was hauled away to the ship's side and firmly lashed to the bulwarks for the time being, so that it might not "take charge" of the deck during the rest of the operations. the upper part of the head was now slit open lengthwise, disclosing an oblong cistern or "case" full of liquid spermaceti, clear as water. this was baled out with buckets into a tank, concreting as it cooled into a wax-like substance, bland and tasteless. there being now nothing more remaining about the skull of any value, the lashings were loosed, and the first leeward roll sent the great mass plunging overboard with a mighty splash. it sank like a stone, eagerly followed by a few small sharks that were hovering near. as may be imagined, much oil was running about the deck, for so saturated was every part of the creature with it that it really gushed like water during the cutting-up process. none of it was allowed to run to waste, though, for the scupper-holes which drain the deck were all carefully plugged, and as soon as the "junk" had been dissected all the oil was carefully "squeegeed" up and poured into the try-pots. two men were now told off as "blubber-room men," whose duty it became to go below, and squeezing themselves in as best they could between the greasy masses of fat, cut it up into "horse-pieces" about eighteen inches long and six inches square. doing this they became perfectly saturated with oil, as if they had taken a bath in a tank of it; for as the vessel rolled it was impossible to maintain a footing, and every fall was upon blubber running with oil. a machine of wonderful construction had been erected on deck in a kind of shallow trough about six feet long by four feet wide and a foot deep. at some remote period of time it had no doubt been looked upon as a triumph of ingenuity, a patent mincing machine. its action was somewhat like that of a chaff-cutter, except that the knife was not attached to the wheel, and only rose and fell, since it was not required to cut right through the "horse-pieces" with which it was fed. it will be readily understood that in order to get the oil quickly out of the blubber, it needs to be sliced as thin as possible, but for convenience in handling the refuse (which is the only fuel used) it is not chopped up in small pieces, but every "horse-piece" is very deeply scored as it were, leaving a thin strip to hold the slices together. this then was the order of work. two harpooners attended the try-pots, replenishing them with minced blubber from the hopper at the port side, and baling out the sufficiently boiled oil into the great cooling tank on the starboard. one officer superintended the mincing, another exercised a general supervision over all. there was no man at the wheel and no look-out, for the vessel was "hove-to" under two close-reefed topsails and fore-topmast-staysail, with the wheel lashed hard down. a look-out man was unnecessary, since we could not run anybody down, and if anybody ran us down, it would only be because all hands were asleep, for the glare of our try-works fire, to say nothing of the blazing cresset before mentioned, could have been seen for many miles. so we toiled watch and watch, six hours on and six off, the work never ceasing for an instant night or day. though the work was hard and dirty, and the discomfort of being so continually wet through with oil great, there was only one thing dangerous about the whole business. that was the job of filling and shifting the huge casks of oil. some of these were of enormous size, containing gallons when full, and the work of moving them about the greasy deck of a rolling ship was attended with a terrible amount of risk. for only four men at most could get fair hold of a cask, and when she took it into her silly old hull to start rolling, just as we had got one half-way across the deck, with nothing to grip your feet, and the knowledge that one stumbling man would mean a sudden slide of the ton and a half weight, and a little heap of mangled corpses somewhere in the lee scuppers--well one always wanted to be very thankful when the lashings were safely passed. the whale being a small one, as before noted, the whole business was over within three days, and the decks scrubbed and re-scrubbed until they had quite regained their normal whiteness. the oil was poured by means of a funnel and long canvas hose into the casks stowed in the ground tier at the bottom of the ship, and the gear, all carefully cleaned and neatly "stopped up," stowed snugly away below again. this long and elaborate process is quite different from that followed on board the arctic whaleships, whose voyages are of short duration, and who content themselves with merely cutting the blubber up small and bringing it home to have the oil expressed. but the awful putrid mass discharged from a greenlander's hold is of very different quality and value, apart from the nature of the substance, to the clear and sweet oil, which after three years in cask is landed from a south-seaman as inoffensive in smell and flavour as the day it was shipped. no attempt is made to separate the oil and spermaceti beyond boiling the "head matter," as it is called, by itself first, and putting it into casks which are not filled up with the body oil. spermaceti exists in all the oil, especially that from the dorsal hump; but it is left for the refiners ashore to extract and leave the oil quite free from any admixture of the wax-like substance, which causes it to become solid at temperatures considerably above the freezing-point. uninteresting as the preceding description may be, it is impossible to understand anything of the economy of a south-sea whaler without giving it, and i have felt it the more necessary because of the scanty notice given to it in the only two works published on the subject, both of them highly technical, and written for scientific purposes by medical men. therefore i hope to be forgiven if i have tried the patience of my readers by any prolixity. it will not, of course, have escaped the reader's notice that i have not hitherto attempted to give any details concerning the structure of the whale just dealt with. the omission is intentional. during this, our first attempt at real whaling, my mind was far too disturbed by the novelty and danger of the position in which i found myself for the first time, for me to pay any intelligent attention to the party of the second part. but i may safely promise that from the workman's point of view, the habits, manners, and build of the whales shall be faithfully described as i saw them during my long acquaintance with them, earnestly hoping that if my story be not as technical or scientific as that of drs. bennett and beale, it may be found fully as accurate and reliable; and perhaps the reader, being like myself a mere layman, so to speak, may be better able to appreciate description free from scientific formula and nine-jointed words. two things i did notice on this occasion which i will briefly allude to before closing this chapter. one was the peculiar skin of the whale. it was a bluish-black, and as thin as gold-beater's skin. so thin, indeed, and tender, that it was easily scraped off with the finger-nail. immediately beneath it, upon the surface of the blubber, was a layer or coating of what for want of a better simile i must call fine short fur, although unlike fur it had no roots or apparently any hold upon the blubber. neither was it attached to the skin which covered it; in fact, it seemed merely a sort of packing between the skin and the surface of the thick layer of solid fat which covered the whole area of the whale's body. the other matter which impressed me was the peculiarity of the teeth. for up till that time i had held, in common with most seamen, and landsmen, too, for that matter, the prevailing idea that a "whale" lived by "suction" (although i did not at all know what that meant), and that it was impossible for him to swallow a herring. yet here was a mouth manifestly intended for greater things in the way of gastronomy than herrings; nor did it require more than the most casual glances to satisfy one of so obvious a fact. then the teeth were heroic in size, protruding some four or five inches from the gum, and solidly set more than that into its firm and compact substance. they were certainly not intended for mastication, being, where thickest, three inches apart, and tapering to a short point, curving slightly backwards. in this specimen, a female, and therefore small as i have said, there were twenty of them on each side, the last three or four near the gullet being barely visible above the gum. another most convincing reason why no mastication could have been possible was that there were no teeth visible in the upper jaw. opposed to each of the teeth was a socket where a tooth should apparently have been, and this was conclusive evidence of the soft and yielding nature of the great creature's food. but there were signs that at some period of the development of the whale it had possessed a double row of teeth, because at the bottom of these upper sockets we found in a few cases what seemed to be an abortive tooth, not one that was growing, because they had no roots, but a survival of teeth that had once been perfect and useful, but from disuse, or lack of necessity for them, had gradually ceased to come to maturity. the interior of the mouth and throat was of a livid white, and the tongue was quite small for so large an animal. it was almost incapable of movement, being somewhat like a fowl's. certainly it could not have been protruded even from the angle of the mouth, much less have extended along the parapet of that lower mandible, which reminded one of the beak of some mighty albatross or stork. chapter vii. getting southward whether our recent experience had altered the captain's plans or not i do not know, but much to the dismay of the portuguese portion of the crew, we did but sight, dimly and afar off, the outline of the cape verde islands before our course was altered, and we bore away for the southward like any other outward-bounder. that is, as far as our course went; but as to the speed, we still retained the leisurely tactics hitherto pursued, shortening sail every night, and, if the weather was very fine, setting it all again at daybreak. the morose and sullen temper of the captain had been, if anything, made worse by recent events, and we were worked as hard as if the success of the voyage depended upon our ceaseless toil of scrubbing, scraping, and polishing. discipline was indeed maintained at a high pitch of perfection, no man daring to look awry, much less complain of any hardship, however great. even this humble submissiveness did not satisfy our tyrant, and at last his cruelty took a more active shape. one of the long yankee farmers from vermont, abner cushing by name, with the ingenuity which seems inbred in his 'cute countrymen, must needs try his hand at making a villainous decoction which he called "beer," the principal ingredients in which were potatoes and molasses. now potatoes formed no part of our dietary, so abner set his wits to work to steal sufficient for his purpose, and succeeded so far that he obtained half a dozen. i have very little doubt that one of the portuguese in the forecastle conveyed the information aft for some reason best known to himself, any more than we white men all had that in a similar manner all our sayings and doings, however trivial, became at once known to the officers. however, the fact that the theft was discovered soon became painfully evident, for we had a visit from the afterguard in force one afternoon, and abner with his brewage was haled to the quarter-deck. there, in the presence of all hands, he was arraigned, found guilty of stealing the ship's stores, and sentence passed upon him. by means of two small pieces of fishing line he was suspended by his thumbs in the weather rigging, in such a manner that when the ship was upright his toes touched the deck, but when she rolled his whole weight hung from his thumbs. this of itself one would have thought sufficient torture for almost any offence, but in addition to it he received two dozen lashes with an improvised cat-o'-nine-tails, laid on by the brawny arm of one of the harpooners. we were all compelled to witness this, and our feelings may be imagined. when, after what seemed a terribly long time to me (heaven knows what it must have been to him!), he fainted, although no chicken i nearly fainted too, from conflicting emotions of sympathy and impotent rage. he was then released in leisurely fashion, and we were permitted to take him forward and revive him. as soon as he was able to stand on his feet, he was called on deck again, and not allowed to go below till his watch was over. meanwhile captain slocum improved the occasion by giving us a short harangue, the burden of which was that we had now seen a little of what any of us might expect if we played any "dog's tricks" on him. but you can get used to anything, i suppose: so after the first shock of the atrocity was over, things went on again pretty much as usual. for the first and only time in my experience, we sighted st. paul's rocks, a tiny group of jagged peaks protruding from the atlantic nearly on the equator. stupendous mountains they must be, rising almost sheer for about four and a half miles from the ocean bed. although they appear quite insignificant specks upon the vast expanse of water, one could not help thinking how sublime their appearance would be were they visible from the plateau whence they spring. their chief interest to us at the time arose from the fact that, when within about three miles of them, we were suddenly surrounded by a vast school of bonito, these fish, so-named by the spaniards from their handsome appearance, are a species of mackerel, a branch of the scombridae family, and attain a size of about two feet long and forty pounds weight, though their average dimensions are somewhat less than half that. they feed entirely upon flying-fish and the small leaping squid or cuttle-fish, but love to follow a ship, playing around her, if her pace be not too great, for days together. their flesh resembles beef in appearance, and they are warm-blooded; but, from their habitat being mid-ocean, nothing is known with any certainty of their habits of breeding. the orthodox method of catching them on board ship is to cover a suitable hook with a piece of white rag a couple of inches long, and attach it to a stout line. the fisherman then takes his seat upon the jibboom end, having first, if he is prudent, secured a sack to the jibstay in such a manner that its mouth gapes wide. then he unrolls his line, and as the ship forges ahead the line, blowing out, describes a curve, at the end of which the bait, dipping to--the water occasionally, roughly represents a flying-fish. of course, the faster the ship is going, the better the chance of deceiving the fish, since they have less time to study the appearance of the bait. it is really an exaggerated and clumsy form of fly-fishing, and, as with that elegant pastime, much is due to the skill of the fisherman. as the bait leaps from crest to crest of the wavelets thrust aside by the advancing ship, a fish more adventurous or hungrier than the rest will leap at it, and in an instant there is a dead, dangling weight of from ten to forty pounds hanging at the end of your line thirty feet below. you haul frantically, for he may be poorly hooked, and you cannot play him. in a minute or two, if all goes well, he is plunged in the sack, and safe. but woe unto you if you have allowed the jeers of your shipmates to dissuade you from taking a sack out with you. the struggles of these fish are marvellous, and a man runs great risk of being shaken off the boom, unless his legs are firmly locked in between the guys. such is the tremendous vibration that a twenty-pound bonito makes in a man's grip, that it can be felt in the cabin at the other and of the ship; and i have often come in triumphantly with one, having lost all feeling in my arms and a goodly portion of skin off my breast and side, where i have embraced the prize in a grim determination to hold him at all hazards, besides being literally drenched with his blood. like all our fishing operations on board the cachalot, this day's fishing was conducted on scientific principles, and resulted in twenty-five fine fish being shipped, which were a welcome addition to our scanty allowance. happily for us, they would not take the salt in that sultry latitude soon enough to preserve them; for, when they can be salted, they become like brine itself, and are quite unfit for food. yet we should have been compelled to eat salt bonito, or go without meat altogether, if it had been possible to cure them. we were now fairly in the "horse latitudes," and, much to our relief, the rain came down in occasional deluges, permitting us to wash well and often. i suppose the rains of the tropics have been often enough described to need no meagre attempts of mine to convey an idea of them; yet i have often wished i could make home-keeping friends understand how far short what they often speak of as a "tropical shower" falls of the genuine article. the nearest i can get to it is the idea of an ocean suspended overhead, out, of which the bottom occasionally falls. nothing is visible or audible but the glare and roar of falling water, and a ship's deck, despite the many outlets, is full enough to swim about in in a very few minutes. at such times the whole celestial machinery of rain-making may be seen in full working order. five or six mighty waterspouts in various stages of development were often within easy distance of us; once, indeed, we watched the birth, growth, and death of one less than a mile away. first, a big, black cloud, even among that great assemblage of nimbi, began to belly downward, until the centre of it tapered into a stem, and the whole mass looked like a vast, irregularly-moulded funnel. lower and lower it reached, as if feeling for a soil in which to grow, until the sea beneath was agitated sympathetically, rising at last in a sort of pointed mound to meet the descending column. our nearness enabled us to see that both descending and rising parts were whirling violently in obedience to some invisible force, and when they had joined each other, although the spiral motion did not appear to continue, the upward rush of the water through what was now a long elastic tube was very plainly to be seen. the cloud overhead grew blacker and bigger, until its gloom was terrible. the pipe, or stem, got thinner gradually, until it became a mere thread; nor, although watching closely, could we determine when the connection between sea and sky ceased--one could not call it severed. the point rising from the sea settled almost immediately amidst a small commotion, as of a whirlpool. the tail depending from the cloud slowly shortened, and the mighty reservoir lost the vast bulge which had hung so threateningly above. just before the final disappearance of the last portion of the tube, a fragment of cloud appeared to break off. it fell near enough to show by its thundering roar what a body of water it must have been, although it looked like a saturated piece of dirty rag in its descent. for whole days and nights together we sometimes lay almost "as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean," when the deep blue dome above matched the deep blue plain below, and never a fleck of white appeared in sky or sea. this perfect stop to our progress troubled none, although it aggravates a merchant skipper terribly. as for the objects of our search, they had apparently all migrated other-whither, for never a sign of them did we see. finbacks, a species of rorqual, were always pretty numerous, and as if they knew how useless they were to us, came and played around like exaggerated porpoises. one in particular kept us company for several days and nights. we knew him well, from a great triangular scar on his right side, near the dorsal fin. sometimes he would remain motionless by the side of the ship, a few feet below the surface, as distinctly in our sight as a gold-fish in a parlour globe; or he would go under the keel, and gently chafe his broad back to and fro along it, making queer tremors run through the vessel, as if she were scraping over a reef. whether from superstition or not i cannot tell, but i never saw any creature injured out of pure wantonness, except sharks, while i was on board the cachalot. of course, injuries to men do not count. had that finback attempted to play about a passenger ship in such a fashion, all the loungers on board would have been popping at him with their revolvers and rifles without ever a thought of compunction; yet here, in a vessel whose errand was whale-fishing, a whale enjoyed perfect immunity. it was very puzzling. at last my curiosity became too great to hear any longer, and i sought my friend mistah jones at what i considered a favourable opportunity. i found him very gracious and communicative, and i got such a lecture on the natural history of the cetacea as i have never forgotten--the outcome of a quarter-century's experience of them, and afterwards proved by me to be correct in every detail, which latter is a great deal more than can be said of any written natural history that ever i came across. but i will not go into that now. leaning over the rail, with the great rorqual laying perfectly still a few feet below, i was told to mark how slender and elegant were his proportions. "clipper-built," my mentor termed him. he was full seventy feet long, but his greatest diameter would not reach ten feet. his snout was long and pointed, while both top and bottom of his head were nearly flat. when he came up to breathe, which he did out of the top of his head, he showed us that, instead of teeth, he had a narrow fringe of baleen (whalebone) all around his upper jaws, although "i kaint see whyfor, kase he lib on all sort er fish, s'long's dey ain't too big. i serpose w'en he kaint get nary fish he do de same ez de 'bowhead'--go er siftin eout dem little tings we calls whale-feed wiv dat ar' rangement he carry in his mouf." "but why don't we harpoon him?" i asked. goliath turned on me a pitying look, as he replied, "sonny, ef yew wuz ter go on stick iron inter dat ar fish, yew'd fink de hole bottom fell eout kerblunk. w'en i uz young 'n foolish, a finback range 'longside me one day, off de seychelles. i just done gone miss' a spam whale, and i was kiender mad,--muss ha' bin. wall, i let him hab it blam 'tween de ribs. if i lib ten tousan year, ain't gwine ter fergit dat ar. wa'nt no time ter spit, tell ye; eberybody hang ober de side ob de boat. wiz--poof!--de line all gone. clar to glory, i neber see it go. ef it hab ketch anywhar, nobody eber see us too. fus, i t'ought i jump ober de side--neber face de skipper any mo'. but he uz er good ole man, en he only say, 'don't be sech blame jackass any more.' en i don't." from which lucid narration i gathered that the finback had himself to thank for his immunity from pursuit. "'sides," persisted goliath, "wa' yew gwine do wiv' him? ain't six inch uv blubber anywhere 'bout his long ugly carkiss; en dat, dirty lill' rag 'er whalebone he got in his mouf, 'taint worf fifty cents. en mor'n dat, we pick up, a dead one when i uz in de ole rainbow--done choke hisself, i spec, en we cut him in. he stink fit ter pison de debbil, en, after all, we get eighteen bar'l ob dirty oil out ob him. wa'nt worf de clean sparm scrap we use ter bile him. g' 'way!" which emphatic adjuration, addressed not to me, but to the unconscious monster below, closed the lesson for the time. the calm still persisted, and, as usual, fish began to abound, especially flying-fish. at times, disturbed by some hungry bonito or dolphin, a shoal of them would rise--a great wave of silver--and skim through the air, rising and falling for perhaps a couple of hundred yards before they again took to the water; or a solitary one of larger size than usual would suddenly soar into the air, a heavy splash behind him showing by how few inches he had missed the jaws of his pursuer. away he would go in a long, long curve, and, meeting the ship in his flight, would rise in the air, turn off at right angles to his former direction, and spin away again, the whir of his wing-fins distinctly visible as well as audible. at last he would incline to the water, but just as he was about to enter it there would be an eddy--the enemy was there waiting--and he would rise twenty, thirty feet, almost perpendicularly, and dart away fully a hundred yards on a fresh course before the drying of his wing membranes compelled him to drop. in the face of such a sight as this, which is of everyday occurrence in these latitudes, how trivial and misleading the statements made by the natural history books seem. they tell their readers that the exocetus volitans "does not fly; does not flutter its wings; can only take a prolonged leap," and so on. the misfortune attendant upon such books seems, to an unlearned sailor like myself, to be that, although posing as authorities, most of the authors are content to take their facts not simply at second-hand, but even unto twenty-second-hand. so the old fables get repeated, and brought up to date, and it is nobody's business to take the trouble to correct them. the weather continued calm and clear, and as the flying-fish were about in such immense numbers, i ventured to suggest to goliath that we might have a try for some of them. i verily believe he thought i was mad. he stared at me for a minute, and then, with an indescribable intonation, said, "how de ol' satan yew fink yew gwain ter get'm, hey? ef yew spects ter fool dis chile wiv any dem lime-juice yarns, 'bout lanterns 'n boats at night-time, yew's 'way off." i guessed he meant the fable current among english sailors, that if you hoist a sail on a calm night in a boat where flying-fish abound, and hang a lantern in the middle of it, the fish will fly in shoals at the lantern, strike against the sail, and fall in heaps in the boat. it may be true, but i never spoke to anybody who has seen it done, nor is it the method practised in the only place in the world where flying-fishing is followed for a living. so i told mr. jones that if we had some circular nets of small mesh made and stretched on wooden hoops, i was sure we should be able to catch some. he caught at the idea, and mentioned it to the mate, who readily gave his permission to use a boat. a couple of "guineamen" (a very large kind of flying-fish, having four wings) flew on board that night, as if purposely to provide us with the necessary bait. next morning, about four bells, the sea being like a mirror, unruffled by a breath of wind, we lowered and paddled off from the ship about a mile. when far enough away, we commenced operations by squeezing in the water some pieces of fish that had been kept for the purpose until they were rather high-flavoured. the exuding oil from this fish spread a thin film for some distance around the boat, through which, as through a sheet of glass, we could see a long way down. minute specks of the bait sank slowly through the limpid blue, but for at least an hour there was no sign of life. i was beginning to fear that i should be called to account for misleading all hands, when, to my unbounded delight, an immense shoal of flying-fish came swimming round the boat, eagerly picking up the savoury morsels. we grasped our nets, and, leaning over the gunwale, placed them silently in the water, pressing them downward and in towards the boat at the same time. our success was great and immediate. we lifted the wanderers by scores, while i whispered imploringly, "be careful not to scare them; don't make a sound." all hands entered into the spirit of the thing with great eagerness. as for mistah jones, his delight was almost more than he could bear. suddenly one of the men, in lifting his net, slipped on the smooth bottom of the boat, jolting one of the oars. there was a gleam of light below as the school turned--they had all disappeared instanter. we had been so busy that we had not noticed the dimensions of our catch; but now, to our great joy, we found that we had at least eight hundred fish nearly as large as herrings. we at once returned to the ship, having been absent only two hours, during which we had caught sufficient to provide all hands with three good meals. not one of the crew had ever seen or heard of such fishing before, so my pride and pleasure may be imagined. a little learning may be a dangerous thing at times, but it certainly is often handy to have about you. the habit of taking notice and remembering has often been the means of saving many lives in suddenly-met situations of emergency, at sea perhaps more than anywhere else, and nothing can be more useful to a sailor than the practice of keeping his weather-eye open. in barbadoes there is established the only regular flying-fishery in the world, and in just the manner i have described, except that the boats are considerably larger, is the whole town supplied with delicious fish at so trifling a cost as to make it a staple food among all classes. but i find that i am letting this chapter run to an unconscionable length, and it does not appear as if we were getting at the southward very fast either. truth to tell, our progress was mighty slow; but we gradually crept across the belt of calms, and a week after our never-to-be-forgotten haul of flying-fish we got the first of the south-east trades, and went away south at a good pace--for us. we made the island of trinidada with its strange conical-topped pillar, the ninepin rock, but did not make a call, as the skipper was beginning to get fidgety at not seeing any whales, and anxious to get down to where he felt reasonably certain of falling in with them. life had been very monotonous of late, and much as we dreaded still the prospect of whale-fighting (by "we," of course, i mean the chaps forward), it began to lose much of its terror for us, so greatly did we long for a little change. keeping, as we did, out of the ordinary track of ships, we hardly ever saw a sail. we had no recreations; fun was out of the question; and had it not been for a bible, a copy of shakespeare, and a couple of cheap copies of "david copperfield" and "bleak house," all of which were mine, we should have had no books. chapter viii. abner's whale in a previous chapter i have referred to the fact of a bounty being offered to whoever should first sight a useful whale, payable only in the event of the prize being secured by the ship. in consequence of our ill-success, and to stimulate the watchfulness of all, that bounty was now increased from ten pounds of tobacco to twenty, or fifteen dollars, whichever the winner chose to have. most of us whites regarded this as quite out of the question for us, whose untrained vision was as the naked eye to a telescope when pitted against the eagle-like sight of the portuguese. nevertheless, we all did our little best, and i know, for one, that when i descended from my lofty perch, after a two hours' vigil, my eyes often ached and burned for an hour afterwards from the intensity of my gaze across the shining waste of waters. judge, then, of the surprise of everybody, when one forenoon watch, three days after we had lost sight of trinidada, a most extraordinary sound was heard from the fore crow's-nest. i was, at the time, up at the main, in company with louis, the mate's harpooner, and we stared across to see whatever was the matter, the watchman was unfortunate abner cushing, whose trivial offence had been so severely punished a short time before, and he was gesticulating and howling like a madman. up from below came the deep growl of the skipper, "foremast head, there, what d'ye say?" "b-b-b-blow, s-s-sir," stammered abner; "a big whale right in the way of the sun, sir." "see anythin', louey?" roared the skipper to my companion, just as we had both "raised" the spout almost in the glare cast by the sun. "yessir," answered louis; "but i kaint make him eout yet, sir." "all right; keep yer eye on him, and lemme know sharp;" and away he went aft for his glasses. the course was slightly altered, so that we headed direct for the whale, and in less than a minute afterwards we saw distinctly the great black column of a sperm whale's head rise well above the sea, scattering a circuit of foam before it, and emitting a bushy, tufted burst of vapour into the clear air. "there she white-waters! ah bl-o-o-o-o-o-w, blow, blow!" sang louis; and then, in another tone, "sperm whale, sir; big, 'lone fish, headin' 'beout east-by-nothe." "all right. 'way down from aloft," answered the skipper, who was already half-way up the main-rigging; and like squirrels we slipped out of our hoops and down the backstays, passing the skipper like a flash as he toiled upwards, bellowing orders as he went. short as our journey down had been, when we arrived on deck we found all ready for a start. but as the whale was at least seven miles away, and we had a fair wind for him, there was no hurry to lower, so we all stood at attention by our respective boats, waiting for the signal. i found, to my surprise, that, although i was conscious of a much more rapid heart-beat than usual, i was not half so scared as i expected to be--that the excitement was rather pleasant than otherwise. there were a few traces of funk about some of the others still; but as for abner, he was fairly transformed; i hardly knew the man. he was one of goliath's boat's crew, and the big darkey was quite proud of him. his eyes sparkled, and he chuckled and smiled constantly, as one who is conscious of having done a grand stroke of business, not only for himself, but for all hands. "lower away boats!" came pealing down from the skipper's lofty perch, succeeded instantly by the rattle of the patent blocks as the falls flew through them, while the four beautiful craft took the water with an almost simultaneous splash. the ship-keepers had trimmed the yards to the wind and hauled up the courses, so that simply putting the helm down deadened our way, and allowed the boats to run clear without danger of fouling one another. to shove off and hoist sail was the work of a few moments, and with a fine working breeze away we went. as before, our boat, being the chief's, had the post of honour; but there was now only one whale, and i rather wondered why we had all left the ship. according to expectations, down he went when we were within a couple of miles of him, but quietly and with great dignity, elevating his tail perpendicularly in the air, and sinking slowly from our view. again i found mr. count talkative. "thet whale 'll stay down fifty minutes, i guess," said he, "fer he's every gill ov a hundred en twenty bar'l; and don't yew fergit it." "do the big whales give much more trouble than the little ones?" i asked, seeing him thus chatty. "wall, it's jest ez it happens, boy--just ez it happens. i've seen a fifty-bar'l bull make the purtiest fight i ever hearn tell ov--a fight thet lasted twenty hours, stove three boats, 'n killed two men. then, again, i've seen a hundred 'n fifty bar'l whale lay 'n take his grooel 'thout hardly wunkin 'n eyelid--never moved ten fathom from fust iron till fin eout. so yew may say, boy, that they're like peepul--got thair iudividooal pekyewlyarities, an' thars no countin' on 'em for sartin nary time." i was in great hopes of getting some useful information while his mood lasted; but it was over, and silence reigned. nor did i dare to ask any more questions; he looked so stern and fierce. the scene was very striking. overhead, a bright blue sky just fringed with fleecy little clouds; beneath, a deep blue sea with innumerable tiny wavelets dancing and glittering in the blaze of the sun; but all swayed in one direction by a great, solemn swell that slowly rolled from east to west, like the measured breathing of some world-supporting monster. four little craft in a group, with twenty-four men in them, silently waiting for battle with one of the mightiest of god's creatures--one that was indeed a terrible foe to encounter were he but wise enough to make the best use of his opportunities. against him we came with our puny weapons, of which i could not help reminding myself that "he laugheth at the shaking of a spear." but when the man's brain was thrown into the scale against the instinct of the brute, the contest looked less unequal than at first sight, for there is the secret of success. my musings were very suddenly interrupted. whether we had overrun our distance, or the whale, who was not "making a passage," but feeding, had changed his course, i do not know; but, anyhow, he broke water close ahead, coming straight for our boat. his great black head, like the broad bow of a dumb barge, driving the waves before it, loomed high and menacing to me, for i was not forbidden to look ahead now. but coolly, as if coming alongside the ship, the mate bent to the big steer-oar, and swung the boat off at right angles to her course, bringing her back again with another broad sheer as the whale passed foaming. this manoeuvre brought us side by side with him before he had time to realize that we were there. up till that instant he had evidently not seen us, and his surprise was correspondingly great. to see louis raise his harpoon high above his head, and with a hoarse grunt of satisfaction plunge it into the black, shining mass beside him up to the hitches, was indeed a sight to be remembered. quick as thought he snatched up a second harpoon, and as the whale rolled from us it flew from his hands, burying itself like the former one, but lower down the body. the great impetus we had when we reached the whale carried us a long way past him, out of all danger from his struggles. no hindrance was experienced from the line by which we were connected with the whale, for it was loosely coiled in a space for the purpose in the boat's bow to the extent of two hundred feet, and this was cast overboard by the harpooner as soon as the fish was fast. he made a fearful to-do over it, rolling completely over several times backward and forward, at the same time smiting the sea with his mighty tail, making an almost deafening noise and pother. but we were comfortable enough, while we unshipped the mast and made ready for action, being sufficiently far away from him to escape the full effect of his gambols. it was impossible to avoid reflecting, however, upon what would happen if, in our unprepared and so far helpless state, he were, instead of simply tumbling about in an aimless, blind sort of fury, to rush at the boat and try to destroy it. very few indeed would survive such an attack, unless the tactics were radically altered. no doubt they would be, for practices grow up in consequence of the circumstances with which they have to deal. after the usual time spent in furious attempts to free himself from our annoyance, he betook himself below, leaving us to await his return, and hasten it as much as possible by keeping a severe strain upon the line. our efforts in this direction, however, did not seem to have any effect upon him at all. flake after flake ran out of the tubs, until we were compelled to hand the end of our line to the second mate to splice his own on to. still it slipped away, and at last it was handed to the third mate, whose two tubs met the same fate. it was now mistah jones' turn to "bend on," which he did with many chuckles as of a man who was the last resource of the unfortunate. but his face grew longer and longer as the never-resting line continued to disappear. soon he signalled us that he was nearly out of line, and two or three minutes after he bent on his "drogue" (a square piece of plank with a rope tail spliced into its centre, and considered to hinder a whale's progress at least as much as four boats), and let go the end. we had each bent on our drogues in the same way, when we passed our ends to one another. so now our friend was getting along somewhere below with feet of / -inch rope, and weight additional equal to the drag of sixteen -feet boats. of course we knew that, unless he were dead and sinking, he could not possibly remain much longer beneath the surface. the exhibition of endurance we had just been favoured with was a very unusual one, i was told, it being a rare thing for a cachalot to take out two boats' lines before returning to the surface to spout. therefore, we separated as widely as was thought necessary, in order to be near him on his arrival. it was, as might be imagined, some time before we saw the light of his countenance; but when we did, we had no difficulty in getting alongside of him again. my friend goliath, much to my delight, got there first, and succeeded in picking up the bight of the line. but having done so, his chance of distinguishing himself was gone. hampered by the immense quantity of sunken line which was attached to the whale, he could do nothing, and soon received orders to cut the bight of the line and pass the whale's end to us. he had hardly obeyed, with a very bad grace, when the whale started off to windward with us at a tremendous rate. the other boats, having no line, could do nothing to help, so away we went alone, with barely a hundred fathoms of line, in case he should take it into his head to sound again. the speed at which he went made it appear as if a gale of wind was blowing and we flew along the sea surface, leaping from crest to crest of the waves with an incessant succession of cracks like pistol-shots. the flying spray drenched us and prevented us from seeing him, but i fully realized that it was nothing to what we should have to put up with if the wind freshened much. one hand was kept bailing the water out which came so freely over the bows, but all the rest hauled with all their might upon the line, hoping to get a little closer to the flying monster. inch by inch we gained on him, encouraged by the hoarse objurgations of the mate, whose excitement was intense. after what seemed a terribly long chase, we found his speed slackening, and we redoubled our efforts. now we were close upon him; now, in obedience to the steersman, the boat sheered out a bit, and we were abreast of his labouring flukes; now the mate hurls his quivering lance with such hearty good-will that every inch of its slender shaft disappears within the huge body. "layoff! off with her, louey!" screamed the mate; and she gave a wide sheer away from the whale, not a second too soon. up flew that awful tail, descending with a crash upon the water not two feet from us. "out oars! pull, two! starn, three!" shouted the mate; and as we obeyed our foe turned to fight. then might one see how courage and skill were such mighty factors in the apparently unequal contest. the whale's great length made it no easy job for him to turn, while our boat, with two oars a-side, and the great leverage at the stern supplied by the nineteen-foot steer-oar circled, backed, and darted ahead like a living thing animated by the mind of our commander. when the leviathan settled, we gave a wide berth to his probable place of ascent; when he rushed at us, we dodged him; when he paused, if only momentarily, in we flew, and got home a fearful thrust of the deadly lance. all fear was forgotten now--i panted, thirsted for his life. once, indeed, in a sort of frenzy, when for an instant we lay side by side with him, i drew my sheath-knife, and plunged it repeatedly into the blubber, as if i were assisting is his destruction. suddenly the mate gave a howl: "starn all--starn all! oh, starn!" and the oars bent like canes as we obeyed. there was an upheaval of the sea just ahead; then slowly, majestically, the vast body of our foe rose into the air. up, up it went, while my heart stood still, until the whole of that immense creature hung on high, apparently motionless, and then fell--a hundred tons of solid flesh--back into the sea. on either side of that mountainous mass the waters rose in shining towers of snowy foam, which fell in their turn, whirling and eddying around us as we tossed and fell like a chip in a whirlpool. blinded by the flying spray, baling for very life to free the boat from the water with which she was nearly full, it was some minutes before i was able to decide whether we were still uninjured or not. then i saw, at a little distance, the whale lying quietly. as i looked he spouted, and the vapour was red with his blood. "starn all!" again cried our chief, and we retreated to a considerable distance. the old warrior's practised eye had detected the coming climax of our efforts, the dying agony or "furry" of the great mammal. turning upon his side, he began to move in a circular direction, slowly at first, then faster and faster, until he was rushing round at tremendous speed, his great head raised quite out of water at times, clashing his enormous jaws. torrents of blood poured from his spout-hole, accompanied by hoarse bellowings, as of some gigantic bull, but really caused by the labouring breath trying to pass through the clogged air passages. the utmost caution and rapidity of manipulation of the boat was necessary to avoid his maddened rush, but this gigantic energy was short-lived. in a few minutes he subsided slowly in death, his mighty body reclined on one side, the fin uppermost waving limply as he rolled to the swell, while the small waves broke gently over the carcass in a low, monotonous surf, intensifying the profound silence that had succeeded the tumult of our conflict with the late monarch of the deep. hardly had the flurry ceased, when we hauled up alongside of our hard-won prize, in order to secure a line to him in a better manner than at present for hauling him to the ship. this was effected by cutting a hole through the tough, gristly substance of the flukes with the short "boat-spade," carried for the purpose. the end of the line, cut off from the faithful harpoon that had held it so long, was then passed through this hole and made fast. this done, it was "smoke-oh!" the luxury of that rest and refreshment was something to be grateful for, coming, as it did, in such complete contrast to our recent violent exertions. the ship was some three or four miles off to leeward, so we reckoned she would take at least an hour and a half to work up to us. meanwhile, our part of the performance being over, and well over, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, lazily rocking on the gentle swell by the side of a catch worth at least l . during the conflict i had not noticed what now claimed attention--several great masses of white, semi-transparent-looking substance floating about, of huge size and irregular shape. but one of these curious lumps came floating by as we lay, tugged at by several fish, and i immediately asked the mate if he could tell me what it was and where it came from. he told me that, when dying, the cachalot always ejected the contents of his stomach, which were invariably composed of such masses as we saw before us; that he believed the stuff to be portions of big cuttle-fish, bitten off by the whale for the purpose of swallowing, but he wasn't sure. anyhow, i could haul this piece alongside now, if i liked, and see. secretly wondering at the indifference shown by this officer of forty years' whaling experience to such a wonderful fact as appeared to be here presented, i thanked him, and, sticking the boat-hook into the lump, drew it alongside. it was at once evident that it was a massive fragment of cuttle-fish--tentacle or arm--as thick as a stout man's body, and with six or seven sucking-discs or acetabula on it. these were about as large as a saucer, and on their inner edge were thickly set with hooks or claws all round the rim, sharp as needles, and almost the shape and size of a tiger's. to what manner of awful monster this portion of limb belonged, i could only faintly imagine; but of course i remembered, as any sailor would, that from my earliest sea-going i had been told that the cuttle-fish was the biggest in the sea, although i never even began to think it might be true until now. i asked the mate if he had ever seen such creatures as this piece belonged to alive and kicking. he answered, languidly, "wall, i guess so; but i don't take any stock in fish, 'cept for provisions er ile--en that's a fact." it will be readily believed that i vividly recalled this conversation when, many years after, i read an account by the prince of monaco of his discovery of a gigantic squid, to which his naturalist gave the name of lepidoteuthis grimaldii! truly the indifference and apathy manifested by whalers generally to everything except commercial matters is wonderful--hardly to be credited. however, this was a mighty revelation to me. for the first time, it was possible to understand that, contrary to the usual notion of a whale's being unable to swallow a herring, here was a kind of whale that could swallow--well, a block four or five feet square apparently; who lived upon creatures as large as himself, if one might judge of their bulk by the sample to hand; but being unable, from only possessing teeth in one jaw, to masticate his food, was compelled to tear it in sizable pieces, bolt it whole, and leave his commissariat department to do the rest. while thus ruminating, the mate and louis began a desultory conversation concerning what they termed "ambergrease." i had never even heard the word before, although i had a notion that milton, in "paradise regained," describing the satanic banquet, had spoken of something being "grisamber steamed." they could by no means agree as to what this mysterious substance was, how it was produced, or under what conditions. they knew that it was sometimes found floating near the dead body of a sperm whale--the mate, in fact, stated that he had taken it once from the rectum of a cachalot--and they were certain that it was of great value--from one to three guineas per ounce. when i got to know more of the natural history of the sperm whale, and had studied the literature of the subject, i was so longer surprised at their want of agreement, since the learned doctors who have written upon the subject do not seem to have come to definite conclusions either. by some it is supposed to be the product of a diseased condition of the creature; others consider that it is merely the excreta, which, normally fluid, has by some means become concreted. it is nearly always found with cuttle-fish beaks imbedded in its substance, showing that these indigestible portions of the sperm whale's food have in some manner become mixed with it during its formation in the bowel. chemists have analyzed it with scanty results. its great value is due to its property of intensifying the power of perfumes, although, strange to say, it has little or no odour of its own, a faint trace of musk being perhaps detectable in some cases. the turks are said to use it for a truly turkish purpose, which need not be explained here, while the moors are credited with a taste for it in their cookery. about both these latter statements there is considerable doubt; i only give them for what they are worth, without, committing myself to any definite belief in them. the ship now neared us fast, and as soon as she rounded-to, we left the whale and pulled towards her, paying out line as we went. arriving alongside, the line was handed on board, and in a short time the prize was hauled to the gangway. we met with a very different reception this time. the skipper's grim face actually looked almost pleasant as he contemplated the colossal proportions of the latest addition to our stock. he was indeed a fine catch, being at least seventy feet long, and in splendid condition. as soon as he was secured alongside in the orthodox fashion, all hands were sent to dinner, with an intimation to look sharp over it. judging from our slight previous experience, there was some heavy labour before us, for this whale was nearly four times as large as the one caught off the cape verds. and it was so. verily those officers toiled like titans to get that tremendous head off even the skipper taking a hand. in spite of their efforts, it was dark before the heavy job was done. as we were in no danger of bad weather, the head was dropped astern by a hawser until morning, when it would be safer to dissect it. all that night we worked incessantly, ready to drop with fatigue, but not daring to suggest, the possibility of such a thing. several of the officers and harpooners were allowed a few hours off, as their special duty of dealing with the head at daylight would be so arduous as to need all their energies. when day dawned we were allowed a short rest, while the work of cutting up the head was undertaken by the rested men. at seven bells ( . ) it was "turn to" all hands again. the "junk" was hooked on to both cutting tackles, and the windlass manned by everybody who could get hold. slowly the enormous mass rose, canting the ship heavily as it came, while every stick and rope aloft complained of the great strain upon them. when at last it was safely shipped, and the tackles cast off, the size of this small portion of a full-grown cachalot's body could be realized, not before. it was hauled from the gangway by tackles, and securely lashed to the rail running round beneath the top of the bulwarks for that purpose--the "lash-rail"--where the top of it towered up as high as the third ratline of the main-rigging. then there was another spell, while the "case" was separated from the skull. this was too large to get on board, so it was lifted half-way out of water by the tackles, one hooked on each side; then they were made fast, and a spar rigged across them at a good height above the top of the case. a small block was lashed to this spar, through which a line was rove. a long, narrow bucket was attached to one end of this rope; the other end on deck was attended by two men. one unfortunate beggar was perched aloft on the above-mentioned spar, where his position, like the main-yard of marryatt's verbose carpenter was "precarious and not at all permanent." he was provided with a pole, with which he pushed the bucket down through a hole cut in the upper end of the "case," whence it was drawn out by the chaps on deck full of spermaceti. it was a weary, unsatisfactory process, wasting a great deal of the substance being baled out; but no other way was apparently possible. the grease blew about, drenching most of us engaged in an altogether unpleasant fashion, while, to mend matters, the old barky began to roll and tumble about in an aimless, drunken sort of way, the result of a new cross swell rolling up from the south-westward. as the stuff was gained, it was poured into large tanks in the blubber-room, the quantity being too great to be held by the try-pots at once. twenty-five barrels of this clear, wax-like substance were baled from that case; and when at last it was lowered a little, and cut away from its supports, it was impossible to help thinking that much was still remaining within which we, with such rude means, were unable to save. then came the task of cutting up the junk. layer after layer, eight to ten inches thick, was sliced off, cut into suitable pieces, and passed into the tanks. so full was the matter of spermaceti that one could take a piece as large as one's head in the hands, and squeeze it like a sponge, expressing the spermaceti in showers, until nothing remained but a tiny ball of fibre. all this soft, pulpy mass was held together by walls of exceedingly tough, gristly integrument ("white horse"), which was as difficult to cut as gutta-percha, and, but for the peculiar texture, not at all unlike it. when we had finished separating the junk, there was nearly a foot of oil on deck in the waist, and uproarious was the laughter when some hapless individual, losing his balance, slid across the deck and sat down with a loud splash in the deepest part of the accumulation. the lower jaw of this whale measured exactly nineteen feet in length from the opening of the mouth, or, say the last of the teeth, to the point, and carried twenty-eight teeth on each side. for the time, it was hauled aft out of the way, and secured to the lash-rail. the subsequent proceedings were just the same as before described, only more so. for a whole week our labours continued, and when they were over we had stowed below a hundred and forty-six barrels of mingled oil and spermaceti, or fourteen and a half tuns. it was really a pleasant sight to see abner receiving as if being invested with an order of merit, the twenty pounds of tobacco to which he was entitled. poor fellow! he felt as if at last he were going to be thought a little of, and treated a little better. he brought his bounty forrard, and shared it out as far as it would go with the greatest delight and good nature possible. whatever he might have been thought of aft, certainly, for the time, he was a very important personage forrard; even the portuguese, who were inclined to be jealous of what they considered an infringement of their rights, were mollified by the generosity shown. after every sign of the operations had been cleared away, the jaw was brought out, and the teeth extracted with a small tackle. they were set solidly into a hard white gum, which had to be cut away all around them before they would come out. when cleaned of the gum, they were headed up in a small barrel of brine. the great jaw-pans were sawn off, and placed at the disposal of anybody who wanted pieces of bone for "scrimshaw," or carved work. this is a very favourite pastime on board whalers, though, in ships such as ours, the crew have little opportunity for doing anything, hardly any leisure during daylight being allowed. but our carpenter was a famous workman at "scrimshaw," and he started half a dozen walking-sticks forthwith. a favourite design is to carve the bone into the similitude of a rope, with "worming" of smaller line along its lays. a handle is carved out of a whale's tooth, and insets of baleen, silver, cocoa-tree, or ebony, give variety and finish. the tools used are of the roughest. some old files, softened in the fire, and filed into grooves something like saw-teeth, are most used; but old knives, sail-needles, and chisels are pressed into service. the work turned out would, in many cases, take a very high place in an exhibition of turnery, though never a lathe was near it. of course, a long time is taken over it, especially the polishing, which is done with oil and whiting, if it can be got--powdered pumice if it cannot. i once had an elaborate pastry-cutter carved out of six whale's teeth, which i purchased for a pound of tobacco from a seaman of the coral whaler, and afterwards sold in dunedin, new zealand, for l s., the purchaser being decidedly of opinion that he had a bargain. chapter ix. our first calling-place perhaps it may hastily be assumed, from the large space already devoted to fishing operations of various kinds, that the subject will not bear much more dealing with, if my story is to avoid being monotonous. but i beg to assure you, dear reader, that while of course i have most to say in connection with the business of the voyage, nothing is farther from my plan than to neglect the very interesting portion of our cruise which relates to visiting strange, out-of-the-way corners of the world. if--which i earnestly deprecate--the description hitherto given of sperm whale-fishing and its adjuncts be found not so interesting as could be wished, i cry you mercy. i have been induced to give more space to it because it has been systematically avoided in the works upon whale-fishing before mentioned, which, as i have said, were not intended for popular reading. true, neither may my humble tome become popular either; but, if it does not, no one will be so disappointed as the author. we had made but little progress during the week of oil manufacture, very little attention being paid to the sails while that work was about; but, as the south-east trades blew steadily, we did not remain stationary altogether. so that the following week saw us on the south side of the tropic of capricorn, the south-east trade done, and the dirty weather and variable squalls, which nearly always precede the "westerlies," making our lives a burden to us. here, however, we were better off than in an ordinary merchantman, where doldrums are enough to drive you mad. the one object being to get along, it is incessant "pully-hauly," setting and taking in sail, in order, on the one hand, to lose no time, and, on the other, to lose no sails. now, with us, whenever the weather was doubtful or squally-looking, we shortened sail, and kept it fast till better weather came along, being quite careless whether we made one mile a day or one hundred. but just because nobody took any notice of our progress as the days passed, we were occasionally startled to find how far we had really got. this was certainly the case with all of us forward, even to me who had some experience, so well used had i now become to the leisurely way of getting along. to the laziest of ships, however, there comes occasionally a time when the bustling, hurrying wind will take no denial, and you've got to "git up an' git," as the yanks put it. such a time succeeded our "batterfanging" about, after losing the trades. we got hold of a westerly wind that, commencing quietly, gently, steadily, taking two or three days before it gathered force and volume, strengthened at last into a stern, settled gale that would brook no denial, to face which would have been misery indeed. to vessels bound east it came as a boon and blessing, for it would be a crawler that could not reel off her two hundred and fifty miles a day before the push of such a breeze. even the cachalot did her one hundred and fifty, pounding and bruising the ill-used sea in her path, and spreading before her broad bows a far-reaching area of snowy foam, while her wake was as wide as any two ordinary ships ought to make. five or six times a day the flying east india or colonial-bound english ships, under every stitch of square sail, would appear as tiny specks on the horizon astern, come up with us, pass like a flash, and fade away ahead, going at least two knots to our one. i could not help feeling a bit home-sick and tired of my present surroundings, in spite of their interest, when i saw those beautiful ocean-flyers devouring the distance which lay before them, and reflected that in little more than one month most of them would be discharging in melbourne, sydney, calcutta, or some other equally distant port, while we should probably be dodging about in our present latitude a little farther east. after a few days of our present furious rate of speed, i came on deck one morning, and instantly recognized an old acquaintance. right ahead, looking nearer than i had ever seen it before, rose the towering mass of tristan d'acunha, while farther away, but still visible, lay nightingale and inaccessible islands. their aspect was familiar, for i had sighted them on nearly every voyage i had made round the cape, but i had never seen them so near as this. there was a good deal of excitement among us, and no wonder. such a break in the monotony of our lives as we were about to have was enough to turn our heads. afterwards, we learned to view these matters in a more philosophic light; but now, being new and galled by the yoke, it was a different thing. near as the island seemed, it was six hours before we got near enough to distinguish objects on shore. i have seen the top of tristan peeping through a cloud nearly a hundred miles away, for its height is tremendous. st. helena looks a towering, scowling mass when you approach it closely but tristan d'acunha is far more imposing, its savage-looking cliffs seeming to sternly forbid the venturesome voyager any nearer familiarity with their frowning fastnesses. long before we came within working distance of the settlement, we were continually passing broad patches of kelp (fucus gigantea), whose great leaves and cable-laid stems made quite reef-like breaks in the heaving waste of restless sea. very different indeed were these patches of marine growth from the elegant wreaths of the gulf-weed with which parts of the north atlantic are so thickly covered. their colour was deep brown, almost black is some cases, and the size of many of the leaves amazing, being four to five feet long, by a foot wide, with stalks as thick as one's arm. they have their origin around these storm-beaten rocks, which lie scattered thinly over the immense area of the southern ocean, whence they are torn, in masses like those we saw, by every gale, and sent wandering round the world. when we arrived within about three miles of the landing-place, we saw a boat coming off, so we immediately hove-to and awaited her arrival. there was no question of anchoring; indeed, there seldom is in these vessels, unless they are going to make a long stay, for they are past masters in the art of "standing off and on." the boat came alongside--a big, substantially-built craft of the whale-boat type, but twice the size--manned by ten sturdy-looking fellows, as unkempt and wild-looking as any pirates. they were evidently put to great straits for clothes, many curious makeshifts being noticeable in their rig, while it was so patched with every conceivable kind of material that it was impossible to say which was the original or "standing part." they brought with them potatoes, onions, a few stunted cabbages, some fowls, and a couple of good-sized pigs, at the sight of which good things our eyes glistened and our mouths watered. alas! none of the cargo of that boat ever reached our hungry stomachs. we were not surprised, having anticipated that every bit of provision would be monopolized by our masters; but of course we had no means of altering such a state of things. the visitors had the same tale to tell that seems universal--bad trade, hard times, nothing doing. how very familiar it seemed, to be sure. nevertheless, it could not be denied that their sole means of communication with the outer world, as well as market for their goods, the calling whale-ships, were getting fewer and fewer every year; so that their outlook was not, it must be confessed, particularly bright. but their wants are few, beyond such as they can themselves supply. groceries and clothes, the latter especially, as the winters are very severe, are almost the only needs they require to be supplied with from without. they spoke of the "cape" as if it were only across the way, the distance separating them from that wonderful place being over thirteen hundred miles in reality. very occasionally a schooner from capetown does visit them; but, as the seals are almost exterminated, there is less and less inducement to make the voyage. like almost all the southern islets, this group has been in its time the scene of a wonderfully productive seal-fishery. it used to be customary for whaling and sealing vessels to land a portion of their crews, and leave them to accumulate a store of seal-skins and oil, while the ships cruised the surrounding seas for whales, which were exceedingly numerous, both "right" and sperm varieties. in those days there was no monotony of existence in these islands, ships were continually coming and going, and the islanders prospered exceedingly. when they increased beyond the capacity of the islands to entertain them, a portion migrated to the cape, while many of the men took service in the whale-ships, for which they were eminently suited. they are, as might be expected, a hybrid lot, the women all mulattoes, but intensely english in their views and loyalty. since the visit of h.m.s. galatea, in august, , with the duke of edinburgh on board, this sentiment had been intensified, and the little collection of thatched cottages, nameless till then, was called edinburgh, in honour of the illustrious voyager. they breed cattle, a few sheep, and pigs, although the sheep thrive but indifferently for some reason or another. poultry they have in large numbers, so that, could they commend a market, they would do very well. the steep cliffs, rising from the sea for nearly a thousand feet, often keep their vicinity in absolute calm, although a heavy gale may be raging on the other side of the island, and it would be highly dangerous for any navigator not accustomed to such a neighbourhood to get too near them. the immense rollers setting inshore, and the absence of wind combined, would soon carry a vessel up against the beetling crags, and letting go an anchor would not be of the slightest use, since the bottom, being of massive boulders, affords no holding ground at all. all round the island the kelp grows thickly, so thickly indeed as to make a boat's progress through it difficult. this, however, is very useful in one way here, as we found. wanting more supplies, which were to be had cheap, we lowered a couple of boats, and went ashore after them. on approaching the black, pebbly beach which formed the only landing-place, it appeared as if getting ashore would be a task of no ordinary danger and difficulty. the swell seemed to culminate as we neared the beach, lifting the boats at one moment high in air, and at the next lowering them into a green valley, from whence nothing could be seen but the surrounding watery summits. suddenly we entered the belt of kelp, which extended for perhaps a quarter of a mile seaward, and, lo! a transformation indeed. those loose, waving fronds of flexible weed, though swayed hither and thither by every ripple, were able to arrest the devastating rush of the gigantic swell, so that the task of landing, which had looked so terrible, was one of the easiest. once in among the kelp, although we could hardly use the oars, the water was quite smooth and tranquil. the islanders collected on the beach, and guided us to the best spot for landing, the huge boulders, heaped in many places, being ugly impediments to a boat. we were as warmly welcomed as if we had been old friends, and hospitable attentions were showered upon us from every side. the people were noticeably well-behaved, and, although there was something crusoe-like in their way of living, their manners and conversation were distinctly good. a rude plenty was evident, there being no lack of good food--fish, fowl, and vegetables. the grassy plateau on which the village stands is a sort of shelf jutting out from the mountain-side, the mountain being really the whole island. steep roads were hewn out of the solid rock, leading, as we were told, to the cultivated terraces above. these reached an elevation of about a thousand feet. above all towered the great, dominating peak, the summit lost in the clouds eight or nine thousand feet above. the rock-hewn roads and cultivated land certainly gave the settlement an old-established appearance, which was not surprising seeing that it has been inhabited for more than a hundred years. i shall always bear a grateful recollection of the place, because my host gave me what i had long been a stranger to--a good, old-fashioned english dinner of roast beef and baked potatoes. he apologized for having no plum-pudding to crown the feast. "but, you see," he said, "we kaint grow no corn hyar, and we'm clean run out ov flour; hev ter make out on taters 's best we kin." i sincerely sympathized with him on the lack of bread-stuff among them, and wondered no longer at the avidity with which they had munched our flinty biscuits on first coming aboard. his wife, a buxom, motherly woman of about fifty, of dark, olive complexion, but good features, was kindness itself; and their three youngest children, who were at home, could not, in spite of repeated warnings and threats, keep their eyes off me, as if i had been some strange animal dropped from the moon. i felt very unwilling to leave them so soon, but time was pressing, the stores we had come for were all ready to ship, and i had to tear myself away from these kindly entertainers. i declare, it seemed like parting with old friends; yet our acquaintance might have been measured by minutes, so brief it had been. the mate had purchased a fine bullock, which had been slaughtered and cut up for us with great celerity, four or five dozen fowls (alive), four or five sacks of potatoes, eggs, etc., so that we were heavily laden for the return journey to the ship. my friend had kindly given me a large piece of splendid cheese, for which i was unable to make him any return, being simply clad in a shirt and pair of trousers, neither of which necessary garments could be spared. with hearty cheers from the whole population, we shoved off and ploughed through the kelp seaweed again. when we got clear of it, we found the swell heavier than when we had come, and a rough journey back to the ship was the result. but, to such boatmen as we were, that was a trifle hardly worth mentioning, and after an hour's hard pull we got alongside again, and transhipped our precious cargo. the weather being threatening, we at once hauled off the land and out to sea, as night was falling and we did not wish to be in so dangerous a vicinity any longer than could be helped in stormy weather. altogether, a most enjoyable day, and one that i have ever since had a pleasant recollection of. by daybreak next morning the islands were out of sight, for the wind had risen to a gale, which, although we carried little sail, drove us along before it some seven or eight knots an hour. two days afterwards we caught another whale of medium size, making us fifty-four barrels of oil. as nothing out of the ordinary course marked the capture, it is unnecessary to do more than allude to it in passing, except to note that the honours were all with goliath. he happened to be close to the whale when it rose, and immediately got fast. so dexterous and swift were his actions that before any of the other boats could "chip in" he had his fish "fin out," the whole affair from start to finish only occupying a couple of hours. we were now in the chosen haunts of the great albatross, cape pigeons, and cape hens, but never in my life had i imagined such a concourse of them as now gathered around us. when we lowered there might have been perhaps a couple of dozen birds in sight, but no sooner was the whale dead than from out of the great void around they began to drift towards us. before we had got him fast alongside, the numbers of that feathered host were incalculable. they surrounded us until the sea surface was like a plain of snow, and their discordant cries were deafening. with the exception of one peculiar-looking bird, which has received from whalemen the inelegant name of "stinker," none of them attempted to alight upon the body of the dead monster. this bird, however, somewhat like a small albatross, but of dirty-grey colour, and with a peculiar excrescence on his beak, boldly took his precarious place upon the carcase, and at once began to dig into the blubber. he did not seem to make much impression, but he certainly tried hard. it was dark before we got our prize secured by the fluke-chain, so that we could not commence operations before morning. that night it blew hard, and we got an idea of the strain these vessels are sometimes subjected to. sometimes the ship rolled one way and the whale another, being divided by a big sea, the wrench at the fluke-chain, as the two masses fell apart down different hollows, making the vessel quiver from truck to keelson as if she was being torn asunder. then we would come together again with a crash and a shock that almost threw everybody out of their bunks. many an earnest prayer did i breathe that the chain would prove staunch, for what sort of a job it would be to go after that whale during the night, should he break loose, i could only faintly imagine. but all our gear was of the very best; no thieving ship-chandler had any hand in supplying our outfit with shoddy rope and faulty chain, only made to sell, and ready at the first call made upon it to carry away and destroy half a dozen valuable lives. there was one coil of rope on board which the skipper had bought for cordage on the previous voyage from a homeward-bound english ship, and it was the butt of all the officers' scurrilous remarks about britishers and their gear. it was never used but for rope-yarns, being cut up in lengths, and untwisted for the ignominious purpose of tying things up--"hardly good enough for that," was the verdict upon it. tired as we all were, very little sleep came to us that night--we were barely seasoned yet to the exigencies of a whaler's life--but afterwards i believe nothing short of dismasting or running the ship ashore would wake us, once we got to sleep. in the morning we commenced operations in a howling gale of wind, which placed the lives of the officers on the "cutting in" stage in great danger. the wonderful seaworthy qualities of our old ship shone brilliantly now. when an ordinary modern-built sailing-ship would have been making such weather of it as not only to drown anybody about the deck, but making it impossible to keep your footing anywhere without holding on, we were enabled to cut in this whale. true, the work was terribly exhausting and decidedly dangerous, but it was not impossible, for it was done. by great care and constant attention, the whole work of cutting in and trying out was got through without a single accident; but had another whale turned up to continue the trying time, i am fully persuaded that some of us would have gone under from sheer fatigue. for there was no mercy shown. all that i have ever read of "putting the slaves through for all they were worth" on the plantations was fully realized here, and our worthy skipper must have been a lineal descendent of the doughty simon legree. the men were afraid to go on to the sick-list. nothing short of total inability to continue would have prevented them from working, such was the terror with which that man had inspired us all. it may be said that we were a pack of cowards, who, without the courage to demand better treatment, deserved all we got. while admitting that such a conclusion is quite a natural one at which to arrive, i must deny its truth. there were men in that forecastle as good citizens and as brave fellows as you would wish to meet--men who in their own sphere would have commanded and obtained respect. but under the painful and abnormal circumstances in which they found themselves--beaten and driven like dogs while in the throes of sea-sickness, half starved and hopeless, their spirit had been so broken, and they were so kept down to that sad level by the display of force, aided by deadly weapons aft, that no other condition could be expected for them but that of broken-hearted slaves. my own case was many degrees better than that of the other whites, as i have before noted; but i was perfectly well aware that the slightest attempt on my part to show that i resented our common treatment would meet with the most brutal repression, and, in addition, i might look for a dreadful time of it for the rest of the voyage. the memory of that week of misery is so strong upon me even now that my hand trembles almost to preventing me from writing about it. weak and feeble do the words seem as i look at them, making me wish for the fire and force of carlyle or macaulay to portray our unnecessary sufferings. like all other earthly ills, however, they came to an end, at least for a time, and i was delighted to note that we were getting to the northward again. in making the outward passage round the cape, it is necessary to go well south, in order to avoid the great westerly set of the agulhas current, which for ever sweeps steadily round the southern extremity of the african continent at an average rate of three or four miles an hour. to homeward-bound ships this is a great boon. no matter what the weather may be--a stark calm or a gale of wind right on end in your teeth--that vast, silent river in the sea steadily bears you on at the same rate in the direction of home. it is perfectly true that with a gale blowing across the set of this great current, one of the very ugliest combinations of broken waves is raised; but who cares for that, when he knows that, as long as the ship holds together, some seventy or eighty miles per day nearer home must be placed to her credit? in like manner, it is of the deepest comfort to know that, storm or calm, fair or foul, the current of time, unhasting, unresting, bears us on to the goal that we shall surely reach--the haven of unbroken rest. not the least of the minor troubles on board the cachalot was the uncertainty of our destination; we never knew where we were going. it may seem a small point, but it is really not so unimportant as a landsman might imagine. on an ordinary passage, certain well-known signs are as easily read by the seaman as if the ship's position were given out to him every day. every alteration of the course signifies some point of the journey reached, some well-known track entered upon, and every landfall made becomes a new departure from whence to base one's calculations, which, rough as they are, rarely err more than a few days. say, for instance, you are bound for calcutta. the first of the north-east trades will give a fair idea of your latitude being about the edge of the tropics somewhere, or say from deg. to deg. n., whether you have sighted any of the islands or not. then away you go before the wind down towards the equator, the approach to which is notified by the loss of the trade and the dirty, changeable weather of the "doldrums." that weary bit of work over, along come the south-east trades, making you brace "sharp up," and sometimes driving you uncomfortably near the brazilian coast. presently more "doldrums," with a good deal more wind in them than in the "wariables" of the line latitude. the brave "westerly" will come along by-and-by and release you, and, with a staggering press of sail carried to the reliable gale, away you go for the long stretch of a hundred degrees or so eastward. you will very likely sight tristan d'acunha or gough island; but, if not, the course will keep you fairly well informed of your longitude, since most ships make more or less of a great circle track. instead of steering due east for the whole distance, they make for some southerly latitude by running along the arc of a great circle, then run due east for a thousand miles or so before gradually working north again. these alterations in the courses tell the foremast hand nearly all he wants to know, slight as they are. you will most probably sight amsterdam island or st. paul's in about deg. e.; but whether you do or not, the big change made in the course, to say nothing of the difference in the weather and temperature, say loudly that your long easterly run is over, and you are bound to the northward again. soon the south-east trades will take you gently in hand, and waft you pleasurably upward to the line again, unless you should be so unfortunate as to meet one of the devastating meteors known as "cyclones" in its gyration across the indian ocean. after losing the trade, which signals your approach to the line once more, your guides fluctuate muchly with the time of year. but it may be broadly put that the change of the monsoon in the bay of bengal is beastliness unadulterated, and the south-west monsoon itself, though a fair wind for getting to your destination, is worse, if possible. still, having got that far, you are able to judge pretty nearly when, in the ordinary course of events, you will arrive at saugor, and get a tug for the rest of the journey. but on this strange voyage i was quite as much in the dark concerning our approximate position as any of the chaps who had never seen salt water before they viewed it from the bad eminence of the cachalot's deck. of course, it was evident that we were bound eastward, but whether to the indian seas or to the south pacific, none knew but the skipper, and perhaps the mate. i say "perhaps" advisedly. in any well-regulated merchant ship there is an invariable routine of observations performed by both captain and chief officer, except in very big vessels, where the second mate is appointed navigating officer. the two men work out their reckoning independently of each other, and compare the result, so that an excellent check upon the accuracy of the positions found is thereby afforded. here, however, there might not have been, as far as appearances went, a navigator in the ship except the captain, if it be not a misuse of terms to call him a navigator. if the test be ability to take a ship round the world, poking into every undescribed, out-of-the-way corner you can think of, and return home again without damage to the ship of any kind except by the unavoidable perils of the sea, then doubtless he was a navigator, and a ripe, good one. but anything cruder than the "rule-of-thumb" way in which he found his positions, or more out of date than his "hog-yoke," or quadrant, i have never seen. i suppose we carried a chronometer, though i never saw it or heard the cry of "stop," which usually accompanies a.m. or p.m. "sights" taken for longitude. he used sometimes to make a deliberate sort of haste below after taking a sight, when he may have been looking at a chronometer perhaps. what i do know about his procedure is, that he always used a very rough method of equal altitudes, which would make a mathematician stare and gasp; that his nautical almanac was a ten-cent one published by some speculative optician is new york; that he never worked up a "dead reckoning;" and that the extreme limit of time that he took to work out his observations was ten minutes. in fact, all our operations in seamanship or navigation were run on the same happy-go-lucky principle. if it was required to "tack" ship, there was no formal parade and preparation for the manoeuvre, not even as much as would be made in a goole billy-boy. without any previous intimation, the helm would be put down, and round she would come, the yards being trimmed by whoever happened to be nearest to the braces. the old tub seemed to like it that way, for she never missed stays or exhibited any of that unwillingness to do what she was required that is such a frequent characteristic of merchantmen. even getting under way or coming to an anchor was unattended by any of the fuss and bother from which those important evolutions ordinarily appear inseparable. to my great relief we saw no more whales of the kind we were after during our passage round the cape. the weather we were having was splendid for making a passage, but to be dodging about among those immense rollers, or towed athwart them by a wounded whale in so small a craft as one of our whale-boats, did not have any attractions for me. there was little doubt in any of our minds that, if whales were seen, off we must go while daylight lasted, let the weather be what it might. so when one morning i went to the wheel, to find the course n.n.e. instead of e. by n., it may be taken for granted that the change was a considerable relief to me. it was now manifest that we were bound up into the indian ocean, although of course i knew nothing of the position of the districts where whales were to be looked for. gradually we crept northward, the weather improving every day as we left the "roaring forties" astern. while thus making northing we had several fine catches of porpoises, and saw many rorquals, but sperm whales appeared to have left the locality. however, the "old man" evidently knew what he was about, as we were not now cruising, but making a direct passage for some definite place. at last we sighted land, which, from the course which we had been steering, might have been somewhere on the east coast of africa, but for the fact that it was right ahead, while we were pointing at the time about n.n.w. by-and-by i came to the conclusion that it must be the southern extremity of madagascar, cape st. mary, and, by dint of the closest, attention to every word i heard uttered while at the wheel by the officers, found that my surmise was correct. we skirted this point pretty closely, heading to the westward, and, when well clear of it, bore up to the northward, again for the mozambique channel. another surprise. the very idea of whaling in the mozambique channel seemed too ridiculous to mention; yet here we were, guided by a commander who, whatever his faults, was certainly most keen in his attention to business, and the unlikeliest man imaginable to take the ship anywhere unless he anticipated a profitable return for his visit. chapter x. a visit to some strange places we had now entered upon what promised to be the most interesting part of our voyage. as a commercial speculation, i have to admit that the voyage was to me a matter of absolute indifference. never, from the first week of my being on board, had i cherished any illusions upon that score, for it was most forcibly impressed on my mind that, whatever might be the measure of success attending our operations, no one of the crew forward could hope to benefit by it. the share of profits was so small, and the time taken to earn it so long, such a number of clothes were worn out and destroyed by us, only to be replaced from the ship's slop-chest at high prices, that i had quite resigned myself to the prospect of leaving the vessel in debt, whenever that desirable event might happen. since, therefore, i had never made it a practice to repine at the inevitable, and make myself unhappy by the contemplation of misfortunes i was powerless to prevent, i tried to interest myself as far as was possible in gathering information, although at that time i had no idea, beyond a general thirst for knowledge, that what i was now learning would ever be of any service to me. yet i had been dull indeed not to have seen how unique were the opportunities i was now enjoying for observation of some of the least known and understood aspects of the ocean world and its wonderful inhabitants, to say nothing of visits to places unvisited, except by such free lances as we were, and about which so little is really known. the weather of the mozambique channel was fairly good, although subject to electric storms of the most terrible aspect, but perfectly harmless. on the second evening after rounding cape st. mary, we were proceeding, as usual, under very scanty sail, rather enjoying the mild, balmy air, scent-laden, from madagascar. the moon was shining in tropical splendour, paling the lustre of the attendant stars, and making the glorious milky way but a faint shadow of its usual resplendent road. gradually from the westward there arose a murky mass of cloud, fringed at its upper edges with curious tinted tufts of violet, orange, and crimson. these colours were not brilliant, but plainly visible against the deep blue sky. slowly and solemnly the intruding gloom overspread the sweet splendour of the shining sky, creeping like a death-shadow over a dear face, and making the most talkative feel strangely quiet and ill at ease. as the pall of thick darkness blotted out the cool light, it seemed to descend until at last we were completely over-canopied by a dome of velvety black, seemingly low enough to touch the mast-heads. a belated sea-bird's shrill scream but emphasized the deep silence which lent itself befittingly to the solemnity of nature. presently thin suggestions of light, variously tinted, began to thread the inky mass. these grew brighter and more vivid, until at last, in fantastic contortions, they appeared to rend the swart concave asunder, revealing through the jagged clefts a lurid waste of the most intensely glowing fire. the coming and going of these amazing brightnesses, combined with the egyptian dark between, was completely blinding. so loaded was the still air with electricity that from every point aloft pale flames streamed upward, giving the ship the appearance of a huge candelabrum with innumerable branches. one of the hands, who had been ordered aloft on some errand of securing a loose end, presented a curious sight. he was bareheaded, and from his hair the all pervading fluid arose, lighting up his features, which were ghastly beyond description. when he lifted his hand, each separate finger became at once an additional point from which light streamed. there was no thunder, but a low hissing and a crackling which did not amount to noise, although distinctly audible to all. sensations most unpleasant of pricking and general irritation were felt by every one, according to their degree of susceptibility. after about an hour of this state of things, a low moaning of thunder was heard, immediately followed by a few drops of rain large as dollars. the mutterings and grumblings increased until, with one peal that made the ship tremble as though she had just struck a rock at full speed, down came the rain. the windows of heaven were opened, and no man might stand against the steaming flood that descended by thousands of tons per minute. how long it continued, i cannot say; probably, in its utmost fierceness, not more than half an hour. then it slowly abated, clearing away as it did so the accumulation of gloom overhead, until, before midnight had struck, all the heavenly host were shedding their beautiful brilliancy upon us again with apparently increased glory, while the freshness and invigorating feel of the air was inexpressibly delightful. we did not court danger by hugging too closely any of the ugly reefs and banks that abound in this notably difficult strait, but gave them all a respectfully wide berth. it was a feature of our navigation that, unless we had occasion to go near any island or reef for fishing or landing purposes, we always kept a safe margin of distance away, which probably accounts for our continued immunity from accident while in tortuous waters. our anchors and cables were, however, always kept ready for use now, in case of an unsuspected current or sudden storm; but beyond that precaution, i could see little or no difference in the manner of our primitive navigation. we met with no "luck" for some time, and the faces of the harpooners grew daily longer, the great heat of those sultry waters trying all tempers sorely. but captain slocum knew his business, and his scowling, impassive face showed no signs of disappointment, or indeed any other emotion, as day by day we crept farther north. at last we sighted the stupendous peak of comoro mountain, which towers to nearly nine thousand feet from the little island which gives its name to the comoro group of four. on that same day a school of medium-sized sperm whales were sighted, which appeared to be almost of a different race to those with which we had hitherto had dealings. they were exceedingly fat and lazy, moving with the greatest deliberation, and, when we rushed in among them, appeared utterly bewildered and panic-stricken, knowing not which way to flee. like a flock of frightened sheep they huddled together, aimlessly wallowing in each other's way, while we harpooned them with the greatest ease and impunity. even the "old man" himself lowered the fifth boat, leaving the ship to the carpenter, cooper, cook, and steward, and coming on the scene as if determined to make a field-day of the occasion. he was no "slouch" at the business either. not that there was much occasion or opportunity to exhibit any prowess. the record of the day's proceedings would be as tame as to read of a day's work in a slaughter-house. suffice it to say, that we actually killed six whales, none of whom were less than fifty barrels, no boat ran out more than one hundred fathoms of line, neither was a bomb-lance used. not the slightest casualty occurred to any of the boats, and the whole work of destruction was over in less than four hours. then came the trouble. the fish were, of course somewhat widely separated when they died, and the task of collecting all those immense carcasses was one of no ordinary magnitude. had it not been for the wonderfully skilful handling of the ship, the task would, i should think, have been impossible, but the way in which she was worked compelled the admiration of anybody who knew what handling a ship meant. still, with all the ability manifested, it was five hours after the last whale died before we had gathered them all alongside, bringing us to four o'clock in the afternoon. a complete day under that fierce blaze of the tropical sun, without other refreshment than an occasional furtive drink of tepid water, had reduced us to a pitiable condition of weakness, so much so that the skipper judged it prudent, as soon as the fluke-chains were passed, to give us a couple of hours' rest. as soon as the sun had set we were all turned to again, three cressets were prepared, and by their blaze we toiled the whole night through. truth compels me to state, though, that none of us foremast hands had nearly such heavy work as the officers on the stage. what they had to do demanded special knowledge and skill; but it was also terribly hard work, constant and unremitting, while we at the windlass had many a short spell between the lifting of the pieces. even the skipper took a hand, for the first time, and right manfully did he do his share. by the first streak of dawn, three of the whales had been stripped of their blubber, and five heads were bobbing astern at the ends of as many hawsers. the sea all round presented a wonderful sight. there must have been thousands of sharks gathered to the feast, and their incessant incursions through the phosphorescent water wove a dazzling network of brilliant tracks which made the eyes ache to look upon. a short halt was called for breakfast, which was greatly needed, and, thanks to the cook, was a thoroughly good one. he--blessings on him!--had been busy fishing, as we drifted slowly, with savoury pieces of whale-beef for bait, and the result was a mess of fish which would have gladdened the heart of an epicure. our hunger appeased, it was "turn to" again, for there was now no time to be lost. the fierce heat soon acts upon the carcass of a dead whale, generating an immense volume of gas within it, which, in a wonderfully short space of time, turns the flesh putrid and renders the blubber so rotten that it cannot be lifted, nor, if it could, would it be of any value. so it was no wonder that our haste was great, or that the august arbiter of our destinies himself condescended to take his place among the toilers. by nightfall the whole of our catch was on board, excepting such toll as the hungry hordes of sharks had levied upon it in transit. a goodly number of them had paid the penalty of their rapacity with their lives, for often one would wriggle his way right up on to the reeking carcass, and, seizing a huge fragment of blubber, strive with might and main to tear it away. then the lethal spade would drop upon his soft crown, cleaving it to the jaws, and with one flap of his big tail he would loose his grip, roll over and over, and sink, surrounded by a writhing crowd of his fellows, by whom he was speedily reduced into digestible fragments. the condition of the cachalot's deck was now somewhat akin to chaos. from the cabin door to the tryworks there was hardly an inch of available space, and the oozing oil kept some of us continually baling it up, lest it should leak out through the interstices in the bulwarks. in order to avoid a breakdown, it became necessary to divide the crew into six-hour watches, as although the work was exceedingly urgent on account of the weather, there were evident signs that some of the crew were perilously near giving in. so we got rest none too soon, and the good effects of it were soon apparent. the work went on with much more celerity than one would have thought possible, and soon the lumbered-up decks began to resume their normal appearance. as if to exasperate the "old man" beyond measure on the third day of our operations a great school of sperm whales appeared, disporting all around the ship, apparently conscious of our helplessness to interfere with them. notwithstanding our extraordinary haul, captain slocum went black with impotent rage, and, after glowering at the sportive monsters, beat a retreat below, unable to bear the sight any longer. during his absence we had a rare treat. the whole school surrounded the ship, and performed some of the strangest evolutions imaginable. as if instigated by one common impulse, they all elevated their massive heads above the surface of the sea, and remained for some time in that position, solemnly bobbing up and down amid the glittering wavelets like movable boulders of black rock. then, all suddenly reversed themselves, and, elevating their broad flukes in the air, commenced to beat them slowly and rhythmically upon the water, like so many machines. being almost a perfect calm, every movement of the great mammals could be plainly seen; some of them even passed so near to us that we could see how the lower jaw hung down, while the animal was swimming in a normal position. for over an hour they thus paraded around us, and then, as if startled by some hidden danger, suddenly headed off to the westward, and in a few minutes were out of our sight. we cruised in the vicinity of the comoro islands for two months, never quite out of sight of the mountain while the weather was clear. during the whole of that time we were never clear of oil on deck, one catch always succeeding another before there had been time to get cleared up. eight hundred barrels of oil were added to our cargo, making the undisciplined hearts of all to whom whaling was a novel employment beat high with hopes of a speedy completion of the cargo, and consequent return. poor innocents that we were! how could we know any better? according to goliath, with whom i often had a friendly chat, this was quite out of the ordinary run to have such luck in the "channel." "'way back in de dark ages, w'en de whaleships war de pi'neers ob commerce, 'n day wan't no worryin', poofity-plukity steamboats a-poundin' along, 'nough ter galley ebery whale clean eout ob dere skin, dey war plenty whaleships fill up in twelve, fifteen, twenty monf' after leabin' home. 'n er man bed his pick er places, too--didn' hab ter go moseyin erroun' like some ol' hobo lookin' fer day's work, 'n prayin' de good lord not ter let um fine it. no, sah; roun yer china sea, coas' japan, on de line, off shore, vasquez, 'mong de islan's, ohmos' anywhar, you couldn' hardly git way from 'em. neow, i clar ter glory i kaint imagine war dey all gone ter, dough we bin eout only six seven monf' 'n got over tousan bar'l below. but i bin two year on er voy'ge and doan hardly see a sparm while, much less catch one. but"--and here he whispered mysteriously--"dish yer ole man's de bery debbil's own chile, 'n his farder lookin' after him well--dat's my 'pinion. only yew keep yer head tight shut, an' nebber say er word, but keep er lookin', 'n sure's death you'll see." this conversation made a deep and lasting impression upon me, for i had not before heard even so much as a murmur from an officer against the tyranny of the skipper. some of the harpooners were fluent enough, too. yet i had often thought that his treatment of them, considering the strenuous nature of their toil, and the willingness with which they worked as long as they had an ounce of energy left, was worth at least a little kindness and courtesy on his part. what the period may have been during which whales were plentiful here, i do not know, but it was now may, and for the last few days we had not seen a solitary spout of any kind. preparations, very slight it is true, were made for departure; but before we left those parts we made an interesting call for water at mohilla, one of the comoro group, which brought out, in unmistakable fashion, the wonderful fund of local knowledge possessed by these men. at the larger ports of johanna and mayotte there is a regular tariff of port charges, which are somewhat heavy, and no whaleman would be so reckless as to incur these unless driven thereto by the necessity of obtaining provisions; otherwise, the islands offer great inducements to whaling captains to call, since none but men hopelessly mad would venture to desert in such places. that qualification is the chief one for any port to possess in the eyes of a whaling captain. our skipper, however, saw no necessity for entering any port. running up under the lee of mohilla, we followed the land along until we came to a tiny bight on the western side of the island, an insignificant inlet which no mariner in charge of a vessel like ours could be expected even to notice, unless he were surveying. the approaches to this tiny harbour (save the mark) were very forbidding. ugly-looking rocks showed up here and there, the surf over them frequently blinding the whole entry. but we came along, in our usual leisurely fashion, under two topsails, spanker, and fore-topmast staysail, and took that ugly passage like a sailing barge entering the medway. there was barely room to turn round when we got inside, but all sail had been taken off her except the spanker, so that her way was almost stopped by the time she was fairly within the harbour. down went the anchor, and she was fast--anchored for the first time since leaving new bedford seven months before. here we were shut out entirely from the outer world, for i doubt greatly whether even a passing dhow could have seen us from seaward. we were not here for rest, however, but wood and water; so while one party was supplied with well-sharpened axes, and sent on shore to cut down such small trees as would serve our turn, another party was busily employed getting out a number of big casks for the serious business of watering. the cooper knocked off the second or quarter hoops from each of these casks, and drove them on again with two "beckets" or loops of rope firmly jammed under each of them in such a manner that the loops were in line with each other on each side of the bunghole. they were then lowered overboard, and a long rope rove through all the beckets. when this was done, the whole number of casks floated end to end, upright and secure. we towed them ashore to where, by the skipper's directions, at about fifty yards from high-water mark, a spring of beautiful water bubbled out of the side of a mass of rock, losing itself in a deep crevice below. lovely ferns, rare orchids, and trailing plants of many kinds surrounded this fairy-like spot in the wildest profusion, making a tangle of greenery that we had considerable trouble to clear away. having done so, we led a long canvas hose from the spot whence the water flowed down to the shore where the casks floated. the chief officer, with great ingenuity, rigged up an arrangement whereby the hose, which had a square month about a foot wide, was held up to the rock, saving us the labour of bailing and filling by hand. so we were able to rest and admire at our ease the wonderful variety of beautiful plants which grew here so lavishly, unseen by mortal eye from one year's end to another. i have somewhere read that the creator has delight in the beautiful work of his will, wherever it may be; and that while our egotism wonders at the waste of beauty, as we call it, there is no waste at all, since the infinite intelligence can dwell with complacency upon the glories of his handiwork, perfectly fulfilling their appointed ends. all too soon the pleasant occupation came to an end. the long row of casks, filled to the brim and tightly bunged, were towed off by us to the ship, and ranged alongside. a tackle and pair of "can-hooks" was overhauled to the water and hooked to a cask. "hoist away!" and as the cask rose, the beckets that had held it to the mother-rope were cut, setting it quite free to come on board, but leaving all the others still secure. in this way we took in several thousand gallons of water in a few hours, with a small expenditure of labour, free of cost; whereas, had we gone into mayotte or johanna, the water would have been bad, the price high, the labour great, with the chances of a bad visitation of fever in the bargain. the woodmen had a much more arduous task. the only wood they could find, without cutting down big trees, which would have involved far too much labour in cutting up, was a kind of iron-wood, which, besides being very heavy, was so hard as to take pieces clean out of their axe-edges, when a blow was struck directly across the grain. as none of them were experts, the condition of their tools soon made their work very hard. but that they had taken several axes in reserve, it is doubtful whether they would have been able to get sufficient fuel for our purpose. when they pitched the wood off the rocks into the harbour, it sank immediately, giving them a great deal of trouble to fish it up again. neither could they raft it as intended, but were compelled to load it into the boats and make several journeys to and fro before all they had cut was shipped. altogether, i was glad that the wooding had not fallen to my share. on board the ship fishing had been going on steadily most of the day by a few hands told off for the purpose. the result of their sport was splendid, over two hundred-weight of fine fish of various sorts, but all eatable, having been gathered in. we lay snugly anchored all night, keeping a bright look-out for any unwelcome visitors either from land or sea, for the natives are not to be trusted, neither do the arab mongrels who cruise about those waters in their dhows bear any too good a reputation. we saw none, however, and at daylight we weighed and towed the ship out to sea with the boats, there being no wind. while busy at this uninteresting pastime, one of the boats slipped away, returning presently with a fine turtle, which they had surprised during his morning's nap. one of the amphibious portuguese slipped over the boat's side as she neared the sleeping spharga, and, diving deep, came up underneath him, seizing with crossed hands the two hind flippers, and, with a sudden, dexterous twist, turned the astonished creature over on his back. thus rendered helpless, the turtle lay on the surface feebly waving his flippers, while his captor, gently treading water, held him in that position till the boat reached the pair and took them on board. it was a clever feat, neatly executed, as unlike the clumsy efforts i had before seen made with the same object as anything could possibly be. after an hour's tow, we had got a good offing, and a light air springing up, we returned on board, hoisted the boats, and made sail to the northward again. with the exception of the numerous native dhows that crept lazily about, we saw no vessels as we gradually drew out of the mozambique channel and stood away towards the line. the part of the indian ocean in which we now found ourselves is much dreaded by merchantmen, who give it a wide berth on account of the numerous banks, islets, and dangerous currents with which it abounds. we, however, seemed quite at home here, pursuing the even tenor of our usual way without any special precautions being taken. a bright look-out, we always kept, of course--none of your drowsy lolling about such as is all too common on the "fo'lk'sle head" of many a fine ship, when, with lights half trimmed or not shown at all, she is ploughing along blindly at twelve knots or so an hour. no; while we were under way during daylight, four pairs of keen eyes kept incessant vigil a hundred feet above the deck, noting everything, even to a shoal of small fish, that crossed within the range of vision. at night we scarcely moved, but still a vigilant lookout was always kept both fore and aft, so that it would have been difficult for us to drift upon a reef unknowingly. creeping steadily northward, we passed the cosmoledo group of atolls without paying them a visit, which was strange, as, from their appearance, no better fishing-ground would be likely to come in our way. they are little known, except to the wandering fishermen from reunion and rodriguez, who roam about these islets and reefs, seeking anything that may be turned into coin, from wrecks to turtle, and in nowise particular as to rights of ownership. when between the cosmoledos and astove, the next island to the northward, we sighted a "solitary" cachalot one morning just as the day dawned. it was the first for some time--nearly three weeks--and being all well seasoned to the work now, we obeyed the call to arms with great alacrity. our friend was making a passage, turning neither to the right hand nor the left as he went. his risings and number of spouts while up, as well as the time he remained below, were as regular as the progress of a clock, and could be counted upon with quite as much certainty. bearing in mind, i suppose, the general character of the whales we had recently met with, only two boats were lowered to attack the new-comer, who, all unconscious of our coming, pursued his leisurely course unheeding. we got a good weather gage of him, and came flying on as usual getting two irons planted in fine style. but a surprise awaited us. as we sheered up into the wind away from him, louis shouted, "fightin' whale, sir; look out for de rush!" look out, indeed? small use in looking out when, hampered as we always were at first with the unshipping of the mast, we could do next to nothing to avoid him. without any of the desperate flounderings generally indulged in on first feeling the iron, he turned upon us, and had it not been that he caught sight of the second mate's boat, which had just arrived, and turned his attentions to her, there would have been scant chance of any escape for us. leaping half out of water, he made direct for our comrades with a vigour and ferocity marvellous to see, making it a no easy matter for them to avoid his tremendous rush. our actions, at no time slow, were considerably hastened by this display of valour, so that before he could turn his attentions in our direction we were ready for him. then ensued a really big fight, the first, in fact, of my experience, for none of the other whales had shown any serious determination to do us an injury, but had devoted all their energies to attempts at escape. so quick were the evolutions, and so savage the appearance of this fellow, that even our veteran mate looked anxious as to the possible result. without attempting to "sound," the furious monster kept mostly below the surface; but whenever he rose, it was either to deliver a fearful blow with his tail, or, with jaws widespread, to try and bite one of our boats in half. well was it for us that he was severely handicapped by a malformation of the lower jaw. at a short distance from the throat it turned off nearly at right angles to his body, the part that thus protruded sideways being deeply fringed with barnacles, and plated with big limpets. had it not been for this impediment, i verily believe he would have beaten us altogether. as it was, he worked us nearly to death with his ugly rushes. once he delivered a sidelong blow with his tail, which, as we spun round, shore off the two oars on that side as if they had been carrots. at last the second mate got fast to him, and then the character of the game changed again. apparently unwearied by his previous exertions, he now started off to windward at top speed, with the two boats sheering broadly out upon either side of his foaming wake. doubtless because he himself was much fatigued, the mate allowed him to run at his will, without for the time attempting to haul any closer to him, and very grateful the short rest was to us. but he had not gone a couple of miles before he turned a complete somersault in the water, coming up behind us to rush off again in the opposite direction at undiminished speed. this move was a startler. for the moment it seemed as if both boats would be smashed like egg-shells against each other, or else that some of us would be impaled upon the long lances with which each boat's bow bristled. by what looked like a handbreadth, we cleared each other, and the race continued. up till now we had not succeeded in getting home a single lance, the foe was becoming warier, while the strain was certainly telling upon our nerves. so mr. count got out his bomb-gun, shouting at the same time to mr. cruce to do the same. they both hated these weapons, nor ever used them if they could help it; but what was to be done? our chief had hardly got his gun ready, before we came to almost a dead stop. all was silent for just a moment; then, with a roar like a cataract, up sprang the huge creature, head out, jaw wide open, coming direct for us. as coolly as if on the quarter-deck, the mate raised his gun, firing the bomb directly down the great livid cavern of a throat fronting him. down went that mountainous head not six inches from us, but with a perfectly indescribable motion, a tremendous writhe, in fact; up flew the broad tail in air, and a blow which might have sufficed to stave in the side of the ship struck the second mate's boat fairly amidships. it was right before my eyes, not sixty feet away, and the sight will haunt me to my death. the tub oarsman was the poor german baker, about whom i have hitherto said nothing, except to note that he was one of the crew. that awful blow put an end summarily to all his earthly anxieties. as it shore obliquely through the centre of the boat, it drove his poor body right through her timbers--an undistinguishable bundle of what was an instant before a human being. the other members of the crew escaped the blow, and the harpooner managed to cut the line, so that for the present they were safe enough, clinging to the remains of their boat, unless the whale should choose to rush across them. happily, his rushing was almost over. the bomb fired by mr. count, with such fatal result to poor bamberger, must have exploded right in the whale's throat. whether his previous titanic efforts had completely exhausted him, or whether the bomb had broken his massive backbone, i do not know, of course, but he went into no flurry, dying as peacefully as his course had been furious. for the first time in my life, i had been face to face with a violent death, and i was quite stunned with the awfulness of the experience. mechanically, as it seemed to me, we obeyed such orders as were given, but every man's thoughts were with the shipmate so suddenly dashed from amongst us. we never saw sign of him again. while the ship was running down to us, another boat had gone to rescue the clinging crew of the shattered boat, for the whole drama had been witnessed from the ship, although they were not aware of the death of the poor german. when the sad news was told on board, there was a deep silence, all work being carried on so quietly that we seemed like a crew of dumb men. with a sentiment for which i should not have given our grim skipper credit, the stars and stripes were hoisted half-mast, telling the silent sky and moaning sea, sole witnesses besides ourselves, of the sudden departure from among us of our poor shipmate. we got the whale cut in as usual without any incident worth mentioning, except that the peculiar shape of the jaw made it an object of great curiosity to all of us who were new to the whale-fishing. such malformations are not very rare. they are generally thought to occur when the animal is young, and its bones soft; but whether done in fighting with one another, or in some more mysterious way, nobody knows. cases have been known, i believe, where the deformed whale does not appear to have suffered from lack of food in consequence of his disability; but in each of the three instances which have come under my own notice, such was certainly not the case. these whales were what is termed by the whalers "dry-skins;" that is, they were in poor condition, the blubber yielding less than half the usual quantity of oil. the absence of oil makes it very hard to cut up, and there is more work in one whale of this kind than in two whose blubber is rich and soft. another thing which i have also noticed is, that these whales were much more difficult to tackle than others, for each of them gave us something special to remember them by. but i must not get ahead of my yarn. the end of the week brought us up to the aldabra islands, one of the puzzles of the world. for here, in these tiny pieces of earth, surrounded by thousands of miles of sea, the nearest land a group of islets like unto them, is found the gigantic tortoise, and in only one other place in the wide world, the galapagos group of islands in the south pacific. how, or by what strange freak of dame nature these curious reptiles, sole survivals of another age, should come to be found in this lonely spot, is a deep mystery, and one not likely to be unfolded now. at any rate, there they are, looking as if some of them might be coeval with noah, so venerable and storm-beaten do they appear. we made the island early on a sunday morning, and, with the usual celerity, worked the vessel into the fine harbour, called, from one of the exploring ships, euphrates bay or harbour. the anchor down, and everything made snug below and aloft, we were actually allowed a run ashore free from restraint. i could hardly believe my ears. we had got so accustomed to our slavery that liberty was become a mere name; we hardly knew what to do with it when we got it. however, we soon got used (in a very limited sense) to being our own masters, and, each following the bent of his inclinations, set out for a ramble. my companion and i had not gone far, when we thought we saw one of the boulders, with which the island was liberally besprinkled, on the move. running up to examine it with all the eagerness of children let out of school, we found it to be one of the inhabitants, a monstrous tortoise. i had some big turtle around the cays of the gulf of mexico, but this creature dwarfed them all. we had no means of actually measuring him, and had to keep clear of his formidable-looking jaws, but roughly, and within the mark, he was four feet long by two feet six inches wide. of course he was much more dome-shaped than the turtle are, and consequently looked a great deal bigger than a turtle of the same measurement would, besides being much thicker through. as he was loth to stay with us, we made up our minds to go with him, for he was evidently making for some definite spot, by the tracks he was following, which showed plainly how many years that same road had been used. well, i mounted on his back, keeping well astern, out of the reach of that serious-looking head, which having rather a long neck, looked as if it might be able to reach round and take a piece out of a fellow without any trouble. he was perfectly amicable, continuing his journey as if nothing had happened, and really getting over the ground at a good rate, considering the bulk and shape of him. except for the novelty of the thing, this sort of ride had nothing to recommend it; so i soon tired of it, and let him waddle along in peace. by following the tracks aforesaid, we arrived at a fine stream of water sparkling out of a hillside, and running down a little ravine. the sides of this gully were worn quite smooth by the innumerable feet of the tortoises, about a dozen of which were now quietly crouching at the water's edge, filling themselves up with the cooling fluid. i did not see the patriarch upon whom a sailor once reported that he had read the legend carved, "the ark, captain noah, ararat for orders"; perhaps he had at last closed his peaceful career. but strange, and quaint as this exhibition of ancient reptiles was, we had other and better employment for the limited time at our disposal. there were innumerable curious things to see, and, unless we were to run the risk of going on board again and stopping there, dinner must be obtained. eggs of various kinds were exceedingly plentiful; in many places the flats were almost impassable for sitting birds, mostly "boobies." but previous experience of boobies' eggs in other places had not disposed me to seek them where others were to be obtained, and as i had seen many of the well-known frigate or man-o'-war birds hovering about, we set out to the other side of the island in search of the breeding-place. these peculiar birds are, i think, misnamed. they should be called pirate or buccaneer birds, from their marauding habits. seldom or never do they condescend to fish for themselves, preferring to hover high in the blue, their tails opening and closing like a pair of scissors as they hang poised above the sea. presently booby--like some honest housewife who has been a-marketing--comes flapping noisily home, her maw laden with fish for the chicks. down comes the black watcher from above with a swoop like an eagle. booby puts all she knows into her flight, but vainly; escape is impossible, so with a despairing shriek she drops her load. before it has touched the water the graceful thief has intercepted it, and soared slowly aloft again, to repeat the performance as occasion serves. when we arrived on the outer shore of the island, we found a large breeding-place of these birds, but totally different to the haunt of the boobies. the nests, if they might be so called, being at best a few twigs, were mostly in the hollows of the rocks, the number of eggs being two to a nest, on an average. the eggs were nearly as large as a turkey's. but i am reminded of the range of size among turkeys' eggs, so i must say they were considerably larger than a small turkey's egg. their flavour was most delicate, as much so as the eggs of a moor-fed fowl. we saw no birds sitting, but here and there the gaunt skeleton forms of birds, who by reason of sickness or old age were unable to provide for themselves, and so sat waiting for death, appealed most mournfully to us. we went up to some of these poor creatures, and ended their long agony; but there were many of them that we were obliged to leave to nature. we saw no animals larger than a rat, but there were a great many of those eerie-looking land-crabs, that seemed as if almost humanly intelligent as they scampered about over the sand or through the undergrowth, busy about goodness knows what. the beautiful cocoa-nut palm was plentiful, so much so that i wondered why there were no settlers to collect "copra," or dried cocoa-nut, for oil. my west indian experience came in handy now, for i was able to climb a lofty tree in native fashion, and cut down a grand bunch of green nuts, which form one of the most refreshing and nutritious of foods, as well as a cool and delicious drink. we had no line with us, so we took off our belts, which, securely joined together, answered my purpose very well. with them i made a loop round the tree and myself; then as i climbed i pushed the loop up with me, so that whenever i wanted a rest, i had only to lean back in it, keeping my knees against the trunk, and i was almost as comfortable as if on the ground. after getting the nuts, we made a fire and roasted some of our eggs, which, with a biscuit or two, made a delightful meal. then we fell asleep under a shady tree, upon some soft moss; nor did we wake again until nearly time to go on board. a most enjoyable swim terminated our day's outing, and we returned to the beach abreast of the ship very pleased with the excursion. we had no adventures, found no hidden treasure or ferocious animals, but none the less we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. while we sat waiting for the boat to come and fetch us off, we saw a couple of good-sized turtle come ashore quite close to us. we kept perfectly still until we were sure of being able to intercept them. as soon as they had got far enough away from their native element, we rushed upon them, and captured them both, so that when the boat arrived we were not empty-handed. we had also a "jumper," or blouse, full of eggs, and a couple of immense bunches of cocoa-nuts. when we got on board we felt quite happy, and, for the first time since leaving america, we had a little singing. shall i be laughed at when i confess that our musical efforts were confined to sankey's hymns? maybe, but i do not care. cheap and clap-trap as the music may be, it tasted "real good," as abner said, and i am quite sure that that sunday night was the best that any of us had spent for a very long time. a long, sound sleep was terminated at dawn, when we weighed and stood out through a narrow passage by east island, which was quite covered with fine trees--of what kind i do not know, but they presented a beautiful sight. myriads of birds hovered about, busy fishing from the countless schools that rippled the placid sea. beneath us, at twenty fathoms, the wonderful architecture of the coral was plainly visible through the brilliantly-clear sea, while, wherever the tiny builders had raised their fairy domain near the surface, an occasional roller would crown it with a snowy garland of foam--a dazzling patch of white against the sapphire sea. altogether, such a panorama was spread out at our feet, as we stood gazing from the lofty crow's-nest, as was worth a year or two of city life to witness. i could not help pitying my companion, one of the portuguese harpooners, who stolidly munched his quid with no eyes for any of these glorious pictures, no thought of anything but a possible whale in sight. my silent rhapsodies were rudely interrupted by something far away on the horizon. hardly daring to breathe, i strained my eyes, and--yes, it was--"ah blow-w-w-w!" i bellowed at the top of my lung-power, never before had i had the opportunity of thus distinguishing myself, and i felt a bit sore about it. there was a little obliquity about the direction of the spout that made me hopeful, for the cachalot alone sends his spout diagonally upward, all the others spout vertically. it was but a school of kogia, or "short-headed" cachalots; but as we secured five of them, averaging seven barrels each, with scarcely any trouble, i felt quite pleased with myself. we had quite an exciting bit of sport with them, they were so lively; but as for danger--well, they only seemed like big "black fish" to us now, and we quite enjoyed the fun. they were, in all respects, miniature sperm whales, except that the head was much shorter and smaller in proportion to the body than their big relations. chapter xi. round the cocos and seychelles hitherto, with the exception of a couple of gales in the north and south atlantic, we had been singularly fortunate in our weather. it does happen so sometimes. i remember once making a round voyage from cardiff to hong kong and the philippines, back to london, in ten months, and during the whole of that time we did not have a downright gale. the worst weather we encountered was between beachy head and portland, going round from london to cardiff. and i once spoke the barque lutterworth, a companion ship to us from portland, oregon to falmouth, whose mate informed me that they carried their royals from port to port without ever furling them once, except to shift the suit of sails. but now a change was evidently imminent. of course, we forward had no access to the barometer; not that we should have understood its indications if we had seen it, but we all knew that something was going to be radically wrong with the weather. for instead of the lovely blue of the sky we had been so long accustomed to by day and night, a nasty, greasy shade had come over the heavens, which, reflected in the sea, made that look dirty and stale also. that well-known appearance of the waves before a storm was also very marked, which consists of an undecided sort of break in their tops. instead of running regularly, they seemed to hunch themselves up in little heaps, and throw off a tiny flutter of spray, which generally fell in the opposite direction to what little wind there was. the pigs and fowls felt the approaching change keenly, and manifested the greatest uneasiness, leaving their food and acting strangely. we were making scarcely any headway, so that the storm was longer making its appearance than it would have been had we been a swift clipper ship running down the indian ocean. for two days we were kept in suspense; but on the second night the gloom began to deepen, the wind to moan, and a very uncomfortable "jobble" of a sea got up. extra "gaskets" were put upon the sails, and everything movable about the decks was made as secure as it could be. only the two close-reefed topsails and two storm stay-sails were carried, so that we were in excellent trim for fighting the bad weather when it did come. the sky gradually darkened and assumed a livid green tint, the effect of which was most peculiar. the wind blew fitfully in short, gusts, veering continually back and forth over about a quarter of the compass. although it was still light, it kept up an incessant mournful moan not to be accounted for in any way. darker and darker grew the heavens, although no clouds were visible, only a general pall of darkness. glimmering lightnings played continually about the eastern horizon, but not brilliant enough to show us the approaching storm-cloud. and so came the morning of the third day from the beginning of the change. but for the clock we should hardly have known that day had broken, so gloomy and dark was the sky. at last light came in the east, but such a light as no one would wish to see. it was a lurid glare, such as may be seen playing over a cupola of bessemer steel when the speigeleisen is added, only on such an extensive scale that its brilliancy was dulled into horror. then, beneath it we saw the mountainous clouds fringed with dull violet and with jagged sabres of lightning darting from their solid black bosoms. the wind began to rise steadily but rapidly, so that by eight a.m. it was blowing a furious gale from e.n.e. in direction it was still unsteady, the ship coming up and falling off to it several points. now, great masses of torn, ragged cloud hurtled past us above, so low down as almost to touch the mastheads. still the wind increased, still the sea rose, till at last the skipper judged it well to haul down the tiny triangle of storm stay-sail still set (the topsail and fore stay-sail had been furled long before), and let her drift under bare poles, except for three square feet of stout canvas in the weather mizen-rigging. the roar of the wind now dominated every sound, so that it might have been thundering furiously, but we should not have heard it. the ship still maintained her splendid character as a sea-boat, hardly shipping a drop of water; but she lay over at a most distressing angle, her deck sloping off fully thirty-five to forty degrees. fortunately she did not roll to windward. it may have been raining in perfect torrents, but the tempest tore off the surface of the sea, and sent it in massive sheets continually flying over us, so that we could not possibly have distinguished between fresh water and salt. the chief anxiety was for the safety of the boats. early on the second day of warning they had been hoisted to the topmost notch of the cranes, and secured as thoroughly as experience could suggest; but at every lee lurch we gave it seemed as if we must dip them under water, while the wind threatened to stave the weather ones in by its actual solid weight. it was now blowing a furious cyclone, the force of which has never been accurately gauged (even by the present elaborate instruments of various kinds in use). that force is, however, not to be imagined by any one who has not witnessed it, except that one notable instance is on record by which mathematicians may get an approximate estimate. captain toynbee, the late highly respected and admired marine superintendent of the british meteorological office, has told us how, during a cyclone which he rode out in the hotspur at sandheads, the mouth of the hooghly, the three naked topgallant-masts of his ship, though of well-tested timber a foot in diameter, and supported by all the usual network of stays, and without the yards, were snapped off and carried away solely by the violence of the wind. it must, of course, have been an extreme gust, which did not last many seconds, for no cable that was ever forged would have held the ship against such a cataclysm as that. this gentleman's integrity is above suspicion, so that no exaggeration could be charged against him, and he had the additional testimony of his officers and men to this otherwise incredible fact. the terrible day wore on, without any lightening of the tempest, till noon, when the wind suddenly fell to a calm. until that time, the sea, although heavy, was not vicious or irregular, and we had not shipped any heavy water at all. but when the force of the wind was suddenly withdrawn, such a sea arose as i have never seen before or since. inky mountains of water raised their savage heads in wildest confusion, smashing one another in whirlpools of foam. it was like a picture of the primeval deep out of which arose the new-born world. suddenly out of the whirling blackness overhead the moon appeared, nearly in the zenith, sending down through the apex of a dome of torn and madly gyrating cloud a flood of brilliant light. illumined by that startling radiance, our staunch and seaworthy ship was tossed and twirled in the hideous vortex of mad sea until her motion was distracting. it was quite impossible to loose one's hold and attempt to do anything without running the imminent risk of being dashed to pieces. our decks were full of water now, for it tumbled on board at all points; but as yet no serious weight of a sea had fallen upon us, nor had any damage been done. such a miracle as that could not be expected to continue for long. suddenly a warning shout rang out from somewhere--"hold on all, for your lives!" out of the hideous turmoil around arose, like some black, fantastic ruin, an awful heap of water. higher and higher it towered, until it was level with our lower yards, then it broke and fell upon us. all was blank. beneath that mass every thought, every feeling, fled but one--"how long shall i be able to hold my breath?" after what seemed a never-ending time, we emerged from the wave more dead than alive, but with the good ship still staunch underneath us, and hope's lamp burning brightly. the moon had been momentarily obscured, but now shone out again, lighting up brilliantly our bravely-battling ship. but, alas for others!--men, like ourselves, whose hopes were gone. quite near us was the battered remainder of what had been a splendid ship. her masts were gone, not even the stumps being visible, and it seemed to our eager eyes as if she was settling down. it was even so, for as we looked, unmindful of our own danger, she quietly disappeared--swallowed up with her human freight in a moment, like a pebble dropped into a pond. while we looked with hardly beating hearts at the place where she had sunk, all was blotted out in thick darkness again. with a roar, as of a thousand thunders, the tempest came once more, but from the opposite direction now. as we were under no sail, we ran little risk of being caught aback; but, even had we, nothing could have been done, the vessel being utterly out of control, besides the impossibility of getting about. it so happened, however, that when the storm burst upon us again, we were stern on to it, and we drove steadily for a few moments until we had time to haul to the wind again. great heavens! how it blew! surely, i thought, this cannot last long--just as we sometimes say of the rain when it is extra heavy. it did last, however, for what seemed an interminable time, although any one could see that the sky was getting kindlier. gradually, imperceptibly, it took off, the sky cleared, and the tumult ceased, until a new day broke in untellable beauty over a revivified world. years afterwards i read, in one of the hand-books treating of hurricanes and cyclones, that "in the centre of these revolving storms the sea is so violent that few ships can pass through it and live." that is true talk. i have been there, and bear witness that but for the build and sea-kindliness of the cachalot, she could not have come out of that horrible cauldron again, but would have joined that nameless unfortunate whom we saw succumb, "never again heard of." as it was, we found two of the boats stove in, whether by breaking sea or crushing wind nobody knows. most of the planking of the bulwarks was also gone, burst outward by the weight of the water on deck. only the normal quantity of water was found in the well on sounding, and not even a rope-yarn was gone from aloft. altogether, we came out of the ordeal triumphantly, where many a gallant vessel met her fate, and the behaviour of the grand old tub gave me a positive affection for her, such as i have never felt for a ship before or since. there was now a big heap of work for the carpenter, so the skipper decided to run in for the cocos or keeling islands, in order to lay quietly and refit. we had now only three boats sound, the one smashed when poor bamberger died being still unfinished--of course, the repairs had practically amounted to rebuilding. therefore we kept away for this strange assemblage of reefs and islets, arriving off them early the next day. they consist of a true "atoll," or basin, whose rim is of coral reefs, culminating occasionally in sandy islands or cays formed by the accumulated debris washed up from the reef below, and then clothed upon with all sorts of plants by the agency of birds and waves. these islands have lately been so fully described in many different journals, that i shall not burden the reader with any twice-told tales about them, but merely chronicle the fact that for a week we lay at anchor off one of the outlying cays, toiling continuously to get the vessel again in fighting trim. at last the overworked carpenter and his crew got through their heavy task, and the order was given to "man the windlass." up came the anchor, and away we went again towards what used to be a noted haunt of the sperm whale, the seychelle archipelego. before the french, whose flag flies over these islands, had with their usual short-sighted policy, clapped on prohibitive port charges, mahe was a specially favoured place of call for the whalers. but when whale-ships find that it does not pay to visit a place, being under no compulsion as regards time, they soon find other harbours that serve their turn. we, of course, had no need to visit any port for some time to come, having made such good use of our opportunities at the cocos. we found whales scarce and small, so, although we cruised in this vicinity for nearly two months, six small cow cachalots were all we were able to add to our stock, representing less then two hundred barrels of oil. this was hardly good enough for captain slocum. therefore, we gradually drew away from this beautiful cluster of islands, and crept across the indian ocean towards the straits of malacca. on the way, we one night encountered that strange phenomenon, a "milk" sea. it was a lovely night, with scarcely any wind, the stars trying to make up for the absence of the moon by shining with intense brightness. the water had been more phosphorescent than usual, so that every little fish left a track of light behind him, greatly disproportionate to his size. as the night wore on, the sea grew brighter and brighter, until by midnight we appeared to be sailing on an ocean of lambent flames. every little wave that broke against the ship's side sent up a shower of diamond-like spray, wonderfully beautiful to see, while a passing school of porpoises fairly set the sea blazing as they leaped and gambolled in its glowing waters. looking up from sea to sky, the latter seemed quite black instead of blue, and the lustre of the stars was diminished till they only looked like points of polished steel, having quite lost for the time their radiant sparkle. in that shining flood the blackness of the ship stood out in startling contrast, and when we looked over the side our faces were strangely lit up by the brilliant glow. for several hours this beautiful appearance persisted, fading away at last as gradually as it came. no satisfactory explanation of this curious phenomenon has ever been given, nor does it appear to portend any change of weather. it cannot be called a rare occurrence, although i have only seen it thrice myself--once in the bay of cavite, in the philippine islands; once in the pacific, near the solomon islands; and on this occasion of which i now write. but no one who had ever witnessed it could forget so wonderful a sight. one morning, a week after are had taken our departure from the seychelles, the officer at the main crow's-nest reported a vessel of some sort about five miles to the windward. something strange in her appearance made the skipper haul up to intercept her. as we drew nearer, we made her out to be a malay "prahu;" but, by the look of her, she was deserted. the big three-cornered sail that had been set, hung in tattered festoons from the long, slender yard, which, without any gear to steady it, swung heavily to and fro as the vessel rolled to the long swell. we drew closer and closer, but no sign of life was visible on board, so the captain ordered a boat to go and investigate. in two minutes we were speeding away towards her, and, making a sweep round her stern, prepared to board her. but we were met by a stench so awful that mr. count would not proceed, and at once returned to the ship. the boat was quickly hoisted again, and the ship manoeuvred to pass close to windward of the derelict. then, from our mast-head, a horrible sight became visible. lying about the weather-beaten deck, in various postures, were thirteen corpses, all far advanced in decay, which horrible fact fully accounted for the intolerable stench that had driven us away. it is, perhaps, hardly necessary to say that we promptly hauled our wind, and placed a good distance between us and that awful load of death as soon as possible. poor wretches! what terrible calamity had befallen them, we could not guess; whatever it was, it had been complete; nor would any sane man falling across them run the risk of closer examination into details than we had done. it was a great pity that we were not able to sink the prahu with her ghastly cargo, and so free the air from that poisonous foetor that was a deadly danger to any vessel getting under her lee. next day, and for a whole week after, we had a stark calm such a calm as one realizes who reads sympathetically that magical piece of work, the "ancient mariner." what an amazing instance of the triumph of the human imagination! for coleridge certainly never witnessed such a scene as he there describes with an accuracy of detail that is astounding. very few sailors have noticed the sickening condition of the ocean when the life-giving breeze totally fails for any length of time, or, if they have, they have said but little about it. of course, some parts of the sea show the evil effects of stagnation much sooner than others; but, generally speaking, want of wind at sea, if long continued, produces a condition of things dangerous to the health of any land near by. whale-ships, penetrating as they do to parts carefully avoided by ordinary trading vessels, often afford their crews an opportunity of seeing things mostly hidden from the sight of man, when, actuated by some mysterious impulse, the uncanny denizens of the middle depths of the ocean rise to higher levels, and show their weird shapes to the sun. chapter xii. which treats of the kraken it has often been a matter for considerable surprise to me, that while the urban population of great britain is periodically agitated over the great sea-serpent question, sailors, as a class, have very little to say on the subject. during a considerable sea experience in all classes of vessels, except men-of-war, and in most positions, i have heard a fairly comprehensive catalogue of subjects brought under dog-watch discussion; but the sea-serpent has never, within my recollection, been one of them. the reasons for this abstinence may vary a great deal, but chief among them is--sailors, as a class, "don't believe in no such a pusson." more than that, they do believe that the mythical sea-serpent is "boomed" at certain periods, in the lack of other subjects, which may not be far from the fact. but there is also another reason, involving a disagreeable, although strictly accurate, statement. sailors are, again taken as a class, the least observant of men. they will talk by the hour of trivialities about which they know nothing; they will spin interminable "cuffers" of debaucheries ashore all over the world; pick to pieces the reputation of all the officers with whom they have ever sailed; but of the glories, marvels, and mysteries of the mighty deep you will hear not a word. i can never forget when on my first voyage to the west indies, at the age of twelve, i was one night smitten with awe and wonder at the sight of a vast halo round the moon, some thirty or forty degrees in diameter. turning to the man at the wheel, i asked him earnestly "what that was." he looked up with an uninterested eye for an instant in the direction of my finger, then listlessly informed me, "that's what they call a sarcle." for a long time i wondered what he could mean, but it gradually dawned upon me that it was his norfolk pronunciation of the word "circle." the definition was a typical one, no worse than would be given by the great majority of seamen of most of the natural phenomena they witness daily. very few seamen could distinguish between one whale and another of a different species, or give an intelligible account of the most ordinary and often-seen denizens of the sea. whalers are especially to be blamed for their blindness. "eyes and no eyes; or the art of seeing" has evidently been little heard of among them. to this day i can conceive of no more delightful journey for a naturalist to take than a voyage in a southern whaler, especially if he were allowed to examine at his leisure such creatures as were caught. but on board the cachalot i could get no information at all upon the habits of the strange creatures we met with, except whales, and very little about them. i have before referred to the great molluscs upon which the sperm whale feeds, portions of which i so frequently saw ejected from the stomach of dying whales. great as my curiosity naturally was to know more of these immense organisms, all my inquiries on the subject were fruitless. these veterans of the whale-fishery knew that the sperm whale lived on big cuttlefish; but they neither knew, nor cared to know, anything more about these marvellous molluscs. yet, from the earliest dawn of history, observant men have been striving to learn something definite about the marine monsters of which all old legends of the sea have something to say. as i mentioned in the last chapter, we were gradually edging across the indian ocean towards sumatra, but had been checked in our course by a calm lasting a whole week. a light breeze then sprang up, aided by which we crept around achin head, the northern point of the great island of sumatra. like some gigantic beacon, the enormous mass of the golden mountain dominated the peaceful scene. pulo way, or water island, looked very inviting, and i should have been glad to visit a place so well known to seamen by sight, but so little known by actual touching at. our recent stay at the cocos, however, had settled the question of our calling anywhere else for some time decidedly in the negative, unless we might be compelled by accident; moreover, even in these days of law and order, it is not wise to go poking about among the islands of the malayan seas unless you are prepared to fight. our mission being to fight whales, we were averse to running any risks, except in the lawful and necessary exercise of our calling. it would at first sight appear strange that, in view of the enormous traffic of steamships through the malacca straits, so easily "gallied" a creature as the cachalot should care to frequent its waters; indeed, i should certainly think that a great reduction in the numbers of whales found there must have taken place. but it must also be remembered, that in modern steam navigation certain well-defined courses are laid down, which vessels follow from point to point with hardly any deviation therefrom, and that consequently little disturbance of the sea by their panting propellers takes place, except upon these marine pathways; as, for instance, in the red sea, where the examination of thousands of log-books proved conclusively that, except upon straight lines drawn from point to point between suez to perim, the sea is practically unused to-day. the few arab dhows and loitering surveying ships hardly count in this connection, of course. at any rate, we had not entered the straits, but were cruising between car nicobar and junkseylon, when we "met up" with a full-grown cachalot, as ugly a customer as one could wish. from nine a.m. till dusk the battle raged--for i have often noticed that unless you kill your whale pretty soon, he gets so wary, as well as fierce, that you stand a gaudy chance of being worn down yourselves before you settle accounts with your adversary. this affair certainly looked at one time as if such would be the case with us; but along about five p.m., to our great joy, we got him killed. the ejected food was in masses of enormous size, larger than any we had yet seen on the voyage, some of them being estimated to be of the size of our hatch-house, viz. feet x feet x feet. the whale having been secured alongside, all hands were sent below, as they were worn out with the day's work. the third mate being ill, i had been invested with the questionable honour of standing his watch, on account of my sea experience and growing favour with the chief. very bitterly did i resent the privilege at the time, i remember, being so tired and sleepy that i knew not how to keep awake. i did not imagine that anything would happen to make me prize that night's experience for the rest of my life, or i should have taken matters with a far better grace. at about eleven p.m. i was leaning over the lee rail, grazing steadily at the bright surface of the sea, where the intense radiance of the tropical moon made a broad path like a pavement of burnished silver. eyes that saw not, mind only confusedly conscious of my surroundings, were mine; but suddenly i started to my feet with an exclamation, and stared with all my might at the strangest sight i ever saw. there was a violent commotion in the sea right where the moon's rays were concentrated, so great that, remembering our position, i was at first inclined to alarm all hands; for i had often heard of volcanic islands suddenly lifting their heads from the depths below, or disappearing in a moment, and, with sumatra's chain of active volcanoes so near, i felt doubtful indeed of what was now happening. getting the night-glasses out of the cabin scuttle, where they were always hung in readiness, i focussed them on the troubled spot, perfectly satisfied by a short examination that neither volcano nor earthquake had anything to do with what was going on; yet so vast were the forces engaged that i might well have been excused for my first supposition. a very large sperm whale was locked in deadly conflict with a cuttle-fish or squid, almost as large as himself, whose interminable tentacles seemed to enlace the whole of his great body. the head of the whale especially seemed a perfect net-work of writhing arms--naturally i suppose, for it appeared as if the whale had the tail part of the mollusc in his jaws, and, in a business-like, methodical way, was sawing through it. by the side of the black columnar head of the whale appeared the head of the great squid, as awful an object as one could well imagine even in a fevered dream. judging as carefully as possible, i estimated it to be at least as large as one of our pipes, which contained three hundred and fifty gallons; but it may have been, and probably was, a good deal larger. the eyes were very remarkable from their size and blackness, which, contrasted with the livid whiteness of the head, made their appearance all the more striking. they were, at least, a foot in diameter, and, seen under such conditions, looked decidedly eerie and hobgoblin-like. all around the combatants were numerous sharks, like jackals round a lion, ready to share the feast, and apparently assisting in the destruction of the huge cephalopod. so the titanic struggle went on, in perfect silence as far as we were concerned, because, even had there been any noise, our distance from the scene of conflict would not have permitted us to hear it. thinking that such a sight ought not to be missed by the captain, i overcame my dread of him sufficiently to call him, and tell him of what was taking place. he met my remarks with such a furious burst of anger at my daring to disturb him for such a cause, that i fled precipitately on deck again, having the remainder of the vision to myself, for none of the others cared sufficiently for such things to lose five minutes' sleep in witnessing them. the conflict ceased, the sea resumed its placid calm, and nothing remained to tell of the fight but a strong odour of fish, as of a bank of seaweed left by the tide in the blazing sun. eight bells struck, and i went below to a troubled sleep, wherein all the awful monsters that an over-excited brain could conjure up pursued me through the gloomy caves of ocean, or mocked my pigmy efforts to escape. the occasions upon which these gigantic cuttle-fish appear at the sea surface must, i think, be very rare. from their construction, they appear fitted only to grope among the rocks at the bottom of the ocean. their mode of progression is backward, by the forcible ejection of a jet of water from an orifice in the neck, beside the rectum or cloaca. consequently their normal position is head-downward, and with tentacles spread out like the ribs of an umbrella--eight of them at least; the two long ones, like the antennae of an insect, rove unceasingly around, seeking prey. the imagination can hardly picture a more terrible object than one of these huge monsters brooding in the ocean depths, the gloom of his surroundings increased by the inky fluid (sepia) which he secretes in copious quantities, every cup-shaped disc, of the hundreds with which the restless tentacles are furnished, ready at the slightest touch to grip whatever is near, not only by suction, but by the great claws set all round within its circle. and in the centre of this net-work of living traps is the chasm-like mouth, with its enormous parrot-beak, ready to rend piecemeal whatever is held by the tentaculae. the very thought of it makes one's flesh crawl. well did michelet term them "the insatiable nightmares of the sea." yet, but for them, how would such great creatures as the sperm whale be fed? unable, from their bulk, to capture small fish except by accident, and, by the absence of a sieve of baleen, precluded from subsisting upon the tiny crustacea, which support the mysticetae, the cachalots seem to be confined for their diet to cuttle-fish, and, from their point of view, the bigger the latter are the better. how big they may become in the depths of the sea, no man knoweth; but it is unlikely that even the vast specimens seen are full-sized, since they have only come to the surface under abnormal conditions, like the one i have attempted to describe, who had evidently been dragged up by his relentless foe. creatures like these, who inhabit deep waters, and do not need to come to the surface by the exigencies of their existence, necessarily present many obstacles to accurate investigation of their structure and habits; but, from the few specimens that have been obtained of late years, fairly comprehensive details have been compiled, and may be studied in various french and german works, of which the natural history museum at south kensington possesses copies. these, through the courtesy of the authorities in charge, are easily accessible to students who wish to prosecute the study of this wonderful branch of the great mollusca family. when we commenced to cut in our whale next morning, the sea was fairly alive with fish of innumerable kinds, while a vast host of sea-birds, as usual, waited impatiently for the breaking-up of the huge carcass, which they knew would afford them no end of a feast. an untoward accident, which happened soon after the work was started, gave the waiting myriads immense satisfaction, although the unfortunate second mate, whose slip of the spade was responsible, came in for a hurricane of vituperation from the enraged skipper. it was in detaching the case from the head--always a work of difficulty, and requiring great precision of aim. just as mr. cruce made a powerful thrust with his keen tool, the vessel rolled, and the blow, missing the score in which he was cutting, fell upon the case instead, piercing its side. for a few minutes the result was unnoticed amidst the wash of the ragged edges of the cut, but presently a long streak of white, wax-like pieces floating astern, and a tremendous commotion among the birds, told the story. the liquid spermaceti was leaking rapidly from the case, turning solid as it got into the cool water. nothing could be done to stop the waste, which, as it was a large whale, was not less than twenty barrels, or about two tuns of pure spermaceti. an accident of this kind never failed to make our skipper almost unbearable in his temper for some days afterwards; and, to do him justice, he did not discriminate very carefully as to who felt his resentment besides its immediate cause. therefore we had all a rough time of it while his angry fit lasted, which was a whole week, or until all was shipshape again. meanwhile we were edging gradually through the malacca straits and around the big island of borneo, never going very near the land on account of the great and numerous dangers attendant upon coasting in those localities to any but those continually engaged in such a business. indeed, all navigation in those seas to sailing vessels is dangerous, and requires the greatest care. often we were obliged at a minute's notice to let go the anchor, although out of sight of land, some rapid current being found carrying us swiftly towards a shoal or race, where we might come to grief. yet there was no fuss or hurry, the same leisurely old system was continued, and worked as well as ever. but it was not apparent why we were threading the tortuous and difficult waters of the indian archipelago. no whales of any kind were seen for at least a month, although, from our leisurely mode of sailing, it was evident that they were looked for. an occasional native craft came alongside, desirous of bartering fish, which we did not want, being able to catch all we needed as readily almost as they were. fruit and vegetables we could not get at such distances from land, for the small canoes that lie in wait for passing ships do not of course venture far from home. chapter xiii. off to the japan grounds very tedious and trying was our passage northward, although every effort was made by the skipper to expedite it. nothing of advantage to our cargo was seen for a long time, which, although apparently what was to be expected, did not improve captain slocum's temper. but, to the surprise of all, when we had arrived off the beautiful island of hong kong, to which we approached closely, we "raised" a grand sperm whale. many fishing-junks were in sight, busily plying their trade, and at any other time we should have been much interested in the quaint and cunning devices by which the patient, wily chinaman succeeds so admirably as a fisherman. our own fishing, for the time being, absorbed all our attention--the more, perhaps, that we had for so long been unable to do anything in that line. after the usual preliminaries, we were successful in getting fast to the great creature, who immediately showed fight. so skilful and wary did he prove that captain slocum, growing impatient at our manoeuvring with no result, himself took the field, arriving on the scene with the air of one who comes to see and conquer without more delay. he brought with him a weapon which i have not hitherto mentioned, because none of the harpooners could be induced to use it, and consequently it had not been much in evidence. theoretically, it was as ideal tool for such work, its chief drawback being its cumbrousness. it was known as "pierce's darting gun," being a combination of bomb-gun and harpoon, capable of being darted at the whale like a plain harpoon. its construction was simple; indeed, the patent was a very old one. a tube of brass, thickening towards the butt, at which was a square chamber firmly welded to a socket for receiving the pole, formed the gun itself. within the chamber aforesaid a nipple protruded from the base of the tube, and in line with it. the trigger was simply a flat bit of steel, like a piece of clock spring, which was held down by the hooked end of a steel rod long enough to stick out beyond the muzzle of the gun three or four inches, and held in position by two flanges at the butt and muzzle of the barrel. on the opposite side of the tube were two more flanges, close together, into the holes of which was inserted the end of a specially made harpoon, having an eye twisted in its shank through which the whale line was spliced. the whole machine was fitted to a neat pole, and strongly secured to it by means of a "gun warp," or short piece of thin line, by which it could be hauled back into the boat after being darted at a whale. to prepare this weapon for use, the barrel was loaded with a charge of powder and a bomb similar to those used in the shoulder-guns, the point of which just protruded from the muzzle. an ordinary percussion cap was placed upon the nipple, and the trigger cocked by placing the trigger-rod in position. the harpoon, with the line attached, was firmly set into the socketed flanges prepared for it, and the whole arrangement was then ready to be darted at the whale in the usual way. supposing the aim to be good and the force sufficient, the harpoon would penetrate the blubber until the end of the trigger-rod was driven backwards by striking the blubber, releasing the trigger and firing the gun. thus the whale would be harpooned and bomb-lanced at the same time, and, supposing everything to work satisfactorily, very little more could be needed to finish him. but the weapon was so cumbersome and awkward, and the harpooners stood in such awe of it, that in the majority of cases the whale was either missed altogether or the harpoon got such slight hold that the gun did not go off, the result being generally disastrous. in the present case, however, the "pierce" gun was in the hands of a man by no means nervous, and above criticism or blame in case of failure. so when he sailed in to the attack, and delivered his "swashing blow," the report of the gun was immediately heard, proving conclusively that a successful stroke had been made. it had an instantaneous and astonishing effect. the sorely wounded monster, with one tremendous expiration, rolled over and over swift as thought towards his aggressor, literally burying the boat beneath his vast bulk. now, one would have thought surely, upon seeing this, that none of that boat's crew would ever have been seen again. nevertheless, strange as it may appear, out of that seething lather of foam, all six heads emerged again in an instant, but on the other side of the great creature. how any of them escaped instant violent death was, and from the nature of the case must, ever remain, an unravelled mystery, for the boat was crumbled into innumerable fragments, and the three hundred fathoms of line, in a perfect maze of entanglement, appeared to be wrapped about the writhing trunk of the whale. happily, there were two boats disengaged, so that they were able very promptly to rescue the sufferers from their perilous position in the boiling vortex of foam by which they were surrounded. meanwhile, the remaining boat had an easy task. the shot delivered by the captain had taken deadly effect, the bomb having entered the creature's side low down, directly abaft the pectoral fin. it must have exploded within the cavity of the bowels, from its position, causing such extensive injuries as to make even that vast animal's death but a matter of a few moments. therefore, we did not run any unnecessary risks, but hauled off to a safe distance and quietly watched the death-throes. they were so brief, that in less than ten minutes from the time of the accident we were busy securing the line through the flukes of our prize. the vessel was an unusually long time working up to us, so slow, in fact, that mr count remarked, critically, "shouldn't wonder if th' ole man ain't hurt; they're taking things so all-fired easy." by the time she had reached us, we had a good few visitors around us from the fishing fleet, who caused us no little anxiety, the chinese have no prejudices; they would just as soon steal a whale as a herring, if the conveyance could be effected without, more trouble or risk to their own yellow skins. if it involved the killing of a few foreign devils--well, so much to the good. the ship, however, arrived before the fishermen had decided upon any active steps, and we got our catch alongside without any delay. the truth of mr. count's forecast was verified to the hilt, for we found that the captain was so badly bruised about the body that he was unable to move, while one of the hands, a portuguese, was injured internally, and seemed very bad indeed. had any one told us that morning that we should be sorry to see captain slocum with sore bones, we should have scoffed at the notion, and some of us would probably have said that we should like to have the opportunity of making him smart. but under the present circumstances, with some hundreds of perfectly ruthless wretches hovering around us, looking with longing eyes at the treasure we had alongside, we could not help remembering the courage and resource so often shown by the skipper, and wished with all our hearts that we could have the benefit of them now. as soon as dinner was over, we all "turned to" with a will to get the whale cut in. none of us required to be told that to lay all night with that whale alongside would be extremely unhealthy for us, great doubt existing as to whether any of us would see morning dawn again. there was, too, just a possibility that when the carcass, stripped of its blubber, was cut adrift, those ravenous crowds would fasten upon it, and let us go in peace. all hands, therefore, worked like trojans. there was no need to drive us, nor was a single harsh word spoken. nothing was heard but the almost incessant clatter of the windlass pawls, abrupt monosyllabic orders, and the occasional melancholy wail of a gannet overhead. no word had been spoken on the subject among us, yet somehow we all realized that we were working for a large stake no less than our lives. what! says somebody, within a few miles of hong kong? oh yes; and even within hong kong harbour itself, if opportunity offers. let any man go down the wharf at hong kong after sunset, and hail a sampan from the hundreds there that are waiting to be hired. hardly will the summons have left his lips before a white policeman will be at his side, note-book in hand, inquiring his name and ship, and taking a note of the sampan's number, with the time of his leaving the wharf. nothing perfunctory about the job either. let but these precautions be omitted, and the chances that the passenger (if he have aught of value about him) will ever arrive at his destination are almost nil. so good was the progress made that by five p.m. we were busy at the head, while the last few turns of the windlass were being taken to complete the skinning of the body. with a long pent-up shout that last piece was severed and swung inboard, as the huge mass of reeking flesh floated slowly astern. as it drifted away we saw the patient watchers who had been waiting converging upon it from all quarters, and our hopes rose high. but there was no slackening of our efforts to get in the head. by the time it was dark we managed to get the junk on board, and by the most extraordinary efforts lifted the whole remainder of the head high enough to make sail and stand off to sea. the wind was off the land, the water smooth, and no swell on, so we took no damage from that tremendous weight surging by our side, though, had the worst come to the worst, we could have cut it adrift. when morning dawned we hove-to, the land being only dimly visible astern, and finished taking on board our "head matter" without further incident. the danger past, we were all well pleased that the captain was below, for the work proceeded quite pleasantly under the genial rule of the mate. since leaving port we had not felt so comfortable, the work, with all its disagreeables, seeming as nothing now that we could do it without fear and trembling. alas for poor jemmy!--as we always persisted in calling him from inability to pronounce his proper name--his case was evidently hopeless. his fellows did their poor best to comfort his fast-fleeting hours, one after another murmuring to him the prayers of the church, which, although they did not understand them, they evidently believed most firmly to have some marvellous power to open the gates of paradise and cleanse the sinner. notwithstanding the grim fact that their worship was almost pure superstition, it was far more in accordance with the fitness of things for a dying man's surroundings than such scenes as i have witnessed in the forecastles of merchant ships when poor sailors lay a-dying. i remember well once, when i was second officer of a large passenger ship, going in the forecastle as she lay at anchor at st. helena, to see a sick man. half the crew were drunk, and the beastly kennel in which they lived was in a thick fog of tobacco-smoke and the stale stench of rum. ribald songs, quarrelling, and blasphemy made a veritable pandemonium of the place. i passed quietly through it to the sick man's bunk, and found him--dead! he had passed away in the midst of that, but the horror of it did not seem to impress his bemused shipmates much. here, at any rate, there was quiet and decorum, while all that could be done for the poor sufferer (not much, from ignorance of how he was injured) was done. he was released from his pain in the afternoon of the second day after the accident, the end coming suddenly and peacefully. the same evening, at sunset, the body, neatly sewn up in canvas, with a big lump of sandstone secured to the feet, was brought on deck, laid on a hatch at the gangway, and covered with the blue, star-spangled american jack. then all hands were mustered in the waist, the ship's bell was tolled, and the ensign run up halfway. the captain was still too ill to be moved, so the mate stepped forward with a rusty old common prayer-book in his hands, whereon my vagrant fancy immediately fastened in frantic endeavour to imagine how it came to be there. the silence of death was over all. true, the man was but a unit of no special note among us, but death had conferred upon him a brevet rank, in virtue of which be dominated every thought. it seemed strange to me that we who faced death so often and variously, until natural fear had become deadened by custom, should, now that one of our number lay a rapidly-corrupting husk before us, be so tremendously impressed by the simple, inevitable fact. i suppose it was because none of us were able to realize the immanence of death until we saw his handiwork. mr. count opened the book, fumbling nervously among the unfamiliar leaves. then he suddenly looked up, his weather-scarred face glowing a dull brick-red, and said, in a low voice, "this thing's too many fer me; kin any of ye do it? ef not, i guess we'll hev ter take it as read." there was no response for a moment; then i stepped forward, reaching out my hand for the book. its contents were familiar enough to me, for in happy pre-arab days i had been a chorister in the old lock chapel, harrow road, and had borne my part in the service so often that i think even now i could repeat the greater part of it memoriter. mr. count gave it me without a word, and, trembling like a leaf, i turned to the "burial service," and began the majestic sentences, "i am the resurrection and the life, saith the lord." i did not know my own voice as the wonderful words sounded clearly in the still air; but if ever a small body of soul-hardened men felt the power of god, it was then. at the words, "we therefore commit his body to the deep," i paused, and, the mate making a sign, two of the harpooners tilted the hatch, from which the remains slid off into the unknown depths with a dull splash. several of the dead man's compatriots covered their faces, and murmured prayers for the repose of his soul, while the tears trickled through their horny fingers. but matters soon resumed their normal course; the tension over, back came the strings of life into position again, to play the same old tunes and discords once more. the captured whale made an addition to our cargo of one hundred and ten barrels--a very fair haul indeed. the harpooners were disposed to regard this capture as auspicious upon opening the north pacific, where, in spite of the time we had spent, and the fair luck we had experienced in the indian ocean, we expected to make the chief portion of our cargo. our next cruising-ground is known to whalemen as the "coast of japan" ground, and has certainly proved in the past the most prolific fishery of sperm whales in the whole world. i am inclined now to believe that there are more and larger cachalots to be found in the southern hemisphere, between the parallels of deg. and deg. south; but there the drawback of heavy weather and mountainous seas severely handicaps the fishermen. it is somewhat of a misnomer to call the coast of japan ground by that name, since to be successful you should not sight japan at all, but keep out of range of the cold current that sweeps right across the pacific, skirting the philippines, along the coasts of the japanese islands as far as the kuriles, and then returns to the eastward again to the southward of the aleutian archipelago. the greatest number of whales are always found in the vicinity of the bonin and volcano groups of islands, which lie in the eddy formed by the northward bend of the mighty current before mentioned. this wonderful ground was first cruised by a london whale-ship, the syren, in , when the english branch of the sperm whale-fishery was in its prime, and london skippers were proud of the fact that one of their number, in the emilia, had thirty-one years before first ventured around cape horn in pursuit of the cachalot. after the advent of the syren, the bonins became the favourite fishing-ground for both americans and british, and for many years the catch of oil taken from these teeming waters averaged four thousand tuns annually. that the value of the fishery was maintained at so high a level for over a quarter of a century was doubtless due to the fact that there was a long, self-imposed close season, during which the whales were quite unmolested. nothing in the migratory habits of this whale, so far as has ever been observed, would have prevented a profitable fishing all the year round; but custom, stronger even than profit, ordained that whale-ships should never stay too long upon one fishing-ground, but move on farther until the usual round had been made, unless the vessel were filled in the mean time. of course, there are whales whose habits lead them at certain seasons, for breeding purposes, to frequent various groups of islands, but the cachalot seems to be quite impartial in his preferences; if he "uses" around certain waters, he is just as likely to be found there in july as january. the bonins, too, form an ideal calling-place, from the whaling captain's point of view. peel island, the principal one of the cluster, has a perfect harbour in port lloyd, where a vessel can not only lie in comfort, sheltered from almost every wind that blows, but where provisions, wood, and water are plentiful. there is no inducement, or indeed room, for desertion, and the place is healthy. it is colonized by japs from the kingdom so easily reached to the westward, and the busy little people, after their manner, make a short stay very agreeable. once clear of the southern end of formosa we had quite a rapid run to the bonins, carrying a press of sail day and night, as the skipper was anxious to arrive there on account of his recent injuries. he was still very lame, and he feared that some damage might have been done to him of which he was ignorant. besides, it was easy to see that he did not altogether like anybody else being in charge of his ship, no matter how good they were. such was the expedition we made that we arrived at port lloyd twelve days after clearing up our last whale. very beautiful indeed the islands, appeared, with their bold, steep sides clad in richest green, or, where no vegetation appeared, worn into a thousand fantastic shapes by the sea, or the mountain torrents carving away the lava of which they were all composed. for the whole of the islands were volcanic, and port lloyd itself is nothing more than the crater of a vast volcano, which in some tremendous convulsion of nature has sunk from its former high estate low enough to become a haven for ships. i have said that it was a perfect harbour, but there is no doubt that getting in or out requires plenty of nerve as well as seamanship. there was so little room, and the eddying flows of wind under the high land were so baffling, that at various times during our passage in it appeared as if nothing could prevent us from getting stuck upon some of the adjacent hungry-looking coral reefs. nothing of the kind happened, however, and we came comfortably to an anchor near three other whale-ships which were already there. they were the diego ramirez, of nantucket; the coronel, of providence, rhode island; and the grampus, of new bedford. these were the first whale-ships we had yet seen, and it may be imagined how anxious we felt to meet men with whom we could compare notes and exchange yarns. it might be, too, that we should get some news of that world which, as far as we were concerned, might as well have been at the other extremity of the solar system for the last year, so completely isolated had we been. the sails were hardly fast before a boat from each of the ships was alongside with their respective skippers on board. the extra exertion necessary to pilot the ship in had knocked the old man up, in his present weak state, and he had gone below for a short rest; so the three visitors dived down into the stuffy cabin, all anxious to interview the latest comer. considerate always, mr. count allowed us to have the remainder of the day to ourselves, so we set about entertaining our company. it was no joke twelve of them coming upon us all at once, and babel ensued for a short time. they knew the system too well to expect refreshments, so we had not to apologize for having nothing to set before them. they had not come, however, for meat and drink, but for talk. and talk we did, sometimes altogether, sometimes rationally; but i doubt whether any of us had ever enjoyed talking so much before. chapter xiv. liberty day--and after there is generally current among seamen a notion that all masters of ships are bound by law to give their crews twenty-four hours' liberty and a portion of their wages to spend every three months, if they are in port. i have never heard any authority quoted for this, and do not know what foundation there is for such a belief, although the practice is usually adhered to in english ships. but american whale-ships apparently know no law, except the will of their commanders, whose convenience is always the first consideration. thus, we had now been afloat for well over a year, during which time, except for our foraging excursions at the cocos and aldabra, we had certainly known no liberty for a whole day. our present port being one where it was impossible to desert without the certainty of prompt recapture, with subsequent suffering altogether disproportionate to the offence, we were told that one watch at a time would be allowed their liberty for a day. so we of the port watch made our simple preparations, received twenty-five cents each, and were turned adrift on the beach to enjoy ourselves. we had our liberty, but we didn't know what to do with it. there was a native town and a couple of low groggeries kept by chinamen, where some of my shipmates promptly invested a portion of their wealth in some horrible liquor, the smell of which was enough to make an ordinary individual sick. there was no place apparently where one could get a meal, so that the prospect of our stay ashore lasting a day did not seem very great. i was fortunate enough, however, to foregather with a scotchman who was a beach-comber, and consequently "knew the ropes." i dare say he was an unmitigated blackguard whenever he got the chance, but he was certainly on his best behaviour with me. he took me into the country a bit to see the sights, which were such as most of the pacific islands afford. wonderful indeed were the fantastic rocks, twisted into innumerable grotesque shapes, and, along the shores, hollowed out into caverns of all sizes, some large enough to shelter an army. he was quite familiar with the natives, understanding enough of their queer lingo to get along. by his friendly aid we got some food--yams, and fish cooked in native fashion, i.e. in heated holes in the ground, for which the friendly kanakas would take no payment, although they looked murderous enough to be cannibals. it does not do to go by looks always. well, after a long ramble, the scotchman and i laid our weary bodies down in the shade of a big rock, and had a grand sleep, waking up again a little before sunset. we hastened down to the beach off the town, where all my watchmates were sitting in a row, like lost sheep, waiting to be taken on board again. they had had enough of liberty; indeed, such liberty as that was hardly worth having. it seems hardly credible, but we were actually glad to get on board again, it was so miserable ashore, the natives were most unsociable at the port, and we could not make ourselves understood, so there was not much fun to be had. even those who were inclined to drink had too little for a spree, which i was not sorry for, since doubtless a very unpleasant reception would have awaited them had they come on board drunk. next day the starboard watch went on liberty, while we who had received our share were told off to spend the day wooding and watering. in this most pleasant of occupations (when the weather is fine) i passed a much more satisfactory time than when wandering about with no objective, an empty pocket, and a hungry belly. no foremast hand has ever enjoyed his opportunities of making the acquaintance of his various visiting places more than i have; but the circumstances attendant upon one's leave must be a little favourable, or i would much rather stay aboard and fish. our task was over for the day, a goodly store of wood and casks of water having been shipped. we were sitting down to supper, when, in answer to a hail from the beach, we were ordered to fetch the liberty men. when we got to them, there was a pretty how-d'ye-do. all of them were more or less drunk, some exceedingly quarrelsome. now, mistah jones was steering our boat, looking as little like a man to take sauce from a drunken sailor as you could imagine. most of the transformed crowd ya-hooing on the beach had felt the weight of his shoulder-of-mutton fist, yet so utterly had prudence forsaken them that, before we came near them, they were abusing him through all the varied gamut of filthy language they possessed. my democratic sentiments are deeply seated, but i do believe in authority, and respect for it being rigidly enforced, so this uncalled-for scene upset me, making me feel anxious that the gibbering fools might get a lesson. they got one. goliath stood like a tower, his eyes alone betraying the fierce anger boiling within. when we touched the beach, his voice was mild end gentle as a child's, his movements calm and deliberate. as soon as we had beached the boat he stepped ashore, and in two strides was in the middle of the snarling group. further parley ceased at once. snatching the loudest of them by the breast of his shirt with his right hand, another one by the collar with his left, he flung himself backwards towards the boat, knocking the interveners right and left. but a protruding fragment of rock caught his heel, bringing him with his captives to the ground in a writhing mass. the rest, maddened beyond restraint of fear, flung themselves upon the prostrate man, the glimmer of more than one knife-blade appearing. two of us from the boat--one with the tiller, the other brandishing a paddle--rushed to the rescue; but before we arrived the giant had heaved off his assailants, and, with no other weapons than his bare hands, was doing terrific execution among them. not knowing, i suppose, whether we were friendly to him or not, he shouted to us to keep away, nor dare to interfere. there was no need. disregarding such trifles as a few superficial cuts--not feeling them perhaps--he so unmercifully mauled that crowd that they howled again for mercy. the battle was brief and bloody. before hostilities had lasted five minutes, six of the aggressors were stretched insensible; the rest, comprising as many more, were pleading for mercy, completely sober. such prowess on the part of one man against twelve seems hardly credible; but it must be remembered that goliath fought, with all the moral force of the ship's officers behind him, against a disorganized crowd without backbone, who would never have dared to face him but for the temporary mania induced by the stuff they had drunk. it was a conflict between a lion and a troop of jackals, whereof the issue was never in doubt as long as lethal weapons were wanting. standing erect among the cowering creatures, the great negro looked every inch a mediaeval hero. in a stern voice he bade his subjugated enemies to get into the boat, assisting those to do so who were too badly hurt to rise. then we shoved off for the ship--a sorrowful gang indeed. as i bent to my oar, i felt very sorry for what had happened. here were half the crew guilty of an act of violence upon an officer, which, according to the severe code under which we lived, merited punishment as painful as could be inflicted, and lasting for the rest of the voyage. whatever form that punishment might take, those of us who were innocent would be almost equal sufferers with the others, because discrimination in the treatment between watch and watch is always difficult, and in our case it was certain that it would not be attempted. except as regarded physical violence, we might all expect to share alike. undoubtedly things looked very unpleasant. my gloomy cogitations were abruptly terminated by the order to "unrow"--we were alongside. somehow or other all hands managed to scramble on board, and assist in hoisting the boat up. as soon as she was secured we slunk away forward, but we had hardly got below before a tremendous summons from goliath brought us all aft again at the double quick. most of the fracas had been witnessed from the ship, so that but a minute or two was needed to explain how or why it begun. directly that explanation had been supplied by mistah jones, the order was issued for the culprits to appear. i have before noticed how little love was lost between the skipper and his officers, goliath having even once gone so far as to give me a very emphatic opinion of his about the "old man" of a most unflattering nature. and had such a state of things existed on board an english ship, the crew would simply have taken charge, for they would have seen the junior officers flouted, snubbed, and jeered at; and, of course, what they saw the captain do, they would not be slow to improve on. many a promising young officer's career has been blighted in this way by the feminine spite of a foolish man unable to see that if the captain shows no respect to his officers, neither will the crew, nor obedience either. but in an american ship, so long as an officer remains an officer, he must be treated as such by every man, under pain of prompt punishment. yankee skippers have far too much nous to allow their hands to grow saucy in consequence of division among the after-guard. so now a sort of court-martial was held upon the unfortunates who had dared to attack goliath, at which that sable hero might have been the apple of captain slocum's eye, so solicitous was he of mistah jones' honour and the reparation to be made. this sort of thing was right in his line. naturally cruel, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself in the prospect of making human beings twist and writhe in pain. nor would he be baulked of a jot of his pleasure. goliath approached him, and muttered a few words, meant, i felt sure, to appease him by letting him know how much they had suffered at his strong hands; but he turned upon the negro with a savage curse, bidding him be silent. then every one of the culprits was stripped, and secured to the lash-rail by the wrists; scourges were made of cotton fish-line, knotted at intervals, and secured to a stout handle; the harpooners were told off as executioners, and the flogging began. perhaps it was necessary for the maintenance of discipline--certainly it was trivial compared with the practice, till recently, in our own army and navy; but i am glad to say that, compelled to witness it, i felt quite sick--physically sick--trembling so in every limb that my legs would not support me. it was not fear, for i had nothing to fear had i been ever such a coward. whatever it was, i am not sorry either to have felt it or to own it, even while i fully admit that for some forms of wickedness nothing but the lash seems adequate punishment. some of the victims fainted, not being in the best condition at the outset for undergoing so severe a trial; but all were treated alike, buckets of salt water being flung over them. this drastic reviver, while adding to their pain, brought them all into a state of sufficient activity to get forward when they were released. smarting and degraded, all their temporary bravado effectually banished, they were indeed pitiable objects, their deplorable state all the harder to bear from its contrast to our recent pleasure when we entertained the visiting crews. having completed our quantum of wood, water, and fresh provisions for the officers, we got under way again for the fishing grounds. i did not see how we could hope for a successful season, knowing the utterly despondent state of the crew, which even affected the officers, who, not so callous or cruel as the skipper, seemed to be getting rather tired of the constant drive and kick, now the normal condition of affairs. but the skipper's vigilance was great. whether he noted any sign of slackness or indifference on the part of his coadjutors or not, of course i cannot say, but he certainly seemed to put more vigour into his attentions than had been his wont, and so kept everybody up to the mark. hitherto we had always had our fishing to ourselves; we were now to see something of the ways of other men employed in the same manner. for though the general idea or plan of campaign against the whales is the same in all american whalers, every ship has some individual peculiarity of tactics, which, needless to say, are always far superior to those of any other ship. when we commenced our cruise on this new ground, there were seven whalers in sight, all quite as keen on the chase as ourselves, so that i anticipated considerable sport of the liveliest kind should we "raise" whales with such a fleet close at hand. but for a whole week we saw nothing but a grampus or so, a few loitering finbacks, and an occasional lean humpback bull certainly not worth chasing. on the seventh afternoon, however, i was in the main crow's-nest with the chief, when i noticed a ship to windward of us alter her course, keeping away three or four points on an angle that would presently bring her across our bows a good way ahead. i was getting pretty well versed in the tricks of the trade now, so i kept mum, but strained my eyes in the direction for which the other ship was steering. the chief was looking astern at some finbacks, the look-out men forward were both staring to leeward, thus for a minute or so i had a small arc of the horizon to myself. the time was short, but it sufficed, and for the first time that voyage i had the privilege of "raising" a sperm whale. my voice quivered with excitement as i uttered the war-whoop, "ah blo-o-o-o-w!" round spun the mate on his heel, while the hands clustered like bees roused from their hive. "where away--where?" gasped the mate. and i pointed to a spot about half a point on the lee bow, at the same time calling his attention to the fact that the stranger to windward was keeping away. in answer to the skipper's hurried queries from below, mr. count gave him the general outline of affairs, to which he replied by crowding every stitch of canvas on the vessel that was available. the spout i had seen was a good ten miles off, and, for the present, seemed to belong to a "lone" whale, as it was the only one visible. there was a good breeze blowing, as much, in fact, as we could carry all sail to, the old barky making a tremendous commotion as she blundered along under the unusual press of canvas. in the excitement of the race all our woes were forgotten; we only thought of the possibility of the ship getting there first. we drew gradually nearer to the stranger, who, like us, was carrying all the sail he had got, but, being able to go a point or two free, was outsailing us. it was anybody's race as yet, though, when we heard the skipper's hail, "'way down from aloft!" as he came up to take our place, the whale had sounded, apparently heading to leeward, so that the weather-gage held by our rival was not much advantage to him now. we ran on for another two miles, then shortened sail, and stood by to lower away the moment he should re-appear, meanwhile another ship was working up from to leeward, having evidently noted our movements, or else, like the albatross, "smelt whale," no great distance to windward of him. waiting for that whale to rise was one of the most exciting experiences we had gone through as yet, with two other ships so near. everybody's nerves seemed strung up to concert pitch, and it was quite a relief when from half a dozen throats at once burst the cry, "there she white-waters! ah blo-o-o-o-w!" not a mile away, dead to leeward of us, quietly beating the water with the flat of his flukes, as if there was no such thing in the watery world as a whale-ship. splash! almost simultaneously went the four boats. out we shot from the ship, all on our mettle; for was not the skipper's eye upon us from his lofty eyrie, as well as the crew of the other ship, now not more than a mile away! we seemed a terrible time getting the sails up, but the officers dared not risk our willingness to pull while they could be independent of us. by the time we were fairly off, the other ship's boats were coming like the wind, so that eight boats were now converging upon the unconscious monster. we fairly flew over the short, choppy sea, getting drenched with the flying spray, but looking out far more keenly at the other boats than at the whale. up we came to him, mr. count's boat to the left, the other mate's boat to the right. almost at the same moment the irons flew from the hands of the rival harpooners; but while ours was buried to the hitches in the whale's side, the other man's just ploughed up the skin on the animal's back, as it passed over him and pierced our boat close behind the harpooner's leg. not seeing what had happened to his iron, or knowing that we were fast, the other harpooner promptly hurled his second iron, which struck solidly. it was a very pretty tangle, but our position was rather bad. the whale between us was tearing the bowels of the deep up in his rage and fear; we were struggling frantically to get our sail down; and at any moment that wretched iron through our upper strake might tear a plank out of us. our chief, foaming at the mouth with rage and excitement, was screeching inarticulate blasphemy at the other mate, who, not knowing what was the matter, was yelling back all his copious vocabulary of abuse. i felt very glad the whale was between us, or there would surely have been murder done. at last, out drops the iron, leaving a jagged hole you could put your arm through. wasn't mr. count mad? i really thought he would split with rage, for it was impossible for us to go on with that hole in our bilge. the second mate came alongside and took our line as the whale was just commencing to sound, thus setting us free. we made at once for the other ship's "fast" boat, and the compliments that had gone before were just casual conversation to what filled the air with dislocated language now. presently both the champions cooled down a bit from want of breath, and we got our case stated. it was received with a yell of derision from the other side as a splendid effort of lying on our part; because the first ship fast claims the whale, and such a prize as this one we were quarrelling about was not to be tamely yielded. however, as reason asserted her sway over mr. count, he quieted down, knowing full well that the state of the line belonging to his rival would reveal the truth when the whale rose again. therefore we returned to the ship, leaving our three boats busy waiting the whale's pleasure to rise again. when the skipper heard what had happened, he had his own boat manned, proceeding himself to the battle-field in expectation of complications presently. by the time he arrived upon the scene there were two more boats lying by, which had come up from the third ship, mentioned as working up from to leeward. "pretty fine ground this's got ter be!" growled the old man. "caint strike whale 'thout bein' crowded eout uv yer own propputty by a gang bunco steerers like this. shall hev ter quit it, en keep a pawnshop." and still the whale kept going steadily down, down, down. already he was on the second boat's lines, and taking them out faster than ever. had we been alone, this persistence on his part, though annoying, would not have mattered much; but, with so many others in company, the possibilities of complication, should we need to slip our end, were numerous. the ship kept near, and mr. count, seeing how matters were going, had hastily patched his boat, returning at once with another tub of line. he was but just in time to bend on, when to our great delight we saw the end slip from our rival's boat. this in no wise terminated his lien on the whale, supposing he could prove that he struck first, but it got him out of the way for the time. meanwhile we were running line faster than ever. there was an enormous length attached to the animal now--some twelve thousand feet--the weight of which was very great, to say nothing of the many "drogues" or "stopwaters" attached to it at intervals. judge, then, of my surprise when a shout of "blo-o-o-w!" called my attention to the whale himself just breaking water about half a mile away. it was an awkward predicament; for if we let go our end, the others would be on the whale immediately; if we held on, we should certainly be dragged below in a twinkling; and our disengaged boats could do nothing, for they had no line. but the difficulty soon settled itself. out ran our end, leaving us bare of line as pleasure skiffs. the newcomer, who had been prowling near, keeping a close watch upon us, saw our boat jump up when released from the weight. off he flew like an arrow to the labouring leviathan, now a "free fish," except for such claims as the two first-comers had upon it, which claims are legally assessed, where no dispute arises. in its disabled condition, dragging so enormous a weight of line, it was but a few minutes before the fresh boat was fast, while we looked on helplessly, boiling with impotent rage. all that we could now hope for was the salvage of some of our line, a mile and a half of which, inextricably mixed up with about the same length of our rival's, was towing astern of the fast-expiring cachalot. so great had been the strain upon that hardly-used animal that he did not go into his usual "flurry," but calmly expired without the faintest struggle. in the mean time two of our boats had been sent on board again to work the ship, while the skipper proceeded to try his luck in the recovery of his gear. on arriving at the dead whale, however, we found that he had rolled over and over beneath the water so many times that the line was fairly frapped round him, and the present possessors were in no mood to allow us the privilege of unrolling it. during the conversation we had drawn very near the carcass, so near, in fact, that one hand was holding the boat alongside the whale's "small" by a bight of the line. i suppose the skipper's eagle eye must have caught sight of the trailing part of the line streaming beneath, for suddenly he plunged overboard, reappearing almost immediately with the line in his hand. he scrambled into the boat with it, cutting it from the whale at once, and starting his boat's crew hauling in. then there was a hubbub again. the captain of the narragansett, our first rival, protested vigorously against our monopoly of the line; but in grim silence our skipper kept on, taking no notice of him, while we steadily hauled. unless he of the narragansett choose to fight for what he considered his rights, there was no help for him. and there was something in our old man's appearance eminently calculated to discourage aggression of any kind. at last, disgusted apparently with the hopeless turn affairs had taken, the narragansett's boats drew off, and returned on board their ship. two of our boats had by this time accumulated a mountainous coil of line each, with which we returned to our own vessel, leaving the skipper to visit the present holder of the whale, the skipper of the john hampden. what arrangements they made, or how they settled the narragansett's claim between them, i never knew, but i dare say there was a costly law-suit about it in new bedford years after. this was not very encouraging for a start, nor did the next week see us do any better. several times we saw other ships with whales alongside, but we got no show at all. now, i had hoped a great deal from our cruise on these grounds, because i had heard whispers of a visit to the icy sea of okhotsk, and the prospect was to me a horrible one. i never did take any stock in arctic work. but if we made a good season on the japan grounds, we should not go north, but gradually work down the pacific again, on the other side, cruising as we went. day after day went by without any fresh capture or even sight of fish, until i began to believe that the stories i had heard of the wonderful fecundity of the coast of japan waters were fables without foundation, in fact. had i known what sort of fishing our next bout would be, i should not have been so eager to sight whales again. if this be not a platitude of the worst kind, i don't know the meaning of the word; but, after all, platitudes have their uses, especially when you want to state a fact baldly. chapter xv. which comes uncomfortably near being the last all unversed as i am in the finer shades of literary craftsmanship, there is great uncertainty in my mind whether it is good or bad "art" to anticipate your next chapter by foreshadowing its contents; but whether good or bad art, the remembrance of my miseries on the eventful occasion i wish to describe was so strong upon me as i wrote the last few lines of the previous chapter that i just had to let those few words leak out. through all the vicissitudes of this strange voyage i had hitherto felt pretty safe, and as the last thing a man anticipates (if his digestion is all right) is the possibility of coming to grief himself while fully prepared to see everybody else go under, so i had got to think that whoever got killed i was not to be--a very pleasing sentiment, and one that carries a man far, enabling him to face dangers with a light heart which otherwise would make a nerveless animal of him. in this optimistic mood, then, i gaily flung myself into my place in the mate's boat one morning, as we were departing in chase of a magnificent cachalot that had been raised just after breakfast. there were no other vessels in sight--much to our satisfaction--the wind was light, with a cloudless sky, and the whale was dead to leeward of us. we sped along at a good rate towards our prospective victim, who was, in his leisurely enjoyment of life, calmly lolling on the surface, occasionally lifting his enormous tail out of water and letting it fall flat upon the surface with a boom audible for miles. we were as usual, first boat; but, much to the mate's annoyance, when we were a short half-mile from the whale, our main-sheet parted. it became immediately necessary to roll the sail up, lest its flapping should alarm the watchful monster, and this delayed us sufficiently to allow the other boats to shoot ahead of us. thus the second mate got fast some seconds before we arrived on the scene, seeing which we furled sail, unshipped the mast, and went in on him with the oars only. at first the proceedings were quite of the usual character, our chief wielding his lance in most brilliant fashion, while not being fast to the animal allowed us much greater freedom in our evolutions; but that fatal habit of the mate's--of allowing his boat to take care of herself so long as he was getting in some good home-thrusts--once more asserted itself. although the whale was exceedingly vigorous, churning the sea into yeasty foam over an enormous area, there we wallowed close to him, right in the middle of the turmoil, actually courting disaster. he had just settled down for a moment, when, glancing over the gunwale, i saw his tail, like a vast shadow, sweeping away from us towards the second mate, who was laying off the other side of him. before i had time to think, the mighty mass of gristle leapt into the sunshine, curved back from us like a huge bow. then with a roar it came at us, released from its tension of heaven knows how many tons. full on the broadside it struck us, sending every soul but me flying out of the wreckage as if fired from catapults. i did not go because my foot was jammed somehow in the well of the boat, but the wrench nearly pulled my thigh-bone out of its socket. i had hardly released my foot, when, towering above me, came the colossal head of the great creature, as he ploughed through the bundle of debris that had just been a boat. there was an appalling roar of water in my ears, and darkness that might be felt all around. yet, in the midst of it all, one thought predominated as clearly as if i had been turning it over in my mind in the quiet of my bunk aboard--"what if he should swallow me?" nor to this day can i understand how i escaped the portals of his gullet, which of course gaped wide as a church door. but the agony of holding my breath soon overpowered every other feeling and thought, till just as something was going to snap inside my head i rose to the surface. i was surrounded by a welter of bloody froth, which made it impossible for me to see; but oh, the air was sweet! i struck out blindly, instinctively, although i could feel so strong an eddy that voluntary progress was out of the question. my hand touched and clung to a rope, which immediately towed me in some direction--i neither knew nor cared whither. soon the motion ceased, and, with a seaman's instinct, i began to haul myself along by the rope i grasped, although no definite idea was in my mind as to where it was attached. presently i came butt up against something solid, the feel of which gathered all my scattered wits into a compact knub of dread. it was the whale! "any port in a storm," i murmured, beginning to haul away again on my friendly line. by dint of hard work i pulled myself right up the sloping, slippery bank of blubber, until i reached the iron, which, as luck would have it, was planted in that side of the carcass now uppermost. carcass i said--well, certainly i had no idea of there being any life remaining within the vast mass beneath me, yet i had hardly time to take a couple of turns round myself with the rope (or whale-line, as i had proved it to be), when i felt the great animal quiver all over, and begin to forge ahead. i was now composed enough to remember that help could not be far away, and that my rescue, providing that i could keep above water, was but a question of a few minutes. but i was hardly prepared for the whale's next move. being very near his end, the boat, or boats, had drawn off a bit, i supposed, for i could see nothing of them. then i remembered the flurry. almost at the same moment it began; and there was i, who with fearful admiration had so often watched the titanic convulsions of a dying cachalot, actually involved in them. the turns were off my body, but i was able to twist a couple of turns round my arms, which, in case of his sounding, i could readily let go. then all was lost in roar and rush, as of the heart of some mighty cataract, during which i was sometimes above, sometimes beneath, the water, but always clinging with every ounce of energy still left, to the line. now, one thought was uppermost--"what if he should breach?" i had seen them do so when in flurry, leaping full twenty feet in the air. then i prayed. quickly as all the preceding changes had passed came perfect peace. there i lay, still alive, but so weak that, although i could feel the turns slipping off my arms, and knew that i should slide off the slope of the whale's side into the sea if they did, i could make no effort to secure myself. everything then passed away from me, just as if i had gone to sleep. i do not at all understand how i kept my position, nor how long, but i awoke to the blessed sound of voices, and saw the second mate's boat alongside, very gently and tenderly they lifted me into the boat, although i could hardly help screaming with agony when they touched me, so bruised and broken up did i feel. my arms must have been nearly torn from their sockets, for the strands of the whale-line had cut deep into their flesh with the strain upon it, while my thigh was swollen enormously from the blow i received at the onset. mr. cruce was the most surprised man i think i ever saw. for full ten minutes he stared at me with wide-open eyes. when at last he spoke, it was with difficulty, as if wanting words to express his astonishment. at last he blurted out, "whar you bin all de time, ennyhaow? 'cawse ef you bin hangin' on to dat ar wale ev'sence you boat smash, w'y de debbil you hain't all ter bits, hey?" i smiled feebly, but was too weak to talk, and presently went off again into a dead faint. when i recovered, i was snug in my bunk aboard, but aching in every joint, and as sore as if i had been pounded with a club until i was bruised all over. during the day mr. count was kind enough to pay me a visit. with his usual luck, he had escaped without the slightest injury; neither was any other member of the boat's crew the worse for the ducking but myself. he told me that the whale was one of the largest he had ever seen, and as fat as butter. the boat was an entire loss, so completely smashed to pieces that nothing of her or her gear had been recovered. after spending about a quarter of an hour with me, he left me considerably cheered up, promising to look after me in the way of food, and also to send me some books. he told me that i need not worry myself about my inability to be at work, because the old man was not unfavourably disposed towards me, which piece of news gave me a great deal of comfort. when my poor, weary shipmates came below from their heavy toil of cutting in, they were almost inclined to be envious of my comfort--small blame to them--though i would gladly have taken my place among them again, could i have got rid of my hurts. but i was condemned to lie there for nearly three weeks before i was able to get about once more. in my sleep i would undergo the horrible anticipation of sliding down that awful, cavernous mouth over again, often waking with a shriek and drenched with sweat. while i lay there, three whales were caught, all small cows, and i was informed that the skipper was getting quite disgusted with the luck. at last i managed to get on deck, quite a different-looking man to when i went below, and feeling about ten years older. i found the same sullen quiet reigning that i had noticed several times before when we were unfortunate. i fancied that the skipper looked more morose and savage than ever, though of me, to my great relief, he took not the slightest notice. the third day after my return to duty we sighted whales again. we lowered three boats as promptly as usual; but when within about half a mile of the "pod" some slight noise in one of the boats gallied them, and away they went in the wind's eye, it blowing a stiffish breeze at the time, it was from the first evidently a hopeless task to chase them, but we persevered until recalled to the ship, dead beat with fatigue. i was not sorry, for my recent adventure seemed to have made quite a coward of me, so much so that an unpleasant gnawing at the pit of my stomach as we neared them almost made me sick. i earnestly hoped that so inconvenient a feeling would speedily leave me, or i should be but a poor creature in a boat. in passing, i would like to refer to the wonderful way in which these whales realize at a great distance, if the slightest sound be made, the presence of danger. i do not use the word "hear" because so abnormally small are their organs of hearing, the external opening being quite difficult to find, that i do not believe they can hear at all well. but i firmly believe they possess another sense by means of which they are able to detect any unusual vibration of the waves of either air or sea at a far greater distance than it would be possible for them to hear, whatever this power may be which they possess, all whalemen are well acquainted with their exercise of it, and always take most elaborate precautions to render their approach to a whale noiseless. our extraordinary want of success at last so annoyed the skipper that he determined to quit the ground and go north. the near approach of the open season in those regions probably hastened his decision, but i learned from goliath that he had always been known as a most fortunate man among the "bowheads," as the great mysticetae of that part of the arctic seas are called by the americans. not that there is any difference, as far as i have been able to ascertain, between them and the "right" whale of the greenland seas, but from some caprice of nomenclature for which there is no accounting. so in leisurely fashion we worked north, keeping, of course, a bright look-out all the way for straggling cachalots, but not seeing any. from scraps of information that in some mysterious fashion leaked out, we learned that we were bound to the okhotsk sea, it being no part of the skipper's intentions to go prowling around behrings sea, where he believed the whales to be few and far between. it may be imagined that we of the crew were not at all pleased with this intelligence, our life being, we considered, sufficiently miserable without the addition of extreme cold, for we did not realize that in the arctic regions during summer the cold is by no means unbearable, and our imagination pictured a horrible waste of perpetual ice and snow, in the midst of which we should be compelled to freeze while dodging whales through the crevices of the floes. but whether our pictures of the prospects that awaited us were caricatures or no made not the slightest difference. "growl you may, but go you must" is an old sea-jingle of the truest ring; but, while our going was inevitable, growling was a luxury none of us dare indulge in. we had by no means a bad passage to the kuriles, which form a natural barrier enclosing the immense area of the okhotsk sea from the vast stretch of the pacific. around this great chain of islands the navigation is exceedingly difficult, and dangerous as well, from the ever-varying currents as from the frequent fogs and sudden storms. but these impediments to swift and safe navigation are made light of by the whalemen, who, as i feel never weary of remarking, are the finest navigators in the world where speed is not the first consideration. the most peculiar features of these inhospitable shores to a seaman are the vast fields of seaweed surrounding them all, which certainly helps to keep the sea down during gales, but renders navigation most difficult on account of its concealment of hidden dangers. these islands are aptly named, the word "kurile" being kamschatkan for smoke; and whether it be regarded as given in consequence of the numerous volcanoes which pour their fumes into the air, or the all-prevailing fog fostered by the kuro siwo, or japanese counterpart of the gulf stream, the designation is equally appropriate. we entered the okhotsk sea by the nadeshda channel, so-named after admiral krusenstern's ship, which was the first civilized vessel that passed through its turbulent waters. it separates the islands rashau and mantaua by about twenty miles, yet so conflicting and violent are the currents which eddy and swirl in all parts of it, that without a steady, strong, fair wind it is most dangerous to a sailing vessel. thenceforward the navigation was free from difficulty, or at least none that we could recognize as such, so we gave all our attention to the business which brought us there. scarcely any change was needed in our equipment, except the substitution of longer harpoons for those we had been using, and the putting away of the bomb-guns. these changes were made because the blubber of the bowhead is so thick that ordinary harpoons will not penetrate beyond it to the muscle, which, unless they do, renders them liable to draw, upon a heavy strain. as for the bombs, yankees hold the mysticetae in such supreme contempt that none of them would dream of wasting so expensive a weapon as a bomb upon them. i was given to understand by my constant crony, mistah jones, that there was no more trouble in killing a bowhead than in slaughtering a sheep; and that while it was quite true that accidents did occur, they were entirely due to the carelessness or clumsiness of the whalemen, and not in any way traceable to a desire on the victim's part to do any one harm. the sea was little encumbered with ice, it being now late in june, so that our progress was not at all impeded by the few soft, brashy floes that we encountered, none of them hard enough to do a ship's hull any damage. in most places the sea was sufficiently shallow to permit of our anchoring. for this purpose we used a large kedge, with stout hawser for cable, never furling all the sails in case of a strong breeze suddenly springing up, which would cause us to drag. this anchoring was very comfortable. besides allowing us to get much more rest than when on other cruising-grounds, we were able to catch enormous quantities of fish, mostly salmon, of which there were no less than fourteen varieties. so plentiful were these splendid fish that we got quite critical in our appreciation of them, very soon finding that one kind, known as the "nerker," was far better flavoured than any of the others. but as the daintiest food palls the quickest, it was not long before we got tired of salmon, and wished most heartily for beef. much fun has been made of the discontent of sailors. with food which is considered a luxury ashore, and wonder expressed that if, as we assert, the ordinary dietary of the seaman be so bad, he should be so ready to rebel when fed with delicacies. but in justice to the sailor, it ought to be remembered that the daintiest food may be rendered disgusting by bad cookery, such as is the rule on board merchant ships. "god sends meat, but the devil sends cooks" is a proverb which originated on board ship, and no one who has ever served any time in a ship's forecastle would deny that it is abundantly justified. besides which, even good food well cooked of one kind only, served many times in succession, becomes very trying, only the plainest foods, such as bread, rice, potatoes, etc., retaining their command of the appetite continually. i remember once, when upon the coromandel coast in a big greenock ship, we found fowls very cheap. at bimliapatam the captain bought two or three hundred, which, as we had no coops, were turned loose on deck. we had also at the same time prowling about the decks three goats, twenty pigs, and two big dogs. consequently the state of the ship was filthy, nor could all our efforts keep her clean. this farmyard condition of things was permitted to continue for about a week, when the officers got so tired of it, and the captain so annoyed at the frequent loss of fowls by their flying overboard, that the edict went forth to feed the foremast hands on poultry till further orders. great was our delight at the news. fowl for dinner represented to our imagination almost the apex of high living, only indulged in by such pampered children of fortune as the officers of ships or well-to-do people ashore. when dinner-time arrived, we boys made haste to the galley with watering mouths, joyfully anticipating that rare delight of the sailor--a good "feed." the cook uncovered his coppers, plunged his tormentors therein, and produced such a succession of ugly corpses of fowls as i had never seen before. to each man a whole one was allotted, and we bore the steaming hecatomb into the forecastle. the boisterous merriment became hushed at our approach, and faces grew lengthy when the unwholesome aspect of the "treat" was revealed. each man secured his bird, and commenced operations. but oh, the disappointment, and the bad words! what little flesh there was upon the framework of those unhappy fowls was like leather itself, and utterly flavourless. it could not well have been otherwise. the feathers had been simply scalded off, the heads chopped off, and bodies split open to facilitate drawing (i am sure i wonder the cook took the trouble to do that much), and thus prepared they were cast into a cauldron of boiling salt water. there, with the water fiercely bubbling, they were kept for an hour and a half, then pitchforked out into the mess kid and set before us. we simply could not eat them; no one but a noumean kanaka could, for his teeth are equal to husking a cocoa-nut, or chopping off a piece of sugar-cane as thick as your wrist. after much heated discussion, it was unanimously resolved to protest at once against the substitution of such a fraud as this poultry for our legitimate rations of "salt horse." so, bearing the disjecta membra of our meal, the whole crowd marched aft, and requested an interview with the skipper. he came out of the cabin at once, saying, "well, boys, what's the matter?" the spokesman, a bald-headed yankee, who had been bo'sun's mate of an american man-of-war, stepped forward and said, offering his kid, "jest have a look at that sir." the skipper looked, saying, inquiringly, "well?" "d'yew think, sir," said nat, "thet's proper grub for men?" "proper grub! why, you old sinner, you don't mean to say you're goin' to growl about havin' chicken for dinner?" "well, sir, it depends muchly upon the chicken. all i know is, that i've et some dam queer tack in my time, but sence i ben fishin' i never had no such bundles of sticks parcelled with leather served out to me. i hev et boot--leastways gnawed it; when i was cast away in a open boat for three weeks--but it wa'n't bad boot, as boots go. now, if yew say that these things is boots, en thet it's necessary we should eat'em, or starve, w'y, we'll think about it. but if yew call'em chickens,'n say you're doin' us a kindness by stoppin' our'lowance of meat wile we're wrastlin' with 'em, then we say we don't feel obliged to yew, 'n 'll thank yew kindly to keep such lugsuries for yerself, 'n give us wot we signed for." a murmur of assent confirmed this burst of eloquence, which we all considered a very fine effort indeed. a moment's silence ensued; then the skipper burst out, "i've often heard of such things, but hang me if i ever believed 'em till now! you ungrateful beggars! i'll see you get your whack, and no more, from this out. when you get any little extras aboard this ship agen, you'll be thankful for 'em; now i tell you." "all right, sir," said nat; "so long as we don't hev to chaw any more of yer biled bimly crows, i dessay we shall worry along as usual." and, as the parliamentary reports say, the proceedings then terminated. now, suppose the skipper had told the story to some of his shore friends, how very funny the sailors' conduct would have been made to appear. on another occasion long after, when i was mate of a barque loading mahogany in tonala, mexico, the skipper thought he would practise economy by buying a turtle instead of beef. a large turtle was obtained for twenty-five cents, and handed over to the cook to be dealt with, particular instructions being given him as to the apportionment of the meat. at eight bells there was a gathering of the men in front of the poop, and a summons for the captain. when he appeared, the usual stereotyped invitation to "have a look at that, if you please, sir," was uttered. the skipper was, i think, prepared for a protest, for he began to bluster immediately. "look here!" he bawled, "i ain't goin' to 'ave any of your dam nonsense. you want somethin' to growl about, you do." "well, cap'n george," said one of the men, "you shorely don't think we k'n eat shells, do yer?" just then i caught sight of the kid's contents, and could hardly restrain my indignation. for in a dirty heap, the sight of which might have pleased an esquimaux, but was certainly enough to disgust any civilized man, lay the calipee, or under-shell of the turtle, hacked into irregular blocks. it had been simply boiled, and flung into the kid, an unclean, disgusting heap of shell, with pieces of dirty flesh attached in ragged lumps. but the skipper, red-faced and angry, answered, "w'y, yer so-and-so ijits, that's wot the lord mayor of london gives about a guinea a hounce for w'en 'e feeds lords n' dooks. only the haristocracy at 'ome get a charnce to stick their teeth in such grub as that. an' 'ere are you lot a-growlin' at 'avin' it for a change!" "that's all right, cap'n," said the man; "bein' brort up ter such lugsuries, of corse you kin appreshyate it. so if yer keep it fer yer own eatin', an' giv us wot we signed for, we shall be werry much obliged." "now, i ain't a-goin' to 'ave none o' your cheek, so you'd better git forrard. you can betcher life you won't get no more fresh messes this voy'ge." so, with grumbling and ill-will on both sides, the conference came to an end. but i thought, and still think, that the mess set before those men, who had been working hard since six a.m., was unfit for the food of a good dog. out of my own experience i might give many other instances of the kind, but i hope these will suffice to show that jack's growling is often justified, when both sides of the story are heard. chapter xvi. "bowhead" fishing day and night being now only distinguishable by the aid of the clock, a constant look-out aloft was kept all through the twenty-four hours, watch and watch, but whales were apparently very scarce. we did a good deal of "pelagic" sealing; that is, catching seals swimming. but the total number obtained was not great, for these creatures are only gregarious when at their rocky haunts during the breeding season, or among the ice just before that season begins. our sealing, therefore, was only a way of passing the time in the absence of nobler game, to be abandoned at once with whales in sight. it was on the ninth or tenth morning after our arrival on the grounds that a bowhead was raised, and two boats sent after him. it was my first sight of the great mysticetus, and i must confess to being much impressed by his gigantic bulk. from the difference in shape, he looked much larger than the largest sperm whale we had yet seen, although we had come across some of the very biggest specimens of cachalot. the contrast between the two animals is most marked, so much so, in fact, that one would hardly credit them with belonging to the same order. popular ideas of the whale are almost invariably taken from the mysticetus, so that the average individual generally defines a whale as a big fish which spouts water out of the top of his head, and cannot swallow a herring. indeed, so lately as last year a popular m.p., writing to one of the religious papers, allowed himself to say that "science will not hear of a whale with a gullet capable of admitting anything larger than a man's fist"--a piece of crass ignorance, which is also perpetrated in the appendix to a very widely-distributed edition of the authorized version of the bible. this opinion, strangely enough, is almost universally held, although i trust that the admirable models now being shown in our splendid natural history museum at south kensington will do much to remove it. not so many people, perhaps, believe that a whale is a fish, instead of a mammal, but few indeed are the individuals who do not still think that a cetacean possesses a sort of natural fountain on the top of its head, whence, for some recondite reason, it ejects at regular intervals streams of water into the air. but a whale can no more force water through its spiracle or blow-hole than you or i through our nostrils. it inhales, when at the surface, atmospheric air, and exhales breath like ours, which, coming warm into a cooler medium, becomes visible, as does our breath on a frosty morning. now, the mysticetus carries his nostrils on the summit of his head, or crown, the orifice being closed by a beautifully arranged valve when the animal is beneath the water. consequently, upon coming to the surface to breathe, he sends up a jet of visible breath into the air some ten or twelve feet. the cachalot, on the other hand, has the orifice at the point of his square snout, the internal channel running in a slightly diagonal direction downwards, and back through the skull to the lungs. so when he spouts, the breath is projected forward diagonally, and, from some peculiarity which i do not pretend to explain, expends itself in a short, bushy tuft of vapour, very distinct from the tall vertical spout of the bowhead or right whale. there was little or no wind when we sighted the individual i am now speaking of, so we did not attempt to set sail, but pulled straight for him "head and head." strange as it may appear, the mysticetus' best point of view is right behind, or "in his wake," as we say; it is therefore part of the code to approach him from right ahead, in which direction he cannot see at all. some time before we reached him he became aware of our presence, showing by his uneasy actions that he had his doubts about his personal security. but before he had made up his mind what to do we were upon him, with our harpoons buried in his back. the difference in his behaviour to what we had so long been accustomed to was amazing. he did certainly give a lumbering splash or two with his immense flukes, but no one could possibly have been endangered by them. the water was so shallow that when he sounded it was but for a very few minutes; there was no escape for him that way. as soon as he returned to the surface he set off at his best gait, but that was so slow that we easily hauled up close alongside of him, holding the boats in that position without the slightest attempt to guard ourselves from reprisals on his part, while the officers searched his vitals with the lances as if they were probing a haystack. really, the whole affair was so tame that it was impossible to get up any fighting enthusiasm over it; the poor, unwieldy creature died meekly and quietly as an overgrown seal. in less than an hour from the time of leaving the ship we were ready to bring our prize alongside. upon coming up to the whale, sail was shortened, and as soon as the fluke-chain was passed we anchored. it was, i heard, our skipper's boast that he could "skin a bowhead in forty minutes;" and although we were certainly longer than that, the celerity with which what seemed a gigantic task was accomplished was marvellous. of course, it was all plain-sailing, very unlike the complicated and herculean task inevitable at the commencement of cutting-in a sperm whale. except for the head work, removing the blubber was effected in precisely the same way as in the case of the cachalot. there was a marked difference between the quantity of lard enveloping this whale and those we had hitherto dealt with. it was nearly double the thickness, besides being much richer in oil, which fairly dripped from it as we hoisted in the blanket-pieces. the upper jaw was removed for its long plates of whalebone or baleen--that valuable substance which alone makes it worth while nowadays to go after the mysticetus, the price obtained for the oil being so low as to make it not worth while to fit out ships to go in search of it alone. "trying-out" the blubber, with its accompaniments, is carried on precisely as with the sperm whale. the resultant oil, when recent, is of a clear white, unlike the golden-tinted fluid obtained from the cachalot. as it grows stale it developes a nauseous smell, which sperm does not, although the odour of the oil is otto of roses compared with the horrible mass of putridity landed from the tanks of a greenland whaler at the termination of a cruise. for in those vessels, the fishing-time at their disposal being so brief, they do not wait to boil down the blubber, but, chopping it into small pieces, pass it below as it is into tanks, to be rendered down by the oil-mills ashore on the ship's return. this first bowhead yielded us eighteen tuns of oil and a ton of baleen, which made the catch about equal in value to that of a seven-tun cachalot. but the amount of labour and care necessary in order to thoroughly dry and cleanse the baleen was enormous; in fact, for months after we began the bowhead fishery there was almost always something being done with the wretched stuff--drying, scraping, etc.--which, as it was kept below, also necessitated hoisting it up on deck and getting it down again. after this beginning, it was again a considerable time before we sighted any more; but when we did, there were quite a number of them--enough to employ all the boats with one each. i was out of the fun this time, being almost incapable of moving by reason of several boils on my legs--the result, i suppose, of a long abstinence from fresh vegetables, or anything to supply their place. as it happened, however, i lost no excitement by remaining on board; for while all the boats were away a large bowhead rose near the ship, evidently being harassed in some way by enemies, which i could not at first see. he seemed quite unconscious of his proximity to the ship, though, and at last came so near that the whole performance was as visible as if it had been got up for my benefit. three "killers" were attacking him at once, like wolves worrying a bull, except that his motions were far less lively than those of any bull would have been. the "killer," or orca gladiator, is a true whale, but, like the cachalot, has teeth. he differs from that great cetacean, though, in a most important particular; i.e. by having a complete set in both upper and lower jaws, like any other carnivore. for a carnivore indeed is he, the very wolf of the ocean, and enjoying, by reason of his extraordinary agility as well as comparative worthlessness commercially, complete immunity from attack by man. by some authorities he is thought to be identical with the grampus, but whalers all consider the animals quite distinct. not having had very long acquaintance with them both, i cannot speak emphatically upon this difference of opinion; so far as personal observation goes, i agree with the whalers in believing that there is much variation both of habits and shape between them. but to return to the fight. the first inkling i got of what was really going on was the leaping of a killer high into the air by the side of the whale, and descending upon the victim's broad, smooth back with a resounding crash. i saw that the killer was provided with a pair of huge fins--one on his back, the other on his belly--which at first sight looked as if they were also weapons of offence. a little observation convinced me that they were fins only. again and again the aggressor leaped into the air, falling each time on the whale's back, as if to beat him into submission. the sea around foamed and boiled like a cauldron, so that it was only occasional glimpses i was able to catch of the two killers, until presently the worried whale lifted his head clear out of the surrounding smother, revealing the two furies hanging--one on either side--to his lips, as if endeavouring to drag his mouth open--which i afterwards saw was their principal object, as whenever during the tumult i caught sight of them, they were still in the same position. at last the tremendous and incessant blows, dealt by the most active member of the trio, seemed actually to have exhausted the immense vitality of the great bowhead, for he lay supine upon the surface. then the three joined their forces, and succeeded in dragging open his cavernous mouth, into which they freely entered, devouring his tongue. this, then, had been their sole object, for as soon as they had finished their barbarous feast they departed, leaving him helpless and dying to fall an easy prey to our returning boats. thus, although the four whales captured by the boats had been but small, the day's take, augmented by so great a find, was a large one, and it was a long time before we got clear of the work it entailed. from that time forward we saw no whales for six weeks, and, from the reports we received from two whalers we "gammed," it appeared that we might consider ourselves most fortunate in our catch, since they, who had been longer on the ground than ourselves, had only one whale apiece. in consequence of this information, captain slocum decided to go south again, and resume the sperm whaling in the north pacific, near the line--at least so the rumour ran; but as we never heard anything definitely, we could not feel at all certain of our next destination. ever since the fracas at the bonins between goliath and his watch, the relations between captain slocum and the big negro had been very strained. even before the outbreak, as i have remarked upon one occasion, it was noticeable that little love was lost between them. why this was so, without anything definite to guide one's reasoning, was difficult to understand, for a better seaman or a smarter whaleman than mistah jones did not live--of that every one was quite sure. still, there was no gainsaying the fact that, churlish and morose as our skipper's normal temper always was, he was never so much so as in his behaviour towards his able fourth mate, who, being a man of fine, sensitive temper, chafed under his unmerited treatment so much as to lose flesh, becoming daily more silent, nervous, and depressed. still, there had never been an open rupture, nor did it appear as if there would be, so great was the power captain slocum possessed over the will of everybody on board. one night, however, as we were nearing the kuriles again, on our way south, leaving the sea of okhotsk, i was sitting on the fore side of the try-works alone, meditating upon what i would do when once i got clear of this miserable business. futile and foolish, no doubt, my speculations were, but only in this way could i forget for a while my surroundings, since the inestimable comfort of reading was denied me. i had been sitting thus absorbed in thought for nearly an hour, when goliath came and seated himself by my side. we had always been great friends, although, owing to the strict discipline maintained on board, it was not often we got a chance for a "wee bit crack," as the scotch say. besides, i was not in his watch, and even now he should rightly have been below. he sat for a minute or two silent; then, as if compelled to speak, he began in low, fierce whispers to tell me of his miserable state of mind. at last, after recapitulating many slights and insults he had received silently from the captain, of which i had previously known nothing, he became strangely calm. in tones quite unlike his usual voice, he said that he was not an american-born negro, but a pure african, who had been enslaved in his infancy, with his mother, somewhere in the "hinterland" of guinea. while still a child, his mother escaped with him into liberia, a where he had remained till her death, she was, according to him, an obeah woman of great power, venerated exceedingly by her own people for her prophetic abilities. before her death, she had told him that he would die suddenly, violently, in a struggle with a white man in a far-off country, but that the white man would die too by his hand. she had also told him that he would be a great traveller and hunter upon the sea. as he went on, his speech became almost unintelligible, being mingled with fragments of a language i had never heard before; moreover, he spoke as a man who is only half awake. a strange terror got hold of me, for i began to think he was going mad, and perhaps about to run a-mok, as the malays do when driven frantic by the infliction of real or fancied wrongs. but he gradually returned to his old self, to my great relief, and i ventured somewhat timidly to remind him of the esteem in which he was held by all hands; even the skipper, i ventured to say, respected him, although, from some detestable form of ill-humour, he had chosen to be so sneering and insulting towards him. he shook his head sadly, and said, "my dear boy, youse de only man aboard dis ship--wite man, dat is--dat don't hate an' despise me becawse ob my colour, wich i cain't he'p; an' de god you beliebe in bless you fer dat. as fer me, w'at i done tole you's true,'n befo' bery little w'ile you see it come true. 'n w'en dat happens w'at's gwine ter happen, i'se real glad to tink it gwine ter be better fer you--gwine ter be better fer eberybody 'bord de cach'lot; but i doan keer nuffin 'bout anybody else. so long." he held out his great black hand, and shook mine heartily, while a big tear rolled down his face and fell on the deck. and with that he left me a prey to a very whirlpool of conflicting thoughts and fears. the night was a long and weary one--longer and drearier perhaps because of the absence of the darkness, which always made it harder to sleep. an incessant day soon becomes, to those accustomed to the relief of the night, a burden grievous to be borne; and although use can reconcile us to most things, and does make even the persistent light bearable, in times of mental distress or great physical weariness one feels irresistibly moved to cry earnestly, "come, gentle night." when i came on deck at eight bells, it was a stark calm. the watch, under mistah jones' direction, were busy scrubbing decks with the usual thoroughness, while the captain, bare-footed, with trouser-legs and shirt-sleeves rolled up, his hands on his hips and a portentous frown on his brow, was closely looking on. as it was my spell at the crow's-nest, i made at once for the main-rigging, and had got halfway to the top, when some unusual sounds below arrested me. all hands were gathered in the waist, a not unusual thing at the changing of the watch. in the midst of them, as i looked down, two men came together in a fierce struggle. they were goliath and the skipper. captain slocum's right hand went naturally to his hip pocket, where he always carried a revolver; but before he could draw it, the long, black arms of his adversary wrapped around him, making him helpless as a babe. then, with a rush that sent every one flying out of his way, goliath hurled himself at the bulwarks, which were low, the top of the rail about thirty-three inches from the deck. the two bodies struck the rail with a heavy thud, instantly toppling overboard. that broke the spell that bound everybody, so that there was an instantaneous rush to the side. only a hardly noticeable ripple remained on the surface of the placid sea. but, from my lofty perch, the whole of the ghastly struggle had been visible to the least detail. the two men had struck the water locked in closest embrace, which relaxed not even when far below the surface. when the sea is perfectly smooth, objects are visible from aloft at several feet depth, though apparently diminished in size. the last thing i saw was captain slocum's white face, with its starting black eyes looking their last upon the huge, indefinite hull of the ship whose occupants he had ruled so long and rigidly. the whole tragedy occupied such a brief moment of time that it was almost impossible to realize that it was actual. reason, however, soon regained her position among the officers, who ordered the closest watch to be kept from aloft, in case of the rising of either or both of the men. a couple of boats were swung, ready to drop on the instant. but, as if to crown the tragedy with completeness, a heavy squall, which had risen unnoticed, suddenly burst upon the ship with great fury, the lashing hail and rain utterly obscuring vision even for a few yards. so unexpected was the onset of this squall that, for the only time that voyage, we lost some canvas through not being able to get it in quick enough. the topgallant halyards were let go; but while the sails were being clewed up, the fierce wind following the rain caught them from their confining gear, rending them into a thousand shreds. for an hour the squall raged--a tempest in brief--then swept away to the south-east on its furious journey, leaving peace again. needless perhaps to say, that after such a squall it was hopeless to look for our missing ones. the sudden storm had certainly driven us several miles away front the spot where they disappeared, and, although we carefully made what haste was possible back along the line we were supposed to have come, not a vestige of hope was in any one's mind that we should ever see them again. nor did we. whether that madness, which i had feared was coming upon goliath during our previous night's conversation, suddenly overpowered him and impelled him to commit the horrible deed, what more had passed between him and the skipper to even faintly justify so awful a retaliation--these things were now matters of purest speculation. as if they had never been, the two men were blotted out--gone before god in full-blown heat of murder and revengeful fury. on the same evening mr. count mustered all hands on the quarter-deck, and addressed us thus: "men, captain slocum is dead, and, as a consequence, i command the ship. behave yourself like men, not presuming upon kindness or imagining that i am a weak, vacillating old man with whom you can do as you like, and you will find in me a skipper who will do his duty by you as far as lies in his power, nor expect more from you than you ought to render. if, however, you do try any tricks, remember that i am an old hand, equal to most of the games that men get up to. i do want--if you will help me--to make this a comfortable as well as a successful ship. i hope with all my heart we shall succeed." in answer to this manly and affecting little speech, which confirmed my previous estimate of captain count's character, were he but free to follow the bent of his natural, kindly inclinations, and which i have endeavoured to translate out of his usual dialect, a hearty cheer was raised by all hands, the first ebullition of general good feeling manifested throughout the voyage. hearts rose joyfully at the prospect of comfort to be gained by thoughtfulness on the part of the commander; nor from that time forward did any sign of weariness of the ship or voyage show itself among us, either on deck or below. the news soon spread among us that, in consequence of the various losses of boats and gear, the captain deemed it necessary to make for honolulu, where fresh supplies could readily be obtained. we had heard many glowing accounts from visitors, when "gamming," of the delights of this well-known port of call for whalers, and under our new commander we had little doubt that we should be allowed considerable liberty during our stay. so we were quite impatient to get along fretting considerably at the persistent fogs which prevented our making much progress while in the vicinity of the kuriles. but we saw no more bowheads, for which none of us forward were at all sorry. we had got very tired of the stink of their blubber, and the never-ending worry connected with the preservation of the baleen; besides, we had not yet accumulated any fund of enthusiasm about getting a full ship, except as a reason for shortening the voyage, and we quite understood that what black oil we had got would be landed at hawaii, so that our visit to the okhotsk sea, with its resultant store of oil, had not really brought our return home any nearer, as we at first hoped it would. a great surprise was in store for me. i knew that captain count was favourably inclined towards me, for he had himself told me so, but nothing was further from my thoughts than promotion. however, one sunday afternoon, when we were all peacefully enjoying the unusual rest (we had no sundays in captain slocum's time), the captain sent for me. he informed me that, after mature consideration, he had chosen me to fill the vacancy made by the death of mistah jones. mr. cruce was now mate; the waspish little third had become second; louis silva, the captain's favourite harpooner was third; and i was to be fourth. not feeling at all sure of how the other harpooners would take my stepping over their heads, i respectfully demurred to the compliment offered me, stating my reasons. but the captain said he had fully made up his mind, after consultation with the other officers, and that i need have no apprehension on the score of the harpooners' jealousy; that they had been spoken to on the subject, and they were all agreed that the captain's choice was the best, especially as none of them knew anything of navigation, or could write their own names. in consequence of there being none of the crew fit to take a harpooner's place, i was now really harpooner of the captain's boat, which he would continue to work, when necessary, until we were able to ship a harpooner, which he hoped to do at hawaii. the news of my promotion was received in grim silence by the portuguese forward, but the white men all seemed pleased. this was highly gratifying to me, for i had tried my best to be helpful to all, as far as my limited abilities would let me; nor do i think i had an enemy in the ship. behold me, then, a full-blown "mister," with a definite substantial increase in my prospects of pay of nearly one-third, in addition to many other advantages, which, under the new captain, promised exceedingly well. more than half the voyage lay behind us, looking like the fast-settling bank of storm-clouds hovering above the tempest-tossed sea so lately passed, while ahead the bright horizon was full of promise of fine weather for the remainder of the journey. chapter xvii. visit to honolulu right glad were we all when, after much fumbling and box-hauling about, we once more felt the long, familiar roll of the pacific swell, and saw the dim fastnesses of the smoky islands fading into the lowering gloom astern. most deep-water sailors are familiar, by report if not by actual contact, with the beauties of the pacific islands, and i had often longed to visit them to see for myself whether the half that had been told me was true. of course, to a great number of seafaring men, the loveliness of those regions counts for nothing, their desirability being founded upon the frequent opportunities of unlimited indulgence in debauchery. to such men, a "missionary" island is a howling wilderness, and the missionaries themselves the subjects of the vilest abuse as well as the most boundless lying. no one who has travelled with his eyes open would assert that all missionaries were wise, prudent, or even godly men; while it is a great deal to be regretted that so much is made of hardships which in a large proportion of cases do not exist, the men who are supposed to be enduring them being immensely better off and more comfortable than they would ever have been at home. undoubtedly the pioneers of missionary enterprise had, almost without exception, to face dangers and miseries past telling, but that is the portion of pioneers in general. in these days, however, the missionary's lot in polynesia is not often a hard one, and in many cases it is infinitely to be preferred to a life among the very poor of our great cities. but when all has been said that can be said against the missionaries, the solid bastion of fact remains that, in consequence of their labours, the whole vile character of the populations of the pacific has been changed, and where wickedness runs riot to-day, it is due largely to the hindrances placed in the way of the noble efforts of the missionaries by the unmitigated scoundrels who vilify them. the task of spreading christianity would not, after all, be so difficult were it not for the efforts of those apostles of the devil to keep the islands as they would like them to be--places where lust runs riot day and night, murder may be done with impunity, slavery flourishes, and all evil may be indulged in free from law, order, or restraint. it speaks volumes for the inherent might of the gospel that, in spite of the object-lessons continually provided for the natives by white men of the negation of all good, that it has stricken its roots so deeply into the soil of the pacific islands. just as the best proof of the reality of the gospel here in england is that it survives the incessant assaults upon it from within by its professors, by those who are paid, and highly paid, to propagate it, by the side of whose deadly doings the efforts of so-called infidels are but as the battery of a summer breeze; so in polynesia, were not the principles of christianity vital with an immortal and divine life, missionary efforts might long ago have ceased in utter despair at the fruitlessness of the field. we were enjoying a most uneventful passage, free from any serious changes either of wind or weather which quiet time was utilised to the utmost in making many much-needed additions to the running-gear, repairing rigging, etc. any work involving the use of new material had been put off from time to time during the previous part of the voyage till the ship aloft was really in a dangerous condition. this was due entirely to the peculiar parsimony of our late skipper, who could scarcely bring himself to broach a coil of rope, except for whaling purposes. the same false economy had prevailed with regard to paint and varnish, so that the vessel, while spotlessly clean, presented a worn-out weather-beaten appearance. now, while the condition of life on board was totally different to what it had been, as regards comfort and peace, discipline and order were maintained at the same high level as always, though by a different method--in fact, i believe that a great deal more work was actually done, certainly much more that was useful and productive; for captain count hated, as much as any foremast hand among us, the constant, remorseless grind of iron-work polishing, paint-work scrubbing, and holystoning, all of which, though necessary in a certain degree, when kept up continually for the sole purpose of making work--a sort of elaborated tread-mill, in fact--becomes the refinement of cruelty to underfed, unpaid, and hopeless men. so, while the cachalot could have fearlessly challenged comparison with any ship afloat for cleanliness and neatness of appearance, the hands no longer felt that they were continually being "worked up" or "hazed" for the sole, diabolical satisfaction of keeping them "at it." of course, the incidence of the work was divided, since so many of the crew were quite unable to do any sailorizing, as we term work in sails and rigging. upon them, then, fell all the common labour, which can be done by any unskilled man or woman afloat or ashore. of this work a sailor's duties are largely made up, but when good people ashore wonder "whatever sailors do with their time," it would be useful for them to remember that a ship is a huge and complicated machine, needing constant repairs, which can only be efficiently performed by skilled workmen. an "a.b." or able seaman's duties are legally supposed to be defined by the three expressions, "hand, reef, and steer." if he can do those three things, which mean furling or making fast sails, reefing them, and steering the ship, his wages cannot be reduced for incompetency. yet these things are the a b c of seamanship only. a good seaman is able to make all the various knots, splices, and other arrangements in hempen or wire rope, without which a ship cannot be rigged; he can make a sail, send up or down yards and masts, and do many other things, the sum total of which need several years of steady application to learn, although a good seaman is ever learning. such seamen are fast becoming extinct. they are almost totally unnecessary in steamships, except when the engines break down in a gale of wind, and the crowd of navvies forming the crew stand looking at one another when called upon to set sail or do any other job aloft. then the want of seamen is rather severely felt. but even in sailing ships--the great, overgrown tanks of two thousand tons and upwards--mechanical genius has utilized iron to such an extent in their rigging that sailor-work has become very largely a matter of blacksmithing. i make no complaint of this, not believing that the "old was better;" but, since the strongest fabric of man's invention comes to grief sometimes in conflict with the irresistible sea, some provision should be made for having a sufficiency of seamen who could exercise their skill in refitting a dismasted ship, or temporarily replacing broken blacksmith work by old-fashioned rope and wood. but, as the sailing ship is doomed inevitably to disappear before steam, perhaps it does not matter much. the economic march of the world's progress will never be stayed by sentimental considerations, nor will all the romance and poetry in the world save the seaman from extinction, if his place can be more profitably filled by the engineer. from all appearances, it soon will be, for even now marine superintendents of big lines are sometimes engineers, and in their hands lie the duty of engaging the officers. it would really seem as if the ship of the near future would be governed by the chief engineer, under whose direction a pilot or sailing-master would do the necessary navigation, without power to interfere in any matter of the ship's economy. changes as great have taken place in other professions; seafaring cannot hope to be the sole exception. so, edging comfortably along, we gradually neared the sandwich islands without having seen a single spout worth watching since the tragedy. at last the lofty summits of the island mountains hove in sight, and presently we came to an anchor in that paradise of whalers, missionaries, and amateur statesmen--honolulu. as it is as well known to most reading people as our own ports--better perhaps--i shall not attempt to describe it, or pit myself against the able writers who have made it so familiar. yet to me it was a new world. all things were so strange, so delightful, especially the lovable, lazy, fascinating kanakas, who could be so limply happy over a dish of poi, or a green cocoa-nut, or even a lounge in the sun, that it seemed an outrage to expect them to work. in their sports they could be energetic enough. i do not know of any more delightful sight than to watch them bathing in the tremendous surf, simply intoxicated with the joy of living, as unconscious of danger as if swinging in a hammock while riding triumphantly upon the foaming summit of an incoming breaker twenty feet high, or plunging with a cataract over the dizzy edge of its cliff, swallowed up in the hissing vortex below, only to reappear with a scream of riotous laughter in the quiet eddy beyond. as far as i could judge, they were the happiest of people, literally taking no thought for the morrow, and content with the barest necessaries of life, so long as they were free and the sun shone brightly. we had many opportunities of cultivating their acquaintance, for the captain allowed us much liberty, quite one-half of the crew and officers being ashore most of the time. of course, the majority spent all their spare time in the purlieus of the town, which, like all such places anywhere, were foul and filthy enough; but that was their own faults. i have often wondered much to see men, who on board ship were the pink of cleanliness and neatness, fastidious to a fault in all they did, come ashore and huddle in the most horrible of kennels, among the very dregs and greaves of the 'long-shore district. it certainly wants a great deal of explanation; but i suppose the most potent reason is, that sailors, as a class, never learn to enjoy themselves rationally. they are also morbidly suspicions of being taken in hand by anybody who would show them anything worth seeing, preferring to be led by the human sharks that infest all seaports into ways of strange nastiness, and so expensive withal that one night of such wallowing often costs them more than a month's sane recreation and good food would. all honour to the devoted men and women who labour in our seaports for the moral and material benefit of the sailor, passing their lives amidst sights and sounds shocking and sickening to the last degree, reviled, unthanked, unpaid. few are the missionaries abroad whose lot is so hard as theirs. we spent ten happy days in honolulu, marred only by one or two drunken rows among the chaps forward, which, however, resulted in their getting a severe dressing down in the forecastle, where good order was now kept. there had been no need for interference on the part of the officers, which i was glad to see, remembering what would have happened under such circumstances not long ago. being short-handed, the captain engaged a number of friendly islanders for a limited period, on the understanding that they were to be discharged at their native place, vau vau. there were ten of them, fine stalwart fellows, able bodied and willing as possible. they were cleanly in their habits, and devout members of the wesleyan body, so that their behaviour was quite a reproach to some of our half-civilized crew. berths were found for them in the forecastle, and they took their places among us quite naturally, being fairly well used to a whale-ship. chapter xviii. on the "line" grounds we weighed at last, one morning, with a beautiful breeze, and, bidding a long farewell to the lovely isles and their amiable inhabitants, stood at sea, bound for the "line" or equatorial grounds on our legitimate business of sperm whaling. it was now a long while since we had been in contact with a cachalot, the last one having been killed by us on the coast of japan some six months before. but we all looked forward to the coming campaign with considerable joy, for we were now a happy family, interested in the work, and, best of all, even if the time was still distant, we were, in a sense, homeward bound. at any rate, we all chose so to think, from the circumstance that we were now working to the southward, towards cape horn, the rounding of which dreaded point would mark the final stage of our globe-encircling voyage. we had, during our stay at honolulu, obtained a couple of grand boats in addition to our stock, and were now in a position to man and lower five at once, if occasion should arise, still leaving sufficient crew on board to work the vessel. the captain had also engaged an elderly seaman of his acquaintance--out of pure philanthropy, as we all thought, since he was in a state of semi-starvation ashore--to act as a kind of sailing-master, so as to relieve the captain of ship duty at whaling time, allowing him still to head his boat. this was not altogether welcome news to me, for, much as i liked the old man and admired his pluck, i could not help dreading his utter recklessness when on a whale, which had so often led to a smash-up that might have been easily avoided. moreover, i reasoned that if he had been foolhardy before, he was likely to be much more so now, having no superior to look black or use language when a disaster occurred. for now i was his harpooner, bound to take as many risks as he chose to incur, and anxious also to earn a reputation among the more seasoned whalemen for smartness sufficient to justify my promotion. the kanakas shipped at honolulu were distributed among the boats, two to each, being already trained whalemen, and a fine lot of fellows they were. my two--samuela and polly--were not very big men, but sturdy, nimble as cats, as much at home in the water as on deck, and simply bubbling over with fun and good-humour. from my earliest sea-going, i have always had a strong liking for natives of tropical countries, finding them affectionate and amenable to kindness. why, i think, white men do not get on with darkies well, as a rule, is, that they seldom make an appeal to the man, in them. it is very degrading to find one's self looked down upon as a sort of animal without reason or feelings; and if you degrade a man, you deprive him of any incentive to make himself useful, except the brute one you may feel bound to apply yourself. my experience has been limited to africans (of sorts), kanakas, natives of hindostan, malagasy, and chinese; but with all these i have found a little comaraderie answer excellently. true, they are lazy; but what inducement have they to work? the complicated needs of our civilized existence compel us to work, or be run over by the unresting machine; but i take leave to doubt whether any of us with a primitive environment would not be as lazy as any kanaka that ever dozed under a banana tree through daylight hours. why, then, make an exalted virtue of the necessity which drives us, and objurgate the poor black man because he prefers present ease to a doubtful prospective retirement on a competency? australian blackfellows and malays are said to be impervious to kind treatment by a great number of witnesses, the former appearing incapable of gratitude, and the latter unable to resist the frequent temptation to kill somebody. not knowing anything personally of either of these races, i can say nothing for or against them. all the coloured individuals that i have had to do with have amply repaid any little kindness shown them with fidelity and affection, but especially has this been the case with kanakas, the soft and melodious language spoken by them is easy to acquire, and is so pleasant to speak that it is well worth learning, to say nothing of the convenience to yourself, although the kanaka speedily picks up the mutilated jargon which does duty for english on board ship. what i specially longed for now was a harpooner, or even two, so that i might have my boat to myself, the captain taking his own boat with a settled harpooner. samuela, the biggest of my two kanakas, very earnestly informed me that he was no end of a "number one" whale slaughterer; but i judged it best to see how things went before asking to have him promoted. my chance, and his, came very promptly; so nicely arranged, too, that i could not have wished for anything better. the skipper had got a fine, healthy boil on one knee-cap, and another on his wrist, so that he was, as you may say, hors de combat. while he was impatiently waiting to get about once more, sperm whales were raised. although nearly frantic with annoyance, he was compelled to leave the direction of things to mr. cruce, who was quite puffed up with the importance of his opportunity. such a nice little school of cow-whales, a lovely breeze, clear sky, warm weather--i felt as gay as a lark at the prospect. as we were reaching to windward, with all boats ready for lowering, the skipper called me aft and said, "naow, mr. bullen, i cain't lower, because of this condemned leg'n arm of mine; but how'r yew goin' ter manage 'thout a harpooneer?" i suggested that if he would allow me to try samuela, who was suffering for a chance to distinguish himself, we would "come out on top." "all right," he said; "but let the other boats get fast first, 'n doan be in too much of a hurry to tie yerself up till ya see what's doin'. if everythin's goin' bizness-fashion', 'n yew git a chance, sail right in; yew got ter begin some time. but ef thet kanaka looks skeered goin' on, take the iron frum him ter onct." i promised, and the interview ended. when i told samuela, of his chance, he was beside himself with joy. as to his being scared, the idea was manifestly absurd. he was as pleased with the prospect as it was possible for a man to be, and hardly able to contain himself for impatience to be off. i almost envied him his exuberant delight, for a sense of responsibility began to weigh upon me with somewhat depressing effect. we gained a good weather-gage, rounded to, and lowered four boats. getting away in good style, we had barely got the sails up, when something gallied the school. we saw or heard nothing to account for it, but undoubtedly the "fish" were off at top speed dead to windward, so that our sails were of no use. we had them in with as little delay as possible, and lay to our oars for all we were worth, being fresh and strong, as well as anxious to get amongst them. but i fancy all our efforts would have availed us little had it not been for the experience of mr. cruce, whose eager eye detected the fact that the fish were running on a great curve, and shaped our course to cut them off along a chord of the arc. two and a half hours of energetic work was required of us before we got on terms with the fleeing monsters; but at last, to our great joy, they broke water from sounding right among us. it was a considerable surprise, but we were all ready, and before they had spouted twice, three boats were fast, only myself keeping out, in accordance with my instructions. samuela was almost distraught with rage and grief at the condition of things. i quite pitied him, although i was anything but pleased myself. however, when i ranged up alongside the mate's fish, to render what assistance was needed, he shouted to me, "we's all right; go'n git fas', if yew kin." that was enough, and away we flew after a retreating spout to leeward. before we got there, though, there was an upheaval in the water just ahead, and up came a back like a keelless ship bottom up. out came the head belonging to it, and a spout like an explosion burst forth, denoting the presence of an enormous bull-cachalot. close by his side was a cow of about one-third his size, the favoured sultana of his harem, i suppose. prudence whispered, "go for the cow;" ambition hissed, "all or none--the bull, the bull." fortunately emergencies of this kind leave one but a second or two to decide, as a rule; in this case, as it happened, i was spared even that mental conflict, for as we ran up between the two vast creatures, samuela, never even looking at the cow, hurled his harpoon, with all the energy that he had been bursting with so long, at the mighty bull. i watched its flight--saw it enter the black mass and disappear to the shaft, and almost immediately came the second iron, within a foot of the first, burying itself in the same solid fashion. "starn--starn all!" i shouted; and we backed slowly away, considerably hampered by the persistent attentions of the cow, who hung round us closely. the temptation to lance her was certainly great, but i remembered the fate that had overtaken the skipper on the first occasion we struck whales, and did not meddle with her ladyship. our prey was not apparently disposed to kick up much fuss at first, so, anxious to settle matters, i changed ends with samuela, and pulled in on the whale. a good, steady lance-thrust--the first i had ever delivered--was obtained, sending a thrill of triumph through my whole body. the recipient, thoroughly roused by this, started off at a great lick, accompanied, somewhat to my surprise, by the cow. thenceforward for another hour, in spite of all our efforts, we could not get within striking distance, mainly because of the close attention of the cow, which stuck to her lord like a calf to its mother. i was getting so impatient of this hindrance, that it was all i could do to restrain myself from lancing the cow, though i felt convinced that, if i did, i should spoil a good job. suddenly i caught sight of the ship right ahead. we were still flying along, so that in a short time we were comparatively close to her. my heart beat high and i burned to distinguish myself under the friendly and appreciative eye of the skipper. none of the other boats were in sight, from our level at least, so that i had a reasonable hope of being able to finish my game, with all the glory thereunto attaching, unshared by any other of my fellow-officers. as we ran quite closely past the ship, calling on the crew to haul up for all they were worth, we managed actually to squeeze past the cow, and i got in a really deadly blow. the point of the lance entered just between the fin and the eye, but higher up, missing the broad plate of the shoulder-blade, and sinking its whole four feet over the hitches right down into the animal's vitals. then, for the first time, he threw up his flukes, thrashing them from side to side almost round to his head, and raising such a turmoil that we were half full of water in a moment. but samuela was so quick at the steer-oar, so lithe and forceful, and withal appeared so to anticipate every move of mine, that there seemed hardly any danger. after a few moments of this tremendous exertion, our victim settled down, leaving the water deeply stained with his gushing blood. with him disappeared his constant companion, the faithful cow, who had never left his side a minute since we first got fast. down, down they went, until my line began to look very low, and i was compelled to make signals to the ship for more. we had hardly elevated the oars, when down dropped the last boat with four men in her, arriving by my side in a few minutes with two fresh tubs of tow-line. we took them on board, and the boat returned again. by the time the slack came we had about four hundred and fifty fathoms out--a goodly heap to pile up loose in our stern-sheets. i felt sure, however, that we should have but little more trouble with our fish; in fact, i was half afraid that he would die before getting to the surface, in which case he might sink and be lost. we hauled steadily away, the line not coming in very easily, until i judged there was only about another hundred fathoms out. our amazement may be imagined, when suddenly we were compelled to sleek away again, the sudden weight on the line suggesting that the fish was again sounding. if ever a young hand was perplexed, it was i. never before had i heard of such unseemly behaviour, nor was my anxiety lessened when i saw, a short distance away, the huge body of my prize at the surface spouting blood. at the same time, i was paying out line at a good rate, as if i had a fast fish on which was sounding briskly. the skipper had been watching me very closely from his seat on the taffrail, and had kept the ship within easy distance. now, suspecting something out of the common, he sent the boat again to my assistance, in charge of the cooper. when that worthy arrived, he said, "th' ol' man reckens yew've got snarled erp'ith thet ar' loose keow, 'n y'r irons hev draw'd from th' other. i'm gwine ter wait on him,'n get him 'longside 'soon's he's out'er his flurry. ole man sez yew'd best wait on what's fast t' yer an' nev' mine th' other." away he went, reaching my prize just as the last feeble spout exhaled, leaving the dregs of that great flood of life trickling lazily down from the widely expanded spiracle. to drive a harpoon into the carcass, and run the line on board, was the simplest of jobs, for, as the captain had foreseen, my irons were drawn clean. i had no leisure to take any notice of them now, though, for whatever was on my line was coming up hand-over-fist. with a bound it reached the surface--the identical cow so long attendant upon the dead whale. having been so long below for such a small whale, she was quite exhausted, and before she had recovered we had got alongside of her and lanced her, so thoroughly that she died without a struggle. the ship was so close that we had her alongside in a wonderfully short time, and with scarcely any trouble. when i reached the deck, the skipper called me, and said several things that made me feel about six inches taller. he was, as may be thought, exceedingly pleased, saying that only once in his long career had he seen a similar case; for i forgot to mention that the line was entangled around the cow's down-hanging jaw, as if she had actually tried to bite in two the rope that held her consort, and only succeeded in sharing his fate. i would not like to say that whales do not try to thus sever a line, but, their teeth being several inches apart, conical, and fitting into sockets in the upper jaw instead of meeting the opposed surfaces of other teeth, the accomplishment of such a feat must, i think, be impossible. the ship being now as good as anchored by the vast mass of flesh hanging to her, there was a tremendous task awaiting us to get the other fish alongside. of course they were all to windward; they nearly always are, unless the ship is persistently "turned to windward" while the fishing is going on. whalers believe that they always work up into the wind while fast, and, when dead, it is certain that they drift at a pretty good rate right in the "wind's eye." this is accounted for by the play of the body, which naturally lies head to wind; and the wash of the flukes, which, acting somewhat like the "sculling" of an oar at the stern of a boat, propel the carcass in the direction it is pointing, consequently we had a cruel amount of towing to do before we got the three cows alongside. many a time we blessed ourselves that they were no bigger, for of all the clumsy things to tow with boats, a sperm whale is about the worst. owing to the great square mass of the head, they can hardly be towed head-on at all, the practice being to cut off the tips of the flukes, and tow them tail first. but even then it is slavery. to dip your oar about three times in the same hole from whence you withdrew it, to tug at it with all your might, apparently making as much progress as though you were fast to a dock-wall, and to continue this fun for four or five hours at a stretch, is to wonder indeed whether you have not mistaken your vocation. however, "it's dogged as does it," so by dint of sheer sticking to the oar, we eventually succeeded in getting all our prizes alongside before eight bells that evening, securing them around us by hawsers to the cows, but giving the big bull the post of honour alongside on the best fluke-chain. we were a busy company for a fortnight thence, until the last of the oil was run below--two hundred and fifty barrels, or twenty-five tuns, of the valuable fluid having rewarded our exertions. during these operations we had drifted night and day, apparently without anybody taking the slightest account of the direction we were taking; when, therefore, on the day after clearing up the last traces of our fishing, the cry of "land ho!" came ringing down from the crow's-nest, no one was surprised, although the part of the pacific in which we were cruising has but few patches of terra firma scattered about over its immense area when compared with the crowded archipelagoes lying farther south and east. we could not see the reported land from the deck for two hours after it was first seen from aloft, although the odd spectacle of a scattered group of cocoa-nut trees apparently growing out of the sea was for some time presented to us before the island itself came into view. it was christmas island, where the indefatigable captain cook landed on december , , for the purpose of making accurate observations of an eclipse of the sun. he it was who gave to this lonely atoll the name it has ever since borne, with characteristic modesty giving his own great name to a tiny patch of coral which almost blocks the entrance to the central lagoon. here we lay "off and on" for a couple of days, while foraging parties went ashore, returning at intervals with abundance of turtle and sea-fowls' eggs. but any detailed account of their proceedings must be ruthlessly curtailed, owing to the scanty limits of space remaining. chapter xix. edging southward the line whaling grounds embrace an exceedingly extensive area, over the whole of which sperm whales may be found, generally of medium size. no means of estimating the probable plenty or scarcity of them in any given part of the grounds exist, so that falling in with them is purely a matter of coincidence. to me it seems a conclusive proof of the enormous numbers of sperm whales frequenting certain large breadths of ocean, that they should be so often fallen in with, remembering what a little spot is represented by a day's cruise, and that the signs which denote almost infallibly the vicinity of right whales are entirely absent in the case of the cachalot. in the narrow waters of the greenland seas, with quite a small number of vessels seeking, it is hardly possible for a whale of any size to escape being seen; but in the open ocean a goodly fleet may cruise over a space of a hundred thousand square miles without meeting any of the whales that may yet be there in large numbers. so that when one hears talk of the extinction of the cachalot, it is well to bear in mind that such a thing would take a long series of years to effect, even were the whaling business waxing instead of waning, while, however, south sea whaling is conducted on such old-world methods as still obtain; while steam, with all the power it gives of rapidly dealing with a catch, is not made use of, the art and mystery of the whale-fisher must continually decrease. no such valuable lubricant has ever been found as sperm oil; but the cost of its production, added to the precarious nature of the supply, so handicaps it in the competition with substitutes that it has been practically eliminated from the english markets, except in such greatly adulterated forms as to render it a lie to speak of the mixture as sperm oil at all. except to a few whose minds to them are kingdoms, and others who can hardly be said to have any minds at all, the long monotony of unsuccessful seeking for whales is very wearying. the ceaseless motion of the vessel rocking at the centre of a circular space of blue, with a perfectly symmetrical dome of azure enclosing her above, unflecked by a single cloud, becomes at last almost unbearable from its changeless sameness of environment. were it not for the trivial round and common task of everyday ship duty, some of the crew must become idiotic, or, in sheer rage at the want of interest in their lives, commit mutiny. such a weary time was ours for full four weeks after sighting christmas island. the fine haul we had obtained just previous to that day seemed to have exhausted our luck for the time being, for never a spout did we see. and it was with no ordinary delight that we hailed the advent of an immense school of black-fish, the first we had run across for a long time. determined to have a big catch, if possible, we lowered all five boats, as it was a beautifully calm day, and the ship might almost safely have been left to look after herself. after what we had recently been accustomed to, the game seemed trifling to get up much excitement over; but still, for a good day's sport, commend me to a few lively black-fish. in less than ten minutes we were in the thick of the crowd, with harpoons flying right and left. such a scene of wild confusion and uproarious merriment ensued as i never saw before in my life. the skipper, true to his traditions, got fast to four, all running different ways at once, and making the calm sea boil again with their frantic gyrations. each of the other boats got hold of three; but, the mate getting too near me, our fish got so inextricably tangled up that it was hopeless to try and distinguish between each other's prizes. however, when we got the lances to work among them, the hubbub calmed down greatly, and the big bodies one by one ceased their gambols, floating supine. so far, all had been gay; but the unlucky second mate must needs go and do a thing that spoiled a day's fun entirely. the line runs through a deep groove in the boat's stem, over a brass roller so fitted that when the line is running out it remains fixed, but when hauling in it revolves freely, assisting the work a great deal. the second mate had three fish fast, like the rest of us--the first one on the end of the main line, the other two on "short warps," or pieces of whale-line some eight or ten fathoms long fastened to harpoons, with the other ends running on the main line by means of bowlines round it. by some mistake or other he had allowed the two lines to be hauled together through the groove in his boat's stem, and before the error was noticed two fish spurted off in opposite directions, ripping the boat in two halves lengthways, like a dutchman splitting a salt herring. away went the fish with the whole of the line, nobody being able to get at it to cut; and, but for the presence of mind shown by the crew in striking out and away from the tangle, a most ghastly misfortune, involving the loss of several lives, must have occurred. as it was, the loss was considerable, almost outweighing the gain on the day's fishing, besides the inconvenience of having a boat useless on a whaling grounds. the accident was the fruit of gross carelessness, and should never have occurred; but then, strange to say, disasters to whale-boats are nearly always due to want of care, the percentage of unavoidable casualties being very small as compared with those like the one just related. when the highly dangerous nature of the work is remembered, this statement may seem somewhat overdrawn; but it has been so frequently corroborated by others, whose experience far outweighs my own, that i do not hesitate to make it with the fullest confidence in its truth. happily no lives were lost on this occasion, for it would have indeed been grievous to have seen our shipmates sacrificed to the manes of a mere black-fish, after successfully encountering so many mighty whales. the episode gave us a great deal of unnecessary work getting the two halves of the boat saved, in addition to securing our fish, so that by the time we got the twelve remaining carcasses hove on deck we were all quite fagged out. but under the new regime we were sure of a good rest, so that did not trouble us; it rather made the lounge on deck in the balmy evening air and the well-filled pipe of peace doubly sweet. our next day's work completed the skinning of the haul we had made, the last of the carcasses going overboard with a thunderous splash at four in the afternoon. the assemblage of sharks round the ship on this occasion was incredible for its number and the great size of the creatures. certainly no mariners see so many or such huge sharks as whalemen; but, in spite of all our previous experience, this day touched high-water mark. many of these fish were of a size undreamed of by the ordinary seafarer, some of them full thirty feet in length, more like whales than sharks. most of them were striped diagonally with bands of yellow, contrasting curiously with the dingy grey of their normal colour. from this marking is derived their popular name--"tiger sharks," not, as might be supposed, from their ferocity. that attribute cannot properly be applied to the squalus at all, which is one of the most timid fish afloat, and whose ill name, as far as regards blood-thirstiness, is quite undeserved. rapacious the shark certainly is; but what sea-fish is not? he is not at all particular as to his diet; but what sea-fish is? with such a great bulk of body, such enormous vitality and vigour to support, he must needs be ever eating; and since he is not constructed on swift enough lines to enable him to prey upon living fish, like most of his neighbours, he is perforce compelled to play the humble but useful part of a sea-scavenger. he eats man, as he eats anything else eatable because in the water man is easily caught, and not from natural depravity or an acquired taste begetting a decided preference for human flesh. all natives of shores infested by sharks despise him and his alleged man-eating propensities, knowing that a very feeble splashing will suffice to frighten him away even if ever so hungry. demerara river literally swarms with sharks, yet i have often seen a negro, clad only in a beaming smile, slip into its muddy waters, and, after a few sharp blows with his open hand upon the surface, calmly swim down to the bottom, clear a ship's anchor, or do whatever job was required, coming up again as leisurely as if in a swimming-bath. a similar disregard of the dangerous attributes awarded by popular consent to the shark may be witnessed everywhere among the people who know him best. the cruelties perpetrated upon sharks by seamen generally are the result of ignorance and superstition combined, the most infernal forces known to humanity. what would be said at home of such an act, if it could be witnessed among us, as the disembowelling of a tiger, say, and then letting him run in that horrible condition somewhere remote from the possibility of retaliating upon his torturers? yet that is hardly comparable with a similar atrocity performed upon a shark, because he will live hours to the tiger's minutes in such a condition. i once caught a shark nine feet long, which we hauled on board and killed by cutting off its head and tail. it died very speedily--for a shark--all muscular motion ceasing in less than fifteen minutes. it was my intention to prepare that useless and unornamental article so dear to sailors--a walking-stick made of a shark's backbone. but when i came to cut out the vertebra, i noticed a large scar, extending from one side to the other, right across the centre of the back. beneath it the backbone was thickened to treble its normal size, and perfectly rigid; in fact, it had become a mass of solid bone. at some time or other this shark had been harpooned so severely that, in wrenching himself free, he must have nearly torn his body in two halves, severing the spinal column completely. yet such a wound as that had been healed by natural process, the bone knit together again with many times the strength it had before--minus, of course, its flexibility--and i can testify from the experience of securing him that he could not possibly have been more vigorous than he was. a favourite practice used to be--i trust it is so no longer--to catch a shark, and, after driving a sharpened stake down through his upper jaw and out underneath the lower one, so that its upper portion pointed diagonally forward, to let him go again. the consequence of this cruelty would be that the fish was unable to open his mouth, or go in any direction without immediately coming to the surface. how long he might linger in such torture, one can only guess; but unless his fellows, finding him thus helpless, came along and kindly devoured him, no doubt he would exist in extreme agony for a very long time. two more small cows were all that rewarded our search during the next fortnight, and we began to feel serious doubts as to the success of our season upon the line grounds, after all. still, on the whole, our voyage up to the present had not been what might fairly be called unsuccessful, for we were not yet two years away from new bedford, while we had considerably more than two thousand barrels of oil on board--more, in fact, than two-thirds of a full cargo. but if a whale were caught every other day for six months, and then a month elapsed without any being seen, grumbling would be loud and frequent, all the previous success being forgotten in the present stagnation. perhaps it is not so different in other professions nearer home? christmas day drew near, beloved of englishmen all the world over, though thought little of by americans. the two previous ones spent on board the cachalot have been passed over without mention, absolutely no notice being taken of the season by any one on board, to all appearance. in english ships some attempt is always made to give the day somewhat of a festive character, and to maintain the national tradition of good-cheer and goodwill in whatever part of the world you may happen to be. for some reason or other, perhaps because of the great increase in comfort; we had all experienced lately, i felt the approach of the great christian anniversary very strongly; although, had i been in london, i should probably have spent it in lonely gloom, having no relatives or friends whom i might visit. but what of that? christmas is christmas; and, if we have no home, we think of the place where our home should be; and whether, as cynics sneer, dickens invented the english christmas or not, its observance has taken deep root among us. may its shadow never be less! on christmas morning i mounted to the crow's-nest at daybreak, and stood looking with never-failing awe at the daily marvel of the sunrise. often and often have i felt choking for words to express the tumult of thoughts aroused by this sublime spectacle. hanging there in cloudland, the tiny microcosm at one's feet forgotten, the grandeur of the celestial outlook is overwhelming. many and many a time i have bowed my head and wept in pure reverence at the majesty manifested around me while the glory of the dawn increased and brightened, till with one exultant bound the sun appeared. for some time i stood gazing straight ahead of me with eyes that saw not, filled with wonder and admiration. i must have been looking directly at the same spot for quite a quarter of an hour, when suddenly, as if i had but just opened my eyes, i saw the well-known bushy spout of a sperm whale. i raised the usual yell, which rang through the stillness discordantly, startling all hands out of their lethargy like bees out of a hive. after the usual preliminaries, we were all afloat with sails set, gliding slowly over the sleeping sea towards the unconscious objects of our attention. the captain did not lower this time, as there only appeared to be three fish, none of them seeming large. though at any distance it is extremely difficult to assess the size of whales, the spout being very misleading. sometimes a full-sized whale will show a small spout, while a twenty-barrel cow will exhale a volume of vapour extensive enough for two or three at once. now although, according to etiquette, i kept my position in the rear of my superior officers, i had fully determined in my own mind, being puffed up with previous success, to play second fiddle to no one, if i could help it, this time. samuela was decidedly of the same opinion; indeed, i believe he would have been delighted to tackle a whole school single-handed, while my crew were all willing and eager for the fight. we had a long, tedious journey before we came up with them, the wind being so light that even with the occasional assistance of the paddles our progress was wretchedly slow. when at last we did get into their water, and the mate's harpooner stood up to dart, his foot slipped, and down he came with a clatter enough to scare a cachalot twenty miles away. it gallied our friends effectually, sending them flying in different directions at the top of their speed. but being some distance astern of the other boats, one of the fish, in his headlong retreat, rose for a final blow some six or seven fathoms away, passing us in the opposite direction. his appearance was only momentary, yet in that moment samuela hurled his harpoon into the air, where it described a beautiful parabola, coming down upon the disappearing monster's back just as the sea was closing over it. oh, it was a splendid dart, worthy of the finest harpooner that ever lived! there was no time for congratulations, however, for we spun round as on a pivot, and away we went in the wake of that fellow at a great rate. i cast one look astern to see whether the others had struck, but could see nothing of them; we seemed to have sprung out of their ken in an instant. the speed of our friend was marvellous, but i comforted myself with the knowledge that these animals usually run in circles--sometimes, it is true, of enormous diameter, but seldom getting far away from their starting-point. but as the time went on, and we seemed to fly over the waves at undiminished speed, i began to think this whale might be the exception necessary to prove the rule, so i got out the compass and watched his course. due east, not a degree to north or south of it, straight as a bee to its hive. the ship was now far out of sight astern, but i knew that keen eyes had been watching our movements from the masthead, and that every effort possible would be made to keep the run of us. the speed of our whale was not only great, but unflagging. he was more like a machine than an animal capable of tiring; and though we did our level best, at the faintest symptom of slackening, to get up closer and lance him, it was for some time impossible. after, at a rough estimate, running in a direct easterly course for over two hours, he suddenly sounded, without having given us the ghost of a chance to "land him one where he lived." judging from his previous exertions, though, it was hardly possible he would be able to stay down long, or get very deep, as the strain upon these vast creatures at any depth is astonishingly exhausting. after a longer stay below than usual, when they have gone extra deep, they often arrive at the surface manifestly "done up" for a time. then, if the whaleman be active and daring, a few well-directed strokes may be got in which will promptly settle the business out of hand. now, when my whale sounded he was to all appearance as frightened a beast as one could wish--one who had run himself out endeavouring to get away from his enemies, and as a last resource had dived into the quietness below in the vain hope to get away. so i regarded him, making up my mind to wait on him with diligence upon his arrival, and not allow him to get breath before i had settled him. but when he did return, there was a mighty difference in him. he seemed as if he had been getting some tips on the subject from some school below where whales are trained to hunt men; for his first move was to come straight for me with a furious rush, carrying the war into the enemy's country with a vengeance. it must be remembered that i was but young, and a comparatively new hand at this sort of thing; so when i confess that i felt more than a little scared at this sudden change in the tactics of my opponent, i hope i shall be excused. remembering, however, that all our lives depended on keeping cool, i told myself that even if i was frightened i must not go all to pieces, but compel myself to think and act calmly, since i was responsible for others. if the animal had not been in so blind a fury, i am afraid my task would have been much harder; but he was mad, and his savage rushes were, though disquieting, unsystematic and clumsy. it was essential, however, that he should not be allowed to persist too long in his evil courses; for a whale learns with amazing rapidity, developing such cunning in an hour or two that all a man's smartness may be unable to cope with his newly acquired experience. happily, samuela was perfectly unmoved. like a machine, he obeyed every gesture, every look even, swinging the boat "off" or "on" the whale with such sweeping strokes of his mighty oar that she revolved as if on a pivot, and encouraging the other chaps with his cheerful cries and odd grimaces, so that the danger was hardly felt. during a momentary lull in the storm, i took the opportunity to load my bomb-gun, much as i disliked handling the thing, keeping my eye all the time on the water around where i expected to see mine enemy popping up murderously at any minute. just as i had expected, when he rose, it was very close, and on his back, with his jaw in the first biting position, looking ugly as a vision of death. finding us a little out of reach, he rolled right over towards us, presenting as he did so the great rotundity of his belly. we were not twenty feet away, and i snatched up the gun, levelled it, and fired the bomb point-blank into his bowels. then all was blank. i do not even remember the next moment. a rush of roaring waters, a fighting with fearful, desperate energy for air and life, all in a hurried, flurried phantasmagoria about which there was nothing clear except the primitive desire for life, life, life! nor do i know how long this struggle lasted, except that, in the nature of things, it could not have been very long. when i returned to a consciousness of external things, i was for some time perfectly still, looking at the sky, totally unable to realize what had happened or where i was. presently the smiling, pleasant face of samuela bent over me. meeting my gratified look of recognition, he set up a perfect yell of delight. "so glad, so glad you blonga life! no go davy jonesy dis time, hay?" i put my hand out to help myself to a sitting posture, and touched blubber. that startled me so that i sprung up as if shot. then i took in the situation at a glance. there were all my poor fellows with me, stranded upon the top of our late antagonist, but no sign of the boat to be seen. bewildered at the state of affairs, i looked appealingly from one to the other for an explanation. i got it from abner, who said, laconically, "when yew fired thet ole gun, i guess it mus' have bin loaded fer bear, fer ye jest tumbled clar head over heels backwards outen the boat. et that very same moment i suspicion the bomb busted in his belly, fer he went clean rampageous loony. he rolled right over an' over to'rds us, n' befo' we c'd rightly see wat wuz comin', we cu'dnt see anythin' 'tall; we wuz all grabbin' at nothin', some'rs underneath the whale. when i come to the top, i lit eout fer the fust thing i c'd see to lay holt of, which wuz old squarhead himself, deader 'n pork. i guess thet ar bomb o' yourn kinder upset his commissary department. anyway, i climed up onto him, 'n bime-by the rest ov us histed themselves alongside ov me. sam weller here; he cum last, towin' you 'long with him. i don'no whar he foun' ye, but ye was very near a goner, 'n's full o' pickle as ye c'd hold." i turned a grateful eye upon my dusky harpooner, who had saved my life, but was now apparently blissfully unconscious of having done anything meritorious. behold us, then, a half-drowned row of scarecrows perched, like some new species of dilapidated birds, upon the side of our late foe. the sun was not so furiously hot as usual, for masses of rain-laden nimbi were filling the sky, so that we were comparatively free from the awful roasting we might have expected: nor was our position as precarious for a while as would be thought. true, we had only one harpoon, with its still fast line, to hold on by; but the side of the whale was somehow hollowed, so that, in spite of the incessant movement imparted to the carcass by the swell, we sat fairly safe, with our feet in the said hollow. we discussed the situation in all its bearings, unable to extract more than the faintest gleam of hope from any aspect of the case. the only reasonable chance we had was, that the skipper had almost certainly taken our bearings, and would, we were sure, be anxiously seeking us on the course thus indicated. meanwhile, we were ravenously hungry and thirsty. samuela and polly set to work with their sheath-knives, and soon excavated a space in the blubber to enable them to reach the meat. then they cut off some good-sized junks, and divided it up. it was not half bad; and as we chewed on the tough black fibre, i could hardly help smiling as i thought how queer a christmas dinner we were having. but eating soon heightened our thirst, and our real sufferings then began. we could eat very little once the want of drink made itself felt. hardly two hours had elapsed, though, before one of the big-bellied clouds which bad been keeping the sun off us most considerately emptied out upon us a perfect torrent of rain. it filled the cavity in the whale's side in a twinkling; and though the water was greasy, stained with blood, and vilely flavoured, it was as welcome a drink as i have ever tasted. thus fed, and with our thirst slaked, we were able to take a more hopeful view of things while the prospect of our being found seemed much more probable than it had done before the rain fell. still, we had to endure our pillory for a long while yet. the sharks and birds began to worry us, especially the former, who in their eagerness to get a portion of the blubber, fought, writhed and tore at the carcass with tireless energy. once, one of the smaller ones actually came sliding up right into our hollow; but samuela and polly promptly dispatched him with a cut throat, sending him back to encourage the others. the present relieved us of most of their attentions for a short time at least, as they eagerly divided the remains of their late comrade among them. to while away the time we spun yarns--without much point, i am afraid; and sung songs, albeit we did not feel much like singing--till after a while our poor attempts at gaiety fizzled out like a damp match, leaving us silent and depressed. the sun, which had been hidden for some time, now came out again, his slanting beams revealing to us ominously the flight of time and the near approach of night. should darkness overtake us in our present position, we all felt that saving us would need the performance of a miracle; for in addition to the chances of the accumulated gases within the carcass bursting it asunder, the unceasing assault of the sharks made it highly doubtful whether they would not in a few hours more have devoured it piecemeal. already they had scooped out some deep furrows in the solid blubber, making it easier to get hold and tear off more, and their numbers were increasing so fast that the surrounding sea was fairly alive with them. lower and lower sank the sun, deeper and darker grew the gloom upon our faces, till suddenly samuela leaped to his feet in our midst, and emitted a yell so ear-piercing as to nearly deafen us. he saw the ship! before two minutes had passed we all saw her--god bless her!--coming down upon us like some angelic messenger. there were no fears among us that we should be overlooked. we knew full well how anxiously and keenly many pairs of eyes had been peering over the sea in search of us, and we felt perfectly sure they had sighted us long ago. on she came, gilded by the evening glow, till she seemed glorified, moving in a halo of celestial light, all her homeliness and clumsy build forgotten in what she then represented to us. never before or since has a ship looked like that, to me, nor can i ever forget the thankfulness, the delight, the reverence, with which i once more saw her approaching. straight down upon us she bore, rounding to within a cable's length, and dropping a boat simultaneously with her windward sweep. they had no whale--well for us they had not. in five minutes we were on board, while our late resting-place was being hauled alongside with great glee. the captain shook hands with me cordially, pooh-poohing the loss of the boat as an unavoidable incident of the trade, but expressing his heart-felt delight at getting us all back safe. the whale we had killed was ample compensation for the loss of several boats, though such was the vigour with which the sharks were going for him, that it was deemed advisable to cut in at once, working all night. we who had been rescued, however, were summarily ordered below by the skipper, and forbidden, on pain of his severe displeasure, to reappear until the following morning. this great privilege we gladly availed ourselves of, awaking at daylight quite well and fit, not a bit the worse for our queer experience of the previous day. the whale proved a great acquisition, for although not nearly so large as many we had caught, he was so amazingly rich in blubber that he actually yielded twelve and a half tuns of oil, in spite of the heavy toll taken of him by the hungry multitudes of sharks. in addition to the oil, we were fortunate enough to secure a lump of ambergris, dislodged perhaps by the explosion of my bomb in the animal's bowels. it was nearly black, wax-like to the touch, and weighed seven pounds and a half. at the current price, it would be worth about l , so that, taken altogether, the whale very nearly approached in value the largest one we had yet caught. i had almost omitted to state that incorporated with the substance of the ambergris were several of the horny cuttle-fish beaks, which, incapable of being digested, had become in some manner part of this peculiar product. chapter xx. "humpbacking" at vau vau another three weeks' cruising brought us to the end of the season on the line, which had certainly not answered all our expectations, although we had perceptibly increased the old barky's draught during our stay. whether from love of change or belief in the possibilities of a good haul, i can hardly say, but captain count decided to make the best of his way south, to the middle group of the "friendly" archipelago, known as vau vau, the other portions being called hapai and tongataboo respectively, for a season's "humpbacking." from all i could gather, we were likely to have a good time there, so i looked forward to the visit with a great deal of pleasurable anticipation. we were bound to make a call at vau vau, in any case, to discharge our kanakas shipped at honolulu, although i fervently hoped to be able to keep my brave harpooner samuela. so when i heard of our destination, i sounded him cautiously as to his wishes in the matter, finding that, while he was both pleased with and proud of his position on board, he was longing greatly for his own orange grove and the embraces of a certain tender "fafine" that he averred was there awaiting him. with such excellent reasons for his leaving us, i could but forbear to persuade him, sympathizing with him too deeply to wish him away from such joys as he described to me. so we bade farewell to the line grounds, and commenced another stretch to the south, another milestone, as it were, on the long road home. prosaic and uneventful to the last degree was our passage, the only incident worth recording being our "gamming" of the passamaquoddy, of martha's vineyard, south sea whaler; eighteen months out, with one thousand barrels of sperm oil on board. we felt quite veterans alongside of her crew, and our yarns laid over theirs to such an extent that they were quite disgusted at their lack of experience. some of them had known our late skipper, but none of them had a good word for him, the old maxim, "speak nothing but good of the dead," being most flagrantly set at nought. one of her crew was a whitechapelian, who had been roving about the world for a good many years. amongst other experiences, he had, after "jumping the bounty" two or three times, found himself a sergeant in the federal army before gettysburg. during that most bloody battle, he informed me that a "reb" drew a bead on him at about a dozen yards' distance, and fired, he said he felt just as if somebody had punched him in the chest, and knocked him flat on his back on top of a sharp stone--no pain at all, nor any further recollection of what had happened, until he found himself at the base, in hospital. when the surgeons came to examine him for the bullet, they found that it had struck the broad brass plate of his cross-belt fairly in the middle, penetrating it and shattering his breast bone. but after torturing him vilely with the probe, they were about to give up the search in despair, when he told them he felt a pain in his back. examining the spot indicated by him, they found a bullet just beneath the skin, which a touch with the knife allowed to tumble out. further examination revealed the strange fact that the bullet, after striking his breast-bone, had glanced aside and travelled round his body just beneath the skin, without doing him any further harm. in proof of his story, he showed me the two scars and the perforated buckle-plate. at another time, being in charge of a picket of germans, he and his command were captured by a party of confederates, who haled him before their colonel, a southern gentleman of the old school. in the course of his interrogation by the southern officer, he was asked where he hailed from. he replied, "london, england." "then," said the colonel, "how is it you find yourself fighting for these accursed yankees?" the cockney faltered out some feeble excuse or another, which his captor cut short by saying, "i've a great respect for the english, and consequently i'll let you go this time. but if ever i catch you again, you're gone up. as for those d-----d dutchmen, they'll be strung up inside of five minutes." and they were. so with yarn, song, and dance, the evening passed pleasantly away; while the two old hookers jogged amicably along side by side, like two market-horses whose drivers are having a friendly crack. along about midnight we exchanged crews again, and parted with many expressions of good-will--we to the southward, she to the eastward, for some particular preserve believed in by her commander. in process of time we made the land of vau vau, a picturesque, densely wooded, and in many places precipitous, group of islands, the approach being singularly free from dangers in the shape of partly hidden reefs. long and intricate were the passages we threaded, until we finally came to anchor in a lovely little bay perfectly sheltered from all winds. we moored, within a mile of a dazzling white beach, in twelve fathoms. a few native houses embowered in orange and cocoa-nut trees showed here and there, while the two horns of the bay were steep-to, and covered with verdure almost down to the water's edge. the anchor was hardly down before a perfect fleet of canoes flocked around us, all carrying the familiar balancing outrigger, without which those narrow dugouts cannot possibly keep upright. their occupants swarmed on board, laughing and playing like so many children, and with all sorts of winning gestures and tones besought our friendship. "you my flem?" was the one question which all asked; but what its import might be we could not guess for some time. by-and-by it appeared that when once you had agreed to accept a native for your "flem," or friend, he from henceforward felt in duty bound to attend to all your wants which it lay within his power to supply. this important preliminary settled, fruit and provisions of various kinds appeared as if by magic. huge baskets of luscious oranges, massive bunches of gold and green bananas, clusters of green cocoa-nuts, conch-shells full of chillies, fowls loudly protesting against their hard fate, gourds full of eggs, and a few vociferous swine--all came tumbling on board in richest profusion, and, strangest thing of all, not a copper was asked in return. i might have as truly said nothing was asked, since money must have been useless here. many women came alongside, but none climbed on board. surprised at this, i asked samuela the reason, as soon as i could disengage him for a few moments from the caresses of his friends. he informed me that the ladies' reluctance to favour us with their society was owing to their being in native dress, which it is punishable to appear in among white men, the punishment consisting of a rather heavy fine. even the men and boys, i noticed, before they ventured to climb on board, stayed a while to put on trousers, or what did duty for those useful articles of dress. at any rate, they were all clothed, not merely enwrapped with a fold or two of "tapa," the native bark-cloth, but made awkward and ugly by dilapidated shirts and pants. she was a busy ship for the rest of that day. the anchor down, sails furled and decks swept, the rest of the time was our own, and high jinks were the result. the islanders were amiability personified, merry as children, nor did i see or hear one quarrelsome individual among them. while we were greedily devouring the delicious fruit, which was piled on deck in mountainous quantities, they encouraged us, telling us that the trees ashore were breaking down under their loads, and what a pity it was that there were so few to eat such bountiful supplies. we were, it appeared, the first whale-ship that had anchored there that year, and, in that particular bay where we lay, no vessel had moored for over two years. an occasional schooner from sydney called at the "town" about ten miles away, where the viceroy's house was, and at the present time of speaking one of godeffroi's hamburg ships was at anchor there, taking in an accumulation of copra from her agent's store. but the natives all spoke of her with a shrug--"no like tashman. tashman no good." why, i could not ascertain. our kanakas had promised to remain with us till our departure for the south, so, hard as it seemed to them, they were not allowed to go ashore, in case they might not come back, and leave us short-handed. but as their relatives and friends could visit them whenever they felt inclined, the restriction did not hurt them much. the next day, being sunday, all hands were allowed liberty to go ashore by turns (except the kanakas), with strict injunctions to molest no one, but to behave as if in a big town guarded by policemen. as no money could be spent, none was given, and, best of all, it was impossible to procure any intoxicating liquor. our party got ashore about . , but not a soul was visible either on the beach or in the sun-lit paths which led through the forest inland. here and there a house, with doors wide open, stood in its little cleared space, silent and deserted. it was like a country without inhabitants. presently, however, a burst of melody arrested us, and borne upon the scented breeze came oh, so sweetly!--the well-remembered notes of "hollingside." hurriedly getting behind a tree, i let myself go, and had a perfectly lovely, soul-refreshing cry. reads funny, doesn't it? sign of weakness perhaps. but when childish memories come back upon one torrent-like in the swell of a hymn or the scent of the hawthorn, it seems to me that the flood-gates open without you having anything to do with it. when i was a little chap in the lock chapel choir, before the evil days came, that tune was my favourite; and when i heard it suddenly come welling up out of the depths of the forest, my heart just stood still for a moment, and then the tears came. queer idea, perhaps, to some people; but i do not know when i enjoyed myself so much as i did just then, except when a boy of sixteen home from a voyage, and strolling along the knightsbridge road, i "happened" into the albert hall. i did not in the least know what was coming; the notices on the bills did not mean anything to me; but i paid my shilling, and went up into the gallery. i had hardly edged myself into a corner by the refreshment-stall, when a great breaker of sound caught me, hurled me out of time, thought, and sense in one intolerable ecstasy--"for unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given"--again and again--billows and billows of glory. i gasped for breath, shook like one in an ague fit; the tears ran down in a continuous stream; while people stared amazed at me, thinking, i suppose, that i was another drunken sailor. well, i was drunk, helplessly intoxicated, but not with drink, with something divine, untellable, which, coming upon me unprepared, simply swept me away with it into a heaven of delight, to which only tears could testify. but i am in the bush, whimpering over the tones of "hollingside." as soon as i had pulled myself together a bit, we went on again in the direction of the sound, presently we came to a large clearing, in the middle of which stood a neat wooden, pandanus-thatched church. there were no doors or windows to it, just a roof supported upon posts, but a wide verandah ran all round, upon the edge of which we seated ourselves; for the place was full--full to suffocation, every soul within miles, i should think, being there. no white man was present, but the service, which was a sort of prayer-meeting, went with a swing and go that was wonderful to see. there was no perfunctory worship here; no one languidly enduring it because it was "the right sort of thing to show up at, you know;" but all were in earnest, terribly in earnest. when they sang, it behoved us to get away to a little distance, for the vigour of the voices, unless mellowed by distance, made the music decidedly harsh. every one was dressed in european clothing--the women in neat calico gowns; but the men, nearly all of them, in woollen shirts, pilot-coats, and trousers to match, and sea-boots! whew! it nearly stifled me to look at them. the temperature was about ninety degrees in the shade, with hardly a breath of air stirring, yet those poor people, from some mistaken notion of propriety, were sweating in torrents under that arctic rig. however they could worship, i do not know! at last the meeting broke up. the men rushed out, tore off their coats, trousers, and shirts, and flung themselves panting upon the grass, mother-naked, except for a chaplet of cocoanut leaves, formed by threading them on a vine-tendril, and hanging round the waist. squatting by the side of my "flem," whom i had recognized, i asked him why ever he outraged all reason by putting on such clothes in this boiling weather. he looked at me pityingly for a moment before he replied, "you go chapella belitani? no put bes' close on top?" "yes," i said; "but in hot weather put on thin clothes; cold weather, put on thick ones." "s'pose no got more?" he said, meaning, i presumed, more than the one suit. "well," i said, "more better stop 'way than look like big fool, boil all away, same like duff in pot. you savvy duff?" he smiled a wide comprehensive smile, but looked very solemn again, saying directly, "you no go chapella; you no mishnally. no mishnally [missionary=godly]; very bad. me no close; no go chapella; vely bad. evelly tangata, evelly fafine, got close all same papalang [every man and woman has clothes like a white man]; go chapella all day sunday." that this was no figure of speech i proved fully that day, for i declare that the recess between any of the services never lasted more than an hour. meanwhile the worshippers did not return to their homes, for in many cases they had journeyed twenty or thirty miles, but lay about in the verdure, refreshing themselves with fruit, principally the delightful green cocoa-nuts, which furnish meat and drink both--cool and refreshing in the extreme, as well as nourishing. we were all heartily welcome to whatever was going, but there was a general air of restraint, a fear of breaking the sabbath, which prevented us from trespassing too much upon the hospitality of these devout children of the sun. so we contented ourselves with strolling through the beautiful glades and woods, lying down, whenever we felt weary, under the shade of some spreading orange tree loaded with golden fruit, and eating our fill, or rather eating until the smarting of our lips warned us to desist. here was a land where, apparently, all people were honest, for we saw a great many houses whose owners were absent, not one of which was closed, although many had a goodly store of such things as a native might be supposed to covet. at last, not being able to rid ourselves of the feeling that we were doing something wrong, the solemn silence and sundayfied air of the whole region seeming to forbid any levity even in the most innocent manner, we returned on board again, wonderfully impressed with what we had seen, but wondering what would have happened if some of the ruffianly crowds composing the crews of many ships had been let loose upon this fair island. in the evening we lowered a stage over the bows to the water's edge, and had a swimming-match, the water being perfectly delightful, after the great heat of the day, in its delicious freshness; and so to bunk, well pleased indeed with our first sunday in vau vau. i have no doubt whatever that some of the gentry who swear at large about the evils of missionaries would have been loud in their disgust at the entire absence of drink and debauchery, and the prevalence of what they would doubtless characterize as adjective hypocrisy on the part of the natives; but no decent man could help rejoicing at the peace, the security, and friendliness manifested on every hand, nor help awarding unstinted praise to whoever had been the means of bringing about so desirable a state of things. i felt that their sabbatarianism was carried to excess; that they would have been better, not worse, for a little less church, and a little more innocent fun; but ten thousand times better thus than such scenes of lust let loose and abandoned animalism as we witnessed at honolulu. what pleased me mightily was the absence of the white man with his air of superiority and sleek overlordship. all the worship, all the management of affairs, was entirely in the hands of the natives themselves, and excellently well did they manage everything. i shall never forget once going ashore in a somewhat similar place, but very far distant, one sunday morning, to visit the mission station. it was a church mission, and a very handsome building the church was. by the side of it stood the parsonage, a beautiful bungalow, nestling in a perfect paradise of tropical flowers. the somewhat intricate service was conducted, and the sermon preached, entirely by natives--very creditably too. after service i strolled into the parsonage to see the reverend gentleman in charge, whom i found supporting his burden in a long chair, with a tall glass of brandy and soda within easy reach, a fine cigar between his lips, and a late volume of ouida's in his hand. all very pleasant and harmless, no doubt, but hardly reconcilable with the ideal held up in missionary magazines. yet i have no doubt whatever that this gentleman would have been heartily commended by the very men who can hardly find words harsh enough to express their opinion of missionaries of the stamp of paton, williams, moffat, and mackenzie. well, it is highly probable--nay, almost certain, that i shall be accused of drawing an idyllic picture of native life from first impressions, which, if i had only had sufficient subsequent experience among the people, i should have entirely altered. all i can say is, that although i did not live among them ashore, we had a number of them on board; we lay in the island harbour five months, during which i was ashore nearly every day, and from habit i observed them very closely; yet i cannot conscientiously alter one syllable of what i have written concerning them. bad men and women there were, of course, to be found--as where not?--but the badness, in whatever form, was not allowed to flaunt itself, and was so sternly discountenanced by public (entirely native) opinion, that it required a good deal of interested seeking to find. but after all this chatter about my amiable friends, i find myself in danger of forgetting the purpose of our visit. we lost no time in preparation, since whaling of whatever sort is conducted in these ships on precisely similar lines, but on monday morning, at daybreak, after a hurried breakfast, lowered all boats and commenced the campaign. we were provided with boxes--one for each boat--containing a light luncheon, but no ordered meal, because it was not considered advisable to in any way hamper the boat's freedom to chase. still, in consideration of its being promptly dumped overboard on attacking a whale, a goodly quantity of fruit was permitted in the boats. in the calm beauty of the pearly dawn, with a gentle hush over all nature, the lofty, tree-clad hills reflected with startling fidelity in the glassy, many-coloured waters, the only sound audible the occasional cra-a-ake of the advance-guard of a flight of fruit-bats (peca) homeward from their nocturnal depredations, we shipped our oars and started, pulling to a certain position whence we could see over an immense area. immediately upon rounding the horn of our sheltered bay, the fresh breeze of the south-east trades met us right on end with a vigour that made a ten-mile steady pull against it somewhat of a breather. arriving at the station indicated by the chief, we set sail, and, separating as far as possible without losing sight of each other, settled down for the day's steady cruise. anything more delightful than that excursion to those who love seashore scenery combined with boat-sailing would be difficult to name. every variety of landscape, every shape of strait, bay, or estuary, reefs awash, reefs over which we could sail, ablaze with loveliness inexpressible; a steady, gentle, caressing breeze, and overhead one unvarying canopy of deepest blue. sometimes, when skirting the base of some tremendous cliffs, great caution was necessary, for at one moment there would obtain a calm, death-like in its stillness; the next, down through a canyon cleaving the mountain to the water's edge would come rushing with a shrill howl, a blast fierce enough to almost lift us out of the water. away we would scud with flying sheets dead before it, in a smother of spray, but would hardly get full way on her before it was gone, leaving us in the same hush as before, only a dark patch on the water far to leeward marking its swift rush. these little diversions gave us no uneasiness, for it was an unknown thing to make a sheet fast in one of our boats, so that a puff of wind never caught us unprepared. on that first day we seemed to explore such a variety of stretches of water that one would hardly have expected there could be any more discoveries to make in that direction. nevertheless, each day's cruise subsequently revealed to us some new nook or other, some quiet haven or pretty passage between islands that, until closely approached, looked like one. when, at sunset, we returned to the ship, not having seen anything like a spout, i felt like one who had been in a dream, the day's cruise having surpassed all my previous experience. yet it was but the precursor of many such. oftentimes i think of those halcyon days, with a sigh of regret that they can never more be renewed to me; but i rejoice to think that nothing can rob me of the memory of them. much to the discomfort of the skipper, it was four days before a solitary spout was seen, and then it was so nearly dark that before the fish could be reached it was impossible to distinguish her whereabouts. a careful bearing was taken of the spot, in the hope that she might be lingering in the vicinity next morning, and we hastened on board. before it was fairly light we lowered, and paddled as swiftly as possible to the bay where we had last seen the spout overnight. when near the spot we rested on our paddles a while, all hands looking out with intense eagerness for the first sign of the whale's appearance. there was a strange feeling among us of unlawfulness and stealth, as of ambushed pirates waiting to attack some unwary merchantman, or highwaymen waylaying a fat alderman on a country road. we spoke in whispers, for the morning was so still that a voice raised but ordinarily would have reverberated among the rocks which almost overhung us, multiplied indefinitely. a turtle rose ghost-like to the surface at my side, lifting his queer head, and, surveying us with stony gaze, vanished as silently as he came. what a sigh! one looked at the other inquiringly, but the repetition of that long expiration satisfied us all that it was the placid breathing of the whale we sought somewhere close at hand, the light grew rapidly better, and we strained our eyes in every direction to discover the whereabouts of our friend, but, for some minutes without result. there was a ripple just audible, and away glided the mate's boat right for the near shore. following him with our eyes, we almost immediately beheld a pale, shadowy column of white, shimmering against the dark mass of the cliff not a quarter of a mile away. dipping our paddles with the utmost care, we made after the chief, almost holding our breath. his harpooner rose, darted once, twice, then gave a yell of triumph that ran re-echoing all around in a thousand eerie vibrations, startling the drowsy peca in myriads from where they hung in inverted clusters on the trees above. but, for all the notice taken by the whale, she might never have been touched. close nestled to her side was a youngling of not more, certainly, than five days old, which sent up its baby-spout every now and then about two feet into the air. one long, wing-like fin embraced its small body, holding it close to the massive breast of the tender mother, whose only care seemed to be to protect her young, utterly regardless of her own pain and danger. if sentiment were ever permitted to interfere with such operations as ours, it might well have done so now; for while the calf continually sought to escape from the enfolding fin, making all sorts of puny struggles in the attempt, the mother scarcely moved from her position, although streaming with blood from a score of wounds. once, indeed, as a deep-searching thrust entered her very vitals, she raised her massy flukes high in air with an apparently involuntary movement of agony; but even in that dire throe she remembered the possible danger to her young one, and laid the tremendous weapon as softly down upon the water as if it were a feather fan. so in the most perfect quiet, with scarcely a writhe, nor any sign of flurry, she died, holding the calf to her side until her last vital spark had fled, and left it to a swift despatch with a single lance-thrust. no slaughter of a lamb ever looked more like murder. nor, when the vast bulk and strength of the animal was considered, could a mightier example have been given of the force and quality of maternal love. the whole business was completed in half an hour from the first sight of her, and by the mate's hand alone, none of the other boats needing to use their gear. as soon as she was dead, a hole was bored through the lips, into which a tow-line was secured, the two long fins were lashed close into the sides of the animal by an encircling line, the tips of the flukes were cut off, and away we started for the ship. we had an eight-mile tow in the blazing sun, which we accomplished in a little over eight, hours, arriving at the vessel just before two p.m. news of our coming had preceded us, and the whole native population appeared to be afloat to make us welcome. the air rang again with their shouts of rejoicing, for our catch represented to them a gorgeous feast, such as they had not indulged in for many a day. the flesh of the humpbacked whale is not at all bad, being but little inferior to that of the porpoise; so that, as these people do not despise even the coarse rank flesh of the cachalot, their enthusiasm was natural. their offers of help were rather embarrassing to us, as we could find little room for any of them in the boats, and the canoes only got in our way. unable to assist us, they vented their superfluous energies on the whale in the most astounding aquatic antics imaginable--diving under it; climbing on to it; pushing and rolling each other headlong over its broad back; shrieking all the while with the frantic, uncontrollable laughter of happy children freed from all restraint. men, women, and children all mixed in this wild, watery spree; and as to any of them getting drowned, the idea was utterly absurd. when we got it alongside, and prepared to cut in, all the chaps were able to have a rest, there were so many eager volunteers to man the windlass, not only willing but, under the able direction of their compatriots belonging to our crew, quite equal to the work of heaving in blubber. all their habitual indolence was cast aside. toiling like trojans, they made the old windlass rattle again as they spun the brakes up and down, every blanket-piece being hailed with a fresh volley of eldritch shrieks, enough to alarm a deaf and dumb asylum. with such ample aid, it was, as may be supposed a brief task to skin our prize, although the strange arrangement of the belly blubber caused us to lift some disappointing lengths. this whale has the blubber underneath the body lying in longitudinal corrugations, which, when hauled off the carcass at right angles to their direction, stretch out flat to four or five times their normal area. thus, when the cutting-blocks had reached their highest limit, and the piece was severed from the body, the folds flew together again leaving dangling aloft but a miserable square of some four or five feet, instead of a fine "blanket" of blubber twenty by five. along the edges of these rugae, as also upon the rim of the lower jaw, abundance of limpets and barnacles had attached themselves, some of the former large as a horse's hoof, and causing prodigious annoyance to the toiling carpenter, whose duty it was to keep the spades ground. it was no unusual thing for a spade to be handed in with two or three gaps in its edge half an inch deep, where they had accidentally come across one of those big pieces of flinty shell, undistinguishable from the grey substance of the belly blubber. but, in spite of these drawbacks, in less than ninety minutes the last cut was reached, the vertebra severed, and away went the great mass of meat, in tow of countless canoes, to an adjacent point, where, in eager anticipation, fires were already blazing for the coming cookery. an enormous number of natives had gathered from far and near, late arrivals continually dropping in from all points of the compass with breathless haste. no danger of going short need have troubled them, for, large as were their numbers, the supply was evidently fully equal to all demands. all night long the feast proceeded, and, even when morning dawned, busy figures were still discernible coming and going between the reduced carcass and the fires, as if determined to make an end of it before their operations ceased. chapter xxi. progress of the "humpback" season it will probably be inferred from the foregoing paragraph that we were little troubled with visits from the natives next day; but it would be doing them an injustice if i omitted to state that our various "flems" put in an appearance as usual with their daily offerings of fruit, vegetables, etc. they all presented a somewhat jaded and haggard look, as of men who had dined not wisely but too well, nor did the odour of stale whale-meat that clung to them add to their attractions. repentance for excesses or gluttony did not seem to trouble them, for they evidently considered it would have been a sin not to take with both hands the gifts the gods had so bountifully provided. still, they did not stay long, feeling, no doubt, sore need of a prolonged rest after their late arduous exertions; so, after affectionate farewells, they left us again to our greasy task of trying-out. the cow proved exceedingly fat, making us, though by no means a large specimen, fully fifty barrels of oil. the whalebone (baleen) was so short as to be not worth the trouble of curing, so, with the exception of such pieces as were useful to the "scrimshoners" for ornamenting their nicknacks, it was not preserved. on the evening of the third day the work was so far finished that we were able to go ashore for clothes-washing, which necessary process was accompanied with a good deal of fun and hilarity. in the morning cruising was resumed again. for a couple of days we met with no success, although we had a very aggravating chase after some smart bulls we fell in with, to our mutual astonishment, just as we rounded a point of the outermost island. they were lazily sunning themselves close under the lee of the cliffs, which at that point were steep-to, having a depth of about twenty fathoms close alongside. a fresh breeze was blowing, so we came round the point at a great pace, being almost among them before they had time to escape. they went away gaily along the land, not attempting to get seaward, we straining every nerve to get alongside of them. whether they were tantalizing us or not, i cannot say, but certainly it looked like it. in spite of their well-known speed, we were several times so close in their wake that the harpooners loosed the tacks of the jibs to get a clear shot; but as they did so the nimble monsters shot ahead a length or two, leaving us just out of reach. it was a fine chase while it lasted, though annoying; yet one could hardly help feeling amused at the way they wallowed along--just like a school of exaggerated porpoises. at last, after nearly two hours of the fun, they seemed to have had enough of it, and with one accord headed seaward at a greatly accelerated pace, as who should say, "well, s' long, boys; company's very pleasant and all that, but we've got important business over at fiji, and can't stay fooling around here any longer." in a quarter of an hour they were out of sight, leaving us disgusted and outclassed pursuers sneaking back again to shelter, feeling very small. not that we could have had much hope of success under the circumstances, knowing the peculiar habits of the humpback and the almost impossibility of competing with him in the open sea; but they had lured us on to forget all these things in the ardour of the chase, and then exposed our folly. then ensued a week or two of uneventful cruising, broken only by the capture of a couple of cows--one just after the fruitless chase mentioned above, and one several days later. these events, though interesting enough to us, were marked by no such deviation from the ordinary course as to make them worthy of special attention; nor do i think that the cold-blooded killing of a cow-whale, who dies patiently endeavouring to protect her young, is a subject that lends itself to eulogium. however, just when the delightful days were beginning to pall upon us, a real adventure befell us, which, had we been attending strictly to business, we should not have encountered. for a week previous we had been cruising constantly without ever seeing a spout, except those belonging to whales out at sea, whither we knew it was folly to follow them. we tried all sorts of games to while away the time, which certainly did hang heavy, the most popular of which was for the whole crew of the boat to strip, and, getting overboard, be towed along at the ends of short warps, while i sailed her. it was quite mythological--a sort of rude reproduction of neptune and his attendant tritons. at last, one afternoon as we were listlessly lolling (half asleep, except the look-out man) across the thwarts, we suddenly came upon a gorge between two cliffs that we must have passed before several times unnoticed. at a certain angle it opened, disclosing a wide sheet of water, extending a long distance ahead. i put the helm up, and we ran through the passage, finding it about a boat's length in width and several fathoms deep, though overhead the cliffs nearly came together in places. within, the scene was very beautiful, but not more so than many similar ones we had previously witnessed. still, as the place was new to us, our languor was temporarily dispelled, and we paddled along, taking in every feature of the shores with keen eyes that let nothing escape. after we had gone on in this placid manner for maybe an hour, we suddenly came to a stupendous cliff--that is, for those parts--rising almost sheer from the water for about a thousand feet. of itself it would not have arrested our attention, but at its base was a semicircular opening, like the mouth of a small tunnel. this looked alluring, so i headed the boat for it, passing through a deep channel between two reefs which led straight to the opening. there was ample room for us to enter, as we had lowered the mast; but just as we were passing through, a heave of the unnoticed swell lifted us unpleasantly near the crown of this natural arch. beneath us, at a great depth, the bottom could be dimly discerned, the water being of the richest blue conceivable, which the sun, striking down through, resolved into some most marvellous colour-schemes in the path of its rays. a delicious sense of coolness, after the fierce heat outside, saluted us as we entered a vast hall, whose roof rose to a minimum height of forty feet, but in places could not be seen at all. a sort of diffused light, weak, but sufficient to reveal the general contour of the place, existed, let in, i supposed, through some unseen crevices in the roof or walls. at first, of course, to our eyes fresh from the fierce glare outside, the place seemed wrapped in impenetrable gloom, and we dared not stir lest we should run into some hidden danger. before many minutes, however, the gloom lightened as our pupils enlarged, so that, although the light was faint, we could find our way about with ease. we spoke in low tones, for the echoes were so numerous and resonant that even a whisper gave back from those massy walls in a series of recurring hisses, as if a colony of snakes had been disturbed. we paddled on into the interior of this vast cave, finding everywhere the walls rising sheer from the silent, dark waters, not a ledge or a crevice where one might gain foothold. indeed, in some places there was a considerable overhang from above, as if a great dome whose top was invisible sprang from some level below the water. we pushed ahead until the tiny semicircle of light through which we had entered was only faintly visible; and then, finding there was nothing to be seen except what we were already witnessing, unless we cared to go on into the thick darkness, which extended apparently into the bowels of the mountain, we turned and started to go back. do what we would, we could not venture to break the solemn hush that surrounded us as if we were shut within the dome of some vast cathedral in the twilight, so we paddled noiselessly along for the exit, till suddenly an awful, inexplicable roar set all our hearts thumping fit to break our bosoms. really, the sensation was most painful, especially as we had not the faintest idea whence the noise came or what had produced it. again it filled that immense cave with its thunderous reverberations; but this time all the sting was taken out of it, as we caught sight of its author. a goodly bull-humpback had found his way in after us, and the sound of his spout, exaggerated a thousand times in the confinement of that mighty cavern, had frightened us all so that we nearly lost our breath. so far, so good; but, unlike the old nigger, though we were "doin' blame well," we did not "let blame well alone." the next spout that intruder gave, he was right alongside of us. this was too much for the semi-savage instincts of my gallant harpooner, and before i had time to shout a caution he had plunged his weapon deep into old blowhard's broad back. i should like to describe what followed, but, in the first place, i hardly know; and, in the next, even had i been cool and collected, my recollections would sound like the ravings of a fevered dream. for of all the hideous uproars conceivable, that was, i should think, about the worst. the big mammal seemed to have gone frantic with the pain of his wound, the surprise of the attack, and the hampering confinement in which he found himself. his tremendous struggles caused such a commotion that our position could only be compared to that of men shooting niagara in a cylinder at night. how we kept afloat, i do not know. some one had the gumption to cut the line, so that by the radiation of the disturbance we presently found ourselves close to the wall, and trying to hold the boat in to it with our finger-tips. would he never be quiet? we thought, as the thrashing, banging, and splashing still went on with unfailing vigour. at last, in, i suppose, one supreme effort to escape, he leaped clear of the water like a salmon. there was a perceptible hush, during which we shrank together like unfledged chickens on a frosty night; then, in a never-to-be-forgotten crash that ought to have brought down the massy roof, that mountainous carcass fell. the consequent violent upheaval of the water should have smashed the boat against the rocky walls, but that final catastrophe was mercifully spared us. i suppose the rebound was sufficient to keep us a safe distance off. a perfect silence succeeded, during which we sat speechless, awaiting a resumption of the clamour. at last abner broke the heavy silence by saying, "i doan' see the do'way any mo' at all, sir." he was right. the tide had risen, and that half-moon of light had disappeared, so that we were now prisoners for many hours, it not being at all probable that we should be able to find our way out during the night ebb. well, we were not exactly children, to be afraid of the dark, although there is considerable difference between the velvety darkness of a dungeon and the clear, fresh night of the open air. still, as long as that beggar of a whale would only keep quiet or leave the premises, we should be fairly comfortable. we waited and waited until an hour had passed, and then came to the conclusion that our friend was either dead or gone out, as he gave no sign of his presence. that being settled, we anchored the boat, and lit pipes, preparatory to passing as comfortable a night as might be under the circumstances, the only thing troubling me being the anxiety of the skipper on our behalf. presently the blackness beneath was lit up by a wide band of phosphoric light, shed in the wake of no ordinary-sized fish, probably an immense shark. another and another followed in rapid succession, until the depths beneath were all ablaze with brilliant foot-wide ribands of green glare, dazzling to the eye and bewildering to the brain. occasionally, a gentle splash or ripple alongside, or a smart tap on the bottom of the boat, warned us how thick the concourse was that had gathered below. until that weariness which no terror is proof against set in, sleep was impossible, nor could we keep our anxious gaze from that glowing inferno beneath, where one would have thought all the population of tartarus were holding high revel. mercifully, at last we sank into a fitful slumber, though fully aware of the great danger of our position. one upward rush of any of those ravening monsters, happening to strike the frail shell of our boat, and a few fleeting seconds would have sufficed for our obliteration as if we had never been. but the terrible night passed away, and once more we saw the tender, irridescent light stream into that abode of dread. as the day strengthened, we were able to see what was going on below, and a grim vision it presented. the water was literally alive with sharks of enormous size, tearing with never ceasing energy at the huge carcass of the whale lying on the bottom, who had met his fate in a singular but not unheard-of way. at that last titanic effort of his he had rushed downward with such terrific force that, striking his head on the bottom, he had broken his neck. i felt very grieved that we had lost the chance of securing him; but it was perfectly certain that before we could get help to raise him, all that would be left of his skeleton would be quite valueless to us. so with such patience as we could command we waited near the entrance until the receding ebb made it possible for us to emerge once more into the blessed light of day. i was horrified at the haggard, careworn appearance of my crew, who had all, excepting the two kanakas, aged perceptibly during that night of torment. but we lost no time in getting back to the ship, where i fully expected a severe wigging for the scrape my luckless curiosity had led me into. the captain, however, was very kind, expressing his pleasure at seeing us all safe back again, although he warned me solemnly against similar investigations in future. a hearty meal and a good rest did wonders in removing the severe effects of our adventure, so that by next morning we were all fit and ready for the days work again. it certainly seemed as if i was in for a regular series of troubles. after cruising till nearly two p.m., we fell in with the mate's boat, and were sailing quietly along side by side, when we suddenly rounded a point and ran almost on top of a bull-humpback that was basking in the beautiful sunshine. the mate's harpooner, a wonderfully smart fellow, was not so startled as to lose his chance, getting an iron well home before the animal realized what had befallen him. we had a lovely fight, lasting over an hour, in which all the marvellous agility with which this whale is gifted was exerted to the full in order to make his escape. but with the bottom not twenty fathoms away, we were sure of him. with all his supple smartness, he had none of the dogged savagery of the cachalot about him, nor did we feel any occasion to beware of his rushes, rather courting them, so as to finish the game as quickly as possible. he was no sooner dead than we hurried to secure him, and had actually succeeded in passing the tow-line through his lips, when, in the trifling interval that passed while we were taking the line aft to begin towing, he started to sink. of course it was, "let go all!" if you can only get the slightest way on a whale of this kind, you are almost certain to be able to keep him afloat, but once he begins to sink you cannot stop him. down he went, till full twenty fathoms beneath us he lay comfortably on the reef, while we looked ruefully at one another. we had no gear with us fit to raise him, and we were ten miles from the ship; evening was at hand, so our prospects of doing anything that night were faint. however, the mate decided to start off for home at once, leaving us there, but promising to send back a boat as speedily as possible with provisions and gear for the morning. there was a stiff breeze blowing, and he was soon out of sight; but we were very uncomfortable. the boat, of course, rode like a duck, but we were fully exposed to the open sea; and the mighty swell of the pacific, rolling in over those comparatively shallow grounds, sometimes looked dangerously like breaking. still, it was better than the cave, and there was a good prospect of supper. long before we expected her, back came the boat, bringing bountiful provision of yams, cold pork and fruit--a regular banquet to men who were fasting since daylight. a square meal, a comforting pipe, and the night's vigil, which had looked so formidable, no longer troubled us, although, to tell the truth, we were heartily glad when the dawn began to tint the east with pale emerald and gold. we set to work at once, getting the huge carcass to the surface without as much labour as i had anticipated. of course all hands came to the rescue. but, alas for the fruit of our labours! those hungry monsters had collected in thousands, and, to judge from what we were able to see of the body, they had reduced its value alarmingly. however, we commenced towing, and were getting along fairly well, when a long spur of reef to leeward of us, over which the sea was breaking frightfully, seemed to be stretching farther out to intercept us before we could get into smooth water. the fact soon faced us that we were in the remorseless grip of a current that set right over that reef, and against its steady stream all our efforts were the merest triviality. still, we hung on, struggling desperately to keep what we had earned, until so close to the roaring, foaming line of broken water, that one wave breaking farther out than the rest very nearly swamped us all. one blow of an axe, one twirl of the steer-oars, and with all the force we could muster we were pulling away from the very jaws of death, leaving our whale to the hungry crowds, who would make short work of him. downcast indeed, at our bad luck, we returned on board, disappointing the skipper very much with our report. like the true gentleman he was, though, recognizing that we had done our best, he did not add to the trouble by cursing us all for a set of useless trash, as his predecessor would have done; on the contrary, a few minutes after the receipt of the bad news his face was as bright as ever, his laugh as hearty as if there was no such thing as a misfortune in the world. and now i must come to what has been on my mind so long--a tragedy that, in spite of all that had gone before, and of what came after, is the most indelible of all the memories which cling round me of that eventful time. abner cushing, the vermonter had declared at different times that he should never see his native green mountain again. since the change in our commander, however, he had been another man--always silent and reserved, but brighter, happier, and with a manner so improved as to make it hard to recognize him for the same awkward, ungainly slab of a fellow that had bungled everything he put his hand to. taking stock of him quietly during our day-long leisurely cruises in the boat, i often wondered whether his mind still kept its gloomy forebodings, and brooded over his tragical life-history. i never dared to speak to him on the subject, for fear of arousing what i hoped was growing too faint for remembrance. but at times i saw him in the moonlit evenings sitting on the rail alone, steadfastly gazing down into the star-besprent waters beneath him, as if coveting their unruffled peace. two-thirds of our stay in the islands had passed away, when, for a wonder, the captain took it into his head to go up to the chief village one morning. so he retained me on board, while the other three boats left for the day's cruise as usual. one of the mate's crew was sick, and to replace him he took abner out of my boat. away they went; and shortly after breakfast-time i lowered, received the captain on board, and we started for the capital. upon our arrival there we interviewed the chief, a stout, pleasant-looking man of about fifty, who was evidently held in great respect by the natives, and had a chat with the white wesleyan missionary in charge of the station. about two p.m., after the captain's business was over, we were returning under sail, when we suddenly caught sight of two of our boats heading in towards one of the islands. we helped her with the paddles to get up to them, seeing as we neared them the two long fins of a whale close ahead of one of them. as we gazed breathlessly at the exciting scene, we saw the boat rush in between the two flippers, the harpooner at the same time darting an iron straight down. there was a whirl in the waters, and quick as thought the vast flukes of the whale rose in the air, recurving with a sidelong sweep as of some gigantic scythe. the blow shore off the bow of the attacking boat as if it had been an egg-shell. at the same moment the mate stooped, picked up the tow-line from its turn round the logger-head, and threw it forward from him. he must have unconsciously given a twist to his hand, for the line fell in a kink round abner's neck just as the whale went down with a rush. struggling, clutching at the fatal noose, the hapless man went flying out through the incoming sea, and in one second was lost to sight for ever. too late, the harpooner cut the line which attached the wreck to the retreating animal, leaving the boat free, but gunwale under. we instantly hauled alongside of the wreck and transferred her crew, all dazed and horror-stricken at the awful death of their late comrade. i saw the tears trickle down the rugged, mahogany-coloured face of the captain, and honoured him for it, but there was little time to waste in vain regrets. it was necessary to save the boat, if possible, as we were getting short of boat-repairing material; certainly we should not have been able to build a new one. so, drawing the two sound boats together, one on either side of the wreck, we placed the heavy steering oars across them from side to side. we then lifted the battered fore part upon the first oar, and with a big effort actually succeeded in lifting the whole of the boat out of water upon this primitive pontoon. then, taking the jib, we "frapped" it round the opening where the bows had been, lashing it securely in that position. several hands were told off to jump into her stern on the word, and all being ready we launched her again. the weight of the chaps in her stern-sheets cocked her bows right out of water, and in that position we towed her back to the ship, arriving safely before dusk. that evening we held a burial service, at which hundreds of natives attended with a solemnity of demeanour and expressions of sorrow that would not have been out of place at the most elaborate funeral in england or america. it was a memorable scene. the big cressets were lighted, shedding their wild glare over the dark sea, and outlining the spars against the moonless sky with startling effect. when we had finished the beautiful service, the natives, as if swayed by an irresistible impulse, broke into the splendid tune st. ann's; and i afterwards learned that the words they sang were dr. watts' unsurpassable rendering of moses' pean of praise, "o god, our help in ages past." no elaborate ceremonial in towering cathedral could begin to compare with the massive simplicity of poor abner's funeral honours, the stately hills for many miles reiterating the sweet sounds, and carrying them to the furthest confines of the group. next day was sunday, and, in pursuance of a promise given some time before, i went ashore to my "flem's" to dinner, he being confined to the house with a hurt leg. it was not by any means a festive gathering, for he was more than commonly taciturn; his daughter irene, a buxom lassie of fourteen, who waited on us, appeared to be dumb; and his wife was "in the straw." these trifling drawbacks, however, in nowise detracted from the hospitality offered. the dining-room was a large apartment furnished with leaves, the uprights of cocoa-nut tree, the walls and roof of pandanus leaf. beneath the heaps of leaves, fresh and sweet-scented, was the earth. the inner apartment, or chamber of state, had a flooring of highly-polished planks, and contained, i presume, the household gods; but as it was in possession of my host's secluded spouse, i did not enter. a couch upon a pile of leaves was hastily arranged, upon which i was bidden to seat myself, while a freshly cut cocoa-nut of enormous size was handed to me, the soft top sliced off so that i might drink its deliciously cool contents. these nuts must grow elsewhere, but i have never before or since seen any so large. when green--that is, before the meat has hardened into indigestible matter--they contain from three pints to two quarts of liquid, at once nourishing, refreshing, and palatable. the natives appeared to drink nothing else, and i never saw a drop of fresh water ashore during our stay. taking a huge knife from some hiding-place, irene handed it to her father, who at once commenced to dig in the ground by his side, while i looked on wondering and amused. presently he fished up a bundle of leaves bound with a vine-tendril, which he laid carefully aside. more digging brought to light a fine yam about three pounds in weight, which, after carefully wiping the knife on some leaves, he proceeded to peel. it was immediately evident that the yam was perfectly cooked, for it steamed as he removed the skin, revealing the inside as white as milk. some large, round leaves were laid in front of me, and the yam placed upon them. then mine host turned his attention to the bundle first unearthed, which concealed a chicken, so perfectly done that, although the bones drew out of the meat as if it had been jelly, it was full of juice and flavour; and except for a slight foreign twang, referrible, doubtless, to the leaves in which it had been enwrapped, i do not think it could have been possible to cook anything in a better way, or one more calculated to retain all the natural juices of the meat. the fowl was laid beside the yam, another nut broached; then, handing me the big knife, my "flem" bade me welcome, informing me that i saw my dinner. as nothing would induce him to join me, the idea being contrary to his notions of respect due to a guest, i was fain to fall to, and an excellent meal i made. for dessert, a basketful of such oranges freshly plucked as cannot be tasted under any other conditions, and crimson bananas, which upon being peeled, looked like curved truncheons of golden jelly, after tasting which i refused to touch anything else. a corn-cob cigarette closed the banquet, after expressing my thanks, i noticed that the pain of his leg was giving my friend considerable uneasiness, which he was stolidly enduring upon my account rather than appear discourteously anxious to get rid of me. so, with the excuse that i must needs be going, having another appointment, i left the good fellow and strolled around to the chapel, where i sat enjoying the sight of those simple-minded kanakas at their devotions till it was time to return on board. before closing this chapter, i would like, for the benefit of such of my readers who have not heard yet of kanaka cookery, to say that it is simplicity itself. a hole is scooped in the earth, in which a fire is made (of wood), and kept burning until a fair-sized heap of glowing charcoal remains. pebbles are then thrown in until the charcoal is covered. whatever is to be cooked is enveloped in leaves, placed upon the pebbles, and more leaves heaped upon it. the earth is then thrown back into the cavity, and well stamped down. a long time is, of course, needed for the viands to get cooked through; but so subtle is the mode that overdoing anything is almost an impossibility. a couple of days may pass from the time of "putting down" the joint, yet when it is dug up it will be smoking hot, retaining all its juices, tender as jelly, but, withal, as full of flavour as it is possible for cooked meat to be. no matter how large the joint is, or how tough the meat, this gentle suasion will render it succulent and tasty; and no form of civilized cookery can in the least compare with it. chapter xxii. farewell to vau vau taking it all round, our visit to the friendly islands had not been particularly fortunate up till the time of which i spoke at the conclusion of the last chapter. two-thirds of the period during which the season was supposed to last had expired, but our catch had not amounted to more than two hundred and fifty barrels of oil. whales had been undoubtedly scarce, for our ill-success on tackling bulls was not at all in consequence of our clumsiness, these agile animals being always a handful, but due to the lack of cows, which drove us to take whatever we could get, which, as has been noted, was sometimes a severe drubbing. energy and watchfulness had been manifested in a marked degree by everybody, and when the news circulated that our stay was drawing to a close, there was, if anything, an increase of zeal in the hope that we might yet make a favourable season. but none of these valuable qualities exhibited by us could make up for the lack of "fish" which was lamentably evident. it was not easy to understand why, because these islands were noted as a breeding-place for the humpbacked whale. yet for years they had not been fished, so that a plausible explanation of the paucity of their numbers as a consequence of much harassing could not be reasonably offered. still, after centuries of whale-fishing, little is known of the real habits of whales, where there is abundance of "feed," in the case of mysticeta it may be reasonably inferred that whales may be found in proportionately greater numbers. with regard to the wider-spread classes of the great marine mammalia, beyond the fact, ascertained from continued observation, that certain parts of the ocean are more favoured by them than others, there is absolutely no data to go upon as to why at times they seem to desert their usual haunts and scatter themselves far and wide. the case of the cachalot is still more difficult. all the balaenae seem to be compelled, by laws which we can only guess at, to frequent the vicinity of land possessing shallows at their breeding times, so that they may with more or less certainty be looked for in such places at the seasons which have been accurately fixed. they may be driven to seek other haunts, as was undoubtedly the case at vau vau in a great measure, by some causes unknown, but to land they must come at those times. the sperm whale, however, needs no shelter at such periods, or, at any rate, does not avail herself of any. they may often be seen in the vicinity of land where the water is deep close to, but seldom with calves. schools of cows with recently born young gambolling about them are met with at immense distances from land, showing no disposition to seek shelter either. for my part, i firmly believe that the cachalot is so terrible a foe, that the great sharks who hover round a gravid cow of the balaenae, driving her in terror to some shallow spot where she may hope to protect her young, never dare to approach a sperm cow on kidnapping errands, or any other if they can help it, until their unerring guides inform them that life is extinct. when a sperm whale is in health, nothing that inhabits the sea has any chance with him; neither does he scruple to carry the war into the enemy's country, since all is fish that comes to his net, and a shark fifteen feet in length has been found in the stomach of a cachalot. the only exception he seems to make is in the case of man. instances have several--nay, many times occurred where men have been slain by the jaws of a cachalot crushing the boat in which they were; but their death was of course incidental to the destruction of the boat. never, as far as i have been able to ascertain, has a cachalot attacked a man swimming or clinging to a piece of wreckage, although such opportunities occur innumerably. i have in another place told the story of how i once saw a combat between a bull-cachalot and so powerful a combination of enemies that even one knowing the fighting qualities of the sperm whale would have hesitated to back him to win, but the yarn will bear repetition. two "killers" and a sword-fish, all of the largest size. description of these warriors is superfluous, since they are so well known to museums and natural histories; but unless one has witnessed the charge of a xiphias, he cannot realize what a fearful foe it is. still, as a practice, these creatures leave the cachalot respectfully alone, knowing instinctively that he is not their game. upon this memorable occasion, however i guess the two orcas were starving, and they had organized a sort of forlorn hope with the xiphias as an auxiliary who might be relied upon to ensure success if it could be done. anyhow, the syndicate led off with their main force first; for while the two killers hung on the cachalot's flanks, diverting his attention, the sword-fish, a giant some sixteen feet long, launched himself at the most vulnerable part of the whale, for all the world like a whitehead torpedo. the wary eye of the whale saw the long, dark mass coming, and, like a practised pugilist, coolly swerved, taking for the nonce no notice of those worrying wolves astern. the shock came; but instead of the sword penetrating three, or maybe four feet just where the neck (if a whale has any neck) encloses the huge heart, it met the mighty, impenetrable mass of the head, solid as a block of thirty tons of india-rubber. so the blow glanced, revealing a white streak running diagonally across the eye, while the great xiphias rolled helplessly over the top of that black bastion. with a motion so rapid that the eye could scarcely follow it, the whale turned, settling withal, and, catching the momentarily motionless aggressor in the lethal sweep of those awful shears, crunched him in two halves, which writhing sections he swallowed seriatim. and the allied forces aft--what of them? well, they had been rash--they fully realized that fact, and would have fled, but one certainly found that he had lingered on the scene too long. the thoroughly-roused leviathan, with a reversal of his huge bulk that made the sea boil like a pot, brandished his tail aloft and brought it down upon the doomed "killer," making him at once the "killed." he was crushed like a shrimp under one's heel. the survivor fled--never faster--for an avalanche of living, furious flesh was behind him, and coming with enormous leaps half out of the sea every time. thus they disappeared, but i have no doubts as to the issue. of one thing i am certain--that, if any of the trio survived, they never afterwards attempted to rush a cachalot. strange to say, the sperm whale does not appear to be a fond mother. at the advent of danger she often deserts her offspring and in such cases it is hardly conceivable that she ever finds it again. it is true that she is not gifted with such long "arms" as the balaenae wherewith to cuddle her young one to her capacious bosom while making tracks from her enemies; nor is she much "on the fight," not being so liberally furnished with jaw as the fierce and much larger bull--for this is the only species of whale in which there exists a great disproportion between the sexes in point of size. such difference as may obtain between the mysticeta is slightly in favour of the female. i never heard of a cow-cachalot yielding more than fifty barrels of oil; but i have both heard of, and seen, bulls carrying one hundred and fifty. one individual taken by us down south was seventy feet long, and furnished us with more than the latter amount; but i shall come to him by-and-by. just one more point before leaving this (to me) fascinating subject for the present. to any one studying the peculiar configuration of a cachalot's mouth, it would appear a difficult problem how the calf could suck. certainly it puzzled me more than a little. but, when on the "line" grounds we got among a number of cows one calm day, i saw a little fellow about fifteen feet long, apparently only a few days old, in the very act. the mother lay on one side, with the breast nearly at the waters edge; while the calf, lying parallel to its parent, with its head in the same direction, held the teat sideways in the angle of its jaw, with its snout protruding from the surface. although we caught several cow-humpbacks with newly born calves, i never had an opportunity of seeing them suck. gradually our pleasant days at vau vau drew to a close. so quiet and idyllic had the life been, so full of simple joys, that most of us, if not all, felt a pang at the thought of our imminent departure from the beautiful place. profitable, in a pecuniary sense, the season had certainly failed to be, but that was the merest trifle compared with the real happiness and peace enjoyed during our stay. even the terrible tragedy which had taken one of our fellows from us could not spoil the actual enjoyment of our visit, sad and touching as the event undoubtedly was. there was always, too, a sufficiently arduous routine of necessary duties to perform, preventing us from degenerating into mere lotus eaters in that delicious afternoon-land. nor even to me, friendless nomad as i was, did the thought ever occur, "i will return no more." but these lovely days spent in softly gliding over the calm, azure depths, bathed in golden sunlight, gazing dreamily down at the indescribable beauties of the living reefs, feasting daintily on abundance of never-cloying fruit, amid scenes of delight hardly to be imagined by the cramped mind of the town dweller; islands, air, and sea all shimmering in an enchanted haze, and silence scarcely broken by the tender ripple of the gently-parted waters before the boat's steady keel--though these joys have all been lost to me, and i in "populous city pent" endure the fading years, i would not barter the memory of them for more than i can say, so sweet it is to me. and, then, our relations with the natives had been so perfectly amicable, so free from anything to regret. perhaps this simple statement will raise a cynical smile upon the lips of those who know tahati, the new hebrides, and kindred spots with all their savage, bestial orgies of alternate unbridled lust and unnamable cruelty. let it be so. for my part, i rejoice that i have no tale of weeks of drunkenness, of brutal rape, treacherous murder, and almost unthinkable torture to tell. for of such is the paradise of the beach-comber, and the hell of the clean man. not that i have been able to escape it altogether. when i say that i once shipped, unwittingly, as sailing-master of a little white schooner in noumea, bound to apia, finding when too late that she was a "blackbirder"--"labour vessel," the wise it call--nothing more will be needed to convince the initiated that i have moved in the "nine circles" of polynesia. some time before the day fixed for our departure, we were busy storing the gifts so liberally showered upon us by our eager friends. hundreds of bunches of bananas, many thousands of oranges, yams, taro, chillies, fowls, and pigs were accumulated, until the ship looked like a huge market-boat. but we could not persuade any of the natives to ship with us to replace those whoso contract was now expiring. samuela and polly were, after much difficulty, prevailed upon by me to go with us to new zealand, much to my gratification; but still we were woefully short-handed, at last, seeing that there was no help for it, the skipper decided to run over to futuna, or horn island, where he felt certain of obtaining recruits without any trouble. he did so most unwillingly, as may well be believed, for the newcomers would need much training, while our present kanaka auxiliaries were the smartest men in the ship. the slop-chest was largely drawn upon, to the credit of the crew, who wished in some tangible way to show their appreciation of the unremitting kindness shown them by their dusky friends. not a whisper had been uttered by any native as to desire of remuneration for what he had given. if they expected a return, they certainly exercised great control over themselves in keeping their wishes quiet. but when they received the clothing, all utterly unsuited to their requirements as it was, their beaming faces eloquently proclaimed the reality of their joy. heavy woollen shirts, thick cloth trousers and jackets, knitted socks; but acceptable beyond all was a pilot-suit--warm enough for the channel in winter. happy above all power of expression was he who secured it. with an eared cloth cap and a pair of half boots, to complete his preposterous rig, no bond street exquisite could feel more calmly conscious of being a well-dressed man than he. from henceforth he would be the observed of all observers at chapel on sunday, exciting worldly desires and aspirations among his cooler but coveting fellow-worshippers. the ladies fared very badly, until the skipper, with a twinkling eye, announced that he had "dug up" some rolls of "cloth" (calico), which he was prepared to supply us with at reasonable rates. being of rather pretty pattern, it went off like hot pies, and as the "fathoms" of gaudy, flimsy material were distributed to the delighted fafines, their shrill cries of gratitude were almost deafening. inexorable time brought round the morning of our departure. willing hands lifted our anchor, and hoisted the sails, so that we had nothing to do but look on. a scarcely perceptible breeze, stealing softly over the tree-tops, filled our upper canvas, sparing us the labour of towing her out of the little bay where we had lain so long, and gradually wafted us away from its lovely shores, amid the fast-flowing tears of the great crowd. with multitudinous cries of "ofa, al-ofa, papalang" ringing in our ears ("good-bye; good-bye, white man"), we rounded the point, and, with increasing pace, bore away through the outlying islands for the open sea. there was a strong trade blowing, making the old barky caper like a dancing-master, which long unfamiliar motion almost disagreed with some of us, after our long quiet. under its hastening influence we made such good time that before dinner vau vau had faded into nothingness, mingling like the clouds with the soft haze on the horizon, from henceforth only a memory. we were not a very cheerful crowd that night, most of us being busy with his own reflections. i must confess that i felt far greater sorrow at leaving vau vau than ever i did at leaving england; because by the time i was able to secure a berth, i have usually drunk pretty deep of the bitter cup of the "outward bounder," than whom there is no more forlorn, miserable creature on earth. no one but the much abused boarding-master will have anything to do with him, and that worthy is generally careful to let him know that he is but a hanger-on, a dependant on sufferance for a meal, and that his presence on shore is an outrage. as for the sailors' homes, i have hardly patience to speak of them. i know the sailor is usually a big baby that wants protecting against himself, and that once within the four walls of the institution he is safe; but right there commendation must end. why are good folks ashore systematically misled into the belief that the sailor is an object of charity, and that it is necessary to subscribe continually and liberally to provide him with food and shelter when ashore? most of the contributors would be surprised to know that the cost of board and lodging at the "home" is precisely the same as it is outside, and much higher than a landsman of the same grade can live for in better style. with the exception of the sleeping accommodation, most men prefer the boarding-house, where, if they preserve the same commercial status which is a sine qua non at the "home," they are treated like gentlemen; but in what follows lies the essential difference, and the reason for this outburst of mine, smothered in silence for years. an "outward bounder"--that is, a man whose money is exhausted and who is living upon the credit; of his prospective advance of pay--is unknown at the "home." no matter what the condition of things is in the shipping world; though the man may have fought with energy to get his discharge accepted among the crowd at the "chain-locker;" though he be footsore and weary with "looking for a ship," when his money is done, out into the street he must go, if haply he may find a speculative boarding-master to receive him. this act, although most unlikely in appearance, is often performed; and though the boarding-master, of course, expects to recoup himself out of the man's advance note, it is none the less as merciful as the action of the "home" authorities is merciless. of course a man may go to the "straw house," or, as it is grandiloquently termed, the "destitute seaman's asylum," where for a season he will be fed on the refuse from the "home," and sheltered from the weather. but the ungrateful rascals do not like the "straw house," and use very bad language about it. the galling thing about the whole affair is that the "sailors' home" figures in certain official publications as a charity, which must be partially supported by outside contributions. it may be a charitable institution, but it certainly is not so to the sailor, who pays fully for everything he receives. the charity is bestowed upon a far different class of people to merchant jack. let it be granted that a man is sober and provident, always getting a ship before his money is all gone, he will probably be well content at the home, although very few seamen like to be reminded ashore of their sea routine, as the manner of the home is. if the institution does not pay a handsome dividend, with its clothing shops and refreshment bars, as well as the boarding-house lousiness on such a large scale, only one inference can be fairly drawn--there must be something radically wrong with the management. after this burst of temper, perhaps i had better get back to the subject in hand. it was, i suppose, in the usual contrary nature of things that, while we were all in this nearly helpless condition, one evening just before sunset, along comes a sperm whale. now, the commonest prudence would have suggested letting him severely alone, since we were not only short-handed, but several of our crew were completely crippled by large boils; but it would have been an unprecedented thing to do while there was any room left in the hold. consequently we mustered the halt and the lame, and manned two boats--all we could do--leaving the almost useless cripples to handle the ship. not to displace the rightful harpooner, i took an oar in one of them, headed by the captain. at first my hopes were high that we should not succeed in reaching the victim before dark, but i was grievously disappointed in this. just as the whale was curving himself to sound, we got fairly close, and the harpooner made a "pitch-pole" dart; that is, he hurled his weapon into the air, where it described a fine curve, and fell point downward on the animal's back just as he was disappearing. he stopped his descent immediately, and turned savagely to see what had struck him so unexpectedly. at that moment the sun went down. after the first few minutes' "kick-up," he settled down for a steady run, but not before the mate got good and fast to him likewise. away we went at a rare rate into the gathering gloom of the fast-coming night. now, had it been about the time of full moon or thereabouts, we should doubtless have been able, by the flood of molten light she sends down in those latitudes, to give a good account of our enemy; but alas for us, it was not. the sky overhead was a deep blue-black, with steely sparkles of starlight scattered all over it, only serving to accentuate the darkness. after a short time our whale became totally invisible, except for the phosphoric glare of the water all around him as he steadily ploughed his way along. there was a good breeze blowing, which soon caused us all to be drenched with the spray, rendering the general effect of things cold as well as cheerless. needless to say, we strove with all our might to get alongside of him, so that an end might be put to so unpleasant a state of affairs; but in our crippled condition it was not at all easy to do so. we persevered, however, and at last managed to get near enough for the skipper to hurl a lance into the brightness of which the whale formed the centre. it must have touched him, for he gave a bound forward and disappeared. we suddenly came to a standstill, but in a moment were whirled round as if on a pivot, and away we went in the opposite direction. he had turned a complete somersault in the water beneath us, giving us a "grue" as we reflected what would have happened had he then chosen to come bounding to the surface. this manoeuvre seemed to please him mightily, for he ran at top speed several minutes, and then repeated it. this time he was nearly successful in doing us some real harm, for it was now so dark that we could hardly see the other boat's form as she towed along parallel to us about three or four lengths away. the two boats swung round in a wide circle, rushing back at each other out of the surrounding darkness as if bent on mutual destruction. only by the smartest manipulation was a collision avoided, which, as each boat's bows bristled with lances and harpoons, would have been a serious matter for some of us. however, the whale did not have it all his own way, for the skipper, having charged his bomb-gun, patiently laid for him, and fired. it was rather a long shot, but it reached him, as we afterwards ascertained, making an ugly wound in the small near his tail. its effect upon him was startling and immediate. he rushed off at so furious a rate dead to windward that for a great while we had all our work cut out to keep her free by baling. the sea had risen a little, and as we leapt from one wave to another the spray flew over us in an almost continuous cloud. clearly our situation was a parlous one. we could not get near him; we were becoming dangerously enfeebled, and he appeared to be gaining strength instead of losing it. besides all this, none of us could have the least idea of how the ship now bore from us, our only comfort being that, by observation of the cross, we were not making a direct course, but travelling on the circumference of an immense circle. whatever damage we had done to him so far was evidently quite superficial, for, accustomed as we were to tremendous displays of vigour on the part of these creatures, this specimen fairly surprised us. the time could only be guessed at; but, judging from our feelings, it might have been two or three nights long. still, to all things an end, so in the midst of our dogged endurance of all this misery we felt the pace give, and took heart of grace immediately. calling up all our reserves, we hauled up on to him, regardless of pain or weariness. the skipper and mate lost no opportunities of lancing, once they were alongside, but worked like heroes, until a final plunging of the fast-dying leviathan warned us to retreat. up he went out of the glittering foam into the upper darkness, while we held our breath at the unique sight of a whale breaching at night. but when he fell again the effect was marvellous. green columns of water arose on either side of the descending mass as if from the bowels of the deep, while their ghostly glare lit up the encircling gloom with a strange, weird radiance, which reflected in our anxious faces, made us look like an expedition from the flying dutchman. a short spell of gradually quieting struggle succeeded as the great beast succumbed, until all was still again, except the strange, low surge made by the waves as they broke over the bank of flesh passively obstructing their free sweep. while the final touch was being given to our task--i.e. the hole-boring through the tail-fin--all hands lay around in various picturesque attitudes, enjoying a refreshing smoke, care forgetting. while thus pleasantly employed, sudden death, like a bolt from the blue, leapt into our midst in a terrible form. the skipper was labouring hard at his task of cutting the hole for the tow-line, when without warning the great fin swung back as if suddenly released from tremendous tension. happily for us, the force of the blow was broken by its direction, as it struck the water before reaching the boat's side, but the upper lobe hurled the boat-spade from the captain's hands back into our midst, where it struck the tub oarsman, splitting his head in two halves. the horror of the tragedy, the enveloping darkness, the inexplicable revivifying of the monster, which we could not have doubted to be dead, all combined to stupefy and paralyze us for the time. not a sound was heard in our boat, though the yells of inquiry from our companion craft arose in increasing volume. it was but a brief accession of energy, only lasting two or three minutes, when the whale collapsed finally. having recovered from our surprise, we took no further chances with so dangerous an opponent, but bored him as full of holes as a colander. mournful and miserable were the remaining hours of our vigil. we sat around poor miguel's corpse with unutterable feelings, recalling all the tragical events of the voyage, until we reached the nadir of despondency. with the rosy light of morning came more cheerful feelings, heightened by the close proximity of the ship, from which it is probable we had never been more than ten miles distant during the whole night. she had sighted us with the first light, and made all sail down to us, all hands much relieved at our safety. we were so sorely exhausted that we could hardly climb on board; and how we hoisted the boats i hardly know. the whale was secured by the efforts of the cripples we had left on board, while we wayfarers, after a good meal, were allowed four hours' sound, sweet sleep. when we returned to our duties, the first thing that awaited us was the burial of the poor body. very reverently were the last sad offices performed, the flag hoisted half-mast, the bell solemnly tolled. then we gathered at the gangway while the eternal words of hope and consolation were falteringly read, and with a sudden plunge the long, straight parcel slid off the hatch into the vast tomb ever ready for the dead sailor. our dead out of sight, work claimed all our attention and energy, wiping with its benificent influence all gloomy musings over the inevitable, and replacing them with the pressing needs of life. the whale was not a large one, but peculiar to look at. like the specimen that fought so fiercely with us in the indian ocean, its jaw was twisted round in a sort of hook, the part that curved being so thickly covered with long barnacles as to give the monster a most eerie look. one of the portuguese expressed his decided opinion that we had caught davy jones himself, and that, in consequence, we should have no more accidents. it was impossible not to sympathize with the conceit, for of all the queer-looking monstrosities ever seen, this latest acquisition of ours would have taken high honours. such malformations of the lower mandible of the cachalot have often been met with, and variously explained; but the most plausible opinion seems to be that they have been acquired when the animal is very young and its bones not yet indurated, since it is impossible to believe that an adult could suffer such an accident without the broken jaw drooping instead of being turned on one side. the yield of oil was distressingly scanty, the whale being what is technically known as a "dry skin." the blubber was so hard and tough that we could hardly cut it up for boiling, and altogether it was one of the most disappointing affairs we had yet dealt with. this poorness of blubber was, to my mind, undoubtedly due to the difficulty the animal must have had in obtaining food with his disabling defect of jaw. whatever it was, we were heartily glad to see the last of the beast, fervently hoping we should never meet with another like him. during the progress of these melancholy operations we had drifted a considerable distance out of our course, no attention being paid, as usual, to the direction of our drift until the greasy work was done. once the mess was cleared away, we hauled up again for our objective--futuna--which, as it was but a few hours' sail distant, we hoped to make the next day. chapter xxiii. at futuna, recruiting sure enough, in accordance with our expectations, break of day revealed the twin masses of futuna ahead, some ten or fifteen miles away. with the fine, steady breeze blowing, by breakfast-time we were off the entrance to a pretty bight, where sail was shortened and the ship hove-to. captain count did not intend to anchor, for reasons of his own, he being assured that there was no need to do so. nor was there. although the distance from the beach was considerable, we could see numbers of canoes putting off, and soon they began to arrive. now, some of the south sea islands are famous for the elegance and seaworthiness of their canoes; nearly all of them have a distinctly definite style of canoe-building; but here at futuna was a bewildering collection of almost every type of canoe in the wide world. dugouts, with outriggers on one side, on both sides, with none at all; canoes built like boats, like prams, like irregular egg-boxes, many looking like the first boyish attempt to knock something together that would float; and--not to unduly prolong the list by attempted classification of these unclassed craft--coracles. yes; in that lonely pacific island, among that motley crowd of floating nondescripts, were specimens of the ancient coracle of our own islands, constructed in exactly the same way; that is, of wicker-work, covered with some waterproof substance, whether skin or tarpaulin. but the ingenious kanaka, not content with his coracles, had gone one better, and copied them in dugouts of solid timber. the resultant vessel was a sort of cross between a butcher's tray and a wash-basin-- "a thing beyond conception: such a wretched wherry, perhaps ne'er ventured on a pond, or crossed a ferry." the proud possessors of the coracles, both wicker and wood, must have been poor indeed, for they did not even own a paddle, propelling their basins through the water with their hands. it may be imagined what a pace they put on! at a little distance they were very puzzling, looking more like a water-beetle grown fat and lazy than aught else. and so, in everything floatable, the whole male population of that part of the coast came to visit us. we were speedily the centre of a great crowd of canoes, some of which were continually capsizing and spilling their occupants, who took no more notice of such incidents than one would of a sneeze. underneath a canoe, or on top, made but little difference to these amphibious creatures. they brought nothing with them to trade; in fact, few of their vessels were capable of carrying anything that could not swim and take care of itself. as they came on board, each crossed himself more or less devoutly, revealing the teaching of a roman catholic mission; and as they called to one another, it was not hard to recognize, even in their native garb, such names as erreneo (irenaeus), al'seo (aloysius), and other favourite cognomens of saints. a laughing chattering good-tempered crowd they were--just like a bevy of children breaking up, and apparently destitute of the slightest sense of responsibility. they spoke a totally different dialect, or maybe language, to that of vau vau, for it was only an isolated word here and there that samuela could make out. but presently, going forward through the crowd that thronged every part of the deck, i saw a man leaning nonchalantly against the rail by the fore-rigging, who struck me at once as being an american negro. the most casual observer would not have mistaken him for a kanaka of those latitudes, though he might have passed as a papuan. he was dressed in all the dignity of a woollen shirt, with a piece of fine "tapa" for a waistcloth, feet and legs bare. around his neck was a necklace composed of a number of strings of blue and white beads plaited up neatly, and carrying as a pendant a george shilling. going up to him, i looked at the coin, and said, "belitani money?" "oh yes," he said, "that's a shilling of old georgey fourf," in perfectly good english, but with an accent which quite confirmed my first idea. i at once invited him aft to see the skipper, who was very anxious to find an interpreter among the noisy crowd, besides being somewhat uneasy at having so large a number on board. to the captain's interrogations he replied that he was "tui tongoa"--that is, king of tonga, an island a little distance away--but that he was at present under a cloud, owing to the success of a usurper, whom he would reckon with by-and-by. in the mean time he would have no objection to engaging himself with us as a harpooner, and would get us as many men as we wanted, selecting from among the crowd on board, fellows that would, he knew, be useful to us. a bargain was soon struck, and tui entered upon his self-imposed task. it was immediately evident that he had a bigger contract on hand than he had imagined. the natives, who had previously held somewhat aloof from him in a kind of deferential respect, no sooner got wind of the fact that we needed some of them than they were seized with a perfect frenzy of excitement. there were, i should think, at least a hundred and fifty of them on board at the time. of this crowd, every member wanted to be selected, pushing his candidature with voice and gesture as vigorously as he knew how. the din was frightful. tui, centre of the frantic mob, strove vainly to make himself heard, to reduce the chaos to some sort of order, but for a great while it was a hopeless attempt. at last, extricating himself from his importunate friends, he gained the captain's side. panting, almost breathless, with sweat streaming off him, he gasped out, "oh, cap'n, dese yer darn niggers all gone mad! dribe 'em oberbord; clar 'em out, 'n i'll stan' by to grab some o' der likely ones as de res' scatter." "but what about the wages?" said the skipper. "i'm not goin' ter give 'em whatever they like to ask." "you leab it ter me, cap'n. i bet you'll be satisfy. anyhow, dishyers no time fer tradin'; de blame niggers all off dere coco-nuts. anybody fink you'se payin' off 'stead o' shippin', an' deyse all afraid dey won't get 'nough." unpleasant as the job was to all of us, it had to be done; so we armed ourselves with ropes'-ends, which we flourished threateningly, avoiding where possible any actual blows. many sprang overboard at once, finding their way ashore or to their canoes as best they could. the majority, however, had to swim, for we now noticed that, either in haste or from carelessness, they had in most cases omitted to fasten their canoes securely when coming alongside, so that many of them were now far out to sea. the distance to shore being under three miles, that mattered little, as far as their personal safety was concerned. this summary treatment was eminently successful, quiet being rapidly restored, so that tui was able to select a dozen men, who he declared were the best in the islands for our purpose. although it seems somewhat premature to say so, the general conduct of the successful candidates was so good as to justify tui fully in his eulogium. perhaps his presence had something to do with it? we now had all that we came for, so that we were anxious to be off. but it was a job to get rid of the visitors still remaining on board. they stowed themselves away in all manner of corners, in some cases ludicrously inadequate as hiding-places, and it was not until we were nearly five miles from the land that the last of them plunged into the sea and struck out for home. it was very queer. ignorant of our destination, of what would be required of them; leaving a land of ease and plenty for a certainty of short commons and hard work, without preparation or farewells, i do not think i ever heard of such a strange thing before. had their home been famine or plague-stricken, they could not have evinced greater eagerness to leave it, or to face the great unknown. as we drew farther off the island the wind freshened, until we had a good, whole-sail breeze blustering behind us, the old ship making, with her usual generous fuss, a tremendous rate of seven knots an hour. our course was shaped for the southward, towards the bay of islands, new zealand. in that favourite haunt of the south-seaman we were to wood and water, find letters from home (those who had one), and prepare for the stormy south. obviously the first thing to be done for our new shipmates was to clothe them. when they arrived on board, all, with the single exception of tui, were furnished only with a "maro" of "tapa," scanty in its proportions, but still enough to wrap round their loins. but when they were accepted for the vacant positions on board, they cast off even the slight apology for clothing which they had worn, flinging the poor rags to their retreating and rejected compatriots. thus they were strutting about, in native majesty unclad, which, of course, could not be endured among even so unconventional a crowd as we were. so they were mustered aft, and, to their extravagant delight, a complete rig-out was handed to each of them, accompanied by graphic instructions how to dress themselves. very queer they looked when dressed, but queerer still not long afterwards, when some of them, galled by the unaccustomed restraint of the trousers, were seen prowling about with shirts tied round their waists by the sleeves, and pants twisted turban-wise about their heads. tui was called, and requested to inform them that they must dress properly, after the fashion of the white man, for that any impromptu improvements upon our method of clothes-wearing could not be permitted. as they were gentle, tractable fellows, they readily obeyed, and, though they must have suffered considerably, there were no further grounds for complaint on the score of dress. it has been already noticed that they were roman catholics--all except tui, who from his superior mental elevation looked down upon their beliefs with calm contempt, although really a greater heathen than any of them had ever been. it was quite pathetic to see how earnestly they endeavoured to maintain the form of worship to which they had been accustomed, though how they managed without their priest, i could not find out. every evening they had prayers together, accompanied by many crossings and genuflexions, and wound up by the singing of a hymn in such queer latin that it was almost unrecognizable. after much wondering i did manage to make out "o salutaris hostia!" and "tantum ergo," but not until their queer pronunciation of consonants had become familiar. some of the hymns were in their own tongue, only one of which i call now remember. phonetically, it ran thus-- "mah-lee-ah, kollyeea leekee; obselloh mo mallamah. alofah, keea ma toh; fah na oh, mah lah ee ah"-- which i understood to be a native rendering of "o stella maris!" it was sung to the well-known "processional" in good time, and on that account, i suppose, fixed itself in my memory. whenever any of them were ordered aloft, they never failed to cross themselves before taking to the rigging, as if impressed with a sense of their chance of not returning again in safety. to me was given the congenial task of teaching them the duties required, and i am bound to admit that they were willing, biddable, and cheerful learners. another amiable trait in their characters was especially noticeable: they always held everything in common. no matter how small the portion received by any one, it was scrupulously shared with the others who lacked, and this subdivision was often carried to ludicrous lengths. as there was so reason to hurry south, we, took a short cruise on the vasquez ground, more, i think, for the purpose of training our recruits than anything else. as far as the results to our profit were concerned, we might almost as well have gone straight on, for we only took one small cow-cachalot. but the time spent thus cruising was by no means wasted. before we left finally for new zealand, every one of those kanakas was as much at home in the whale-boats as he would have been in a canoe. of course they were greatly helped by their entire familiarity with the water, which took from them all that dread of being drowned which hampers the white "greenie" so sorely, besides which, the absolute confidence they had in our prowess amongst the whales freed them from any fear on that head. tui proved himself to be a smart harpooner, and was chosen for the captain's boat. during our conversations, i was secretly amused to hear him allude to himself as sam, thinking how little it accorded with his soi-disant kanaka origin. he often regaled me with accounts of his royal struggles to maintain his rule, all of which narrations i received with a goodly amount of reserve, though confirmed in some particulars by the kanakas, when i became able to converse with them. but i was hardly prepared to find, as i did many years after, upon looking up some detail in findlay's "south pacific directory," this worthy alluded to as "the celebrated sam," in a brief account of futuna. there he was said to be king of the twin isles; so i suppose he found means to oust his rival, and resume his sovereignty; though, how an american negro, as sam undoubtedly was, ever managed to gain such a position, remains to me an unfathomable mystery. certainly he did not reveal any such masterful attributes as one would have expected in him, while he served as harpooner on board the cachalot. gradually we crept south, until one morning we sighted the towering mass of sunday island, the principal member of the small kermadec group, which lies nearly on the prime meridian of one hundred and eighty degrees, and but a short distance north of the extremity of new zealand. we had long ago finished the last of our fresh provisions, fish had been very scarce, so the captain seized the opportunity to give us a run ashore, and at the same time instructed us to do such foraging as we could. it was rumoured that there were many wild pigs to be found, and certainly abundance of goats; but if both these sources of supply failed, we could fall back on fish, of which we were almost sure to get a good haul. the island is a stupendous mass of rock, rising sheer from the waves, in some places to a height of fifteen hundred feet. these towering cliffs are clothed with verdure, large trees clinging to their precipitous sides in a marvellous way. except at one small bight, known as denham bay, the place is inaccessible, not only from the steepness of its cliffs, but because, owing to its position, the gigantic swell of the south pacific assails those immense bastions with a force and volume that would destroy instantly any vessel that unfortunately ventured too near. denham bay, however, is in some measure protected by reefs of scattered boulders, which break the greatest volume of the oncoming rollers. within those protecting barriers, with certain winds, it is possible to effect a landing with caution; but even then no tyro in boat-handling should venture to do so, as the experiment would almost certainly be fatal to boat and crew. we hove-to off the little bay, the waters of which looked placid enough for a pleasure-party, lowered two boats well furnished with fishing gear and such other equipment as we thought would be needed, and pulled away for the landing-place. as we drew near the beach, we found that, in spite of the hindrance to the ocean swell afforded by the reefs, it broke upon the beach in rollers of immense size. in order to avoid any mishap, then, we turned the boats' heads to seaward, and gently backed towards the beach, until a larger breaker than usual came thundering in. as it rushed towards us, we pulled lustily to meet it, the lovely craft rising to its foaming crest like sea-birds. then, as soon as we were on its outer slope, we reversed the stroke again, coming in on its mighty shoulders at racing speed. the instant our keels touched the beach we all leapt out, and exerting every ounce of strength we possessed, ran the boats up high and dry before the next roller had time to do more than hiss harmlessly around our feet. it was a task of uncommon difficulty, for the shore was wholly composed of loose lava and pumice-stone grit, into which we sank ankle-deep at every step, besides being exceedingly steep. we managed, however, to escape without any mishap, for the drenching was a boon to our burnt-up skins. off we started along the level land, which, as far as i could judge, extended inland for perhaps a mile and a half by about two miles wide. from this flat shelf the cliffs rose perpendicularly, as they did from the sea. up their sides were innumerable goat-tracks, upon some of which we could descry a few of those agile creatures climbing almost like flies. the plateau was thickly wooded, many of the trees having been fruit-bearing once, but now, much to our disappointment, barren from neglect. a ruined house, surrounded by other vestiges of what had once been a homestead, stood in the middle of this piece of land. feeling curious to know what the history of this isolated settlement might be, i asked the mate if he knew anything of it. he told me that an american named halstead, with his family, lived here for years, visited only by an occasional whaler, to whom they sold such produce as they might have and be able to spare at the time. what their previous history had been, or why they thus chose to cut themselves off from the world, he did not know; but they seemed contented enough with their tiny kingdom, nor had any wish to leave it. but it came to pass that one night they felt the sure and firm-set earth trembling convulsively beneath their feet. rushing out of their house, they saw the heavens bespread with an awful pall of smoke, the under-side of which was glowing with the reflected fires of some vast furnace. their terror was increased by a smart shower of falling ashes and the reverberations of subterranean thunders. at first they thought of flight in their boat, not reckoning the wide stretch of sea which rolled between them and the nearest land, but the height and frequency of the breakers then prevailing made that impossible. their situation was pitiable in the extreme. during the years of peace and serenity they had spent here, no thought of the insecurity of their tenure had troubled them. though they had but been dwellers on the threshold of the mountain, as it were, and any extension of their territory impossible by reason of the insurmountable barrier around them, they had led an untroubled life, all unknowing of the fearful forces beneath their feet. but now they found the foundations of the rocks beneath breaking up; that withering, incessant shower of ashes and scoriae destroyed all their crops; the mild and delicate air changed into a heavy, sulphurous miasma; while overhead the beneficent face of the bright-blue sky had become a horrible canopy of deadly black, about which played lurid coruscations of infernal fires. what they endured throughout those days and nights of woe, could never be told. they fled from the home they had reared with such abundance of loving labour, taking refuge in a cave; for not even the knowledge that the mountain itself seemed to be in the throes of dissolution could entirely destroy their trust in those apparently eternal fastnesses. here their eldest son died, worried to death by incessant terror. at last a passing whaler, remembering them and seeing the condition of things, had the humanity and courage to stand in near enough to see their agonized signals of distress. all of them, except the son buried but a day or two before, were safely received and carried away, leaving the terrible mountain to its solitude. as i listened, i almost involuntarily cast my eyes upwards; nor was i at all surprised to see far overhead a solitary patch of smoky cloud, which i believe to have been a sure indication that the volcano was still liable to commence operations at any time. so far, we had not happened upon any pigs, or goats either, although we saw many indications of the latter odoriferous animal. there were few sea-birds to be seen, but in and out among the dense undergrowth ran many short-legged brown birds, something like a partridge--the same, i believe, as we afterwards became familiar with in stewart's island by the name of "maori hens." they were so tame and inquisitive that we had no difficulty in securing a few by the simple process of knocking them over with sticks. from the main branch of a large tree hung a big honey-comb, out of which the honey was draining upon the earth. around it buzzed a busy concourse of bees, who appeared to us so formidable that we decided to leave them to the enjoyment of their sweet store, in case we should invite an attack. so far, our rambling had revealed nothing of any service to us; but just then, struck by the appearance of a plant which was growing profusely in a glade we were passing over, i made bold to taste one of the leaves. what the botanical name of the vegetable is, i do not know; but, under the designation of "maori cabbage," it is well known in new zealand. it looks like a lettuce, running to seed; but it tastes exactly like young turnip-tops, and is a splendid anti-scorbutic. what its discovery meant to us, i can hardly convey to any one who does not know what an insatiable craving for potatoes and green vegetables possesses seamen when they have for long been deprived of these humble but necessary articles of food. under the circumstances, no "find" could have given us greater pleasure--that is, in the food line--than this did. taking it all round, however, the place as a foraging ground was not a success. we chased a goat of very large size, and beard voluminous as a rabbi's, into a cave, which may have been the one the halsteads took shelter in, for we saw no other. one of the kanakas volunteered to go in after him with a line, and did so. the resultant encounter was the best bit of fun we had had for many a day. after a period of darksome scuffling within, the entangled pair emerged, fiercely wrestling, billy being to all appearance much the fresher of the two. fair play seemed to demand that we should let them fight it out; but, sad to say, the other kanakas could not see things in that light, and billy was soon despatched. rather needless killing, too; for no one, except at starvation-point, could have eaten the poor remains of leathery flesh that still decorated that weather-beaten frame. but this sort of thing was tiring and unprofitable. the interest of the place soon fizzled out, when it was found there was so little worth taking away; so, as the day was getting on, it was decided to launch off and start fishing. in a few minutes we were afloat again, and anchored, in about four fathoms, in as favourable a spot for our sport as ever i saw. fish swarmed about us of many sorts, but principally of the "kauwhai," a kind of mullet very plentiful about auckland, and averaging five or six pounds. much to my annoyance, we had not been able to get any bait, except a bit of raw salt-pork, which hardly any fish but the shark tribe will look at. had i known or thought of it, a bit of goat would have been far more attractive. however, as there was no help for it, we baited up and started. "nary nibble ermong 'em!" growled sam, as we sat impatiently waiting for a bite. when we hauled up to see what was wrong, fish followed the hook up in hundreds, letting us know plainly as possible that they only wanted something tasty. it was outrageous, exasperating beyond measure! at last samuela grew so tired of it that he seized his harpoon, and hurled it into the middle of a company of kauwhai that were calmly nosing around the bows. by the merest chance he managed to impale one of them upon the broad point. it was hardly in the boat before i had seized it, scaled it, and cut it into neat little blocks. all hands rebaited with it, and flung out again. the change was astounding. up they came, two at a time, dozens and dozens of them kauwhai, cavalle, yellow-tail, schnapper--lovely fish of delicious flavour and goodly size. then one of us got a fish which made him yell, "shark! shark!" with all his might. he had a small line of american cotton, staunch as copper wire, but dreadfully cutting to the hands. when he took a turn round the logger-head, the friction of the running line cut right into the white oak, but the wonderful cord and hook still held their own. at last the monster yielded, coming in at first inch by inch, then more rapidly, till raised in triumph above the gunwhale--a yellow-tail six feet long. i have caught this splendid fish (elagatis bipinnulatis) many times before and since then, but never did i see such a grand specimen as this one--no, not by thirty or forty pounds. then i got a giant cavalle. his broad, shield-like body blazed hither and thither as i struggled to ship him, but it was long ere he gave in to superior strength and excellence of line and hook. meanwhile, the others had been steadily increasing our cargo, until, feeling that we had quite as much fish as would suffice us, besides being really a good load, i suggested a move towards the ship. we were laying within about half a mile of the shore, where the extremity of the level land reached the cliffs. up one of the well-worn tracks a fine, fat goat was slowly creeping, stopping every now and then to browse upon the short herbage that clung to the crevices of the rock. without saying a word, polly the kanaka slipped over the side, and struck out with swift overhead strokes for the foot of the cliff. as soon as i saw what, he was after, i shouted loudly for him to return, but he either could not or would not hear me. the fellow's seal-like ability as a swimmer was, of course, well known to me, but i must confess i trembled for his life in such a weltering whirl of rock-torn sea as boiled among the crags at the base of that precipice. he, however, evidently knew what he was going to do, and, though taking risks which would have certainly been fatal to an ordinary swimmer, was quite unafraid of the result. we all watched him breathlessly as he apparently headed straight for the biggest outlying rock--a square, black boulder about the size of an ordinary railway car. he came up to it on the summit of a foaming wave; but just as i looked for him to be dashed to pieces against its adamantine sides, he threw his legs into the air and disappeared. a stealthy, satisfied smile glowed upon samuela's rugged visage, and, as he caught my eye, he said jauntily, "polly savee too much. lookee him come on top one time!" i looked, and sure enough there was the daring villain crawling up among the kelp far out of reach of the hungry rollers. it was a marvellous exhibition of coolness and skill. without waiting an instant, he began to stalk the goat, dodging amongst the bushes with feet that clung to the steep sides of the cliff as well as the animal's. before he could reach her, she had winded him, and was off up the track. he followed, without further attempt to hide himself; but, despite his vigour and ability, would, i fancy, have stood a microscopic chance of catching her had she not been heavy with kid. as it was, he had all his work cut out for him. when he did catch her, she made so fierce it struggle for life and liberty that, in the endeavour to hold her, he missed his insecure foothold, and the pair came tumbling over and over down the cliff in a miniature avalanche of stones and dust. at the bottom they both lay quiet for a time; while i anxiously waited, fearing the rash fool was seriously injured; but in a minute or two he was on his feet again. lashing the goat to his body, and ignoring her struggles, he crawled out as far among the rocks as he could; then, at the approach of a big breaker, he dived to meet it, coming up outside its threatening top like a life-buoy. i pulled in, as near as i could venture, to pick him up, and in a few minutes had him safely on board again, but suffering fearfully. in his roll down the cliff he had been without his trousers, which would have been some protection to him. consequently, his thighs were deeply cut and torn in many places, while the brine entering so many wounds, though a grand styptic, must have tortured him unspeakably. at any rate, though he was a regular stoic to bear pain, he fainted while i was "dressing him down" in the most vigorous language i could command for his foolhardy trick. then we all realized what he must be going through, and felt that he was getting all the punishment he deserved, and more. the goat, poor thing! seemed none the worse for her rough handling. the mate gave the signal to get back on board just as polly revived, so there were no inconvenient questions asked, and we returned alongside in triumph, with such a cargo of fish as would have given us a good month's pay all round could we have landed them at billingsgate. although the mate had not succeeded as well as we, the catch of the two boats aggregated half a ton, not a fish among the lot less than five pounds weight, and one of a hundred and twenty--the yellow-tail aforesaid. as soon as we reached the ship, the boats were run up, sails filled, and away we lumbered again towards new zealand. as the great mass of that solitary mountain faded away in the gathering shades of evening, it was impossible to help remembering the sufferings of that afflicted family, confined to those trembling, sulphurous, ash-bestrewn rocks, amid gloom by day, and unnatural glare by night, for all that weary while. and while i admit that there is to some people a charm in being alone with nature, it is altogether another thing when your solitude becomes compulsory, your paradise a prison from which you cannot break away. there are many such nooks scattered about the ocean, where men have hidden themselves away from the busy world, and been forgotten by it; but few of them, i fancy, offer such potentialities of terror as sunday island. we had hardly lost sight of the land, when polly's capture gave birth to a kid. this event was the most interesting thing that had happened on board for a great while, and the funny little visitor would have run great risk of being completely spoiled had he lived. but, to our universal sorrow, the mother's milk failed--from want of green food, i suppose--and we were obliged to kill the poor little chap to save him from being starved to death. he made a savoury mess for some whose appetite for flesh-meat was stronger than any sentimental considerations. to an ordinary trader, the distance between the kermadecs and the bay of islands, new zealand, roughly represents a couple of days' sail; but to us, who were apparently incapable of hurry under any circumstances, it meant a good week's bludgeoning the protesting waves before the grim outliers of the three kings came into view. even then, although the distance was a mere bagatelle, it was another two days before we arrived off that magnificent harbour where reposes the oldest township in new zealand--russell, where rest the mortal remains of the first really pakeha maori, but which, for some unaccountable reason, is still left undeveloped and neglected, visited only by the wandering whalers (in ever-decreasing numbers) and an occasional trim, business-like, and gentlemanly man-o'-war, that, like a guardsman strolling the west end in mufti, stalks the sea with never an item of her smart rig deviating by a shade from its proper set or sheer. chapter xxiv. the bay of islands and new zealand coast in a comparative new colony like new zealand, where the marvellous growth of the young state can be traced within living memory, from the privations of the pioneer to the fully developed city with all the machinery of our latest luxurious civilization, it is exceedingly interesting to note how the principal towns have sprung up arbitrarily, and without any heed to the intentions of the ruling powers. the old-fashioned township of kororarika, or port russell, is a case very much in point. as we sailed in between the many islets from which the magnificent bay takes its name, for all appearances to the contrary, we might have been the first, discoverers. not a house, not a sail, not a boat, broke the loneliness and primeval look of the placid waters and the adjacent shores. not until we drew near the anchorage, and saw upon opening up the little town the straight-standing masts of three whale-ships, did anything appear to dispel the intense air of solitude overhanging the whole. as we drew nearer, and rounded-to for mooring, i looked expectantly for some sign of enterprise on the part of the inhabitants--some tradesman's boat soliciting orders; some of the population on the beach (there was no sign of a pier), watching the visitor come to an anchor. not a bit of it. the whole place seemed a maritime sleepy hollow, the dwellers in which had lost all interest in life, and had become far less energetic than the much-maligned kanakas in their dreamy isles of summer. yet this was once intended for the capital of new zealand. when the large and splendidly-built city of dunedin, otago, was a barren bush, haunted only by the "morepork" and the apteryx, russell was humming with vitality, her harbour busy with fleets of ships, principally whalers, who found it the most convenient calling-place in the southern temperate zone. terrible scenes were enacted about its "blackguard beach," orgies of wild debauchery and bloodshed indulged in by the half-savage and utterly lawless crews of the whaleships. but it never attained to any real importance. as a port of call for whalers, it enjoyed a certain kind of prosperity; but when the south sea fishery dwindled, russell shrank in immediate sympathy. it never had any vitality of its own, no manufactures or products, unless the wretched coalmines adjacent, with their dirty output, which is scoffed at by the grimiest tug afloat, could be dignified by the name. remembering, as i did, the beauty, the energy, and prosperity of the great new zealand ports, some of them with not a tithe of the natural advantages of russell, i felt amazed, almost indignant, at its dead-and-alive appearance. our anchor was no sooner down than the captains of the james arnold, matilda sayer, and coral lowered and came on board, eager to hear or to tell such news as was going. as we had now grown to expect, all work was over immediately the sails were fast and decks cleared up, so that we were free to entertain our visitors. and a high old time we had of it that afternoon! what with songs, dances, and yarns, the hours flew by with lightning speed. our kanakas, too, were overjoyed to find compatriots among the visitors, and settled down to a steady stream of talk which lasted, without intermission, the whole night through. it was a wonderful exhibition of tongue-wagging, though what it was all about puzzled me greatly. life on board those three ships, though described in glowing terms by the visitors, was evidently not to be mentioned for comfort in the same breath as ours. but we found that our late captain's fame as a "hard citizen" was well known to all; so that it is only ordinary justice to suppose that such a life as he led us was exceptional for even a yankee spouter. our friends gave us a blood-curdling account of the solander whaling ground, which we were about to visit, the james arnold and coral having spent a season there that cruise. i did not, however, pay much attention to their yarns, feeling sure that, even if they were fact, it would not help to brood over coming hardships, and inclined to give liberal discount to most of their statements. the incessant chatter, got wearisome at last, and i, for one, was not sorry when, at two in the morning, our visitors departed to their several ships, and left us to get what sleep still remained left to us. a pleasant expedition was planned for the next day. our visit being principally for wooding and watering, both of which it was necessary for us to do ourselves, captain count showed his usual promptitude in commencing at once. permission having been obtained and, i suppose, paid for, we set out with two boats and a plentiful supply of axes for a well-wooded promontory to prepare a store of wood. wood chopping is not usually looked upon as a sailor's pastime; but we had had considerable experience during the voyage, as a result of which most of us could swing an axe in fine style. but the kanakas beat us all hollow. delighted to get ashore again, pleased with the fine axes as children with new toys, they laid about them in grand style, the young trees falling right and left in scores. anybody would have judged that we were working piece-work, at so much a cord, the pile grew so fast. there was such a quantity collected that, instead of lightering it off in the boats, which is very rough and dirty usage for them, i constructed a sort of raft with four large spars arranged in the form of an oblong, placing an immense quantity of the smaller stuff in between. upright sticks were rudely lashed here and there, to keep the pile from bobbing out underneath, and thus loaded we proceeded slowly to the ship with sufficient wood for our wants brought in one journey. it was immediately hoisted on board, sawn into convenient lengths, and stowed away, the whole operation being completed, of getting between eight and ten tons of firewood cut, ferried, and stowed, in less than eight hours. next day was devoted to watering; but as i have elsewhere described that necessary if prosaic occupation, i will not repeat the story. sufficient to say that the job was successfully "did" in the course of the day. all the work being accomplished for which we had come, it only remained to give the crew "liberty." so the port watch, in their best (?) rig, were mustered aft; each man received ten shillings, and away they went in glee for the first genuine day's liberty since leaving honolulu. for although they had been much ashore in vau vau, that was not looked upon in the same light as a day's freedom in a town where liquor might be procured, and the questionable privilege of getting drunk taken advantage of. envious eyes watched their progress from the other ships, but, much to my secret satisfaction, none of their crews were allowed ashore at the same time. there were quite sufficient possibilities of a row among our own crowd, without farther complications such as would almost certainly have occurred had the strangers been let loose at the same time. unfortunately, to the ordinary sailor-man, the place presented no other forms of amusement besides drinking, and i was grieved to see almost the whole crowd, including the kanakas, emerge from the grog-shop plentifully supplied with bottles, and, seating themselves on the beach, commence their carouse. the natives evinced the greatest eagerness to get drunk, swallowing down the horrible "square gin" as if it were water. they passed with the utmost rapidity through all the stages of drunkenness. before they had been ashore an hour, most of them were lying like logs, in the full blaze of the sun, on the beach. seeing this, the captain suggested the advisability of bringing them on board at once, as they were only exposed to robbery by the few prowling maories that loafed about the beach--a curious contrast to the stately fellows met with in other parts of new zealand. so we set to work, and brought them on board again, handing them over to their compatriots by way of warning against similar excesses, although, it must be confessed, that they were hardly to blame, with the example of their more civilized shipmates before their eyes. sam was energetic in his condemnation of both the kanakas for getting drunk, and the captain for giving them any money wherewith to do so. the remainder of the watch fortunately concluded their carouse without any serious disorder. a few bruises bestowed upon one another, more in clumsy horseplay than real fighting summed up the casualties among them. by ten o'clock that evening we had them all safely on board again, ready for sore heads and repentance in the morning. during the day i had evolved a scheme, which i had great hopes of carrying out when our watch should be let loose on the morrow. when morning came, and the liberty men received their money, i called them together and unfolded my plan. briefly, i proposed a sort of picnic at a beautiful spot discovered during our wooding expedition. i was surprised and very pleased at the eager way in which all, with the sole exceptions of tui and his fellow-harpooner, a portuguese, fell in with my suggestions. without any solicitation on my part, my kanakas brought me their money, begging me to expend it for them, as they did not know how, and did not want to buy gin. under such favourable auspices as these, we landed shortly after eight a.m., making a bee-line for the only provision shop the place boasted. here we laid in a stock of such savouries as we had long been strangers to, both eatables and drinkables, although i vetoed fire-water altogether. beer in bottle was substituted, at my suggestion, as being, if we must have drinks of that nature, much the least harmful to men in a hot country, besides, in the quantity that we were able to take, non-intoxicant. we also took tea, sugar, milk, and a kettle, thus furnished, we struck for the country, merry as a group of schoolboys, making the quiet air ring again with song, shout, and laughter--all of which may seem puerile and trivial in the extreme; but having seen liberty men ashore in nearly every big port in the world, watched the helpless, dazed look with which they wander about, swinging hands, bent shoulders, and purposeless rolling gait, i have often fervently wished that some one would take a party of them for a ramble with a definite purpose, helping them to a little enjoyment, instead of them falling, from sheer lack of knowing what else to do, into some dirty, darksome gin-mill, to be besotted, befooled, and debased. i do earnestly wish that some of the good folk in london and liverpool, who are wringing their hands for want of something to do among their fellow-men, would pay a visit to sailor-town for the purpose of getting up a personally-conducted party of sailors to see the sights worth seeing. it is a cheap form of pleasure, even if they paid all expenses, though that would not be likely. they would have an uphill job at first, for the sailor has been so long accustomed to being preyed upon by the class he knows, and neglected by everybody else except the few good people who want to preach to him, that he would probably, in a sheepish shame-faced sort of way, refuse to have any "truck" with you, as he calls it. if the "sailors' home" people were worth their salt, they would organize expeditions by carriage to such beautiful places as--in london, for instance--hampton court, zoological gardens, crystal palace, epping forest, and the like, with competent guides and good catering arrangements. but no; the sailor is allowed to step outside the door of the "home" into the grimy, dismal streets with nothing open to him but the dance-house and brothel on one side, and the mission hall or reading-room on the other. god forbid that i should even appear to sneer at missions to seamen; nothing is farther from my intention; but i do feel that sailors need a little healthy human interest to be taken in providing some pleasure for them, and that there are unorthodox ways of "missioning" which are well worth a trial. i once took a party (while i was an a.b.) from wells-street home to the south kensington museum. there were six of them--a frenchman, a dane, a russian finn, two englishmen, and an irishman. though continually sailing from london for years, this was the first occasion they had ever been west of aldgate. the only mistake i made was in going too deep at one step. the journey from shadwell to south kensington, under the guidance of one familiar, through the hardest personal experiences, with every corner of the vast network, was quite enough for one day. so that by the time we entered the museum they were surfeited temporarily with sight-seeing, and not able to take in the wonders of the mighty place. seeing this, i did not persist, but, after some rest and refreshment, led them across the road among the naval models. ah! it was a rare treat to see them there. for if there is one thing more than another which interests a sailor, it is a well-made model of a ship. sailors are model-makers almost by nature, turning out with the most meagre outfit of tools some wonderfully-finished replicas of the vessels is which they have sailed. and the collection of naval models at south kensington is, i suppose, unsurpassed in the world for the number and finish of the miniature vessels there shown. our day was a great success, never to be forgotten by those poor fellows, whose only recreation previously had been to stroll listlessly up and down the gloomy, stone-flagged hall of the great barracks until sheer weariness drove them out into the turbid current of the "highway," there to seek speedily some of the dirty haunts where the "runner" and the prostitute: awaited them. but i have wandered far from the bay of islands while thus chattering of the difficulties that beset the path of rational enjoyment for the sailor ashore. returning to that happy day, i remember vividly how, just after we got clear of the town, we were turning down a lane between hedgerows wonderfully like one of our own country roads, when something--i could not tell what--gripped my heart and sent a lump into my throat. tears sprang unbidden to my eyes, and i trembled from head to foot with emotion. whatever could it be? bewildered for the moment, i looked around, and saw a hedge laden with white hawthorn blossom, the sweet english "may." every londoner knows how strongly that beautiful scent appeals to him, even when wafted from draggled branches borne slumwards by tramping urchins who have been far afield despoiling the trees of their lovely blossoms, careless of the damage they have been doing. but to me, who had not seen a bit for years, the flood of feeling undammed by that odorous breath, was overwhelming. i could hardly tear myself away from the spot, and, when at last i did, found myself continually turning to try and catch another whiff of one of the most beautiful scents in the world. presently we came to a cottage flooded from ground to roof-ridge with blossoms of scarlet geranium. there must have been thousands of them, all borne by one huge stem which was rooted by the door of the house. a little in front of it grew a fuchsia, twelve or fourteen feet high, with wide-spreading branches, likewise loaded with handsome blooms; while the ground beneath was carpeted with the flowers shaken from their places by the rude wind. so, through scenes of loveliness that appealed even to the dusky kanakas, we trudged gaily along, arriving pretty well fagged at our destination--a great glade of tenderest green, surrounded by magnificent trees on three sides; the fourth opening on to a dazzling white beach sloping gently down to the sea. looking seaward, amidst the dancing, sparkling wavelets, rose numerous tree-clothed islets, making a perfectly beautiful seascape. on either side of the stretch of beach fantastic masses of rock lay about, as if scattered by some tremendous explosion. where the sea reached them, they were covered with untold myriads of oysters, ready to be eaten and of delicious flavour. what need to say more? with oyster-feeding, fishing, bathing, tree-climbing, tea-making, song-singing the hours fled with pitiless haste, so that, before we had half emptied the brimming cup of joys proffered us, the slanting rays of the setting sun warned us to return lest we should get "hushed" in the dark. we came on board rejoicing, laden with spoils of flowers and fish, with two-thirds of our money still in our pockets, and full of happy memories of one of the most delightful days in our whole lives. a long night's sound sleep was rudely broken into in the morning by the cry of "man the windlass." having got all we wanted, we were bound away to finish, if luck were with us, the lading of our good ship from the teeming waters of the solander grounds. i know the skipper's hopes were high, for he never tired of telling how, when in command of a new ship, he once fished the whole of his cargo--six thousand barrels of sperm oil--from the neighbourhood to which we were now bound. he always admitted, though, that the weather he experienced was unprecedented. still, nothing could shake his belief in the wonderful numbers of sperm whales to be found on the south coasts of new zealand, which faith was well warranted, since he had there won from the waves, not only the value of his new ship, but a handsome profit in addition, all in one season. hearing this kind of thing every day made me feel quite hungry to reach the battle-field; but, for reasons which doubtless were excellent, although i cannot pretend to explain them, we started north about, which not only added nearly one hundred miles to the distance we had to go, but involved us in a gale which effectually stopped our progress for a week. it was our first taste of the gentle zephyrs which waft their sweetness over new zealand, after sweeping over the vast, bleak, iceberg-studded expanse of the antarctic ocean. our poor kanakas were terribly frightened, for the weather of their experience, except on the rare occasions when they are visited by the devastating hurricane, is always fine, steady, and warm. for the first time in their lives they saw hail, and their wonder was too great for words. but the cold was very trying, not only to them, but to us, who had been so long in the tropics that our blood was almost turned to water. the change was nearly as abrupt as that so often experienced by our seamen, who at the rate of sixteen knots an hour plunge from a temperature of eighty degrees to one of thirty degrees in about three days. we, with the ready adaptability of seamen, soon got accustomed to the bleak, bitter weather, but the kanakas wilted like hothouse plants under its influence. they were well fed and well clothed, yet they seemed to shrivel up, looking thinner every day, several of them getting deep coughs strongly suggestive of a cemetery. it was no easy task to get them to work, or even move, never a one of them lumbering aloft but i expected him to come down by the run. this was by no means cheering, when it was remembered what kind of a campaign lay before us. captain count seemed to be quite easy in his mind, however, and as we had implicit confidence in his wisdom and judgment, we were somewhat reassured. the gale at last blew itself out, the wind veering to the northward again, with beautiful, spring-like weather, just cool enough to be pleasant, and, withal, favourable for getting to our destination. we soon made the land again about new plymouth, jogging along near enough to the coast to admire the splendid rugged scenery of the britain of the south. all hands were kept busily employed preparing for stormy weather--reeving new running-gear, bending the strongest suit of sails, and looking well to all the whaling gear. in this active exercise of real sailor-work, the time, though long for an ordinary passage, passed quickly and pleasantly away, so that when we hauled round the massive promontory guarding the western entrance to foveaux straits, we were almost surprised to find ourselves there so soon. this, then, was the famous and dreaded solander whaling ground. almost in the centre of the wide stretch of sea between preservation inlet, on the middle island, and the western end of the south, or stewart's island, rose a majestic mass of wave-beaten rock some two thousand feet high, like a grim sentinel guarding the straits. the extent of the fishing grounds was not more than a hundred and fifty square miles, and it was rarely that the vessels cruised over the whole of it. the most likely area for finding whales was said to be well within sight of the solander rock itself, but keeping on the western side of it. it was a lovely day when we first entered upon our cruising ground, a gentle north-east wind blowing, the sky a deep, cloudless blue, so that the rugged outline of stewart's island was distinctly seen at its extreme distance from us. to the eastward the straits narrowed rapidly, the passage at the other end being scarcely five miles wide between the well-known harbour of the bluff, the port of invercargill, and a long rocky island which almost blocked the strait. this passage, though cutting off a big corner, not only shortening the distance from the westward considerably, but oftentimes saving outward bounders a great deal of heavy weather off the snares to the south of stewart's island, is rarely used by sailing-ships, except coasters; but steamers regularly avail themselves of it, being independent of its conflicting currents and baffling winds. chapter xxv. on the solander grounds our opening day was an auspicious one. we had not been within the cruising radius more than four hours before the long-silent; cry of "blo-o-o-w!" resounded from the mainmast head. it was a lone whale, apparently of large size, though spouting almost as feebly as a calf. but that, i was told by the skipper, was nothing to go by down here. he believed right firmly that there were no small whales to be found in these waters at all. he averred that in all his experience he had never seen a cow-cachalot anywhere around stewart's island, although, as usual, he did no theorizing as to the reason why. eagerly we took to the boats and made for our first fish, setting alongside of him in less than half an hour from our first glimpse of his bushy breath. as the irons sank into his blubber, he raised himself a little, and exposed a back like a big ship bottom up. verily, the skipper's words were justified, for we had seen nothing bigger of the whale-kind that voyage. his manner puzzled us not a little. he had not a kick in him. complacently, as though only anxious to oblige, he laid quietly while we cleared for action, nor did he show any signs of resentment or pain while he was being lanced with all the vigour we possessed. he just took all our assaults with perfect quietude and exemplary patience, so that we could hardly help regarding him with great suspicion, suspecting some deep scheme of deviltry hidden by this abnormally sheep-like demeanour. but nothing happened. in the same peaceful way he died, without the slightest struggle sufficient to raise even an eddy on the almost smooth sea. leaving the mate by the carcass, we returned on board, the skipper hailing us immediately on our arrival to know what was the matter with him. we, of course, did not know, neither did the question trouble us. all we were concerned about was the magnanimous way in which he, so to speak, made us a present of himself, giving us no more trouble to secure his treasure than as if he had been a lifeless thing. we soon had him alongside, finding, upon ranging him by the ship, that he was over seventy feet long, with a breadth of bulk quite in proportion to such a vast length. cutting-in commenced at once, for fine weather there was by no means to be wasted, being of rare occurrence and liable at the shortest notice to be succeeded by a howling gale. our latest acquisition, however, was of such gigantic proportions that the decapitation alone bade fair to take us all night. a nasty cross swell began to get up, too--a combination of north-westerly and south-westerly which, meeting at an angle where the straits began, raised a curious "jobble," making the vessel behave in a drunken, uncertain manner. sailors do not mind a ship rolling or pitching, any more than a rider minds the motion of his horse; but when she does both at once, with no approach to regularity in her movements, it makes them feel angry with her. what, then, must our feelings have been under such trying conditions, with that mountain of matter alongside to which so much sheer hard labour had to be done, while the sky was getting greasy and the wind beginning to whine in that doleful key which is the certain prelude to a gale? everybody worked like chinamen on a contract, as if there was no such feeling as fatigue. little was said, but we all realized that unless this job was got over before what was brooding burst upon us, we should certainly lose some portion of our hard-won whale. still, our utmost possible was all we could do; and when at daylight the head was hauled alongside for cutting up, the imminent possibility of losing it, though grievous to think of, worried nobody, for all had done their best. the gale had commenced in business-like fashion, but the sea was horrible. it was almost impossible to keep one's footing on the stage. at times the whole mass of the head would be sucked down by the lee roll of the ship, and go right under her keel, the fluke-chain which held it grinding and straining as if it would tear the bows out of her. then when she rolled back again the head would rebound to the surface right away from the ship, where we could not reach it to cut. once or twice it bounced up beneath our feet, striking the stage and lifting it with its living load several inches, letting it fall again with a jerk that made us all cling for dear life to our precarious perch. in spite of these capers, we managed to get the junk off the head. it was a tremendous lift for us; i hardly think we had ever raised such a weight before. the skipper himself estimated it at fifteen tons, which was no small load for the tackles in fine weather, but with the ship tumbling about in her present fashion, it threatened to rip the mainmast out by the roots--not, of course, the dead-weight strain; but when it was nearly aboard, her sudden lee wallow sometimes floated the whole mass, which the next instant, on the return roll, would be torn out of water, with all the force of the ship suddenly rolling the other way. every splinter, every rope-yarn of her groaned again under this savage treatment; but so splendid was her construction that she never made a drop of water more than just sufficient to sweeten the limbers. it was with great and genuine satisfaction that we saw it at last safely lowered on deck and secured. but when we turned our attention to the case, which, still attached to the skull, battered alongside, any chance of saving it was at once seen to be hopeless. indeed, as the old man said, it was time for us to "up stick" and run for shelter. we had been too fully occupied to notice the gradual increase of the wind; but when we did, there was no gainsaying the fact that it was blowing a very stiff breeze (anglice, a violent gale). fortunately for us, it was from the westward, fair for the harbour of port william, on the stewart's island side of the straits, so that we were free from the apprehension of being blown out to sea or on a jagged lee shore. while we were thus thinking during a brief pause to take breath, the old packet herself solved our last difficulty in emphatic fashion. she gave a tremendous lee lurch, which would inevitably have destroyed the cutting stage if we had not hoisted it, driving right over the head, which actually rose to the surface to windward, having passed under her bottom. the weather roll immediately following was swift and sudden. from the nature of things, it was evident that something must give way this time. it did. for the first and only time in my experience, the fluke-chain was actually torn through the piece to which it was fast--two feet of solid gristle ripped asunder. away went the head with its l to l worth of pure spermaceti, disappearing from view almost immediately. it had no sooner gone than more sail was set, the yards were squared, and the vessel kept away up the straits for shelter. it was a big improvement, for she certainly had begun to make dirty weather of it, and no wonder. now, however, running almost dead before the gale, getting into smoother water at every fathom, she was steady as a rock, allowing us to pursue our greasy avocation in comparative comfort. the gale was still increasing, although now blowing with great fury; but, to our satisfaction, it was dry and not too cold. running before it, too, lessened our appreciation of its force; besides which, we were exceedingly busy clearing away the enormous mass of the junk, which, draining continually, kept the decks running with oil. we started to run up the straits at about ten a.m. at two p.m. we suddenly looked up from our toil, our attention called by a sudden lull in the wind. we had rounded saddle point, a prominent headland, which shut off from us temporarily the violence of the gale. two hours later we found ourselves hauling up into the pretty little harbour of port william, where, without taking more than a couple of hands off the work, the vessel was rounded-to and anchored with quite as little fuss as bringing a boat alongside a ship. it was the perfection of seamanship. once inside the bay, a vessel was sheltered from all winds, the land being high and the entrance intricate. the water was smooth as a mill-pond, though the leaden masses of cloud flying overhead and the muffled roar of the gale told eloquently of the unpleasant state affairs prevailing outside. two whale-ships lay here--the tamerlane, of new bedford, and the chance, of bluff harbour. i am bound to confess that there was a great difference is appearance between the yankee and the colonial--very much in favour of the former. she was neat, smart, and seaworthy, looking as if just launched; but the chance looked like some poor old relic of a bygone day, whose owners, unable to sell her, and too poor to keep her in repair, were just letting her go while keeping up the insurance, praying fervently each day that she might come to grief, and bring them a little profit at last. but although it is much safer to trust appearances in ships than in men, any one who summed up the chance from her generally outworn and poverty-stricken looks would have been, as i was, "way off." old she was, with an indefinite antiquity, carelessly rigged, and vilely unkempt as to her gear, while outside she did not seem to have had a coat of paint for a generation. she looked what she really was--the sole survivor of the once great whaling industry of new zealand. for although struggling bay whaling stations did exist in a few sheltered places far away from the general run of traffic, the trade itself might truthfully be said to be practically extinct. the old chance alone, like some shadow of the past, haunted foveaux straits, and made a better income for her fortunate owners than any of the showy, swift coasting steamers that rushed contemptuously past her on their eager way. in many of the preceding pages i have, though possessing all an englishman's pride in the prowess of mine own people, been compelled to bear witness to the wonderful smartness and courage shown by the american whalemen, to whom their perilous calling seems to have become a second nature. and on other occasions i have lamented that our own whalers, either at home or in the colonies, never seemed to take so kindly to the sperm whale fishery as the hardy "down easters," who first taught them the business; carried it on with increasing success, in spite of their competition and the depredations of the alabama; flourished long after the english fishery was dead; and even now muster a fleet of ships engaged in the same bold and hazardous calling. therefore, it is the more pleasant to me to be able to chronicle some of the doings of captain gilroy, familiarly known as "paddy," the master of the chance, who was unsurpassed as a whale-fisher or a seaman by any yankee that ever sailed from martha's vineyard. he was a queer little figure of a man--short, tubby, with scanty red hair, and a brogue thick as pea-soup. eccentric in most things, he was especially so in his dress, which he seemed to select on the principle of finding the most unfitting things to wear. rumour credited him with a numerous half-breed progeny--certainly he was greatly mixed up with the maories, half his crew being made up of his dusky friends and relations by marriage. overflowing with kindliness and good temper, his ship was a veritable ark of refuge for any unfortunate who needed help, which accounted for the numerous deserters from yankee whalers who were to be found among his crew. such whaling skippers as our late commander hated him with ferocious intensity; and but for his maori and half-breed bodyguard, i have little doubt he would have long before been killed. living as he had for many years on that storm-beaten coast, he had become, like his maories, familiar with every rock and tree in fog or clear, by night or day; he knew them, one might almost say, as the seal knows them, and feared them as little. his men adored him. they believed him capable of anything in the way of whaling, and would as soon have thought of questioning the reality of daylight as the wisdom of his decisions. i went on board the evening of, our arrival, hearing some rumours of the doings of the old chance and her crew, also with the idea that perhaps i might find some countrymen among his very mixed crowd. the first man i spoke to was whitechapel to the backbone, plainly to be spotted as such as if it had been tattooed on his forehead. making myself at home with him, i desired to know what brought him so far from the "big smoke," and on board a whaler of all places in the world. he told me he had been a pickford's van-driver, but had emigrated to new zealand, finding that he did not at all like himself in the new country. trying to pick and choose instead of manfully choosing a pick and shovel for a beginning, he got hard up. during one of captain gilroy's visits to the bluff, he came across my ex-drayman, looking hungry and woebegone. invited on board to have a feed, he begged to be allowed to remain; nor, although his assistance was not needed, was he refused. "an nar," he said, his face glowing with conscious pride, "y'ort ter see me in a bloomin' bowt. i ain't a-goain' ter say as i kin fling wun o' them 'ere bloomin' 'arpoones like ar bowt-steerers kin; but i kin do my bit o' grawft wiv enny on 'em--don'tchu make no bloomin' herror." the glorious incongruity of the thing tickled me immensely; but i laughed more heartily still when on going below i was hailed as "wot cher, chummy; 'ow yer hoppin' up?" by another barbarian from the wilds of spitalfields, who, from the secure shelter of his cats'-meat round in 'oxton, had got adrift, and, after being severely buffeted by tempestuous ill-fortune, had finally found himself in the comfortable old chance, a haven of rest in the midst of storms. there were sixteen white men on board the chance, including the skipper, drawn as usual from various european and american sources, the rest of her large crew of over forty all told being made up of maories and half-breeds. one common interest united them, making them the jolliest crowd i ever saw--their devotion to their commander. there was here to be found no jealousy of the maories being officers and harpooners, no black looks or discontented murmuring; all hands seemed particularly well satisfied with their lot in all its bearings; so that, although the old tub was malodorous enough to turn even a pretty strong stomach, it was a pleasure to visit her cheerful crowd for the sake of their enlivening society. of course, under our present circumstances, with the debris of our late enormous catch filling every available space and loudly demanding attention, we had little time to spare for ship visiting. some boat or other from the two ships was continually alongside of us, though, for until the gale abated they could not get out to the grounds again, and time hung heavy on their hands. the tamerlane's captain avoided paddy as if he were a leper--hated the sight of him, in fact, as did most of his confreres; but our genial skipper, whose crew were every whit as well treated and contented as the chance's, and who therefore needed not to dread losing them, met the little philanthropist on the most friendly terms. the first fine weather, which came four days after our arrival, both our harbour mates cleared out. characteristically, the chance was away first, before daylight had quite asserted itself, and while the bases of the cliffs and tops of the rocks were as yet hidden in dense wreaths of white haze. paddy lolled on the taff-rail near the wheel, which was held by an immense half-breed, who leant back and carried on a desultory, familiar conversation with his skipper; the rest of the crew were scattered about the decks, apparently doing what they liked in any manner they chose. the anchor was being catted, sails going up, and yards being trimmed; but, to observers like us, no guiding spirit was noticeable. it seemed to work all right, and the old ark herself looked as if she was as intelligent as any of them; but the sight was not an agreeable one to men accustomed to discipline. the contrast when the tamerlane came along an hour or so after was emphatic. every man at his post; every order carried out with the precision of clockwork; the captain pacing the quarter-deck as if she were a line-of-battle ship--here the airs put on were almost ludicrous in the other direction. although she was only "a good jump" long, as we say, whenever an order was given, it was thundered out as if the men were a mile away each officer appearing to vie with the others as to who could bellow the loudest. that was carrying things to the opposite extreme, and almost equally objectionable to merchant seamen. we were thus left alone to finish our trying-out except for such company as was afforded by the only resident's little schooner, in which he went oyster-dredging. it was exceedingly comfortable in the small harbour, and the fishing something to remember all one's life. that part of new zealand is famous for a fish something like a bream, but with a longer snout, and striped longitudinally with black and yellow. i am ignorant of any polysyllabic prefix for it, only knowing it by its trivial and local appellation of the "trumpeter," from the peculiar sound it makes when out of water. but no other fish out of the innumerable varieties which i have sampled in all parts of the world could compare with the trumpeter for flavour and delicacy. these qualities are well known to the inhabitants of the large towns, who willingly pay high prices for the scanty supply of these delicious fish which they are able to obtain. of other succulent fish there was a great variety, from the majestic "grouper," running up to over a hundredweight, down to the familiar flounder. very little fishing could be done at night. just as day was dawning was the ideal time for this enticing sport. as soon as the first few streaks of delicate light enlivened the dull horizon, a stray nibble or two gladdened the patient fishermen; then as the light strengthened the fun became general, and in about an hour enough fish would be caught to provide all hands with for the day. one morning, when a stark calm left, the surface of the bay as smooth as a mirror, i was watching a few stealthily-gliding barracouta sneaking about over the plainly visible bottom, though at a depth of seven or eight fathoms. ordinarily, these fish must be taken with a live bait; but, remembering my experience with the dolphin, i determined to try a carefully arranged strip of fish from one recently caught. in precisely the same way as the dolphin, these long, snaky rascals carefully tested the bait, lying still for sometimes as long as two minutes with the bait in their mouths, ready to drop it out on the first intimation that it was not a detached morsel. after these periods of waiting the artful creature would turn to go, and a sudden jerk of the line then reminded him that he was no longer a free agent, but mounting at headlong speed to a strange bourne whence he never returned to tell the tale. my catch that lovely morning scaled over a hundredweight in less than an hour, none of the fish being less than ten pounds in weight. the maories have quite an original way of catching barracouta. they prepare a piece of "rimu" (red pine) about three inches long, by an inch broad, and a quarter of an inch thick. through one end of this they drive an inch nail bent upwards, and filed to a sharp point. the other end is fastened to about a fathom of stout fishing-line, which is in turn secured to the end of a five-foot pole. seated in a boat with sail set, they slip along until a school of barracouta is happened upon. then the peak of the sail is dropped, so as to deaden the boat's way, while the fishermen ply their poles with a sidelong sweep that threshes the bit of shining red through the water, making it irresistibly attractive to a struggling horde of ravenous fish. one by one, as swiftly as the rod can be wielded, the lithe forms drop off the barbless hook into the boat, till the vigorous arm can no longer respond to the will of the fisherman, or the vessel will hold no more. such were the goodly proportions of this first solander whale of ours that, in spite of the serious loss of the case, we made thirteen and a half tuns of oil. when the fifteen huge casks containing it were stowed in their final positions, they made an imposing show, inspiring all of us with visions of soon being homeward bound. for the present we were, perforce, idle; for the wind had set in to blow steadily and strongly right up the straits, preventing any attempts to get out while it lasted. the time did not hang heavy on our hands, for the surrounding country offered many attractions, which we were allowed to take full advantage of. spearing eels and flounders at night by means of a cresset hung out over the boat's bow, as she was slowly sculled up the long, shallow creeks, was a favourite form of amusement. mr. cross, the resident, kindly allowed us to raid his garden, where the ripe fruit was rotting by the bushel for want of consumers. we needed no pressing; for fruit, since we left vau vau, of any kind had not come in our way; besides, these were "homey"--currants, gooseberries, strawberries--delightful to see, smell, and taste. so it came to pass that we had a high old time, unmarred by a single regrettable incident, until, after an enforced detention of twenty days, we were able to get to sea again. halfway down the straits we sighted the chance, all hands ripping the blubber off a sizeable whale in the same "anyhow" fashion as they handled their ship. they were in high glee, giving us a rousing cheer as we passed them on our westward course. arriving on the ground, we found a goodly company of fine ships, which i could not help thinking too many for so small an area. during our absence, the tamerlane had been joined by the eliza adams, the matilda sayer, the coral, and the rainbow; and it was evident that no whale venturing within the radius of the solander in the daytime would stand much chance of escaping such a battery of eager eyes. only three days elapsed after our arrival when whales were seen. for the first time, i realized how numerous those gigantic denizens of the sea really are. as far as the eye could reach, extending all round one-half of the horizon, the sea appeared to be alive with spouts--all sperm whales, all bulls of great size. the value of this incredible school must have been incalculable. subsequent experience satisfied me that such a sight was by no means uncommon here; in fact, "lone whales" or small "pods" were quite the exception. well, we all "waded in," getting, some two, some one whale apiece, according to the ability of the crews or the fortune of war. only one fell to our lot in the cachalot, but it was just as well. we had hardly, got him fast by the fluke alongside when it began to pipe up from the north-east. in less than one watch the sea was fairly smoking with the fierceness of the wind. we were unable to get in anywhere, being, with a whale alongside, about as handy as a barge loaded with a haystack; while those unfortunate beggars that had two whales fast to them were utterly helpless as far as independent locomotion went, unless they could run dead before the wind. every ship made all snug aloft, and hoisted the boats to the top notch of the cranes, fully anticipating a long, hard struggle with the elements before they got back to the cruising ground again. cutting-in was out of the question in such weather; the only thing possible was to hope for a shift of wind before she got too far out, or a break in the weather. neither of these events was probable, as all frequenters of south new zealand know, bad weather having there an unhappy knack of being as persistent as fine weather is brief. night drew on as our forlorn and heavily handicapped little fleet bore steadily seaward with their burdens, the angry, ever-increasing sea, battering at us vengefully, while the huge carcasses alongside tore and strained at their fastenings as if they would rend the ships asunder. slowly our companions faded from sight as the murky sky shut down on us, until in lonely helplessness we drifted on our weary way out into the vast, inhospitable southern ocean. throughout the dark and stormy night our brave old ship held on her unwilling way right gallantly, making no water, in spite of the fearful strain to which she was subjected, nor taking any heavy sea over all. morning broke cheerlessly enough. no abatement in the gale or change in its direction; indeed, it looked like lasting a month. only one ship was visible far to leeward of us, and she was hull down. our whale was beginning to swell rapidly, already floating at least three feet above the surface instead of just awash, as when newly killed. the skipper eyed it gloomily, seeing the near prospect of its entire loss, but he said nothing. in fact, very little was said; but the stories we had heard in the bay of islands came back to us with significant force now that their justification was so apparent. hour after hour went by without any change whatever, except in the whale, which, like some gradually filling balloon, rose higher and higher, till at nightfall its bulk was appalling. all through the night those on deck did little else but stare at its increasing size, which when morning dawned again, was so great that the animal's bilge rode level with the ship's rail, while in her lee rolls it towered above the deck like a mountain. the final scene with it was now a question of minutes only, so most of us, fascinated by the strange spectacle, watched and waited. suddenly, with a roar like the bursting of a dam, the pent-up gases tore their furious way out of the distended carcass, hurling the entrails in one horrible entanglement widespread over the sea. it was well for us that it was to leeward and a strong gale howling; for even then the unutterable foetor wrought its poisonous way back through that fierce, pure blast, permeating every nook of the ship with its filthy vapour till the stoutest stomach there protested in unmistakable terms against such vile treatment. knowing too well that the blubber was now worthless, the skipper gave orders to cut the corrupt mass adrift. this was speedily effected by a few strokes of a spade through the small. away went eight hundred pounds' worth of oil--another sacrifice to the exigencies of the solander, such as had gained for it so evil a reputation. doubtless a similar experience had befallen all the other ships, so that the aggregate loss must have run into thousands of pounds, every penny of which might have been saved had steam been available. that gale lasted, with a few short lulls, for five days longer. when at last it took off, and was succeeded by fine weather, we were so far to the southward that we might have fetched the aucklands in another twenty-four hours. but, to our great relief, a strong southerly breeze set in, before which, under every rag of canvas, we sped north again. steady and reliable as ever, that good south wind carried us back to our old cruising ground ere it blew itself out, and we resumed our usual tactics as if nothing had happened, being none the worse as regards equipment for our adventures. not so fortunate our companions, who at the same time as ourselves were thrust out into the vast southern ocean, helplessly burdened and exposed defenceless to all the ferocity of that devouring gale, two of them were here prowling about, showing evident signs of their conflict in the battered state of their hulls. the glaring whiteness of new planking in many places along the bulwarks told an eloquent story of seas bursting on board carrying all before them, while empty cranes testified to the loss of a boat in both of them. as soon as we came near enough, "gamming" commenced, for all of us were anxious to know how each other had fared. as we anticipated, every whale was lost that had been caught that day. the disappointment was in nowise lessened by the knowledge that, with his usual good fortune captain gilroy had not only escaped all the bad weather, but while we were being threshed within an inch of our lives down in the bitter south, he was calmly trying-out his whale (which we had seen him with on our outward journey) in the sheltered haven of port william. many and deep were the curses bestowed upon him by the infuriated crews of those two ships, although he had certainly done them no harm. but the sight of other people's good fortune is gall and wormwood to a vast number of people, who seem to take it as a personal injury done to themselves. only two days elapsed, however, before we again saw an immense school of sperm whales, and each ship succeeded in securing one. we made no attempt to get more this time, nor do i think either of the others did; at any rate, one each was the result of the day's work. they were, as usual, of huge size and apparently very fat. at the time we secured our fish alongside, a fresh north-westerly wind was blowing, the weather being clear and beautiful as heart could wish. but instead of commencing at once to cut-in, captain count gave orders to pile on all sail and keep her away up the straits. he was evidently determined to take no more chances, but, whenever opportunity offered, to follow the example set by the wily old skipper of the chance. the other ships both started to cut-in at once, tempted, doubtless, by the settled appearance of the weather, and also perhaps from their hardly concealed dislike of going into port. we bowled along at a fine rate, towing our prize, that plunged and rolled by our side in eccentric style, almost as if still alive. along about midnight we reached saddle point, where there was some shelter from the sea which rolled up the wide open strait, and there we anchored. leaving me and a couple of kanakas on watch, the captain, and all hands besides, went below for a little sleep. my instructions were to call the captain if the weather got at all ugly-looking, so that we might run in to port william at once, but he did not wish to do so if our present position proved sufficiently sheltered. he had not been below an hour before there was a change for the worse. that greasy, filmy haze was again drawn over the clear blue of the sky, and the light scud began to fly overhead at an alarmingly rapid rate. so at four bells i called him again. he came on deck at once, and after one look round ordered the hands up to man the windlass. by eight bells (four a.m.) we were rounding the frowning rocks at the entrance of port william, and threading our way between the closely-set, kelp-hidden dangers as if it were broadest, dearest daylight. at . we let go the anchor again, and all hands, except the regular "anchor-watch," bolted below to their bunks again like so many rabbits. it was very comfortable, cutting-in a sperm whale in harbour, after the dire difficulty of performing the same operation in a seaway. and, although it may seem strange, this was the first occasion that voyage that i had had a really good opportunity of closely studying the whale's anatomy. consequently the work was exceedingly interesting, and, in spite of the labour involved, i was almost sorry when the job was done. under the present favourable circumstances we were ready to cut the carcass adrift shortly after midday, the head, of course, having been taken off first. just after we started to cut-in a boat appeared alongside with six maories and half-breeds on board. their leader came up and civilly asked the skipper whether he intended doing anything with the carcass. upon being promptly answered in the negative, he said that he and his companions proposed hooking on to the great mass when we cut it adrift, towing it ashore, and getting out of it what oil we had been unable to extract, which at sea is always lost to the ship. he also suggested that he would be prepared to take reasonable terms for such oil, which we should be able to mingle with ours to our advantage. an arrangement was speedily arrived at to give him l per tun for whatever oil he made. they parted on the best of terms with each other, and as soon as we cut the carcass loose the maories made fast, to it, speedily beaching it in a convenient spot near where they had previously erected a most primitive try-works. that afternoon, after the head was inboard, the skipper thought he would go ashore and see how they were getting on. i was so fortunate as to be able to accompany him. when we arrived at the spot, we found them working as i have never seen men work, except perhaps the small riggers that at home take a job--three or four of them--to bend or unbend a big ship's sails for a lump sum to be paid when the work is done. they attacked the carcass furiously, as if they had a personal enmity against it, chopping through the massive bones and rending off huge lumps of the flesh with marvellous speed. they had already laid open the enormous cavity of the abdomen, and were stripping the interminable intestines of their rich coating of fat. in the maw there were, besides a large quantity of dismembered squid of great size, a number of fish, such as rock-cod, barracouta, schnapper, and the like, whose presence there was a revelation to me. how in the name of wonder so huge and unwieldy a creature as the cachalot could manage to catch those nimble members of the finny tribe, i could not for the life of me divine! unless--and after much cogitation it was the only feasible explanation that i could see--as the cachalot swims about with his lower jaw hanging down in its normal position, and his huge gullet gaping like some submarine cavern, the fish unwittingly glide down it, to find egress impossible. this may or may not be the case; but i, at any rate, can find no more reasonable theory, for it is manifestly absurd to suppose the whale capable of catching fish in the ordinary sense, indicating pursuit. every part of the animal yielded oil. even the bones, broken up into pieces capable of entering the pot, were boiled; and by the time we had finished our trying-out, the result of the maories' labour was ready for us. less than a week had sufficed to yield them a net sum of six guineas each, even at the very low rate for which they sold us the oil. except that it was a little darker in colour, a defect that would disappear when mixed with our store, there was no difference between the products that could be readily detected. and at the price we paid for it, there was a clear profit of cent. per cent., even had we kept it separate and sold it for what it was. but i suppose it was worth the maories' while thus to dispose of it and quickly realize their hard earnings. so far, our last excursion had been entirely satisfactory. we had not suffered any loss or endured any hardship; and if only such comfortable proceedings were more frequent, the solander ground would not have any terrors for us at least. but one afternoon there crept in around the eastern horn of the harbour three forlorn and half-dismantled vessels, whose weather-worn crews looked wistfully at us engaged in clearing up decks and putting away gear upon the finishing of our trying-out. poor fellows! they had seen rough times since that unforgettable evening when we parted from them at the other end of the island, and watched them slowly fade into the night. two of them were so badly damaged that no further fishing was possible for them until they had undergone a thorough refit, such as they could not manage there. one was leaking badly, the tremendous strain put upon her hull in the vain attempt to hold on to the two whales she had during the gale having racked her almost all to pieces. the third one was still capable of taking the ground again, with sundry repairs such as could be effected by her crew. but the general feeling among all three crews was that there was more loss than gain to be expected here, in spite of the multitude of whales visiting the place. as if to fill up their cup, in came the old chance again, this time with a whale on each side. captain gilroy was on the house aft, his chubby red face in a ruddy glow of delight, and his crew exuberant. when he passed the american ships, as he was bound to do very closely, the sight of their scowling faces seemed to afford him the most exquisite amusement, and he laughed loud and long. his crew, on the impulse of the moment, sprang to the rail and cheered with might and main. no one could gainsay that they had good reason, but i really feared for a time that we should have "ructions," as paddy said, it was not wise or dignified for those officers to be so angry with him on account of his success, which he frankly owned was due almost entirely to the local knowledge he possessed, gained in many years' study of the immediate neighbourhood. he declared that, as far as the technical duties of whale-fishing went, all the americans could beat him hollow; but they ought to realize that something else was needed here which no man could hope to have unless he were content to remain on the coast altogether. with which words of wisdom our skipper cordially agreed, bearing in mind his own exploits in the bygone time around those rugged shores. the strong breeze which brought paddy and his whales home died down that night, enabling us to start for the grounds again--a concession gratefully received, for not the least of the hindrances felt there was the liability to be "wind-bound" for a long time, while fine weather was prevailing at the fishing grounds. we made a fine passage down the straits with a leading wind, finding our two late companions still cruising, having managed to get their whales aboard without mishap, and being somewhat inclined to chaff our old man for running in. he gave a wink full of wisdom, as he replied, "i'm pretty ole whale myself naouw; but i guess i ain't too old to learn; 'n wut i learn i'm goin' ter use. see?" of course the fine weather did not last long--it never does; and seeing the gloomy masses of violet-edged cumuli piling up on the southern horizon, we hugged the solander rock itself pretty close, nor ventured far to seaward. our two consorts, on the contrary, kept well out and on the northern verge, as if they intended the next gale that blew to get north, if they could. the old man's object in thus keeping in was solely in order that he might be able to run for shelter; but, much to his delight and certainly surprise, as we passed about a mile to the southward of the lonely, towering crags of the great rock, there came from aloft the welcome cry of "sperm whale!" there was only one, and he was uncomfortably near the rock; but such a splendid chance was not to be missed, if our previous training was of any avail. there was some speculation as to what he could be doing so close inshore, contrary to the habit of this animal, who seems to be only comfortable when in deep waters; but except a suggestion that perhaps he had come in to scrape off an extra accumulation of barnacles, nobody could arrive at any definite conclusion. when we reached him, we found a frightful blind swell rolling, and it needed all our seamanship to handle the boats so that they should not be capsized. fortunately, the huge rollers did not break, or we should hardly have got back safely, whale or no whale. two irons were planted in him, of which he took not the slightest notice. we had taken in sail before closing in to him on account of the swell, so that we had only to go in and finish him at once, if he would let us. accordingly, we went in with a will, but for all sign of life he showed he might as well have been stuffed. there he lay, lazily spouting, the blood pouring, or rather spirting, from his numerous wounds, allowing us to add to their number at our pleasure, and never moving his vast body, which was gently swayed by the rolling sea. seeing him thus quiescent, the mate sent the other two boats back to the ship with the good news, which the captain received with a grave smile of content, proceeding at once to bring the ship as near as might be consistent with her safety. we were now thoroughly sheltered from sight of the other ships by the enormous mass of the island, so that they had no idea of our proceedings. finding that it was not wise to take the ship in any closer, while we were yet some distance from our prize, a boat was sent to mr. cruce with the instructions that he was to run his line from the whale back to the ship, if the creature was dead. he (the mate) replied that the whale died as quietly as he had taken his wounds, and immediately started for the ship. when he had paid out all his line, another boat bent on, until we got the end on board. then we merrily walked him up alongside, while sufficient sail was kept drawing to prevent her being set in any nearer. when he was fast, we crowded on all canvas to get away; for although the sea was deep close up to the cliff, that swell was a very ugly feature, and one which has been responsible for the loss of a great number of ships in such places all over the world. notwithstanding all our efforts, we did get so near that every detail of the rock was clearly visible to the naked eye, and we had some anxious minutes while the old ship, rolling tremendously, crawled inch after inch along the awful side of that sea-encircled pyramid. at one point there was quite a cave, the floor of which would be some twenty feet above high-water mark, and its roof about the same distance higher. it appeared to penetrate some distance into the bowels of the mountain, and was wide and roomy. sea-birds in great numbers hovered around its entrance, finding it, no doubt, an ideal nesting-place. it appeared quite inaccessible, for even with a perfect calm the swell dashed against the perpendicular face of the cliff beneath with a force that would have instantly destroyed any vessel unfortunate enough to get within its influence. slowly, slowly we forged past the danger; but the moment we opened out the extremity of the island, a fresh breeze, like a saving hand, swept across the bows, filling the head-sails and swinging the old vessel away from the island in grand style. another minute, and the other sails filled also. we were safe, all hands breathing freely once more. now the wind hung far round to the eastward--far enough to frustrate any design we might have had of going up the straits again. the old man, however, was too deeply impressed with the paramount necessity of shelter to lightly give up the idea of getting in somewhere; so he pointed her for preservation inlet, which was only some thirty miles under her lee. we crowded all sail upon her in the endeavour to get in before nightfall, this unusual proceeding bringing our two friends up from to leeward with a run to see what we were after. burdened as we were, they sailed nearly two knots to our one, and consequently intercepted us some while before we neared our port. great was their surprise to find we had a whale, and very anxious their queries as to where the rest of the school had gone. reassured that they had lost nothing by not being nearer, it being a "lone" whale, off they went again. with all our efforts, evening was fast closing in when we entered the majestic portals of preservation inlet, and gazed with deepest interest upon its heavily wooded shores. chapter xxvi. paddy's latest exploit new zealand is pre-eminently a country of grand harbours; but i think those that are least used easily bear the palm for grandeur of scenery and facility of access. the wonderful harbour, or rather series of harbours, into which we were now entering for the first time, greatly resembled in appearance a norwegian fjord, not only in the character of its scenery, but from the interesting, if disconcerting, fact that the cliffs were so steep-to that in some places no anchorage is found alongside the very land itself. there are, however, many places where the best possible anchorage can be obtained, so securely sheltered that a howling south-wester may be tearing the sea up by the roots outside, and you will know nothing of it within, except what may be surmised from the motion of the clouds overhead. it was an ideal place for a whaling station, being right on the solander. we found it exceedingly convenient, and much nearer than port william, but, from the prevailing winds, difficult of access in nine cases out of ten, especially when hampered with a whale. upon cutting-in our latest catch, an easy explanation of his passive attitude was at once forthcoming. he had been attacked by some whale-ship, whose irons had drawn, leaving deep traces of their presence; but during the battle he had received seven bombs, all of which had entered around his small, but had not exploded. their general effect had been, i should think, to paralyze the great muscles of his flukes, rendering him unable to travel; yet this could not have taken place until some time after he had made good his escape from those aggressors. it was instructive, as demonstrating what amount of injury these colossi really can survive, and i have no doubt that, if he had been left alone, he would have recovered his normal energy, and been as well as ever. from our point of view, of course, what had happened was the best possible thing, for he came almost as a gift--the second capture we had made on these grounds of a like nature. at the close of our operations the welcome news was made public that four more fish like the present one would fill us bung-up, and that we should then, after a brief visit to the bluff, start direct for home. this announcement, though expected for some time past, gave an amazing fillip to everybody's interest in the work. the strange spectacle was witnessed of all hands being anxious to quit a snug harbour for the sea, where stern, hard wrestling with the elements was the rule. the captain, well pleased with the eagerness manifested, had his boat manned for a trip to the entrance of the harbour, to see what the weather was like outside, since it was not possible to judge from where the ship lay. on his return, he reported the weather rough, but moderating, and announced his intention of weighing at daylight next morning. satisfied that our days in the southern hemisphere were numbered, and all anxiety to point her head for home, this news was most pleasing, putting all of us in the best of humours, and provoking quite an entertainment of song and dance until nearly four bells. during the grey of dawn the anchor was weighed. there was no breath of wind from any quarter, so that it was necessary to lower boats and tow the old girl out to her field of duty. before she was fairly clear of the harbour, though, there came a "snifter" from the hills that caught her unprepared, making her reel again, and giving us a desperate few minutes to scramble on board and hoist our boats up. as we drew out from the land, we found that a moderate gale was blowing, but the sky was clear, fathomless blue, the sun rose kindly, a heavenly dream of soft delicate colour preceding him; so that, in spite of the strong breeze, all looked promising for a good campaign. at first no sign could be seen of any of the other ships, though we looked long and eagerly for them. at last we saw them, four in all, nearly hull down to seaward, but evidently coming in under press of sail. so slow, however, was their approach that we had made one "leg" across the ground and halfway back before they were near enough for us to descry the reason of their want of speed. they had each got a whale alongside, and were carrying every rag of canvas they could spread, in order to get in with their prizes. our old acquaintance, the chance, was there, the three others being her former competitors, except those who were disabled, still lying in port william. slowly, painfully they laboured along, until well within the mouth of the straits, when, without any warning, the wind which had been bringing them in suddenly flew round into the northward, putting them at once in a most perilous position. too far within the straits to "up helm" and run for it out to sea; not far enough to get anywhere that an anchor might hold; and there to leeward, within less than a dozen miles, loomed grim and gloomy one of the most terrific rock-bound coasts in the world. the shift of wind had placed the chance farther to leeward than all the rest, a good mile and a half nearer the shore; and we could well imagine how anxiously her movements were being watched by the others, who, in spite of their jealousy of his good luck, knew well and appreciated fully paddy's marvellous seamanship, as well as his unparalleled knowledge of the coast. having no whale to hamper our movements, besides being well to windward of them all, we were perfectly comfortable as long as we kept to seaward of a certain line and the gale was not too fierce, so for the present all our attention was concentrated upon the labouring ships to leeward. the intervention of the land to windward kept the sea from rising to the awful height it attains under the pressure of a westerly, or a south-westerly gale, when, gathering momentum over an area extending right round the globe, it hurls itself upon those rugged shores. still, it was bad enough. the fact of the gale striking across the regular set of the swell and current had the effect of making the sea irregular, short, and broken, which state of things is considered worse, as far as handling the ship goes, than a much heavier, longer, but more regular succession of waves. as the devoted craft drifted helplessly down upon that frowning barrier, our excitement grew intense. their inability to do anything but drift was only too well known by experience to every one of us, nor would it be possible for them to escape at all if they persisted in holding on much longer. and it was easy to see why they did so. while paddy held on so far to leeward of them, and consequently in so much more imminent danger than they were, it would be derogatory in the highest degree to their reputation for seamanship and courage were they to slip and run before he did. he, however, showed no sign of doing so, although they all neared, with an accelerated drift, that point from whence no seamanship could deliver them, and where death inevitable, cruel, awaited them without hope of escape. the part of the coast upon which they were apparently driving was about as dangerous and impracticable as any in the world. a gigantic barrier of black, naked rock, extending for several hundred yards, rose sheer from the sea beneath, like the side of an ironclad, up to a height of seven or eight hundred feet. no outlying spurs of submerged fragments broke the immeasurable landward rush of the majestic waves towards the frowning face of this world-fragment. fresh from their source, with all the impetus accumulated in their thousand-mile journey, they came apparently irresistible. against this perpendicular barrier they hurled themselves with a shock that vibrated far inland, and a roar that rose in a dominating diapason over the continuous thunder of the tempest-riven sea. high as was the summit of the cliff, the spray, hurled upwards by the tremendous impact, rose higher, so that the whole front of the great rock was veiled in filmy wreaths of foam, hiding its solidity from the seaward view. at either end of this vast, rampart nothing could be seen but a waste of breakers seething, hissing, like the foot of niagara, and effectually concealing the chevaux de frise of rocks which produced such a vortex of tormented waters. towards this dreadful spot, then, the four vessels were being resistlessly driven, every moment seeing their chances of escape lessening to vanishing-point. suddenly, as if panic-stricken, the ship nearest to the chance gave a great sweep round on to the other tack, a few fluttering gleams aloft showing that even in that storm they were daring to set some sail. what the manoeuvre meant we knew very well--they had cut adrift from their whale, terrified at last beyond endurance into the belief that paddy was going to sacrifice himself and his crew in the attempt to lure them with him to inevitable destruction. the other two did not hesitate longer. the example once set, they immediately followed; but it was for some time doubtful in the extreme whether their resolve was not taken too late to save them from destruction. we watched them with breathless interest, unable for a long time to satisfy ourselves that they were out of danger. but at last we saw them shortening sail again--a sure sign that they considered themselves, while the wind held in the same quarter, safe from going ashore at any rate, although there was still before them the prospect of a long struggle with the unrelenting ferocity of the weather down south. meanwhile, what of the daring irishman and his old barrel of a ship? the fugitives once safe off the land, all our interest centred in the chance. we watched her until she drew in so closely to the seething cauldron of breakers that it was only occasionally we could distinguish her outline; and the weather was becoming so thick and dirty, the light so bad, that we were reluctantly compelled to lose sight of her, although the skipper believed that he saw her in the midst of the turmoil of broken water at the western end of the mighty mass of perpendicular cliff before described. happily for us, the wind veered to the westward, releasing us from the prospect of another enforced visit to the wild regions south of the island. it blew harder than ever; but being now a fair wind up the straits, we fled before it, anchoring again in port william before midnight. here we were compelled to remain for a week; for after the gale blew itself out, the wind still hung in the same quarter, refusing to allow us to get back again to our cruising station. but on the second day of our enforced detention a ship poked her jibboom round the west end of the little bay. no words could describe our condition of spellbound astonishment when she rounded-to, cumbrously as befitting a ship towing a whale, and revealed to us the well-remembered outlines of the old chance. it was like welcoming the first-fruits of the resurrection; for who among sailor men, having seen a vessel disappear from their sight, as we had, under such terrible conditions, would ever have expected to see her again? she was hardly anchored before our skipper was alongside, thirsting to satisfy his unbounded curiosity as to the unheard-of means whereby she had escaped such apparently inevitable destruction. i was fortunate enough to accompany him, and hear the story at first-hand. it appeared that none of the white men on board, except the redoubtable paddy himself, had ever been placed in so seemingly hopeless and desperate a position before. yet when they saw how calm and free from anxiety their commander was, how cool and business-like the attitude of all their dusky shipmates, their confidence in his ability and resourcefulness kept its usual high level. it must be admitted that the test such feelings were then subjected to was of the severest, for to their eyes no possible avenue of escape was open. along that glaring line of raging, foaming water not a break occurred, not the faintest indication of an opening anywhere wherein even so experienced a pilot as paddy might thrust a ship. the great black wall of rock loomed up by their side, grim and pitiless as doom--a very door of adamant closed against all hope. nearer and nearer they drew, until the roar of the baffled pacific was deafening, maddening, in its overwhelming volume of chaotic sound. all hands stood motionless, with eyes fixed in horrible fascination upon the indescribable vortex to which they were being irresistibly driven. at last, just as the fringes of the back-beaten billows hissed up to greet them, they felt her motion ease. instinctively looking aft, they saw the skipper coolly wave his hand, signing to them to trim the yards. as they hauled on the weather braces, she plunged through the maelstrom of breakers, and before they had got the yards right round they were on the other side of that enormous barrier, the anchor was dropped, and all was still. the vessel rested, like a bird on her nest, in a deep, still tarn, shut in, to all appearance, on every side by huge rock barriers. of the furious storm but a moment before howling and raging all around them, nothing remained but an all-pervading, thunderous hum, causing the deck to vibrate beneath them, and high overhead the jagged, leaden remnants of twisted, tortured cloud whirling past their tiny oblong of sky. just a minute's suspension of all faculties but wonder, then, in one spontaneous, heartfelt note of genuine admiration, all hands burst into a cheer that even overtopped the mighty rumble of the baffled sea. here they lay, perfectly secure, and cut in their whale as if in dock; then at the first opportunity they ran out, with fearful difficulty, a kedge with a whale-line attached, by which means they warped the vessel out of her hiding-place--a far more arduous operation than getting in had been. but even this did not exhaust the wonders of that occasion. they had hardly got way upon her, beginning to draw out from the land, when the eagle-eye of one of the maories detected the carcass of a whale rolling among the breakers about half a mile to the westward. immediately a boat was lowered, a double allowance of line put into her, and off they went to the valuable flotsam. dangerous in the highest degree was the task of getting near enough to drive harpoons into the body; but it was successfully accomplished, the line run on board, and the prize hauled triumphantly alongside. this was the whale they had now brought in. we shrewdly suspected that it must have been one of those abandoned by the unfortunate vessels who had fled, but etiquette forbade us saying anything about it. even had it been, another day would have seen it valueless to any one, for it was by no means otto of roses to sniff at now, while they had certainly salved it at the peril of their lives. when we returned on board and repeated the story, great was the amazement. such a feat of seamanship was almost beyond belief; but we were shut up to believing, since in no other way could the vessel's miraculous escape be accounted for. the little, dumpy, red-faced figure, rigged like any scarecrow, that now stood on his cutting-stage, punching away vigorously at the fetid mass of blubber beneath him, bore no outward visible sign of a hero about him; but in our eyes he was transfigured--a being to be thought of reverently, as one who in all those dualities that go to the making of a man had proved himself of the seed royal, a king of men, all the more kingly because unconscious that his deeds were of so exalted an order. i am afraid that, to a landsman, my panegyric may smack strongly of gush, for no one but a seaman can rightly appraise such doings as these; but i may be permitted to say that, when i think of men whom i feel glad to have lived to know, foremost among them rises the queer little figure of paddy gilroy. chapter xxvii. port pegasus the wind still holding steadily in the old quarter, our skipper got very restless. he recalled his former exploits, and, firing at the thought, decided then and there to have a trip round to port pegasus, in the hope that he might meet with some of his former good luck in the vicinity of that magnificent bay. with the greatest alacrity we obeyed his summons, handling the old barky as if she were a small boat, and the same morning, for the first time, ran out of the straits to the eastward past ruapuke island. beautiful weather prevailed, making our trip a delightful one, the wonderful scenery of that coast appealing to even the most callous or indifferent among us. we hugged the land closely, the skipper being familiar with all of it in a general way, so that none of its beauties were lost to us. the breeze holding good, by nightfall we had reached our destination, anchoring in the north arm near a tumbling cascade of glittering water that looked like a long feather laid on the dark-green slope of the steep hill from which it gushed. we had not been long at anchor before we had visitors--half-breed maories, who, like the finns and canadians, are farmers, fishermen, sailors, and shipwrights, as necessity arises. they brought us potatoes--most welcome of all fruit to the sailor--cabbages, onions, and "mutton birds." this latter delicacy is a great staple of their flesh food, but is one of the strangest dishes imaginable. when it is being cooked in the usual way, i.e. by grilling, it smells exactly like a piece of roasting mutton; but it tastes, to my mind, like nothing else in the world so much as a kippered herring. there is a gastronomical paradox, if you like. only the young birds are taken for eating. they are found, when unfledged, in holes of the rocks, and weigh sometimes treble as much as their parents. they are exceedingly fat; but this substance is nearly all removed from their bodies before they are hung up in the smoke-houses. they are split open like a haddock, and carefully smoked, after being steeped in brine. baskets, something like exaggerated strawberry pottles of the old conical shape, are prepared, to hold each about a dozen birds. they are lined with leaves, then packed with the birds, the melted fat being run into all the interstices until the basket is full. the top is then neatly tied up with more leaves, and, thus preserved, the contents will keep in cool weather an indefinite length of time. captain count was soon recognized by some of his old friends, who were delighted to welcome him again. their faces fell, however, when he told them that his stay was to be very brief, and that he only required four good-sized fish to fill up. inquiry as to the prevalence of sperm whales in the vicinity elicited the news that they were as plentiful as they had ever been--if anything, more so, since the visits of the whalers had become fewer. there were a couple of "bay" whaling stations existing; but, of course, their success could not be expected to be great among the cachalots, who usually keep a respectful distance from harbours, while they had driven the right whales away almost entirely. no one could help being struck by the manly bearing, splendid physique, and simple manners of the inhabitants. if ever it falls to the lot of any one, as i hope it will, to establish a sperm whale fishery in these regions, there need be no lack of workers while such grand specimens of manhood abound there as we saw--all, moreover, fishermen and whalers from their earliest days. we did not go far afield, but hovered within ten or fifteen miles of the various entrances, so as not to be blown off the land in case of sudden bad weather. even with that timid offing, we were only there two days, when an enormous school of sperm whales hove in sight. i dare not say how many i believe there were, and my estimate really might be biassed; but this i know, that in no given direction could one look to seaward and not see many spouts. we got among them and had a good time, being more hampered by the curiosity of the unattached fish than by the pugnacity of those under our immediate attention. so we killed three, and by preconcerted signal warned the watchers on the lofty points ashore of our success. as speedily as possible off came four boats from the shore stations, and hooked on to two of our fish, while we were busy with the third. the wind being off shore, what there was of it, no time was to be lost, in view of the well-known untrustworthiness of the weather; so we started to cut-in at once, while the shore people worked like giants to tow the other two in. considering the weakness of their forces, they made marvellous progress; but seeing how terribly exhausting the toil was, one could not help wishing them one of the small london tugs, familiarly known as "jackals," which would have snaked those monsters along at three or four knots an hour. however, all went well; the usual gale did blow but not till we had got the last piece aboard and a good "slant" to run in, arriving at our previous moorings at midnight. in the morning the skipper went down in his boat to visit the stations, and see how they had fared. old hand as he was, i think he was astonished to see what progress those fellows had made with the fish. they did not reach the stations till after midnight, but already they had the whales half flenched, and, by the way they were working, it looked as if they would be through with their task as soon as we were with ours. their agreement with the skipper was to yield us half the oil they made, and, if agreeable to them, we would take their moiety at l per tun. consequently they had something to work for, even though there were twenty of them to share the spoil. they were a merry party, eminently good tempered, and working as though one spirit animated them all. if there was a leader of the band, he did his office with great subtilty, for all seemed equal, nor did any appear to need directing what to do. fired by their example, we all worked our hardest; but they beat us by half a day, mainly, i think, by dint of working nearly all the time with scarce any interval for sleep. true, they were bound to take advantage of low water when their huge prize was high and dry--to get at him easily all round. their method was of the simplest. with gaff-hooks to haul back the pieces, and short-handled spades for cutting, they worked in pairs, taking off square slabs of blubber about a hundredweight each. as soon as a piece was cut off, the pair tackled on to it, dragging it up to the pots, where the cooks hastily sliced it for boiling, interspersing their labours with attention to the simmering cauldrons. their efforts realized twenty-four tuns of clear oil and spermaceti, of which, according to bargain, we took twelve, the captain buying the other twelve for l , as previously arranged. this latter portion, however, was his private venture, and not on ship's account, as he proposed selling it at the bluff, when we should call there on our way home. so that we were still two whales short of our quantity. what a little space it did seem to fill up! our patience was sorely tested, when, during a whole week following our last haul, we were unable to put to sea. in vain we tried all the old amusements of fishing, rambling, bathing, etc.; they had lost their "bite;" we wanted to get home. at last the longed-for shift of wind came and set us free. we had hardly got well clear of the heads before we saw a school of cachalots away on the horizon, some twelve miles off the land to the southward. we made all possible sail in chase, but found, to our dismay, that they were "making a passage," going at such a rate that unless the wind freshened we could hardly hope to come up with them. fortunately, we had all day before us, having quitted our moorings soon after daylight; and unless some unforeseen occurrence prevented us from keeping up our rate of speed, the chances were that some time before dark they would ease up and allow us to approach them. they were heading to the westward, perhaps somewhat to the northward withal, to all appearance making for the solander. hour after hour crawled by, while we still seemed to preserve our relative distance, until we had skirted the southern shore of the island and entered the area, of our old fishing ground. two vessels were cruising thereon, well to the northward, and we thought with glee of the excitement that would seize them did they but gain an inkling of our chase. to our great delight, what we had hoped, but hardly dared expect, came to pass. the school, as if with one impulse, hauled up on their course four points, which made them head direct for the western verge of the solander ground, and--what was more important to us--made our coming up with them a matter of a short time. we made the customary signals with the upper sails to our friends to the northward, who recognized them immediately, and bore down towards us. not only had the school shifted their course, but they had slackened speed; so that by four o'clock we were able to lower for them at less than a mile distance. it was an ideal whaling day--smooth water, a brisk breeze, a brilliant sun, and plenty of whales. i was, as became my position, in the rear when we went into action, and hardly hoped for an opportunity of doing much but dance attendance upon my seniors. but fortune favoured me. before i had any idea whether the chief was fast or not, all other considerations were driven clean out of my head by the unexpected apparition of a colossal head, not a ship's length away, coming straight for us, throwing up a swell in front of him like an ironclad. there was barely time to sheer to one side, when the giant surged past us in a roar of foaming sea, the flying flakes of which went right over us. samuela was "all there," though, and as the great beast passed he plunged a harpoon into him with such force and vigour that the very socket entered the blubber it needed all the strength i could muster, even with such an aid as the nineteen-feet steer-oar, to swing the boat right round in his wake, and prevent her being capsized by his headlong rush. for, contrary to the usual practice, he paused not an instant, but rather quickened his pace, as if spurred. heavens, how he went! the mast and sail had to come down--and they did, but i hardly know how. the spray was blinding, coming in sheets over the bows, so that i could hardly see how to steer in the monster's wake. he headed straight for the ship, which lay-to almost motionless, filling me with apprehension lest he should in his blind flight dash that immense mass of solid matter into her broadside, and so put an inglorious end to all our hopes. what their feelings on board must have been, i can only imagine, when they saw the undeviating rush of the gigantic creature straight for them. on he went, until i held my breath for the crash, when at the last moment, and within a few feet of the ship's side, he dived, passing beneath the vessel. we let go line immediately, as may be supposed; but although we had been towing with quite fifty fathoms drift, our speed had been so great that we came up against the old ship with a crash that very nearly finished us. he did not run any further just then, but sounded for about two hundred and fifty fathoms, rising to the surface in quite another mood. no more running away from him. i cannot say i felt any of the fierce joy of battle at the prospect before me. i had a profound respect for the fighting qualities of the sperm whale, and, to tell the truth, would much rather have run twenty miles behind him than have him turn to bay in his present parlous humour. it was, perhaps, fortunate for me that there was a crowd of witnesses, the other ships being now quite near enough to see all that was going on, since the feeling that my doings were full in view of many experts and veterans gave me a determination that i would not disgrace either myself or my ship; besides, i felt that this would probably be our last whale this voyage, if i did not fail, and that was no small thing to look forward to. all these things, so tedious in the telling, flashed through my mind, while, with my eyes glued to the huge bulk of my antagonist or the hissing vortices above him when he settled, i manoeuvred my pretty craft with all the skill i could summon. for what seemed a period of about twenty minutes we dodged him as he made the ugliest rushes at us. i had not yet changed ends with samuela, as customary, for i felt it imperative to keep the helm while this game was being played. my trusty kanaka, however, had a lance ready, and i knew, if he only got the ghost of a chance, no man living would or could make better use of it. the whole affair was growing monotonous as well as extremely wearying. perhaps i was a little off my guard; at any rate, my heart almost leaped into my mouth when just after an ugly rush past us, which i thought had carried him to a safe distance, he stopped dead, lifted his flukes, and brought them down edgeways with a vicious sweep that only just missed the boat's gunwale and shore off the two oars on that side as if they had been carrots. this serious disablement would certainly have led to disaster but for samuela. prompt and vigorous, he seized the opportune moment when the whale's side was presented just after the blow, sending his lance quivering home all its length into the most vital part of the leviathan's anatomy. turning his happy face to me, he shouted exultingly, "how's dat fer high?"--a bit of slang he had picked up, and his use of which never failed to make me smile. "high" it was indeed--a master-stroke. it must have pierced the creature's heart, for he immediately began to spout blood in masses, and without another wound went into his flurry and died. then came the reaction. i must have exerted myself beyond what i had any idea of, for to samuela i was obliged to delegate the task of fluke-boring, while i rested a little. the ship was soon alongside, though, and the whale secured. there was more yet to be done before we could rest, in spite of our fatigue. the other boats had been so successful that they had got two big fish, and what we were to do with them was a problem not easily solvable. by dint of great exertion, we managed to get another whale alongside, but were fain to come to some arrangement with the eliza adams, one of the ships that had been unsuccessful, to take over our other whale on an agreement to render us one-third of the product either in port william or at home, if she should not find us is the former place. behold us, then, in the gathering dusk with a whale on either side, every stitch of canvas we could show set and drawing, straining every nerve to get into the little port again, with the pleasant thought that we were bringing with us all that was needed to complete our well-earned cargo. nobody wanted to go below; all hands felt that it was rest enough to hang over the rail on either side and watch the black masses as they surged through the gleaming sea. they represented so much to us. very little was said, but all hearts were filled with a deep content, a sense of a long season of toil fitly crowned with complete success; nor was any depression felt at the long, long stretch of stormy ocean between us and our home port far away in the united states. that would doubtless come by-and-by, when within less than a thousand miles of new bedford; but at present all sense of distance from home was lost in the overmastering thought that soon it would be our only business to get there as quickly as possible, without any avoidable loitering on the road. we made an amazing disturbance in the darkness of the sea with our double burthen, so much so that one of the coasting steamers changed her course a bit to range up by our side in curiosity. we were scarcely going two and a half knots, in spite of the row we made, and there was hardly room for wonder at the steamboat captain's hail, "want any assistance?" "no, thank you," was promptly returned, although there was little doubt that all hands would have subscribed towards a tow into port, in case the treacherous weather should, after all, play us a dirty trick. but it looked as if our troubles were over. no hitch occurred in our steady progress, slow though it necessarily was, and as morning lifted the heavy veil from the face of the land, we arrived at our pretty little haven, and quietly came to an anchor. the chance was in port wind-bound, looking, like ourselves, pretty low in the water. no sooner did paddy hear the news of our arrival in such fine trim than he lowered his boat and hurried on board of us, his face beaming with delight. long and loud were his congratulations, especially when he heard that we should now be full. moreover, he offered--nor would he take any denial--to come with the whole of his crew and help us finish. for the next four days and nights, during which the wind prevented the chance from leaving us, our old ship was a scene of wild revelry, that ceased not through the twenty-four hours--revelry entirely unassisted by strong waters, too, the natural ebullient gaiety of men who were free from anxiety on any account whatever, rejoicing over the glad consummation of more than two years toil, on the one hand; on the other, a splendid sympathy in joy manifested by the satisfied crew under the genial command of captain gilroy. with their cheerful help we made wonderful progress; and when at last the wind hauled into a favourable quarter, and they were compelled to leave us, the back of our work was broken, only the tedious task of boiling being left to finish. never, i am sure, did two ships' companies part with more hearty good-will than ours. as the ungainly old tub surged slowly out of the little harbour, her worn-out and generally used-up appearance would have given a board of trade inspector the nightmare; the piratical looks of her crowd were enough to frighten a shipload of passengers into fits; but to us who had seen their performances in all weathers, and under all circumstances, accidental externals had no weight in biassing our high opinion of them all. good-bye, old ship; farewell, jolly captain and sturdy crew; you will never be forgotten any more by us while life lasts, and in far other and more conventional scenes we shall regretfully remember the free-and-easy time we shared with you. so she slipped away round the point and out of our lives for ever. by dint of steady hard work we managed to get the last of our greasy work done in four days more, then faced with a will the job of stowing afresh the upper tiers of casks, in view of our long journey home. the oil bought by the skipper on private venture was left on deck, secured to the lash-rail, for discharging at the bluff, while our stock of water-casks were carefully overhauled and recoopered prior to being stowed in their places below. of course, we had plenty of room in the hold, since no ship would carry herself full of casks of oil; but i doubt whether, if we had borne a "plimsoll's mark," it would not have been totally submerged, so deep did we lie. wooding and watering came next--a different affair to our casual exercises in those directions before. provision had to be made now for a possible four or five months' passage, during which we hoped to avoid any further calls, so that the accumulation of firewood alone was no small matter. we cleared the surrounding neighbourhood of potatoes at a good price, those useful tubers being all they could supply us with for sea-stock, much to their sorrow. then came the most unpleasant part of the whole business--for me. it had been a part of the agreement made with the kanakas that they were not to be taken home with us, but returned to their island upon the termination of the whaling. now, the time had arrived when we were to part, and i must confess that i felt very sorry to leave them. they had proved docile, useful, and cheerful; while as for my harpooner and his mate polly, no man could have wished for smarter, better, or more faithful helpers than they were. strong as their desire was to return to their homes, they too felt keenly the parting with us; for although they had unavoidably suffered much from the inclemency of the weather--so different from anything they had ever previously experienced--they had been kindly treated, and had moved on precisely the same footing as the rest of the crew. they wept like little children when the time arrived for them to leave us, declaring that if ever we came to their island again they would use all their endeavours to compel us to remain, assuring us that we should want for nothing during the rest of our lives, if we would but take up our abode with them. the one exception to all this cordiality was sam. his ideas were running in quite other channels. to regain his lost status as ruler of the island, with all the opportunities for indulging his animal propensities which such a position gave him, was the problem he had set himself, and to the realization of these wishes he had determinedly bent all his efforts. thus he firmly declined the offer of a passage back in the eliza adams, which our captain secured for all the kanakas; preferring to be landed at the bluff, with the goodly sum of money to which he was entitled, saying that he had important business to transact in sydney before he returned. this business, he privately informed me, was the procuring of arms and ammunition wherewith to make war upon his rival. of course we could not prevent him, although it did seem an abominable thing to let loose the spirit of slaughter among those light-hearted natives just to satisfy the ambition of an unscrupulous negro. but, as i have before noticed, from information received many years after i learned that he had been successful in his efforts, though at what cost to life i do not know. so our dusky friends left us, with a good word from every one, and went on board the eliza adams, whose captain promised to land them at futuna, within six months. how he carried out his promise, i do not know; but, for the poor fellows' sakes, i trust he kept his word. chapter xxviii. to the bluff, and home and now the cruise of the good old whaling barque cachalot, as far as whaling is concerned, comes to an end. for all practical purposes she becomes a humdrum merchantman in haste to reach her final port of discharge, and get rid of her cargo. no more will she loiter and pry around anything and everything, from an island to a balk of drift-wood, that comes in her way, knowing not the meaning of "waste of time." the "crow's-nests" are dismantled, taut topgallant-masts sent up, and royal yards crossed. as soon as we get to sea we shall turn-to and heave that ancient fabric of bricks and mortar--always a queer-looking erection to be cumbering a ship's deck--piecemeal over the side. it has long been shaky and weather-beaten; it will soon obstruct our movements no more. our rigging has all been set up and tarred down; we have painted hull and spars, and scraped wherever the wood-work is kept bright. all gear belonging to whaling has been taken out of the boats, carefully cleaned, oiled, and stowed away for a "full due." two of the boats have been taken inboard, and stowed bottom-up upon the gallows aft, as any other merchantman carries them. at last, our multifarious preparations completed, we ride ready for sea. it was quite in accordance with the fitness of things that, when all things were now ready for our departure, there should come a change of wind that threatened to hold us prisoners for some days longer. but our "old man" was hard to beat, and he reckoned that, if we could only get out of the "pond," he would work her across to the bluff somehow or other. so we ran out a kedge with a couple of lines to it, and warped her out of the weather side of the harbour, finding, when at last we got her clear, that she would lay her course across the straits to clear ruapuke--nearly; but the current had to be reckoned with. before we reached that obstructing island we were down at the eastern end of it, and obliged to anchor promptly to save ourselves from being swept down the coast many miles to leeward of our port. but the skipper was quite equal to the occasion. ordering his boat, he sped away into bluff harbour, only a matter of six or seven miles, returning soon with a tug, who for a pound or two placed us, without further trouble, alongside the wharf, amongst some magnificent clipper ships of messrs. henderson's and the new zealand shipping co.'s, who seemed to turn up their splendid noses at the squat, dumpy, antiquated old serving-mallet that dared to mingle with so august a crowd. there had been a time, not so very far back, when i should have shared their apparent contempt for our homely old tub; but my voyage had taught me, among other things, that, as far as true comfort went at sea, not a "three-skysail-yarder" among them could compare with the cachalot. and i was extremely glad that my passage round the horn was to be in my own ship, and not in a long, snaky tank that, in the language of the sailor, takes a header when she gets outside the harbour, and only comes up two or three times to blow before she gets home. our only reason for visiting this place being to discharge captain count's oil, and procure a sea-stock of salt provisions and hard bread, these duties were taken in hand at once. the skipper sold his venture of oil to good advantage, being so pleased with his success that he gave us all a good feed on the strength of it. as soon as the stores were embarked and everything ready for sea, leave was given to all hands for twenty-four hours, upon the distinct understanding that the privilege was not to be abused, to the detriment of everybody, who, as might be supposed, were anxious to start for home. in order that there might be less temptation to go on the spree generally, a grand picnic was organized to a beautiful valley some distance from the town. carriages were chartered, an enormous quantity of eatables and drinkables provided, and away we went, a regular wayzgoose or bean-feast party. it was such a huge success, that i have ever since wondered why such outings cannot become usual among sailors on liberty abroad, instead of the senseless, vicious waste of health, time, and hard-earned wages which is general. but i must not let myself loose upon this theme again, or we shall never get to sea. liberty over without any trouble arising, and all hands comfortably on board again, the news ran round that we were to sail in the morning. so, after a good night's rest, we cast loose from the wharf, and, with a little assistance from the same useful tug that brought us in, got fairly out to sea. all sail was set to a strong, steady north-wester, and with yards canted the least bit in the world on the port tack, so that every stitch was drawing, we began our long easterly stretch to the horn, homeward bound at last. favoured by wind and weather, we made an average run of one hundred and eighty miles per day for many days, paying no attention to "great circle sailing," since in such a slow ship the net gain to be secured by going to a high latitude was very small, but dodging comfortably along on about the parallel of deg. s., until it became necessary to draw down towards "cape stiff," as that dreaded extremity of south america, cape horn, is familiarly called by seamen. as we did so, icebergs became numerous, at one time over seventy being in sight at once. some of them were of immense size--one, indeed, that could hardly be fitly described as an iceberg, but more properly an ice-field, with many bergs rising out of it, being over sixty miles long, while some of its towering peaks were estimated at from five hundred to one thousand feet high. happily, the weather kept clear; for icebergs and fog make a combination truly appalling to the sailor, especially if there be much wind blowing. needless, perhaps, to say, our look-out was of the best, for all hands had a double interest in the safety of the ship. perhaps it may be thought that any man would have so much regard for the safety of his life that he would not think of sleeping on his look-out; but i can assure my readers that, strange as it may seem, such is not the case, i have known men who could never be trusted not to go to sleep, no matter how great the danger. this is so well recognized in merchant ships that nearly every officer acts as if there was no look-out at all forward, in case his supposed watchman should be having a surreptitious doze. stronger and stronger blew the brave west wind; dirtier, gloomier, and colder grew the weather, until, reduced to two topsails and a reefed foresail, we were scudding dead before the gale for all we were worth. this was a novel experience for us in the cachalot, and i was curious to see how she would behave. to my mind, the supreme test of a ship's sea-kindliness is the length of time she will scud before a gale without "pooping" a sea, or taking such heavy water on board over her sides as to do serious damage. some ships are very dangerous to run at all. endeavouring to make the best use of the gale which is blowing in the right direction, the captain "hangs on" to all the sail he can carry, until she ships a mighty mass of water over all, so that the decks are filled with wreckage, or, worse still, "poops" a sea. the latter experience is a terrible one, even to a trained seaman. you are running before the wind and waves, sometimes deep in the valley between two liquid mountains, sometimes high on the rolling ridge of one. you watch anxiously the speed of the sea, trying to decide whether it or you are going the faster, when suddenly there seems to be a hush, almost a lull, in the uproar. you look astern, and see a wall of water rising majestically higher and higher, at the same time drawing nearer and nearer. instinctively you clutch at something firm, and hold your breath. then that mighty green barrier leans forward, the ship's stern seems to settle at the same time, and, with a thundering noise as of an avalanche descending, it overwhelms you. of course the ship's way is deadened; she seems like a living thing overburdened, yet struggling to be free; and well it is for all hands if the helmsman be able to keep his post and his wits about him. for if he be hurt, or have fled from the terrible wave, it is an even chance that she "broaches to;" that is to say, swings round broadside on to the next great wave that follows relentlessly its predecessor. then, helpless and vulnerable, she will most probably be smashed up and founder. many a good ship has gone with all hands to the bottom just as simply as that. in order to avoid such a catastrophe, the proper procedure is to "heave-to" before the sea has attained so dangerous a height; but even a landsman can understand how reluctant a shipmaster may be to lie like a log just drifting, while a more seaworthy ship is flying along at the rate of, perhaps, three hundred miles a day in the desired direction. ships of the cachalot's bluff build are peculiarly liable to delays of this kind from their slowness, which, if allied to want of buoyancy, makes it necessary to heave-to in good time, if safety is at all cared for. to my great astonishment and delight, however, our grand old vessel nobly sustained her character, running on without shipping any heavy water, although sometimes hedged in on either side by gigantic waves that seemed to tower as high as her lowermast heads. again and again we were caught up and passed by the splendid homeward-bound colonial packets, some of them carrying an appalling press of canvas, under which the long, snaky hulls, often overwhelmed by the foaming seas, were hardly visible, so insignificant did they appear by comparison with the snowy mountain of swelling sail above. so we fared eastward and ever southward, until in due time up rose the gloomy, storm-scarred crags of the diego ramirez rocks, grim outposts of the new world. to us, though, they bore no terrific aspect; for were they not the turning-point from which we could steer north, our head pointed for home? immediately upon rounding them we hauled up four points, and, with daily improving weather climbed the southern slopes towards the line. very humdrum and quiet the life appeared to all of us, and had it not been for the saving routine of work by day, and watch by night, kept up with all our old discipline, the tedium would have been insupportable after the incessant excitement of expectation to which we had so long been accustomed. still, our passage was by no means a bad one for a slow ship, being favoured by more than ordinarily steadfast winds until we reached the zone of the south-east trades again, where the usual mild, settled wind and lovely weather awaited us. on and on, unhasting but unresting, we stolidly jogged, by great good fortune slipping across the "doldrums"--that hateful belt of calms about the line so much detested by all sailor-men--without losing the south-east wind. not one day of calm delayed us, the north-east trades meeting us like a friend sent to extend a welcoming hand and lend us his assistance on our homeward way. they hung so far to the eastward, too--sometimes actually at east-by-north-that we were able to steer north on the starboard tack--a slice of luck not usually met with. this "slant" put all hands in the best of humours, and already the date of our arrival was settled by the more sanguine ones, as well as excellent plans made for spending the long voyage's earnings. for my part, having been, in spite of my youth, accustomed to so many cruel disappointments and slips between the cup and lip, i was afraid to dwell too hopefully upon the pleasures (?) of getting ashore. and after the incident which i have now to record occurred, i felt more nervous distrust than i had ever felt before at sea since first i began to experience the many vicissitudes of a sailor's life. we had reached the northern verge of the tropics in a very short time, owing to the favourable cant in the usual direction of the north-east trades before noted, and had been met with north-westerly winds and thick, dirty weather, which was somewhat unusual in so low a latitude. our look-outs redoubled their vigilance, one being posted on each bow always at night, and relieved every hour, as we were so well manned. we were now on the port tack, of course, heading about north-east-by-north, and right in the track of outward-hound vessels from both the united kingdom and the states. one morning, about three a.m.--that fateful time in the middle watch when more collisions occur than at any other--suddenly out of the darkness a huge ship seemed to leap right at us. she must have come up in a squall, of which there were many about, at the rate of some twelve knots an hour, having a fair wind, and every rag of sail set. not a gleam of light was visible anywhere on board of her, and, to judge from all appearances, the only man awake on board was the helmsman. we, being "on the wind, close-hauled," were bound by the "rule of the road at sea" to keep our course when meeting a ship running free. the penalty for doing anything under such circumstances is a severe one. first of all, you do not know that the other ship's crew are asleep or negligent, even though they carry no lights; for, by a truly infernal parsimony, many vessels actually do not carry oil enough to keep their lamps burning all the voyage, and must therefore economize in this unspeakably dangerous fashion. and it may be that just as you alter your course, daring no longer to hold on, and, as you have every reason to believe, be run down, the other man alters his. then a few breathless moments ensue, an awful crash, and the two vessels tear each other to pieces, spilling the life that they contain over the hungry sea. even if you escape, you are to blame for not keeping your course, unless it can be proved that you were not seen by the running ship. well, we kept our course until, i verily believe, another plunge would have cut us sheer in two halves. at the last moment our helm was put hard down, bringing our vessel right up into the wind at the same moment as the helmsman on board the other vessel caught sight of us, and instinctively put his helm down too. the two vessels swung side by side amidst a thunderous roar of flapping canvas, crackling of fallen spars, and rending of wood as the shrouds tore away the bulwarks. all our davits were ripped from the starboard side, and most of our bulwarks too; but, strangely enough, we lost no spars nor any important gear. there seemed to be a good deal of damage done on board the stranger, where, in addition, all hands were at their wits' end. well they might be, aroused from so criminal a sleep as theirs. fortunately, the third mate had powerful bull's-eye lantern, which in his watch on deck he always kept lighted. turning it on the stern of the delinquent vessel as she slowly forged clear of us, we easily read her name, which, for shame's sake as well as for prudential reasons, i withhold. she was a london ship, and a pretty fine time of it i had for the next day or two, listening to the jeers and sarcasms on the quality of british seamanship. repairing damages kept us busy for a few days; but whatever of thankfulness we were capable of feeling was aroused by this hairbreadth escape from death through the wicked neglect of the most elementary duty of any man calling himself a seaman. then a period of regular western-ocean weather set in. it was early spring in the third year since our departure from this part of the world, and the north-easter blew with bitter severity, making even the seasoned old captain wince again; but, as he jovially said, "it smelt homey, n' he warn't a-goin' ter growl at thet." neither were any of us, although we could have done with less of a sharp edge to it all the same. steadily we battled northward, until at last, with full hearts, we made cape navesink ("ole neversunk"), and on the next day took a tug and towed into new bedford with every flag we could scare up flying, the centre of admiration--a full whale-ship safe back from her long, long fishing round the world. my pleasant talk is done. i wish from my heart it were better performed; but, having done my best, i must perforce be content. if in some small measure i have been able to make you, my friendly reader, acquainted with a little-known or appreciated side of life, and in any wise made that life a real matter to you, giving you a fresh interest in the toilers of the sea, my work has not been wholly in vain. and with that fond hope i give you the sailor's valedictory-- so long! transcriber note text emphasis denoted as _italics_. a year with a whaler [illustration: "cutting out" a whale] a year with a whaler by walter noble burns _illustrated with photographs_ [illustration] new york outing publishing company mcmxiii copyright, , by outing publishing company all rights reserved contents chapter page i. the lure of the outfitter ii. the men of the "alexander" iii. why we don't desert iv. turtles and porpoises v. the a, b, c of whales vi. the night king vii. dreams of liberty viii. gabriel's little drama ix. through the roaring forties x. in the ice xi. cross country whaling xii. cutting in and trying out xiii. shaking hands with siberia xiv. moonshine and hygiene xv. news from home xvi. slim goes on strike xvii. into the arctic xviii. blubber and song xix. a narrow pinch xx. a race and a race horse xxi. bears for a change xxii. the stranded whale xxiii. and so--home illustrations "cutting out" a whale _frontispiece_ facing page in bowhead waters when whaling is an easy job waiting for the whale to breach unalaska waiting for the floes to open "trying out" callers from asia peter's sweetheart eskimos summer hut at st. lawrence bay at the gateway to the arctic hoisting the blubber aboard our guests coming aboard in st. lawrence bay the lip of a bowhead whale a close call off herald island skin boat of the siberian eskimos a year with a whaler a year with a whaler chapter i the lure of the outfitter when the brig _alexander_ sailed out of san francisco on a whaling voyage a few years ago, i was a member of her forecastle crew. once outside the golden gate, i felt the swing of blue water under me for the first time in my life. i was not shanghaied. let's have that settled at the start. i had shipped as a green hand before the mast for the adventure of the thing, because i wanted to go, for the glamor of the sea was upon me. i was taking breakfast in a san francisco restaurant when, in glancing over the morning paper, i chanced across this advertisement: wanted--men for a whaling voyage; able seamen, ordinary seamen, and green hands. no experience necessary. big money for a lucky voyage. apply at levy's, no. washington street. until that moment i had never dreamed of going to sea, but that small "ad." laid its spell upon my imagination. it was big with the lure of strange lands and climes, romance and fresh experiences. what did it matter that i had passed all my humdrum days on dry land? "no experience necessary!" there were the magic words staring me in the face. i gulped down my eggs and coffee and was off for the street called washington. levy's was a ship's outfitting store. a "runner" for the house--a hulking man with crafty eyes and a face almost as red as his hair and mustache--met me as i stepped in the door. he looked me over critically. his visual inventory must have been satisfactory. i was young. "ever been a sailor?" he asked. "no." "makes no difference. can you pull an oar?" "yes." "you'll do. hang around the store to-day and i'll see what vessels are shipping crews." that was all. i was a potential whaler from that minute. a young working man in overalls and flannel shirt came in later in the day and applied to go on the voyage. he qualified as a green hand. but no spirit of adventure had brought him to levy's. a whaling voyage appealed to his canny mind as a business proposition. "what can we make?" he asked the runner. "if your ship is lucky," replied the runner, "you ought to clean up a pile of money. you'll ship on the th lay. know what a lay is? it's your per cent. of the profits of the voyage. say your ship catches four whales. she ought to catch a dozen if she has good luck. but say she catches four. her cargo in oil and bone will be worth about $ , . your share will amount to something like $ , and you'll get it in a lump sum when you get back." this was "bunk talk"--a "springe to catch woodcock"--but we did not know it. that fluent and plausible man took pencil and paper and showed us just how it would all work out. it was reserved for us poor greenhorns to learn later on that sailors of whaling ships usually are paid off at the end of a voyage with "one big iron dollar." this fact being discreetly withheld from us, our illusions were not disturbed. the fact is the "lay" means nothing to sailors on a whaler. it is merely a lure for the unsophisticated. it might as well be the th lay as the th, for all the poor devil of a sailor gets. the explanation is simple. the men start the voyage with an insufficient supply of clothing. by the time the vessel strikes cold weather their clothes are worn out and it is a case of buy clothes from the ship's slop-chest at the captain's own prices or freeze. as a consequence, the men come back to port with expense accounts standing against them which wipe out all possible profits. this has become so definitely a part of whaling custom that no sailor ever thinks of fighting against it, and it probably would do him no good if he did. as a forecastle hand's pay the "big iron dollar" is a whaling tradition and as fixed and inevitable as fate. the outfitter who owned the store did not conduct a sailor's boarding house, so we were put up at a cheap hotel on pacific street. after supper, my new friend took me for a visit to the home of his uncle in the tar flats region. a rough, kindly old laboring man was this uncle who sat in his snug parlor in his shirt sleeves during our stay, sent one of the children to the corner for a growler of beer, and told us bluntly we were idiots to think of shipping on a whaling voyage. we laughed at his warning--we were going and that's all there was to it. the old fellow's pretty daughters played the piano and sang for us, and my last evening on shore passed pleasantly enough. when it came time to say good-bye, the uncle prevailed on my friend to stay all night on the plea that he had some urgent matters to talk over, and i went back alone to my dingy hotel on the barbary coast. i was awakened suddenly out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night. my friend stood beside my bed with a lighted candle in his hand. "get up and come with me," he said. "don't go whaling. my uncle has told me all about it. he knows. you'll be treated like a dog aboard, fed on rotten grub, and if you don't die under the hard knocks or freeze to death in the arctic ocean, you won't get a penny when you get back. don't be a fool. take my advice and give that runner the slip. if you go, you'll regret it to the last day of your life." in the yellow glare of the candle, the young man seemed not unlike an apparition and he delivered his message of warning with prophetic solemnity and impressiveness. but my mind was made up. "i guess i'll go," i said. he argued and pleaded with me, all to no purpose. he set the candle on the table and blew it out. "you won't come?" he said out of the darkness. "no." "you're a fool." he slammed the door. i never saw him again. but many a time on the long voyage i recalled his wise counsel, prompted as it was by pure friendliness, and wished from my heart i had taken his advice. [illustration: in bowhead waters] next day the runner for levy's tried to ship me aboard the steam whaler _william lewis_. when we arrived at the shipping office on the water front, it was crowded with sailors and rough fellows, many of them half drunk, and all eager for a chance to land a berth. a bronzed and bearded man stood beside a desk and surveyed them. he was the skipper of the steamer. the men were pushing and elbowing in an effort to get to the front and catch his eye. "i've been north before, captain," "i'm an able seaman, sir," "i know the ropes," "give me a chance, captain," "take me, sir; i'll make a good hand,"--so they clamored their virtues noisily. the captain chose this man and that. in twenty minutes his crew was signed. it was not a question of getting enough men; it was a mere matter of selection. in such a crowd of sailormen, i stood no show. in looking back on it all, i wonder how such shipping office scenes are possible, how men of ordinary intelligence are herded aboard whale ships like sheep, how they even fight for a chance to go. it was just as well i failed to ship aboard the _william lewis_. the vessel went to pieces in the ice on the north alaskan coast the following spring. four men lost their lives and only after a bitter experience as castaways on the floes were the others rescued. that afternoon captain shorey of the brig _alexander_ visited levy's. i was called to his attention as a likely young hand and he shipped me as a member of his crew. i signed articles for a year's voyage. it was provided that i was to receive a $ advance with which to outfit myself for the voyage; of course, any money left over after all necessary articles had been purchased was to be mine--at least, in my innocence, i imagined it was. the brig was lying in the stream off goat island and the runner set about the work of outfitting me at once. he and i and a clerk went about the store from shelf to shelf, selecting articles. the runner carried a pad of paper on which he marked down the cost. i was given a sailor's canvas bag, a mattress, a pair of blankets, woolen trousers, dungaree trousers, a coat, a pair of brogans, a pair of rubber sea boots, underwear, socks, two flannel shirts, a cap, a belt and sheath knife, a suit of oil-skins and sou'wester, a tin cup, tin pan, knife, fork and spoon. that was all. it struck me as a rather slender equipment for a year's voyage. the runner footed up the cost. "why," he said with an air of great surprise, "this foots up to $ and your advance is only $ ." he added up the column of figures again. but he had made no mistake. he seemed perplexed. "i don't see how it is possible to scratch off anything," he said. "you'll need every one of these articles." he puckered his brow, bit the end of his pencil, and studied the figures. it was evidently a puzzling problem. "well," he said at last, "i'll tell you what i'll do. bring me down a few curios from the arctic and i'll call it square." i suppose my outfit was really worth about $ --not over $ . as soon as my bag had been packed, i was escorted to the wharf by the runner and rowed out to the brig. as i prepared to climb over the ship's rail, the runner shook me by the hand and clapped me on the back with a great show of cordial goodfellowship. "don't forget my curios," he said. chapter ii the men of the "alexander" the brig _alexander_ was a staunch, sea-worthy little vessel. she had no fine lines; there was nothing about her to please a yachtsman's eye; but she was far from being a tub as whaling ships are often pictured. she was built at new bedford especially for arctic whaling. her hull was of sturdy oak, reinforced at the bows to enable her to buck her way through ice. though she was called a brig, she was really a brigantine, rigged with square sails on her fore-mast and with fore-and-aft sails on her main. she was of only tons but quite lofty, her royal yard being eighty feet above the deck. on her fore-mast she carried a fore-sail, a single topsail, a fore-top-gallant sail, and a royal; on her main-mast, a big mainsail with a gaff-topsail above it. three whale boats--starboard, larboard, and waist boats--hung at her davits. amidships stood the brick try-works equipped with furnaces and cauldrons for rendering blubber into oil. as soon as i arrived on board i was taken in charge by the ship keeper and conducted to the forecastle. it was a dark, malodorous, triangular hole below the deck in the bows. at the foot of the ladder-like stairs, leading down through the scuttle, i stepped on something soft and yielding. was it possible, i wondered in an instant's flash of surprise, that the forecastle was laid with a velvet carpet? no, it was not. it was only a kanaka sailor lying on the floor dead drunk. the bunks were ranged round the walls in a double tier. i selected one for myself, arranged my mattress and blankets, and threw my bag inside. i was glad to get back to fresh air on deck as quickly as possible. members of the crew kept coming aboard in charge of runners and boarding bosses. they were a hard looking lot; several were staggering drunk, and most of them were tipsy. all had bottles and demijohns of whiskey. everybody was full of bad liquor and high spirits that first night on the brig. a company of jolly sea rovers were we, and we joked and laughed and roared out songs like so many pirates about to cruise for treasure galleons on the spanish main. somehow next morning the rose color had faded out of the prospect and there were many aching heads aboard. on the morning of the second day, the officers came out to the vessel. a tug puffed alongside and made fast to us with a cable. the anchor was heaved up and, with the tug towing us, we headed for the golden gate. outside the harbor heads, the tug cast loose and put back into the bay in a cloud of smoke. the brig was left swinging on the long swells of the pacific. the captain stopped pacing up and down the quarter-deck and said something to the mate. his words seemed like a match to powder. immediately the mate began roaring out orders. boat-steerers bounded forward, shouting out the orders in turn. the old sailors sang them out in repetition. men sprang aloft. loosened sails were soon rolling down and fluttering from every spar. the sailors began pulling on halyards and yo-hoing on sheets. throughout the work of setting sail, the green hands were "at sea" in a double sense. the bustle and apparent confusion of the scene seemed to savor of bedlam broke loose. the orders were greek to them. they stood about, bewildered and helpless. whenever they tried to help the sailors they invariably snarled things up and were roundly abused for their pains. one might fancy they could at least have helped pull on a rope. they couldn't even do that. pulling on a rope, sailor-fashion, is in itself an art. finally all the sails were sheeted home. ropes were coiled up and hung neatly on belaying pins. a fresh breeze set all the snowy canvas drawing and the brig, all snug and shipshape, went careering southward. at the outset of the voyage, the crew consisted of twenty-four men. fourteen men were in the forecastle. the after-crew comprised the captain, mate, second mate, third mate, two boat-steerers, steward, cooper, cook, and cabin boy. captain shorey was not aboard. he was to join the vessel at honolulu. mr. winchester, the mate, took the brig to the hawaiian islands as captain. this necessitated a graduated rise in authority all along the line. mr. landers, who had shipped as second mate, became mate; gabriel, the regular third mate, became second mate; and mendez, a boatsteerer, was advanced to the position of third mate. captain winchester was a tall, spare, vigorous man with a nose like julius caesar's and a cavernous bass voice that boomed like a sunset gun. he was a man of some education, which is a rarity among officers of whale ships, and was a typical new england yankee. he had run away to sea as a boy and had been engaged in the whaling trade for twenty years. for thirteen years, he had been sailing to the arctic ocean as master and mate of vessels, and was ingrained with the autocratic traditions of the quarter-deck. though every inch a sea dog of the hard, old-fashioned school, he had his kindly human side, as i learned later. he was by far the best whaleman aboard the brig; as skillful and daring as any that ever laid a boat on a whale's back; a fine, bold, hardy type of seaman and an honor to the best traditions of the sea. he lost his life--poor fellow--in a whaling adventure in the arctic ocean on his next voyage. mr. landers, the mate, was verging on sixty; his beard was grizzled, but there wasn't a streak of gray in his coal-black hair. he was stout and heavy-limbed and must have been remarkably strong in his youth. he was a cape codder and talked with a quaint, nasal, yankee drawl. he had been to sea all his life and was a whaleman of thirty years' experience. in all these years, he had been ashore very little--only a few weeks between his year-long voyages, during which time, it was said, he kept up his preference for liquids, exchanging blue water for red liquor. he was a picturesque old fellow, and was so accustomed to the swinging deck of a ship under him that standing or sitting, in perfectly still weather or with the vessel lying motionless at anchor, he swayed his body from side to side heavily as if in answer to the rise and fall of waves. he was a silent, easy-going man, with a fund of dry humor and hard common sense. he never did any more work than he had to, and before the voyage ended, he was suspected by the officers of being a malingerer. all the sailors liked him. gabriel, the second mate, was a negro from the cape verde islands. his native language was portuguese and he talked funny, broken english. he was about forty-five years old, and though he was almost as dark-skinned as any ethiopian, he had hair and a full beard as finely spun and free from kinkiness as a caucasian's. the sailors used to say that gabriel was a white man born black by accident. he was a kindly, cheerful soul with shrewd native wit. he was a whaleman of life-long experience. mendez, the third mate, and long john, one of the boatsteerers, were also cape verde islanders. long john was a giant, standing six feet, four inches; an ungainly, powerful fellow, with a black face as big as a ham and not much more expressive. he had the reputation of being one of the most expert harpooners of the arctic ocean whaling fleet. little johnny, the other boatsteerer, was a mulatto from the barbadoes, english islands of the west indies. he was a strapping, intelligent young man, brimming over with vitality and high spirits and with all a plantation darky's love of fun. his eyes were bright and his cheeks ruddy with perfect health; he loved dress and gay colors and was quite the dandy of the crew. five of the men of the forecastle were deep-water sailors. of these one was an american, one a german, one a norwegian, and two swedes. they followed the sea for a living and had been bunkoed by their boarding bosses into believing they would make large sums of money whaling. they had been taken in by a confidence game as artfully as the man who loses his money at the immemorial trick of three shells and a pea. when they learned they would get only a dollar at the end of the voyage and contemplated the loss of an entire working year, they were full of resentment and righteous, though futile, anger. taylor, the american, became the acknowledged leader of the forecastle. he quickly established himself in this position, not only by his skill and long experience as a seaman, but by his aggressiveness, his domineering character, and his physical ability to deal with men and situations. he was a bold, iron-fisted fellow to whom the green hands looked for instruction and advice, whom several secretly feared, and for whom all had a wholesome respect. nels nelson, a red-haired, red-bearded old swede, was the best sailor aboard. he had had a thousand adventures on all the seas of all the world. he had been around cape horn seven times--a sailor is not rated as a really-truly sailor until he has made a passage around that stormy promontory--and he had rounded the cape of good hope so many times he had lost the count. he had ridden out a typhoon on the coast of japan and had been driven ashore by a hurricane in the west indies. he had sailed on an expedition to cocos island, that realm of mystery and romance, to try to lift pirate treasure in doubloons, plate, and pieces-of-eight, supposed to have been buried there by "bugs" thompson and benito bonito, those one-time terrors of the spanish main. he had been cast away in the south seas in an open boat with three companions, and had eaten the flesh of the man whose fate had been sealed by the casting of lots. he was some man, was nelson. i sometimes vaguely suspected he was some liar, too, but i don't know. i think most of his stories were true. he could do deftly everything intricate and subtle in sailorcraft from tying the most wonderful knots to splicing wire. none of the officers could teach old nelson anything about fancy sailorizing and they knew it. whenever they wanted an unusual or particularly difficult piece of work done they called on him, and he always did it in the best seamanly fashion. richard, the german, was a sturdy, manly young chap who had served in the german navy. he was well educated and a smart seaman. ole oleson, the norwegian, was just out of his teens but a fine sailor. peter swenson, a swede, was a chubby, rosy boy of sixteen, an ignorant, reckless, devil-may-care lad, who was looked upon as the baby of the forecastle and humored and spoiled accordingly. among the six white green hands, there was a "mule skinner" from western railway construction camps; a cowboy who believed himself fitted for the sea after years of experience on the "hurricane deck" of a bucking broncho; a country boy straight from the plow and with "farmer" stamped all over him in letters of light; a man suspected of having had trouble with the police; another who, in lazy night watches, spun frank yarns of burglaries; and "slim," an irishman who said he had served with the royal life guards in the english army. there was one old whaler. he was a shiftless, loquacious product of city slums. this was his seventh whaling voyage--which would seem sufficient comment on his character. "it beats hoboing," he said. and as his life's ambition seemed centered on three meals a day and a bunk to sleep in, perhaps it did. two kanakas completed the forecastle crew. these and the cabin boy, who was also a kanaka, talked fair english, but among themselves they always spoke their native language. i had heard much of the liquid beauty of the kanaka tongue. it was a surprise to find it the most unmusical and harshly guttural language i ever heard. it comes from the mouth in a series of explosive grunts and gibberings. the listener is distinctly and painfully impressed with the idea that if the nitroglycerine words were retained in the system, they would prove dangerous to health and is fearful lest they choke the spluttering kanaka to death before he succeeds in biting them off and flinging them into the atmosphere. chapter iii why we don't desert as soon as we were under sail, the crew was called aft and the watches selected. gabriel was to head the starboard watch and mendez the port. the men were ranged in line and the heads of the watches made their selections, turn and turn about. the deep-water sailors were the first to be chosen. the green hands were picked for their appearance of strength and activity. i fell into the port watch. sea watches were now set--four hours for sleep and four for work throughout the twenty-four. my watch was sent below. no one slept during this first watch below, but we made up for lost time during our second turn. soon we became accustomed to the routine and found it as restful as the usual landsman's method of eight hours' sleep and sixteen of wakefulness. it is difficult for a landlubber to understand how sailors on shipboard can be kept constantly busy. the brig was a veritable hive of industry. the watch on deck when morning broke pumped ship and swept and flushed down the decks. during the day watches, in addition to working the ship, we were continuously breaking out supplies, keeping the water barrel on deck filled from casks in the hold, laboring with the cargo, scrubbing paint work, polishing brass work, slushing masts and spars, repairing rigging, and attending to a hundred and one details that must be looked after every day. the captain of a ship is one of the most scrupulous housekeepers in the world, and only by keeping his crew busy from morning till night is he able to keep his ship spick and span and in proper repair. whale ships are supposed to be dirty. on the contrary, they are kept as clean as water and brooms and hard work can keep them. the food served aboard the brig was nothing to brag about. breakfast consisted of corned-beef hash, hardtack, and coffee without milk or sugar. we sweetened our coffee with molasses, a keg of which was kept in the forecastle. for dinner, we had soup, corned-beef stew, called "skouse," a loaf of soft bread, and coffee. for supper, we had slices of corned-beef which the sailors called "salt horse," hardtack, and tea. the principal variation in this diet was in the soups. the days were a round of barley soup, bean soup, pea soup, and back to barley soup again, an alternation that led the men to speak of the days of the week not as monday, tuesday, and so on, but as "barley soup day," "bean soup day," and "pea soup day." once or twice a week we had gingerbread for supper. on the other hand the cabin fared sumptuously on canned vegetables, meat, salmon, soft bread, tea, and coffee with sugar and condensed milk, fresh fish and meat whenever procurable, and a dessert every day at dinner, including plum duff, a famous sea delicacy which never in all the voyage found its way forward. from the first day, the green hands were set learning the ropes, to stand lookout, to take their trick at the wheel, to reef and furl and work among the sails. these things are the a b c of seamanship, but they are not to be learned in a day or a week. a ship is a complicated mechanism, and it takes a long time for a novice to acquire even the rudiments of sea education. going aloft was a terrifying ordeal at first to several of the green hands, though it never bothered me. when the cowboy was first ordered to furl the fore-royal, he hung back and said, "i can't" and "i'll fall," and whimpered and begged to be let off. but he was forced to try. he climbed the ratlines slowly and painfully to the royal yard, and he finally furled the sail, though it took him a long time to do it. he felt so elated that after that he wanted to furl the royal every time it had to be done;--didn't want to give anyone else a chance. furling the royal was a one-man job. the foot-rope was only a few feet below the yard, and if a man stood straight on it, the yard would strike him a little above the knees. if the ship were pitching, a fellow had to look sharp or he would be thrown off;--if that had happened it was a nice, straight fall of eighty feet to the deck. my own first experience on the royal yard gave me an exciting fifteen minutes. the ship seemed to be fighting me and devoting an unpleasant amount of time and effort to it; bucking and tossing as if with a sentient determination to shake me off into the atmosphere. i escaped becoming a grease spot on the deck of the brig only by hugging the yard as if it were a sweetheart and hanging on for dear life. i became in time quite an expert at furling the sail. standing lookout was the one thing aboard a green hand could do as well as an old sailor. the lookout was posted on the forecastle-head in fair weather and on the try-works in a storm. he stood two hours at a stretch. he had to scan the sea ahead closely and if a sail or anything unusual appeared, he reported to the officer of the watch. learning to steer by the compass was comparatively easy. with the ship heading on a course, it was not difficult by manipulating the wheel to keep the needle of the compass on a given point. but to steer by the wind was hard to learn and is sometimes a nice matter even for skillful seamen. when a ship is close-hauled and sailing, as sailors say, right in the wind's eye, the wind is blowing into the braced sails at the weather edge of the canvas;--if the vessel were brought any higher up, the wind would pour around on the back of the sails. the helmsman's aim is to keep the luff of the royal sail or of the sails that happen to be set, wrinkling and loose--luffing, sailors call it. that shows that the wind is slanting into the sails at just the right angle and perhaps a little bit is spilling over. i gradually learned to do this in the daytime. but at night when it was almost impossible for me to see the luff of the sails clearly, it was extremely difficult and i got into trouble more than once by my clumsiness. the trick at the wheel was of two hours' duration. the second day out from san francisco was christmas. i had often read that christmas was a season of good cheer and happiness among sailors at sea, that it was commemorated with religious service, and that the skipper sent forward grog and plum duff to gladden the hearts of the sailormen. but santa claus forgot the sailors on the brig. bean soup only distinguished christmas from the day that had gone before and the day that came after. no liquor or tempting dishes came to the forecastle. it was the usual day of hard work from dawn to dark. after two weeks of variable weather during which we were often becalmed, we put into turtle bay, midway down the coast of lower california, and dropped anchor. turtle bay is a beautiful little land-locked harbor on an uninhabited coast. there was no village or any human habitation on its shores. a desolate, treeless country, seamed by gullies and scantily covered with sun-dried grass, rolled away to a chain of high mountains which forms the backbone of the peninsula of lower california. these mountains were perhaps thirty miles from the coast; they were gray and apparently barren of trees or any sort of herbage, and looked to be ridges of naked granite. the desert character of the landscape was a surprise, as we were almost within the tropics. we spent three weeks of hard work in turtle bay. sea watches were abolished and all hands were called on deck at dawn and kept busy until sundown. the experienced sailors were employed as sail makers; squatting all day on the quarter-deck, sewing on canvas with a palm and needle. old sails were sent down from the spars and patched and repaired. if they were too far gone, new sails were bent in their stead. the green hands had the hard work. they broke out the hold and restowed every piece of cargo, arranging it so that the vessel rode on a perfectly even keel. yards and masts were slushed, the rigging was tarred, and the ship was painted inside and out. the waters of the harbor were alive with spanish mackerel, albacore, rock bass, bonitos, and other kinds of fish. the mackerel appeared in great schools that rippled the water as if a strong breeze were blowing. these fish attracted great numbers of gray pelicans, which had the most wonderful mode of flight i have ever seen in any bird. for hours at a time, with perfectly motionless pinions, they skimmed the surface of the bay like living aeroplanes; one wondered wherein lay their motor power and how they managed to keep going. when they spied a school of mackerel, they rose straight into the air with a great flapping of wings, then turned their heads downward, folded their wings close to their bodies, and dropped like a stone. their great beaks cut the water, they went under with a terrific splash, and immediately emerged with a fish in the net-like membrane beneath their lower mandible. [illustration: when whaling is an easy job] every sunday, a boat's crew went fishing. we fished with hand lines weighted with lead and having three or four hooks, baited at first with bacon and later with pieces of fresh fish. i never had such fine fishing. the fish bit as fast as we could throw in our lines, and we were kept busy hauling them out of the water. we would fill a whale boat almost to the gunwales in a few hours. with the return of the first fishing expedition, the sailors had dreams of a feast, but they were disappointed. the fish went to the captain's table or were salted away in barrels for the cabin's future use. the sailors, however, enjoyed the fun. many of them kept lines constantly over the brig's sides, catching skates, soles, and little sharks. by the time we reached turtle bay, it was no longer a secret that we would get only a dollar for our year's voyage. as a result, a feverish spirit of discontent began to manifest itself among those forward and plans to run away became rife. we were anchored about a half mile from shore, and after looking over the situation, i made up my mind to try to escape. except for an officer and a boatsteerer who stood watch, all hands were asleep below at night. being a good swimmer, i planned to slip over the bow in the darkness and swim ashore. once on land, i figured it would be an easy matter to cross the sierras and reach a mexican settlement on the gulf of california. possibly the officers got wind of the runaway plots brewing in the forecastle, for captain winchester came forward one evening, something he never had done before, and fell into gossipy talk with the men. "have you noticed that pile of stones with a cross sticking in it on the harbor head?" he asked in a casual sort of way. yes, we had all noticed it from the moment we dropped anchor, and had wondered what it was. "that," said the captain impressively, "is a grave. whaling vessels have been coming to turtle bay for years to paint ship and overhaul. three sailors on a whaler several years ago thought this was a likely place in which to escape. they managed to swim ashore at night and struck into the hills. they expected to find farms and villages back inland. they didn't know that the whole peninsula of lower california is a waterless desert from one end to the other. they had some food with them and they kept going for days. no one knows how far inland they traveled, but they found neither inhabitants nor water and their food was soon gone. "when they couldn't stand it any longer and were half dying from thirst and hunger, they turned back for the coast. by the time they returned to turtle bay their ship had sailed away and there they were on a desert shore without food or water and no way to get either. i suppose they camped on the headland in the hope of hailing a passing ship. but the vessels that pass up and down this coast usually keep out of sight of land. maybe the poor devils sighted a distant topsail--no one knows--but if they did the ship sank beyond the horizon without paying any attention to their frantic signals. so they died miserably there on the headland. "next year, a whale ship found their bodies and erected a cairn of stones marked by the cross you see over the spot where the three sailors were buried together. this is a bad country to run away in," the captain added. "no food, no water, no inhabitants. it's sure death for a runaway." having spun this tragic yarn, captain winchester went aft again, feeling, no doubt, that he had sowed seed on fertile soil. the fact is his story had an instant effect. most of the men abandoned their plans to escape, at least for the time being, hoping a more favorable opportunity would present itself when we reached the hawaiian islands. but i had my doubts. i thought it possible the captain merely had "put over" a good bluff. next day i asked little johnny, the boatsteerer, if it were true as the captain had said, that lower california was an uninhabited desert. he assured me it was and to prove it, he brought out a ship's chart from the cabin and spread it before me. i found that only two towns throughout the length and breadth of the peninsula were set down on the map. one of these was tia juana on the west coast just south of the united states boundary line and the other was la paz on the east coast near cape st. lucas, the southern tip of the peninsula. turtle bay was two or three hundred miles from either town. that settled it with me. i didn't propose to take chances on dying in the desert. i preferred a whaler's forecastle to that. chapter iv turtles and porpoises we slipped out of turtle bay one moonlight night and stood southward. we were now in sperm whale waters and the crews of the whale boats were selected. captain winchester was to head the starboard boat; mr. landers the larboard boat; and gabriel the waist boat. long john was to act as boatsteerer for mr. winchester, little johnny for mr. landers, and mendez for gabriel. the whale boats were about twenty-five feet long, rigged with leg-of-mutton sails and jibs. the crew of each consisted of an officer known as a boat-header, who sat in the stern and wielded the tiller; a boatsteerer or harpooner, whose position was in the bow; and four sailors who pulled the stroke, midship, tub, and bow oars. each boat had a tub in which four hundred fathoms of whale line were coiled and carried two harpoons and a shoulder bomb-gun. i was assigned to the midship oar of gabriel's boat. let me take occasion just here to correct a false impression quite generally held regarding whaling. many persons--i think, most persons--have an idea that in modern whaling, harpoons are fired at whales from the decks of ships. this is true only of 'long-shore whaling. in this trade, finbacks and the less valuable varieties of whales are chased by small steamers which fire harpoons from guns in the bows and tow the whales they kill to factories along shore, where blubber, flesh, and skeleton are turned into commercial products. many published articles have familiarized the public with this method of whaling. but whaling on the sperm grounds of the tropics and on the right whale and bowhead grounds of the polar seas is much the same as it has always been. boats still go on the backs of whales. harpoons are thrown by hand into the great animals as of yore. whales still run away with the boats, pulling them with amazing speed through walls of split water. whales still crush boats with blows of their mighty flukes and spill their crews into the sea. there is just as much danger and just as much thrill and excitement in the whaling of to-day as there was in that of a century ago. neither steamers nor sailing vessels that cruise for sperm and bowhead and right whales nowadays have deck guns of any sort, but depend entirely upon the bomb-guns attached to harpoons and upon shoulder bomb-guns wielded from the whale boats. in the old days, after whales had been harpooned, they were stabbed to death with long, razor-sharp lances. the lance is a thing of the past. the tonite bomb has taken its place as an instrument of destruction. in the use of the tonite bomb lies the chief difference between modern whaling and the whaling of the old school. the modern harpoon is the same as it has been since the palmy days of the old south sea sperm fisheries. but fastened on its iron shaft between the wooden handle and the spear point is a brass cylinder an inch in diameter, perhaps, and about a foot long. this cylinder is a tonite bomb-gun. a short piece of metal projects from the flat lower end. this is the trigger. when the harpoon is thrown into the buttery, blubber-wrapped body of the whale, it sinks in until the whale's skin presses the trigger up into the gun and fires it with a tiny sound like the explosion of an old-fashioned shotgun cap. an instant later a tonite bomb explodes with a muffled roar in the whale's vitals. the arctic ocean whaling fleet which sails out of san francisco and which in the year of my voyage numbered thirty vessels, makes its spring rendezvous in the hawaiian islands. most of the ships leave san francisco in december and reach honolulu in march. the two or three months spent in this leisurely voyage are known in whaler parlance as "between seasons." on the way to the islands the ships cruise for sperm whales and sometimes lower for finbacks, sulphur-bottoms, california grays, and even black fish, to practice their green hand crews. captain winchester did not care particularly whether he took any sperm whales or not, though sperm oil is still valuable. the brig was not merely a blubber-hunter. her hold was filled with oil tanks which it was hoped would be filled before we got back, but the chief purpose of the voyage was the capture of right and bowhead whales--the great baleen whales of the north. as soon as we left turtle bay, a lookout for whales was posted. during the day watches, a boatsteerer and a sailor sat on the topsail yard for two hours at a stretch and scanned the sea for spouts. we stood down the coast of lower california and in a few days, were in the tide-rip which is always running off cape st. lucas, where the waters of the pacific meet a counter-current from the gulf of california. we rounded cape st. lucas and sailed north into the gulf, having a distant view of la paz, a little town backed by gray mountains. soon we turned south again, keeping close to the mexican coast for several days. i never learned how far south we went, but we must have worked pretty well toward the equator, for when we stood out across the pacific for the hawaiian islands, our course was northwesterly. i saw my first whales one morning while working in the bows with the watch under mr. lander's supervision. a school of finbacks was out ahead moving in leisurely fashion toward the brig. there were about twenty of them and the sea was dotted with their fountains. "blow!" breathed old man landers with mild interest as though to himself. "blow!" boomed captain winchester in his big bass voice from the quarter-deck. "nothin' but finbacks, sir," shouted the boatsteerer from the mast-head. "all right," sang back the captain. "let 'em blow." it was easy for these old whalers even at this distance to tell they were not sperm whales. their fountains rose straight into the air. a sperm whale's spout slants up from the water diagonally. the whales were soon all about the ship, seemingly unafraid, still traveling leisurely, their heads rising and falling rhythmically, and at each rise blowing up a fountain of mist fifteen feet high. the fountains looked like water; some water surely was mixed with them; but i was told that the mist was the breath of the animals made visible by the colder air. the breath came from the blow holes in a sibilant roar that resembled no sound i had ever heard. if one can imagine a giant of fable snoring in his sleep, one may have an idea of the sound of the mighty exhalation. the great lungs whose gentle breathing could shoot a jet of spray fifteen feet into the air must have had the power of enormous bellows. immense coal-black fellows these finbacks were--some at least sixty or seventy feet long. one swam so close to the brig that when he blew, the spray fell all about me, wetting my clothes like dew. the finback is a baleen whale and a cousin of the right whale and the bowhead. their mouths are edged with close-set slabs of baleen, which, however, is so short that it is worthless for commercial purposes. they are of much slenderer build than the more valuable species of whale. their quickness and activity make them dangerous when hunted in the boats, but their bodies are encased in blubber so thin that it is as worthless as their bone. consequently they are not hunted unless a whaling ship is hard up for oil. we gradually worked into the trade winds that blew steadily from the southeast. these winds stayed with us for several weeks or rather we stayed with the winds; while in them it was rarely necessary to take in or set a sail or brace a yard. after we had passed through these aerial rivers, flowing through definite, if invisible, banks, we struck the doldrums--areas of calm between wind currents--they might be called whirlpools of stillness. later in the day light, fitful breezes finally pushed us through them into the region of winds again. the slow voyage to the hawaiian islands--on the sperm whale grounds, we cruised under short sail--might have proved monotonous if we had not been kept constantly busy and if diverting incidents had not occurred almost every day. once we sighted three immense turtles sunning themselves on the sea. to the captain they held out prospect of soups and delicate dishes for the cabin table, and with long john as boatsteerer, a boat was lowered for them. i expected it would be difficult to get within darting distance. what was my surprise to see the turtles, with heads in the air and perfectly aware of their danger, remain upon the surface until the boat was directly upon them. the fact was they could not go under quickly; the big shells kept them afloat. long john dropped his harpoon crashing through the shell of one of the turtles, flopped it into the boat, and then went on without particular hurry, and captured the other two in the same way. the cabin feasted for several days on the delicate flesh of the turtles; the forecastle got only a savory smell from the galley, as was usual. we ran into a school of porpoises on another occasion--hundreds of them rolling and tumbling about the ship, like fat porkers on a frolic. little johnny took a position on the forecastle head with a harpoon, the line from which had been made fast to the fore-bitt. as a porpoise rose beneath him, he darted his harpoon straight into its back. the sea pig went wriggling under, leaving the water dyed with its blood. it was hauled aboard, squirming and twisting. little johnny harpooned two more before the school took fright and disappeared. the porpoises were cleaned and some of their meat, nicely roasted, was sent to the forecastle. it made fine eating, tasting something like beef. the steward was an inveterate fisherman and constantly kept a baited hook trailing in the brig's wake, the line tied to the taff-rail. he caught a great many bonitos and one day landed a dolphin. we had seen many of these beautiful fish swimming about the ship--long, graceful and looking like an animate streak of blue sky. the steward's dolphin was about five feet long. i had often seen in print the statement that dolphins turned all colors of the rainbow in dying and i had as often seen the assertion branded as a mere figment of poetic imagination. our dolphin proved the truth of the poetic tradition. as life departed, it changed from blue to green, bronze, salmon, gold, and gray, making death as beautiful as a gorgeous kaleidoscope. we saw flying fish every day--great "coveys" of them, one may say. they frequently flew several hundred yards, fluttering their webbed side fins like the wings of a bird, sometimes rising fifteen to twenty feet above the water, and curving and zigzagging in their flight. more than once they flew directly across the ship and several fell on deck. i was talking with kaiuli, the kanaka, one night when we heard a soft little thud on deck. i should have paid no attention but kaiuli was alert on the instant. "flying feesh," he cried zestfully and rushed off to search the deck. he found the fish and ate it raw, smacking his lips over it with great gusto. the hawaiian islanders, he told me, esteem raw flying fish a great delicacy. i never saw water so "darkly, deeply, beautifully blue" as in the middle of the pacific where we had some four miles of water under us. it was as blue as indigo. at night, the sea seemed afire with riotous phosphorescence. white flames leaped about the bows where the brig cut the water before a fresh breeze; the wake was a broad, glowing path. when white caps were running every wave broke in sparks and tongues of flame, and the ocean presented the appearance of a prairie swept by fire. a big shark came swimming about the ship one night and it shone like a living incandescence--a silent, ghost-like shape slowly gliding under the brig and out again. the idle night watches in the tropics were great times for story telling. the deep-water sailors were especially fond of this way of passing the time. while the green hands were engaging in desultory talk and wishing for the bell to strike to go back to their bunks, these deep-water fellows would be pacing up and down or sitting on deck against the bulwarks, smoking their pipes and spinning yarns to each other. the stories as a rule were interminable and were full of "then he says" and "then the other fellow says." it was a poor story that did not last out a four-hour watch and many of them were regular "continued in our next" serials, being cut short at the end of one watch to be resumed in the next. no matter how long-winded or prosy the narrative, the story teller was always sure of an audience whose attention never flagged for an instant. the boyish delight of these full-grown men in stories amazed me. i had never seen anything like it. once in a while a tale was told that was worth listening to, but most of them were monotonously uninteresting. they bored me. chapter v the a, b, c of whales one damp morning, with frequent showers falling here and there over the sea and not a drop wetting the brig, captain winchester suddenly stopped pacing up and down the weather side of the quarter-deck, threw his head up into the wind, and sniffed the air. "there's sperm whale about as sure as i live," he said to mr. landers. "i smell 'em." mr. landers inhaled the breeze through his nose in jerky little sniffs. "no doubt about it," he replied. "you could cut the smell with a knife." i was at the wheel and overheard this talk. i smiled. these old sea dogs, i supposed, were having a little joke. the skipper saw the grin on my face. "humph, you don't believe i smell whale, eh?" he said. "i can smell whale like a bird dog smells quail. take a sniff at the wind. can't you smell it yourself?" i gave a few hopeful sniffs. "no," i said, "i can't smell anything unless, perhaps, salt water." "you've got a poor smeller," returned the captain. "the wind smells rank and oily. that means sperm whale. if i couldn't smell it, i could taste it. i'll give you a plug of tobacco, if we don't raise sperm before dark." he didn't have to pay the tobacco. within an hour, we raised a sperm whale spouting far to windward and traveling in the same direction as the brig. the captain hurried to the cabin for his binoculars. as he swung himself into the shrouds to climb to the mast-head, he shouted to me, "didn't i tell you i could smell 'em?" the watch was called. the crew of the captain's boat was left to work the ship and mr. landers and gabriel lowered in the larboard and waist boats. sails were run up and we went skimming away on our first whale hunt. we had a long beat to windward ahead of us and as the whale was moving along at fair speed, remaining below fifteen minutes or so between spouts, it was slow work cutting down the distance that separated us from it. "see how dat spout slant up in de air?" remarked old gabriel whom the sight of our first sperm had put in high good humor. we looked to where the whale was blowing and saw its fountain shoot into the air diagonally, tufted with a cloudy spread of vapor at the top. "you know why it don't shoot straight up?" no one knew. "dat feller's blow hole in de corner ob his square head--dat's why," said gabriel. "he blow his fountain out in front of him. ain't no udder kind o' whale do dat. all de udder kind blow straight up. all de differ in de worl' between dat sperm whale out dere and de bowhead and right whale up nort'. ain't shaped nothin' a-tall alike. bowhead and right whale got big curved heads and big curved backs. sperm whale's about one-third head and his back ain't got no bow to it--not much--jest lies straight out behind his head. he look littler in de water dan de right and bowhead whale. but he ain't. he's as big as de biggest whale dat swims de sea. i've seen a barrel sperm dat measure seventy feet. "blow!" added the old negro as he caught sight of the whale spouting again. "bowhead and right whale got no teeth," he continued. "dey got only long slabs o' baleen hung wit' hair in de upper jaw. sperm whale got teeth same as you and me--about twenty on a side and all in his lower jaw. ain't got no teeth in his upper jaw a-tall. his mouth is white inside and his teeth stand up five or six inches out o' his gums and are wide apart and sharp and pointed and look jes' like de teeth of a saw. wen he open his mouth, his lower jaw fall straight down and his mouth's big enough to take a whale boat inside. "sperm whale's fightin' whale. he fight wit' his tail and his teeth. he knock a boat out de water wit' his flukes and he scrunch it into kindlin' wood wit' his teeth. he's got fightin' sense too--he's sly as a fox. w'en i was young feller, i was in de sperm trade mysel' and used to ship out o' new bedford round cape o' good hope for sperm whale ground in indian ocean and sout' pacific. once i go on top a sperm whale in a boat an' he turn flukes and lash out wit' his tail but miss us. den he bring up his old head and take a squint back at us out o' his foxy little eye and begin to slew his body roun' till he get his tail under de boat. but de boatheader too smart fer him and we stern oars and get out o' reach. but de whale didn't know we done backed out o' reach and w'en he bring up dat tail it shoot out o' de water like it was shot out o' a cannon. mighty fine fer us he miss us dat time. "but dat don't discourage dat whale a-tall. he swim round and slew round and sight at us out o' his eye and at las' he get under de boat. den he lift it on de tip o' his tail sky-high and pitch us all in de water. dat was jes' what he been working for. he swim away and turn round and come shootin' back straight fer dat boat and w'en he get to it, he crush it wit' his teeth and chew it up and shake his head like a mad bulldog until dere warn't nothin' left of dat boat but a lot o' kindlin' wood. but dat warn't all. he swim to a man who wuz lying across an oar to keep afloat and he chew dat man up and spit him out in li'l pieces and we ain't never see nothin' o' dat feller again. "guess that whale was goin' to give us all de same medicine, but he ain't have time. de udder boats come up and fill him full o' harpoons and keep stickin' der lances into him and kill him right where he lays and he never had no chance to scoff the rest o' us. but if it ain't fer dem boats, i guess dat feller eat us all jes' like plum duff. sperm whale, some fighter, believe me. "dere he white waters--blow!" added gabriel as the whale came to the surface again. "sperm whale try out de bes' oil," the garrulous old whaleman went on. "bowhead and right whale got thicker blubber and make more oil, but sperm whale oil de bes'. he got big cistern--what dey call a 'case'--in de top ob his head and it's full o' spermaceti, sloshing about in dere and jes' as clear as water. his old head is always cut off and hoist on deck to bale out dat case. many times dey find ambergrease (ambergis) floating beside a dead sperm whale. it's solid and yellowish and stuck full o' cuttle feesh beaks dat de whale's done swallowed but ain't digest. dey makes perfume out o' dat ambergrease and it's worth its weight in gold. i've offen seen it in chunks dat weighed a hundred pounds. "you see a sperm whale ain't eat nothin' but cuttle feesh--giant squid, dey calls 'em, or devil feesh. dey certainly is terrible fellers--is dem devil feesh. got arms twenty or thirty feet long wit' sucking discs all over 'em and a big fat body in de middle ob dese snaky arms, wit' big pop-eyes as big as water buckets and a big black beak like a parrot's to tear its food wit'. dose devil feesh. dey certainly is terrible fellers--is dem sperm whale nose 'em out and eat 'em. some time dey comes to de top and de whale and de cuttle feesh fights it out. i've hearn old whalers say dey seen fights between sperm whale and cuttle feesh but i ain't never seen dat and i reckon mighty few fellers ever did. but when a sperm whale is killed, he spews out chunks o' cuttle feesh and i've seen de water about a dead sperm thick wit' white chunks of cuttle feesh as big as a sea ches' and wit' de suckin' disc still on 'em. "blow!" said gabriel again with his eyes on the whale. "dat feesh certainly some traveler." we were hauling closer to the whale. i could see it distinctly by this time and could note how square and black its head was. its appearance might be compared not inaptly to a box-car glistening in the sun under a fresh coat of black paint. it did not cut the water but pushed it in white foam in front of it. "sperm pretty scarce nowadays," gabriel resumed. "nothing like as plentiful in pacific waters as dey used to be in de ole days. whalers done pretty well thinned 'em out. but long ago, it used to be nothin' to see schools of a hundred, mostly cows wit' three or four big bulls among 'em." "any difference between a bowhead and a right whale?" some one asked. "o good lord, yes," answered gabriel. "big difference. right whale thinner whale dan a bowhead, ain't got sech thick blubber neither. he's quicker in de water and got nothin' like such long baleen. you ketch right whale in behring sea. i ain't never see none in de arctic ocean. you ketch bowhead both places. right whale fightin' feesh, too, but he ain't so dangerous as a sperm." let me add that i give this statement of the old whaleman for what it is worth. all books i have ever read on the subject go on the theory that the greenland or right whale is the same animal as the bowhead. we lowered for a right whale later in the voyage in behring sea. to my untrained eyes, it looked like a bowhead which we encountered every few days while on the arctic ocean whaling grounds. but there was no doubt or argument about it among the old whalemen aboard. to them it was a "right whale" and nothing else. old gabriel may have known what he was talking about. despite the naturalists, whalers certainly make a pronounced distinction. by the time gabriel had imparted all this information, we had worked to within a half mile of our whale which was still steaming along at the rate of knots. they say a sperm whale has ears so small they are scarcely detected, but it has a wonderfully keen sense of hearing for all that. our whale must have heard us or seen us. at any rate it bade us a sudden good-bye and scurried off unceremoniously over the rim of the world. the boats kept on along the course it was heading for over an hour, but the whale never again favored us with so much as a distant spout. finally signals from the brig's mast-head summoned us aboard. as the men had had no practice in the boats before, both boats lowered sail and we started to row back to the vessel. we had pulled about a mile when mendez, who was acting as boatsteerer, said quietly, "blow! blackfish dead ahead." "aye, aye," replied gabriel. "now stand by, tomas. i'll jes' lay you aboard one o' dem blackfeesh and we'll teach dese green fellers somethin' 'bout whalin'." there were about fifty blackfish in the school. they are a species of small toothed whale, from ten to twenty feet long, eight or ten feet in circumference and weighing two or three tons. they were gamboling and tumbling like porpoises. their black bodies flashed above the surface in undulant curves and i wondered if, when seen at a distance, these little cousins of the sperm had not at some time played their part in establishing the myth of the sea serpent. "get ready, tomas," said gabriel as we drew near the school. "aye, aye, sir," responded mendez. pulling away as hard as we could, we shot among the blackfish. mendez selected a big one and drove his harpoon into its back. almost at the same time mr. lander's boat became fast to another. our fish plunged and reared half out of water, rolled and splashed about, finally shot around in a circle and died. mr. lander's fish was not fatally hit and when it became apparent it would run away with a tub of line, little johnny, the boatsteerer, cut adrift and let it go. mendez cut our harpoon free and left our fish weltering on the water. blackfish yield a fairly good quality of oil, but one was too small a catch to potter with. our adventure among the blackfish was merely practice for the boat crews to prepare them for future encounters with the monarchs of the deep. chapter vi the night king the crew called tomas mendez, the acting third mate, the "night king." i have forgotten what forecastle poet fastened the name upon him, but it fitted like a glove. in the day watches when the captain and mate were on deck, he was only a quite, unobtrusive little negro, insignificant in size and with a bad case of rheumatism. but at night when the other officers were snoring in their bunks below and the destinies of the brig were in his hands, he became an autocrat who ruled with a hand of iron. he was as black as a bowhead's skin--a lean, scrawny, sinewy little man, stooped about the shoulders and walking with a slight limp. his countenance was imperious. his lips were thin and cruel. his eyes were sharp and sinister. his ebony skin was drawn so tightly over the frame-work of his face that it almost seemed as if it would crack when he smiled. his nose had a domineering roman curve. he carried his head high. in profile, this little blackamoor suggested the mummified head of some old pharaoh. he was a native of the cape verde islands. he spoke english with the liquid burr of a latin. his native tongue was portuguese. no glimmer of education relieved his mental darkness. it was as though his outside color went all the way through. he could neither read nor write, but he was a good sailor and no better whaleman ever handled a harpoon or laid a boat on a whale's back. for twenty years he had been sailing as boatsteerer on whale ships, and to give the devil his due, he had earned a name for skill and courage in a thousand adventures among sperm, bowhead, and right whales in tropical and frozen seas. [illustration: waiting for the whale to breach] my first impression of the night king stands out in my memory with cameo distinctness. in the bustle and confusion of setting sails, just after the tug had cut loose from us outside golden gate heads, i saw mendez, like an ebony statue, standing in the waist of the ship, an arm resting easily on the bulwarks, singing out orders in a clear, incisive voice that had in it the ring of steel. when i shipped, it had not entered my mind that any but white men would be of the ship's company. it was with a shock like a blow in the face that i saw this little colored man singing out orders. i wondered in a dazed sort of way if he was to be in authority over me. i was not long in doubt. when calm had succeeded the first confusion and the crew had been divided into watches, captain winchester announced from the break of the poop that "mr." mendez would head the port watch. that was my watch. while the captain was speaking, "mr." mendez stood like a black napoleon and surveyed us long and silently. then suddenly he snapped out a decisive order and the white men jumped to obey. the night king had assumed his throne. the night king and i disliked each other from the start. it may seem petty now that it's all past, but i raged impotently in the bitterness of outraged pride at being ordered about by this black overlord of the quarter-deck. he was not slow to discover my smoldering resentment and came to hate me with a cordiality not far from classic. he kept me busy with some silly job when the other men were smoking their pipes and spinning yarns. if i showed the left-handedness of a landlubber in sailorizing he made me stay on deck my watch below to learn the ropes. if there was dirt or litter to be shoveled overboard, he sang out for me. "clean up dat muck dere, you," he would say with fine contempt. the climax of his petty tyrannies came one night on the run to honolulu when he charged me with some trifling infraction of ship's rules, of which i was not guilty, and ordered me aloft to sit out the watch on the fore yard. the yard was broad, the night was warm, the ship was traveling on a steady keel, and physically the punishment was no punishment at all. there was no particular ignominy in the thing, either, for it was merely a joke to the sailors. the sting of it was in having to take such treatment from this small colored person without being able to resent it or help myself. the very next morning i was awakened by the cry of the lookout on the topsail yard. "blow! blow! there's his old head. blo--o--o--w! there he ripples. there goes flukes." full-lunged and clear, the musical cry came from aloft like a song with little yodling breaks in the measure. it was the view-halloo of the sea, and it quickened the blood and set the nerves tingling. "where away?" shouted the captain, rushing from the cabin with his binoculars. "two points on the weather bow, sir," returned the lookout. for a moment nothing was to be seen but an expanse of yeasty sea. suddenly into the air shot a fountain of white water--slender, graceful, spreading into a bush of spray at the top. a great sperm was disporting among the white caps. "call all hands and clear away the boats," yelled the captain. larboard and waist boats were lowered from the davits. their crews scrambled over the ship's side, the leg-o'-mutton sails were hoisted, and the boats, bending over as the wind caught them, sped away on the chase. the night king went as boatsteerer of the waist boat. i saw him smiling to himself as he shook the kinks out of his tub-line and laid his harpoons in position in the bows--harpoons with no bomb-guns attached to the spear-shanks. in the distance, a slow succession of fountains gleamed in the brilliant tropical sunshine like crystal lamps held aloft on fairy pillars. suddenly the tell-tale beacons of spray went out. the whale had sounded. over the sea, the boats quartered like baffled foxhounds to pick up the lost trail. between the ship and the boats, the whale came quietly to the surface at last and lay perfectly still, taking its ease, sunning itself and spouting lazily. the captain, perched in the ship's cross-trees, signalled its position with flags, using a code familiar to whalemen. the night king caught the message first. he turned quickly to the boatheader at the tiller and pointed. instantly the boat came about, the sailors shifted from one gunwale to the other, the big sail swung squarely out and filled. all hands settled themselves for the run to close quarters. with thrilling interest, i watched the hunt from the ship's forward bulwarks, where i stood grasping a shroud to prevent pitching overboard. down a long slant of wind, the boat ran free with the speed of a greyhound, a white plume of spray standing high on either bow. the night king stood alert and cool, one foot on the bow seat, balancing a harpoon in his hands. the white background of the bellying sail threw his tense figure into relief. swiftly, silently, the boat stole upon its quarry until but one long sea lay between. it rose upon the crest of the wave and poised there for an instant like some great white-winged bird of prey. then sweeping down the green slope, it struck the whale bows-on and beached its keel out of the water on its glistening back. as it struck, the night king let fly one harpoon and another, driving them home up to the wooden hafts with all the strength of his lithe arms. the sharp bite of the iron in its vitals stirred the titanic mass of flesh and blood from perfect stillness into a frenzy of sudden movement that churned the water of the sea into white froth. the great head went under, the giant back curved down like the whirling surface of some mighty fly-wheel, the vast flukes, like some black demon's arm, shot into the air. left and right and left again, the great tail thrashed, smiting the sea with thwacks which could have been heard for miles. it struck the boat glancingly with its bare tip, yet the blow stove a great hole in the bottom timbers, lifted the wreck high in air, and sent the sailors sprawling into the sea. then the whale sped away with the speed of a limited express. it had not been vitally wounded. over the distant horizon, it passed out of sight, blowing up against the sky fountains of clear water unmixed with blood. the other boat hurried to the rescue and the crew gathered up the half-drowned sailors perched on the bottom of the upturned boat or clinging to floating sweeps. fouled in the rigging of the sail, held suspended beneath the wreck in the green crystal of the sea water, they found the night king, dead. when the whale crushed the boat--at the very moment, it must have been--the night king had snatched the knife kept fastened in a sheath on the bow thwart and with one stroke of the razor blade, severed the harpoon lines. he thus released the whale and prevented it from dragging the boat away in its mad race. the night king's last act had saved the lives of his companions. i helped lift the body over the rail. we laid it on the quarter deck near the skylight. it lurched and shifted in a ghastly sort of way as the ship rolled, the glazed eyes open to the blue sky. the captain's newfoundland dog came and sniffed at the corpse. sheltered from the captain's eye behind the galley, the kanaka cabin boy shook a furtive fist at the dead man and ground out between clenched teeth, "you black devil, you'll never kick me again." standing not ten feet away, the mate cracked a joke to the second mate and the two laughed uproariously. the work of the ship went on all around. looking upon the dead thing lying there, i thought of the pride with which the living man had borne himself in the days of his power. i beheld in fancy the silent, lonely, imperious little figure, pacing to and fro on the weather side of the quarter-deck--to and fro under the stars. i saw him stop in the darkness by the wheel, as his custom was, to peer down into the lighted binnacle and say in vibrant tones, "keep her steady," or "let her luff." i saw him buttoned up in his overcoat to keep the dew of the tropical night from his rheumatic joints, slip down the poop ladder and stump forward past the try-works to see how things fared in the bow. again i heard his nightly cry to the lookout on the forecastle-head, "keep a bright lookout dere, you," and saw him limp back to continue his vigil, pacing up and down. the qualities that had made him hated when he was indeed the night king flooded back upon me, but i did not forget the courage of my enemy that had redeemed them all and made him a hero in the hour of death. in the afternoon, old nelson sat on the deck beside the corpse and with palm and needle fashioned a long canvas bag. into this the dead man was sewed with a weight of brick and sand at his feet. at sunset, when all hands were on deck for the dog watch, they carried the body down on the main deck and with feet to the sea, laid it on the gang-plank which had been removed from the rail. there in the waist the ship's company gathered with uncovered heads. over all was the light of the sunset, flushing the solemn, rough faces and reddening the running white-caps of the sea. the captain called me to him and placed a bible in my hands. "read a passage of scripture," he said. dumbfounded that i should be called upon to officiate at the burial service over the man i had hated, i took my stand on the main hatch at the head of the body and prepared to obey orders. no passage to fit my singular situation occurred to me and i opened the book at random. the leaves fell apart at the seventh chapter of matthew and i read aloud the section beginning: "judge not, that ye be not judged. for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." at the close of the reading the captain called for "the sweet bye and bye" and the crew sang the verses of the old hymn solemnly. when the full-toned music ceased, two sailors tilted the gang-plank upwards and the remains of the night king slid off and plunged into the ocean. as the body slipped toward the water, a kanaka sailor caught up a bucket of slop which he had set aside for the purpose, and dashed its filth over the corpse from head to foot. wide-eyed with astonishment, i looked to see instant punishment visited upon this south sea heathen who so flagrantly violated the sanctities of the dead. but not a hand was raised, not a word of disapproval was uttered. the kanaka had but followed a whaler's ancient custom. the parting insult to the dead was meant to discourage the ghost from ever coming back to haunt the brig. chapter vii dreams of liberty at midnight after the burial, we raised the volcanic fire of mauna loa dead ahead. sailors declare that a gale always follows a death at sea and the wind that night blew hard. but we cracked on sail and next morning we were gliding in smooth water along the shore of the island of hawaii with the great burning mountain towering directly over us and the smoke from the crater swirling down through our rigging. we loafed away three pleasant weeks among the islands, loitering along the beautiful sea channels, merely killing time until captain shorey should arrive from san francisco by steamer. once we sailed within distant view of molokai. it was as beautiful in its tropical verdure as any of the other islands of the group, but its very name was fraught with sinister and tragic suggestiveness;--it was the home of the lepers, the island of the living death. we did not anchor at any time. none of the whaling fleet which meets here every spring ever anchors. the lure of the tropical shores is strong and there would be many desertions if the ships lay in port. we sailed close to shore in the day time, often entering honolulu harbor, but at night we lay off and on, as the sailor term is--that is we tacked off shore and back again, rarely venturing closer than two or three miles, a distance the hardiest swimmer, bent upon desertion, would not be apt to attempt in those shark-haunted waters. many attempts to escape from vessels of the whaling fleet occur in the islands every year. we heard many yarns of these adventures. a week before we arrived, five sailors had overpowered the night watch aboard their ship and escaped to shore in a whale boat. they were captured in the hills back of honolulu and returned to their vessel. this is usually the fate of runaways. a standing reward of $ a man is offered by whaling ships for the capture and return of deserters, consequently all the natives of the islands, especially the police, are constantly on the lookout for runaways from whaling crews. when we drew near the islands the runaway fever became epidemic in the forecastle. each sailor had his own little scheme for getting away. big taylor talked of knocking the officers of the night watch over the head with a belaying-pin and stealing ashore in a boat. ole oleson cut up his suit of oil-skins and sewed them into two air-tight bags with one of which under each arm, he proposed to float ashore. bill white, an englishman, got possession of a lot of canvas from the cabin and was clandestinely busy for days making it into a boat in which he fondly hoped to paddle ashore some fine night in the dark of the moon. "slim," our irish grenadier, stuffed half his belongings into his long sea-boots which he planned to press into service both as carry-alls and life-preservers. peter swenson, the forecastle's baby boy, plugged up some big empty oil cans and made life buoys of them by fastening a number of them together. just at the time when the forecastle conspiracies were at their height we killed a thirteen-foot shark off diamond head. our catch was one of a school of thirty or forty monsters that came swarming about the brig, gliding slowly like gray ghosts only a few feet below the surface, nosing close to the ship's side for garbage and turning slightly on their sides to look out of their evil eyes at the sailors peering down upon them over the rail. long john, the boat-steerer, got out a harpoon, and standing on the bulwarks shot the iron up to the wooden haft into the back of one of the sharks, the spear-point of the weapon passing through the creature and sticking out on the under side. the stout manila hemp attached to the harpoon had been made fast to the fore bitt. it was well that this was so, for the shark plunged and fought with terrific fury, lashing the sea into white froth. but the harpoon had pierced a vital part and in a little while the great fish ceased its struggles and lay still, belly up on the surface. it was hauled close alongside, and a boat having been lowered, a large patch of the shark's skin was cut off. then the carcass was cut adrift. the skin was as rough as sandpaper. it was cut into small squares, which were used in scouring metal and for all the polishing purposes for which sandpaper serves ashore. life aboard the brig seemed less intolerable thereafter, and an essay at escape through waters infested by such great, silent, ravenous sea-wolves seemed a hazard less desirable than before. taylor talked no more about slugging the night watch. slim unpacked his sea-boots and put his effects back into his chest. peter threw his plugged oil cans overboard. bill white turned his canvas boat into curtains for his bunk, and ole oleson voiced in the lilting measure of scandinavia his deep regret that he had cut up a valuable suit of oil-skins. the captain of one of the whaling ships came one afternoon to visit our skipper and his small boat was left dragging in our wake as the brig skimmed along under short sail. it occurred to me, and at the same time to my two kanaka shipmates, that here was a fine opportunity to escape. it was coming on dusk, and if we could get into the boat and cut loose we might have a splendid chance to get away. the kanakas and i climbed over the bow, intending to let ourselves into the sea and drift astern to the boat, but the breeze had freshened and the brig was traveling so fast we did not believe we could catch the boat; and if we failed to do so, we might confidently expect the sharks to finish us. we abandoned the plan after we had remained squatting on the stays over the bow for a half hour considering our chances and getting soaked to the skin from the dashing spray. a pathetic incident grew out of the visit of the captain from the other ship. tomas mendez's brother, a boat-steerer, came aboard with the boat's crew. he was a young negro whom all the boat-steerers and officers knew. he came swinging lightly over our rail, laughing and happy over the prospect of seeing his brother. "hello, fellers," he called to the portuguese officers and boat-steerers who welcomed him. "where's my brudder?" "dead, my boy," said one of the boat-steerers gently. "dead?" echoed mendez. he staggered back. when he had heard the details of his brother's death, he burst into tears. all the time his skipper remained aboard, the poor fellow stood by the cooper's bench and sobbed. while drifting at the mouth of honolulu harbor one morning, captain winchester called for a boat's crew to row him ashore. all hands wanted to go. i was one of the lucky ones to be chosen. the morning was calm and beautiful, the water was smooth, and we pulled away with a will. the city looked inviting at the foot of its green mountains, its quaint houses embowered in tropical foliage. on our starboard beam rose the fine, bold promontory of diamond head, and in between the headland and the city lay waikiki, the fashionable bathing beach. we could see the bathers taking the surf in the bright morning sunlight, while beyond stretched a delectable wooded country, above the tops of whose trees peeped manors and villas of wealthy citizens. we reached the long pier at last and tied up the boat. while the captain went into the city the sailors remained on the dock in charge of long john, the boat-steerer. three snaky-eyed kanaka policemen in blue uniforms hung about, watching our every movement. we were not allowed to stir off the dock. there was a street corner within a stone's throw. a little red brick store stood upon it. a lazy kanaka lounged against the building, smoking a cigarette. that corner fascinated me. if i only could dodge around it! how near it seemed, and yet how unattainable! but if we sailormen could not get into town, we at least had the freedom of the long pier. this was several hundred feet long and piled thick with freight of all descriptions, which shut its harbor end from view. with a casual and indifferent air i sauntered out along the pier. in a moment i was hidden behind the merchandise from the unsuspecting long john and the policemen. i soon reached the harbor end. i saw that a sharp curve in the shore line brought the part of the pier on which i was standing close to land. it seemed easy to dive off the pier, swim past a big four-masted english ship unloading alongside, gain the land, and escape to the cane fields which swept up to the edge of the city. i sat down behind some freight and began to take off my shoes. i had one off when a barefooted kanaka suddenly stepped into view from behind a pile of bales and boxes. he was tip-toeing and peering about him furtively. i knew him for a spy instantly. directly he saw me staring at him he looked as guilty as one taken in crime, and slunk away sheepishly. i knew he was on his way to inform on me and made up my mind not to get my clothes wet by any hopeless attempt to run away. i put my shoe back on and strolled back toward the boat. i saw one of my shipmates--it was richard, the deep-water german sailor--walking up the gang-plank of the english ship alongside the dock. i followed him. when we reached the deck, we saw a gang of sailors working about an open hatch. "hello, mates," said richard. "we are merchant seamen and want to clear out from a blooming whaler. stow us away, won't you?" the sailors didn't seem to take kindly to the proposition. perhaps they were afraid of getting into trouble. but they told us we might go down in the fore-peak of the ship and stow ourselves away. richard and i climbed down three decks and found ourselves in the chain lockers deep in the ship's bow. it was pitch dark down there and we lay upon the ship's cable in the farthest corners. for three hours we huddled there in silence. just when we were beginning to congratulate ourselves that our escape would be successful, the hatch was pulled off suddenly and three kanaka policemen with drawn clubs came leaping down upon us. "come out of this, you," they yelled, swearing at us and brandishing their billets. the jig was up; resistance would have got us only broken heads. we were led upon deck and escorted toward the gangway for the pier. but i was for one more try before giving up. suddenly i darted for the rail on the harbor side of the ship. we were in the waist and the bulwarks reached about to my breast. before the kanaka policemen had recovered from their surprise i had plunged head first over the rail and dived into the water twenty or thirty feet below. when i came to the surface i struck out for shore with all my might. it was only a short swim. i soon made the land and dragged myself, dripping brine, out upon a beach. i glanced toward the pier. the policemen, with a crowd at their backs, were dashing for me along shore. i started for the cane fields, but in my wet and heavy clothes i stumbled along as if there was lead in my shoes. perhaps i ran a quarter of a mile. my pursuers gained on me steadily. i was drawing near a cane field, in which i felt i should be able to lose myself; but before reaching it, my pursuers sprang upon me and bore me to the ground. then, with a policeman on either side of me, i was marched back to the brig's boat. the populace had turned out royally in my honor and i passed through a lane of brown humanity that bent round eyes upon me and chortled and spluttered kanaka and seemed to get a huge amount of enjoyment out of my capture. as my captors paraded me onto the pier, who should be there waiting for me but captain shorey, our new skipper, just arrived from san francisco by steamer. he stood with feet wide apart and arms folded on his breast and looked at me steadily with stern, cold eyes. in my wet clothes i cut a sorry figure. i felt ashamed of myself and realized that this introduction to my new captain was not all it should have been. captain winchester had nothing to say to richard and me on the long pull back to the brig. once aboard, he drew a pint of jamaica rum from his pocket and gave every man of the boat's crew, except us, a swig. but no penalty of any sort was imposed upon us for our escapade. this surprised us. chapter viii gabriel's little drama on a bright, sunshiny morning a few days later, with a light breeze just ruffling the harbor, the brig with her sails laid back and her head pointed seaward was drifting with the ebb tide perhaps a mile and a quarter off shore between honolulu and diamond head. captain winchester had set out for the city in a whale boat. those of the sailors left aboard were idling forward. mr. landers, the mate, sat by the skylight on the poop, reading a magazine. second mate gabriel and the cooper were busy at the cooper's bench in the waist. no one else was on deck and i resolved to attempt again to escape. the situation seemed made to order. in the warm weather of the tropics, i had often seen old man landers, when there was nothing doing on deck, sit and read by the hour without ever looking up. i hoped that this morning his magazine would prove of absorbing interest. gabriel and the cooper were intent upon their work. as for the sailors, i told them i was going to try to swim ashore and if i were discovered and they had to lower for me, i asked them to hurry as little as possible so i might have every chance to get away. for my adventure i wore a blue flannel shirt, dungaree trousers, and my blue cap. i tied my shoes together with a rope yarn, which i slipped baldric-fashion over my shoulder. in the belt at my waist i carried a sailor's sheath knife. with this i had a foolish idea that i might defend myself against sharks. without attracting attention, i slipped over the bow, climbed down by the bob-stays, and let myself into the sea. i let myself wash silently astern past the ship's side and struck out for shore, swimming on my side without splash or noise, and looking back to watch developments aboard. i am convinced to this day that if i had not been in the water, old landers would have kept his nose in that magazine for an hour or so and drowsed and nodded over it as i had seen him do dozens of times before. either my good angel, fearful of the sharks, or my evil genius, malignantly bent upon thwarting me, must have poked the old fellow in the ribs. at any rate, he rose from his chair and stepped to the taff-rail with a pair of binoculars in his hand. he placed the glasses to his eyes and squinted toward the pier to see whether or not the captain had reached shore. i don't know whether he saw the captain or not, but he saw me. "who's that overboard?" he shouted. i did not answer. then he recognized me. "hey, you," he cried, calling me by name, "come back here." i kept on swimming. "lay aft here, a boat's crew," mr. landers sang out. gabriel and the cooper ran to the quarter-deck and stared at me. the sailors came lounging aft along the rail. mr. landers and gabriel threw the boat's falls from the davit posts. the sailors strung out across the deck to lower the boat. "lower away," shouted mr. landers. one end of the boat went down rapidly. the other end jerked and lurched and seemed to remain almost stationary. i wondered whether my shipmates were bungling purposely. mr. landers and gabriel sprang among them, brushed them aside and lowered the boat themselves. a crew climbed down the brig's side into the boat. old gabriel went as boatheader. in a jiffy the sweeps were shot into place, the boat was shoved off, and the chase was on. all this had taken time. as the ship was drifting one way and i was quartering off in an almost opposite direction, i must have been nearly a half mile from the vessel when gabriel started to run me down. i swam on my side with a long, strong stroke that fast swimmers used to fancy before the australian crawl came into racing vogue. i was swimming as i never in my life swam before--swimming for liberty. all my hope and heart, as well as all my strength, lay in every stroke. the clear, warm salt water creamed about my head and sometimes over it. i was making time. swimming on my side, i could see everything that was happening behind me. as the boat came after me i noticed there was but a slight ripple of white water about the prow. plainly it was not making great speed. "pull away, my boys. we ketch dat feller," sang out gabriel. wilson at the midship oar "caught a crab" and tumbled over backwards, his feet kicking in the air. wilson was a good oarsman. he was my friend. a hundred yards more and walker at the tub oar did the same. he also was my friend. the boys were doing their best to help me--to give me a chance. i knew it. gabriel knew it, too. the crafty old negro recognized the crisis. i could not hear what he said or see all that he did, but the boys told me about it afterwards. it must have been a pretty bit of acting. suddenly gabriel half rose from his seat and peered anxiously ahead. "my god!" he cried, "dat poor feller, he drown. pull, my boys. oh, good god!" the sailors at the sweeps had their backs to me. it was a good long swim and the water was full of sharks. it was not difficult to make them believe that i was verging on tragedy. "dere he go down!" gabriel's voice was broken and sobbing. "he t'row his hands up. he underneath de water. i cain't see him. oh, dat poor feller! no, dere he come up again--oh, good lord! pull away, my bully boys, pull away. we save him yet." surely the stage lost a star when gabriel became a whaler. the old thespian was good--he was great. his acting carried conviction. the sailors believed i was drowning. they leaned upon their oars with a will. the sweeps bent beneath the powerful strokes. the boat jumped through the water. i noted the increased speed by the white spray that began to stand at the bow. gabriel helped along the speed by forward lurches of his body, pushing at the same time upon the stroke oar. all the while he kept shouting: "we save him yet, dat poor feller! pull away, my boys." the boat came up rapidly. in a little while it was almost upon me. i tried to dodge it by darting off at right angles. it was no use--gabriel slewed his tiller and the boat came swishing round upon me. i had played the game out to the last and i was beaten--that was all. i caught the gunwale near the bow and pulled myself into the boat. "you make dam good swim, my boy," said old gabriel, smiling at me as he brought the boat around and headed back for the ship. i had made a good swim. i was fully a mile from the brig. i was not much over a half mile from shore. i looked across the sunlit, dancing blue water to the land. how easy it would have been to swim it! how easy it would have been after i had crawled out upon the sands to hide in the nearby mountains and live on wild fruit until the ship started for the north and all danger of capture was past. no land could have seemed more beautiful. groves of banana, orange, and cocoanut trees held out their fruit to me. forests swept to the summits of the mountains. flowers were in riotous bloom everywhere. i could almost count the ribs in the glossy fronds of the palms. i could hear the soft crash of the combers on the coral beaches of those enchanted shores. it all looked like paradise and i had missed it by half a mile. when i reached the brig, mr. landers permitted me to put on dry clothing and then put me in irons, as the sea phrase is. this consisted in fastening my hands together in front of me with a pair of steel handcuffs of the ordinary kind used by sheriffs and policemen everywhere. then he made me sit on the main hatch until captain winchester came back from honolulu, along toward sundown. "what's the matter with that man?" roared the captain as he swung over the rail and his eyes lighted on me. "he jumped overboard and tried to swim ashore," said mr. landers in his nasal cape cod drawl. "why didn't you get my rifle and shoot him?" thundered the captain. "well," returned mr. landers, "i don't shoot folks." after supper the captain stuck his head out of the cabin gangway. "come down here, you," he said. i stepped into the cabin, now bright with lighted lamps. the captain glared at me savagely. "you want to give me a bad name with captain shorey when he takes command, do you?" he shouted. "you want to make it appear i have been hard on my men, eh? you think you're a smart sea lawyer, but i'll teach you the bitterest lesson you ever learned. we are bound for the arctic ocean. there are no ships up there but whale ships, and we do as we please. i have been sailing to the arctic for thirteen years as master and mate of whale ships and i know just how far i can go in dealing with a man without making myself liable to law. i am going to make it as rough for you as i know how to make it. i will put you over the jumps right. i will punish you to the limit. this ship is going to be a floating hell for you for the rest of the voyage. and when we get back to san francisco you can prosecute me all you please." he drew a key from his pocket and unlocked one manacle. it dropped from one wrist and dangled from the other. "boy," he said to the kanaka cabin boy, who has been listening with open mouth and bulging eyes to this tirade, "get this man a cup of water and a biscuit." i had had nothing to eat since breakfast, and i sat down at the cabin table and ate my one hardtack and drank my quart tin of water with a relish. after my meal, the captain fastened my handcuff again and jerked a little hatch out of the floor. "get down there," he said. i climbed down and he clapped the hatch on again. i was in darkness except for the light that filtered from the cabin lamps through the four cracks of the hatch. when my eyes had become accustomed to the dimness, i made out that i was in the ship's run, where the provisions for the captain's table were stored. i rummaged about as well as i could in my handcuffs and found a sack of raisins open and a box of soda crackers. to these i helped myself generously. from a forecastle viewpoint they were rare dainties, and i filled my empty stomach with them. i had not tasted anything so good since i had my last piece of pie ashore. pie! dear me! one doesn't know how good it is--just common pie baked in a bakery and sold at the corner grocery--until one cannot get it and has had nothing but salt horse and cracker hash for months. i used to yearn for pie by day and dream of pie by night. at bedtime the captain snatched the hatch off again and tossed me down my blankets. i bundled up in them as best i could and slept with my manacles on. i was kept in irons on bread and water for five days and nights. sometimes in the daytime, with one handcuff unlocked and hanging from my other wrist, i was put at slushing down the main boom or washing paint-work. but for the most part i was held a close prisoner in the run, being called to the cabin table three times a day for my bread and water. finally, when captain shorey came aboard and assumed command and the vessel headed for the north, i was released and sent to the forecastle. my shipmates proved job's comforters and were filled with gloomy predictions regarding my future. "i pity you from now on," each one said. but their prophecies proved false. after captain shorey took charge of the ship mr. winchester became mate. as mate he was, as may be said, the ship's foreman, directing the work of the men, and was in much more intimate contact with the sailors than when he had been skipper. in his new capacity he had much greater opportunity to make it unpleasant for me in a thousand ways. but for some reason or other he never made good that ferocious speech he had delivered to me in the cabin. when other green hands bungled, he damned them in round terms for their awkwardness. when i blundered he showed me how to correct my error. "not that way, my boy," he would say. "do it this way." when i took my trick at the wheel he would often spin a yarn or crack a joke with me. he loaned me books from time to time. in behring sea, when he got out his rifle and shot okchug seals as they lay basking on cakes of ice, he almost invariably took me with him in the boat to bring back the kill. in short, he treated me more considerately than he treated any other man in the forecastle and before the voyage was over we had become fast friends. chapter ix through the roaring forties before leaving the islands, we shipped a portuguese negro boat-steerer to take the place of the night king. he was coal black, had a wild roll to his eyes, an explosive, spluttering way of talking, looked strikingly like a great ape, and had little more than simian intelligence. his feet had the reputation of being the largest feet in the hawaiian islands. when i had seen them i was prepared to believe they were the largest in the world. he was dubbed "big foot" louis, and the nickname stuck to him during the voyage. he came aboard barefooted. i don't know whether he could find any shoes in the islands big enough to fit him or not. anyway, he didn't need shoes in the tropics. when we began to get north into cold weather he needed them badly, and there were none on board large enough for him to get his toes in. the captain went through his stock of eskimo boots, made of walrus hide and very elastic, but they were too small. when we entered the region of snow, louis was still running about the deck barefooted. as a last resort he sewed himself a pair of canvas shoes--regular meal sacks--and wore them through snow and blizzard and during the cold season when we were in the grip of the behring sea ice pack. up around behring straits the captain hired an eskimo to make a pair of walrus hide boots big enough for louis to wear, and louis wore them until we got back to san francisco and went ashore in them. i met him wandering along pacific street in his walrus hides. however, he soon found a pair of brogans which he could wear with more or less comfort. one night while i was knocking about the barbary coast with my shipmates we heard dance music and the sound of revelry coming from behind the swinging doors of the bow bells saloon, a free-and-easy resort. we stepped inside. waltzing around the room with the grace of a young bowhead out of water was "big-foot" louis, his arm around the waist of a buxom negress, and on his feet nothing but a pair of red socks. we wondered what had become of his shoes and spied them on the piano, which the "professor" was vigorously strumming. louis seemed to be having more fun than anybody, and was perfectly oblivious to the titters of the crowd and to the fact that it was not _de rigueur_ on the barbary coast to dance in one's socks. we left the hawaiian islands late in march and, standing straight north, soon left the tropics behind, never to see them again on the voyage. as we plunged into the "roaring forties" we struck our first violent storm. the fury of the gale compelled us to heave to under staysails and drift, lying in the troughs of the seas and riding the waves sidewise. the storm was to me a revelation of what an ocean gale could be. old sailors declared they never had seen anything worse. the wind shrieked and whistled in the rigging like a banshee. it was impossible to hear ordinary talk and the men had to yell into each other's ears. we put out oil bags along the weather side to keep the waves from breaking. but despite the oil that spread from them over the water, giant seas frequently broke over the brig. one crushed the waist boat into kindling wood and sent its fragments flying all over the deck. we were fortunate to have several other extra boats in the hold against just such an emergency. waves sometimes filled the ship to the top of the bulwarks and the sailors waded about up to their breasts in brine until the roll of the vessel spilled the water overboard or it ran back into the sea through the scuppers and hawse-holes. the waves ran as high as the topsail yard. they would pile up to windward of us, gaining height and volume until we had to look up almost vertically to see the tops. just as a giant comber seemed ready to break in roaring foam and curl over and engulf us, the staunch little brig would slip up the slope of water and ride over the summit in safety. then the sea would shoot out on the other side of the vessel with a deafening hiss like that of a thousand serpents and rush skyward again, the wall of water streaked and shot with foam and looking like a polished mass of jade or agate. i had not imagined water could assume such wild and appalling shapes. those monster waves seemed replete with malignant life, roaring out their hatred of us and watching alertly with their devilish foam-eyes for a chance to leap upon us and crush us or sweep us to death on their crests. i became genuinely seasick now for the first time. a little touch of seasickness i had experienced in the tropics was as nothing. to the rail i went time and again to give up everything within me, except my immortal soul, to the mad gods of sea. for two days i lay in my bunk. i tried pickles, fat bacon, everything that any sailor recommended, all to no purpose. i would have given all i possessed for one fleeting moment upon something level and still, something that did not plunge and lurch and roll from side to side and rise and fall. i think the most wretched part of seasickness is the knowledge that you cannot run away from it, that you are penned in with it, that go where you will, on the royal yard or in the bilge, you cannot escape the ghastly nightmare even for a minute. there is no use fighting it and no use dosing yourself with medicines or pickles or lemons or fat meat. nothing can cure it. in spite of everything it will stay with you until it has worked its will to the uttermost, and then it will go away at last of its own accord, leaving you a wan, limp wreck. i may add, to correct a general impression, that it is impossible to become seasoned to seasickness. one attack does not render the victim immune from future recurrences. i was very sick once again on the voyage. after a season ashore, the best sailors are liable to seasickness, especially if they encounter rough weather soon after leaving port. some time later we were frozen solidly in behring sea for three weeks. when a storm swell from the south broke up the ice and the motionless brig began suddenly to rock and toss on a heavy sea, every mother's son aboard, including men who had been to sea all their lives, was sick. not one escaped. [illustration: unalaska] during the storm we kept a man at the wheel and another on the try-works as a lookout. one day during my trick at the wheel, i was probably responsible for a serious accident, though it might have happened with the most experienced sailor at the helm. to keep the brig in the trough of the seas, i was holding her on a certain point of the compass, but the big waves buffeted the vessel about with such violence that my task was difficult. captain shorey was standing within arm's length of me, watching the compass. a sea shoved the brig's head to starboard and, as if it had been lying in ambush for just such an opportunity, a giant comber came curling in high over the stern. it smashed me into the wheel and for an instant i was buried under twenty feet of crystal water that made a green twilight all about us. then the wave crashed down ponderously upon the deck and i was standing in clear air again. to my astonishment, the captain was no longer beside me. i thought he had been washed overboard. the wave had lifted him upon its top, swept him high over the skylight the entire length of the quarter-deck and dropped him on the main deck in the waist. his right leg was broken below the knee. sailors and boat-steerers rushed to him and carried him into the cabin, where mr. winchester set the broken bones. we put into unalaska a week later and the surgeon of the revenue cutter _bear_ reset the leg. this was in the last days of march. the captain was on crutches in july, when we caught our first whale. the storm did not blow itself out. it blew us out of it. we must have drifted sidewise with the seas about six hundred miles. at dawn of the second day, after leaving the fury of the forties behind, we were bowling along in smooth water with all sails set. the sky was clear and the sea like hammered silver. far ahead a mountain rose into the sky--a wedge-shaped peak, silver-white with snow, its foot swathed in purple haze. it rose above unimak pass, which connects the pacific ocean and behring sea between unimak and ugamok islands of the fox island chain. unimak pass is ten miles broad, and its towering shores are sheer, black, naked rock. mr. winchester, who had assumed command after the captain had broken his leg, set a course to take us directly through the passage. running before a light breeze that bellied all our sails, we began to draw near the sea gorge at the base of the mountain. then, without warning, from over the horizon came a savage white squall, blotting out mountain, pass, sea, and sky. i never saw bad weather blow up so quickly. one moment the ship was gliding over a smooth sea in bright sunlight. the next, a cloud as white and almost as thick as wool had closed down upon it; snow was falling heavily in big, moist flakes, a stiff wind was heeling the vessel on its side, and we could not see ten feet beyond the tip of the jib boom. the wind quickened into a gale. by fast work we managed to furl sails and double-reef the topsail before they carried away. soon the deck was white with four or five inches of snow. on the forecastle-head big foot louis was posted as lookout. everybody was anxious. mr. winchester took his stand close by the main shrouds at the break of the poop and kept gazing ahead through his glasses into the mist. the sailors and boat-steerers crowded the forward rails, peering vainly into the swirling fog. big foot louis bent forward with his hand shielding his eyes from the falling snow. "land, land!" he cried. if it were land that louis saw through the clouds and blinding snow, it was mighty close. our doom seemed sealed. we expected the ship to crash bows-on upon the rocks. we nerved ourselves for the shock. a momentary vision of shipwreck on those bleak coasts in snow and storm obsessed me. but louis's eyes had deceived him. the ship went riding on its stately way through the blinding snow before the gale. the situation was ticklish, if not critical. we had been headed squarely for the passage before the storm closed down. now we could not see where we were going. if we held directly upon our course we were safe. if the gale blew us even slightly out of our way, shipwreck and death on the rock-bound shore awaited us. which would it be? mr. winchester was a man of iron nerve. he demonstrated this now as he did many times afterward. he was as skillful a navigator as he was a fearless one. he knew his reckonings were good. he knew that when the squall shut out the world the brig's nose was pointed directly at the center of unimak pass. so he did not veer to east or west, or seek to tack back from the dangerous coasts on our bows, but drove the vessel straight upon its course into the blank white wall of mist and snow. an hour later the squall lifted as quickly as it had come. blue skies and sunshine came back. we found ourselves almost becalmed on a placid sea. to the south lay the outline of a lofty coast. a boat-steerer bustled forward. "we are in behring sea," he said with a laugh. we had shot through the narrow channel without sighting the shores. i have often wondered just how close to port or starboard death was to us that morning on the black cliffs of unimak pass. chapter x in the ice from unalaska, into which port we put to have the captain's leg attended to, the brig stood northwesterly for the spring whaling on the bowhead and right whale grounds off the siberian coast. we were a week's sail from the fox islands when we encountered our first ice. it appeared in small chunks floating down from the north. the blocks became more numerous until they dappled the sea. they grew in size. strings and floes appeared. then we brought up against a great ice field stretching to the north as far as the eye could see. it was all floe ice broken into hummocks and pressure ridges and pinnacles, with level spaces between. there were no towering 'bergs such as are launched into the sea from the glaciers on the greenland coast and the pacific coast of alaska. the highest 'berg i saw on the voyage was not more than forty feet high. it was composed of floe ice which had been forced upward by the pressure of the pack. the crow's nest was now rigged and placed in position on the cross-trees abaft the fore-mast, between the topsail and the fore-top-gallant-sail yard. it was a square box of heavy white canvas nailed upon a wooden frame-work. when a man stood in it the canvas sides reached to his breast and were a protection against the bitter winds. from early morning until dark an officer and a boat-steerer occupied the crow's nest and kept a constant lookout for whales. as soon as we struck the ice the captain's slop-chest was broken open and skin clothes were dealt out to the men. accoutred for cold weather, i wore woolen underwear and yarn socks next my flesh; an outer shirt of squirrel skin with hood or parka; pants and vest of hair seal of the color and sheen of newly minted silver; a coat of dogskin that reached almost to my knees; a dogskin cap; deer-skin socks with the hair inside over my yarn socks; walrus-hide boots and walrus-hide mittens over yarn mittens. the walrus-boots were fastened by a gathering string just below the knees and by thongs of tanned skin about the ankle. some of the men wore heavy reindeer-skin coats. the skin clothes worn by the officers and boat-steerers were of finer quality and more pretentious. perhaps the handsomest costume was that of little johnny. it consisted of coat, vest, and trousers of silvery hair-seal, with the edges of the coat trimmed with the snowwhite fur of fur-seal pups. with this he wore a black dogskin cap and walrus-hide boots. while we were among the ice, the officer in the crow's nest directed the course of the brig. whaling officers are great fellows to show their skill by just grazing dangerous ice. many a time we green hands stood with our hearts in our mouths as the ship seemed about to crash into a 'berg bows-on. "starboard, sir," the helmsman would respond. "starboard," would come the order from aloft. [illustration: waiting for the floes to open] the bow would swing slowly to one side and the 'berg would go glancing along the rail so close perhaps that we could have grabbed a snowball off some projection. "steady," the officer would call. "steady, sir." the bow would stop in its lateral swing. "port." "port, sir." the bow would swing the other way. "steady." we would be upon our old course again. once i remember the mate was in the crow's nest and had been narrowly missing ice all day for the fun of the thing--"showing off," as we rather disturbed green hands said. a 'berg about thirty feet high, a giant for behring sea waters, showed a little ahead and to leeward of our course. the mate thought he could pass to windward. he kept the brig close to the wind until the 'berg was very near. then he saw a windward passage was impossible and tried suddenly to go to leeward. "hard up your wheel," he cried. "hard up it is, sir." the bow swung toward the 'berg--swung slowly, slowly across it. the tip of the jib-boom almost rammed a white pinnacle. just when everybody was expecting the brig to pile up in wreck on the ice, the great 'berg swept past our starboard rail. but we had not missed it. its jagged edges scraped a line an inch deep along our side from bow to stern. shooting _okchug_ (or, as it is sometimes spelled, ooksook) or hair seals was a favorite amusement in the spring ice. the mate was an expert with a rifle. he shot many as they lay sunning themselves on ice cakes. okchugs are as large as oxen and are covered with short silvery hair so glossy that it fairly sparkles. if an okchug was killed outright, its head dropped over upon the ice and it lay still. if only slightly wounded, the animal flounced off into the sea. if vitally hurt, it remained motionless with its head up and glaring defiance, whereupon a boat's crew would row out to the ice cake and a sailor would finish the creature with a club. it was exciting to step on a small ice cake to face a wounded and savage okchug. the animal would come bouncing on its flippers straight at one with a vicious barking roar. the nose was the okchug's most vulnerable point. a tap on the nose with a club would stretch the great creature out dead. it required a cool head, a steady nerve, and a good aim to deliver this finishing stroke upon the small black snout. if one missed or slipped on the ice, the possible consequences would not have been pleasant. we tanned the skins of the okchugs and made them into trousers or "pokes." the meat was hung over the bows to keep in an ice-box of all outdoors. ground up and made into sausages, it was a _pièce de resistance_ on the forecastle bill of fare. one night in the latter part of may we saw far off a great light flaring smokily across the sea. it was what is known in whaler parlance as a bug-light and was made by blazing blubber swinging in an iron basket between the two smokestacks of a whale-ship's try-works. by it the crew of that distant ship was working at trying out a whale. the bug-light signaled to all the whaling fleet the first whale of the season. the great continent of ice drifting southward gradually closed round the fleet. the ships had worked so far in there was no escape. in the early part of june the brig was frozen in. for three weeks the vessel remained motionless in solid ice with every stitch of canvas furled. no water or land was in sight--nothing but one great sweep of broken and tumbled ice as far as the eye could see. those three ice-bound june weeks were given over to idleness. a stove was placed in the forecastle and was kept going night and day. this made it possible to keep comfortable and to read. we went on frequent seal hunts. we strolled across the frozen sea to visit the other ships, the nearest of which was two miles away. visiting is called "gamming" by whalers. we learned the gossip of the fleet, who had taken the first whale, how many whales had been caught, the adventures of the ships, the comedies and tragedies of the whaling season. we established, too, what we called the "behring sea circulating library." there were a number of books in every forecastle. these greasy, dog-eared volumes were passed about from ship to ship. perhaps there were twenty books aboard the brig which had been read by almost every member of the crew, forward and aft. before we got out of the ice, we had exchanged these volumes for an entirely new lot from other ships. one morning i awoke with the ship rocking like a cradle. i pulled on my clothes and hurried on deck. the ice fields were in wild commotion. great swells from some storm upon the open sea to the south were rolling under them. crowded and tumultuous waves of ice twenty feet high chased each other across the frozen fields from horizon to horizon. the ship would sink for a moment between ridges of ice and snow, and then swing up on the crest of an ice mountain. great areas of ice would fall away as if the sea had opened beneath them. then they would shoot up and shut out half the sky. the broken and jagged edges of these white and solid billows appeared for an instant like a range of snowy sierras which, in another instant, would crumble from view as if some seismic cataclysm had shaken them down in ruin. the air was filled with grinding, crushing, ominous noises and explosions. the ship was in imminent peril. in that mad turmoil of ice it seemed certain she would be ground to pieces. captain shorey, who was hobbling about on crutches, ordered a cask of bread, a cask of water, and a barrel of beef hoisted on deck ready to be thrown out on an ice cake in case the brig were wrecked and we were cast away. in the grinding of the floes, the ship became wedged in between two immense pieces of ice. the great bergs washed closer and closer. when they rose on some tremendous billow, great caverns, washed out by the sea, appeared in their sides like mouths, edged with splinters and points of blue and glittering ice, like fangs. as they rose and fell, it seemed the two white monsters were opening and closing devouring maws for us while the suck of the water in their ice caves made noises like the roar of hungry beasts of prey. a cable was run out hurriedly over the bow and a bowline at the end of it was slipped over a hummock of ice. with the inboard end wound around the windlass, all hands worked like beavers to heave the brig out of her dangerous position. it was all the crew could do to swing the windlass bars up and down. the ship went forward slowly, almost imperceptibly, and all the time the great bergs swept closer and closer. for a long time it looked as if we were doomed. there was no doubt about the ship's fate if the bergs struck it. but inch by inch, heave by heave, we hauled her through. ten minutes later, the ice monsters came together with a force that would have crushed an ironclad. gradually patches of clear water began to appear in the ice. it was as though the white fields were opening great blue eyes. little lakes and zigzag lanes of water formed. sails were set. the brig began to work her way along. soon she was swinging on heavy billows--not white billows of ice but green billows of water, thick with ice in stars and constellations. chapter xi cross country whaling we had hardly washed clear of the ice in the heavy seas when "blow!" rang from the crow's nest. a school of whales close ahead, covering the sea with fountains, was coming leisurely toward the ship. there were more than thirty of them. "bowheads!" shouted the mate. their great black heads rose above the surface like ponderous pieces of machinery; tall fountains shot into the air; the wind caught the tops of the fountains and whisked them off in smoke; hollow, sepulchral whispers of sound came to the brig as the breath left the giant lungs in mighty exhalations. why they were called bowheads was instantly apparent--the outline of the top of the head curved like an indian's bow. as the head sank beneath the surface, the glistening back, half as broad as a city street and as black as asphalt, came spinning up out of the sea and went spinning down again. our crippled captain in his fur clothes and on crutches limped excitedly about the quarter-deck glaring at $ , worth of whales spouting under his nose. but with so much ice about and such a heavy sea running he was afraid to lower. if the whales saw the brig they gave no sign. they passed all around the vessel, the spray of their fountains blowing on deck. one headed straight for the ship. the mate seized a shoulder bomb-gun and ran to the bow. the whale rose, blew a fountain up against the jib-boom, and dived directly beneath the brig's forefoot. as its back curled down, the mate, with one knee resting on the starboard knighthead, took aim and fired. he surely hit the whale--there was little chance to miss. but the bomb evidently did not strike a vital spot, for the leviathan passed under the ship, came up on the other side and went on about its business. the sight of all these whales passing by us with such unconcern, blowing water on us as if in huge contempt, almost seeming to laugh at us and mock our bombs and harpoons and human skill, drove the captain frantic. should he allow that fortune in whales to escape him without a try for it? with purple face and popping eyes he gazed at the herd now passing astern. "lower them boats!" he cried. "what?" expostulated mr. landers. "do you want to get us all killed?" "lower them boats!" yelled the skipper. "don't you know that a boat that gets fast to a whale in that ice will be smashed, sure?" "lower them boats!" shouted the captain. mr. winchester, enthusiastic and fearless whaleman that he was, was eager for the captain's order. his boat and mr. landers's went down. the waist boat--mine--was left on its davits. but gabriel, its boatheader, armed with a shoulder gun, went in the mate's boat. left aboard to help work ship, i had an opportunity to view that exciting chase from beginning to end. with storm-reefed sails, the boats went plunging away over the big seas, dodging sharply about to avoid the ice cakes. not more than two hundred yards away on our starboard beam a great whale was blowing. the mate marked it and went for it like a bull dog. he steered to intercept its course. it was a pretty piece of maneuvering. the whale rose almost in front of him and his boat went shooting upon its back. long john let fly his harpoon. gabriel fired a bomb from his shoulder gun. there was a flurry of water as the whale plunged under. back and forth it slapped with its mighty flukes as it disappeared, narrowly missing the boat. down came the boat's sail. it was bundled up in a jiffy and the mast slewed aft until it stuck out far behind. out went the sweeps. the mate stood in the stern wielding a long steering oar. i could see the whale line whipping and sizzling out over the bows. for only a moment the whale remained beneath the surface. then it breached. its black head came shooting up from the water like a titanic rocket. up went the great body into the air until at least forty feet of it was lifted against the sky like some weird, mighty column, its black sides glistening and its belly showing white. then the giant bulk crashed down again with a smack on the sea that might have been heard for miles and an impact that sent tons of water splashing high in air. for an instant the monster labored on the water as if mortally hurt, spouting up fountains of clotted blood that splattered over the ice blocks and turned them from snow white to crimson. then a second time the whale sounded and went speeding away to windward, heading for the ice pack. it dragged the boat at a dizzy clip despite the fact that the line was running out so fast as to seem to the men in the boat a mere vibrant, indistinct smear of yellow. the boat was taken slicing through the big waves, driving its nose at times beneath the water, and knocking against lumps of ice. a long ice block appeared in its course. a collision seemed inevitable unless the boat was cut loose from the whale. captain shorey was watching the chase with fierce intentness as he leaned upon his crutches on the forecastle head. he had been filled with great joy, seized with anxiety or shaken with anger as the hunt passed from one phase to another. he shouted his emotions aloud though there was never a chance for the men in the boats to hear him. "good boy, long john," he had cried when the boatsteerer drove his harpoon home. "that's our fish," he had chortled as the wounded leviathan leaped high against the sky and spouted blood over the ice. now when it seemed possible that the mate would be forced to cut loose from the whale to save his boat from destruction, the captain danced about on his crutches in wild excitement. "don't cut that line! don't cut that line!" he yelled. mr. winchester realized as well as the captain that there was something like $ , on the other end of the rope, and he had no idea of cutting loose. towed by the whale the boat drove toward the ice. the mate worked hard with his steering oar to avoid striking the block. it was impossible. the bow smashed into one end of the ice cake, was lifted out of the water and dragged across to slip back into the sea. a hole was stove in the starboard bow through which the water rushed. the crew thereafter was kept busy bailing. it was evident from the fountains of blood that the whale was desperately wounded, but its vitality was marvelous and it seemed it might escape. when mr. landers saw the mate's line being played out so rapidly he should have hurried to the mate's boat and bent the line from his own tub to the end of the mate's line. as an old whaleman mr. landers knew what to do in this crisis, but in such ice and in such high seas he preferred not to take a chance. he was a cautious soul, so he held his boat aloof. the mate waved to him frantically. long john and gabriel wigwagged frenzied messages with waving arms. as for captain shorey on his crutches on the forecastle head, when it seemed certain that the whale would run away with all the mate's line and escape, he apparently suffered temporary aberration. he damned old man landers in every picturesque and fervent term of an old whaleman's vocabulary. he shook his fist at him. he waved a crutch wildly. "catch that whale!" he yelled in a voice husky and broken with emotion. "for god's sake, catch that whale!" all this dynamic pantomime perhaps had its effect on landers. at any rate, his men began to bend to their sweeps and soon his boat was alongside that of the mate. his line was tied to the free end of the rope in the mate's almost exhausted tub just in time. the mate's line ran out and landers' boat now became fast to the whale. fortune favored landers. his boat was dragged over the crests of the seas at thrilling speed, but he managed to keep clear of ice. the whale showed no sign of slowing down. in a little while it had carried away all the line in mr. landers' tub. the monster was free of the boats at last. it had ceased to come to the surface to blow. it had gone down into the deep waters carrying with it the mate's harpoon and fathoms of manila rope. it seemed probable it had reached the safety of the ice pack and was lost. the boats came back to the brig; slowly, wounded, limping over the waves. the flying spray had frozen white over the fur clothes of the men, making them look like snow images. they climbed aboard in silence. mr. landers had a hang-dog, guilty look. the skipper was a picture of gloom and smoldering fury. he bent a black regard upon mr. landers as the latter swung over the rail, but surprised us all by saying not a word. when the next day dawned, we were out of sight of ice, cruising in a quiet sea. a lookout posted on the forecastle head saw far ahead a cloud of gulls flapping about a dark object floating on the surface. it was the dead whale. chapter xii cutting in and trying out two boats were sent to secure the whale. i lowered with one. as we came up to the whale, i marveled at its immense bulk. it looked even larger than when it had breached and i had seen it shoot up, a giant column of flesh and blood, against the heavens. it had turned belly up as dead whales do, its ridged white abdomen projecting above the waves. it seemed much like a mighty white and black rock, against which the waves lapped lazily. seventy-five feet long the officers estimated it--an unusually large bull whale. i had never imagined any animal so large. i had seen jumbo, said to be the largest elephant ever in captivity. jumbo made ordinary circus elephants seem like pigmies. this whale was as big as a dozen jumbos. the great hairy mammoth, of which i had seen stuffed specimens in museums, would have seemed a mere baby beside this monster of the deep. as proof that the whale was ours, the harpoon sticking in its back bore the brig's name, and fast to the haft and floating far out on the sea in a tangled mass was the fathoms of line from the brig's two tubs. our first work was to recover the line. as this had to be straightened out and coiled in the boats, it was a long and tedious job. then with a short sharp spade, a hole was cut through the whale's flukes and a cable passed through and made fast. with both boats strung out along the cable, the men bent to the sweeps, hauling the carcass slowly toward the brig. meanwhile the vessel had been sailing toward us. so we had but a hundred yards or so to pull. the loose end of the hawser was passed through the hawse-hole in the starboard bow and made fast to the fore-bitt. in this way the flukes were held close to the bow. as the brig made headway under short sail, the great body washed back against the vessel's side and lay upon the surface, the head abreast the wheel on the quarter-deck--which will give an idea of the whale's length. the gang-plank was taken from the bulwarks and a cutting stage lowered over the whale. this stage was made of three broad planks. two projected from the ship's side, the third joined their outer ends. along the inside of the third plank was a low railing. two officers took their station on the outer plank with long-handled spades to cut in the blubber. the spade was enough like a garden spade in shape to suggest its name and was fastened to a long pole. its cutting edge was as sharp as a razor. a block and tackle was rigged above the whale, the upper block fastened to the cross-trees of the main mast and the tackle carried forward to the windlass. a great hook was fastened into the whale's blubber, and everything was ready for the cutting in. as the officers with their spades cut under the blubber, the sailors heaved on the windlass. the blanket piece of blubber began to rise. as it rose, the officers kept spading under it, rolling the whale over gradually. thus the whale was peeled much as one would peel a roll of bologna sausage. when the great carcass had been rolled completely over, the blanket piece of blubber came off. the upper end of it fast to the tackle hook was up almost against the cross-trees as the lower end swung free. the largest blanket pieces weighed perhaps ten tons. six were taken off in the process of skinning. the weight of the whale, i should estimate, was roughly something like one hundred tons, perhaps a little more. when the blanket piece was cut free from the whale it swung inboard, and as it came over the main hatch, it was lowered into the hold. there men fell upon it with short spades, cutting it into small pieces and distributing them equally about the ship to prevent the vessel from listing. it took most of the day to strip the whale of its blubber. when this had been finished the great flensed carcass stretched out along the ship's side a mass of blood-red flesh. the final work was cutting in the "old head." long john with an axe climbed down upon the whale's back. as it was his boat that had struck the whale the cutting in of the head was his job. nobody envied him the task. the stripped body of a whale offers a surface as slippery as ice. as the waves rocked the whale, long john had much ado to keep his footing. once he fell and almost tumbled into the water. finally he cut himself two foot-holds and began to wield his axe, raining blows upon the neck. he chopped through from the upper neck surface into the corners of the mouth, thus loosening the head and upper jaw from the body. the lower jaw is devoid of teeth. the tackle hook having been fixed in the tip-top of the head's bowlike curve, the windlass men heaved away. up rose the head above the bulwarks and swung inwards. "lower, lower away!" cried the mate. down came the head upon the deck and a great cheer went up. the "old head" was safe. immediately afterwards, the mate came forward with a bottle of jamaica rum and gave each man a swig. "bringing in his old head," as it is called, is a memorable event in cutting in a whale, and is always celebrated by dealing out a drink all around. great hunks of meat were cut out from the carcass. these were hung over the bow. the meat was served in the form of steaks and sausages in both forecastle and cabin. and let me give my testimony right here that whale steak is mighty good eating. it tastes something like tender beef, though it is coarser grained and of ranker flavor. we preferred to eat it as steaks, though made into meat balls with gravy it was extremely toothsome. i do not know how whale would taste if served on the home table, but at sea, after months of salt horse and "sow belly," it was delicious. the hunks became coated with ice over the bow and kept well. they lasted us for several weeks. when the carcass was cut adrift it went floating astern. flocks of gulls and sea birds that had been constantly hovering about the ship in hundreds waiting for the feast swooped down upon it. the body washed slowly out of sight, still swarmed over by the gulls. the head rested in the waist near the poop. it was, i should say, twelve feet high at the crest of the bow, and suggested some strange sort of tent. i stepped inside it without bending my head and walked about in it. its sides were shaggy with the long hair hanging from the teeth or baleen, and the interior resembled, in a way, a hunter's forest lodge made of pine boughs. if the head had been in a forest instead of on the deck of a ship it would have formed an ideal shelter for a winter's night with a wood fire burning at the opening. only the lower tip of the head or what we might call the nose rested on the deck. it was supported otherwise upon the teeth. i now had my first opportunity to see baleen in its natural setting. the teeth viewed from the outside looked something like the interior of a piano. the whale's gums, following the bony skeleton of the jaw, formed an arched and undulant line from nose tip to the back of the jaw. the front teeth were six inches long; the back ones were ten feet. each tooth, big and little alike, was formed of a thin slab of bluish whalebone, almost flat. the largest of these slabs were six inches broad at their base in the gum. the smallest were an inch. all tapered to a point. they were set in the gum with the flat surfaces together and almost touching. they were extremely pliant and at the outer ends could be pulled wide apart. the inner edges were hung with black coarse hair, which seemed exactly like that of a horse's tail. the hair on the small front teeth was an inch long perhaps; on the back teeth, it was from six to ten inches long. such teeth are beautifully adapted to the animal's feeding habits. the baleen whale feeds on a kind of jelly fish. we saw at times the sea covered with these flat, round, whitish living discs. the whale swims through an area of this food with its mouth open. when it has obtained a mouthful, it closes its jaws. the water is forced out between the slab-like teeth; the jelly fish remain tangled in the hair to be gulped down. our first job after the cutting in of the whale was to cut the baleen from the jaw. it was cut away in bunches of ten or a dozen slabs held together by the gums and stowed away in the hold not to be touched again until later in the voyage. [illustration: "trying out"] while the baleen was being prepared for stowage, the lid was removed from the try-works, uncovering the two big copper caldrons. a fire was started in the furnace with kindling and a handful of coal, but kept going thereafter with tried-out blubber called "scrap." two men dressed in oil-skins were sent down into the blubber-room as the portion of the hold was called in which the blanket pieces of blubber had been stowed. their oil-skins were to protect them from the oil which oozed from the blubber. oilskins, however, are but slight protection as i learned later when i was sent into the blubber room at the taking of another whale. the oil soaks through the water-proof oil-skins and saturates one's clothes and goes clear through to the skin leaving it as greasy as if it had been rubbed with oil. a whale's blubber lies immediately beneath its skin, which is black and rubbery and about a quarter of an inch thick. the blubber is packed between this thin covering and the flesh in a layer of pink and opalescent fat from six inches to two feet thick. the blubber is so full of oil that the oil exudes from it. one can squeeze the oil from a piece of raw blubber as water from a sponge. the two blubber-room men with short handled spades cut the great blankets of blubber in what in whaling parlance are called "horse pieces." these horse pieces are two or three feet long and about six inches wide. they are pitched into tubs on deck and the tubs dragged forward to the mincing vat. this is an immense oblong tub across the top of which is fastened a plank. two sailors with mincing knives are stationed at each end of the plank. the mincing knife is like a carpenter's drawing knife, except that the edge is on the outside. the sailor lays a horse piece along the plank. then grasping the mincing knife by its two handles, he passes the blade back and forth from side to side across the blubber until it has been cut into leaves something like those of a book, each leaf perhaps a quarter of an inch thick and all of them held together at the back by the black skin. thus minced the horse pieces are pitch-forked into the caldrons that are kept bubbling with boiling oil. when the oil has been boiled out of them, the horse-pieces, now shrunken and twisted into hard, brittle lumps, called "scrap," are skimmed off and thrown into a vat at the port side of the try-works to be used later as fuel in trying out the remainder of the blubber. the oil is ladled off into a cooling vat at the starboard side where, after it has cooled, it is siphoned into hogsheads or tanks and these are later stowed in the hold. the trying out of the whale gave several delicacies to the forecastle menu. hardtack biscuit soaked in buckets of sea water and then boiled in the bubbling caldrons of oil made relishing morsels. the crisp, tried-out blubber, which looked like honey-comb, was palatable to some. black whale skin freed of blubber and cut into small cubes and pickled in salt and vinegar had a rather agreeable taste, though it was much like eating pickled rubber. these things with whale steaks and whale sausages made trying-out days a season of continual feasting. at night "scrap" was put into an iron basket swung between the two chimneys of the try-works and set on fire, making a flaring yellow blaze which lighted the ship from stem to stern and threw weird shadows everywhere. the beacon not only gave us plenty of light to work by, but advertised the brig's good luck to any ship which happened in sight of us. in the blubber-room, holes were cut in a blanket piece and rope yarns, having been rubbed upon the blubber, were coiled in the hole and lighted. as they burned they lighted the oil from the blubber. these unique lamps had all the oil in a ten-ton blanket piece to draw on. it was only the wick that ever gave out. new strands of rope yarn had to be provided from time to time. three or four of these lamps blazing and spluttering made the blubber-room bright. working night and day, it took three days to cut in and try out the whale. while the work was going on, the decks were so greasy that we could run and slide anywhere for long distances like boys on ice. after the whale had been tried out and the oil casks had been stowed below, we fell upon the decks and paint work with lye and water. hard work soon had the ship looking as bright as a new pin. chapter xiii shaking hands with siberia the ship's prow was turned northward after work on the whale had been finished. i expected we would soon run into the ice again. we sailed on and on, but not a block of ice big enough to make a highball did we sight. the white floes and drifts and the frozen continent floating southward, along the coasts of which we had cruised for whales and which had surrounded us and held us captive for three weeks, had disappeared entirely. the warm water from the south, the southern winds, and the spring sunshine had melted the ice. its utter disappearance savored of magic. a long hilly coast rose ahead of us covered with grass, barren of trees or shrubs, dotted with blackened skeletons of old ice--an utterly desolate land. it was siberia. we put into a bight called st. lawrence bay. there was an eskimo village on the shore. the huts were made of whale ribs covered with hides of walrus and reindeer. in the warm weather, some of the hides had been removed and we saw the white gleaming bones of the frame work. we could see the dogs with tails curling over their backs frisking about and could hear their clamor as they bayed the great white-winged thing that had come up from over the sea's verge. in this first part of july it was continuous day. the sun set at eleven o'clock at night in the northwest. its disc remained barely below the horizon--we could almost see its flaming rim. a molten glow of color made the sky resplendent just above it as it passed across the north pole. it rose at : in the morning high in the northeast. all the time it was down a brilliant twilight prevailed--a twilight like that which in our temperate zone immediately follows the sinking of the sun behind a hill. we could see to read without difficulty. soon boats and kyacks were putting off from the village. when we were still a mile or two out, strange craft came alongside and eskimo men, women, and children swarmed aboard. very picturesque they looked in clothes made of the skins of reindeer, hair seals, dogs, and squirrels, oddly trimmed and decorated with fur mosaics in queer designs. some of the women wore over their furs a yellow water-proof cloak made of the intestines of fish, ornamented with needle-work figures and quite neat looking. the men and the older women had animal faces of low intelligence. the young girls were extremely pretty, with glossy, coal-black hair, bright black eyes, red cheeks, lips like ripe cherries, and gleaming white teeth forever showing in the laughter of irresponsibility and perfect health. the captain ordered a bucket of hardtack brought out in honor of our guests. the biscuit were dumped in a pile on the main deck. the eskimos gathered around in a solemn and dignified circle. the old men divided the bread, giving an equal number of hardtack to each. this ceremony of welcome over, the eskimos were given the freedom of the ship, or at least, took it. we kept a careful watch upon them, however, to see that they took nothing else. several of the eskimo men had a sufficient smattering of english to make themselves understood. they had picked up their small vocabulary among the whalers which every spring put in at the little ports along the siberian and alaskan coasts. one of them had been whaling to the arctic ocean aboard a whale ship which some accident had left short handed. he spoke better english than any of the others and was evidently regarded by his fellow townsmen as a wonderfully intellectual person. he became quite friendly with me, showing his friendship by begging me to give him almost everything i had, from tobacco to clothes. he constantly used an eskimo word the meaning of which all whalers have learned and it assisted him materially in telling his stories--he was a great story teller. this word was "_pau_,"--it means "nothing." i never knew before how important nothing could be in human language. here is a sample of his use of "nothing:" [illustration: callers from asia] "winter," he said, "sun pau; daylight pau. all dark. water pau; all ice. land pau, all snow. eskimo igloo, plenty fire. moss in blubber oil all time blaze up. cold pau. plenty hot. eskimo, he sweat. clothes pau. good time. hot time. eat plenty. sleep." this seemed to me a good, vivid description. the picture was there, painted chiefly with "nothing." of course he had the english words "yes" and "no" in his assortment, but his way of using them was pure eskimo. for instance: "you wear no clothes in winter?" i asked him. "no," he replied. "no?" i echoed in surprise. "yes," he said. his "yes" merely affirmed his "no." it sometimes required a devious mental process to follow him. a pretty girl came up to me with a smile and an ingratiating air. "tobac," she said holding out her hand. i handed her my smoking plug. she took half of it at one cavernous bite and gave the remainder back to me, which i thought considerate. she enjoyed the tobacco. she chewed upon it hard, working her jaws as if she were masticating a dainty tidbit. did she expectorate? not a drop. she evidently did not propose to waste any of the flavor of that good weed. neither did she get sick--that pretty eskimo girl. at last when she had chewed for twenty minutes or so, she removed her quid and stuck it behind her right ear. she chewed it at intervals later on, always between times wearing it conspicuously behind her ear. i rather expected our guests would depart after a call of an hour or so. not so. they had come to stay indefinitely. when they became tired they lay on deck--it didn't make any particular difference where--and went quietly to sleep. they seemed to have no regular time for sleeping. i found eskimos asleep and awake during all my deck watches. as it was day all the twenty-four hours, i wondered if these people without chronometers did not sometimes get their hours mixed up. new parties of eskimos kept coming to see us. one of these had killed a walrus and the skin and the raw meat, butchered into portable cuts, lay in the bottom of their big family canoe of hide. the boat was tied alongside and the eskimos came aboard. if any of them became hungry, they climbed down into the canoe and ate the raw walrus meat, smacking their lips over it. when the sailors would lean over the rail to watch this strange feat of gastronomy, the eskimos would smile up at them with mouths smeared with blood and hold out a red chunk in invitation. it was their joke. we loafed in st. lawrence bay for more than a week. we could not have sailed away if we had wanted to, for all the time there was a windless calm and the sea heaved and fell, unruffled by a ripple, like a vast sheet of moving mercury. it was weather characteristic of the arctic summer--a beautiful dream season of halcyon, silver seas, opalescent haze, and tempered golden sunlight. to the men in skin clothes, it was warm weather, but one had only to step from sunshine to shadow to pass from summer to winter. one perspired in the sunlight; in the shadow there was frost, and if the spot were damp, a coating of ice. i went duck hunting with a boat's crew one day. mr. winchester, who headed the boat, was a good hand with a shotgun and brought back a fine bag. one of the ducks, knocked over on the wing, dropped within a few feet of shore. when we rowed to pick it up, i touched siberia with an oar. i felt that it was a sort of handshake with the asiatic continent. i never landed and never got any nearer. in a little while, most of us had traded for a number of nicely tanned hair-seal skins and had set the eskimo women and girls to work tailoring trousers and vests and coats. it was marvelous how dexterous they were at cutting and sewing. they took no measurements and yet their garments fitted rather snugly. before they began sewing they softened the edges of the skins by chewing them. they wore their thimble on their index finger and drove the needle into one side of the skins and jerked it through from the other side with such amazing rapidity that the two movements seemed one. a good seamstress--and all seemed remarkably expert--could cut and sew a pair of trousers in an hour, a bit of work it would have taken a sailor a day or two to accomplish. we could hire a seamstress for an entire morning or afternoon for five hardtack. a bowl of soup with a piece of salt horse was sufficient pay for a day's labor. my old skin clothes, which i had obtained from the slop-chest were greasy, dirty, and worn and i had an eskimo woman make me a complete new outfit from hair-seal skins i purchased from her husband. she cut out a coat, vest, and trousers, spreading the skins on deck and using a knife in cutting. she sat cross-legged on deck most of the day sewing on the garments and i carefully superintended the job. she ornamented the coat with a black dogskin collar and edged it down the breast and around the bottom with the same material, which set off the glistening seal skin attractively. i also bought a new squirrel skin shirt with a hood attached. when i appeared on deck in my new toggery, i felt quite presentable. however, i was not alone in gorgeous regalia. most of my shipmates were soon looking like animate statues of silver in their shining seal skins. our turns up and down deck became fashion parades. we strutted like peacocks, it must be admitted, and displayed our fine clothes to best advantage under the eyes of the eskimo beauties. it remained for peter, our rolypoly little swede, to make the only real, simon-pure conquest. in his new clothes, which sparkled like a silver dollar fresh from the mint, and with his fresh boyish face, he cut quite a handsome figure and one little eskimo maid fell a victim to his fatal fascinations. "'e's killed her dead," said english bill white. she was perhaps fifteen years old, roguish eyed, rosy cheeked, and with coal-black hair parted in the middle and falling in two braids at the sides of her head. plump and full of life and high spirits, the gay little creature was as pretty as any girl i saw among the eskimos. peter was all devotion. he gave his sweetheart the lion's share of all his meals, feasting her on salt horse, hardtack, soup, and gingerbread which to her primitive palate that never had risen to greater gastronomic heights than blubber and raw meat must have seemed epicurean delicacies. the sailors called the girl "mamie," which was very different from the eskimo name her mother spluttered at her. if peter was missed at any time, it was only necessary to locate the charming miss mamie, and there by her side peter would be found, speaking only with his eyes and making distinct progress. sometimes peter, finding optical language not entirely satisfactory, pressed into his service the intellectual eskimo as interpreter. these three-cornered efforts at love making were amusing to all who chanced to overhear them;--the dashing young romeo could scarcely talk english himself, the interpreter could talk even less and the object of peter's adoration could not speak a word. as the upshot of this interesting affair, the little lady and peter plotted between them that peter should run away from the ship and live among her people. this plan appealed to peter who was a cold weather product himself and almost as primitive as his inamorata. but peter made one mistake;--he took old nels nelson, his countryman and side-partner, into his confidence. nelson loved the boy like a father and did his best to persuade him to give up the idea, but peter was determined. one twilight midnight with the sun just skimming below the horizon, peter wrapped from head to foot in an eskimo woman's mackintosh of fish intestine, with the hood over his head and half hiding his chubby face, climbed over the rail into an eskimo boat with a number of natives, his sweetheart among them, and set out for shore. nelson and several sailors watched the boat paddle away, but no one but nelson knew that the person bundled up in the native raincoat was peter. the boat got half a mile from the brig. then nelson could stand it no longer. the strain was too much. he rushed back to the quarter-deck where old gabriel was walking up and down. "peter's run away," nelson blurted out. "there he goes in that boat. that's him dressed up like a woman in fish-gut oil-skins." [illustration: peter's sweetheart] without ado gabriel called aft the watch, manned a boat, and set out in pursuit. the eskimo canoe was quickly overhauled and peter was captured and brought back aboard. "you ben bigges' fool for sech a li'l' boy i ever have see," said gabriel severely. "you don't know you freeze to deaf up here in winter time, no?" peter had nothing to say. he was ashamed, but he was mad, too. he was not punished. when captain shorey learned of the escapade, he merely laughed. peter took the matter quite to heart and pouted for days. to the end of the voyage, he still dreamed of his eskimo sweetheart and of the happiness that might have been his. every time he spoke of her his eyes grew bright. "she was fine gal," he used to say. chapter xiv moonshine and hygiene we noticed that several of our eskimo guests appeared at times to be slightly under the influence of liquor and thought perhaps they had obtained gin or rum from some whaling vessel that had touched at the port before we arrived. we asked the intellectual eskimo where these fellows had got their booze. he pointed to an eskimo and said, "him." "him" was a lordly person dressed in elaborately trimmed and ornamented skin clothes. from the way he strutted about, we had fancied him a chief. he turned out be a "moonshiner." this doubtless will surprise those whose ideas of "moonshiners" are associated with southern appalachian ranges, lonely mountain coves, revenue raids, and romance. but here was an eskimo "moonshiner" who made unlicensed whiskey under the midnight sun and yet was as genuine a "moonshiner" as any lawless southern mountaineer. the sailors, being thirsty souls, at once opened negotiations with him for liquor. he drew from beneath his deer-skin coat a skin bottle filled with liquor and sold it to us for fifteen hardtack. wherefore there was, for a time, joy in the forecastle--in limited quantity, for the bottle was small. this product of the ice-bound north was the hottest stuff i ever tasted. the captain was not long in discovering that the eskimo had liquor to sell and sent a boat ashore with a demijohn. the jug was brought back filled with siberian "moonshine," which had been paid for with a sack of flour. the boat's crew found on the beach a little distillery in comparison with which the pot stills of the kentucky and tennessee mountains, made of old kitchen kettles would seem elaborate and up-to-date plants. the still itself was an old tin oil can; the worm, a twisted gun barrel; the flake-stand, a small powder keg. the mash used in making the liquor, we learned, was a fermented mixture of flour and molasses obtained in trade from whale ships. it was boiled in the still, a twist of moss blazing in a pan of blubber oil doing duty as a furnace. the vapor from the boiling mash passed through the worm in the flake-stand and was condensed by ice-cold water with which the powder keg was kept constantly filled by hand. the liquor dripped from the worm into a battered old tomato can. it was called "kootch" and was potently intoxicating. an eskimo drunk on "kootch" was said to be brave enough to tackle a polar bear, single-handed. the little still was operated in full view of the villagers. there was no need of secrecy. siberia boasted no revenue raiders. the owner of the plant did an extensive trade up and down the coast and it was said natives from diomede islands and alaska paddled over in their canoes and _bidarkas_ to buy his liquor. they paid for it in walrus tusk ivory, whale bone, and skins and the "moonshiner" was the richest man in all that part of siberia. if contact with civilization had taught the eskimo the art of distillation and drunkenness, it also had improved living conditions among them. many owned rifles. their spears and harpoons were steel tipped. they bartered for flour, molasses, sugar, and all kinds of canned goods with the whale ships every summer. they had learned to cook. there was a stove in the village. the intellectual eskimo boasted of the stove as showing the high degree of civilization achieved by his people. the stove, be it added, was used chiefly for heating purposes in winter and remained idle in summer. the natives regarded the cooked foods of the white man as luxuries to be indulged in only occasionally in a spirit of connoisseurship. they still preferred their immemorial diet of blubber and raw meat. aside from these faint touches of civilization, the eskimos were as primitive in their life and mental processes as people who suddenly had stepped into the present out of the world of ten thousand years ago. i fancy adam and eve would have lived after the manner of the eskimos if the garden of eden had been close to the north pole. there is apparently no government or law among these eskimos. they have no chiefs. when it becomes necessary to conduct any business of public importance with outsiders, it is looked after by the old men. the eskimos are a race, one may say, of individuals. each one lives his life according to his own ideas; without let or hindrance. each is a law unto himself. under these conditions one might expect they would hold to the rule of the strong arm under which might makes right. this is far from true. there is little crime among them. murder is extremely rare. though they sometimes steal from white men--the sailors on the brig were warned that they would steal anything not nailed down--they are said never--or hardly ever--to steal from each other. they have a nice respect for the rights of their neighbors. they are not exactly a golden rule people, but they mind their own business. the infrequency of crime among them seems stranger when one learns that they never punish their children. eskimo children out-topsy topsy in "just growing." i was informed that they are never spanked, cuffed, or boxed on the ears. their little misdemeanors are quietly ignored. it might seem logical to expect these ungoverned and lawless little fellows to grow up into bad men and women. but the ethical tradition of the race holds them straight. when a crime occurs, the punishment meted out fits it as exactly as possible. we heard of a murder among the eskimos around st. lawrence bay the punishment of which furnishes a typical example of eskimo justice. a young man years before had slain a missionary by shooting him with a rifle. the old men of the tribe tried the murderer and condemned him to death. his own father executed the sentence with the same rifle with which the missionary had been killed. tuberculosis is a greater scourge among the eskimos than among the peoples of civilization. this was the last disease i expected to find in the cold, pure air of the arctic region. but i was told that it caused more than fifty per cent. of the deaths among the natives. these conditions have been changed for the better within the last few years. school teachers, missionaries, and traveling physicians appointed by the united states government have taught the natives of alaska hygiene and these have passed on the lesson to their kinsmen of siberia. long after my voyage had ended, captain a. j. henderson, of the revenue cutter _thetis_ and a pioneer judge of uncle sam's "floating court" in behring sea and arctic ocean waters, told me of the work he had done in spreading abroad the gospel of health among the eskimos. finding tuberculosis carrying off the natives by wholesale, captain henderson began the first systematic crusade against the disease during a summer voyage of his vessel in the north. in each village at which the _thetis_ touched, he took the ship's doctor ashore and had him deliver through an interpreter a lecture on tuberculosis. though the eskimos lived an out-door life in summer, they shut themselves up in their igloos in winter, venturing out only when necessity compelled them, and living in a super-heated atmosphere without ventilation. as a result their winter igloos became veritable culture beds of the disease. [illustration: eskimos summer hut at st. lawrence bay] those afflicted had no idea what was the matter with them. their witch doctors believed that they were obsessed by devils and attempted by incantations to exorcise the evil spirits. the doctor of the _thetis_ had difficulty in making the natives understand that the organism that caused their sickness was alive, though invisible. but he did succeed in making them understand that the disease was communicated by indiscriminate expectoration and that prevention and cure lay in plenty of fresh air, cleanliness, and wholesome food. in all the villages, captain henderson found the igloos offensively filthy and garbage and offal scattered about the huts in heaps. he made the eskimos haul these heaps to sea in boats and dump them overboard. he made them clean their igloos thoroughly and take off the roofs to allow the sun and rains to purify the interiors. after this unroofing, captain henderson said, the villages looked as if a cyclone had struck them. he taught the natives how to sew together sputum cups of skin and cautioned the afflicted ones against expectoration except in these receptacles. the eskimos were alive to the seriousness of the situation and did their utmost to follow out these hygienic instructions to the last detail. as a result of this first missionary campaign in the cause of health, the eskimos have begun to keep their igloos clean and to ventilate them in winter. there has grown up among them an unwritten law against indiscriminate expectoration more carefully observed than such ordinances in american cities. the villages have been gradually turned into open-air sanitariums and the death rate from tuberculosis has been materially reduced. chapter xv news from home with the first breeze, we set sail for port clarence, alaska, the northern rendezvous of the arctic ocean whaling fleet in early summer. there in the latter part of june or the early part of july, the fleet always met the four-masted schooner _jennie_, the tender from san francisco, by which all firms in the whaling trade sent mail and supplies to their vessels. on our way across from siberia to alaska, we passed just south of behring straits and had our first distant glimpse of the arctic ocean. when we dropped anchor in the windy roadstead of port clarence, eighteen whale ships were there ahead of us. the land about port clarence was flat and covered with tall, rank grass--a region of tundra stretching away to distant hills. the _jennie_ came in direct from san francisco soon after we arrived. boats from the whale ships swarmed about her as soon as she dropped anchor, eager for letters and newspapers. our mate brought back a big bundle of san francisco newspapers which were sent forward after the cabin had read them. they gave us our first news since leaving honolulu of how the great world was wagging. every man in the forecastle who could read read these papers from the first headline to the last advertisement. it seemed good to get into touch once more with the men and events of civilization. exiles of the sea, the news of our country seemed to have an intimate personal meaning to us which it never could possibly have to stay-at-homes to whom newspapers are every-day, casual budgets of gossip and information. i remember that a telegraphic brevity describing a murder in my native state seemed like a message from home. among the eskimos who came aboard the brig from the large village on shore, was a white man dressed like an eskimo to the last detail and looking like one except for a heavy beard. he had run away from a whale ship three years before, hoping to make his way to some white settlement to the south and there secure passage on shipboard back to san francisco. he had escaped, he said, in an eskimo kyack tied alongside his ship. as soon as he was missed officers and boatsteerers put ashore in a boat and trailed him. he led his pursuers a long chase inland and though he was shot at several times, he managed to elude them and reach the safety of the hills. after he had seen the whaling fleet sail away, he ventured back to the eskimo village on shore where he was welcomed by the natives. he soon found that escape by land was practically impossible; the nearest white settlement was hundreds of miles distant and he would have to thread his way through pathless forests and across ranges of mountains covered at all seasons with ice and snow. moreover, he learned what he should have known before he ran away that no vessels except whaling ships, their tender, and an occasional revenue cutter ever touched at port clarence which at that time was far north of the outmost verge of the world's commerce. there was nothing left for him to do but settle among the eskimos and wait for the arrival of the whaling fleet in the following summer. during the long arctic night, with the temperature forty and fifty degrees below zero, he lived in an igloo after the manner of the natives; learned to eat raw meat and blubber--there was nothing else to eat--became fluent in the eskimo language; and took an eskimo girl for a wife. he found existence among these human anachronisms left over from the stone age a monotonously dreary and soul-wearying experience, and he waited with nervous impatience for the coming of the fleet with its annual opportunity for getting back to civilization. the first year passed and the ships anchored in port clarence. he hurried out in his kyack to ask the captains for permission to work his way back to san francisco. he never once doubted that they would give him his chance. but a sad surprise was in store for him. from ship to ship he went, begging to be allowed to remain aboard, but the hard-hearted captains coldly refused him, one after the other. he was a deserter, they told him; he had made his bed and he could lie in it; to take him away would encourage others to desert. some captains cursed him; some ordered him off their vessels. finally the ships sailed away for the whaling grounds, leaving him marooned on the bleak shore to pass another year in the squalor of his igloo. next year when the whaling fleet came again it was the same story over again. again he watched the ships arrive with a heart beating high with hope and again he saw their topmasts disappear over the horizon, leaving him hopeless and wretched behind. before he came aboard the brig, he had made the rounds of the other ships and had met with the same refusals as of yore. i saw him go aft and plead with captain shorey and that stern old sea dog turned him down as curtly as the other skippers had done. the ships sailed away, leaving him to his fate. to me his story was the most pathetic that ever fell within my personal experience. i never learned whether he ever managed somehow to get back home or left his bones to bleach upon the frozen tundra. from port clarence, we headed back to unalaska to ship our whale bone to san francisco by steamer. midway of our run down the behring sea a thick fog closed about us and we kept our fog horn booming. soon, off our bows, we heard another fog horn. it seemed to be coming closer. our cooper, an old navy bugler, became suspicious. he got out his old bugle and sounded "assembly" sharply. as the first note struck into the mist, the other fog horn ceased its blowing. we did not hear it again. when the mist lifted, no vessel was in sight, but the situation was clear. we had chanced upon a poaching sealer and when she heard our cooper's bugle, she concluded we were a revenue cutter and took to her heels. [illustration: at the gateway to the arctic] aday or two later, we saw the revenue cutter _corwin_ chasing a poacher. heeled over under crowded sail, the sealing schooner was scurrying before a stiff wind. the _corwin_ was plowing in hot pursuit, smoke pouring from her funnel and hanging thick in the wake of the chase. she was gaining steadily, for she was a steamship and the schooner had only her sails to depend on. finally the revenue cutter sent a solid shot across the schooner's bows. the ball knocked up a great splash of water. but the poacher did not heave to--just kept on her way, leaning so far over that the clews of her lower sails almost touched the waves and a big white feather of spray stood up in front of her. so pursuer and pursued passed over the horizon and we did not see the end of the hunt. but we knew that there could be but one end. the fate of that poacher was sealed. only a fog could save her, and the sky was clear. we passed close to st. george island, the southernmost of the pribiloff group, the breeding place of the fur seals. as we came near the shores, the air literally shook with the raucous, throbbing bark of countless seals. the din was deafening. along the shore, a shelving beach ran up to rocky declivities and beach and rocks were packed with seals. there may have been a hundred thousand; there may have been a million; and it seemed as if every seal was barking. the water alongshore swarmed with them. thousands of heads were sticking out of the sea. thousands of other seals were playing, breaching out of the water like porpoises. they swam close to the brig and floated lazily on the surface, staring at us unafraid. if we had been poachers, i should think we could have taken several hundred thousand dollars worth of seals without difficulty. a dozen little pup seals whose fur was of a snowy and unspotted white came swimming about the vessel. these sea babies were soft, furry, cunning little fellows and they paddled about the brig, sniffing at the strange monster that had invaded their home. they seemed absolutely fearless and gazed up at us out of big, brown, wondering, friendly eyes. sealers kill them, as their fur makes beautiful edgings and borders for fur garments. the fur seals are supposed to pass the winter somewhere in the south pacific, but whether in the open sea or on land has never been definitely learned. from their mysterious southern hiding places, they set out for the north in the early spring. they first appear in march in the waters off california. coastwise vessels find the sea alive with thousands of them. they travel slowly northward following the coast line, fifty or a hundred miles out at sea, feeding on fish and sleeping on the surface. regularly each year in april, a revenue cutter setting out from port townsend for patrol service in behring sea and arctic ocean waters, picks up the herd and convoys it to the pribiloffs to guard it against the attacks of poachers. the seals swarm through the passes between the aleutian islands in may and arrive at the pribiloffs in the latter part of that month or early in june. they remain on the pribiloffs during the breeding and rearing season and begin to depart for the south again in the latter part of september. they are all gone as a rule by november, though in some years the last ones do not leave until december. they are again seen as they crowd through the aleutian channels, but all track of them is lost a few hundred miles to the south. at what destination they finally arrive on that southward exodus no man knows. it is one of the mysteries of the sea. we saw no whales on our southward passage and did not much expect to see any, though we kept a lookout at the mast-head on the off chance of sighting some lone spout. the summer months are a second "between seasons," dividing the spring whaling in behring sea from that in the arctic ocean in the fall. the whales had all followed the retreating ice northward through behring straits. the fourth of july found us in the middle of behring sea. we observed the glorious fourth by hoisting the american flag to our gaff-topsail peak, where it fluttered all day long. mr. winchester came forward with two bottles of jamaica rum and dealt out a drink all around. we entered unalaska harbor by the same long, narrow, and precipitous channel through which we had passed on our voyage north when we put into the harbor to have the captain's leg set. negotiating this channel--i should say it was about two miles long--was another illustration of our captain's seamanship. we had to tack innumerable times from one side of the channel to the other, our jib-boom at every tack projecting over the land before the brig came around. we finally dropped anchor opposite the old, cross-crowned greek church which stands in the center of the struggling village. chapter xvi slim goes on strike it was the heart of the arctic summer and the high hills that rose all about the town were green with deep grass--it looked as if it would reach a man's waist--and ablaze with wild flowers. i was surprised to see such a riot of blooms in this far northern latitude, but there they were, and every off-shore breeze was sweet with their fragrance. the village was dingy enough, but the country looked alluring and, as the day after we dropped anchor was sunday and nothing to do aboard, the crew decided to ask for a day's liberty ashore. bill white, the englishman, and slim, our royal life guardsman, agreed to act as the forecastle's ambassadors to the cabin. they dressed up in their smartest clothes and went aft to interview captain shorey on the quarter-deck. white made the speech of the occasion and proffered the forecastle's request in his best rhetoric. captain shorey puffed silently at his cigar. "i'll see about it," he said. that closed the incident as far as the captain was concerned. we got no shore leave. as the day wore away and the desired permission failed to materialize, the forecastle became piqued at what it considered the skipper's gratuitous ungraciousness. slim waxed particularly indignant. "he'll 'see about it,'" slim sneered. "he never had no idea of letting us go in the first place. he's a cold-blooded son of a sea cook--that's what he is--and as for me, i'll never do another tap of work aboard the bloody hooker." this was strong language. of course, none of us took it seriously, feeling sure slim would reconsider by the next morning and turn to for work with the rest of us. but we did not know slim. bright and early monday morning, the men mustered on deck and went to work, but slim remained in his bunk. having rowed our whale bone to the dock and stored it in a warehouse to await the first steamer for san francisco, a boat's crew towed three or four hogsheads roped together ashore for water. another boat went ashore for coal. those left aboard the brig were put to work in the hold near the main hatch under the supervision of mr. winchester. the mate suddenly noted slim's absence. "where's slim?" he asked. nobody answered. "he didn't go ashore in the boats," said the mate. "where is he?" someone volunteered that slim was sick. "sick, eh?" said the mate. he hustled off to the forecastle scuttle. "slim," he sang out, "what's the matter with you?" "i'm sick," responded slim from his bunk. "if you're sick," said the mate, "come aft and report yourself sick to the captain." in a little while, slim shuffled back to the cabin. a few minutes later wild yells came from the cabin. we stopped work. the mate seemed to think we might rush to the rescue. [illustration: hoisting the blubber aboard] "get busy there," he roared. "slew that cask around." the yells broke off. we went to work again. for a half hour, there was silence in the cabin. we wondered what had happened. slim might have been murdered for all we knew. finally slim emerged and went silently forward. we noticed a large shaved spot on the top of his head where two long strips of court-plaster formed a black cross. the first thing slim did after getting back to the forecastle was to take one of his blue flannel shirts and, while none of the officers was looking, shin up the ratlines and hang it on the fore-lift. this is an old-time sailor sign of distress and means trouble aboard. the mate soon spied the shirt swinging in the breeze. "well, i'll be darned," he said. "jump up there one of you and take that shirt down." no one stirred. the mate called the cabin boy and the young kanaka brought down the shirt. slim told us at dinner time all about his adventure in the cabin. "i goes down in the cabin," said slim, "and the captain is standing with his hands in his pants pockets, smiling friendly-like. 'hello, slim,' he says. 'sit down in this chair.' i sits down and the captain says, 'well, my boy, what's the matter with you?' 'i'm sick,' says i. 'where do you feel bad?' he says. 'i ache all over,' says i. he steps over in front of me, still with that little smile on his face. 'i've got good medicine aboard this ship,' he says, 'and i'll fix you up in a jiffy, my boy,' says he. with that he jerks one of his hands out of his pocket and he has a revolver clutched in it. 'here's the medicine you need,' he says and he bats me over the cocoanut with the gun. "the blood spurts all over me and i jumps up and yells, but the captain points his pistol at me and orders me to sit down again. he storms up and down the cabin floor. 'i'll teach you who's master aboard this ship,' he shouts and for a minute he was so purple in the face with rage, i thought he was going to murder me for sure. by and by he cools down. 'well, slim,' he says, 'i guess i hit you a little harder than i meant to, but i'm a bad man when i get started. you need tending to now, sure enough.' "so he has the cabin boy fetch a pan of warm water and he washes the blood out of my hair with his own hands and then shaves around the cut and pastes sticking plaster on. that's all. but say, will i have the law on him when we get back to frisco? will i?" it was a long way back to frisco. in the meantime we wondered what was in store for the luckless irish grenadier. that afternoon, the revenue cutter _corwin_ came steaming into port towing a poaching sealer as a prize. it was the same schooner, we learned, we had seen the _corwin_ chasing a few days before. as the cutter passed us, slim sprang on the forecastle head while captain shorey and everybody aboard the brig looked at him and, waving a blue flannel shirt frantically, shouted: "please come aboard. i've had trouble aboard." "aye, aye," came back across the water from the government patrol vessel. waving a shirt has no significance in sea tradition, but slim was not enough of a sailor to know that, and besides, he wanted to leave nothing undone to impress the revenue cutter officers with the urgency of his case. no sooner had the _corwin_ settled to her berth at the pier than a small boat with bluejackets at the oars, two officers in gold braid and epaulettes in the stern, and with the stars and stripes flying, shot out from under her quarter and headed for the brig. "aha," we chuckled. "captain shorey has got his foot in it. he has uncle sam to deal with now. he won't hit him over the head with a revolver." the boat came alongside and the officers climbed over the rail. captain shorey welcomed them with a smile and elaborate courtesy and ushered them into the cabin. slim was sent for. "tell 'em everything, slim," we urged. "give it to the captain hot and heavy. he's a brute and the revenue cutter men will take you off the brig as sure as shooting. they won't dare leave you aboard to lead a dog's life for the rest of the voyage." "i'll show him up, all right," was slim's parting shot. slim came back from the cabin a little later. "i told 'em everything," he said. "they listened to everything i had to say and took down a lot of notes in a book. i asked 'em to take me off the brig right away, for, says i, captain shorey will kill me if they leave me aboard. i guess they'll take me off." an hour later, the two officers of the _corwin_ emerged from the cabin, accompanied by captain shorey. they were puffing complacently at a couple of the captain's cigars. they seemed in high good humor. after shaking hands with captain shorey, they climbed down into their boat and were rowed back to their vessel. that was the last we ever saw of them. poor slim was left to his fate. and his fate was a rough one. there was no outward change in the attitude of the captain or the officers of the brig toward him. whenever they spoke to him, they did it with as much civility as they showed the rest of us. but slim was compelled to work on deck all day and stand his regular night watches into the bargain. that meant he got eight hours sleep during twenty-four hours one day and four hours sleep during the next. as the ship was in whaling waters from now on, the crew had little to do except man the boats. but slim always had plenty to do. while we smoked our pipes and lounged about, he was kept washing paint work, slushing down masts, scraping deck and knocking the rust off the anchors. any one of a hundred and one little jobs that didn't need doing, slim did. this continued until the brig squared her yards for the homeward voyage. slim had more than three months of it. the lord knows it was enough. when his nagging finally ended, he was a pale, haggard shadow of his former self. it almost killed him. chapter xvii into the arctic from unalaska, we headed north for the arctic ocean. for one day of calm, we lay again off the little eskimo village of st. lawrence bay and again had the natives as our guests. peter made an elaborate toilet in expectation of seeing once more his little eskimo sweetheart, but she did not come aboard. a little breeze came walking over the sea and pushed us on northward. on august , we sailed through behring straits and were at last in the arctic. the straits are thirty-six miles wide, with east cape, a rounded, dome-shaped mass of black basalt, on the asiatic side and on the american side cape prince of wales, a headland of sharper outline, but neither so lofty nor so sheer. in between the two capes and in line with them, lie the two islands of big and little diomede. through the three narrow channels between the capes and the islands, the tide runs with the swiftness of a river's current. the eskimos constantly cross from continent to continent in small boats. in still weather the passage can be made in a light kyack with perfect safety. the widest of the three channels is that between big diomede and east cape and is, i should say, not more than fifteen miles across. while we were passing through the straits, we saw a party of eskimos in a skin boat paddling leisurely across from america to asia. they no doubt had been on a visit to relatives or friends on the neighboring continent. we were told that in winter when the straits are frozen solidly, the eskimos frequently walk from one continent to the other. [illustration: our guests coming aboard in st. lawrence bay] while we were sailing close to the american shore soon after passing through the straits, the cry of "walrus, walrus!" from the mast-head sent the crew hurrying to the rail to catch a glimpse of these strange creatures which we had not before encountered. we were passing an immense herd. the shore was crowded with giant bulks, lying perfectly still in the sun, while the waters close to land were alive with bobbing heads. at a distance and at first glance, those on shore looked like a vast herd of cattle resting after grazing. they were as big as oxen and when the sun had dried them, they were of a pronounced reddish color. those in the water looked black. they had a way of sticking their heads and necks straight up out of the sea which was slightly suggestive of men treading water. their heads seemed small for their great bodies and with their big eyes, their beard-like mass of thick bristles about the nose, and their long ivory tusks they had a distinctly human look despite their grotesque ugliness. they lifted their multitudinous voices in gruff, barking roars like so many bulldogs affected with a cold. there must have been , of them. they paid little attention to the ship. those on shore remained as motionless as boulders. "want to collect a little ivory?" captain shorey said with a smile to mr. winchester. "no, thank you, not just now," replied the mate. "i want to live to get back to 'frisco." an ivory hunter among those tusked thousands doubtless would have fared disastrously. walrus are famous fighters. when attacked, they sometimes upset a boat with their tusks and drown the hunters. they are dangerous even in small herds. moreover they are difficult to kill. their thick hides will turn a bullet that does not hit them solidly. though slow and unwieldy on land or ice, they are surprisingly agile in the water and a harpooned walrus will frequently tow a boat at a dizzy clip. the region about cape prince of wales is a favorite feeding ground for the animals. the coasts swarm with clams, mussels, and other shell-fish upon which the walrus live. thirteen varieties of edible clams, it is said, have been discovered by scientists about cape prince of wales. the walrus dig these shell-fish out of the sand and rocks with their tusks, crush them with their teeth, eject the shells, and swallow the dainty tidbits. their tusks serve them also as weapons of defense and as hooks by which to haul themselves upon ice floes. we did not dare take chances in the boats among such vast numbers of these formidable creatures and soon left the great herd astern. a little higher up the coast we ran into a small herd numbering about a hundred, and mr. winchester, armed with his repeating rifle, lowered his boat to have a try for ivory. when the mate's boat dashed among the animals they did not dive or run away, but held their ground, standing well up out of water and coughing out defiance. long john darted a harpoon into one of the beasts and it plunged below and went scurrying away. one might have thought the boat was fast to a young whale from the way the line sizzled out over the bow. the walrus dragged the boat about half a mile, and when the animal again came to the surface for air mr. winchester killed it with a bullet. but the blood and the shooting had thrown the remainder of the herd into violent excitement. roaring furiously, the great beasts converged from all sides in the wake of the chase. by the time long john had cut off the head of the dead walrus and heaved it aboard and had recovered his harpoon, the animals were swarming menacingly about the boat. long john, who had been in such ticklish situations before, began to beat a tattoo on the gunwales with his sheath knife, at the same time emitting a series of blood-curdling yells. this was intended to awe the boat's besiegers and had a momentary effect. the brutes stood in the water apparently puzzled, but still roaring savagely. but they were not long to be held off by mere noise. led by a monster bull, they rushed at the boat in a concerted attack. the sailors belabored them over the head with the sweeps. the mate pumped lead into them from his rifle. still they came on. when captain shorey, who had been watching the battle from the quarter-deck, saw how serious the situation was becoming, he grew alarmed. "those men will be killed," he shouted to mr. landers. "call the watch and lower those other boats, and be quick about it." in a jiffy the boats were lowered, the crews piled in, masts were stepped, and we shot away to the rescue. but the mate's crew solved their own problem before we could come into action. when it seemed likely the walrus would swamp the boat, long john harpooned the leader of the herd. the big walrus dived and made off, hauling the boat out of the midst of the furious brutes to safety. the other animals did not pursue. they bobbed about the scene of the conflict for some time and finally disappeared. long john killed the big bull to which the boat was fast, cut off its head, and the boat went back to the battleground to take similar toll of the walrus that had died under the mate's rain of bullets. eight carcasses were found afloat and as many more probably had sunk. ten heads with their ivory tusks were brought aboard the brig as trophies of the hunt. the tusks of the bull that had led the attack measured two feet six inches. the animal, according to mr. winchester, must have been ten or twelve feet long. the mate estimated its weight at , pounds--a guess, of course, but perhaps a close one. chapter xviii blubber and song we were cruising in open water soon afterward with two whaling ships in sight, the _reindeer_ and the _helen marr_, both barkentines and carrying five boats each, when we raised a school of bowheads straight ahead and about five miles distant. there were twenty-five or thirty whales and a broad patch of sea was covered with their incessant fountains. the other ships saw them about the same time. the long-drawn, musical "blo-o-o-w!" from their mastheads came to us across the water. aboard the brig, the watch was called and all hands were mustered to the boats. falls were thrown off the hooks and we stood by to lower as soon as the captain gave the word. there was equal bustle on the other ships. traveling before a favoring breeze in the same direction as the whales, the three vessels waited until they could work closer. each captain in the meanwhile kept a watchful eye on the others. none of them proposed to let his rivals get the start. the _reindeer_ was to windward of us, the _helen marr_ on our lee. when the ships had reached within a mile of the whales captain shorey sent our boats down. instantly the other skippers did the same. soon thirteen whale boats were speeding on the chase. fine sailing weather it was, with a fresh breeze ruffling the surface of a gently heaving sea. with all sails set and keeping well apart, the boats heeled over, their crews sitting lined up along the weather gunwales. there seemed no chance of any clash or misunderstanding. there were plenty of whales, and with any luck there would be glory enough and profit enough for all. like a line of skirmishers deployed against an enemy, the boats stole silently toward the whales. we soon saw the great animals were busy feeding. a few inches below the surface the sea was filled with "whale food," a round, diaphanous, disk-like jellyfish about the size of a silver dollar and perfectly white. when he arrived in this arctic ocean whale pasture the water seemed snowy with the millions of jellyfish. with open jaws, the whales swam this way and that, making zigzag swaths a hundred yards long through the gelatinous masses, their great heads and backs well out of water, their fins now and then flapping ponderously. when they had entangled a sufficient quantity of the jellyfish in the long hair hanging from the inner edges of their teeth they closed their mouths with reverberating snaps that sent the water splashing out on either side. before the whales were aware of danger, the boats rushed in among them. each boatheader singled out a whale, and five boats were quickly fast--two from the _reindeer_, two from the _helen marr_, and mr. winchester's boat. wild turmoil and confusion instantly ensued among the great animals. they went plunging below in alarm and the boats that made no strike at the first onslaught had no chance thereafter. the whales did not stop to investigate the causes of the sudden interruption of their banquet. the sea swallowed them up and we did not see them again. a little later we caught a glimpse of their fountains twinkling against the sky on the far horizon. mr. winchester's whale was wriggling about among the jellyfish with jaws widely distended when the boat slipped silently upon it. as the prow bumped against its black skin, long john drove a harpoon up to the hitches in its back. with a tonite bomb shattered in its vitals, the monster sounded in a smother of foam. in the dynamic violence with which it got under way it literally stood on its head. its flukes, easily twenty feet from tip to tip, shot at least thirty feet into the air. they swung over to one side, the great body forming a high arch, and struck the sea with a resounding smack. then they sailed on high again to come down on the other side with another broadside smash. again they rose like lightning into the air and the whale seemed to slip down perpendicularly into the ocean. it was evident at the outset that the animal was badly wounded. it swam only a short distance below the surface and not rapidly, sending up thousands of bubbles to mark its course. this broad highway of bubbles curved and turned, but mr. winchester, who had been smart enough not to lower his sail, followed it as a hound follows the trail of a deer. the boat sailed almost as swiftly as the whale swam and was able to keep almost directly above it. when the whale came to the surface the mate was upon it and long john's second harpoon stopped it dead in its track. the whale went through no flurry, but died instantly and rolled over on its back. with excitement all about, there was nothing for mr. landers or gabriel to do. so we sat still in the boats and watched the swift incidents of the far-flung battle. one of the whales struck by a boat from the _reindeer_ breached almost completely out of water as soon as it felt the sting of the harpoon. it floundered down like a falling tower, rolled about for a moment before sinking to a swimming depth, and made off at mad speed. it rose within twenty feet of where our boat lay at a standstill and we could see its wild eye, as big as a saucer, as the injured creature blew up a fountain whose bloody spray fell all over us. the boat it was dragging soon went flashing past us, the crew sitting crouched down and silent. "swing to him, fellers," shouted kaiuli, standing up and waving his hat about his head. but the others paid no attention to our south sea island savage. they were intent just then on tragedy. their boat struck the whale at its next rise. the animal went into a violent flurry. it beat the sea into a lather with fins and flukes and darted around on its side in a semi-circle, clashing its great jaws, until it finally collapsed and lay limp and lifeless. the whale struck by the other boat from the reindeer ran out a tub of line, but a second boat had come up in time to bend on its own line and took the animal in tow. before the whale had run out this new tub, a third boat harpooned it. with two boats fast to it, it continued its flight to windward and was at least two miles from us when its pursuers at last overtook and killed it. two boats from the _helen marr_ struck whales while the monsters were feeding within an oar's length of each other. one whale started off at right angles to the direction taken by the other. it looked for a time as if the two lines would become entangled and the boats would crash together. but the whale that cut across the other's course swam above the latter's line and dragged its boat so swiftly after it that a collision was averted by a few feet. one of the whales was bombed and killed after a short flight. the other acted in a way that whales hardly ever act. it ran hard to windward at first, as whales usually do when struck. then it suddenly turned and ran in an exactly opposite direction. this unexpected change in its course almost upset the boat, which was jerked violently over on its beam-ends and spun round like a top, while the crew held on for dear life and barely escaped being pitched into the sea. once righted and on its way again, the boat rapidly hauled up on the whale, whose fast-going vitality showed in its diminished speed. after a flight that had covered at least a mile, the whale was finally killed close to the spot at which it had first been struck. when, the sharp, fast work of the boats ended, five mighty carcasses lay stretched upon the sea. the great whale drive, which had lasted less than an hour, had bagged game worth something like $ , . the three ships soon sailed to close quarters and the boats had a comparatively easy time getting the whales alongside. that night the try-works were started and big cressets whose flames were fed by "scrap" flared up on all the ships, lighting them in ghostly-wise from the deck to the topmost sail. at the cutting in of this whale i had my first experience at the windlass. the heaviest labor falls to the sailors who man the windlass and hoist in the great blanket pieces of blubber and the "old head." gabriel, the happiest-spirited old soul aboard, bossed the job, as he always did, and cheered the sailors and made the hard work seem like play by his constant chanteys--those catchy, tuneful, working songs of the sea. all the old sailors on the brig knew these songs by heart and often sang them on the topsail halyard or while reefing on the topsail yard. the green hands soon picked up the words and airs of the choruses and joined in. the day laborer on land has no idea how work at sea is lightened by these songs. gabriel knew no end of them, and in a round, musical voice led the men at the windlass in such rollicking old-time sea airs as "whiskey for the johnnies," "blow the man down," "blow, boys, blow," and "rolling rio." he would sing a verse and the sailors would stand with their hands on the windlass bars until he had concluded. then they would heave away with a will and make the pawls clank and clatter as they roared out the chorus. the old negro's favorite was "whiskey for the johnnies." it had a fine rousing chorus and we liked to sing it not only for its stirring melody but because we always harbored a hope--which, i may add, was never realized--that the captain would be touched by the words and send forward a drop of liquor with which to wet our whistles. gabriel would begin in this way: "o whiskey is the life of man." and the sailors as they heaved would chorus: "o whiskey, o johnny. o whiskey is the life of man, whiskey for the johnnies." then gabriel would sing: "whiskey killed my poor old dad, whiskey drove my mother mad, whiskey caused me much abuse, whiskey put me in the calaboose, whiskey fills a man with care, whiskey makes a man a bear." and the men would come through with the refrain: "whiskey, johnny. i drink whiskey when i can. o whiskey for the johnnies." at the end of our song which ran through verses enough to bring a blanket piece of blubber swinging inboard, we would look wistfully toward the quarter-deck and wonder if the "old man" would take our musical hint. or gabriel would start up "rolling rio": "i'll sing you a song of the fish of the sea." the men would thunder: "rolling rio." gabriel would continue: "as i was going down broadway street a pretty young girl i chanced to meet." and the sailors would sing: "to my rolling rio grande. hurrah, you rio, rolling rio. so fare you well, my pretty young girl, i'm bound for the rio grande." "blow, boys, blow" was another with which we made the arctic ring. the other ships could not have failed to hear its swinging rhythm as it burst from our lusty lungs in this fashion: gabriel: "a yankee ship came down the river." the sailors: "blow, boys, blow." gabriel: "and who do you think was skipper of her? dandy jim of old carolina." sailors: "blow, my bully boys, blow." gabriel: "and who do you think was second greaser? why, pompey squash, that big buck nigger." sailors: "blow, boys, blow." gabriel: "and what do you think they had for dinner? monkey lights and donkey's liver." [illustration: the lip of a bowhead whale] sailors: "blow, my bully boys, blow." gabriel: "and what do you think they had for supper? old hard tack and yankee leather. then blow, my boys, for better weather. blow, my boys, i love to hear you." sailors: "blow, my bully boys, blow." so with a heave and a song we soon had our whale stowed, bone and blubber, below hatches. the _reindeer_ and the _helen marr_ had drifted far away from us by the time our work was finished, but they were still in sight and their try-works smoking. our whale yielded , pounds of bone. chapter xix a narrow pinch the whaling fleet divided soon after entering the arctic ocean. some of the ships went straight on north to the whaling grounds about point barrow and herschel island. the others bore to the westward for the whaling along the ice north of eastern siberia. we stood to the westward. in a few days we had raised the white coasts of a continent of ice that shut in all the north as far as the eye could see and extended to the pole and far beyond. with the winds in the autumn always blowing from the northwest, the sea was perfectly calm in the lee of this indestructible polar cap. i have been out in the whale boats when they were heeled over on their beam-ends under double-reefed sails before a gale of wind upon a sea as smooth as the waters of a duck pond. it was now no longer bright twilight at midnight. the sun already well on its journey to the equator, sank earlier and deeper below the horizon. several hours of darkness began to intervene between its setting and its rising. by september we had a regular succession of days and nights. with the return of night we saw for the first time that electric phenomenon of the far north, the aurora borealis. every night during our stay in the arctic the skies were made brilliant with these shooting lights. i had expected to see waving curtains of rainbow colors, but i saw no colors at any time. the auroras of those skies were of pure white light. a great arch would suddenly shoot across the zenith from horizon to horizon. it was nebulously bright, like a shining milky way or a path of snow upon which moonlight sparkles. you could hear it rustle and crackle distinctly, with a sound like that of heavy silk violently shaken. it shed a cold white radiance over the sea like the light of arc lamps, much brighter than the strongest moonlight. it was not quite bright enough to read by--but almost--and it threw sharp, black shadows on the deck. gradually the arch would fade, to be succeeded by others that spanned the heavens from other angles. often several arches and segments were in the sky at the same time. sometimes, though rarely, the aurora assumed the form of a curtain hanging vertically along the horizon and shimmered as though agitated by a strong wind. i was pleasantly surprised by the temperatures encountered in the arctic. we were in the polar ocean until early in october, but the lowest temperature recorded by the brig's thermometer was degrees below zero. such a temperature seems colder on sea than on land. greater dampness has something to do with it, but imagination probably plays its part. there is something in the very look of a winter sea, yeasty under the north wind and filled with snowy floes and icebergs, that seems to congeal the marrow in one's bones. in the cold snaps, when a big wave curled over the bows, i have seen it break and strike upon the deck in the form of hundreds of ice pellets. almost every day when it was rough, the old arctic played marbles with us. what with the mists, the cold rains, the sleets and snows and flying spray, the brig was soon a mass of ice. the sides became encased in a white armor of ice which at the bows was several feet thick. we frequently had to knock it off. the decks were sheeted with ice, the masts and spars were glazed with it, the shrouds, stays, and every rope were coated with ice, and the yard-arms and foot-ropes were hung with ice stalactites. one of the most beautiful sights i ever saw was the whaling fleet when we fell in with it one cold, gray morning. the frost had laid its white witchery upon the other ships as it had upon the brig, and they glided through the black seas, pallid, shimmering, and phantom-like in their ice armor--an armada of ghostly _flying dutchmen_. the brig was constantly wearing and tacking on the whaling grounds and there was considerable work to be done aloft. by the captain's orders, we did such work with our mittens off. hauling bare-handed on ropes of solid ice was painful labor, and "belay all!" often came like a benediction to souls in torment. then we had much ado whipping our hands against our sides to restore the circulation. after big foot louis had frozen a finger, the captain permitted us to keep our mittens on. work aloft under such conditions was dangerous. our walrus-hide boots were heelless and extremely slippery and our footing on the foot-ropes was precarious. we had to depend as much upon our hands as upon our feet to keep from falling when strung out for reefing along the topsail yard. many were the slips and hair-breadth escapes. it seems now, on looking back on it, almost miraculous that some of us green hands did not tumble to our death. we saw whales frequently. sometimes the boats were lowered half a dozen times a day. often we spent whole days in the boats, and even in our skin clothes it was freezing business sitting still on the gunwale of a beam-ended boat driving along at thrilling speed in the teeth of an arctic gale. our skipper was a good gambler, and he lowered whenever there was an off chance to bag a leviathan. as we worked to the westward, twin peaks rose out of the sea ahead of us. covered with snow and ice, they stood out against the sky as white as marble. it was our first glimpse of herald island, in latitude degrees north. we sailed north of the island and close to it. it looked forbiddingly desolate. along the shores there was a rampart of black rock. nowhere else was a glimpse of earth or herbage of any sort. the island was a gleaming white mass of snow and ice from the dark sea to the tips of the twin mountains. it was discovered in by captain kellett of the english ship _herald_ and named after his vessel. captain de long, leader of the ill-fated _jeanette_ expedition, was frozen in close to the island in the winter of . he found polar bear plentiful and trapped and shot a number. here at herald island we fell in with eighteen ships of the whaling fleet--all that had cruised to the westward--and it was only by good luck that some of them did not leave their hulks on those desolate shores. the polar pack rested solidly against the island's western end and curved in a great half-moon to the north and east. the pocket thus formed between the island and the ice looked good for whales and the ships hunted it out carefully. far to the eastward, a long arm of ice reached out from the pack and grasped the island's eastern end. this arm was perhaps a mile wide. it barred our passage back to the open sea. the ships had been caught in a trap. they were bottled up in a hole of water perhaps a hundred square miles in extent. busy on the lookout for whales, the captains of the fleet did not realize the situation for several hours. when they discovered their predicament, they hurried to the crow's-nests with glasses to try to spy out an avenue of escape. sail was cracked on. the ships began to fly about like panic-stricken living creatures. the great polar pack was pressing rapidly toward the island. unless the ships escaped, it seemed likely they would be securely hemmed in before night. in this event, if they escaped wreck by ice pressure they faced the prospect of lying still in an ice bed until the pack broke up in the spring. [illustration: a close call off herald island] all day long the frightened ships scurried up and down the ice barrier without finding an opening. they ran to the westward. there was no escape there. they flew back to the east. an ice wall confronted them. the case seemed hopeless. the panic of the captains became more and more evident. if a ship hurried off in any direction, the other ships flocked after her like so many scared sheep. morning and afternoon passed in this wild search for an outlet. night was coming on. a bark squared her yards and shot away to the southeast. it was the _sea breeze_. when the others expected her to tack, she did no such thing, but kept going straight ahead. on she went alone, far from the fleet. it was exciting to watch that single ship flying eastward. what could it mean? had she found an opening? the other ships turned their prows after her, one by one. a long line of vessels soon was careering in the wake of the _sea breeze_. she had dwindled to a little ship in the far distance when at last we saw her break out the american colors at her mizzen peak. every man aboard the brig gave a cheer. cheers from the other ships came across the water. it meant that the _sea breeze_ was clear. she had found a lead that suddenly had opened through the eastern ice strip, as leads will open in drifting floes. the lead was not entirely clear. a narrow strip of ice lay across it. the _sea breeze_ butted through this strip and sailed on to freedom. the other vessels followed. our brig was the tenth ship to pass through. as we negotiated the narrow passage, the ice was so close on both sides we could have leaped upon it from the bulwarks. it was with a joyous sense of escape that we cleared the pack and swung once more on the open sea. soon after the last ship of the fleet had bumped her way to safety the ice closed solidly behind. chapter xx a race and a race horse early one morning the old familiar cry rang from the crow's-nest--"blo-o-o-w." a lone whale, in plain view from the deck, was sporting lazily on the surface about a mile and a half off our starboard bow. the three boats were hurriedly lowered and the crews scrambled in. we took to the oars, for not a breath of air was stirring and the sea was as smooth as polished silver. away went the boats together, as if from a starting line at the crack of a pistol, with the whale as the goal and prize of the race. mr. winchester had often boasted of the superiority of his crew. mr. landers had not seemed interested in the question, but gabriel resented the assumption. "just wait," he used to say to us confidentially. "we'll show him which is de bes' crew. our time'll come." the men of the mate's boat had shared their officer's vainglorious opinion. they had long swaggered among us with a self-complacent assurance that made us smart. our chance had at last come to prove their pride a mockery under the skipper's eyes. if ever men wanted, from the bottom of their hearts, to win, we did. we not only had our name as skillful oarsmen to vindicate, but a grudge to wipe out. so evenly matched were the crews that the boats rushed along side by side for at least half a mile, mr. winchester insouciant and superciliously smiling, mr. landers indifferent, gabriel all eagerness and excitement. perhaps mr. landers knew his crew was outclassed. if he did not, he was not long in finding it out, for his boat began to drop steadily behind and was soon hopelessly out of the contest. but the other two crews, stroke for stroke, were proving foemen worthy of each other's prowess. "oho, gabriel," mr. winchester laughed contemptuously, "you think your boat can out-pull us, eh? bet you ten pounds of tobacco we beat you to the whale." "i take you," cried gabriel excitedly. "dat's a bet." if gabriel accepted the challenge, so did we, and right heartily at that. we threw ourselves, heart and soul, into the struggle. the men in the mate's boat, holding us cheaply, believed they could draw away whenever they chose and go on to win, hands down. the mate kept looking over at us, a supercilious smile still curling the corners of his mouth. "come on now, my boys," he cried. "all together. shake her up a bit. give those fellows a taste of your mettle." we heard his words as distinctly as his own crew heard them--he was only a few boat lengths away. they inspired us to greater exertion than they inspired his own men. they spurted. so did we. still the two boats raced neck and neck. we were not to be shaken off. the mate looked disconcerted. his men had done their level best to take the lead and they had failed. that spurt marked the crisis of the race. the mate's smile faded out. his face grew anxious. then it hardened into an expression of grim determination. he had sat motionless at the beginning. now when he saw his vaunted superiority slipping through his fingers he began to "jockey"--throwing his body forward in violent lunges at every stroke of the sweeps, pushing with all his might on the stroke oar, and booming out, "pull, my boys; pull away, my boys." but old gabriel was "jockeying," too, and encouraging us in the same fashion. "we show dat mate," he kept repeating. "we show him. steady together, my lads. pull away!" and we pulled as if our lives depended on it, bending to the oars with every ounce of our strength, making the long sweeps bend in the water. we began to forge ahead, very slowly, inch by inch. we saw it--it cheered us to stronger effort. our rivals saw it--it discouraged them. under the heart-breaking strain they began to tire. they slipped back little by little. they spurted again. it was no use. we increased our advantage. open daylight began to broaden between the stern of our boat and the bow of theirs. they were beaten in a fair trial of strength, oarsmanship, and endurance. "ha, my boys," chuckled gabriel. "we win. good-by to dat mate. now we catch dat whale." we shot along at undiminished speed, pulling exultantly. what the whale was doing or how close we were to it, we at the oars could not see. "stand by, louis," said gabriel presently. "aye, aye, sir," responded louis. a few more strokes and a great black bulk loomed close alongside. "give it to him, louis," cried gabriel. and as the boat glanced against that island of living ebony, louis's harpoon sank deep into the soft, buttery mass. we heard the tiny concussion of the cap of the tonite gun, and a fraction of a second later the bomb exploded with a muffled roar in the whale's vitals. "stern, stern!" shouted gabriel. "stern for your lives!" we backed water as hard as we could. the great back went flashing down, the mighty tail rose up directly over us, shutting out the sky. it curled over away from us and smote the sea with deafening thunder. as quick as lightning it rose into the air again, curled high above us with tragic menace, and came crashing down, this time toward us. but we had backed just out of harm's way. death and that terrible tail missed us by about three feet. the mate's boat came rushing up. it was too late. the whale--our whale--had sounded. "your boat can beat us, eh?" gabriel called tauntingly to mr. winchester. "not much. i know we break blackskin first. i know we win dat race." our line began to dance and sing, leaping up from its neatly laid coils in the tub in dizzy spirals and humming out over the bow. "ha, boys," sang out kaiuli, our kanaka bow oarsman. "now for fine ride behind arctic race horse--eh?" with a whale harnessed to our boat and a sea as smooth as any turnpike for our highway, we settled ourselves for the ride. the friction of the line set the boat going. it gathered momentum. in a little while we were tearing along through that sea of oil, our bow deep in the smother as the whale pulled down upon it, and flashing walls of white spray flaring out on either side. the other boats pulled for the point at which it seemed most probable the whale would come up. when it rose to the surface, the mate's boat was nearest. "lay me on four seas off and i'll get him," we heard long john shout to mr. winchester. the mate did just that. the whale was up but a moment and long john tried for it, but it was too long a dart, and his harpoon fell into the sea. before he had recovered his iron we had shot past. when the whale rose again, we bumped out of water on its body. a second harpoon drove home in its back, a second bomb exploded in its insides. a great shudder seized the monster. the water foamed white with its throes. then everything grew still. slowly the great body rolled over, belly up. big foot louis danced up and down in the bow, raising his knees high in a sort of joyful cake-walk. gabriel, equally excited, waved his hat. "by golly," he shouted, "dat mate don't strike him. dat feesh is all ours. it takes old gabriel fer kill de whale, by golly." when we got back to the brig we looked like snow-powdered santa clauses. the spray kicked up in our wild ride behind the arctic ocean race horse had wet us from head to foot and, freezing on our fur clothes, had frosted us all over with fine white ice. mr. winchester was a good sportsman and paid his bet promptly. out of his winnings gabriel gave each man of his boat's crew a plug of tobacco. after the whale had been brought alongside the ship and the blubber had been peeled off its body, it fell to the lot of big foot louis to cut in the "old head." it was his first opportunity to show his experience in such work and he was as elated as a boy. he threw off his coat with a theatrical flourish, hitched up his trousers, seized an axe, and with an air of bravado climbed down on the stripped carcass. a little sea had begun to run and the whale was bending sinuously throughout its length and rolling slightly from side to side. louis chopped two little ledges in the whale's flesh with the deftness of an old hand, and planting his feet in these, began raining blows with his axe on the neck. he was getting on famously, and the crew, hanging over the bulwarks, was watching with admiring eyes. suddenly the whale gave an unexpectedly violent roll--our arctic ocean race horse was proving a bronco even in death--and louis's big foot slipped off into the water. he lost his balance, pitched forward, and sprawled face downward on the whale, his axe sailing away and plunking into the sea. he clutched frantically at the whale, but every grip slipped loose and, inch by inch, with eyeballs popping out of his head, he slid off into the sea and with a yell went under. everybody laughed. the captain held his sides and the officers on the cutting stage almost fell off in the violence of their mirth. louis came up spluttering and splashing. he was an expert swimmer, as expert as the kanakas among whom he had lived for years, and he needed all his skill to keep afloat in his heavy boots and skin clothes. as soon as the mate could control his merriment, he stuck the long handle of his spade down and louis grasped it and was pulled back on the whale's body. he sat there, dripping and shivering and with chattering teeth, rolling his white eyes up at the laughing crew along the rail with a tragic "et tu, brute" expression. he couldn't see the joke. "lemme aboard," he whimpered. "stay where you are," roared the captain, "and cut in that head." louis lived in mortal fear of the skipper, and the way he straightened up in his slippery seat and said "aye, aye, sir!" made the crew burst out laughing again. another axe was passed down to him. he floundered to his feet, and though he found it harder than ever in his wet boots to keep his footing, and slipped more than once and almost fell off again, he finally succeeded in cutting off the head. he had regained his air of bravado by the time he had scrambled back on deck. "pretty close shave, louis," ventured a sailor. "humph," returned louis, "dat's nothin'--nothin' at all." and with quite lordly dignity, despite the dripping brine, he stalked off to the cabin to change his clothes. chapter xxi bears for a change soon after taking our third whale, we saw our first polar bears--two of them on a narrow floe of ice. when the brig was within fifty yards of them the mate got out his rifle and began blazing away. his first shot struck one of the bears in the hind leg. the animal wheeled and snapped at the wound. the second shot stretched it out dead. the second bear was hit somewhere in the body and, plunging into the sea, it struck out on a three-mile swim for the main ice pack. it swam with head and shoulders out, cleaving the water like a high-power launch and leaving a creaming wake behind. moving so swiftly across the brig's course, it made a difficult target. "i'm going down after that fellow," said mr. winchester. he called a boat's crew and lowered, taking his place in the bow with his rifle, while long john sat at the tiller. he had got only a short distance from the ship when captain shorey ordered gabriel after him. "killing that bear may be a bigger job than he thinks," he said. "lower a boat, mr. gabriel, and lend a hand. it may be needed." in a few minutes gabriel was heading after the mate's boat. neither boat hoisted sail. with four men at the sweeps, it was as much as the boats could do to gain on the brute. if the bear was not making fifteen miles an hour, i'm no judge. mr. winchester kept pegging away, his bullets knocking up water all around the animal. one ball struck the bear in the back. that decided the animal to change its tactics. it quit running away and turned and made directly for its enemies. "avast rowing," sang out the mate. the men peaked their oars, turned on the thwarts, and had their first chance to watch developments, which came thick and fast. rabid ferocity, blind fury, and deadly menace were in every line of that big white head shooting across the water toward them. the boat sat stationary on a dancing sea. the mate's rifle cracked repeatedly. the bullets peppered the sea, sending up little spurts of water all about the bear. but the beast did not notice them, never tried to dodge, never swerved aside--just kept rushing for the boat with the directness of an arrow. it was a time of keen excitement for the men in the boat. they kept glancing with an "oh, that blücher or night would come" expression toward gabriel's boat, which was doing all that oars could do to get into the fray, big foot louis standing all the while in the bow with harpoon ready. the bobbing of his boat disconcerted the mate's aim. though he was a crack shot, as he had often proved among the okchugs, i never saw him shoot so badly. but he kept banging away, and when the bear was within fifteen or twenty yards he got home a ball in its shoulder. the beast plunged into the air, snarling and clawing at the sea, then rushed again for the boat like a white streak. it rammed into the boat bows-on, stuck one mighty paw over the gunwale, and with a snarling roar and a frothing snap of glistening fangs, leaped up and tried to climb aboard. just at this critical instant gabriel's boat came into action with a port helm. louis drove a harpoon into the beast behind the shoulder--drove it up to the haft, so that the spear-head burst out on the other side. at the same moment the mate stuck the muzzle of his rifle almost down the bear's throat and fired. the great brute fell back into the water, clawed and plunged and roared and clashed its teeth and so, in a whirlwind of impotent fury, died. for a moment it lay limp and still among the lapping waves, then slowly began to sink. but louis held it up with the harpoon line and the animal was towed back to the brig. it measured over seven feet in length and weighed , pounds--a powerful, gaunt old giant, every inch bone and sinew. mr. winchester retrieved the other bear from the ice floe. it was considerably smaller. the pelts were stripped off and the carcasses thrown overboard. the skins were in good condition, despite the earliness of the season. they were stretched on frames fashioned by the cooper, and tanned. a week or so later we sighted a lone bear on an ice floe making a meal off a seal it had killed. it was late in the afternoon and one had to look twice before being able to make out its white body against the background of snow-covered ice. when the brig sailed within seventy-five yards the bear raised its head for a moment, took a squint at the vessel, didn't seem interested, and went on eating. resting his rifle on the bulwarks and taking careful aim, mr. winchester opened fire. the pattering of the bullets on the ice seemed to puzzle the bear. as it heard the missiles sing and saw the snow spurt up, it left the seal and began walking all about the floe on an investigation. finally it reared on its hind legs to its full height. while in this upright position, a bullet struck it and turned it a sudden twisting somersault. its placid mood was instantly succeeded by one of ferocious anger. it looked toward the vessel and roared savagely. still the bullets fell about it, and now alive to its danger, it plunged into the sea and struck out for the polar pack a mile distant. mr. winchester again lowered, with gabriel's boat to back him up. the chase was short and swift. the boats began to overhaul the bear as it approached the ice, the mate's bullets splashing all about the animal, but doing no damage. as the brute was hauling itself upon the ice, a ball crashed into its back, breaking its spine. it fell back into the water and expired in a furious flurry. a running bowline having been slipped over its neck, it was towed back to the brig. not long afterward, while we were cruising in open water, a polar bear swam across the brig's stern. there was neither ice nor land in sight. figuring the ship's deck as the center of a circle of vision about ten miles in diameter, the bear already had swum five miles, and probably quite a bit more, and it is certain he had an equal distance to go before finding any ice on which to rest. it probably had drifted south on an ice pan and was bound back for its home on the polar pack. the bear made too tempting a target for the mate to resist, and he brought out his rifle and, kneeling on the quarter-deck, he took steady aim and fired. his bullet struck about two feet behind the animal. he aimed again, but changed his mind and lowered his gun. "no," he said, "that fellow's making too fine a swim. i'll let him go." cleaving the water with a powerful stroke, the bear went streaking out of sight over the horizon. it is safe to say that before its swim ended the animal covered fifteen miles at the lowest estimate, and possibly a much greater distance. one moonlight night a little later, while we were traveling under short sail with considerable ice about, a whale blew a short distance to windward. i was at the wheel and mr. landers was standing near me. "blow!" breathed mr. landers softly. suddenly the whale breached--we could hear it distinctly as it shot up from a narrow channel between ice floes. "there she breaches!" said mr. landers in the same low voice, with no particular concern. we thought the big creature merely was enjoying a moonlight frolic. it breached again. this time its body crashed upon a strip of ice and flopped and floundered for a moment before sliding back into the water. then it breached half a dozen times more in rapid succession. i had never seen a whale breach more than once at a time, even when wounded. mr. landers became interested. "i wonder what's the matter with that whale," he said. to our surprise, two other black bodies began to flash up into the moonlight about the whale. every time the whale breached, they breached, too. they were of huge size, but nothing like so large as the whale. "killers!" cried mr. landers excitedly. then we knew the whale was not playing, but fighting for its life. it leaped above the surface to a lesser and lesser height each time. plainly it was tiring fast. when it breached the last time only its head and a small portion of its body rose into the air and both killers seemed to be hanging with a bulldog grip upon its lower jaw. what the outcome of that desperate battle was we did not see. the whale and its savage assailants moved off out of eye-shot. but for some time after we had lost sight of the whale we could hear its labored and stertoreous breathing and its heavy splashes as it attempted to breach. killers, mr. landers told me, are themselves a species of rapacious, carnivorous whale, whose upper and lower jaws are armed with sharp, saw-like teeth. they are otherwise known as the orca gladiator, and tiger-hearted gladiators of the sea they are. the great, clumsy bowhead with no teeth with which to defend itself, whose only weapons are its flukes and its fins, is no match for them. they attack the great creature whenever they encounter it, and when it has exhausted itself in its efforts to escape, they tear open its jaws and feast upon its tongue. the killer whale never hunts alone. it pursues its titanic quarry in couples and trios, and sometimes in veritable wolf-like packs of half a dozen. there is usually no hope for the bowhead that these relentless creatures mark for their prey. chapter xxii the stranded whale our fourth and last whale gave us quite a bit of trouble. we sighted this fellow spouting in a choppy sea among ice islands two or three miles off the edges of the polar pack. all three boats lowered for it. it was traveling slowly in the same direction the brig was sailing and about two miles from the vessel. it took the boats some time to work to close quarters. when the mate's boat was almost within striking distance, the whale went under. as frightened whales usually run against the wind, mr. winchester steered to windward. but the whale had not been frightened; it had not seen the boats. consequently it failed to head into the wind, but did the unexpected by coming up to leeward, blowing with evident unconcern. this brought it nearest to gabriel, who went after it in a flash. after a sharp, swift run down the wind, we struck the whale, which dived and went racing under water for the ice pack. the dizzy rate at which it took out our line might have led us to believe it was not hurt, but we knew it was seriously wounded by the fountains of blood it sent up whenever it came to the surface. the captain's signals from the brig, by this time, had headed the other boats in our direction, but they could not reach us in time to be of any assistance. the whale ran away with our tub of line and we sat still and watched the red fountains that marked its course as it headed for the big ice to the north. directly in the whale's course lay an ice floe about half a mile long, a few hundred yards wide and rising from five to ten feet above the surface. we naturally supposed the creature would dive under this and keep going for the main pack. to our surprise we soon saw fountain after fountain, red with blood, shooting up from the center of the floe. the whale evidently was too badly injured to continue its flight and had sought refuge beneath this strip of drifting ice. [illustration: skin boat of the siberian eskimos] men were hurriedly landed from all the boats with harpoons and shoulder guns, leaving enough sailors on the thwarts to fend the boats clear of the ice. the landing parties clambered over the broken and tumbled ice, dragging the harpoon lines. we found the whale half exposed in a narrow opening in the center of the floe, all the ice about it red with clotted blood. long john and little johnny threw two harpoons each into the big body and big foot louis threw his remaining one. as a result of this bombardment, five tonite bombs exploded in the whale, which, with the harpoons sticking all over its back, suggested a baited bull in a spanish bullring hung with the darts of the banderilleros. but the great animal kept on breathing blood and would not die. after all the harpoons had been exhausted, shoulder guns were brought into play. in all, twelve tonite bombs were fired into it before the monster gave a mighty shiver and lay still. but with the whale dead, we still had a big problem on our hands. in some way the giant bulk had to be hauled out of the ice. this was a difficult matter even with plenty of time in which to do it. night was coming on and it was the brig's custom in the hours of darkness to sail far away from the great ice pack with its edging of floating bergs and floes in order to avoid possible accident and to sail back to the whaling grounds on the morrow. this captain shorey prepared to do now. as a solution of the dilemma, an empty bread cask or hogshead was brought on deck and the name of the brig was seared in its staves with a hot iron in several places. this cask was towed to the floe, hauled up on the edge of the ice, and the long line of one of the harpoons sticking in the whale was made fast to it by means of staples. thus the cask marked the floe in which the whale was lying. it was growing dark when the brig went about, said good-night to the whale, and headed for open water to the south. we sailed away before a stiff breeze and soon cask and floe and the great white continent beyond had faded from view. when morning broke we were bowling along under light sail in a choppy sea with nothing but water to be seen in any direction. the great ice cap was somewhere out of sight over the world's northern rim. not a floe, a berg, or the smallest white chunk of ice floated anywhere in the purple sphere of sea ringed by the wide horizon. being a green hand, i said to myself, "good-bye, mr. whale, we certainly have seen the last we'll ever see of you." let me make the situation perfectly clear. our whale was drifting somewhere about the arctic ocean embedded in an ice floe scarcely to be distinguished from a thousand other floes except by a cask upon its margin which at a distance of a few miles would hardly be visible through strong marine glasses. the floe, remember, was not a stationary object whose longitude and latitude could be reckoned certainly, but was being tossed about by the sea and driven by the winds and ocean currents. the brig, on the other hand, had been sailing on the wind without a set course. it had been tacking and wearing from time to time. it, too, had felt the compulsion of the waves and currents. so throughout the night the brig had sailed at random and twenty miles or so away the whale in its floe had been drifting at random. now how were we going to find our whale again? this struck me that morning on the open sea with neither whale nor ice in sight, as a problem certainly very nice, if not hopeless. the way it was solved was as pretty a feat of navigation as i ever saw. when captain shorey came on deck after breakfast, he "shot the sun" through his sextant and went below to make his calculations. in a little while he came on deck again and stepped to the man at the wheel. the helmsman was steering full and by. "how do you head?" asked captain shorey. "northwest," answered the sailor. "keep her northwest by west half west," said the captain. for several hours the brig sailed steadily on this course. along about o'clock, we saw the peculiar, cold, light look above the sky line ahead which meant ice and which sailors call an "ice horizon," to be distinguished at a glance from a water horizon, which is dark. a little later, we sighted the white loom of the great ice continent. later still, we picked up the bergs, floes, islands, and chunks of ice which drift forever along its edge. the brig kept on its course. a floe of ice, looking at a distance like a long, narrow ribbon, lay ahead of us, apparently directly across our path. as we drew nearer, we began to make out dimly a certain dark speck upon the edge of the ice. this speck gradually assumed definiteness. it was our cask and we were headed straight for it. to a landlubber unacquainted with the mysteries of navigation, this incident may seem almost unbelievable, but upon my honest word, it is true to the last detail. after the brig had been laid aback near the ice, a boat was lowered and a hole was cut in the bow of the whale's head. a cable was passed through this and the other end was made fast aboard the ship. then under light sail, the brig set about the work of pulling the whale out of the ice. the light breeze fell away and the three boats were strung out ahead with hawsers and lent assistance with the oars. it was slow work. but when the breeze freshened, the ice began gradually to give, then to open up, and finally the whale was hauled clear and drawn alongside for the cutting in. chapter xxiii and so--home it was on october tenth that we broke out the stars and stripes at our main gaff and squared our yards for home. everybody cheered as the flag went fluttering up, for everybody was glad that the end of the long, hard voyage was in sight. behring straits which when we were about to enter the arctic ocean--sea of tragedy and graveyard of so many brave men and tall ships--had looked like the portals of inferno, now when we were homeward bound seemed like the gateway to the happy isles. the four whales we had captured on the voyage had averaged about , pounds of baleen, which that year was quoted at $ . a pound. we had tried out all our whales except the last one and our casks were filled with oil. our entire catch was worth over $ , . the officers and boatsteerers made a pretty penny out of the voyage. the captain, i was told, had shipped on a lay of one-sixth--and got it. the sailors had shipped on the th lay--and didn't get it. that was the difference. at san francisco, the forecastle hands were paid off with the "big iron dollar" of whaling tradition. the homeward voyage was not a time of idleness. we were kept busy a large part of the time cleaning the bone of our last three whales--the bone from our first whale had been shipped to san francisco from unalaska. as we had at first stowed it away, the baleen was in bunches of ten or a dozen slabs held together at the roots by "white horse," which is the whaler name for the gums of the whale. these bunches were now brought up on deck and each slab of baleen was cut out of the gums separately and washed and scoured with cocoanut rind procured for the purpose in the hawaiian islands. then the slabs were dried and polished until they shone like gun metal, tied into bales, and stowed under hatches once more. a little south of king's island in the northern end of behring sea, captain shorey set a course for unimak pass. we ran down behring sea with a gale of wind sweeping us before it and great billows bearing us along. when we bore up for the dangerous passage which had given us such a scare in the spring, we were headed straight for it, and we went through into the pacific without pulling a rope. it was another remarkable example of the navigating skill of whaling captains. we had aimed at unimak pass when miles away and had scored a bull's-eye. again the "roaring forties" lived up to their name and buffeted us with gale and storm. the first land we sighted after leaving the fox islands was the wooded hills of northern california. i shall never forget how beautiful those hills appeared and what a welcome they seemed to hold out. they were my own country again, the united states--home. my eyes grew misty as i gazed at them and i felt much as a small boy might feel who, after long absence, sees his mother's arms open to him. the tug that picked us up outside of golden gate at sundown one day seemed like a long lost friend. it was long after darkness had fallen, that it towed us into san francisco harbor, past the darkly frowning presidio and the twinkling lights of telegraph hill, to an anchorage abreast the city, brilliantly lighted and glowing like fairyland. i never in all my life heard sweeter music than the rattle and clank of the anchor chain as the great anchor plunged into the bay and sank to its grip in good american soil once more. my whaling voyage was over. it was an adventure out of the ordinary, an experience informing, interesting, health-giving, and perhaps worth while. i have never regretted it. but i wouldn't do it again for ten thousand dollars. the end * * * * * transcriber note hyphenation of boat-steerer vs. boatsteerer was not changed as there were approximately equal number of each version. other words were changed to match the most used version. minor typos were corrected. the illustrations were moved to prevent splitting paragraphs. [illustration: the first whale. page .] there she blows! or, the log of the arethusa. by capt. w. h. macy. of nantucket. boston lee & shepard, publishers new york: charles t. dillingham copyright, , by lee & shepard. the author to his readers. the story embodied in these pages is not to be regarded as a mere "yarn." it is rather a series of illustrated sketches of actual life on the ocean, made up of real incidents and introducing for the most part real characters, many of which will be recognized. indeed the author may truly say that in writing these "leaves," he felt himself simply telling a story--not making one. since its first publication in serial form, nine years ago, he has been stricken with one of the heaviest of physical infirmities. doomed to life-long blindness, the recollection of years spent at sea in the prime of manhood, come crowding upon him more thickly than ever, and he finds his chief solace in having still retained the ability to write them down for the benefit and amusement of others. his seafaring friends, as they overhaul the log of their own experience, will at once recognize the truthfulness of the pictures he has drawn here. w. h. m. nantucket, mass., august, . contents. chapter i. page. from peck slip to nantucket bar chapter ii. in and out over the bar chapter iii. from the bar round great point chapter iv. fairly at sea.--the first lookout.--introduction chapter v. the western islands.--"yarns" and anecdotes chapter vi. the first whale chapter vii. "cutting in" chapter viii. boiling.--cutting the line.--dutch courage.--"man overboard" chapter ix. "gamming" with a "homeward-bounder" chapter x. whaling near the falklands.--death of mr. johnson chapter xi. promotion.--"cooper's novels."--the mate moralizes.--cape horn chapter xii. fishing at juan fernandez.--fight with an ugly whale chapter xiii. talcahuana chapter xiv. the bill-fish.--the marquesas.--a prisoner among the savages chapter xv. escape from the savages.--recovery of the boat.--magical effects of lynch law chapter xvi. the cooper "romances".--incidents.--byron's island chapter xvii. kingsmill's group.--singular whaling incident.--hard and fast.--a perilous position chapter xviii. off the rocks again.--a bad leap.--anecdotes.--the run to the caroline islands chapter xix. strong's island chapter xx. on japan.--ormsbee's peak.--whaling incidents.--a yankee trick chapter xxi. radack chain.--watering at ocean island.--incidents on the run to sydney, n. s. w. chapter xxii. sydney.--up anchor for home.--"galway mike." chapter xxiii. homeward.--the episode of galway mike.--cape horn.--the last whale chapter xxiv. homeward. the whale recognized as an old acquaintance.--incidents of the run home.--nantucket again leaves from the arethusa's log. chapter i. from peck slip to nantucket bar. "wanted-- able-bodied, enterprising young men, to go on whaling voyages of from twelve to twenty months' duration in first class ships. all clothing and other necessaries furnished on the credit of the voyage. to coopers, carpenters and blacksmiths, extra inducements offered." this announcement, on a gigantic placard, in staring capitals, arrested my attention, and brought me to a stand, as i was strolling along south street, near peck slip. i had just attained the susceptible age of eighteen, and had left my country home with the consent of my parents, to visit the great city of gotham, like a modern gil blas, in quest of employment and adventures. as the old story-books have it, i had come "to seek my fortune." i have sought it ever since, but it has kept ahead of me, like an _ignis fatuus_. like old joe garboard, i began the world with nothing, and have held my own ever since. i had always a predilection for the sea, and had cultivated my adventurous propensities by the study of all books of voyages and travels that i had access to. all the wanderings of famous navigators, from the days of sinbad down to the present era, had been perused with delight, and i had always affected the sailor, as well as i knew how, in manner and dress. i had discovered, since i arrived in the city, however, that i was a miserable amateur; and not a ragged boy along the piers but would have spotted me for a "green one" at sight, while jack himself, the real article, would have found my verdancy really refreshing after a long cruise. above the attractive placard to which i have alluded, in the form of a hanging sign projecting over the sidewalk, was a most stirring nautical piece, illustrating one of those agreeable little episodes which diversify the life of the whaleman. the principal figure in the foreground of this masterpiece of art was a huge sea monster, intended, doubtless, to represent something "very like a whale," but which, in truth, bore rather more resemblance to a magnified codfish with a specific gravity something less than that of a cork, as he floated _on_ the water instead of _in_ it. fragments of a devoted whaleboat, which had been nearly pulverized by a blow of his tail, filled the air, and rained back in showers upon the unfortunate leviathan, at the imminent hazard, as it seemed, of inflicting serious splinter wounds, while several sailors, apparently dressed for the occasion in span new blue and red shirts, cut pirouettes among the wreck at various altitudes between sky and water, and made spread eagles of themselves for the special diversion of a gaping public. from the head of the sea monster was ejected a stream of blood, which rose in a solid column to a height but little exceeding that of the topmasts of the ship, which appeared standing under all sail, in fearful proximity to the fast boats, and having no apparent intention of starting tack or sheet to avoid a collision. hogarth's famous "perspective" was quite eclipsed by this effort. i stood, for a time, regarding this picture in silent admiration, and especially commiserating the situation of one luckless mariner, for whom the fate of jonah seemed inevitable, as he appeared suspended in mid-air, directly over the jaws of the whale, which were widely distended in his agony. "now," said i to myself, "why wouldn't this be the sort of cruise for me? a long voyage, full of adventure and excitement. the very thing. i'll stop in here, and get some information about this business." following the direction of a hand painted on a tin sign, the finger of which, as well as the inscription, indicated that ramsay's shipping office was "up stairs," i entered a room where a middle-aged gentleman, with a florid countenance, evidently the great ramsay himself, was seated at a desk fenced in by a railing, while a shabby clerk, who looked as if he had been kept up all night, hovered, like a familiar spirit, near his elbow. two youths, fresh from the country like myself, were negotiating for enlistment with the elder gentleman, who was all smiles and affability, and who, at my entrance, elevated his eyebrows, and said something, _sotto voce_, to the sleepy clerk, whereat the latter smiled knowingly, and then, seeming fatigued by the exertion, relapsed into his former apathy. "take a seat, sir," said mr. ramsay. "i'm happy to see you, sir; and the fact of your being early in the day argues well for your success in life. i presume you would like to try a pleasant voyage, to see the world, and make some money at the same time." "yes, sir," said i; "i did think of trying a sea voyage, but i would like to make a few inquiries first." "quite right, sir," said mr. ramsay, lighting a cigar; "quite right. 'look before you leap,' as the saying is. have a cigar, sir?" at the same time extending a handful of cheap sixes, with a general invitation to the company present. "i shall be happy to afford you any information in my power, sir. i have never been whaling myself, but from my long experience in this business, and my extensive acquaintance with whalemen and shipowners, i may say that you could hardly have applied, in this city, to a better source; and, as i was observing to these two young gentlemen just before you entered, there is the finest opening just at this time that i have ever known. indeed, i do not remember any period since i have been in the business when such inducements were offered to enterprising young men as now. a packet leaves this afternoon for nantucket, and there are crews wanted there for four new ships, just launched, and all to be commanded by experienced captains. there will be more ships fitted this year than any previous one; and, owing to the increased demand for young men, the lays are uncommonly high." "the what, sir?" asked one of the country youths. "the lays, sir; that is to say, the shares. you will understand that in this business no one is paid wages by the day or month, but each receives a certain part, or lay, as it is called, of the proceeds of the cruise. by this arrangement, you will see, at once, that every one, from the captain to the cabin boy, has a personal interest in the success of the voyage. the lay is, of course, proportioned to his rank or station on board, and to his experience in the business. the lays, as i before observed, are high this season, uncommonly so." "and what may be the lay of a new hand--one who has never been by water," i asked. "well, sir, the lays of green hands have ranged, in times past, from a two hundredth to a two hundred and fiftieth, but they are paying now a hundred and seventieth, and even as high as a hundred and fiftieth. by the way, have you any mechanical trade?" pursued the shipping-master, with the greatest urbanity. "well--yes, sir; i have served some time at the blacksmith's trade, though i can hardly call myself a finished workman," i answered. "a blacksmith! ah, indeed! the very thing, sir. that reminds me that i have a special demand, at this time, for three or four blacksmiths, and as many carpenters. as to your being a finished workman, that is not at all essential, sir. if you can botch a little and do an indifferent sort of job, that is quite sufficient. i may safely promise an able-bodied young man like you with some knowledge of the blacksmith's trade, as good as the hundred and thirtieth. that, however, is a matter to be arranged with the agent of the ship when you sign the articles. i shall mention the subject to my correspondents, messrs. brooks & co., at nantucket, and they will use their influence for you." "the voyage, you say, will not be more than twenty months, sir?" i asked. "ye--no, sir--that is, they are seldom absent beyond that length of time, and, if very fortunate, you may finish a voyage in a year. then your chances of promotion! consider, sir--a young man of your ability ought certainly to command a third mate's berth on the second voyage, in which case, of course, your pay is more than doubled; and so on each successive voyage as you advance still higher on the ladder. that is, of course, supposing you should wish to follow the business. if not, why, a year or a year and a half is not much at your time of life. you would still be young enough to turn your attention to something else." "how's the victuals on these whaling boats?" inquired one of the verdant youths. "excellent, sir," returned the voluble mr. ramsay. "i have reason to believe there are no ships on the ocean where the living is so good as in whalers. even the luxuries of life are to be found in abundance. cows are generally kept on board, so that the supply of milk and fresh beef scarcely ever fails." here the sleepy clerk knocked the ashes from his cigar, gave another knowing smile, and distended his cheek with his tongue, in keen enjoyment of the game. this action was not lost upon me, and, inexperienced though i was, i had already begun to surmise that the statements of his eloquent employer were to be received _cum grano salis_. still, making due allowance for exaggeration, i thought this sort of voyage, from its very nature, full of excitement and adventure, would suit me better than any other. "do you furnish the outfit of clothes here, sir?" i inquired. "no, sir," answered mr. ramsay, "that is not in my line. my correspondents, messrs. brooks & co., will attend to that; and, from their perfect knowledge of the articles required, and their extensive facilities, cannot fail to give you satisfaction." the sleepy clerk had the pleasure of registering the names of all three of us on the list of recruits to go on board the "lydia ann," and at four o'clock that afternoon, i found myself, in company with a score or more of others, on board the old sloop, with the mainsail hoisted, and dropped down to an outside berth; and, after the most affectionate farewells and hand-shaking from mr. ramsay and the sleepy clerk, the whole party were mustered and counted, and the roll being found correct, the lydia ann slipped the only fast by which she rode to the pier, and was fairly under way for nantucket, amid the shouts and hurrahs of her passengers, who seemed to have bid adieu to all care and sorrow, and to consider themselves fairly enrolled in the ranks of the elect. after taking our last looks at the great metropolis, i found ample amusement in studying human nature, and observing the peculiarities of my several companions, who were a motley crowd, composed of men of every stamp, from the fresh and innocent country youth, like myself, who had just left his mother and sisters, to the city rowdy, who had run himself "hard up" on a spree, and, unable longer to raise the wind, had shipped for a sea voyage as a last resort. it was surprising to note, now that we were brought together, and all bound on the same mission, how quickly we became acquainted with each other, and how quickly all distinctions were levelled. many of my companions were more or less in liquor at starting, and some had brought suspicious bottles with them, and now were clustered in groups about the deck, roaring snatches of songs, breaking out into boisterous merriment, and cracking jokes on the old skipper, who only shook his head, and joined in the laugh, muttering: "hold on, my lads, till i get you out off pint judy, with a good stiff breeze and chopping sea on to shake up your stomachs, and i'll bet some of you will laugh out of the other side of your mouths." the old gentleman was not at all averse to taking a stout pull at the bottles with those who offered them; and, after two or three applications of this sort, he grew communicative, and volunteered much information for our special behoof, touching the business in which we were about embarking. many of his statements differed widely from those of the shipping-master, which is not strange; for it is well known that two witnesses are seldom found to agree to their accounts of the same matter. the lydia ann was an old time-worn and battered sloop, which ran as a regular transport between nantucket and new york, having no accommodations for any considerable number of passengers, though she had carried so many human cargoes to the same consignees, all bound on the same errand, that she had acquired the pet name of "the slaver." when night came on, we were constrained to find lodgings in the hold as best we could; and, selecting the softest spots and most eligible corners among the casks and boxes which composed the freight list, we passed part of the night in much the same manner as before. but, as the skipper had predicted, the breeze freshened during the night, and the old sloop, feeling the benefit of it, and diving smartly into a head sea, furnished the majority of us employment in casting up our accounts, and admonished us that all bodies, not excepting the solid earth, are subject to upheavings when shaken to their centres. some of us, who had crawled on deck to get the fresh air, furnished, by our own rueful and woe-begone appearance, rare food for merriment to the old mate, a veteran of nearly the same date as his commander, who in a rough pea-jacket and slouched sou'wester, stood, statue-like, braced up against the tiller, apparently as immovable as the rock of ages. "ah, boys," said the jolly old salt, "so the liddy ann is breaking you in, eh? well, you've got to go through it, all of ye, and it's better to have it over now, when you've got no duty to attend to, than to begin it in the gulf stream, when there'll be, maybe, topsails to reef, and a slatting jib to be got in on a slippery boom." he advised us, moreover, to try the experiment of attaching a piece of fat pork, previously dipped in molasses, to a string, swallowing the precious morsel and pulling it up again, repeating the operation as often as the symptoms returned, which mode of proceeding, he solemnly assured us, had been proved to be an invaluable specific, in cases of this kind, as could be attested by the experience of thousands of sufferers. the victims were slow to avail themselves of this information, not so much from any doubt of its efficacy, as from sheer inability to make the necessary exertion to prepare the medicine. the utter prostration of all energy which attends sea-sickness is well known to those who have passed the ordeal. i was a sufferer with the rest, but not to the same extent as many others. when daylight broke, i was on deck, and stirring, and became accustomed to the lydia ann's antics with so little difficulty that the old skipper noticed me particularly; and finding i was the only one who could do full justice to an "able-bodied breakfast," he complimented me by averring his belief that i would be a sailor yet before my mother would. which prophecy seemed in a fair way of fulfilment; for i gained so rapidly that before the sloop went in over nantucket bar, i was able to take an interest in all i saw and even to lend a hand about decks. i was rather vain of the comparatively easy victory which my stomach had gained over old neptune's medicine chest, and lost no opportunity of cracking jokes upon others, whose course of initiation had been more severe. some of the boys who came over in the lydia ann will never forget the martyrdom they endured from this intolerable malady, which, when violent, makes even life and death seem a matter of indifference, and not the least irritating peculiarity of which is that it is a standing subject for joking by those who have passed through it, and that even the very pity which the initiated traveller bestows upon us is akin to ridicule. chapter ii. in and out over the bar. two whaleships were lying at anchor outside the "bar" as the lydia ann passed in--one lately arrived from a long voyage, her rusty sides and rough bends nearly naked of copper, with the long grass clinging to the bare sheathing; her stump topmasts and general half-dismantled appearance presenting a striking contrast to the trim, newly-painted outward-bounder, which had just completed her preparations for sea, and, with everything aloft in its place, mainroyal yard crossed, and a full quota of showy, white-bottomed boats on the cranes and overhead, was to weigh anchor for the pacific next morning. loud rose the cheerful, measured sound of the hoisting song from the gang on board the inward-bound ship, as the heavy casks of oil were seen to rise slowly from her hatchway, and were discharged into the schooner lashed alongside of her to receive them, while another lighter, deeply loaded, had dropped astern, and was hoisting her mainsail. "i thought the 'pandora' had sailed before this time," said the old skipper, as we passed just out of hail of the ships. "they have been a long time fitting her for sea. i wonder," said he to his mate, "who that is that has got in since we left. get the glass, and see if you can make out her name when we cross her stern." the mate brought an old battered telescope from a cleet in the companionway, and, after squinting for some time, muttered: "p--her stern is so rusty that hang me if i can make out the letters--the name begins with a p; i can see that. there's a t in it, and the last letter looks like an h." "yes, that's all right," said the skipper. "that's the old 'plutarch.' she has been expected some time, and has had a long passage home; but she is one of the old anno dominy ships, and sails about as fast as you can whip a toad though tar. i was in her two v'y'ges myself in my young days, and we never could drive more than six knot out of her in a gale of wind. she seems to have a foul bottom, too. but she has crawled home at last, and she has brought a good load of ile, too. she had twenty-one hund'ed at last accounts, and that ain't to be sneezed at, nowadays." "no, indeed, it ain't," returned his partner. "but when was you in the plutarch? who had her then?" "old hosea coffin had her; that's when she was new, and was called a dandy ship at that time. then i steered a boat in her next v'y'ge with 'bimelech swain--you knew him?" "yes, i remember; that's when i was in the 'viper' on the brazeel banks." i could not but look with admiration upon these old veterans, who talked about long voyages round cape horn and on the "banks" as though they had been mere pleasure trips across a harbor and back, or any such trifling matter. two or three years in these old fellows' lives seemed like the same period in the history of nations, occupying but a line or two of the chronicler. but the vessel was rapidly drawing in round "brant point," and all my comrades, many of whom had not yet fully recovered from sea-sickness, had mustered on deck to see the low, sandy island and busy little town of nantucket, which now lay fairly before us. several more whaleships were lying at the wharves, some of them dismantled, and stripped to a girtline, others partly rigged for sea, and two or three hove down for coppering. this was in the summer of , when nantucket may be said to have been in the zenith of its prosperity. more new ships were built than in any previous season, and the general impression appeared to be that the partisan cries of "two dollars a day and roast beef to the laboring man" were to be literally fulfilled, and that the price of oil was to reach a standard positively fabulous. and so it did--fabulously low, as every poor whaleman can testify, who arrived in - , and sold his sperm oil for fifty or sixty cents a gallon. as the sloop warped in alongside the wharf, a spruce young man jumped on deck, and, saluting the skipper, asked him when he left new york, and, in the same breath, how many men he had brought. "twenty-five," said the old man. and, having thus satisfied himself that the cargo delivered corresponded with the invoice, he invited us all to come up to "the store." then, mounting into a one-horse cart--a sort of green box on two wheels--which stood in waiting, he called upon us to "jump up." we jumped up till the box was full of us, standing in solid phalanx, and the rest followed, as infantry of the rear guard; and thus, the admired of all beholders, we proceeded up the central or "straight wharf," and up main street to the store. the spruce young man informed us that his name was richards, and that he was connected with the establishment as a sort of out-door clerk. the store of messrs. brooks & co. fronted directly on the square or grand plaza of nantucket. they dealt in all kinds of ready-made clothing and dry goods, infitting as well as outfitting goods; and the store was a grand resort and rendezvous of seafaring men. at the time of our arrival, it was enlivened by the presence of numerous whalemen, of various grades in rank, from chief mates of ships, sedate, dignified-looking men, dressed in long togs in neat style, who sat smoking, comparing notes about matters and things, "round the other side of land," and re-killing, at a safe distance, many "forty barrel bulls," which they had years ago slaughtered, at imminent peril of life and limb, down to overgrown boys, who had made one voyage, aspirants for boatsteerers' berths, who wore fine blue round jackets and low-quartered morocco pumps, with a great superabundance of ribbon, as was the fashion at that period, carried flaming red handkerchiefs either awkwardly in their hands or hanging half out at their jacket pockets, masticated tobacco in prodigious quantities, and in various ways aped the tar, to the great amusement of their elders, who passed remarks to each other in confidential tones. "here comes young folger, rolling down to st. helena, eighteen cloths in the lower studdingsail, and no change out of a dollar." "what ship was he in?" asked another. "in that plum pudd'ner that got in last week--what's her name?" "o, that old brig over at the new north wharf? the 'sphynx.'" "he wants a bilge pump in each pocket to pump the salt out." "yes--lot's wife never was half as salt as some of these boys." "they'll outgrow that after they have made two or three more voyages, and got the feather-edge rubbed off." "yes, they'll find it isn't all fun to come and go, 'happy go lucky,' when they have more to think about. well, we've all had our thoughtless days." the last speaker had lately married a young wife, and was to sail the next morning, mate of the pandora. "well, gardner, your time is getting short," said his next neighbor, with a careless laugh, slapping him on the back. "i'm sorry for you, boy, but it can't be helped, and i wish you a good voyage," continued the rough sympathizer, a powerful young man, who had just arrived second mate of the plutarch, and had not yet begun to wear the bronze off his face. "never mind, chase; you can blow for a short time, but you'll be travelling the same road soon." "not this winter," returned chase, with a triumphant shake of the head. "i'll set my foot down on that." "don't be too sure of that," said gardner. "i'll bet you'll be out again this fall." "not i." "well, i expect to see you in talcahuano in the spring, and i'll put you in mind of this." "if you see me there as soon as that, i'll stand treat." "i see the old slaver has brought a lot of bran new sailors from new york to-day. i suppose, gardner, you'll have the training of some of these young fellows," said another. "no, not this lot; ours are all on board. these are to go in the fortitude and the arethusa." "well, grafton's going in the arethusa. they'll all find their right places there." "there's a fellow will make a slashing midship oarsman," said one. "yes, and here's another for a bowman," replied his neighbor, with a glance at me, as i stood within ear shot, and overheard this colloquy. i had no chance to hear more at present; for the whole party, after their names had been registered, were handed over to the tender mercies of the boarding-house keeper, and the procession moved off, in straggling order, "down under the bank" to dinner. mr. loftus, the boarding-master, was an elderly gentleman of pompous appearance, who had been whaling himself in his younger days, and thought himself quite an oracle in his way. he entertained his boarders with many thrilling reminiscences of his youth, interspersed with sage advice how to conduct ourselves so as to get ahead, and rise in our profession, as he himself had done, and regretted that ill health had prevented him from following it up until he got command of a ship, which must inevitably have been the case in a few more years. he informed us that the majority of us would probably be shipped the next day in the arethusa, and we might consider ourselves truly fortunate in getting this opportunity, as the arethusa was a new ship, with all the modern improvements, and a crack appointment, so that we might look upon the voyage as already made, before the ship left home. furthermore the ship carried three maints' gall'nt sails, and had more backstays than any other ship in port, which fact, he said, had a material bearing on the success of the cruise. all this produced a feeling of anxiety in the minds of the newly enlisted to be chosen on the roll of the arethusa rather than to be left for the fortitude and other less desirable ships. the next day we were all mustered at the store, and introduced in the aggregate, to the agent of the ship, and captain upton, the future commander, a middle-sized man, all bone and muscle, with keen eyes, and a peculiar stride in his gait, which might admit of a small wheelbarrow being driven between his legs without touching either. he seemed to have his own way in the selection of his crew, the agent leaving the matter in his hands; and twelve of us having been called out, of whom i was flattered to find myself one, the rest were left for captain wyer, of the fortitude, who, being a young man, just entering on his first command, was fain to content himself with what he could get in many particulars, where captain upton would have what he wanted. we were catechised, in brief, concerning our nativity and previous occupation, and the build and physical points of each were looked to, not forgetting the eyes, for a sharp-sighted man was a jewel in the estimation of the genuine whaling captain. a formidable document lay on the desk, awaiting our signatures, and, almost before i knew it, i found myself entered on the arethusa's articles, with the hundred an fiftieth, as blacksmith and green hand. our outfits of "clothing and other necessaries" were put into our chests for us at the store; and most of us now donned some articles to replace such of our clothing as was in a dilapidated condition, while the best garments of which we happened to stand possessed were still retained in wear. the result was an incongruity in the various parts of our attire, which occasioned much merriment. thus, one wore a check shirt under the shade of a glossy beaver; another a "claw-hammer" or dress-coat over bright red flannels; while tarpaulin hats surmounted with white shirts and dickeys, and patent leather peeped out under voluminous duck trowsers. the whalemen criticised us as "half-jack half-gentlemen," as we took a stroll down the busy wharves, to look at the shipping generally, and especially to inspect the noble vessel which was to be our future home. we wound our tortuous way down through a labyrinth of old anchors and trypots, spars, timber and oil-casks, now diving under a capstan bar, and again making a detour to double a long pair of trucks or skids, backed up at a tier of oil to parbuckle its load on. we all fell in love with the arethusa at sight, which might, in our case, be termed an illustration of "love after marriage," seeing that our names were already on her papers. she was indeed a fine specimen of naval architecture, and her model was much admired at that time, for this was before the day of extreme clippers. she was painted with the bright waist, a style more in vogue then than now, consisting of a broad yellow streak, relieved by narrow white moulding or ribbons. she appeared to justify all that the boarding-master had said of her; and, in the simplicity of our hearts, we had no doubt that his enumeration of her mainto'gall'nt-s'ls and backstays was perfectly correct. it being a holiday afternoon, there was a crowd of boys on the wharf, who appeared to me to be quite a distinctive class of juveniles, accustomed to consider themselves as predestined mariners. their fathers and grandfathers before them had spent the whole period of their lives "round cape horn;" their elder brothers were even now serving their apprenticeship in the same manner, and, as regarded themselves, it was only a question of time how soon they should start. they climbed ratlines like monkeys--little fellows of ten or twelve years--and laid out on the yardarms with the most perfect nonchalance, shouting and laughing at our awkward attempts to perform the same feats. they ridiculed us as "greenies," and there was no help for it but to take it all in good part, and bear with their boyish impudence as philosophically as might be. hostile advances were useless, for we might as well have kicked at the empty air. we certainly could not complain of want of attention during our stay among these plain-hearted people. we could hardly turn a corner but we were saluted with the war-cry of some of these embryo circumnavigators. "see the greenies, come to go ileing;" while the smiles of beauty were extorted by our amphibious costumes wherever we strolled about town. i understood that two of the boys were going with us in the ship. wishing to know something of my future shipmates, i made inquiry of the landlord's daughter. of course she knew them both. one was kelly's son who lived away in egypt, and the other was obed b. "and who is obed bee?" i asked. "why, he's a second cousin of ours." "and does mr. bee live in egypt, too?" "who?" she asked, with surprise. "why, mr. bee, obed's father," said i innocently. "mr. hoeg, you mean," said she, as soon as she could suppress her laughter so as to speak. "i forgot to tell you that his name was obed b. hoeg. no, _he_ don't live in egypt; he lives over in guinea." i was more and more mystified; i thought of ledyard and mungo park, and pursued my african researches by inquiring: "what part of the world is this where you live--nubia or abyssinia?" "neither," answered the young lady, now fairly screaming with laughter. "why this is _newtown_." "indeed!" said i. "and have you an 'oldtown,' too?" "not in nantucket," she replied; "that's on the vineyard." i did not learn, till long afterwards, that the name was universally used among the nantucketers for edgartown. but our stay in this quaint old town was short, indeed, for the next afternoon we all reported ourselves on board, under the fatherly care and escort of messrs. brooks and richards; and the arethusa, with only topmasts aloft, and topsail yards crossed, dropped out from the wharf, in tow of the "telegraph" steamer, for her station outside of the bar, there to complete rigging and loading for sea. she was at this time in charge of a pilot, and a superannuated whaling captain, who, having outlived active service, now found employment as chief stevedore and temporary captain, in cases where the regular officers preferred to pay for "lay days," and remain with their friends till the ship was quite ready for sea. directly on getting clear of the wharf, we poor bewildered green hands, whose senses had gone wool-gathering amid the confusion of unintelligible orders connected with "hooking on," were set to work to heel the ship by rousing the chain cables and other ponderous articles all on one side, in order to lessen her draught of water; and this being accomplished, the ship, after rubbing for a few minutes on the flats, went over clear, and about dark came to, with both anchors ahead, in the berth vacated by the pandora which had gone to sea the day before. chapter iii. from the bar round great point. when the ship was righted, and all was made snug for the night, we proceeded to arrange the chaotic mass of sea-chests, bedding, kegs of oil soap, and miscellaneous sea-stores, and to perform the apparently impossible task of condensing sixteen men, with all their real and personal estate, into a little triangular space, called (by courtesy) the forecastle, so as to leave standing and dancing room at the foot of the ladder. this problem, however knotty it might seem to the uninitiated, was successfully solved, under the superintendence of the four "salts" who had been to sea before, two of whom were portuguese from the azores, one a gigantic negro who had been three voyages in the same employ, and the fourth a white american of some little intelligence--one of those sea-lawyers or "clock-setters," who are to be found in all sorts of ships, and who make more mischief then can well be imagined by people not conversant with matters of this sort. the stowage being completed, each one fitted up his own "bunk," the four veterans having, of course, appropriated the choice ones by marking them with their own hieroglyphics before the ship left the wharf. supper was then passed down, and a smart show of new tin-ware brought into requisition. old jeff swore at the tea, called it "frightened water" (it did certainly appear to have been mixed on homoeopathy principles), and avowed his determination to have his brother african, the cook, over the windlass end before he had been a week in blue water, unless a decided improvement should be observed in this respect. in which threat he was ably seconded by burley, the sea-lawyer, and the two ghees, we green hands merely eating with eyes wide open, not yet daring to advance our opinions. the remains of the banquet cleared away, most of us lighted our "half-spanish" outfit cigars, but old jeff, disdaining such flummeries, produced his approved narcotic solace, in the shape of a well-worn and blackened "chunk," which being duly loaded and set on fire, he settled himself in a sort of sir oracle attitude, and prepared to give the attentive novices the benefit of his long experience. "now, boys," said jeff, between the puffs, "you'll find you've got to toe the mark here. our old man's a hard one, i can tell ye, for i've sailed with him afore. _i_ can get along well enough with him, 'cause i know _him_, and he knows _me_, too, like a book. i haven't sailed ten years with him for nothing. why, bless your souls, he wouldn't know how to get under way without me." this was one of jeff's delusions--that he considered himself a necessary fixture or part of the ship. "he's a hard one," he continued, "and you lads will have to stand round when he gets among ye. he wont trouble _me_, you know,'cause _i_ know my duty, chock to the handle; but he's down on any man that don't know his duty." "but, surely," i ventured to say, "he cannot be so unreasonable as to expect a green hand to know a seaman's duty by intuition. we don't profess to know anything; we come our first voyage to learn, and if we show ourselves willing to learn, we do all that can be reasonably expected of us." "i don't know nothing about your inter-ition," returned old jeff, showing the whites of his eyes to a frightful extent. "that's further into the booktionary that ever i overhauled. but i know this old man, and it's no use for a lad like you to argy about things that you don't understand. if you and me was going to talk in 'long-shore company, now, i s'pose i'd have to strike my flag, 'cause you could launch some three-deckers, like that one just now; but here, you know, i'm to home. you just hold on a bit; he'll let you know who's who, when he gets you off soundin's!" "i aint afraid he'll do _me_ anything," said the sea-lawyer, burley, his voice coming with a sepulchral sound from the depths of the bunk, where he was already stretched at full length. "_i_ don't allow any live man to do _me_ anything. i've been in all sorts of ships, men-of-war, merchantmen, and--well, i wont say what else. but i always stood up for my rights." "that's all well enough, you know," replied the negro, speaking with less assumption of superiority now that he was addressing a man of experience. "that's all well enough to stand up, if all hands would hang together standin' up"--(quite unconscious of the bull, of course). "but they wont, 'cause they don't know their duty. now, you see, you and me's got to do 'bout all the duty here--" "what you talk about?" said one of the two ghees, a swarthy, big-whiskered fellow, with that restless eye so common among his countrymen. "what you talk about--do all dut_ee_? i no want you do my work. s'pose you do your own work, me all e' same." "ah, well! i don't mean nothin' 'bout you and antone, of course!" said jeff, turning nearly _white_ at the interruptions. "i s'pose you two can do your duty well enough. what i mean to say is," thus ingeniously shifting his ground, "there'll be only two of us in each watch to do all the duty. 'the doctor' he don't count nobody, 'cause he don't stand watch, and he's got enough to do to look after his galley. now, when i first went a whaling, they used to have some _men_ aboard of a ship; but now-a days they send them out filled with a lot of _children_. i expect if i go two or three voyages more, i'll see 'em bring their mothers out with 'em. i don't know, for my part, what they ship such spindle-legged boys for!" "i do!" shouted the clock-setter, from the recesses of the bunk. "because they can do just what they like with 'em, and they don't know their rights. if they were to ship a whole crew of old hands that knew their rights and stood up for them, they'd get brought up with a round-turn." "r-r-r-ights!" muttered manoel the portuguese. "what that you talk 'bout r-r-rights? what for you begin gr-r-owl now, no got ship out sea yet? time enough gr-r-owl, s'pose old man no do r-r-right by-'m-by." "but it's always well enough to have these things understood in the beginning," insisted burley. "i want a man to use me _like_ a man, and i mean he _shall_, too. i don't know what you dagos mean to do, but _i'll_ have my rights." "r-r-rights!" echoed manoel, with infinite contempt. "all 'e time r-r-rights!" "i tink s'pose have row 'board dis ship--you no do more's 'nother mans," said the little portuguese, antone, with that quick perception of character, which, in many of his class, seems to supply the place of both theoretical knowledge and worldly experience. "well, you'll see," returned the sea-lawyer. "time will show. i sha'n't ask any dago to tell me what to do." "dago no tell you, s'pose you ask," answered the quiet little portuguese, sarcastically. he had already conceived a disgust for one, at least, of his shipmates. though having no desire, at present, to quarrel with him, he took in good part the epithet of "dago," which burley had always at his tongue's end. "well," said i, "i shall not believe that the captain--" "who's the captain?" interrupted old jeff. "why, captain upton." "o! the old man you mean. if you was talking about the skipper of another ship, it might do to say the cap'n, but _ours_ is always the old man--mind that." "very well--the old man, then," i resumed. "i shall not believe that he will misuse or ill-use a man for not knowing what he can't be expected to know without some practice and experience. it's an old saying that the devil is not so black as he is painted; and the only way for us new hands is to go to work cheerfully, and try to learn our duty. i'm sure i am willing to learn, and would be obliged to any one who would teach or help me." this view of the matter, and my expression of it, at once found an echo from all the other youngsters, while, at the same time, it secured for me the better opinion of old jeff himself; who, though a notorious growler, was not a bad-hearted man in the main. in deed, this negro was a specimen of a class which every seaman will recognize at once, who growl rather from confirmed habit than from any evil motive; and nothing could be further from his mind than to be the intentional cause of trouble on board any ship in which he served. not so with burley, whom i set down at once as a man to be instinctively avoided and distrusted. growling, with old jeff, was a weakness, and, from long indulgence in the practice had become, as it were, an essential part of his existence; but the sea-lawyer was a deliberate mischief-maker. in one respect, as i afterwards discovered, they were much on a par, being both arrant cowards when put to the test. the cook now made his appearance down the ladder--a merry, simple-hearted african, of a shining bottlegreen complexion, between whom and old jeff a harmless sort of skirmishing feud existed, they having sailed together on the previous voyage with captain upton, and contracted a habit of cracking coarse jokes upon each other to such an extent that a stranger might have supposed them to be in a towering rage at times, when they were in reality fast friends. "halloo, jeff, aint you turned in yet?" said the cook, showing his ivory from ear to ear. "here you be, boys; all de bunks taken up, and i's left like dey say de son o' man in de scriptur', nowhere to lay my head. de old man says he's going to have an extra bunk put up for me in de steerage. s'pose he wont do it till after we get out to sea." "take your black mug out of this!" thundered old jeff, who was stripping off preparatory to retiring for the night. "you make the fo'castle so dark a man can't see to turn in. you'll put the lights out if you stay here five minutes." "now don't trouble yourself to get in a puncheon when a hogshead's big enough to hold ye," retorted the "doctor" in a tantalizing way. "some people might think you's dangerous, if dey didn't know ye as well as i do. you can't frighten kentucky sam, you know. lord sakes! you might run loose till kingdom come, 'thout any muzzle; you wouldn't bite nobody. might _bark_ some, though." "i'll _bark_ your crooked shins for you, if you don't shut up. i'm goin' to turn in; we shall have two lighters alongside to-morrow morning and uncle brock will be turning us to, as soon as he can see daylight through a ladder." "well, now, don't be flyin' off de handle, altogedder," said the cook with provoking coolness, "'cos i's goin' to turn in myself, soon's i fix up a bed on dese two donkeys." (sea chests.) "i'll settle _your_ hash for you to-morrow," roared jeff, extending his herculean fist from the bunk, and shaking it apparently in a state of great excitement. "all right. call at my office any time before dinner. sha'n't have no _hash_ to settle tho'. 'taint hash day to-morrow, anyhow." by this time the sable functionary was stretched at his ease on his temporary shake down, and the sparring ended for the night. some of the boys were already snoring off the fatigues of the day, and the rest were making a movement bedward; so i had leisure to reflect a little upon the sudden change in my situation and the new and strange society into which i was thrown. yet though my meditations kept me wakeful for some time, they were by no means of a despondent cast. i was on board a first-rate ship, new and stanch, and as i had every reason to believe, well appointed for a successful voyage; and though i had already found out that the chances were in favor of three years' absence instead of one (the statements of the polite mr. ramsay to the contrary notwithstanding), even this did not deter me from following my bent. i should see much of the pacific side of the world in that length of time, would so conduct myself as to ensure promotion, and my calculations as well as my observation at nantucket, had satisfied me that the business must prove quite lucrative to captains and officers who could command high lays. as for my shipmates they were probably an average of rough men, and i could soon adapt myself to their humors. i fell asleep, dreamed of piles of gold doubloons, all besmeared with whale oil, but shining the brighter for it, and was roused at the first peep of dawn by the stentorian voice of uncle brock exhorting us to "muster up and get the lighter alongside." old jeff brought his immense flat feet from his bunk to the deck with a bound, calling to us youngsters to "show a leg!" and also administering a smart kick to his ebony friend the cook, by way of a gentle hint to "bear a hand and get the grub under way." burley, to support consistently his character as an old man-of-wars man, asserted his "rights" by standing three or four calls. the first sound that greeted my ears, as i emerged from the scuttle, was an invocation from the leathern lungs of the skipper of the lighter. "arethusa aho-o-oy! rouse and bitt, you youngsters! i know you've got strong constitutions. you can stand more sleep than a polar bear in winter time! get your lines ready. i'm coming alongsi-i-de!" and the gruff response of old captain brock mounted on the rail. "what the devil ails you, uncle dan? you've turned out wrong end foremost! that polar bear of yours has got a sore head by the way he growls! _you_ talk about sleeping! why, anybody knows that you can sleep twenty-two hours out of twenty-four, and then d--n the dogwatch." but the war of words between these old salts was quite as harmless as that of the two black shipmates; and the sloop being soon lashed alongside, the noisy old skipper came on board the ship to breakfast. the hands were then turned to again, and the work of taking in stores and provisions, and filling salt-water ballast in the ground tier went briskly on. i was selected, with one other green hand, to work in the hold under the direction of another old whaleman, who filled the second mate's place _pro tempore_, and the boatsteerers, two of whom were promising young men, natives of the island, and the third, or captain's boatsteerer, was a mulatto, who was ex-officio, third mate, and had the handle to his name, being addressed as mr. johnson. these worthies all messed in the cabin, as well as the cooper, who had not yet come on board. there were no bunks in the steerage; the arethusa being, in this respect, an exception to the generality of ships at that time. but it was a favorite expression with captain upton, "that he had but two ends to his ship, and wanted every man to keep in his own end." i succeeded so well in satisfying the petty officers, that, before we had finished loading the ship, they were all agreed that it was expedient to retain me as one of the regular "hold gang," provided no objection should be raised by those higher in authority. the quantity of stores put on board a whaleship, for a long voyage, would astonish any one not acquainted with the business. a ship is literally crammed full when she sails, and one is tempted to ask, "where is the oil to be put when we get it?" every cranny and crevice is filled with wood or lumber of some sort, and to add to the puzzle, the ship carries from a thousand to fifteen hundred barrels or casks in the form of shooks, or packed bundles of staves, which, in the event of a successful voyage, are all, of course, to be set up, filled with oil and stowed away. but, as the gradual consumption of provisions and stores keeps pace with the gradual accumulation of oil, and as some space is gained in restowing, each time, it is managed, _somehow_, and a whaleship is always full, or nearly so, all the voyage. still it seems, in some sort, a mystery, even to old whalemen themselves. in about ten days the stowage was completed, the topgallant-masts and yards sent aloft, in which process we boys found opportunity to display our agility in fetching and carrying, as well as to acquire some knowledge of seamanship, and to unravel other puzzling questions as to "how those long poles were to be put up so high?" and "what kept them there when up?", the spare sails, boats, etc., received on board, and the ship reported ready for a start. mr. richards, the out-door agent of messrs. brooks & co., had never relaxed his fatherly vigilance, visiting his protégés every day, praising and encouraging us, and prophesying a short voyage and "greasy luck" to the arethusa. the day of departure arrived, with a fair wind and plenty of it; the last boats came alongside at three o'clock in the morning, bringing the captain and officers, with their luggage, and the agent of the ship, with several other friends, who had come to "see us off" and return in the pilot-boat; and who, of course, burst into enthusiastic praises of the new ship, and the arrangement of all on board, protesting that it _almost_ made them wish they were going themselves. the windlass was soon after manned; the topsails loosed (not exactly in man-of-war style, with a simultaneous fall), green hands were hurried here and there, ropes pointed out to them and put into their hands; the anchors slowly but steadily rose to the bows; and, by sunrise, the gallant arethusa, feeling the impulse of the fresh breeze, was fairly underway, and her course shaped to clear great point. i had anticipated another course of martyrdom from sea-sickness; but i soon found that the gallant lydia ann had broken me in completely, and i was destined to suffer no more from that intolerable malady. it was a great relief to feel that my stomach had gained the victory in the conflict with old neptune's medicine chest. there was something exhilarating in the sensation of feeling the lively ship springing under my feet, and driving onward under the impulse of her distended wings; in looking back at the low, receding island, the cradle whence had issued so many stout hearts and strong arms to vex every sea with their fisheries, and feeling that i, too, was now embarking in this adventurous and romantic business; and in observing how captain upton, with his mate and the owner, grouped together on the quarterdeck, watched the behavior and movements of the new vessel, from time to time commenting, as they found occasion for so doing, and comparing her qualities and merits with those of other time-worn and well-tried ships. i myself began to feel a little of that pride in my floating home springing up within me, which every seaman feels for his vessel. then, as i looked again astern, at the dim outline of nantucket, fast sinking towards the horizon, my thoughts reverted to my pleasant country home, to my parents and my much loved sister left there, and a prayer went up--yes, a prayer; a silent one, but none the less sincere. a glance of the captain's eye aloft; a word, "port!" to old jeff at the wheel; another word in an under tone to the mate; and then the loud order, "square in the yards!" chased away these gentle thoughts, and recalled my mind to the voyage before me. as we had rounded great point, the ship was kept away with the wind nearly aft, and standing more stiffly up to her work, went booming off at a rate which promised to leave home far out of sight before nightfall. old jeff, when relieved by manoel, came forward in ecstacies. he had quite forgotten his growling propensity, in the excitement of the moment, and vowed she was the most perfect beauty that ever swam under his flat feet; that she steered like a pilot-boat; and, as for sailing! why she'd go round and round the old colossus (his last ship), and not half try herself. "now," said the negro, "i only want to see her work on a wind, and go in stays once or twice. but _i_ know--confound it--_i_ know she'll tack in a pint of water. _i_ can tell by the way she feels under me. if we don't get a load of oil this time, it wont be the ship's fault. hurrah! twenty-five months--twenty-five hundred barrels! that's all we want to give her a bellyful! that's all! twenty-five;"--and went off into a shuffle step of cadence. chapter iv. fairly at sea.--the first lookout.--introductions. by noon the ship had run the land nearly down to the horizon line, and having sufficient offing, with the open sea before her, and all being well satisfied with her performance, she was brought to the wind with the maintopsail thrown aback for the pilot-boat; and after the most affectionate leave-takings and handshakings, the owner and the rest of our shore friends left us; many of them with, literally, very _turbulent_ feelings. mr. richards was not so indisposed but that he was able to take the hand of each of his young friends in turn, and bid us godspeed, at the same time leaving in our hands copies of our outfit bills (receipted in full by order on the owners), as a parting token of his esteem. three cheers were given as they shoved off from the ship--or rather attempted, with but indifferent success, and somewhat more feeble returned by the stay-at-homes; and in a few minutes we again filled away on our course to the eastward. the anchors were stowed and well secured, the chain cables run down into the lockers, and the breeze freshening in the afternoon, the ship was brought down to double-reefed topsails; an operation requiring considerable time for its performance, with new sails and running gear, and a green crew; and one adapted to develop not only our agility, but the power of grip in our hands; while the rigging was embraced so affectionately that i had no reason to wonder at the complaint of the second mate that we had robbed all the tar from it, and transferred it to our clothes. jeff had his fill of growling at the "children," as if they were to blame that they had not been born able seamen, or trained as "reefers" in the district school; while manoel was kind enough to undo all my part of the work and do it over again, instructing me at the same time how _not_ to tie a "gr-r-r-annee-knot," enunciating the r with a noise like that made in tearing a strong rag. at sundown, all hands were called aft, and requested to "spread" ourselves in full view of the officers, and the process of choosing watches was gone through with, the mate and second mate selecting a man alternately, till all were disposed of except the "idlers," such as the cook, steward, cooper, etc. as we were chosen, we were formed in two divisions, one each side of the deck, according as we were billeted in the starboard or larboard watch. next came the choice of oarsmen for the respective boats, a still more important matter in a whaler; and here there was much competition among the officers, and evidently some anxiety, with a little ill-concealed jealousy of feeling. i found myself a member of the larboard watch, and also assigned to the bow oar of the larboard, or chief mate's boat. when we all understood our places, captain upton introduced his officers in form, as mr. grafton, his mate, mr. dunham his second mate, and johnson, his third mate. "these are my officers," said he, "and i look for you all to respect and obey them as you do myself; and remember that when either of them is on deck in charge of the ship, he represents _me_, and his orders are _mine_." he told us he should allow no fighting among ourselves, he wanted to see no _sogering_, and, above all, to hear no "back answers." he wound up with a peroration after the most approved and stereotyped form, which has been handed down from ancient sea-captains; indeed, it is supposed to date back to the patriarchal system of government, and to have originated with noah when he first closed the doors of the ark: "all you've got to do is, go when you are sent, and come when you are called; and if you don't have enough to eat, come aft and let me know. set the watch, mr. grafton." the starboard watch had eight hours on deck, following the established seaman's rule that the captain must take the ship out, and the mate take her home. when our watch was summoned at eleven o'clock, the ship was still under double reefs, but the wind had hauled round to the northward-and-east-ward, causing an ugly cross sea, and she was braced sharp on the port tack, and plunging into it smartly. the weather was quite chilly, and as our end of the deck was "all afloat," we naturally made our way aft to explore for drier quarters. mr. grafton was on hand to meet and count us at the mainmast. being satisfied the quota was full: "now, boys," said he, "you will remember this. in your watch on deck, you are expected to stay on deck; and so that you are all ready for a call when i want you, you may pass the time about as you please, and make yourselves as comfortable as you can--except one man at the wheel and one looking out ahead. i shall want one of you always on the lookout at night, and you must arrange the tricks among yourselves so that i may always find one there. i want him mounted up somewhere where he can see all around on both bows, and where i can see him if i come forward. if i find him asleep, i'll--never mind--i'll fix him so that he will keep his eyes open next time. now go forward, one of you; and mind, all the rest of you keep above deck. you understand the wheel and lookout are to be relieved every two hours, and whoever has the next trick, i expect him to be travelling along at once when the bell rings; if he don't--he'll hear from me." i volunteered to take the first lookout, and my offer was accepted with enthusiasm. i struggled forward, clutching at the weather-rail, and finding some difficulty in keeping my equilibrium on the wet, slippery deck, as the buoyant ship rose and fell, rolling at times heavily, and righting with a sudden recoil. i looked at the station between the knight-heads; but just at that moment she made a heavy pitch forward, and meeting a head sea in full career, sent it flying high over the bows, and rushing down the heel of the bowsprit, inboard; giving ocular evidence that i should be more than half drowned as the reward of my temerity, if i ventured up there. the foretopsail sheet bitts presented the next eligible place, and here i "mounted guard." planting myself in a colossus-of-rhodes attitude, with my back against the foremast, and one arm round each chain sheet for a firm hold, i stared intently into the black void ahead of the ship, regardless of the drenching sprays which every now and then flew over the weather bow upon my head, rattling down my sou'wester, and penetrating my new monkey jacket, which, so far from being water-proof, might have been aptly classified with mr. weller's hat, as "wentilatin' gossamer." i was the possessor of an oil-cloth suit, but it was below in the forecastle; and so profoundly was i impressed with a sense of the responsibility resting upon me, that i would not for an instant have stirred from my post until relieved, for anything short of an earthquake; a contingency not likely to occur so far out in the atlantic ocean, in this latitude. no one came near me during the two hours, but i had been reconnoitred from time to time by mr. johnson, who was skilled in working traverses round the tryworks, and saw a great deal without being seen himself. at one o'clock the relief bell struck, and soon after a voice issued from the darkness: "hallo! black_smith_, where you?" "here!" i answered, turning half round. "come down! i 'lieve you!" hailed antone, from the fore-hatches. "leave me? what for? i've been left here two hours now." "no, i _'lieve_ you! i take you place!" shouted the portuguese. "you _wet_, no?" just at the moment a gush of water came flying in over the galley, and i jumped down on deck, gasping for breath, and streaming from every thread. the portuguese roared with laughter. "what for you stop up dere? you no _sabe_ stand lookout. by'mby you see me no all e' same," continued antone, who was favoring himself under the lee of the foremast, and all ready for a rapid retreat, if necessary. but this was my _first_ lookout. i proved myself, in time, an apt scholar, and learned to "favor myself" in many particulars; and while i obeyed orders, and gave satisfaction to my superiors, to leave responsibility, like a true jack, to those who were better paid for it, and to cultivate close acquaintances with the softest planks about the decks on all convenient occasions. those who predicted a good voyage for the arethusa did not, in this instance, as in many others, do so without reason; and they did no more than justice to captain upton and his officers when they pronounced her well appointed. the captain himself was a man of great energy and undaunted courage, still in the prime of life, who always headed his own boat, and took the initiative himself in whaling. he was rather taciturn, saying little more than was really necessary on any occasion, but possessed great firmness and an iron will. there was nothing of the tartar about him, and very little to justify old jeff's bugbear statement as to his being "a hard one." he had his peculiarities, however, not to say failings. no man could study more closely the interest of his owners; and as he was now identified with them, being a part owner himself in the new ship, we felt the effects of it in the commissariat department. moreover, he was very proud of his vessel; so much so as to be old-maidish in regard to the neatness of her appearance, and devoted more time and labor to this end than was at all agreeable either to his crew or officers. on the whole, however, he was justly regarded as a most efficient man for his station, and ranked a. . on the list of crack whaling captains. his chief-executive and prime minister, mr. grafton, was a tall, massive-looking man, of fine personal appearance, something older than his superior. he had made three voyages in the same capacity, being one of those choice mates, who, by some chance, never get command of a ship, perhaps in virtue of a saying much in vogue among shipowners, and in many instances acted upon, "that it is a pity to spoil a good mate by making him master." a man of rather thoughtful cast of mind, of much intelligence, and possessed of an extensive stock of information upon many subjects, with a habit of generalizing and a clearness, of expression which rendered him an agreeable companion to all with whom he came in contact. though a good whaleman, grafton was not what is known to the _connoisseur_ as a "fishy man;" he had no lungs to blow his own trumpet, and sometimes distrusted his own powers, though generally found equal to any emergency after it arose. this want of confidence sometimes led him to hesitate, where a more impulsive or less thoughtful man would act at once. in the course of his career he had seen many "fishy" young men lifted over his head; but as he was very highly esteemed in his station, and received nearly a captain's pay, he was well contented as he was. he was devotedly attached to his family at home, personated the gentleman in all he said and did, and well sustained the character. dunham, the second officer, was a smart young fellow of two-and-twenty, active, strong, and "fishy to the backbone." his chief fault, as an officer, lay in his being an inveterate sleeper; he could never, upon any consideration, keep awake a whole four-hour watch. the mulatto johnson had steered a boat with captain upton before in the colossus, and was well known in nantucket as "a long-dart man." he was somewhat of the shanghai build--tall and long-shanked, with great strength of limb, and could plug a whale better if four fathoms distant than he could "wood and blackskin." he had an eye like a hawk, and could see a spout as far with his natural optics as most men could through a telescope. he was ignorant of everything out of his own immediate line, and sometimes rather overbearing. he was not disliked, in the main, by the crew, if we except jeff and the cook, who being old shipmates of his, and themselves of the _pure blood_, were averse to tolerating anything of a mongrel description, or "milk-and-molasses color," as they termed it. "no compromise" was their platform, on this particular issue. the cooper of the arethusa was an important personage, as, indeed, the cooper always is in a whaler. the duties of this functionary are of a peculiar character, and about as independent of all the rest as those of a surgeon in a man-of-war. he is neither officer nor man, strictly speaking, his lay or pay being nearly equal to that of a second mate. he lives aft with the officers, but makes himself at home in all parts of the ship, occupying a sort of neutral ground--a kind of connecting link between republicanism and oligarchy, neither too high nor too low to consort or joke with anybody and everybody. as a general rule, he stands no watch, but does his day's work and sleeps all night, and in many ways evinces consciousness of his own value, and of the indispensable character of his services. for a whaler may, and, in fact, often does, go to sea without a blacksmith or without a carpenter; but the cooper is an essential part of her equipage. an officer or a boatsteerer may, in case of emergency, be created at sea, by promotion; but the cooper is not so easily replaced. the cooper in question was a stout, grave-looking man of forty or thereabouts, with a shaggy mass of grey hair, and a patriarchally long beard. his mechanical work was of excellent quality, what little he accomplished; for he always worked on the principle of the tortoise in the race--"slow and sure." he scraped indifferently well on the violin, but delighted especially in drawing a longer bow. in virtue of this latter accomplishment, he might have claimed near relationship with a certain gentleman known in classic lore as thomas pepper, without having his title questioned for a moment. he always told his yarns as gospel truth, and would back them with any oath, if required. the two young boatsteerers, bunker and fisher, with the portuguese steward, completed the "afterguard." in the forecastle there was, in addition to the personages already mentioned, the usual variety of character and disposition to be found among a dozen young men, recruited at random in this manner. now that we were getting initiated to a sea life, we were beginning to have opinions, and to express them, no longer leaving the whole field to jeff and the sea-lawyer. as for the nantucket boys, kelly and hoeg (or obed b., as i still persisted in calling him), they made rapid progress in knowledge and confidence. as i have before intimated, these young "natives to the manor born" seemed to look upon this life with the eye of fatalists. it was foreordained that they should be sailors, and nothing in their new way of life seemed to surprise or disturb them for a moment. everything took place as a matter of course with them. they never seemed to think they could, by any possibility, have followed any other business for a livelihood; and each new event or circumstance of the voyage was merely another link in the chain of their inevitable destiny. they were born to go whaling and a station on the quarterdeck was the goal of their ambition. they had not been more than a week at sea before they had taken some of the starch out of the sea-lawyer, who had attempted to assert his "rights" by hazing them about, and calling upon them to perform various menial services for him, which he said it was a "boy's place to do." one morning he ordered kelly, in a very arbitrary way, to go on deck and bring him down some water, which kelly flatly refused to do. the sea-lawyer declared he would "make him do it;" and upon kelly's expressing a doubt as to his ability to perform that feat, he proceeded to enforce his command, _vi et armis_. but he was met by the boy with a spirit that he had not looked for, and before he could get a good hold upon the youngster, so as to chastise him, as he expected easily to do, he was attacked in the rear by obed b., who arrived on the field just in time to reinforce his chum and schoolmate. this gave kelly a chance to rally and assume the offensive; and burley, who was a most arrant coward, finding himself roughly handled between the two, was fain to call for an armistice. a parley ensued, and the boys gave him to understand that they did not come to sea to be boys, but to make themselves men, and that they would not submit to be bullied by him. and the upshot of the matter was, that the champion of "rights" made rather an ignominious retreat from the field, as compared with the vigor of his first attack. all this was nuts, of course, to the rest of us youngsters, who desired nothing more earnestly than to see the bully humbled a little; while the emotion of manoel was too powerful to find utterance--in intelligible english. he patted the two boys on the shoulder, in the exuberance of his spirits, while his tongue rattled until i thought all his teeth were loose in the jaws; but to save my life, i could not have told what he was trying to say. there was plenty of work for all hands on the passage out, as every one will understand who has ever performed a voyage in a new ship. we found our duties very fatiguing, as we were kept at work all day, and had a watch to stand at night. there was all the new rigging to be stretched and set up over and again, in addition to the thousand and one other matters to be attended to, to put everything in trim for whaling against the opening of the campaign. the old salts growled night and day in the forecastle about having no "watch below;" but as we verdant ones had but a vague idea of what they meant by it, we had but little to say about this grievance. chapter v. the western islands.--"yarns" and anecdotes. on the eighteenth day out from nantucket, the high peak of pico was visible from the masthead, and having a fair breeze, we were lying off and on at the port of fayal the same afternoon. the captain, with the starboard boat's crew, went ashore, and the ship made short boards to await his return, the pandora and two whaleships from new bedford in company. two more ships were at anchor having taken some oil on the outward passage and put in to land it to be shipped home. several portuguese boats came alongside, of the most clumsy and primitive construction imaginable, characteristic of a people who are a couple of centuries behind the times. the boatmen appeared to be, "like captain copperthorne's crew, all officers," and jabbered and shouted all at once, in most admirable discord, and at such a furious rate that i found myself wondering whether they really could understand each other or not, and certainly never contemplated the possibility of any american having the remotest idea what they were talking about. but i found that mr. grafton could converse with them quite fluently whenever he could make himself heard in the din and confusion. these boats brought a few inferior oranges, sour enough to make a pig squeal (if he would touch them at all, which of course he wouldn't, if a sensible pig), with some miniature cheeses, which, with a little more drying, might have been made available as sheaves for small blocks without much alteration in size, form or consistency of material. these they either sold for money or bartered for various articles of ship's provisions, and were perfect jews at a bargain. just before sundown a large launch, deeply loaded, was seen coming out, with a rag hoisted on a pole as a signal. this launch was of even more primitive appearance than the smaller ones. she might have been the longboat of one of vasco de gama's fleet, of four centuries ago; at any rate, if his ship had any longboats, they were exactly of this model. we stood well in to meet her, and wearing off shore with the maintopsail aback, took her alongside. her cargo of potatoes, onions and live stock was to be taken on board and stowed away, and, as the captain arrived soon afterwards, with his boat laden to the gunwale streak with vegetables, it was quite dark before she was again in her place on the cranes, and sail made on the ship. among the live stock brought on board was a handsome little boy, who was to help the steward in the cabin, much to the enhancement of that functionary's importance, as he could now attend to many calls by deputy which before he was compelled to answer in person; and would also have some one to lay all little mishaps to, such as dishes broken and lamps untrimmed. the pandora braced full about the same time as the arethusa, but it was soon apparent that she could not compete in sailing qualities with the new ship, and she gradually dropped astern. the breeze was light from the north-west, with fine weather, and we now had leisure to get supper, and to listen, to the yarns of those who had been ashore. manoel and antone had seen their relatives and friends--meeting them after years of absence, to part again in an hour or two--and had found time to visit the priest and get full absolution, balancing the account up to date, and opening a new page, ready to run up another score. farrell, a young irishman who pulled the captain's bow oar, had become considerably elevated by imbibing too much sour wine and aguardiente, and was full of stories of his own prowess in knocking over a "portinghee" who had dared to remonstrate against his kissing a pretty, black-eyed girl, his sister, he supposed; for, like a true milesian, he had been the hero of a drinking bout, a love intrigue and a knockdown row, all within half an hour after he landed. "i jist took him a nate clip betwane the eyes," said farrell, "and laid him out foreninst the door of his shanty. thin you see, five or six murtherin' portinguese pitched intil me, and was afther carryin' me off, body and sowl, to the lock-up; but the ould man interfared, and settled it somehow. afther he'd paid me fine, he tould me i'd betther go down to the boat, and not lave her again. so i went and got int'l her and shoved her off the length of her _tather_, and there was a crowd of the nagurs jabberin' and squintin' at me wid their corkindile eyes; but i knowed i was in sanctyeary thin. i'd half a bottle of that blackguard potteen what they call _dent_, so i jist sot and looked at 'em back again, and dhrank their healths. i suppose the ould man'll be chargin' me the fine on the ship's books." "yes, you can bet high on that," said jeff, "and the interest, too." "yes," said the sea-lawyer, "but you needn't be fool enough to pay it. if every man stood up for his rights, they wouldn't gouge him in that style. a man can't go ashore and drink a drop, and have a bit of a time--and that's what he goes ashore for, of course--but he must have a long bill of calaboose fees tacked to his account; and that d--d twenty-five per cent added on. if they charge it to _me_, they'll never get it, that's all. i know what they've got a right to do." "i don't know nothin' about the rights," said jeff, "but i know the old man will charge it to you, and make you pay it, too." "well, you'll see," said burley. "i'll have my rights." "what are you blowing about your rights?" put in the cooper, who had just come forward with his pipe freshly loaded, an indication that some ridiculous lie was also charged and ready to be fired with the tobacco. "you've got no rights. the rights are all in one end of the ship, and the wrongs in the other. why, when i was out in the old deucalion," pausing to clear his pipe, and thereby fixing the attention of all his auditors, "we had a black fellow called sam. he had a head harder than rock redonda. we used to put pieces of tobacco on top of the windlass-bitts, and then let him butt the bitts till he brought the tobacco down and put it in his pocket. he would let a man split a serving mallet on his head any time, for a drink of grog. but most of the serving mallets were soft wood or ash, made out of old oar looms, so they'd split quite easily. well, i come it over him once. i was to give him a whole bottle of liquor to stand up under any _wooden_ mallet that i chose to use. i had a _white oak_ one down in my chest, and i brought it up and struck him about ten blows as tight as i could spring before i shivered it. the darkey stood his ground like a rock, and won the bottle of liquor, and drank it, too. his skull wasn't hurt a bit, but his eyes were knocked all asquint, and he never got 'em straight afterwards!" "here, cooper, take my hat. it's the only one i've got, but you've earned it," said jeff. "no, no," said the indignant disciple of pepper. "i don't want your old jug. maybe you think i'm romancing, but i'm just telling you the plain truth. but you've put me out, and i haven't finished my story. the point i was going to illustrate was, that the rights were all in one end of the ship, and the wrongs in the other. well, on the passage home, one day we were reefing the maintopsail, and this black sam fell on the yard, and went smack through the bottom of the waist boat, head first, overboard. we lowered a boat and managed to save him. _he_ wasn't much hurt, but the _boat_ was ruined. she was a boat that we had bought out of an english colonial whaler, and was built of that sweet-scented yellow wood that grows in van diemen's land. you've seen it, jeff, and you know just how brittle it is. well, when sam's head struck in the bottom of the boat, the splits flew in all directions, just like throwing a stone in the middle of a pane of glass. so the boat was past all repairing. well, when we got home, would you believe it? old captain harper had charged sam sixty dollars, the whole value of a new boat, and sam had to pay it out of his voyage! he made inquiries, and found it would be cheaper to pay the bill than to stand a lawsuit about it." "o, i've heard that story, or something like it, in nantucket," said the boy kelly. "yes, so have i," said obed b. "but you boys never believed it was true, did you?" asked the cooper. "no, of course not," protested both the boys at once. "you may do so hereafter," said the cooper, gravely. "you may say that you had it from an eye-witness." and having finished his yarns for the night, he went puffing away aft, leaving all hands staring at each other in blank astonishment. "that be hanged for a yarn," growled burley, after he was gone. "even if it had been true, the man needn't have paid a cent, if he had stood up for his rights." "well, dere, it aint no use to talk any after dat story," said the cook, with a meditative shake of the head, "we's heard enough. i guess cooper can take de belt." it was my trick at the wheel from nine to eleven, and when i went aft, i found the captain still on deck, leaning over the companionway on our side, with "father grafton," as we had fallen into the habit of calling him, on the other; and i am afraid i did not steer the ship so accurately as i might have done under other circumstances. their conversation, however, served to distract their attention from my shortcomings, as well as to distract mine from the proper management of the helm. "i was thinking," said the mate, reflectively, as he looked at the high peak looming astern, "one can hardly believe that the portuguese were once a great maritime nation, taking the lead in navigation and discovery. i was thinking, too, that it must have required some pluck and nerve to make the voyages that they used to make, with no more tools than they had to work with. just imagine, now, we are steering south-west from these islands, with no chart of the sea ahead of us, and no nautical instrument better than a rude cross-staff to get a latitude with, in a vessel not as big as one of our sloop-rigged coasters, and not decked over at that. and the island astern of us is, so far as we know, the very _ultima thule_ of western discovery." "it is just like you, mr. grafton, to be thinking of those things," returned the captain. "yes, it's true, as you say, there must have been anxious hearts and vigilant eyes on board of those little caravels. and yet there was a romantic excitement about those voyages, too, that i think would have been fascinating to me, if i had lived in that age. i have often thought i should have enjoyed a voyage like that of columbus, or perhaps better, with the ships and facilities of a later period, say those of anson or cook. but we were born too late for that, mr. grafton; the work is nearly all done for us." "yes, sir," replied the mate, "and we are obliged to complain, like alexander of macedon, that there are no more worlds to discover. i cannot help wishing, every voyage that i visit these azores, that they belonged to some more liberal and progressive people than the portuguese. with their position and climate, they might be a station of some importance, if in different hands." "yes, i have often thought the same thing; for, however enterprising the portuguese might have been in the days of de gama and columbus, it must be admitted they have made no progress since, but rather gone astern. well, we have had a fine day for our work, mr. grafton, and we have got recruits enough to carry us round cape horn, i think, without fear of the scurvy. i am rather disappointed in one respect," continued captain upton. "i had hoped to have taken some oil on the passage, to send home from here. i have been lucky enough, every voyage before this, to get a whale or two near these islands." "the pandora has got nothing yet," said father grafton, "by the looks of the paint in her waist." "no," replied the captain, "but she has seen whales twice on the passage, and has been fast, and had a boat stove. i saw captain worth ashore." "i have a presentiment," said the mate, "that we shall get a whale yet before we get far from the islands. we shall hardly run pico out of sight between now and morning, with this little breeze, and we have a promise of a fine whaling day to-morrow." "the voyage that i was mate of the colossus," said the captain, "we took two large whales at one fare--more to the westward. we had flores and corvo both in sight when we were cutting them. it came on very rugged weather, and we had a hard time saving them. we muckled them after a fashion, but i suppose we lost thirty or forty barrels of oil on the two, and the deficiency, of course, was mostly on the head matter. i know that the oil we shipped home did not bring full price, because there was not the full proportion of head. ever since that, i always meant to _make_ the full proportion, anyhow," said the captain, with a sly laugh. "yes, sir," said father grafton. "i don't blame you for that, but it wont do to smuggle too much. now, when i was on my first voyage, with hosea coffin, he used to pile it on rather too steep. he wasn't satisfied with one third head: he was famous for working in the core of the hump, and other fat parts with it; and if we came out with an ullage cask of head on the stowdown, he'd be sure to fill it up with body oil, and scratch a big h. on it. so that we had a large quantity of head oil, but the quality wasn't well up to the standard. well, when he was going out in the same ship next voyage, 'cousin ephraim,' the old quaker owner, said to him: "'hosea, there's one thing i'd advise thee not to do, this voyage.' "'what's that?' asked captain coffin. "'i think,' said cousin ephraim, in his sly, chuckling way, 'thee'd better not cut off thy whale's heads abaft the hump!'" they both laughed so heartily at this story that i had a quiet laugh, too, in sympathy with them, though i did not then appreciate the point of it as well as i afterwards did. "there's a deal of sly fun in some of those old quakers," said captain upton. "i recollect when i went down to ship in the poor richard, as boatsteerer, 'uncle peleg' offered me the eightieth lay, but i struck for the seventieth. i knew i could get it in another ship, though i rather preferred to go in this one for the same lay. so i was as independent as a woodsawyer's clerk, and wouldn't budge tack nor sheet. after chaffering for some time, uncle peleg began to scratch the sand with his ivory-headed cane, in a meditative way. said he: "'james i want thee to go in the ship, and i will give thee--' here he marked a in the sand, and then slowly carried his cane round in a circle, and resting the point of it, looked in my face. "'yes,' said i, 'i'll go for that.' "but as i spoke, with a slight movement of the wrist he finished the last figure, by swinging a tangent to the circle. as i looked down again, it read . "'no,' said i, indignantly, 'i'll see you hanged first!' "'james, james,' said uncle peleg, 'don't lose thy temper. thee shall go in the poor richard, and,'--nudging me in the ribs,'we'll have no _tail_ to the matter at all.' "'all right,' i answered. he rubbed it out again with his foot. "'now,' said he, 'come right up to the store and put thy name down. thee must go in the ship; but really, james, i didn't think thee would ask me such a lay as that. thee needn't tell the other boatsteerers what thee gets.'" father grafton shook his sides with merriment at this anecdote, and the captain now rose to go below. "well, blacksmith," said he, "you are making rather a crooked wake. if you don't keep her straighter, the pandora will overhaul us. well, what do you think of these portuguese?" "i didn't go ashore, sir," answered i. "i only saw the boatmen that came off, and i thought they had all broken out of a lunatic asylum." "i don't wonder at that," he said. "they were all talkers and no listeners. but did you notice any of them with a finger cut off?" "yes, sir, i saw two, and i thought it a little remarkable; and now i remember, our antone has lost his, too." "yes," said he, "about every third man has his forefinger amputated. that's to escape military service, by disabling themselves from pulling a trigger. you see there's a certain proportion of them conscripted every year, and sent off to portugal to serve in the army." "do you mean, sir," i asked, "that they cut the forefinger off, or have it cut off, designedly?" "certainly," said the captain. "i suppose the treatment is not very good in their army, and there is not much to excite patriotic feeling, as they seldom do any fighting except among themselves; so these young 'guese will make a sacrifice of a finger to escape service. but i wonder that they are allowed to escape in that way. in the english or french service, they would be held; and if they couldn't fire a musket, they would have to serve as pioneers or something else. that is, if it was known that they maimed themselves intentionally. but it is time to go below," said he abruptly. "i have strong hopes of seeing whales to-morrow, and i will give five dollars to the man that 'raises' a large whale; that is, if we get him." "but how large a one?" i asked. "say over fifty barrels. i will give five dollars bounty for fifty barrels of oil. pass the word among all hands, when the watch is called. good-night, mr. grafton. let her go south-by-west through the night." "south-by-west, sir," answered father grafton. "good-night." chapter vi. the first whale. the next morning, having the first masthead, i was in the fore-topgallant crosstrees at sunrise, thinking, of course, of the five dollars' bounty all the way up the rigging. the dim outline of the peak was still visible, and the topsails of the pandora just in sight astern, the wind still continuing moderate at w. n. w. both ships steering s. by w. as i looked astern, when i first got my footing aloft, i caught sight of something like a small puff of steam or white smoke, rising a little and blowing off on the water. looking intently, at the same spot, after a short interval, another puff rose like the former, satisfying me, from the descriptions i had heard, that some sort of whale was there, and i instinctively shouted: "there she blows!" "where away?" hailed mr. johnson, who was just climbing the maintopmast rigging. "o yes! i see him! sperm whale, i believe--hold on a bit till he blows again--yes--thar' sh' blo-o-ows! large sperm whale! two points off the larboard! blo-o-ows! headed to windward!" "how far off?" shouted mr. grafton, from the deck. "three miles! 'ere sh' blo-o-ows!" by this time the old man was on deck, and ready for action. "call all hands out, mr. grafton! hard a starboard, there! stand by to brace round the yards. cook! get your breakfast down as fast as you can. keep the run of him, there, aloft! maintop bowline, boat steerers! sure it's a sperm whale, eh, mr. johnson? steward! give me up the glass--i must make a cleet in the gangway for that glass soon. muster 'em all up, mr. grafton, and get the lines in as fast as you can (mounting the shearpole). sing out when we head right, mr. johnson! mr. grafton, you'll have to brace sharp up, i guess (just going over the maintop). see the pandora, there? o yes! i see her (half way up the topmast rigging). confound him! he's heading just right to see the whale, too! ('there goes flukes!' shouted the mulatto.) yes! yes! i see him--just in time to see him (swinging his leg over the topmast crosstrees), a noble fan, too! a buster! haul aboard that maintack! we must have that fellow, mr. johnson. steady-y! keep her along just full and by. _we mustn't let the pandora get him, either!_" the arethusa bent gracefully to the breeze, as, braced sharp on the port tack, she darted through the water, as though instinctively snuffing her prey. the whale was one of those patriarchal old bulls, who are often found alone, and would probably stay down more than an hour before he would be seen again. meantime, the two ships were rapidly nearing each other; and the pandora's lookouts were not long in discovering that "something was up," as was evinced by her setting the main royal and foretopmast studdingsail, though they could not possibly have seen the whale yet. but the whale was apparently working slowly to windward, and the pandora coming with a flowing sheet, all of which was much in her favor. the old man remained aloft, anxiously waiting the next rising, from time to time hailing the deck to know "what time it was?" and satisfying himself that the boats were in readiness, and breakfast served out to those who wanted it. as three quarters of an hour passed, he grew more anxious and fidgety, shifting his legs about in the cross trees, and clutching the spyglass in his nervous grasp. "are you all ready, mr. grafton?" "ay, ay, sir," answered the mate from the maintop, where he had mounted to get a look at the whale when he should rise again. "let them hoist and swing the boats." "ay, ay, sir." "i think i saw a ripple then," said the second mate, from the topsail yard directly beneath him. "where?" demanded the captain. "four points off the lee bow." "o! no, you didn't, he won't come there. he'll rise right ahead or a little on the weather-bow. i don't think he'll go much to windward--good gracious! see that pandora come down! she'll be right in the suds here, directly! i think we've run far enough, eh, mr. grafton? haul the mainsail up, then! and square the main yard!" silence for a few minutes after this evolution was performed. "he can't be far off when he comes up again. look at the men old worth has got aloft there, his crosstrees swarming, and every rattlin manned.--look sharp! all of ye! we must see that whale when he first breaks water. that helm eased down? haul the foresail up? and let the jib-sheets flow a little more. it can't be possible that whale has been up--no, we couldn't help seeing him, some of us--i _know_ 'twas a sperm whale. i saw his fan; besides, there's mr. johnson--best eyes in the ship. what time is it, there? an hour and ten minutes that whale has been down--a long-winded old dog! we shall have to wear round, i'm afraid we shall forge. _blo-o-ows!_ right ahead, not one mile off! down there and lower away! now, mr. grafton, work carefully--mr. dunham, too; if you don't strike this rising, spread your chances well, and don't crowd each other--_but don't you let the pandora get him!_" the captain was by this time in the stern of his own boat. "all ready, mr. johnson? where's old jeff at my midship oar? o, here you are, eh? you aint turned white yet--lower away! cooper! where's cooper? as soon as we are all clear, wear round--_let run that davit fall?_--wear round and make a short board--haul up your tackle, boy. keep to windward all you can, cooper! pull a little off the weather-bow, mr. grafton, and then set your sail! haul in these gripes towing over the quarter--by thunder, there's worth's boats all down! coming with fair wind, too! out oars, lads." the pandora had luffed to and dropped her boats a mile to windward, and they were coming down before the breeze, wing-and-wing, with their paddles flashing in the sunlight, and their immense jibs guyed out on the bow-oar as studdingsails, promising to stand about an equal chance for the whale with ourselves. the larboard boat to which i belonged proved the fastest of the three, and had a little the lead. after pulling a few quiet strokes to windward, father grafton set his sails, and, as he gave the order to "peak the oars and take the paddles," seemed as cool and calm as when engaged in the most ordinary duty on board. there was no confusion or bustle in his boat, but with his practised eye fixed upon the huge spermaceti, he kept encouraging us in a low, dry tone, as he conned the steering oar with such skill, that he seemed to do it without effort. "now, lads, you face round to paddle, you can all see him. i declare, he's a noble fellow--ninety barrels under his hide, if there's a drop. bunker, do you see that fellow? he's got a back like a ten-acre lot--paddle hard, lads--if you miss him, go right overboard yourself, and don't come up again--long and strong stroke, boys, on your paddles. see that boat coming? that's ray, the second mate of the pandora--three or four more spouts, and we'll have him--he's ours sure! they can't get here in time--scratch hard, boys! don't hit your paddles on the gunwale. stand up, bunker, and get your jibtack clear! don't let them 'gally' you, if they shout in that boat." "all right!" said his boatsteerer, with his eager hand resting on the iron pole. "never fear, sir." "paddle hard, lads, a stroke or two. that's right, bunker. keep cool, my boy. keep cool, and make sure of him." a wild and prolonged shout rang on the air from six sturdy pairs of lungs in the pandora's waist-boat, as mr. ray, seeing that he was baffled, let fly his sheets and rounded to, a ship's length to windward. it was too late, however. "all right," said father grafton, in the same dry, quiet tone, as before. "hold your hand, bunker. hold your hand, boy, till you're past his hump--another shoot, lads--way enough, in paddles. now, bunker! give it to him! down to your oars the rest. _give him t'other one, boy!_ well done! both irons to the hitches. hold water, all! bear a hand, now, and roll up that sail. wet line, tom! wet line! where's your bucket? all ready with your sail, bunker? let her come then--all right. come aft here, now, and let me get a dig at him." the line was spinning round the loggerhead with a whizzing noise, and a smoking heat, as the huge leviathan, stung to the quick, darted down into the depths of the ocean. bunker threw on the second round turn to check him, and jamming the bight of the line over the stern sheets, watched it carefully as it flew through his grasp; while the mate cleared his lance, and got ready to renew the attack. every moment his anxiety increased as he kept turning his head, and looking at the tub of line, rapidly settling, as the whale ran it out. "i declare, i believe he'll take all my line. blacksmith! pass along the drug! check him hard, bunker!" then, seeing the other boats near at hand, he opened his throat, and, for the first time, we learned the power of father grafton's lungs. "spring hard, mr. dunham! i want your line! cast off your craft, and stand by to throw your line to me! spring hard! _do!_" the ash sticks in the waist-boat were doing their best, as the loud "ay, ay!" was borne back o'er the water from dunham, while the old man could be seen in the rear of the picture, wildly straining every nerve to be "in at the death," and heaving desperately at the after oar, with his hat off, his hair flying loosely in the breeze, and his whole frame writhing with eager excitement. our line was going, going; already there was but one flake in the tub, when the waist-boat ranged up on our quarter, and fisher, with the coil gathered in his hand, whirled it over his head, making ready for a cast. at this instant, the strain was suddenly relieved, and the line slacked up. "never mind!" roared mr. grafton. "hold on fisher! all right, he's coming! never mind your line, mr. dunham, he's coming up! pull ahead and get fast! get a lance at him if you can! haul line, _us_! face round here, all of ye, and haul line! careful, bunker, about coiling down! he'll be up now, in a minute, haul lively!" the waist-boat had shot ahead under a fresh impulse of her oars, and the captain came drawing up abreast of the fast boat. "are you well fast, mr. grafton?" "ay, ay, sir; both irons chock to the socket." "that's the talk! got 'most all your line, hasn't he." "yes, sir." "well, gather in as fast as you can. spring hard, _us_! spring! i want to grease a lance in that fish! there he is up!" he shouted as the tortured monster broke water, shoving his whole head out in his agony, and started to windward. fisher had bent on his craft again, and was about two ships' lengths from the whale when he rose. "haul quick, my lads!" said the mate, "and get this stray line in! there's mr. dunham going on, and the old man will be with him in a minute. there he brings to!" as the whale suddenly stopped short in his mad career, and lay swashing up and down, as if rallying his strength for a fresh effort. "there's 'stand up' in the waist-boat! there he darts! hurrah! two boats fast! haul lively, _us_, and get this line in!" the whale seemed staggered by this accumulation of cold iron in his system, and lay wallowing in the trough of the waves. it was a critical moment for him; for mr. dunham was getting his lance on the half-cock, ready for darting, and, as the whale suddenly "milled short round" to pass across the head of his boat, the young man saw his advantage, and cried: "pull ahead! pull ahead, and we'll get a 'set' on him! lay forward, fisher! lay forward hard, my lad! right on for his fin! pull ahead! so, way enough--hold water, all;" and, driven by a strong arm, the sharp lance entered his "life," its bright shank disappearing till the pole brought it up. "hold her so!" said the second mate. "way enough! just hold her so till he rises again!" as the whale hollowed his back under the sea, now crimsoned with his life-tide, and again rising, received the lance anew in his vitals; but the first "set" was enough, and the gush of clotted blood from his spiracle told how effectually it had done its work. "there," said father grafton, who had just got his line gathered in, and was ready to renew the assault, "there's the red flag flying at his nose! blacksmith, we may as well put up our lance, we sha'n't want it to-day. well done, mr. dunham! thick as tar the first lance! hold on line, bunker! heave on a turn!" as the whale, making a dying effort, started up to windward, passing among the pandora's boats within easy hail. "give us your warp, pitman, if you want a tow," said bunker in passing to mr. ray's boatsteerer. "every dog has his day," growled pitman, in reply. "yes. come aboard to-morrow and i'll give you a 'scrap' for luck." the whale went in his "flurry," and turned up under the stern of the pandora, as she luffed to for her boats; but captain worth could not afford to lose the breeze long, and, by the time the last boat was on the cranes, his helm was up and his mizzen-topsail shivering. the old ship fell off to her former course, and setting her royal and studding sails, left her more fortunate consort "alone in her glory." captain upton had no occasion to "grease his lance," but seeing that the work was done, and the victory won, made the best of his way on board. he made a short stretch, fetching to windward of us, and then stood along under easy sail, till mr. grafton, having "cut a hole" and got his line all clear for running, set a waif for the ship. she then ran down for us, and luffing to handsomely with the head yards aback, and the foretopsail on the cap, the line was "streamed," and led into the "chock." the jib being run down, and the helm lashed a-lee, so as completely to deaden the ship's way, the whale was hauled down to the ship, with the inspiring and time-honored chorus of "cheerly, men!" the burden being led off by old jeff; and at ten o'clock, the monster, who when the sun rose appeared like a monarch of the deep sporting in all the consciousness of sovereign power, lay securely chained up alongside the good ship arethusa. "well, bunker," said the old man to the blushing young boatsteerer, "you plugged this fellow solid, at any rate, if you never do another. the pandora's crew tried to gally you, didn't they?" "yes, sir," said bunker, "either me or the whale, i don't know which. but they were too late with their yells." "well, i don't know as i can blame mr. ray," said the captain. "i suppose he thought, if he could gally you of the whale, he would stand as good a chance as any of us next rising, as there is no telling, with any certainty, where a gallied[ ] whale will come up." "i don't think worth feels in very good-humor to-day," continued the old man, turning to mr. grafton. "i'm sure i shouldn't, if he had got this whale right under my nose. but it's our turn to crow to-day, and perhaps at another time it may be his. i was mighty afraid at one time he would take all your line before we could get to you. and when i saw the strain slack up suddenly, i was more anxious than ever, for i feared you were loose from him. but it's all right as it is. couldn't be better--and the weather is promising for taking care of him. the new ship will get her christening now, and she will work all the better for being greased. it is too late to ship the oil home, for i shall not put back to the western islands now." chapter vii. "cutting in." the necessary operations on the new ship's rigging had somewhat encroached upon the progress of other duties, connected with the whaling gear, during the few days since we left home. the cutting pendants were to be got over the masthead, not yet having been sent aloft; the falls were new and wiry; but few cutting-spades rigged or ground, and the best part of the afternoon was consumed in getting all things in readiness for cutting; and, as there was every prospect of fine weather, it was determined not to hook on until the next morning. boat's crew-watches were set, as is common when lying under short sail, boatsteerers being in charge of the deck by turns, each with his own boat's crew, thus making three, or in large ships, four watches. this was a grand occasion for yarning in the first watch, as every one was up, looking at the leviathan alongside, swashing with every heave of the sea, and tugging at the stout fluke chain as the rise of the ship brought a strain upon it; as though still instinct with life and impatient of his bonds. "well, jeff," said the ebony doctor, as he stood leaning over the rail after having finished his work for the night, "how much ile you tink dat whale make?" "that whale," returned jeff, measuring his dimensions with his eye, with a look of most profound sagacity, "that whale will stow down a hund'ed barrels, if we save him clean." "save him clean? save him fast enough," said the cook. "fine weather." "yes, 'tis now, but you don't know how long it will be so," said old jeff, who was in one of his "blue-lights" humors. "you don't know what the weather'll be to-morrow." "guess it'll be good enough." "you've got no business to guess. who shipped any such black ghost as you to guess about the weather?" "_black_ ghost, eh! you know what the pot called the kettle, jeff? yah! yah! you aint more'n a half-price nigger, nohow. you wouldn't fetch more'n fifty dollars in kentucky, if you be big. sh' think you might be big, too; you eats 'bout six men's allowance. look o' me, now; i don't eat nothin' hardly." "you've no business to eat anything. the cook's always 'lowed to live on the smell." "smell, eh! 'spects dats de reason dey always ships black man for cook. carry his own smell wid him eh? not strong like samson but like billy-goat. now, you see, jeff, you'm strong bofe ways." "am i?" said jeff, seizing the unfortunate doctor by the leg and the back of his neck, and holding him suspended over the whale in his herculean grasp. "i've a good mind to give you an overboard bunk on this whale, just to show you the difference between a cook's berth and a boatsteerer's." "o lord!" gasped the cook, when he was released, and once more found soundings with his feet on the deck, "you'm pretty strong one way, anyhow. well, now, jeff, how much did you ever see a whale make?" "a hund'ed and eighty barrels." "what! a sparm whale?" "didn't say nothin' bout sparm whale. no, a right whale; the first voyage i went on pattygoney." "o! i mean a sparm whale." "well, i seen one make a hund'ed and fifteen barrels, that's the most. now, here comes cooper. got his pipe loaded, too. i'll bet he's seen bigger one than that. ask him now." the boys began to rally to a focus along the starboard-waist, as they saw the cooper coming forward. "cooper," said i, "where's your fiddle to-night? are you going to fetch her up?" "no, guess not to-night. plenty of work for all of us to-morrow without shaking a leg over night." "yes, plenty of work and no grog," growled burley. "that's the worst of these temperance ships. they expect a man to work like a dog, and give him nothing to warm his heart. if men stood up for their rights, they'd have it. a man's entitled to two glasses a day, anyhow." "not without he ships for it," said jeff. "yes, i say he is," said the sea-lawyer. "how's that?" "why, by the natural rights of man." "what the plague do you call the natural rights of man?" said the cooper, among whose crooked traits intemperance was not included. "i don't want to see grog served out in any ship where i am." "well, i wish the ould man would jist ask me to take a dhrop wid him," said farrell. "of course, i'd refuse; but, then, 'twould be doin' the nate thing on his part." "i've seen so much of the bad effects of liquor," said the cooper, "that i don't want to be shipmates with it at all. it does a man no good in the long run. sometimes, it's true, he can get steam up, and work faster for a short time, but he feels all the worse after the liquor dies in him. in such a case as cutting a whale in bad weather, where you want to gain time, it's convenient to have some; but i think it does more harm in the long run than will balance these temporary benefits. the trouble is, human nature is weak, and it isn't every shipmaster that can have charge of it without crooking his own elbow too often. then again, all men can't stand it alike; and though some of us might bear two glasses well enough, others will get drunk and make difficulty on the same quantity, for, of course, you must serve all hands alike. we haven't all got systems like old captain harper, in the deucalion. he could drink a deck-bucketful of new england rum, and stand up under it and back it round. i've seen him do it many a time." "now, cooper," said i, "go it now, you've got started." "maybe you don't believe it, youngster," said the cooper, shaking his immense beard with the gravity of a sage. "but you have seen very little of the world yet. what _i've seen, i know_." "sh' think he'd burn hisself all up," said the cook, extending his mouth in a grin, till the upper part of his head formed a peninsula. "had no more effect than pouring it into a leaky cask," continued the cooper, who had now mounted his hobby. "perfect salamander! i always believed he was coppered inside. why, i've seen that old man make many a meal off of red peppers, and wash them down with raw brandy." "why not say aquafortis?" i suggested. "no, i don't want to deviate from the truth," said the conscientious cooper. "i don't mean aquafortis, but i mean good cognac brandy. drink a potful of boiling tea right out of the cook's copper, just as natural as i'd take a drink of water from the scuttlebutt." "dere, cooper, dat'll do," said the astonished african. "he must been some relation to dat sally mander, or somebody else wuss'n her. i was going to ask you how much you ever see a sparm whale make? jeff says he seen one make a hund'ed and fifteen barrels." "that isn't much," said the cooper, quietly. "when i was in the old bajazet, we got a sperm whale in sight of french rock, and it came on to blow, and we had an ugly job to cut him. we lost all his case; it got pretty old and mellow alongside, and 'shot' before we got hooked on it to. we got the junk in by cutting it in two pieces, for the old man wouldn't risk the mainmast to lift the whole on it. well, we saved a hundred and sixty-four barrels, and i suppose we lost about forty." "tell that for anybody to believe it, cooper?" asked old jeff. "i can't get up tackles enough to h'ist in the yard. it's heavier than that junk was." "took the gauges of every cask myself," said the cooper. "must be you made a mistake in addin' on 'em up. how long was that whale, now, on a guess?" "well, i don't know; the bajazet was a ship of three hundred and fifty tons, about the length of this one, i suppose; we brought the fluke-chain in at the _hawse hole_, and hauled it short up and down, and the mate had his cutting-stage over the stern to cut around the nib end; the head worked in under the counter sometimes and bothered him!" "and did ye's have much throuble to kill that chap?" asked farrell. "none at all; laid like an island, you might have thrown a whole blacksmith's shop into him." "do they often get whales as easily as we got this one to-day?" i inquired. "yes, a great many are taken as easy as that. but not always, as you'll find out by and by; for there's all kinds of manoeuvres with whales, and hardly any two of 'em will act just alike." "did you ever see any very bad ones taken?" i inquired. "well--no--not very bad," returned the cooper, evasively; for, much as he felt disposed to draw the long bow on this sonorous string, he was by no means regardless of the interest of the voyage, and well knew the bad policy of telling frightful yarns to green hands concerning fighting whales. it would be time enough for that when they had acquired some experience, and seen a few ugly whales themselves. he was not to be drawn out on this subject. "well, cooper, how moosh you tink dis one he make?" inquired manoel. "about ninety barrels." "well, how moosh my part?" "what's your lay?" "hun'n forty." "well, about two-thirds of a barrel." "i s'pose _you_ get 'bout two bar-r-r-eels. diabo! you make too moosh mon-ee, cooper." "got half a dozen mouths to feed," returned the cooper. "but that's nothing to do with turning in; my pipe's out, and i guess i'll turn flukes, for the old man will have us all out at daylight, and there'll be no cats but what catch mice to-morrow." following his example, the boys all dropped off to their bunks, till only the watch were left, and they were stretched round on the windlass, or wherever they could find quarters, for the deck was lumbered with casks, cutting-falls, hooks, toggils, and various gear necessary for securing the blubber from the whale. the weather continued fine through the night, and at the first peep of daylight captain upton was out and stirring. "who's got the watch here? call all hands out, and overboard hook! i want that head off before breakfast. clap on there, the watch, and haul out this starboard guy a little more! whose overboard is it?" "mine, sir!" answered bunker, who was equipping himself in an old short-sleeved shirt, a relic of "last voyage," and an old pair of woollen drawers, preparatory to jumping over on the whale to put in the blubber-hook, a part of the boatsteerer's duty far more desirable within the tropics than in higher latitudes, and especially to be eschewed on a cold, rugged morning in the arctic regions. "over hook!" shouted father grafton, as soon as the crew began to muster along. "bear a hand, boys, and stand by the windlass! overhaul your fall well! now then, bunker, where are you? now's your chance--smooth time! here, blacksmith, you belong to the hold gang. i shall put you in the waist gang, too. stay here in the gangway, and lend a hand with the boatsteerers." the hook was soon in, and mr. grafton in his stage under the main chains with a long spade, the second mate in the forward stage with another. the old man had become ubiquitous, and was in twenty places at one and the same time. "here, kelly, i shall appoint you captain of the scoop-net. get a strap-tub along here ready to sling by the backstays, and get your net all ready. when they cut round the head, stand by to save all the slivers, and if you let a piece of fat go astern as big as a half-dollar, i shall stop it out of your lay. hoist away that fall! heave the windlass some of ye, and get the slack in! here, collins, go aft there, and stay with the carpenter to turn grindstone. keep your ears peeled for the word 'sharp spade!' from over the side, and don't make them sing out a dozen times or i shall be hunting you up myself. boatsteerers! get the short spades all ready to use in the waist? that's right. hook take well, mr. grafton? here, pick up that monkey-rope, fisher, and keep it out of the grease. heave away that windlass? where are _you_, jeff, with the song? open your throat--mr. dunham, be careful and don't cut your blanketpiece too wide. sharp spade into the after stage! mr. johnson, let me whet this boarding-knife for you. i used to be a good hand at it. avast heaving, there! keep your ears open, and mind the word!" all circumstances being favorable, the head was cut off before breakfast, and the body all in the blubber-room by nine o'clock, captain upton driving a spade into it with a perfect gusto, and slashing it into horse pieces almost as fast as it was stowed in the hatchway. the windlass went round "slip slop" to the lively strains chanted by old jeff, and chorused by all hands in various keys, making the clear air vocal with discord. i made considerable progress in the technicalities of "board o!" and "in strap and toggle!" as well as in the equally important mystery of preserving my _aplomb_ on the greasy deck, having been on my beam ends only twice during the whole operation. to the startling hail from the old man, "what are you doing down on deck? that's _my_ place!" i made no audible reply but a laugh; but mentally responded, that if that were the old man's place, he was quite welcome to keep it. the heaviest work was to come in getting the junk inboard. it was roused forward into the waist, and after considerable "overhauling" and "rounding up," and some hard service for bunker in getting a chain strap through the "junk," it was at last cut from the "case" and fairly hung in the tackles. all hands went to the windlass; the waist gang, the third and second mates found room with the rest; even father grafton lent a hand, and encouraged the others to lay out their strength on the bars. the captain again pervaded the whole deck, glancing anxiously aloft at his masthead pendants and tacklefalls to see how they bore the immense strain, and from time to time breaking forth in a sort of exhortation, half-command, half-entreaty, "heave hard, men! heave and raise him! few squares more and we'll have him!" the good cordage of the falls groaned under the tension, as each ropeyarn seemed to yield a little to assist the rest, and the arethusa heeled lower and lower at each additional "downpawls!" of the windlass, till her starboard plankshear was but little above the surface of the water. slowly but steadily, by almost imperceptible degrees, the ponderous junk rose from its watery bed, its scarred black skin showing, in the ragged furrows and white streaks on its surface the marks of many a shock received in angry encounters with other sea monsters, and the mingled oil and water streaming at every pore and running in a gush from the hole where the chain-strap was cutting and jamming into the fat under the fearful strain. the mainmast-head itself could be seen to "give" sensibly to the weight, and the larboard main-shrouds to stiffen like bars of iron. "heave, boys! square or two more!" said the captain, as the mighty mass began to cant inboard. "that's lively! downpawls again! that watchtackle ready boatsteerers? high enough! lay aft here, and get this tackle ready! there he swings lower! lower away! hook on and rouse him aft! what time is it? slide him well aft, mr. grafton, out of the way! steward! pass up my quadrant? we'll get dinner, mr. grafton, before we sling the case." "an' sure," said farrell, as he came sliding and tumbling aft with the rest, to haul the tackle, "and is that his head, now?" "head? no!" growled old jeff, "that's only a small piece of it." the other "small piece" was hooked on immediately after dinner, and after another struggle at the windlass brakes was raised half out of water, and suspended in the tackles with the "root end" at the plankshear, for baling. a block and whip were rigged over it and we now cleared up the mystery of a certain long vessel of peculiar shape, which we had seen the cooper making a few days before, and which that worthy had solemnly assured us was a _sine qua non_ in navigating the ship; the sun and moon being brought down with a sextant till their images could be seen in contact at the bottom of the bucket. we were lost in admiration as load after load of spermaceti was "whipped" out of the "case," and discharged into tubs placed ready to receive it, and found great amusement in being set to work to pull to pieces, by hand, the fibrous part of the head matter, and squeeze it out ready for the pots. we contrived ingeniously to get saturated with oil from head to foot, to the great enjoyment of mr. dunham, who protested we had already appropriated our lays of this whale, and vowed he would try out all our duds when the fare was over. "let's see, cooper," said the fun-loving second mate, "you didn't save the case of that big whale i heard you telling about?" "in the old bajazet? no, sir; i wish we had." "how much do you suppose it would have made?" "from thirty to forty barrels." "that's nothing," said mr. dunham. "we saw a sydney whaler last voyage that baled sixty barrels from a case not as big as this one in the tackles." "how could he do that?" demanded the cooper, innocently. "hooked it nib end up, and cut chock through the root. baled salt water a couple of hours before he found it out." the cooper turned away, and became suddenly industrious with his hammer and driver, to drown the roar of laughter that saluted him from all quarters. chapter viii. boiling.--cutting the line.--dutch courage.--"man overboard." the "case" having been stripped of its oleaginous treasures, was cut adrift, and the arethusa, with the yards again trimmed to the breeze, stood on her course to the southward. the "junk" was then cut up and thrown into casks, to save all the oil that was continually oozing from it, and the fires were started for boiling. "try-watches" were set at night, by dividing the time into two equal portions, each watch taking the whole five or six hours on one stretch. the portuguese manoel and myself were appointed to work in the blubber-room, which is, perhaps, the best station in trying out, as the fortunate incumbent has but one department to attend to, and being under deck, is not exposed to the weather. besides, he is much of the time "out of sight out of mind," and, by cutting fast for an hour or two, may gain upon his work so as to find time for "slants" of sleep or "catnaps," so termed, till roused again by the cry of "horsepieces!" at the hatchway. now and then, father grafton, in going the rounds, would stoop over the hatchway, and peer in between decks, with a call to the sleepers: "halloo, blacksmith! manoel, what are you doing away in there?" "_leaning_, sir!" would be the ready reply of the portuguese; which was strictly true. he was "leaning" against a cask, sound asleep. a whaleship trying out at night presents one of the most weird and striking pictures that can well be imagined. but to enjoy it in full, the observer must take his station near the mainmast, looking forward, and this during his watch below, as his duties would otherwise subject him to certain interruptions which sadly mar the poetry of the thing. alone, on the face of the waters, rides your floating home; the darkness around her intensified and rendered more opaque by the glare of light from the try-fires, and utterly impervious on the lee-beam and quarter from the thick clouds of smoke continually floating off in that direction. the brawny forms of the boatsteerers, thrown into strong relief in the centre group, as they tend the fires and the seething caldrons, which require their constant care and attention to ensure a fine quality of oil; the "mincer" on the left, industriously flourishing his broad, keen knife in the firelight; the cooper, fudging at a leaky cask, half hidden in darkness under the lee of the "cooler;" the deckhands flitting about at their various duties, appearing and vanishing in gloom, like spirits dancing in an ever-changing light, now livid, now lurid; now dying away till the smoke pall seems almost to envelop the whole picture, then suddenly bursting forth again with startling brightness, as the boatsteerer throws a fresh greasy scrap on the "back arches," and runs his long pike under the fires to stir up "old hallett;" the brilliant glare upon the rigging and sails of the foremast, seeming to reveal each lay of the cordage, each thread of the canvas, with a fidelity and minuteness of detail far exceeding that produced by daylight; all together form a scene to which no description can do justice, but of which every whaleman must acknowledge having felt the influence. the captain and the officers who are not on duty on the first watch seem to loiter round the mainmast, as though unwilling to lose the pleasure of the view even to seek necessary rest; and to enjoy their pipes with more than ordinary zest, as they call up reminiscences of large fares taken on former voyages, or count the tiers of sturdy ironbound casks already filled and lashed along the rail, and glancing between decks at the blubber yet uncut, make calculations and estimates of the probable yield of the whale. all is cheerfulness and hope at such times, and the prospects of the voyage seemed to partake of the brightness of the caboose fires. wives and children are remembered with new affection at such moments; and each feels nearer to home and friends at each recurring sound of the light-driven bung, and the inspiring cry, "away cask!" truly is it remarked by old whalemen that the most delightful parts of a voyage are "boiling" and arriving home. the weather continued fine during the whole time occupied in boiling and stowing down, so that i may say i saw the first whale killed and taken care of under very favorable circumstances, and treating lightly the croaking hints of the oldsters, thus formed an opinion of whaling in general which subsequent experience did not altogether confirm. our good ship sped merrily on her voyage, and, after taking the trade winds, still more rapid progress was made. the equator was crossed without any of those time-honored ceremonies of initiation into old neptune's realms which have formed the staple of so many yarns by old voyagers. indeed, it is hardly to be supposed that the green hands would be subjected to much abuse or rough treatment from their equals in rank, where they themselves form the majority of the ship's company. mr. dunham, however, did not let the occasion pass without attempting a practical joke. having the first watch on deck, he came forward, and calling a young greenhorn from connecticut, who rejoiced in the ironical appellation of "black hawk," perhaps from his utter want of resemblance, in any one particular, to that illustrious chieftain: "black hawk," said he, confidentially, "i want you to get the cook's axe, and go out on the martingale, and stand by to cut the line. i expect we shall be up with it now in about half an hour, and you must look sharp and cut it quick, or it will bring the ship up all standing." "how big round is it?" asked the apparently innocent black hawk. "about as thick as your arm; but if you get a good lick at it, you'll cut it in time, or at least cut some of the strands, so the ship will break it without stopping her." "do ships always have to cut the line when they pass along here, sir?" inquired the youngster, who was not half so green as his appearance indicated. "yes, certainly they do." "and how does it get j'ined together again?" "why, old neptune and his crew pick up the ends and splice it, after the ship has passed by," said mr. dunham, who was rather puzzled by this catechism, and did not quite understand the drift of it. "and how long does it take 'em to get it j'ined again?" "well--i suppose it would take two or three hours to get the strands all tucked, and put it in good order." "well, sir, when i came down from aloft (you know i had the sundown masthead, sir), there was a ship in sight ahead, and i guess she must have cut it about an hour ago; so they haint got through j'inin' on it yet. i guess we can slip through, sir, while the bars are down." and the baffled second mate went aft with a flea in his ear. black hawk, with all his apparent verdancy, was probably his superior in general knowledge; and though he had seen the black equator on the maps, had a pretty clear idea of the meaning of the words "imaginary line." we had light and baffling weather after crossing the line, and made but little progress for some days. we fell in company with several merchant vessels, all bound to the southward; but as they were always making the best of their way to a port of destination, they held no intercourse with us, beyond showing their national flags, and, if near enough for it to be seen, their longitude, chalked upon a blackboard, we responding in each case by showing ours. in one instance, however, we communicated with a stranger, which led to incidents both serious and ludicrous, to break the monotony of our sea life. a bark had been in sight of us all day, steering on the same course as ourselves. she had shown dutch colors, but the wind being very light in the afternoon, the old man ordered his boat lowered, and pulled alongside of her. he was absent about a couple of hours, and returned with some dutch cheese and other small matters. i noticed that some of the boat's crew appeared unusually jolly and demonstrative when they came alongside; but the boat was hoisted and they went forward, no attention being paid to them. it was surmised, of course, that they had been treated to a glass while on board the dutchman. i asked farrell, who was as happy as a lord, what the bark's name was. "divil a name of her i can tell ye," said farrell; "but she belongs to some dam place or other; there's a dam about it, anyhow, 'pon my soul. i think it's rotterdam. but they've got the good stuff there that'll warm your heart and loosen your tongue. come here till i show ye." and dodging behind the galley, he produced from the capacious folds of his shirt a bottle of schnapps! "dhrink," said farrell. "dhrink a health to the rotten-dam dutchman." "but how did you manage to smuggle this on board, farrell?" "ah, lave corny farrell alone for that! don't say a word; burley has the twin to it." i was fearful we should have some trouble before the two bottles were disposed of. however, i had no idea of turning informer, but even took a small drink from farrell's bottle, thinking there would be the less for some one else, and the more it was subdivided, the less effect it would have on any one man. the bottles were passed round the forecastle, and there was enough to make all hands a little lively and talkative, but not enough to produce any ill effect, except in the case of the two proprietors of the bottles themselves, who had taken the lion's share at starting, and had preserved the remnants for private consumption. old jeff said to me, during our watch on deck, on coming out of the forecastle where he had been to light his pipe: "blacksmith, there'll be fun, i think, when the starboard watch is called. farrell is pretty noisy and happy; he wont make any trouble unless it's by some wild freak; but burley is as tight as a brick, and it's his turnout wheel. he's blowing about his rights, and swears he wont go to the wheel, nor he wont stand a watch; so i think there'll be fun, for mr. dunham wont stand much nonsense with him." "well, i guess his blowing wont amount to much," said i. "he'll cool down as soon as the second mate comes." "think so?" said jeff anxiously. "yes," spoke up obed b. "there'll be no great trouble with _him_." "i hear that you and kelly wound him up and set him back. was that so hoeg? i didn't see that fun, for i was at the masthead. i only heard of it afterwards." "well, he hasn't tried to bully either of us since," said hoeg. "it's my opinion he's a great coward." six bells struck, and the watch was called. mr. dunham came on deck, and, as usual, looked to see if the wheel was relieved. finding it was not, he came forward. "antone, do you know whose wheel it is?" he asked. "burley's, sir." "why isn't he there?" "he say he no goin' to stand watch to-night, sir." "why not? is he sick?" "i don't know 'f he call sick. i call _drunk_, sir." "o that's it? well, we'll see about that." the second mate put his head over the scuttle, and listened a moment. burley was laying down law and logic at a terrible rate, in spite of the remonstrances of his watchmates, who entreated him either to go on deck or else turn in, and let others have rest and quiet. "i know my rights, and i'm the man to stand up for 'em!" said burley. "i'm not going to stand a watch to-night, and i'd just like to see the live man that would make me go on deck!" "here he is then!" said mr. dunham, as, clearing the ladder with a swing of his body, he landed on his feet by the side of the astonished sea-lawyer. "on deck, sir, at once, before i put you there!" burley turned his head and caught the second mate's eye. his _dutch_ courage failed him altogether. he found the upper deck so quick that the officer would not have found it easy to overtake him, had he been disposed to assault him; though he evidently did not consider him worth wasting wrath upon. "what did i tell you?" said obed b., quietly. "now," said mr. dunham, "you keep above deck the next four hours, and don't put your head below the scuttle. i don't want you at the wheel now; you are not fit to be there. antone, go to the wheel. i'll see that he stands your next trick and his own too." "arrah, misther burley! and where's your rights that you've been blowin' about?" said farrell. "you've only been making billy fitzgibbons's mother of yerself, and yer perfarmances don't come up to yer promises, at all." i fell asleep with farrell rattling away at him over my head; but i was sure the contemptible scamp was nearly powerless now as to any influence over the youngsters; for we had all set him down as a very bob acres, whose courage would ooze out at his fingers' ends, when brought to the scratch. i had just got into a sound sleep, when we were all brought out of our bunks on the jump by the thrilling cry--i almost think i hear it now--"man overboard!" all was dark; the light in the forecastle had gone out; but, guided by the little patch of sky showing down the scuttle, i was on deck in an instant, with my trousers in my hand. here, all was confusion; the ship was coming up to the wind with everything slatting; the watch were clearing away the starboard boat, fisher having already cut the gripes, and i was in her before she was half way down the side. i remember asking "who is it?" and some one, i did not know who, said, "farrell." i remember thinking that i had heard farrell say he could swim a little. we shoved clear of the ship, and got our oars out; she had taken aback, and was going round, but we pulled out as near as possible in her old wake--nothing was to be seen! with anxious eyes and heavy hearts we looked about us. here is something floating; we lay round for it; it is the life-preserver which has been cut adrift from the taffrail; but where is the man?? we pull still further out in the wake of the ship, and heave up again; something ripples here abeam of us. "lay round quick!" we pass the spot. i think i can see a white pool or ring on the surface, and i involuntarily thrust my arm deep down; it touches something--the hair of my shipmate, sinking for the last time. "help here!" and fisher and black hawk are at my side. they seize his shoulders and he is roused into the boat, and laid, face down, across the thwarts. "give way for the ship!" and we are quickly alongside, for she is now lying with the head yards aback, and lights set to tell us her whereabouts. all has passed so quickly that i seem to have dreamed it all, and to have woke now for the first time. he soon shows signs of life, under the active treatment he is receiving, and he has revived sufficiently to sit up and look about him before the question is asked, by the old man: "how did he fall overboard?" no one seems to know. black hawk answers that he heard the splash in the water, and a cry immediately after, and running to the side, saw a head bob up abreast the fore-chains, and gave the alarm. by this time, farrell enlightens us himself, by pointing forward with his arm, gasping out the single word "parrp'ses," then is taken with retching again, brings up another pint of sea-water, and can give no further information at present. i ran forward. the porpoise line (which was kept ready rove in tail-block on the bowsprit) was towering under the bow. i seized and rounded it in, and brought up the "iron," or rather the pole and socket thereof, the shank being broken off close up. it would seem that farrell, having the lookout, and all the rest being comfortably snoozing, had discovered porpoises playing under the bow, and being in the humor for a lark, determined to strike one "on his own hook," without calling for reinforcements until after he was "fast." but neither his head nor his heels being very trustworthy at the time, he darted the iron in one direction from the martingale guy, and himself in another. the porpoise must have been struck most effectually, and while we were busily engaged in saving the man, he had writhed in his agony under the bows, till he had wrung the shank of the iron off. "well, farrell, my boy," said mr. grafton, "how do you feel after your baptism?" "well, sir, i feel pretty well bothered, but i'll warrant the parr'pus is nearer dead than i am." "yes, you struck him solid, at any rate," said the mate. "an' sure, sir," returned farrell, "don't you always stern all, sir, as soon as you're fast?" "yes, that's according to rule; but circumstances may alter cases. it was a narrow squeak for you, at any rate. you'll be in no hurry to catch porpoises again in a dark night, alone." "bad luck to the soaking i got?" said farrell, as he went forward. "it's taken all the snap out o' me--and the schnapps too." manifold were the jokes cracked at the young irishman's expense, after this adventure; for with seamen, as with soldiers, a miss is as good as a mile, always, and that which is almost a tragedy becomes the very ideal of a farce. but the redoubtable burley was effectually stripped of his teeth and claws. he was as harmless as an old blunderbuss, which after having been apparently well loaded, primed and _schnapped_, has flashed in the pan. the captain said nothing to indicate that he knew any thing of the liquor having been brought on board. he was not a man to say much to his crew, except in the way of necessary duty; and he probably resolved to be silent and more watchful in the future. but i overheard him telling the mate, the next night, as i stood at the wheel, that farrell seemed a smart young fellow, and he thought he would make a slashing boatsteerer, if one should be wanted, "especially," he added, dryly, "if we could always speak a dutchman just before we lowered." chapter ix. "gamming" with a "homeward-bounder." when in the latitude of cape st. augustine, being close-hauled, with light breezes at east-south-east a ship was "raised" in the afternoon, under a cloud of light canvas, steering to the northward. as she gradually neared us, she was made out by her boats and other significant marks to be a homeward-bound whaler, and by altering her course a little, showed her intention of passing within hail and speaking us. the order was given to haul the mainsail up and square the mainyard, and the good ship, arrested in her course, seemed to sit in state, like a hostess, to receive company. the decks were cleared up, and work knocked off at an earlier hour than usual; and the slowly approaching stranger now became the centre of attraction, and the subject of much argument and speculation, each of the old hands recognizing her as some ship he knew or had sailed in, so that in half an hour, she had been christened by more names than would have fitted half the nantucket fleet, which at that period was no inconsiderable number. old jeff knew it was the colossus by something peculiar about her spritsail-yard; a very reasonable supposition, inasmuch as the colossus was only four months from nantucket, outward bound, while the copper, or rather the want of it, on the stranger's bottom, showed unmistakable signs of at least three years' wear and tear. the cooper was morally certain it was the deucalion, for no other ship ever had, or possibly could have, a pair of anchor-stocks of that shape; but when reminded that she was only one year out, and her voyage probably not completed, compromised the matter by the hypothesis that the ship in sight must have spoken the deucalion, and bought her anchor; a case which was voted to be far more possible than probable. the old man and his mates were thinking of all the ships that ought to be homeward-bound at that time, and calling her first one and then another; but the conclusion arrived at was that she must be some "outlandishman," as the islanders then termed the new london and sag harbor whalers, who defiled their ships with "right whale glue," rather than cruise four years exclusively for sperm. the meeting of two ships at sea is a beautiful and imposing affair. i was deeply interested in the sight, as the stranger drew nearer and nearer. he had hauled in his studdingsails, and brailed up both courses, seeming at times to slide down to leeward on a declivity, and then to stop suddenly, as if arrested by some unseen power. the breeze was light, and the sea comparatively smooth, but i was surprised to see how considerable her rolling motion was, even under these circumstances. rough-looking men, clad in garments of more colors than the coat of joseph ever boasted, could be seen clustered round the bows, and stretching their heads over the bulwarks, and two or three had climbed into the waist-boat, to get a better view. the skipper, a large, dark-looking man, sat in the head of the labored quarter-boat, from time to time turning his head to speak to his helmsman, and waving his brass trumpet to enforce the order. captain upton, with a similar instrument, was mounted on the taffrail, his mates standing near him, a little in the background. the stillness, as the ships neared each other, was unbroken now, save by the occasional rustle of a sail aloft, or the slight washing of the water under the bows of the stranger. some one was seen to run forward with a spyglass, and, after bringing it to bear for a moment upon our stern, to hurry aft again with a report to the strange captain. the ship appeared at this moment to be heading directly into us, as though bent on striking us amidships and running us down. some of us, clustered at the weather rail, involuntarily began to draw back, fearing a collision; but again, at a wave of the dark man's trumpet the ship, obedient to her helm, fell slowly off, so as to pass just clear, across our stern. silence more profound than ever. "who commands the arethusa?" shouted a hoarse voice, through the brass tube. "upton!" responded the other brass tube. "hope you're very well, captain upton!" said brass tube number one, obscuring the face of the speaker like a total eclipse. "very well, thank you," answered tube number two in the same style. "what ship is that, pray?" "mandarin, of nantucket." "hope to see you well, captain barney." much muttering now ensued among our wiseacres, each of whom had known it was the mandarin all along, and had told all the rest so, half an hour ago. anybody might have known that was the mandarin's figure-head. all which somewhat interfered with the clear understanding of the rest of the dialogue, which was now carried on between the brass tubes at a furious rate. "what success?--sixteen hundred.--what port are you from last?--oahu.--how long are you from home?--forty-five days.--got any letters for us?--yes. come aboard.--thank you, i will." a flourish of the trumpet, and the mandarin's crew are seen running to the braces, as her helm is clapped a starboard, and she rounds to the wind at a handsome distance under our lee, with her maintopsail thrown aback for an old-fashioned "gam." supper is delayed for the guests to arrive; several of us dive below, embracing the opportunity to write a few lines to our friends at home; old jeff growls at us for being in such a hurry, and says there's plenty of time between now and midnight; for we are sure to "gam" till that time. "captain barney and the old man are cronies, and they'll have to kill all the whales in the ocean across the cabin table, before they part company." a light whaleboat is presently seen to drop from under the mandarin's lee-quarter, and comes bounding to windward under the powerful impulse of her oars, the sturdy and regular strokes telling of old and trained hands who wield them. a petty officer is steering, while his majesty the captain stands firmly planted in the stern sheets, with his legs spread apart in an attitude suggestive of an inverted letter y, and benignly regards his loyal subjects at the oars, who stretch to their work in gallant style, as if conscious that they "bear cæsar and his fortunes." the principal impelling motive, however, is their eagerness to levy contributions upon the "greenies." already they imagine themselves returning with bundles of books and papers tied up with rope-yarns, and shirt-bosoms corpulent with new tobacco, a luxury to which their teeth have been strangers for many a day. "ship in, harp'neer! way enough! look out for the warp in the waist!" "halloo, old man!" says captain barney, as he recognizes father grafton at the man-ropes, "you out here again?" then as his head rises above the rail, "how goes it, upton? s'pose you've got a crack ship here by the look of things. well, how did you leave old nantucket? 'taint sunk yet, has it?" a common question with whalemen when they meet, and asked with as much gravity as that of the noble thane, macduff, "stands scotland where it did?" or as though islands were in the habit of submerging themselves every day in the week. a hearty greeting and hand-shaking follows, with a few hurried questions and replies, an introduction to the other officers, and an invitation to our mate to go on board and spend the evening with mr. joy. "do you swap boats' crews, upton?" "yes, i don't care; let them go." so the boat is manned with a crew of arethusas, myself among the number, and mr. grafton steers himself, not yet having arrived at the dignity of a body guard. it was nearly dark when we arrived alongside, and as soon as the boat was on the cranes and secured, all hands made a "grand forward movement" to supper, and i now had leisure to look about me, and to compare the vessel and her veteran looking crew with the arethusa and my own shipmates. the forecastle of the mandarin was small, dingy and dark, even in the daytime, having only two small decklights and no sidelights, a modern luxury which had not then come into general use. she had boasted a steerage in the early part of the voyage, but this had been broken up, and all hands quartered in the forecastle--sixteen men in twelve bunks, some of them turning in and out, watch and watch. an old battered blubber-room lamp hung from a beam overhead, and gave just sufficient light to make darkness visible. two little ones, of the kind known as "petticoat lamps," were now added, and each furnished light enough to see that the other was burning. the old adage that "a farrier's mare and a cobbler's wife are always slipshod" is fully verified in the case of a whaleman's lamp; for those who supply the world with oil burn it in its crude state. there was room enough in the forecastle, small as it was; for not half the crew had chests, and their goods and chattels could be compressed into a very small compass. the supper was not exactly what would have tempted a gourmand; still it was all that could be expected on board a ship forty-four months from home. the cows must have gone astray, for the supply of milk had failed: _domestic_ coffee, compounded of burnt peas and corn, had usurped the place of the imported article; while it was evident that the visitors, if in time for supper, had come too late for _tea_. the bread was thickly colonized, and the salt junk better adapted for the manufacture of fancy carved work and articles of _virtu_ than for purposes of mastication. it was, of course, a point of honor with us green hands to overlook these little drawbacks, and even to affect an eccentric taste for the ancient viands; but our hosts were not at all backward in expressing their dissatisfaction with this state of things. this crew were mostly "beach-combers," men who had joined the ship during the voyage, many of them in the last port, and knew little and cared less about the history of the voyage previous to the time they shipped. they were full of tales of their adventures in other vessels from which they had deserted or been discharged, and of encounters with consuls, captains of the port, _vigilantes_, and other functionaries, commonly regarded as jack's natural enemies; while those luckless shipmasters who had availed themselves of their services must have lived in perpetual jeopardy during the time they remained on board. i inquired of the man upon whom i was quartered at supper, "how long the ship was out." "that's more than i can tell you," returned the cruiser. "i've been only four months in this hooker. there's dan and 'shorty,' they are the only two men in the fo'c'stle that came from home in her. they can tell you; all the rest of us are cruisers." "where did you join her?" i asked. "in oahu. i ran away from the cambridge, of new bedford, and stowed away here in the fore peak. the 'kikos' came aboard three times, hunting for runaway men; but i'll defy any kiko to catch _me_." "what's a kiko?" i inquired. "that's what they call the kanaka policemen. they used to come down and take off the fore peak scuttle, and look down, and shove their sticks in; but you see they don't have but one pair of white trousers apiece, and don't mean to get 'em dirty. but if any kiko had crawled in where i was, he wouldn't have got out again alive." "why not?" i inquired, innocently. "'cause i'd have let daylight through him!" i looked at the speaker reflectively, and involuntarily hitched a little further from him on the chest, feeling somewhat doubtful of close companionship with so dangerous a character. yet the probability is, this man was as arrant a falstaff as could be found in a day's journey. "what made you run away from the cambridge?" "o, me and the old man had a row. besides, i had been eight months in her, and that's long enough to be in one craft. i'd like to see the----hooker that would keep _me_ a year." the speaker prefixed to the word hooker a sanguinary adjective, which is not applicable to ships except after a hard-fought action. "do you expect to stay out the voyage in that hooker?" inquired the beach-comber. "yes," said i, "i think i shall. i've been well used so far, and have nothing to complain of. i don't see any reason to leave the ship, with the chance of getting into a worse one." "ah, my lad, you're green yet. wait awhile till you've seen more service, and you'll get tired of staying so long in one craft. i say, shift about and go by the cruise. six months is plenty long enough in one hooker." some of the green hands were swallowing this kind of poison by wholesale; each one listening to a yarn of how the narrator had humbugged a shipping master, or bullied an american "counsle," or knocked over an officer of a ship in the discharge of his duty. the pleasures of a drunken spree and row with the police of a foreign port were duly set forth, and the peculiar delights of life in a calaboose depicted in glowing colors. but this species of conversation flagged after a time. the mandarins boasted no musical instrument; but that curse and abomination of the forecastle, a greasy pack of cards, was produced, and furnished pastime for a small knot in one corner for a short time. dan and "shorty," the two "voyagers," brought up from the depths of their chests some canes, busks, and other fancy articles or "scrimshonting," as it is termed by whalers, ingeniously fabricated from whales' teeth and jaw bones, some of which they were willing to exchange for tobacco, the principal necessary of life among seamen on long voyages, and their universal circulating medium and standard of value. an article of traffic at sea, instead of being estimated at so many dollars and cents, is rated at so many pounds of tobacco; a thing which is nearly worthless is "not worth a chaw of tobacco;" a disputed question is generally settled by betting a certain quantity of tobacco, and a notorious romancer is often interrupted in the midst of a thrilling story, with the inquiry, "how much tobacco have you got?" meaning, "how much can you give us to believe it? we'll believe anything, if you've got tobacco enough to put it through." and yet, through all the rough entertainment there shone a vein of politeness and deference to their guests, a certain delicacy which never deserts the sailor, and which might be studied with profit by many accustomed to the most courtly circles. a man who should overstep certain bounds in his intercourse with visitors from a strange ship, or be guilty of the slightest breach of a certain etiquette, not defined by chesterfield's laws, but natural and of spontaneous growth, as it were, would be taken to task unmercifully by his shipmates; and slights which would pass current in a fashionable evening party, with both nobs and snobs, would never be overlooked in a whalemen's "gam." a song was called for by somebody; the motion was seconded and carried, _nem. con._; cards were thrown aside, "scrimshonting" articles returned to their depositories; and after some little clamor, it was decided that "old scotty," a tall, sunburned salt, who had served, according to his own statement, in one of the maintops of his most nautical majesty william the fourth, should open the musical programme with that delectable chorus, "the stormy winds how they blow, blow, blow," which he executed after the most approved and orthodox style, rolling up the whites of his eyes at the carlines overhead, as though he expected that the roaring chorus in which all lands joined, would lift the deck off, and afford him a view of the heavens. a burst of applause followed the last verse, which i must confess i construed to be a manifestation of joy that it was finished, and of gratitude that there was no more of it to be endured. the arethusas were now called upon to respond, and after some comparing of notes and prompting each other, farrell struck up the time-honored confession of the misguided irish youth who committed matrimony at the tender age of sixteen, and "died forlorn on steven's green," and afterwards wrote his autobiography in common metre, his last earthly request being that his pall might be borne by six disconsolate young ladies, all dressed in white gowns and pink ribbons. this song is a stock article with irish and seamen, for what reason it would be hard to tell. a stout, jolly-looking mandarin next electrified the auditors with the sentimental refrain of "o no, we never mention her!" with original quavers and variations, chanted in a voice of thunder; and was followed by old scotty, who rolled his eyes higher than ever as he poured himself out in a heartrending ballad, describing the fate of a certain miss caroline of edinboro town, who at an untimely age "shuffled off this mortal coil," and "plunged her body down," after giving precisely _three_ shrieks for henry, neither more nor less. this pathetic outbreak again brought up the arethusas in force, and the entertainment was sustained with great vigor on both sides, the songs being of various descriptions, and some, like newspaper novelettes, broken off in the middle of a verse, "to be continued hereafter." some of the volunteer performers would have passed for good singers where tunes were not in fashion, while others, if they had fitted all the snatches together into one, might have furnished a medley of a highly original character. the veritable history of that unfortunate mariner, william taylor, who was sent to his last account by the contents of a brace of pistols in the hands of his slighted "ladie love," having been caught _in flagrante delicto_, basking in the smiles of another fair one, was interrupted at a most thrilling crisis by the cry of "brace forward the mainyard!" for the arethusa had forged considerably ahead, while both ships were lying aback. it took some time to do this, as by a singular fatality, nobody had a watch on deck; all the men who should by any possibility have had one had gone gamming. the _denouement_ of the fickle taylor's story was lost, as the helm required the singer's services. the last act of the evening partook much of the nature of the first, being filled with marvellous tales of exploits, and "moving accidents by flood," and comparison of notes touching the respective merits of ships, captains and officers. the cry of "haul aback" cut short several half-finished stories, and brought everybody on deck to look at the arethusa, now running to leeward with a light set as a signal of recall for her mate and boat's crew. a murmur of admiration went round among us, at the appearance of the crack ship looming in the clear moonlight, as, having assumed the lee position, she rounded gracefully to again, when the boat was cleared away and manned, with hearty farewells on both sides. "good-night, joy," said father grafton, as he descended the man-ropes. "short passage home to you. deliver my letter yourself when you get there." "ay, ay," returned the mandarin's mate. "greasy luck to you!" "thank you," said grafton. "a large whale for you to-morrow," with the additional reservation, "and two for _us_. let go the warp! out oars--pull ahead!" we arrived on board our own ship to find a scene similar to that we had just left. some of the mandarins had found a congenial spirit in the sea-lawyer burley, and others had fulfilled their mission by "bumming" considerable quantities of tobacco and literature from the younger lads. manoel and antone had monopolized a portuguese boatsteerer, and formed a trio aside for a conference highly interesting to themselves and possessing the additional merit of being unintelligible to all the rest. the mandarin having run to leeward in her turn, the word was passed to "man the boat;" and, for a wonder, they waited alongside only three quarters of an hour. but captain barney was an uncommonly prompt man in his movements; the usual standard in such cases being one hour and a quarter. in a few minutes, the rusty-looking ship was off on her northerly course for "home, sweet home," bearing messages to gladden the hearts of many interested in the fate of those on board her late consort, who was again standing by the wind to the southward. the first inoculation of what may be designated "salt poison" had taken effect among our crew, and much mischief had been done by this apparently harmless visit. those who had hitherto been cheerful and satisfied with all around them, now began to discover flaws and defects, viewing things and actions through new and distorted lenses; instituting parallels between the methods of doing the most trifling duties on board different vessels, and discoursing nautical wisdom at second hand with all the gravity and dogmatism of experienced tars. truly may it be said in connection that "comparisons are odious." chapter x. whaling near the falklands.--death of mr. johnson. no more whales were seen till the arethusa had passed the latitude of degrees south, and was nearly up with the falklands. the wind was fresh from south-west, and the ship close-hauled on the south-south-east tack, diving into a head sea under whole topsails, making wet weather of it; while the aspect of the heavens was threatening, and indicated more wind before night. mr. dunham, who went to the masthead in the forenoon, reported a large "breach" on the weather quarter five miles distant. the ship stood on for a short time, and then going about, headed up nearly in the direction where the breach was seen. in an hour after tacking, spouts were seen, and were soon made out beyond question to be those of three large sperm whales going slowly to leeward. when they went down again they were not more than two miles from us; but it was by this time high noon, and the wind and sea had increased, so that the ship was brought down to double-reefed topsails. the chances were not at all favorable for chasing whales with much prospect of success. but captain upton and his officers were not to be daunted by trifles, with sperm whales in sight; and their doctrine was, that as long as a boat could live she could tackle a whale and kill him. so everything was cleared for action, and after standing on till he judged the ship near enough, the captain ordered the maintopsail hauled aback, and the boats hoisted and swung. this was hardly accomplished when the whales broke water within half a dozen ship's lengths of the lee-beam. "lower away!" was the word, and down went all three boats, the starboard boat having the advantage in this case from being on the lee quarter, and getting clear of the ship in advance of the rest. the whales were as yet apparently undisturbed, and the chance of striking what would be considered a sure one, as they would not readily take the alarm in such weather. there was no need of spreading a sail to a breeze like this; it was only necessary to head the boat off before the wind and sea, and giving her a slight impetus with the paddle-strokes, to drive quietly down upon the prey. the two mates, as they shoved astern of the ship, saw the exact state of things, and merely suffered their boats to run to leeward, without effort, so as to be at hand to support the captain if he should strike, without interfering with his chance by competition. seated at the bow thwart next the boatsteerer, i had a fair view of the advance to the attack, and regarded the progress of the starboard boat with eager interest, not unmixed with anxiety, as i thought of the difficulty and danger of grappling with these monsters in such weather. mr. johnson stood up in the head of his boat grasping the bight of the warp in his left hand, the right resting on his "iron poles," while the other four continued dipping their paddles to add to the speed of the lively boat, which was sliding down to leeward, as it were, at a rate that promised soon to place her within striking distance. already she was within a ship's length of the right hand one, for which the captain was steering, when the off whale of the three took the alarm, as was evinced by his elevating his head rather more than usual, and then cutting out a corner of his flukes with that peculiar movement known to whalemen as indicative of an intention to leave soon. the panic spread to the others instantly, by that sort of magnetic communication which whales seem to employ even when miles apart. a sudden and convulsive movement was observed in all three of them at the same instant. it was evident that like macbeth's guests, they would "stand not upon the order of their going." the left-hand whale, who had first perceived the danger, was gone like a flash, his tail skimming out just above the surface; his next neighbor shot ahead half his length with a sudden effort, and threw his flukes high in air; the third, who had just blown off his spout, attempted the same manoeuvre, but it was too late; the boat was shooting too quick for him. as he threw up his body, the head of the boat was just abreast of his "small," rushing down the declivity of a wave. "dart!" cried captain upton, in a voice that rose high above the roaring of the wind and sea; "dart, and try him!" quick as thought the flashing iron sped on its mission from the long, sinewy arms of the mulatto, and its sudden stoppage, and the quiver of the pole in the "suds" as his keen eye noted it, told him it had found its mark. already the second one was drawn back for a dart; father grafton had roared, "spring ahead! he's fast!" when the air was darkened by the ponderous tail of the infuriated monster, which seemed to hang poised for an instant--a cry of "stern! stern hard!!"--a crash--and the starboard boat was buried in a cloud of foam. "spring, men! he stove!" shouted the mate, and with the heave of the next sea the wreck seemed to struggle up through the boiling vortex, the crew striking out for their lives to meet the approaching boats. no whale was to be seen; but what struck a chill to every heart, only five heads could be counted! "spring, men, do! they're all swimming for it! peak your oar, bunker, and stand by to lend them a hand! don't look for the whale now! two--three--four--five--o god! where's mr. johnson?" the oath must have been overlooked by the recording angel. the third mate had sunk to rise no more till the great day of reckoning. the whole head of the boat, as far as the bow-thwart, was crushed to splinters by the fearful blow; and the bowman seemed to have escaped by a miracle. the half-drowned men were pulled into the other two boats; and the line was found to be cut, but no one seemed clearly to know how, when, or by whom. anxious eyes peered round, hoping against hope, to see the head of the lost man; but a moment's reflection served to convince captain upton of the impossibility of his having escaped. he was silent for a short space after he stood by the side of his mate; then pointing significantly at the crushed fragments of the boat's bow, "he must have been killed instantly, mr. grafton," he said, and a tear started from the eye of the strong man, and was lost among the briny drops that were streaming from every thread of his clothing. father grafton answered only by a nod of assent, showing his full conviction of the worst. a moment and the captain was himself again! he had paid the tribute of a full heart, and was once more the whaling captain, alive to the emergency of the moment. "pull ahead, and pick up the wreck! we'll save all the craft we can, mr. dunham, but never mind the boat. we must let her go, and bear a hand aboard--it's breezing on all the time, and i expect we shall have it harder to-night. don't stop for small matters; save the oars and line--boat's sail if you can. set your waif, mr. grafton, for the ship--never mind, he's coming; i see her falling off now. lay off a little from the wreck, boys; don't, for heaven's sake, stave another boat now. there, that'll do; stand by to pull ahead. what's 'cooper' running so far for? i wonder if he'll think to come to on the starboard tack, so as to hoist these boats to leeward. yes! all right! there he braces up his mizzen topsail! pull ahead, and let's get snug before night!" the arethusa came flying up to the wind with her topsails run down on the caps, and the jib at the boom-end slatting at a furious rate, as the overloaded boats pulled alongside under her lee. "keep your tackles up clear till we give the word! look out on deck for some of this lumber! bear a hand--what are you all staring at?" for the ship-keepers seemed to be paralyzed with dread, at not seeing the third mate in either of the boats. "light out now, all but two to hook on! here, come to the falls, everybody, and stand by to run the boat up. now's your time, mr. grafton--hook on--all ready, bunker? _fore and aft!_ quick, boys, and take her out of water!" the boats were fortunately secured in the cranes, without accident. the wind was piping on to a gale and a thick, driving mist, bringing an icy sensation with it from the southward, gave evidence that we were approaching the cape horn latitudes. "clew the fore and mizzentopsails right up, mr, grafton! send some hands out to stow the jib--never mind hauling down the foretack--we shall have to reef the foresail soon. make all snug as fast as you can, and have some small tackles ready for securing the lee-boats to-night." and the "old man" went below to find some dry clothing, and to indulge his feelings now that he had leisure to reflect upon the loss of mr. johnson. the arethusa was soon careening to the blast under her close-reefed maintopsail and staysails, the whole heavens shrouded in gloom, and, as the shades of night drew down upon the wild scene, each one seemed to realize that we had cause of congratulation in the fact of our timely arrival on board, and shuddered to think what might have been our fate, if exposed an hour or two longer in open boats, had the whale run us some distance from the ship before the thick weather shut down hiding her from view. it is at such times that the seaman feels his own nothingness, and realizes his dependence on the mercy of heaven. the whaleman, in particular, has frequent cause to feel how narrowly he has escaped such dangers. even other mariners have little idea of the risks encountered by this class of men; for whalemen form the only branch of the profession who may be truly said to make their home on the ocean; to "go _down_ to the sea in ships," while others skim across it; and in a literal sense, to "_do business_ on the great waters." little was said among the officers about the dreadful casualty which had so suddenly removed one of their number, but many a thrilling story went round the forecastle that night from the old hands, the more impressive from the circumstance of the speakers lying in their berths, with the darkness relieved by only one dimly-burning lamp, swaying and flickering with the motion of the ship in the gale--of men who had met violent deaths in various ways, and of hairbreadth escapes of others, in most of which latter cases, the narrator was, of course, himself the hero of the adventure. morning broke upon the stout ship still lying to under short canvas, the wind howling through the rigging, the decks drenched with spray, and everything cold and cheerless. the gale, however, now came in fitful gusts, with lulls between; in evidence that it had spent its force, and was breaking up. the morning watch were collected aft on the lee side of the deck, while father grafton, wrapped in pilotcloth, stood holding on by the weather quarter rail, and gazing at the sky to windward, observing the signs of better weather. as he turned and threw his glance casually off to leeward, a sudden lighting up of his countenance told that something had arrested his attention. he changed his position for a better view, and, in a moment more, spoke: "there it is again. blo-o-ows! sperm whale--there's white water! wounded whale, too--i know by the way he spouts. that must be the whale we struck yesterday--blo-o-ows! steward! tell captain upton there's a sperm whale off the lee-beam!" it was unnecessary to tell him, for he was just stepping out of the cabin at the moment. "where away, mr. grafton?" then, as his quick eye caught the smoke of the spout blowing off, "ah! yes! i see him--there's white water. yes, that's the whale that killed mr. johnson. o, if we only had good weather to pay him off for it!" then looking to windward, "how _is_ the weather, anyhow? can't we go down and have a dig at him? no, no, it's no use to put boats down into, this sea. by thunder! how he lies there, aggravating us! badly hurt, too; he can't go much. got both irons in him, i expect--i couldn't tell about the second iron. can't we keep the run of him till the weather moderates?" "i think we can," said the mate, "if he don't work to windward--and i don't think he will. he must have gone just about the drift of the ship through the night. we might kill him from the ship, but then we couldn't secure him afterwards, and we should drift to leeward of him." "i'd like to have the killing of him!" said the captain, eagerly. "i want a little revenge on that whale, and i would rather kill him than any other one in the ocean." another impatient look to windward, "no, no, we can't use the boats. the-e-ere's white water again! we'll try him with the ship anyhow. get some lances ready, and we'll run down there and have a fling at him--if we lose a lance or two it's no great matter--we'll have revenge at any rate. it's moderating every minute, eh, mr. grafton?" "yes, sir; and there's the sun trying to break through the clouds yonder. i think we shall have good weather in an hour or two." "yes, but it will take some time for the sea to go down. get your lances ready! here, blacksmith, bend the end of that line to the lance warp. we mustn't check too short, mr. grafton, or we'll lose all our lances." the whale was not more than a quarter of a mile off, bearing a little abaft the beam, or nearly dead to leeward, and appeared to be too badly hurt to go down. all hands were on deck to assist in the sport, and lances were hastily prepared at various points along the starboard side of the ship. "hard up your helm, there!" shouted the captain. "run down the mizzen-staysail, and shiver in the mainyard! here, jeff, i want you at the wheel, and mind the word, quick. see the whale now, mr. dunham? yes, there he is--let her go off more yet. _well_, the mainyard! belay that--haul taut the lee-braces. _stead-y!_ meet her quick, jeff--stand by your lances now." and captain upton ran to his place by the starboard fore-swifter, and mr. grafton into the fore-chains abaft him, while the second mate stood ready in the waist, and the boatsteerers, armed with similar weapons, found eligible stations still further in reserve. the ship was now booming off under good headway, rolling heavily in the trough of the sea. "starboard a little, jeff--so, steady! meet her, quick, meet her. port a little--so, steady as you go now!" said the eager and excited captain, coursing the ship so as to shave just clear of the whale, who lay "sogging" up and down in his element, and occasionally blowing, the spout having a faint and broken appearance as if forced from him by a painful effort. as we drew near, the iron could be distinctly seen in his back, the pole hanging down by his side, and soon as he raised his flukes to thrash the sea in his agony, the other one was discovered in his "small." the last effort of a dying man had driven it home! "now, then, stand by, all of you," said the captain, in a suppressed voice. "we shall have a good chance, but it's awkward darting, if we don't catch the roll of the ship right. if i _miss_ him, mr. grafton, _don't you_!" at the moment the whale was abreast the martingale, he moved his hand to port the helm, and stand by the braces. "now's our time!" as the next roll of the ship brought her fore-channels nearly into the water just at the right moment, and both lances entered the whale's body at the same instant, driven to the socket. "hard a port! brace up the mainyard! bear a hand, and let her come to the wind!" the whale had buried himself beneath the surface, on receiving the deadly steel. the captain's lance drew out, but mr. grafton's warp was snapped like a thread, and the lance was left in his body. the reserves had no chance to grease their weapons. "run up that mizzen-staysail!" shouted the "old man," as the ship was brought rapidly to the wind, shipping a considerable body of water forward, which luckily did no damage. "where's the whale? i see the bloody water here on the quarter. up aloft, two or three of ye, and keep a sharp eye out for him!" the order was superfluous, for half a dozen were already in the rigging at different points. "loose the foresail, mr. grafton, fore and mizzentopsails, too. we mustn't drift off any more--it's going to moderate; and we may be able to keep the run of him. there he blo-o-ows! right astern! _blood thick as tar_!" roared captain upton, wild with excitement, as the immense spermaceti rose in the ship's wake, and the blood-red cloud blown off to leeward from his spiracle, told that the death of mr. johnson was avenged. the weather had materially improved by the time the topsails were sheeted home and set. vigilant eyes at the masthead observed the whale's movement, and in time the ship wore round and stood along near him in time to see him go in his dying "flurry" within a short distance of his relentless enemies. the sea would not admit of a boat being lowered to take possession; but he was kept in sight by watching the "slick," and manoeuvring on short tacks all the forenoon. after dinner, the gale having abated to a whole topsail breeze, and the sea gone down so that a boat with a picked crew and careful management might venture to cut a hole, the larboard boat was lowered, and after considerable difficulty he was hauled alongside and fluked. the cutting gear was got up, and the work driven with all possible expedition, for moderate weather was not to be depended upon for any length of time in these latitudes. still, it was three o'clock by the time we got fairly hooked on, and what with surging and parting, and tearing out hooks, little progress was made, and at dark we "lashed down," and knocked off our arduous duty with one blanket piece in the blubber-room, the whale's body riding by the large fluke.chain, and the head cut off and secured alongside by the small chain and two parts of a large new hawser. the wind was hauling to the westward, and blowing on another gale. all sail was taken in, and the watches set; darkness shut down its dread pall around, and the howling of the night storm was rendered more dismal by the screams of thousands of ravenous albatrosses sitting in the "slick" to windward of the ship, and the clanking and surging of the fluke-chain as it quivered under the terrific strain. at midnight the small chain attached to the head parted, but by veering away a longer scope on the ropes the ponderous mass seemed to ride easier than before. the ropes held bravely till four o'clock, when weakened by long-continued stretch, strain and chafe, they gave way; and the valuable head, containing at least forty barrels of sperm, went dancing off upon a mountain wave, and could be seen from time to time flashing up through the darkness, till it was lost to view in the gloom to windward. the fluke-chain still hung, but the gale and sea increasing every moment, the strain at last became too powerful even for its great strength, and it snapped about daylight with the report of a gun. the wind had hauled round gradually by north-west, and was now nearly at north, and fair for the course on which we were bound. captain upton was on deck when the chain parted, and looked with longing eyes off the weather quarter at the lost prize till it could be seen no longer; then, satisfied no more could be done to save it, he ordered the helm up, and, setting the foresail and close-reefed fore and maintopsails, the proud ship once more bounded before the favorable gale, laying her course inside of the falklands for cape horn. chapter xi. promotion.--"cooper's novels."--the mate moralizes.--cape horn. the vacancy occasioned by the death of mr. johnson was filled by the promotion of bunker to be third mate; and the next matter for consideration was the selection of a boatsteerer for the larboard boat. the two nantucket boys were not, as yet, old enough or stout enough for this duty. old jeff and the two portuguese, from their experience, were eligible candidates; but it seems father grafton had determined, so far as he was concerned, to promote his bowman to that office. captain upton, as i afterwards learned, was disposed to leave the choice in the mate's hands, merely reminding him of the necessity of due consideration in a matter so important. "you know," said he, "we can't afford to have whales missed. however, 'blacksmith' seems a likely young man about the ship, and as for his conduct in a boat you are better qualified to judge than i am, as he has been at your bow oar. so, if you think he will do his work, try him. let him have one chance, at any rate; we must run a risk with somebody." the weather had moderated at this time so that the ship was running under whole topsails; and a new boat had already been taken from overhead, and was in process of fitting for service to take her place on the starboard cranes. the word was passed for "blacksmith" to appear on the quarter deck. the old man and father grafton were in consultation as i came aft and stood under their lee, respectfully waiting for orders. "blacksmith," asked the captain, turning suddenly upon me, "can you strike a whale?" "i think i could, sir, if i was within reach of him," i answered. "do you want to try yourself?" he asked. "yes, sir," said i quietly, and yet confidently, too. "remember," said the old man, "if you fail once, with a good chance, you must give it up and let somebody else come in. we can't affort to have any '_foopaws_.'[ ] mr. grafton thinks you will do it well, and has said a good word for you." i bowed my acknowledgments to the mate for his good opinion, and said something i cannot tell what, to the effect that i would endeavor to justify it. had i been previously notified, i might have had a "neat and appropriate speech" prepared for the occasion. "i want you to remember," resumed the old man, "when you go alongside of a whale, that the voyage is depending upon you. _get a good scote, and grit the ends of your front teeth right off!_ if you do your work, i'll see that you are paid the lay. you may take charge of the larboard boat's craft, and rig the irons to suit your own hand. bring your traps aft to-night, and take up your quarters in the cabin; and understand, if you live aft, i expect to _find_ you aft, except when your duty calls you forward." "thank you, sir," i answered, "i'll do the best i can." "that's all i want," said the captain, with a wink of intelligence to his mate, as if to say, "he'll do." the change was soon made. i transferred myself and my effects to the region of forks and dishes, and became, at short notice, a petty officer, and member of the house of lords, after only three months' actual service at sea. my companions in the "bull-room" were more select and less numerous than in the forecastle, consisting of young fisher, the boatsteerer, the veracious cooper, and the portuguese steward and cabin-boy. i had now the full benefit of the cooper's yarns, and he did not fail to entertain me with some choice specimens of munchausenism during the first watch below that evening. "well, blacksmith," said he, "you've seen a little of the other side of the picture, and you are satisfied that all whales are not taken so easily as that first one off the western islands. not that i think this last one was a bad whale at all, but any whale is liable to get an unlucky clip at a boat when he feels the iron. then you see, it was rugged weather, and the boat was going to leeward under good headway, so it was awkward work to keep clear of him." "'twas all an accident," said fisher, who had come down to light his pipe, "as it always is, _i_ think. of course, if you throw an iron into a whale, he'll kick and struggle just as you or i would; and if a boat happens to be right in his way, why, the hardest fends off. and that's the way all boats are stove, _i_ believe. i never saw a whale that i thought _meant_ to stave a boat." "didn't you?" inquired the cooper. "well, hold on, fisher, perhaps you'll go another voyage and still not see a regular fighting whale. i hope so, at any rate. but it's no use for you to tell me there aint any, because i know better. i could tell you about a scrape we had in the deucalion, only i don't want to scare you young fellows." "o, fire away!" said fisher. "you wont frighten me nor blacksmith. what was it, that same whale that was so long you had to sling stages over the stern to cut his head off?" "no, indeed," replied the cooper, "that was in the bajazet. no, this was only a forty-barrel bull, and the worst of it was, we didn't cut him in at all. he stove all four boats for us, and chawed them up into splinters. we got out the last boat we had from overhead, and picked up the men, and the whale chased us all the way to the ship. we pulled all we knew, and got alongside, hooked on, and had the boat raised out of the water, when the old fellow shoved his jaw out and grabbed her right out of the tackles! such a crashing and splintering of cedar boards you never saw or heard as when he shut down upon her. the two men that were hooking on grabbed the tackles and shinned for dear life. but he wasn't satisfied with that mouthful, for he undertook to chaw the ship. but old captain harper hadn't forgotten the essex story, and we made all sail to get out of his way; for, mind ye, if he had started a leak in the old ship, we hadn't a boat left to save ourselves in. he chased us about four hours, but he was somewhat weakened from loss of blood, for he had seven irons and four lances sticking in him. we were in hopes he would turn up in the ship's wake, but he seemed to find out at last that a stern chase was a long one, and gave it up. the last we saw of him he was going to windward, spouting clear. about a fortnight afterwards, we spoke the termagant, and they gave us our craft. they had picked him up, dead, and when we came to compare reckonings, we found it was about three hundred and fifty miles from where we lost sight of him!" "how long was it before they found him?" asked fisher. "the second day after we struck him," replied the cooper, not seeing the drift of the question. "well, he must have picked up his strength amazingly after he started to windward. you say he couldn't go fast enough to _leeward_ to overtake the ship, and yet he went three hundred and fifty miles _to windward_ in a matter of thirty-six hours: that's about ten knots an hour." "i don't care if it is; he couldn't keep up with the old deucalion when we put her off with the wind on her quarter." "why, how fast would she go?" "seventeen knot, easy," answered the cooper with the utmost gravity. "there, that'll do," said fisher. "it's time i went on deck. whenever i can believe that old wagon of a ship went seventeen knots, then i shall be ready to believe in these eating whales. but you haven't got tobacco enough to make me hoist in either." "it's no use for him to talk," said the cooper after fisher was gone. "if he goes whaling as long as i have been, perhaps he'll see an eating whale. i reckon it's breezing on by the sound on deck. yes, down goes the coil of the maintopsail halyards, and here they come stamping aft. i think the wind will haul ahead before morning, and then we may as well make out our log for three or four weeks, beating and banging to get round the horn. well, it's all in the course of a voyage. i was seventy days off the cape in the bajazet, and it never lulled enough to get the fore and mizzen topsails on her." "must have been pleasant," i muttered, half asleep. "pleasant! yes. plenty to eat, and nothing to do but wear round now and then. the worst of it was, the ship was so crank we had to travel on our ankles altogether, and when it did moderate, we'd lost the power of using our feet like human--" i was by this time fast locked, and i presume that my snoring reminded the inveterate yarn-spinner that he might as well follow suit as to waste his breath. his predictions proved more reliable that his narratives; for when our watch turned out, the ship was under double reefs with the wind at south-west, and squally. there was nothing to do, however, unless it "breezed on" harder. so, after seeing that the watch were all within call and the lookout set, we made ourselves comfortable under the hurricane house for the new ship boasted that appendage among her modern improvements. "when i first went to sea," said father grafton, "we would have laughed at the notion of building such a covering as this, as we would at many other things which are now quite common, and which, a few years hence, will be looked upon as necessary. there's the patent windlass: it's the first one that i have been shipmate with, but i suppose after i have been this voyage, i should hardly know how to go to sea again with an old-fashioned back-breaker. why, on my first voyage, we didn't even have purchase bars at the windlass ends; nothing but the handspikes, and it was heave, dick, and heave, tom, for i hove last." "and yet you used to get large whales and cut them in," said mr. bunker. "yes, that's true. some people will tell you that they did it as quickly and as easily then as we do nowadays; but i can't confirm that. we used to manage it, after a fashion. it is true enough, there's no knowing what men can do till they are put to it. there is a great deal of nonsense talked by some old-school sailors about the good old fashions and good old days when we made short voyages, and got full ships in almost every instance; and they pretend to say that there were better whalemen in those days than now. but that's all moonshine. there were more whales to be seen, and they were easier struck than now. if we struck one and lost him, why, ten to one, we saw another next day and got him; and so the lost one was forgotten. but now we see them so seldom we can't so well afford to lose one, and, with our improved gear and increased knowledge, it is unreasonable to suppose that we lose as many as our fathers did. i think, if the statistics of voyages could be collected and compared, we should prove that we are better whalemen than they were; that is to say, that we get much more oil in proportion to the opportunities we meet with. i know that such has been the fact in my own experience of twenty-five years." "you would find it rather hard to make some of the old retired shipmasters believe that," said mr. bunker. "i know it. some of them have an idea even now, that they could come out with a ship, and turn them up on peru and chili just as fast as they used to. and every now and then some heroic old gentleman takes a start, and comes out here to show us how it's done, and goes home again with half a cargo of oil, and a flea in his ear. more than one instance occurs to me at this moment. whales are not so plenty now that we can practice the game that cooper tells us about on his first voyage." "what was that, sir?" i inquired. "cooper tells that they used to throw bricks at them to see whether they would kick, before they went on to strike them. by the way, he was spinning you a tough yarn to-night. my room door was open and i could hear most of it. what do you think about that eating whale, blacksmith?" "i hardly know how much of it to believe," said i. "are there really any such whales as he tells of, sir?" "why, yes, now and then one; though i think the cases are very rare where whales make a deliberate attack. i have never yet seen one myself, but i have sailed with others who have. captain upton tells me he has seen two or three in his life, and i don't think he can be mistaken. we have all heard of the essex affair to which the cooper alluded, and the dreadful sufferings of the crew. i remember it well, for i was cruising on chili at that time in the plutarch, and from the statements of the survivors, it is plain enough that that whale went to work deliberately and with malice prepense, as the lawyers would say, to destroy the ship. the cooper's yarn is, doubtless, partly true; but you know by this time, that a story loses nothing in his telling. he has, very likely, seen two or even three boats stoven by one whale, so that his romance is, like many others, 'founded on facts.'" "do you think he believes his own stories, sir?" i asked. "i really can't say. it is a phenomenon that has puzzled me for many years. i don't mean in his particular case, for he is only one of a class, and i myself have sailed with two or three others who could equal him in drawing the long bow. sensible men they were, too, in other respects, and, even remarkably free from some other vices to which seamen are addicted; but lying seemed to be constitutional with them, or else they had cultivated the habit till they had lost all control of themselves. and they seemed impervious to shame in this one particular only. you have read peter simple, i suppose?" "yes, sir," i answered. "you are thinking of captain kearney, sir?" "yes. when i first read it, i thought marryatt had sketched a very extravagant character in captain kearney, but i have since become more reconciled to it, and don't think it much caricatured after all. i think that a man may contract an absorbing passion for lying as well as for strong drink, and be ready to go all lengths to gratify it. we see every day instances of men, with a thousand noble qualities, who are slaves to liquor, and seem to have lost all self-control in that one respect. now the cooper is a steady, sober man and a capital fellow, aside from this singular propensity; but i firmly believe that, like captain kearney, he will die with a lie in his throat. how do you head, kelly?" "south-east, sir." "knocking off, eh? well--stand by to wear ship!" the conversation was broken off, and was not resumed again for this watch. the next morning, it being more moderate, spouts were seen to leeward, and the ship kept off for them. the new boat was pronounced ready for action at short notice, and all was excitement and expectation for a few minutes; but the cry of "forked spout!" put a damper on our hopes. "right whales!" said the old man. "brace up and let her come to again!" "let's go down and try 'em?" petitioned mr. dunham. "no, i sha'n't bother with 'em. if we can't get sperm oil, we'll go home empty-handed. keep her along full and by! _look sharp there aloft for another kind._ these whales have got too many spout-holes for my use." it was even so with nantucket whalemen at the period of which i am writing. a whale who showed evidence of having two spiracles was not worth bothering about. and even for years after the great north-west whaling grounds were opened, and rich returns were pouring into new bedford, new london and other whaling ports, the islanders, the pioneers of whaling, still clung to their old faith and plodded on over their old grounds, picking up a sperm whale now and then, and spending four years or more to get, in most instances, about half a cargo. they ignored the great nor'west; it was a myth; the very sound of it a great bugbear. "spermaceti or empty casks" was their platform for many years; and then at last they woke from this delusion, it was too late; the cream had been skimmed from the northern grounds, and the palmiest days of right whaling were over. "have you ever been right whaling, cooper?" i asked after the stir was over and all was quiet again. "right whaling? yes, two voyages on the banks. talk about fighting whales! you ought to see one of those fellows pick his teeth with the corner of his flukes." "how's dat, when dey's got no teeth?" asked the cook, who stood within hearing. "they've no teeth, strictly speaking, that's true; but they've slabs of bone which amounts to the same thing for all the purposes of the story. i've seen 'em do it many a time--slat their flukes from eye to eye. whip-lashes are nothing to 'em." "make more oil than sperm whales, don't they?" i asked. "yes, such as 'tis--make four or five hundred barrels sometimes!" "do they ever eat up boats?" i inquired. "no, never fight with their heads; they wear 'bonnets' on their heads, and i suppose they don't like to rumple them." "what are they made of?" asked fisher. "gauze and ribbons?" "no--lice and barnacles," said the cooper. "do the bulls wear bonnets, too?" "yes, of course." "do they have new bonnets as often as the fashions change?" the only answer was a warlike demonstration with a squilgee that lay at hand; and fisher beat a retreat. we met the strong westerly winds as we approached the latitude of the dreaded horn, which is seldom to be caught asleep on the outward passage, the prevailing winds having almost the regularity of trades as to direction; and for three weeks they blew south-west and west, so that all hands were well initiated to the beauties of this delectable corner of the world. we were obliged to keep mostly on the starboard tack, and stretch to the southward nearly to the latitude of sixty degrees, which brought us completely out of the track of homeward-bound ships, who, with the same winds would hug the land and give it the go-by under a press of canvas. "begins with strong gales from west-south-west and rugged sea," became a standing form of entry in our journals till we tired of the sight of the words; and day by day our stout ship struggled, and wallowed and tumbled about, till our patience was well-nigh exhausted. heavy squalls, accompanied by a peculiar, sharp hail, which cut our flesh like small shot, sometimes varied the entertainment. yarns, as usual, whiled away the dreary night watches; the experiences of former voyages were referred to, and the changes rung upon them; the cooper drew his bow with a strong hand and heaped pelion upon ossa in the way of falsehood; while father grafton entertained us with more reliable stories, not only of his own experiences, but of those of other voyagers, going back to the days of lemaire and schouten, who gave the cape its name, and coming down through the eras of anson and cook to the voyage of the little ship beaver, of nantucket, the pioneer of pacific whaling, which doubled the horn in , and made her voyage in seventeen months. his memory was well stored with facts of this kind, and so arranged that he could draw freely upon them as they were wanted. a most entertaining companion was our worthy chief officer, and the night watches slipped away much more pleasantly to me since my change of station had brought me nearer to him. after standing so far south, we could do something on the other tack, taking the advantage of slants of wind. our progress was slow and wearisome; but perseverance at last prevailed over all obstacles, the redoubtable headland was doubled without further accident than the loss of another boat washed off the waist cranes in a gale, and a few days more saw the gallant arethusa doing her best to make up for her lost time; as, seemingly conscious of her tardiness, and rejoicing in her freedom from antarctic thraldom, she went rolling down the coasts of patagonia and chili before a "long and strong souther." chapter xii. fishing at juan fernandez.--fight with an ugly whale. "blacksmith, how long is it since you read robinson crusoe?" asked the mate, as he stopped in his walk near the mainmast, and leaned against the top-sail-sheet bitts. "some years, i suppose?" "no, sir," said i. "the last time i read it was less than one year ago, and i found it as fresh and entertaining as ever." "no doubt of it," replied father grafton. "nothing connected with my schoolboy days has so firmly stamped itself on my memory as the appearance of the old copy of crusoe, that i owned for many years; indeed, i carried it to sea with me on my first voyage, and it was accidentally lost overboard. i can see the brown paper and the quaint old type with its _f_ and long _s_ so dangerously alike, and its horrible woodcuts! for it was a copy of a very old edition, and had, no doubt, delighted two or three generations of boys before it fell into my hands. but what reminded me of it to-night is the fact that we shall probably make juan fernandez to-morrow." "yet this island is not mentioned in the story, i believe," said i. "no, the scene of the romance lies on the atlantic side, somewhere near the mouth of the orinoco; but it is probable that de foe got the idea from the story of a scotchman who lived three years on this island." "o yes," said i, "i remember the soliloquy of this selkirk that i used to read and declaim at the country school, "'i am monarch of all i survey.' then i suppose this selkirk story is really true, is it?" "yes, there is no good reason to doubt it. he was taken off the island by the english circumnavigator, rogers, in , if i remember right." "is there any one living on it now?" i asked. "i don't know. there was no one there the last visit i made to it. but i have heard since that the chilian government made use of it as a penal settlement, or something of the kind. but we shall not probably land there. what we want is a good haul of fresh fish, and this is just the place to find it. we must muster all the fishing-lines in the ship; the old man has got plenty of hooks; and, by the way, i want you in the morning to get an iron hoop from the cooper and net it across with ropeyarn ('cooper' will know just what i want), to catch some crawfish." "what sort of fish are they?" asked i. "why, they are a species of the lobster family, and fully equal to any of our lobsters in flavor." "juan fernandez," resumed the mate, "is a name that more correctly belongs to both islands, some seventy or eighty miles apart. the spaniards called them _mas a tierra_ and _mas a fuera_, from their relative positions, 'more inshore,' and 'more off-shore.' the westernmost is still known by its name of masa fuera, but this one seems to have taken 'juan fernandez' as its distinctive title." we stood in near this beautiful island, which is invested with a sort of romantic interest from the circumstances to which the mate alluded; and certainly, i thought, if a man _must_ load a solitary life for a series of years, this would not be the last place he would select for his hermitage. the larboard and waist-boats were equipped and lowered for the fishing excursion, and we shoved off in high feather. we were provided with convenient anchors which we dropped within a short distance of the rocks, where the water was alive with fish of various kinds, which could be plainly seen darting and winding below us. the lines were hardly down among them when some one hauled a fish into the boat; some one else followed with another; and the sport was fairly begun. pieces of pork furnished bait to start with; then the fish supplied tempting morsels of their own flesh for the hook, to allure their cannibalic brethren to share their captivity. o ye amateur anglers who sit with a rod and fly, tempting little innocent fish to nibble and thinking it not bad sport if you get two or three nibbles an hour, come to juan fernandez and find good, hearty, muscular sport, that you will not fall asleep at. "halloo!" shouted obed b., as he recoiled from the haul he had made, staring with disgust, "what the deuce have i got on my hook now?" "conger eel!" said the mate, with a roar of laughter. "that's not the kind you used to spear in nantucket docks, or stay all night for at maddaket ditch. let's see you get clear of him, now you've caught him," for the eel had wriggled and twisted himself into a hopeless snarl with the line, after swallowing the hook firmly; and defied all his attempts to release him, for, as hoeg expressed it, he "wouldn't be handled." manoel, the portuguese, being better acquainted with eels of that sort, soon got him clear. he said they were good eating; but hoeg slung him overboard again with, "who in thunder do you suppose wants to eat that flat-headed snake?" and now every one began to haul more or less of these eels, which created much merriment and boisterous laughter, while it consumed much time in clearing lines and getting rid of them. the first haul of my impromptu net brought up one crustaceous monster of the kind i wanted, among a snarl of eels who had writhed and squirmed into and through the meshes of the net, with their teeth fastened among the rope-yarns, and clinging with a pertinacity and muscular power of jaw, which plainly said, "nought but death shall part us." over it went again, eels and all; and i caught several more crawfish, great, ugly-looking fellows, who added greatly to the confusion under our feet by flinging their claws and feelers about among the fish at the bottom of the boat. a loud hail from mr. dunham, whose boat was anchored at some distance from us, suddenly interrupted the sport upon which we had been so intent; and looking up with one accord, we saw that his crew were hauling in their lines for a start, while he himself was gesticulating with his arm extended in the direction of the ship. the ensign was flying at the gaff; a signal of recall. "he sees whales!" said mr. grafton. "in lines, boys! make them up at once. haul in your net, blacksmith, or cut it adrift, and set the sail, as soon as you can get the anchor aweigh!" the orders were obeyed with all speed, and the two boats were soon nearing the ship as fast as the sails and oars would carry us. the small flag was already up at the main; and the extended "pointer" (a light pole with a black ball on the end of it, to be used at the masthead, when the boats are down) told us that the whale was off the ship's lee bow. "there he hauls aback!" said father grafton, "and i declare, there goes the starboard boat down. the whale must be in range of the ship from us, and pretty near the ship too, for the old man can't wait for us, and is going to try him alone--look! here's another ship hove in sight round that point, and coming under all sail. spring hard men, and get alongside! if we only had our line tub in, i wouldn't go to the ship at all, i'd take the fish with me, or else throw them overboard." the second mate was but little ahead of us in getting alongside the ship, and we both strove to outdo each other in getting the lumber out of the boat and the lines in. fish flew in on deck with the fury of a bombardment; fishing-lines and boat anchors were bundled in among them; we sung out for our line at the same moment mr. dunham was shouting for his, and the cooper in the maintopgallant-crosstrees excited us to still greater exertions, by the cry "the old man's most on! if he spouts twice more, he'll have him!" "bear a hand with that tub!" said father grafton. "be careful to keep it upright, and don't break the coil! so; lower handsomely now! let go! shove off, and get your oars out as fast as you can!" as we swung out by the stern of the ship, the cooper roared again: "there's white wate-e-er! _the old man's fast!_" "bend on your craft, blacksmith, as fast as you can," said the mate, "and be sure you have everything clear. pull ahead, the rest of you." the two boats were pretty equally matched for a pull; for, though ours was a little the fastest when under sail, mr. dunham's crew were rather heavier than ours, and the excess of muscular power counterbalanced the slight difference in the models of the two boats. we diverged a little so as to give each other full swing, and then "hooked down" to our work; for the whale was spinning off to leeward at a smart pace, and a stern chase is proverbially a long one. "he stays up well," said the mate, who kept his clear eye fixed upon the fast whale; "he hasn't sounded yet, but he runs so that the old man can't haul up to him. there he 'mills!' he's headed along on a wind now," said he, rapidly altering the boat's course with the steering oar, so as to forereach on him. "stretch hard men! he's milling more yet! coming to windward! right at us now! all right, we'll take him 'head and head!'" the two boats now converged again, both aiming for the same point of attack, and steering for the nib-end of the whale. the general reader may be surprised at this mode of approaching him, unless informed that the sperm whale cannot see directly ahead of him, but if a boat pulls for his broadside, he is much more liable to take the alarm. "stand up, blacksmith, and get your craft ready," said the mate, quietly. "see that everything is clear. be sure and keep cool, and don't dart too soon. ease pulling, all! he's coming quick enough; there's no need to pull, but stand by your oars, all ready at the word." he was indeed coming, with a vengeance! as i stood up, he was just in the act of rounding his immense back above the water, after blowing, and the white water was flying from his sides in clouds, as he forced himself to windward. the muscular power of an animal like this is fearful to think of; and i must confess to anxious feelings, nay, to a feeling of dread, even, at the novel position in which i had been so suddenly placed. i remembered father grafton's injunction to keep cool, and then thought of the old man's expressive and characteristic words, "_get a good scote, and grit the ends of your front teeth off._" i had not time to think of much more, for as his spout-hole made its next appearance above the surface, i saw that he had lessened the distance between us fully one half. he blew off his spout, clear and strong, and as his back rose again, i saw that the captain's boat was but slightly fast by one iron. he had his second iron in the crotch, having hauled it in, but had not yet been able to haul near to the whale, so as to use it. "look out next time," said mr. grafton in a low, anxious tone. "don't be in a hurry to dart till you are past his head." i glanced round; the other boat was waiting the crisis like ourselves, on the other side, just giving room for the whale to pass handsomely between us. fisher stood balancing his first iron, all eagerness for the fray. a roar saluted my ears, and a cloud of spray was blown into the air like very fine rain, so near as to envelop me in its cool shower. i grasped my iron; all feelings of fear or dread had vanished. not so the feeling of anxiety, but it was only anxiety lest the prey might yet escape me. "steady, my boy!" said the mate again, "hold your hand!" his massive head drew swiftly towards me; the boat rocked in the swell forced off from his glossy side: and his broad back lay temptingly before me. it was a sure thing. "now blacksmith!" said the mate, throwing the boat's head off as he spoke. i needed no second bidding; my first iron went in to the socket, and the second followed it, though not quite so deeply. "good!" said father grafton. "_heave your box-line overboard!_" with his shout was mingled a cry of "stern! stern hard!" from the other boat; i saw fisher's iron cleave its way through the shining blackskin opposite my own, there was a convulsive heaving and rocking of everything about us, then a loud crash and splintering sound. the waist-boat's crew were all swimming amid the chaotic wreck of their frail craft. her broadside was crushed in clear fore and aft. the whale had thrown himself over towards her, and we had escaped without injury. the monster had disappeared instantly, but was evidently not far beneath us, as all the lines hung slack. the second mate had, of course, cut his, as soon as he could get at it. we sterned off out of the slick where the whale had gone down, and lay just at the outer rim of the bloody water. "you are well fast, mr. grafton, with both irons; you hold on!" said the old man. "i'll cut off and pick up the crew. never mind, we'll divide 'em. take three men into your boat, and we'll both hold on. never mind the stoven boat; we can't bother about her now." the dripping crew were all rescued; for, by a good fortune which seems almost miraculous in hundreds of similar cases, no one was hurt; and we now prepared for a fresh attack with nine men in each boat; though reinforcements of this kind were not at all desirable as the boats were overloaded, and every one was in every one else's way. but the ship had run down, and was close by us, in case of further accident; we had yet three hours to sundown, and the strange ship was also near, watching our movements, and had hoisted her private or owner's signal, by which we knew her to be the fortitude; which lay at the "bar" when we sailed and had shortly followed us. "where is the whale?" said the old man. "our line is all slack." then suddenly he roared, "look out! stern all! stern, out of the way!" the ponderous head of the whale was standing erect above the water like a milestone; it swayed for a moment, and then seeming to fall over backwards, the lower jaw, with its ugly display of ivory, was thrust up, nearly at right angles with the upper. "stern! stern hard, and give him room! he'll bear watching, mr. grafton. we shall have to look out for slants. i would like to get my second iron in, but i'm afraid he wont give me a chance soon." but he did, however; for after impotently gnashing his jaw two or three times, he rolled over and straightened out, spouting, apparently, as strong as ever. it was plain that he had plenty of fight in him yet, and was fairly brought to bay. he did not intend to run any more. the starboard boat pulled up carefully within dart, and as she did so, leviathan rolled up sidewise to meet her. captain upton was not to be daunted, however, but crying "stern all!" he pitched his second iron in near the fin, and as the whale continued rolling, followed it up with his lance in the breast, between the fins. quick as lightning, down settled the monstrous body, and the whale again stood on end with his jaw out. he flung the jaw over with a desperate sweep, which would have dealt destruction to the boat and all hands had the range been a little shorter. the starboard boat fell back to her former position with the loss of her midship oar and the gunwale split, but that was a trifle. the whale had received two more severe wounds, at any rate; and it was our turn to take the next round with him, when he should straighten again, which he immediately did, still spouting clear, though not so strong as before. in the language of the ring, mr. grafton "was on hand at the call of time;" but the whale "played the drop game on us," and with partial success. he went down like a stone; sinking so quickly that he received the mate's lance much higher in the body than was hoped or intended. "he's an ugly customer, mr. grafton," said the captain as we sheered off again. "keep your eyes peeled! there's no telling where he'll come next." but i soon had reason to know where he was. there was a light rippling under the stern of our boat, then a rise of the sea, lifting her a little; and that fatal lower jaw stood like a small tower on one side of the boat, with its double tier of ivory cones towards me, while the tremendous head, full of scars, overshadowed me on the other. i did not stop to investigate their beauties; but, while the tub and stroke oarsmen vanished over the gunwales, one each side, i vaulted a sort of back somersault over the steering strap, just as the monster "shut pan" upon her, crushing her stern up like an egg-shell. this "steel-trap" manoeuvre had proved a perfect success, and nine men were swimming for their lives while the captain's boat was already overloaded with the other nine! but reinforcements were not far off. as i looked about me when i rose, the captain's waif was set for help, and the fortitude's three boats were already splashing into the water. the old man had cut adrift from the whale, and had already thirteen men in his boat formed in close column, the other five clinging to the wreck of the larboard boat, when the three boats of our consort, all abreast, got within hail. "pick up, my men, wyer, and let some of your boats strike the whale!" said the old man. "you shall have half of him, and welcome, if we can manage to muckle him out before night. but work shy with him, or you will lose some of your boats, too." "all right!" answered captain wyer. "come, grafton, light into my boat here. jump in, my boys, all of you. look out for the whale, mr. swain," to his own mate, "and if you get a chance, pitch in. be a little careful, though, and you too, mr. russell, don't go harem-scarem! where _is_ the whale, upton?" "somewhere under us," returned the old man, as coolly as if he had said he was two miles off. "there he is!" he continued, as the whale broke water within a ship's length of the fortitude's waist-boat, and russell's boatsteerer jumped up and down in the excitement of the moment. [illustration: fight with an ugly whale. page .] a few strokes sent the boat alongside of him, going on "quartering," but both russell and his boatsteerer were a little too eager, or "harem-scarem" as his captain termed it. a blow from the monster's immense "fan" swept the two oars from the port side of his boat, ripping out the peak-cleets and splitting his gunwale, while his bowman was considerably hurt by one of the oars striking him in the head. his boat was still tight, however, and the injured man was transferred to captain wyer's boat, and i took his place to "bow on" if a chance offered. "never mind, mr. russell, try him again!" said our captain. "here's spare oars, if you want, pick 'em up, all round here. hold on a bit, though; let swain have a try, he's got the chance now." the mate of the fortitude was one of those long-limbed, powerful men, who seemed to have been built expressly to "straighten ten fathom of lance-wrap and do execution." he was wary too, in his approach, and waited for what he thought was a "good time in." he hurled his iron when four fathoms distant, and put it well in, calling, "stern, stern hard!" as he drew back his lance for a long dart, it seemed to me impossible that he could reach him, as he poised it in his hands, still backing with his oars. when he judged himself at a safe distance, it sped for its mark with a momentum that was positively fearful. he drew it back; a quiver was perceptible in the sides of the vast body of the monster who had fought so valiantly for his life; and thirty-six voices greeted the thick clots of blood now faintly gushing from his spout-hole, with glad shouts of victory. "he's throwing up the sponge," said mr. swain, quietly. "a child can take care of him now." we picked up and secured the wrecks of our boats and gear, while the whale was hauled alongside the fortitude. it was agreed that captain wyer should cut and boil him, and we would divide the oil in talcahuana, as we both expected to be there soon. we bought a boat of the fortitude, rigged the spare one overhead, and thus were enabled to lower the complement of three. we stretched across to massafuera and back, cruising between the two islands, till one more large whale rewarded our efforts; and bore away for the rendezvous, our consort having left the ground the day before. the cooper had added one to his stock of yarns which would require but little embellishment to make it marvellous. mr. grafton and fisher were converts to the "eating whale" theory; and "the doctor" listened with delight as we rehearsed the incidents of the capture of "the juan fernandez whale;" displaying, as he listened, an array of ivory almost as formidable as that of the redoubtable whale himself. chapter xiii. talcahuana. we passed the fortitude, tack and tack, beating up to the anchorage of talcahuana, and let go our anchors nearly at the same moment. fifty-five barrels was our share of "the juan fernandez whale," which made us up to two hundred and thirty, all told; not so bad a start, as we were hardly five months from home. talcahuana, or "turkeywarner," as old jeff and the cook persisted in anglicizing the name, is like many other places on the spanish main, merely the port to a large city; the cities along this coast being pushed up into mountains, at a considerable distance from the seaboard. the place itself is not much to look at, or to discourse about. a description would present no points of marked interest to the general reader, and what whaleman needs a description of talcahuana? here were anchored some dozen or fifteen whaleships, mostly from nantucket and new bedford; some lately from home bringing letters for those long absent, while two or three were making their last port homeward-bound, and ready to take the answering epistles; for at that time the process of annihilation of time and space which has made such strides within the last quarter of a century, was, comparatively speaking, in its infancy. yankee enterprise had not yet pushed its way over the sierras, and the ponchoed mexican still lounged at his ease, and drawled his _quien sabe?_ where now great commercial cities have started up as if by magic. no ocean steamers then vexed the waters of "the gulf" and the caribbean; overland mails were rather a "proposed" innovation than a fixed fact, and the electric telegraph was as yet hidden in the womb of time. to us in the pacific, news from home even a year old was heartily welcomed; while the advent of a whaler five or six months out was a perfect windfall. good fellowship and jollity presided at the reunions or "gams" on board the various whalers at anchor; music and dancing held high carnival every evening; old friendships were renewed and new ones formed; unexpected recognitions were of frequent occurrence; and even members of the same family, separated for a long series of years, were here reunited, though but temporarily. a striking instance of this sort occurred two or three days after our arrival. a bark was beating in for anchorage, and mr. swain was seen to shove off his boat from the fortitude, and pull out towards her. she had a private signal flying, and father grafton, after consulting a list which he kept tacked on the inside of his chest-lid, told me she was the clio, of new bedford, and added, indifferently, "swain's brother is mate of her." the brothers were both on board the arethusa in the evening, and i heard the question casually asked, "how long it was since they saw each other last?" "let me see," said swain of the clio. "i sailed on my first voyage to the brazil banks in , and joe had been gone about a year then in the good success. it's a little over twenty-three years." "it was quite time to shake hands, then," said our mate. i stared in amazement at the coolness with which they treated the matter! here were two brothers, both pursuing the same business for a livelihood, and both residing, with their families, in the same town, who had not seen each other's faces since they were schoolboys. and among this knot of nantucket officers present, the fact was not looked upon as being very remarkable, and was dismissed with merely a passing word of comment. i was speaking of this matter aside to the young third mate, mr. bunker, "why," said he, "we islanders don't think much of that. it's matter of course in our business. young as i am, it is eight years since i saw my eldest brother who is now second mate of a ship cruising 'on new zealand,' and i am not likely to get a sight at him for many years to come, unless one of us makes an unusually long or short voyage so as to bring us both at home at the same time. it is not that we are wanting in natural affection that we treat the matter so coolly. i think i love my brother, and i suppose if we should accidentally meet, we should do just as the swain brothers do: give each other a hearty greeting, make the most of each other's company while it lasted, and part again in a day, perhaps in an hour, for another series of years, and that is all about it." we have taken in our water and recruits; received on board the oil from the fortitude and stowed it down; the heavy work is all finished, and not much remains to be done but to paint the ship; and now the "liberty" begins. the word is passed for the watch to get ready to go ashore. now the "finery" is roused out from the depths of sea-chests, that is, if we have any; and, if we have only one article of "long-shore toggery," it must be worn, though perhaps not strictly in keeping with other parts of our attire, which gives us a slight touch of the amphibious appearance of which i have before spoken at nantucket. farrell is with us, having "swapped" into the larboard watch for the occasion, and sports a neat pair of velveteens of the peculiar color and cut that no man who speaks without the brogue, ever did, or by any possibility could wear. where he got them is a mystery, for no one of his shipmates ever saw them before. the two boys, kelly and hoeg, are resplendent in round jackets of green flannel, at that time an indispensable part of the outfit of every "native" below the rank of chief mate; but which have fallen into disuse, and passed away to oblivion with the stiff tarpaulin hat, it is to be hoped never to return. "come aft, and get your money." the old man has a pile of spanish dollars on the cabin-table, and serves them out with one hand, while he makes entries in his memorandum-book with the other; the watch pass in and out again, one at a time, like voters at the polls, each getting his two dollars, and a rough word of advice to "behave himself, and not break his liberty, nor bring any money off with him." we take our places in the boat, but not at the oar; for we are but passengers to be ferried ashore by the other watch. jack's liberty is perfect while it lasts, that is, so far as the ship's duty is concerned. twenty-four hours is our limit, and the boat will be sent in next morning to bring us off, unless we prefer to hire other conveyance, which we can do if we choose--and have money enough left. other boats with "liberty men" are to be seen leaving various ships, among the rest the fortitude's, in which are several of my former comrades in the gallant lydia ann. we pull into the rude wharf or mole, and all jump on _terra firma_ with a feeling of outgushing freedom, a fourth-of-july feeling, uncontrollable, _boiling over_. we invite our unfortunate, shipmates, the ferrymen, to "come up and take a drink," and do so with an air, too. they accept, asking the officer's permission, poor fellows! it matters not that we shall have to do the same thing to-morrow, "sufficient unto the day" is our motto now; and each man carries a declaration of independence to his pocket, ay, two of them jingling. it is not to be wondered at, if the seaman after being cooped up and subjected to strict discipline for months at sea, thinks it hard that he cannot follow his bent, and do precisely as he pleases for twenty-four hours on shore, and revolts at the idea of submitting to the local authorities and conducting himself like a law-abiding citizen. we all take a drink together at the nearest _pulperia_, officers and all, and glance condescendingly at our ferrymen ignominiously going down to the boat to pull her back again. "well, where next?" we gradually separate into knots of two or three, seeking adventures. some will care for little else but to cast anchor in a _pulperia_ and soak themselves with liquor; others will patronize a ten-pin alley or a billiard table if they can find one; while none are insensible to the blandishments of the graceful and seductive chilian women. mr. bunker assumes the office of mentor for me, for he has been here "last voyage," and knows some of the ropes. so we are not long in finding good quarters, and enjoy the day very pleasantly, drinking only enough to keep our wits sharp and make us lively company for each other. we drop in at a dance hall which is occupied only by a few loungers at present, but the fellow behind the bar, who, it strikes me has a very "rule britannia" look for a spaniard, tells us "there'll be fun in the hevening," and kindly invites us to participate. we pursue our rambles, occasionally encountering small parties of our shipmates among the many sailors to be found in various stages of exhilaration as we investigate the beauties of "jibboom street," and pry a little into the mysteries of the classic precincts of the "devil's pocket." but here's a row! let us see what it is! sailors and idlers gather from all quarters with surprising quickness, for there is perhaps nothing which exerts a greater centripetal force than a street row or brawl. it seems bad blood had been engendered between two of the fortitude's boys on the outward voyage, and they have decided to knock a little of it out, while the liquor is in. two or three harmless cracks are interchanged, and a "hook" ensues, when a vigilante unhappily appears on the field and insists upon making himself a third party in the business, contrary to all seaman-like laws of fair play; their shipmates say they shall finish their set-to if they like; another vigilante appears to assist his colleague, and each seizing a belligerent, they start them in the direction of the calaboose; large reinforcements of sailors gather to the rescue, and the police also rally in the same direction with their _espadas_ drawn; one of the pugnacious youths is by this time in the melting mood, and goes like a lamb to the slaughter; but the other proving refractory, receives a persuader or two with the flat of the "cheese-knife," a very spanish substitute for a policeman's baton. this is the feather that breaks the camel's back; a general attack is made by the infuriated mariners, the policemen are knocked over and the cheese-knives taken from them; two or three sailors are slightly cut, but no one is seriously injured. farrell is conspicuous in the melee, flourishing a stout stick, with his neat velveteens very much defiled, and his shirt showing through in some "thin places." the two original combatants are released, and the sailors have the field to themselves. but fire-arms now make their appearance--a platoon of scare-crow looking troops are drawn up in line and serious bloodshed is threatened. but the alarm has spread; the american captains and officers make their appearance, and the consul makes a speech to the seamen who are already half-frightened at their own victory so cheaply won. the captains and officers exert their influence in particular quarters at the same time; oil is poured upon the troubled waters; the captured weapons are given up; and the two young fellows who have found themselves so unexpectedly popular and notorious are persuaded to go quietly to prison under guard for the present. the outraged majesty of the chilian republic is vindicated, and the wrath of the officials appeased. the _pulperias_ again do a thriving business, much to the relief of the proprietors, for the liquor law has been in force two hours, pending the negotiations. we go back to our comfortable quarters and enjoy a siesta as well as we can for the fleas, whose name is legion. we sally out again towards night and drop in at the dance hall; two violins are tuning up, and the seamen gathering to a focus, while pretty women pass in and out with an easy grace, peculiar, so far as my observation has extended, to females with more or less admixture of castilian blood. truly has benjie brail remarked in that fascinating sea-story, "the cruise of the midge," that though females of other nationalities may have various methods of locomotion to be called by various impertinent names, no woman but a spaniard can _walk_. the crowd increases after the hall is lighted, and the fun grows fast and furious. the bar, of course, does a rushing business; officers of all grades drop in, and even captains honor us with their presence. vigilantes are near at hand to preserve order, but every one is in good-humor now, and there is little fear of any outbreak. the dancers enjoy themselves, and the admiring lookers-on drink and applaud. mr. grafton is near me, thoughtful and observant as usual. "well, blacksmith, what do you think of chilian women?" "i admire them very much," said i, "and yet i can hardly tell why. perhaps because i am partial to brunettes." "simplicity of toilet has much to do with it," said the mate. "you see no elaborate fashion of 'doing up' the hair, to torture and disfigure that which nature has made so beautiful. then when they go out, you observe their heads are either exposed or else covered with a shawl or mantle falling gracefully over the shoulders. no such abomination as a bonnet disfigures them. then again, their walk is the 'poetry of motion.' no spanish woman ever cultivates a slight stoop of the shoulders and considers it graceful, but walks 'erect and free,' and yet without stiffness." i could not help smiling at the worthy mate's enthusiasm on the subject, and suggested that perhaps the practice of carrying burdens on the head might have some effect in producing this erect and easy carriage. "of course it has much to do with it," said the mate. "but, though it would improve the carriage and walk of any woman, or man either, for that matter, it cannot _create_ that grace of movement which is essentially spanish, and which is to be found in ladies whose position and wealth place them above the necessity of carrying burdens at all, and, in fact, render it unlikely that they would do so. again, the same practice prevails to a great extent all over south america, and in many of the south sea islands; yet who ever saw a portuguese woman of brazil, or a kanaka woman of any island in the pacific, whose walk would compare with that of a chilian or mexican girl?" my attention was again directed to farrell, who was "setting" to a pretty, black-eyed girl in the dance, his step having more of the irish jig in it than of the "chengana," as it called here, a dance in which certain coquettish movements of a handkerchief in the hand play an important part. he was armed with an immense red cotton one which he flourished with far more vigor than grace, and, as the dance ended, he obeyed the figurative order from the first fiddler to "square the mainyard and let the jibs run down!" by leading his pretty partner up to the bar. "i say, darlin'," said farrell, "would ye tell me what's yer sweet name, now?" "my name? juanita," answered the girl. "whon-eater? an' is that yer name indade; an' sure your lingo is for all the warld like pourin' music out of a jug. whon-eater--an' what can be sweeter?--i'll take her up and treat her--i will, by the houly st. pether!" said farrell, by way of climax; for he was now in his poetical stage of inebriation--in which he would "rhyme you" like a very touchstone. i turned away to laugh, and soon after left the dance hall with mr. bunker. as i passed out of the door i saw farrell repeating his dose at the bar, and was apprehensive that he would get into trouble, for i knew that with him the transition was short and easy from the poetical mood into the pugilistic. it was even as i feared. when the ship's boat came in, the watch were all on hand but farrell, and on inquiry i found he was in "durance vile." it seems a chileno had taken the liberty to address some words to "whon-eater," which farrell resented as an undue familiarity. he hadn't, of course, the remotest idea what was said, but he was in the warlike stage then and spoiling for a row. so he struck out from the shoulder, and was at once seized and marched off to the lock-up. he came off about the middle of the forenoon, having been taken before the magistrate and fined for assault. the old man had, of course, paid it and sent him on board. he had found pretty rough quarters, he said, in the lock-up, and had been nearly "_flayed_ alive by the murderin' _flays_." one day's liberty was much like another, and the same old haunts were visited and revisited. we had four days on shore for each watch, and when the starboard watch came off the last time, burley, the sea-lawyer, was missing, having doubtless deserted. he had been long enough in one ship, i suppose; and, besides, he had lost his prestige among his shipmates, and was looked upon with contempt. we all felt that we could spare him without a pang. to fill the vacancy, a sandwich island native called peter was shipped, a man who had seen considerable service, having steered a boat in two or three ships, and who murdered english tolerably well. we took our anchor in the afternoon with a smart breeze from the southward, and before the sun went down we were once more tossing on the long swells of the broad pacific. "well," said old jeff, as we were stowing the anchors, "i reckon that's the last we'll see of turkeywarner this v'y'ge. i think the old man'll work off to the westward, and finally go down to 'the groups.'" "what makes you think so?" said i. "why, the old man as good as told _me_ before we left home that he should work down that way. he never was down there before nor _i_ neither. _i've_ been three v'y'ges with the old man, and _we've_ always got our oil on peru, and chili, and the galleypaguses. we never went no further'n the off-shore ground." "why should he go so far out of his old tracks where he has always been successful?" i inquired. "well, you see, father grafton he's been down there last voyage, and mr. dunham, too, and they have great faith in the 'groups,' and that starts the old man. another thing makes me think so; he's fetched out a big stock of tobacker this v'y'ge. i never knew him to have so much before, and he hasn't sold a pound of it yet. it's all there in the run, and that means he's keepin it to trade down among the 'groups.' he hasn't said nothin' to _me_ about it lately, though; i've kept thinking he would,' cause he generally lets _me_ know beforehand where he's going." it was one of jeff's harmless peculiarities to pretend to considerable knowledge of cabinet secrets, and to affect to be "high in the confidence of the administration," as the newspaper correspondents have it. "well," said he, "burley he's given us the slip and i reckon nobody'll mourn much about the loss of him. i must say i got disappointed in that man. i thought he was a good sailor man, and all i was fearful of was that he would do something desprit. i thought he had courage enough to make good his words. but it turned out that he was more of a coward than _i_ am, and that's needless," said jeff with a grin; "and as for his duty, he was neither sailor nor soger." "he'll go on board of some other ship," said i, "where he can blow his gas for a while, but he wont wear well anywhere." "no," said jeff, "only as long as it takes to find him out and take his measure. this peter that came aboard to-day is a smart-looking kanaka, but _i_ don't think much of kanakas anyhow." here came in the prejudice of color again. "but i never told you, did i," continued jeff, with a _greenish_ kind of blush, "that i ran away myself in turkeywarner, once?" "no," i answered. "i thought you were a fixture of the ship you sailed in." "that was the first v'y'ge i was in the colossus. this old man was mate with us then. i trusted to an old 'cholo' here; he said he'd stow me away where all creation couldn't find me. well, he did till the old man offered, twenty dollars bounty for me, for you see he couldn't go to sea without _me_ nohow, and then the old mongrel sold me to get the reward. he just went out and informed where i was, and the mate (that's the old man now) came and roused me out of my hiding-place, and told me i'd be wiser next time than to trust one of them yaller scoundrels. and so i have been. gi'me white or black, i say; for where you mix 'em, you spile two good things." chapter xiv. the bill-fish.--the marquesas.--a prisoner among the savages. down the coasts of chili and peru we pursued our voyage, and then off-shore among the galapagos, or "galleypaguses" as my ebony friends jeff and the doctor would say. here we took one large whale, but the fleet was numerous, and, from all that we could learn, they not were doing wonders, and the old man expressed his opinion that there was not more than a whale apiece for all those ships; so we carried sail again to the westward, running down the equator to the longitude of to degrees west. here we met with good success, taking some four hundred barrels in the next four months. we spoke perhaps a dozen ships during that time, and all were doing a fair season's work. no incident of note occurred during this pleasant cruise, till near the end of it; in fact, we had already kept off to make a port at one of the marquesas islands, which lay conveniently under our lee. a school of bonitas or "skipjacks," as we more commonly call them, had attached themselves to us, and kept company for several days. these fish cannot be said to _follow_ a ship, but rather lead, for they almost invariably keep ahead of her, sporting around the bow. we were running perhaps four or five knots an hour with moderate trades, and the fish were gambolling ahead of us, as usual, when manoel, in the fore-topgallant crosstrees, sung out: "bill-fish!" "whereaway?" asked the mate. "little on weather bow," said manoel. "he come this way. chase that skeep_shack_." "o, i see him!" said father grafton. "give me an iron here! never mind, here's the porpoise-iron, all rigged! get another iron, blacksmith, and look out for him!" the bonitas had taken alarm, and were darting here and there, and leaping into the air to escape their natural enemy, whose method of attack is to make a sudden dart at his victim and impale him upon his bill or sword, which projects in a straight line ahead of him. all the watch on deck were collected at the bow to witness the sport, and the irons were ready, if the opportunity offered, to transfix him, even as he would the bonita. suddenly, after having paused a moment as if to make sure of his aim, he made a dart towards the ship with the speed of lightning; the wily bonita eluded him by leaping above the surface just in time, and the bill-fish disappeared in the swash under the ship's bows. father grafton darted at him as he flew past, but missed him; a slight jar was perceptible to us on deck, as though the ship had hit some small, hard object, and the fish rose to the surface under the fore-chains, quivering in the agony of death, his bill broken off short up to his head! no time was lost in bringing the ship to the wind, and lowering a boat; and we soon secured the fish and took him in on deck. "how did he break his bill off so short?" i asked, innocently. "he has run it into the ship, of course," said father grafton. "his bill is probably sticking in our bows under water. i hope it will caulk its own hole tight. rig the pump there, a couple of ye, and try her." we did so, and found we had started a small leak; at least, we found more water than usual, though it was difficult to tell immediately. a few hours hence we could judge better. the mate and i went into the forepeak with a light, and after moving a lot of wood and empty breakers, we found what we were in search of; the end of the bill, projecting full six inches through the ceiling or inside planking of the bows: the bone, bare and smooth as if polished with sand paper. of course we could tell nothing about the leak from the inside, except that we could hear the water trickling down between the timbers. the old man came down and had a look at it and estimated it to be about three feet below the water line. "if so," said he, "we can stop the leak ourselves in any smooth harbor where we can get her head up and trim her stern down. there is no fear of its working loose as long as the wood is new and sound round it. the leak is not a serious one, to be sure, but it is enough to annoy us all the time and make considerable work, and a kind of work, too, that no sailor is fond of. we must try, when we get in, and see what we can do with it." it was found after a few hours' trial, that the leak was about a hundred and fifty strokes an hour. of course, the conversation, in our hours of leisure at night, turned upon the occurrence of the day, and several instances were cited which were known to have occurred, of a character similar to this. the mate had known two or three cases of the kind, and had seen a section of timber preserved in a museum at home just as it was sawed out when the ship was repaired, the bill still in the wood and projecting both sides. the cooper, of course, had known numerous instances; in fact, his experience went to show that it was quite an ordinary thing for ships to be "stabbed," as he termed it. and as for the leak, that was a mere trifle, "hardly enough to keep her sweet," the cooper said. "why, when i was on the banks," said he, "in the old harbinger, she leaked so that the pumps were going all the time, and the crew got completely worn out; and at last the old man, who was a sort of natural mechanic, invented and rigged a kind of windmill up in the maintop, that would keep both pumps in operation as long as there was any breeze." "and how did you manage it in a calm?" i asked. "that's the beauty of it," replied the cooper. "we attached a crank to the shaft of the mill, and a long iron rod came down on deck, and was worked by a couple of men on a big treadle." "and how did you like the treadmill exercise?" inquired the mate. "that was pretty hard work; and you may depend we were glad enough to see a breeze coming to drive the vanes. but it was better than working brakes by hand, which would have kept four men at work, to man both pumps." "then you mean to say that both pumps were going all the time?" said mr. bunker. "certainly," returned the cooper. "and she leaked at the same rate all the time; no more when pitching in a gale of wind than when lying becalmed in smooth water; and no more at the end of the voyage than when six weeks out from home, which was the time that the leak first started. why, she leaked so that when we were crossing the tropical latitudes, we used frequently to pump live flying fish! and once or twice the pumps got completely choked with portuguese men-of-war!" "that's nothing at all!" put in the second mate, who happened to be within hearing. "i've heard say that, on board the old yorkshire, they used to take off the lower-deck hatches, sit on the combings, and fish for skipjacks and albicore in the hold!" "yes! fish for them, indeed," said the cooper, "but did they catch any?" "i've heard say they did," said mr. dunham. "i didn't see this myself." "o, you've heard say!" returned the cooper, with a sneer. "well, i _did_ see this myself, that i've been telling you; and what i've _seen_ i _know_." a few days' run brought us among the marquesas, and, after sending a boat to reconnoitre, we took the ship in, and came to anchor in the bay of hanayapa on the north side of ohevihoa, an island better known by the name of dominica, given to it by the spanish discoverer, mendana, in . we found good anchorage in thirteen fathoms, and a convenient watering place. a native came on board while we were yet outside, who had served some time on board a whaleship, and spoke english tolerably well. he made a pressing offer of his services as interpreter and trading-master, which position he had filled for many other ships, and produced a dirty bundle of certificates and recommendations, signed by various whaling captains, some of which were highly satisfactory, and others, to say the least, somewhat equivocal; as the thus: "this may certify that the bearer, jack bailey, has been interpreter and trading-master for me during my stay at this place, and i would recommend all other shipmasters who may anchor here to employ him--if they cannot do better." or, again, "the bearer, jack bailey, has worked for me as interpreter and go-between with the natives for these ten days past; and those shipmasters who may hereafter employ him for the same length of time--will know him as well as i do." he was equally proud of all these testimonials, and as none of them gave him a positively bad name, and there appeared to be no opposition candidate in the field, his services were engaged, and he brought with him four young natives to row the boat about for him on trading excursions, etc. he seemed to have a realizing sense of the dignity of his official position, and was very desirous of being addressed as _mr._ bailey. "all right," said the old man. "if you'll serve me any the better for it, i'll call you _captain_ bailey, or even _admiral_ bailey." our first business, after landing a large lot of empty casks to be filled with water, was to find our leak and stop it. we "broke out" everything of a heavy nature from the forehold, and stowed it away aft, roused the bights of the chain cables aft; the six-pounder gun, the blubber-hooks and other ponderous articles were collected as near the taffrail as possible, and heavy casks of water were hoisted and slung to the stern. we finally succeeded in raising her head so as to bring the leak out of water, and, taking advantage of a smooth time, we cut out a piece of the planking, which was split and shattered somewhat, and replaced it by a new piece, caulking round it so as to make all fair and tight as ever. it was found that the bill, after passing, of course, through the copper, sheathing-boards and outside planking, had pierced obliquely through the corners of two timbers, and then through the ceiling, also of heavy plank, and into the hold, as before mentioned. the muscular power necessary to pierce a ship in this manner seems hardly credible in an animal no larger than the bill-fish, but the facts are well attested in numerous similar cases. in our case, it must be remembered that the ship was moving in an opposite direction, meeting the fish "head to head," which, of course, greatly increased the momentum. we had finished the job, repaired the sheathing and copper as well, and were about ready to stow back the forehold, and begin trimming the ship to her old bearings, when a canoe came alongside containing two natives and a white man, from a settlement called hanarora, a few miles to leeward. this white man represented to captain upton that they had some hogs and fowl to dispose of at his village, as well as plenty of fruit and cocoanuts, and persuaded the old man to go down there with the boat. it was observable that from the arrival of this white man, mr. bailey became a victim of ill-concealed jealousy, and evidently disliked the idea of the captain going down to the leeward with this interloper, instead of going up to hanaca-oa, as had been arranged. this was the village where bailey lived, and the old man had been there with him two or three times and made some traffic with his tribe, but was not so successful as he wished, and it appeared that the natives were disposed to hold back their "truck" to get higher prices. he now pacified him as well as possible, telling him he wished him to go, as promised, up to his own settlement, and would send an officer with him; while he himself would go down to hanarora in another boat, with the white "beach-comber." he appeared well satisfied with this arrangement; and, not wishing to spare either of the mates from the ship at the time, the captain ordered me to go with bailey up to hana-ca-oa: and, said he; "take the kanaka, peter, with you; he understands the language pretty well, and likes to go on these boat cruises. that will be enough, with _admiral_ bailey and his crew." the two boats left the ship about the same time, the captain setting his sail after we passed out of the mouth of the harbor, and running down to the leeward, while we took to our oars, pulling up along shore against the trade-wind. it might have been three miles by water up to hana-ca-oa, and rounding the rocky bluff, we pulled into a bend or bight of no great depth, and having no shelter to make a safe and convenient ship harbor. there was a handsome beach at the head of the bay, but the surf rolled in upon it with considerable force. still there was no danger at this time in landing a whaleboat, if she were well handled. mr. bailey had the steering-oar, and as the boat rose upon the roller, she sheared nearly broadside on. i sprung to help bailey, and succeeded in heading her in for the beach again, so that she was thrown ashore without damage beyond shipping a little water. we soon pulled her up high and dry on the rise of the beach, and passed out the articles of traffic that we had brought with us. i noticed that bailey seemed much vexed at the manner of landing the boat, but supposed the boat had taken a shear, and got the advantage of him; an accident liable to have happened to myself or to any other man. at his suggestion, we carried the articles taken from the boat up to a shady spot among a grove of cocoanut trees but a short distance from the water. this was the trading-ground, or market where the barter was to be carried on. very few natives had made their appearance, and these few brought nothing to sell. but bailey gave me to understand that they would not bring their hogs or fruit for sale till after the sun went down more, for it was then but little after noon; and suggested that we should carry the articles up to his house, which he pointed out at no great distance. so we gathered up the "trade," and backed the whole up to the "thatched cottage," where an old man was sitting in the doorway, whom bailey introduced to me as his father. there was no disputing the family resemblance; i had no doubt that he was mr. bailey, senior. we passed all the things into the house; and i entered with bailey to see that they were all right and ready for market. we had two old flintlock muskets which might have done good service at bunker hill or the cowpens, and could perhaps be discharged now by putting a live coal of fire into the "pan," though i have no doubt the butt was the most dangerous end of them considered as weapons; about a dozen "cast steel" hatchets, three or four pieces of cheap cottons and prints, and some thirty pounds of very ancient "nigger-head" tobacco. i accepted a very cordial invitation from mr. bailey to take a seat upon the mat between him and his venerable parent, whose dim eyes were, for the most part, fixed in speechless admiration upon the treasures i have mentioned. bailey had closed the door after us, and taken a seat on the mat; and now for the first time he threw aside the mask. "what for cap'n go hanarora," said he, "with white man?" "i don't know," said i. "because he wanted to, i suppose. he has a roving commission, i presume, to go where he likes." "well," said mr. bailey, pointing to the heap of goods on the floor, "i got these tings, now, i goin' keep 'em." the old gentleman nodded his head in silent approval. "i got _you_ here too. i goin' keep _you_." "the deuce you are!" said i, without waiting for the old man's opinion on this point. "we'll see about that." i made a dash for the door; my would-be jailor did the same; we both seized it, pulling opposite ways, but i proved the stronger! i pushed him aside, flung the door open, and bounded out into the footpath. the whole thing had flashed upon me at once! i now understood that his intention had been to capsize the boat in the surf, making it appear accidental; and his vexation arose from his failure to beach her broadside on, as he had meant to do. as i struck into the path leading towards the landing i encountered peter, the mani kanaka, coming out of the bypath through the bushes. he, too, had smelt treachery in the air. "where bailey?" said he. "in his house," said i, as i hurried along the path. "come on, let's go to the boat." "where four kanaka pull boat?" asked peter. "i don't know," said i. "i haven't seen 'em." "where trade? gun--hatchet--tobacker?" "in bailey's house. he has taken that. he tried to take me, too." just then a single savage, evidently a person of note, hideously tattooed, dashed diagonally across the path ahead of us, and into the bushes, heading for the beach by a short cut. peter whipped out his sheath-knife, and gave chase, i followed, shouting to him to stop; which he did, seeing that pursuit was hopeless. "what would you do with that knife, peter?" i said. "cut him," answered my kanaka, dryly. "if you did so our lives would not be worth a straw. put up your knife, peter; we can do nothing fighting against a whole tribe of these scoundrels." as we emerged from the bushes upon the open sward, we came in full view of a crowd of savages, numbering two or three hundred, collected around and near our boat, which had been hauled up still higher on the beach. it was ominous of evil that no women or children were to be seen. nearly all the men were armed, some with weapons of their own manufacture, and a few with guns; but i was surprised at the number of whale-lances, broken off in the shank and fitted into poles. we held our way directly to the boat, and seizing the gunwale, i made signs for help to shove her into the water. several laid hold with me, but a still larger number pulled up the beach instead of down, and it was soon evident that the stronger party were in favor of keeping the boat. i had hoped that they would have been content with seizing the goods at bailey's house, and letting us go with our boat; for peter and myself could have worked our way back to the ship; but i now gave up this hope; and gave my attention to their noisy conference, trying to make out by my own observation, as well as by what peter could understand and interpret, the intention of the savages in regard to ourselves. they seemed to be much divided in opinion; some wished to shove the boat off for us, and let us go; some few warriors of the old school were in favor of killing us; but the large majority advocated the middle course of holding both men and boat for ransom. my feelings may be imagined, as i sat on the ground, waiting to know my doom at the hands of the yelling savages, who were gesticulating furiously around me, and brandishing their ugly weapons in the excitement of controversy. i was, from time to time, assured of my safety by peter, who took the matter more coolly than i did, as he understood not only the language, but the character of the people much better than i. "he no kill," said peter. "he no hurt. he keep boat, keep man--make old man pay plenty gun--hatchet--tobacka." but now a new motion seemed to have been made, and to have been received with favor, and peter himself entered warmly into the discussion. after expressing himself in a very decided manner, he suddenly threw himself down on the beach by my side, seized my hand in his, still protesting in his own guttural tongue. the marquesans and hawaians both speak dialects of the same language, and have no difficulty in understanding each other. "what's the matter, peter? what do they want now?" i inquired, anxiously of course. "he say let _me_ go ship--see old man--keep _you_ here--me no like--me tell him you all'e same my brother; spose keep you keep me, too." i could not fail to be touched by this proof of devotion in peter, who having his own personal safety assured him, refused to abandon me; and i endeavored, as far as possible, to make him understand my feelings. i congratulated myself that he was with me. his stubborn firmness, in so stoutly refusing to go to the ship and leave me in their hands, again threw them back upon their old disputes, and the discord became greater than before. a large number favored letting both of us go free, to return to the ship by land; and this party was evidently gaining ground. chapter xv. escape from the savages.--recovery of the boat.--magical effects of lynch law. this division of opinion among the barbarians was a circumstance in our favor; and some of them made signals aside to us to go, slyly swinging their hands in the direction of hanayapa, where the ship lay. indeed, we were even then gradually edging away from the crowd; for peter had seized the right moment, while the confusion was at its height, and saying to me "come," we continued moving carelessly along the beach, and, as we perceived we were not followed, we almost insensibly quickened our pace, looking behind us anxiously, and then starting on, satisfied from the violence of the clamor, that the natives would not soon agree upon their plan of action, and knowing that each moment was precious to us. some still waved us on; while others beckoned us back again, and even made starts in pursuit, but were accompanied and headed off by men of the other party, when all would again come to a halt, and renew the war of words and gestures. in this way we had increased our distance to perhaps three hundred yards, when i said to peter: "don't you think we could make a push over the mountains inland, and find our way to the ship?" "no good," said my companion shortly. "keep on beach--climb over rock--come to 'noder beach--follow water." i relied upon his judgment. indeed this was the safer course for us, for, as soon as we gained the summit of the rocky bluff, or spur, which rose in our path, we should have the ship in sight, and could shape our course with some certainty. we pushed on at a jog-trot now, not daring yet to break into a run, and wishing to reserve our strength for the time when we should be obliged to climb the rocks. we had nearly reached the foot of the cliff when peter suddenly said to me, "look! he come!" i turned my head, and saw that we had no time to lose. the savages were starting in pursuit, and the party who were determined on our captivity appeared to be now in the ascendancy, as we knew by the proud bearing of their leader and chief-spokesman, a tall, athletic chief, who, with his highly polished lance poised in air was striding in advance of all the rest. loud yells rose from the throats of the party, as they beckoned for us to halt, and come back; but neither i nor my kanaka shipmate could see the propriety of again placing ourselves voluntarily at their mercy, now that we had so much the start in the race. "now," said peter as we reached the end of the beach, "keep close togedder. we go up rock--go alongside of it--keep near water." we sprang up the hill, and followed round the face of the bluff, making sometimes rapid progress for a minute or two and then obliged to ascend and descend and pass places where there was but little foothold. our pursuers, seeing themselves cheated of their prey, redoubled their efforts to overtake us; and i had the satisfaction of knowing that they were especially anxious to capture _me_; as being a white man, and withal a petty officer, they could demand a high ransom. i was determined they should have no easy task of it, and i could see that the hawaian was equally resolved not to be taken without making a desperate fight. our zigzag route had carried us gradually upward till we were now some three hundred feet above the sea, and had got among bushes which grew thickly in some spots; while here and there a stunted cocoanut-tree forced itself up, seeming to grow almost from a foundation of rocks. i looked round to survey the situation. the greater number of the yelling devils had halted at the base of the cliff, and with loud cries were urging on a few of the fastest and strongest, who still continued the chase. the tall chief was still further in the lead than before, having distanced all others, and it was plain that he was rapidly gaining. i could see his lance gleam in the sunshine, and this was the weapon i most feared. the man next in rear of him was armed with a musket, but i gave myself little uneasiness about their fire-arms, as i held the quality of both guns and marksmen in contempt. we pushed on, doing our best, and taking every possible advantage of the nature of the ground; but, ever and anon, as i glanced over my shoulder, the lance gleamed brighter, and the tall savage was lessening the little distance that separated us. i saw peter's hand feel for his sheath-knife, to assure himself that it was ready for action; his breath came short and quick from his exertions, and still more from excitement at the certainty of being soon brought to bay. suddenly his face lighted, and his nostrils seemed to be doubled in size. "see rock ahead?" said he, pointing with his hand. "yes," answered i, pantingly. "what then?" "fight there. odder side of it." volumes could not have said more. his whole plan was at once unfolded, as he picked up a sapling of convenient size to be used as an offensive weapon. the rock of which he spoke projected outward from the face of the hill, which was here steeply inclined, and, to double round it, it was necessary to descend a short distance, and after passing it, to climb up again. we passed it, and peter turning the corner, halted short, and struck an attitude showing that he meant to meet the enemy with the _end_ of his sapling, to _harpoon_ him, as it were, instead of swinging a blow at him. he crouched close to the rock, saying in a low, quick tone: "stand behind me--give me room for dart; get nodder stick--big stone all 'e same. if i miss him, stand by to give it to him." nothing could have been better planned; as the pursuing savage could not see him until their faces were close together, peter having all the advantage of the higher position. arming myself with a fragment of rock of convenient weight, i crouched a little up the hill in rear of my comrade, just giving him room to draw back his heavy pole. [illustration: escape from savages. page .] we had not long to wait, ere the hard breathing of the infuriated chief was audible as he struggled round under the lee of the projecting boulder. peter drew back his weapon at a poise, and planted his feet more firmly, while i closed up a little with my stone in reserve. the horrible tattooed face rose into view like banquo's ghost. too late he perceived the _ruse_ of the wily hawaian, and vainly struggled to bring his lance to bear; the sapling met him full in the face with terrific force, and he was hurled backwards down the declivity, receiving my stone full in his naked breast as he fell. he did not go far, for a ledge some ten feet below, brought him up; but i can never forget the appearance of his crushed and bleeding face upturned to us. his lance, thrown from his hand, had stuck in a turfy spot, and seizing this weapon, i now felt tolerably safe from direct pursuit, though i was still a little apprehensive of some flank movement from the mountain above. we struggled on, but as we advanced, we found we were coming where the face of the precipice was impassable, and there was no course for us but to make our way upward to the summit of the mountain. we soon after heard voices, as of men cowering above us, and presently we were hailed to "come up there!" i understood thus much of the marquesan gibberish; but the idea of a flank attack instantly recurred to my mind, and i dreaded lest we had now fallen into a snare where the advantages were with the enemy, he being above instead of beneath us. but peter had already answered the hail, and after a few sentences were interchanged, he started directly upward, saying to me, "all right! come on!" again i trusted to his knowledge and sagacity, and followed without further question; though still keeping my lance ready for immediate use, if necessary to defend myself. my fears were soon allayed, however; for four men dressed in shirts and trousers like seamen, emerged into view on a ledge or terrace above us, whom i recognized as the boat's crew, whom bailey had employed. up to this time nothing had been seen of these men, or of bailey himself, since i pushed my way out of his house. these men all belonged to the tribe of hanayapa, where the ship lay, and were now on their way home to their own village, bearing some of the hatchets, cloth and tobacco with them, and filled with indignation at their employer, who had failed to satisfy them in the distribution of the plunder. they were, of course, ready to befriend us, and to pilot us back to the ship; taking every occasion to make their peace with us, and to vent their virtuous indignation by denouncing all the tribe to windward for their perfidy. "hanaca-oa no good," was the burden of their tale, so far as they could render it into english; but they doubtless ran through their whole vocabulary of guttural adjectives for the benefit of my companion. they, of course, knew nothing of our fight with the colossal chief on the cliff, and we did not enlighten them at present; but when they inquired where i got the lance, peter gave them to understand that i had seized it from the ground when we first started to make our escape. they had come by a path which wound over the mountain inland, but hereabouts it struck nearer the brow of the cliff, and through the openings in the bushes they had seen us beneath them some time before they could be seen themselves. a short distance further on, the path wound over a high pinnacle from which we could look down upon the bay of hanayapa, and the gallant arethusa riding at anchor; while our boat could be seen like a speck, coming round the bluff that formed the other side of the harbor's mouth, pulling up from hanarora. a rugged and circuitous route carried us down into the valley, and a canoe was soon found by our four friends. before sundown we were once more on the deck of our floating home. the old man was highly indignant on hearing the particulars of our story, and it would have fared hard with the traitor bailey, could he have laid hands on him at that time. the goods carried ashore for traffic were of no great value, and were doubtless, ere this time, divided up and scattered beyond all hope of recovery; but the boat was of more importance to us, and was not to be relinquished without an effort to recover her. in the mean time, as it was uncertain what trouble might grow out of the affair, all haste was made to get the forehold stowed off, and trim the ship so as to be in working condition. we worked like beavers the greater part of the night, and were ready before morning to get under way, except that our water casks were still on shore, most of them being ready filled. we knew not how far to trust the chief or king of the tribe of hanayapa. it was uncertain whether he would use his influence to assist us in recovering our boat, or whether he would sustain his brother potentate at hanaca-oa in keeping her from us. his canoe was alongside of us bright and early in the morning, and he expressed the greatest indignation at the other tribe, and professed his willingness to aid us in recovering the boat, even by force, if necessary. while the king was on board, the boats were sent in to the watering-place to fill and raft off as fast as possible, as we should be perfectly secure from attack while the king and his suite were detained on board as hostages. our water was all off and hoisted in on deck, in a couple of hours; and now the boat was manned for hanaca-oa, taking the king with us in the boat, and his canoe following us. we learned from the king that the chief whom peter had knocked down the cliff was still alive, and would probably recover; but i felt certain that, if he did, the lines of beauty in the ornamental work of his face were forever spoiled, and its former hideousness was intensified tenfold. we did not leave the ship without taking some precautionary measures, notwithstanding the apparent friendship of the king. if he really was acting in good faith, we desired to remain two or three days more at the anchorage, as we had not yet obtained what we wanted in the way of provisions. but preparations had been made for immediate departure in case it should be found that we were deceived in him. the chain had been hove in nearly short during the night, and the six-pounder had been loaded, and was ready for use if needed. the fore and maintopsails had been loosed in the morning while the king was on board; but this attracted no attention, as we had been in the habit of loosing some one or two of the sails every dry day, furling them again at sundown. several women were on board when we left the ship, though it was observed that the number was smaller than usual; for the females came and went without question at all hours, having small canoes which they managed themselves. strict orders had been left with mr. grafton, that if the boat was not seen returning within two hours, he was to get underway and stand out, beating up towards hanaca-oa; and if, before that time, any suspicious circumstance should occur, he was to fire the six-pounder as a signal to us, and, at the same time trip his anchor and stand out. i was in the cabin, and heard these instructions given; and it was plain to me that the old man did not intend to waste much time in parley to recover the boat. he had no doubt of the _power_ of our pretended friend, as the king of the stronger tribe, and in some sense, ruler over both (as we had learned both from bailey and from the white man); and a very few minutes would suffice to show whether he really meant to get her back for us or not. we shoved off, i being at the steering-oar, with the captain and the king seated in front of me on a movable thwart; the king's canoe and body-guard of six men keeping along with us. as we opened the bay of hanaca-oa but few natives were seen on the beach, and all appeared quiet as usual. our boat could be seen away up in the cocoanut-grove, as we judged by the form of the object, though she was covered with mats to shield her from the sun's rays. we pulled in leisurely, and with wary eyes about us; the king seeming unusually talkative with the old man, and sporting to the best advantage what little english he was master of. about half-way up the bay, on the eastern or weather side, an irregular point of rocks made out, forming a sort of cove, opening seaward, and observing this, i had edged the boat up towards that side of the bay. the old man half-turned his head towards me, as he noticed this change of course, but catching my glance, also turned his own in the same direction. the king could not conceal his uneasiness, as he asked, with a constrained laugh. "what for no keep off in middle? dere good place--land boat," not knowing that we had no intention of landing at all. at this instant, the point of a paddle was raised above the low rocks near the mouth of the cove, but a short distance from us. all three of us caught sight of it; the king half-sprung to his feet in confusion, and waved to his men in the canoe, but was seized by the old man, and forced back to his seat, while a pistol was held at his ear. "lay round!" shouted the captain; but i was already anticipating the order, and throwing her head out to sea again. as i tossed the mast and sail into the bowman's hands, two canoes containing about thirty armed men shot out from the cove and gave chase for a short distance, but, seeing that we held the sovereign completely at our mercy, and that he would be our first victim, if attacked, they rested on their paddles. the king's canoe paddled in our wake, fast dropping astern, as we were now moving swiftly through the water under the double impulse of the sail and oars. a dull report, muffled by the intervening land, was borne to our ears; the signal agreed upon in case of any suspicious movements at hanayapa; and the sound lent new strength to the arms of the five oarsmen, while the cowering king shook in his skin with fear. "give way, hard, men!" cried captain upton; "the ship will be underway before we get there! keep quiet, you murdering scoundrel!" he added, to the ugly representative of fallen majesty, who had here manifested a disposition to throw himself overboard. "if there is any blood spilled in this matter, i'll take care that a part of it shall be royal," he added, pushing the muzzle of the pistol fairly into his ear. "hurrah! here she comes!" i cried with enthusiasm, as the flying jibboom of our noble ship projected beyond the headland now at no great distance from us, and the graceful hull drew slowly out into view; then moving more swiftly as she met the full power of the fresh trade wind, a few minutes gave her a safe offing to back the maintopsail for us to come alongside. she was under her three topsails, spanker and jib; but hands were already aloft to loose the lighter sails, and the courses were hanging in the buntlines. "keep this arch-devil secure!" said the captain, as we pushed his royal person rather disrespectfully up the side. "as long as he is in our hands, we hold the best card in the pack. didn't have any harm done, did you, mr. grafton?" "no, sir; we gave 'em the slip too quick," answered the mate. "look up in the head of the bay there!" we looked; sure enough, there lay a large fleet of canoes all filled with armed men, resting, like baffled hounds; while on our weather quarter, at a safe distance, the small canoe of the king held way with us, uncertain whether to venture any nearer. "brace full and down tacks!" said the old man, as soon as the boat was hoisted up. "sheet home the to'gallantsails, and make sail as fast as you can! we'll make a good stretch off shore, mr. grafton, so as to fetch to windward of hana--what's-his-name, there, admiral bailey's place, i mean." two hours off shore under a press of canvas, and we went in stays, "looking" well up for the eastern point of the entrance to hanaca-oa. the six-pounder was loaded with ball, and roused into the waist, the gangway-board unshipped, and a block and whip rigged at the fore-yardarm. "what the devil is that for?" asked the cooper, of the second mate, who was superintending these operations. "to make fools ask questions," returned the second mate, dryly. "there'll be another _yarn_ for you, cooper, when we get through the scrape." "the yarn will be well _stretched_, whether the king's neck is or not," said mr. grafton, aside to me. "haul the mainsail up!" shouted the old man, as we drew in shore. "we'll stand close in under the weather-point here, and luff to in full view of those devils on the beach there. take that old traitor forward to the cat-head! haul the foresail up, so the audience can all get their money's worth! i hope i sha'n't have to commit _regicide_," he added, in his low dry tone, "but i want to scare him _almost_ to death." we hove to, so as to bring our starboard "battery" to bear fairly upon the landing-place. a plank was rigged out, the king was mounted upon it in full sight of his subjects, and the slip-noose adjusted round his neck. these operations produced a magical effect on shore; the savages could be seen running distractedly about the beach, and the air was vocal with wild yells. presently a large party of them made a rush for the mat-covered object up in the cocoanut-grove. "that's the idea!" said the old man, who had his glass bearing upon them. "give them a shot, mr. dunham, to quicken their movements! we can't afford to lie here long, waiting." the smart report of the six-pounder rang out over the water, echoing and re-echoing round the concave of the bay. some thirty or forty of the frightened barbarians picked up the boat, and started upon the run for the beach. "that makes them 'step lightly!'" said the old man. "load up again, mr. dunham! powder and wad will be enough this time. don't waste any balls upon them." at the second snap of the gun, our boat was coming out through the rollers, and two canoes with her to take her in tow. the trembling wretch was released, shorn of all his majesty for the time being. we waifed his canoe, which was still hovering round, to come alongside. our boat was hoisted up on one side, while the king went down the other. "brail up the spanker!" said the captain. "put your helm up there! we'll run down to hanarora now, and lie off and on for what we want. i think i see jim's canoe coming up along shore now." it was indeed, the white man, jim, who had come up to warn us against treachery; but found he was too late as we had already left the anchorage. on coming on board, he informed us that the chief whom peter had punched in the face with the sapling, died the same night of his injuries; and that the chiefs, actuated by the double motives of revenge and plunder, had planned to get possession of the ship, and had sent envoys to the chief at hanarora, who declined cooperating. the arch-traitor had accompanied us to hanaca-oa thinking we would land without suspicion; or, if not, he himself could go ashore there, under pretence of getting the boat for us, and as soon as he was safe on the beach, the attack was to be made at both places. we who were isolated from the ship could be easily disposed of; and if we took the alarm and tried to escape, we should be headed off by the canoes stationed in the cove. the crews of these last had betrayed themselves by showing the paddle in the air, but whether through carelessness, or whether this was a signal intended only for the king's eye, jim could not tell. as soon as he learned this much, he had started for the ship to inform mr. grafton of the danger, but was too late, the ship being under way before he arrived. mr. grafton, soon after we left the ship, feeling uneasy, went aloft into the topmast crosstrees to make observations. on the weather side of the bay, towards hanarora a small river flowed down and emptied itself, the banks of which, beyond the first bend, were overhung by bushes of no great height, but sufficient to conceal anything in the creek from the deck. but from his elevated perch it was possible to overlook them; and the mate saw enough to excite his apprehension. several canoes passed across the creek filled with men, while he was on the lookout, and went out of view behind the screen of bushes. he came down on deck, and fired the gun as had been agreed upon, manning the windlass at the same time. the anchor was just breaking ground and the topsail-sheets being hauled home, when a shrill whistle was heard on the beach, and looking about him, the last three women who had remained on board were getting into their canoe. it was too late to think of detaining them; the ship's head was swinging, and, as she gathered headway, the flotilla of canoes hove in sight at the mouth of the creek, making the welkin ring with the cries of baffled rage. "now," said the mate, "they must have known at that moment that the plan was frustrated, and that the captain's boat had put back for the ship. and by the way, jim, you must have known it, too, by the time i was under way. what kind of telegraph do you make use of here?" "the human telegraph," said jim. "that same whistle that you heard is repeated along the mountain paths, all the way down to hanarora, and on some occasions, all round the island. the men are stationed at proper distances so as to be within sound of each other's whistles, and the whistle has certain variations to suit different circumstances." "i see," said the old man, "like nelson's repeating frigates off cadiz, to signalize when the french took their anchors; the main body of his fleet being sixty miles off shore." * * * * * we finished our business at hanarora the next day, and once more made all sail to the westward for a cruise among "the groups." chapter xvi. the cooper "romances."--incidents.--byron's island. "what did you value your life at, when the cannibals were holding their powwow over you, the other day to dominica?" asked the cooper, who was whittling a charge for his pipe from a long twist of "nigger-head." "at a very low figure," said i. "at one time i'd have been glad to sell out at a nominal price. but do you really suppose they _are_ cannibals?" "of course they are," returned the cooper. "probably one of the points they were disputing about was, how it was best to cook and dress you." "but peter says they had no intention of killing us at all, and as he understands the language, i suppose he knows best. but i confess, that in spite of his assurances, i felt anything but safe; for at any moment some impulsive child of nature might have driven a lance through me, just to end the controversy." "and don't you see," said fisher, "that peter's view of the matter would partially spoil the poetry of cooper's yarn, that he means to found on the facts?" "of course," said the cooper. "there's not half as much romance in knowing that you are to be cooped up in a bamboo calaboose, and ransomed for old revolutionary muskets, as there is in the other view of the matter." "and what may be your other view of the matter?" i asked. "why, in the absence of any positive knowledge, you can let the imagination run free," said the cooper, rising to light his pipe at the hanging lamp, and striking an attitude. "you may just suppose yourself neatly transfixed by the javelin of a barbaric chieftain, and your spirit passing gently away to the music of tomtoms, blending with melodious voices chanting the wild 'hula-hula.' then," he continued, shaking his immense beard, as he warmed with his subject, "you are laid out in state in the halls of the marquesan cæsars (or montezumas, if you prefer that), to grace a 'kava feast' of princes of the blood; you are done to a turn at the hands of the chief doctor of the palace; and served up in curry as the leading dish at a right royal banquet, flanked by immense bunches of the golden banana at one end, and pyramids of bread-fruit at the other." "delightful!" said i. "there's nothing in fox's book of martyrs half as satisfactory--to the narrator. but, being the hero of the adventure myself, i should vote for the calaboose and the ransom. besides, it would be some satisfaction to know one's precise value in this market; just how many old flint-locks you are worth, or whether you could be quoted at par, with old nigger-head tobacco, pound for pound." "but, joking aside," said the cooper, "i don't, of course, know whether that particular tribe are cannibals or not, but it is pretty well established that there are tribes on this marquesan group, who deserve that name. the tribe of taipi, in the island of nukahiva, are somewhat notorious in that line." "that is the island where the french are planting a colony now, or trying to, isn't it?" said i. "yes," answered the cooper. "jim, the white man, told me they had quite a force of troops there, and a frigate or two on this station. but i think they will have their hands full, for these islanders are a naturally savage race, particularly so, and warlike, too. it will not be an easy thing to civilize them, or to subdue them either, in their native mountains." "did you ever, in your own experience, have any proofs that they really eat men at any of this group?" i asked. "no," he replied, "i can't say that i ever did, i only give the reports at second-hand." "well, cooper," said i, "i am disappointed in you this time. i had made up my mind to listen to marvellous tales of 'anthropophagi, and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders,'" "no," said the cooper conscientiously, "i cannot swear to the cannibals, and i have never seen men with their heads under their shoulders; but i've seen a tribe in new holland with their faces looking behind them, or the spinal column in front of them, which ever you choose to have it." "which way did they walk?" i asked. "both ways, equally well. like these canoes down at the groups, they just shift their sail, and the stern becomes the bow. you should see those yohos out in the bush, hunting with the face turned over one shoulder, prepared to run either way, at the shortest notice. but i think the most diverting thing was a grand war-dance that i saw there, a sort of forward-and-back movement that displayed their double-ender qualities to the best advantage." "there, that'll do, cooper," said fisher. "dry up now, and turn in." "fact!" replied the cooper, with the utmost gravity. "you may laugh and you may doubt, but what i've seen, i know." the next landfall after leaving the marquesas, was starbuck's island, low and dangerous, where the captain lowered his boat and went ashore, but found nothing of interest but an old trypot, some staves and hoops of decayed casks, and a few other mementoes of the wreck of the independence, of nantucket, which ran ashore here in the night under full headway a few years before. the crew lived some time on this island, being obliged to construct a substitute for a still and make water for use from sea-water. a part of them finally made their way to otaheite in boats, and the rest were taken off the island by a passing ship. nearly on the meridian we saw a "school of cows and calves," and here, for the first time, i had an opportunity of seeing sperm whales "bring to" handsomely. the second mate struck first, and his whale, after running a short distance, stopped, and all the rest came up around him, and lay for some time, blowing, "heads and points," while we in the other two boats pulled on and fastened at our leisure, selecting the largest cows. after we were well fast, instead of immediately killing our whales, we lanced loose ones, and the sport was very exciting, as the whales were up and down in all directions among the boats, and some difficulty was met with from the fast whales crossing each other's course, and thus fouling the lines. of course many of the loose whales which we killed were lost, as it was quite impossible to keep the run of them all, and a freshly-killed whale cannot be seen at any considerable distance, without a waif to indicate his whereabouts. and here for the first time i saw the use of a contrivance called a "waif-drug," for attaching the tell-tale flag to a whale while still alive. a short toggle of oak is fitted firmly in the centre of a square piece of plank, one end of the toggle is bored to step the waif-pole in, and the other is loaded with iron sufficiently to balance but not to sink it. this is attached by a few fathoms of line to a harpoon, which being darted into a whale after he has been mortally wounded with the lance, the plank drug rests flat on the surface, and the pole and waif are kept in an upright position. eight whales were collected and secured as the reward of our exertions, though the whole eight yielded but little more oil than the one taken off juan fernandez. not wishing to run too fast over the ground, we hauled on a wind while boiling these whales; and the next day after "cooling down," we ran to the westward and made an island, low but well wooded; the top-branches of the beautiful cocoanut-tree being the first object to break the horizon line. this, the mate informed me, was byron's island, the weathermost of kingsmill's group. very soon the sails of numerous canoes were to be seen approaching, for a ship can be discovered almost as soon as she makes the land, all the islands of this group being low. the fleet of canoes was constantly receiving fresh accessions as we drew nearer the land, the number increasing till more than a hundred could be counted from the deck. they worked to windward rapidly, having immense triangular sails of matting. the first canoe that neared us came boldly alongside, throwing a line which was caught by eager hands on deck, for we were all on the tiptoe of curiosity to cultivate closer acquaintance with this singular people. "here he comes, stem on for dover castle!" said the second mate, as the canoe's bow struck in the waist with considerable force, and then, snubbed by her warp, she swung fore and aft, while the savages, taking the line in to one of the thwart timbers, "bowed her off" with much skill, for the ship was going at a smart rate through the water. by this time other canoes were crowding upon the first one, all anxious to be the first to make a trade with us; each with a line of its own ready to throw to us, or else clamoring for a rope's end to be thrown from the ship. some fell short, and the ship flew past them; but, nothing daunted, they fell into her wake, knowing that she would heave to soon. some ran into others, doing considerable damage to their frail structures and increasing the clamor and confusion. i noticed one strapping fellow in the first canoe, who, with both hands full of "truck," was making the most urgent signs and cries for a rope to be thrown to him. curious to see how he would manage, i flung him one which he seized with his teeth, and without hesitation threw himself overboard, still holding his wares in both hands and five or six "sennit" hats upon his head. he swung alongside towing by the vice-like grip of his teeth upon the rope, the ship moving at a rate that i should suppose would have torn any white man's jaws out of his head, unless he opened them and let go his hold. i jumped into the chains and reaching down, managed to relieve one of his hands of its load, so that he could have one arm and his teeth to tow by, for it was hardly possible to get him on board until the ship's way was stopped. a canoe was now driving right upon him, having swung in against the ship in consequence of collision with another, but he paid little heed to her, simply diving under and rising again the other side of her, seemingly as much at home in the water as a porpoise. faster and faster the reinforcements of canoes gather, and the babel of guttural shouts and yells exceeds all descriptive powers. each canoe contains at least one representative of the gentler sex; some of them two or three; but the women, contrary to all rules among civilized communities, have but little to say. crash! i run to the other side of the deck to see what has happened; an unfortunate canoe has filled and swamped alongside, torn her thwart out by the strain upon the warp, and the apparent wreck is drifting into our wake, the crew swimming off with her, for the women are as amphibious as the men, their yells rise louder than ever, while screams of derisive laughter greet them on every side from their unsympathizing consorts. as manoel the portuguese expressively says, it is "every man for myself" in this crowd. anxious to know how they will conduct under these circumstances, i jump up on the shearpole and follow them with my eye. as soon as they wind their way out of the thickest crowd of the pursuing canoes, they seize their own by the head and stern, and shooting her violently fore and aft a few times, she slops about half the water out over the two ends; a man then jumps lightly into her, and commences baling; soon she will bear another man; and it is not many minutes ere she takes her place in the fleet, though now occupying a rear position, a bit of seizing stuff completes her repairs, and they are after us again, joining in the general laugh, and eager as ever. "haul the mainsail up! and square the main yard!" cries the old man with a desperate effort to make himself heard above the clamor and din. the orders are repeated by the mates, and the ship is soon hove to, the canoes closing up around us. everything of a portable nature has been picked up about the decks, and stowed away out of reach, for all savages are known to be adepts at thieving; indeed their exploits in this way would do honor to the most expert "professionals" in england or america. some caution against treachery is also necessary at all times in dealing with these people, though, as a general rule, where they come without arms, and accompanied by women and children, no danger is to be apprehended. as soon as the ship's way was stopped, the islanders poured in over the rail in vast numbers, and a brisk traffic was carried on for cocoanut, mats, hats, shells, etc. tobacco was the precious metal and root of all evil with this people. iron they seemed to care very little for, unless an opportunity offered to steal it, but "tabahky" was the very goal of their desires, and for this they would barter soul and body. articles of clothing were in no request; indeed they offered some for sale for bits of tobacco, having probably stolen them from previous visitors. the costumes of these natives are exceedingly light and airy, the men having absolutely no covering beyond what nature has provided; while the females were restricted to a single garment not unlike the highland philibeg, the material being grass or seaweed. more canoes kept paddling up alongside, and attaching themselves to the offside of the first comers, till the ship was surrounded with them several tiers deep, extending to a considerable distance; for these crafts occupy much space in beam, not so much from the size of the boat itself, as of the bulky "outrigger" built out one side to balance her when carrying sail. these islands produce no trees suitable for making "dug-outs" of any considerable size, and the canoes are built of little pieces of wood, hundreds of pieces in a single craft, holes being made near the edges, and the pieces lashed together with innumerable little "seizings," a sort of mortar or white cement is plastered on to fill up the numerous joints, and the still more numerous little holes for the lashings. this only partially answers the purpose; for though the boats are not deficient in the qualities of speed and buoyancy, they are never tight, and one man is kept almost constantly baling. the lashings, as well as all their ropes, some of considerable size, are ingeniously twisted from the fibrous outside or husk of the cocoanut. two white men came on board, one of whom had been here several years, and had become quite domesticated. he seemed to have considerable influence among the natives, and doubtless was as arrant a savage as any of them when on shore. this man told me that the work of building canoes was constantly going on at their naval dockyard, and that he could hardly perceive the progress made from day to day; several months being consumed in finishing one of them. and no more work is done to them than is absolutely necessary to fit them for service, for the people evince none of the artistic skill and taste in ornamenting their vessels, for which many other of the polynesian tribes are noted. the man whom i had assisted by throwing him a rope, and relieving him of a part of his load, attached himself particularly to me, and we drove a smart barter trade, highly satisfactory to both parties. he soon gave me further evidence of his powers of jaw, as, laughing at my bungling attempts to husk a cocoanut with an axe, he seized the whole bunch of nuts, and jerked the husks all off with his teeth, in less time than i should have taken to finish one, considering his services amply rewarded with a morsel of "tabahky." i bought all his stock of mats, and as many of the hats as i could adapt to my very accommodating head, in other words, all which were not more than eleven sizes too big for me. the next thing produced for my inspection was a cocoanut shell, filled with a sort of syrup, into which he run his finger and sucked it with infinite gusto, at the same time tempting me to do likewise. "id-id-ee tikee-moee-moee!" he yelled. "what the devil is that?" said i. "tikee-moee-moee?" he repeated. "tabahky!" i found this a very nice article, light in color, clear and thick, not unlike honey. i bought it eagerly, and gave my friend to understand i would like to have more. in less than ten minutes he had brought me more than a dozen, which i purchased at sight of the shells, and carried below. i discovered the next day when too late, that only the first one was worth eating, the rest appearing to be about equally compounded of very black molasses and sea-water. i made my out-door agent understand that i wanted to collect shells, showing him one as a specimen. he rushed to the side, shouting to his comrade in the canoe, "teroot!" and returned with a few which were not worth much. my "wants" having been thus advertised, i was beset with cries of "teroot!" for the next half-hour; for every barbarian pedler who had a beech-worn shell or fragment of a shell to dispose of, pushed it into my face with the same war-cry. i selected a few, which i thought worthy to be added to my collection. but i was by no means rid of the rest, after so doing; for i was pursued from post to pillar, and the same specimens, transferred to different hands, loomed before my eyes dozens of times, with the savage cry "teroot! tabahky!" "i'm sayin', ould chap, what's the matter wid y'er leg?" said the voice of farrell near me. i turned and saw an elderly, grave looking man climbing in over the rail. as he landed on deck, he presented a singular phenomenon; having one well-proportioned leg of the natural size, while the other one at the calf would have filled a deck-bucket. "say, ould chap, what ails y'er leg?" repeated the irishman. "ididee tikee-nut!" shouted the old man, holding up over his head a bunch of nuts, knotted together by strips of the husk. "ah! the divil take your tikeenuts, it's your leg i'm looking at. who ever saw the likes?" "tabahky!" roared the venerable savage, keeping an eye to business. "what made y'er leg swell that big?" pursued farrell. "tikee moee moee!" was the answer, in a voice of thunder. "an' sure, i'll ate none of it, if it has that effect." "why," said the cooper, "don't you see, he's got the 'fay-fay.' there's plenty of that disease on these islands. there's a man in that canoe under the quarter there with one of his arms puffed up bigger than my body; you can see it wobble every time he moves. now, twig this old gentleman when he walks." "isn't it painful, do you think?" i asked. "no, they say not, after it's swelled, and set to its full size, for i believe it's never cured. it is common on many islands in the pacific, and at rotumah, particularly so. most of the white men have it there, that is, those who have lived there any length of time. it is caused by the diet, i suppose." "yes, that's what the ould chap tould me, 'twas the tikeenuts and that swate tracle stuff made it swell," said farrell. "mr. grafton, we must get rid of these canoes now as fast as possible. we can't afford to drift any more. brace full the mainyard and down tacks!" said the captain. "they must take care of their own canoes." this manoeuvre produced some commotion among the visitors, and scattered the greater part of them. some who had not been fortunate enough to dispose of all their wares, still hung on, offering goods at very low prices to close out the stock. "keep cool, don't drive them," said the mate. "i'll get clear of them all, in a minute." he went down below, and soon returned with a musket, which he pointed in the air over their heads, and pulled the trigger. a stampede ensued, and a rapid succession of plunges overboard as well as into the canoes, soon cleared the deck of all the frightened savages; and the fleet were soon standing in for the land, presenting a picturesque and beautiful view, as the declining sun shone upon the numerous triangular sails and flashing paddles; while we hugged the wind under all sail to hold our weather position. chapter xvii. kingsmill's group.--singular whaling incident.--hard and fast.--a perilous position. we now made our cruising-ground for a time among the islands of kingsmill's group, setting the starboard and larboard watches again, as it was necessary to keep sail on the ship day and night, to avoid drifting off the ground altogether. this necessity is owing not only to the prevalence of the trade wind which blows in the same general direction at all times, except when replaced for very short periods by the "westerly monsoons," so called; but also to a current, varying more or less in force, which sets to the westward all through this chain of islands. these circumstances, in connection with the low and dangerous character of some of the islets, as well as their uncertain position on the charts, demanded great vigilance in the night watches, and the strictest orders were given to the officers in this particular. the scenes at byron's island were repeated at others with little variation in general outline; for, almost as soon as land was seen, the triangular sails would also make their appearance; and but few days passed without communication and traffic with some of them. i soon learned to judge of the age of a cocoanut before buying it, for, as there is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous, so it requires but a short stage in the growth of the nut to change the milk from olympian nectar into the most insipid slops; while i was careful not to rush blindly into _tikee moee-moee_ speculations without investigating the matter to the very bottom. my little stock of rarities in conchology was much augmented by small additions made at various times; and i had rather more hats, as well as bigger ones, hung up in my bunk, than the arethusa had in her slopchest; for some of my first purchases in this line would have set loosely on daniel lambert. these little episodes, interspersed with the excitement of whaling adventures, served effectually to break the monotony of a long cruise at sea, and to make the time pass quickly and pleasantly. sperm whales are frequently seen, and we were successful, as a general thing, in taking them. the whales here ran small in size; the cows seldom yielding above twenty barrels, oftener fifteen or sixteen. now and then a school would be met with, accompanied by one old eighty-barrel patriarch, or _schoolmaster_, as he might be not inaptly termed. of course, our principal efforts were directed to capturing this fellow, if possible. in one instance, we succeeded quite unexpectedly, and in a very singular manner. we lowered in pursuit of a school of small whales, no large one having been seen among them before we left the ship. the whales in some way took the alarm before we got up to them, and when the mate called me up, they had all gone down but one cow with a small calf. i drew back my iron for a dart, but the cow had already pitched, and was too far from me to make a safe thing of it. "strike the calf!" said mr. grafton; and, with a twinge of conscience at the cruelty of the deed, i threw an iron at the infant whale, who seemed hardly able to carry it off in his back. however, down he went, and we gave him line freely, as we were fearful of drawing the iron. we felt pretty sure that when he rose again, we should have a chance at the mother; and that chance was good of the rest of the school "bringing to." in such a case, we might get a good "cut" of oil, by striking a whale which, alone, was of little or no value. he had "sounded out" forty or fifty fathoms of line, when the strain suddenly relaxed, and the line hung slack. "we are loose!" cried the mate, "haul in line!" then shouted to the other two boats, who were hovering near us, to "pull ahead!" they sprang to their oars to take the next chance at the school when they should rise, while we gathered in our stray line quite leisurely. presently our line seemed to be foul of something, which offered a strange kind of resistance to our efforts; it did not bring up firmly, but seemed to be grating or chafing against something, so that we still gained on it, though making slow progress. "what can be the matter?" i asked. "i don't know," said father grafton. "i can't account for the line acting this way." just then there was another heavy surge upon it, then that peculiar grating and slipping, and we got in two or three more fathoms of it. "something is under us," said he. "slack line and stand by your oars!" we slacked away and sterned off a little. presently there was a commotion and lifting of the sea as it were, close ahead of us, and with a roar as he broke water, the ponderous "junk" of a "ninety-barreller" was forced up into view; he straightened, showing us his vast breadth of beam, and then with a thundering flap of his immense flukes upon the water, which half-drowned us all in the spray, he started to windward, towing us after him! astonishment held us all mute for a moment, but the mate, seeing that he was fairly "harnessed," soon recovered his usual coolness. "clear away my lance!" said he to the bowman, as he placed the second iron in the crotch ready for darting. "we're fast to him, blacksmith, but _how_, the lord knows, _i_ don't. if that's the whale that you struck, he has _grown_ out of all knowledge within a quarter of an hour!" the old man and second mate were coming to the rescue, having soon perceived the state of affairs. they were as much puzzled, of course, as we were; but, if we had hooked to the schoolmaster, that was enough for the present. the second boat was soon fast, and when we hauled up to lance, the mystery was explained. the large whale had fouled the line with his lower jaw, and the strain had drawn the iron from the little one. the monster in his struggles had rolled over and we had been hauling the line across his jaw, till we had got the slack all in, and the harpoon and pole had formed a toggil across his "jole" at the corner of his mouth. in an hour's time we hauled him alongside the ship, well pleased with the exchange we had involuntarily made of a calf for a full-grown bull. we had cruised this ground over, working down to leeward of ocean and pleasant islands, which lie somewhat detached from the main cluster of the group, and, then taking the advantage of a westerly monsoon, which brought us back to byron's island, we cruised it all over again. we had taken about six hundred barrels of sperm oil, and it was nearly time for us to be making a port, as we intended to take the next season "on japan." we had been in sight of one of the islands one afternoon, and several canoes came off for a short time, but the weather had been overcast and rainy, and we had no observations of the sun; and as we had but an indifferent one the day before, we were in doubt from what island the canoes came. we knew we must be somewhere in the vicinity of simpson's and henderville's islands. the wind was light the first part of the night, and we stood on the southern tack till midnight, when we wore ship, and headed back to the northward. this was done in our watch, and when we went below at three in the morning, it was cloudy weather with light rain squalls. nothing had been seen; the wind was light and the sea unusually smooth, as it seemed to us, indicating that we were under the lea of one of the islands. the second mate was cautioned to keep a good lookout ahead and off the lee bow, and we went below, feeling no uneasiness as it would be daylight in an hour. the captain had been on deck at about two, and he thought from appearances and from the strength of the current, that we must be to the westward of our reckoning, and now under the lee of woodle's island, and, if so, we had sea-room enough for the present. the heat kept me awake for some time after i turned in, or rather lay down on my chest-lid, for i could not endure the temperature in the bunk, and the weather was too damp to take my jacket and pillow on deck, or into one of the quarter-boats as i was in the habit of doing when it was fine and dry. i could hear mr. dunham and fisher moving about and talking over me, for a short time; then all was still, and overcome by drowsiness i fell asleep. a trembling movement of the ship with a grinding sound beneath me brought my feet to the floor with a bound; my trousers and hat were seized at the same instant, and the mate, mr. bunker, and myself reached the deck all at once, crowding each other on the stairs. the captain was already there. none of us asked another what was the matter; we seemed to wake with an instinctive understanding of the whole truth in its painful aggregate; and our first glances around were merely to take in the details of the situation. cocoanut trees were looming on the starboard bow, seeming in the gray light to overhang the ship, and gradually receding along the beam and quarter, as the land trended to the south-east. all was clear blue water off the lee bow, but day had broken, and a line of cocoanut trees against the western skies indicated another island within a few miles off the lee beam. we had run on the lee end of one of the islands, for the line of the reef, as marked by the color of the water, was only one point off the port bow. a quarter of a mile more off would have carried us all clear, and into the channel between the two. the wind was very light, and partially embayed as we were it was so smooth that there was little or no breaker near the ship, and she scarcely moved after the first shock of running on the reef. i had taken these few hasty notes while we were hauling everything in aback, with the hope of forcing her astern, but the power of her sails was not sufficient with so light a breeze. the pumps were tried, but showed no leak, and the hand lead was passed along for sounding. no questions were asked, no fault found, though we all understood well enough how it happened. as i have before intimated, the second mate, though so good an officer in all other respects, had the fatal weakness of falling to sleep at his post. i knew as well as if i had seen it myself, that after stirring about a short time and setting a lookout, he had sat down and dropped off into the land of nod. of course, if the officer of the deck sleeps, all the rest will be likely to follow his example; jack not being disposed to take upon himself any cares for which an other is better paid. i have no doubt to this day, that, at the moment the ship struck, every man was asleep, both above and below deck, but the captain, who was just coming up the stairs. the hand lead gave eight feet of water under the bow on the starboard side. from this depth it was evident the reef rose abruptly; as, ten feet ahead of us the rock was dry and our martingale was almost touching it. under the larboard bow we got ten feet, and a boat's length from the ship the lead indicated five fathoms. the kedge anchor was being prepared for service, for we could hear the voices of natives on the beach, and doubtless the canoes would surround us as soon as daylight should arrive, and the alarm be spread; so that whatever was to be done must be done soon or we should have to fight an army of hostile savages. but soundings taken thirty yards from the ship gave sixty fathoms off the port bow, and at fifty yards distance no bottom was reached with a hundred and fifty fathoms. no kedging could be done in that direction to swing her bow off. we sent the boat astern with no better success. the deep sea line failed to find any bottom, and it was evident the ship hung by her bow only, on the very angle of a reef which rose boldly from the depths of the ocean. under the fore-chains we had fourteen feet, which was enough to have floated the ship. we had the satisfaction of knowing that a pull of a couple of fathoms in either of two directions would place her in her native element, but how were we to get it? our kedge anchor was useless, owing to the great depth of water on the off side and astern of us. a strong breeze acting upon the head sails thrown aback would probably have done the work for us. daylight, while it gave us a clear view of our position, also brought new dangers, for several canoes were already hovering near, and others could be seen shoving out all along the beach. we could see that the men were all armed, and that no women were in any of the canoes. this was sufficient evidence that they meant mischief, and would venture an attack upon us in our crippled position, which they would not dare make if we were under way. however, we knew their wholesome dread of fire-arms, and trusted to be able to keep them at bay, if we could contrive any purchase to haul the ship off the ledge. but one way of doing this presented itself; and we at once set about the necessary preparations for availing ourselves of it. about two hundred yards from us, in a line nearly astern, a point or projection of the coral reef made out in a south-west direction, the rock being but little more than dry at high water; and in the scanty soil on this point, three cocoanut trees had firmly rooted themselves, one of them inclining so much seaward, that its lofty tuft of branches must have almost brushed the sails of the ship as she passed in by it. if a line could be carried to these trees, and brought in at the taffrail to the capstan or windlass, we could heave the ship off, without doubt; but the undertaking involved considerable risk. the two cutting falls were unrove from the blocks and connected by a bend, which formed a rope long enough for our purpose, and of sufficient strength to bear all the strain that we should want to heave. this was all placed in one boat, in two large coils well spread out on top of the thwarts. only one man was to go in this boat, at the steering oar, and the position was assigned to me. the other two boats were lowered, and manned with full crews, the second and third mates being placed in command. all the fire-arms had in the mean time been loaded, six-pounder and all; and most of the muskets were distributed in the boats, as there was no fear of the savages making an attack on the ship at present. they would wait to concentrate all their fighting force before doing so. when we had completed our preparations there were not more than twenty canoes assembled, averaging about five men to each; and these were, thus far, acting only as a squadron of observation; but two had made their appearance ahead of the ship coming round the end of the reef, being the advance guard of another fleet from the north side of the island, while the number of triangular sails momentarily increasing off the lee beam and quarter promised large reinforcements from the other island. it was low tide when the ship ran ashore, and the flood was now beginning to make; a couple of hours would, doubtless, give us water enough to haul her off. the second mate's boat, pulled in advance, towing the boat in which i was steering, loaded with the hawser. mr. bunker, with the third boat, followed close in my wake, as rear guard, carrying the end of a light whale line which was paid out from the ship. the six-pounder was trained for a covering fire, but no fire-arms were to be used, nor any violence offered, except in case of the last necessity. the natives in the canoes intently watched our movements, paddling a little towards us, but resting again, as they saw the number of muskets in the two boats. they, of course, understood our manoeuvre, but to oppose our landing would involve more risk from the guns than they cared to run. thus holding them in awe, the operation was performed without a shot, the first boat only being beached. the crew jumped out, pulled the end of the hawser ashore by a piece of small line, hitched it securely round two trees which grew close together, while the end of the whale line was being bent to the other end of the coil; a wave of my hat gave the signal to "haul away!" i laid the boat round, was taken in tow by the third mate, and we returned to the ship paying out the hawser from both coils at once. when about midway between the shore and the ship, having paid all out and thrown the bight clear of the boat, i was startled by a man under water swimming towards the hawser. i called to mr. bunker to "heave up," for it instantly occurred to me what his purpose was. he was nearly under the head of my boat, and gradually rising towards the surface as he approached his object. my boat-spade, keen as a razor, with a light warp attached to it, lay convenient to my hand. i seized it with a nervous grasp, feeling that it had fallen to my duty to shed the first blood in this affair. the savage was coming up; already his arm was outstretched to grasp the hawser. i could see a knife gleaming in his other hand. my spade descended with careful aim upon his right arm, his ugly head rose to the surface in a pool of blood, and with an unearthly yell he struck out with one arm towards the canoes, holding aloft the stump of the other, cut clear off between the shoulder and the elbow! the hawser was safe for the present; another minute and it was hauled taut and taken to the windlass, the tension bringing it above the surface. a boat's crew, well armed, remained on the point to protect that end; and in order to divide it at any point, the person attempting it must raise his head out of water and expose himself to almost certain death; for keen eyes were sighting loaded muskets both from the taffrail and the beach. we hove a severe strain at the windlass, but it was evident we could not start her yet; we must wait the rise of the tide, and, in the mean time, our chief attention must be devoted to the protection of our hawser. if our enemies could divide this, they would gain time and assemble a large force so as to overpower and massacre the whole of us. the division from the north side of the island were apparently all in sight now, and were forming a junction with their comrades, the whole force amounting to about forty canoes with two hundred fighting men, their arms being clubs and spears of wood, set thickly with rows of shark's teeth. we made no attempt to prevent the junction of the two fleets, for we did not mean to waste a charge of powder, but reserve it for an emergency. if we could protect our hawser and get another hour or two of flood tide, we did not fear a legion of them when under way; and this we hoped to effect before the arrival of the fleet from woodle's island, which numbered some thirty canoes more. the women and children of the island, with a few old men whose fighting days were gone by, had all assembled on the beach at a short distance from the ship, anxiously waiting the progress of events. they kept up a terrible yelling and shouting to the warriors in the canoes, apparently urging them on to attack us. after a time, becoming emboldened by impunity, a party of them ran down on the rocks ahead of the ship, and saluted us with a volley of stones, some of which came in over the bows, falling among us. to get rid of this annoyance the six-pounder, with only a charge of powder and wad was now trained in that direction and fired over their heads. the effect was all we could have desired; the rabble retreated to what they considered a safe distance, and ventured no more within range. from time to time we tried a little additional strain on the hawser, and at length had the satisfaction of feeling the ship tremble and waver a little under our efforts. on sounding now we found thirteen feet as far forward as the fore-swifter, and it was evident we hung by only a few feet of the keel from the cutwater aft. "the hawser does not pull in the direction that we could wish it did," said the old man, now in consultation with the mate at the taffrail. "it'll pull her off without doubt if we can wait half an hour or more. but in that time, those devils will get here from woodle's, and we shall be surrounded with enemies. besides, i am getting anxious about mr. dunham and his crew, who are held at bay there on the point. you see, the hawser pulls rather too much to seaward and grinds her starboard bow hard against the ledge. i think by the feeling of her, that if that could be slacked up suddenly her stern would swing in, and perhaps she might slide off sideways." "i think so too," said mr. grafton. "but it's a ticklish thing, because, as soon as that hawser is slacked into the water, they'll make an attempt to cut it, if they've got another knife among them, which is doubtful. it would be bungling work cutting it with any of their own instruments." "we must risk it, at any rate," said the old man, after considering a moment. "those canoes will be here in a few minutes, and then we shall have a general attack. we'll try it, and if she does not swing as we expect we'll heave right in again, and wait the tide as we have been doing. stand by to come up that hawser at the windlass! sharp eyes out now at the taffrail! keep your guns ready, and if you see a head come up near that hawser, _don't miss him!_" he waved his hand to the windlass bits; the fall "rendered" round the barrel with a heavy surge, and the ship swung, as he had expected. her stern trended in shore till she was about half broadside on; and her bow, sliding and grinding on the rocks, forced itself partly off, but hung again, now without motion. chapter xviii. off the rocks again.--a bad leak.--anecdotes.--the run to the caroline islands. "we shall have to heave taut again, mr. grafton, and give her another swing," said the old man. "o, if we only had another hawser to hold her stern where it is, and take this one in on the port bow! but i don't like to risk her to swing broadside on." at this moment a hand grasping a knife emerged from the water, near the middle of the hawser, and a shaggy head rose partly above the surface. five or six muskets cracked simultaneously both from the ship and shore. the head and arm disappeared, and the water was discolored where they went down. another savage had met the reward of his rashness and the hawser was saved again. "they wont try that move again right away," said the old man, coolly. "but those canoes are almost here and i am fearful for those men who are on the point, guarding the shore end of the hawser. there she slips a little! do you feel that, mr. grafton? we must risk it. come up the hawser all together! lay aft here, every man! take the bight round outside and lead in on the port bow! lively, men! you're working for your lives!" we knew it, and needed no urging; the heavy rope was passed swiftly from hand to hand, and brought in forward to the fore-rigging; a turn was thrown round the windlass and the brakes were instantly in motion. as she lay now, this was the very pull she wanted. hardly had we brought a strain when she began to slide and rumble under us, and a wild hurrah burst from all our lips as she settled into her element, and her head paid briskly off, under the power of her foretopsail. but as she did so, her stern swung in violently, and a projecting spur of the rock beneath the water met her under the counter, with a kind of dull, cracking sound that came ominously to our ears. we could not stop to think of this now. we looked astern; mr. dunham was coming! he had already cut the hawser at the shore end, and his crew were pulling the boat off by it, hand over hand, while he and fisher stood with muskets keeping their foes at bay; for, maddened with rage and disappointment, they were now beginning to close in upon him. "brace round the yards!" roared the captain. "steady! meet her with the helm! keep her right in the channel! all the muskets here now, and open a covering fire for this boat! pull boys! pull! we'll have you all safe in another minute!" we no longer thought of saving powder, but fired away among the thickest of them. a dozen of them were killed or wounded and they soon found the work too hot. they hauled off with hideous yells, and we took all our men safely on board, though fisher had a bad cut from one of the serrated spears, and the second mate and young black hawk were both severely wounded by stones, which had been hurled in great numbers from the canoes, when they closed up around the boat. "is that gun loaded with ball?" asked the old man. "ay, ay, sir!" responded mr. grafton. "say the word!" "luff hard, there!" said the captain. "let her come up and shiver! stand by, now, when she bears right--fire! hard up, and keep full!" the old "persuader" did her work as effectually as at dominica. two canoes were struck by the discharge, and the yells that rose from the terrified barbarians, now joined by the advance division of the woodle's island fleet, rang in our ears, but with no terrors for us, now that we were fairly standing seaward. "try the pumps, now, mr. grafton, while i look after these wounded men," said the captain. "i'm afraid we may have started a leak, under the counter, but i hope not a very bad one." the first strokes of the pump told us that his fears were not without good foundation. the water gushed from the scuppers bright and clean! "get me a dry ropeyarn," said father grafton, quietly. "draw the boxes, and let's sound the well." a plummet was soon extemporized, and lowered into the pump-well. it was drawn carefully up again. o, how anxiously all eyes were riveted upon it, as with suspended breath we awaited the mate's words. "twenty-five inches." "that's not so bad as it might be," he said cheerfully. "it's some time since she struck there. rig the other pump and man them both!" we kept both pumps going fast and strong till they sucked. we then timed her, and when we pumped her again, we made the leak about fifteen hundred strokes an hour. "that will keep us pretty busy pumping," said the old man, "until we get in somewhere where we can stop it. however, we may thank god we came off as well as we did. we can keep the leak under till we reach one of the carolines, and as for the three men, i don't consider either of them wounded seriously, though they may be disabled from duty for some days. we'll break out in the starboard side of the run this afternoon, and see if we can make any discoveries." we broke out, accordingly, and judging by the sound, where the leak was, we cut out a piece of the ceiling. we found a place crushed in two planks in width, the broken wood still remaining, though much shattered, and forced out of its place. with a "fothering" of canvas and oakum, and some boards nailed to the timbers to hold all in place, we reduced the leak considerably. this was all that could be done to it from the inside, but we were satisfied that we could get at it, by careening the ship in a smooth harbor, and repair it, as we did the former leak at hanayapa; as the timbers did not appear to be materially injured. we timed her again in our watch that night, and found we pumped only about nine hundred strokes an hour. [illustration: off the rocks again. page .] "well," said father grafton, "that's much better than fifteen hundred, for it's a kind of labor that seamen abominate, and no wonder at it. there's a sameness about it that is not at all agreeable. i must say that i dislike such jobs as pumping, sawing wood, and turning grindstones." of course i agreed with him entirely in this antipathy. "i don't think," continued the mate, "that there is any other leak in her beside that one under the counter. it's likely that the copper and sheathing are much torn up under the bows, but the ledge appeared to be pretty smooth, and the pumps threw no water, up to just before the time we hauled her afloat." "i suppose," said i, "the cooper will admit now that she leaks enough to keep her sweet. ah! here he is, on deck, and his pipe loaded, too. say, cooper, have you seen any flying fish come from the pump yet?" "no," answered the cooper, gruffly. "she don't leak much, now, that is, comparatively speaking. she's _tight_, compared to the old harbinger. but we didn't mind it so much in those days, as we should now." "no, that's true," said the mate, "and, to go twenty or thirty years still further back, they minded it still less, and seemed to look upon pumping as a matter of course, a part of the regular routine of ship's duty. i recollect a case in point. when i was a young fellow, i happened to be present in court when a case was being tried involving the insurance on the ship tarquin, sunk at sea on her homeward passage. it appeared that the tarquin, when off cape horn, leaked a smart thousand strokes an hour; that after getting down into the trades on the atlantic side, they had tinkered some of their leaks, and also, being in lighter weather, she made less water, so that they pumped only three or four hundred strokes an hour when off cape st. augustine. well, they held on their course, and, between there and home, she gave out entirely, and sunk from under 'em. the underwriters refused to pay, and the ground taken by them was, that the captain ought to have gone into a port in brazil, and overhauled his ship. well, several old sea-captains were called on the stand to give their opinions. i remember one in particular, who is still living. the question was put to him, whether, in his judgment, it was prudent for the captain of the tarquin, with his ship leaking some three or four hundred strokes, and pernambuco under his lee, to continue on towards home? 'prudent!' said the old gentleman. 'yes, why not? why,' said he, proudly, 'i sailed out of new bedford in a ship leaking five hundred strokes an hour to start on a voyage!'" "yes, that was in what they call, 'the good old times,'" said the cooper. "and that reminds me of a circumstance that happened many years ago in which an uncle of mine was one of the parties concerned. he was homeward bound in an old ship, i think it was the criterion. they got in on the coast, made block island, and took a pilot. it came on to blow very heavily from the northward, and they were blown off the coast and the ship leaked so that they found it impossible to free her, and decided that the only safety for them was to put her off before it and run her--somewhat. well, they let her slide to leeward with both pumps going, and when the weather moderated, they found themselves so far to the southward that they kept on, and made a port at the french island of martinique. here they discharged the oil, hove the ship out, stopped the leaks, and took in their cargo again. in those days, you will remember, communications with the west indies was not an every-day thing as it is now, and nothing was heard from that particular island for a long time. well, in the mean time the pilot-boat reported putting a pilot on board ship criterion, off block island, such a date. of course, it was supposed she had foundered in the gale, and all had perished. well, four months afterwards, away along in the summer, the criterion came down to the bar, and when my uncle went ashore he found his wife in mourning, having given him up for dead long before." "i believe that's a true yarn, cooper, if you _did_ tell it," said the mate--"this way the watch! _pump ship!_" we still held on our course to the westward, to make a port at one of the carolines or ladrones, and made good progress with the trade winds in our favor. our men soon recovered from their injuries, and resumed their duties, rather priding themselves upon the ugly scars received in the conflict. whether the old man ever said anything in the way of reprimand to the second mate, i never knew. if he did, the whole matter was kept to themselves; and, indeed, it was not his habit to find fault with an officer in the presence or hearing of any subordinate. perhaps he thought it best to overlook his almost fatal want of vigilance, in view of his gallant conduct afterwards in charge of the forlorn hope on the point, and trusted that the peril through which he had just passed would prove a salutary lesson to him for the future. if so, he judged correctly, for the young officer's eyes were opened to his own carelessness; and, in a literal sense, he kept them open the remainder of the voyage. as i learned from others in his watch, he never was known, after this affair, to sit down during his hours of duty at night. "we are drawing down near to the carolines," said the mate to me one evening, about a week after the accident. "i think we shall make strong's island to-morrow." "have you ever been there, sir?" i asked. "not to go ashore," said mr. grafton. "i have passed in sight of it, and i have been in and anchored at ascension, which is beyond it to the northward and westward. i hear that ships visit strong's island quite frequently of late. i suppose the people are similar in appearance and character to those of ascension. we shall reconnoitre there a little, and perhaps the old man will decide to go in, if he finds it a good harbor to stay our leak in; if not, we shall keep on to ascension or guam." "are these people anything like those at kingsmill's group?" "not at all," replied the mate. "neither in appearance, language nor general character. there is something very interesting about them; at least, those that i have seen at ascension. they are handsomer, and lighter in color than those islanders we have left behind; and they are also more intelligent and ingenious. the women, especially, are more delicate, with good figures; some of them are really pretty. then, in place of the gibberish of uncouth sounds spoken in most parts of polynesia, these people have a musical language, full of soft liquids and ringing consonants, that seems more like chinese than like anything we are accustomed to recognize as a 'kanaka language.'" "are they safe people to deal with?" i asked. "well, no more so than the generality of savages. indeed i think they are quite as treacherous, though not as hardy and warlike as marquesans or new zealanders. none of these races are to be trusted, and we must be always on our guard in our intercourse with them; treating them well, but never placing ourselves entirely in their power." "power makes right, with them, as it does with civilized nations," i answered, "and the same rule of diplomacy which you have mentioned will apply to our dealings with the best of them, i think." "that's true," said father grafton, reflectively. "i suppose, after all, we are no better than they are, only we have a more genteel way of doing things and do them on a larger scale. we should not kill and eat a man or two whom we caught on board our ship; but if it suited our purposes, we should very likely take possession of a whole island or group of islands, and kill the people in a legal way, if they resisted; as is being done even now, by enlightened france, at the marquesas and society islands." "and if they don't take possession of all oceanica," said i, "it is only because it is not worth their while, or as we yankees would say, 'it wont pay.'" "just so," assented the mate. "and if, as some think, england will protest against this occupation by the french, it will not be because of any injustice done to the natives but because it might be thought dangerous to her interests to permit france to have these naval stations in the pacific." "it is a delicate matter, any way," he resumed, "to do justice in dealing with these savages. we must secure the safety of our own lives, if possible, and of our property, too. of course i am speaking, now, of the case of isolated ships, like our own. it seems cruel to kill or wound a savage for pilfering, especially when we remember that a plug of tobacco or a knife may appear as great a treasure to his simple mind, as a mine of gold or a fertile province to our more enlightened capacities. and yet how else are we to prevent the annoyance, and secure our property? we cannot reason with them, nor can we punish them according to any civilized form of law. and if we kill or maltreat them, it's ten to one they will retaliate upon some other white men who may be thrown in their way at a future time. it's a difficult subject, to make the best of it," said the mate, dismissing the matter in an unsatisfied way, as hundreds of others have done; and taking up another. "there is evidence to prove," said he, "that the caroline islands were once inhabited by a race of people far superior to those now found here. the ruins of a large stone building, apparently a religious temple of some sort, still stand on the island of ascension, away up in the interior, showing beyond all question that those who reared it possessed a knowledge of arts and of mechanical powers far beyond the capacity of the present owners of the soil. i am told that similar evidences are to be found at strong's island, in the form of stone walls, running in various directions about the island, which never could have been built by the present inhabitants." "what account do they give of them?" i asked. "so far as i can learn, it is as great a mystery to the present generation of them as it is to us; and i have never heard that they have even any traditions to account for them. but there they are," said he, dismissing this subject, like the other, unsatisfied. "but it is time to set these faithful pumps going again; that's a practical matter, with not much of interesting speculation about it. _pump ship!_" we made strong's island the next day, as expected, and running down for it, saw two ships lying at anchor in a bay on the weather side of it, making in from the south-east. the old man lowered his boat and went in, leaving us to lie off and on for his return. soon afterwards a canoe was seen coming out with three men. they paddled alongside very quietly, in marked contrast with the jabbering barbarians whom i had been accustomed to hear at the other group, or even to the portuguese boatmen at the azores. i was looking at them over the rail in the waist, and wondering how the first words of their language would sound in my ears, when the man in the head of the canoe spoke up, in clear and distinct english, "give us a rope, if you please." the crew of the topez could hardly have been more surprised when they discovered pitcairn's island, and were addressed in their own language by the descendants of the bounty mutineers, than were we at hearing this polite request. the men came on board, and it appeared that they all spoke a good smattering of english, though the first speaker took the lead, he having made a short cruise in a whaler. he told us one of the ships in the bay was american and the other english. the mate asked him if he knew the name of either of the ships, thinking at most, that he might get some clew to guess from; but, to our further astonishment, he replied, "ship leonidas, of new bedford, captain taber, and ship seringapatam, of london, captain courtenay," pronouncing all the names with the greatest care and distinctness. he already knew the name of our ship and captain, having spoken the boat going into the bay. "well," said mr. grafton, "they ought to establish a newspaper here, and secure this man as marine news reporter. it's not one white man in twenty could have given us these particulars, and done it in as good shape;" for we had learned how much oil these ships has taken, where they were bound, and many other things of interest concerning them. "why, either of these men talk better english than any ordinary kanaka who has made a four years' voyage in a whaler." our boat was seen returning, and the old man came on board with a favorable report. he gave orders to get the chains up and the anchors off the bow at once, having made up his mind to go in. "it's a snug harbor," i heard him telling the mate, "and it's easy getting into it. i have some doubts about getting out again as easy, but i guess we shall have a slant of wind. taber went in only yesterday and is bound on japan too. he wants a consort, and will stay as long as we do, in case our job of stopping the leak should detain us. the englishman is all ready for sea, now, but he can't get out with this wind." within an hour we were riding quietly at anchor in six fathoms, but a short distance from the beach, and in a convenient place for heeling the ship to repair the injury which had caused us so much monotonous and fatiguing labor at the pumps. chapter xix. strong's island. the first duty that engaged our attention after coming to anchor was, of course, to stop the leak; which was done much in the same manner as in the former case at dominica, except that it was necessary to stow all the heavy articles forward, and bring the ship down by the head, instead of the stern. we also attached a purchase to the mainmast head, and to a tree on the shore, to assist in careening the ship. the natives appeared to watch all these operations with great interest; and our decks were alive with them, both men and women, the day after our arrival. compared with the savages, whom we had previously visited, these people might be called gentle and quiet in their habits. nothing could exceed the eagerness and the perseverance displayed, particularly by the women, in acquiring a thorough knowledge of our language. every word that could be picked up to add to their english vocabularies seemed to afford them a peculiar source of delight. "what name o' this? what name man?" were questions put to us at every turn, and our answers were echoed and repeated over and over, till the sound was fully mastered. thus the english spoken by these women was not murdered, for each word was thoroughly learned before passing on to the next. suddenly a muttered signal or countersign passes from mouth to mouth; all noise and conversation cease; and each remains fixed to the spot, as if struck by an enchanter's wand. not immediately seeing any adequate cause for this, i asked, in great surprise, what it meant? one of the girls ventured to whisper an answer to me: "you see? king george come!" i looked over the sail. our boat, which had been ashore, was just coming alongside, and, seated with the old man in the stern sheets, was this potent autocrat, "king george," a rather goodlooking, portly barbarian, whose royal robes consisted of nothing less--or more--than a common sailor's checkshirt, his legs disdaining any covering whatever. he had doubtless received his title from some ironical englishman, and his subjects had adopted it as proudly, as it is said our ancestors did, the music of "yankee doodle." as his majesty's head appeared above the quarter-rail, every one of his submissive subjects, man, woman and child, fell upon deck in a kneeling or crouching attitude, with bowed heads, and thus remained till their sovereign had completed his survey of matters above board, and passed below with the captain. during this time they rigidly maintained their positions, however uncomfortable, as immovable as a well drilled battalion of troops at "parade rest." as soon as he was invisible, everything resumed its former status, and the stir and bustle went on as before. the same etiquette, i afterwards observed, was necessary at the advent of any chief of high rank, or any of the juvenile princes of the blood royal. courtenay, the english captain, had visited this island several times before, and was on very intimate terms with king george. he told us to be on our guard against treachery; and informed us that an english whaleship, called the harriet, had been taken and burnt in the other harbor on the lee side of the island about eighteen months previous, though her fate had been a mystery until quite recently, as the natives, adopting the motto of ancient sea-rovers, that "dead men tell no tales," had massacred every man of her crew. for more than a year she had been a "missing ship," when another english whaler, touching at this island, short-handed, shipped two natives, who, a few days after getting to sea, incautiously let out the secret. the ship at once put back and came to anchor in the lee harbor, and as captain courtenay happened to be there at the time, the two ships, acting in concert, succeeded in fishing up the harriet's anchor and chain, with the charred remains of her bow, still attached. the two captains, by stratagem, secured the persons of some of the chiefs, and they confessed the truth, but no punishment had yet been inflicted by the english, though there was good reason to believe that other vessels had been cut off here, at more remote dates, and no one left alive to tell the tale. they had even destroyed the ship's chronometers, supposing them to be alive; for king george when questioned by captain courtenay concerning the chronometer of the harriet, answered expressively, "kill him. take big stone, kill him." the seringapatam still lay wind-bound for two or three days after our arrival, but at last, taking advantage of a morning when the air was quite light, though blowing directly into the bay, we put the boats of all three ships ahead of her, and assisted by the whole flotilla of canoes we towed her to sea, keeping the sails furled, and the yards pointed to the wind. we thought king george seemed rather relieved when he got rid of her. he professed great friendship for captain courtenay. but his regard was, doubtless, based on the wholesome fear in which he stood of him; for the ship mounted eight guns in regular broadside, besides small swivels on her topgallant forecastle and taffrail, and even had her arm-chests in her tops. we were successful in reaching and repairing the injury under our counter, and, on righting and trimming the ship, had the satisfaction to find her bottom perfectly tight. we could not, of course, tell how much external injury she had received under the bow. i did not fail, on going ashore, to notice the stone walls of which i had heard, and in which i observed some stones of great size and weight, at such heights from the ground as would indicate that the builders must have made use of mechanical power to raise them. i could get no information as to how long they had been there, or for what purpose they had been raised. on showing ourselves near the door of a house, we were always invited to enter and take a seat among the family on the floor, and the women immediately put us through a catechism, commencing, according to established form, with the question, "name o' you?" this question must be answered, and the name repeated by the whole family, until they have the pronunciation perfect. but instead of following this up by asking "who give you that name?" the next query is, "name o' ship?" and then, "name o' captain?" we thought it very remarkable that we found sufficient knowledge of english in every family to conduct these exercises, in view of the fact that so few ships had visited the place, and no white man was then living among them. after these points are all settled, a pipe is produced, with the request, usually made by one of the younger women in her most seductive tones, "you fill pipe belong to me?" of course you feel bound to honor this draft upon your pocket store of tobacco, and, if you intend to make many calls while on shore, your pockets must be well filled. it is observable that the pipe produced on these occasions is invariably one with a large bowl, while those used for smoking are always small. we strolled into a large building near the beach abreast of our anchorage, which appeared to be a feast-home, a royal banqueting hall. it may, perhaps have been used also as a hall of council, if so absolute a monarch as king george can be supposed to consult with any one on affairs of state. i should suppose, from what i saw of this despot, that he might have had that peculiarity for which the first napoleon is said to have been famous, of making up his mind first, and asking the advice of his generals afterwards. in this building, in a line extending nearly the whole length of it, flat stones, slightly hollowed so as to form basins, were set into the ground, and at each of these was seated a man, pounding kava-root with a smooth stone of convenient weight to be swung in his hand. the right arms of all these men, perhaps twenty in number, rose and fell in concert, with a slow and measured stroke, uniting the sounds produced by the twenty stone hammers upon the basins into one loud clang. outside, fires had been built, and mysterious processes of cookery were being carried on. i inquired the meaning of all this preparation, and learned that this was a funeral feast. a woman of some rank, the wife of a chief, had died, and all the high dignitaries were then attending the burial, after which they would return to the feast-house, and "partake of a grand collation," as the celebration programmes have it. i was too late to see anything of the funeral ceremonies, for they were even now on their return. the kava-root, after being pounded to a fibrous mass, is mixed with clear water in the stone basins, and the infusion is strained, or rather wrung, through a sort of coarse cloth of grassy appearance, into calabashes, and is ready for the banquet. the first strength goes to the king and chiefs; it is "spliced" two or three times, the common natives being glad to get a very indifferent article. at many of the islands of polynesia, the kava, instead of being beaten with stones, is chewed, and the masticated mass is ejected from the mouth into a vessel, and then water added to it; this chewing operation being performed chiefly by the women. but at strong's island, no woman is allowed to take any part in its preparation, or even to be present at the ceremony of preparing or drinking it. his majesty and suite being at hand, the "funeral-baked meats" were brought in, with piles of roasted bread-fruit and large bunches of bananas, and all the natives sat or squatted in their proper places, according to rank. the king, seeing us whites looking on, beckoned us to take seats near his royal person, and personally saw that we were liberally supplied with meat and fruit. we did ample justice to the fare, as became distinguished guests, and made a hearty meal. the remains of the feast were being cleared away, and we were about to leave in quest of further adventures, when the cooper made his appearance among us, with his pipe in full blast. "well, boys," said he, "you've been having a glorious wake, i suppose, for the old duchess, or marchioness, or whatever her rank may be. you won't get drunk on kava, though, after the aristocracy have had the first wringing of it. you might drink a deck bucketful of the slops that's handed around afterwards. how did they feed you, pretty well?" "yes, cooper," said i, "you should have been here sooner. you lost a good dinner by being too late for it." "why what did you have for dinner?" he asked. "something that we sailors don't get every day in the week;" i answered. "we can appreciate roast pig when we do get it." "did you have roast pig for dinner?" asked the cooper. "certainly, we did," said i, triumphantly. "well, i presume you did--all but the pig," said he, dryly. "what do you mean by that?" i inquired, dubiously. there was no smile on the cooper's face, but that twinkling of his beard was perceptible, which always denoted a high state of inward enjoyment. "why, pigs that are raised down our way," said he, "have a different tone of voice in expressing themselves. they don't _bark_." "bark!" i exclaimed, as light began to dawn upon me, while some of my companions already began to look a little qualmish. "you don't mean to say that--" "i don't mean to say anything," returned the cooper. "come outside and see the sacrificial altar, and its trimmings." we followed him a short distance back from the house till he halted, and pointed significantly to an ensanguined block of wood, near which lay four sets of paws, and four heads, unmistakably canine, corresponding in number to the four "roast pigs" at the banquet. "i acknowledge the corn," said i. "i suppose if i had known the fact before dinner, i shouldn't have relished it, but it is too late to repent." "but you might say," said one of boys from the leonidas, unwilling yet to admit that he had been sold, "that we don't _know_ what animals we had for dinner." "it needs no naturalist to tell us what animals have suffered at the block;" said i, laughing. "we may as well face the music, for there's hardly 'a loop to hang a doubt upon.' and, as another link in the chain of evidence, i now recollect that those pigs had been decapitated before they were served up, though i hadn't thought of it before. i never knew that these people were in the habit of eating dogs." "yes, i could have told you that," said the cooper, "that is to say, as regards another island of this group. i know they do at ascension, and they prefer them to pigs." "well," said i, "i suppose all of us can now testify that they are as good as pigs, if eaten with a sauce of ignorance." "after the collation comes the ball;" said the cooper. "you see those fellows backing down wood, and getting ready to make a bonfire. they will light up the fire after dark, and then dance and sing round it. but here's another game going on. let's go and see what this means." the natives were all gathering on a large plat of greensward, near the feast-house, and the young men were seating themselves in a circle on the ground, several ranks deep, so as to leave an arena of convenient size in the centre. the women, children and old men closed up outside of this ring as spectators, a space being kept clear for king george and the principal chiefs, where they could overlook the whole scene. it was evident some sort of gladiatorial show or sparring exhibition was now to begin. at a signal from the king, an athletic young man sprang lightly from his seat in the circle to the centre of the ring, bringing his hands together with a loud clap of defiance. he was instantly confronted by another, and the sparring was commenced. passes were rapidly made and warded off, no harm being done to the combatants, as all blows were struck open-handed. great dexterity was displayed on both sides, the object aimed at by all this, being, for some little time, a mystery; but at length the challenger, watching his opportunity, rushed under the other's guard and seized him at the waist, which closed the combat, amid tumultuous applause from king, court and spectators. both fell back to their places in the circle, the victor to be petted and patted by his delighted comrades, and instantly a fresh champion bounded into the arena to be met by another. thus the entertainment continued, till nearly every young man had put in at least one appearance, and some particularly smart fellows had come off victors in several matches, so that their challenges were not readily accepted. sometimes a careless or over-confident youth would be caught almost instantly, calling down upon himself the jeers and uproarious mirth of the whole assembly; and, on the other hand, when two of the most skilfull of the gladiators were about equally matched, the struggle would be prolonged amid the eager and breathless attention of the excited audience. everything was expected to be done with the most perfect good humor; and if, as was sometimes the case, the vanquished party lost his temper, he was greeted with such yells of derisive laughter, that he was soon glad to join in the laugh against himself, in order to escape further ridicule. the men were naked, with the sole exception of a broad belt about the hips, and their eager attitudes and quick movements displayed their figures and the development of their muscle to the best advantage. we all agreed that the exhibition was a most beautiful one, possessing all the wholesome excitement that belongs to athletic sports of this kind, without the drawbacks of brutality and smothered hatred. we remained on shore in the evening to see the dance round the fire, which is accompanied with wild chants or recitations, and has no very striking points about it. there is but little variety in the movements, and the interest depends simply upon the almost perfect concert of voice and gesture among a large number of performers. its scenic effect is heightened by the uniform system of tattooing, the chief point in which is a stripe running the whole length of the arm on the outside, and a wider one up and down the leg, like those worn by sergeants in our army. but on the whole, the display is inferior in variety and vigor to the marquesan "_hula hula_," or to the war-dances of the north american tribes. an incident occurred during this performance, which forcibly illustrated the absolute control over the lives of his subjects possessed by the irresponsible despot, king george. one of the young men engaged in the dance failed to give satisfaction to the critical eye or ear of the king, being, as i thought, a little out of time in the chant, when, without a word, the king picked up a stone, and hurled it at him, striking full in his breast, and effectually knocking him out of the ranks, while the dance went on without interruption, as if this was merely an ordinary recreation, in which the monarch was wont to indulge when the humor seized him. a shudder and murmur of indignation ran through us visitors from the ships at this cruelty, but what could we do or say about it? the poor delinquent gathered himself up and slunk away, evidently suffering dreadful pain. he must have been severely, if, indeed, not dangerously injured; but it seemed a matter of indifference to his royal master whether he lived or died. "i suppose," said mr. grafton, who was standing near me, "you feel just as i do about that affair; as if you'd like to hurl that same rock back at the king's breast with a will." "yes sir," i replied; "but it wouldn't be policy for us to attempt anything of that kind." "hardly;" returned the mate. "we should have a hornet's nest about our ears in short order, if we touched his sacred person. i presume these young men consider it all right, and a mere matter of course, each one feeling that it may be his turn next. i have no doubt that the old savage has killed more than one of them in getting them up to their present state of drill. he holds his subjects' lives at his own disposal, as much as the czar of all the russias, or even more so; and, as a general rule, these savage races are very reckless of human life, seeming to attach but little value to it." "didn't you admire the sparring match, this afternoon?" i asked. "i didn't see it;" the said mate. "i took my gun, and went out in the woods pigeon shooting. i had pretty good luck. i got about twenty pigeons, and saw a great deal of sport besides the shooting. the old chief seelic went with me, he is the second in rank below king george, as near as i can get at it. he took another chief of lower rank with him, and a couple of boys of no rank at all. old seelic and i kept company, the petty chief fell into our wake at a short distance, and the two youths jogged along astern of him. whenever we stopped a moment down they went on their beam-ends right into the mud or wherever they chanced to be, and waited there till we started on again, keeping their stations in line. when we got into the woods, they were signalled to keep in close order, but it was amusing to see manoeuvres when one of the youngsters got the first sight of a pigeon. you see, he could not speak to his superior in a standing position, nor speak to old seelic at all, until commanded or invited to do so. so he would go down on his marrow-bones and tell the petty chief, and then he would go down the same way with his head almost in the mud, to tell old seelic, and sometimes while all this etiquette was going on, the pigeon would take the alarm and leave the tree, before old seelic could bring his gun to bear on him. the old fellow is a good shot and would drop his bird almost every time. but the war dance is about finished for to-night, and it's time to muster the boys and shove off." we got all our water and wood on board, and a good stock of fruit, though the only recruits to be got to serve as sea stores for any length of time were yams, and these of indifferent quality. when ready for sea, we lay wind-bound two days, but on the third the trades were so far to the northward that we could lay our course through the passage in the reef, and both ship's windlasses were at once manned to take advantage of the start. it was observed that, as we began to get under way, nearly all the natives left us, and that very few were in sight even on the beach. as our anchor made its appearance at the surface it brought with it the bight of a small chain, which had caught across the stock. the few natives about the ship got sight of it as quick as we did, and, as conscious guilt needs no accuser, in the twinkling of an eye, they were off for the shore, some in canoes and others jumping overboard. it was a critical moment for us, as the ship was swinging, and we could not afford to lose the wind, so we "hooked cat," and secured our anchor, the bight of the chain slipping off the anchorstock, and falling back to its submarine bed, where it had probably lain for several years. it might have been the cable to a vessel of a hundred and fifty to two hundred tons. in a few minutes both ships were standing out through the narrow passage, the leonidas leading, as the increased strain on our windlass in lifting the anchor had given her the start. it was barely possible that the chain might have been slipped or accidentally lost by some vessel; but probabilities were strong to the contrary. the evident uneasy feeling of the natives, when we were about taking up our anchor, was a significant circumstance. could we have let go the other anchor, and taken time to investigate the matter by underrunning the small chain, we should, no doubt, have found positive evidence of treachery, and might have shed light upon the fate of some long-missing vessel. we ran to leeward of the island and shaped our course to the northward and westward, not sighting any other island of the caroline group. in a few days we parted company with the leonidas, and went our way alone toward the japan cruising-ground. chapter xx. on japan.--ormsbee's peak.--whaling incidents.--a yankee trick. the words, "on japan," as used by sperm whalemen, do not necessarily indicate the near vicinity of the islands of that name, but indicate all that part of the north pacific ocean to the eastward of them, even to the meridian of degrees, between the parallels of twenty-five and forty degrees. the "japan sea," lying between the islands and the main coast of asia, had not, at the time of which i write, been penetrated by whalers, though it has since become well known as a right whaling ground. the season "on japan," as usually made, was from april or may to september, and the usual route was to run well to the westward in the early part of the season, and then work back again, making the autumn port at one of the sandwich islands; a group which has derived great importance from its position, seeming to have been providently dropped midway in the north pacific, as a "half-way house," between the two continents, as well as a haven of refuge for the belated whalemen from all the northern cruising grounds. the first part of our cruise we visited the bonin islands, where we added somewhat to our stock of vegetables, and in this vicinity we took considerable oil. at an uninhabited island of this group we also made a good haul of green turtle, which afforded us high living for the time being. we stood to the northward, cruising up the east coast of niphon, one of the principal of the japan islands, and saw the walls of the great city of jeddo, but, at that period, this great empire was a sealed book to all foreigners except the chinese and dutch, and even to these favored nations but few pages were opened. we met with a junk now and then, but they shunned all communication with us, and, by putting off dead before the wind, their best point of sailing, generally managed to keep clear of us, as we did not care to devote all day to a stern chase. the class of "junks" of which we were now especially in search were not to to be found here, the cetaceous monsters which bear them not appearing to frequent the immediate vicinity of this coast. so we hauled to the southward again and soon fell in with sperm whales, and with numerous ships, among which were our old consorts, the fortitude and the pandora, both of them having met with fair success. an accident happened while on this cruising ground, which had well-nigh terminated the career of our worthy chief officer. we lowered and struck a large whale, having a new line in our boat, which had been stretched and coiled down only a few days before, and was somewhat wiry, as any whale line is liable to be when first used. the whale sounded heavily, and i watched the tub anxiously as the line ran spinning and smoking round the loggerhead. already half our line was out and had run clear thus far when i noticed a lifting of the centre or "heart" of the coil in the tub; it was rising up through the larger bights; the alarm was cried, "foul line! _cut!_" but it was too late. i writhed myself clear of it, as it flew by me in a snarl and whizzed between the heads of the oarsmen as they leaned outboard to escape the danger. the snarl was gone, and the mate with it! the bowman seized the hatchet and divided the line as quickly as possible. there was a moment of anxious suspense which seemed an hour. the head of father grafton rose to the surface nearer the old man's boat than ours; he was seized by strong hands before he could sink again, though i could see that he was almost at the last agony, and, as they pulled him in, the blood started from his nose, and eyes, and even from his ears! the whale went to windward, spouting clear, and we soon gave up the pursuit as hopeless. but we had saved our mate, and a few hours sufficed to bring him all right again. "it seemed to me," said he, "that i must have passed half an hour under water, though, of course, i know that the whole transaction did not occupy more than a minute, from the time i went out of my boat till i was in the captain's. i was to blame myself for being caught so much off my guard, for knowing that my new line was dangerous, i ought to have had the hatchet or boatknife in my hand the whole time the whale was sounding. but after the alarm was shouted, i hadn't time to pull the knife out of the becket before i was overboard. i was caught with a round turn round my thigh, though, of course, i cannot tell how it got there. i know that i made a grab for the boat knife, but was hurried away out of the reach of it; that i felt in my pocket for my jackknife, and drew it partly out; that i then felt the strain suddenly ease up at the moment the line was cut inboard; that i seized it with my hands and shoved it off my leg; but from that time i can tell nothing till i began to revive in the other boat on my way to the ship. i can give you no idea, in words, of how i felt while i was being dragged through the water by the leg, but i should say there was a resistance like passing through a solid wall that seemed to _flatten_ me, as it were, and that a thousand sledge-hammers were clanging right in my ears. we lost our second mate in that way, when i was in the plutarch," continued mr. grafton, thoughtfully; "and many another good man has met his death in the same manner, gone past help almost before he could see the danger." "ah! misther grafton," said farrell, "i may say that's the only time i ever felt glad to get my fist clutched in yer hair, was when i see it bobbing up close to our boat, sir. but, i'm thinking ye had about as narrow a chance for yer life as meself had, the night i went after the parr-puses, bad luck till 'em." the next morning, fisher, who was at the masthead, reported four sails in sight, three to the leeward of us, and one off the weather beam running down for us under all sail. "look sharp!" cried the old man, "he must see something if he is running off. don't let him get a large whale right under our noses!" i observed that he and the mate exchanged significant glances, and i thought too that there was a merry twinkle in his eye. i relieved fisher at the masthead after breakfast, and not long afterwards, the captain, who had been getting sights to determine his longitude by chronometer, hailed me from the deck. "how does that sail to windward bear now?" "two points abaft the beam, sir," i answered. "is he running off yet?" "yes, sir; headed right at us," said i. "we ought to see him from deck by this time, then," said the old man. "i don't think you can, sir," i answered. "he don't seem to near us much." i heard a loud laugh from the mate, but supposed, of course, it was called forth by something transpiring on deck; and a few minutes afterwards perceived the captain coming up the rigging, with the spyglass slung over his neck. he took a comfortable seat on the crosstrees (which was more than he allowed me to do, for i was required to stand the whole two hours), and, bringing his telescope to bear on the strange ship, said to me: "so you think he don't near us much, eh?" "i cannot perceive that he nears us at all," said i. "and yet there he is, coming right at us with to'gal'antsails set, and the breeze on his quarter." "well," said he, "by all accounts, you are not the first one by dozens who has been mystified by that same craft. according to our observation, that is ormsbee's peak; a rock that rises out of the sea like a tower, at a considerable distance, too, from any other land. it tapers upward very much like the sails of a ship. i never saw it before, myself, but i am told that it is almost always raised from the masthead as a sail. so you needn't take any further note of ormsbee's manoeuvres, for he won't come down near enough to us to-day. keep a sharp eye on those fellows under our lee. if a whale comes up among the fleet here, we want to be in the suds as quick as any of 'em. "this ship off the lee quarter," said he, after a good look through his glass, "is the pandora, i know by that new cloth in his mainsail, and the paint of his starboard boat, too. _that_ one i don't know," he muttered, "but the farthest one, nearly ahead of us, looks very much like our strong island partner, the leonidas, though i can't swear to her at that distance." he soon after went down on deck, after again enjoining upon me to keep my eyes about me. my trick was nearly out, and i had as yet seen nothing to attract especial attention, the four ships still maintaining about the same relative positions, all on the starboard tack. i was getting tired, and wondering why the relief bell did not strike, when i noticed the pandora was nearer the wind than she should be. i thought for a moment that this was merely the effect of carelessness on the part of the helmsman, but determined not to be caught napping, i hailed the deck, that "the pandora was coming in stays." "no, he isn't," said the old man. "he has got too nigh the wind, that's all. there, he is filling again." but, as he spoke, the maintopsail of the next ship, the stranger, swung in to the mast, and his lee quarter boat could be seen projecting from under his counter. "he sees whales!" i shouted; but the old man was already shaking me on my perch, as he strided up the rigging, two ratlines at each step. "hard up your helm!" said he. "square in the after yards, mr. grafton, and get the boats ready as fast as possible. _call all hands there, one of ye!_" the pandora showed as yet no manoeuvres, having filled again on the same tack, and his starboard boat was still in its place on the cranes; but three boats were down from our next neighbor, and the supposed leonidas was in the act of wearing round to close with the rest of us. "where's the whale?" asked the captain, as he appeared by my side. "_steady, there!_" "i've seen no whale yet, sir," i answered, "and i can't see any boats down from the pandora." "perhaps the stranger has lowered his boats, blackfishing," he suggested. "worth has got no extra men aloft, and keeps his course as usual. if that is all, we may as well luff to again." he gave no order to that effect, however, and we continued running off, rapidly nearing the other ships. a few minutes of puzzled suspense followed, when the pandora's main tack, sheet and lee braces were all let go at once, and she, also, lay hove-to, just as her two boats shot out of range of their ship under her lee, _fast to a whale_, as was evident from the white water flying, and from the speed at which they were moving. "pretty well done, worth!" said captain upton, his keen admiration of his brother whaleman getting the better of his vexation. "luff to the wind there, and stand by to lower away! there may be other whales, though, if there's only one, i'll sell out _my_ share at a low figure." further concealment was unnecessary; down went captain worth's boat, and down went all of ours, pell-mell, but before we got very near the fast boats it was plain that the whale was in his flurry, and we "hove up," seeing that there was no other one for us to attack. "now, i shouldn't be at all surprised," said mr. grafton, "if that was the game whale that dragged me so far on the road to davy's locker. they've killed him so quick that i think he must have been more than half-dead when they struck him; and besides, that would account for his not being seen by any of us, as his spout would be very faint and broken. she must have been very near to the whale herself, before she raised him." "i have no doubt it was a wounded whale," answered the old man; "and if so, it may or may not be ours. if our iron is not in him of course we have no claim; and i presume they'll take care that it sha'n't be in him, when they take him alongside. but you and mr. dunham may as well go aboard and keep company, and i'll make worth a visit when he flukes the whale, and see what discoveries i can make." "there's our boat to windward coming down," said the mate, "and that's captain taber in the stern of her, or else i don't know him. so that's the leonidas. come, pull ahead, boys, and let's get home again, we can do no good here. it'll be worth's turn to blow now, as it was ours off the western islands." we jogged leisurely to windward, and by the time we had our boats secured, the pandora was hauling her whale alongside, while all the captains' boats were clustered round her, to learn the particulars of the affair, the others returning to their respective ships. one of the stranger's boats pulled across our stern just within hail, and the mate asked what ship it was. the officer answered us without stopping his boat, and all we could make out of the sound was "arrowroot." "hard up and let her go off!" said the mate to the man at the helm. "we'll run to leeward, so the old man wont have to pull up hill. arrowroot," said he, musingly, "what name can it be that sounds like that? o, i know now who it is," with a laugh, as the truth occurred to him, "it's the lalla rookh, of new bedford. i knew she was on the ground here somewhere." it was evening before the old man returned, and lights were set by all the ships; for the four captains had improved this occasion for a gam, and much time was consumed in detailed accounts of their adventures during the season, and in examining the pandora's "medical stores" and testing their quality. the only effect upon our worthy captain was to make him rather more talkative than usual. "i could not lay any claim to the whale," he said, "though i have little doubt that it is the same that towed you over the bows by the leg. the whale floated, jaws towards the ship, when he was fluked, and there was the iron hole in his starboard side, just about as it was in our whale. the whale was badly wounded when they raised him, and spouting very faintly. he dropped his two lee boats in the water when he saw his sails shivering, and they went right down to leeward with their paddles, not setting any sails, and, keeping in range of the ship, we knew nothing till after they were fast. the lalla rookh being more out ahead of him, could see the boats, and, of course, lowered hers, but they could see no sport at that distance when they lowered. well, i cornered mr. ray up pretty sharp, and he admitted there was an iron hanging in the whale when he struck him, but he says it worked out before they got him fluked. perhaps it did, and perhaps they helped it a little. i think i should have been sorely tempted to do so under similar circumstances. as it is, he has got eighty or ninety barrels of oil, and no one else can touch it, as there is no 'craft' to claim it by." the general rule, as established among whalemen is, that "marked craft claims the fish so long as he is in the water, dead or alive." the irons are usually marked with the ship's name, or a convenient abbreviation of it, cut with a small chisel on the flat of the shank, near the head, and if this be found it claims the whale, provided the claimant arrives before the whale is peeled of his blubber. but if another ship has succeeded in cutting him in, no claim can be made. in case the claimant appears during the process of cutting, and a mark is found, he has a right to cut off the blubber square with the plankshear, and take what is below it, but can claim nothing that has been raised above it. such is whaler's law, as settled by established usage; and perhaps nothing could be devised that would be more just than this. a few days after this, we played another of those tricks that are so amusing to talk of, being perfectly justifiable in this as in any other business where there is competition and the rule is to "take care of number one." it was a calm day, one of those hot calms that every whaleman must have experienced who has been "on japan" in july and august, and which sometimes last unbroken for a period of several days, during which the heat seems more fierce and unendurable than one has ever found it within the tropics. one ship was in sight about two miles distant from us, showing marks of an englishman about her rig and general appearance. she had shown her signal, but as there was no wind to open it we were none the wiser for seeing it. we raised a large whale about three miles off, and had the run of his movements two or three risings before we put our boats in the water, so that we knew pretty nearly where to "prick for him." we took our paddles after we had pulled about half the distance we wished to go, and jogged more slowly in this way, but with less noise. meanwhile the strange ship had put four boats down, and they were coming with their oars pulling with a will, so as to stand an equal chance with us. the whale had one rising after we had lowered, and again "turned flukes" undisturbed, and now the crisis was to come on his next appearance. we had spread our chances so as to be ready for him, knowing very nearly where he would appear. the strange boats came on, "smashing in" with their oars, and showing no intention of heaving up or of taking their paddles. the old man took to his oars and pulled near to us. "mr. grafton," said he, "they'll gally the whale if they come pulling over him when he is about coming up. i think we are far enough, and would like to lie still where we are. but we must get rid of these four boats, and if it's _pulling_ they want, they shall have it. do you take your oars and pull hard right on in the same direction we have been going. the whale won't be up for twenty minutes yet, and no harm will be done. speak to mr. dunham as you pass, and tell him to pull ahead too. this will toll those four boats off, so that they will lose the scent. but keep your eyes on me when the whale comes up." the strange boats come on, and seeing two of us pulling with might and main, while the third had apparently abandoned the chase, three of them followed the lead of the majority, and "gave way," with a laudable ambition to outpull us, which we were quite willing to allow them to do, while the fourth hove up to speak the old man. he inquired the name of our ship, and reported himself as first officer of ship bermondsey, of london. the captain, he said, was on board, not being in the habit of going in the boat himself. he asked captain upton what he thought of the chance for the whale. "well," said our captain, "i don't think i shall chase him any further. i shall let my mates try him a spell, but i don't think much of my chance, for i see that your boats pull so much faster than mine, they will have a long start of them before the whale comes up again." "o, yes sir," said john bull, "our boats can houtpull any bl----y boats on the ground." "no doubt of it; indeed i can see that myself," said the old man, seeing how eagerly his flattery was swallowed. "well, pull ahead, boys!" said the english mate, "and let's show them fellows how we can pass them." the result was, fifteen minutes later we were about a mile from the spot where we received orders to pull; the english boats a smart mile and a half, except the mate who was just triumphantly passing us; the whale up within a ship's length of the old man, and he just shooting alongside of him. our shouts of laughter as we laid round to pull to the assistance of the fast boat, gave the english mate the first intimation of the yankee trick by which he had been humbugged. an hour later the breeze struck us, and we hauled the largest whale of our season's work alongside, while the bermondsey down tacks and stood away from us, in spite of our signals inviting communication. chapter xxi. radack chain.--watering at ocean island.--incidents of the run to sydney, n. s. w. we continued working to the eastward until we were in longitude degrees east, but the captain, not wishing to visit the sandwich islands, determined to leave this ground early, and finish out the season among the groups, recruiting at some island where he could drive a barter trade, in which our stock of tobacco and cloth could be made available. up to the middle of august we had taken about five hundred barrels since leaving strong's island. in company with our old consort, the leonidas, we steered to the southward, working down through those intricate and dangerous archipelagoes known as the radack and ralick chains of islands, where we carried sail days, and lay to nights with two men in the foretopmast crosstrees, and all the rest of the watch above the rail. ragged reefs of coral, little more than flush with the surface of the sea, stretched here and there in unexpected directions, and sunken rocks waylaid us at every turn. at times we seemed to be embayed among these dangers, seeming the more formidable from the unpronounceable russian names on the charts, while ever and anon a green islet with cocoanut trees popped into view, as if it had been forced up from the depths of the sea, while we had been looking for hidden dangers in another quarter of the horizon, and two or three canoes would dodge out from a lagoon, whence the only passage of egress seemed to us to have been by a submarine route under the reef of rocks. the old saying among us, "where there's a cocoanut tree there's a kanaka," though not infallible, held good through all this labyrinth. sperm whales were seen several times, and in one instance we took two small whales and cut them with canoes alongside of us from a pretty little island, nestled among ugly reefs which stretched out like antennæ to draw luckless mariners into destruction. what it was called by the russian officers i cannot now remember, but the name itself was ragged enough to bring a ship up all standing. we were not sorry when we had wound our way clear of these perils without accident, and emerged into a comparatively open sea. we struck the equator between the longitudes of ocean and pleasant islands, where we got a "cut" of a hundred and fifty barrels, and stood in under the lee of ocean island to get a few casks of water. we bargained with one of the white "beach-combers" to fill them by contract at so many heads of tobacco for each cask. i went ashore in the boat, with the second mate, having the casks in tow. we rolled them up on the reef and then high and dry on the beach. i was conscious all the time of a strange, giddy feeling, which seemed to be occasioned by the odors from the land, and as i went up from the reef to the soil and drew near to the cocoanut grove near the landing, this feeling overpowered me, my strength seemed to have left me all at once, i felt a tingling pain in my legs, and fell helpless to the ground. i was surprised, and rather indignant withal, to perceive that mr. dunham was laughing at me. "ah!" said he, "it's well for you that you came ashore. it's time we all had a land cruise and a good run among the fruit trees. we shall all be better for this day's work." "why," i asked, "what do you suppose ails me?" "it's the scurvy working out of you, i suppose," said he. "that's what we call it. i have seen the same phenomenon once or twice before in men who had shown no symptoms of the disease while at sea, but the first contact with the land affected them as it does you now. that will soon pass off and you will feel better than ever." his prediction proved true. in a few minutes a slight attack of vomiting relieved me, and i rose to my feet. the dizziness gradually passed away, and i felt stronger and fresher than when i landed. the casks, in the mean time, had been rolled in a tier with the bungs out, i saw no watering-place from which they were to be filled. i naturally asked, "where is the water?" "o," said dan, the white man, "the water here is away up inland, in a sort of cave under ground." "is that the only fresh water here?" i inquired. "that's all," said he. "i shall put on my gang to bring it down. here's some of 'em; they're beginning to muster now." to my further astonishment, his "gang," as he termed them, were all of the female "persuasion." "you don't mean to say that these woman are going to lug all this water two or three miles?" "yes, certainly," said he. "the men are too lazy to do any such drudgery, and think women were born expressly for it, and not fit for much else. besides, only women are allowed to enter the water-cave. gentlemen are not admitted." each of these women brought some half a dozen cocoanut shells, slung with short strings, so as to be carried, two or three in each hand. "why don't you get the ship's buckets?" i asked. "o, they don't want buckets," said dan: "they wouldn't use 'em if they had 'em. you must let 'em work in their own way." they _did_ work their own way; and all day long, and day after day, for it took them several days to fill twenty casks. the battalion of women, in indian file, could be seen on their winding way as they carried their burdens to the beach, inverted their cocoanut shells over the tunnel, and retraced their weary steps to the subterranean pool, while the men looked complacently on, and dan, the contractor, lay drunk the best part of the time on fire-water of his own manufacture. as a consequence of his carelessness, he was obliged to fill four or five casks the second time, as we found the water salt on taking it on board, and the captain refused to pay the tobacco until he had fulfilled his contract. it was evident the women had gone astray in their wanderings, and filled some of their shells at the ocean instead of at the inland lake. the manufacture of intoxicating liquor follows close upon the advent of white men as settlers or dwellers among savage tribes; indeed the sight of a whiskey still would have been as satisfactory evidence to the shipwrecked mariner of the presence of civilized men, as, it is said, was that of the gallows. with a rude apparatus, a liquor is distilled from the sap of the cocoanut tree, which is warranted to "kill at as many yards" as any article of tangle-foot dispensed over the bar of the most notorious "chainlocker" in new york or london. the exhilarating cordial, known among seamen by the name of "dent" (the word being a contraction of the spanish aguardiente), is smuggled on board at almost every island where a white man has located himself; and it is well known that jack will "suck the monkey" in whatever form or wherever he presents himself, as well in the pacific as at the west indies. here we parted company with our friends of the leonidas, she being bound to otaheite, to examine the head of her mainmast, which had been discovered to be rotten to a considerable depth. we worked slowly down to the westward, hauling to the wind during the night, and running off under easy sail in the daytime, so as to look the ground over carefully. we picked up another hundred barrels of oil before we reached the parallel of degrees east, and as we had now twenty-one hundred, the remainder of our voyage was a sort of running cruise towards our last port and home. in this longitude we hauled on the southern tack, running near lord howe's group and through the solomon archipelago. we took three small whales so near to one of the former, that, when the third one turned up, he was within less than a hundred yards of the reef, the savages yelling at us from the shore. the ship was about a mile and a half from us, with two whales fluked alongside, and carrying sail to hold her position. as the old man dared not run off to take the third whale alongside, he sent the other two boats to our assistance, with orders to tow the whale on a wind. we set our sails and took the oars, and accompanied by howling barbarians both on shore and in canoes, we towed the whale about ten miles to the southward, until clear of the island and adjacent reefs, so that the ship could come down to us without danger. during the four or five hours that we were thus employed, those in the canoes kept within a short distance outside of us, while their comrades on the beach, women, children, and all, travelled along shore abreast of us, an infernal serenade rising on both sides of us without cessation. they would have attacked us if they had dared; but, though of course constantly on our guard, we did not much fear them. they mustered about fifty canoes, containing between two and three hundred warriors, but dared not venture within reach of our whaling weapons. they at one time seemed to be making preparations to give us a volley of stones, at long shot, but the captain, seeing a suspicious movement among them, fired the six-pounder, which was kept trained upon them all the time, and sent a shot whizzing over their heads, which had the effect of cooling their ardor. they were more wary after this, and made no further hostile demonstrations, but escorted us the whole distance, and lay on their paddles until the ship had approached quite near us, evidently waiting in the hope that some accident or turn of fortune would place us in their power. as a general rule, savages will not make an attack, unless all the circumstances are overwhelmingly in their favor. we saved our three whales, and made a safe offing with the ship, before night, but the wild din of their voices seemed to ring in my ears for a week afterwards. these people had the gristles of their noses split, and many of them had inserted large ornaments (?) of shell or bone, which hung down, so as in a great measure to hide their mouths. they were a hideous looking race, and i confess to a decided reluctance to becoming a subject of their tender mercies. at san cristoval, one of the solomon islands, we drove a smart trade for yams and fruit, the currency used here being hoop-iron, cut into pieces a few inches long, like the money of the ancient spartans in the days of lycurgus. here, for the first time, we met with people possessing the characteristic of the african, for there are two great families of races in polynesia. these ethiops of the pacific, or oceanic negroes as they are called, are even more repulsive in appearance than the wearers of the ponderous nasal ornaments at lord howe's group. their hair, or wool, has the true african kink in it, both ends seeming to grow into the skull, and is turned a dull reddish color by the application of lime, or something of that nature, giving them the appearance of having the head protected by what seamen call a "thrummed mat." the teeth are colored or discolored by the use of the betel-nut, till they are darker than their skins; in fact those of men past middle age are jet black. but they seem well-disposed to whites, and inoffensive, and our intercourse with them was marked by no unpleasant occurrence. the canoes used by these people are very light, and neatly ornamented, giving evidence of considerable taste and skill in their construction, while the dexterity of the natives in balancing and managing them seems perfectly miraculous, as they have no beam to spare and no outriggers; yet they come off several miles to sea in them, keeping their equilibrium seemingly without difficulty, and jeered and shouted with true negro delight at our bungling attempts to manage them. we pressed through indispensable straits, continuing our running cruise towards the coast of australia, but without taking any more oil till we reached the latitude of twenty-two degrees, being about midway between booby shoal and cato's bank, when two large sperm whales were raised in the morning, and down we went in pursuit. the waist boat got the lead and was soon fast to one of them and her line going out of the tub at a rate that promised soon to empty it. seeing this state of things, our line was cast off from the craft, and i stood ready to throw the end into the other boat; but the second mate, anxious to "drown him out" without bending on another line, snubbed him too hard and parted. we pulled ahead in pursuit of the whale, but when he came up again he was pushing to the windward much faster than any boat could pull. there was nothing for us but to return to the ship and take the boats up, very ill-satisfied with our forenoon's work, for we had lost an iron and nearly a tubful of line, and had nothing to show for it. we made sail on a wind, and soon after raised a whale on the weather beam coming to leeward. from his actions, as at times he lashed the water into foam, we were satisfied that it was the same whale that we had struck. soon another was seen off the lee beam coming to windward. we hauled aback and lowered away again, spreading our chances well. the two whales came together, and jogged to leeward in company. the next chance fell to our boat, and, as the mate called me up to dart, i perceived that the whale with the iron hanging at his side was farthest from me, and, seeing not much choice in them for size, i pitched my iron into the other one. the other boats were on hand to assist us, and we soon killed and secured this whale, while the wounded one again escaped, spouting strong and clear. we had light airs for three or four days succeeding this, and were not slow to express our discontent, as we made but little progress towards sydney, the port we were all so anxious to see. we had cut and boiled out our first whale, and still the wind was lighter than ever, almost gone entirely, while our ship, seeming as impatient as ourselves, lay rolling on the glassy sea, when a black object was seen from the masthead, five or six miles off, abeam of us, tossing into view on the swell, and disappearing again; and, after examining it through the spyglass, we were satisfied that it was a dead whale. so our boat was lowered away to examine him, and found a large whale, but little blasted, having been dead, apparently about forty-eight hours. we cut out the iron from his side and found, as we expected, the name "arethusa," underrun our line, and saved the whole of it, set a waif for the other boats, and towed him down to the ship in triumph. we now had reason to congratulate ourselves upon the light airs that had been the occasion of so much growling, and instead of having lost a line, with nothing to show for it, as at one time seemed to be the result of our attack upon these two whales, we had saved it, and added a hundred and fifty barrels of sperm oil to our cargo. the next day we got the breeze, and trimmed to it as soon as we had finished cutting. a few days found us running down the coast of new holland, with the land well aboard and a fair wind, only thirty miles between us and the entrance to our port, and every prospect of being at anchor before night. but we were doomed to disappointment, for the wind suddenly shifted to the southward, heading us off, and blew up a gale about as fast as we were able to strip the canvas off the ship. noon saw us lying to, on the off-shore tack, under a goose-winged maintopsail and storm staysails. the wind still increased, and we rode out a wild night under this short sail, while the wind, meeting a counter current which sets to the southward along this coast, occasioned a short, chopping sea, which knocked us about rather roughly, and, in one of her heavy lurches, the waist boat was rolled under and lost. this was the only accident we met with, however; the gale blew out in twenty-four hours and the wind having settled light from the southward, we were compelled to make out our log for four or five days at least. so we made all sail, and boarded our tacks, standing off and on. while we were beating here, having stood well in on the inshore stretch, a small steamer, which plied as a packet between sydney and newcastle, passed us, shearing nearer as she approached, enough to read the name on our stern. the sight of a steamboat was, of itself, a sufficient novelty to fix the attention of every man on deck, but what a burst of emotion greeted the appearance of a woman on the deck of the steamer! the word was passed below, and the other watch were all on deck in a twinkling to look at her. she appeared to be the only lady passenger on board, or at least the only one who was able to show herself on the upper deck. at that distance, it was difficult to say whether she was young and beautiful, or otherwise, but she was at least a white woman in a civilized dress, an object which had not greeted our eyes for more than two years. we had taken our last look at a phenomenon of this kind when we left talcahuano, four months out. "well, mr. grafton," said the old man, as they both drew a long breath after the vision had passed out of view, "how do you feel? homesick?" "well, yes, sir," replied the mate; "i suppose that's what you may call it. the sight of a woman of our own color and race, after we have been outcasts so long, _does_ have a humanizing influence, and starts up associations of home, and of near and dear ones left there." "yes, that's true," said the captain. "that lady, who ever she is, may safely boast that she has created a sensation at least once in her life. here's mr. dunham has lost half his watch below on her account, and cooper has dropped a shook that he had half-raised in the hoop, and seems in no hurry to pick up the staves again. there are two boys up in the fore-rigging, trying to get another look at her yet." the two boys, still so called, were obed b. and kelly; no longer boys, but broad-chested, muscular young men, worthy representatives of the ocean chivalry of their native island, and still as inseparable as ever, the very pythias and damon of our little circle. we got a slant of wind the next day after this incident, and worked up near the headlands of port jackson, so that we took a pilot. but having the wind light, it was late in the day before we passed inside the heads, and from there we had seven miles to work up, to the anchorage before the town. the whole british navy might find ample room to moor in this beautiful bay, and might all ride in safety, under any ordinary circumstances. it was a fine moonlight evening when we went in, and as we shot handsomely into our berth among the fleet of vessels, it was difficult to realize that we had actually arrived among civilized white men. the whole thing seemed like enchantment, coming, as we did, from recent contact with howling savages, the echo of whose infernal gibberish had hardly ceased ringing in our ears. our anchor rattled merrily to the bottom for the first time in eight months, and we furled our sails leisurely, lingering on the yards to look wonderingly on the numerous lights in the town, and to listen to the pealing of a sweet chime of bells, for it was sunday evening on shore, though saturday by our reckoning. as the reality of it all came home to our minds, as we gradually became assured that the unwonted sounds and sights were no dream, but tangible truth, a good influence was exerted upon all. no noisy demonstrations hailed the event so ardently looked forward to, but a feeling of tranquil happiness and gratitude seemed to pervade the whole ship's company. no night of the voyage was spent more quietly on board the arethusa, certainly none more happily, than the first night after her canvas was furled in the last pacific port. chapter xxii. sydney.--up anchor for home.--"galway mike." what a change in their bill of fair awaited our crew the morning after our anchor went down in this beautiful harbor; the change from the eternal salt junk and yams, and unrelenting hard-tack, to the luxuries of a sydney bumboat! the sailor, to be sure, is no great _connoisseur_ in matters of this sort; nevertheless, as our observant cook pithily expressed it, "he likes good grub better than he does poor." a very small sum of money was sufficient to spread a table (or a sea-chest, either,) with baker's loaves, fresh butter and cheese, new milk, eggs, and various other "manavelins," as jack terms them. i write the word as it is pronounced, but my researches in etymology, are, thus far, all at fault. neither noah webster nor nat bowditch throws any light on the matter. prices of fresh meats, except pork, were almost nominal. beef could be bought at a penny a pound, mutton at three farthings; for this was long before the gold discoveries in australia or california. no flood-tide of emigration had yet set in that direction; no yellow-metal fever had yet raged to inflate prices to a fictitious standard. australia possessed peculiar advantages as a grazing country, and stock could be raised almost without trouble or expense. thousands were slain merely for the hides, horns and tallow, and extensive shipments of these articles, as also of wool, were made to the mother country. several large ships were loading at the time of our arrival, forcing the bales of wool into their places with jack-screws, much after the manner of our cotton-droghers in southern ports. sydney impressed us as rather a handsome town, though not showy or glaring in appearance, most of the buildings being of a crumbly sandstone, which is quarried in the immediate neighborhood, and worked out by convict labor. we inferred, from what we saw, that stone might be cheaper than lumber for building purposes. the convicts who worked in quarrying stone appeared to be the most finished illustrations of laziness reduced to a system that i have ever met with, and to accomplish the least amount of work that it was possible for men to perform who kept steadily at it all day. this was what they called "working government stroke;" and they might have all taken diplomas at the great circumlocution office in the science of, how not to do it. they were not allowed to stop work entirely, nor were they ever hurried up. sentinels in scarlet paced back and forth near them, but this was merely to preserve order and to prevent escape. the convicts themselves were all in uniform of stout, coarse cloth, with the name of the gang or division to which they belonged conspicuously stenciled on the leg of the pants, and across the back of the frock-shirt. thus some were labelled "chain gang," others "hyde park barracks," and so on. they were scarcely ever called convicts here, i observed, being spoken of either politely, as "government men," or else, in slang phrase, as "lags." one of the striking features of sydney, as of all british seaport towns of any size, was the taverns, or "publics," the name of which was legion, each having its distinctive sign. here were to be found the red cross, the blue cross, and crosses of all hues of the rainbow; the red rose and the white rose as rivals, typical of the ancient houses of lancaster and york; the thistle and the shamrock both rivalling the rose, and again a more compromising publican bore aloft a trinity of all three; red lions, green boars, blue elephants, and other impossibilities in zoology, boldly asserted the reality of their existence, while swans and magpies on one side of the street eyed crooked billets and wheels of fortune on the other, and the jolly tar near the landing swung his tarpaulin aloft, and kicked up his heels at the whole 'long shore tribe' of them. the landlord of this house was especially gracious to us all, and found his account in it, as our men spent much of their time and money in his establishment, so that the jolly tar was, for the time being, even more jolly than was his wont. the advent of an american whaleship at sydney was a rare occurrence at that day, though, two or three years later, it became a fashionable port of resort for nor'westmen, the exorbitant port-charges to foreign ships having been taken off, as also the duties on oil sold under a certain quantity. as we had a good voyage in the ship, and came on shore with substantial linings to our pockets, we were always welcome visitors at the "publics," taking the wind out of the sails of all wool-droghers, soldiers, and bar-room loungers generally. it was "get up, jack, and let john sit down," when the yankee whaler's men were coming. i made the acquaintance of an intelligent seaman at the jolly tar, a philadelphian, who had been here some time, having been left sick in the hospital from an american brig, and was anxious to ship and go home with us if possible. speaking of the landlord of the house, this ashton said to me: "you would hardly believe, would you, that this man was sent here with two pen'worth of lag?" "two pen'orth of lag!" said i, considerably mystified, "what do you mean by that?" "it means," explained ashton, "in the slang phrase used here, that he was transported for fourteen years. a term of seven years is called a pen'orth of lag, fourteen years two pen'orth, and so on." "but you don't mean to say that he is a convict, now?" said i. "certainly," he returned, "but you must not use that word here; or, if you do, don't speak it so loud. say a 'government man.' he is still under sentence. i don't know what his offence was, but a few years ago a small matter was enough to transport a man. the law is changed now, and the system is, i think, abolished altogether. no new ones are brought, and these you see here are old stock whose term of service has not yet run out." "but can a convict, then, go into business for himself?" "yes, after he gets his ticket of emancipation, which is generally granted to him after two or three years of good behavior. he can then go to work for himself, and is, to all intents and purposes, free, except that he cannot go out of the colony. in most cases, they don't want to, as they are infinitely better off here than they would be in england. i am told that some of the wealthiest men in the colony are 'lags.'" "but why was the system abolished?" i asked. "because, in its practical working, it proved worse than a failure. in fact, instead of checking crime, it was setting a premium upon it. it is said that men, who would like to emigrate to this country but could never accumulate money enough to pay their passage, would commit a theft, so as to be sent here at government expense. they would then conduct themselves well, so as to get their tickets of emancipation, go to work for themselves, and send home the means to bring their families out. indeed, it is said there were not a few cases where the wife, too, committed theft in order to join her husband, for women were transported as well as men." "but the system, if it did not prevent crime, answered the purpose of peopling the colony, i suppose?" "hardly that," said ashton, "except with rogues and felons; for the really honest and industrious classes who form the great bulk of those who come to australia, would hardly desire to emigrate to a penal settlement, full of desperadoes and thieves. the colony has not grown as fast in population under the system, as it would without it, or as it will hereafter. but here comes some of the crew of that whaling bark that got in this morning. she got seven hundred barrels, and left the ground, with whales plenty, because the men's time was up." "do they ship for a fixed length of time, then?" "yes, it is specified in the articles; and not only the length of the voyage, but the price they are to receive for their oil when they arrive. i went down to see the agents of the lady blackwood, that sailed yesterday. i had some idea of shipping, but they had already as many foreigners on the articles as the law allowed. they were ready to ship me if i would make oath that i was a british subject, but, of course, i declined doing so, and that was an end of the negotiation. we were to sign for eighteen months, and to have fifty pounds a tun for our oil, to have two glasses of grog a day and lime-juice, pursuant to the act of parliament, and the devil knows what else," said ashton, with a laugh; "but come, let's go up to the 'royal victoria theatre,' and spend the evening. the seamen will all rally there to-night, for 'black-eyed susan' is announced on the bills." after the play was over, we came down to the jolly tar, and stepped in to take a parting glass, as i intended going on board in one of the wherries, several of which were moored near by, the watermen having a little watch-house, or shanty, where they could make themselves comfortable and where one or more of them could be found, ready for a job, at all hours of the night. it was getting late, and the public house was deserted and quiet, though not yet closed. there was no one in the bar when we entered, but a single small lamp was burning on a shelf. as ashton was a boarder in the house, he was perfectly at home there, and he passed through into a back room to call some one to attend to our wants at the bar. while waiting for him, i saw the form of a stout man pass across the doorway, and disappear by a narrow entry or passage leading towards the back of the house. i saw that he had on a blue flannel shirt, such as english seamen usually wear, and supposing him to be a boarder about retiring for the night, gave no further thought to the matter. the landlord made his appearance to wait upon us, and, after taking our parting nip, we lingered a moment outside under the little veranda in front. "there's a strange sail in these waters," said ashton. "did you see the man who went out at the back door while you stood in the bar?" "yes, i saw a man," i answered; "but thought he was one of the regular crew of the house. i shouldn't know him again if i met him, for i only had a glimpse of him for a moment, and that by a dim light." "well, that," said he, "is a runaway convict--i beg his pardon--a government man. he doesn't know me, but his face is familiar to me, for i have seen him several times at work; in the chain-gang, too. i suppose our landlord is hiding him, and he will lurk round here till he gets a chance to escape into the bush, or else to get on board of some vessel. however, it is none of my business. if he can make his escape, why, let him, i say." "well, so do i," i replied. "i don't think either of us would turn informer for the sake of the reward that may be offered for him. well, good-night." i hailed a waterman, and in a few minutes was on board the arethusa. we were ready for sea within a few days after this occurrence, and, though we had enjoyed our stay at this port, we were all impatient to lift our anchor for the last time, as we hoped, before dropping it off nantucket bar. peter, the mani kanaka, took his discharge here, as he had no desire to go to america, and had been offered a chance as boatsteerer in a sydney whaler. i could not help feeling deeply at parting with the brave fellow, who had stood by me so faithfully in the adventure at dominica, and whom i should probably never see again. my friend ashton was shipped to fill this vacancy. it was a fine morning when we hove short and loosed our foretopsail, with the stars and stripes flying at the mizzen peak, and waited for the police-boat which we saw pushing off to board us, as is done in the case of every vessel leaving this port. the first order of the officer in charge of the boat was to have the crew mustered. we were all drawn up on the quarter and main deck, our number counted, and our names called and responded to. we remained as we had been drawn up, while the police, armed with pistols and swords, proceeded to search the ship. this form is always gone through with on board of every outgoing vessel; but in our case the search was more rigidly conducted than usual. the cabin and forecastle were examined; the hatches were taken off, and the between decks rummaged by armed men in every direction; the galley, the round house, the boats, and every place above deck capable of concealing a man, were visited; and the cover was lifted off the tryworks to get a look into the pots. the result was satisfactory to the officer that all were on board who ought to be, and no others. "captain," said he, "i have detained you to make a strict search, for the reason that a notorious criminal, known as 'galway mike,' made his escape from the chain-gang a few days ago, and is still at large. he has probably gone back into the bush, for he got away once before, and was nearly two years a bushranger, and you know, i suppose, what sort of a life that is. it is but a few weeks since he was captured, and he has managed to get off again. but our search of your ship has been thorough, and i presume that you and your officers are willing to give your word of honor that there is no concealed man on board, to your knowledge." of course they were ready to do so. "that is sufficient," said the boarding officer. "you can take up your anchor now, understanding, of course, that you are to hold no communication with the shore by boats after doing so. i am sorry to have delayed you so long, but my duty must be done. i wish you good-morning, and a pleasant voyage." he had hardly landed at the pier, before our anchor was being bowsed up to the cat-head with the roaring chorus of "time for us to go!" and, under our three topsails and jib, we were shooting out of our berth and threading our way among the fleet of shipping. the pilot left us when near "the heads," and the long pacific waves again tossed our noble ship along with her cutwater pointed homeward. we were busied in securing the anchors, and getting everything in sea trim generally, and, with a fresh breeze on our quarter, we had run the coast of new south wales well into the dim distance before getting our meridian observation. "mr. grafton," said the captain, as he took his quadrant from the case, "you may set the foretopmast-staysail. it will do some good with the wind out here on the quarter." "ay, ay, sir," answered the mate. "stand by to hoist the staysail," said he, as he came forward. "jump out there, kelly, and cast that stop off." the staysail had been furled ever since the night we let go our anchor in sydney, being stowed flat down on the netting, and stopped with a short piece of small rope. kelly had cast off the stop, and sung out "hoist away!" when he nearly lost his balance and fell overboard, as the folds of the canvas opened before him, and a powerful, sun-browned man, with hair and beard close shaven, leaped out on the bowsprit, and stood staring into his astonished eyes. "hillo!" shouted the mate; "who the devil is this boarding us over the bows? here, this way, you, sir! where did you come from?" the strange man had by this time jumped in on deck, and casting a glance astern at the dim outline of the land melting in the horizon, muttered: "all right, he wont put back now to land me." "that's the very man who was lurking round the jolly tar," said ashton to me, as he came aft with the mate. "who are you?" asked captain upton. "a convict, i suppose, or you wouldn't be shaved and shingled so closely. either an escaped convict, or a deserter from the army. are you the man they were searching for this morning?" the stranger folded his arms, and answered boldly: "yes, sir; i'm an escaped convict, as you call it, or as i should say, a runaway lag. i am the very man they were looking for this morning. my name is--never mind what it really is--i am best known as galway mike." i observed that there was no irish accent in his speech. the title by which he was known was evidently a misnomer. "and how long have you been stowed away in the staysail?" "since last night, sir;" he replied. "did any of my crew help you, or stow you away?" "no, sir. no one of them knew i was there until now, and you would not have known it till to-morrow, if you hadn't had occasion to hoist the sail." "and what do you expect me to do with you now?" asked the captain, who was evidently impressed by the man's speech and bearing, and who had that repugnance that all seamen feel to delivering up to justice any man who has thrown himself on their protection. the certainty of a hundred pounds reward, would not, probably, have tempted a man of the ship's company to vote for putting back to land him, though none of us really wanted him as a shipmate. "you'll do what you please with me, of course," answered the convict, coolly. "i don't care much what it is, so that you don't carry me back to the chain-gang. i hope you won't do that, sir." "no, i'm sure i shall not do that, with a forty miles offing, a strong westerly wind, and homeward bound;" said the old man. "well, sir, i'm willing to do duty and act a man's part on board the ship," said galway mike. "i'm not much of a sailor, but i've been a short time at sea, and i'm strong and willing." "but i don't want you;" replied the captain. "my crew list is full, and i shall not carry you to america, for no one there would thank me for it, if what is said of your past life is true." "never mind what is said of my past life, now, sir," he interposed; "i shall neither confirm nor deny anything. what is to be done with me, then?" "i shall be obliged to land you somewhere in new zealand, though i suppose that amounts to nearly the same thing as carrying you back to sydney," said the old man, with a shade of regret. "not at all, sir," said mike, "unless you put me directly into the hands of the authorities. if you will land me so that i can have a few hours start of them, they may whistle for me. i'm quite willing to take my chance among the maories." "all right!" returned the captain, glad to be able to compromise with his sympathies in this way. "i shall make the land in a few days, and will set you ashore there somewhere. how did you get on board? by swimming?" "yes, sir. i swam under the bows, and climbed up the chain cable." "well, i must say you showed good judgment in selecting a hiding-place," said the captain, with a laugh. "what would you have done if we had set the staysail when we first got under way?" "i say nothing about what i would have done under circumstances that did not occur," answered the man quietly. "i should have done all that could be done. it's not the first runaway business that i've had to do with." "i presume not;" the captain replied, laughing again, for he was amused at the stranger's oddity and perfect coolness. "well, go forward and tell the cook to give you some dinner with the rest, for you must be sharp-set by this time. i will do as well as i can by you, but i must get rid of you at new zealand, anyhow." "thank you, sir!" answered galway, as he passed forward among the crew. "what do you think of him, mr. grafton?" said the old man. "he's no irishman. there's no mike about him, nor galway either," said the mate. "my honest belief is, that he is an american, though how he got out here as a transported convict i expect would be a long story. it's useless to ask _him_ about it, that's evident." "quite so," answered the captain. "but, come, i have lost my latitude, talking with him, and the steward is waiting dinner for us." chapter xxiii. homeward.--the episode of galway mike.--cape horn.--the last whale. the inspiring cry of "there she blows!" greeted our ears the third day after leaving sydney, and two sixty-barrel bulls, tugging at the fluke-chains that night, were the rich reward of our hard day's labor, putting us all in high spirits, for another hundred barrels would fill the ship, and this we hoped to get somewhere on the passage. our progress was somewhat delayed, of course, as we were obliged to lose the fair wind while cutting. we had the last "junk" in the tackles, when a sail was seen to windward running down across us, and, on drawing nearer, was made out to be a small hermaphrodite brig. he seemed to recognize us, for, instead of running down across us, he rounded to windward and lowered his boat. as he came up to the wind, exposing his broadside to view, we had no difficulty in recognizing a little brigantine that lay a little inshore of us, while in sydney. "that's the paramatta!" said a dozen voices at once, and no one knew her better than our supernumerary shipmate. he said not a word to those near him, but went aft to the captain. he stood respectfully on the lee side of the quarter deck, waiting till the old man should be at liberty to notice him. nothing in his manner or appearance indicated that he was at all disturbed or alarmed. "well, mike," said the old man, as, shutting up his spyglass and turning round, he, for the first time, perceived him. "what's the word? you know that fellow, i suppose?" "o, yes, sir. that's the paramatta, bound to auckland. i suppose it's all up with me." "how so?" asked the old man. "do you mean to go on board and give yourself up?" "no, sir, not i; i shall never go unless i am carried by force; but i thought perhaps you might give me up, as it would save you the trouble and delay of landing me at new zealand. perhaps i did you injustice in thinking so. i hope i did, sir." "of course you did, mike," said the captain, severely. "i gave you my word that i would land you, and i shall keep it. perhaps you had better keep out of sight for the present, as i don't care to have it known that you are on board my ship, and some of the boat's crew might recognize you." "all right, sir," replied the convict. "i'll be all snug before they get here. his crew wouldn't be likely to blow upon me any more than yours would, but old pickering himself would sell me at sight to get the reward. he would like nothing better than to take me to auckland. you see he isn't a regular-built seaman, sir; he's a sort of 'long shore trader." "i see," said the old man. "well, he won't be much the wiser for his visit to me. but here he is, close under our quarter. you wont need any instruction about hiding yourself, for you are qualified to teach me," he added, with a laugh, as mike passed forward and vanished below the deck. "it's very likely," said the old man, walking to the mainmast, and raising his voice for the benefit of all who might be within hearing, "that some inquiries will be made about that man who is not down by name on the ship's articles. as for myself, i don't mean to know anything about him. the rest of you, of course, are at liberty to turn informers, if you wish to. i should be sorry to think any of my men would do so, but i have no authority to dictate what subjects you shall talk about." he had said enough; mike's secret was perfectly safe. pickering, the skipper of the brigantine, a "comfortable" looking englishman, with thin side whiskers, and a general roast-beef appearance, stepped on deck and shook hands with captain upton. "ah! captain, you've got a good cut, i see." "yes," answered the old man. "we've had greasy luck, and got a couple of nice whales. when did you leave sydney?" "the same day that you did, in the afternoon. have you got a strange man on board, captain?" "i don't see any," said our conscientious skipper, glancing innocently forward among the groups of men. "your harbor police overhauled me pretty severely before i tripped my anchor, and _they_ didn't see any, either." "yes, i noticed they spent some time on board of you. but there was a mighty stir among them within two hours after you left. the keeper of that public near the landing was arrested for having harbored and concealed him. some one informed against him, and it was proved that this galway mike had been seen near the house the evening before, and so, instead of putting back into the bush, it was thought he had gone on board some vessel." "the jolly tar is fallen into melancholy, then, i suppose." "yes," replied pickering; "the landlord had his 'ticket' revoked, for he was a lag himself. he was lugged up to hyde park barracks and put into uniform. he will have to serve out his time in the stone quarry." "but don't you think," asked the old man, "that if that convict had been on board the ship, he would have shown himself before this time?" "yes, he would," said the englishman, "unless some of your men are parties to his concealment, and furnish him with food. in that case he might be concealed for some time." "so he might," said our captain, dryly. "that's true." "he may be hid somewhere on board at this moment," observed pickering, in a low and mysterious tone. "i shouldn't wonder," answered captain upton, in the same manner. "or he may be on board the paramatta." "he wouldn't be likely to run from new south wales to new zealand, if he could get any other voyage. there's thirty pound reward offered for his apprehension," said pickering. "is there, indeed? that's quite an object. but, come, let's go below and take something. i'm too busy to hunt for the man now, but if i should find him on board before i get to new zealand, i'll land him there." they reappeared in a few minutes, and pickering manned his boat and left us. the brigantine was soon running off on her course, and the convict was again at work among the rest. "his fingers are itching for that thirty pounds, mr. grafton," said the old man. "he didn't make anything by coming here. i didn't tell him any lies though--or, at least, nothing but quaker lies," said he, compromising with his conscience. the mate laughed, evidently understanding what he meant; but mr. dunham inquired his meaning. "well," said the captain, in explanation, "you don't remember uncle reuben the shoemaker, but mr. grafton does. i went there to be measured for a pair of boots, and, of course, i asked him when they would be done? 'well,' said he, 'thee may come in seventh-day night.' so at the appointed time, i went for my boots, and he hadn't begun on them yet. i was much disappointed, for i expected to have worn them on sunday, and i said to him, indignantly: 'you told me they would be done saturday night.' 'o, no!' said uncle reuben, in his mild way; 'i didn't tell thee so. i told thee, _thee might come_ seventh-day night, and that was just what i meant. if they were done, thee could have them; if not, i would tell thee when to come again.' now that was as near a lie as anything that i said to captain pickering." we finished boiling and stowing down our oil, and again cracked sail on the ship. on the twelfth day after leaving our port we made the north cape of new zealand, and the islands named, by tasman, "the three kings." we stood in near the coast, looking for an eligible place to set our man ashore, and the old man said to him: "i suppose, mike, you wouldn't want to be landed very near the bay of islands?" "no," said the convict, "i would rather not. put me among the maories, and that is all i want. there is a headland here not far off. i'll tell you when we come to it. there, i can see it now," said mike, who appeared to be better acquainted with the coast than any one on board. "there is the entrance to a snug, land-locked bay called by the natives, wangaroa. it's not generally known to whalers yet, but will be visited more, by and by. put me on the rocks, anywhere within the entrance, and i'll give you no more trouble. i am known among that tribe there. the english authorities will not find me, there. the maories are in a state of war with the english, and they are not to be despised when they fight in their own way, among their native mountains." we hove to off the place indicated, and lowered our boat, taking the convict himself as our pilot. he shook hands heartily with everybody, seeming neither elated nor despondent, but self-collected and impassible as he always was. he took with him nothing but an old musket and some ammunition which the old man had given him. we rounded a point of rocks and pulled a short distance into the bay, when two maories, on an elevation a short distance from us, hailed us, at the same time bringing their muskets up to the shoulder. we ceased pulling and lay on our oars. the convict rose and answered them in their own dialect, seeming to speak it quite fluently. they answered again, and a short conference seemed to produce satisfactory results, for they lowered their guns and descended the hill towards us, after giving a louder shout than any before, to which we could hear a responsive yell from voices further up the bay. "they'll pass the word all the way over those mountains," said our cool and ready companion. "there's a chain of sentinels and pickets on every hill. it's all right; these fellows know me well. lay right in for that flat rock, and i'll land there." we did so; he jumped out on the ledge of rock, and with a single "good-by" to us, he rushed up to meet the two natives half-way. they seemed to greet each other as former acquaintances might, and the three disappeared over the brow of the hill together, as we pulled out at the mouth of the bay. this was the last that any one of us ever saw of our "government man;" but some two years afterwards, i read, by accident, in a sydney newspaper, an account of a smart and bloody skirmish between the english troops and the maori tribes, and among the slain had been found the body of a white man, tattooed in the face like a chief of rank, and it was recognized as that of a desperado long known in the colonial settlements as galway mike. thus read the statement in the gazette, and this is all i know of his history. the passage across the south pacific ocean is monotonous and barren of incident. from new zealand to cape horn we had rugged weather and strong winds, for the most part fair for running on our course, at times blowing, day after day, with the regularity of trades, again hauling a few points so as to trim for it on the other quarter, and in one or two instances increasing to a gale, so violent as to compel us to heave to for the safety of the ship. as we approached cape horn we again encountered the cutting hail squalls which seem almost peculiar to this part of the world, but with the wind aft, we did not mind them so much as when outward bound. rolling off before the westerly gales with sufficient press of canvas on the ship to keep her well clear of the mountainous seas in chase of her, with everything well secured, and careful men at the wheel, we laughed at the weather now, and wondered at our own progress, as we counted off five, six, or seven degrees of longitude each day, and reckoned how many more days at this rate of sailing ere we should have room to edge away to the northward and begin to steal towards a milder climate. degrees of longitude are short ones in this latitude, and we seem to be "putting a girdle round about the earth," if not, like puck, "in forty minutes," yet still at a rate that appears to us marvellous, as we find our clock nearly half an hour behind the sun each day at meridian, and push her ahead to keep her up to our flying rate of progress. land ho! most welcome to our eager eyes, rough, barren and uninhabitable though it be, the storm-beaten rock of diego ramirez, for it tells us where we are, better than the whole slateful of figures. "shake out another reef!" she'll bear it! another day's run, and we can shove her off north-east on the "home side of the land"--the towering seas gather and roll on after us--but keep the canvas on her and she will keep ahead of them--every one of them shoots her on towards "home, sweet home"--diego ramirez fades into the dark squall astern, and if the wind stands where it is, we shall catch cape horn asleep. that squall has passed--it is not so heavy as it promised to be--"give her the mainto'gallantsail!" we must make the most of the breeze while we have it, for we're homeward bound! the sun rises brightly this morning, and the wind is fresh yet, and canting to the southward--"never mind! let her slide off two points, east-north-east now!" for we've plenty of sea room--we're in the atlantic! we passed to the eastward of the falklands, and were nearly on the ground where we lost our third mate, when outward-bound. of course the melancholy circumstance was recalled, and talked over, and the captain mentioned that some twelve years previous, when mate of the colossus, he had struck a whale in this vicinity, and lost him in consequence of his iron breaking. "i hope," said he, "to see whales yet in crossing this ground. it bids fair to be a good day to-morrow, and i think we will shorten sail at night and let her jog easy, so as to take a good look along here. one large whale would be all we want to chock us off, and we would go home with flying colors." the next morning we had hardly got the reefs shaken out, when whales were raised. there were several of them, but they did not appear to run together, but were seen here and there in different directions, and were also irregular in their time of rising and going down. "these whales have been gallied," said the old man, "and have not got regular yet. some ship has been whaling here yesterday, i think. but here is one off the lee quarter that i think can be struck, mr. grafton. you and mr. dunham lower away and go down there and try him, and i will wait a while and take the ship's chance. if you get fast, i'll come down there to you." away we went off to leeward, but it soon appeared that his whaleship was too shy for us, and was playing a dodge game with us. in vain we tried to "prick for him;" we spread our chances, and used our best judgment, but all to no purpose. he always rose in some unexpected quarter, and spouting but a few times, was down again before we could get near enough to "stand up." at length he took a start and went off to leeward at a round pace, and led on by our ardor in the chase we pursued it until we were full three miles from the ship, when it became evident that he was moving faster and faster at each rising, and we abandoned the chase, especially as the ship showed no signs of running off, but still lay aback in the same position as when we lowered. we laid round the heads of our boats towards the ship, and pulled to windward, wondering why the old man still kept his luff, when up went the ensign at the peak, and the small signal at the main was run up and down several times in rapid succession. "give way hard, boys!" said the mate. "we are wanted in a hurry. the old man must have lowered and struck a whale to windward, and wants help. perhaps he's stove! spring hard and shoot her up there!" we put our strength to the oars with a will, the second mate keeping way with us, and, though doing our best, it seemed in our anxiety and impatience, that he did not make any headway. the signal was now and then run up and down again hurriedly, speaking the most urgent language of which it was capable. we saw men on the bearers, apparently trying to clear away the lashings of the spare boat which was turned up overhead, but soon this seemed to be abandoned. we could make out now, as we drew nearer, that the cooper was on the hurricane house, waving with all his might to us and thus stimulated to greater exertion, we toiled away at our oars, the boats jumping into the head sea, and sending the spray all over us. we could hear them hailing us from the ship, long before we could make out the words. we could see them pointing to windward, as if to tell us we were needed there. up across the stern we held our long and strong stroke, receiving the information as we passed, that the old man had struck a whale off the weather bow, and he had run him into the "sun-glaze," so that they could not see him from the ship, and they thought he must be stoven. he could not be far off, however, as he was not more than a mile from the ship when last seen. "give way hard, boys!" said the mate again. "brace forward, cooper, and down tacks!" but he was already mustering his small force for this purpose. we "laid back" on our oars, the mates heaving at the stroke oars, and keeping a sharp look out, not pulling directly at the glare of the sun, but in a direction abaft it so as to look broad off the bow and beam of the boat. soon the mate's countenance lighted, and he threw her head suddenly off with the steering oar. "here they are!" said he, "and not far from us, either! spring hard, men! they're all on the wreck--two, four, five, six--all safe yet!" they were, indeed, all safe as yet; but we were none too soon, for they were nearly exhausted, as there was a smart sea on, washing over them, and they had all they could do to keep their positions, the strongest assisting and encouraging the others. my friend ashton was almost gone when i dragged him into our boat; a few minutes more would have finished him. the whole bottom of their boat was crushed, she had filled and rolled over with them, and they had all clung to the bottom. "never mind the boat," said the old man, "she isn't worth picking up. set a waif for the cooper to tack and stand towards us. let's get on board, some of us and get the spare boat out. i think we shall see the whale again if we work up to windward a tack or two." the ship went about, and soon hove to again close to us. we shot alongside, put the half-drowned men on board, and had hardly done so when the whale came up in the ship's wake, distance less that half a mile. "shove off!" was the word, and we were after him again with two boats, while the captain with his force were already rousing the third one off the bearers. the second mate got the lead this time and was fast a few minutes after pushing astern of the ship. the whale rounded to, and "showed good play," and we were quickly on hand to let more blood from him. he was already weakened from his wounds, and a few touches of the lance made him our prize. the spare boat was not called into service; but another short tack with the ship, and with shouts of triumph that rang loud and clear over the sea, we hauled alongside our last whale, that was to "chock off" the between decks and fill all our spare casks. our perils in the attack of these monsters were over, for this voyage. no more hard pulls to windward--no involuntary sea-bathing--no more tedious "mastheads" to be stood. well might we shout over this "last but not least" of our hard-earned prizes. chapter xxiv. homeward. _the whale recognized as an old acquaintance.--incidents of the run home.--nantucket again._ the last whale! how many pleasant recollections are associated with this landmark in the voyage! how many congratulations were exchanged among us, and how many smart things said! sweethearts and wives are especially remembered, for both married and single are in high feather, and this is emphatically a red-letter day in the arethusa's calendar. the work of cutting goes bravely on, amid a running fire of good-natured remarks and spicy jokes, which, of course, between the regular "natives" bear something of a personal character; for every true knight of the island chivalry in those days had his "ladie-love," whose image, held in fond remembrance, fired his heart and nerved his arm in his perilous encounters with leviathan. each of our nantucketers, on occasions like this, called to mind some fair face and form, his life-partner, either _in esse_ or in _posse_; all had either wives to _main_tain or wives to _ob_tain. the captain himself is not slow to take part in this badinage, for we are cutting the last whale now, and it is a time to waive the little restraints of rank. "this is a noble whale, and, being the last one, of course, the blubber is uncommonly fat," said he, as he drove his sharp spade into it, and slashed it into convenient pieces with true professional pride; "this is the one that pays for the bridal outfits and town clerk's fees. let's see, mr. grafton, we shall get invitations to three weddings, certain. i don't know but more, but we may count on three." "mr. bunker thinks we needn't count on him," said the mate. "nonsense!" returned the old man. "he thinks we newtowners don't know his cruising-grounds, because the first landfall he means to make is away up north shore hill. but he can't throw any dust in my eyes." "you didn't mean to count me, sir," said fisher, "for i never have anything to do with the women." "no, of course not," said the captain. "i'll bet that within forty-eight hours after we all get our new sails bent, i shall meet you, head and head, coming down the fashionable side of orange street, with studdingsails out both sides--sweeping common folks like me right off into the gutter." "well, i've got sisters, you know, sir," said fisher with a half-blush. "i must show them round." "yes, i know it; but, if the fortitude gets home ahead of us, _one_ of your sisters wont want your services." "that's so," put in the second mate. "you can set a new studdingsail on that boom, fisher." "there, you haven't a word to say, mr. dunham," replied the captain. "if you were landed there to-day, there would be an invasion of 'egypt,' and a 'rush to arms' in that quarter of the world that would equal anything in the days of bonaparte. a-a-ah! my spade!" said he, suddenly changing his tone. "i've struck a ringbolt--no, it isn't--it's something in the blubber--head of an iron--somebody has had a crack at this whale before." he pulled it out, and wiped it off with a piece of canvas, scraped it lightly with his jackknife, and examined it with an incredulous look. "eureka!" he shouted at last, holding up the fragment of the harpoon. "here's my iron! who says he isn't my own whale, when he has carried my mark these twelve years!" it was even as he said. there was little more than the barbed head left, for it must have been long before the wound cicatrized, and the small part of the shank had been reduced to a mere shred of iron from the effects of long attrition and corrosion; but fairly legible on the thick centre-piece of the head were the marks boldly cut with a chisel, s. col's. l. b. "ship colossus's larboard boat," said the old man, triumphantly. "shouldn't want any more evidence in case of life and death. it's twelve years since i struck that fish--_the first time_, i mean." the last round of blubber has been "piked off;" the last pot of oil "baled down;" the last pipe stowed that "chocks off betwixt decks," and old jeff's immense "plantations" displayed in a triumphant doubleshuffle on the main hatches. now comes the expected and welcome order. "overboard tryworks!" crowbars, hammers, or whatever else will serve the purpose, are seized, and rapidly the cumbrous pile of greasy bricks and mortar disappears under our vigorous blows, the pots alone being saved for the next voyage; the deck is washed and planed off where it had stood; and the old strainer, shattered by hard service, and half-charred by the fire, travels the same road, overboard. we are all astonished that our ship has such a spacious maindeck; and she herself, by her more buoyant and elastic movement, seems to share in the general joy, at being relieved of this unsightly burden. still onward, homeward, she bounds along! down into the south-east trades, where the duty of dressing her up for home begins; where the operations of fitting, rattling down and tarring down furnish ample employment for us all; where outward-bound merchantmen are met, and passed every day, and longitudes compared by chalking them in gigantic figures on boards, like showmen's posters; where the south-east trades haul to north-east, and knock us off into the "bight of brazil," compelling us to beat off and on for several days; where _catamarans_, or triangular rafts, fully officered and manned by one portuguese, come off several miles to sea, to catch fish, and to sell them, too, if a passing ship comes conveniently near; where a big, black steamer, evidently of yankee build, but wearing the gorgeous brazilian flag, and showing the name "bahiana," passes almost within hail of us. we are favored with a slant of wind at last; cape st. augustin is doubled and left astern, the towers of pernambuco are seen, with ships in the roadstead, and now the coast again trends to the westward, and is soon lost to our view. "sail ho!" a whaler, too, right from home! now for a gam, for newspapers, perhaps letters, too, for some of us, for books, for tobacco! she hails us, and gives her name as the "delta, of greenport." no letters for us there; but we get bundles of new york papers, and peruse them, all four pages, from "clew to earring," advertisements and all. they are filled with politics, for this is campaign year ( ), and of course, we are highly competent, after nearly three years' absence, to understand the issues of the hour! not a word is said about the national bank, or the sub-treasury, or any of the old bones of contention which are familiar to us, but everything is texas or no texas. henry clay's name is prominent, and excites no wonder, for his fame has long been national; but "who is james k. polk?" the equator is crossed, and now how we check off the degrees of latitude, day by day, as we run them up in the north-east trades, for we are on the home side of the line! our rigging is all fitted and tarred down, and a coat of paint from the mastheads down to the water-line, inside and out, works a wonderful change in the appearance of our noble ship. how eagerly we hail the first patches of gulf-weed! and as we plough through immense quantities of it, day after day, and haul great snarls of it in on deck. wonder what is the use of it, and what becomes of it all, finally? we pass bermuda without the usual heavy squalls characteristic of that locality, but off hatteras we lie to a couple of days, and ride out a "clear nor'wester," which seems to blow out of the sun and stars, rather than the clouds. block island is our first landfall; and, leaving this on our port bow, we shape our course for the vineyard sound. it is nearly night when we see a pilot-boat coming for us, and every heart leaps with joy at the thought of soon being at anchor in a home port. merrily we rouse up the chain cables from their rusty lockers, and tumble the anchors off the bow; our maintopsail is thrown aback, and the pilot-boat shoots up within hail. "what ship _is_ this?" he asks. "the arethusa, of nantucket." "o yes! how d'ye do, captain upton? you look deep," says the pilot. "full ship," replies the old man, rather proudly. "what's sperm oil worth?" "'bout eighty-five cents. haint you got a piece of salt pork to spare, captain?" "yes, half a dozen," answers the captain, who, knowing the ropes, has it all prepared beforehand. "here, pass this meat into the boat." "now, haint you got a few fathoms of second-hand towline that you can spare as well as not? you see my peak-halyards, they're about worn out." "here it is, waiting for you," says the old man, with a laugh. "it's the most remarkable thing, that a sound pilot-boat's peak-halyards always _are_ about worn out! here, pass this coil of line into the boat. i suppose you can get us into oldtown to-night, can't you pilot?" "well, i guess you don't want to go in there, captain. i can get you in to-night as far as holmes' hole, anyhow, and if it's fair weather in the morning i'll take you right down to the bar, and the camels will take you in." "ah, yes, the camels; they're a new institution that we've never seen yet. they've been built since we were away. do they work well?" "o, yes, indeed," says the pilot, "pick the ship right up, cargo and all, and back her into the harbor and drop her alongside of the wharf." "good," says captain upton; "those are the very animals that i want to see." "i reckon the folks down to nantucket are getting worried a little about you, captain. they heard from you on japan, somewhere in the middle of the season, but they didn't hear of your being at the islands in the fall, when we got the reports from the fleet. 'spose you made a port in some out-of-the-way place?" "yes, i made a running cruise of it, and didn't anchor till i made my last port in sydney; so i've brought my own report from there." we ran into holmes' hole and anchored at nine o'clock among a large fleet of coasting vessels, who had made a harbor for the night like ourselves. before daylight in the morning we were heaving up again, and, with a fair wind, we ran down for nantucket bar with all our bunting flying. down goes our anchor again in the old berth which we left three years ago, the sails are rolled up to the yards in a hurry, and a boat is lowered to pull the captain ashore. the owner is seen with his horse and the inevitable green box on wheels, waiting on the cliff shore to receive him, and take him to the arms of his family. the boat pulls square in, and lands him on the north beach, and returns to the ship, for an immense black noah's-ark-looking craft is already seen moving out of the docks in the harbor, which the pilot tells us is "the camels." several boats soon arrive, with friends and relatives of the nantucket men. here is our worthy mate's son in one of them, a stout, well-grown lad and evidently a "chip of the old block;" and here in another boat is an embryo "cape horner," a young brother of obed b., who is already shipped, and is to sail in a fortnight. "ah, obed;" he says, as he hops in over the rail, with hands outstretched, and his nut-brown, young face lighted up with pleasure and excitement, "i'm going in the ranger; and if you hadn't got home just as you did, you wouldn't have seen me for i don't know how many years. yes, the folks are all well at home, and the camels will have you into the wharf before night. the steamer will be along soon. we've got a new steamboat, too, since you went away. say, obed, i got the dollar from captain upton's wife this morning. i was the first boy that knew it was the arethusa. one of the men came down out of the old south tower, and told me what signal the ship had set, and i put for the captain's house. i got the dollar, and then i dug for another, for i knew where the mate's wife lived, too; but some other boys had found it out by that time, and i had a tight race for it with jack manter, but i was tired then, i had run so far, and manter got ahead of me, and sung out first, as he rushed into the front entry, but i tumbled right in after him. mrs. grafton was scared half to death at first, till she understood what the matter was, and then she laughed and cried both at once, and handed out a dollar, and said we might divide it, if we liked, but it belonged to jack, for he was a little ahead of me, and i didn't care much, for i'd got one. some mates' wives don't give but half a dollar," said he, pausing to get breath. i cannot stop to hear any more, for here is richards, still out-door clerk of messrs. brooks & co., and he is the only man likely to have any news for us "off islanders." he is ready with a hearty greeting and hand-shaking, and is prepared to "infit" us with clothing of any style, price or quality, as soon as we land. he produces a bunch of letters which have been directed to various ships expected to arrive soon, "care of brooks & co.," and rapidly shuffles them over. yes! there is my loved sister's handwriting, and here is another from my parents. i tear them open with a beating heart; all is well with those nearest and dearest to me. that is enough for the present. i will read the details when more at leisure, and in a few days i will be with them. i shall not write in reply, but, like the ship, i will bring home my own report. "here comes the camels round brant point!" cries the mate, running with the spyglass to look at the clumsy, floating dock which is creeping slowly at us, without any visible means of propulsion, so far as we can see, for the propellers are under the stern. it looks like nothing in the way of naval architecture that we have ever seen, but might serve as an immense floating battery, to be moored for the defence of a harbor. as it draws nearer, we can see that it is built in two parts, being divided lengthwise. the inside of each section or half is built concave to receive the hull of the ship, and to fit round her sides, and under her bilge and floor, as nearly as possible to its general form. the two parts are connected by several heavy chains, which are secured on the deck of one "camel," passing down through it under the keel of the ship, and up through the other, where they are hove taut with windlasses. the camels having taken up their position near the ship, the plugs are drawn, allowing them to fill with water and sink. being now ready to receive the ship, our anchor is hove up, lines streamed, and she is hauled in between them. the connecting chains are then hove taut by the windlasses, and thus the ship is completely docked, her bottom resting fairly on the concave inner surfaces of the camels, and the chains passing under her keel. she is now ready to be raised, and as soon as the steamboat heaves in sight, returning from her regular trip to new bedford the steam pumps are set in operation throwing out the water from the camels. the steamer passes within hail, and goes on into the harbor to land her mails and passengers, the captain promising to return at once and hook on to us. meanwhile the steampumps work steadily on, throwing out the water, and the whole fabric is seen gradually to rise, inch by inch, till the water is all out, and the ship is lifted out of the water, the camels themselves being flat and the draft very light. we are just in time for the returning steamboat, hawsers are run to us, she takes us in tow, and after a short struggle to overcome the _vis inertiæ_ of the immense arklike contrivance, we move along under good headway. we round brant point and steam up nearly to the end of the wharf, when the steamer leaves us, the camels are filled and sink down again, the ship is dropped out from between them, lines run to the pier, and, in a few minutes, she is tied up head and stern alongside her wharf, and ready to discharge her oil. "hurrah for the camels!" is the sentiment of every man on board, and of nearly every one on shore, too, except the lightermen whose "occupation is gone." our old landlord is on hand to furnish us board and lodging at the old rates; messrs. brooks & co. are in the same place, the same business operations are going on now as three years ago, and the same knots of seafaring men, or, at least, their very counterparts, pervade "the store," and pass their time in much the same manner. no one seems to have changed or grown any older. there is nothing new under the sun but the camels and the steamer "massachusetts." of course, we could not be paid off until the oil was discharged on the wharf, gauged, and filled up, so that our "lays" could be calculated exactly. this detained me several days; for, although i might have drawn money from the owners, or from brooks & co., yet i preferred to settle up the whole matter before going home to my friends, rather than to be under the necessity of returning to nantucket. i, of course, took my place among the veteran whalemen, now. i had earned the right to wear a fine, blue roundabout, and morocco pumps, with long streamers of ribbon, to roll and swagger as becomes the "ancient mariner," and to patronize the green hands who formed the last cargo of the lydia ann, for that gallant craft is still running as good as new. the newly-arrived seaman, if he be man enough to keep himself sober, finds the time hang heavily on his hands. a restless activity is observable in all his movements, and some sort of excitement must be found to drive away the blues. it _is_ found, at least so long as the money lasts. we patronized the livery stables extensively; for every day a string of carriages might be seen bound at racing speed to or from siasconset, or "south shore," the occupants urging the smoking horses to their greatest efforts, in desperate rivalry to "outsail" each other; and the cruise is a dull one, and wanting in interest, unless there is either a capsize, a breakdown, a runaway, or a collision. jack is no horseman, though he is prone to think himself an excellent one. his courage and coolness in emergencies, perhaps, stand him in as good stead as would a better acquaintance with the management of the animal, for he never becomes excited after the danger arrives, and never loses his self-possession at the very moment it is needed. it is owing perhaps to this fact, that he never gets hurt in these little equestrian diversions, though he often has heavy bills to pay for repairs, to the livery-stable proprietors. the bowling-alley is another of the seaman's favorite resorts, where he can strip to his shirt sleeves, select the heaviest balls, and sling them at the pins with a perfect _abandon_ or "looseness," as he would term it. the game is muscular and boisterous, and these are its recommendations; for, it is notable that the whaleman, or at least, the _young_ whaleman, never affects billiards. gentle exercise, such as can be taken with the coat buttoned, is not to his taste, until after he arrives at the rank of chief mate, and has more sedateness, and more dignity to maintain. but few days are allowed me to participate in the rough sports of my brother cape horners, for the stevedore's gang, and the laborers, with the gauger on the wharf have not been idle, and the "figurer," as he is called here (and who, by the way, is not one of the owners of the ship, but a disinterested party), is ready to settle up and pay us off. the next morning sees a goodly number of us on board the steamer, bound for our respective homes. we take our last look at the ship that has borne us in safety over so many thousand miles of ocean, as she now lies at the next wharf, high out of water, and in process of being stripped to a girtline, for she is to be fitted out again as fast as possible under command of mr. grafton. he has offered me a good berth in her, but i have not committed myself yet by any decided answer. kelly and hoeg are both going with him, as boatsteerers, of course, and perhaps some of the others. but i must visit my home in the country, and look about me a little before i make up my mind for another whaling cruise. in the meantime, i bid them a hearty farewell, as to all others who have accompanied me, either in the good ship herself, or in these sketches, through the pleasures and perils, the lights and shades of my checkered cruise in the arethusa. the end. footnotes: [ ] this word "gallied" is in constant use among whalemen in the sense of frightened or confused. it is perhaps, a corruption of the obsolete verb, _gallow_, to be found in old writers. thus shakespeare has in king lear, "the wrathful skies gallow the deep wanderers of the dark." [ ] the general reader may not be aware that the word "foopaw." in nautical parlance, means a failure or bungling performance of any duty. evidently a corruption of the french "_faux pas_." transcriber's note -obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected. generously made available by the internet archive/american libraries.) [illustration: abandoning bark kathleen in mid-ocean] bark kathleen sunk by a whale as related by the captain, thomas h. jenkins to which is added an account of two like occurrences, the loss of ships ann alexander and essex published by h. s. hutchinson & co. new bedford, massachusetts copyrighted h. s. hutchinson & co. new bedford, mass. bark kathleen rammed and sunk by an infuriated bull whale. (new york journal.) the most thrilling episode ever known in the history of the american whale fisheries has just occurred. it is full of the mystery and thrill and terror of the deep sea. it is even more wonderful than any of the stories told by mr. frank t. bullen, author of the famous "cruise of the cachalot." crew list of bark kathleen when she sailed from new bedford, mass., october , , for a whaling voyage in the south atlantic: thomas h jenkins, south dartmouth, master; j. w. nichols, first mate; paul gomes, second mate; manuel viera and morris murray, boat-headers; phillipe j. viera, george williams, herbert r. reynolds, cecelia manuel delgardo, boatsteerers; j. a. jensen, cooper, carpenter, and blacksmith; alfred w. ellis, steward; benjamin j. taber, cook; julio alves, jocking barrows, manuel fernandez, manuel fonseca, charles h. lutz, ordinary seamen; manuel teceira, preventer boatsteerer; pedro manuel silva, seaman; aurilla lopez, seaman and preventer boatsteerer; frank a. bragg, green hand and carpenter; antone monterio, arthur p. mcpherson, louis sharp, j. a. h. nickerson, clarence w. thwing, rodney morrison, william glass, william h. carr, green hands. mrs. jenkins accompanied her husband on the cruise. [illustration: ready to sail] introduction the kathleen was about tons and with outfits was valued at $ , , being partially insured by her several owners. she also had on board at the time of the accident a small quantity of oil taken since leaving port. the kathleen had always been called a "lucky ship" and had made many good voyages. she was built for the merchant service at philadelphia in , and after a year in the trade, was purchased by captain james slocum and fitted as a whaler. her first master in the whaling industry was captain william allen, and she had in her day made many a good voyage. among her masters have been captain charles childs, captain daniel w. gifford and captain samuel r. howland. she had been almost entirely built over only a few years ago, and just before being fitted for a cruise to st. helena in , where she loaded oil, was thoroughly overhauled. last year, it will be remembered, the kathleen arrived in port in a disabled condition. this was on sept. th, , when she was commanded by captain fred h. smith. for three days that month on the th, th and th, while southeast of barbados, she was on her beam ends and at the mercy of the sea. the crew lived on the quarter deck at the time, not daring to go below. in fitting her up for the last cruise she was newly sparred. [illustration: bark kathleen at dock] story of the loss of bark kathleen told by the captain, thomas h. jenkins having been requested to give an account of the sinking of the bark kathleen by a whale i will do the best i can, though i think that those who have read the papers know as much or more about it than i do. we sailed from new bedford the d october, , and with the exception of three weeks of the worst weather i have ever had on leaving home, everything went fairly well till we arrived out on the - ground.[ ] [ ] what is known by the whalers as the " - ground" is located in the atlantic ocean about ° latitude n., ° longitude w., approximately , miles off the coast of brazil.--(ed.) the day we arrived there we raised a large whale and chased him most all day but could not seem to get any aim of him. we lost the run of him at last in a rain squall. a few days after, the th of march, , was one of the finest whaling days i have ever seen, smooth water and a clear sky. when they were going up to mast head i told them to look sharp for some one was going to raise a whale before night. we steered different courses during the fore-noon and at p.m. the man aloft raised a white water which proved to be sperm whales, and there was a lot of them, some heading one way, some another. when we got within a mile of them we lowered four boats, and soon after mr. nichols, the first mate, struck a whale, the other whales went to leeward and i followed them with the ship till i was sure the boats saw them. mr. nichols then had his whale dead about one mile to windward, so i came to wind on the port tack, but it took us some time to get up to the mate, as we could not carry any foretopsail or flying jibs as the topmast had given out. [illustration: sperm whaling--the chase] i stood on the port tack a while and then tacked. when we got braced up the dead whale was one point off the lee bow. i saw we were going to fetch him all right. mr. nichols had wafted his whale and was chasing some more. by that time, about p.m., the lookout called out that the three boats to leeward were all fast. of course we were all glad to hear that. i ran the ship alongside of the dead whale and after darting at him two or three times managed to get fast and get him alongside. just then it was reported that the boats to leeward were out of sight. that worried me some so i told the cooper to get the fluke chain on the whale and i would go aloft and see if i could see the boats. at this time mr. nichols had given up chasing and was coming on board. i got up to the topmast crosstrees and sat down. i then heard a whale spout off the weather beam and glancing that way, saw sure enough a large whale not more than five hundred feet from us, coming directly for the ship. mr. nichols was then alongside, just going to hoist his boat. i told him there was a whale, a big fellow, trying to get alongside and to go and help him along and he did help him along. he took him head and head and did not get fast. i don't know why. he certainly was near enough, the boatsteerer said too near, and did not have a chance to swing his iron. instead of that whale going down or going to windward as they most always do, he kept coming directly for the ship, only much faster than he was coming before he was darted at. when he got within thirty feet of the ship he saw or heard something and tried to go under the ship but he was so near and was coming so fast he did not have room enough to get clear of her. he struck the ship forward of the mizzen rigging and about five or six feet under water. it shook the ship considerably when he struck her, then he tried to come up and he raised the stern up some two or three feet so when she came down her counters made a big splash. the whale came up on the other side of the ship and laid there and rolled, did not seem to know what to do. i asked the cooper if he thought the whale had hurt the ship any and he said he did not think so for he had not heard anything crack. [illustration: sperm whaling--the capture] mr. nichols was still trying to get to the whale when i thought we had no business fooling with that whale any more that day as the other three boats were out of sight and fast to whales and night coming on, so i told him to come alongside. "what for?" asked mr. nichols, "the whale is laying there." i said, "never mind the whale but come alongside and hoist the boat up as soon as you can." he did so and i told him to get his glasses and come up to masthead and see if he could see the boats. his eyes were younger than mine and he soon raised them. just at this time one of the men went to the forecastle to get some dry clothes and he found the floor covered with water. he cried out and then i knew the ship must have quite a hole in her. i immediately ordered flags set at all three mastheads, a signal for all boats to come on board under any and all circumstances. mr. viera was then not more than a mile and a half from the ship and i knew he could not but help seeing the flags, but it was no use, he would not let go that whale he was fast to. if he had only come to the ship they could have got some more water and bread. i set two gangs at work right away, one getting water and the other getting bread. the cask of bread was between decks and three men staid with that cask till the water came in and floated the cask away from them. i then went to the cabin and found mrs. jenkins reading. she did not know that there was anything the matter with the ship. i told her the ship was sinking and to get some warm clothing as soon as she could but not to try to save anything else. well, the first thing she did was to go for the parrot and take him on deck. then she got a jacket and an old shawl. by that time it was time to take to the boat, which we did without any confusion whatever. there were twenty-one of us in the boat and with the water and bread and some old clothes she was pretty near the water, so deep that the water came over the centre board, so that some of us had to keep bailing all the time, while the rest were paddling down to the boat that was still laying by the whale. [illustration: deck of kathleen, looking aft] the ship rolled over to windward five minutes after we got clear of her. well, we got to mr. viera at last and divided the men and give him his share of bread and water. then it was dark and very necessary that we should find the other boats, for i knew they did not see the ship capsize and they would be looking for her for a day or so with no water to drink. well, we set our sails and steered as near as we could where we thought the boats ought to be and about nine o'clock we raised them. they were very much surprised to hear that the kathleen was gone. i gave them some bread and water and divided the men up again, so three boats had ten men each and one boat nine men. i told them all to keep in sight of me and that i would keep a lantern burning all night. we then started for the island of barbados, distant , miles. it was a beautiful moonlight night with a smooth sea. when morning came there was not a boat to be seen so i came to the wind and laid with the sheet slacked off over an hour and raised a boat to windward steering for us. it was the third mate and he wanted some water. the water we gave him the night before was all salt. well, we divided with him again and again started on our journey with five gallons of water. i told the third mate to keep up with me if he could but i should not stop for him or any one else again. about nine o'clock a.m. some one said he saw something off the port bow. we all looked and made it out to be smoke from a steamer and soon saw she was coming right for us, so we knew we were saved. when she got near we saw she had a whale boat on her davits. they had picked up our second mate an hour before and he had told the captain that there were three other boats adrift and one of them had the captain and wife on board, so he was steaming around with two men at the masthead with glasses looking for us. we got alongside and she was way out of water. i asked mrs. jenkins if she could get up on a rope ladder they had put over the side and she said yes, she could get up if it was twice as high and she was not long in getting on deck. [illustration: deck of kathleen, looking for'ard] captain dalton met us and welcomed us on board of the borderer of glasgow. he was very kind to us and did everything possible for us for the nine days we were on board his steamer, gave up his room to mrs. jenkins and myself even. in nine days we were landed at pernambuco and from there we came to philadelphia on steamer pydna, captain crossley. we found friends everywhere we went; even in philadelphia i had telegrams asking me to telegraph them if i needed any assistance. we arrived at new bedford in due time and even mr. wing, (the agent of the bark kathleen), met me smilingly and seemed glad to see me. everything seemed to work our way after the accident. when we were leaving the borderer capt. dalton gave me thirty dollars in american bills, all he had with him. he told me to take it and if i felt able when i got home to send the amount to his wife in england. it seems that capt. dalton had been running down this way for some years and having met head currents decided _this_ trip to make a passage three or four degrees to the eastward to see if he couldn't get out of it. owing to this fact we were picked up as we were. as we had not seen a sail of any description for some time we might have been days in our boat before seeing any vessel. the other boat containing one of the mates and seamen landed safely at the barbados after being in the boat days with but gallons of water and a little ship bread. [illustration: two famous old whalers, barks rousseau and desdemona] loss of the ships ann alexander and essex. cases of whales rushing head on are very rare. one instance which will be remembered by some of the older residents of the city was in , when the ship ann alexander was sunk in the pacific ocean by a maddened whale. in the whaleman's shipping list of nov. , , is a very full account of that occurrence. the story, which is substantially as follows, first appeared in the panama herald, as told by captain john s. deblois, follows: the ship ann alexander sailed from new bedford, june st, , for a cruise in the south pacific. having taken barrels of sperm oil in the atlantic, captain deblois proceeded on the voyage to the pacific. on the th of august, , while cruising on the "off shore grounds," at o'clock in the morning, whales were discovered, and at noon of the same day succeeded in making fast to one. the mate's boat made fast to the whale, which ran with the boat for some time, and then suddenly turning about rushed at the boat with open jaws, crushing the little craft into splinters. captain deblois rescued the boat's crew. later the waist boat was lowered from the ship and another attack made upon the leviathan. the mate again in charge of the attacking boat experienced another smashup, for in the battle the whale again turned on the boat's crew and crushed the second boat. the crew was saved and all hands returned to the ship, which proceeded after the whale. the ship passed on by him, and immediately after it was discovered that the whale was making for the ship. as he came up near her they hauled on the wind and suffered the monster to pass her. after he had fairly passed they kept off to overtake and attack him again. when the ship had reached within about rods of him the crew discovered that the whale had settled down deep below the surface of the water, and as it was near sundown, it was decided to give up the pursuit. the ship was moving about five knots, and while captain deblois stood at the rail he suddenly saw the whale rushing at the ship at the rate of knots. in an instant the monster struck the ship with tremendous violence, shaking her from stem to stern. she quivered under the violence of the shock as if she had struck upon a rock. the whale struck the ship about two feet from the keel, abreast the foremast, knocking a great hole entirely through her bottom, through which the water roared and rushed in impetuously. the anchors and cables were thrown overboard, as she had a large quantity of pig iron aboard. the ship sank rapidly, all effort to keep her afloat proving futile. captain deblois ordered all hands to take to the boats and was the last to leave the ship, doing so by jumping from the vessel into the sea and swimming to the nearest boat. the ship was on her beam end, her topgallant yards under water. they hung around in the vicinity of the ann alexander all that night, and the next day the captain boarded his vessel and cutting away the masts she righted, when they succeeded in getting stores from her hold, with which to supply their boats, should it become necessary to make a boat voyage to land. on august ship nantucket, captain gibbs, cruising in that vicinity, discovered the imperiled sailors and taking them in charge landed them at paita, september th. the ann alexander was hopelessly wrecked and left to her fate on august . five months after this disaster this pugnacious whale was captured by the rebecca simms of this port. two of the ann alexander's harpoons were found in him and his head had sustained serious injuries, pieces of the ship's timbers being imbedded in it. the whale yielded to barrels of oil. [illustration: whalers fitting out] the only other known case of a like nature occurred to the ship essex of nantucket, commanded by captain george pollard, jr. she sailed from nantucket, august , , for a cruise in the pacific ocean. on the morning of november , , latitude . south and longitude west, whales were discovered and all three boats lowered in pursuit. the mate's boat soon struck a whale, but a blow of the animal's tail opening a bad hole in the boat, the crew was obliged to cut from him. in the meantime, the captain's and second mate's boats had fastened to another whale, and the mate, heading the ship for the other boats, set about overhauling his boat preparatory to lowering again. while doing this he saw a large sperm whale break water about rods from the ship. the whale disappeared, but immediately came up again about a ship's length off, and made directly for the vessel, going at a velocity of about three miles an hour, and the essex was advancing at about the same rate of speed. scarcely had the mate ordered the boy at the helm to put it hard up, when the whale, with greatly accelerated speed, struck the ship with his head just forward of the forechains. the ship brought up suddenly and violently and trembled like a leaf. the whale passed under the vessel, scraping her keel as he went, came up on the leeward side, and lay apparently stunned for a moment. the vessel began to settle at the head with the whale yards off thrashing the water violently with his tail and opening and closing his jaws with great fury. while the mate was thinking of getting the two extra boats clear, as the vessel had begun to settle rapidly, the cry was started by a sailor: "here he is; he is making for us again!" the whale came down for the ship with twice his ordinary speed and a line of foam about a rod in width, made with his tail, which he continually thrashed from side to side, marked his coming. the whale crashed into the bows of the essex, staving them completely in directly under the cathead. the whale after the second assault passed under the ship and out of sight to the leeward. the crew were in a fix, in mid-ocean, a thousand miles from the nearest land and nothing but the frail whaleboat to save them. the lashings of the spare boat were cut and she was launched with the ship falling on her beam ends. the ship hung together for three days. provisions were taken from her and the whaleboats strengthened. the boats started for the coast of chile or peru and after a hard time they landed at ducies island. unable to find subsistence there they again started, dec. th, after leaving three of their number, of their own desire, and commenced to make the perilous voyage to the island of juan fernandez. many of the boats' crew died and the recital states that the flesh of a dead comrade was eaten by members of the mate's boat. on feb. th the surviving crew of the mate's boat were picked up by brig indian. captain pollard and charles ramsdale, the sole survivors of the captain's boat, were picked up feb. d by a nantucket whaler, and the third boat was never heard from. (_new bedford evening standard_). appendix. through the efforts of the new bedford board of trade captain dalton has been presented by the u.s. government a gold watch suitably inscribed in addition to the set of resolutions and pair of marine glasses presented him by that board in recognition of his services in rescuing the captain and crew of the kathleen. driftwood for open fireplaces driftwood consists of the sheathing and planking torn from old whaling ships, forming the only satisfactory and reliable form for driftwood, as each piece of it being completely impregnated with copper through the action of the salt water will, while burning, delight the eye with brilliant changing colors. it should be used in the fireplace, not to kindle the fire, nor when the wood or coal is blazing freely, but after a glowing bed of coals is formed, as the crowning touch of beauty, lay on one, two, or three pieces of this magic wood. then with more than sunset splendor, it will flame and glow and die away and glow again, giving up itself in a glory of color that breathes out beauty, witchery, mystery, all in one. packed in barrels and shipped to any address by h. s. hutchinson & co., new bedford, mass. [illustration: breaking up old whalers for driftwood] pictures of whaling scenes. sperm whaling and its varieties. right whaling in behring sea. from paintings by benj. russell. right whaling, cutting in. sperm whaling, the chase. sperm whaling, the capture. either framed or unframed. souvenirs of whaling days. figure heads, whale's teeth, old log books, harpoons, photographs, etc. h. s. hutchinson & co., new bedford, mass. peter trawl, the adventures of a whaler, by w.h.g. kingston. ________________________________________________________________________ peter is a young teenager in a family that suffers a series of disastrous events. family money is lost due to the failure of a bank, not at all uncommon in those days, probably about . they lived in portsmouth, where the father was a wherryman, ferrying people out to the ships. the father meets with an accident, having ferried a passenger to his ship at anchor outside the harbour, is caught up by freak weather, which broke up his boat and drowned him. the mother does what she can, taking commodities out to the ships for the benefit of the sailors, but trade was bad at that time, and she became ill, and dies as well. thus the family were left without any support, until a mr gray, a quaker, comes on the scene, and takes them under his wing. he is also a shipowner, and he gives peter a chance on one of his ships. however, there are various mishaps with this ship, and peter and his friend jim arrive in shetland, an archipelago in the far north of britain, where peter discovers that he has relatives. he takes a lift in a ship back to portsmouth, as the ship was due to call in at plymouth, but due to fair weather passes it by. the ship is a whaler, and needs to get into the pacific ocean, but has a lot of trouble trying to round the horn. eventually they succeed. but peter now has a new ambition, to find his long-lost brother jack who had gone to sea years before, and never been heard of. by chance he hears that jack may be alive. in due course they find jack, and come home again with him to portsmouth, where mr gray has kindly looked after the female members of peter's family, including his sister mary. of course there are a lot of coincidences in this story, but that's part of the fun. ________________________________________________________________________ peter trawl, the adventures of a whaler, by w.h.g. kingston. chapter one. my early days at home. brother jack, a seaman's bag over his shoulders, trudged sturdily ahead; father followed, carrying the oars, spars, sails, and other gear of the wherry, while as i toddled alongside him i held on with one hand to the skirt of his pea-jacket, and griped the boat-hook which had been given to my charge with the other. from the front of the well-known inn, the "keppel's head," the portrait of the brave old admiral, which i always looked at with awe and admiration, thinking what a great man he must have been, gazed sternly down on us as we made our way along the common hard of portsea towards the water's edge. father and jack hauled in the wherry, and having deposited their burdens in her, set to work to mop her out and to put her to rights, while i stood, still grasping the boat-hook, which i held upright with the point in the ground, watching their proceedings, till father, lifting me up in his arms, placed me in the stern-sheets. "sit there, peter, and mind you don't topple overboard, my son," he said, in the kind tone in which he always spoke to me and jack. i was too small to be of much use, indeed father had hitherto only taken me with him when he was merely going across to gosport and back or plying about the harbour. it was a more eventful day to jack than to me. when i saw mother packing his bag, i had a sort of idea that he was going to sea, and when the next morning she threw her arms round his neck and burst into tears, and jack began to cry too, i understood that he would be away for a long time. jack had been of great use to father, who grieved as much as mother to part with him, but, as he said, he wouldn't, if he could help it, bring him up as a long-shore lubber, and a few voyages would be the making of him. "he can't get none of the right sort of eddication on shore," observed father. "he'll learn on board a man-of-war what duty and discipline mean, and to my mind till a lad knows that he isn't worth his salt." the _lapwing_ brig-of-war, fitted out at sheerness, had brought up at spithead, and her commander, captain rogers, with whom father had long served, meeting him on shore, and hearing that he had a son old enough to go to sea, offered to take jack and look after him. when commander rogers was a midshipman, he fell overboard, and would have been drowned had not father jumped in and saved him. he was very grateful, but had not till now had an opportunity of practically showing his gratitude. father, therefore, gladly accepted his offer, being sure that he would do his best for jack; and as blue peter was flying from the masthead of the brig, there was no time to be lost in taking him on board. at the time i was too young, as i was saying, to understand these matters, but i learnt about them afterwards. all i then knew was that brother jack was going for a sailor aboard of a man-of-war. father and jack were just shoving off, when two persons who had come out of the "keppel's head" were seen hurrying down the hard with cases and packages in their hands and under their arms. one, as his dress and appearance showed, was a seafaring man; the other wore long toggery, as sailors call the costume of landsmen. "if you are going out to spithead, my man, we'll go with you," shouted the first. "ay, ay, sir! i'll be glad enough to take you," answered father, happy to get a fare, instead of making nothing by the trip. "we'll give you five shillings apiece," said the officer, for such he seemed to be. "thank you, sir; that will do. what ship shall i put you aboard?" asked father. "the _intrepid_, south sea whaler--she's lying to the eastward of the men-of-war. we shall see her when we get abreast of southsea castle," answered the officer. "step aboard, then, sir," said father. "the tide will soon have done making out of the harbour, and there's no time to lose." the strangers took their seats in the stern-sheets, and father and jack, shoving off, pulled out into the stream. the officer took the yoke-lines, and by the way he handled them, showed that he knew what he was about. careful steering is always required where tides run strong and vessels are assembled; but especially was it at that time, when, peace having been just proclaimed, portsmouth harbour was crowded with men-of-war lately returned from foreign stations, and with transports and victuallers come in to be discharged; while all the way up towards porchester castle lay, now dismantled in vast numbers, those stout old ships with names renowned which had borne the victorious flag of england in many a fierce engagement. dockyard lighters, man-of-war boats, wherries crowded with passengers, and other craft of various descriptions, were sailing or pulling about in all directions, so that the stranger had to keep his eyes about him to avoid being run down by, or running into, some other boat or vessel. "we'll step the mast, and make sail while we're in smooth water, sir," said father. "there's a lop of a sea outside, when it wouldn't be pleasant to this gentleman if we were to wait till then," and he gave a look at the landsman, who even now did not seem altogether comfortable. "the doctor hasn't been used to the sea, but he'll soon get accustomed to it. no fear of that, cockle, eh?" said the officer, who was, he afterwards told father, second mate of the _intrepid_. "i hope i shall, mr griffiths, but i confess i don't much like the thought of going through those foaming waves out there in such a cockleshell of a boat as this," answered the doctor. "no offence to you, my friend," he added, turning to father. "ha! ha! ha! that's just what the boat is at present," said the mate, laughing. "do you twig, doctor? do you twig? she carries you and your fortunes, and if she takes us safe alongside the _intrepid_--and i see no reason why she shouldn't--we shall be obliged to her and her owner here. what's your name, my man?" "jack trawl, sir; at your service," answered father. "many's the time i've been out to spithead in this here wherry when it's been blowing great guns and small arms, and she's ridden over the seas like a duck. the gentleman needn't be afraid." the doctor, who did not seem to like the mate's joking, or father's remark about being afraid, sat silent for some time. "i'll take the helm, sir, if you please," said father, who had stepped the mast and hauled aft the sheets. "my wherry likes me to have hold of her, and maybe she mightn't behave as well as she should if a stranger was steering." "i understand," answered mr griffiths, laughing. "you are wise not to trust any one but yourself. i'll yield to you in handling this style of boat under sail, though i may have been more at sea than you have." "i doubt that, sir, as i went afloat not long after you were born, if not before, and for well-nigh thirty years seldom set foot on shore," answered father. "all that time i served his majesty--god bless him-- and if there was to come another war i'd be ready to serve him again, as my boy jack there is just going to do." "a fine lad he seems, but he'd better by half have joined the merchant service than submitted to the tyranny of a man-of-war," said the mate. "there are just two opinions, sir, as to that," answered father, dryly. "haul down the tack, jack, and get a pull of the foresheet," he sang out. there was a fresh breeze from the south-east blowing almost up the harbour, but by keeping over on the portsmouth side, aided by the tide, we stood clear out of it. the wherry soon began to pitch into the seas, which came rolling in round southsea castle in a way which made the doctor look very blue. the mate tried to cheer him up, but he evidently didn't like it, especially when the spray came flying over the bows, and quickly wet him and most of us well-nigh through to the skin. every now and then more than the mere spray came aboard us, and the doctor became more and more uncomfortable. father now called jack aft to bale out the water, and he set to work heaving it overboard as fast as it came in. i laughed, and did not feel a bit afraid, because when i looked up at father's face i saw that there was nothing to be afraid about. at length the mate seemed to think that we were carrying on too long. "doctor cockle is not accustomed to this sort of thing," he observed. "hadn't we better take in a reef or two?" "not if you wish to get aboard your ship, sir, before night," answered father. "i know my boat, and i know what she'll do. trust me, sir, and in less than half-an-hour you'll be safe alongside the _intrepid_." the mate seemed satisfied, and began talking to me, amused at the way i sat bobbing, as the spray came aboard, under an old pea-jacket which father had thrown over my shoulders, and grinning when i found that i had escaped the shower by which the others got well sprinkled. "i'll not forget you, my little fellow," he said, laughing. "you'll make a prime seaman one of these days. will you remember my name?" "yes, sir, i think i shall, and your face too," i answered. "you are a sharp chap, i see," he observed, in the same tone as before. "do you intend to make a sailor of him?" he asked, turning to father. "not if i can find a better calling for the boy, sir," answered father. "i've heard say, and believe it, that man proposes and god disposes. it mayn't be in my power to choose for him." "ay, ay, you're right there, my friend," said the mate. "if he had been as old as his brother i would have given him a berth aboard the _intrepid_." it may seem curious that, young as i was, i should have remembered these remarks, but so it was, and i had reason long afterwards to do so. even sooner than father had said we had hooked on to the whaler, a barque of about three hundred tons, her black hull rising high out of the water, and with three boats, sharp at both ends, hoisted up to davits in a line on each side. the good-natured mate having paid the fare and given me a bright shilling in addition, helped the doctor, who wasn't very well able to help himself, up on deck, and we then, shoving off, stood for the man-of-war brig. jack almost broke down as we approached her. not that he was unwilling to go away, but that he was very sorry to part from father and me, and i know that we were very sorry to part with him. "jack, my son," said father, and his voice wasn't as firm as usual, "we may never meet again on this side the grave. you may be taken or i may be taken. what i want to say to you is this, and they may be well-nigh the last words you will ever hear me speak. ever remember that god's eye is upon you, and so live that you may be prepared at any moment to die. i can't say more than that, my boy. bless you. god bless you." "i will, father, i will," answered jack, and he passed the back of his hand across his eyes. we were soon up to the brig. he gave me a hug and a kiss, and then, having made fast the end of the rope hove to us, he griped father's hand, and sprang up the side of the brig. his bag was hoisted up after him by an old shipmate of father's, who sang out, "all right, trawl, i'll look after your boy!" we had at once to shove off, for the brig was rolling considerably, and there was a risk of the wherry being swamped alongside. as we stood away i looked astern. jack had climbed into the fore-rigging and was waving to us. we soon lost sight of him. when, if ever, should we see him again? having the wind and tide with us, we quickly ran back into the harbour. for reasons which will appear by-and-by i ought to say a few words respecting my family, though i don't flatter myself the world in general will be much concerned about the matter. some people are said to be born with silver spoons in their mouths; if that means, as i suppose it does, that from their earliest days they enjoy all the luxuries of life, then i may say that when i first saw the light i must have had a very rough wooden one between my toothless gums. however, as i've often since thought, it isn't so much what a man is born to which signifies, as what he becomes by his honesty, steadiness, perseverance, and above all by his earnest desire to do right in the sight of god. my father, jack trawl (as he spelt his name, or, rather, as others spelt it for him, he being no great hand with a pen), was an old man-of-war's-man. i well remember hearing him say that his father, who had been mate of a merchantman, and had been lost at sea when he himself was a boy, was a shetlander; and in an old testament which had belonged to his mother, and which he had treasured as the only relic of either of his parents, i found the name written troil. the ink was very faint, but i made out the words clearly, "margaret troil, given to her by her husband angus." this confirmed me in the idea i had formed, that both my father's parents had come from the far off island of shetland. my father being a sober, steady man, having saved more of his pay and prize-money than had most of his shipmates, when he left the service bought a wherry, hired and furnished a house, and married my mother, polly treherne, the daughter of a bumboat-woman who plied her trade in portsmouth harbour. i have no cause to be ashamed of my grandmother, for every one who knew her said, and i am sure of it, that she was as worthy a woman in her line of life as ever lived. she gave good measure and charged honest prices, whether she was dealing in soft tack, fruit, vegetables, cheese, herrings, or any of the other miscellaneous articles with which she supplied the seamen of his majesty's ships; and her daughter polly, who assisted her, was acknowledged by all to be as good and kind-hearted as she was pretty. no wonder, then, that she won the heart of my brave father when she visited the ship in which he had just come home, or that, knowing his worth, although she had many suitors, she consented to marry him. for some time all went well, but what happened is a proof that honest, industrious persons may be overtaken by misfortunes as well as other people. father had no intention that his wife should follow her mother's calling, as he could make enough to keep the pot boiling; but after they had been married a few years, and several children had been born, all of whom died in their infancy, except my eldest brother jack, and me and mary, the two youngest, bad times came. chapter two. how a true friend was gained. just before we two entered this world of troubles, the bank in which my father had deposited his savings broke, and all were lost. the sails of his wherry were worn out, and he had been about to buy a new suit, which he now couldn't do; the wherry herself was getting crazy, and required repairs, and he himself met with an accident which laid him up for several weeks. grandmother also, who had lost nearly her all by the failure of the bank, though she had hitherto been hale and hearty, now began to talk of feeling the approach of old age. one evening, while father was laid up, she looked in on us. "polly, my girl, there's no use trying to beat up in the teeth of a gale with a five-knot current against one," she exclaimed, as, dropping down into out big arm-chair and undoing her bonnet-strings and the red handkerchief she wore round her neck, she threw her bonnet over the back of her head. "i'm dead beat with to-day's work, and shall be worse to-morrow. now, my dear, what i've got to say is this, i want you to help me. you know the trade as well as i do. it will be a good thing for you as well as for me; for look you, my dear, if anything should happen to your jack, it will help you to keep the wolf from the door." this last argument, with her desire to help the good old lady, made mother say that if father was agreeable she would do as grandmother wished. she forthwith went upstairs, where father was lying in bed, scarcely able to move for the pain his hurt caused him. they talked the matter over, and he, knowing that something must be done for the support of the family, gave, though unwillingly, his consent. thus it happened that my mother again took to bum-boating. trade, however, wasn't like what it used to be in the war time, i heard grandmother say. then seamen would have their pockets filled with five-pound notes and golden guineas, which they were eager to spend; now they rarely had more than a few shillings or a handful of coppers jingling in them. still there was an honest livelihood to be made, and grandmother and mother contrived to make it. poor grandmother, however, before long fell ill, as she said she should, and then all the work fell on mother. father got better, and was able sometimes to go out with the wherry, but grandmother got worse and worse, and mother had to attend on her till she died. when she and father were away from home, mary and i were left to the care of our brother jack. he did his best to look after us, but not being skilled as a nursemaid, while he was tending mary, who, being a girl--she was my twin sister, i should have said--required most of his care, he could not always manage to prevent me from getting into trouble. fortunately nothing very serious happened. dear, kind jack! i was very fond of him, and generally obeyed him willingly. it would not be true to say that i always did so. he was very fond of mary and me too, of that i am sure, and he used to show his fondness by spending for our benefit any coppers he picked up by running on errands or doing odd jobs for neighbours. as his purchases were usually brandy-balls, rock, and other sweets, it was perhaps fortunate for us that he had not many to spend. by diligently pursuing her trade, mother, in course of time, saved money enough to enable father to get the wherry repaired, and to buy a new suit of sails, and when he got plenty of employment he bade mother stay at home and look after mary and me, while jack went with him. as, however, it would not have been prudent to give up her business altogether, she hired a girl, nancy fidget, to take her place, as jack had done, when she was from home. i don't remember that anything of importance happened after grandmother's death till jack went to sea. we missed him very much, and mary was always asking after him, wondering when he would come back. still, if i had gone away, she would, i think, have fretted still more. perhaps it was because we were twins that we were so fond of each other. we were, however, not much alike. she was a fair, blue-eyed little maiden, with flaxen hair and a rosy blush on her cheeks, and i was a broad-shouldered, strongly-built chap, the hue on my cheeks and the colour of my hair soon becoming deepened by my being constantly out of doors, while my eyes were, i fancy, of a far darker tint than my sister's. after jack went mother seemed to concentrate all her affections on us two. i don't think, however, that any woman could have a warmer or larger heart than hers, although many may have a wider scope for the exercise of their feelings. she never turned a beggar away from her door without some relief even in the worst of times, and when any of the neighbours were in distress, she always did her best to help them. often when she had been out bum-boating for the best part of the day, and had been attending to household matters for the remainder, she would sit up the whole night with a sick acquaintance who was too poor to hire a nurse, and had only thanks to give her, and perhaps of that not very liberally. i have said that my mother had as warm and generous a heart as ever beat in woman's bosom. i repeat it. i might give numerous instances to prove the truth of my assertion, and to show that i have reason to be proud of being her son, whatever the world may think about the matter. one will suffice. it had an important effect on my destinies, although at the time no one would have supposed that such would be the case. one evening, as my mother was returning home off the water after dark, she found a female fallen down close to our door, in what seemed to be a fit. some of the neighbours had seen the poor creature, but had let her lie there, and gone indoors, and several persons passing showed by their remarks what they thought of her character; but mother, not stopping to consider who she was or what she was, lifting her up in her strong arms, carried her into the house, and placed her on the bed which used to be jack's. mother now saw by the light of the candle that the unhappy being she had taken charge of was still young, and once had been pretty, but the life she had led had marred her beauty and brought her to her present sad state. after mother had undressed her and given her food and a cordial in which she had great confidence, the girl slightly revived, but it became more evident than before that she was fearfully ill. she sobbed and groaned, and sometimes shrieked out in a way terrible to hear, but would give no account of herself. at length, mother, mistrusting her own skill, sent nancy and me off to call dr rolt, the nearest medical man we knew of. he came at once, and shaking his head as soon as he saw the stranger, he advised that she should be removed forthwith to the hospital. "not to-night, doctor, surely," said mother. "it might be the death of her, poor young creature!" "she may rapidly grow worse, and it may be still more dangerous to move her afterwards," remarked dr rolt. "then, please god, i'll keep charge of her till she recovers, or he thinks fit to take her," said mother, in her determined way. "she will never recover, i fear," said the doctor; "but i will do the best for her i can." telling mother how to act, and promising to send some medicine, he went away. when father, who had been across to ryde in the wherry, came home, he approved of what mother had done. "why, you see, jack, what i think is this," i heard her say; "i've no right to point a finger at her, for if i hadn't had a good mother to show me right and wrong, i might have been just as she is." the next morning the doctor came again. he looked grave when he left the stranger's room. "you are still resolved to let this poor outcast remain in your house, mrs trawl?" he asked. "yes, sir, my good man thinks as i do, that we ought," answered mother, positively. dr rolt returned in the afternoon, accompanied by a gentleman wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a straight-cut broadcloth coat of sombre hue. he smiled pleasantly at mother as he took the seat she offered him without doffing his hat, and beckoning to mary and me, put his hands on our heads, while he looked into our faces and smiled as he had done to mother. "i have brought mr silas gray, a member of the society of friends, knowing that i should have your leave, mrs trawl, as he desires to see the poor girl you have taken care of," said dr rolt. "verily, sister, thou hast acted the part of the good samaritan towards the hapless one of whom friend rolt has told me, and i would endeavour to minister to her spiritual necessities, the which i fear are great indeed; also with thy leave i will help thee in supplying such creature comforts as she may need," said mr gray. "thank you kindly, sir," answered mother. "i couldn't say much on the matter of religion, except to tell her that god cares for her as well as he does for the richest lady in the land, and will pardon her sins if she will but turn to him through christ; and as to food, kickshaws fit for sick folk are not much in my way, still i'll--" "thou knowest the very gist of the matter, sister," observed mr gray, interrupting her; "but time is precious. i'll go in with friend rolt and speak to the wandering child." saying this, mr gray accompanied the doctor into the stranger's room. he, after this, came again and again--never empty-handed--oftener indeed than the doctor, whose skill failed, as he feared it would, to arrest the poor girl's malady, while mr gray's ministrations were successful in giving her the happy assurance that "though her sins were as scarlet, she had become white as snow," so he assured mother. "praise the lord," was her reply. so the young stranger died--her name, her history, unknown. mr gray paid the expenses of her funeral, and frequently after that came to see us, to inquire, as he said, how we were getting on. we had not heard from brother jack since he went aboard the _lapwing_. mother thought that he might have got some one to write for him, though he was no great hand with a pen himself. all we knew was that the brig had gone out to the east indies, which being a long way off would have accounted for our not often getting letters from him; but just one father hoped he would have contrived to send after he had been a year away; now nearly three years had passed since then. had the _lapwing_ been fitted out at portsmouth, we should have got news of him from others, but as none of her crew hailed from our town, there was no one to whom we could go to ask about him. father had taken lately to talk much about jack, and sometimes regretted that he had let him go away. "you acted for the best, and so don't be blaming yourself," observed mother, trying to console him. "there's one aloft looking after him better than we can, and he'll bring our boy back to us if he thinks fit." mary and i little knew all the trials father and mother had to go through. mother's trade was bad, and father was often out all day without bringing a shilling home. younger men with more gaily-painted boats--he would not acknowledge that they were better--got fares when he could not manage to pick up one. sometimes also he was laid up with the rheumatics, and was unable to go afloat. one day, while thus suffering, mother fetched dr rolt to see him. father begged the doctor to get him well as soon as he could, seeing that he wanted to be out in the wherry to gain his livelihood. "all in good time, my man," answered the doctor. "you'll be about again in a few days, never fear. by-the-bye, i saw our friend mr gray lately, mrs trawl, and he was inquiring for you. he would have come to see your husband had he known that he was ill, but he went away to london yesterday, and may, i fear, be absent for some time. many will miss him should he be long away." sooner than father expected he was about again. i had gone down with father and mother to the hard, mother to board a ship which had just come in, and father to look out for a fare, while mary remained at home with nancy. it was blowing pretty fresh, and there was a good deal of sea running outside, though in the harbour the water was not rough enough to prevent mother from going off. while she was waiting for old tom swatridge, who had been with grandmother and her for years to bring along her baskets of vegetables from the market, a gentleman came hurrying down the hard, and seeing father getting the wherry ready, said: "i want you to put me aboard my ship, my man. she's lying out at spithead; we must be off at once." "it's blowing uncommon fresh, sir," said father. "i don't know how you'll like it when we get outside; still there's not a wherry in the harbour that will take you aboard drier than mine, though there's some risk, sir, you'll understand." "will a couple of guineas tempt you?" asked the stranger, thinking that father was doubting about the payment he was to receive. "i'll take you, sir," answered father. "step aboard." i was already in the boat, thinking that i was to go, and was much disappointed when father said, "i am not going to take you, peter, for your mother wants you to help her; but just run up and tell ned dore i want him. he's standing by the sentry-box." as i always did as father bade me, i ran up and called ned, who at once came rolling along down the hard, glad of a job. when he heard what he was wanted for he stepped aboard. "i hope to be back in a couple of hours, or three at furthest, polly," father sang out to mother, as he shoved off the wherry. "good-bye, lass, and see that peter makes himself useful." mother waved her hand. "though two guineas are not to be picked up every day, i would as lief he had stayed in the harbour this blowing weather," she said to herself more than to me, as on seeing old tom coming we stepped into her boat. when father first went to sea, tom swatridge had been his shipmate, and had done him many a kind turn which he had never forgotten. old tom had lost a leg at trafalgar, of which battle he was fond of talking. he might have borne up for greenwich, but he preferred his liberty, though he had to work for his daily bread, and, i am obliged to say, for his daily quantum of rum, which always kept his pockets empty. he had plenty of intelligence, but he could neither read nor write, and that, with his love of grog, had prevented him from getting on in life as well as his many good qualities would otherwise have enabled him to do. he was a tall gaunt man, with iron-grey hair, and a countenance wrinkled, battered, and bronzed by wind and weather. when he first came ashore he was almost as sober a man as father, and having plenty of prize-money he managed to purchase a small dwelling for himself, which i shall have by-and-by to describe. old tom taking the oars, we pulled aboard the _dartmouth_, forty-two gun frigate, just come in from the mediterranean. several of the men had been shipmates with father, and all those belonging to portsmouth knew mother. they were very glad to see her, and she had to answer questions of all sorts about their friends on shore. it is the business of a bumboat-woman to know everything going forward, what ships are likely to be commissioned, the characters of the captains and officers, when they are to sail, and where they are going to. among so many friends mother drove a brisker trade than usual, and when the men heard that i was jack trawl's son they gave me many a bright shilling and sixpence, and kind pats on the head with their broad palms. "he's a chip of the old block, no doubt about that, missus," cried one. "he'll make a smart young topman one of these days," said another. several gave her commissions to execute, and many sent messages to friends on shore. altogether, when she left the frigate she was in better spirits than she had been for a long time. scarcely had we shoved off, however, when down came the rain in torrents, well-nigh wetting us through. "it's blowing plaguey hard, missus," observed old tom, as he tugged away at the oars, i helping him while mother steered. "i hope as how we shall find your good man safe ashore when we gets in." on reaching the hard the wherry was not to be seen. after old tom had made fast the boat, wet as she was mother waited and waited in the hopes that father would come in. old tom remained also. he seemed more than usually anxious. we all stood with our hands shielding our eyes as we looked down the harbour to try and make out the wherry, but the driving rain greatly limited our view. "hast seen anything of jack trawl's wherry?" asked old tom over and over again of the men in the different boats, as they came in under their mizens and foresails. the same answer was returned by all. "maybe he got a fare at spithead for gosport and will be coming across soon, or he's gone ashore at the point with some one's luggage," observed old tom, trying to keep up mother's spirits; but that was a hard matter to do, for the wind blew stronger and stronger. a few vessels could be seen, under close-reefed canvas, running up the harbour for shelter, but we could nowhere perceive a single boat under sail. still old tom continued to suggest all sorts of reasons why father had not come back. perhaps he had been detained on board the ship at spithead to which he took the gentleman, and seeing the heavy weather coming on would remain till it moderated. mother clung to this notion when hour after hour went by and she had given up all expectation of seeing father that evening. still she could not tear herself from the hard. suddenly she remembered me. "you must be getting wet, peter," she said. "run home, my child, and tell nancy to give you your tea and then to get supper ready. father and i will be coming soon, i hope." i lingered, unwilling to leave her. "won't you come yourself, mother?" i asked. "i'll wait a bit longer," she answered. "go, peter, go; do as i bid you." "you'd better go home with peter, missus," said old tom. "you'll be getting the rheumatics, i'm afraid. i'll stay and look out for your good man." i had never seen mother look as she did then, when she turned her face for a moment to reply to the old man. she was as pale as death; her voice sounded hoarse and hollow. "i can't go just yet, tom," she said. i did not hear more, as, according to her bidding, i set off to run home. i found mary and nancy wondering what had kept mother so long. "can anything have happened to father?" exclaimed mary, when i told her that mother was waiting for him. "he has been a long time coming back from spithead, and it's blowing fearfully hard," i answered. i saw nancy clasp her hands and look upwards with an expression of alarm on her countenance which frightened me. her father and brother had been lost some years before, crossing in a wherry from ryde, and her widowed mother had found it a hard matter to keep herself and her children out of the workhouse. she said nothing, however, to mary and me, but i heard her sighing and whispering to herself, "what will poor missus do? what will poor missus do?" she gave mary and me our suppers, and then persuaded us to go to bed. i was glad to do so to get off my wet clothes, which she hung up to dry, but i could not go to sleep for thinking what had happened to father. at length mother came in alone. she sat down on a chair without speaking, and her hands dropped by her side. i could watch her as i looked out from the small closet in which my bunk was placed. even since i had left her her countenance had become fearfully pale and haggard. she shivered all over several times, but did not move from her seat. "won't you get those wet duds of yours off, missus, and have some hot tea and supper?" asked nancy, who had been preparing it. mother made no reply. "don't take on so, missus," said nancy, coming up to her and putting her hand affectionately on her shoulder. "bless me, you're as wet as muck. i've put peter and mary to bed, and you must just go too, or you'll be having the rheumatics and i don't know what. do go, missus, now do go." in vain nancy pleaded, and was still endeavouring to persuade mother to take off her wet garments, when i at last fell asleep. when i awoke in the morning i saw nancy alone bustling about the room. i soon jumped into my clothes. my first question was for father. "he's not yet come back, peter," she answered. "but maybe he will before long, for the wind has fallen, and if he put into ryde he'd have waited till now to come across." "where's mother?" i next asked, not seeing her. "hush, peter, don't speak loud," she said in a low tone. "she's been in a sad taking all night, but she's quiet now, and we mustn't waken her." on hearing this i crept about as silent as a mouse till mary got up, and then we sat looking at each other without speaking a word, wondering what was going to happen, while nancy lit the fire and got breakfast ready. at last we heard mother call to nancy to come to her, not knowing that mary and i were on foot. "i must get up and go and look after my good man," she cried out, in a voice strangely unlike her own. "just help me, nancy, will you? what can have come over me? i feel very curious." she tried to rise, but could not, and after making several attempts, sank back on her bed with a groan. mary and i now ran into her room. "what's the matter, mother dear?" asked mary, in a tone of alarm. she gazed at us strangely, and groaned again. "missus is, i fear, taken very bad," said nancy. "i must run for a doctor, or she'll be getting worse. i'm sure i don't know what to do; i wish i did. oh dear! oh dear!" "let me go," i said, eagerly. "i know where he lives and you stay and take care of mother. i can run faster than you can in and out among the people in the streets." nancy agreed, and i set off. chapter three. a sad chapter in my life. as i ran for the doctor i felt that i was engaged in a matter of life and death, for i had never seen mother ill before. in my anxiety for her i almost forgot all about father. on i rushed, dodging in and out among the workmen going to their daily toil--there were not many other persons out at that early hour. two or three times i heard the cry of "stop thief!" uttered by some small urchins for mischiefs sake, and once an old watchman, who had overslept himself in his box, suddenly starting out attempted to seize hold of me, fancying that he was about to capture a burglar, but i slipped away, leaving him sprawling in the dust and attempting to spring his rattle, and i ran on at redoubled speed, soon getting out of his sight round a corner. at last i reached dr rolt's house and rang the surgery bell as hard as i could pull. it was some time before the door was opened by a sleepy maid-servant, who had evidently just hurried on her clothes. "mother wants the doctor very badly," i exclaimed. "ask him, please, to come at once." "the doctor can't come. he's away from home, in london," answered the girl. "you'd better run on to dr hunt's. maybe he'll attend on your mother." i asked where dr hunt lived. she told me. his house was some way off, but i found it at last. again i had to wait for the door to be opened, when, greatly to my disappointment, the maid told me that dr hunt had been out all night and might not be at home for an hour or more. "oh dear! oh dear! who then can i get to see poor mother?" i cried out, bursting into tears. "there's mr jones, the apothecary, at the end of the next street. he'll go to your mother, no doubt," said the maid. "don't cry, my boy. run on now; the first turning to the left. you'll see the red and green globes in his window." without stopping to hear more, off i set again. mr jones was in his dispensary, giving directions to his assistant. i told him my errand. "i'll go presently," he answered. "what's the number?" our house had no number, and i could not manage to explain its position clearly enough for his comprehension. "then i'll stay, sir, and show you the way," i said. "wait a bit, and i'll be ready," he replied. he kept me waiting, however, a cruel long time, it seemed to me. at last he appeared with his silver-mounted cane in hand, and bade me go on. "stop! stop, boy. i can't move at that rate," he cried out, before we had got far. he was a short stout man, with a bald head and grey hair. i had to restrain my eagerness, and walked slower till we reached our house. nancy was looking out at the door for me, wondering i had not returned. "how is mother?" i asked. "very bad, peter; very bad indeed, i'm afeard," she answered, almost ready to cry. then seeing mr jones stop with me, she continued, "come in, doctor, come in. you'll try and cure missus, won't you?" "i'll certainly do my best when i know what is the matter with her," answered mr jones, as he followed nancy into the house. mary was with mother. i stole in after the doctor, anxious to hear what he would say about her. he made no remark in her presence, however, but when he came out of the room he observed in a low voice to nancy, "you must keep her quiet. let there be nothing done to agitate her, tell her husband when he comes in. i'll send some medicine, and pay her another visit in the afternoon." "but it's about her husband that she's grieving, sir," said nancy. "he went away to spithead yesterday morning and has never come back." "ah, that's bad," replied mr jones. "however, perhaps he will appear before long. if he doesn't, it can't be helped. you must give her the medicines, at all events. i'll write the directions clearly for you." poor nancy had to confess that she could not read. the doctor then tried to impress upon her how and when she was to give the physic. "you'll remember, and there can be no mistake," he added, as he hurried off. i fancied that everything now depended on the arrival of the apothecary's stuff, and kept running to the door looking out for the boy who was to bring it. he seemed very long coming. i had gone half-a-dozen times when i caught sight, as i turned my eyes the other way thinking he might have passed by, of tom swatridge stumping slowly up the street. he stopped when he saw me, and beckoned. he looked very downcast. i observed that he had a straw hat in his hand, and i knew that it was father's. "how is mother?" he asked, when i got up to him. "very bad," i answered, looking at the hat, but afraid to ask questions. "the news i bring will make her worse, i'm afeard," he said, in a husky voice, as he took my hand. "peter, you had as good a father as ever lived, but you haven't got one now. a cutter just come in picked up this hat off saint helen's, and afterwards an oar and a sprit which both belonged to the wherry. i went out the first thing this morning to the ship your father was to put the gentleman aboard. he had got alongside all right, for i saw the gentleman himself, and he told me that he had watched the wherry after she shoved off till he lost sight of her in a heavy squall of rain. when it cleared off she was nowhere to be seen. so, peter, my poor boy, there's no hope, i'm afeard, and we shall never see my old messmate or ned dore again." "oh, tom! tom! you don't mean to say that father's gone!" i cried out. "i'd sooner have lost another leg than have to say it," answered the old man. "but it must be said notwithstanding, and now how are we to tell mother?" i could not answer, but kept repeating to myself, "gone! gone! father gone!" as tom led me on to the house. we met the boy with the physic at the door. "let nancy give her the stuff first," said the old man, thoughtfully; "maybe it will give her strength, and help her to bear the bad news." nancy took in the bottles, while tom and i remained outside. after some time she came out and told tom that mother wanted to see him. he went in, shaking all over so much that i thought he would have fallen. i followed, when, seeing mary, i threw my arms round her neck and burst into tears. she guessed what had happened even before i told her. we sat down, holding each other's hands and crying together, while tom went in to see mother. what he said i do not know, though i am sure he tried to break the news to her as gently as he could. when she saw the hat, which he still held in his hand, she knew that father was lost. she did not go off into fits, as tom afterwards told me he thought she would, but remained terribly calm, and just bade him describe to her all that he knew. "i mustn't give in," she said at length, "i have the children to look after, for if i was to go what would become of them?" "while i'm able to work they shan't want, missus," answered tom, firmly. "i know what you'd wish to do, tom; but there's one thing won't let you: that thing is liquor," said mother. "then i'll never touch another drop as long as i live, missus!" exclaimed tom. "may god help me!" "he will help you, tom, if you ask him," said mother; "and i hope that, whether i live or die, you'll keep to that resolution." i believe that conversation with tom did mother much good; it took her off from thinking of father. she was still, however, very ill, and had to keep her bed. the doctor came again and again; generally twice a day. he of course had to be paid, and a good deal too. there was nothing coming in, and poor mother became more and more anxious to get out and attend to her business. the doctor warned her that she would go at great risk--indeed, that she was not fit to leave her bed. "she had no money left to pay for food and rent and the doctor's bill," she answered, and go she must. though she had no money, she had, however, ample credit to stock her bumboat. very unwillingly nancy assisted her to, dress. out she would go, taking me with her to lay in a stock of the articles she required. people remarked on her changed looks, and some did not even know her. she acknowledged that she was very tired when we got home, but declared that she should be the better for going on the water. the next morning old tom had his boat ready. "i do wish, missus, that you'd stayed at home a few days longer," he remarked, looking at her. "howsomedever, as you've come, i hopes you'll just take what i say kindly, and not be from home longer than you can help. there's dirty weather coming up from the south-west." tom was right. we had two ships to visit. before we got alongside the second down came the rain. but mother would go on, and consequently got wet through. tom was very unhappy, but she said that she had done a good trade, and that no harm would come of it. unhappily she was mistaken; that night she was taken very ill--worse than before. i fetched the doctor; he shook his head and said he wouldn't answer for what might happen. faithful nancy was half distracted. poor mother got worse and worse. at last one day she beckoned with her pale hand to mary and me to come to her bedside. "i know that i am going to be taken from you, my dears," she said, in a low voice, for she could not speak loud. "i want you to promise me to be true to each other, to do your duty in god's sight, and always to ask him to help you." "i do, mother--i do promise," said mary, the tears dropping from her eyes. she could scarcely speak for sobbing. "i promise, too, mother, that i do!" i exclaimed, in a firmer voice; and i sincerely intended to fulfil my promise. mother was holding our hands in hers. she said much more to us, anxious to give us all the advice in her power. nancy came in with her medicine, after which she rallied, and bade us go to bed. i was awakened early in the morning by hearing nancy cry out, "run for the doctor, peter! run for the doctor! missus is taken worse." i slipped into my clothes, and was off like a shot, without asking a question, or even looking into mother's room. i rang the night-bell, for no one was up. at last the servant opened the door, and said she would call her master. mr jones soon appeared. he had been paid regularly, and when he saw me he was the more ready to come. eager as i was to get back, i did not like to run ahead of him; and, to do him justice, he exerted himself to walk as fast as his breath would allow him. he asked me several questions; then i told him that mother had been again out bum-boating. "bad--very bad. i told her not to go. a relapse is a serious matter," he remarked, panting and puffing between his sentences. "however, we must try what can be done." mary met us at the door. "mother has been breathing very hard since you went, peter," she said, "but she is quite quiet now." the doctor's face looked very serious when he heard this. he hurried into the room. "i thought so," i heard him remark to nancy. "i could have done nothing if you had sent for me hours ago. the woman is dead." "oh, dear! oh, dear! what shall i do?" cried nancy, sobbing bitterly. "the sooner you let any friends the children may have know what has happened the better, and then send for the undertaker," answered mr jones. "the boy is sharp--he'll run your errands. i can do no more than certify the cause of death." he hurried away without bestowing a look at mary and me, as we stood holding each other's hands, unable as yet to realise the fact that we were orphans. he had so many poor patients that he could not afford, i suppose, to exercise his compassionate feelings. even when nancy afterwards took us in to see mother's body, i would scarcely believe that she herself had been taken from us. i will not stop to speak of mary's and my grief. at last nancy, her eyes red with crying, sat down, with her hands pressed against her head, to consider what was to be done. "why, i ought to have sent for him at once!" she suddenly exclaimed. "peter, run and find tom swatridge, and tell him that poor missus has gone." i needed no second bidding, and, thankful to have something to do, i started away. on reaching the hard, where i expected to find old tom, i heard from some of the watermen that he had gone off with a fare to gosport, so i had to wait for his return. many of the men standing about asked me after mother, and seemed very sorry to hear of her death. i saw them talking earnestly together while i waited for tom. others joined them, and then went away, so that the news soon spread about our part of the town. i had to wait a long time, till old tom came back with several persons in his boat. he pocketed their fares, touching his hat to each before he took any notice of me. "what cheer, peter? how's the missus?" he asked, stepping on shore and dropping the kedge to make fast his boat. "i feared she wouldn't be up to bum-boating to-day." "mother's dead," i answered. "dead! the missus dead!" he exclaimed, clapping his hand to his brow, and looking fixedly at me. "the lord have mercy on us!" "nancy wants you, tom," i said. "i'm coming, peter, i'm coming. i said i'd be a father to you and mary, and i will, please god," he replied, recovering himself. he took my hand, and stumped away towards our house. "dick porter, look after my boat, will ye, till i comes back?" he said to one of the men on the hard as we hurried by. "ay, ay," was the cheerful answer--for dick knew where old tom was going. not a word did the old man speak all the way. when we got to the house, what was my astonishment to find a number of people in the sitting-room, one of whom, with note-book in hand, was making an inventory of the furniture! mary was sitting in a corner crying, and nancy was looking as if she had a mind to try and turn them all out. as soon as mary saw me she jumped up and took my hand. "what's all this about?" exclaimed old tom, in an indignant tone. "you might have stopped, whatever right you may have here, till the dead woman was carried to her grave, i'm thinking." "and others had carried off the goods," answered the man with the note-book. "we are only acting according to law. mrs trawl has run into debt on all sides, and when the goods are sold there won't be five shillings in the pound to pay them, that i can see, so her children must take the consequences. there's the workhouse for them." "the work'us, do ye say? mrs trawl's children sent to the work'us!" exclaimed old tom, and he rapped out an expression which i need not repeat. "not while this here hand can pull an oar and i've a shiner in my pocket. if you've got the law on your side, do as the law lets you. but all i can say is, that it's got no bowels of compassion in it, to allow the orphans to be turned out of house and home, and the breath scarce out of their mother's body. nancy, do you pack up the children's clothes, and any school-books or play-things you can find, and then come along to my house. the law can't touch them, i suppose." "what is that drunken old swatridge talking about?" said one of the broker's men. tom heard him. "such i may have been, but i'll be no longer `drunken old swatridge' while i have these children to look after," he exclaimed; and giving one hand to mary and the other to me, he led us out of the house. chapter four. a fearful catastrophe. leaving nancy, who could well hold her own, to battle with the broker's men, tom, holding mary by the hand, and i walked on till we came to his house, which i knew well, having often been there to call him. it consisted of two small rooms--a parlour, and little inner bedchamber, and was better furnished than might have been expected; yet old tom had at one time made a good deal of money, and had expended a portion of it in fitting up his dwelling. had he always been sober he would now have been comfortably off. "stay here, my dears, while i go out for a bit," he said, bidding us sit down on an old sea-chest on one side of the fireplace. "i haven't got much to amuse you, but here's the little craft i cut out for you, peter, and you can go on rigging her as i've been doing. no matter if you don't do it all ship-shape. and here, mary, is the stuff for the sails; i've shaped them, you see, and if you will hem them you'll help us finely to get the craft ready for sea." mary gladly undertook the task allotted to her, and even smiled as tom handed out a huge housewife full of needles and thread and buttons, and odds and ends of all sorts. "my thimble won't suit your finger, i've a notion, my little maid," he observed; "but i dare say you've got one of your own in your pocket. feel for it, will you?" mary produced a thimble, six of which would have fitted into tom's. "ay, i thought so," he said, and seeing us both busily employed, he hurried out of the house. he soon, however, returned, bringing a couple of plum buns for mary, and some bread and cheese for me, with a small jug of milk. "there, my dears, that'll stay your hunger till nancy comes to cook some supper for you, and to put things to rights," he said, as he placed them before us. "good-bye. i'll be back again as soon as i can," and off he went once more. mary and i, having eaten the provisions he brought in, worked away diligently, thankful to have some employment to occupy our attention. but she stopped every now and then, when her eyes were too full of tears to allow her to see her needle, and sobbed as if her dear heart would break. then on she went again, sewing as fast as she could, anxious to please old tom by showing him how much she had done. at length nancy arrived with a big bundle on her back. "i've brought away all i could," she said, as she deposited her load on the floor. "i'd a hard job to get them, and shouldn't at all, if tom swatridge and two other men hadn't come in and said they'd be answerable if everything wasn't all square. he and they were ordering all about the funeral, and i've got two women to stay with the missus till she's put all comfortable into her coffin. alack! alack! that i should have to talk about her coffin!" nancy's feelings overcame her. on recovering, she, without loss of time, began to busy herself with household duties--lighted the fire, put the kettle on to boil, and made up old tom's bed with some fresh sheets which she had brought. "you and i are to sleep here, mary," she said, "and peter is to have a shakedown in the sitting-room." "and where is tom going to put up himself?" i asked. "that's what he didn't say but i fancy he's going to stay at night with an old chum who has a room near here. he said his place isn't big enough for us all, and so he'd made up his mind to turn out." such i found to be the case. nothing would persuade our friend to sleep in his own house, for fear of crowding us. he and several other watermen, old shipmates, and friends of father's, had agreed to defray the expenses of mother's funeral, for otherwise she would have been carried to a pauper's grave. her furniture and all the property she had possessed were not sufficient to pay her debts contracted during her illness, in spite of all her exertions. we, too, had not tom taken charge of us, should have been sent to the workhouse, and nancy would have been turned out into the world to seek her fortune, for her mother was dead, and she had no other relatives. she did talk of trying to get into service, which meant becoming a drudge in a small tradesman's family, that she might help us with her wages; but she could not bring herself to leave mary; and tom, indeed, said she must stay to look after her. as father had had no funeral, his old friends wished to show all the respect in their power to his widow, and a score or more attended, some carrying the coffin, and others walking two and two behind, with bits of black crepe round their hats and arms, while mary and i, and nancy and tom, followed as chief mourners all the way to kingston cemetery. nancy, with the help of a friend, a poor seamstress, had managed to make a black frock for mary and a dress for herself, out of mother's gown, i suspect. they were not very scientifically cut, but she had sat up all night stitching at them, which showed her affection and her desire to do what she considered proper. some weeks had passed since mother's death, and we were getting accustomed to our mode of life. tom sent mary to a school near at hand every morning, and she used to impart the knowledge she obtained to me in the evening, including sometimes even sewing. during the time mary was at school nancy went out charing, or tending the neighbours' children, or doing any other odd jobs of which she was capable, thus gaining enough to support herself, for she declared that she could not be beholden to the old man for her daily food. i always went out with tom in his boat, and i was now big enough to make myself very useful. he used to make me take the helm when we were sailing, and by patiently explaining how the wind acted on the canvas, and showing me the reason of every manoeuvre, soon taught me to manage a boat as well as any man could do, so that when the wind was light i could go out by myself without the slightest fear. "you'll do, peter; you'll do," said the old man, approvingly, when one day i had taken the boat out to spithead alongside a vessel and back, he sitting on a thwart with his arms folded, and not touching a rope, though he occasionally peered under the foot of the foresail to see that i was steering right, and used the boat-hook when we were going alongside the vessel, and shoving off, which i should have had to do if he had been steering. "you'll now be able to gain your living, boy, and support mary till she's old enough to go out to service, if i'm taken from you, and that's what i've been aiming at." often when going along the hard a friend would ask him to step into one of the many publics facing it to take a glass of spirits or beer. "no thank ye, mate," he would reply; "if i get the taste of one i shall be wanting another, and i shouldn't be happy if i didn't treat you in return, and i've got something else to do with my money instead of spending it on liquor." i never saw him angry except when hard pressed by an ill-judging friend to step into a public-house. "would you like to see jack trawl's son in a ragged shirt, without shoes to his feet, and his daughter a beggar-girl, or something worse? then don't be asking me, mate, to take a drop of the poisonous stuff. i know what i used to be, and i know what i should be again if i was to listen to you!" he exclaimed. "stand out of my way, now! stand out of my way! come along, peter," and, grasping my hand with a grip which made my fingers crack, he stumped along the hard as fast as he could move his timber toe. it was a pleasure on getting home to find mary looking bright and cheerful, with her work or books before her, and nancy busy preparing supper. the old man and i always took our dinner with us--generally a loaf of bread, with a piece of cheese or bacon or fried fish, and sometimes irish stew in a basin, done up in a cloth, and a stone bottle of water. i remember saying that i was born with a wooden spoon in my mouth, but when i come to reflect what excellent parents i had, and what true friends i found in tom swatridge and nancy, i may say that, after all, it must have been of silver, though perhaps not quite so polished as those found in the mouths of some infants. another change in my life was about to occur. we had taken off a gentleman from gosport. from his way of speaking, we found that he was a foreigner, and he told us that he wanted to be put on board a foreign ship lying at spithead. "is dere any danger?" he asked, looking out across the channel, and thinking what a long distance he had to go. "not a bit, sir," answered tom, for the water was as smooth as a mill-pond. there was a light air from the southward, and there was not a cloud in the sky. "we might cross the channel to france for that matter, with weather like this." "oh no, no! i only want to get to dat sheep out dere!" cried the foreigner, fancying that we might carry him across against his will. "certainly, mounseer; we'll put you aboard in a jiffy as soon as we gets a breeze to help us along," said tom. we pulled round blockhouse point, along shore, till we came off fort monkton, when opening stokes bay, the wind hauling a little to the westward, we made sail and stood for spithead. a number of vessels were brought up there, and at the mother-bank, off ryde, among them a few men-of-war, but mostly merchantmen, outward bound, or lately come in waiting for orders. it was difficult as yet to distinguish the craft the foreigner wanted to be put aboard. "it won't matter if we have to dodge about a little to find her, mounseer, for one thing's certain: we couldn't have a finer day for a sail," observed old tom, as we glided smoothly over the blue water, shining brightly in the rays of the unclouded sun. he gave me the helm while he looked out for the foreign ship. "that's her, i've a notion," he said at length, pointing to a deep-waisted craft with a raised poop and forecastle, and with much greater beam than our own wall-sided merchantmen. "keep her away a bit, peter. steady! that will do." the tide was running to the westward, so that we were some time getting up to the ship. "you'll be aboard presently, if that is your ship, as i suppose, mounseer," said tom. "yes, yes; dat is my sheep," answered the foreigner, fumbling in his pockets, i fancied, for his purse. he uttered an exclamation of annoyance. "ma monie gone! some villain take it, no doubte. you come aboard de sheep, and i vill give it you, my friend," he said. "one half guinea is de charge, eh? i have also letter to write; you take it and i vill give two shillings more." "all right, mounseer, i will wait your pleasure, and promise to post your letter," answered tom. as there were several boats alongside, he told me to keep under weigh till he should hail me to come for him, and as he was as active as any man, in spite of his wooden leg, taking the foreigner by the hand, he helped him up on deck. i then hauled the tacks aboard and stood off to a little distance. i waited and waited, watching the ship, and wondering why tom was so long on board. the wind at last began to drop, and afraid of being carried to leeward, i was on the point of running up alongside when i heard a fearful roaring thundering sound. a cloud of black smoke rose above the ship, followed by lurid names, which burst out at all her ports; her tall masts were shot into the air, her deck was cast upwards, her sides were rent asunder; and shattered fragments of planks, and of timbers and spars, and blocks, and all sorts of articles from the hold, came flying round me. i instinctively steered away from the danger, and though huge pieces of burning wreck fell hissing into the water on either side, and far beyond where i was, none of any size touched the wherry. for a minute or more i was so confounded by the awful occurrence that i did not think of my old friend. i scarcely knew where i was or what i was doing. the moment i recovered my presence of mind i put the boat about, getting out an oar to help her along, and stood back towards the burning wreck, which appeared for a moment like a vast pyramid of flame rising above the surface, and then suddenly disappeared as the waters closed over the shattered hull. i stood up, eagerly gazing towards the spot to ascertain if any human beings had survived the dreadful catastrophe, though it seemed to me impossible that a single person could have escaped. one boat alone was afloat with some people in her, but they were sitting on the thwarts or lying at the bottom, not attempting to exert themselves, all more or less injured. the other boats had been dragged down, as the ship sank. all about were shattered spars and pieces of the deck, and some way off the masts with the yards still fast to them. here and there was a body floating with the head or a limb torn off. one man was swimming, and i saw another in the distance clinging to a spar, but the former before i could get up to him sank without a cry, and i then steered for the man on the spar, hoping against hope that he might be old tom. i shouted to him that he might know help was coming, but he did not answer. meantime boats from the various ships lying around were approaching. i plied my oar with all my might, fearing that the man i have spoken of might let go his hold and be lost like the other before i could reach him. the nearer i got the more i feared that he was not tom. his face was blackened, his clothes burnt and torn. then i saw that he had two legs, and knew for certain that he was not my old friend. still, of course, i continued on till i got up to the spar, when i tried to help the poor man into my boat, for he was too much hurt to get on board by himself. but my strength was insufficient for the purpose, and i was afraid of letting go lest he should sink and be lost. there was no small risk also of my being dragged overboard. still, i did my best, but could get him no higher than the gunwale. "well done, youngster! hold fast, and we'll help you," i heard a voice sing out, and presently a man-of-war's boat dashing up, two of her crew springing into the wherry quickly hauled the man on board. "we must take him to our ship, lads, to let the surgeon attend to him," said the officer, a master's mate in charge of the man-of-war's boat. the man was accordingly lifted into her. it appeared to me, from his sad condition, that the surgeon would be unable to do him any good. "what, did you come out here all by yourself, youngster?" asked the officer. "no, sir, i came out with old tom swatridge, who went on board the ship which blew up," i answered. "then i fear he must have been blown up with her, my lad," said the officer. "i hope not, sir, i hope not," i cried out, my heart ready to break as i began to realise that such might be the case. chapter five. a friend lost and a friend gained. it seemed but a moment since the ship blew up. i could not believe that old tom had perished. "some people have been picked up out there, sir, i think," observed the coxswain to the officer, pointing as he spoke to several boats surrounding the one i had before remarked with the injured men in her. "maybe the old man the lad speaks of is among them." "make the wherry fast astern, and we'll pull on and ascertain," said the officer. "if he is not found, or if found is badly hurt, i'll get leave for a couple of hands to help you back with your boat to portsmouth." "i can take her back easily enough by myself if the wind holds as it does now; thank you all the same, sir," i answered. i felt, indeed, that if my faithful friend really was lost, which i could scarcely yet believe, i would rather be alone; and i had no fear about managing the wherry single-handed. as may be supposed, my anxiety became intense as we approached the boat. "is old tom swatridge saved?" i shouted out. no answer came. "tom! tell me, tom, if you are there!" i again shouted. "step aboard the boat and see if your friend is among the injured men," said the good-natured officer, assisting me to get alongside. i eagerly scanned the blackened faces of the men sitting up, all of whom had been more or less scorched or burnt. a surgeon who had come off from one of the ships was attending to them. they were strangers to me. two others lay dead in the bottom of the boat, but neither of them was old tom. he was gone, of that i could no longer have a doubt. with a sad heart i returned to the wherry. the other boats had not succeeded in saving any of the hapless crew. the ship had been loaded with arms and gunpowder, bound for south america, i heard some one say. "cheer up, my lad!" said the officer; "you must come aboard the _lapwing_, and we'll then send you into portsmouth, as we must have this poor fellow looked to by our surgeon before he is taken to the hospital." the name of the _lapwing_ aroused me; she was the brig in which my brother jack had gone to sea. for a moment i forgot my heavy loss with the thoughts that i might presently see dear jack again. but it was only for a moment. as i sat steering the wherry towed by the man-of-war's boat my eyes filled with tears. what sad news i had to give to jack! what would become of mary and nancy? for myself i did not care, as i knew that i could obtain employment at home, or could go to sea; but then i could not hope for a long time to come to make enough to support them. my chief feeling, however, was grief at the loss of my true-hearted old friend. soon after we got alongside the brig of war the master's mate told me to come up on deck, while one of the men took charge of the wherry. he at once led me aft to the commander, who questioned me as to how i came to be in the wherry by myself. i described to him all that had happened. "you acted a brave part in trying to save the man from the ship which blew up. indeed, had you not held on to him he would have been lost," he observed. "i must see that you are rewarded. what is your name?" "peter trawl, sir," i answered, and, eager to see jack, for whom i had been looking out since i got out of the boat, thinking that we should know each other, i added, "i have a brother, sir, who went to sea aboard this brig, and we have been looking out for him ever so long to come home. please, sir, can i go and find him?" the commander's countenance assumed a look of concern. "poor fellow! i wish that he was on board for his sake and yours, my lad," he answered. "i cannot say positively that he is dead, but i have too much reason to believe that he is. while we were cruising among the islands of the east indian archipelago he formed one of a boat's crew which was, while at a distance from the ship, attacked by a large body of malay pirates. when we got up we found only on man, mortally wounded, in the bottom of the boat, who before he died said that, to the best of his belief, the officer in charge and the rest of the men had been killed, as he had seen several dragged on board the proas, and then hacked to pieces and hove overboard. "we chased and sank some of the pirate fleet, and made every possible search for the missing men, in case any of them should have escaped on shore, to which they were close at the time of the attack, but no traces of them could be discovered. i left an account of the occurrence with the vessel which relieved me on the station, and should any of the poor fellows have been found i should have been informed of it. it was my intention, as soon as i was paid off the _lapwing_, to come down to portsmouth to break the news to his father. say this from me, and that i yet hope to see him shortly." commander rogers seemed very sorry when i told him that father and mother were both dead. he asked me where i lived. i told him, as well as i could describe the house, forgetting that, too probably, mary and i and nancy would not be long allowed to remain there. "when i commission another ship, would you like to go with me, my lad?" he asked. "very much, sir," i answered. "but i have a sister, and i couldn't go away with no one to take care of her; so i must not think of it now tom swatridge has gone. all the same, i thank you kindly, sir." "well, well, my lad; we will see what can be done," he said, and just then a midshipman came up to report that the boat was ready to carry the rescued man, with the surgeon, to the shore. i found that the master's mate, mr harvey, and one of the men were going in my boat, and of course i did not like to say that i could get into the harbour very well without them. i touched my hat to the commander, who gave me a kind nod--it would not have done for him, i suppose, to shake hands with a poor boy on his quarter-deck even if he had been so disposed--and then i hurried down the side. i made sail, and took the helm just as if i had been by myself, mr harvey sitting by my side, while the seaman had merely to rig out the mainsail with the boat-hook, as we were directly before the wind. "you are in luck, youngster," observed mr harvey; "though you have lost one friend you've gained another, for our commander always means what he says, and, depend on it, he'll not lose sight of you." he seemed a very free-and-easy gentleman, and made me tell him all about myself, and how we had lost father and mother, and how tom swatridge had taken charge of mary and me. his cheerful way of talking made me dwell less on my grief than i should have done had i sailed into the harbour all alone. "i should like to go and see your little sister and the faithful nancy," he said, "but i must return to the brig as soon as that poor man has been carried to the hospital, and i have several things to do on shore. land me at the point, you can find your way to the hard by yourself, i've no doubt." "the boat would find her way alone, sir, she's so accustomed to it," i answered. we ran in among a number of wherries with people embarking from the point or landing at it. the point, it should be understood by those who do not know portsmouth, is a hard shingly beach on the east side, at the mouth of the harbour, and there was at that time close to it an old round stone tower, from which an iron chain formerly extended across to blockhouse fort, on the gosport side, to prevent vessels from coming in without leave. "here, my lad, is my fare," said mr harvey, slipping half a guinea into my hand as he stepped on shore, followed by the seaman; "it will help to keep nancy's pot boiling till you can look about you and find friends. they will appear, depend on it." before i could thank him he was away among the motley crowd of persons thronging the point. i was thankful that no one asked me for old tom, and, shoving out from among the other boats, i quickly ran on to the hard. when i landed the trial came. a waterman had gained an inkling of what had occurred from one of the crew of the _lapwings_ boat, and i was soon surrounded by people asking questions of how it happened. "i can't tell you more," i answered, at length breaking from them. "tom's gone, and brother jack's gone, and i must go and look after poor mary." it was late by the time i reached home. nancy had got supper ready on the table, and mary had placed old tom's chair for him in a snug corner by the fire. they saw that something was the matter, for i couldn't speak for a minute or more, not knowing how to break the news to them. at last i said, with a choking voice, pointing to the chair, "he'll never sit there more!" dear me, i thought mary's and nancy's hearts would break outright when they understood what had happened. it was evident how much they loved the rough old man--i loved him too, but in a different way, i suppose, for i could not ease my heart by crying; indeed i was thinking about what mary and nancy would do, and of brother jack's loss. i did not like to tell mary of that at first, but it had to come out, and, strange as it may seem, it made her think for the time less about what was to us by far the greater loss. supper remained long untasted, but at last i felt that i must eat, and so i fell to, and after a time nancy followed my example and made mary take something. nancy then began to talk of what we must do to gain our living, and we sat up till late at night discussing our plans. there was the wherry, and i must get a mate, and i should do very well; then we had the house, for we never dreamed that we should not go on living in it, as we were sure tom would have wished us to do. nancy was very sanguine as to how she could manage. her plain, pock-marked face beamed as she spoke of getting three times as much work as before. short and awkward as was her figure, nancy had an heroic soul. mary must continue to attend school, and in time would be able to do something to help also. we talked on till we almost fell asleep on our seats. the next morning we were up betimes. nancy got out some black stuff we had worn for mother, a piece of which she fastened round my arm to show respect to old tom's memory, and after breakfast i hurried out to try and find a mate, that i might lose no time in doing what i could with the wherry. i had thought of jim pulley, a stout strong lad, a year or two older than myself, who, though not very bright, was steady and honest, and i knew that i could trust him; his strength would supply my want of it for certain work we had to do. jim was the first person i met on the hard. i made my offer to him; he at once accepted it. "to tell the truth, peter, i was a-coming to say, that if thou hadst not got any one to go in the place of tom swatridge, i would help thee till thou art suited for nothing, or if thou wilt find me in bread and cheese i'll be thankful." in a few minutes after this jim and i were plying for hire in the harbour, and we had not long to wait before we got a fare. the first day we did very well, and i gave jim a quarter of what we took, with which he was perfectly content. "i wouldn't ask for more, peter," he said, "for thou hast three mouths to feed, and i have only one." the next few days we were equally successful; indeed i went home every evening in good spirits as to my prospects. i made enough for all expenses, and could lay by something for the repairs of the wherry. though jim and i were mere boys, while the weather was fine people took our boat as willingly as they did those of grown men. sometimes we got parties to go off to the _victory_, at others across to the victualling yard, and occasionally up the harbour to porchester castle. we worked early and late, and jim or i was always on the look-out for a fare. when i got home at night i had generally a good account to give of the day's proceedings. now and then i asked jim in to take a cup of tea, and many a hearty laugh we had at what the ladies and gentlemen we had taken out had said and done. seeing that we were but boys they fancied that they could talk before us in a way they wouldn't have thought of doing if we had been grown men. it must not be supposed that we were able to save much, but still i put by something every week for the repairs of the boat i had got enough to give her a fresh coat of paint, which she much wanted, and we agreed that we would haul her up on saturday afternoon for the purpose, so that she would be ready for monday. we carried out our intentions, though it took every shilling i had put by, and we lost more than one fare by so doing. but the wherry looked so fresh and gay, that we hoped to make up for it the next week. jim went to chapel on the sunday with mary and nancy and me, and spent most of the day with us. he was so quiet and unassuming that we all liked him much. as we had put plenty of dryers in the paint, and the sun was hot on sunday, by monday forenoon we were able to ply as usual. we had taken a fare across to gosport, when a person, whom we supposed to be a gentleman from his gay waistcoat and chains, and his top-boots, and hat stuck on one side, came down to the beach and told us to take him over to portsea. we soon guessed by the way he talked that, in spite of his fine clothes, he was not a gentleman. "i say, you fellow, do you happen to know whereabouts an old chap, one tom swatridge, lives?" he asked of jim. "he doesn't live anywhere; he's dead," answered jim. "dead! dead, do you say?" he exclaimed. "who's got his property?" "he had no property that i knows on," answered jim; "except, maybe--" "oh yes, he had; and if the old fellow had lived he would have been the possessor of a good round sum; but, as i am his nephew, that will be mine, and everything else he left behind him, the lawyer, master six-and-eightpence, as i call him, tells me." all this time i had not liked to say anything, but the last remark made me feel very uncomfortable. the speaker presently took a letter out of his pocket, and, reading it, said, "ah! i see mr gull is the man i've got to go to. can you show me where mr gull, the attorney, lives?" he asked of jim; "he'll settle up this matter." jim made no answer, for we were getting near the shore, and had to keep out of the way of two craft coming up the harbour. we soon ran up to the hard, when the man, stepping out, offered jim a sixpence. "a shilling's the fare, sir," said jim, keeping back his hand. "no, no, you young rascal! i know better; but i'll give you another sixpence if you will show me the way to mr gull's." "you may find it by yourself," answered jim, indignantly, as he picked up the sixpence thrown to him by our fare, who walked off. "half a loaf is better than no bread, peter, so it's as well not to lose the sixpence," said jim, laughing. "but no gentleman would have offered less than a shilling. i wonder whether he really is old tom's nephew?" chapter six. turned out of house and home. we had just landed the gaily-dressed individual who had announced himself the nephew of old tom swatridge. thinking that he might possibly be the person he said he was, and not knowing what tricks he might play, i was intending to row home, when a gentleman, with two young ladies and a boy, who i knew by their dress to be quakers, came down, wishing to take a row round the harbour, and afterwards to visit the victualling yard. after we had pulled off some way, i asked if they would like to go aboard the _victory_. "no, thank thee, young friend, we take no pleasure in visiting scenes, afloat or on shore, where the blood of our fellow-creatures has been shed," answered the gentleman. as he spoke i thought by his look and the tone of his voice that he must be mr silas gray, who had come to our house when the poor girl mother took in was dying, but i did not like to ask him. the young people called him father. at last he began to ask jim and me questions, and how, young as we were, we came to have a boat by ourselves. "i suppose thy father is ill on shore?" he said. then i told him how he was lost at spithead, and mother had died, and old tom had been blown up, and i had taken his wherry, seeing there was no one else to own her; and how mary and nancy and i lived on in his house. "and art thou and this other lad brothers?" he inquired. "no, sir; but jim pulley and i feel very much as if we were," i answered. "my name is peter trawl." "and was thy mother a bumboat-woman, a true, honest soul, one of the excellent of the earth?" he asked. "ay, ay, sir! that was my mother," i said, my heart beating with pleasure to hear her so spoken of. then he told me that he was mr silas gray, and asked if i remembered the visits he used to pay to our house. of course i did. the young ladies and his son joined in the conversation, and very pleasant it was to hear them talk. we were out the whole afternoon, and it was quite late when we got back to portsea. mr gray said that he was going away the next morning with his family to london, but that when he returned he would pay mary a visit, and hoped before the summer was over to take some more trips in my wherry. he paid us liberally, and he and the young people gave us kind smiles and nods as they stepped on shore. while we were out i had not thought much about the fare we had brought across from gosport in the morning, but now, recollecting what he had said, i hurried home, anxious to hear if he had found out the house. i had not to ask, for directly i appeared nancy told me that while mary was at school an impudent fellow had walked in and asked if old tom swatridge had once lived there, and when she said "yes," had taken a note of everything, and then sat down and lighted his pipe, and told her to run out and bring him a jug of ale. "`a likely thing, indeed!' i answered him," said nancy; "`what! when i come back to find whatever is worth taking carried off, or maybe the door locked and i unable to get in!' the fellow laughed when i said this--a nasty sort of a laugh it was--and said, `ay! just so.' i didn't know exactly what he meant, but presently he sang out, `what! are you not gone yet, gal?' `no, and i shan't,' i answered; `and when peter and jim come in you'll pretty quickly find who has to go.' on this he thundered out, trying to frighten me, `do you know that i am old tom swatridge's nephew and heir-at-law,' [i think that's what he called himself], `and that this house and everything in it is mine, and the wherry, and any money the old chap left behind him? i'll soon prove that you and your brother are swindlers, and you'll be sent off to prison, let me tell you.' he took me for mary, do you see, peter; and i was not going to undeceive him? i felt somewhat nonplussed when he said this, but without answering i walked to the window, working with my needle as i was doing when he came in, and looked out as if i was expecting you and jim to be coming. i would give him no food, nor even a drink of water; so at last he grew tired, and, saying i should see him again soon, swinging his cane and whistling, he walked away." "what do you think, peter? can he really be old tom's nephew?" asked mary, when nancy ceased speaking. "one thing is certain, that if he proves himself to be so we shall be bound to turn out of this house, and to give up the wherry," i answered. "oh, peter! what shall we do, then?" exclaimed mary. "the best we can, my sister," i said. "perhaps the man may not be able to prove that he is what he calls himself. i have heard of impostors playing all sorts of tricks. we'll hope for the best. and now, nancy, let us have some supper." though i tried to keep up the spirits of mary and nancy, i felt very anxious, and could scarcely sleep for thinking on the subject. whatever might happen for myself i did not care, but i was greatly troubled about what mary and nancy would do. i naturally thought of commander rogers, from whom all this time i had heard nothing, though he had promised to come and see after mary and me. mr gray had said that he was going away again, so that i could not obtain advice from him. "i have god to trust to, that's a comfort," i thought, and i soon dropped off to sleep. the next morning i remained at home to a later hour than usual. just as i was going out a man came to the door, who said he was sent by lawyer gull, and put a paper into my hand, which he told me was a something i could not exactly make out, to quit the house within twenty-four hours. "his client, the owner of the property, wishes not to act harshly, so refrains from taking stronger measures at present," said the clerk, who, having performed his task, went away. i stopped a few minutes to talk with mary and nancy. mary said quietly that if we must go we must, and that we had better look out for cheap lodgings at once. nancy was very indignant, and declared that we had no business to turn out for such a scamp as that. old tom had never spoken of having a nephew; she did not believe the fellow was his nephew, and certainly, if he was, tom would not have left his property to him. she advised me, however, to go out and try to get advice from some one who knew more about the law than she did. i accordingly set off for the hard, where i was sure to find several friends among the watermen. i had not got far when i met jim pulley, looking very disconsolate. "what is the matter, jim," i asked. "we've lost the wherry!" he exclaimed, nearly blubbering. "two big fellows came down, and, asking what boat she was, told me to step ashore: and when i said i wouldn't for them, or for any one but you, they took me, crop and heels, and trundled me out of her." "that is only what i feared," i said. "i was coming down to find some one to advise us what to do." "then you couldn't ask any better man than bob fox, he's been in prison half a score of times for smuggling and such like, so he must know a mighty deal about law," he answered. we soon found bob fox, who was considered an oracle on the hard, and a number of men gathered round while he expressed his opinion. "why, you see, mates, it's just this," he said, extending one of his hands to enforce his remarks; "you must either give in or go to prison when they brings anything agen you, and that, maybe, is the cheapest in the end; or, as there's always a lawyer on t'other side, you must set another lawyer on to fight him, and that's what i'd advise to be done in this here case. now i knows a chap, one lawyer chalk, who's as sharp as a needle, and if any man can help young peter and his sister to keep what is their own he'll do it. i'm ready to come down with some shiners to pay him, for, you see, these lawyer folk don't argify for nothing, and i'm sure some on you who loves justice will help jack and polly trawl's children; so round goes the hat." suiting the action to the word, bob, taking off his tarpaulin, threw a handful of silver into it, and his example being followed by a number of other men, he grasped me by the hand, and set off forthwith to consult lawyer chalk. we quickly reached his office. mr chalk, a quiet-looking little man, with easy familiar manners, which won the confidence of his illiterate constituents, knowing bob fox well, received us graciously. his eyes glittered as he heard the money chink in bob's pocket. "it's all as clear as a pikestaff," he observed, when he heard what i had got to say. "they must prove first that this fellow who has turned up is tom swatridge's nephew; then that he is his heir-at-law, and finally that the house and boat belonged to the deceased. now possession is nine-tenths of the law; you've got them, and you must hold them till the law turns you out." "i couldn't, sir, if another has a better right to them than i have," i answered. "i lived on in the house and used the wherry because i was sure that old tom would have wished me to do so, but then i didn't know that he had any relation to claim them." "and you don't know that he has any relation now," said mr chalk; "that has to be proved, my lad. the law requires proof; that's the beauty of the law. the man may swear till he's black in the face that he is the deceased's nephew, but if he has no proof he'll not gain his cause." bob fox was highly delighted with our visit to the lawyer. "i told you so, lad; i told you so!" he exclaimed, rubbing his hands; "t'other chap will find he has met his match. bless you! old chalk's as keen as a razor." as i could not use the wherry, i went home feeling in much better spirits than before about our prospects. i was able even to cheer up mary and nancy. i told them that, by lawyer chalk's advice, we were not to quit the house, and that he would manage everything. no one appeared during the day. the next morning we had breakfast as usual, and as the time went by i was beginning to hope that we should be unmolested, when two rough-looking men came to the door, and, though nancy sprang up to bar them out, in they walked. one of them then thrust a paper out to her, but she drew back her hand as if it had been a hot iron. the man again attempted to make her take it. "one of you must have it," he growled out. "no, no! i couldn't make head or tail of it if i did," answered nancy, still drawing back. "let me have it," i said, wishing to know what the men really came for. "the sum total is, that you and the rest of you are to move away from this, and if you don't go sharp we're to turn you out!" exclaimed the bailiff, losing patience at the time i took to read the document. "it's an order of ejectment, you'll understand." "don't you mind what it is, peter!" exclaimed nancy; "mr chalk said we was to stay here, and stay we will for all the scraps of paper in the world!" and nancy, seating herself in a chair, folded her arms, and cast defiant looks at the officers of the law. they were, however, up to the emergency. before either she or i were aware of what they were about to do, they had secured her arms to the back of the chair, and then, lifting it and her up, carried her out of the house and deposited her in the street, in spite of the incautious attempt i made to effect a rescue. the moment i got outside the house one of the bailiffs, turning round, seized me in a vice-like grasp, and the other then entering, led out mary, who saw that resistance was hopeless. he next walked back, took the key from the door, and, having locked it, released nancy and re-entered the house with the chair. before nancy could follow him he had shut himself in, while his companion, letting me go with a shove which sent me staggering across the street, walked off, i concluded to tell the lawyer who sent him and his mate that they had got possession of the house. nancy was standing, with her fists clenched, too much astonished at the way she had been treated to speak. mary was in tears, trembling all over. "oh, peter, what are we to do?" she asked. "i'll go to lawyer chalk and hear what he says," i answered. "if the house and boat ought to be ours, he'll get them back; if not, i can't say just now what we must do. meantime do you and nancy go to widow simmons's, and wait there. she was always a friend of mother's, and will be glad to help you." mary agreed, but nancy, who at length found her tongue, declared that she wasn't going to lose sight of the house, and that she would stay where she was and watch and tell the folks who passed how we had been treated. as nothing i could say would induce her to move, i accompanied mary to the widow's, where i left her, and hastened on to mr chalk's. the lawyer made a long face when i told him how we had been treated. "i told you that `possession is nine-tenths of the law,' my lad, and now they are in and you are out," he answered. "it's a bad job--but we'll see what can be done. we must obtain at all events your clothes, and any other private property you may possess. now go, my lad, and call upon me in a week or two; i shall see bob fox in the meantime." soon after leaving the lawyer's i met jim pulley. having seen nancy, he was fuming with indignation at our having been turned out of our home, and proposed trying to break into the house to regain possession, but i had sense enough to know that we must abide by the law, whichever way that decided i found nancy still keeping watch before the door, and vehemently appealing to all who would stop to listen to her. it was with some difficulty that i at length persuaded her to go with me to mrs simmons's. the kind widow was willing to give us shelter, and as mary had fortunately my savings in her pocket, we had sufficient to pay for our food for some days. the next morning mary went as usual to school; nancy left the house, saying that she was going to look for work, and i set out, hoping to find employment in a wherry with one of the men who knew me. chapter seven. help comes when least expected. i found it more difficult to obtain employment with wages sufficient to support mary and me, not to speak of nancy, than i had expected. jim and i tried to hire a boat, but we could not obtain one to suit us for any sum we could hope to pay. ours, for so we still called her, had been carried off, and locked up in a shed at portsmouth. he and i picked up a sixpence or a shilling now and then, but some days we got nothing. there was a great risk of our becoming what my father had so strongly objected to "long-shore loafers." i would not desert jim, who had served me so faithfully, and so we tried, as far as we could, to work together. sometimes he talked of going off to sea, but as i could not leave mary his heart failed him at the thought of going without me. at the time appointed i called on lawyer chalk. "sorry to say we are beaten, my lad," were the words with which he greeted me. "i fought hard, but there's no doubt that mr gull's client is the nephew of tom swatridge, who died intestate, consequently his nephew is his heir. had the old man wisely come to me i would have drawn up a will for him, securing his property to you or any one he might have desired. i am very sorry for you, but law is law, and it can't be helped. i hope that you will find employment somewhere soon. good-day to you." and he waved me out of his office. in consequence of his failure in my cause, lawyer chalk sank considerably in the estimation of bob fox and his friends, who declared that the next time they wanted legal advice they would try what lawyer gull could do for them. i should have said that a day or two before he had sent a clerk armed with due authority to accompany nancy and mary, who brought away our clothing and all the articles which we had purchased with our own money. curiously enough, i did not again set eyes on mr eben swatridge, who was, i understood, the son of a younger brother of old tom, who had gone into business in london and made money. some property having been left to the two brothers, or to the survivor of either, eben had been compelled to make inquiries respecting his long unrecognised uncle, and had thus been induced to pay the visit to portsea which had produced such disastrous results to mary and me. the house and furniture and wherry were sold, and directly afterwards he disappeared from portsmouth. perhaps he thought it wise to keep out of the way of bob fox and the other sturdy old salts who supported me. not that one of them would have laid a finger on him, and mary and i agreed that, far from having any ill-feeling, we should have been ready, for his uncle's sake, to have been friends if he had explained to us at the first who he was and his just rights in a quiet way. we had now a hard struggle to make the two ends meet. mrs simmons fell ill, and mary, who could no longer go to school, had to attend on her, and i had to find food and, as it turned out, to pay her rent, she being no longer able to work for her own support. i did not grumble at this, for i was grateful to her for her kindness to us; but though we stinted ourselves to the utmost, we often had not a sixpence in the house to buy fit nourishment for the poor old lady. nancy was ready to slave from morning to night, but was often unsuccessful in obtaining work, so that she made scarcely enough to support herself; she might have got a situation, but she would not leave mary. whenever honest jim pulley could save a shilling he brought it, as he said, for the widow, though i knew that besides his wish to help her he was much influenced by his regard for us. i often thought when the winter came what he and i should do then. i did not say anything to mary about the future, but tried to keep up her spirits, for i saw that her cheek was becoming pale, and she was growing thinner and thinner every day. at last one morning, when i had got up just at daylight, and having taken a crust of bread and a drink of water for breakfast, was about to go out in search of work, nancy came into the room, and said-- "i don't know what has come over mary, but she has been talking and talking ever so strangely all night, and her cheek is as hot as a live cinder." i hurried into the little back room mary and nancy occupied next to the widow's. a glance told me that my dear little sister was in a high fever. my heart was ready to burst, for she did not know me mrs simmons was too ill to get up and say what she thought of its nature. "i must run for the doctor, nancy," i exclaimed; "there's not a moment to lose;" and snatching up my hat i rushed out of the house, assured that nancy would do her best in the meantime. i had caught sight of dr rolt passing along the street on the previous day, so i knew that he was at home, and i felt more inclined to go to him than to mr jones. i ran as i had not run for a long time, and no one ventured to stop me now. the doctor was on foot, early as was the hour. he remembered mother and mary and me the moment i mentioned my name. "i'll come to see your little sister directly," he said. i waited for him, fearing that he might not find the house. he was soon ready, and, considering his age, i was surprised how well he kept up with me. i eagerly ushered him into the house. he had not been long with mary before he sent me off to the chemist to get some medicine, for which i had fortunately enough in my pocket to pay. when i came back he gave it to her himself, and said that he would send some more in the evening; but he would not tell me what he thought of her. i will not dwell on this unhappy time. the doctor came twice every day and sometimes oftener, but mary seemed to be getting no better. i had to go out to get work, but all i could make was not sufficient for our expenses, and i had to run into debt, besides which the widow's rent was due, and she could not pay it. one day jim brought me a few shillings, which he said the watermen had given him, but times were bad with most of them, and they could do but little. this enabled me to get some things absolutely necessary for mary and food for the rest of us. the landlord called two or three times for rent, and at last said that he must put in a distress if it was not paid. the thought of what the consequence of this would be to mary made me tremble with fear. ill as she and mrs simmons were, their beds might, notwithstanding, be taken from beneath them. the widow might be carried off to the workhouse, and we should be turned into the street i begged hard for delay, and promised that i would do all i could to raise the money. the landlord replied that he would give us two days more, but would not listen to anything further i had to say. the doctor had just before called, so that i could not then tell him of our difficulty. he had not yet given me any assurance that he thought mary would recover. nancy could not leave the house, as she was required every moment to attend on her and mrs simmons. i was not likely to find dr rolt till the evening, so i determined to consult jim and bob fox. i soon met jim; he was ready to cry when i told him. he scratched his head and rubbed his brow, in vain trying to suggest something. "bob can't help us either," he said, at length. "he's got into trouble. went away three days ago over to france in a smuggling lugger, the _smiling lass_, and she was catched last night with tubs aboard, so he's sure to want all the money he can get to pay lawyer chalk to keep him out of prison, if that's to be done, but i'm afeared even old chalk will be nonplussed this time." "i wonder whether lawyer chalk would lend me the money," i said. "might as well expect to get a hen's egg out of a block of granite," answered jim. on inquiry i found that all my friends from whom i had the slightest hope of assistance were away over at ryde, cowes, or southampton. "i tell you, peter, as i knowed how much you wanted money, i'd a great mind to go aboard the _smiling lass_ t'other day, when bob axed me. it's a good job i didn't, isn't it?" "i am very glad you didn't, not only because you would have been taken, but because you would have broken the law," i answered. "father always set his face against smuggling." "yes, maybe he did," said jim, who did not see that smuggling was wrong as clearly as i did. "but now what's to be done?" "we'll go down to the hard, and try to pick up a job," i answered. "a few pence will be better than nothing." we each got a job in different boats. the one i was in took some passengers over to ryde, and thence some others to spithead and back, so that it was late when i got home with a shilling and a few pence in my pocket. mary was no better. the doctor had been, and nancy had told him of the landlord's threats, but he had made no remark. "i'll tell you what i'll do, nancy," i said; "i'll offer the landlord this shilling when he comes to-morrow to show that i am in earnest, and perhaps he will let us off for another day or two." "better hear what the doctor thinks when he comes in the morning. i don't think that he'll allow mary and widow simmons to have their beds taken from under them. cheer up, peter! cheer up!" i did cheer up a little when jim came in and brought another shilling, his day's earnings, declaring that he'd had a good dinner, and had still some coppers in his pocket to pay for the next day's breakfast. he, however, could not resist eating some bread and cheese which nancy pressed on him before he went away. i could scarcely close my eyes for thinking of what the morrow might bring forth. about midnight nancy came in and told me that mary was sleeping more calmly than she had done since she was taken ill. hoping that this was a good sign my mind became less disquieted, and i fell asleep. the next morning the usual hour for the doctor's coming passed and he did not appear. we waited and waited, anxious to know whether mary really was better. at last there came a knocking at the door, and in walked the landlord, with a couple of men at his heels. "have you the rent ready, good people?" he asked, in a gruff tone. "no, sir; but i have two shillings, and i promise to pay as much as i can every day till you've got what you demand," i said, as fast as i could speak. the men laughed as i said this. "two shillings! that won't go no way, my lad," cried the landlord. "let me see, why this old pot and kettle and the cups and plates, and table and chairs, and everything in this room won't sell for more than half my demands, so we must have the bedsteads and bedding and a chest of drawers or so; and as the old woman in there won't ever be able to pay me more rent, she and all of you must turn out with what remains! so now, crouch and scroggins, do your duty." the moment he had entered the house nancy, passing behind me, had locked mary's and mrs simmons's doors, and having put the keys in her pocket, had slipped into the scullery or little back kitchen, where we often cooked in summer. one of the men was in the act of placing one chair upon another, and his companion was approaching mary's room, when suddenly nancy rushed out of the back kitchen with a red-hot poker in her hand, and placing herself before it, exclaimed-- "step an inch nearer if ye dare, ye cowards! out on ye, mr grimes, to come and disturb a fever-sick girl and an old dying woman for the sake of a few filthy shillings! peter here has offered you some, and has promised to pay you more when he can get them, and i promise too; and now let me see if one of you dare to lay a finger on any of missus simmons's things! get out of this house! get out of this house, i say!" and she began flourishing her poker and advancing towards the intruders in a way which made them beat a rapid retreat towards the door, mr grimes scrambling off the first, and shouting out-- "assault and battery! i'll make you pay for this, you young vixen!" "i don't mind your salt and butter, nor what you call me either," cried nancy; and she was just slamming the door behind them, when two persons appeared as if about to enter, one of whom exclaimed, in a voice which i recognised as that of dr rolt-- "why, my good girl, what is all this about?" "they said that they was a-going to take mary's and the widow's beds and all the things away, sir, and i wouldn't let them," she answered, panting and still grasping the hot poker. "verily, daughter, thou hast taken a very effectual way of preventing them," said the other person, who i now saw to my great joy was mr silas gray. he and the doctor at once entered the house. "now listen to me, damsel," he continued. "thou hast been prompted by affectionate zeal to defend thy friends, i doubt not, but nevertheless thou hast acted illegally, and the consequences to thyself may be serious; however, i will say no more on the subject at present. put back thy weapon into the fireplace and attend on friend rolt, who desires to see his patients." i saw mr gray and the doctor exchange smiles as nancy, producing the keys from her pocket, unlocked the doors. he now, observing me, said-- "tell me, my lad, how all this happened. i thought that thou wast doing well with thy wherry." so while the doctor was seeing mary and mrs simmons, i gave him an exact account of all that had happened since the day he and his family were out with jim and me on the water. i had just finished, when the doctor came into the room. "i can give you a favourable account of your young sister, my lad," said dr rolt. "her patience and obedience, aided by nancy's care, have been much in her favour, and she will, i trust, shortly recover. as soon as she has gained sufficient strength our friend mr gray wishes her to be removed to his house, and nancy can remain here to look after the poor widow, whose days on earth are numbered." "oh, thank you, gentlemen; thank you!" i exclaimed, my heart swelling so that i could scarcely utter the words. "and what about yourself, my son?" asked mr gray. "oh, jim and i will try to rub on together, and i'll try to pay the widow's rent as i promised, if you'll speak a word, sir, to mr grimes and get him not to press for payment," i answered. "set thy mind at rest on that point. i will satisfy the demands of the widow's landlord," said mr gray; and he then added, "come to my house to-morrow, and i will meantime consider what can be done to put you in the way of gaining your daily bread. i desire to show thee that i am pleased with thy conduct, but it were small kindness were i to enable thee to live in idleness." again thanking mr gray from the bottom of my heart, i said, "what i want, sir, is work. help me to get that, and it will be all i ask." before going away mr gray saw mary for a short time, and paid a long visit to poor mrs simmons, which she said did her heart good. i had never felt so happy in my life, and could not resist going out to tell jim pulley. "ask him to set thee up with a wherry and we'll go out together again as we used to do. that will be fine, and we'll be as merry as two crickets!" he exclaimed. "i think i ought to leave it with him," i answered. "a wherry costs a lot of money, and he has already been very generous, though i should like him to do as you propose, and i promise you, jim, whatever he proposes, to stick by you." "that's all i care for," answered my friend. he accompanied me to the door, but would not come in for fear of disturbing mary. the next day i went to see mr gray, who lived in a pretty house some way out of portsmouth. he and his daughters received me very kindly. he had, he said, been considering what he could do for me. he would obtain a wherry for me, but he considered that the life of a waterman was not suited to a lad like me, and he then said that he was a shipowner, and was about to despatch a brig in a few days to the coast of norway for timber, and that, if i pleased, he would send me on board her as an apprentice. also, as he considered that i was already a seaman, he would give me a trifle of pay. remembering what my father used to say about not wishing jack "to become a long-shore lubber," i at once replied that i would thankfully have accepted his offer, but that i could not desert jim pulley, who would well-nigh break his heart, if i were to go away without him. "nor need thee do that, my son," he answered. "i will provide a berth also for thy friend on board the _good intent_, and he and thou need not be parted. i approve of thy constancy to him and of his faithfulness to thee. a long-shore life, such as thou wouldst lead if thou wast owner of a wherry, would be dangerous if not demoralising, albeit thou might live comfortably enough." "but, sir, what will my sister do without me when she recovers and leaves you, and where will nancy go when the widow dies?" "i will be chargeable for both of them. set thy mind at rest on that point. should i be called away--and no man knows how long he has to live--i will direct my daughters to watch over them. thou and thy friend jim can, in the meantime, follow thy vocation of watermen, so that thou mayest eat the fruit of thy labours, which is sweeter far to brave hearts like thine than food, bestowed in charity." i did my best to thank mr gray as i ought, and hastened back to tell mary and nancy and jim. "i'd have gone with thee, peter, even if it had been to botany bay, or any of them outlandish parts," exclaimed jim, when i told him what mr gray had promised. "i am glad; yes, i am glad!" we both tried at once to get employment, and did very well that afternoon and on the two following days. when i got home on the evening of the last i found that a message had been left by mr gray when he visited the widow and mary, directing jim and me to go the next morning at nine o'clock on board the _good intent_, which had just come into the commercial dock. i hastened off to tell jim at once. as may be supposed, we were up betimes, and as we got to the dock before the hour appointed we were able to examine the _good intent_ at our leisure. she was a fair enough looking craft, but as she was deep in the water, having only just begun to discharge a cargo of coals brought from the north, and had a dingy appearance, from the black dust flying about, we could not judge of her properly. as the bells of saint thomas's church began to strike nine we stepped on board, and directly afterwards mr gray, followed by a short, broad, oldish man, who had not a bit the look of a skipper, though such i guessed he was, came out of the cabin. "right! punctuality saves precious hours," said mr gray, with an approving nod. "these are the lads i desire to commit to thy care, captain finlay. instruct them in their duties, so that they may become able seamen, and they will repay thy teaching." "i'll act justly by the laddies, mr gray, but there's an auld saying that `ye canna make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.' if they dinna keep their wits awake, or if they ha' na wits to keep awake, all the teaching in the world will na make them sailors." "they are fair sailors already, and thou wilt find them handy enough, i hope," observed mr gray. after putting a few questions, captain finlay told us to come aboard the next day but one with our bags, by which time the cargo would be discharged. we set off home greatly pleased, though puzzled to know how we should obtain a decent kit. with nancy's help, i might be pretty well off, but poor jim had scarcely a rag to his back besides the clothes he stood in. in the evening, however, a note came from mr gray with an order on an outfitter to give us each a complete kit suited to a cold climate. we were not slow to avail ourselves of it. the next day dr rolt considered mary sufficiently well to be removed, and mr gray sent a closed carriage to convey her to his house. the doctor told me to be ready to accompany her, and kindly came himself. it was the first time i had ever been in a coach, and the rolling and pitching made me feel very queer. the young ladies received us as if we had been one of themselves, and mary was carried up into a pretty, neat room, with white dimity curtains to the bed, and the fresh air blowing in at the open window. "i'll leave her to you, now, miss hannah," said the doctor. "this is all she requires, with your watchful care." after i had had a short talk with mary alone i took my leave, and miss hannah told me to be sure to come back and see them before the _good intent_ sailed. it was not likely i should forget to do that. jim and i now went to live on board the brig. we had plenty of work, cleaning out the hold and getting rid of the coal-dust, and then we scrubbed the deck, and blacked down the rigging, and painted the bulwarks and masts, till the change in the appearance of the dingy collier was like that of a scullery-maid when she puts on her sunday best. we did not mind the hard work, though it was a good deal harder than any we had been accustomed to, but the master and the rest of the crew set us a good example. there was little grumbling, and what surprised me, no swearing, such as i had been accustomed to hear on the hard. captain finlay would not allow it, and the mate supported him in checking any wrong expressions which some of the men had been in the habit of uttering. i got leave to run up and see mary and to bid nancy and mrs simmons good-bye. miss hannah and her sisters seemed to be making a great deal of mary. it was evident they liked her much, and i was not surprised at that. the widow i never expected to see again. nancy would scarcely let me go. "oh, peter, peter! what should us do if anything was to happen to ye out on the cruel sea!" she cried, as she held my hand and rubbed her eyes with her apron. the next day the _good intent_ went out of harbour, and i began in earnest the seafaring life i was destined to lead. chapter eight. my first voyage. wind south-south-west. the north foreland had been rounded; the countless craft, of all sizes and rigs, generally to be found off the mouth of the thames, had been cleared, and the _good intent_, with studding-sails alow and aloft, was standing across the german ocean. jim and i soon found our sea-legs, and were as well able to go aloft to reef topsails as the older hands. we were already well up to the ordinary duties of seamen, and could take our place at the helm with any of them. "mr gray was not mistaken about thee, laddie," said the captain to me one day as i came aft to the wheel. "go on as thou hast begun; obey god, and thou wilt prosper." i was much pleased with this praise, for the old man was not given to throwing words away. while i steered he stood by telling me not only what to do then, but how to act under various circumstances. at other times he made me come into the cabin and gave me lessons in navigation to fit me to become a mate and master. jim, being unable to read, and showing no aptitude for learning, had not the same advantages. we both of us lived forward with the men, some of whom were a little jealous of the favour i received, and not only played me tricks, ordered me to do all sorts of disagreeable jobs, and gave me a taste of the rope's-end on the sly, but tried hard to set jim against me. they soon, however, found out that they were not likely to succeed, for though jim did not mind how they treated him, he was always ready to stick up for me. the forecastle of the _good intent_ was thus not a paradise to either of us. the greater number of the men were, however, well-disposed, and it was only when they were on deck that the others dared to behave as i have described, while, as we would not complain, the mate knew nothing of what was going forward below. i remember thinking to myself, "if these sort of things can be done on board a ship, with a well-disciplined crew and a good captain and mate, how hard must be the lot of the unhappy boys serving in a craft where the captain, officers, and men are alike brutal!" jim was always ready to oblige, and i did my best to win over my enemies by trying to show that i did not mind how they treated me, and i soon succeeded. we were, i should have said, bound out to bergen, on the coast of norway, for a cargo of hides, tallow, salt fish, and spars, which we were to carry to london. the weather had hitherto been fine, a great advantage to jim and me, as we had time to learn our duties and to get accustomed to going aloft before our nerves and muscles were put to any severe test. but though the sea was smooth, the breeze, which had at first carried us briskly along, shifted to the northward, so that we made but slow progress. now we stood on one tack, now on the other, the wind each time heading us. at last the grumblers began to declare that we should never make our port. "the old craft has got a run of ill-luck, there's something worse a-going to happen," said sam norris, one of my chief persecutors, as during his watch below he sat with his arms folded on his chest in the fore-peak. "i seed a black cat come aboard the night afore we left the docks, and no one knows that she ever went ashore again." some of the men looked uncomfortable at sam's statement, but others laughed. "what harm could the black cat do, if she did come aboard?" i inquired. "probably she came to look for rats, and having killed all she could find, slipped ashore again unseen by any one." "i didn't say a she-cat. it looked like a big tom-cat; but who knows that it was really a cat at all?" said sam. "if it wasn't a tom-cat, what was it?" asked bob stout, a chum of sam's. "just what neither you nor i would like to meet if we had to go down into the hold alone," said sam, in a mysterious tone. just then the watch below was summoned on deck to shorten sail. not a bit too soon either, and we were quickly swarming aloft and out on the yards. to reef sails in smooth water is easy enough, but when the ship is pitching into the fast-rising seas and heeling over to the gale, with the wind whistling through the rigging, blocks rattling, ropes lashing about, the hard canvas trying to escape from one's grip, and blatters of rain and sleet and hail in one's face, it is no pleasant matter. we had taken two reefs in the topsails, and even then the brig had as much canvas on her as she could stand up to, and we had all come down on deck, with the exception of jim, who had been on the foreyard, when the mate, seeing a rope foul, ordered him to clear it. jim performed his duty, but instead of coming down as he ought to have done, remained seated on the foreyard, holding on by the lift to get accustomed to the violent motion, in which he seemed to take a pleasure. the mate, not observing this, came aft to speak to the captain, who shortly afterwards, finding that the brig was falling off from the wind, which had before been baffling, having shifted ahead, ordered her to be put about. "down with the helm," cried the captain. i saw the men hauling at the braces, when, looking up, i caught sight of jim at the yardarm. i shrieked out with terror, expecting that the next instant, as the yardarm swung round, he would be dashed to pieces on the deck, or hove off into the raging sea. the kind-hearted mate, recollecting him, came rushing forward, also believing that his destruction was certain, unless he could be caught as he fell. my heart beat, and my eyes were fixed on my friend as if they would start out of my head i wildly stretched out my hands, yet i felt that i could do nothing to save him, when he made a desperate spring, and catching hold of the backstay, came gliding down by it on deck as if nothing particular had happened, scarcely conscious, indeed, of the fearful danger he had escaped. the mate rated him in stronger language than he generally used for his carelessness, winding up by asking: "where do you think you would have been, boy, if you hadn't have jumped when you did or had missed your aim?" "praise god for his great mercy to thee, laddie, and may thou never forget it all the days of thy life," said the old captain, who had beckoned jim aft to speak to him. jim, touching his hat, answered, "ay, ay, sir!" but he was, perhaps, less aware of the danger he had been in than any one on board. the gale increased; several heavy seas struck the old brig, making her quiver from stem to stern, and at last one heavier than the rest breaking on board, carried the starboard bulwarks forward clean away. some of the men were below; jim and i and others were aft, and the rest, though half-drowned, managed to secure themselves. to avoid the risk of another sea striking her in the same fashion, the brig was hove-to under a close-reefed fore-topsail. as we had plenty of sea room, and the brig was tight as a bottle, so the mate affirmed, there was no danger; still, i for one heartily wished that the weather would moderate. i had gone aft, being sent by the cook to obtain the ingredients of a plum-pudding for the cabin dinner. not thinking of danger, on my return i ran along on the lee side of the deck, but before i reached the caboose i saw a mountain sea rolling up with a terrific roar, and i heard a voice from aft shout, "hold on for your lives!" letting go the basin and dish i had in my hands, i grasped frantically at the nearest object i could meet with. it was a handspike sticking in the windlass, but it proved a treacherous holdfast, for, to my horror, out it came at the instant that the foaming sea broke on board, and away i was carried amid the whirl of waters right out through the shattered bulwarks. all hope of escape abandoned me. in that dreadful moment it seemed that every incident in my life came back to my memory; but mary was the chief object of my thoughts. i knew that i was being carried off into the hungry ocean, and, as i supposed, there was no human aid at hand to save me, when the brig gave a violent lee lurch, and before i was borne away from her side i felt myself seized by the collar of my jacket, and dragged by a powerful arm, breathless and stunned with the roar of waters in my ears, into the galley. the cook, who had retreated within it when the sea struck the brig, had caught sight of me, and at the risk of his life had darted out, as a cat springs on her prey, and saved me. i quickly recovered my senses, but was not prepared for the torrent of abuse which my preserver, bob fritters, poured out on me for having come along on the lee instead of the weather side of the deck. two or three of the watch who had been aft and fancied that i had been carried overboard, when they found that i was safe, instead of expressing any satisfaction, joined the cook in rating me for my folly. feeling as i suppose a half-drowned rat might do, i was glad to make my escape below, where, with the assistance of jim, i shifted into dry clothes, while he hurried on deck to obtain a fresh supply of materials for the captain's pudding. shortly after this the gale abated, and the brig was again put on her course. i had been sent aloft one morning soon after daybreak to loose the fore-royal, when i saw right ahead a range of blue mountains, rising above the mist which still hung over the ocean. i knew that it must be the coast of norway, for which we were bound. "land! land!" i shouted, pointing in the direction i saw the mountains, which i guessed were not visible from the deck. the mate soon came aloft to judge for himself. "you are right, peter," he said. "we have made a good landfall, for if i mistake not we are just abreast of the entrance to the bay of jeltefiord, at the farther end of which stands bergen, the town we are bound for." the mate was right. the breeze freshening we stood on, and in the course of the morning we ran between lofty and rugged rocks for several miles, through the narrow straits of carmesundt into the bay--or fiord rather--till we came to an anchor off the picturesque old town of bergen. it was a thriving, bustling place; the inhabitants, people from all the northern nations of europe, mostly engaged in mercantile pursuits. we soon discharged our cargo and began taking on board a very miscellaneous one, including a considerable quantity of spars to form the masts and yards of small vessels. the day seemed to me wonderfully long, indeed there was scarcely any night. of course, we had plenty of hard work, as we were engaged for a large part of the twenty-four hours in hoisting in cargo. i should have thought all hands would have been too tired to think of carrying on any tricks, but it seemed that two or three of them had conceived a spite against jim because he would not turn against me. one of our best men, ned andrews, who did duty as second mate, had brought for his own use a small cask of sugar, as only molasses and pea-coffee were served out forward. one morning, as i was employed aft under the captain's directions, andrews came up and complained that on opening his cask he found it stuffed full of dirty clouts and the sugar gone. i never saw the captain so indignant. "a thief on board my brig!" he exclaimed; "verily, i'll make an example of him, whoever he is." calling the mate, he ordered him forthwith to examine all the men's chests, supposing that the thief must have stowed the sugar in his own. "go, peter, and help him," he added, "for i am sure that thou, my son, art not the guilty one." i followed the mate into the fore-peak. having first demanded the keys from the owners of those which were locked, he examined chest after chest, making me hold up the lids while he turned out the contents or plunged his hands to the bottom. no sugar was found in any of them. he then came to my chest, which i knew was not locked, and the idea came into my head that the stolen property would be there. i showed some anxiety, i suspect, as i lifted up the lid. the mate put in his hands with a careless air, as if he had no idea of the sort. greatly to my relief he found nothing. there was but one chest to be examined. it was jim's. scarcely had i opened it when the mate, throwing off a jacket spread over the top, uttered an exclamation of surprise. there exposed to view was a large wooden bowl, procured the day before by the steward for washing up glasses and cups, and supposed to have fallen overboard, cram full of sugar. "bring it along aft," cried the mate. "i did not think that of pulley." "and i don't think it now, sir," i answered, in a confident tone, as i obeyed his order. "what's this? where was it found?" inquired the captain, as we reached the quarter-deck. the mate told him. "i'll swear jim never put it there, sir; not he!" i exclaimed. "swear not at all, my son, albeit thou mayest be right," said the captain. "send james pulley aft." jim quickly came. "hast thou, james pulley, been guilty of stealing thy shipmate's sugar?" asked the captain. "no, sir, please you, i never took it, and never put it where they say it was found," answered jim, boldly. "appearances are sadly against thee, james pulley," observed the captain, with more sorrow than anger in his tone. "this matter must be investigated." "i am sure that jim speaks the truth, sir," i exclaimed, unable to contain myself. "somebody else stole the sugar and put it in his chest." the crew had gathered aft, and two or three looked thunder-clouds at me as i spoke. "thine assertion needs proof," observed the captain. "was thy cask of sugar open, andrews?" "no, sir, tightly headed up," answered andrews. "then it must have been forced open by some iron instrument," said the captain. "bring it aft here." the empty keg was brought. "i thought so," remarked the captain. "an axe was used to prise it open. did any one see an axe in the hands of james pulley?" there was no reply for some time. at last, ben grimes, one of the men who had always been most hostile to jim and me, said, "i thinks i seed jim pulley going along the deck with what looked mighty like the handle of an axe sticking out from under his jacket." "the evidence is much against thee, james pulley," said the captain. "i must, as in duty bound, report this affair to mr gray on our return, and it will, of course, prevent him from bestowing any further favours on you." "i didn't do it. i'd sooner have had my right hand cut off than have done it," cried jim. "let me go ashore, sir, and i'll try to gain my daily bread as i best can. i can't bear to stay aboard here to be called a thief; though peter trawl knows i didn't take the sugar; he'd never believe that of me; and the mate doesn't, and andrews himself doesn't." "i am sorry for thee, lad. thou must prove thine innocence," said the captain, turning away. poor jim was very unhappy. though both he and i were convinced that one of the men for spite had put the sugar in his chest, we could not fix on the guilty person. i did my best to comfort him. he talked of running from the ship, but i persuaded him not to think more of doing so foolish a thing. "stay, and your innocence will appear in due time," i said. as we went about the deck we heard grimes and others whispering, "birds of a feather flock together." they bullied jim and me worse than ever, and took every occasion to call him a young thief, and other bad names besides. they saw how it vexed him, and that made them abuse him worse than before. the day after this we sailed. poor jim declared that if he could not clear himself he would never show his face in portsmouth. i was sure that andrews and the other good men did not believe him to be guilty, but they could not prove his innocence; and, as he said, the others would take care to blabber about him, and, worst of all, mr gray would think him a thief. an easterly breeze carried us clear of the harbour, but the wind then shifted to the southward, and then to the south-west, being very light, so that after three days we had not lost sight of the coast of norway. there seemed every probability of our having a long passage. some of the men said it was all owing to the black cat, and grimes declared that we must expect ill-luck with such a psalm-singing methodist old skipper as we had. even andrews prognosticated evil, but his idea was that it would be brought about by an old woman he had seen on shore, said by everyone to be a powerful witch. as, however, according to andrews, she had the power of raising storms, and we had only to complain of calms and baffling winds, i could not see that she had had any influence over us. at last we got so far to the westward that we lost sight of the coast of norway, but had not made good a mile to the southward--we had rather indeed drifted to the northward. meantime, the captain hearing from the mate how the men were grumbling, called all hands aft. "lads, i want ye to listen to me," he said. "some of ye fancy that we are having these calms and baffling winds on one account, and some on another, but this i know, that he who rules the seas does not allow any other beings to interfere with his plans. ye have heard, maybe, however, of the prophet jonah. once upon a time, jonah, when ordered by god to go to a certain place and perform a certain duty, disobeyed his master, and trying to escape from him took passage on board a ship, fancying that he could get out of god's sight. did he succeed? no! god had his eye on jonah, and caused a hurricane which well-nigh sent the ship to the bottom. not till jonah was hove overboard did the tempest cease. now, lads, just understand there are some aboard this brig who are disobeying him and offending him just as much as jonah did, and it's not for me to say that he does not allow these calms, so unusual in this latitude, to prevail in consequence. that's all i've got to say, lads, but ye'll just think over it; and now go forward." whether or not the men did think over it, or exactly understood what the old man meant, i cannot say, but the next morning the carpenter came aft to the captain and said that he had had a dream which made him remember that the evening before andrews's sugar was found to have been stolen, ben grimes had borrowed an axe from him, on examining which afterwards he discovered that a small piece had been broken off on one side, and that grimes acknowledged he had done it by striking a nail in a piece of wood he was chopping up. on hearing this the captain again summoned all hands aft, and ordered andrews to bring his sugar cask. there in the head was found a piece of iron which exactly fitted the notch in the axe which the carpenter produced. "now, lads, say who stole andrews's sugar and concealed it in pulley's chest?" asked the skipper. "grimes! grimes! no doubt about it!" shouted all the men, with the exception of the individual mentioned and one other. "you are right, lads, and pulley is innocent," said the skipper. "as the babe unborn," answered the men, and they all, except grimes and his chum, following my example, gave jim a hearty shake of the hand. i thought that he would have blubbered outright with pleasure. though i was sure that jim had never touched the sugar, i was thankful that the captain and the rest were convinced of his innocence. before noon that day a dark bank of clouds was seen coming up from the southward. in a short time several black masses broke away from the main body, and came careering across the sky. "away aloft and shorten sail," cried the skipper. "be smart, lads!" we hurried up the rigging, for there was no time to be lost. "two reefs in the fore-topsail! furl the main-topsail! let fly topgallant sheets!" these orders came in quick succession. the captain, aided by the mate, was meantime lowering the mainsail. he at first, i believe, intended to heave the brig to, but, before the canvas was reduced the gale struck her--over she heeled--the topgallant sails, with their masts, were carried away just as jim and i were about mounting the rigging, he the fore and i the main, to furl them; the mainsail, only half lowered, flying out, nearly knocked the mate overboard. i had got down on the weather side of the main-topsail yard to assist the hands on it, when the straining canvas broke loose from our grasp, and at the same instant the topgallant rigging, striking the two men on the lee yardarm, hurled them off into the foaming ocean. to lower a boat was impossible; we had not strength sufficient as it was to clear away the topgallant masts, and to hand the topsails. a grating and some spars were hove to them by the mate, who then, axe in hand, sprang aloft to assist us. none too soon, for we could do nothing but cling on to the yard till the topgallant rigging was cleared away. the men on the foreyard were more successful, and i saw jim gallantly using his knife in a fashion which at length cleared away the wreck and enabled them to secure the sail. the mate succeeded also in his object, and we were expecting them to assist us in attempting to furl the main-topsail, when the captain, seeing that we were not likely to succeed, calling us down, ordered the helm to be put up and the yards squared away, and off we ran before the fast-increasing gale, leaving, we feared, our two shipmates, the carpenter and grimes, to perish miserably. chapter nine. i experience the perils of the sea. the _good intent_ ran on before the increasing gale. the fast-rising seas came rolling up astern, threatening every instant to poop her, for, having a full cargo, she was much deeper in the water than when we sailed from portsmouth. we quickly lost sight of the grating and spars thrown to our hapless shipmates, and they themselves had before then disappeared. the first thing now to be done was to get the main-topsail stowed, for, flying wildly in the wind, it seemed as if about to carry away the main-topmast. the mate, andrews, and two other men were on the point of going aloft to try and haul it in, in spite of the danger they ran in so doing, when a report like that of thunder was heard, and the sail, split into ribbons, was torn from the bolt-ropes. the fragments, after streaming out wildly in the wind, lashed themselves round and round the yard, thus saving us the hazardous task of attempting to furl the sail. the brig flew on, now plunging into the roaring and foaming seas, now rolling from side to side so that it was difficult to keep our feet. the fore-staysail and jib had been stowed in time, and the flying jib had been blown away, so that the fore-topsail was the only sail set. thus hour after hour passed. had we been running in the opposite direction we should have been making good progress, but we were now going farther and farther from our destination, to be driven into even worse weather, and perhaps to have to make our way south round the irish coast. to avoid this, the captain was anxious to heave the brig to, and i saw him and the mate consulting how it could be done. it was a dangerous operation, they both knew, for should she not quickly come up to the wind, a sea might strike her on the broadside and sweep over her deck, or throw her on her beam-ends. "if we get a lull it must be done," said the captain. "ay, ay, sir!" answered the mate; and he ordered the men to stand ready to brace round the fore-topsail-yard as the brig came up to the wind. still we watched in vain for the wished-for lull. in spite of the roaring seas i felt wonderfully sleepy, and could scarcely keep my eyes open as i held on to a stanchion at the after-part of the deck. jim was much in the same condition, for we had both been on foot since the morning watch had been called, and we had had no food all day. the kind captain, observing the state we were in, instead of abusing us, as some skippers would have done, ordered us to go below to find something to eat and to lie down till we were wanted. we were making our way forward when he shouted out-- "go into the cabin, laddies. there is some bread and cheese in the pantry, and ye'll be ready at hand when i call ye." we quickly slipped below, and he again closed the companion-hatch which he had opened to let us descend. the other hatches had been battened down, for at any moment a sea might break on board, and if they had not been secured, might fill the vessel. not a ray of light came below, but jim and i, groping about, found the bread and cheese we were in search of and soon satisfied our hunger. we then, thankful to get some rest, lay down on the deck of the cabin-- which landsmen would call the floor--for we should have considered it presumptuous to stretch ourselves in one of the berths or even on the locker; and in spite of the rolling and pitching of the brig we were quickly fast asleep. i seldom dreamed in those days, but, though tired as i was, my slumbers were troubled. now i fancied that the brig was sinking, but that, somehow or other, i came to the surface, and was striking out amid the raging billows for the land; then i thought that i was again on board, and that the brig, after rushing rapidly on, struck upon a huge reef of black rocks, when, in an instant, her timbers split asunder, and we were all hurled into the seething waters. suddenly i was awoke by the thundering, crashing sound of a tremendous blow on the side of the vessel, and i found myself hove right across the cabin, clutching fast hold of jim, who shouted out, "hillo, peter, what is the matter? are we all going to be drowned?" before i could answer him there came from above us--indeed, it had begun while he was speaking--a deafening mingling of terrific noises, of rending planks, of falling spars, the rush and swirl and roar of waters, amid which could be heard the faint cries of human voices. the brig had been thrown on her beam-ends; of that there could be no doubt, for when we attempted to get on our feet we found the deck of the cabin almost perpendicular. "do you think the brig will go down?" shouted jim. the hubbub was so great that it was impossible to hear each other unless we spoke at the very top of our voices. "we must, at all events, get on deck as soon as we can, and do our best to save ourselves," i answered. though i said this, i had very little hope of escaping, as i thought that the vessel might at any moment founder. even to get on deck was no easy matter, for everything in the cabin was upside down--boxes and bales, and casks and articles of all sorts, thrown out of the lockers, mixed with the furniture which had broken adrift, were knocking about, while all the time we were in complete darkness. the dead-lights had fortunately been closed at the commencement of the gale, and the companion-hatch remained secure, so that, as yet, no water came below. getting on our feet we were endeavouring to grope our way to the companion-ladder when we heard two loud crashes in quick succession, and directly afterwards, the brig righting with a violent jerk, we were thrown half across the cabin, bruised and almost stunned, among the numberless things knocking violently about. after a time, on recovering our senses, we picked ourselves up and made another attempt to get on deck. i now began to hope that the brig would not go down as soon as i had expected, but still i knew that she was in a fearfully perilous condition. i was sure from the crashing sounds we had heard that both her masts were gone: that very probably also she had sprung a leak, while we were far to the northward of the usual track of vessels. at last we found our way to the cabin door, but groped about in vain for the companion-ladder, till jim suggested that it had been unshipped when the vessel went over. after some time we found it, but had great difficulty, in consequence of the way the brig was rolling, to get it replaced. as soon as it was so i mounted and shouted as loud as i could to some one to come and lift off the hatch. no voice replied. again and again i shouted, fancying that the people might have gone forward for some reason or other and had forgotten us. "what can have happened?" cried jim, in a tone of alarm. i dared not answer him, for i feared the worst. feeling about, i discovered an axe slung just inside the companion-hatch, on which i began hammering away with all my might--but still no one came. "jim, i'm afraid they must all be gone," i cried out at last. "gone!" he exclaimed. "what, the old captain, and mate, and andrews, and the rest?" "i am afraid so," i answered. again i shouted and knocked. still no one came. "we must break open the hatch," i said, and i attempted to force up the top with the axe, but did not succeed. "let me try," cried jim; "my arm is stronger than yours." i got down the ladder and gave him the axe. he took my place and began working away at the part where the hatch was placed. i could hear him giving stroke after stroke, but could see nothing, for the hatch fitted so closely that not a gleam of light came through it. presently i heard him sing out, "i've done it," and i knew by the rush of cold damp air which came down below that he had got off the hatch. still all was dark, but looking up i could distinguish the cloudy sky. not till then did i know that it was night. we had gone to sleep in broad daylight, and i had no idea of the number of hours which had passed by since then. i sprang up the companion-ladder after jim, who had stepped out on deck. the spectacle which met my eyes was appalling. the masts were gone, carried away a few feet from the deck--only the stumps were standing-- everything had been swept clear away, the caboose, the boats, the bulwark; the brig was a complete wreck; the dark foam-topped seas were rising up high above the deck, threatening to engulf her. the masts were still alongside hanging on by the rigging, their butt ends every now and then striking against her with so terrific a force that i feared they must before long drive a hole through the planking. as far as i could make out through the thick gloom, some spars which had apparently fallen before the masts gave way lay about the deck, kept from being washed away by the rigging attached to them having become entangled in the stanchions and the remaining portions of the shattered bulwarks. not one of our shipmates could we see. again we shouted, in the faint hope that some of them might be lying concealed forward. no one answered. "maybe that they have gone down into the fore-peak," said jim; "i'll go and knock on the hatch. they can't hear our shouts from where we are." i tried to persuade jim not to make the attempt till daylight, for a sea might break on board and wash him away. "but do you see, peter, we must try and get help to cut away the lower rigging, which keeps the masts battering against the sides?" he answered. "then i'll go with you," i said. "we'll share the same fate, whatever that may be." "no, no, peter! you stay by the companion-hatch; see, there are plenty of spars for me to catch hold of, and i'll take good care not to get washed away," answered jim, beginning his journey forward. notwithstanding what he said, i was following him when i fancied that i heard a faint groan. i stopped to listen. it might be only the sound produced by the rubbing of two spars together or the working of the timbers. again i heard the groan. i was now sure that it was uttered by one of our shipmates. it came from a part of the deck covered by a mass of broken spars and sails and rigging. though i could not see as far, i knew that jim had reached the fore-hatchway by hearing him shouting and knocking with the back of the axe. "are any of them there?" i cried out. "no! not one, i'm afeared," he answered. "then come and help me to see if there is any person under these spars here," i said. of course we had to bawl out to each other at the top of our voices on account of the clashing of the seas, the groaning and creaking of the timbers and bulk-heads, and the thundering of the masts against the sides. jim soon joined me. we had to be very cautious how we moved about, for besides the risk there was at any moment of a sea sweeping across the deck, we might on account of the darkness have stepped overboard. we lost no time in crawling to the spot whence i heard the groans proceeding. on feeling about we soon discovered a man, his body pressed down on the deck by a heavy spar, and partly concealed by the canvas. "who are you?" cried jim. "speak to us,--do." a groan was the only answer. "do you try and lift the spar, jim, and i'll drag him out," i said. jim tried to do as i told him, but though he exerted all his strength he could not succeed in raising the spar. "oh, dear! oh, dear! the poor fellow will die if we cannot get him free soon," i exclaimed, in despair. "this will do it," cried jim, who had been searching about, and now came with the broken end of a topgallant-yard to serve as a handspike. by its means he prised up the spar, while i as gently as i could dragged out the man by the shoulders. no sooner did i feel his jacket than i was almost sure that he was no other than our good old skipper. he was breathing heavily, and had apparently been rendered unconscious by a blow on the head. i at length got him out from under the spar. "we must carry him below before another sea breaks on board," i said. "come, help me, jim." together we lifted the old man, and staggering along the slippery deck, reached the companion-hatch in safety. to get him down without injury was more difficult. i going first and taking his legs, and jim holding him by the shoulders, we succeeded at last. while jim supported him at the bottom of the ladder, i hunted about till i found a tinder-box and matches and lighted the cabin lamp. it showed us, as i had supposed, that the person i had rescued was our captain. he was pale as death, and bleeding from a wound in the head. the light also exhibited the utter confusion into which the cabin had been thrown. i managed, however, to clear a way to the state cabin, to which we carried the captain, and then getting off his wet clothes placed him between the blankets in his berth. fortunately, there was a cask of water in the pantry, which enabled us to wash and bind up his head, so as to staunch the blood flowing from it. the operation was performed but roughly, as all the time the sound of the masts thundering like battering-rams against the side of the vessel warned us that, we must try to cut them adrift without delay. i feared that already they had done some serious damage. even before we left the captain he seemed to have somewhat recovered his consciousness, for i heard him mutter, "be smart, lads. tell mate--cut away wreck." of course we did not let him know that besides himself we alone of all the crew were left alive. in the cabin i found another axe, and jim and i, going on deck, began the difficult and dangerous task we had undertaken. the lower rigging, on what had been the weather side, had entirely given way, so that we had only to cut that on the opposite side, but in leaning over to reach the shrouds at the chains we ran a fearful risk of being carried off by the sea as the vessel rolled from side to side. we first tried to clear the mainmast. we had cut two of the shrouds, when a sea, having driven the butt end against the side with fearful force, lifted it just as the brig rolled over, and it came sweeping along the deck, nearly taking jim and me off our legs. with the greatest difficulty we escaped. "it shan't do that again," cried jim; and dashing forward with axe uplifted he cut the last shroud, and the mast was carried away by the next sea. we had still to get rid of the foremast and bowsprit, which were doing as much damage as the mainmast had done, by every now and then ramming away at the bows with a force sufficient, it seemed, to knock a hole through them at any moment. i felt anxious to return to the cabin to attend to our old captain, but the safety of the vessel required us not to delay a moment longer than could be helped in cutting away the remaining masts and bowsprit. i observed soon after the mainmast had gone that the wind had fallen, and that there was somewhat less sea running, and in a short time the light began to increase. i do not think that otherwise we should have accomplished our task. jim sprang forward with his axe, taking always the post of danger, and hacking away at rope after rope as he could manage to reach them. i followed his example. often we had to hold on for our lives as the seas washed over us. at length the work was accomplished. we gave a shout of satisfaction as, the last rope severed, we saw the mass of wreck drop clear of the brig. but our work was not done. there we were in the midst of the north sea, without masts or canvas or boats, our bulwarks gone, the brig sorely battered, and only our two selves and our poor old captain to navigate her. to preserve his life our constant attention was required. "we'll go below and see how the old man gets on," i said. "there's nothing more for us to do on deck that i can see at present." "not so sure of that, peter," answered jim. "you go and look after the skipper, and i'll just see how matters are forward and down in the hold." as i felt sure that the captain ought not to be left longer alone, i hurried into the cabin. he was conscious, but still scarcely able to speak. i told him that we had cleared away the wreck of the masts, and that the weather was moderating. "thank god!" he murmured. then, getting some more water, i again dressed his wounded head, and afterwards proposed lighting the cabin fire and trying to make him some broth. "water! i only want water," he said, in the same low voice as before. i procured some in a mug. he drank it, and then said, "get up jury-masts and steer west," not understanding as yet, i suppose, that the crew were lost. "ay, ay, sir," i answered, being unwilling to undeceive him, though i wondered how jim and i could alone obey his orders; yet, if we were ever to reach a port, jury-masts must be got up. as i could do nothing more just then for the captain, i was going on deck, when i met jim at the companion-hatch, his face wearing an expression of the greatest alarm. "things are very bad, peter," he exclaimed. "the water is coming in through a big hole in the bows like a mill-sluice, and i'm much afeared that before long the old craft will carry us and the captain to the bottom." "not if we keep our wits awake, jim," i answered. "we must try to stop the hole. come along." hurrying forward, we dived down into the fore-peak. we could now venture to leave the hatch off, so as to give light below. sure enough the water was coming in terribly fast, but not quite so fast as jim described, though already the men's chests and other articles were afloat. the largest hole was, i saw, in the very centre of a bunk, so that we could easily get at it. dragging out all the blankets from the other bunks, i rammed them into the hole. "hand me a board or the top of a chest--knock it off quick!" i sang out. jim, leaping on a chest, wrenched off the lid and gave it me. "now that handspike." there was one close to him. by pressing the board against the blankets, and jamming the handspike down between it and the outer corner of the bunk, the gush of water was stopped. "here's another hole still more forward, i can see the water bubbling in," cried jim, holding a lantern, which he had lit that he might look round, to the place. we stopped it as we had the first. "it will be a mercy if there are no other holes in the side under the cargo," he said. "we'll try the well." we returned on deck, and jim sounded the well. "six feet of water or more," he said, in a mournful tone, as he examined the rod. "then we must rig the pumps and try to clear her!" i exclaimed. "it will be a hard job, but it may be done, and we must not think of letting the old craft sink under our feet." we set to work, and pumped and pumped away, the water coming up in a clear stream, till our backs and arms ached, and we felt every moment ready to drop, but we cheered each other on, resolved not to give in as long as we could stand on our legs. chapter ten. alone on the ocean. "are we gaining on the leaks, think you, jim?" i at length gasped out, for i felt that if our efforts were producing some effect we should be encouraged to continue them, but that if not it would be wise before we were thoroughly exhausted to try and build a raft on which we might have a chance of saving our lives. my companion made no reply, but giving a look of doubt, still pumped on, the perspiration streaming down his face and neck showing the desperate exertions he was making. i was much in the same condition, though, like jim, i had on only my shirt and trousers. i was the first to give in, and, utterly unable to move my arms, i sank down on the deck. jim, still not uttering a word, doggedly worked on, bringing up a stream of water which flowed out through the scuppers. it seemed wonderful that he could go on, but after some time he also stopped, and staggered to where he had left the rod. "i'll try," he said. i gazed at him with intense anxiety. "three inches less. we're gaining on the leaks!" he exclaimed. i sprang to my feet and seized the brake. jim struck out with his arms "to take the turns out of the muscles," as he said, while he sat for a minute on the deck, and again went at it. all this time the wind was falling and the sea going down. as we laboured at the pumps we looked out anxiously for the appearance of a vessel which might afford us assistance, but not a sail appeared above the horizon. we must depend on our own exertions for preserving our lives. though a calm would enable us the better to free the brig of water and to get up jury-masts, it would lessen our chance of obtaining help. yet while the brig was rolling and tumbling about we could do nothing but pump, and pump we did till our strength failed us, and we both sank down on the deck. my eyes closed, and i felt that i was dropping off to sleep. how long i thus lay i could not tell, when i heard jim sing out-- "hurrah! we've gained six inches on the leak," and clank, clank, clank, went his pump. i cannot say that i sprang up, but i got, somehow or other, on my feet, and, seizing the brake, laboured away more like a person in his sleep than one awake. i saw the water flowing freely, so i knew that i was not pumping uselessly. presently i heard jim cry out-- "hillo! look there!" turning my eyes aft, i saw the captain holding on by the companion-hatch, and gazing in utter astonishment along the deck. his head bound up in a white cloth, a blanket over his shoulders, his face pale as death, he looked more like a ghost than a living man. "where are they, lads?" he exclaimed at length, in a hollow voice. "all gone overboard, sir," answered jim, thinking he ought to speak. the old man, on hearing this, fell flat on the deck. we ran and lifted him up. at first i thought he was dead, but he soon opened his eyes and whispered-- "it was a passing weakness, and i'll be better soon. trust in god, laddies; go on pumping, and he'll save your lives," he said. "we'll take you below first, sir. you'll be better in your berth than here," i answered. "no, no! i'll stay on deck; the fresh air will do me good," he said; but scarcely had he uttered the words than he fell back senseless. "we must get him below, or he'll die here," i said; so jim and i carried him down as before, and got him into his bed. "he wants looking after," said jim; "so, peter, do you tend him, and i'll go back to the pumps." thinking that he wanted food more than anything else, i lighted the cabin fire, and collecting some materials from the pantry for broth in a saucepan, put it on to boil. though i had been actively engaged, i felt able once more to work the pumps. jim said that he was certain the water in the hold was decreasing, while, as the brig was steadier, less was coming in. this increased our hopes of keeping her afloat, but we should want rest and sleep, and when we knocked off the water might once more gain on us. we did not forget, however, what the captain had said. when i could pump no longer i ran below, freshly dressed the old man's head, and gave him some broth, which was by this time ready. it evidently did him good. then, taking a basin of it myself, i ran up on deck with another for jim. "that puts life into one," he said, as, seated on the deck with his legs stretched out, he swallowed it nearly scalding hot. a draught of water which he told me to bring, however, cooled his throat, and he again set to, i following his example. by this time the day was far advanced, and even jim confessed that he must soon give in, while i could scarcely stand. the wind had continued to go down, but the sea still rolled the vessel about too much to enable us to get up jury-masts, even if we had had strength to move, before dark. "it's no use trying to hold out longer, i must get a snooze," sighed jim. he looked as if he were half asleep already. "we had better go and lie down in the cabin, so that we may be ready to help the captain," i answered; "but i'll tell you what, we'll take a look into the fore-peak first, to see how the leaks are going on there." "oh, they are all right," said jim. "we shouldn't have lessened the water so much if anything had given way." still i persisted in going forward, and jim followed me. just then the vessel gave a pitch, which nearly sent me head first down the fore-hatchway. as we got below i heard the sound of a rush of water. the handspike which secured the chief leak had worked out of its place, and the blankets and boards were forced inwards. it required all our remaining strength to put them back. had we been asleep aft the brig would have filled in a few minutes. jim wanted to remain forward, but i persuaded him to come aft, being sure that he would sleep too soundly to hear the water coming in should the leaks break out afresh, and might be drowned before he awoke. having done all we could to secure the handspikes, we crawled rather than walked to the cabin. we were thankful to find that the captain was asleep, so, without loss of time, jim crept into one of the side berths, and i lay down on the after locker. in half a minute i had forgotten what had happened and where i was. as the old captain and we two lads lay fast asleep on board the demasted brig out there in the wild north sea, a kind providence watched over us. we might have been run down, or, the leaks breaking out afresh, the vessel might have foundered before we awoke. a voice which i supposed to be that of the captain aroused me. the sun was shining down through the cabin sky-light. the vessel was floating motionless. not a sound did i hear except jim's snoring. i tried to jump up, but found my limbs terribly stiff, every joint aching. i made my way, however, to the old man's berth. "how are you, captain finlay?" i asked. he did not reply. i stepped nearer. his eyes were closed. i thought he was dead; yet i heard his voice, i was certain of that. i stood looking at him, afraid to ascertain if what i feared was the case. a feeling of awe crept over me. i did not like to call out to jim, yet i wanted him to come to me. at last i staggered over to the berth in which jim was sleeping. "jim! jim!" i said, "i am afraid the captain is taken very bad." jim did not awake, so i shook him several times till he sat up, still half asleep and rubbing his eyes. "what's the matter?" he asked. "oh--ay, i know. we'll turn to at the pumps, peter." i repeated what i had said. he was on his feet in a moment. he moved at first with as much difficulty as i had done. "come along," i said, and together we went over to the state cabin. we looked at the old man without speaking. after some time jim mustered courage to touch his hand. to my great relief the captain opened his eyes. "praise god, who has preserved us during the night, my lads!" were the first words he spoke, and while we stood by his side he offered up a short prayer. he then told us to go on deck and learn the state of the weather. we hurried up. the sun was shining brightly; the sea was smooth as glass, unbroken by a single ripple. jim did not forget the leak; he sounded the well. "we must turn to at the pumps, peter," he exclaimed. "she's made a good deal of water during the night, and it will take us not a few hours to get it out of her, but we'll not give in." "i should think not, indeed," i answered. "but i'll go down and hear what the captain wants us to do." before i had got half way down the companion-ladder i heard the clank of the pump. jim had lost no time in setting to work. i hastened to the state-room. i was startled by the changed appearance of the captain's countenance during the short time i had been on deck. his eyes were turned towards me with a fixed look. i spoke, but he did not answer; i leant over him, no breath proceeded from his lips; i touched his brow, then i knew that the good old man was dead. presently i closed his eyes, and with a sad heart returned on deck. "he's gone, jim," i cried. "gone! the captain gone! then i am sorry," answered jim, as he stopped pumping for a moment, though he still held the brake in his hands. "then, peter, you and i must just do our best to take the brig into port by ourselves." "i was thinking the same, jim," i said. "he told us to get up jury-masts and steer west, and that's just what we must do if the wind will let us." the death of our good captain made us feel very sad, for we had learned to look upon him as our true friend. it caused us also to become more anxious even than before about ourselves. with his assistance we had had little doubt, should the weather remain fine, of reaching a port, but as we were neither of us accustomed to the use of charts, and did not know how to take an observation, we could not tell to what port we should steer our course. we had both, however, dauntless spirits, and had been accustomed from our childhood to trust to our own resources. our grand idea was to steer west, if we could manage to get sail on the brig, but before this could be attempted we must pump her free of water. there was no time to mourn for our old captain, so without delay we turned to at the pumps. my arms and legs and every part of my body felt very stiff. jim saw that i should not be able to continue long at it. "peter, do you go below and look out for some spars to serve as jury-masts," he said; "i'll meantime keep on. we shall soon get the water under; it's only a wonder more hasn't come in." jim and i never thought who was captain; if i told him to do a thing he did it, or if he gave an order i did not stop to consider whether or not he had the right to command. we worked together as if we had but one will. it was "a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull both together." there were plenty of spars below, and i soon selected some which i thought would serve for the masts and yards we required. i had to call jim to help me get them up on deck. "there'll be no use for these till we can find some canvas to spread on them," i observed. "nor till we get a breeze to fill the sails," said jim. "however, we'll get them set while the calm lasts, and no doubt you'll find as many as we can carry in the sail-room." this was right aft, down a small hatchway. while jim went again to his pump, i hunted about and hauled out two topgallantsails and royals, a fore-staysail, a second jib, and a main-trysail. if we could set all these we should do well, supposing we got a fair breeze. it would be no easy job, however, i knew, to get up the masts. we had one advantage. the proper masts had been carried away some six or seven feet from the deck, so that we might lash the spars to them. before setting to work i again went below to hunt for rope. i got more than i expected from different parts of the vessel, and we had also saved some of the rigging, which had been entangled in the bulwarks. "we shall want every scrap of rope we can find!" cried jim, panting and still pumping away. "i'll take a spell with you," i said. "then we'll turn to and rig the ship." i pumped till i could pump no longer, and then, after a short rest, we commenced in earnest. we first lashed a short spar, with a tackle secured to its head, to the stump of the foremast, and then, having fitted two shrouds on a side, with a forestay and backstays, and blocks for the halliards, to the spar we had chosen for a foremast, we swayed it up my means of the short spar and tackle. we could not possibly in any other way have accomplished our object. we next lashed the spar to the stump of the mast. no time was lost in setting up the standing rigging. our foremast being thus fixed, we surveyed it with infinite satisfaction, and then turned to and fitted the brig with a mainmast in the same fashion. this we made somewhat stronger, as we intended it to carry a mainsail should we have to haul on a wind. our work, as may be supposed, was not especially neat--indeed, we had to knot most of the shrouds, as it was necessary to keep all the longer lengths of rope for halliards, and we had none to spare. i cannot stop to explain how we accomplished all this; we could not have done it without employing tackles, which we brought to the windlass, and thus gained twenty times as much power as we by ourselves possessed. we were now pretty well tired and hungry, for, except some bread and cheese and a jug of cold water, we had taken nothing all day. it was with a feeling of awe that we went down into the cabin where the old captain lay. jim, however, closed the door of the state-room, so that we could not see him. we then lighted the fire and cooked some dinner--or rather supper, for evening was drawing on. anxious to be again at work, we hurried over the meal. "i say, peter, don't you think we ought to bury the skipper?" asked jim, after a long silence. "not for some days to come," i answered; "i hope that we may get into port first, so as to lay him in a grave on shore." "i don't think it will make much odds to him; and, to say the truth, now he's dead, i'd rather he were out of the ship," said jim; "they say it's unlucky to have a dead man on board." i had some difficulty in persuading jim of the folly of such a notion, but we finally agreed that we would try to carry the captain's body to land. before bending sails we took a look down forward to see the condition of the leaks. the handspikes were in their places, and, except a slight moisture round the holes, we could not discover that any water was getting in. still there was a great deal too much in the brig for safety, so we took another spell at the pumps before going on with the rigging. darkness found us hard at work. we were too tired and sleepy to attempt keeping a look-out, but i bethought me of hoisting a lantern at each masthead, which would save us from being run down should a breeze spring up during the night jim thought the idea capital, and promised to get up and trim the lamps. fortunately, the nights were short, so that there was not much necessity for that. our chief wish now was that the calm would continue for a few hours during the next day, that we might get the brig to rights. "one spell more at the pumps!" cried jim. we seized the brakes, worked till we could work no longer, then went below, ate some food from the pantry, and lying down in the two larboard berths in the cabin, were fast asleep in a few seconds. people talk of sleeping like tops. a hard-worked ship-boy will beat any top in the world at sleeping soundly. for a second night the brig lay becalmed. i doubt that if even a fierce gale had sprung up it would have awakened us. the sun was shining when i opened my eyes. it might have been shining for hours for what i could tell. i roused up jim, and we sprang on deck, vexed at having, as we supposed, lost so much precious time. by the height of the sun above the horizon, however, we judged that it was not so late as we had at first fancied. the clock in the cabin had been unshipped when the brig went over, and the captain's watch had stopped, so that we had otherwise no means of knowing how the hours passed by. it was still perfectly calm. we looked round in all directions. not a sail was in sight. "we must get ready for the breeze, jim, when it does spring up," i said. "it will come before many hours are over, i've a notion." i had observed some light clouds just under the sun. "may be; but we must take a spell at the pumps first," he answered--his first thought was always of them. we turned to as before, till our arms ached, and then we ran down and got some breakfast. we knew the value of time, but we couldn't get on without eating, any more than other people. on returning to the deck we lowered the lanterns, which had long since gone out, finished bending the sails, fitting braces, tacks, sheets, and bowlines, and were then ready to hoist away. we at once set all the sails we had ready, to see how they stood. to our satisfaction, they appeared to greater advantage than we had expected. "they'll do!" cried jim, as we surveyed them; "only let us get a breeze from the right quarter, and we'll soon make the land." fortunately, the rudder had been uninjured when the brig went over, and the wheel was in order. i stood at the helm, longing for the time when i should see the brig moving through the water. i may say, once for all, that at very frequent intervals jim and i went to the pumps, but he stood longer at the work than i did. there was urgent necessity for our doing so, as, notwithstanding all our exertions, we had but slightly diminished the water in the hold. when not thus occupied we did various things that were necessary about the brig; among others we got life-lines round the shattered bulwarks, so that should a heavy sea get up, we might run less risk of being washed overboard. we also went to the store-room, and brought to the cabin various descriptions of provisions, that we might have them at hand when wanted. we knew that when once we got a wind we should have no time to do anything besides navigating the vessel. i had gone below to get dinner ready, the only hot meal we took in the day, leaving jim pumping, when i heard him sing out down the companion-hatchway-- "here it comes, and a rattling breeze, too." i sprang on deck and went to the helm, while jim stood ready to trim sails. looking astern i could see a line of white foam sweeping along towards us over the surface of the ocean. before it was up to us the sails bulged out, the brig gathered way, and presently she was gliding at the rate of three or four knots through the water. jim and i shouted with exultation--we forgot the past--we thought not of the future. we believed that we were about to reap the fruit of our labours. for several hours we ran on with the wind right aft, steering due west. i steered for most of the time, but jim occasionally relieved me. so eager were we that we forgot all about eating, till he cried out-- "i must have some food, peter, or i shall drop." i was running below to get it, feeling just as hungry as he did, when the wind hauled more to the southward. we took a pull at the starboard braces, and i then hurried below to bring up what we wanted. just as i was cutting some meat which had been boiling till the fire went out, i heard a crash. i sprang up on deck. the brig was again dismasted, and jim was struggling in the waves astern. chapter eleven. dangers multiply. for a moment i could not believe my senses. i fell like a person in a dreadful dream. what, jim gone! the brig again dismasted, and i left alone on board her with the body of our dead captain! i was recalled to myself by hearing a faint shout, and looking over the stern i saw my old friend struggling amidst the waves some distance off. my first impulse was to leap into the sea and swim to his rescue, but then the thought happily came to me that if i did we should be unable to regain the vessel; so, instead, crying out, "keep up, jim--keep up, i'll help you!" i did what was far more likely to prove effectual--i unrove the peak-halliards, cutting them clear with my knife, and fastened one end to the wooden grating over the cabin sky-light. this i threw overboard, and as i feared that the halliards would not prove long enough, i bent on another rope to them. the grating appeared to be dropping astern very fast; and yet jim, who was swimming strongly, seemed to be nearing it very slowly, by which i knew that the brig must still, urged on by the impetus she had before received, be moving through the water. securing the line, i therefore put down the helm, and completely stopped her way. all was done faster than i have described it. springing back to the taffrail, with straining eyes i watched jim, for more i could not do to help him, except to give an occasional shout to cheer him up. the dreadful thought came that there might be sharks about, or that his strength might fail him before he could reach the grating. i did more than cheer, though--i prayed to god with all my soul that jim might be saved. often he seemed scarcely to be moving through the water--now he threw himself on his back to rest--then he once more struck bravely out, replying as he did so to my cheer. at length he got near the grating. my heart gave a bound of joy as i saw him seize it, when he gradually drew himself up and lay flat on its surface, the best way for making it afford him support. with a shout to jim to hold on, i began to haul in the raft till i brought it under the quarter. "wait a minute, jim, while i get a tackle ready to haul you on board," i cried out. this did not take me the time i said, and forming a bowline i lowered it to him. he seemed so exhausted that i was afraid lest in trying to pass it over his shoulders he might slide off the grating; and i was about to go down to assist him, when, seeing the rope, he slipped his arms through it and exclaimed, "haul away, peter." i was not long in obeying him, it may be supposed, and i almost cried with joy as i had him at length safe on deck. i knew that the first thing now to be done was to get off his wet clothes, and to give him a restorative, but i had a hard job to carry him below, as he could not help himself. "never mind, peter," he said, faintly; "i shall soon be all to rights again." but i was not going to leave him in the cold air on deck, so going first, i let him slip gradually down the companion-ladder, and then stripping off his clothes, in a short time had him snug between the blankets. i then quickly relighted the fire and warmed up the broth i had before cooked, while i hung up jim's clothes to dry. the hot broth seemed greatly to restore him, but as he was pretty well worn out before he had gone overboard, it is no wonder that as soon as the basin was emptied he fell fast asleep. i had not stopped to ask him how the accident had occurred, but i suspected, as i afterwards found was the case, that as the masts fell a rope had somehow or other caught his legs and whisked him overboard. he was, however, never very clear how it happened. having performed my duties below, and taken some food, which i greatly needed, i went on deck. it was still blowing fresh, but there was not much sea on, and the brig lay like a log on the water. to my great relief i found that none of the spars or sails had been lost, all of them having fallen inboard, so i set to work to secure them as well as i could, knowing that till jim was strong enough to help me i could do nothing towards getting up the masts again. i did not for a moment contemplate giving up the struggle. i next went down into the fore-peak to see if our arrangements for keeping out the water were secure. nothing had moved. still, as i knew that the water must be coming in and might gain upon us dangerously, i took a spell at pumping. this pretty well exhausted all my remaining strength, yet before turning in to get some rest there was another thing to be done. we might be in the track of some vessel or other, and should the night prove dark might be run down and sent to the bottom while we were asleep. i therefore trimmed the lamp in one of the lanterns, and with great labour having lashed a spar to the stump of the foremast, hoisted the lantern to the top of it. this done i could do no more, and crawling into my cabin was soon fast asleep in my berth. i slept tranquilly, knowing that he who had hitherto preserved us was watching over us still. i was awakened by the clanking sound of the pump. it was broad daylight; jim was not in his berth, and on springing on deck there i saw him in his shirt and trowsers hard at work, forcing up the water at a great rate. "i'm all to rights, peter," he said, in a cheerful tone, "and as i guessed that you had been up long after i went to sleep, i thought as how i would take a spell at the pump before rousing you up." thanking him for his thoughtfulness, i seized the other brake and pumped till my arms ached. "now, peter, we must see about getting up the masts again," he said, when he saw me knock off. "you want some breakfast first, and so do i," i answered. "we'll then set to work with a will." we took some food, which rested and refreshed us, and then commenced the task we had undertaken. the wind had again fallen. what there was of it was fair, and the sea was almost as smooth as a mill-pond. had it been rough we could scarcely have attempted the work. we had first to unreeve all the ropes, and unbend all the sails. we then selected two much stouter spars than before for fresh masts, got the standing rigging over their heads, and by means of tackles got them set up to the stumps of the fore and main masts, next securing them much more effectually we hoped than the former jury-masts had been, with light spars of different lengths lashed round them, and additional backstays. we made such good progress that by night we were almost ready to hoist the sails, having all the time rested only for a few minutes to obtain some food and then going on again. nature, however, at last gave way, and if we stopped for a moment we went fast asleep with a rope or marlinespike in our hands. "it's no use trying to keep awake, jim," i said. he, in a sleepy voice, agreed, and having again hoisted the lantern we went below to get the rest we so much needed. the next morning i heard as before the pump going. it was still dark, but jim had awoke, and this was always his first thought. i joined him, and we laboured on till there was light enough to enable us to bend sails. the wind being fair we soon had them hoisted, and i went to the helm, jim pulling and hauling to trim them as required. it must be understood that everything was done in a rough-and-ready fashion, but it was the best we could do. once more the brig glided on towards the west at the rate, as we supposed, of three or four knots an hour. jim, having done all that was required, took my place at the helm while i went below to get some food for breakfast. as i was unwilling to be off the deck a moment longer than was necessary, without stopping to light the fire i brought up a supply of provisions and water to last us for some time, as also some cloaks and blankets. we agreed that we must content ourselves with cold water, and ham, and cheese, and bread, and be thankful, remembering how many poor fellows had been much worse off than we were. we ate a hearty meal, i feeding jim while he steered. he did not appear to have suffered from his long swim, except that he complained of being very sleepy. i therefore advised him to lie down on the coats and blankets i had brought on deck to get some rest, while i took his place at the helm, promising to call him should the breeze freshen and it become necessary to shorten sail. he agreed and i steered on, now looking at the compass, now at the canvas, and now all around on the chance of a vessel appearing from which we might learn our position. i own that i should have been very unwilling for any one to have come on board to take the brig into harbour, for we both thought how proud we should feel if we could carry her in ourselves without help. still, for the sake of the owners we could not, we had agreed, refuse assistance should it be offered us. at last my eyes began to close, and it was with the greatest difficulty that i could keep them open, or prevent myself from sinking down on the deck. i was, therefore, very thankful when i saw jim begin to move. i uttered his name. he was on his feet in an instant. "i'll take a spell at the pump first," he said, rubbing his eyes and looking round, especially ahead; "then i'll come to the helm." talking to him aroused me a little, and i was able to hold on till he relieved me. i was almost asleep before i sank down on the blanket, only just hearing him say, "we must keep a bright look-out ahead, for we ought soon to be making the land." that sleep did me a great deal of good. we agreed that we would both take as much as we could during the day, that we might be more wide-awake at night. i had observed that there was something on jim's mind, and while we were at supper, soon after sunset, i asked him what it was. "why, you see, as i said afore, i wish that our old skipper was, somehow or other, out of the ship. now if you are willing, peter, i'll sew him up all comfortable like in an old sail, with a pig of iron at the feet; and as you are a better scholar than i am, you can say the prayers over him while we lower him overboard, and to my mind he'll be just as well off as he would be ashore." i reminded jim that he had before consented to our keeping the body as long as we could, but knowing that his superstitious ideas induced him to make the proposal, and that he was really uncomfortable, i agreed to bury our skipper at the end of three days if we did not by that time sight the land. the night and another day went by, the wind still holding fair. i pointed out to jim how thankful we should be for this, as i was certain that in the latitude where we were there was seldom so long a continuance of fine weather. he, however, was far from easy in his mind. he was sure, he said, that we ought to have seen the land before this, and was continually, when not working the pump, going forward to look out for it. "i knows that england is an island, as the song says, `our right little, tight little island;' and don't you think that somehow we may have passed to the nor'ard of it, and be going away into the atlantic?" "i hope not," i answered; "for if so we shall not get into port till we have run right across it; but i am sure the captain never intended us to do that when he told us to steer west; i think rather that we have not been going as fast as we supposed. i'll heave the log and try, though it will be a difficult job to do so." i got out the reel and glass. the latter i gave to jim to hold with one hand, while he steered with the other. the handle of the reel i managed to put into a hole in the shattered bulwarks, so that it could run round easily. i then took the log-ship in my right hand and hove it. "turn!" i cried. "turn!" said jim. the line ran slowly out. "stop!" cried jim. i examined the line. two knots and a half was all it showed. jim thought we were going four. i was thus certain that we had run a much shorter distance than he supposed, but he was not convinced that i was right. day and night, between the intervals of pumping, he went forward to look out. another day went by. it was again night jim had been a long time pumping when he said that he would go forward and look out till it was his turn to take the helm. i advised him rather to lie down, as i was sure that he must be tired, but he would not, and away he went into the darkness towards the bows. i every now and then hailed him and he answered. i had not hailed for some time when i felt the breeze freshen. the main-topsail and mainsail bulged out, straining at the sheets, and the masts began to complain. "jim! jim!" i shouted, "shorten sail, be smart about it." but jim did not answer. i dared not leave the helm lest the brig should broach to and our masts again be carried overboard. once more i shouted, "jim! jim!" still he did not come, and the dreadful idea arose in my mind that he had fallen overboard. at last i could withstand the desire no longer of rushing forward to ascertain what had become of him. what mattered it, if he were lost, what else might happen? i made a dash forward, keeping my eye on the stars. i had got as far as the mainmast when i saw that the brig's head was moving round, so i sprang back to right the helm. again and again i shrieked out my companion's name at the top of my voice, springing forward, but had only got a little farther than before when i had to return. the wind continued to get up. the masts would go, i saw, if sail were not shortened. i let go the main-topsail, and throat and peak-halliards. the sails flapped loudly in the wind, but as the brig now kept more steadily before it, i thought that i should be able to reach the forecastle, though i had very little hope of finding jim. i was still shouting his name, when what was my joy to hear him cry out, "hillo! what's the matter?" and i saw his head rise from just before the windlass. i never in my life felt more inclined to abuse him for the fright he had given me, thankful as i was that no harm had happened to him. i did not even tell him how much i had been alarmed, but merely cried out, "come, be smart, jim, we must stow the canvas." we were beginning to do so, when the wind fell, and instead we again hoisted the fore-topsail. jim owned that while he fancied he was looking out his legs gave way and that he had sunk down on the deck. "take care that the same doesn't happen when you are steering, or worse consequences may follow," i remarked. he now let me take my nap, and when i awoke he said that we had had a famous run; but towards noon the wind dropped, and it became towards evening a stark calm. this lasted all night and far into the next day. "peter, do you know if there's a prayer-book aboard?" asked jim. the question surprised me. i was nearly certain that there was not. "well then, you can say some prayers without one," he continued. "for, peter, there's no use talking longer about it; we must bury the skipper." reluctantly i agreed. jim got a piece of canvas, a sail-maker's needle, and some twine, with a pig of iron ballast which had been used in one of the boats. as there was no sign of a breeze, with these he went below, and for the first time since his death opened the captain's state-room. we brought the corpse into the main cabin, and placing it on the canvas, without loss of time jim began sewing it up. the old man's kind face had scarcely changed. we took one respectful last look at it, and then jim, drawing the canvas over it, shut it out from sight. we had now to get the body on deck, but without a tackle this we could not have done. at last we managed to haul it up the companion-ladder. when jim went below for more canvas and twine to fasten on the pig of iron to the feet, we had been longer about our task than we had supposed. looking astern, i saw that the sky was darkened by heavy masses of clouds, while a line of foam came hissing over the surface of the deep towards us. "quick! quick! jim," i shouted; "shorten sail, or the masts will be over the side!" i ran as i spoke to the halliards; he followed; we had to be smart about it, and even thus the gale was on us before we could get the canvas stowed. that was not to be done in a hurry. first one sail got loose, then another, and we had to hurry to secure them. the sea rose with unusual suddenness, and the brig was soon tossing about in a way which made us fear that another leak would be sprung, or the old ones break out. we managed at length to set the fore-topsail, closely reefed, and i going to the helm, we ran before the gale. if jim was before anxious about our being near the land, he was more so now. his eyes were nearly always turned ahead, but i began to think more about the leaks. i asked him what he thought. "we'll try the well," he answered. no sooner had he examined the rod than he exclaimed-- "we must turn to at the pumps, peter, if we don't want to go to the bottom." we no longer thought of burying the captain, or doing anything but keeping the brig afloat. the night began; jim worked away as hard as his failing strength would allow. i shouted to him to let me take a spell. "no, no; you keep at the helm, peter," he answered; "i'll work till i drop." he only stopped now and then to take a look-out ahead. the gale seemed to be increasing; the brig pitched and rolled more and more. suddenly there came a loud clap. the foresail had given way. jim ran forward, and lowered it on deck. as i could no longer be of use at the helm, i ran to his help, and we tried to set it again, but all our efforts were in vain. every moment, too, the seas now raging round the vessel threatened to break on board. "peter, the water is coming in as fast as we get it out, and if we don't keep pumping it will gain upon us," said jim. for fear of being carried away, we made ourselves fast to some stanchions near the pumps, so that we could reach the brakes, and worked away till we were both ready to drop. now and then we had to stop to draw breath and regain our strength. the hard battered brig pitched and rolled and tumbled, the seas dancing up wildly on every side of her. again we had stopped, when jim exclaimed, "hark! i hear the breakers." i listened. the dreaded sound reached my ears. the brig was driving rapidly towards them. chapter twelve. port reached in an unexpected manner. the sound of the breakers grew louder and louder. every instant we expected to find the brig sent crashing on the rocks, and to have the furious seas breaking over us. "there's no use pumping any longer, peter," said jim. "we must cling to whatever we can get hold of, and hope for the chance of being hove up on the beach, if there is one." "a poor chance that," i could not help answering. "perhaps the brig may be driven in between some rocks, and will hold together till the morning; if not we must be prepared to die." and i spoke to him as i think my mother would have spoken to me. clinging to the shattered bulwarks, we waited for the dreadful event with all the resignation we could muster. still the crash did not come, though the vessel appeared to be tossed about even more violently than before. "peter, the breakers don't sound so loud as they did just now," exclaimed jim, after some time. "let's look at the compass," i said, casting off the rope round my waist. "i'll go too," cried jim, doing the same. "what happens to you shall happen to both." together we made our way to the binnacle, in which the lamp was still burning. as we eagerly examined the compass we found that the wind had shifted to the south-west, and if there was land, as we supposed, to the westward, was blowing partly off shore. we must have drifted past a headland, on which we had heard the seas breaking. had the foresail stood we should have run on it, and we had cause, therefore, to be thankful that it had given way. now, however, as it was important to keep off the land, we attempted to secure the clew and tack, and hauling together succeeded in again hoisting it. i then ran to the helm, and found that i could steer east by north or thereabouts. though the brig moved very slowly, still i believed that we were getting away from the dreaded shore. we ran on for some time, when once more the wind shifted to the eastward of south, and blew with greater fury than before. "it's drawing more and more to the east," said jim, looking at the compass. we hauled down the foresail, as it would only, we believed, drive us the faster to destruction. the brig tumbled and rolled and pitched about in a way that made it difficult for us to keep our feet, and every now and then the seas, washing over the deck, would have swept us off had we not again lashed ourselves to the stanchions near the pumps. these we worked as vigorously as our failing strength would allow. we had resolved not to give in while the brig remained afloat. how we longed for daylight, that we might see where we were, and judge how we could best try to save ourselves! that we were again driving towards the terrible rocks we knew too well, and several times jim stopped pumping to listen for the sound of the breakers. at length he exclaimed, "i hear them, peter! in less than ten minutes the brig will be in pieces! good-bye, if the sea gets us; but we'll have a fight for it; so the moment she strikes we'll cast ourselves off from the stanchions." we were shaking hands while he spoke. i was not quite certain that i did hear the breakers, the noises on board the tumbling vessel making it difficult to distinguish sounds. shortly after this there came a lull, but we thought it only the prelude to another squall. the wind fell more and more. "i see day breaking!" cried jim, looking eastward. faint yellow and red streaks were visible in that direction under the dark mass of clouds. the light increased, and to the westward, fringed by a line of rugged black rocks, a green island gradually rose before our sight. there were grassy slopes, and cliffs, and high, steep, round-topped hills, with clear streams running between them, forming lakelets near the beach, glittering in the rays of the rising sun, now bursting through the dissolving clouds. far as our eyes could reach not a tree was visible, nor could we discover a single cottage or other habitation of man. as the light increased we found that we were about half a mile away from the entrance of a narrow gulf, which extended apparently far inland. not a boat floated on the surface of the gulf, not a sail was to be seen along the coast. "i'm greatly afeared that yonder is a dissolute island," (meaning a desolate island), "and if no help comes to us from the shore we may be blown out to sea, and be worse off than before," said jim. the wind had fallen to an almost perfect calm, but what there was blew out of the gulf, so that we could not hope to take the vessel up it, while the breakers still burst in sheets of foam on the rocks, and we lay tossed up and down by the glassy rolling seas. we were utterly helpless. while we were at breakfast a thought occurred to me. "i'll tell you what we'll do, jim," i said; "we'll build a raft, put the poor old captain on it, take him ashore, and bury him. if we can find no people or houses we'll go off again. the brig won't drift far away in the meantime. if the wind will let us we'll run into the gulf, or if it shifts to the northward we'll steer along shore to the south and look out for another harbour. from what the captain said we may be sure there is one not far off where we shall find people to help us." jim jumped at my proposal. "that's it, peter; when once the dead man is out of the brig things will go better with us," he answered. i did not stop to argue the point, but turned to at once with him to form the proposed raft. we had plenty of spars below, so that our undertaking was not so difficult as it would have been had we not had a good supply. we first cut them into lengths with a saw we found below, and having placed them side by side, lashed others across on the top of them. eager as we were to finish our task, we had more than once to stop and rest, for we were both very weak, and i felt a sensation of weariness i had not ever before experienced. in fact, we were thoroughly knocked up from the hard work we had gone through, and the little time we had had for rest. having completed the raft and formed some paddles, we launched it overboard and secured it alongside. "now, jim," i said, "we must take some provisions, in case there are no people on the island, as we may have a longer pull back than we may like, and we have to bring up the captain and put him on the raft." we quickly collected some provisions, and i took the empty water-jar from the pantry. "what's that for?" asked jim. "there's water enough on shore, surely." "yes, but if we have a long pull back to the brig we shall be thankful for water," i answered. while thus employed we heard a voice coming from no great distance hail, "ship ahoy!" my heart leapt within me at the sound, and running to the side we saw a boat with five men in her pulling towards us. an oldish man of portly figure, who looked like a sea captain, was steering. "are ye the only people aboard?" he sang out as he saw us. "the only live ones, sir," answered jim. there was no time to exchange more words before the boat was alongside, and the old gentleman and his men stepped on board. he gave a look of surprise as he saw the captain's body, and he then, turning to us, appeared more surprised still. "why, my laddies, what has happened? how did this craft come here?" he asked, in a kind tone. i briefly told him how the masts had been carried away and the people washed overboard, and how the captain had been struck down and afterwards had died, and how we had kept him to bury him decently on shore, adding-- "he told us to steer west, sir, and so we did, but we don't know what country we've come to." "why, surely, to shetland, laddies," he answered. "but if ye had kept a little farther to the north ye would have passed our islands and run into the atlantic, and it's weel for ye that ye didna do that. and now my men and i will take your craft up the voe and anchor her in safety. we might carry her to lerwick, but the weather is unsettled, and she's na weel fitted to encounter another gale, no discredit to ye, laddies." our new friend evidently compassionated our forlorn condition; indeed, now that the necessity for exerting ourselves was over, we both sank down utterly exhausted on the deck. the shetlanders would have carried us below, but we begged to remain where we were, that we might see what was going forward. they therefore left us, and having placed the captain's body on the main hatch, covered by a flag, they proceeded to pull our raft to pieces and to hoist the spars composing it on board. this done, the four men jumped into the boat, and going ahead began to tow the brig, while the old gentleman went to the helm to steer. before long, however, a breeze from the eastward springing up, the boat returned alongside, the men hoisted the canvas, and we stood in towards the voe, as the gulf, we found, was called. i could just distinguish the high green hills, with here and there grey cliffs and rocks jutting out from these on either side, as we sailed up the voe, but my eyes grew dimmer and dimmer till the brig's anchor was dropped, and i was just aware that we were being placed in the boat to be carried on shore. when i came to myself i found that i was in a comfortable bed with curtains round it, the sun shining brightly through the open window of the room, which looked neater and prettier than any i had ever slept in. hearing a footstep, i peered through the curtains, and saw a lady and a little girl come in, carrying in their hands some things which they placed on the table. "i think the poor boy is awake, auntie," whispered the little girl. "i heard him move." "perhaps he was only moving in his sleep, but i will see," answered the lady, and she approached the bed. i was looking all the time at the little girl, who seemed to me like an angel or a fairy, or some being altogether brighter than i had ever seen before--even than my sister mary. "yes, marm, i am awake, thank you," i said, as she opened the curtains, "and please, i want to get up and go aboard the brig to look after her and to see that our old captain is buried." "he was buried by the minister the day you came, and the brig is taken very good care of," she answered. "my father, mr angus troil, has written to the owners to inform them of what has happened to her and of your brave conduct. he hopes soon to hear from them." "thank you, marm," i again said, puzzled to know what the lady meant about hearing soon from mr gray, for i had supposed that shetland was a long way from england. my first thought, however, had been about jim. "please, marm, where is the other boy, my shipmate?" i asked. "he was very ill only for three or four days, and is now well enough to go down to the brig with my father," she replied. "but i must not let you talk too much. you were to have some food, the doctor said, when you came to yourself. here, maggie, bring the broth and toast." thereon the little girl brought the tray to the bedside and gazed compassionately at me, while the lady put the food into my mouth, for i was too weak to do so myself. it now dawned on me from what the lady said that i must have been in a state of unconsciousness for many days, and such i found was the case. i recollected nothing that had passed since i was placed in the boat. i could not speak much, but when i had finished the basin of broth i said-- "i am very thankful to you and your little daughter, marm, for all you have done for me." "you deserve to be taken care of, my boy," she answered; "but this little girl is not my daughter. her father was my brother. he was lost at sea while captain of a ship, and her mother has since died, so that she is very precious to us." i looked at little maggie with even more interest than before, and i said-- "my father was also drowned, and so was my grandfather, and i believe his father before him, for i come of a seafaring family." "that has been likewise the fate of many of the troils," said the lady; "but i must not let you talk more now. before long my father and your young shipmate will be returning, and they will be glad to hear from your own lips how you feel. in the meantime try to go to sleep again. the doctor says that the more you sleep the sooner you will regain your strength. saying this, the lady, followed by the little girl, left the room." i thought over what she had said to me, and kept repeating to myself, "margaret troil! margaret troil! i know that name, i am sure!" but i did not think long before i forgot where i was and what had happened. i saw maggie's sweet face peeping in at me when i woke, but as soon as she saw that my eyes were open she ran off, and shortly afterwards mr troil and jim came into the room. the old gentleman spoke very kindly; told me that i must consider myself at home, and that though he hoped i should soon get well, i must be in no hurry to go away. he then went out, saying to jim, "i can let you stay only five minutes with your friend. when the time is up i must call you." jim could at first scarcely speak for joy at seeing me so much better. he then told me how highly mr troil spoke of me and him for the way we had kept the brig afloat, and brought her to the coast of shetland. "i told him as how it wasn't us who did it," continued jim, "but that god sent the wind as blew us here; and he says to me, `to be sure, that was the case in one way, but then that god rewarded your efforts, and thus you deserve great credit for what you did.' he promises to see that we are rewarded, and to do all he can for us himself. i told him as how you were really captain, and that i couldn't have done anything by myself, except pump, and that i had done with a will, seeing i am bigger and stronger than you." i was inclined to smile at jim's modesty, though i felt very grateful to him for speaking so well of me, and was about to ask him what mr troil said in return, when our host called him out of the room. i was thus left to myself, except when the lady, who jim had told me was miss troil, the old gentleman's daughter, or little maggie looked in to see if i wanted anything. two days after this i was able to dress and sit out in front of the house, enjoying the sun and air, looking down on the voe in which lay our brig, with a small sloop and several fishing vessels and boats. on that side, looking to the south, there was a view of the voe and the opposite bank, but on all the others the house, a square stone building, was protected by a high wall close to it, built to keep off the biting cold winds and snow of winter. jim was out with mr troil, and as miss troil was engaged, maggie came and sat by me with a book, and read and talked to me for a long time, getting me to tell her all about myself and our perilous voyage, till her aunt summoned her to attend to some household affairs. when i returned to my room i found that my chest had been brought on shore and placed there. miss troil came in and took out the things, which, having become damp and mildewy, she wished to dry. while doing so she came upon my old testament, which, chancing to open, she examined the inside of the cover with intense curiosity. "why, peter, how did you come by this?" she asked. the family had got by this time to call me peter. i told her that it had belonged to my father's mother, and then for the first time since i came to shetland i recollected that the name in it was spelt in the same way as that of my host. "i must ask my father about this!" she exclaimed. "he had an uncle called angus, after whom he was named, and who married a margaret halcro. there are none of the family remaining in shetland, though at one time they were numerous. peter, i should not be surprised if it turns out that you are a kinsman of ours. should you like to be so?" "indeed i should!" i answered; "i feel as if i were one already, from the kind way you have treated me, even before you thought i might be a relative." when mr trail came in he listened attentively to what his daughter told him, and, having examined the handwriting in the testament, asked me the ages of my father and grandmother, and all other particulars i could tell him. "i have no doubt about your being a near relative of ours, peter, and i rejoice to find you one, my dear boy," he said; "though why my aunt margaret troil did not come back to her husband's relatives after her husband's death i cannot tell." "perhaps she had not the means to make the journey, or my father had gone away to sea, and she was afraid that he might be unable to find her on his return if she left her home; or, now i think of it, i remember my father saying that she died soon after my grandfather was lost, when he himself was a little chap." "well, all is ordered for the best, though we don't see how," said mr troil. "and now you have come you must stay with us and turn back into a shetlander. what do you say to my proposal?" "oh, do stay with us, cousin peter!" exclaimed maggie, taking my hand and looking up in my face. "indeed, i should like very much to do so," i answered, "but there is my sister mary, and i cannot desert her, even though i know that she is well off with mr gray." "then peter must go and fetch her!" exclaimed maggie. "oh, i should so like to have her here! i would love her as a sister." "a bright idea of yours, maggie," said mr troil. "what do you say to it, peter? i will furnish you with ample funds, and you can be back here in a month, as i feel very sure that your friend mr gray will willingly allow mary to come." i need not say that i gladly accepted my generous relative's proposal, and it was arranged that as soon as i had quite recovered my strength i should go south in the first vessel sailing from lerwick, accompanied by jim, who wanted to see his friends, and hoped to be able to work his passage both ways, so that he might not be separated from me. chapter thirteen. a disastrous voyage. i was soon myself again, and ready for the proposed voyage southward. accordingly, mr troil having received directions from mr gray to send the _good intent_ to lerwick to be refitted, tom and i, bidding farewell, as we hoped, only for a short season to miss troil and maggie, went on board the brig to assist in carrying her there, intending to proceed by the first vessel sailing after our arrival. mr troil sent us a pilot and a good crew to navigate the vessel, and accompanied her himself in his sloop, that he might assist us if necessary. the wind was fair and the sea smooth, and thus without accident we arrived in that fine harbour called brassa sound, on the shore of which lerwick, the capital of the islands, stands. we there found a vessel shortly to sail for newcastle. having taken in a cargo of coals, she was thence to proceed to portsmouth. this so exactly suited our object that mr troil at once engaged a passage on board her for jim and me. after portsmouth the town appeared small, but the inhabitants have large warm hearts, and were very kind to jim and me. as he remarked, it is better to have large hearts and live in a small place than small cold hearts and to live in a large place. they seemed never to tire of asking us questions about our voyage in the _good intent_, and how we two boys alone managed to rig jury-masts and to keep her afloat. "by just knowing how to do our work and sticking to it," answered jim, to one of our friends. if we had remained much longer at lerwick we should have begun to fancy ourselves much more important persons than we really were; but the brig _nancy_, captain gowan, was ready for sea, and wishing farewell to my kind relative, mr troil, who set sail in his ship to return home, we went on board. we soon afterwards got under way with a fair breeze, and before night had left sumburgh head, the lofty point which forms the southern end of the shetland islands, far astern. the _nancy_ was a very different sort of craft from the _good intent_. she was an old ill-found vessel, patched up in an imperfect manner, and scarcely seaworthy. jim and i agreed that if she were to meet with the bad weather we encountered in our old ship she would go to the bottom or drive ashore. we discovered also before long that captain gowan was a very different person from our former captain. he had conducted himself pretty well on shore, so that people spoke of him as a very decent man, but when once at sea he threw off all restraint, abused the crew, quarrelled with the mate, and neglected us, who had been placed under his charge. jim, who had to work his passage, slept in the fore-peak, but i was berthed aft. i, however, did as much duty as anyone. jim told me that the men were a rough lot, and that he had never heard worse language in his life. they tried to bully him, but as he was strong enough to hold his own, and never lost his temper, they gave up the attempt. captain gowan growled when i came in to dinner the first day, which i knew that i had a right to do, and he asked if every ship-boy was to be turned into a young gentleman because he happened to have saved his life while others lost theirs? i did not answer him, for i saw an empty bottle on the locker, and another by his side with very little liquor remaining in it. after this i kept out of his way, and got my meals from the cook as best i could. jim and i agreed that if the _nancy_ had not been going direct to portsmouth, we should do well to leave her at newcastle, and try to make our way south on board some other vessel. although we went, i believe, much out of our proper course, we at last entered the tyne. soon after we brought up, several curiously-shaped boats, called kreels, came alongside, containing eight tubs, each holding a chaldron; these tubs being hoisted on board, their bottoms were opened and the coals fell into the hold. the kreels, which were oval in shape, were propelled by a long oar or pole on each side, worked by a man who walked along the gunwale from the bow to the stern, pressing the upper end with his shoulder while the lower touched the ground. another man stood in the stern with a similar long oar to steer. the crews were fine hardy fellows, known as kreelmen. i was astonished to hear them call each other bullies, till i found that the term signified "brothers." so bully saunders meant brother saunders. jim and i had had the sense to put on our working clothes, which was fortunate, as before long, with the coal-dust flying about, we were as black as negroes, but as everything and all on board were coloured with the same brush, we did not mind that. with the help of the kreelmen the _nancy_ was soon loaded, and we again sailed for the southward. matters did not improve. the captain, having abstained from liquor while on shore, recompensed himself by taking a double allowance, and became proportionably morose and ill-tempered, never speaking civilly to me, and often passing a whole day without exchanging a word with his poor mate; and when he did open his mouth it was to abuse. the brig, though tolerably tight when light, now that she had a full cargo, as soon as a sea got up began to leak considerably, so that each watch had to pump for an hour to keep the water under. jim and i took our turns without being ordered, but though accustomed to the exercise, it was hard work. when we cried "spell ho!" for others to take our places, the captain shouted, "you began to pump for your own pleasure, now you shall go on for mine, you young rascals!" the men, however, though they at first laughed, having more humanity than the skipper, soon relieved us. this was the third day after we sailed, when the wind shifting to the south-west, and then to the south, we stood away to the eastward in order to double the north foreland. after some time it came on to blow harder than ever, but the brig was made snug in time, though the leaks increased, and all hands in a watch were kept, spell and spell, at the pumps. the captain behaved just as before, drinking all day long, though he did not appear to lose his senses altogether. the mate, however, looked very anxious as the vessel pitched into the seas each time more violently than before. i asked him if he thought she would keep afloat. "that's more than i can promise you, my boy," he answered. "if the wind falls, and the sea goes down, we may perhaps manage to keep the leaks under; but if i were the captain i would run for harwich or the thames sooner than attempt to thrash the vessel round the foreland." "why don't you propose that to him, and if he does not agree, just steer as you think best?" i said. "i suspect that he would not find out in what direction we were standing." "wouldn't he, though! why, peter, i tell you he would swear there was a mutiny, and knock me overboard," answered the poor mate in a tone of alarm. he was evidently completely cowed by the captain, and dared not oppose him. the night was just coming on; the seas kept breaking over the bows, washing the deck fore and aft, and the clank of the pumps was heard without cessation. the captain sat in his cabin, either drinking or sleeping, except when occasionally he clambered on deck, took a look around while holding on to the companion-hatch, and then, apparently thinking that all was going on well, went below again. when i could pump no longer i turned in, thinking it very probable that i should never see another sunrise. by continually pumping, the brig was kept afloat during the night; but when i came on deck in the morning, the mate, who looked as if he would drop from fatigue, told me that the leaks were gaining on us. we were now far out, i knew, in the german ocean, and if the brig should go down, there was too much sea running to give us a chance of saving ourselves. some time after daylight the captain came on deck, and he had not been there long when there was a lull. "hands about ship!" he shouted. the watch below tumbled up, and the brig was got round. "will you take charge, sir?" humbly asked the mate. "i have been on deck all night, and can scarcely stand." the captain raved at him for a lazy hound. "i haven't turned in, either," he said, though he had been asleep in his chair for several hours. "i want my breakfast; when i've had that i'll relieve you." the mate made no reply, and as soon as the captain went below he hurried forward to bid the cook make haste with the cabin breakfast. it was a difficult matter, however, to keep the galley fire alight, or the pots on it in their places. the weather seemed to be improving, but the men were well-nigh worn out with pumping. when the captain at last came on deck, in spite of their grumbling, he kept them labouring away as hard as ever, and ordered jim and me to take our turn with the rest. this we did willingly, as we knew that unless all exerted themselves the brig must founder. as noon approached, the captain brought up his quadrant, and sent below to summon the mate to take observations though the clouds hung so densely over the sky that there was but little chance of doing this. "might as well try to shoot the sun at midnight as now, with the clouds as dark as pitch," growled the mate. "what was the use of calling me up for such fool's work?" "what's that you say?" shouted the captain. "do you call me a fool?" "yes, i do, if you expect to take an observation with such a sky as we have got overhead," answered the mate. "then take that!" screamed the captain, throwing the quadrant he held in his hand at the mate's head, not, for the moment, probably, recollecting what it was. it struck the mate on the temple, who, falling, let his own quadrant go, and both were broken to pieces. "here's a pretty business," cried one of the men, "i wonder now what will become of us!" good reason we had to wonder. the mate, picking himself up, flew at the captain, and a fearful struggle ensued. both were too excited to know what they were about, and the captain, who was the stronger of the two, would have hove the mate overboard had not the crew rushed aft and separated them. the mate then went below, and the captain rolled about the deck, stamping and shouting that he would be revenged on him. at last he also went down into the cabin. fearing that he would at once put his fearful threats into execution and attack the mate, i followed, intending to call the crew to my assistance should it be necessary. i saw him, however, take another pull at the rum bottle, and then, growling and muttering, turn into his bed. i waited till i supposed that he was asleep, and then i went to the mate's berth. "there is no one in charge of the deck, sir," i said. "and if it was to blow harder, as it seems likely to do, i don't know what will happen." "nor do i either, peter, with such a drunken skipper as ours," he answered. "what are the men about?" "they have knocked off from the pumps, and if you don't come on deck and order them to turn to again they'll let the brig go down without making any further effort to save her," i answered. my remarks had some effect, for though the mate had himself been drinking, or he would not have spoken as he did to the captain, he yet had some sense left in his head. he at last got up and came on deck. all the hands, except the man at the helm, were crouching down under the weather-bulwarks to avoid the showers of spray flying in dense masses over us. the sea had increased, and though we had not much sail set, the brig was heeling over to the furious blasts which every now and then struck her; if she righted it was only to bend lower still before the next. "do you want to lose your lives or keep them, lads?" shouted the mate, after sounding the well. "well then, i can tell you that if you don't turn to at once and work hard, and very hard, too, the brig will be at the bottom before the morning." still the men did not move. jim was holding on near me. "come, let you and me try what we can do," i said; "we have pumped to good purpose before now." jim needed no second asking. seizing the brakes, we began, and pumped away with all our might, making the water rush across the deck in a full stream. before long one man got up and joined, then another, and another. when we got tired and cried, "spell ho!" the rest took our places. "i see you want to save your lives, lads," cried the mate, who occasionally took a spell himself. "but you must keep at it, or it will be of no use." all that day we stood on, the crew pumping without intermission. "if the wind moderates we'll set more sail," said the mate; "but the brig has as much on her as she can bear. we must be soon looking out for land, though. you, peter, have a sharp pair of eyes--go aloft, and try if you can see it." though the vessel was heeling over terribly at the time, i was about to obey, when jim said, "no, you stay on deck; let me go, peter." to this i would not agree. "then i'll go with you," said jim. so we both crawled up the weather-rigging together. jim said he thought that he saw land on the starboard bow, but i did not get a glimpse of it, and felt sure that he was mistaken; at all events there was no land visible ahead. we remained aloft till darkness came on, and there was no use remaining longer. we made our reports to the mate. he said that jim was right, and that we had probably passed the south foreland. this was, however, i suspected, only to encourage the men to keep at the pumps. all night long, spell and spell, we laboured away. when the morning broke no land was in sight. by this time we were all pretty well knocked up, and most of the men declared that they could pump no longer. the mate now tried to make them keep on, reminding them that if they did not they would lose their lives. some answered that they would take their chance, but jim and i and others kept at our duty. even we, however, began to feel that the struggle would be useless unless we should soon make the land, for the mate could not deny that the water was gaining on us. the wind, however, began to moderate, and the sun bursting forth from between the clouds cheered us up a little. at last the captain came on deck. after looking about him for some time he told me to go below and get his quadrant. he was apparently sober, and seemed to have forgotten what had happened. "have you a second one, sir?" i asked. "no; bring the one i always use," he answered. "you hove it at the mate yesterday, sir," i said. "and he fell and broke his." "what lies are you telling, youngster?" he exclaimed, uttering a fearful oath. then he shouted to the mate, who had gone forward to be out of his way. "did i heave my quadrant at you?" "yes, you did," answered the mate. "you made me break mine, too, and if we lose our lives you'll have them on your head." the captain made no reply. i think that the occurrence must have flashed on his mind. he looked at the compass, took two or three turns on deck, and then ordered more sail to be set, directly afterwards changing the ship's course to north-west. i therefore supposed that we were steering for the downs, or perhaps for saint helens. the men, though very tired, went on pumping far more willingly than before. a bright look-out was kept for land, but no land appeared. for some hours the brig made fair progress, but as the evening drew on the wind again got up. the captain had gone below. he could not resist taking a pull at the rum bottle. we were carrying topsails and topgallantsails. a sudden squall laid the brig over. the captain sprang on deck and shouted-- "all hands shorten sail! you, peter and jim, up aloft with you and hand the main-topgallant-sail." the blast had passed over and the brig had righted. jim and i ran aloft to obey the order. the rest of the people were still on deck except one man, who had gone up the fore-rigging, about to let fly the sheets and brail up; but, nearly worn out with labouring at the pumps, they must have very slowly obeyed the orders they received, for almost before a sheet was let go, another furious squall struck the brig. over, over she heeled. jim and i slid down into the main-top. "hold on, whatever happens," cried jim. the warning was given not a moment too soon. there was a fearful cracking sound, the mast quivered, it was almost right over the water, and just as the brig was on her beam-ends it gave way, tearing out the chain-plates on the weather side, and jim and i were hurled with it into the raging sea. i expected every moment that we should be washed off as the mast was towed along, and so we must have been had not the lee shrouds given way. to regain the brig was impossible; the next instant the mast was clear and the brig drove on. before she had got a cable's length from us the foremast also went by the board. we could see no one on it as it was towed along. a minute or more passed. the mast to which we clung rose to the top of a sea, we saw the brig plunge into another. again we looked, for one instant we saw her stern, and the next she was gone. we were too far off to hear a cry. the foremast must have been drawn down with her. the boats were securely lashed. nothing that we could see remained floating. we knew that our late shipmates had perished. our own condition was fearful in the extreme. at any moment we might be washed from our hold! now our head were under water! now we rose to the top of a sea and looked down into a deep gulf below us. "hold on; hold on, peter," cried jim, who was clinging on the mast close to me. "don't give up. here, i've cut a piece of rope for you. lash yourself on with it. i'll get a piece for myself presently." i wanted him to secure himself first, but he insisted that i should take the rope, and i lashed myself with it. he soon afterwards secured himself in the same way. we might thus prolong our lives; but should we be able to hold out till a passing vessel might pick us up? i asked myself. we were far away from land, and hours, perhaps days, might go by before the mast was seen, and only our dead bodies would be found. we had no food, no fresh water; night was coming on. i did not tell my thoughts to jim, nor did he say what was passing in his mind; but we tried to cheer each other up. for an instant the clouds broke asunder in the west, and the sun, just as he sank below the horizon, bursting forth, shed a bright glow over the foaming ocean. "he'll not be long down," cried jim, "and he'll warm us on t'other side when he rises." jim's remark did me good. we had cause to hope for the best. the squall which had carried away the brig's masts was the last of the gale. the wind rapidly fell, and the sea went down, so that in a short time we could keep ourselves almost entirely out of the water. the mast became more quiet. had we not lashed ourselves to it when we fell asleep as we both did now and then, we might have dropped off. we talked as much as we could, both to keep up our spirits and to prevent ourselves from dozing. thus the night passed. it seemed long enough, but not so long as i expected. i must have closed my eyes when i heard jim shout, "a sail! a sail!" and opening them i saw a large ship under all sail about a couple of miles away, standing on a course which we hoped would bring her near us. chapter fourteen. jim and i carried off against our will. "shall we be seen, jim, think you?" i asked, after we had gazed at the ship some minutes without speaking. "ain't quite certain," answered jim, in a sad voice; "if i thought so, i could sing for joy, that i could, but the ship's a long way off, and maybe she'll haul closer to the wind and pass us by." "oh, jim! let us pray that she'll not do that," i exclaimed. "she's standing, as far as i can make out, directly towards us, and why should we fancy that we are to be deserted? cheer up, jim! cheer up!" "that's what i'm trying to do," said jim. "still we must not make too certain. if she doesn't pick us up another vessel may. we are in the track of ships going up and down channel, and that's one comfort." jim did not say this all at once, for he stopped sometimes to take a look at the stranger, and every now and then a sea washed up and made us close our mouths. still the seas were every instant growing less and less, and we at last unlashed ourselves that we might move about a little and stretch our limbs. we were on the top, it must be remembered, so that we did not run the same risk of falling off as we should have done if we had had only the mast to support us. with straining eyes we watched the ship. still she held the same course on which she had been steering when we first saw her, and which was bringing her nearer and nearer to us. "hurrah, jim! we shall soon be seen, depend on that," i exclaimed, at last, "and perhaps before to-night we shall be safe on shore. who can say that we shan't be landed at portsmouth itself?" "i wish i could say i was as sure as you are, peter," observed jim, in a doleful voice. "if she had seen us it would have been all right; she would pick us up, but she may alter her course. even now the wind is shifting, and she may have to keep away." i could not contradict this; still i kept on hoping that we should ere long be seen. i had a white handkerchief in my pocket, although it was rolled into a ball by the wet. i pulled it out, and waved it above my head as high as i could reach. even now we might have attracted the attention of those on board the stranger, although we could distinguish no signal made to us in return. "she's a thumping big ship, whatever she is," i remarked. "she's high out of the water, and that makes her look bigger," observed jim. "i have seen some like her brought up at spithead, and to my mind she's a south sea whaler, outward bound. that's the reason she looks so high. yes, i am right, for i can make out her boats hoisted up at the davits." "i think you are right," i said; "but even if she is an outward bound ship, she'll put us on board another vessel homeward-bound, or land us on some part of the coast, the back of the isle of wight, or portland." "first let us get on board her before we talk of where we shall be landed," said jim. "it seems to me as if she was going about. the head sails are shaking." "no, no! the man at the wheel was not minding his helm," i answered. "i'll wave again." "they won't see that little bit of a rag," cried jim, "i'll try what i can do. here, peter, just take hold of my jacket," he continued, as he stripped it off, and then loosening his waistband he pulled his shirt over his head, and began to wave it frantically. i waved my handkerchief, and then in our eagerness we shouted out at the top of our voices, as if the faint sounds could be carried as far as the ship. presently our hearts sank, for there was no doubt that the ship was keeping away. still, should anyone on board be using a spy-glass, and turn it towards us, we should, we hoped, be observed. we waved and shouted even more vehemently than before, but even i was almost in despair. "she's going to pass us after all," cried jim, "and there's not another sail in sight." just as he spoke there came a puff of smoke with a bright flash, from the ship's bows, followed by a sharp report. "we are seen! we are seen!" shouted jim. "that's a signal to us. hurrah! hurrah!" the ship now came rapidly on, and we had no longer any doubt about being rescued. this very circumstance caused a reaction in our feelings, and, strange as it may seem, we both burst into tears. we recovered ourselves, however, very soon, and continued waving, still having an idea that the ship might sail away from us, but on and on she came. presently her courses were brailed up, and she hove-to about three cables' lengths from our mast. almost at the same instant one of her boats was lowered, and came pulling towards us as fast as the men could bend their backs to the oars. in a few minutes kindly hands were stretched out to help us into the boat. "are you the only two?" asked the mate, who was steering. "yes, sir; all the rest are gone," i answered. "well, we'll hear all about it when we get you on board, lads, for you both seem as if you wanted looking after," he said. the boat leaving the mast, returned rapidly towards the ship. while most of the crew scrambled up the sides, the tackles were hooked on, and we were hoisted up in the boat, from whence we were speedily handed down on deck. i could not have stood if i had not been supported, and jim was much in the same condition. we were soon surrounded by strange faces, some looking compassionately upon us, others with indifference, as if it was a matter of very little consequence that two boys should have been saved from perishing. meantime the yards were swung round and the ship stood on her course. "we must have the lads below at once," said one of the persons standing round. "they have been many hours wet through and exposed on the mast, and even now, if we don't look out, they may slip through our fingers." "very true, doctor cockle," said another, who was, i saw by his dress, an officer. "one of them may be put into my cabin, where you can look after him better than for'ard." "and the other can go into mine," said the doctor, the person who had first spoken. no one had asked us any questions; probably they saw by our condition that we should have been unable to answer them, for both jim and i were fast verging towards unconsciousness. we were at once carried below, when i was put into the mate's cabin, where my clothes were stripped off by the doctor's orders, and, being rubbed dry, i was placed between the blankets. the doctor, who had been looking after jim, soon came and gave me something out of a glass, which seemed to warm me up wonderfully. but even then i could not have spoken if my life had depended upon it. "get some warm broth as quickly as you can," i heard the doctor say to someone, he in the meantime rubbing my feet and hands and chest. it seemed as if scarcely more than two or three minutes had passed when a basin of hot broth was brought me, which i drank without difficulty, and it did me more good than the stuff in the glass. "you may go to sleep now, my lad," said the doctor, in a kind tone; "you'll do well. you shall tell us by-and-by how you and your companion came to be on the mast." i obeyed the doctor's orders, and scarcely had the door been closed than i was fast asleep. i was awakened by the doctor coming in, accompanied by a boy who brought some more soup and some bread, and which, being very hungry, i thankfully swallowed. "you can eat something more substantial now," said the doctor, and he told the boy to bring in some fowl and more bread from the breakfast-table. by this i guessed that i must have had a long spell of sleep, and that a whole day and a night had passed since we were taken on board. i eagerly ate all that was given me. "you may get up now, my boy, and dress, and we will find another berth for you; we must not keep mr griffiths out of his bed," said the doctor. "i would not do that on any account, sir," i said; "i feel quite strong, and am accustomed to live forward." i soon dressed, and was glad to see that jim also was up. there were two apprentices on board, who lived on the half-deck, and the doctor said that the first mate promised to have some berths knocked up for us with them. "how did you come to be on board the vessel which went down?" asked the doctor, when i accompanied him on deck. from the kind way he spoke i was encouraged to give him a full account of myself and jim, so i told him that he and i belonged to portsmouth, and had gone in the _good intent_ to bergen; and how she had lost her masts, and the crew had been washed overboard. how the captain had died, and we had done our best to keep the brig afloat, and had been driven in close to shetland, and that i had found a relative there, and was coming south in the _nancy_ to fetch my sister. he then asked me about my father, and i told him that he had been lost at spithead, and that mother had died, and old tom had taken care of mary and me, and how, after he had been blown up in the ship at spithead, jim and i had managed to gain our bread and support mary and nancy till a claimant appeared for old tom's property, and our boat had been taken from us, and we had been turned out of the house, and should have been in a bad way if the good quaker, mr gray, had not come to our assistance. the doctor listened attentively, and he then asked me what sort of man my father was, and whether i had a brother in the navy. i described my father, and then said that jack had gone away on board the _lapwing_ brig of war, but that he was supposed to have been cut off by savages in one of her boats when in the indian seas. at all events, that we had never since heard of him. "that's very strange," he observed; "i think, peter trawl, that we have met before, when you were a very little chap. do you remember your father taking off the doctor and the mate of a ship lying at spithead, when you and your brother jack were in the boat, and he was to be put on board the brig?" "yes, sir," i said, looking up at his face: "i recollect it perfectly, as it was the last time i saw jack, though i little thought then that i should never see him again." "i was the doctor, and the first mate of this ship was my companion. when i first heard your name, as it is a peculiar one, i all of a sudden recollected that it was that of the boatman who took mr griffiths and me off on the occasion i speak of. we are now brothers-in-law, and have ever since gone to sea together--that is to say, when we have gone to sea, for both of us have taken long spells on shore. if it hadn't been for that, mr griffiths would have been a captain years ago." "i am very glad to meet you and him again, sir," i said; "and now i look at you i fancy i recollect your countenance, as i did your voice. you were not as well accustomed to the sea then as you are now." "no," he answered, laughing. "that was my first voyage. i sometimes wish that i had lived comfortably on shore, and made it my last, but i got accustomed to a roving life, and having no regular business or tie, when circumstances compelled mr griffiths--who married my sister--to come to sea again, i agreed to accompany him." i felt sure from the kind way in which doctor cockle spoke that he would wish to serve me. i asked him if the ship was going to put into saint helens, or if not, would he get the captain to land jim and me at portland? "we are some way to the westward of portland, already," he answered. "it is possible that he may land you at plymouth or falmouth, or if not put you on board some pilot or fishing boat, or any vessel we may fall in with coming up channel." "surely, sir, he would not carry us away from home? i would give anything to be on shore, where my young sister is expecting me, and it would break her heart to fancy i was lost, which she would do if i did not appear," i said. "as mr griffiths and i only joined the ship at hull, ten days ago, we are not very intimate with the captain: but i hope he would not refuse your request." the doubtful way in which he spoke made me feel very unhappy. still, i hoped that when i told the captain the strong reasons i had for wishing to be put on shore as soon as possible, he would not refuse. the doctor left me to attend to one of the men who was sick forward, and i joined jim, who had also come on deck. i had a long talk with him about the matter. he fancied we were only then just abreast of the downs, and that the captain would put in willingly enough for the sake of getting rid of us. it was a great disappointment to find that we were so far down channel, and that we should thus, at all events, have a long journey back to portsmouth. still we neither of us doubted for a moment that we should be put on shore somewhere to the westward, as i saw by a look i had at the compass that we were standing for the land. while we were talking, the captain, whom we had not yet seen, came on deck. he was a fine, tall, sailor-like looking man, with a handsome countenance and large eyes, which seemed to take in everything at a glance--a person of whom the roughest crew would stand in awe. his bright eyes fell on jim and me; he beckoned us to come up, and, looking at me, bade me give him the particulars of the loss of the brig, about which mr griffiths and the doctor had told him. i gave him the account as he desired, and then thought that i might venture to ask him to put jim and me on shore, for that, as may be supposed, was the thing uppermost in my mind. "we will see about that, my lads," he answered. "if the wind holds as it now does it won't cause us any delay, but i can make no promises. boys at your age ought to wish to see the world, and we can find employment for you on board. you are sharp fellows, i can see, or you would not have saved your lives. one of the apprentices isn't worth his salt, and the other will slip his cable before long, i suspect. his friends insisted on my taking him, fancying that the voyage would restore him to health." the captain spoke in so free-and-easy a way that the awe with which i was at first inclined to regard him vanished. the wind, i should have said, had shifted to the westward of south. we were standing about north-west, a course which would carry us over to the english coast before long. we were obliged to be content with the sort of promise that the captain had made, and i hoped that when the doctor and mr griffiths spoke to him, that he would not refuse to put us on shore. though jim and i were well enough to walk about the deck, we were too weak to venture aloft, or we should have been at the masthead looking out for land. we went forward, however, keeping our eyes over the starboard bow, where we expected every instant to see it. several of the men spoke to us good-naturedly, and were as eager as the officers had been to hear what had happened to us. while we were standing there looking out, a lad came up and said, "so i hear you fellows are to be our messmates. what are your names?" i told him. "mine's ned horner," he said, "and i hope we shall be friends, for i can't make anything of the fellow who messes with me, george esdale. there's no fun in him, and he won't talk or do anything when it's his watch below but read and sing psalms." "i shall be glad to be friends with you," i answered, "but i don't suppose it will be for long, as i expect we shall leave the ship to-night or to-morrow morning." "that may or may not be," he remarked, with a laugh. "have you been long at sea?" i told him that i had been brought up to it from my boyhood. "well, you have the advantage of me, for this is my first voyage; and esdale didn't know the stem from the stern when he first came on board. now come along to the half-deck; he and i are going to dinner; i suppose you'll join us?" jim and i were beginning to feel hungry, and willingly accepted horner's invitation. the savoury whiffs which came out of the caboose as we passed made me feel more eager than ever for something to eat. horner took us down to the half-deck, where we found esdale, of whom he had spoken, seated on a chest reading. he was a pale, sickly-looking youth, taller a good deal than jim. he put down his book and held out his hand to shake ours. "it's your turn to go for the dinner," he said to horner, "and it must be ready by this time, but i'll go if you wish it." "well, you may go," said horner; "i want to do the honours to these fellows. take care that you don't capsize with the things as you come along the deck." then, without another word, esdale got up, and putting his book into the chest, went forward. "i make him do just what i like," said horner, in a contemptuous tone. "take care that you don't treat him in the same way, for if he has too many masters he may be inclined to kick." before long esdale returned with a bowl of pea-soup, and a plate at the top of it containing some potatoes, and a piece of fat boiled pork. "now fall to, youngsters," said horner, in a patronising tone. "i am sorry not to be able to offer you better fare." while he was speaking he got out of a locker four plates and two metal spoons and two wooden ones. we did ample justice to the dinner, as we had been accustomed to nothing better while we were on board the _nancy_. after the meal was finished we returned on deck, though esdale did not offer to accompany us, as he spent his watch below, as horner had said, in reading, writing, or singing in a low voice to himself. we passed the afternoon looking out for the land. at length, when night came on, in spite of my anxiety to see the coast, and the long sleep i had had, i felt scarcely able to keep my eyes open. still, i should probably have remained on deck after dark had not the doctor come to us and said, "i have spoken to the captain, lads, and he promises to put you on shore to-morrow morning; so now go and turn in, for you require sleep." we went to the half-deck, where we found that the carpenter had knocked up some rough bunks, in which some mattresses and blankets had been placed. we were both glad enough to turn in. i observed that esdale, before he did so, knelt down and said his prayers. it was horner's watch on deck, so that he was not present. chapter fifteen. the voyage of the "intrepid" begun. i slept right through the night, and was surprised to find when i opened my eyes that it was daylight. jim and i at once turned out and went on deck. there was the land, broad on the starboard bow, still at some distance. when i looked aloft i saw that the yards were square, and studding-sails on either side. a strong north-easterly wind was blowing, and we were running down channel. the captain, the first mate, and the doctor were on deck. jim and i gazed eagerly at the land. i went up to the doctor. "whereabouts are we, sir?" i asked. "we are off the start, my lad." "off the start!" i exclaimed. "oh, sir, won't the captain put into plymouth to land us as he promised? do speak to him, sir." "these lads are very anxious to be landed, captain hawkins," he said. "it is of the greatest importance to young trawl here, and it would not much delay us." the mate spoke in the same way, and entreated the captain even in stronger language than dr cockle had used. "no, no," he answered. "very likely they do wish to be put on shore, but we cannot lose a moment of this fine breeze. the trip won't do them any harm, and they'll thank me for it by-and-by." jim, when he heard this, was too angry on my account to speak, but i lifted up my hands and implored the captain to have pity on my young sister, if not on me. "very fine, my lad," he answered, with a laugh; "but you are not quite of so much importance as you suppose. it might delay us not only for a few hours, but for days, perhaps, and, doctor, i cannot listen to you. we've got a favourable breeze, and i intend to make the best use of it." once more i implored and entreated that the captain would not carry us away from home. all was of no use; he would not listen either to the doctor or the mate, or us. at length, growing angry, he said he would not hear another word on the subject, and jim and i, by the doctor's advice, went for'ard to be out of his way. there we stood, watching with straining eyes the shore, past which we were running, and at length the land's end came in sight. "cheer up, my lads," said our kind friend, who came for'ard to us. "the wind may change, and we may be driven back, or we may be able to put you on board some homeward-bound ship. cheer up! cheer up!" the land, as i stood gazing at it, rapidly sank below the horizon. i strained my eyes--the last faint line had disappeared. i could have cried, but my grief was too bitter for tears. not that i cared for being carried away on my own account, but i thought of the sorrow my kind relatives in shetland would feel--mr trail and his daughter, and dear little maggie, and more than all how mary would feel as she waited day after day for the arrival of the brig which was never to appear, and then, when all hope was gone, how she would mourn for us, and nancy also would, i knew, share her feelings. if i could have sent but a line to my sister to tell her i was safe, though i might be long absent, it would not have so much mattered. mr gray would take very good care of her, and she would have written to mr troil to explain what had happened; but as it was i could scarcely bear it. "the doctor told us to cheer up, and that's what i say to you, peter," cried jim, trying to console me. "maybe we shall fall in with a homeward-bound ship after all, though i don't think there's much chance of our seeing the shores of old england again for a long time to come if we don't, as it looks as if the wind would hold in its present quarter till we are well out in the atlantic." jim was right. with yards squared and every stitch of canvas the ship could carry, we bowled along at a rate which soon left our native land far astern. i had been too long at sea, and knew the duties of a sailor too well, to feel for myself so much as many fellows of my age under similar circumstances would have done. jim also tried to rouse me up, so instead of moping i determined to exert myself. i still had the hope to support me that before long we might fall in with a homeward-bound ship, and i concluded that the captain would, without hesitation, put jim and me on board her. the day after we took our departure from the land's end he saw us both together on deck. "what are those youngsters idling there for?" he exclaimed, turning to mr griffiths. "put them in a watch at once, and let me see that they do their duty. if they don't, let them look out for squalls!" "ay, ay, sir!" answered the mate, who, though of a very independent spirit, always spoke respectfully to the captain. he considerately placed us both in the same watch, knowing that we should like it, as we should be able to talk at night when we were on deck and had no especial duty to perform. we had no reason to complain of the way the men treated us, rough as some of them were. the doctor and mr griffiths always behaved kindly, but the captain took no further notice of us, except when he ordered jim or me to do something. to my surprise, i found that the ship was the _intrepid_--the very one my father and i had put mr griffiths and the doctor on board so many years before. she was then quite a new ship, and, being strongly-built, she was as sound as ever. i have spoken of her as a ship, but she was barque-rigged, as almost all whalers are, barques being more easily handled than ship-rigged craft. the _intrepid_ was upwards of three hundred tons burden, with a crew of thirty hands all told, and stored, i found, for a cruise of two years or more. she carried six whale-boats, and materials for building others should any of them be lost. there were three mates, a carpenter and cooper and their mates; an armourer, a steward, and cook; four boat-steerers, four able seamen, six ordinary seamen, the doctor, two apprentices, jim, and me. i had never before been on board a whaler, and as i listened to the long yarns of the men describing their hairbreadth escapes and the exciting chases after the monsters of the deep, i felt, had i not had such cogent reasons for returning home, that i would very gladly have gone out to the south seas to witness with my own eyes the scenes the men spoke of. still i longed as much as ever to get back to england. jim and i made it out pretty well with the two apprentices. horner was inclined to look down upon jim for his want of education. esdale treated us both alike with gentleness and consideration, and offered to teach jim to read and write if he wished to learn. it had never occurred to me to try and do so. indeed, although we had been so much together, i had not had many opportunities. the second night we were on board i was awakened by feeling some hairy creature nestling by my side. i sung out, not a little frightened. "what's up?" cried horner, who had just come below to rouse jim and me out to keep our watch. "a great big brute of some sort has come into my bunk; i wonder it hasn't bitten me," i answered. "why, i've got another here!" exclaimed jim, who just then awoke. "what in the world is it?" horner laughed loudly. "why, they're our ferrets," he answered. "didn't you see them before?" "no, and i never wish to see them again," answered jim, as he flung the creature down on the deck. horner then told us that the captain had taken a couple on board at hull to kill the rats, and that although a hutch had been made for them the creatures always managed to get out at night for the sake of obtaining a warm berth, and that if we put them into their hutch they would be sure to find their way back again into his or esdale's bunks before they had been many minutes asleep. the truth was the ferrets were more afraid of the rats than the rats were of them. we bore the annoyance for three nights more, and then, by the unanimous consent of our mess, we got horner to carry them down into the hold, from which they never ascended, and we concluded that they either got drowned in the bilge water or were eaten up by the rats. we had not been long at sea before a heavy gale sprang up, but as the wind was from the westward we were able to lay our course. to jim and me it mattered very little, although the waves were much higher than i had seen them in the north sea, but poor esdale suffered very much, and horner's conceit was taken down a good many pegs. jim and i did our best to look after them, and to try to get them to eat something, but they could only swallow liquids. "oh, let me alone! let me alone!" cried horner. the doctor came to see esdale frequently, and advised that he should be taken to a spare berth in the cabin, but the captain would not allow it. "all lads get sick when they first come to sea if there's a gale of wind, and he'll come round again by-and-by," he remarked in his usual off-hand way. this was not told to esdale, who said, indeed, that he preferred remaining where he was. as the weather was tolerably warm, i believe that he was as well off on the half-deck as he would have been in the cabin. at last the gale came to an end--or rather we ran out of it. esdale got somewhat better again, but i observed that he had changed greatly in appearance since we came on board. i had now to abandon all hopes of the ship putting back, but there was still a possibility of getting on board a homeward-bound vessel. two days after the gale had ceased, while i was below, i heard the cry of "sail, ho!" from the man at the masthead. i hurried on deck. we had the wind abeam, and so had she--a soldier's wind as it is called. we should meet the approaching vessel before long and pass each other, with not a cable's length between us. i watched her eagerly. we drew closer and closer to each other. when we got nearly abreast i went up to the first mate and asked him what she was. "she's from the brazils, bound for liverpool," he answered. just then i saw the captain come on deck. forgetting what he was i rushed up to him. "oh, captain hawkins, will you put jim and me on board her?" i exclaimed. "you don't know how much i want to get home; it won't delay you ten minutes to put us on board." "ten minutes of this fine breeze lost for the sake of a boy like you," he answered, with a scornful laugh. "i expended more than ten in heaving to to pick you up, and that was as much as you are worth. go forward, you young monkey, and give me no more of your impudence." undaunted by his heartless answer, i again and again implored that he would put me on board the liverpool ship, but he stood looking contemptuously at me without uttering a word, till jim, seeing that i was making no way, coming up, hat in hand, exclaimed-- "if you'll put peter here on board yonder ship, sir, that he may go home to his young sister and friends, i'll stay here and work for you, and be your slave for as many years as you may want me. do, sir--do let poor peter go!" "off with you for'ard," thundered the captain, with a fierce oath. "how dare you speak to me? away, both of you! somebody has been putting you up to this, i know." and he glanced angrily at dr cockle and the mate. "if you mean me, captain hawkins, i know that the lad has very good reasons for wishing to return home, but i did not advise him or jim pulley to speak to you. i certainly wish that you would put peter trawl on board that homeward-bound ship." "you may wish what you like, but i am not going to allow what i choose to do to be found fault with by you or any other man on board this ship!" cried the captain, turning on his heel. "so look out for yourself," he added, glancing half over his shoulder. the ordinary salutes were exchanged, and the two vessels stood on their course. my heart felt as if it would burst with indignation and sorrow. had the wind been light, i might, perhaps, have been able to put a letter on board, even although the captain would not have let me go. esdale tried to comfort me, and advised me to have one written ready to send should another opportunity occur. the first land we made soon after this was madeira. except the coast of norway, i had seen no foreign country, and as we passed it within a quarter of a mile, it struck me as very beautiful and fertile. the wind being light we tarred down the rigging, and a few days afterwards, when we were about eight hundred miles from the land, one morning, on coming on deck, i noticed that the shrouds and every freshly-tarred rope looked as red as if they had been just painted. i asked the doctor, who allowed me to speak to him in a familiar way, what had caused this, and he told me that it was the red sand blown off the coast of africa, and that it was a common occurrence in these latitudes. we passed in sight of the cape de verde islands, one of which, called fogo, seemed of a prodigious height. the first place we touched at was the island of brava, into which the captain put to obtain fresh provisions. "now is my time," i thought. "if i can go on shore here, i shall be able to get back by the next homeward-bound vessel which calls at the place." jim proposed that we should smuggle ourselves on board some shore-boat, but to this i would not agree. "we will go with the captain's leave," i answered, "and he surely will not refuse it now that he has no excuse for doing so." i therefore went up to him as soon as he came on deck. "captain hawkins," i said, in as firm a voice as i could command, "again i ask you will you allow jim pulley and me to leave your ship and wait on shore until we can get a passage home?" "peter trawl, if that's your name, i shall do no such thing," he answered. "if i find you attempting to go on shore i shall put you in irons." i knew from previous experience that there was no use in expostulating. when i told the doctor, he could scarcely conceal his indignation. "i feel inclined to help you, my lad, at every risk," he said, "but we must be cautious. wait until the evening, and then we will see what can be done." i thanked him heartily, and promised to follow his advice. jim was ready for anything. the doctor said he would go on shore and then send off a boat which would wait under the starboard bow, and that we must manage to slip into her as soon as it was dark. the captain in the meantime had landed, but returned very shortly with four tall negroes, whom he had engaged to pull the 'midship oars in the whale-boats. they are, i should say, first-rate oarsmen, and have a gentle disposition, ready to obey, and are happy under all circumstances. besides the negroes, two boats loaded with fresh provisions came alongside. these were soon hoisted on board, when the captain ordered a gun to be fired and blue peter to be hoisted, a signal to all those on shore to return immediately. dr cockle and the third mate, with the cooper, whom the captain thought he could trust, had landed. presently the captain ordered another and then another gun to be fired to hasten them, and then to my bitter disappointment he directed mr griffiths to loosen sails and heave up the anchor. according to esdale's advice i had begun a letter to mary, but had not had time to finish it. hoping that i should not be missed by the captain, i ran below to add a few lines and then to close it, under the belief that i should be able to send it off by a shore-boat. i had to get out esdale's ink-bottle and pen, which he had before lent me; the pen would not write, so i had to search for his penknife, and to try and mend it as well as i could, but having little experience in the art, this took me some time. i at last got the letter closed with a wafer, and directed to the care of mr gray, when i sprang with it on deck. just then the eye of the captain fell on me. "come aft here, youngster," he shouted. "where have you been away from your duty?" i had the letter in my hand. "i wanted to get this ready to send on shore, sir," i answered, holding it up. "no excuse for leaving your station. take that!" he cried, as he gave me a blow on the side of the head with his half-clenched fist, which brought me to the deck, and nearly stunned me. when i recovered myself the first person i saw was dr cockle, who, looking at me compassionately, said, "come below, peter, and i'll try to put your head to rights, for you seem to be much hurt. how did it happen?" "i can't tell you now, sir, for i much want to send this letter off by a shore-boat," i answered. as i spoke i observed that the crew were hoisting away and sheeting home the sails. i ran to the side and jumped on to the main chains. the only remaining boat was just shoving off. i shouted to the people in her to come and take my letter; but they did not understand me, or did not care to remain alongside, as the ship was rapidly gathering way; another stroke of their oars and they were at a distance from the ship. i waved and shouted to them to come back, but they did not heed me, and just then i heard the captain calling to me in an angry tone to attend to my duty. i was obliged to obey, expecting another cuff harder than the last; but when he saw me begin to pull and haul with the rest he said no more. perhaps he observed the blood streaming from my head. the sails were now sheeted home, the yards trimmed, and the _intrepid_ stood away from the land. another opportunity of making my escape was lost. chapter sixteen. we cross the line and attempt to round cape horn. jim was always saying, "cheer up, peter, cheer up!" but it was a very hard matter to be cheery when i thought of the cruel way in which i had been treated, and the sorrow my sister must be feeling at my supposed loss. i tried, as advised, to keep up my spirits, and did my best to obey the orders i received. jim observed that it was all the same to him. his friends would not grieve much over his loss, and, as far as he was concerned, he would as soon be chasing whales in the pacific as working a wherry in portsmouth harbour. as we approached the line i found that the men were making preparations for going through the ceremony which was performed on board most vessels in those days. one of the boat-steerers, sam ringold, who stood six feet four in his shoes, and was proportionably broad, was chosen to act the part of neptune, and the cooper's mate, who was as wide as he was high, that of his wife. the armourer took the part of the barber, and the carpenter's mate, who was lank and tall, the doctor. three of the ordinary seamen, the smallest fellows on board, were their attendants. all the chests were searched for the required dresses, and some curtains belonging to the cabin found their way forward to form a petticoat for mrs neptune. some gold paper and pasteboard were manufactured into crowns, and some fishes' tails were ingeniously formed for the attendants. i discovered the preparations going forward, but was charged not to let horner, or esdale, or jim know anything about them. i was more favoured than the rest of my messmates by the men, who seemed to have taken a liking to me; whether it was because they had heard how i had assisted to save the _good intent_, or thought that i was ill-treated by the captain, i do not know, but so it was. no one ever abused me, or gave me the taste of a rope's-end. we had been sailing on with light winds when one morning, after the decks had been washed down and the other duties of the ship performed, having run on for a short distance, we lay almost becalmed with the sea as smooth as a mill-pond. the captain and his mates were seen to be taking an observation, and soon afterwards it became known that we were just crossing the line. "i've often heard about it, but i can't say i see any line," said jim. "nor can i!" cried horner, who was looking out eagerly. presently a gruff voice was heard, hailing from forward. "what ship is that, shutting out the light from my palace window?" "the _intrepid_" answered captain hawkins, who with the mates and doctor were standing aft. "then go ahead, will you, or i'll indict you for a nuisance," cried the voice, the remark producing a general laugh. "i can't think of standing on until i have had the pleasure of a visit from daddy neptune," said the captain. "ay, ay! glad to hear that. then i'll come aboard in a jiffy with my royal missus and some of our precious young family; and maybe, captain, you'll have something to give them, for they're very fond of any hot potions which may come in their way." "be smart about it, then, daddy, for i see a breeze springing up, and i may have to run you out of sight before you and your precious family have had time to take a sip apiece," cried the captain, who seemed to be in far better humour than usual. all this time jim and horner were standing with me abaft the main hatchway, with their eyes staring and their mouths agape, wondering what was going to happen. presently, over the bows, appeared the strangest group i had ever set eyes on. first there came daddy neptune with a glittering crown, a beard of oakum reaching to his middle, a girdle of rope yarn round his waist, a cloak covered with strange devices, and a huge trident in his hand. his wife wore a crown like that of her husband, with ringlets of the same material as his beard, a huge sash of some gaily-coloured stuff, and a cloak formed out of a blanket. the barber had in his hand a pot containing lather, a big bowl tucked under one arm, with a razor a yard long and a shaving brush of huge size under the other; while the children or attendant imps--for it was hard to say what they were-- waddled about in green clothing, looking like sea monsters, behind them. "well, i have heard of strange things, but these chaps are stranger than ever i saw," cried jim. "where do they come from?" "from the bottom of the sea, i suppose," said horner, who evidently did not admire their looks as they advanced aft. the captain, after a little palavering, ordered the steward to bring up some grog and serve it out to them. then retiring a short way forward, neptune commanded all who had not before visited his dominions to come and pay their respects to him. we all did so, not feeling very comfortable as to what was to follow, when his attendants got hold of jim and me. horner tried to escape, but was quickly captured and brought back. no one interfered with esdale, who had, i found, crossed neptune's hand with a crown-piece; which, of course, none of us were able to do. a huge tub of water had been placed in front of his majesty. the barber now came forward and insisted on shaving all those who were for the first time crossing the line. three of the ordinary seamen were novices like us. the barber first lathered our chins with some abominable mixture from his pot, and then, scraping it off with his razor, finally ducked our heads into the tub. horner, when undergoing the operation, had the brush several times thrust into his mouth, and his whole face and head daubed over. when he opened his mouth to expostulate, in again went the brush. as he kicked and screamed and spluttered, he was treated worse and worse. jim, taking a lesson from me, kept his mouth shut. i was let off even more easily than he was. once horner got loose, but instead of wisely remaining on deck and holding his tongue, he ran up the rigging and began abusing daddy neptune and his gang, whereupon he was again captured and compelled to undergo the same operation as before. blacky the cook next brought out his fiddle, and neptune and his party-- indeed, the whole crew--began dancing round and round, singing and shouting every now and then as an interlude, catching hold of the "green hands" and pitching them into the tub, chase being always made after those who attempted to escape. the grog circulated so rapidly among the crew that they would all soon have been intoxicated had not the captain, in a thundering voice, ordered them to knock off and bring their tomfoolery to an end. they obeyed. neptune and his followers dived below, and presently returned like stout seamen as they were. the order was given to brace the yards sharp up, and, with an easterly wind, we stood on our course. the next land we made was a solitary islet. near it stood a remarkable rock called the "ninepin," detached from the land. the doctor told me that it is eighteen hundred feet in height. it had the appearance of a monument standing out of the ocean. there are no inhabitants on the island, nor any good landing-place, but fresh water is to be obtained there, as well as pigs and vegetables. we soon after this began to fall in with stormy weather. we found our ship, which had remarkably sharp ends, very wet, and as we were now approaching the land of storms in the dead of winter, with the days scarcely more than seven hours long, the greatest caution was deemed necessary. the royal masts were sent down and replaced by stump topgallant masts. the flying jib-boom was sent in and the studding-sail booms were also sent down. all the boats except one were got in, the hatches were battened down, and everything was done to make the ship light aloft. we were nearly off the river plate when there were indications of an approaching gale. the hitherto blue sky was overcast, and the scud flew rapidly along, as if impelled by a hurricane. "you youngsters will have to look out for yourselves before long," said tom ringold, the boat-steerer, who had acted the part of neptune. "we shall be having old harry cane aboard here, and he's a precious deal more difficult to tackle than daddy neptune, who paid us a visit on the line." "oh, dear! oh, dear! i wonder what we shall do?" cried horner, who did not exactly understand what was going to happen. "why, hold on to the weather-rigging, if you haven't to be pulling and hauling, and duck your head if you see a sea coming," answered jim, who understood the joke about harry cane. in a short time the captain ordered the topsails to be reefed and the mainsail to be stowed and all the lighter sails handed. jim and i were sent aloft to the fore-topgallant sailyard to furl the sail. we were laying out when, to my horror, i saw jim disappear. i nearly fell from the yard myself, from thinking that he would be dashed to pieces, and that i should lose my staunchest friend. "jim! jim! oh, save him! save him!" i shouted out, not knowing what i was saying, or considering how useless it was to shout. "here i am all right, peter," cried jim, and his voice seemed to come not far from me. what was my joy to discover that he had been caught in the belly of the sail, and there he lay as if he had been in a hammock, the reef tackle having been hauled out just at the time he fell. he quickly scrambled on to the yard again, resuming his duty as if nothing particular had occurred. we having finished our work came down. scarcely was this done when the gale struck us, taking us right aback. the cabin dead-lights not being properly secured, the cabin was nearly filled with water. the carpenter and his mates hurried aft to close them, and we youngsters were sent below to help him, and put things to rights. when this was done down came the rain in such torrents that it seemed as if it would swamp the ship, while as she fell off into the trough of the sea, she began to roll in a way which threatened every instant to shake the masts out of her. it seemed wonderful that they stood. had the rigging not been well set up they must have gone. the only accident i have to mention was that one of our remaining pigs was killed, but this did not grieve the crew, for as we had no salt on board, and the meat would not keep, the portion not required for the cabin was served out to us. another, and what might have proved a far more serious matter, occurred. tom ringold was steering, when a sea striking the rudder with tremendous force knocked him over the wheel, carrying away several of the brass spokes as it flew round, and sent him against the bulwarks. for a moment everyone thought he was killed, but he picked himself up, and although he could not use his arm for two or three days, at the end of that time he was able to do his duty as well as ever. that storm soon came to an end, but the old hands told us that we might look out for others, and so the captain seemed to think, for although he was anxious to get round cape horn we were always under snug canvas at night, and during the day a bright look-out was kept, lest one of those sudden squalls called pamperos might come off the land and whip the masts out of the ship, or lay her on her beam-ends, as frequently happens when the hands are not ready to shorten sail. we, however, got to the southward of the falkland islands without accident. my poor friend and messmate esdale severely felt the cold which we now began to experience. he came on deck to attend to his duty, but a hacking cough and increasing weakness made him very unfit for it. the doctor at last insisted on his remaining below, although esdale declared that he would rather be on deck and try to do his best. "but i insist on your remaining in your bunk until we round cape horn and reach a warmer latitude," said dr cockle. "i will see the captain, and tell him plainly that he will be answerable for your death, should he insist on your doing duty any longer." esdale still pleaded, but the doctor was peremptory. "it is his only chance," he said to me; "i cannot promise that he will live. he will, however, certainly die if he is exposed to this biting wind and constant rain. i intend to tell the captain, but you, trawl, go and stay with him whenever you can; it will cheer him up, poor fellow, to have someone to talk to, and that dull horner cannot speak two words of sense." before the doctor had time to do as he proposed, captain hawkins, missing esdale from the deck, ordered me to tell him to come up. this i determined not to do, for it was blowing hard at the time from the south-west and the wind would have chilled him through in a minute. i, however, went below, and after remaining a little time, i returned, and said-- "esdale is very ill, sir, and is not fit to come on deck." "how do you know that, youngster?" asked the captain, in an angry tone. "dr cockle has seen him and says so," i answered boldly. "tell him to come up, or i'll send a couple of hands to bring him neck and crop," thundered the captain. i was as determined as before not to tell esdale, knowing that he would come if sent for. "go below and bring up that lazy young rascal," shouted the captain to tom ringold and another man standing near him. i immediately dived below to persuade tom to let esdale remain in his bunk. "it will be his death if he is exposed to this weather," i said. "i am not the fellow to kill a shipmate if i can help it," answered tom. "tell him to stay and i'll take the consequences." when tom returned on deck, the captain enquired in a fierce voice why he had not carried out his orders. "because he is too ill to be moved, captain hawkins," answered tom, promptly. the captain, uttering an oath, and taking a coil of rope in his hand, was just about to go below when doctor cockle came on deck, and guessing, from the few words he heard, what was the captain's intention, came up to him and said-- "it would kill the lad to bring him up, and as he is my patient, i have told him to stay below." "am i to be thwarted and insulted on board my own ship?" cried the captain. "whether he is ill or well, up he comes." and going down to the half-deck, he asked esdale why he had not obeyed his orders. esdale, of course, had not received them, and said so, beginning at the same time to dress. before, however, he could finish putting on his clothes the captain seized him by the arm and dragged him up. scarcely, however, had he reached the deck when the poor fellow fainted right away. tom, on seeing this, lifted him in his arms and carried him down again. "i warn you, captain hawkins, that you will cause the death of the lad if you compel him to be on deck in this weather," said the doctor firmly, as he turned to follow tom and esdale. the captain, making no remark, walked aft, and did not again interfere. whether that sudden exposure to the cold had any serious effect i do not know, but esdale after this got worse and worse. whenever i could i went and sat by his side, when he used to talk to me of the happy land for which he was bound. he did not seem even to wish to live, and yet he was as cheerful as anyone on board. the doctor and first mate used also to come and talk to him, and he spoke to them as he did to me, and urged them to put their trust where he was putting his. i believe that his exhortations had a beneficial influence on them, as they had on me. when i said how i hoped that he would get better after we were round the cape, he answered-- "i shall never see the horn, peter; i am as sure of that as i can be of anything." two days after this land was sighted on the starboard bow. it proved to be staten island; but scarcely were we to the south of it when we encountered a furious gale blowing from the westward. for two days; by keeping close hauled, the captain endeavoured to gain ground to the westward, resolved, as he declared, "to thrash the ship round the cape." on the third day, however, while i was on deck, a tremendous sea came rolling up. "look out! hold on for your lives, lads!" shouted the first mate. every one clung to whatever was nearest to him. one poor fellow was to leeward. there was no avoiding the sea, which, like a mountain topped with foam, struck the bows. the ship plunged into it, and for a few seconds i thought would never rise again. on swept the roaring torrent, deluging the deck; and had not the hatches been battened down, would have half filled her. a loud, crashing sound followed, and when the water had passed over us nearly all the lee bulwarks were gone, and with them our shipmate who had been standing a minute before as full of life as any of us. he was not again seen, and must have gone down at once. the captain was compelled at last to heave the ship to, and there we lay, now rising to the top of a sea, now sinking into the trough, with walls of water, half as high as the main-top, round us. the seas in the german ocean and bay of biscay were nothing to be compared to those we encountered off the horn, though, perhaps, equally dangerous. as soon as i went below, i hurried to the side of esdale. he asked what had happened. i told him. "some one was carried overboard?" he inquired. "yes," i said. "poor jack norris," wondering how he knew it. "and i shall soon follow him," he replied. his words proved true. that very night, as i came off my watch and was about to turn in, i heard my messmate utter my name in a low voice. i went to him. "i'm going," he whispered. "good-bye, peter; you'll remember what i have said to you?" i promised him i would, and told him i must run and call the doctor. "no, stay," he said. "he can do me no good. tell him i thank him for his kindness. good-bye, peter." the next instant his hand relaxed its hold of mine, and stooping down over him i found he had ceased to breathe. so died one of the most amiable and excellent young men i have ever met. the next morning he was sewn up in canvas, with a shot at his feet, and brought on deck. the captain stood aft watching the proceedings. whether he felt he had hastened esdale's death i know not; but his countenance was stern and gloomy as night. the boldest seaman on board would not have dared just then to speak to him. hail and sleet were driving in our faces; a furious gale threatening to carry our only sail out of the bolt-ropes was blowing; the mountain seas raged round us; there was scarce time for a prayer, none for form or ceremony. a foaming billow came thundering against the bows; over the deck it swept. we clung for our lives to ropes, stanchions, and ring-bolts. when it had passed we found that it had borne our young shipmate to his ocean grave. chapter seventeen. rounding cape horn. for well-nigh six weeks we were endeavouring to get round cape horn, when the weather moderated, making way to the westward, but again being driven back often over more ground than we had gained. the captain was constantly on deck, exhibiting on all occasions his splendid seamanship. he was ever on the look-out to take advantage of the least change of wind which would enable us to lay our course. day and night were alike to him; he seemed indifferent to the piercing wind and tremendous storms of sleet and hail we encountered. twice we sighted cape horn, but each time, before many hours had passed, were again to the eastward of it. the captain thought he could endure anything, and certainly did not expose others more than he did himself. we saw numerous sea birds--albatrosses, cape pigeons, stormy-petrels (or mother carey's chickens, as they are called), and many more. the albatross appeared to me a truly noble bird when on the wing; no matter how rough the weather or how heavy the sea, he sat on the water perfectly at ease, seeming to defy the very elements. one of the mates having got a strong line with a large hook at the end of it, a piece of meat as bait, and a cork to float it, let it drop astern. in an instant a huge albatross pounced down on the tempting bait, and was hooked. it required two men, however, to draw him on board over the taffrail. even when brought on deck he attacked everyone who came near him. the doctor advised us to stand clear of his wings and beak, but horner thoughtlessly held out his hat, when the bird, seizing hold of it, bit the crown clean out in a moment. not until he had had several blows on the head with a handspike did he drop dead. he measured seventeen feet from tip to tip of the wings. the feathers under his wings and breast were as white as snow, and as they glanced in the sunlight, shone like silver. in contrast with the albatross was the stormy-petrel, a black bird scarcely larger than a sparrow, and, of course, web-footed. vast numbers flew about the ship, but they were more difficult to catch than the albatrosses. again we sighted cape horn, standing out solitary and grand into the southern ocean. the wind had moderated and become more in our favour, although the vast billows rolled on like moving mountains of water. now the ship forced her way to the summit of one, the next instant to glide down rapidly into the vale below, performing the same course again and again. at length even the billows subsided, and we began to look forward to having fine weather. about noon one day the look-out from the masthead shouted-- "there she spouts! there she spouts!" a school of whales was in sight. "lower two boats," cried the captain. no sooner was the order given than their crews, hurrying aft, jumped into them, and very few minutes were sufficient to place all their gear in readiness and to lower them into the water. the captain himself went in one as harpooner, the second mate in the other. i should have liked to go, but i knew that it was useless to ask leave of the captain. away the boats pulled at a rapid rate to windward, the direction in which the whales had been seen, and that we might keep as near them as possible the ship was hauled close up. they were soon not discernible from the deck, and on they went increasing their distance till even the look-out from the masthead could no longer distinguish them. still the first mate had carefully noted the direction they had taken, and seemed to have no doubt about picking them up. the weather, however, which had been fine all day, now gave signs of changing, and in a short time the wind began to blow in strong gusts, creating a nasty sea, but still it was not worse than whale-boats have often to encounter. whether or not they had succeeded in striking a fish we could not tell, for the days were very short, and evening drew on. fresh look-outs were sent to each of the mastheads, and we waited with anxiety for their reports. they soon hailed that they could see neither of the boats. at length, the darkness increasing, they were called down, and lanterns were got ready to show the position of the ship. "shouldn't be surprised if we were to lose our skipper and the boats' crews," said horner to me. "i've heard that such accidents have happened before now." "i hope not," i answered, "for although our captain is a severe man, it would be dreadful to have him and the other poor fellows lost out in this stormy ocean, with no land for hundreds of miles where they could find food and shelter, even were they to reach it." while we were speaking a heavy squall struck the ship, and the remaining hands were ordered aloft to take two reefs in the topsails. jim and i were on the fore-yardarm. we had just finished our task, when jim declared that he saw a light away to windward. on coming on deck we told mr griffiths. he at once ordered a gun to be fired as a signal. a blue light was then burnt, the glare of which, as it fell on our figures, gave us all so ghastly an appearance that horner, who had never seen one before, cried out, "what has come over you fellows? is anything dreadful going to happen?" as the firework died out we looked in the direction jim had seen the light, and in a little time we caught sight of it from the deck. the men on this gave a hearty cheer to show their satisfaction. now the light disappeared, now it came in sight again, as the boat rose on the summit of a sea. the ship was hove-to. presently a faint hail was heard. we answered it with a shout from our united voices. at length one boat could be distinguished. where was the other? the captain's voice assured us that he was in the first. he was soon on deck, and the boat was hoisted up. he looked pale and haggard, and much annoyed at not having killed a whale. the other boat he said was not far off. we kept hove-to for her, fearing that if she did not soon appear she might be swamped before she could be hoisted in, for as the wind and sea were now rapidly rising every moment was of importance. at length she came alongside, but it was with the greatest difficulty that the men got out of her. they looked thoroughly worn out with their long pull. we had scarcely made sail again and were standing on our course when the gale came down on us, more furiously than before, blowing right in our teeth. it was now evident that had a whale been killed we should have been compelled to abandon it. in spite of his fatigue the captain remained on deck, swearing fearfully at his ill-luck. those who had been away with the boats were allowed to turn in, but the rest of us were kept on deck, for at any moment all our strength might be required. suddenly, while i was aft, the captain uttered a loud cry, or shriek it seemed to me. "what's the matter, sir?" asked the mate. "i cannot see!" groaned the captain. "where am i? what has happened?" the mate went to him and took his arm. "it may be but for a moment," he said. there had been no lightning; nothing, as far as we could discover, to produce blindness. still the captain refused to leave the deck, declaring that it would pass over. the doctor, who had turned in, was called up, and came to him. the increasing gale compelled the mate to attend to the duties of the ship. the doctor summoned me to assist in leading the captain below. i took his arm; he was trembling like an aspen. we led him to his berth, and assisted him to undress. "shall i be better in the morning, think you, doctor?" he asked, in an agitated tone. "i cannot say, captain hawkins. i believe that this blindness has come on in consequence of your having overtaxed your physical powers. in course of time, with rest and a warmer climate, i trust that you will recover your sight." "oh that it may be so!" cried the captain, as he laid his head on the pillow. we had a heavier gale that night than we had before encountered. the seas again and again washed over the deck. it seemed wonderful that more of the men did not knock up. the first mate looked thin and haggard, and so did most of the other officers and men. the bulwarks on both sides had been carried away, two of the boats had been injured, and the ship had suffered various other damages. still we kept at it; the wind shifted; cape horn was actually weathered, and at length a joyous cheer burst from the throats of the crew as the ship's head was directed to the north-west. it was some days, however, before we felt any sensible change of climate, but after that it grew warmer and warmer, for we were now fairly in the pacific. the captain was disappointed in his expectations of recovering his sight. he came daily on deck and stood turning his head round in every direction, and i observed a painful expression on his countenance. "i'll tell you what, peter, i've a notion how the captain came to lose his sight," said horner to me in a confidential tone. "it's a punishment to him for the way he treated esdale, and you, and jim." "we have no right to think that," i answered; "even if he had treated me ten times worse than he has done, i should not wish him to suffer what must be to a man of his nature so terrible a misfortune." "well, then, i suppose i must keep my opinion to myself," answered horner. in a few days we reached the island of juan fernandez, and hove-to off it that the boats might go in close to the shore to catch some fish. mr griffiths gave jim and me leave to go in one of them. we were provided with hooks and lines. the water was so clear that we could see the fish take the bait, which they did so ravenously, that in a short time we had as many rock cod and other fish as we required. we afterwards landed and brought off a quantity of wild mint, which grows in profusion over the island. we made it into tea, which we enjoyed very much after drinking pea-coffee so long. while we were collecting the mint we saw a number of goats bounding among the rocks, some standing still and looking down on us. they were descendants of those which inhabited the island in the days of alexander selkirk, who was taken off by dampier during his last voyage to the pacific. at first we thought that there were no inhabitants, but just as we were shoving off we heard a shout, and a white man and negro were seen rushing down towards us, shouting and gesticulating furiously. they were both dressed in skins, with high fur caps, and had long sticks in their hands to help themselves as they ran. "why, i do believe that must be robinson crusoe and his man friday," cried horner, at which all hands laughed. "he got home long ago, or he never could have written his history, stupid," said the mate, "but whoever they are we'll wait for them." still horner had not got his first idea out of his head. he had not read much, but he had read robinson crusoe, and believed in it as a veracious history. the strangers soon reached the boat. "now, i say, ain't you robinson crusoe?" cried horner, as the white man got up to the boat. "no, my name is miles soper, and i know nothing of the chap you speak of," answered the stranger. "i say, mister," he continued, turning to the mate, "will you take us poor fellows off? we were cast ashore some six months ago or more, and are the only people out of our ship, which went down off there, who saved their lives, as far as i can tell. sam cole here and i came ashore on a bit of a raft, and we have had a hard time of it since then." "why, as to that, my man, if you're willing to enter and serve aboard our ship, i daresay the captain will take you, but he doesn't want idlers." "beggars can't be choosers," answered miles soper. "if you are willing to take us we shall be glad to go, and both sam and i are able seamen." "well, jump in, my lads," said the mate; "but haven't you anything at the place where you have lived so long to bring away?" "no, we've nothing but the clothes we stand up in, except it may be a few wooden bowls and such like things," answered the stranger, who looked hard at the mate as he spoke, probably suspecting that we might pull off, and that he and his chum might be left behind. both the men seemed in tolerably good condition. they told us that they had had abundance of goat's flesh and vegetables, as well as fruit, but that they had got tired of the life, and had had a quarrel with four mongrel spaniards, who lived on another part of the island, whom they thought might some day try to murder them. they both asked to take an oar, and, by the way they pulled, they showed that they were likely to be useful hands. when we got on board the _intrepid_, mr griffiths spoke very kindly to them, and as they at once said that they would be glad to enter, their names were put down as belonging to the crew. i took a liking from the first to miles soper, though he was perfectly uneducated, and could neither read nor write. sam also seemed an honest merry fellow. he and the other africans soon became friends. the crew had been employed on the passage, whenever the weather permitted, in preparing what is called the "cutting-in gear," which consists of the various tackles and ropes for securing the whales alongside when caught and taking off the blubber. then there was the gear of the various boats, and it would astonish anyone to see the enormous number of articles stowed away in a whale-boat when she starts after a whale. everything was now got ready, as we were in expectation every day of falling in with whales, and the men were on the look-out from the mastheads from dawn until dark, in the hopes of seeing them. i longed to see a whale caught, for as yet the voyage had been profitless, and every one was out of spirits. the captain, who still remained perfectly blind, notwithstanding the assurances of dr cockle that he would recover, was so especially. he seemed like a heartbroken man; his countenance gloomy, as if troubled with melancholy thoughts, and his whole manner and appearance were changed. it was sad to see him come on deck and stand, sometimes for an hour together, turning his face round, as if he were picturing to himself the sparkling ocean, the blue sky overhead, and the busy scene which the deck of his ship presented. i observed that mr griffiths never gave an order if he could help it while the blind captain was on deck. the health of the latter, however, by degrees improved, the colour returned to his cheeks, and his voice, when he spoke, again had the ring in it which i had from the first remarked. day after day, however, we sailed on without seeing a whale. at length one day, soon after noon, the first mate having just taken an observation, and the captain being in his cabin, we were cheered by the cry from the masthead of-- "there she spouts! there she spouts!" the loud tramping of the men on deck roused those below, who quickly sprang up, eager to engage in the expected chase. among the first who appeared was the captain, who ran up the companion-ladder with as much agility as he had ever displayed. "where away--where away?" he asked. the men pointed to windward, and to our surprise the captain turned his eyes in the same direction. "lower three boats," he shouted. "i'll go in one of them." presently i saw a low, bush-like spout of white mist rise from the surface of the sea, not two miles off. "there she spouts! there she spouts!" shouted the captain, showing that he saw too. with wonderful rapidity, as everything was prepared, the boats were lowered. the doctor had come on deck. "where are you going, captain hawkins?" he asked, in an astonished tone. "in chase of those whales out there," answered the captain; "for, doctor, i can see them as well as you do." of this there could be no doubt. several at that instant appeared at various distances. the excitement of the moment had given the required stimulus to the captain's nerves, and he was restored to sight. i remembered the fruitless chase off cape horn, when the captain and those with him so nearly lost their lives, but this promised to be successful. the captain's boat took the lead. his aim was to get up to one of the monsters of the deep just as it returned to the surface for breathing, as it would be some time before it could go down again, and before that interval many a harpoon and lance might be plunged into its body. the captain soon took the lead; the men pulled as if their lives depended on it. before they were half a mile away a whale rose just ahead of the captain's boat. springing into the bows, he stood, harpoon in hand, ready to strike. presently he was close up to the monster; the weapon flew from his grasp, followed by three lances hurled in rapid succession. the whale, feeling the pain, darted off. another boat came up, and a second harpoon was made fast, while several more lances were plunged into its side. presently its enormous flukes rose in the air. "he has sounded! he has sounded!" cried those on board. the whale had dived, and the lines coiled away in the tubs ran rapidly out. the monster, however, had not finished its breathing, and soon after a second line had been secured to the first it came again to the surface. the boats pulled rapidly towards it, and the harpooners plied it with their lances. presently we saw them pull away as if for their lives. the whale rose nearly out of the water, and began turning round and lashing the surface with its flukes, each blow being sufficient to destroy any boat and her crew within its reach. "the monster is in its flurry," i heard the doctor say. "it is ours to a certainty." he was right. after lashing the water into a mass of blood-tinged foam, it lay perfectly still. those on board raised a shout as they saw a little flag fixed on the body. the boats now made chase after another whale, which gave them more trouble than the first; but they attacked it bravely, now pulling up and hurling harpoons and lances into it, and now pulling away to avoid being attacked in return. presently we saw one boat again dash forward, almost the next instant its fragments rose in the air, and the crew were scattered far and wide around. which boat it was we could not tell. some fancied it was the captain's, others that it was the second mate's. "he regained his sight to-day," said an old orkneyman. "it's a question whether it wasn't that he might have a last look on his fellow-creatures and the mighty sea." chapter eighteen. our first whales caught--i hear news of jack. the moment the accident was perceived mr griffiths ordered the only remaining boat away, and jumped into her, for the carpenter had not yet finished the two building to replace those lost off cape horn. i asked to go. "no! you stay on board and help to work the ship up to us," he answered. i accordingly went to the helm, as i steered better than most of those remaining on board, while the doctor and steward lent a hand to the rest in pulling and hauling, as we had continually to go about; but the wind was light, and it was not very hard work. i kept an eye constantly towards the boats, and soon saw a whift planted on the back of the last whale attacked, which showed that it was dead. our anxiety was relieved when, instead of returning, they made chase after another whale. it proved that although the boat had been destroyed, the men had escaped with their lives. "i do believe we shan't have the skipper aboard again," observed horner. "i hope so," i said. "ahem!" was his answer, as he walked away. at length, shortening sail, we ran up alongside the first whale that had been killed. the men descended to its back with ropes round their waists to hook on the tackles to its head and flukes. we had then to wait until the boats towed the other whale up to the opposite side. we eagerly watched their proceedings. the third whale was attacked. after sounding twice and carrying out, apparently, three, if not four lines, we saw it suddenly come to the surface and leap completely out of the water. this is called breaching. it then began rolling round and round, endeavouring in its agony to get rid of the weapon sticking in it. the boats for some time kept at a distance. then once more they approached, again to pull off as the whale commenced lashing the water with its huge flukes. "it's in its flurry," observed the doctor, who was looking through his telescope, which he handed to me. at last we saw the three boats approaching, towing the whale by the nose. the wind having fallen, and having a whale alongside, we were unable to near them to save them their long pull. on they came, towing the monster at the rate of a mile and a half an hour. it was thus upwards of that period of time before they got alongside. the first man handed up was miles soper--or robinson crusoe, as we called him--whose leg had been broken by the second whale attack. he had willingly endured the suffering, lying at the bottom of the boat, rather than give up the chase. no one else had been injured, though all had run a great risk of being drowned; but a whaler's crew know that such may be their fate at any moment. the doctor at once took the man under his charge. no time was lost in hooking on the other whale, and commencing the operation of "cutting-in." this i may briefly describe as taking off the blubber with large spades, the handles of which are twenty feet long. the whale is turned round and round by means of tackles brought to the windlass, the blanket-piece, or blubber covering, being thus gradually stripped off till it reaches the tail, which is hove on board with the last piece. the blubber is lowered down the main hatchway and cut up into small pieces, called "horse pieces." these are afterwards piled up on deck to be minced into thin slices for boiling in the pots. the operation of "cutting-in" is a very dangerous one when there is any sea on to make the ship roll. the first and second mates stand on stages lowered over the side, cutting the blubber from the whale as the crew heave it round with the windlass. the four boat-steerers are on the gang-ways attending to the guys and tackles, the captain superintending the whole process, while the carpenter grinds the spades. all round the sea swarms with sharks attracted by the oil and blubber. when not otherwise employed, tom and i and horner attacked them with the spades and killed great numbers. we worked away until night, but did not finish even then, as it takes twelve hours to strip the blubber off a large whale. we commenced again at daylight, and it was dark before we began to cut into the second whale. we had still a third to operate on, but as each was worth nearly a thousand pounds, no one complained. fortunately the weather remained fine, and we got the blubber of the third whale on board by the end of the next day. we had also boiled the spermaceti oil out of the head, with small buckets at the ends of long poles. this is the most valuable production of the whale, and is used for making candles. for night work the ship's company was divided into two watches, from six to one, and from one to six. the instant the last piece of blubber was on board, the carcasses were cast loose to be devoured by fish and fowl. we began the operation of trying-out, as boiling the blubber is called, by first putting some wood under the try-pots. as soon as the blubber was boiled, the scraps which rose to the surface were skimmed off with a large ladle, and after being thrown into a pot with holes in the bottom to drain off the oil remaining in them, were used as fuel for boiling the remainder of the blubber. the appearance our decks presented, with huge fires blazing away under our pots, and the men with the ladles skimming off the scraps, or baling out the oil into the coolers, was strange and weird in the extreme. had i been suddenly introduced among them, i should not have recognised them as my shipmates, begrimed as they were with smoke and oil. i was, however, much in the same condition. dr cockle had become accustomed to it, but i cannot fancy that it was very pleasant to him. the doctor told me that he should be glad, whenever i could, if i would go below and talk to poor miles soper. i willingly did so. he was suffering occasionally great pain, but in the intervals it cheered him to have some one to speak to. i found that he was even more ready to talk than listen, and i accordingly got him to tell me about himself. he happened to ask my name. i told him. "peter trawl!" he exclaimed. "trawl! that's curious. i remember a chap of your name aboard the _lapwing_ brig-of-war." i at once was deeply interested. "he must have been my brother jack," i exclaimed. "do tell me what has become of him, for i heard he was lost out in the indian seas." "that's just where he and i were nearly lost. we were coming home when a boat was sent away, and we, with six more men and an officer, went in her, to visit an island on some business or other, i forget what, and i didn't know it's name. "there are wild sorts of chaps out in those parts, who go pirating in their proas, as they call them. while we were just shoving off, a dozen or more of these proas came round us. we knew if the pirates got hold of us we should all be knocked on the head, so we began blazing away to keep them at a distance. we kept on at it till we hadn't a charge left for our muskets. two of our men were killed, and our officer badly wounded. the pirates then came nearer and fired their gingalls into us. just then one of their proas caught fire, and sent up such clouds of smoke that for some time, as we were near her, we could not be seen. "`now, lads,' said the officer, `those among you who are not wounded try and swim to shore. it's your only chance. the rest of us must die like men.' "our oars, you see, were shattered, and by this time all hands except jack and me were more or less hurt. we followed our brave officer's advice, and leaping overboard reached the beach before we were seen by the pirates. some gingalls were fired at us, but we got away among the bushes, and ran as hard as our legs could carry us in shore. we did not know where we were going, or what sort of people we should meet. whether the pirates landed or not we did not stop to learn, but as we ran for three or four hours there was not much chance of being overtaken. "we saw at last a river before us, and as it was too broad to cross, and we were afraid, should we attempt to swim over, that we might be picked off by one of those big scaly beasts they call crocodiles, we kept down along the bank, as we knew that it must lead us to the opposite side of the island to where we had landed. "`cheer up,' said jack to me. `maybe our ship will come round there and take us off. our fellows are sure to be searching round the coast on the chance of finding us.' "`i hope you're right, jack,' said i, `for it will be a bad job for us if we can't get away, as how we are to find food is more than i can tell, and it's very clear we can't live without it.' "there were plenty of trees growing on the bank, though not so thickly but that we could manage to make our way between them. "says jack to me, `if those cut-throat fellows come after us, we must climb up one of these and hide ourselves among the branches.' "`i don't think they will take the trouble to follow us so far,' i answered. `but it's a good idea of yours, and it will give us a chance of saving our lives.' "we of course could not run as fast as we had been going in the open country. sometimes we came across fallen trees, over which we had to climb, and at others we had to go round thick bushes which we could not get through. still, what stopped us would stop our enemies. on and on we went, till just as we got out of a wood we saw before us a village of curious-looking houses, built on stout piles, many of them right in the water. "`hadn't we better go back?' i said to jack; `the people who live there may be the same sort of cut-throats as those we have got away from. they'll be for knocking us on the head when they see us.' "jack agreed with me that it would be better to stay in the wood till it was dark, and we might then make our way clear of the village down to the sea. we were just going back, when a woman came out on a sort of verandah in front of the house nearest to us, and we knew by the way she was looking that we were seen. then she turned round and called to another woman, who also came out. "`come,' said jack, `we had better go on boldly and ask those dark-skinned ladies to give us their protection. they are sure to do that if we look humble enough, and show them that we want to be friends, for to my mind women are alike all the world over.' "so we moved on, kissing our hands, and then holding them up clasped before us. the women did not run away, or seem a bit frightened; and as we got nearer one of them came down the ladder and held out both her hands, which we took and put on our heads. she then beckoned us up the steps, and made signs to us to sit down on mats inside the house. as we were both very hungry by this time, we pointed to our mouths to show that we wanted something to eat and drink. the younger girl went to another part of the house and brought back some fish and yams, and a bowl with some liquor in it. there was not much to be said for the taste, but we were too thirsty after our long run to be particular. we tried to make the women understand that there were enemies coming after us, and that we wanted to hide away, so when we had finished our meal they beckoned us to come into another room, and, placing some mats on the ground, they told us that we might sleep there safely--at least, that's what we made out. "night came on, and jack and i, agreeing that we had got into good quarters, went to sleep. there was no bell striking, and no bo'sun's mate to rouse us up, and so we slept on till it was broad daylight. we got up and looked out from the verandah, or platform, which went round the house, when we saw three men talking together. as soon as they caught sight of us they came towards the house, and one of them mounted the ladder. he looked at us with surprise, and seemed to be asking who we were. we told him as well as we could by signs that we had come across from the other side of the island, and wanted to get off to our ship, which would soon be round to take us aboard. this did not seem to satisfy him. presently in came the women, and they had a talk about the matter, but what they said we could not make out. the first man then called the other two, and after more palavering they began to look savage, and gave us to understand that we were to be their slaves, and work for them. "`well,' says jack to me, `all we've got to do is to grin and bear it. maybe, as we are near the sea, we shall have a chance of making our escape.' "this was one comfort; so we nodded, as much as to say we were ready to do what they bid us, for, you see, we were in their power and couldn't help ourselves. after we had gone into the house and sat down, waiting to see what would next happen, the women--bless them for their kindness!--brought us some more food for breakfast, and a capital one we made. bad as was our lot, yet it was better than being knocked on the head or having our throats cut. a number of people now came out of their houses, and there was great rejoicing among them to think that they had got two white men as slaves. we found that we had plenty of work to do to cut wood and fetch water, and to hoe in their fields, which were some way from the village, or to go out fishing with them. "this we liked better than anything else. if it had not been for the women our lot would have been worse, for they took care to give us food every day, which i don't think the men would have troubled themselves about doing, for they were regular savages. "day after day went by; we were getting accustomed to our life, and as yet had had no chance of escaping. a precious sharp look-out was at all times kept over us, and i don't think even the women would have wished us to go, for we had to do a good deal of the work which would have otherwise fallen to their lot. though we were, as i was saying, used to the life we led, we both wanted to get away. "i've an old father down in dorsetshire, and there's a bright young girl who lives with him whom i would give something to see again; and jack sighed to go home, as he said, to see his father and mother, and a young brother and sister. he used to talk much to me about you all, and it seemed to me as if i knew you long before we ever met. "we found that we were much farther from the sea than we had at first supposed, for although we went a good way down the river we never reached its mouth. "the people in the village didn't lead quiet lives, for they were always on the watch, fearing that they might be attacked by enemies. at night they made fast their boats under their houses, and had their goods all ready for a start into the woods, while they had men on the look-out night and day to give notice should any strange vessels come up the river. "jack and i agreed that if any enemies should come in the night we might have a good chance of escaping, but from what we had seen of the fellows who had attacked our boat we had no wish to fall into the hands of such characters. we thought that we might manage to slip into a boat and pull up the river and hide ourselves until the pirates had gone away. "you must know that we did not wish any ill to our masters, for though we were their slaves we had taken a liking to them, as they did not ill-treat us, and gave us a good deal of time to ourselves. "weeks and months went by. we began to think that no enemy would come, and that we must try to get off by some other means than that we had first thought of. at last we saw the men sharpening their long knives and polishing their spears, and new painting their shields. "`depend upon it there's something in the wind,' said jack to me. `they are going on a war expedition.' "`no doubt about the matter,' i said, `and they'll want us to go with them.' "`then we must take care not to go,' said jack. `i for one won't be for killing men, women, and children, as these fellows are likely to do. we must pretend to be sick, or that we do not understand what they want of us, and get off somehow or other.' "whether or not it was talking about being sick i don't know, but the very next night i was struck down with fever. our masters saw that i was not shamming. the women also stood our friends, and declared that i was not fit to get up and work, while jack was allowed to stay at home and nurse me. i was very bad, and i believe he thought that i should die. "if he had been my own mother's son he couldn't have looked after me better than he did; night and day he was always by my side, ready to give me what i wanted. one day i heard a loud shouting and singing, and jack, who had gone out, came back and said that the men had all started with their spears and shields. they had wanted to make him go, but the women said he must stop behind, though he had a hard matter to escape from the men. i was already getting better, and this news made me feel better still. "`it will be a bad return to run off with one of their boats,' said jack, `but there seems no help for it, and it may be our only chance, for the men will be back again in a day or two.' "that very night, while jack and i were sitting up talking, we heard shrieks and cries in the distance; and presently, looking out, jack said he saw the houses lower down the river burning. "then depend upon it the pirates have taken the place, i said. "`no doubt about it,' exclaimed jack, `and now is our chance. if we could defend the poor women and children we would, but we cannot do that. they'll know where to fly to, and so, i hope, escape.' "suddenly i felt my strength come back, and i was able to follow jack down the ladder, at the bottom of which the boat was kept moored. to cut the painter by which she was made fast didn't take us a moment, and springing into her we paddled across the stream. as we looked down the river we could see all the houses in a blaze, and here and there people running off into the woods, while we made out half a score or more of the dark proas stealing up along the shore." just as miles soper had got thus far in his history i was summoned on deck, and eager as i was to hear how he and jack had fared, i was obliged to attend to my duty. chapter nineteen. miles soper's narrative concluded. "i've heard news of my brother jack!" i exclaimed, as i met jim directly after i sprang on deck. "what! is he alive?" asked jim. "miles soper, who was his shipmate, thinks so," i answered. "at all events, he wasn't killed when we thought he was." "then, peter, we'll find him if we search the world round!" cried jim, giving me a warm grip of the hand. "i am glad; that i am!" it takes a whole day to "try out"--that is, to boil down the blubber of each whale. i found that the cooper and his mate had just finished filling up the casks from the coolers, and i was wanted, with others, to assist in rolling them aft. here they were chocked and lashed and left to cool for several days before they were in a condition to be stowed away in the hold. in the meantime we had to get up all the empty casks on deck so that we might lay the ground-tier with the full casks. as the casks were piled up, one upon another, the ship was in consequence almost topheavy, and i saw the captain and mr griffiths frequently casting glances round the horizon, to watch for an indication of any change in the weather, for should a sudden squall strike the ship she might, while in this condition, be sent over in an instant. every possible exertion was therefore made to get the task accomplished, and all hands were employed. anxious as i was to hear what had become of my brother, i consequently had no opportunity for a long time of listening to a continuance of miles soper's narrative. i should have said that though the oil casks were stowed away empty and filled by means of the hose from the deck, the greatest care was required in bedding them, as they might have to remain three years or more in the hold. the blubber from the three whales was at length tryed out and secured in the casks, and the decks being washed down, the ship once more resumed her ordinary appearance, we meantime continuing our course northward. the first moment i was at liberty i went down to see miles soper. he said that he felt much better, though still unable to do duty. "and what about jack?" i asked; "you and he were just pulling away across the river at night to escape from the dyack pirates." "yes; i have been thinking much about it since i told you. i would not have to go through that time again for a good deal if i could help it. we could hear the shrieks and cries of the old men, women, and children as the cruel pirates caught them and cut off their heads, and we could see the flames burst out from the houses all along the banks of the river. we were afraid that the light would be thrown upon our boat, so that we dare not venture down the river, but pulled up along the southern bank close under the bushes. we thought that we were safe, at all events, till daylight, when we caught sight of two boats coming out from among the pirate fleet and steering up stream. i gave up all for lost, as i knew that they would whip our heads off in a moment should they come up with us. "`don't give in!' cried jack; `perhaps it isn't us that they're after.' "we ceased pulling lest the light should fall on our oar-blades, for we should have had no chance if they had made chase. "`let's paddle in under these bushes,' whispered jack; `they're very thick, and we can lie hid here, while maybe they'll pass us.' "we did as he proposed. as the boughs overhung the water and almost touched it with their ends, we hoped that the pirates would not discover us. we could just look out across the river, and saw the boats still coming towards us. we both lay down in the bottom of our boat and remained as quiet as mice, scarcely daring to look up above the gunwale for fear of being seen. we could hear the voices of the pirates and the splash of their oars as they drew nearer. if they had before seen us they might have observed the spot where we had disappeared, and i expected every moment to have my head whipped off my shoulders. just putting my eyes above the gunwale, i saw the two boats, broadside on, pulling along. they hadn't found us out. on and on they went, right up the stream. they must have thought that we were still ahead. we, of course, didn't dare to move, hoping that they would give up the chase and go back again. "`we must not be too sure that they won't look for us when they do come back,' said jack. `howsomdever, there's no use crying out till we're caught. i'll tell you what; the best thing we can do is to get on shore and make our way inland; then, though they may find the boat, they won't catch us.' i agreed; so, shoving the boat farther in till we reached the bank, we sprang on shore, and having secured her by the painter, set off directly away from the river. as it was very dark, we had to grope our way amongst the trees and bushes, though the glare in the sky from the burning houses enabled us to steer a right course. we half expected that a snake or a wild beast might pounce down upon us, and we had no arms to defend ourselves. but anything was better than to be caught by the pirates. at last, when our clothes were torn nearly off our backs, we reached some open ground, and set off running till we got to a wood on the opposite side. `now,' says jack, `we won't go farther, but hide here till the morning; then maybe, if we can climb to the top of a tree, we shall be able to catch sight of the river and find out what the pirates are doing.' i thought his idea a good one, so we sat down on the ground and waited. we could hear no sounds, so we concluded that all the poor people had been killed. we hoped, however, that the warriors might come back and beat the pirates off. not that we wished to fall into the power of our old masters again, for they would have kept us prisoners if they didn't lake it into their heads to kill us. "at last the light returned, and seeing a tall tree near: jack and i climbed up to the top. jack went first. `hurrah!' he shouted; `there go the pirates down the river, pulling away with all their oars out!' sure enough i saw them also. `but i say, jack, perhaps the warriors have come back and put them to flight; if so, we must take care not to be caught by them.' i said, `i can see where the village stood, but i don't see any people moving about.' `it's a long way, to be sure, so we must be careful,' answered jack. we soon got down the tree and returned to our boat. the pirates hadn't discovered her, so we got on board, and cautiously shoved out to the edge of the bushes, stopping just inside them. we then took a look-out, but could discover no one moving on the opposite shore, so we pulled across to the village. it was a fearful sight we saw there. bodies of old men, women, and children were scattered about, but the heads were gone. "we were in a hurry, you may be sure, to get away, but, says jack, `it won't do to put to sea without food or water.' so we hunted about, and found in the bushes several baskets which the poor people had been trying to carry off with food of all sorts, and some calabashes, which we quickly filled at the spring where we were accustomed to get water. we hurried with them back to the boat, and once more shoved off. we then paddled away down the river. the current was running out, so that we made good way, and were soon out of sight of the burnt village. our craft was not very well suited for a voyage, but anything was better than stopping to be killed on shore. we pulled on until nearly noon before we came in sight of the mouth of the river. there was no bar, and the sea was smooth, so we resolved to pull out at once, in the hope of being picked up by some passing vessel. we were still not certain even now that our masters would not make chase after us, so we didn't stop a moment, except just to look round, but pulled right away to sea. just as we got outside we caught sight of the pirate fleet under sail, standing to the nor'ard. we therefore pulled south, not that there was much chance of their coming back, but we thought that if we went in their wake we should not fall in with any merchant vessel, for at any rate if they should have met one they would to a certainty have robbed and scuttled her. "we supposed that there were other islands away to the westward, but then they might be inhabited by the same cut-throat sort of fellows as those from whom we had escaped, and we didn't want to fall into their hands. our chief hope was to be picked up by some passing vessel or other, perhaps by our own ship, but jack said he thought she would not have remained at the station, and would have long ago given up searching for us. it was hot work paddling away all day, and we would have given much for a sail, but the boat was not fitted for one, and she was not fitted either for a heavy sea--not that there was much chance of that getting up at such time of the year. we had plenty of food and water, so we kept up our spirits. where we were going to neither of us could tell; all we knew was that we were our own masters. we were queer characters to look at, with our clothes all torn to shreds, our hair long, and our faces as brown as berries. no one would have taken us for englishmen, but we had english tongues and english hearts, and we made up our minds to stick at it and not be downcast. we wanted to get away as far as we could from the shore, for fear any of the natives might come after us--not that there was much chance of that. we paddled and paddled till our arms ached, and we were well-nigh roasted with the hot sun. we were thankful when night came on, and we were able to rest and take some food. "we had agreed to keep watch and watch, but it was of no use trying to keep awake, so we both lay down in the bottom of the boat and went fast asleep. when we awoke it was broad daylight, and presently up came the sun and beat down on our heads as hot as the day before. there we were floating on the sea with the water calm as a mill-pond, and not a sail in sight. there was no chance either of a vessel coming near us while the calm continued. we took our breakfasts, however, and talked of what we should do. far away to the east we could see the blue outline of the island we had left, but what part to steer for we could not make up our minds. there was only one thing we determined--come what might, not to go back and be made slaves of. it seemed useless to be paddling away and yet not to know where we were going to; but we still hoped that we might fall in with some merchant vessel, it mattered not of what country, though we wished she might be english, and so we might find our way home. "`come, let's be moving,' said jack, at last. `i've heard say that there are dutch and spanish settlements out in these parts, and maybe we shall fall in with one of them, and both the mynheers and dons are good sort of people, and will treat us kindly.' "so we took to our paddles and made our way to the westward. all day we paddled on, but no land appeared in sight, and now and then we stopped to take some food and a drink of water, but it was tiring work. we were thankful when night came at last. we didn't sleep so long, and were at our paddles before daybreak, for we knew by the stars how to steer. "next day we did just the same, and the next after that. "`i say, miles,' said jack, `we must soon manage to come to land or we shall be starving. we have not got food nor water for more than one day longer, and without them we shall not be able to hold out.' "that was very true; still neither of us thought of giving in. a light breeze from the eastward had sprung up, so that we made good way, but there was no land to be seen ahead. we didn't talk much, for we had said all we could say about our prospects, and they were bad enough. but they became worse when we had drunk up all the water and eaten every bit of food we had in the boat. i had heard of people going three or four days without eating, but the want of water was the worst. we would have given a heap of gold if we had had it for a cupful. the wind now shifted to the southward, and blew much stronger than before, knocking up a sea which threatened every moment to swamp our boat, which was not fitted for rough water. we now began to think that it was all up with us, and that all we could do was just to keep the boat's head to the seas to prevent her from capsizing. "at last jack sang out, `a sail! a sail to the southward!' "there she was, coming up before the wind. a strange-looking, outlandish craft she seemed as she drew nearer. "`i wonder whether she's one of those dyack or malay pirates,' i said. `if so, we may as well let the boat turn over.' "`no, no; let us trust god, and hope for the best,' said jack. `cheer up, miles! she's sent for our relief.' "i was not so sure of that, for it was easy to see from her outlandish rig that she was one of the craft of those seas. presently, as she got near us, she lowered her sails and came close up. ropes were hove to us, and hands were stretched out over the side to haul us on board, for we had scarcely strength enough left to help ourselves. they tried to secure the boat, but she drifted off and was swamped. we just saw that the people were chinamen, pig-eyed, with turned-up noses and yellow skins. we both fainted away. they brought us some water, and in a short time we got better. they then carried us into a small cabin aft out of the hot sun. presently they brought us some food--rice, and some stuff minced with it. we were not particular, for we were desperately hungry. "we now found that the people who had picked us up were honest traders bound northward with a cargo of sea-slugs, birds'-nests, and other things from these seas. we tried to talk to them, but could not manage it, as none of them understood english, and we couldn't speak their lingo. but as soon as we got stronger we made ourselves useful, pulling and hauling, and doing whatever came to hand. where we were going to we could not make out, but we hoped that it was to some place at which the english ships touched, and that we might get home some day. as jack said, we had reason to be thankful that we had been picked up, for the weather came on very bad, and our boat could not have lived through it. the chinamen kept a bright look-out, and seemed terribly afraid of the pirates. we tried to make them understand that we had seen the fleet sail to nor'ard a short time before, and we ourselves didn't like the thoughts of falling in with them. we told them also that we would fight to the death sooner than yield. they understood us, and seemed to think that we were very fine fellows. we had been sailing on for three or four days, and we began to hope that we were free of the pirates, when just as we passed a headland we caught sight of a number of craft coming out from under it. on seeing them the chinamen looked very much frightened, hoisted all sail, and brought their arms on deck. we watched the strangers, who, it was very clear, were making chase after us. we should have a hard fight for it, even if we should manage to get off. presently, however, we saw their sails flapping against their masts as they came under the headland, whilst we still had a breeze and went away dancing merrily over the water. i never felt so pleased in my life, and the chinamen seemed highly delighted, chattering and jabbering away like so many monkeys. it was pleasant to see the pirates' sails sink below the horizon, and pleasanter still to lose sight of them altogether. "we ran on day after day. the breeze held fair and we by degrees got accustomed to our new friends, and could make ourselves understood in a fashion. we sometimes were sailing between islands, and sometimes on the open sea. whereabouts we were we had no idea, though we supposed that we were approaching the chinamen's country. "we had been a fortnight or more on board when dark clouds rose up from the south-west, and it came on to blow very hard. the sails were lowered and we ran before the gale. i saw by the looks of the crew that they didn't like it, nor did we, for it seemed as if at any moment the clumsy craft might be capsized. we, however, pumped and baled, and tried to keep her clear of water. it all seemed, however, of no use, for the seas washed into her and she was leaking terribly. "we had been driven a long way out of our course. we did our best to cheer up our shipmates, and set them the example by working harder than any of them. "at last the gale ceased, and we once more made sail, but, do all we could, the water gained on us and the crew began to heave the cargo overboard to keep the junk afloat. the boats had been washed away, and we knew that if she went down we should all be drowned. jack and i talked of what we could do to save our lives, but we agreed that we should have to share the fate of the rest. it seemed to us that the craft would not swim another night, when we made out a sail to the westward. "the chinamen by this time were so knocked up that they were scarcely able to exert themselves. jack and i sprang here and there, now pumping, now baling, now trying to make our companions do the same. it seemed to us that they would let the craft go down in sight of help. the stranger we judged by the cut of her sails to be a whaler. the junk was settling lower and lower in the water. jack found a flag, an odd-looking piece of stuff it was. he ran it up half-mast high as a signal of distress. the stranger came on slowly, for the wind was light. it seemed even now that she would not be in time to save us. at last she got near enough to see our condition, and hove-to. four boats were lowered, which came pulling towards us. "by this time the water was almost up to the lower deck. jack and i stood ready to spring on board the first boat which came up. the brave crew came on, and were in time to haul the greater number of the chinamen on board before the junk sunk beneath their feet. several went down in her, too much knocked up to exert themselves. with us and those saved, the boats returned on board. we found that we had been picked up by the _helen_, whaler. she had been cruising off the coast of japan, and was going to macao for fresh provisions. as she was short of hands jack and i at once entered on board her. having landed the unfortunate chinamen and taken in the stores we wanted, we stood away into the pacific. we found ourselves among a somewhat rough lot, but we were better off than we had been as slaves, though jack and i agreed that we would much rather serve on board a man-o'-war. we had been cruising for some time, and had caught and stowed away about a dozen whales or more, when one night there was a cry of `breakers ahead!' "the captain, who was on deck in a moment, gave the order to put up the helm and veer ship, but before she could be got round she struck heavily. we sounded round her and found the water deep on the starboard side. but all our efforts proving useless, the order was given to lower the boats. we had five fit for service, and they were got safely into the water. jack went in one of them, i in another. we were ordered to keep off at a safe distance from the ship till daylight. when morning broke we found that the ship was a complete wreck, and that there was no chance of saving her. the captain then ordered the boats to come alongside one at a time and embark the rest of the crew, with such provisions as could be collected. we now saw land away to the nor'ard, and, having left the ship, pulled towards it. our great want was water, and to obtain it the captain divided us into two parties to look into any bays we might discover and try and find a spring. i was in the second mate's boat. we were just pulling into a bay, when a dozen canoes full of black savages, with bows and spears, darted out and made chase after us, so we pulled away out to sea. what had become of the other boats we could not tell. your brother jack had gone in the captain's, and that was the last i saw of him." "do you think they could have escaped from the savages?" i asked, anxiously. "i have no reason to suppose they didn't, just as we managed to escape," answered miles, "but we didn't catch sight of them again. we had sails in our boat, and plenty of provisions, and the mate told us he intended to steer for the sandwich islands, the nearest civilised place he knew of, but that it was a long way off, and we should be a long time about it. he might have been right, but we were still many days' sail from it when we ran short of provisions and drank up all our water. i believe that we should have died if we hadn't fallen in with another whaler, which picked us up. i entered on board her, as did some of the men, but the mate and others preferred landing at honolulu. i served on board her for some time. we had gone southward, having got a full ship, when we struck on a coral reef. though we did all we could to keep her afloat, she went down with all hands, except the black and me, and we managed to get ashore on robinson crusoe's island, from which you took us off." "but can't you give me any idea as to what has become of jack?" i again asked. "not more than i have told you," answered miles; "but my idea is that some if not all the boats got off, though in what direction they steered i've no notion." i was prevented from talking more on the subject just then by being summoned on deck, and when i told jim he repeated what he had before said-- "we'll find him, peter. we'll find him." chapter twenty. a mutiny and its consequences. i told dr cockle all i had heard about my brother jack from miles soper. he seemed greatly interested, and said that he sincerely hoped we might find jack or hear of him, though he confessed that it was very much like looking for a needle in a bundle of hay. jim and i talked of little else. we neither of us any longer thought of going home, but i got a letter ready to send, by the first ship bound for england, to my sister mary, and another to mr troil, telling them that i had got tidings of jack, and much as i wished to get back, should stay out in those seas till i found him. my great wish now was to fall in with other whalers, that i might make inquiries about my brother. the captain--though, i suppose, dr cockle and mr griffiths told him what i had heard--seemed to take no interest in the matter, nor did he show me any more attention than before. we had left juan fernandez more than a month, when a cry came from the masthead of "land ho!" it proved to be chatham island, one of the galapagos, a group of volcanic islands almost under the line, some hundred miles away from the coast of peru. we brought up in a fine bay, but the shore as far as we could see looked black and barren. there were, however, thick, low bushes of a peculiar kind, covering the ground at some distance from the beach. as dr cockle was going on shore with one of the mates and a party of the men, he to botanise and they to obtain fresh provisions, i went up to the captain and asked leave to accompany him. "i understand you have made up your mind not to run away," he observed, in his usual sarcastic tone. "yes, sir," i answered; "i'm content to remain on board your ship, though i know that i would until lately have done anything to get back to england." "take care you don't change your mind," he said, in the same tone as before. "if the doctor will be answerable for you, you can go." i told the doctor what the captain said. "i know that i can trust you. peter, and i'll tell the captain that i'll undertake to bring you back," he answered. i was glad to find that jim was to form one of the party. horner also got leave to go. though he and i were on good terms, i can't say i looked upon him as a friend, but i was well pleased that he should have a run on shore, as i hoped that it would put him in good humour, for of late he had become one of the most constant grumblers on board. i even now recollect the pleasure i felt on thus once more treading the firm ground, as, except for the short time i had landed on juan fernandez, i hadn't set foot on shore since i left shetland. the rest of the seamen seemed greatly to enjoy their freedom. as soon as we had secured the boat we all set off together, running over the rough black ground, startling a number of strange-looking creatures like lizards, some of which slid off into the water, others hid themselves in holes and crevices of the rocks. jim and i, however, went back to join the doctor, as we knew that he would want us to carry anything he might chance to pick up. the mate, after the men had had a good run, called them to him, and we proceeded more leisurely. the shrubs we had seen we found to be prickly pears. we had gone some distance when we caught sight of some enormous creatures like tortoises. the doctor called them terrapins. they had been feeding on the prickly pears, and were now leisurely making their way towards the hills which rose in the distance. we were all suffering from thirst, and the sun beat down on our heads with a great heat. we had in vain been looking for water. "i'd give anything for a mugful!" cried jim. "so would i," "and i!" echoed several more of the men. "you needn't have long to wait if you can catch those creatures," said the doctor. "they'll yield as much cool water as we want." we all set off running after the terrapins, which, as they didn't move fast, we soon overtook. as we got close to them they drew their heads into their shells, and remained quiet. horner had become unusually lively, and on seeing the creatures stop jumped on the back of one of them, when immediately on it went carrying him along with it. at first he thought it very good fun, and began snapping his fingers and pretending to dance, but whilst he was looking round at us the terrapin carried him against a prickly pear-bush, and over he went sprawling on the ground, to the great amusement of the men. "oh, save me! save me!" he shouted out, scarcely knowing what had happened, and believing that the creatures were going to turn upon him and run their bills into his body. jim and i helped him up, and found that he was bleeding from a cut hand and a wound inflicted in his side by the point of one of the leaves. the doctor, however, on arriving at the spot, examined his hurts and comforted him by the assurance that there was not much the matter, and that if he didn't think about it he could go on as well as the rest of us. we soon again overtook the terrapins, when the men who were armed with spears ran them in under the creatures' necks and quickly killed them. we turned them over, and under the doctor's directions, found, as he said we should, plenty of perfectly cool water in their insides. it was fresh as if just out of the spring. leaving the terrapins to carry back with us on our return, we pushed on in the hope of falling in with some more. we were not disappointed. we in a short time killed four, as many as we could manage to carry on board the boat, and sufficient to give us fresh meat for several days. i was in hopes of meeting with inhabitants, as i wanted, wherever i went, to make inquiries for jack, not knowing where i might find him. as miles had come to the east, i thought he might have found his way in the same direction. none of the islands are, however, inhabited, and only one of them, charles island, has a spring of water, though people might otherwise exist in them for years. we saw a vast number of birds, which were very tame, but not a single four-legged creature besides the terrapins and lizards. we had to make several trips to carry the meat to the boat. as we shoved off we saw the sea literally swarming with fish, and the next morning the captain sent in two boats, which, in a short time, caught as many as we could eat. in the evening we sailed and cruised in the neighbourhood of the islands, during which time we added the oil of four whales to our cargo. we also met several other whalers, from all of whom i made inquiries for jack, but none of the people i spoke to had even heard of the wreck of the _helen_, and could give me no information. at length the crew began to grumble at being kept so long at sea, and we sailed for tumbez, on the mainland, where we took in wood and water. when this task was accomplished the captain gave leave to half of the crew to go ashore, and to remain away three days. on their return the other half had liberty granted them for the same time. i accompanied the doctor. we went up the river some distance, and then landing walked to a town surrounded by sand, far from having a pleasant look. with the assistance of the doctor, i made inquiries for jack, thinking that if he belonged to a whaler he might have visited the place; but i could gain no intelligence of him. the night before we sailed it was my middle watch, and when it was over i tumbled into my bunk. i had been asleep for some time when i was awakened by hearing horner's voice, exclaiming, "you are here, then? rouse up and come on deck. the captain is in a great taking. he has found that a boat is missing and some of the hands, and he declares that you have gone with them." slipping into my clothes, i hurried on deck. it was just daylight; the captain was standing aft, looking in a fearful rage, while the second mate was forward, shouting to the men to come up and show themselves. "do you want me, sir?" i asked. "so you and jim pulley have not taken yourselves off?" he exclaimed. "no, sir; we never thought of doing so, and i gave you my word that i wouldn't desert." he made no reply, but ordered mr griffiths to call over the names of the men. four were found missing. "take a boat and six men, well armed, and see you bring the rascals back, alive or dead!" he exclaimed, turning to the mate. in a couple of minutes the boat was in the water and the men were ready, and mr griffiths pulled away. he was absent for some hours. at last we saw his boat coming back, but without the runaways. on reaching the deck mr griffiths reported that he had gone up the river and examined the coast on either side of it, but could find no traces of the boat or men. as soon as captain hawkins had abandoned all hopes of recovering the runaways he ordered mr griffiths to go again on shore to try and pick up some fresh hands in their place, and i was sent to look after the boat. on either side of the river as we pulled up it we saw numbers of alligators sunning themselves on the sandy banks. as we got near them they plunged into the water, and at first i thought they were about to attack the boat. as we got higher up, the river narrowed and the trees bent over our heads. in the branches we could see numbers of monkeys leaping from bough to bough and chattering at us. at last, after going six miles, we reached a landing-place, near which was an orange-grove coming close down to the water. mr griffiths, taking two men with him, ordered the rest of us to remain in the boat, and on no account to quit her. scarcely, however, was he out of sight than the men declared that they must have some oranges. when i reminded them of the orders i had received they laughed at me, and one of them, springing ashore, ran off to the grove. he soon again appeared, with a handkerchief in his hands full of oranges, and sucking one as he came along. he was followed by an old gentleman, whom i at once guessed to be the owner of the orange-grove, and who came on till he reached the boat. he then stopped and said something in his native language, which none of us understood. when he found this he made signs to us that we had no business to take his oranges without leave. i tried to explain by pointing to the men's mouths that they were very thirsty, and that i couldn't prevent the sailor from taking the fruit. whether it was from my manner or looks i can't say, but the old gentleman appeared to be pleased, and going back to an orange-tree picked off a quantity of the fruit, which he brought to me in his own handkerchief, patting me on the back at the same time, as if he was satisfied with my explanations. while sucking away at the oranges the men were kept quiet. all the time the monkeys chattered away at us from the neighbouring trees, and an ugly alligator would now and then poke his snout out of the water to have a look at us, but the shouts we raised made him swim off. at last mr griffiths appeared with four fresh hands, each man carrying a bundle containing all his worldly possessions. as soon as they stepped into the boat we shoved off, and gave way down the river. i was surprised to find all the men talk in a way far superior to that of common sailors, and soon found that they had deserted from american whalers, and had been, before they came to sea, in good positions, which they had lost by misconduct. the moment we got on board, though it was now late in the evening, the captain ordered the anchor to be hove up, and as the wind was off shore, we stood out to sea. we proceeded at once to our old cruising ground in the neighbourhood of the galapagos. while we were on our way the new hands seemed perfectly contented, having little or nothing to do. i, of course, inquired of them if they had heard of anyone who had escaped from the _helen_, but they could give me no information. to my surprise, i found that, though they had entered in different names, three of them were brothers, and the fourth an old friend. one of the brothers appeared to be a quiet, well-disposed man. as far as i could make out, he had come to sea to look after the others, and to try and keep them out of mischief, though he didn't appear to have been very successful, as time after time they had got into all sorts of scrapes, and it was a wonder that they had escaped with their lives. on reaching the old ground we fell in with a number of whales, and had very hard work, for scarcely had we stowed away the oil of one than we were in chase of another. the new hands grumbled, and so did some of the others. of course they couldn't complain of our success in catching whales, that brought them the work to do. the mates knew of their grumbling, but took no notice of it. at last, one morning, when i came on deck, i found a letter lying on the companion-hatch, addressed to captain hawkins. i, of course, took it to him. "who sent this?" he asked, in an angry tone. i told him where i had found it, and that i knew nothing more about the matter. tearing it open, as he read it a frown gathered on his brow. "the mutinous rascals! i'll not yield to them," he exclaimed. "say nothing about this till i come on deck," he said to me. "send mr griffiths here." when the mate came the captain read the letter to him. they then armed themselves and went on deck, when the second mate was ordered to muster all hands aft. "who wrote this letter?" asked the captain, in a firm tone. no one answered, and there was silence for some time, until the captain repeated the question. "it was muggins," at last said one of the men. muggins was one of the last hands shipped, and though a man of some education, he always seemed to me utterly worthless. he was a friend of the three brothers, who went by the names of washington, crampton, and clifford. "but in this precious letter i have the names of all the crew," exclaimed the captain. several of the men on this protested that they knew nothing about the letter, and had not put their names to any paper. "well, then, let those who have agreed to it walk over to the port side, and those who wish to stick to their duty and remain in the ship go to the starboard side." eight only walked over, including those i have mentioned. on this miles soper, stepping aft and touching his hat, said, "i never like to peach on shipmates, but, as an honest man, i can't hold my tongue. on two different nights i saw muggins get up and change the meat and throw dirt in among the bread. one night he carried up some of the best pieces and hove them overboard. "it's clear to me that he did it to make the rest of us discontented with our victuals. i had made up my mind to speak about it, but i couldn't catch him at it again, though i'm certain he played the same trick more than once afterwards." "i believe you, soper," said the captain, and at a signal from him the mates rushed forward and seized muggins, whom they dragged aft, none of the others interfering. the captain then produced a pair of handcuffs which he had got ready, and fixed them on the wrists of the man. he then called to horner, jim, and me to assist the mates, and together we carried the man down below and shut him up in the cabin store-room, the captain meantime remaining by himself on deck. when we returned we found that the crew hadn't moved. "now, lads!" he said; "you who have made up your minds to remain in the ship return to your duty." on this the men on the starboard side went forward, but the remaining seven mutineers stood where they were with their arms folded. i was in hopes that, as they were no longer under the influence of muggins, they would yield, but they would make no promises. at length, tired of standing where they were, they moved lazily along forward. dr cockle told me that the captain intended to put into the marquesas, where he could get rid of the men and obtain others. i found the next day that we were steering in that direction. after this not one of them would do any work, though they were allowed to remain at liberty. i fully expected that they would try to rescue their companion, but the captain and mates kept an eye on them, as did jim and i. it was tantalising to us to see whales every day and yet not to go in chase of them, but the captain wouldn't send any boats away with the good men in them for fear of what the others might do in their absence. at length we reached witahoo, one of the marquesas, and brought up in a beautifully sheltered bay. had there been any english authorities in the place the men would have been imprisoned, but as it was all the captain could do was to release muggins from his handcuffs, and to send him and the other men ashore. the second mate went in one boat, and i had command of the other. the mutineers were ordered to get into them, and we pulled for the beach. though they had only their clothes and a few articles put up in bundles, they stepped on shore with as jaunty an air as if they were going among friends, and having walked a little distance they turned round and jeered and laughed at us. "i pity you poor fellows who have to toil away on board that filthy whaler," cried muggins. "it's a shame that you haven't spirit enough to lead the happy easy lives we are going to enjoy." before we shoved off several natives came down to the beach, with whom the mutineers shook hands, as if they were old friends. presently a huge fellow appeared, who, judging from the way the rest treated him, we supposed to be a chief. though the others were of a gigantic size and magnificent proportions, he was taller than any of them. every part of his body that we could see was tattooed over a deep blue colour, from the crown of his head to his feet. his head was shaven, and every hair, even to the eyelashes, was plucked out. he introduced himself to the mate, who was standing up in the boat, as utatee, the chief of the island. he spoke a little english, and from him we made out that a missionary resided a short distance off up the bay. in a short time a number of other people came down, with several women and children. nearly all the latter appeared to me to be very handsome, their good looks not being spoilt by tattooing. i have never seen so many fine-looking people together in any part of the world. the chief told us that we should be welcome to as much wood and water as we required, and offered to supply us with fresh provisions at a cheap rate. next day the missionary came on board, and warned us to beware of the people. he had made but little progress with them, owing very much to the misconduct of the runaway sailors who lived on shore and set them a bad example. still he had some converts, and he hoped, in time, to make more. i told him about my brother jack, and how anxious i was to find him. i got miles soper to describe him minutely, and the missionary kindly promised to make inquiries for him. the captain returned with him on shore to look for men, and came back in the evening with eight he had picked up. one of them was a runaway sailor, who had been living on the island several years (such being termed a beachcomber), a portuguese, and six kanakas, as the natives are called. meantime the blacks and the sandwich islanders, with a few of the white men, were employed in bringing off the fresh provisions we required. as dr cockle wished to visit a part of the bay a little distance off, he borrowed one of the boats manned with two natives, jim horner, and me. we visited two or three spots, where the doctor collected some plants and some shells from the shore. we were about to return when he proposed that we should look into a little bay a short distance farther on. the natives seemed disinclined to go there, and as far as we could make out advised us to return to the shore, saying that there were bad people in that neighbourhood. the doctor, however, who supposed that they only wished to save themselves from the longer pull, persisted in going on. as we got up towards the head of the bay we saw several natives, who ran off as we approached, and hid themselves behind the trees. "we must be cautious, for perhaps our men here didn't warn us without reason," observed the doctor as we pulled slowly in. directly after he exclaimed, "there are two men lying on the beach. who can they be? we must, at all events, go in and ascertain." he had brought his fowling-piece, and we had besides two muskets. he told jim and me to stand up, with the muskets in our hands, for he didn't like to trust horner, while he stepped on shore. just as the boat reached the beach, and jim, who was in the bows, was about to jump out, he exclaimed, "why i do believe those two fellows are muggins and jones." the doctor leaped on shore, looking carefully round to ascertain that no natives were near. a cry of horror escaped him. the two men were dead, with their skulls fractured, the brains lying about. their "free and happy" life on shore had come speedily to an end. why they had been killed it was difficult to say. the doctor, stooping down, felt the bodies. "they are perfectly cold, and must have been dead some time," he observed. "they probably had a quarrel with some of the natives, and were trying to escape to the beach to cry for help, when they were overtaken." as we could do nothing we returned to the ship, thankful that we had escaped the treachery of the natives, though, as the doctor observed, the men who had suffered had evidently brought it all upon themselves. chapter twenty one. a cruise across the pacific and the adventures i met with. on reaching the ship we found that the captain, the english missionary, and the big old chief, utatee, had arrived on board just before us. the doctor at once told them what had occurred. "the fellows probably brought their fate upon themselves," said the captain. "they must have provoked the savages and got killed in consequence." "i'm afraid that such was the case," observed the missionary; "but i will ask the chief to inquire into the matter." utatee said he would do so, but if the white men were guilty he could not undertake to punish their murderers. while we were talking some of the crew cried out, "a shark! a shark!" and sure enough there was a huge creature swimming up close under the counter, with his fin just above the water, his wicked eye glancing up at the ship. the chief said something to one of the natives who had come aboard with him, a fine athletic fellow, who, like the chief, appeared to be fully dressed in a tightly-fitting dark blue silk dress, but who, in reality, had only a loincloth round his waist, fastened by a girdle, in which were stuck a couple of knives, the rest of his body being perfectly tattooed from head to foot. the man looked at the shark, and waiting until it had gone a little ahead, overboard he went, and swam rapidly up after it. presently he dived, and we saw the shark floundering in the water. i thought that he had turned to seize the man, and that the blood which tinged the waves was issuing from his body; but no, it was the shark which was wounded. the man rose, and again plunged his knife into the monster's side. he did the same several times, and then towing it up by the tail to the ship, made signs for the bight of a rope to be hove to him. he passed it over the shark's head, and another rope being secured near the tail, the monster was hoisted up, while the native, with wonderful agility, climbed on deck, apparently not in the slightest degree exhausted by his exertions. immediately after this we saw a prodigious commotion near the entrance of the bay, while a loud sound like that of stones knocked together reached our ears. we soon made out a number of people, men, women, and children, who had come off from the extreme point forming one side of the entrance of the bay, and were swimming across it, shouting and striking together a couple of big stones, which they held in their hands. having formed in a line across the bay, they turned and swam up it, and we saw that they were driving before them a shoal of porpoises. on they kept in perfect order, till the porpoises were driven right ashore at the head of the bay. here a number of other natives met them. together they attacked the creatures, which they quickly killed. the missionary told us that their object was to extract the teeth, through which they make holes for the purpose of forming necklaces. "you'll not forget, sir, i hope, to look out for my brother jack," i said, as the missionary was going. "you may trust me for that, my young friend," he answered, kindly; "but i shall not be long on these islands, i fear, as the french are coming to take possession of them, and they'll allow no protestant missionaries to live here." the captain had no wish to remain for the purpose of inquiring into the death of the two seamen, as they didn't belong to his ship, and we therefore sailed at daybreak the next morning for dominica, the largest island of the group, where we understood that we could obtain a larger supply of pork than we had obtained at witahoo. we quickly came off that island, but could discover only one bay into which we could safely enter. as soon as we brought up, two of the boats were sent ashore under charge of mr griffiths, he going in one, and i, with jim and horner, in another. as we got near the beach we saw that a heavy surf was breaking on it. mr griffiths, however, thought that we could land safely, and waiting till the wave had burst, we dashed on. though we shipped a good deal of water, the boats got in safely. the natives being accustomed to supply whalers, guessing what we wanted, had come down with a number of hogs to sell. the price for one was a bottle of powder, and five could be purchased for an old musket. we had brought a number of these articles for barter. mr griffiths ordered me to stand by the boats while he carried on the trade. as was my custom, i looked about in the hopes of seeing some english sailor of whom i might make inquiries about my brother jack. when we had purchased as many pigs as the boats would carry, we prepared to shove off. the natives made signs to us that we had better be careful, but we didn't understand them, and the pigs being put on board, we shoved off. "i'll lead," said mr griffiths. "when you see me safe outside you can follow," and away he went. he got through one breaker, but what was my horror to see the next catch the boat and roll her completely over! we knew that the place abounded with ground-sharks, and we expected to see either him or some of the other men carried off by the savage creatures. he was not a bad swimmer, but, at the same time, was unaccustomed to make his way through a heavy surf. the rest of the men clung to the boat, but he attempted to gain the shore by himself. i was about to tumble the pigs out of my boat, and to go off in her to his assistance, when three of the natives darted out through the foaming seas towards where he was struggling. every instant i expected he would disappear, but they quickly reached him, and supporting him in their arms, brought him back safe to the beach, where the rest of the men arrived, without hurt, on the bottom of the boat. "we must not be defeated, lads," cried out mr griffiths, as soon as he had recovered. "we shall have better fortune next time." the boat was baled out and put to rights, and the pigs, which had swum ashore, being again put in her, away we pulled, but just as she had got to the middle of the roller she broached to and over she went. this time i, not without reason, feared that some of my shipmates would be lost, as i saw the boat tossing helplessly in the breakers, but presently she came driving, with all hands and the pigs, at a rapid rate towards the beach, where the natives received them, looking as if nothing unusual had occurred. still undaunted, mr griffiths determined once more to make the attempt, and the next time succeeded. i waited until the largest roller, which i had carefully noted, had passed, and my men giving way, we got through, although the boat was nearly half full of water. we carried the pigs on board, but after this, at the suggestion of one of the natives, we anchored the boats a short distance from the shore by letting him dive down and make fast a cable to the coral at the bottom. the natives then swam off to us with the pigs and the cocoanuts which we bought of them, without making any additional charge for their trouble; indeed, to them it seemed a matter of course. we could obtain no yams, but we got instead some enormous plantains, which served us instead of potatoes. as we could bring off but a few pigs at a time it was rather a long business, and we had then to skin and salt them down. the wind changing, and the surf no longer breaking at the end of the bay, we were able to land without difficulty. i had one day accompanied the doctor, who took only three other men to pull the boat. as he wished to botanise and obtain some shells and other productions of the island, the men went with him to carry what could be got, while i remained by the boat to prevent the natives from stealing the lead and gear belonging to her. before long two or three old women came down to the beach and began talking to me by signs, for words were of no use. then others joined them. they took hold of my hands and seemed to be admiring my complexion and examining my clothes. as far as i could make out they wanted me to accompany them to their village. when i refused, for of course i was not going to neglect my duty and leave the boat, they grew angry, and at last several of them seized me by the arms and were attempting to drag me off. i struggled violently, and shouted out at the top of my voice, but they didn't seem to mind that. as they were very strong i was completely in their power, and i fully believed that i should be carried off, when i caught sight of a man running towards the boat. he proved to be one of our crew who had been sent back by the doctor for something he had left. when he saw what was taking place, holding his musket in his hand, he rushed towards the old women, who let me go and scampered off. "it's lucky for you, peter, that they didn't succeed in getting you away," he said. "they would have tattooed you all over and turned you into a nigger and made you marry one of their girls. i'll stay by you, for the chances are they may come back and try again to make you a prisoner. the doctor must manage to do without his spud." when dr cockle returned, though at first he began to scold the man, when he heard why he remained he told him he was right. at all events, had the natives carried me off it might have caused a deal of trouble to recover me. sailing from the marquesas we gradually worked our way westward towards the society islands, catching a few whales, till we arrived at totillah, one of the samoa group. the scenery was magnificent, while everywhere the country was covered with beautiful trees, among them the pandanus palm, the tree-fern, the banyan, the bread-fruit tree, wild nutmeg, and superb bamboos. the natives also were very well-behaved and quiet, and were always inclined to treat us hospitably. indeed, we might have travelled without the slightest risk from one end of the island to the other. the good behaviour of the inhabitants was the result of their having become christians owing to the indefatigable exertions of missionaries. it was here that john williams, the great apostle to the pacific heathen, spent several years. not far off from where we lay at anchor was leoni bay, the scene of the massacre of the french navigator perouse and his companions. while we were here two of the men we had obtained ran off. two others were shipped in their stead. one of them, who called himself john brown, as he stepped on deck seemed to me a remarkably fine fellow. he had belonged to a whaler which had been wrecked some time before, and he had remained behind while the rest of the crew went on to sydney. i immediately asked him the question which i put to everybody. "do you know anything of a young fellow named jack trawl?" "it seems to me that i have heard of the name," he laid, "but when or where i can't say. when did you last get news of him?" "he was wrecked in the _helen_, and was last seen in one of her boats when the crews were making their escape from the savages," i answered. "then perhaps i may help you a little," he said. "some time ago we fell in with a whaler, and we were talking to her crew. at last, as we were going to shove off, one of the men said that he had been on board the _helen_, and he knew for certain two of her boats had got safely to timor, but what became of the others he couldn't tell." i naturally asked which of the boats had reached timor, and whether the captain's was one of them, but he could not say, and i was obliged to rest satisfied with this information. it gave me fresh hopes that jack was alive. i have not described the bay in which we lay. it was very deep and narrow, and might rather have been called a gulf. just as we got under way the wind came right in, and we had either to anchor again or work out. the captain decided to do the latter. two boats were sent ahead to tow the ship round, the rest of the crew were at their stations. not a word was spoken, for we all saw that we had no easy task to perform. as we went about, first on one tack then on the other, we each time gained but little ground. at last, as we were just again going about, a puff of wind drove her right ashore on a coral reef. in vain the men in the two boats endeavoured to pull her round. the captain and both the mates gave her up for lost, and the crew seemed to think the same, but brown, who was looking round everywhere, called me, and we hauled away at the fore brace. the fore-topsail filled with a flaw of wind which came off the shore, and away the ship went, the wind favouring us till we were clear out of the bay. it was one of the narrowest escapes from shipwreck i ever had. the next land we made was "boscawen" and "keppel" islands, the former being a high peak, the latter a low, level island. we here landed to obtain provisions, among which we got some of the finest yams i ever saw. the natives were good-looking, friendly people. we continued on to the north-west, and made the "duke of clarence" island, which has no land within four hundred miles of it. the captain said that he had touched there years before, but that it was uninhabited. as we were nearing it, however, a number of natives came off in large canoes loaded with cocoanuts and fruits, so that they or their fathers must have made a long voyage to reach it in their frail-looking vessels. thence we proceeded to the kingsmill group, of which byron's island is the largest. the men, who were heathens, were quite naked, but the women wore small aprons of seaweed. they didn't tattoo themselves, but many of them had their skins rough and hanging in flakes, which gave them a most repulsive appearance. this was in consequence of their spending much of their time in the water. they were savage not only in their appearance but in their customs, for we heard that to prevent overcrowding, as they cannot provide sufficient food for a large population, they kill their infant children. such were the people of all these islands, however handsome in appearance, before the missionaries went among them. many of them had terrible wounds, produced in their battles with each other, either by their spears or clubs, which are covered with sharks' teeth. we didn't see the land till we were within about ten miles of it, as it is very low, being of coral formation. its only vegetable production is the cocoanut tree, which is of the greatest value to the natives. they build their huts of the trunks and roof them with the leaves. their canoes are composed of numerous pieces of the wood sewn together with cocoanut fibre. the form of these canoes, which are from eighteen to twenty feet long, is curious; the shape is that of a whale-boat cut in two lengthways; one side is round, and the other perfectly flat, and they are kept upright by having an outrigger to windward which extends about ten feet from the hull. the sail is triangular and made of matting, and in fine weather they can beat to windward with the fastest ship. we here spent several months, occasionally touching at byron's island for fresh cocoanuts and water. we had caught nineteen whales, when towards the evening of one day a twentieth was seen at a considerable distance. "we must have that fellow," said the captain. the boats were lowered; he went in one, mr griffiths in another, and mr harvey, the second mate, in a third. another whale appeared much nearer, but in a somewhat different direction. while mr griffiths pulled for the first, the captain and the second mate made for the second. both were to windward. we had a light breeze, and at once began to beat up after them. just before sundown we found that the captain and the second mate had made fast. it took some time before the whale was killed, and we could scarcely perceive the whift planted on its back before darkness came on. we had, in the meantime, lost sight of mr griffiths's boat, but we hoped that he would be equally successful. we made tack after tack till we got up to the whale, which two boats were towing towards us. we burned a blue light to show the first mate our position, but looked in vain for an answering signal. at last the captain, being anxious at his non-appearance, and fearing that some accident must have happened, ordered the second mate to hang on to the whale while he beat the ship up in the direction mr griffiths's boat had taken. the hours went by and the wind increased and the sea got up. "never mind," said the captain; "harvey will hang on under the lee of the whale even if it does come on to blow harder, and he'll be safe enough." at last, at about half-an-hour to midnight, we made out a faint light dead to windward. it took us some time to get up to it, for, though we were sure it must come from the mate's boat, it didn't approach us. as we got near we could distinguish the people hanging to the bottom of the boat, one of them sitting astride of her and holding up a lantern. we immediately hove-to, and lowered a boat to take them on board. it then appeared that the boat had been stove in by a whale, when the mate and his men clung on to her, the whale fortunately not molesting them. the boat's lantern is always headed up tight in a keg, together with a tinder-box and candles, and having providentially secured the keg, they managed to open it, get out the lantern, and strike a light. we might otherwise have passed them in the dark, and they would all probably have perished, as we should have run back to pick up mr harvey's boat and the whale we had killed. we now did so at once, and a hard night's work we had of it, as we had to secure the whale alongside, and get ready for cutting-in as soon as it was day. soon after this, while i was aloft, i saw jim, who had just been relieved at the wheel, go to the side, and, throwing off his clothes, jump overboard. it was what we often did, always taking care to leave a rope overboard to get up by, to get rid of the soot and grease, besides which, as we were close under the line, the weather was very hot, and a bath refreshing. jim swam some way ahead of the ship, when the cook, to play him a trick, hauled up his rope, which i didn't perceive, as i was looking at jim. just then i caught sight of the fin of a shark at no great distance off. i shouted to jim to come back, and he, knowing that i should not give a false alarm, struck out lustily for the ship. mr griffiths, who was on deck, seeing his danger, at once hove him another rope, and shouted at the top of his voice to keep the shark off. still the monster came nearer and nearer. i saw jim, to my great relief, get up to the side, but as he took hold of the rope, from its being covered with grease, it slipped through his fingers. the mate shouted to the other men on deck to come and assist him in hauling jim up. i slid down on deck as fast as i could. on came the shark. jim was still in the water, and i expected to see my old friend caught. with all our strength we hauled at the rope, but still jim couldn't hold on by it, and i feared that it would slip through his fingers altogether, when, as it turned out, there was a knot at the end. this enabled him to hold on, and we hauled him up, more dead than alive from fright, just as the shark, showing the white of its belly, shoved its snout out of the water and made a snap at his feet, not six inches from them. jim was saved, and i never in my life felt more inclined to cry for joy than when i saw him out of danger. while the shark was still alongside looking for its prey, one of the marquesas islanders who came on deck, taking a knife in his hand, leapt right down, feet first, on the monster's back, which so scared it that away it went like a flash of lightning. i have mentioned these circumstances just as they occurred to show the sort of life led by the crew of a whaler. i have more interesting events to narrate in the following chapters. chapter twenty two. a typhoon, and how we got through it. the crew of a whaler had need to exercise much patience. sometimes they watch for weeks and weeks together, but watch in vain, for fish. at others so many are caught that they have not a moment to rest between the time that one is tryed out and another is brought alongside. we had at first been very successful, but a week or more having passed without a whale being seen, captain hawkins ordered a course to be steered for the japan whaling ground. the very first day that we arrived in the latitude of these islands, which were, however, far out of sight, we caught two whales. we had tryed out the first and had the other alongside when another whaler made her appearance. as she got within half a mile of us it feel calm. soon afterwards a boat was lowered from her, which came pulling towards us. when she came alongside a fine, hale-looking old man stepped on board and introduced himself as captain barnett, of the _eleanor_. he spoke in a hearty, cheery tone, which contrasted greatly with the rough and unpleasant way in which captain hawkins generally expressed himself. captain barnett dined on board, and then invited captain hawkins and dr cockle to come and sup with him, i managed to address the old gentleman, and told him about jack. "should i ever fall in with your brother i'll say that i met you, and that you were inquiring for him," he answered, kindly. when the two captains came on deck they took a look round the horizon. "you must excuse me from accompanying you," said captain hawkins, "for i tell you what, i don't like the look of the weather. there's something brewing somewhere i'd advise you to get on board as soon as you can." the ocean had hitherto been perfectly calm, but there now came from the north-east a slowly-heaving swell, which every minute increased, and the whole atmosphere in a short time assumed a sombre, melancholy appearance, while a peculiar light tinged the two ships and sea around, owing to the sun's rays passing through clouds of a dull yellowish-red colour. before this, numbers of birds had been flying about the ship, but they now winged their way to distant lands. as soon as our visitor had pulled away, our captain ordered the hands aloft to shorten sail, although at the time there was not a breath of wind. everything was taken in with the exception of a main-topsail and storm trysail. as the swell increased, the ship began to roll in a most frightful manner, her chain-plates striking the water every time she heeled over, while the water as it rose beat against the stern with a force so violent that we were almost thrown off our legs. we had to cast adrift the last whale caught before the whole blubber was cut in, as it was impossible, without the greatest risk, to keep it alongside. i asked brown, who was the most intelligent seaman on board, what he thought was going to happen. "we shall have a typhoon--a precious hard one too, i suspect," he answered. all night long the swell went on increasing, when suddenly the wind sprang up and broke the hitherto calm swells into foaming seas, which furiously dashed round the ship though they did us no damage. just as daylight came on the wind again dropped; but though the wind had fallen, the sea, instead of going down, raged more fiercely than ever, making the ship roll so violently that we feared that at any moment the masts might be carried away. yet all this time there was scarcely a breath of wind. this state of things continued till about three o'clock, when suddenly, as brown had foretold, the gale again broke upon us, and continued to blow with increasing violence until about two o'clock on the following morning, when a more furious blast than ever struck the ship. "hold on for your lives!" shouted mr griffiths, who was on deck. the captain, followed by dr cockle, hurried from below. there was little need to give the warning; we all clung to the weather-bulwarks. over went the ship right on her beam-ends, and away flew the storm trysail, while every article not securely lashed was carried away. fearful indeed was the uproar. the wind howled savagely, the sea dashed with thundering roars against the sides of the ship, the masts groaned, the bulk-heads creaked, the ropes and blocks clashed together and rattled in a way i had never before heard. indeed, i believed that our last moments had come, for it seemed impossible unless the masts went that the ship would right. jim and i and horner crouched down close to each other, sheltering ourselves as we could under the bulwarks. not far off were miles soper, sam coal, and brown. "is there any chance for us?" asked horner, his teeth chattering and his voice showing his terror. "chance!" answered brown; "the chance that many a stout ship has braved as bad a hurricane, and yet come out of it not much the worse." we looked out for the _eleanor_, but she was nowhere to be seen. some of the men declared that she must have gone down. "we're afloat and why shouldn't she be?" said brown, who was ready to cheer every one up. some of the hands stole below, and i believe if they could have got into the spirit-room they would have made themselves drunk in order to forget their fears. most of us, however, preferred remaining on deck and watching what would happen. suddenly, during a momentary cessation of the wind, the ship righted, and we flew on before it, though matters in other respects seemed but little mended. as the sea beat against the ship it seemed like a huge battering-ram trying to knock her to pieces, every blow making each plank shake though none gave way. now she plunged her head into an immense hollow, now she rose rapidly to the top of a foaming sea, while the next instant another rolling on threatened to overwhelm us. daylight came, but it brought no cessation of the hurricane. the hours went by; not one of us thought of breakfast. indeed, it was impossible to cook anything. we watched the masts quivering as the ship plunged into the seas, and we expected every moment to see them go by the board. the carpenter and the first mate had got their axes ready to cut them away, should such occur. at length a tremendous sea came roaring towards our weather bow. the ship struggled as if to avoid it, but she pitched headlong into the deep hollow just before her, and a monstrous sea, lifting its head half way up to the foretop, came right down on our deck, sweeping up to the main hatchway. horner and several of the men shrieked out with terror, believing that their last moments were come. i scarcely supposed that the ship would recover herself, but suddenly she came up with a jerk, the bowsprit carried away, and the next moment it came right across our forecastle. "rouse up, lads, and secure the foremast," shouted the captain. led by the mates, with brown, ringold, soper, jim, and me, the crew rushed forward to secure the fore-topmast stay. we then got the bowsprit inboard. after this the ship began to ride more easily, though the hurricane continued until near sunset, when it began to abate. the watch below turned in, eager to get some rest. i never slept more soundly in my life. next morning the sun rose from a cloudless sky. a gentle breeze was blowing. the sea had already gone down, and in a few hours sparkling wavelets alone played over the surface of the deep. two days afterwards we brought up under the lee of south island to repair damages. after this we again sailed to resume our search for whales. i was forward, when i saw a dark object floating some distance on the weather bow. on my reporting it to the captain, he ordered a boat to be lowered to ascertain what it was. mr griffiths went in her with the doctor, jim and i forming part of the crew. as we got near we saw that it was a creature of some sort, but it made no effort to avoid us, and seemed to be fast asleep. with his harpoon mr griffiths went forward. as we got closer it seemed to be an enormous turtle; the doctor said of the "trunk" species. we paddled as noiselessly as we could for fear of waking it, and on getting close mr griffiths plunged his harpoon deep into its body through its shell. the creature in a moment was lively enough, and, after swimming away a short distance, turned and made a snap at the rope, which it nearly bit in two. we were up to it again, however, and two or three plunges of a lance quickly finished it. we then secured a rope to it and towed it to the ship. by means of the windlass it was hoisted on board. when lying on deck it was found to measure seventeen feet in length, to be seven feet wide, and four feet six inches in depth. all on board declared that they had never seen a creature of that species of the same size. we boiled it down as we would the blubber of a whale, and it yielded nearly a barrelful. fish in these seas are very numerous. sometimes from the masthead i could see the whole ocean alive with them. before leaving for the sandwich islands, for which we were next bound, we had a day's fishing, and in a few hours caught as many as we wanted. i here also saw numbers of the paper nautilus floating on the calm surface of the water. i managed, with a small net at the end of a long pole, to catch several for my friend the doctor. i'll not describe our voyage back to honolulu, the capital of the society islands. there were two or three merchantmen and about forty whalers at anchor. the entrance to the harbour is surrounded by coral reefs, and is very intricate. the chief pilot came out in his whale-boat, manned by natives, and as he passed each ship he hailed to have a boat sent him to assist in towing us in. in a short time we had nearly fifty whale-boats, twenty-five on each bow, in two long lines. it was one of the prettiest sights i ever witnessed, towing on the big ship at the rate of about three knots an hour between the coral reefs, making what would otherwise have been a difficult business perfectly easy. here we exchanged the fish we had salted down for fifty barrels of potatoes and twenty of onions. among the ships was the _eleanor_, from which we had parted off japan. as the old captain had greatly taken dr cockle's fancy, he wished to pay him a visit, and invited me to accompany him. on getting on board the mate said that he was below, and considering all things, doing wonderfully well. "what do you mean?" asked dr cockle. "why, sir, i'll tell you," answered the mate. "if i ever saw a wonderful thing done, our captain did it. while the typhoon which caught you as well as us was at its height our rudder broke adrift, and on getting it on board to repair, it came right down on his leg, crushing it fearfully. we all thought he must have died, for you see our doctor had left the ship some time before, and there was no one who knew what was to be done. so our skipper sat down on the deck and ordered the carpenter to bring him the surgical instruments. our carpenter is a wonderfully clever fellow, and between them they managed to saw off the leg below the knee, to take up the arteries and stop the bleeding. [see note .] we then got the old man, who is sixty years of age, into bed. would you believe it? in a few weeks after the accident he had a turning-lathe brought to the side of his bed, and if he didn't turn out a first-rate wooden leg for himself." on going below the doctor found the old captain doing wonderfully well and not requiring any further aid. before we left he was stumping about on deck as hearty and cheery as ever. indeed, through his courage and coolness he had undoubtedly saved his own life. the old captain probably is dead, but mr rosden, the mate, who is the son of an old downs pilot, will confirm the account i have given. the captain was constantly on shore, and mr griffiths kindly let me take one of the boats, with jim, and soper, and coal as a crew, and we visited every ship in the harbour, that i might make inquiries for jack. as we pulled about, though disappointed at one ship, we half hoped to find him on board another. my heart grew sick as i approached the last. "do you think he's aboard her, miles?" i asked. "if he isn't don't lose heart," was the answer. "no, no, don't lose heart, peter," echoed jim. "he'll turn up some time or other. it mayn't be to-day or it mayn't be to-morrow, but if he's alive--and there's no reason why he should have lost his life--he'll be somewhere no doubt, and you'll be led to him, that's my opinion." we got on board the ship. she was an american whaler, the _william and eliza_. we found the crew in a great state of commotion, and they would scarcely listen to what i had to say. their commander, captain rogers, who seemed to be a great favourite with them, had been wrongly accused of infringing the revenue laws, and had been imprisoned in a mud fort which guarded the landing-place, and they were determined to rescue him. most of their boats were away visiting the other ships to obtain recruits, and they declared that if he was not let out that evening they would liberate him before morning. i, of course, could not join them, but soper and coal were very eager to lend a hand. i persuaded them, however, to come back with me to our ship after i had made all the inquiries i could for jack without success. miles and coal brought the news, and what was to be done on board, and several of our men declared that they would join, as much for the sake of the spree as influenced by a regard for captain rogers. as evening drew in, a number of boats put off from all the american ships, and from several of the english, for the imprisoned skipper was much liked, not only by his own men, but by the captains and mates of nearly all the whaling ships. he was a great friend, too, i found, of captain hawkins. when the captain came on board again, he gave any of us leave to go that chose. i don't say we were right, but when i found the second mate about to lead a party of our men, jim and i offered to go with them, and away we pulled for the _william and eliza_. we found her surrounded by boats, carrying well-nigh two hundred men, the whole being under the command of an american captain. we waited till nearly midnight, when the order was given to shove off. we could not tell whether the authorities on shore knew anything of what was about to take place. we carried a number of scaling ladders, with stout ropes and hooks. the first who got up with the ladders were to fix on the hooks, so that the others might swarm up, and we might all mount the walls together. we had no firearms, only axes, blubber-spades, and spears. we pulled in, forming a long line abreast, as silently as possible. on reaching the shore, two hands were left in each boat, and the rest of us rushed up to the fort to fix the ladders. it took but a few seconds before we were all at the top, and down we leaped into the fort. nearly the whole of the garrison were asleep. when they found the place full of men some of them ran away and hid themselves, and others dashed out at the gate. we soon found the room in which captain rogers was shut up. the door was broken open and he was set free. not wishing to have a disturbance with the natives, we hurried back with him the way we came, and before long were on board again. the captain made us a speech, and thanked us for setting him free, and we returned to our respective ships. i don't know that any notice was taken of the affair by the authorities, but of course captain rogers was unable to go on shore again while he remained in the harbour. having repaired our ship and taken on board several fresh hands, who wished to return home to england, we sailed again for the marquesas, in order to land the natives whom we had taken from those islands. the passage lasted five weeks, during which time we didn't see a single ship. we proceeded at once to resolution bay. on entering we found a french man-of-war, which immediately sent a boat on board us. the officer in command informed the captain that the islands now belonged to france, and that we must not land anything in the shape of firearms or ammunition. while he was still on board a boat pulled off from the shore, bringing a dozen soldiers, who, without asking leave, came up the side. "why do these men come on board my ship?" asked the captain. "to see that you comply with the orders you receive," answered the officer, who spoke very good english. "i have no intention of breaking the laws you impose," exclaimed the captain, who was not the man to stand that sort of thing, "but i'll not submit to have foreign soldiers placed on board my ship." the french officer shrugged his shoulders, and said that he was but carrying out the orders of his superiors. on this the captain ordered his boat to be lowered, and pulled away on board the french man-of-war. he there threatened to throw the ship on the hands of the french if the soldiers were not immediately withdrawn. after a little time the captain returned, accompanied by a french lieutenant, who brought an order for the soldiers to return on shore. our stay here was rendered very unpleasant by the french. as soon as we got our fresh provisions on board we sailed again for the westward, proceeding as before among the coral reefs, which lie to the north of the society islands. the navigation is exceedingly dangerous, as many of them are so low that they cannot be seen till the ship is close to them, and we had to keep a very sharp look-out as we sailed on. the most dangerous of all those we sighted was the sidney group, which consist of bare sandbanks, without the least vegetation, and are nearly level with the surface of the sea. we landed on some of them to obtain birds' eggs and fish, which are very plentiful, but they are uninhabited, as there is no fresh water. still sailing west we touched at the kingsmills, passing also several other islands, till we came off strong's island. here is a magnificent harbour, surrounded by coral reefs, but the mouth is so narrow that we could not have attempted to enter had not the boats of three vessels lying there come out to assist in towing us in. on bringing up, a number of natives came off, who talked capital english, and seemed very intelligent fellows. we found that the chief of the island was named king george. in a short time another canoe came off with a fine-looking fellow on board, who seemed as eager to trade and obtain anything he could as the rest of the natives. at last captain hawkins, turning to him, said, rather roughly, "you and the other chaps must be off now." "you know who i am?" asked the native. "i king george, chief of all these islands." "i beg your majesty's pardon, but you don't look much like a king," said the captain, laughing. the chief, however, didn't appear to be angry, and shook hands with the captain and officers, and stepping into the canoe paddled away for the shore. "we must take care these fellows don't play us any trick," observed the captain to mr griffiths. "we'll give them a salute to show them that we're wide-awake." we carried four nine-pounders, which we forthwith fired. it was the first time we had to use them during the voyage. it was hoped that this would awe the natives, and that we should not be molested during the night. the sound of the last gun had scarcely died away, when a captain rounds, commanding one of the whalers, whose boats had assisted to tow us in, came on board. after he had shaken hands and the usual civilities had passed, he said-- "you are wise to show that you are wide-awake, and when you hear the account i have to give you of the fearful work which took place here not long ago, you will judge whether it will be prudent to put yourself or any of your people in the power of the natives." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ note . this account is true in every respect. my friend, mr henry foster, trinity pilot, vouches for it. chapter twenty three. a fearful narrative--doings at strong's island. as it was very hot below, the captain had ordered chairs and a small table to be brought on deck, and he, with captain rounds, dr cockle, and mr griffiths, took their seats, while mr harvey, horner, and i stood within earshot to hear the account our visitor had promised to give. "i came in here about two months ago for the first time this voyage to obtain provisions and water," began captain rounds, "and as none of us understood the language of the people, i shipped a couple of natives who spoke english very fairly to act as interpreters. besides having been to sea on board other whalers, they were, i thought, likely to prove useful hands. everything went on in a satisfactory way while i lay here. the natives who came on board behaved themselves well, and king george, their chief, seemed a very decent sort of fellow, and was as honest in his dealings as i could expect. i had made it a rule when i came out to these parts never to trust many of my people ashore at a time among the heathen natives without having some of the principal natives on board as hostages, or so well-behaved and friendly did these appear that i should otherwise not have hesitated to let half my crew land at a time, feeling confident that they would be well treated. thus it was that i every evening at sundown fired off my guns, and kept a strict watch during the night. i did this, not from any fear of being attacked, but that i considered it prudent to keep to the rule i had laid down, and to maintain discipline on board. you'll see that i was fortunate in doing so. i parted on good terms with king george and his people without having any reason to alter the favourable opinion i had formed of them, taking the two native interpreters with me. from the way i treated them they became very friendly and much attached to me. we had been at sea for some time, and had caught three or four whales, each of which cost us, perhaps, more than the usual trouble to take. the two natives, who go by the names of jackey and tubbs, seemed very much struck by the exertions we had to make to secure the whales, and one day they came to me and said that they could put me up to the means of filling the ship with perfect ease if i would follow their advice. i asked them what they meant. they then told me that a ship lay sunk in their harbour loaded with casks of oil, and that they knew the exact spot where she went down. i then learnt from them the following particulars. "you, hawkins, well knew barber, who commanded the _harriet_, of london, as you sailed together as mates with old captain newton in the _felicity_. i met barber when i first came out to the pacific, and was wondering that i had never since heard of him or the _harriet_. the natives now told me that about a year ago she had put into this harbour, there being no other vessels here at the time. you remember what a good-natured, yet somewhat careless fellow he was. the natives came in numbers on board his ship, and appeared to be on the most friendly terms with him and his crew. they at length, one day, invited his men to go ashore, and he consequently allowed the greater number of them to land. this sort of thing continued while he lay in the harbour. king george and most of his though they came down to visit the ship when she first arrived, were, at that time, living in another part of the island, and the people just here did pretty much as they liked. "barber, with a boat's crew, only remained on board, when, on going on deck in the morning, he caught sight of three of his men running down towards the beach as fast as they could go, with a posse of natives after them. presently they were overtaken. first one was struck down by the club of a savage, and directly afterwards the other two shared the same fate. the natives, on reaching the shore, jumped into their canoes, a whole fleet of which came paddling off towards the ship. the crew, on seeing this, i suspect, took fright, thinking that they should all be murdered, as their mates on shore had been. captain barber himself would, i am certain, have stopped to defend his ship, but probably fearing that it would be of no use to make the attempt while his crew were so faint-hearted, he ordered the boat to be lowered with such provisions and water as could be hastily thrown into her. they had scarcely left the side of the ship before the savages were up to her. they pursued the boat for some distance, but at length gave up the chase, eager to get back and secure their prize. they then set to work to plunder the vessel of everything they considered of value. they stripped her of her sails and rigging, and all the iron-work they could get at, managing even to carry away her topmasts, jib-boom, and yards. having done this, they towed the vessel higher up the harbour and scuttled her. "when king george, who had known captain barber and some of his people-- for he had been down at the harbour when the ship first arrived--heard of the massacre he was very indignant, and jackey and tubbs told me that he killed no less than thirty of those who had taken part in it with his own hand. whether this was actually the case or not i could not make out; but, after cross-questioning the two natives, i came to the conclusion that he himself had no hand in the massacre, and was entirely ignorant of it till afterwards. what has become of poor barber and his boat's crew i am anxious to ascertain; but he would have had a fearfully long passage to make to any other island, and i'm afraid that he and his companions must have perished from hunger and thirst before they could have reached any friendly shore. "having fallen in shortly after i heard this with the _lydia_ and _pearl_, i communicated the intelligence to them, and we determined to put in here to ascertain the truth of the story. "now you have come we shall be sufficiently strong-handed both to defend ourselves from the natives, and to recover the _harriet's_ cargo if we cannot raise her." captain hawkins at once entered into captain rounds' views, and they agreed the next morning with their brother captains to set to work. captain rounds, who was a very ingenious man, had a diving-bell constructed out of a cask, with pipes to lead the air into it. proceeding with the boats, we found the ship sunk in six fathoms of water at a spot jackey and tubbs pointed out. they willingly agreed to descend in the diving-bell, and brown and another man also went down in it. it was then found that the ship had been set on fire, but she had sunk before the flames had reached the cargo. it was calculated that there were one thousand six hundred barrels of oil in her. her figure-head and other articles were got up, thus clearly identifying her as the unfortunate _harriet_. the captains proposed raising her, and dividing the oil between them; but after a great deal of consultation it was considered that they had better give up the plan, as it would have occupied a long time, and caused a difficulty on their arrival at home as to whether they had a right to possess themselves of it. thus the results of many a hard month's labour were lost. king george watched our proceedings with much interest, generally hovering about the boats in his canoe while we were at work. perhaps he thought from the first that we should not succeed, though i think we should have done so had it been desirable to make the attempt. as soon as the undertaking was abandoned, the other vessels, which had only come in for water and provisions, sailed, and we were left alone in the harbour. the king, who did not appear to be at all offended by the way captain hawkins had treated him on his first visit, at once came on board, and appeared to be excessively friendly. he spoke english remarkably well, having learned it on board a whaler in his youth, and kept it up by frequently talking to runaway sailors who had remained at the island. he invited the captain to go ashore and visit him in his palace, the name we gave to the great hut in which he lived. "with great pleasure, king," answered the captain: "but fair play's a jewel, you know. if i go to visit you, your brother here will remain on board to keep my mates company till i return." the captain told mr griffiths to keep a strict watch on the king's brother, and not to allow him to leave the cabin lest he might slip overboard and swim on shore. we called the young savage charlie, though that was not his real name. charlie, who spoke a little english, seemed perfectly content; and when the king and the captain went on shore, descended to the cabin without the slightest hesitation. as the stern-windows, through which charlie might have squeezed himself if he had had a mind, were left open for the sake of the air, mr griffiths told me to remain in the cabin whenever he was on deck. at night he was locked up in the state-room. i don't know that the captain was very well pleased at having the savage sleeping in his bed. next morning the captain came back, saying that he had been hospitably treated. in the afternoon, as charlie wished to return, and as the doctor and several men were on shore, the captain sent me, with miles soper and brown, to bring the king off, that he might take his brother's place. we pulled up a long narrow creek for several miles, till we arrived at the royal residence, which was a large hut with a framework of poles and roofed over with matting. near it were other huts, and a number of natives were employed in different ways, some pounding kava between two large stones, when the root, thus thoroughly bruised, was thrown into water. this is a much pleasanter way of preparing the beverage than by employing the women to chew it, as is done in samoa. the king was away when we arrived, and we had thus plenty of time to walk about the village and look around us. some natives were engaged in cooking fish and yams. this was done by putting them into a hole on the top of some hot stones and leaves, and then covering them up with more hot stones, leaves, and earth at the top of all. we soon had an opportunity of tasting them, and i can answer for their being most delicious. as the king didn't appear we walked some little distance into the country, for we knew that we were perfectly safe while the king's brother remained as a hostage. going into a hut we found a young woman about to light a fire. i watched the process. she first took half of the log that had been split in two and laid it down with the split side upwards; then taking a small piece of hard wood about a foot long and pointed at one end, she sat down astride of the log and commenced rubbing the sharp point of the stick up and down the grain of the large piece, thus making a groove, and shoving the shavings which she worked out to the farther end, till at length they ignited, when immediately catching up some dry leaves which lay handy, and blowing gently, she soon obtained a blaze. i tried the experiment under her directions and succeeded very well. though simple and easy as is this method of obtaining fire, i have never seen it tried in any other place. on our return to the village we found the king, who invited us to feast on the fish and yams which i had seen cooking. we were now joined by the captain and dr cockle, with the second mate and several men, and i was directed to go back with the king, who had to take his brother's place on board. his majesty preferred going alone in his own canoe. i sat in the bows with a long pole to keep the bow off the rocks as we went down the creek, and he placed himself astern with a paddle in his hand. he giving the canoe a shove from the bank, away we went. i was highly amused at the thought of carrying off the king as a prisoner. he, however, seemed to take it as a matter of course, and chatted and laughed as we glided along. presently he asked-- "you young englishman ever been here before? i think i know your face." "when was it your majesty fancied that you saw me?" i inquired. "let me see," he said, holding his paddle in the air for a moment; "were you ever aboard the ship that my rascally people sent to the bottom out there?" and he pointed to where the _harriet_ lay. "no," i answered, a dreadful thought coming into my mind. "was the person you fancy i am killed with the rest of the crew?" "i think not. if i think so, i no ask you," he answered. "i see him with the captain when he visit the shore, and each time i go on board the ship. when i come down to the harbour i took great fancy to him, and asked captain to let him stay with me, but he and captain say no. he want to go home to see father and mother, brother and sister. when i found the men killed i remembered him, but no find him 'mong them. dat all i know, but me think that he was with captain when they got away in the boat." at first, on hearing what the king said, i was almost in despair, for i was very sure that he was speaking of my brother jack, as i thought that by this time i should have grown very like him, as i often heard my mother say that i was so when i was at the age at which he went to sea. how he had got on board the _harriet_ i could not tell, any more than i could what had become of her boat. still there was a possibility of his having escaped. i had no wish to return on shore with "prince charlie" after i had handed the king over to the care of mr griffiths, as i wanted to talk about the matter to jim. as may be supposed, we did talk about it for many an hour. i was now eager to be out of the harbour, in the hopes that we might visit some other islands at which jack might be found. jim was as sanguine as ever that he would be found. when i told mr griffiths he looked very grave. "it is possible, my lad," he said, "and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to find him at last; but you know what is likely to have been the fate of the poor fellows in a boat, with a scanty supply of provisions and a long voyage to the nearest land. just look at the chart. we are away from all civilised countries, with the wildest savages on each side of us." next day, when the captain and the rest of the party came on board, and as soon as our royal visitor had taken his departure, i was very glad to hear the order given to get under way. the breeze being fair we stood out of the harbour. we were soon at our old work again. my patience was sorely tried. if i had not been actively engaged i don't know what i should have done. my idea was that the captain would at once sail in search of the missing boat, but he had no idea of the sort in his head. he either was convinced that she was lost, or considered that it was his business to fill up his ship as soon as possible, and not to waste time in looking for those who might never be found. we had caught several whales, when the time came for returning to the japan fishing ground, as it's called, some distance off the east coast of those islands. my hope of finding jack decreased, but didn't die away altogether. jim kept me up. "we don't know in what direction the boat went," he observed. "she may have steered to the northward, and we are as likely to fall in with him the way we're going as anywhere else." i often consulted the chart. to the northward of strong's island i saw the caroline group, consisting of a vast number of coral islands, and north-west of them, again, the ladrone islands, the principal of which, guam, is inhabited by spaniards. knowing this, captain barber may have attempted to reach it, and one day, to my satisfaction, i heard from the doctor that captain hawkins intended to call there before returning home. we were now leaving those islands i have mentioned to the southward. we were very successful on the japan ground, and nearly completed our cargo, at least the lower hold was full. at length, one calm day, a large whale was seen spouting at some distance from the ship. four boats were lowered. the captain, the two mates, and brown went in them, miles soper going as the chief mate's boat-steerer. his boat was the first up, and in a short time soper put two irons into the whale, which almost instantly turned over on its back, threw its lower jaw open, and nipped her clean in two. wonderful to relate, the men all got clear, and mr griffiths, standing up on half of the boat, plunged his lance right down the whale's throat, and then jumped off and swam with the other men to the next boat coming up. the captain's boat now fastened to the whale, which, turning as before on its back, treated her in the way it had the first. when we who were on board saw this, we began to lower the spare boats as fast as we could. while we were thus employed, the doctor, who was looking on, exclaimed-- "there's a third boat caught!" and we saw that the second mate's boat, which had got up, had been nipped by the whale. brown's boat, the fourth, now pulled gallantly up, watching every movement of the monster, if necessary to get out of its way; but the wound it had received had already weakened it, and though it made at his boat he escaped, and succeeded in plunging several harpoons and lances into its body. meanwhile the crews of the other boats which had been destroyed had been hanging on to them, and though the sea was swarming with sharks it was a remarkable fact that not one of the men was lost. sharks rarely bite people when a whale is bleeding, but keep following the track of the blood. brown took some of the men on board, and we in the spare boats, leaving only the doctor and two hands to take care of the ship, pulled quickly up and rescued the remainder. we soon had the whale alongside; it was the largest we had caught-- nearly a hundred feet in length; but we got very little oil out of it, for, having been fastened to previously, there was a huge swelling on its back as big as a tun butt, which was, no doubt, the cause of the blubber being so thin. we had still some spare space, and the crew were eager to catch the additional whales required to complete our cargo, that we might at length direct our course homeward. although i should have before been the most eager of any to return to england, yet now, with the idea that had taken hold of me that jack was somewhere in the neighbourhood, i was anxious to remain until i had found him. jim shared my feelings, but i didn't suppose anybody else did. we remained a week or more, however, after killing the last huge whale which had cost us so much trouble, without seeing another, when the captain determined to steer for the ladrone islands. as we had now been some months without obtaining fresh provisions, we first directed our course for the bonins, some degrees to the eastward of the coast of japan. we understood that there were wild pigs, if not goats and sheep, on them. at all events, that fish could be caught in abundance off the shore. in a few days we sighted them, and ran under the lee of one of the group called south island. here the ship was hove-to, and a boat lowered, in which mr griffiths, the doctor, horner, jim and i, brown and miles soper and coal, with two other men, went. we took with us besides fishing-lines the whaling gear and a couple of muskets, three or four casks to fill with water, and provisions for the day, for we didn't intend to get back to the ship till evening. mr griffiths, who had been there before, took the boat inside a high reef of rocks, where he had, he said, caught a number of fish. our first object was to obtain bait. miles soper and coal undertook to swim on shore with baskets and catch some crabs, for which the fish in these seas seem to have a special fondness. we pulled in as close as we could to land them, and in a short time they filled their baskets, and shouted to us to return and take them off. we now dropped our kedge anchor just inside the surf, in between two and three fathoms of water, which was so clear that we could see the fish as they swam about, darted at the bait, and swallowed the hooks. we quickly hauled in a number of magnificent fish. we were so eager at the sport that we didn't consider how rapidly the time passed, while the doctor was more occupied with admiring the variously-coloured coral, the richly-tinted seaweeds, and the curiously-shaped fish of all the hues of the rainbow, swimming in and out among the trees of their marine gardens. at last mr griffiths, pulling out his watch, exclaimed, "hulloa! how time has gone by! get up the anchor, lads. we ought to be off." the order was more easily given than obeyed. we hauled and hauled, but the anchor had got foul of the coral, and we ran a risk of losing it. soper offered to go down and clear it, but just then a huge shark showed his ugly throat alongside, and mr griffiths would not let him go. at last, just as it was dark, brown managed to get the anchor up. when we pulled outside the reef we found that the weather had changed. it was blowing very hard, though, sheltered as we had been, we had not discovered this. we looked eagerly out for the ship, but she was nowhere to be seen. chapter twenty four. our life on an uninhabited island. we were still in smooth water, but the sea was breaking in the offing, the white caps rising against the dark sky. mr griffiths thought that the ship might have stood to the eastward and be concealed by the point of land which ran out in that direction. we eagerly gave way and pulled off from the shore. several times he stood up to look about him. at length he cried out-- "there she is! there she is! she's burning a blue light." we all looked in the direction he pointed, which was almost abeam, and there we saw a light, appearing, however, just above the horizon. he at once steered the boat towards it, but as we pulled on the seas increased and frequently broke aboard us; the wind was rising rapidly, and in a short time blew a heavy gale. in vain we again looked out for the light; none could be seen, and there was a great risk, should we continue to pull on, of the boat being swamped. the doctor and mr griffiths talked together earnestly; the latter then said-- "lads, there's no help for it, we must try and get on shore for the night, and in the morning, if the wind goes down, the captain will stand in to look for us." we all knew the danger we were in, for in pulling round the boat might be caught on her broadside and turned over; but it had to be done, and we trusted to mr griffiths' steering. we gave way as he told us, though for a moment i thought all was over as a sea struck the boat abeam and half swamped her. we got round, however, and while horner and i baled her out, the men pulled in towards the shore. it was now very dark. all we could see ahead was an irregular line of black, but whether rocks or hills rising near the beach we could not tell. as we neared the shore mr griffiths stood up looking out for a landing-place, but no opening could he discover in the rocks, against which the surf was now breaking furiously; should we get within its power the boat, we knew, would be dashed to pieces in a moment. the wind went on increasing till it blew almost a hurricane. at last dr cockle exclaimed-- "there is an opening. we passed it this morning. i remember it by the clump of trees on the top of a rounded hill, and i can now make them out against the sky." mr griffiths hesitated. should the doctor be wrong in another minute we should be hurled to destruction against the rugged rocks. just then the moon rising on the other side of the island broke through the clouds and showed us clearly the outline of the trees and the hill. the mate hesitated no longer, but telling us to give way steered in for the opening. the surf broke wildly on either side of us, flying up above our heads; the seas came rearing on astern, threatening to engulf us. we all gave way steadily together. now the boat rose on the top of a foaming sea, and then down she glided into comparatively smooth water inside the reef, and we were safe. pulling on, we saw ahead a small bay with the trees coming down to the water's edge. their tops were waving wildly, but we felt but little wind where we were, and we were able to run the boat's head on to the beach and land without difficulty. we at once drew her up and looked out for a sheltered spot under some rocks to camp. here we got a fire lighted, as there were plenty of broken branches and leaves lying about, and soon had some of the fish we had caught cooking before it. outside the tempest was howling furiously, and we had reason to be thankful that we had gained the shore, as no boat could have lived in the sea which was by this time running. after supper was over, and we had dried our clothes, wet through and through by the spray, we lay down to sleep under the rock. mr griffiths assured us that there were no wild beasts or natives to molest us in the island, though we were not altogether free from danger, as the trees which grew on the top of the rock above our heads might be blown down, or the upper part of the rock itself might give way and crush us. that we might have some chance in being awakened so as to enable us to attempt to escape, as also to prevent the fire going out, mr griffiths arranged that one of the party should keep watch. the doctor offered to keep the first watch. mr griffiths and the rest of the men then stowed themselves away close under the cliff. i, feeling no inclination to sleep, joined the doctor, who was sitting by the fire on one of the water-casks, every now and then throwing on a few sticks and making it blaze up cheerfully. i asked him if the ship were likely to return soon to take us off. "not till the hurricane is over," he said; "the captain will not like to come near the coast for fear of being driven on it." "then you think, sir, that we shall remain here long enough to explore the island?" i said. "why do you wish to explore the island?" he asked. "because i have a notion that my brother jack is upon it," i replied. "they say there are pigs here, and there are, no doubt, plenty of birds, and he would be able to live as well as miles soper and coal did on juan fernandez." "but it's a hundred to one--i may say a thousand to one--that the boat was driven here; besides which, so many whalers pass by this island that he would have been seen and taken off even if he had come here. you only raise up such ideas to disappoint yourself. don't think about it; lie down and go to sleep." notwithstanding what the doctor had said, i could not get the idea out of my head, and longed for morning, that i might set off and make a tour round the island with jim, who, i knew, would be ready to come with me, as would miles soper and some of the others. notwithstanding the howling of the wind above our heads, and the wild roar of the breakers on the rocky coast, contrary to my expectation i fell fast asleep, and didn't wake till the mate roused up all hands at daylight. the storm was raging as wildly as ever. furious torrents of rain had come down, but the watch had managed to keep in the fire, and we all gathered round it to cook some more fish and dry our damp clothes. we were in good spirits, for we knew that the gale would blow itself out in a short time, and we expected that the ship would then come and take us off. as soon as i proposed to jim to explore the island, he at once agreed to accompany me. the doctor and miles soper also said that they would go. the latter carried one of the muskets, which the mate said we might take, and the rest of us armed ourselves with long pointed sticks. the mate thought we might as well go armed, for though the island had hitherto been uninhabited, it was possible that some savages might have been driven as far north in their double canoes, and might attack us if they found we were unable to defend ourselves. we took some cooked fish for provisions, and we hoped to find water as we proceeded. we had first to make our way through a thick forest, of what the doctor called tamana-trees--some of them being of gigantic size. it was often so dark beneath their thick boughs that we could with difficulty see our way; but we went on, guided by the doctor's pocket-compass, in a straight line, until we at length got out of the forest into more open country. he proposed going on till we reached a hill which we saw some way off, and there to light a fire, that the smoke might attract the attention of any one living on the island. he carried out his plan, and collecting sticks as we neared the spot, having brought tinder and matches, we quickly had a fire blazing. we looked in vain, however, all round the island for an answering signal. "perhaps, if there is any one, he is down by the shore, and has no means of striking a light," said the doctor; "or maybe he is still sheltering himself from the storm." as this seemed very likely, leaving the fire burning, we made our way down to the beach on the farther side of the island. the view from the hill on the north side showed us only rugged and broken ground, and we therefore proceeded along the shore as close as we could get towards the southern end. we saw plenty of birds, which would have afforded us food if we had had time to stop and shoot them. it was somewhat rough work, especially in the more exposed places against the wind. at last we got back to the part we had started from, just as night was falling. from every height we kept a look-out for the ship, but she did not appear. "you're convinced now, peter, that your brother is not on this island," said the doctor. "i should have rejoiced if we had found him, but i did not think it at all likely that he is here. however, that is no reason why he should not be somewhere else." we had found water on our way, and the mate had discovered a spring not far from our camp. the hurricane, which had abated somewhat during the day, came on again as night approached, and we were thankful to obtain the shelter of our rock. the wind blew more furiously than ever, the lightning flashed and ran along the ground--now and again crashes were heard as some tall tree was struck and rent in two, while the rain at times came down in torrents, and nearly put out the fire. we, however, got shelter from the overhanging rock. we had just done supper, when mr griffiths observed-- "i'm afraid something may happen to our boat. the breakers sound so loud that they perhaps are dashing over the reef, and the sea may sweep up and carry her off." we hurried down to where we had left the boat. a bright flash of lightning revealed her to us, with the seething water rushing up under her keel. dashing forward, we seized her just as a second wave was lifting her, and in a few seconds would have carried her off. we dragged her up the beach till we had placed her, as we hoped, out of the reach of the water. while we were thus employed we heard a loud crash coming from the direction of our camp. on returning, we discovered our fire nearly out, but it blazed sufficiently to show us a mass of earth and rock, and two tall trees, which had fallen on the very spot where a few minutes before we had all been collected. we were thankful for our preservation, though we had lost the only shelter we knew of. the mate suggested that we should go back to the boat, turn her over, and creep under her for shelter. as no trees were near where she lay, we hoped that we might thus rest in perfect safety. having taken the things out of her, we did as he proposed, and one by one crept in, and stretched ourselves upon the damp ground. after the exertions i had made during the day i felt very sleepy, and though i remained awake for some time thinking of jack, my eyes at length closed. i was awakened by hearing three distinct loud raps on the bottom of the boat. i fancied that i must be dreaming, but i found that jim and horner, who were sleeping next to me, were awake, and had heard the sounds. "what are you lads making that noise for?" asked mr griffiths. i told him of the raps which had awakened me. "i thought it was one of you that made them," he said. "i heard them also," remarked the doctor, from his end of the boat. the rest of the men were asleep; all of us were inside, and the sound certainly came from the outside. on this i crawled out from under the boat, half expecting to see some one standing there, but neither human being nor animal was visible. the rain had ceased, but the night was very dark, and there was time for a person after the knocks had been given to retreat into the woods. still, i didn't think that it could have been jack. i returned to the boat, supposing that whoever had knocked would knock again. the expectation of this kept me awake, and i determined that i would try to spring out and catch the person, whoever he was. i waited, however, in vain, and in less than two hours saw the daylight coming in under the gunwale. the surf was still breaking with a loud roar on the rocks, but the wind had ceased to howl through the trees, and i hoped that the hurricane was nearly over. the noise i made in getting out from under the boat awakened those sleeping near me, and the rest of the party were soon on foot. the first thing we did was to go back to our camp and see the effect of the landslip. the spot where we had been sitting was covered with a large mass of earth, rocks, and trees. we found a hollow in the rock near the spot, which appeared safe, and here we determined to light a fire and cook some more of our fish. while most of the people were thus employed, mr griffiths, the doctor, and i climbed to the highest rock in the neighbourhood, that we might take a look-out for the ship. the sun was just rising, and cast a ruddy glow over the still heaving ocean covered with foam-crested seas, which, rolling in towards the shore, broke into masses of spray as they reached the surrounding reefs. in vain we looked round for the ship; not the slightest speck of white appeared above the horizon. "can anything have happened to her?" said the doctor, in an anxious tone. "she has weathered out many a worse gale than we have just had," observed the mate. "my only fear is that in attempting to make the land she may have been driven on one of the hidden reefs which abound everywhere hereabouts." "and if so, what are we to do?" inquired the doctor. "we must try to reach the nearest islands inhabited by civilised people. we have casks sufficient to hold water for the voyage." "i still hope she will come," said the doctor; "but we must not lose heart whatever happens." taking another look round, we returned to the camp, where we found a blazing fire and the fish cooked. we remained all that day and the next, unable to get out and catch any more fish. by this time our stock was completely exhausted--indeed, for the last day it had been scarcely eatable. while two of the men remained on shore to collect salt from the rocks, the rest of us went off, and with the crab-bait soon caught a large quantity of fish. in two days we got as many as we could well carry. some of these were salted, others were smoked over the fire. we didn't fail, as may be supposed, to pay frequent visits to our look-out place on the rock. day after day went by and no sail appeared. "she's not coming back," said mr griffiths, at length; "something must have happened to her; and i put it to you whether we remain here or try to reach either japan or the ladrones. though guam, which is the chief island of the ladrones, is much farther off than japan, we are likely to receive better treatment from the spaniards than we are from the japanese, who may either send us off again or put us to death. the passage there is also likely to prove more boisterous than to guam." the mate, having concluded his remarks, put the matter to the vote. two of the men said they would rather remain on the island. no one proposed going to japan, and the doctor and miles soper wished to steer for guam. the rest of us voted with them. the mate considered that the sooner we were off the better. he said that the island was not a bad residence, but that when the winter came on we should have rains and storms, and might be unable to catch any fish or find other means of supporting life. we therefore at once set to work to prepare for the voyage. we first put off and caught a supply of fish, which we cured as before. we might have killed some birds, but we were unwilling to expend our small stock of powder, which we might require to defend ourselves against any natives who might prove hostile. led by the doctor, brown, jim, and i started to explore the neighbourhood, to collect scurvy grass or roots of any sort which might serve as vegetables. the natural productions of the country appeared to be very limited, but we dug up some roots which the doctor pronounced wholesome. we were about returning in despair of obtaining what we wanted, when we came, near the shore on the other side of the bay, on a small open space overgrown with what at first looked like weeds, but i saw the doctor's eye brighten as he espied them. hurrying on he pulled away eagerly at the seeming weeds. "here are onions," he cried, "of more value to us than gold; and see, here are potatoes, and these are cabbages, though somewhat overgrown, but there are leaves enough to supply us for a month." we set to work to dig up the onions and potatoes with our pointed sticks, and to pull away at the cabbage leaves. "some beneficent person must have planted a garden here not long ago," said the doctor, as we were labouring with might and main. "these vegetables may be the means of preserving our lives, for without them we should have run a great risk of suffering from scurvy." we each of us loaded ourselves with as many of the roots as we could carry, and staggered back with them to camp. we were received with a loud shout by our companions, who knew the value of what we had brought. we quickly had some of the potatoes roasting in the ashes, on which, with some onions and fish, we made a more hearty meal than we had taken since we landed. we had fortunately an iron pot, in which we were able to boil a quantity of the potatoes, and afterwards the greens and some of the roots, which, being well-seasoned with salt, the doctor hoped would keep for some time. all our preparations being made, one morning, having breakfasted at daylight, the doctor and i went up to the top of the rock to take a last look-out for the ship. on coming down we saw the boat in the water loaded, when, all hands getting aboard, we shoved off and stood out through the reef with a fair breeze from the north-west and a smooth sea. the wind would have been directly against us had we been bound for japan, so we were glad that we had decided to sail to the southward. our boat was somewhat deeply laden with provisions and water, but our cargo would be rapidly lightened, and mr griffiths told us we must be prepared to heave some of it overboard should bad weather come on. we were all in health and good spirits, our chief anxiety being about the fate of the ship. i must pass rapidly over the first part of our voyage. we had the boat's compass to steer by, but having no quadrant to take an observation or log-line to mark accurately the distance run, we could only guess at the rate we made. mr griffiths, however, was a good navigator, and was pretty certain that he was correct. we had, we fancied, plenty of food, but from the first he put us all on an allowance of water. while the sea remained smooth he also made us change our places constantly, and by the doctor's advice he ordered one at a time to stand up and move his arms and legs about to prevent them from becoming stiff. he also encouraged us to spin yarns and sing songs; indeed, he did everything in his power to keep us in good spirits. after the first day of our landing we had not touched any of the biscuits we had brought with us. these we now husbanded with great care in case our other provisions should run short or spoil, which the doctor feared might be the case. we were much indebted to him for the precautions taken, as mr griffiths carried out all his suggestions. we had a whole week of fine weather, and we could favourably compare our lot with that of many poor fellows who had to voyage in open boats in the pacific, exposed to storms, and often with a scant allowance of food and water. the wind was generally from the northward, and when it fell calm we took to our oars. mr griffiths told us that we had a distance of between seven and eight hundred miles to run, as far as he could calculate, and that if the fine weather continued we might hope to reach guam in ten days or a fortnight. we had got on so well that we began to fancy that we should have no difficulties to encounter. we were, of course, constantly on the look-out for vessels. at length we sighted a sail, but she was standing away from us. we steered after her for some distance, but before nightfall her topgallant sails sank beneath the horizon, and we again kept on our course. "i wonder whether that craft out there is the _intrepid_," said jim to me. "little chance of that," i remarked. "if she escaped shipwreck, or has not been severely damaged, she would have come to look for us long before we left the island." "perhaps the skipper fancied that we were lost, and didn't think it worth while to come and look for us," said jim. four days after this, according to mr griffiths's calculations, we were in the latitude of guam, but to the eastward of the island. brown, however, was of opinion that we had run farther to the south, and that if we stood east we should see it on our port bow. we accordingly hauled up on the port tack. scarcely had we done so when the weather, which had lately looked threatening, completely changed. a strong wind began to blow from the north-west; it rapidly increased, and the sea got up and began to break over the bows in a way which threatened to swamp the boat. three hands baled away together, but even thus we could scarcely keep the boat free of water. "we must form a raft to serve as a breakwater," said mr griffiths. we lashed three oars together, the sail was lowered, the boat rounded to, and the raft, with a stout rope to it, was hove overboard, the rope being secured to the bows. at the same time the steering-oar was peaked and fixed into the after-thwart, with the flat of the blade facing the bows. this served as a sail, and kept the boat's head to the sea. thus, with the seas roaring and hissing round us, driving at the rate of two miles an hour to the southward and west, we prepared to pass the night, all of us feeling that we might never see another sun rise. chapter twenty five. a perilous voyage in the whale-boat. the night was very dark, the sea rose fearfully high. now the water broke over the starboard, now over the port bow, nearly swamping the boat, and all hands were employed in baling it out. we worked for our lives, for should another sea come before the boat was clear she might be swamped. some of the men cried out that we should not live through the night. mr griffiths and the doctor cheered them up, but if it hadn't been for the raft ahead, which broke the seas, i believe that we must have gone down. i had heard of boats being saved by hanging on under the lee of a dead whale, but i had not supposed that a few oars lashed together would have served as an effectual breakwater. the peaked oar played a most important part by keeping the boat's head to the wind, and at a sufficient distance from the raft. she must otherwise have broached to, and it must have been driven against her and stove in the side. as soon as the boat was clear of water, brown sang out, "now let's have a stave, lads," and he began to sing, but few were able to join in with him. jim and i tried, knowing brown's object, but we had scarcely got through a verse when another sea came roaring on board, nearly carrying over the men in the bows, and washing away some of our provisions. we all had immediately to turn to again and bale out the boat. no one thought of singing after this, for directly we were free of one sea another broke aboard us. it was a mercy that they didn't come together. "we must pray to god, lads," cried mr griffiths. "he who rules the seas and winds, if we ask him, can save us if he thinks fit. don't cease baling. he likes people to work and pray, but not to fall down on their knees while there's work to be done and leave it undone." he and the doctor set the example by baling away as hard as any of us. we had the boat's regular balers, our iron pot, and a couple of small buckets; the rest of us used our hats and caps. still, do all we could, it was a difficult matter to keep the boat free from water. we were wet through, as was everything in the boat, and we were afraid that our provisions would be spoilt, except perhaps the onions and potatoes. hour after hour went slowly by, for we had no time for talking to make it appear shorter. still the night did come to an end at last, but there were no signs of the gale abating. as soon as the sun rose we looked out eagerly on all sides for land. nothing broke the uniform line of the horizon except the foam-topped seas, which rose up tumultuously between us and it. we were driving all this time, it must be remembered, to the southward at the rate, the mate said, of two knots an hour, so that if we had been near guam when the gale came on we were being driven farther and farther from it, and it would be a hard matter to regain the island. we had taken nothing during the night, and we now all cried out for food. the store of salt fish we had remaining was scarcely eatable, for the salt had been washed out of it, and it was becoming bad. what we had smoked was a little better, but that also was almost spoilt, yet such as it was we were glad to have a portion with an onion apiece, and a small mug half full of water. the mate would give us no more. "what i do is for the good of all of us, lads," he said. "i can't tell when we may make the land, or what provisions we may find when we get there." horner sang out, "we had some biscuit. what has become of that? why don't you let us have a piece for our breakfasts?" "because the biscuits will keep longer than anything else, and are all we may have to depend upon," answered the doctor, who had got them under him in the stern-sheets, and had been trying from the first to keep them as free from water as possible. we had till now fancied that we had an abundance of food, but some had been washed overboard and some had been completely spoilt, so we found to our dismay that we had a very small quantity remaining. horner now began to complain bitterly of hunger and thirst, declaring that if he didn't get some food he must die. jim and i endeavoured to cheer him up. it was not a matter to joke about; indeed i was myself feeling the pangs of hunger and getting weaker and less able to work, though i did my best. jim kept up better than i did. we had not much time to be thinking, however, for we were compelled to be constantly baling the greater part of the day. towards evening the sun broke through the western clouds, sending his rays athwart the troubled ocean, and tinging the seas with a ruddy hue, while his heat dried our wet clothes. soon afterwards the wind began to drop, but the seas still ran so high that the mate thought it prudent to hang on some time longer to our raft. however, they no longer broke on board as they had been doing, and we had better hopes than on the previous night that we should see another sun rise. we had been awake so long that none of us were able to keep our eyes open, and i suspect that at times every person in the boat was fast asleep. i know for my part that i must have dozed through the greater part of the night, for i was awakened by hearing the mate's voice saying-- "now, lads, we will get the raft on board and make sail." i jumped up to lend a hand. we got the oars out and put the boat before the seas while we set up the mast and hoisted the sail. the wind was still in the same quarter, blowing directly from where we supposed guam to be, and as there were no hopes of making it the mate determined to run for some island to the southward, where, though it might be uninhabited, we should probably find cocoanuts and water, and might catch some fish. as none of the islands are very close together we ran a great risk of passing between them without seeing land, but then again he argued that we might be days or weeks beating up to guam, and as he could not tell its exact position, we might even pass it after all, while by keeping to the south we might have a better prospect of having fine weather, and finding food on any shore at which we might touch. on the other hand again there was the risk of falling among savages, for the natives of these latitudes were known to be fierce, treacherous, and inhospitable to strangers. we might, however, possibly meet with some ship, as we should cross the course pursued by spanish vessels sailing from america to the philippines. should we pass through the caroline group we should have another long channel to sail over, and must then reach the coast of new guinea. if driven thus far south our prospect of escape was small indeed; though we might obtain food, the people were supposed to be extremely savage and cruel. the doctor, to cheer us, said that he had some doubts about that, for although such was the character of the natives of some parts, there were others who might treat us kindly should we fall among them, provided we behaved well and showed that we wished to be friendly. as we sailed on the sea gradually went down, and at length we were running with a light breeze over the smooth ocean. though at first the warm sun was pleasant it soon became very hot, and while it dried our clothes increased our thirst. at the same time the heat destroyed the remaining portion of our fish, which became so bad that we were obliged to throw it overboard. we had now only a few raw potatoes and onions, and the little store of biscuits which the doctor had so wisely husbanded. the mate told us that we must make up our minds to live on very short allowance, and be content with a quarter of a biscuit, an onion, and a small piece of raw potato. to make the latter more wholesome he cut them and hung them up to dry in the sun. our food was served out about noon, and each day we sat eagerly waiting for the hour. horner would turn his eyes up and watch the sun till he fancied that it had gained its greatest altitude, and then cry out to the mate-- "it must be twelve o'clock, now, sir. won't dr cockle look at his watch and see?" the doctor was the only person who kept his watch wound up. the mate had collected all the provisions and placed them in the stern-sheets, and he didn't think fit to tell us how rapidly they were going. the quantity he served out was scarcely sufficient to keep body and soul together, but he acted for the best; there was no doubt about that. we were all becoming rapidly weaker, and longing for some substantial fare. horner at last cried out that if he didn't get it he must die. two or three of the other men said much the same thing. as i looked at their faces i felt afraid that they spoke the truth. our limbs were swollen, and we felt so stiff that we were scarcely able to move. "trust in god, lads," said the mate, to try and cheer us up. we were no longer inclined to spin yarns or sing songs, and only now and then exchanged a few words with each other. not long after this, as i was gazing over the side, i saw a movement in the water, and presently a score of flying-fish rose from the sea, their wings glittering in the sunlight, and about a dozen pitched into the boat. oh, how eagerly we all stooped down to seize them! just then, as i was looking out, expecting some more to come, i saw several dolphins, which had no doubt been pursuing the flying-fish, and now came close up to the boat, looking out for them. notwithstanding our hunger the doctor advised that we should split the fish and hang them up in the sun to dry. we were, however, too hungry to do this, but the mate insisted that all should be handed to him. he then served out to each of us half a fish, which we eagerly devoured. this meal, scanty as it was, somewhat restored our strength. "i told you to trust in god, lads," said the mate. "see he has sent us these fish, and he'll send us more, never fear." before long i saw, a hundred yards off, another flight of flying-fish rise from the sea, and come darting through the air like masses of silver, when, to our joy, a number struck the sail and dropped into the bottom of the boat. the mate immediately served out the remainder of those which had at first been sent to us. this made the men cheer up more than ever, as we expected that, now we had got into the tropics, we should have an ample supply every day. we saw large quantities of dolphins, bonitos, and albicores, which pursue the flying-fish, and induce them to seek for safety in flight; but none of the larger fish came near enough to enable us to catch them, though brown, harpoon in hand, stood up as long as he could keep his feet, in the expectation of striking one. it was very tantalising to see them sporting round us, and yet not to be able to get one on board. we had, however, a sufficient number of flying-fish to give us a good meal each for that and the next day. the mate proposed drying some in the sun and reserving them in case no more should come aboard, but nearly all hands cried out that we were certain to have some more sent us, and begged so hard to have the fish while they were good that the mate yielded to their wishes. during the night we steered south-east, with the wind on our port quarter. it was in that direction mr griffiths said he knew the islands lay thickest. we had a regular watch set, and a bright look-out kept ahead, for we could not tell when we might come upon reefs, and the boat might be knocked to pieces on some uninhabited spot where neither food nor water was to be procured. the next day was passed much as the previous one had been, but no flying-fish came on board, though we saw them glittering in the air in the distance. it was drawing towards evening when i saw a black triangular fin, which i knew to be that of a shark, coming up astern. "what are you looking at?" asked the doctor. i told him. presently we caught sight of the monster's cruel eyes and back a couple of fathoms from the boat. i saw by their looks that the men did not like its appearance. "we hab him," cried sam coal. "we eat him if he no eat us." brown, on hearing this remark, stood up, with his harpoon in hand, but the savage brute seemed to know its danger, and kept just beyond his reach, eyeing us, we thought, as if he expected to make a feast of the whole party. the men made their remarks on the shark, for having had sufficient food they had somewhat recovered their spirits. still i wished that the shark would take its departure, but it kept on swimming alongside the boat, and as the breeze freshened it made faster way to keep up with us. brown at last proposed shooting it, for our powder, being in a metal flask, had kept dry, but mr griffiths objected to any being expended for the purpose. it was a hundred to one that the shark would be killed, he said, and every charge might be of value. still, as no flying-fish had been caught, the men cried out that they must have the shark, and mr griffiths at length allowed brown, who was a good shot, to try and hit it in a vital part. just, however, as he stood up with the musket in his hands the shark dived and disappeared. "ah, ha, jack shark know what you going to do. him know eberyting," said sam coal. shortly after this the sun sank amid a bank of black clouds, and darkness came down on the world of waters, the weather again looking very threatening. i was awakened by a splash of water in my face. on sitting up, though a heavy sea was running, i found that the boat was still keeping on her course. the sail had been reefed, but it was as much as we could carry. again and again the sea broke on board. the sleepers were all aroused, and we had to bale as fast as we could. presently the mate said, "we must heave her to, lads. get the raft rigged." we soon had this done, but as we were rounding to a heavy sea came rolling up, and breaking on board, nearly carried sam coal over the side. the raft was hove into the water, and we lay head to wind as before, with the oar apeak. this did not prevent the seas from occasionally breaking on board, though they came with less violence than they would otherwise have done; but the boat was severely strained and shattered as they beat against her, and she now began to leak in a way which gave us just cause for alarm. we spent the night baling as hard as we could, all striving to save our lives; but we hoped almost against hope that we should succeed. at last some of the men, as before, began to despair, saying that it was as well to die now as a few hours later, and that it would be better to give in and let the boat sink, but seeing the mate and doctor calm and composed as ever, i tried to imitate their example. "god wants us to labour on, lads," cried mr griffiths. "he'll help us if we do. gales in these latitudes never last long. perhaps to-morrow we shall have a fine day and catch some more flying-fish, or maybe we are not far off from an island and we shall be able to stretch our legs and find plenty of cocoanuts, and perhaps yams and pigs. we shall soon have a fire alight and something cooking before it, and then won't we eat, boys!" this sort of talk had a good effect upon the men, and they no longer had any thought of giving in. still, the night went by very slowly. sleeping, even if we had had time, with the water washing into the boat, was next to impossible. daylight came back at last, and as the sun rose the clouds dispersed, the wind rapidly dropped, and the sea went down. in a short time the mate ordered the raft to be got on board, and we ran on as before. we were very nearly starving, for we had had nothing to eat since we had devoured the raw flying-fish on the previous day. "the doctor's got some biscuit," said one of the men, and they at once all cried out, begging that they might have it. the mate, however, would only give us a quarter of a biscuit each, with a little water. it just served to stay the gnawings of hunger, but as the day grew on we wanted food as much as ever, and our spirits again sank. for the first time i began to think that i should not survive, even if the mate and dr cockle did. though they had eaten no more than any of us, they endured their sufferings better. by this time we were a scarecrow crew, our hair long, our faces wan, our bodies shrunk, and our skin tanned to a yellow by the hot sun. at last the men entreated that they might have the remainder of the biscuit, declaring that they were ready to die after they had had one good meal if we could not catch any more flying-fish. "no, lads," said mr griffiths; "i know what is best for you. your lives are committed to my charge, and i'll not yield to your wishes. see, while you have been talking the water has been coming into the boat. turn to and bale away." they obeyed, though with scowling countenances. the mate had both the guns in the stern-sheets, and he and the doctor looked as if they were prepared to resist violence. the men knew also that jim and i would have sided with the officers. the wind had dropped, and with a gentle breeze we were gliding on, when suddenly, not ten yards off, a number of flying-fish rose out of the water and came towards the boat. some struck the sail, and others we beat back with our hands. "i told you not to despair, lads," said mr griffiths. "thank god for what he has sent us!" i believe we all did so most heartily. the mate allowed all the fish we had caught to be eaten. i heard the doctor ask him why he did so, as we might catch no more till the next day. "i'll tell you presently," he answered. we had finished our meal, with just a small piece of biscuit apiece and a quarter of a pint of water, when the mate stood up, and, shading his eyes, gazed ahead. "i would not say so before, lads, for fear of disappointing you, but i now tell you that we're in sight of land. it is not very large, and may not be inhabited; it may have no cocoanuts or other vegetables on it, but it will give us room to stretch our legs, and we may be able to catch as many fish as we want off it." "thank god!" burst from the lips of most of the crew, and i and some others knelt down to return thanks to him who had thus far preserved us, while we prayed that we might be brought in time to a place of safety. we all now wanted to stand up and see the land. the mate told us to sit quiet, but he allowed each one of us at a time to rise to our feet and take a look ahead. a blue irregular line could just be distinguished above the horizon, clear and defined. that it was land none of us had any doubt. a fair breeze carried us along at the rate of four or five knots an hour. in less than a couple of hours we might hope to be on shore, but the sun was sinking, and it would be dark, unless the breeze freshened, before we could reach it. in a short time the wind fell, on which our hopes of landing before night were disappointed. we got out the oars, however, and pulled on. "we must be careful, lads," said the mate, after we had rowed some distance. "most of these islands are surrounded by coral reefs, and we may run upon one of them in the dark and knock the boat to pieces. we must heave-to, shortly, and wait for daylight." some of the men grumbled at this, and asserted that the noise of the surf upon the reefs would give us sufficient notice when we were approaching them, but the mate was firm. "i will not risk the safety of the boat for the sake of getting on shore a few hours earlier," he said. we all, however, had the satisfaction of taking another look at the land and assuring ourselves that it was land before darkness came on. mr griffiths then ordered us to lay in our oars, and except two who were to keep watch and bale out the water which leaked into the boat, to lie down and go to sleep. i don't think many of us did sleep. we were all thinking too much about getting on shore in the morning to care for rest. we forgot that before that time another gale might spring up and drive us off the land, or dash the boat a hopeless wreck upon the coral reef. chapter twenty six. more startling adventures. the night passed by, and as dawn at length broke, the mate rousing up all hands, we hoisted the sail, and again stood towards the land. the sea was smooth, and the wind light and fair. as we glided on, the mate told brown to stand up in the bows and keep a look-out for reefs. as we approached the land we could see trees on the shore and some on the hill, so that we had no doubt that we should find fresh water. it was a question, however, whether or not it was inhabited, and, if so, whether the natives would prove friendly or hostile. the mate told the doctor that he believed it was one of the most north-western of the caroline group, the natives of which are generally more friendly to strangers than the inhabitants of the islands farther south; still, they are perfect savages, and it would be dangerous to trust them. we could, however, see no smoke or other signs of the country being inhabited. we had not gone far, when brown sang out, "starboard! hard a-starboard! a reef ahead!" on this the mate, luffing up, ordered us to lower the sail. it was done in an instant, and not a moment too soon, for we saw close abeam a coral reef not two feet under the surface. "we may be thankful that we didn't stand on during the night," said mr griffiths to the doctor. we now got out the oars and pulled cautiously on. we soon found ourselves in a channel, with coral reefs on either side, all of them just below the surface; and as the passage twisted and turned in all directions, it required the greatest possible caution to thread our way through it. we might well be thankful not only that we did not stand on during the night, but that we had not driven farther south during the gale while we rode to the raft. nothing could have preserved the boat from being dashed to pieces. at length we got clear of the encircling reef, and found ourselves in a broad expanse of perfectly smooth water. the rocks rising directly out of it formed the shore. we had to pull along them some distance to find a convenient landing-place. at last a beautiful bay opened out, with a sandy beach, the ground rising gradually from it, covered with cocoanut-trees. on seeing it, led by brown, we uttered a cheer, and giving way with a will ran the boat's keel on the beach. he jumped out first, and we all followed, without thinking of savages, and only very grateful to find ourselves once more on firm ground. led by the mate and the doctor, we fell on our knees, and i believe with grateful hearts returned thanks to god for our safety. we were hurrying up to the trees with our eyes fixed on the cocoanuts which hung temptingly from them, when the mate called to us to be cautious, for though we had seen no natives, there might be some in the neighbourhood, who might come suddenly down and attack us while we were engaged in obtaining the cocoanuts. he and the doctor then proceeded with their muskets in their hands a little way in advance, while under brown's directions we prepared to get down the nuts. miles soper, sam coal, and jim were the best climbers, but without assistance, weak as we all were, they found that they could not swarm up the trees. we therefore got some ropes from the boat, and soper soon twisted one of them into a grummet, or hoop, round the tree, with sufficient space for his body inside it; then shoving the opposite side of the grummet above him, and holding on with his knees, he worked his way up the smooth trunk. coal did the same on another tree, but jim, after making the attempt, had to give up. "i never tried that sort of thing before, and can't manage it," he said, coming down and ready to cry for weakness. "look out there!" shouted sam coal, who was the first to reach the top of his tree; and he threw down a cocoanut, and then another, and another, but they all broke as they touched the ground. "i say, that'll never do!" cried brown, as he picked up one of them, while horner and i got hold of the other two. "you must hang them round your neck somehow. we want the juice, which is the best part." coal, on this, fastened three or four together in a handkerchief; soper had in the meantime done the same, and they descended with four cocoanuts apiece. horner and i had run with those we had picked up to mr griffiths and the doctor, munching a portion as we went, while brown divided his among the other men, who were as eager to eat them as we were. so we found were the mate and the doctor. they tasted delicious to us, so long accustomed to salt or raw fish; but still more refreshing was the milk, which we got on tearing off the outer rind by cutting holes in the eyes with our knives. the cocoanuts, indeed, served us as meat and drink. all this time the doctor and mate had seen no signs of inhabitants, and as we were all far too weak to think of exploring the country, we sat down in the shade of the cocoanut-trees to rest. we talked a little to each other for a short time, and first one dropped off to sleep, then another. mr griffiths himself didn't long keep his eyes open, though i fancy i heard him tell brown that we must set a watch, lest any natives should come suddenly down upon us. the mate and the doctor had both been awake during the whole of the last night in the boat--no wonder that they went to sleep. at last i opened my eyes, and sitting up, looked about me, trying to recollect where i was, and what had happened. this i soon did. my companions lay scattered around me on the ground. in front was the sea, and the two sides of the bay were formed by moderately high cliffs. behind us was a grove of cocoanut-trees, extending along the shore to the cliffs, and beyond them i could see a hill, which formed the farther end of the valley, opening out on the bay. every one was asleep, and i was thankful that while in that condition we had not been discovered by savages, who might have been tempted to massacre the whole of us. i was glad that i at all events was now awake. i didn't, however, like to arouse my companions, so i got up noiselessly, and to stretch my legs walked through the palm-grove. on my way i found a cocoanut fallen to the ground, and as i felt hungry, having taken off the rind, i sucked the milk, and then breaking the shell, ate as much of the fruit as i felt inclined to take. this restored my strength, and i went on till i got beyond the trees, which extended to no great distance up the valley. farther on the ground was tolerably open, with here and there a few trees and bushes growing by the side of a stream which ran through the valley, and formed a small lake, without any outlet that i could discover. a number of birds, some of which i took to be pigeons, were flying about, but i saw no four-legged creatures of any sort. the birds were so tame that they came flying about me, and perched on the boughs without showing any signs of fear. "this is a beautiful spot," i thought to myself. "how thankful i am that we reached it! we shall have plenty of food, and if there are no natives we can remain as long as we like till we are all strong again, and mr griffiths determines to pursue the voyage." i was stopping, looking about, when i saw something move on the top of the hill at the farther end of the valley. the object stopped, and then i made out distinctly against the sky the figure of a man. he was too far off to enable me to make out how he was dressed, or whether he was a native or a white man. he stopped for some time, as if he was looking down into the valley, and i fancied that he might have seen me, for i was in an open spot, away from any trees or shrubs. at last i beckoned to him, to show that my companions and i wished to be friends with the natives. he took no notice of my signals, but stood looking down into the valley as before. at first i thought of going towards him, but then it struck me that others might appear, and that i might be taken prisoner, or perhaps killed, and that i ought to go back and tell mr griffiths what i had seen. i found him and the doctor awake. "i'm sorry to hear that," said the former. "i had hoped that there were no natives on the island. if the person you saw had been a white man he would have come down to us immediately. i suspect that he must be a native. we must look out for a visit from others, and keep a more careful watch than heretofore." he and the doctor agreed to return with me, and if the person was still where i had seen him, to try and open up a friendly communication with him and any others who might appear. rousing up brown and the rest of the people, and telling them where we were going, we set off. on our getting to the spot where i had been when i saw the man, he had disappeared. we, however, went on past a little lake, and along the bank of a stream, looking out very carefully on either side lest the natives might come down from the cliffs and cut us off. no one appeared; and as it was getting late, mr griffiths thought it wise to return. it was almost dark by the time we reached the palm-grove. we found that soper and coal had in the meantime collected some more cocoanuts; and that brown, with the rest of the men, had obtained some large clams and other shell-fish from the rocks. they were now lighting a fire to cook them, while jim had brought a kettle of water from the lake. we had thus materials for a hearty meal, of which we all partook with good appetites. we had been unable to do anything to the boat during the day, but mr griffiths remarked that our first care must be to put her to rights, that we might go out fishing in her, and afterwards make a voyage to some place where we might find a vessel to take us home. the mate said that we might either sail northward again to guam, or westward to the pellew islands, the inhabitants of which were said to be friendly, and thence on to the philippines. various opinions were expressed, but nothing was decided. we had now to prepare for the night. notwithstanding the sleep we had had during the day, we all felt that a longer rest was necessary to restore our strength. mr griffiths, however, insisted that a watch should be kept, as now that we had discovered the island to be inhabited, it would be folly to allow ourselves to be caught unawares at night. though the weather was warm, as we had had no time to put up a shelter of any sort, the fire was found pleasant; we therefore agreed not to let it go out during the night. it was settled that the doctor should keep the first watch, mr griffiths the middle, and i was to have the third with jim. brown kept it with the doctor, and soper with the mate. our arrangements being made, we lay down to pass the night. it appeared to me that i had been asleep only a few minutes, when mr griffiths called me up, and jim and i, taking the muskets, began our watch. the mate told me that the doctor's and his watches had passed quietly away, and they had not heard any sounds to indicate that any natives were near. as we were not obliged to keep close to the fire, and as there was a bright moon in the sky to enable us to see our way, i proposed to jim that we should go through the grove, where, should any natives approach in the morning, we should discover them sooner on that side than we should by remaining at the camp. he agreed, and without difficulty we made our way through the trees, which stood apart, with little or no undergrowth. the scene which presented itself to us as we got out of the grove was very beautiful. the silver moon and the surrounding trees were reflected in the calm waters of the lake, while the outline of the hills on either side appeared sharp and distinct against the sky. finding a clear piece of ground not far from the shore of the lake, jim and i walked up and down, keeping a look-out now to one side, now to the other, as also up the valley. we had taken several turns, when jim exclaimed, "hillo! look there!" gazing up in the direction to which he pointed, i saw distinctly against the sky the figure of a man. how he was dressed it was impossible to say; still, he had on clothes of some sort. "he's not a native savage, at all events," said jim. "we'll hail him, and if he's an englishman he'll answer." we shouted at the top of our voices, but no reply came, and the figure disappeared. "that's strange," said jim; "i thought he would have come down and had a talk with us, whoever he is. can't we try and find him?" "we mustn't both leave our post," i answered; "but if you stop here i'll try and get up to where he was standing, and unless he has run away he can't be far off." jim didn't like my going, but i persuaded him to stop, and hurried across the valley. when i got to the foot of the cliff i could find no way up it, and, after searching about, had to abandon the attempt. i returned to where i had left jim, and we resumed our walk, thinking that perhaps the figure would again appear. "perhaps if he sees us he won't show himself," said jim. "wouldn't it be better to go and stay under the trees? and then perhaps he'll come back." we did as jim proposed, keeping our eyes in the direction of the cliff, but we looked in vain for the reappearance of the stranger. "he guesses that we are watching for him," said jim. "perhaps if we were to shout again he would come back. if he's a white man he'll understand us, and know that we are friends." "there can be no harm in shouting," i answered, "though he may be a native and there may be others with him; they would have come down before this and attacked us, had they had a mind to do so." we accordingly went from under the trees, and standing in the open ground, i shouted out-- "hillo, stranger, we're friends, and want to have a talk with you. we have just come here for a day or two, and intend to be off again on our voyage." jim then said much the same sort of thing, and as his voice was even louder than mine, we made sure that the stranger must have heard us. he didn't, however, show himself, though we sometimes shouted together, sometimes singly. at last we heard voices in the cocoanut grove. "i hope that no enemies have got down between us and the sea," i said. "we had no business to come so far away from the camp." we stood with our muskets ready, watching the wood. in a short time our anxiety was relieved by the appearance of the doctor and mr griffiths. "why, lads, what made you shout out in that fashion?" asked the mate. "we fancied you wanted help." we told him of the man we had seen on the cliffs. "it's very extraordinary," said the doctor; "i don't think he can be a native, or he would not have shown himself in that way. he must be some white man who has been left by himself on the island, and has lost his wits, as often happens under such circumstances. he's been accustomed to see savages visit the island, and has kept out of their way to save himself from being killed or made a slave of. he had not the sense to distinguish between us and them." "i believe you are right," said mr griffiths. "we must take means to get hold of him, both for his own sake and ours. he'll soon come round, supposing he's an englishman, when he finds himself among countrymen, and he'll be able to show us where to get provisions if the island produces any. he can't have lived always on cocoanuts and shell-fish." by this time the dawn began to appear, and after waiting a little longer we all returned to camp, and roused up the men to prepare for breakfast. miles soper and sam coal again climbed the trees to get some cocoanuts. some of the men went down to the shore to collect shell-fish. others made up the fire, while the mate and the doctor examined the boat to ascertain the damage she had received, and to see how she could best be repaired. "we have a few nails, and we must try to find some substance which will answer the purpose of pitch," observed the mate. "doctor, i dare say you'll help us. we will strengthen her with additional planks, and get a strake put on above her gunwale. it will be a work of toil to cut the planks, but it must be done, and she will then be fit to go anywhere." at breakfast the mate told the men of his intentions. they all agreed to do their best to carry them out. we had first, however, to search for provisions. not knowing whether there might be savages on the island, even supposing that the man we had seen was not one, the mate did not like to leave the boat unprotected. he therefore ordered brown and one of the men to remain by her while the rest of us proceeded together to explore the island. the mate would not allow us to separate until we had ascertained whether or not there were inhabitants besides the man we had seen on the island. one musket was left with brown, the mate carried the other, and we set off, keeping up the stream i have before described towards the end of the valley. we looked out on either side for the stranger, but he didn't appear. some of the men declared that we had not really seen any one, and that we had mistaken a small tree or shrub for a man; but jim and i were positive, and the doctor, at all events, believed us. on reaching the top of the hill, we looked down into a large hollow, with water at the bottom, dark rocks forming its sides, grown over with creepers, huge ferns, and various other plants. the doctor said that it was the crater of a long extinct volcano, and that the whole island was volcanic. there were many other hills out of which smoke was rising. the doctor said that this was an active volcano; indeed, the country in that direction presented a very different aspect from the part where we had landed. it was black and barren, with only here and there a few green spots. we therefore turned to the east, the direction which promised us a better chance of finding roots or fruits, or vegetable productions of some sort. the strange thing was, that though the island appeared fertile, not a single habitation or hut could we discover. the doctor supposed that this was on account of the occasional outbreak of the volcano, and that the people from the neighbouring islands were afraid to take up their residence on it. we now descended the hill, and went along another valley, of course looking out all the time for the stranger. we were passing a small grove near a hollow in the side of a hill, which was partly concealed by trees, when we heard a cock crow just as an english cock would do. at once that sound made my thoughts, as it did those of the others, probably, rush back to our far-distant homes. "if there's a cock, there must be hens and a hen-roost hereabouts," observed miles soper, hurrying in the direction whence the sounds proceeded. we followed; there, sure enough, sheltered by the hill, and under the shade of the trees, was not only a hen-house of good size, but a hut scarcely bigger than it was neatly built and thatched with palm-leaves. "it must be the residence of the stranger. he himself can't be far off," said the doctor. the hut was just large enough to hold one man. it had a door formed of thin poles lashed together with sennit. at the farther end was a bedstead covered with rough matting, and in the centre a small table, with a three-legged stool. no one had any longer any doubt that we had seen a man, or that this must be his abode, and that he must be a white man, but whether english or not was doubtful. miles soper examined the matting, and as he was looking about he found a knife on a shelf close to the bed. taking it up, he examined it with a curious eye, opening and shutting it, and turning it round and round. "well, that's queer, but i think i've seen this knife before," he said. "if the owner is the man i guess he is i am glad." "who do you suppose he is?" i inquired, eagerly. "well, peter, that's what i don't want to say just yet. i must make sure first," he answered. "can he be my brother jack?" i exclaimed, my breath coming and going fast in my anxiety. "well then, peter, i'll tell you. jack knew how to make matting just like this, because he learnt the way on board the _harriet_, and so did i. he had a knife which, if this isn't it, is the fellow to it, so you see that i have some reason to think that the man who built this hut, and lives in it, is he. but then again, you know, i may be mistaken. "why, if he is jack, he should run away from us puzzles me. if he couldn't see our faces he must have known by our dress that we were english or american, and that there was no reason for him to hide himself. there are many men who know how to make this sort of matting, and there are many knives just like this, and that's the reason why i can't tell you whether he's jack or not. but if mr griffiths will let me i'll go on alone and look for him, and when he sees who i am he'll come fast enough to me, and you may depend on it, peter, if it's he i'll bring him back with a lighter heart than i've had for many a day." chapter twenty seven. the lost one found at last. i wanted to accompany soper in his search for the stranger. "no, no, peter," he answered; "if he is jack he'll know me; but he won't know you; and if he's grown queer by living all alone on an island, as has happened to some poor fellows, he'll get out of our way if he sees two together." the doctor assented to the wisdom of this, and advised me to be contented and remain by while soper set off himself. the rest of the party were meanwhile examining the hen-roost. the fowls were mostly of the english breed, which made us suppose that they had been landed from some english vessel. we were confirmed in this belief by discovering an old hen-coop, in which they had probably been washed ashore. there were other pieces of wreckage scattered about, but the hut itself was composed entirely of the products of the island. at last the doctor proposed that we should proceed onwards, as the stranger, whoever he was, would not be likely to come back if he saw us near his hut. i, however, believed that it must be jack, and, notwithstanding the doubts that soper had expressed, begged that i might be allowed to remain behind that i might the sooner meet him. mr griffiths gave me leave to stay if i wished it. i thought that soper was more likely to bring him back to the hut than to follow the rest of the party. as soon as they had gone i closed the door and sat down on the three-legged stool. i should have been glad if i had had a book to read to employ my thoughts, but the hut contained only some cocoanuts cut in two for holding water, some long skewers, which had apparently been used for roasting birds, a small nut fixed in a stand to serve as an egg-cup, and a little wooden spoon. there were also shells, some clams, and others of different shapes. two or three of these would serve as cups and plates. i could judge from this what had been the food of the solitary inhabitant of the hut. this didn't look as if he were out of his mind. the time appeared to go by very slowly. i remembered my disappointment at south's island when i heard the mysterious knocks on the bottom of the boat, and i began to fear that after all the stranger might not prove to be jack. i was now sorry that i had not accompanied the rest of the party--at all events the time would not have appeared so long if i had been walking and looking out for jack. at length i determined to get up and to go out and try and find my companions--perhaps soper and the stranger were all this time with them, though i knew they would come back and look for me. i rose and went to the window, which had a view right down the valley, probably that the inmate might watch anybody coming in that direction. i couldn't see any object moving, and i turned towards the door, intending to go out, when the sound of voices reached my ears. i listened. one of the speakers was miles soper, the other spoke so indistinctly that i could not make out what he said. i opened the door and saw two persons coming through the grove. one was, as i expected, soper; the other a strange-looking being with long hair, his skin tanned of a deep brown, his dress composed of an old jacket and trousers, patched or rather covered over with leaves, while his feet and head were destitute of covering. i stood gazing at him for a few seconds, unable to trace in his countenance any of the features of my brother jack, which i fancied i recollected. "what, don't you know one another?" exclaimed soper. "this is jack trawl and no other--the only jack trawl i ever knew. come, jack, rouse up, that's your brother peter trawl. give him your fist, man. he's been talking about you, and looking for you everywhere we've been." the stranger stopped and gazed eagerly in my face. "what, are you my little brother peter?" he exclaimed. "how are mary, and father, and mother, and nancy?" i knew from this that he was jack, and springing forward, took both his hands, and looked earnestly in his face. "yes, i am peter, and i know you are jack. mary was well when i left home long ago, though you wouldn't know her now, and nancy is with her." i didn't like at first to tell jack that father and mother were dead, but it had to come out at last, and it seemed for a time to do away with the happiness he and i felt at meeting; for he was happy, though he looked so strange and talked so curiously. he couldn't get out his words at first, but we sat down, he on the bed, i on the stool, and miles soper on the table, miles drawing him out better than i could, and he telling us how he had come upon the island. he had been on board the _harriet_, as i had believed, from what king george had told me, and had escaped from her with captain barber in the boat. they had had a long voyage, and suffered dreadfully, missing guam, for which they had steered, just as we had done, and been driven south. the other men died, one and then another, till at last only captain barber and he had been left. the captain was in a dying state when the boat was driven on the reef, and jack could not tell how he had managed to reach the shore. he found himself at last in the very bay where we had landed. he had just strength enough to crawl up to the palm-grove, where he found some cocoanuts on the ground, and managing to eat one of them he regained his strength. he looked about for the old captain, but could nowhere find him, and supposed that he was drowned when the boat went to pieces. he didn't want to die, he said, so he got some shell-fish and cocoanuts, and now and then caught some birds, which were very tame. he had learnt how to get a light from king george's people on "strong's" island, and after a few days he managed to make a fire and cooked the shell-fish. he found some roots, but was afraid to eat them for fear they might be poisonous. it was very melancholy work living thus alone, and some times for days together he scarcely knew what he was about. at last, however, came a furious storm, and as he went down to the beach he saw a ship driving towards the island. he knew that there were reefs all around it, so he feared that she would be knocked to pieces and bring no help to him. his fears proved true; the ship struck at a distance from where he was. he made his way down to the nearest point to where she was, hoping that some of the crew might reach the shore alive, but the only thing of any size which had come ashore was a hen-coop and some fowls lashed to some gratings and some spars. his idea was that the people had been trying to make a raft, but that the ship had gone to pieces before they could finish it, and the raft had been driven on shore by itself. he secured the hen-coop and fowls, most of which were alive, and carried them up to where he had built a hut for himself. shortly afterwards, seeing three canoes full of wild-looking natives coming near the shore, he collected all his fowls and carried them away right up to the spot where he had built his present hut. he there lay concealed, as he was afraid of falling into the hands of the natives after the way in which he had seen his shipmates murdered at "strong's" island, as he thought the savages would treat him in the same way. this idea seemed to have upset his mind. he was nearly starved, for he would not kill any of his fowls because they were the only living beings that seemed to care for him. at last he ventured out from his hiding-place, and, creeping cautiously on, saw the savages sailing away in their canoes. they had nearly stripped the trees of cocoanuts, and found his hut and pulled it to pieces. why they had gone so suddenly he could not tell, but on looking towards the burning mountain it was spurting out fire and smoke, and he concluded that they had gone away from being frightened at it. his mind was now more at rest. he employed himself in building his hut and the hen-roosts, where his fowls might be safe from hawks or such-like birds, or any animals which might be in the island. he had seen wild cats at some of those he had touched at, and knew that if they found out his fowl they would soon put an end to them. he had plenty to do to find food for his poultry. he got shell-fish and berries, roots and cocoanuts, and watched what they seemed to like best. they soon became so tame that they would come and sit on his shoulders and knees and run about between his feet. what seemed to have upset him was another visit from the savages some months afterwards, when he was nearly caught. though they pursued him they didn't discover his hen-roost or hut, but after that he was always fancying they would come and kill him. when he saw our boat he thought we must be some savages, and yet he said he couldn't help coming down to have a look at us, though it was so long since he had heard a word of english spoken he didn't understand what was said. fortunately, miles soper had passed close to the place where he was hiding. at length, when he heard his own name shouted in a voice which he recollected, he came out, and at once knew his old messmate. he could not at first understand that i had grown into a big fellow, and had come to look for him, though he told miles soper that he should know me at once if i were like what i had been when he went to sea. when miles told him that mr griffiths and dr cockle were with me--the gentlemen father had put on board their ship at the time he had joined the _lapwing_--he seemed to have no doubt on the matter, and by degrees, with miles speaking soothingly to him, the balance of his mind seemed gradually to be restored. he still found, however, a great difficulty in speaking; he had been so long without uttering a word except when he talked to his poultry. he was almost all to rights when mr griffiths and the doctor and the other men came back. they seemed very much pleased at seeing jack, and all shook him warmly by the hand. the doctor and mr griffiths told him that they remembered him well when he was a young lad, first going to sea, little thinking that from that day to this he should be knocking about the world far away from home. he looked very shy and reserved, and seemed inclined to keep close to miles soper and me, but in other respects he was as much in his senses as any of us. the doctor had found several roots and fruits, which he said were wholesome, and would serve us as food, and jack offered to catch as many birds as we wanted, begging that we wouldn't touch his poultry. the doctor promised that they should not be molested while we remained on the island, but said to me-- "you must persuade your brother to let us have them for sea-stock when we go away; they will afford us sufficient provisions to enable us to reach the `pellew' islands or manilla, with the help of the birds and fish we may salt." when mr griffiths was about to go away, jack asked that miles soper and i might stay to keep him company, promising to go down to the boat the next morning. to this mr griffiths agreed, and soper and i remained behind with jack. when they had gone jack said-- "i haven't food for all the party, but i can give you a good supper," and he showed us his store-room at the back of the hut, in which he had several cocoanuts, some birds dried in the sun, and a dozen eggs. he showed us a sort of trap he used for catching the birds without frightening the rest. he quickly got a fire from a split log in the way i have before described, and with the help of some fresh water and the milk of the cocoanuts we had a very good meal. he had a supply of mats like those on his bed, and with these he rigged us up a place for sleeping in when it was time to lie down. i felt happier than i had been for a long time. my hope of finding brother jack was realised, and now my great wish was to return home with him to mary. i forgot for the moment that we were on a remote island, and that we had only a small boat to carry us to civilised lands. when we got up the next morning jack seemed more refreshed and better able to talk than on the previous evening. as soon as we had had breakfast, which was very much like supper, we set off to join the rest of the party at the bay. we found them all busily employed, some in caulking the boat, others in splitting a tree to form planks. we fortunately had a couple of axes with us, which were of great service, and while soper and i lent a hand jack went down to collect shell-fish, which he did much more rapidly than we could, being well accustomed to it. the weather was so fine that we required only a very slight hut, which we formed partly of the boat's sails and partly of the boughs and stems of small trees. jack showed us a way up to the top of the cliff, and here mr griffiths erected a flagstaff with a whift, which we had in the boat, increased in size by a couple of handkerchiefs. this was large enough to attract the attention of any vessel passing near the island, but mr griffiths said that he believed, owing to the surrounding reefs, none would intentionally approach. we were all anxious to get the boat finished as soon as possible and commence our voyage. we had many reasons for being in a hurry, though we might have lived very well on the island for months together, but the burning mountain might again burst forth and overwhelm us, and the savages might return in large numbers and either kill us or make us prisoners, for as we had only two muskets and a scanty supply of ammunition, we could scarcely hope to beat them off should they prove hostile. mr griffiths and the doctor talked the matter over. "one thing is certain," observed the mate, "the sooner we're away while the fine weather lasts the better, but at the same time it won't do to start until we have fitted the boat thoroughly for sea. we have a long trip before us, and if we're caught in a gale we shall have reason to regret it if we don't take the trouble to fit our boat in the best way we can." it took a long time, first with our axes to split up the planks, and then to smooth them with our knives. we had next to shape out additional timbers to strengthen the boat, as to which also to fix the planks to. we likewise decked over the fore and aft parts, both to keep out the sea and to prevent our provisions from getting wet. the doctor searched everywhere for some sort of resin which might serve to caulk our boat. he at last found some which he thought might answer, but as we had only a small iron pot to boil it in, we had to go without our soup or our hot water till the pot was again thoroughly cleaned out. it answered the purpose, however, better than we had expected, and with mosses and dried grass we made up a substance which served instead of oakum. jack worked as hard as any of us, and was very useful in catching a number of birds, which he salted and dried in the sun. at length one day, when nearly all our preparations were concluded, the mate said, "and now, jack trawl, we must get you to bring your poultry-yard down. we shall not have room for all the fowl, in the boat but i think we can cut down and repair the old hen-coop to hold a good many, and we must kill and salt the rest." "what i kill my fowl--my old companions!" said jack. "what! cannot we let them live? they'll soon find food for themselves; they do that pretty well already, and i couldn't bear to see their necks wrung." "i wish we were able to do without them," said the mate; "but our lives are of more value than those of the fowl. i can enter into your feelings, and we will not ask you to kill any nor to eat them afterwards unless you change your mind. look you here, jack; if the savages came to the island they'd kill the fowl fast enough, and perhaps our lives may depend on our having them." the doctor then said something to the same effect, and at last jack was talked over to allow some of his fowl to be killed at once, and dried and salted like the other birds. we brought the hen-coop down to the beach, and by dint of hard work cut it away so as to hold two dozen fowl closely packed. at night, when the birds had gone to roost, miles, coal, jack, and i went up and took the others while roosting. what a cackling and screeching the poor creatures made on finding themselves hauled off their perches and having their legs tied! the noise they made might have been heard over half the island. we brought them down and stowed them away in the hen-coop. jack, accompanied by jim, had before collected a good supply of seeds, which might serve them as food with the help of the cocoanuts and scraps of fish which we might leave. mr griffiths and the doctor had arranged to start the next morning. all hands had agreed to do as they proposed, which was to be up at daylight, and as soon as we had breakfasted launch the boat and go on board. we lay down, as we hoped, for the last time in our hut. as the island was known to be uninhabited it was no longer thought necessary to keep a watch. all of us slept like tops, recollecting that we should not for many days get another thorough night's rest. i was the first to wake, and, calling up jim, he and i agreed to go to the lake and fill our pot with water to boil for breakfast, knowing that the rest would light the fire as soon as they were aroused ready for it. there was just a single streak in the eastern sky, which showed us that it would soon be daylight, and we knew our way so well through the grove that we didn't think it worth while stopping till then. we carried the pot on a stick between us, and as we had to pass among the trees, of course we could not do so as fast as if it had been daylight. it took us some little time before we could reach the place where we could dip the pot in and get the water pure. we filled it, and set off again on our way back. we had just reached the grove of cocoanut-trees. i happened to look up at the hill where i had seen jack the morning after our arrival, when i saw against the sky the forms of well-nigh a dozen savages. i rubbed my eyes for a moment, as i at first thought it might be fancy, and then whispered to jim to look in the same direction and then tell me what he saw. "savages," he answered, "no doubt about that." "then we must rouse up the rest and be prepared for them," i said. we ran on among the trees, to which we were close, hoping that we hadn't been seen. still i thought that the savages must know that we were on the island. we didn't like to abandon our pot, though we spilled some of the water as we hurried along. our friends were still fast asleep. "mr griffiths! dr cockle! the savages have landed and are on the hill out there," jim and i cried out. they started to their feet in a moment, and jack and the rest of the men jumped up on hearing our voices. the mate seemed satisfied that what we said was true. "then, lads," he said, "we will launch the boat at once; we must at all events avoid a fight, and we can't tell how they'll behave if we remain." jack was about the most eager to get the boat in the water, and horner looked not a little frightened. we soon had her afloat, and then as quickly as we could, running backwards and forwards, put the cargo on board. the doctor and mate were still on shore, seeing that nothing had been left behind, when loud shrieks reached our ears, and a score or more of tattooed savages, flourishing their war clubs, burst out of the grove and rushed towards us. "quick, doctor," cried the mate. "get on board, and i'll follow you." he stood, as he spoke, with his musket in his hand pointed towards the savages, and then slowly retreated, while dr cockle sprang on board. we had our oars ready to shove off as soon as the mate was safe. "come on, mr griffiths, come on," cried several others. the savages were scarcely a dozen yards from us as the mate threw himself over the bows, and we quickly shoved the boat into deep water, while the savages stood yelling and heaving stones at us from the beach. just, however, as we got the boat's head to sea we saw, coming round a point to the eastward, four or five large canoes. it seemed impossible that we could escape them. chapter twenty eight. escape from the island and the events which followed. "give way, lads! give way!" shouted mr griffiths; "if the worst comes we must fight for it, and try to save our lives, but i want, if we can, to avoid fighting." the men bent to their oars; the wind was ahead, so that it was useless to hoist the sail. the savages on shore howled and shrieked as they saw us getting off, and hurled stones at us. the big double canoes came round the point, two more appearing astern. they were close on a wind, and rapidly skimming the water. "there's an outlet from the bay to the westward, i marked it yesterday, we will make for it," said mr griffiths. the canoes were to the eastward, but it seemed very doubtful whether we could reach the outlet the mate spoke of before they would be up with us. we pulled for our lives, for there could be no doubt, from the behaviour of the savages on shore,--how those in the canoes would be inclined to treat us. while the mate steered, the doctor and i got the muskets ready; the rest of the crew were rowing, horner helping the stroke oar. on the canoes came, nearer and nearer. we observed the sea breaking over the reef, but there was a clear channel between it and the shore. the savages had left the beach and were rushing towards the point which they knew we must pass; probably, as we supposed, to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing us overtaken and massacred. as the mate altered our course to steer for the channel, we found the wind on our starboard bow; should it shift a point or two more, it would come right ahead, and even the canoes, though they sail closer to the wind than any ordinary craft, would be unable to get through it; but they were already within one hundred fathoms of us, and coming on rapidly. i counted seven of them. one took the lead of the rest, and was coming up hand over hand with us. we could see the warriors on the raised deck dancing and leaping and flourishing their clubs, and hear them shouting and shrieking like their companions on shore. i looked anxiously at the channel. soper was pulling bow oar. the mate told horner to take it, and directed soper to keep a look-out for reefs ahead. the leading canoe was now within fifty fathoms astern. "give them a shot, doctor," said the mate; "but fire over their heads. it will show them that we are armed, but i don't want to kill any one." "ay, ay!" answered the doctor; and shouting to the savages to make them understand what he was about to do, he fired. the first shot seemed to have no effect. still the big canoe came on. we were as far from the passage as we were from them. our men were straining every nerve, and could make the boat go no faster. the doctor waited till i had reloaded the first musket. he again fired, still aiming high, as the mate told him to do. the next instant down came the yard and sail of the canoe. the bullet must have cut the slings right in two. "it was a chance shot, and a fortunate one," said the doctor, as he saw its effect. the canoe still glided on, but the next, unable to alter her course, ran right into her, and the others, also coming up, were thrown into confusion. our men cheered as they saw what had happened. the channel was reached before our pursuers could get clear of each other. then on they came again. before, however, they had come far, the wind shifted a point and then blew right ahead. first one lowered her sail, and then another and another, while we pulled through the channel, soper keeping a bright look-out for sunken rocks. i caught sight of the savages on shore rushing along the beach, but we had passed the point before they had gained it, and there they stood shrieking, shouting, and gesticulating at us. we pulled away in the wind's eye, knowing that we should thus have a better chance of keeping ahead of our pursuers. they had not yet, however, given up the chase. we saw them at length coming through the channel urged on by their paddles. they could thus move but slowly. once outside, however, they might again hoist their sails, and, by standing first on one tack and then on the other, come up with us. as we got away from the island we found the wind blowing steadily from the southward, while in shore it still came from the westward. this gave us a great advantage. "we'll hoist the sail, lads," said mr griffiths, "and see if a whale-boat can beat a double canoe." the men, who were streaming from every pore, gladly obeyed. the mast was set up in an instant, the sail hoisted, and "_young hopeful_," as the doctor called our boat, glided rapidly over the dancing waters. we had made good way before we saw the sails of the canoes once more hoisted, standing, as far as we could make out, for the north-west. now we had got the wind, it would take them a long time to come up with us. the wind was too fresh to allow the oars to be of any use. we trusted, however, to the good providence of god to carry us clear. all that we would do was to sit quiet and hope that the wind would continue steady. we could see the canoes in the north-east hull down, and we hoped that we might keep ahead till night should hide us from their sight. the mate said he was sure that they would not then attempt to follow us farther. "but, i say, is any one hungry?" exclaimed horner. "we've had no breakfast, you'll remember." we had all been too excited to think of eating, but the mention of food excited our appetites, and the mate told the doctor to serve out provisions. the occupation of eating assisted to pass the time, and to raise our spirits. the mate told us that he and the doctor had determined to steer for the pellew islands, the inhabitants of which, though uncivilised, were supposed to be of a mild disposition, and likely to treat us kindly. even had we intended to steer for guam, the canoes in that direction would have prevented us doing so. from the pellew islands we should have a long voyage round to manilla. when once there we should be sure of finding european vessels on board of which we should be able to obtain a passage to some english settlement. every now and then, while we were eating, i took a look at the canoes, but the sight of them didn't spoil my appetite, nor that of the rest of us, as far as i could judge. "they are getting no nearer," i observed. "wait till they come about," said horner; "they'll then be up with us fast enough, and this may be the last meal we shall ever eat." "haul in the slack of that, you young croaker!" cried the mate, in an angry tone. "you would like to make the others as much afraid as you are yourself." horner could not say he was not afraid, for he looked it. the breeze freshened, and the boat made good way in spite of being heavily laden, standing up well to all the sail we could set. for another hour or more we could see the canoes. at last the mate, standing up, took a look at them and then cried-- "hurrah! they have gone about, and are steering for the land." just as the sun set they disappeared, and we had no longer any fear of being followed. the mate now set a regular watch;--the rest of us lay down as we best could along the thwarts, or at the bottom of the boat, with some of jack's matting for pillows. we were rather crowded, to be sure, but we were thankful to have escaped our enemies, and hoped, in spite of its length, that we should have a prosperous voyage. day after day we sailed on. mr griffiths maintained good discipline among us. everything was done with as much regularity as if we were aboard ship. he got us to spin yarns and sing songs. i thus heard more of jack's adventures than i ever since have been able to get out of him. he corroborated all that miles soper had told me, and added much more. sam coal told us how he had once been a slave in the southern states of america, and made his escape, and being followed, was nearly caught, and how a kind quaker sheltered him, at the risk of his own life, and got him away on board a ship, where he found that he had not changed much for the better in some respects; but then, as he said-- "dis nigger feel dat he was a free man, and dat make up for all de rest." the wind was fair and the sea calm. our chief fear was that we might run short of water, so mr griffiths thought it wise to put us upon an allowance at once. several times flying-fish fell aboard, which we didn't despise, although we had to eat them raw, or rather dried in the sun. if we had had fuel we might have managed to make a fire and cook them, but in our hurry to get off we had come away without any spare wood. "never mind, lads," said the mate; "we'll get some at the pellew islands, and after that we'll have a hot meal every other day at least." brown was always on the look-out with his harpoon, ready to strike any large fish which might come near us, but they seemed to know what we were about, and kept at a respectful distance. now and then a shark would come up and have a look at us, and the men would call him all manner of names. one day, as we were running along at the rate of about five knots an hour, we saw a black fin coming up astern; it sheered off under the counter and then floated up abreast of us, just coming near enough to show us its wicked eye. it kept too far off, however, for brown to strike it, or it might have paid dearly for its curiosity. at last, cocking its eye, it gave a turn of its tail, and off it went like a shot, followed by our roars of laughter. "tend on it, jack shark find dat we not going to make dinner for him dis day!" cried sam coal, "so he tink better go look out sumber else." such were the trifling incidents which afforded us amusement and assisted to keep up our spirits. it was trying work, thus to sit all day and day after day in an open boat with nothing to do, and unable to move about freely. we were very thankful, however, to be favoured by such fine weather. at last mr griffiths stood up in the stern-sheets, and, after shading his eyes for some time--for the sun had already passed the zenith, said quietly, "lads, we have made a good landfall. i'm much mistaken if we have not the pellew islands in sight. i make out a dozen or more blue hillocks rising above the horizon. sit quiet, however, for you won't see them just yet. we shall have to heave-to to-night outside the reef which surrounds them, but i hope we shall get ashore in the morning." this news cheered us up, for we were beginning to get somewhat downcast, and some of us thought that we must have passed the islands altogether, and might make no other land till we reached the philippines. we ran on till dark, by which time we could make out one large island and a number of smaller ones, some to the northward and some to the southward, with a reef marked by a line of white foam surrounding them. as it would be dangerous to attempt looking for a passage through the reef except in daylight, we hove-to, and the watch below lay down--or "turned in," as we used to call it--rejoicing in the hope of setting our feet on dry ground the next morning, and getting a plentiful supply of provisions. i had to keep the middle watch with jim. i took good care not to let my eyes close, for we were at no great distance from the reef, and i knew the danger of being drifted on it. now i looked to windward to make sure that no vessel was approaching to run us down, now at the reef to find out whether we were drifting nearer it than was safe. after a long silence jim spoke to me. "there's something on my mind, peter," he said. "i'm afraid that now you have found your brother jack you'll not be caring for me as you used to do, for the whole of the last day you have not opened your lips to me, while you have been talking away to him." "don't let such an idea rest on your mind, jim," i answered. "i very naturally talked to jack, for of course i wanted to hear everything he had been about since he first went to sea, and it's only lately i have been able to get him to say much. i don't think that anything will make me forget your affection for me. though jack is my brother, you've been more than a brother, and as brothers we shall remain till the end of life." in this way i did my best to satisfy jim's mind. it hadn't before occurred to me that there was any spice of jealousy in him, and i determined in future to do my best to prevent him having any such feeling. we talked on just as we used to do after that. the wind was light, and except a slight swell coming from the eastward, the sea was perfectly smooth. if it hadn't been for the talking i should have found it a hard matter to keep my eyes open. after i lay down, i had been for some time asleep, as i fancied, when i heard the mate cry-- "out oars, lads! pull for your lives!" i jumped up in a moment. the strong current into which the boat had got was carrying her along at the rate of five knots an hour towards the reef, over which the sea was breaking and rising up in a wall of white foam. there was now not a breath of wind, but a much greater swell was coming in than before. we all bent to our oars, and had good reason to be thankful that we had got them to help us, for a sailing vessel would very quickly have been dashed to pieces on the reef, and every soul aboard lost. the mate headed the boat off from the shore in a diagonal course, so that we hoped soon to get out of the current. still, notwithstanding all our efforts, we appeared to be drawing nearer and nearer the reef as the current swept us along, and i began to think that, notwithstanding all we had gone through, we were doomed to be lost at last. the mate, however, cheered us up. daylight soon broke. as the sun rose the wind increased, and presently, a fresh breeze springing up, he hauled aft the sheet, and with the help of the oars the boat moved quickly along till we got out of the current. we were now able to venture close enough to the reef to look out for a safe opening. at last we found one a little to the southward of the largest island, and hauling up, we steered for it. the sea broke on either side of the passage, which was large enough for a good-sized vessel to venture through. we stood on, keeping a look-out for dangers ahead. we were soon inside, where the water was perfectly smooth. seeing a snug little harbour, we ran for it. as we approached, we saw a number of natives coming down, darkish-skinned fellows, though not so black as those of the caroline islands all of them without a stitch of clothing on except a loin cloth; but they were pleasant-looking, and we saw no weapons among them. the mate, however, kept the muskets concealed in the stern-sheets, ready for use in case they were only acting treacherously, and should suddenly rush down upon us with clubs and spears. still, as we got nearer, and waved our hands, they showed no inclination to attack us, and made every sign to let us understand that they wished to be friends. we therefore lowered the sail, and pulled the boat gently towards the beach. on this they came down, and when we jumped out, helped us to haul her up. there was one man who seemed to be the chief. he came up and shook hands with mr griffiths, the doctor, and me, and then ordered six of his people to stay by the boat, as we supposed to guard her. he made no objection when the mate and the doctor went back to get the muskets, but seemed to think it very natural that they should wish to be armed amongst so many strangers. the other people were in the meantime making friends with the rest of our party. the chief now invited us up to his house. it was built of trunks of small trees and bamboo canes, and thatched with palm-leaves, much in the same style as the huts of other south sea islanders, though of a fair size. it was also very clean, and the floors were covered with mats. he begged us to sit down near him, while he squatted on a mat at one end of the room. as we could only talk by signs we didn't say much. presently a number of girls appeared, bringing clay dishes, with fish and fowl and vegetables. as soon as they were placed on the ground, he told us to fall to, and a very good meal we enjoyed, after the uncooked food we had lived on so long. the mate made signs that we had come from the eastward, and were bound west for the philippines, of which he seemed to have heard. after dinner he took us down to the shore, and showed us some fine large canoes, with the stems and sterns well carved. they were used for going about between the islands, but i don't think they could have done much in a heavy sea. some were large enough to hold thirty or forty men. he then had a look at our boat, and seemed to wonder that we had come so far in her. the mate explained to him that, though she was shorter, she had much higher sides, and was much lighter built than his canoes. from the way he behaved we had no doubts as to his friendly intentions, or any anxiety about the men who were attended to by other natives. in the evening he gave us another feast, and then took us to a clean new hut, which by his signs we understood we were to occupy. from the way he behaved we agreed that, though he looked liked a native savage, he was as civilised a gentleman as we could wish to meet. the rest of our party were billeted in huts close to us, and from the sounds of laughter which came from them we guessed that they and their hosts were mightily amused with each other. the chief, after making signs to us to lie down and go to sleep, took his leave, and we were left alone. "i hope our fellows will behave well, and not get into any quarrel with the natives," observed the doctor. "i don't think there's any chance of that, though it would be a serious matter if they did," answered mr griffiths. "if you'll give me leave, sir, i'll go and speak to them," i said. "i'm sure jim and my brother jack will behave properly, and so i should think would brown." "it doesn't do always to trust men," said the mate. "just tell them to be careful. i would rather that we had been all together, but it won't do to show that we're suspicious of the natives." i accordingly got up, and, directed by the sounds i heard, went to the other huts. i found jack and jim in one of them, with a number of natives sitting round them, examining their dresses and trying to imitate their way of speaking. i advised them to let their friends know that they were sleepy, and wanted to lie down. as soon as they did this, the natives got up in the politest way possible, and spread mats for them at one side of the room. in the next hut i found miles soper and sam coal. i said to them what i had said before to jack and jim, and i then went on to another hut, the natives in each behaving in precisely the same manner. when i told the mate, he was perfectly satisfied, and said that we must trust the natives. we were not mistaken. early the next morning a plentiful meal was brought us, and during our stay on the island we were treated with the greatest kindness by these mild and courteous people. the doctor said that they were malays, though very unlike many of their brethren scattered about the indian seas. having recovered completely from the effects of being cramped up so long in the boat, and the unwholesome food we had lived on, we were anxious to prosecute our voyage. the chief looked very sorrowful when the mate told him we must be going, and that we should be thankful to him for provisions and water for the voyage. when he told his people, they brought us down fowl and vegetables enough to fill the boat. we showed them our hen-coop, in which we could keep a number of the fowl alive, but that we wanted food for them. off they ran, and quickly came back with a good supply. by this time we could understand each other wonderfully well, helping out what we said by signs. the chief gave us all a grand feast the last night of our stay, and the next morning, having shaken hands with all round, we went aboard, and once more put to sea. the natives at the same time came off in their canoes, and accompanied us some way outside the reef; then, with shouts and waving of hands, they wished us good-bye. we had a long passage before us, but we were in good health and spirits, and we hoped to perform it in safety. we had to keep a sharp look-out at night, for, as the mate told us, there were some small islands between the pellew and the philippines, and that, he not being certain of their exact position, we might run upon them. for a whole week we had fine weather, though, as the wind was light, we didn't make much way. at the end of that time clouds began to gather in the horizon, and soon covered the whole sky, while the wind shifted to the north-west, and in a short time was blowing a heavy gale. the sea got up, and the water every now and then, notwithstanding our high sides, broke aboard, and we had to take to baling. night came on, and matters grew worse. we all had confidence in mr griffiths's skill; and as he had, by his good seamanship, preserved our lives before, we hoped that we should again escape. at length he determined to try his former plan, and, heaving the boat to, we cast out a raft, formed by the oars, and rode to it. the gale, however, increased, and seemed likely to turn into a regular typhoon. there was no sleep for any of us that night; all hands had to keep baling, while a heavier sea than we had yet encountered broke aboard and carried away a large portion of our provisions, besides drowning all the fowl in the hen-coop. most of us, i suspect, began to think that we should never see another sunrise. it seemed a wonder, indeed, that the boat escaped being knocked to pieces. had it continued long, we must have gone down. towards morning, however, the wind moderated, and before noon we were able to haul the raft aboard and once more make sail. but there we were on the wide ocean, with but scanty provisions and a sorely battered boat. the weather still looked unsettled, and we feared that we should have another bad night of it. the greater part of the day had gone by, when brown, who was at the helm while the mate was taking some rest, suddenly exclaimed-- "a sail! a sail! she's standing this way." we all looked out to the northward, and there made out a large vessel steering directly for us. chapter twenty nine. on board our old ship--her voyage through eastern seas. the doctor awoke mr griffiths to tell him the good news. he at once hove the boat to. we sat eagerly watching the stranger. she could not possibly at present see us, and might alter her course before she came near enough to do so. her topsails rose above the horizon, then in a short time her courses were seen, and then her hull itself as she came on swiftly before the breeze. i saw mr griffiths several times rub his eyes, then he stood up and looked fixedly at her. "brown," he said, "did you ever see that ship before?" "well, i was thinking that the same sail-maker cut her topsails that cut the _intrepid's_; but there's no wonder in that," answered brown. "what do you say to that white patch in the head of her foresail?" asked the mate. "it looks to me like one we put in when we were last at the sandwich islands. to be sure it's where the sail is likely to get worn, and another vessel may have had one put in like it, still, the _intrepid's_ foresail had just such a patch as that." "what! do you mean to say that she's the _intrepid_?" exclaimed the doctor, interrupting him. "i mean to say that she's very like her, if she's not her," answered the mate. we all of us now looked with even greater eagerness than before at the approaching vessel. "let draw the foresail," cried the mate. we stood on so that we might be in the best possible position for running alongside the whaler, for such she was, as soon as she hove-to. "we're seen!--we're seen!" shouted several of our crew. we waved our hats, and shouted. "she is the _intrepid_!" cried mr griffiths. presently she came to the wind, and we, lowering our sail and getting out our oars, were soon alongside her. there stood captain hawkins-- there the second mate, with many other faces we knew. i never saw people look so astonished as we sprang up the side, while our boat was hooked on and hoisted on board. "why, griffiths!--cockle! where have you come from?" exclaimed captain hawkins. "i had given you up for lost long ago." they gave a brief account of our adventures, but there was not much time for talking, for we had not been aboard five minutes before all hands were employed in shortening sail, and the gale came down upon us with even greater strength than on the previous night. had we been exposed to it in our open boat there would have been little chance of our escape. we had thus much reason to be thankful to heaven that we had got aboard in time. there being plenty of sea room, the _intrepid_ was hove-to. even as it was, the sea broke aboard and carried away one of her boats and did other damage. she had been nearly wrecked on the reef during the gale when we were on the island; and captain hawkins, believing that we had been lost, stood for guam, where he had been detained for want of proper workmen and fresh hands. had it not been for this she would long before have been on her homeward voyage. for some time i felt very strange on board, often when half asleep fancying myself still in the boat, and the air below seemed close and oppressive. the mate declared that he had caught cold from sleeping in a bed after not having been in one for so many months. the doctor suggested that his bed might have been damp. however, the gale being over, the sun came out brightly, and he soon got rid of his chill. the captain took no more notice of me than he did before, and did not even speak to jack. his idea was to keep us at a proper distance, i suppose. he had heard, i have no doubt, of our adventures from dr cockle or the mate. it mattered very little to us, though i was afraid that he might take it into his head to turn jack out of the ship at some place or other, on the plea that he did not belong to her. i advised my brother, therefore, to keep out of his sight as much as possible, especially when in harbour. jim and i agreed that if he was sent ashore we would go also, wherever it might be. "so will i," said miles soper, who had heard us talking about the matter. "and i no stop eider, and den he lose four good hands. he no like dat," said sam coal. brown, hearing from jim of my apprehensions, said he would go likewise if the captain attempted to play any tricks of that sort. three days after the gale we hove-to off three small islands surrounded by a reef. brown, miles soper, two africans and the new zealander, the second mate and i, were sent on shore to catch turtle. we hauled the boat up and waited till the evening, at which time the creatures land to lay their eggs. darkness approached, and we concealed ourselves behind some rocks, and watched for their coming. presently one landed, and crawled slowly up the beach. sam declared that she was as big as the boat. she was certainly an enormous creature. then another and another came ashore, and commenced scraping away in the sand to make holes for their eggs. we waited till some thirty or forty had come ashore. "now is your time," cried the mate; and rushing out, grasping the handspikes with which we were armed, we got between them and the sea, and turned them over on their backs, where they lay kicking their legs, unable to move. we had brought ropes to assist us in dragging them down to the water and hauling them on board. we had turned a dozen or more, when i said to jim. "we mustn't let that big one go we first saw land." she and the other turtles still on their feet, had taken the alarm, and were scuttling down the beach. we made her out and attempted to turn her, but that was more than we could do. "she'll be off," cried jim. we hove the bight of a rope over her head. "hold on, peter!" he cried; and he and i attempted to haul the turtle back, all the time shouting for help, for she was getting closer and closer to the water. at last in she got, dragging us after her. we could not stop her before, and there was very little chance of our doing so now. "let her go, jim," i cried out. "we shall lose the rope," he answered, still holding on. we were already up to our middles in the water. "it's of no use. let go! let go!" i cried out, "or we shall be dragged away to sea!" supposing that he would do as i told him, i let go at the same moment, when what was my dismay to see jim dragged away out of his depth. i swam off to him, still shouting loudly. presently soper and sam coal came up, and seeing what was happening, dashed into the water. our united strength, however, could not stop the turtle, and sam, who had a sharp knife in his pocket, drawing it, cut the rope, and we got jim back to shore. the mate rated jim for losing the rope, though brown and the rest declared that he had behaved very pluckily, and that if help had come in time we should have saved the turtle. as it was we had turned more than we could carry off. having been ordered not to attempt to regain the ship during the night, we turned the boat up and slept under it, while a couple of hands remained outside to watch the turtles and see that they did not manage to get on their feet again and escape. in the morning we loaded the boat, and pulled back with our prizes. the mate said nothing about the lost rope, as he knew the notion brown and the rest had formed of jim's courage. we sighted after this several small islands, and then made the coast of new guinea. the captain, seeing a good place for landing, sent a boat ashore with the doctor and most of us who had been engaged in catching turtle. it seemed a beautiful country, with magnificent trees, and birds flying about in numbers among them. "this is a perfect paradise," said the doctor, as we approached the beach. just then a number of natives came rushing out from the forest, brandishing clubs and spears. they were the ugliest set of people i ever saw, their bodies nearly naked and their heads covered with hair frizzled out like huge mops. they had also bows at their backs, but they did not point their arrows at us. the doctor and mate agreed that it would be folly to land amongst them, so we lay on our oars while the mate held up bottles and bits of iron hoops, beads and knives, and a few old clothes, to show them that we wished to trade. after a considerable time they seemed to understand what we wanted, and some of them going away returned with numbers of stuffed birds of a delicate yellow with long tails. we made signs that only those who wanted to trade must come near us. at last several came wading into the water bringing their birds. they set a high price on them, and we only bought a dozen or so. as the rest of the people behaved in as threatening a manner as before, as soon as the trading was over we pulled off, not wishing to risk an encounter with them. the doctor said that the birds were birds of paradise, and that they were such as the ladies of england wore in their hats. the curious thing was that none of the birds had feet. "of course not," said the second mate, when i pointed this out to him; "they say that the birds come down from the skies and live in the air, and as they never perch, they don't want feet. that's why they're called birds of paradise." the doctor laughed. "that's a very old notion," he remarked, "but it's a wrong one notwithstanding, and has long since been exploded. they have legs and claws like other birds, though the natives cut them off and dry the birds as these have been over a hot fire. it's the only way they have of preserving them." the captain said we were very right not to land, as the natives might have been tempted to cut us off for the sake of possessing themselves of the articles in our boat. as we sailed along the coast the country seemed to be thickly populated, and the boat was frequently sent to try and land, but we always met with the same inhospitable reception. the moment we drew near the shore the black-skinned natives would rush down, apparently to prevent our landing. this was a great disappointment, for the captain was anxious to obtain fresh provisions, as several of the men, from having lived a long time on salt meat, were suffering from scurvy. curiously enough, we, who had been in the boat, were free from it. at one place, however, we traded with the natives, and bought several more of the stuffed paradise birds, and a number of live lories, which we kept in cages, and beautiful little creatures they were. our hope was to carry them safely home, but, either from improper food or change of climate, they all shortly died. rounding new guinea, and passing the island of mysole, we came to a small island called gely, at the south-east end of gillolo, lying exactly under the equator. it contains a magnificent and secure harbour, in which we brought up. there being an abundance of good water, and trees from which spars can be cut, it is an excellent place for repairing damages. the second mate said that those suffering from scurvy would, now have an opportunity of being cured. the plan he proposed was to bury them up to their necks in the sand, and to leave them there for some hours. the doctor was unwilling to try the experiment, though he did not deny that it might be effectual. two of our men suffering from the complaint were, however, perfectly willing to submit to the remedy, and, our boats having to go on shore to fill the water-casks, we carried them with us. holes were dug, and the poor fellows, being stripped naked, were covered up side by side in the warm sand, leaving only their heads above the surface, so that they could not possibly extricate themselves. the captain, i should have said, approved of the plan, having before seen it tried with success; but the doctor, declaring that he would have nothing to do with the matter, went with jack and another man in an opposite direction. horner and i had charge of the watering party. the stream from which we filled our casks was at some distance from the place where the men were buried. i undertook to see to the casks being filled if horner would remain by the men. we had just finished our work and were rolling the casks down to the boat when horner came rushing up, with his eyes staring and his hair almost on end. "what's the matter? what has happened?" i asked, thinking he had gone out of his mind. "i can't bear it!" he exclaimed. "it's too dreadful. i couldn't help it." "what is dreadful? what could you not help?" i inquired. "the brutes of crocodiles. poor fellows," he stammered out. "there won't be a bit of them left presently!" and he pointed to where we had buried our poor shipmates, and where he ought to have been watching. the men and i set off running to the spot. a dreadful sight met our eyes. the body of one man lay half eaten on the sand. a huge crocodile was dragging off the other. he had dragged it under the water before we could reach the spot. we could do nothing but shout at the crocodiles. horner confessed that he had gone to a distance for a short time, during which the brutes had landed and killed the two men. we returned very sad to the boat. as for horner, it was a long time before he could get over the horror he felt for his neglect of duty. several canoes filled with natives came into the harbour from gillolo, bringing potatoes and other vegetables. one of them brought a number of clam-shells of various sizes. one which we hoisted on board weighed four hundred-weight, and we afterwards saw on shore one which must have weighed a quarter of a ton. the natives use them as tubs; i saw a woman bathing a child in one. the meat of the creature when fried is very palatable. i also obtained some beautiful specimens of coral, which i wanted to carry home to mary and my shetland relations. i bought also two gallons of nutmegs for an old file, and a large number of shells for some old clothes. the harbour swarmed with sharks, which prevented us from bathing. we here cut some splendid spars for the use of the ship. i may mention that the inner harbour, from its perfect security, has obtained the name of "abraham's bosom." were it not for the sharks and crocodiles the place would be perfect. all the crew having recovered from scurvy, and the ship being refitted, we once more put to sea. the weather was delightful, and we sailed on over the calm ocean with a light breeze. we had to keep a constant look-out for rocks and reefs. i can assert, though it is often denied, that when passing under the lee of the spice islands, the scent which came off from the shore was perfectly delicious. whether this arises from the flowers of the cloves and nutmegs, or from the nature of the soil, i cannot determine. though we generally had a light breeze, we were sometimes completely becalmed, on which occasions, when near shore, we ran the risk of being driven on the rocks by the currents, and more than once we had all the boats towing ahead to keep her off them till the breeze should spring up. we continued our course, passing to the eastward of ceram and banda, and steering for timor, to the north-west of australia. we had other dangers besides calms and currents. we had just left the serwatty islands astern when the wind dropped, and we lay becalmed. though there was little chance of catching whales, we always kept a look-out for them from the masthead, as we could stow one or two more away. we were most of us on deck whistling for a breeze, when the look-out aloft shouted that he saw three craft stealing up from behind the island to the eastward. the second mate went up to have a look at them through his glass, and when he returned on deck he reported that they were three large proas, pulling, he should say, twenty oars or more, and full of men, and that he had no doubt they were pirates. those seas, we knew, were infested with such gentry--generally malays, the most bloodthirsty and cruel of their race. many a merchant vessel has been captured by them and sunk, all hands being killed. "whatever they are, we must be prepared for them!" cried captain hawkins. "i'll trust to you, lads, to fight to the last; and i tell you that if they once get alongside us we shall find it a difficult job to keep them off. we will have the arms on deck, mr griffiths, for if we don't get a breeze, as they pull fast, they'll soon be up to us." all the muskets were at once brought up and arranged in order; our two guns were loaded, and the armourer and carpenter set to work to sharpen the blubber-spades, harpoons, and spears. we had thus no lack of weapons; our high bulwarks also gave us an advantage; but the pirates, we knew, would probably out-number us by ten to one. however, we did not lose heart; captain hawkins looked cool and determined, and the mates imitated his example. i didn't think about myself, but the fear came over me that, after all, jack might be killed, and that i should not have the happiness of taking him home. as the pirates approached, we made all necessary preparations for defending ourselves. muskets and ammunition were served out to the men most accustomed to firearms; the others had the blubber-spades and spears put into their hands. the two mates took charge of the guns, which were loaded to their muzzles, and matches were got ready for firing them. the doctor provided himself with a couple of muskets and a sword. the captain told him he must not run the risk of being wounded, as he might be required to bind up the hurts of the rest of us. he laughed, and said that the first thing to be done was to drive back our enemies should they attempt to board the ship. the pirates came closer and closer. the captain looked anxiously round the horizon, for though, like a brave man, he was prepared to defend his ship to the last, he had no wish for a fight. as i looked over the sides i saw some cats-paws playing along the surface of the water. the pirates by this time were not a quarter of a mile astern. presently the lighter canvas, which had hung down against the masts, bulged out, and then the topsails filled. "all hands trim sails!" shouted the captain. the breeze came from the eastward; the yards were squared, and the _intrepid_ began to move through the water. she glided on but slowly; the pirates were still gaining on us. the wind, however, freshened. as we watched our pursuers, first one raised a mast and a long taper yard, then another, and they were soon under all sail standing after us. the breeze increased; we gave a cheer, hoping soon to get well ahead of them. still on they came, and it seemed very doubtful whether we should succeed. i believe that some of the crew would rather have had a fight than have escaped without it. the pirates, by keeping their oars moving, still gained on us. to look at the captain, one might have supposed that it was a matter of indifference to him whether they came alongside or not, but our cargo was too valuable to risk the chance of being lost. we had soon studding-sails rigged below and aloft. again the wind dropped, and the pirates were now almost within musket shot. "we will slew round one of our guns, and run it through the after port, griffiths," said the captain. "a shot or two will teach the rascals what to expect should they come up to us." just, however, as we had got the gun run out the wind again freshened. the _intrepid_, deep in the water though she was, showed that she had not lost her power of sailing. though the pirates were straining every nerve, we once more drew ahead of them. the more the breeze increased the faster we left them astern, and by the time the sun had set we had got fully four miles ahead, but still by going aloft we could see them following, evidently hoping that we should be again becalmed, and that they might get up with us. during the night we continued our course for timor. at the usual hour the watch below turned in, though the captain remained on deck, and a sharp look-out was kept astern. however, as long as the breeze continued we had no fear of being overtaken. it was my morning watch. as soon as it was daylight i went aloft, and saw the proas the same distance off that they had been at nightfall. i told mr griffiths when i came below. "the rascals still expect to catch us," he said, "but we must hope that they'll be disappointed. however, we're prepared for them." for some hours the breeze continued steady. soon after noon it again fell, and our pursuers crept closer to us. it was somewhat exciting, and kept us all alive, though it did not spoil our appetites. the whole of the day they were in sight, but when the wind freshened up again in the evening we once more distanced them. the night passed as the former had done. we could not tell when we went below what moment we might be roused up to fight for our lives. i for one did not sleep the worse for that. the breeze was pretty steady during the middle watch, and i was not on deck again till it was broad daylight. the second mate, who had been aloft, reported that the pirates were still in sight, but farther off than they were the day before, and the breeze now freshening, their hulls sank beneath the horizon, and we fully expected to see no more of them. we sighted timor about three weeks after leaving gely, and in the evening brought up in a small bay, with a town on its shore, called cushbab. our object was to obtain vegetables and buffalo meat. the natives are malays, and talk portuguese. nearly all those we met on shore carried creeses, or long, sharp knives, in their belt, which they use on the slightest provocation. every boy we saw had a cock under his arm. the people seemed to spend all their time in cock-fighting. they are very fond of the birds, which are of enormous size; considerably larger than any english cocks. being unable to obtain any buffaloes here, we got under way, and anchored in another bay some way to the west, where we obtained twelve animals. at first they were very wild when we got them on board, but in a few hours became tame, and would eat out of our hands. they were destined, however, for the butcher's knife. some of the meat we ate fresh, but the larger quantity was salted down for sea stores. the unsalted meat kept for a very short time, and we had to throw a large piece overboard. the instant it reached the water up came two tiger sharks, which fought for it, seizing each other in the most ferocious manner possible, and struggling together, although there was enough for both of them. after leaving timor we steered along the south-east coast of java, and then shaped a course across the indian ocean for the cape of good hope. the wind was fair, the sea smooth, and i never remember enjoying a longer period of fine weather. in consequence of the light winds our passage was lengthened more than we had expected, and we were running short of provisions of all sorts. there were still two casks of bread left, each containing about four hundred-weight. "never mind," observed the second mate, "we shall have enough to take us to the cape." at length the first was finished, and we went below to get up the second. it was marked bread clearly enough, but when the carpenter knocked in the head, what was our dismay to find it full of new sails, it having been wrongly branded! the captain at once ordered a search to be made in the store-room for other provisions. the buffalo meat we had salted had long been exhausted, part of it having turned bad; and besides one cask of pork, which proved to be almost rancid, a couple of pounds of flour with a few other trifling articles, not a particle of food remained in the ship. starvation stared us in the face. chapter thirty. the voyage home, and how it ended. on hearing of the alarming scarcity of food on board, the captain called the crew aft. "lads," he said, "i don't want to hide anything from you. should the wind shift to the westward, it may be a month or more before we reach the cape, so if you wish to save your lives, you must at once be put on a short allowance of food and water. a quarter of a pint of water, two ounces of pork, and half an ounce of flour is all i can allow for each man, and the officers and i will share alike with you." not a word was said in reply, and the men went forward with gloomy looks. to make the flour go farther we mixed whale oil with it, and, though nauseous in the extreme, it served to keep body and soul together. at first the crew bore it pretty well, but they soon took to grumbling, saying that it was owing to the captain's want of forethought in not laying in more provisions that we were reduced to this state. hitherto the wind had been fair, but any day it might change, and then, they asked, what would become of us? most of them would have broken into open mutiny had not they known that the mates and doctor, jack and i, jim, and probably brown and soper, would have sided with the captain, though we felt that they were not altogether wrong in their accusation. i heard the doctor tell mr griffiths that he was afraid the scurvy would again appear if we were kept long on our present food. day after day we glided on across the smooth ocean with a cloudless sky, our food and water gradually decreasing. we now often looked at each other, wondering what would be the end. at last, one night, when it was my middle watch on deck, jim came aft to me. "i'm afraid the men won't stand it any longer," he said. "they vow that if the captain don't serve out more food and water they'll take it. i know that it will be death to all of us if they do, or i would not tell on them. you let mr griffiths know; maybe he'll bring them to a right mind. they don't care for jack or me, and brown, soper, and sam seemed inclined to side with the rest. jack says whatever you do he'll do." "thank you, jim," i answered. "you try to show them what folly they'll commit if they attempt to do as they propose. they won't succeed, for the captain is a determined man, and there'll be bloodshed if they keep to their purpose." jim went forward, and i took a turn on deck to consider what was best to be done. it was the second mate's watch, and it had only just struck two bells. i did not wish to say anything to him. i waited for a little, and then asked the second mate to let me go below for a minute, for i could not quit the deck without his leave. "you may go and turn in if you like," he said. "there's no chance of your being wanted on a night like this." "thank you, sir," i answered, and at once ran down to mr griffiths's cabin. he awoke when i touched his shoulder, and i told him in a low voice what i had heard. "you have acted sensibly, peter," he answered. "i'll be on deck in a moment. when the men see that we are prepared for them they'll change their minds." i again went on deck, and he soon appeared, with a brace of pistols in his belt, followed by the captain and the doctor, with muskets in their hands. at that moment up sprang from the fore-hatchway the greater part of the crew, evidently intending to make their way to the after store-room, where the provisions and water were kept. "what are you about to do, lads?" shouted the captain. "go below, every one of you, except the watch on deck, and don't attempt to try this trick again." his tall figure holding a musket ready to fire cowed them in an instant, and they obeyed without uttering a word. the captain said that he should remain on deck, and told mr griffiths and the doctor that he would call them if they were wanted. some time afterwards, going forward, i found jim, who told me that they had all turned in. the night passed away without any disturbance. as soon as it was daylight the captain ordered me to go aloft and take a look round. i obeyed, though i felt so weak that i could scarcely climb the rigging. i glanced round the horizon, but no vessel could i see. a mist still hung over the water. i was just about to come down when the sun rose, and at the same moment i made out over our quarter, away to the southward, a white sail, on which his rays were cast, standing on the same course that we were. "sail ho!" i shouted in a joyful tone, and pointed out in the direction in which i saw her. the captain, immediately i came down, ordered me to rouse up all hands, and every sail the ship could carry being set, we edged down to the stranger, making a signal that we desired to speak her. she was an english barque, also bound for the cape. as we got close together, a boat being lowered, mr griffiths and i went on board and stated our wants. her captain at once agreed to supply us with everything he could spare, and we soon had our boat loaded with a cask of bread, another of beef, and several other articles, and in addition a nautical almanack, for we had run out our last one within a week before this. we had a second trip to make, with casks to fill with water. as may be supposed, we had quenched our own thirst on our first visit. when we again got back we found the cook and two hands assisting him busily employed in preparing breakfast, and a right hearty one we had. we kept our charitable friends in sight till we reached the cape, by which time we had expended all the provisions with which they had furnished us. in a few days, from the abundance of fresh meat and vegetables which we obtained from the shore, our health and strength returned, and i for one was eager once more to put to sea, that jack and i might the sooner reach home. we had got so far on our way that it seemed to me as if we were almost there. we were, however, detained for several days refitting and provisioning the ship. once more, however, the men showed their mutinous disposition, for when they were ordered to heave up the anchor they refused to man the windlass, on the plea that they had had no liberty on shore. though this was the case, there having been work for all hands on board, there was no real excuse for their conduct, as they were amply supplied with provisions, and had not been really over-worked. "we shall see, my fine fellows," exclaimed the captain, on seeing them doggedly standing with their arms folded in a group forward. at once ordering his boat, which was pulled by jack and jim, miles soper and brown, he went on shore. he soon returned, with the deputy captain of the port, who, stepping on board, called the men aft, and inquired what they had to complain of. as they were all silent, captain mcl--- made them a speech, pointing out to them that they were fortunate in being aboard a well-found and well-provisioned ship. "and, my lads," he continued, "you need not have any fear of falling sick, for the captain has an ample supply for you of anti-scorbutics." as none of the mutineers had a notion what this long word meant, they were taken completely aback; and after staring at him and then at each other, first one and then another went forward to the windlass, and we soon had the ship under way. whenever during the voyage any of us talked about the matter, we always called captain mcl--- "old anti-scorbutic." i felt happier than i had been for a long time when the ship's head was directed northward, and as we had a fresh breeze the men declared that their friends at home had got hold of the tow-rope, and that we should soon be there. on running down to saint helena we were followed for several days by some black whales of immense length. sometimes they were so close to the ship's side that we might have lanced them from the deck. the fourth day after we saw them the second mate and horner took it into their heads wantonly to fire musket-shots at them. at last one of the poor creatures was hit, when it dived, the others following its example, and we saw them no more. the only object of interest we met with crossing the north-east trades was the passage through the gulf stream, or sargasso sea, as it is sometimes called. it was curious to find ourselves surrounded by thick masses of seaweed as far as the eye could reach on every side, so that no clear water could be seen for miles away. i can compare it to nothing else than to sailing through a farmyard covered with deep straw. the first land we made was fyal. thence we ran across to pico, where we obtained provisions and water. if we had got nothing else it would have been well, but the crew managed to smuggle on board a quantity of new rum, the effects of which were soon visible. leaving pico, we shaped a course for old england. the wind was now freshening, and all sail was made, as the captain was in a hurry to get the voyage over. in the evening, when the watch was called, not a man came on deck, every one of them being drunk, while most of the men in the other watch, who had managed to slip down every now and then, were in no better condition. the captain, who had been ailing, was in bed. mr griffiths, the doctor and i, jim and brown, were the only sober ones. the second mate evidently did not know what he was about. mr griffiths advised him to turn in. i was very sorry to see my brother jack nearly as bad as the rest, though he afterwards told me that, having been so long without spirits, they had had an unexpected effect upon him. we sober ones had to remain all night on deck, running off when a puff of wind struck the sails. it was a mercy that it didn't come on to blow hard, for we could never have managed to shorten sail in time to save the spars. indeed, very probably the masts would have gone. brown, jim, and i took it by turns to steer till morning broke, by which time some of the rest of the crew began to show signs of life. as we got into northern latitudes a strong north-easterly breeze made the weather feel bitterly cold to us, who had been for so long a time accustomed to a southern climate. during all that period i had not worn shoes. for the sake of warmth i now wanted to put on a pair, but my feet had so increased in size that i could not find any large enough in the slop-locker. at last the wind shifted to the south-west, and we ran before it up channel. the first object we made was the owers light-vessel, about ninety miles from the downs. having made a signal for a pilot, one boarded us out of a cutter off dungeness. how eagerly all of us plied the old fellow for news, though as he was a man of few words it was with difficulty that the captain or mates could pump much out of him. we remained but a few hours in the downs to obtain provisions, of which we were again short, and thence proceeded to the thames, where we dropped our anchor for the last time before going into dock to unload. jim and i, although we had been kept on board against our will and had never signed articles, found that we could claim wages. though i had no reason to like captain hawkins, yet i felt that i ought to wish him good-bye. to my surprise, he seemed very friendly, and said that if i ever wished to go to sea again he should be very glad to have me with him, as well as my brother and jim. poor man! he had made his last voyage, for i heard of his death shortly afterwards. i was very sorry to part from mr griffiths and dr cockle. they invited me to come and see them, both of them saying that they never intended again to go afloat, though i heard that mr griffiths got the command of a fine ship shortly afterwards; so i supposed that like many others similarly situated he was induced to change his mind and tempt once more the dangers of the ocean. "we will meet again, peter," said miles soper; "and i hope that if you and jack go to sea, we shall all be aboard the same ship." brown said the same thing, but from that day to this i have never been able to learn what became of him. such is often the case in a sea life. for years people are living on the most intimate terms, and separate never to meet again in this life. after remaining a week in london for payment of our wages, jim and i each received five-and-twenty pounds, jack also obtaining nearly half that amount. our first care before we set off for portsmouth, to which we were eager to return, was, our clothes being worn out, to supply ourselves with decent suits of blue cloth and other necessaries. at daylight the morning after we were free, carrying our bundles and the various treasures we had collected, a pretty load altogether, we went to the place from which the coach started for portsmouth, and finding three seats on the top, off we set with light hearts, thinking of the friends we should meet on our arriving there. jack confessed that he had forgotten the appearance of most of them, though he longed to see mary and to give her the curiosities he had brought. we had a couple of parrots, three other beautifully coloured birds, a big basket of shells, and a whole bundle of bows, and arrows, and darts, and a lot of other things. rattling down the portsmouth high street, we at last dismounted and set off for mr gray's house, where i fully expected i should still find mary living. as we walked along, the boys gathered round us to look at our birds, and some asked where we had come from with so many curious things. "from round the world," answered jim, "since we were last at home," which was not a very definite answer. in vain we looked, about expecting to see some old acquaintances, but all the faces we set eyes on were strange. no wonder, considering how long we had been away, while certainly no one would have recognised us. it was not quite an easy matter to find our way to mr gray's house, and we had to stop every now and then while jim and i consulted which turning to take, for we were ashamed to ask any one. at last, just as we got near it, we saw an old gentleman in a quaker's dress coming along the road. he just glanced at us, as other people had done; when i, looking hard at him, felt sure he must be mr gray. i nudged jim's shoulder. "yes, it's he, i'm sure," whispered jim. so i went up to him, and pulling off my hat said-- "beg pardon, sir; may i be so bold as to ask if you are mr gray?" "gray is my name, young man," he answered, looking somewhat surprised, "who art thou?" "peter trawl, sir; and this jim pulley, and here is my brother jack." if the kind quaker had ever been addicted to uttering exclamations of surprise he would have done so on this occasion, i suspect, judging from the expression of astonishment which came over his countenance. "peter trawl! james pulley! why, it was reported that those two lads were lost in the north sea years ago," he said. "we are the lads, sir, notwithstanding," i answered; and i briefly narrated to him how we had been picked up by the _intrepid_ and carried off to the pacific, and how i had there found my brother jack. "verily, this is good news, and will cheer the heart of thy young sister, who has never ceased to believe that thou wouldst turn up again some day or other," he said. "is mary well, sir? is she still with you?" i inquired, eagerly. "yes, peter, thy sister is as one of my family. though greatly pressed by her newly-found relatives in shetland to go there and reside with them, she has always replied that she was sure thou wast alive, and that thou wouldst come back to portsmouth to look for her and that it would grieve thee much not to find her." "how kind and thoughtful!" i exclaimed. "do let me go on, sir, at once to see my young sister." "stay, lad, stay," he answered. "the surprise might be too great for her. i will go back to my house and tell her that thou hast returned home safe. thou art so changed that she would not know thee, and therefore thou and thy companions may follow close behind." we saw mr gray go to his door and knock. it was opened by a woman-servant, who i was sure, when i caught sight of her countenance, was nancy herself. she saw me at the same moment, and directly mr gray had entered, came out on the doorstep, and regarded me intently. "yes, i'm sure it is!" she exclaimed. "peter, peter, aren't you peter, now? i have not forgotten thy face, though thee be grown into a young man!" and she stretched out her arms, quite regardless of the passers-by, ready to give me such another embrace as she had bestowed on me when i went away. i could not restrain myself any longer, but, giving the things i was carrying to jack, sprang up the steps. "here he is, miss mary, here he is!" cried nancy, and i saw close behind her a tall, fair girl. nancy, however, had time to give me a kiss and a hug before i could disengage myself, and the next moment my sweet sister mary had her arms round my neck, and, half crying, half laughing, was exclaiming-- "i knew you would come, i knew you would, peter; i was sure you were not lost!" my brother jack and jim were, meantime, staying outside, not liking to come in till they were summoned. nancy did not recognise them, and thought that they were two shipmates who had accompanied me to carry my things. at last, when i told mary that i had not only come myself, but had brought back our brother jack, she was eager to see him, though she was so young when he went away that she had no recollection of his countenance, and scarcely knew him from jim. mary had let me into the parlour. i now went and beckoned them in. nancy, when she knew who they were, welcomed them warmly, but did not bestow so affectionate a greeting on them as she had done on me. jim stood outside the door while i brought jack in. though mary kissed him, and told him how glad she was to see him, it was easy to see that she at first felt almost as if he were a stranger. mr gray left us to ourselves for some time, and then all the family came in and welcomed us kindly, insisting that jack should remain with me in the parlour, while nancy took care of jim in the kitchen, where he was much more it his ease than he would have been with strangers. jack, indeed, looked, as he afterwards confessed to me he felt, like a fish out of water in the presence of so many young ladies. though i had twice written to mary, and had directed my letters properly, neither had reached her; yet for all these fears she had not lost hope of seeing me. after supper, jack and i were going away, but mr gray insisted that we should remain, as he had had beds arranged for us in the house. "i must not let you lads be exposed to the dangers and temptations of the town," he said in a kind tone. "you must stay here till you go to sea again." mary at once wrote to mr troil to tell him of my return, and of my having brought my brother jack back with me. while waiting for an answer, one day jack and jim and i were walking down the high street, when we saw a large placard stating that the _thisbe_ frigate, commissioned by captain rogers, was in want of hands. "i shouldn't wonder but what he was my old skipper," observed jack. "and you fine young fellows couldn't do better than join her," exclaimed a petty officer, who was standing near, clapping jack on the back. "why i think i know your face," he added. "maybe. i'm jack trawl. i'm not ashamed of my name," said my brother. "jack trawl!" exclaimed the man-of-war's man; "then you belong to the _lapwing_. we all thought you were lost with the rest of the boat's crew." "no, i wasn't; miles soper and i escaped. now i look at you, ain't you bill bolton?" "the same," was the answer. "tell us how it all happened." jack in a few words told his old shipmate what is already known to the reader. while he was speaking, who should come up but miles soper himself, come down to portsmouth to look out for a berth, accompanied by sam coal. the long and the short of it was that they all three agreed to enter aboard the _thisbe_, and did their best to persuade jim to follow their example. i had no notion of doing so myself, for i knew that it would break mary's heart to part with me again so soon, and i feared, indeed, that she would not like jack's going. still, taking all things into consideration, he could not do better i thought--for having been so long at sea, he felt, as he said, like a fish out of water among so many fine folks. jim made no reply, but drawing me aside, said-- "peter, i can't bear the thoughts of leaving you, and yet i know you wouldn't like to ship before the mast again; but if i stay ashore what am i to do? i've no fancy to spending my days in a wherry, and haven't got one if i had. i've taken a liking to jack, and you've many friends, and can do without me, so if you don't say no i'll ship with the rest." i need not repeat what i said to jim. i was sure that it was the best thing he could do, and advised him accordingly. "i'm with you, mates," he said, in a husky tone, going back to the rest, and away they all went together, while i returned to mr gray's. "i wish the lads had shipped on board a peaceable merchantman," he observed when i told him, "but i can't pretend to dictate to them. i am glad thou hast been better directed, peter." jack and jim came to see us before the ship went out of harbour. jack said he knew that he must work for his living, and that he would rather serve aboard a man-o'-war than do anything else. "i'll look after him as i used to do you, peter," said jim. "and i hope some day we'll come back with our pockets full of gold, and maybe bear up for wherever you've dropped your anchor." a few days after this a letter came from mr troil, inviting mary, jack, and me to shetland. mary was very unwilling to leave her kind friends, but mr gray said that it would be to our advantage, and advised mary and me to go. he was right, for when we arrived mr troil received us as relatives. mary became like a second daughter to him. i assisted in managing his property, and in the course of a few years maggie, to whom he left everything he possessed, became my wife, while mary married the owner of a neighbouring estate. some few years after a small coaster came into the voe. i went down to see what she had on board. a sailor-looking man, with a wooden leg, and a woman, stepped ashore. "that's him--that's him!" i heard them exclaim, and in a moment i was shaking hands with jim and nancy, who had become his wife. he had got his discharge, and had come, he said, to settle near me. i several times heard from my brother jack, who, after serving as bo'sun on board a line-of-battle ship, retired from the service with a pension, and joined our family circle in shetland, where he married, and declared that he was too happy ever to go to sea again. the end. the world of ice, by r.m. ballantyne. chapter one. some of the dramatis personae introduced--retrospective glances--causes of future effects--our hero's early life at sea--a pirate--a terrible fight and its consequences--buzzby's helm lashed amidships--a whaling cruise begun. nobody ever caught john buzzby asleep by any chance whatever. no weasel was ever half so sensitive on that point as he was. wherever he happened to be (and in the course of his adventurous life he had been to nearly all parts of the known world) he was the first awake in the morning and the last asleep at night; he always answered promptly to the first call, and was never known by any man living to have been seen with his eyes shut, except when he winked, and that operation he performed less frequently than other men. john buzzby was an old salt--a regular true-blue jack tar of the old school, who had been born and bred at sea; had visited foreign parts innumerable; had weathered more storms than he could count, and had witnessed more strange sights than he could remember. he was tough, and sturdy, and grizzled, and broad, and square, and massive--a first-rate specimen of a john bull, and, according to himself, "always kept his weather-eye open." this remark of his was apt to create confusion in the minds of his hearers, for john meant the expression to be understood figuratively, while, in point of fact, he almost always kept one of his literal eyes open and the other partially closed, but as he reversed the order of arrangement frequently, he might have been said to keep his lee-eye as much open as the weather one. this peculiarity gave to his countenance an expression of earnest thoughtfulness mingled with humour. buzzby was fond of being thought old, and he looked much older than he really was. men guessed his age at fifty-five, but they were ten years out in their reckoning, for john had numbered only forty-five summers, and was as tough and muscular as ever he had been--although not quite so elastic. john buzzby stood on the pier of the seaport town of grayton watching the active operations of the crew of a whaling ship which was on the point of starting for the icebound seas of the frozen regions, and making sundry remarks to a stout, fair-haired boy of fifteen, who stood by his side gazing at the ship with an expression of deep sadness. "she's a trim-built craft and a good sea-boat, i'll be bound, master fred," observed the sailor, "but she's too small by half, accordin' to my notions, and i _have_ seen a few whalers in my day. them bow-timbers, too, are scarce thick enough for goin' bump agin the ice o' davis straits. howsome'iver, i've seen worse craft drivin' a good trade in the polar seas." "she's a first-rate craft in all respects, and you have too high an opinion of your own judgment," replied the youth indignantly. "do you suppose that my father, who is an older man than yourself, and as good a sailor, would buy a ship, and fit her out, and go off to the whale-fishery in her if he did not think her a good one?" "ah! master fred, you're a chip of the old block--neck or nothing-- carry on all sail till you tear the masts out of her! reef the t'gallant sails of your temper, boy, and don't run foul of an old man who has been all but a wet-nurse to ye--taught ye to walk, and swim, and pull an oar, and build ships, and has hauled ye out o' the sea when ye fell in--from the time ye could barely stump along on two legs, lookin' like as if ye was more nor half seas over." "well, buzzby," replied the boy, laughing, "if you've been all that to me, i think you _have_ been a wet-nurse too! but why do you run down my father's ship? do you think i'm going to stand that? no, not even from you, old boy." "hallo! youngster," shouted a voice from the deck of the vessel in question, "run up and tell your father we're all ready, and if he don't make haste he'll lose the tide, so he will, and that'll make us have to start on a friday, it will, an' that'll not do for me no how, it won't; so make sail and look sharp about it, do--won't you?" "what a tongue he's got," remarked buzzby. "before i'd go to sea with a first mate who jawed like that i'd be a landsman. don't ever you git to talk too much, master fred, wotever ye do. my maxim is--and it has served me through life, uncommon,--`keep your weather-eye open and your tongue housed 'xcept when you've got occasion to use it.' if that fellow'd use his eyes more and his tongue less he'd see your father comin' down the road there, right before the wind; with his old sister in tow." "how i wish he would have let me go with him!" muttered fred to himself sorrowfully. "no chance now, i'm a-feared," remarked his companion. "the gov'nor's as stiff as a nor'wester. nothin' in the world can turn him once he's made up his mind, but a regular sou'easter. now, if you had been _my_ son, and yonder tight craft _my_ ship, i would have said, come, at once. but your father knows best, lad, and you're a wise son to obey orders cheerfully, without question. that's another o' my maxims: `obey orders an' ax no questions.'" frederick ellice, senior, who now approached, whispering words of consolation into the ear of his weeping sister, might, perhaps, have just numbered fifty years. he was a fine, big, bold, hearty englishman, with a bald head, grizzled locks, a loud but not harsh voice, a rather quick temper, and a kind, earnest, enthusiastic heart. like buzzby, he had spent nearly all his life at sea, and had become so thoroughly accustomed to walking on an unstable foundation, that he felt quite uncomfortable on solid ground, and never remained more than a few months at a time on shore. he was a man of good education and gentlemanly manners, and had worked his way up in the merchant service, step by step, until he obtained the command of a west india trader. a few years previous to the period in which our tale opens, an event occurred which altered the course of captain ellice's life, and for a long period plunged him into the deepest affliction. this was the loss of his wife at sea, under peculiarly distressing circumstances. at the age of thirty captain ellice had married a pretty blue-eyed girl, who resolutely refused to become a sailor's bride, unless she should be permitted to accompany her husband to sea. this was without much difficulty agreed to, and forthwith alice bremner became mrs ellice, and went to sea. it was during her third voyage to the west indies that our hero, fred, was born, and it was during this, and succeeding voyages, that buzzby became "all but a wet-nurse" to him. mrs ellice was a loving, gentle, seriously-minded woman. she devoted herself, heart and soul, to the training of her boy, and spent many a pleasant hour in that little unsteady cabin, in endeavouring to instil into his infant mind the blessed truths of christianity, and in making the name of jesus familiar to his ear. as fred grew older, his mother encouraged him to hold occasional intercourse with the sailors, for her husband's example taught her the value of a bold, manly spirit, and she knew that it was impossible for her to instil _that_ into him, but she was careful to guard him from the evil that he might chance to learn from the men, by committing him to the tender care of buzzby. to do the men justice, however, this was almost unnecessary, for they felt that a mother's watchful eye was on the child, and no unguarded word fell from their lips while he was romping about the forecastle. when it was time for fred to go to school, mrs ellice gave up her roving life, and settled in her native town of grayton, where she resided with her widowed sister, amelia bright, and her niece isobel. here fred received the rudiments of an excellent education at a private academy. at the age of twelve, however, master fred became restive, and, during one of his father's periodical visits home, begged to be taken to sea. captain ellice agreed; mrs ellice insisted on accompanying them, and in a few weeks they were once again on their old home, the ocean, and fred was enjoying his native air in company with his friend buzzby, who stuck to the old ship like one of her own stout timbers. but this was destined to be a disastrous voyage. one evening, after crossing the line, they descried a suspicious-looking schooner to windward, bearing down upon them under a cloud of canvas. "what do you think of her, buzzby?" enquired captain ellice, handing his glass to the seaman. buzzby gazed in silence and with compressed lips for some time; then he returned the glass, at the same time muttering the word: "pirate." "i thought so," said the captain in a deep, unsteady voice. "there is but one course for us, buzzby," he continued, glancing towards his wife, who, all unconscious of their danger, sat near the taffrail, employed with her needle; "these fellows show no mercy, because they expect none, either from god or man. we must fight to the last. go, prepare the men and get out the arms. i'll tell my wife." buzzby went forward, but the captain's heart failed him, and he took two or three rapid, hesitating turns on the quarter-deck ere he could make up his mind to speak. "alice," he said at length abruptly, "yonder vessel is a pirate." mrs ellice looked up in surprise, and her face grew pale as her eye met the troubled gaze of her husband. "are you quite sure, frederick?" "yes, quite. would god that i were left alone to--but--nay, do not be alarmed; perhaps i am wrong; it may be a--a clipper-built trading vessel. if not, alice, we must make some show of fighting, and try to frighten them. meanwhile you must go below." the captain spoke encouragingly as he led his wife to the cabin, but his candid countenance spoke too truthfully, and she felt that his look of anxious concern bade her fear the worst. pressing her fervently to his heart, captain ellice sprang on deck. by this time the news had spread through the ship, and the crew, consisting of upwards of thirty men, were conversing earnestly in knots of four or five while they sharpened and buckled on cutlasses, or loaded pistols and carbines. "send the men aft, mr thompson," said the captain, as he paced the deck to and fro, casting his eyes occasionally on the schooner, which was rapidly nearing the vessel. "take another pull at these main-topsail-halyards, and send the steward down below for my sword and pistols. let the men look sharp; we've no time to lose, and hot work is before us." "i will go for your sword, father," cried fred, who had just come on deck. "boy, boy, you must go below; you can be of no use here." "but, father, you know that i'm not _afraid_." "i know that, boy; i know it well; but you're too young to fight; you're not strong enough; besides, you must comfort and cheer your mother, she may want you." "i am old enough and strong enough to load and fire a pistol, father; and i heard one of the men say we would need all the hands on board, and more if we had them; besides, it was my mother who told me what was going on, and sent me on deck to _help you to fight_." a momentary gleam of pride lit up the countenance of the captain as he said hastily: "you may stay, then," and turned towards the men, who now stood assembled on the quarterdeck. addressing the crew in his own blunt, vigorous style, he said: "lads, yon rascally schooner is a pirate, as you all know well enough. i need not ask you if you are ready to fight--i see by your looks you are. but that's not enough--you must make up your minds to fight _well_. you know that pirates give no quarter. i see the decks are swarming with men. if you don't go at them like bull-dogs you'll walk the plank before sunset, every man of you. now, go forward, and double-shot your muskets and pistols, and stick as many of the latter into your belts as they will hold. mr thompson, let the gunner double-shot the four big guns, and load the little carronade with musket balls to the muzzle. if they do try to board us, they'll get a warm reception." "there goes a shot, sir," said buzzby, pointing towards the piratical schooner, from the side of which a white cloud burst and a round shot ricochetted over the sea, passing close ahead of the ship. "ay, that's a request for us to lay-to," said the captain bitterly, "but we won't. keep her away a point." "ay, ay, sir," sung out the man at the wheel. a second and third shot were fired, but passed unheeded, and the captain, fully expecting that the next would be fired into them, ordered the men below. "we can't afford to lose a man, mr thompson; send them all down." "please, sir, may i remain?" said buzzby, touching his hat. "obey orders," answered the captain sternly. the sailor went below with a sulky fling. for nearly an hour the two vessels cut through the water before a steady breeze, during which time the fast-sailing schooner gradually overhauled the heavy west-indiaman, until she approached within speaking distance. still captain ellice paid no attention to her, but stood with compressed lips beside the man at the wheel, gazing alternately at the sails of his vessel, and at the windward horizon, where he fancied he saw indications that led him to hope the breeze would fail ere long. as the schooner drew nearer, a man leaped on the hammock-nettings, and, putting a trumpet to his mouth, sang out lustily: "ship ahoy, where are you from and what's your cargo?" captain ellice made no reply, but ordered four of his men on deck to point one of the stern-chasers. again the voice came harshly across the waves, as if in passion: "heave to, or i'll sink you." at the same moment the black flag was run up to the peak, and a shot passed between the main and fore-mast. "stand by to point this gun," said the captain in a subdued voice. "ay, ay, sir!" "fetch a red-hot iron; luff, luff a little--a little more--steady, so." at the last word there was a puff and a roar, and an iron messenger flew towards the schooner. the gun had been fired more as a reply of defiance to the pirate, than with the hope of doing him any damage, but the shot had been well aimed--it cut the schooner's main-sail-yard in two, and brought it rattling down on deck. instantly the pirate yawed and delivered a broadside, but in the confusion on deck the guns were badly aimed, and none took effect. the time lost in this manoeuvre, added to the crippled condition of the schooner, enabled the west-indiaman to gain considerably on her antagonist, but the pirate kept up a well-directed fire with his bow-chasers, and many of the shots struck the hull, and cut the rigging seriously. as the sun descended towards the horizon the wind fell gradually, and ceased at length altogether, so that both vessels lay rolling on the swell with their sails flapping idly against the masts. "they're a gittin' out the boats, sir," remarked john buzzby, who, unable to restrain himself any longer, had crept upon deck at the risk of another reprimand; "and, if my eyes be'nt deceiving me, there's a sail on the horizon to wind'ard--leastways, the direction which _wos_ wind'ard afore it fell calm." "she's bringing a breeze along with her," remarked the captain, "but i fear the boats will come up before it reaches us. there are three in the water, and manned already. there they come. now, then, call up all hands." in a few seconds the crew of the west-indiaman were at their stations, ready for action, and captain ellice, with fred at his elbow, stood beside one of the stern-chasers. meanwhile, the boats of the pirate-- five in number--pulled away in different directions, evidently with the intention of attacking the ship at different points. they were full of men armed to the teeth. while they rowed towards the ship the schooner resumed its fire, and one ball cut away the spanker boom, and slightly wounded two of the men with splinters. the guns of the ship were now brought to bear on the boats, but without effect, although the shot plunged into the water all round them. as they drew nearer, a brisk fire of musketry was opened on them, and the occasional falling of an oar and confusion on board showed that the shots told. the pirates replied vigorously, but without effect, as the men of the ship were sheltered by the bulwarks. "pass the word to load and reserve fire," said the captain, "and hand me a musket, fred. load again as fast as i fire." so saying, the captain took aim, and fired at the steersman of the largest boat, which pulled towards the stern. "another, fred--" at this moment a withering volley was poured upon the boat, and a savage yell of agony followed, while the rowers--who remained unhurt--paused for an instant as if paralysed. next instant they recovered, and another stroke would have brought them almost alongside, when captain ellice pointed the little carronade and fired. there was a terrific crash, the gun recoiled violently to the other side of the deck, and the pirate boat sank, leaving the sea covered with dead and wounded men. a number, however, who seemed to bear charmed lives, seized their cutlasses with their teeth, and swam boldly for the ship. this incident, unfortunately, attracted too much of the attention of the crew, and, ere they could prevent it, another boat reached the bow of the ship, the crew of which sprang up the side like cats, formed on the forecastle, and poured a volley upon the men. "follow me, lads," shouted the captain, as he sprang forward like a tiger. the first man he reached fell by a ball from his pistol; in another moment the opposing parties met in a hand-to-hand conflict. meanwhile fred, having been deeply impressed with the effect of the shot from the little carronade, succeeded in raising and reloading it. he had scarcely accomplished this when one of the boats reached the larboard quarter, and two of the men sprang up the side. fred observed them, and felled the first with a handspike before he reached the deck, but the pirate who instantly followed, would have killed him, had he not been observed by the second mate, who had prevented several of the men from joining in the melee on the forecastle, in order to meet such an emergency as this. rushing to the rescue with his party, he drove the pirates back into the boat, which was immediately pulled towards the bow, where the other two boats were now grappling and discharging their crews on the forecastle. although the men of the west-indiaman fought with desperate courage, they could not stand before the increasing numbers of pirates, who now crowded the forepart of the ship in a dense mass. gradually they were beaten back, and at length were brought to bay on the quarter-deck. "help, father!" cried fred, pushing through the struggling crowd, "here's the carronade ready loaded." "ha! boy, well done!" cried the captain, seizing the gun, and, with the help of buzzby, who never left his side, dragging it forward. "clear the way, lads!" in a moment the little cannon was pointed to the centre of the mass of men, and fired. one awful shriek of agony rose above the din of the fight, as a wide gap was cut through the crowd; but this only seemed to render the survivors more furious. with a savage yell they charged the quarter-deck, but were hurled back again and again by the captain, and a few chosen men who stood around him. at length one of the pirates, who had been all along conspicuous for his strength and daring, stepped deliberately up, and, pointing a pistol at the captain's breast, fired. captain ellice fell, and at the same moment a ball laid the pirate low; another charge was made; fred rushed forward to protect his father, but was thrown down and trodden under foot in the rush, and in two minutes more the ship was in possession of the pirates. being filled with rage at the opposition they had met with, these villains proceeded, as they said, to make short work of the crew, while several of them sprang into the cabin, where they discovered mrs ellice almost dead with terror. dragging her violently on deck, they were about to cast her into the sea, when buzzby, who stood with his hands bound, suddenly burst his bonds and sprang towards her. a blow from the butt of a pistol, however, stretched him insensible on the deck. "where is my husband?--my boy?" screamed mrs ellice wildly. "they've gone before you, or they'll soon follow," said a savage fiercely, as he raised her in his powerful arms, and hurled her overboard. a loud shriek was followed by a heavy plunge. at the same moment two of the men raised the captain, intending to throw him overboard also, when a loud boom arrested their attention, and a cannon-shot ploughed up the sea close in front of their bows. while the fight was raging, no one had observed the fact that the breeze had freshened, and a large man-of-war, with american colours at her peak, was now within gunshot of the ship. no sooner did the pirates make this discovery than they rushed to their boats, with the intention of pulling to their schooner, but those who had been left in charge, seeing the approach of the man-of-war, and feeling that there was no chance of escape for their comrades, or, as is more than probable, being utterly indifferent about them, crowded all sail, and slipped away, and it was now hull-down on the horizon to leeward. the men in the boats rowed after her with the energy of despair, but the americans gave chase, and we need scarcely add that, in a very short time, all were captured. when the man-of-war rejoined the west-indiaman, the night had set in and a stiff breeze had arisen, so that the long and laborious search that was made for the body of poor mrs ellice, proved utterly fruitless. captain ellice, whose wound was very severe, was struck down as if by a thunderbolt, and for a long time his life was despaired of. during his illness fred nursed him with the utmost tenderness, and, in seeking to comfort his father, found some relief to his own stricken heart. months passed away. captain ellice was conveyed to the residence of his sister in grayton, and, under her care, and the nursing of his little niece, isobel, he recovered his wonted health and strength. to the eyes of men, captain ellice and his son were themselves again, but those who judge of men's hearts by their outward appearance and expressions, in nine cases out of ten judge very wide of the mark indeed. both had undergone a great change. the brilliancy and glitter of this world had been completely and rudely dispelled, and both had been led to enquire whether there was not something better to live for than mere present advantage and happiness; something that would stand by them in those hours of sickness and sorrow which must inevitably, sooner or later, come upon all men. but captain ellice could not be induced to resume the command of his old ship, or voyage again to the west indies. he determined to change the scene of his future labours and sail to the frozen seas, where the aspect of every object--even the ocean itself--would be very unlikely to recall the circumstances of his loss. some time after his recovery, captain ellice purchased a brig, and fitted her out as a whaler, determined to try his fortune in the northern seas. fred pleaded hard to be taken out, but his father felt that he had more need to go to school than to sea; so he refused, and fred, after sighing very deeply once or twice, gave in with a good grace. buzzby, too, who stuck to his old commander like a leech, was equally anxious to go, but buzzby, in a sudden and unaccountable fit of tenderness, had, just two months before, married a wife, who might be appropriately described as "fat, fair, and forty," and buzzby's wife absolutely forbade him to go. alas! buzzby was no longer his own master. at the age of forty-five he became--as he himself expressed it--an abject slave, and he would as soon have tried to steer in a slipper bath, right in the teeth of an equinoctial hurricane, as have opposed the will of his wife. he used to sigh gruffly when spoken to on this subject, and compare himself to a dutch galliot that made more lee-way than head-way, even with a wind on the quarter. "once," he would remark, "i was clipper-built and could sail right in the wind's eye, but ever since i tuck this craft in tow i've gone to leeward like a tub. in fact, i find there's only one way of going ahead with my poll, and that is right before the wind! i used to yaw about a good deal at first, but she tuck that out o' me in a day or two. if i put the helm only so much as one stroke to starboard, she guv' a tug at the tow-rope that brought the wind dead aft again; so i've gi'n it up, and lashed the tiller right amidships." so buzzby did not accompany his old commander; he did not even so much as suggest the possibility of it, but he shook his head with great solemnity as he stood with fred, and mrs bright, and isobel, at the end of the pier, gazing at the brig, with one eye very much screwed up, and a wistful expression in the other, while the graceful craft spread out her canvas and bent over to the breeze. chapter two. departure of the pole star for the frozen seas--sage reflections of mrs. bright, and sagacious remarks of buzzby--anxieties, fears, surmises, and resolutions--isobel--a search proposed--departure of the dolphin for the far north. digressions are bad at the best, and we feel some regret that we should have been compelled to begin our book with one; but they are necessary evils, sometimes, so we must ask our reader's forgiveness, and beg him, or her, to remember that we are still at the commencement of our story, standing at the end of the pier, and watching the departure of the _pole star_ whale-ship, which is now a scarcely distinguishable speck on the horizon. as it disappeared buzzby gave a grunt, fred and isobel uttered a sigh in unison, and mrs bright resumed the fit of weeping which for some time she had unconsciously suspended. "i fear we shall never see him again," sobbed mrs bright, as she took isobel by the hand and sauntered slowly home, accompanied by fred and buzzby, the latter of whom seemed to regard himself in the light of a shaggy newfoundland or mastiff, who had been left to protect the family. "we are always hearing of whale-ships being lost, and, somehow or other, we _never_ hear of the crews being saved, as one reads of when ships are wrecked in the usual way on the sea-shore." isobel squeezed her mother's hand, and looked up in her face with an expression that said plainly: "don't cry so, mamma, i'm _sure_ he will come back," but she could not find words to express herself, so she glanced towards the mastiff for help. buzzby felt that it devolved upon him to afford consolation under the circumstances, but mrs bright's mind was of that peculiar stamp which repels advances in the way of consolation unconsciously, and buzzby was puzzled. he screwed up first the right eye and then the left, and smote his thigh repeatedly; and assuredly, if contorting his visage could have comforted mrs bright, she would have returned home a happy woman, for he made faces at her violently for full five minutes; but it did her no good, perhaps because she didn't see him, her eyes being suffused with tears. "ah! yes," resumed mrs bright, with another burst, "i _know_ they will never come back, and your silence shows that you think so too; and to think of their taking two years' provisions with them _in case of accidents_!--doesn't that prove that there are _going_ to be accidents? and didn't i hear one of the sailors say that she was a crack ship, a number one? i don't know what he meant by a number one; but if she's a cracked ship i _know_ she will never come back; and although i told my dear brother of it, and advised him not to go, he only laughed at me, which was very unkind, i'm sure--" here mrs bright's feelings overcame her again. "why, aunt," said fred, scarce able to restrain a laugh, despite the sadness that lay at his heart, "when the sailor said it was a crack ship, he meant that it was a _good_ one, a first-rate one." "then why did he not say what he meant? but you are talking nonsense, boy; do you think that i will believe a man means to say a thing is good when he calls it cracked? and i'm sure nobody would say a cracked tea-pot was as good as a whole one; but tell me, buzzby, do you think they ever _will_ come back?" "why, ma'am, in coorse i do," replied buzzby vehemently; "for why? if they don't, they're the first that ever went out o' this port in my day as didn't. they've a good ship and lots o' grub, and it's like to be a good season; and captain ellice has, for the most part, good luck; and they've started with a fair wind, and kep' clear of a friday, and what more could ye wish? i only wish as i was aboard along with them, that's all." buzzby delivered himself of this oration with the left eye shut and screwed up, and the right one open. having concluded, he shut and screwed up the right eye, and opened the left--he reversed the engine, so to speak, as if he wished to back out from the scene of his triumph, and leave the course clear for others to speak. but his words were thrown away on mrs bright, who was emphatically a weak-minded woman, and never exercised her reason at all, except in a spasmodic, galvanic sort of way, when she sought to defend or to advocate some unreasonable conclusion of some sort, at which her own weak mind had arrived somehow. so she shook her head, and sobbed good-bye to buzzby, as she ascended the sloping avenue that led to her pretty cottage, on the green hill that overlooked the harbour and the sea beyond. as for john buzzby, having been absent from home full half an hour beyond his usual dinner-hour, he felt that, for a man who had lashed his helm amidships, he was yawing alarmingly out of his course, so he spread all the canvas he could carry, and steered, right before the wind, towards the village, where, in a little, whitewashed, low-roofed, one-doored and two-little-windowed cottage, his spouse (and dinner) awaited him. to make a long story short, three years passed away, but the _pole star_ did not return, and no news of her could be got from the various whale-ships that visited the port of grayton. towards the end of the second year buzzby began to shake his head despondingly; and as the third drew to a close, the expression of gloom never left his honest, weather-beaten face. mrs bright too, whose anxiety at first was only half genuine, now became seriously alarmed, and the fate of the missing brig began to be the talk of the neighbourhood. meanwhile fred ellice and isobel grew and improved in mind and body, but anxiety as to his father's fate rendered the former quite unable to pursue his studies, and he determined at last to procure a passage in a whale-ship, and go out in search of the brig. it happened that the principal merchant and ship-owner in the town, mr singleton by name, was an intimate friend and old school-fellow of captain ellice, so fred went boldly to him and proposed that a vessel should be fitted out immediately, and sent off to search for his father's brig. mr singleton smiled at the request, and pointed out the utter impossibility of his agreeing to it; but he revived fred's sinking hopes by saying that, he was about to send out a whaler to the northern seas at any rate, and that he would give orders to the captain to devote a _portion_ of his time to the search, and, moreover, agreed to let fred go as a passenger in company with his own son tom. now tom singleton had been fred's bosom friend and companion during his first year at school, but during the last two years he had been sent to the edinburgh university, to prosecute his medical studies, and the two friends had only met at rare intervals. it was with unbounded delight, therefore, that he found his old companion, now a youth of twenty, was to go out as surgeon of the ship, and he could scarce contain himself, as he ran down to buzzby's cottage to tell him the good news, and ask him to join. of course buzzby was ready to go, and, what was of far greater importance in the matter, his wife threw no obstacle in the way. on the contrary, she undid the lashings of the helm with her own hand, and told her wondering partner, with a good-humoured (but firm) smile, to steer where he chose, and she would content herself with the society of the two young buzzbys (both miniature facsimiles of their father), till he came back. once again a whale-ship prepared to sail from the port of grayton, and once again mrs bright and isobel stood on the pier to see her depart. isobel was about thirteen now, and as pretty a girl, according to buzzby, as you could meet with in any part of britain. her eyes were blue, and her hair nut-brown, and her charms of face and figure were enhanced immeasurably by an air of modesty and earnestness that went straight home to your heart, and caused you to adore her at once. buzzby doated on her as if she were his only child, and felt a secret pride in being in some undefinable way her protector. buzzby philosophised about her, too, after a strange fashion. "you see," he would say to fred, "it's not that her figure-head is cut altogether after a parfect pattern; by no means, for i've seen pictur's and statues that wos better; but she carries her head a little down, d'ye see, master fred, and there's where it is; that's the way i gauges the worth o' young women, jist accordin' as they carry their chins up or down. if their brows come well for'ard, and they seems to be lookin' at the ground they walk on, i knows their brains is firm stuff, and in good workin' order; but when i sees them carryin' their noses high out o' the water, as if they wos afeard o' catchin' sight o' their own feet, and their chins elewated so that a little boy standin' in front o' them couldn't see their faces nohow, i make pretty sure that t'other end is filled with a sort o' _mush_ that's fit only to think o' dress and dancing." on the present occasion isobel's eyes were red and swollen, and by no means improved by weeping. mrs bright, too, although three years had done little to alter her character, seemed to be less demonstrative, and much more sincere than usual, in her grief at parting from fred. in a few minutes all was ready. young singleton and buzzby having hastily but earnestly bade mrs bright and her daughter farewell, leaped on board. fred lingered for a moment. "once more, dear aunt," said he, "farewell! with god's blessing we shall come back soon. write to me, darling isobel, won't you? to uppernavik, on the coast of greenland. if none of our ships are bound in that direction, write by way of denmark. old mr singleton will tell you how to address your letter, and see that it be a long one." "now, then, youngster, jump aboard," shouted the captain; "look sharp!" "ay, ay," returned fred, and in another moment he was on the quarter-deck, by the side of his friend tom. the ship, loosed from her moorings, spread her canvas, and plunged forward on her adventurous voyage. but this time she does not grow smaller as she advances before the freshening breeze, for you and i, reader, have embarked in her, and the land now fades in the distance, until it sinks from view on the distant horizon, while nothing meets our gaze, but the vault of the bright blue sky above, and the plain of the dark blue sea below. chapter three. the voyage--the dolphin and her crew--ice ahead--polar scenes--masthead observations--the first whale--great excitement. and now we have fairly got into blue water--the sailor's delight, the landsman's dread-- "the sea! the sea! the open sea; the blue, the fresh, the ever free." "it's my opinion," remarked buzzby to singleton one day, as they stood at the weather gangway, watching the foam that spread from the vessel's bow as she breasted the waves of the atlantic gallantly,--"it's my opinion that our skipper is made o' the right stuff. he's entered quite into the spirit of the thing, and i hear'd him say to the first mate yesterday, he'd made up his mind to run right up into baffin's bay, and make enquiries for captain ellice first, before goin' to his usual whalin'-ground. now that's wot i call doin' the right thing; for, ye see, he runs no small risk o' gettin' beset in the ice, and losing the fishin' season altogether by so doin'." "he's a fine fellow," said singleton; "i like him better every day, and i feel convinced he will do his utmost to discover the whereabouts of our missing friend; but i fear much that our chances are small, for although we know the spot which captain ellice intended to visit, we cannot tell to what part of the frozen ocean, ice and currents may have carried him." "true," replied buzzby, giving to his left eye and cheek just that peculiar amount of screw which indicated intense sagacity and penetration; "but i've a notion that, if they are to be found, captain guy is the man to find 'em." "i hope it may turn out as you say. have you ever been in these seas before, buzzby?" "no, sir--never; but i've got a half-brother wot has bin in the greenland whale-fishery, and i've bin in the south-sea line myself." "what line was that, buzzby?" enquired david summers, a sturdy boy of about fifteen, who acted as assistant steward, and was, in fact, a nautical maid-of-all-work. "was it a log-line, or a bow-line, or a cod-line, or a bit of the equator?--eh!" the old salt deigned no reply to this passing sally, but continued his converse with singleton. "i could give ye many a long yarn about the south seas," said buzzby, gazing abstractedly down into the deep. "one time, when i was about fifty mile to the sou'west o' cape horn, i--" "dinner's ready, sir," said a thin, tall, active man, stepping smartly up to singleton, and touching his cap. "we must talk over that some other time, buzzby. the captain loves punctuality." so saying, the young surgeon sprang down the companion ladder, leaving the old salt to smoke his pipe in solitude. and here we may pause a few seconds to describe our ship and her crew. the _dolphin_ was a tight, new, barque-rigged vessel of about three hundred tons burden, built expressly for the northern whale-fishery, and carried a crew of forty-five men. ships that have to battle with the ice require to be much more powerfully built, than those that sail in unencumbered seas. the _dolphin_ united strength with capacity and buoyancy. the under part of her hull and sides were strengthened with double timbers, and fortified externally with plates of iron; while, internally, stanchions and cross-beams were so arranged as to cause pressure on any part to be supported by the whole structure; and on her bows, where shocks from the ice might be expected to be most frequent and severe, extra planking, of immense strength and thickness, was secured. in other respects the vessel was fitted up much in the same manner as ordinary merchantmen. the only other peculiarity about her, worthy of notice, was the crow's-nest, a sort of barrel-shaped structure fastened to the fore-masthead, in which, when at the whaling-ground, a man is stationed to look out for whales. the chief men in the ship were captain guy, a vigorous, practical american; mr bolton, the first mate, an earnest, stout, burly, off-hand englishman; and mr saunders, the second mate, a sedate, broad-shouldered, raw-boned scot, whose opinion of himself was unbounded, whose power of argument was extraordinary, not to say exasperating, and who stood six feet three in his stockings. mivins, the steward, was, as we have already remarked, a tall, thin, active young man, of a brisk, lively disposition, and was somewhat of a butt among the men, but being in a position of power and trust he was respected. the young surgeon, tom singleton, whom we have yet scarcely introduced to the reader, was a tall, slim, but firmly-knit, youth, with a kind, gentle disposition. he was always open, straightforward, and polite. he never indulged in broad humour, though he enjoyed it much, seldom ventured on a witticism, was rather shy in the company of his companions, and spoke little; but for a quiet, pleasant _tete-a-tete_ there was not a man in the ship equal to tom singleton. his countenance was spanish-looking and handsome, his hair black, short, and curling, and his budding moustache was soft and dark as the eyebrow of an andalusian belle. it would be unpardonable, in this catalogue, to omit the cook, david mizzle. he was round, and fat, and oily, as one of his own "duff" puddings. to look at him you could not help suspecting that he purloined, and ate, at least half of the salt pork he cooked, and his sly, dimpling laugh, in which every feature participated, from the point of his broad chin to the top of his bald head, rather tended to favour this supposition. mizzle was prematurely bald--being quite a young man,--and, when questioned on the subject, he usually attributed it to the fact of his having been so long employed about the cooking-coppers, that the excessive heat to which he was exposed, had stewed all the hair off his head! the crew was made up of stout, active men in the prime of life, nearly all of whom had been more or less accustomed to the whale-fishing, and some of the harpooners were giants in muscular development and breadth of shoulder, if not in height. chief among these harpooners was amos parr, a short, thick-set, powerful man of about thirty-five, who had been at sea since he was a little boy, and had served in the fisheries of both the northern and southern seas. no one knew what country had the honour of producing him--indeed, he was ignorant of that point himself; for, although he had vivid recollections of his childhood having been spent among green hills, and trees, and streamlets, he was sent to sea with a strange captain before he was old enough to care about the name of his native land. afterwards he ran away from his ship, and so lost all chance of ever discovering who he was; but, as he sometimes remarked, he didn't much care who he was, so long as he was _himself_; so it didn't matter. from a slight peculiarity in his accent, and other qualities, it was surmised that he must be an irishman--a supposition which he rather encouraged, being partial to the sons, and particularly partial to the daughters, of the emerald isle, one of which last he had married just six months before setting out on this whaling expedition. such was the _dolphin_ and her crew, and merrily they bowled along over the broad atlantic with favouring winds, and without meeting with anything worthy of note until they neared the coast of greenland. one fine morning, just as the party in the cabin had finished breakfast, and were dallying with the last few morsels of the repast, as men who have more leisure than they desire, are wont to do, there was a sudden shock felt, and a slight tremor passed through the ship, as if something had struck her. "ha!" exclaimed captain guy, finishing his cup of chocolate, "there goes the first bump." "ice ahead, sir!" said the first mate, looking down the skylight. "is there much?" asked the captain, rising and taking down a small telescope, from the hook on which it usually hung. "not much, sir--only a stream; but there is an ice blink right ahead, all along the horizon." "how's her head, mr bolton?" "nor'-west and by north, sir." before this brief conversation came to a close, fred ellice and tom singleton sprang up the companion, and stood on the deck gazing ahead with feelings of the deepest interest. both youths were well read in the history of polar seas and regions; they were well acquainted, by name at least, with floes, and bergs, and hummocks of ice, but neither of them had seen such in reality. these objects were associated in their young minds with all that was romantic and wild, hyperborean and polar, brilliant and sparkling, and light and white--emphatically _white_. to behold ice actually floating on the salt sea was an incident of note in their existence; and certainly the impressions of their first day in the ice remained sharp, vivid and prominent, long after scenes of a much more striking nature had faded from the tablets of their memories. at first the prospect that met their ardent gaze was not calculated to excite excessive admiration. there were only a few masses of low ice floating about in various directions. the wind was steady, but light, and seemed as if it would speedily fall altogether. gradually the _blink_ on the horizon (as the light haze always distinguishable above ice, or snow-covered land, is called) resolved itself into a long white line of ice, which seemed to grow larger as the ship neared it, and in about two hours more they were fairly in the midst of the pack, which was fortunately loose enough to admit of the vessel being navigated through the channels of open water. soon after, the sun broke out in cloudless splendour, and the wind fell entirely, leaving the ocean in a dead calm. "let's go to the fore-top, tom," said fred, seizing his friend by the arm, and hastening to the shrouds. in a few seconds they were seated alone on the little platform at the top of the fore-mast, just where it is connected with the fore-top-mast, and from this elevated position they gazed in silent delight upon the fairy-like scene. those who have never stood at the mast-head of a ship at sea, in a dead calm, cannot comprehend the feeling of intense solitude, that fills the mind in such a position. there is nothing analogous to it on land. to stand on the summit of a tower and look down on the busy multitude below is not the same, for there the sounds are quite different in _tone_, and signs of life are visible all over the distant country, while cries from afar reach the ear, as well as those from below. but from the mast-head you hear only the few subdued sounds under your feet--all beyond is silence; you behold only the small oval-shaped platform that is your world--beyond lies the calm, desolate ocean. on deck you cannot realise this feeling, for there sails and yards tower above you, and masts, and boats, and cordage, intercept your view; but from above you _take in_ the intense minuteness of your home at a single glance--you stand aside, as it were, and, in some measure, comprehend the insignificance of the _thing_ to which you have committed your life. the scene witnessed by our friends at the mast-head of the _dolphin_ on this occasion was surpassingly beautiful. far as the eye could stretch, the sea was covered with islands and fields of ice of every conceivable shape. some rose in little peaks and pinnacles, some floated in the form of arches and domes, some were broken and rugged, like the ruins of old border strongholds, while others were flat and level, like fields of white marble; and so calm was it that the ocean in which they floated seemed like a groundwork of polished steel, in which the sun shone with dazzling brilliancy. the tops of the icy islets were pure white, and the sides of the higher ones of a delicate blue colour, which gave to the scene a transparent lightness that rendered it pre-eminently fairy-like. "it far surpasses anything i ever conceived," ejaculated singleton after a long silence. "no wonder that authors speak of scenes being indescribable. does it not seem like a dream, fred?" "tom," said fred earnestly, "i've been trying to fancy myself in another world, and i have almost succeeded. when i look long and intensely at the ice, i get almost to believe that these are streets, and palaces, and cathedrals. i never felt so strong a desire to have wings, that i might fly from one island to another, and go floating in and out, and round about, those blue caves and sparkling pinnacles." "it's a curious fancy, fred, but not unnatural." "tom," said fred, after another long silence, "has not the thought occurred to you that god made it all?" "some such thought did cross my mind, fred, for a moment, but it soon passed away. is it not _very_ strange that the idea of the creator is so seldom, and so slightly, connected with his works in our minds?" again there was a long silence. both youths had a desire to continue the conversation, and yet each felt an unaccountable reluctance to renew it. neither of them distinctly understood that the natural heart is enmity against god, and that, until he is converted by the holy spirit, man neither loves to think of his maker, nor to speak of him. while they sat thus musing, a breeze dimmed the surface of the sea, and the _dolphin_, which had hitherto lain motionless in one of the numerous canals, began slowly to advance between the islands of ice. the breeze freshened, and rendered it impossible to avoid an occasional collision with the floating masses; but the good ship was well armed for the fight, and, although she quivered under the blows, and once or twice recoiled, she pushed her way through the pack gallantly. in the course of an hour or two they were once more in comparatively clear water. suddenly there came a cry from the crow's-nest: "there she blows!" instantly every man in the ship sprang to his feet as if he had received an electric shock. "where away?" shouted the captain. "on the lee-bow, sir," replied the look-out. from a state of comparative quiet and repose the ship was now thrown into a condition of the utmost animation, and, apparently, unmeaning confusion. the sight of a whale acted on the spirits of the men like wild-fire. "there she blows!" sang out the man at the mast-head again. "are we keeping right for her!" asked the captain. "keep her away a bit; steady!" replied the look-out. "steady it is!" answered the man at the wheel. "call all hands and get the boats out, mr bolton," said the captain. "all hands ahoy!" shouted the mate in a tempestuous voice, while the men rushed to their respective stations. "boat-steerers, get your boats ready." "ay, ay, sir!" "there go flukes!" cried the look-out as the whale dived and tossed its flukes, that is its tail, in the air, not more than a mile on the lee-bow; "she's heading right for the ship." "down with the helm!" roared the captain. "mr bolton, brace up the mizzen top-sail! hoist and swing the boats! lower away!" in another moment three boats struck the water, and their respective crews tumbled tumultuously into them. fred and singleton sprang into the stern-sheets of the captain's boat, just as it pushed off, and in less than five minutes the three boats were bounding over the sea in the direction of the whale like race-horses. every man did his best, and the tough oars bent like hoops as each boat's crew strove to outstrip the others. chapter four. the chase and the battle--the chances and dangers of whaling war--buzzby dives for his life and saves it--so does the whale and loses it--an anxious night which terminates happily, though with a heavy loss. the chase was not a long one, for, while the boats were rowing swiftly towards the whale, the whale was, all unconsciously, swimming towards the boats. "give way now, lads, give way," said the captain in a suppressed voice; "bend your backs, boys, and don't let the mate beat us." the three boats flew over the sea, as the men strained their muscles to the utmost, and for some time they kept almost in line, being pretty equally matched; but gradually the captain shot ahead, and it became evident that his harpooner, amos parr, was to have the honour of harpooning the first whale. amos pulled the bow oar, and behind him was the tub with the line coiled away and the harpoon bent on to it. being an experienced whaleman, he evinced no sign of excitement, save in the brilliancy of his dark eye, and a very slight flush on his bronzed face. they had now neared the whale, and ceased rowing for a moment, lest they should miss it when down. "there she goes!" cried fred in a tone of intense excitement, as he caught sight of the whale not more than fifty yards ahead of the boat. "now, boys," said the captain in a hoarse whisper, "spring hard, lay back hard, i say--_stand up_!" at the last word amos parr sprang to his feet, and seized the harpoon; the boat ran right on to the whale's back, and in an instant parr sent two irons, to the hitches, into the fish. "stern all!" the men backed their oars with all their might, in order to avoid the flukes of the wounded monster of the deep, as it plunged down headlong into the sea, taking the line out perpendicularly like lightning. this was a moment of great danger. the friction of the line, as it passed the loggerhead, was so great that parr had to keep constantly pouring water on it, to prevent its catching fire. a hitch in the line at that time, as it flew out of the tub, or any accidental entanglement, would have dragged the boat and crew right down. many such fatal accidents occur to whalers, and many a poor fellow has had a foot or an arm torn off, or been dragged overboard and drowned, in consequence of getting entangled. one of the men stood ready with a small hatchet to cut the line in a moment, if necessary, for whales sometimes run out all that is in a boat at the first plunge, and should none of the other boats be at hand, to lend a second line to attach to the one nearly expended, there is nothing for it but to cut. on the present occasion, however, none of these accidents befel the men of the captain's boat. the line ran all clear, and long before it was exhausted the whale ceased to descend, and the _slack_ was hauled rapidly in. meanwhile the other boats pulled up to the scene of action, and prepared to strike, the instant the fish should rise to the surface. it appeared suddenly, not twenty yards from the mate's boat, where buzzby, who was harpooner, stood in the bow ready to give it the iron. "spring, lads, spring!" shouted the mate, as the whale spouted into the air a thick stream of water. the boat dashed up, and buzzby planted his harpoon vigorously. instantly the broad flukes of the tail were tossed into the air, and, for a single second, spread like a canopy over buzzby's head. there was no escape. the quick eye of the whaleman saw at a glance that the effort to back out was hopeless. he bent his head, and the next moment was deep down in the waves. just as he disappeared, the flukes descended on the spot which he had left, and cut the bow of the boat completely away, sending the stern high into the air with a violence that tossed men, and oars, and shattered planks, and cordage, flying over the monster's back into the seething caldron of foam around him. it was apparently a scene of the most complete and instantaneous destruction, yet, strange to say, not a man was lost. a few seconds after, the white foam of the sea was dotted with black heads, as the men rose one by one to the surface, and struck out for floating oars and pieces of the wrecked boat. "they're lost!" cried fred ellice in a voice of horror. "not a bit of it, youngster; they're safe enough, i'll warrant," replied the captain, as his own boat flew past the spot, towed by the whale. "pay out, amos parr; give him line, or he'll tear the bows out of us." "ay, ay, sir!" sang out amos, as he sat coolly pouring water on the loggerhead, round which a coil of the rope was whizzing like lightning; "all right! the mate's men are all safe, sir; i counted them as we shot past, and i seed buzzby come up last of all, blowin' like a grampus; and small wonder, considerin' the dive he took." "take another turn of the coil, amos, and hold on," said the captain. the harpooneer obeyed, and away they went after the whale like a rocket, with a tremendous strain on the line, and a bank of white foam gurgling up to the edge of the gunwale, that every moment threatened to fill the boat and sink her. such a catastrophe is not of unfrequent occurrence, when whalemen, thus towed by a whale, are tempted to hold on too long; and many instances have happened of boats and their crews being in this way dragged under water and lost. fortunately the whale dashed horizontally through the water, so that the boat was able to hold on and follow, and in a short time the creature paused and rose for air. again the men bent to their oars, and the rope was hauled in until they came quite close to the fish. this time a harpoon was thrown, and a deep lance-thrust given which penetrated to the vital parts of its huge carcass, as was evidenced by the blood which it spouted, and the convulsive lashing of its tremendous tail. while the captain's crew were thus engaged, saunders, the second mate, observing from the ship the accident to the first mate's boat, sent off a party of men to the rescue, thus setting free the third boat, which was steered by a strapping fellow named peter grim, to follow up the chase. peter grim was the ship's carpenter, and he took after his name. he was, as the sailors expressed it, a "grim customer", being burnt by the sun to a deep rich brown colour, besides being covered nearly up to the eyes with a thick coal-black beard and moustache, which completely concealed every part of his visage, except his prominent nose and dark, fiery-looking eyes. he was an immense man, the largest in the ship, probably, if we except the scotch second mate saunders, to whom he was about equal in all respects--except argument. like most big men, he was peaceable and good-humoured. "look alive now, lads," said grim, as the men pulled towards the whale; "we'll get a chance yet, we shall, if you give way like tigers. split your sides, boys--do--that's it. ah! there she goes, right down. pull away now, and be ready when she rises." as he spoke the whale suddenly _sounded_, that is, went perpendicularly down, as it had done when first struck, and continued to descend until most of the line in the captain's boat was run out. "hoist an oar," cried amos parr, as he saw the coil diminishing. grim observed the signal of distress, and encouraged his men to use their utmost exertions. "another oar!--another!" shouted parr, as the whale continued its headlong descent. "stand by to cut the line," said captain guy with compressed lips. "no! hold on, hold on!" at this moment, having drawn down more than a thousand fathoms of rope, the whale slackened its speed, and parr, taking another coil round the loggerhead, held on until the boat was almost dragged under water. then the line became loose, and the slack was hauled in rapidly. meanwhile grim's boat had reached the spot and the men now lay on their oars at some distance ahead, ready to pull the instant the whale should show itself. up it came, not twenty yards ahead. one short, energetic pull, and the second boat sent a harpoon deep into it, while grim sprang to the bow, and thrust a lance with deadly force deep into the carcass. the monster sent up a stream of mingled blood, oil, and water, and whirled its huge tail so violently that the sound could be heard a mile off. before it dived again, the captain's boat came up, and succeeded in making fast another harpoon, while several additional lance-thrusts were given with effect, and it seemed as if the battle were about to terminate, when suddenly the whale struck the sea with a clap like thunder, and darted away once more like a rocket to windward, tearing the two boats after it, as if they had been egg-shells. meanwhile a change had come over the scene. the sun had set, red and lowering, behind a bank of dark clouds, and there was every appearance of stormy weather; but as yet it was nearly calm, and the ship was unable to beat up against the light breeze in the wake of the two boats, which were soon far away on the horizon. then a furious gust arose and passed away; a dark cloud covered the sky as night fell, and soon boats and whale were utterly lost to view. "waes me," cried the big scotch mate, as he ran up and down the quarter-deck wringing his hands, "what _is_ to be done noo?" saunders spoke a mongrel kind of language--a mixture of scotch and english,--in which, although the scotch words were sparsely scattered, the scotch accent was very strong. "how's her head?" "nor'-nor'-west, sir." "keep her there, then. maybe, if the wind holds stiddy, we may overhaul them before it's quite dark." although saunders was really in a state of the utmost consternation at this unexpected termination to the whale-hunt, and expressed the agitation of his feelings pretty freely, he was too thorough a seaman to neglect anything that was necessary to be done under the circumstances. he took the exact bearings of the point at which the boats had disappeared, and during the night, which turned out gusty and threatening, kept making short tacks, while lanterns were hung at the mast-heads, and a huge torch, or rather a small bonfire, of tarred materials was slung at the end of a spar, and thrust out over the stern of the ship. but for many hours there was no sign of the boats, and the crew of the _dolphin_ began to entertain the most gloomy forebodings regarding them. at length, towards morning, a small speck of light was noticed on the weather-beam. it flickered for a moment, and then disappeared. "did ye see yon?" said saunders to mivins in an agitated whisper, laying his huge hand on the shoulder of that worthy. "down your helm," (to the steersman). "ay, ay, sir!" "stiddy!" "steady it is, sir!" mivins' face, which for some hours had worn an expression of deep anxiety, relaxed into a bland smile, and he smote his thigh powerfully as he exclaimed: "that's them, sir, _and_ no mistake! what's your opinion, mr saunders!" the second mate peered earnestly in the direction in which the light had been seen, and mivins, turning in the same direction, screwed up his visage into a knot of earnest attention, so complicated and intense that it seemed as if no human power could evermore unravel it. "there it goes again!" cried saunders, as the light flashed distinctly over the sea. "down helm; back fore-top-sails!" he shouted, springing forward; "lower away the boat there!" in a few seconds the ship was hove to, and a boat, with a lantern fixed to an oar, was plunging over the swell in the direction of the light. sooner than was expected they came up with it, and a hurrah in the distance told that all was right. "here we are, thank god," cried captain guy, "safe and sound! we don't require assistance, mr saunders; pull for the ship." a short pull sufficed to bring the three boats alongside, and in a few seconds more the crew were congratulating their comrades, with that mingled feeling of deep heartiness, and a disposition to jest, which is characteristic of men who are used to danger, and think lightly of it after it is over. "we've lost our fish, however," remarked captain guy, as he passed the crew on his way to the cabin; "but we must hope for better luck next time." "well, well," said one of the men, wringing the water out of his wet clothes as he walked forward, "we got a good laugh at peter grim, if we got nothin' else by our trip." "how was that, jack?" "why, ye see, jist before the whale gave in, it sent up a spout o' blood and oil as thick as the main-mast, and, as luck would have it, down it came slap on the head of grim, drenchin' him from head to foot, and makin' him as red as a lobster." "'ow did you lose the fish, sir?" enquired mivins, as our hero sprang up the side, followed by singleton. "lost him as men lose money in railway speculations nowadays. we _sank_ him, and that was the last of it. after he had towed us i don't know how far-out of sight of the ship at any rate,--he suddenly stopped, and we pulled up and gave him some tremendous digs with the lances, until he spouted jets of blood, and we made sure of him, when, all at once, down he went head foremost like a cannon-ball, and took all the line out of both boats, so we had to cut, and he never came up again. at least, if he did, it became so dark that we never saw him. then we pulled to where we thought the ship was, and, after rowing nearly all night, caught sight of your lights; and here we are, dead-tired, wet to the skin, and minus about two miles of whale-line and three harpoons." chapter five. miscellaneous reflections--the coast of greenland--uppernavik--news of the pole star--midnight day--scientific facts and fairy-like scenes--tom singleton's opinion of poor old women--in danger of a squeeze--escape. in pursuance of his original intention, captain guy now proceeded through davis' straits into baffin's bay, at the head of which he intended to search for the vessel of his friend captain ellice, and afterwards prosecute the whale-fishery. off the coast of greenland, many whalers were seen, actively engaged in warfare with the giants of the polar seas, and to several of these captain guy spoke, in the faint hope of gleaning some information as to the fate or the _pole star_, but without success. it was now apparent to the crew of the _dolphin_ that they were engaged as much on a searching, as a whaling expedition; and the fact that the commander of the lost vessel was the father of "young mr fred", as they styled our hero, induced them to take a deep interest in the success of their undertaking. this interest was further increased by the graphic account that honest john buzzby gave of the death of poor mrs ellice, and the enthusiastic way in which he spoke of his old captain. fred, too, had, by his frank, affable manner, and somewhat reckless disposition, rendered himself a general favourite with the men, and had particularly recommended himself to mivins the steward (who was possessed of an intensely romantic spirit), by stating once or twice, very emphatically, that he (fred) meant to land on the coast of baffin's bay, should the captain fail to find his father, and continue the search on foot and alone. there was no doubt whatever that poor fred was in earnest, and had made up his mind to die in the search, rather than not find him. he little knew the terrible nature of the country in which for a time his lot was to be cast, and the hopelessness of such an undertaking as he meditated. with boyish inconsiderateness he thought not of how his object was to be accomplished; he cared not what impossibilities lay in the way, but with manly determination he made up his mind to quit the ship and search for his father through the length and breadth of the land. let not the reader smile at what he may perhaps style a childish piece of enthusiasm. many a youth, at his age, has dreamed of attempting as great if not greater impossibilities. all honour, we say, to the boy who _dreams_ impossibilities, and greater honour to him who, like fred, _resolves to attempt them_! james watt stared at an iron tea kettle till his eyes were dim, and meditated the monstrous impossibility of making that kettle work like a horse; and men might (perhaps did) smile at james watt _then_; but do men smile at james watt _now_--now that thousands of iron kettles are dashing, like dreadful comets, over the length and breadth of the land, not to mention the sea, with long tails of men, and women, and children behind them? "that's 'ow it is, sir," mivins used to say, when spoken to by fred on the subject, "i've never bin in cold countries myself, sir, but i've bin in 'ot, and i knows that with a stout pair o' legs, and a will to work, a man can work 'is way hanywhere. of course there's not much of a pop'lation in them parts, i've heer'd; but there's heskimos, and where one man can live, so can another, and what one man can do, so can another--that's bin my hexperience, and i'm not ashamed to hown it, i'm not, though i _do_ say it as shouldn't, and i honour you, sir, for your filleral detarmination to find your father, sir, and--" "steward!" shouted the captain down the cabin skylight. "yes, sir!" "bring me the chart." "yes, sir!" and mivins disappeared like a jack-in-the-box from the cabin just as tom singleton entered it. "here we are, fred," he said, seizing a telescope that hung over the cabin door, "within sight of the danish settlement of uppernavik; come on deck and see it." fred needed no second bidding. it was here that the captain had hinted there would, probably, be some information obtained regarding the _pole star_, and it was with feelings of no common interest the two friends examined the low-roofed houses of this out-of-the-way settlement. in an hour afterwards the captain and first mate, with our young friends, landed amid the clamorous greetings of the entire population, and proceeded to the residence of the governor, who received them with great kindness and hospitality; but the only information they could obtain was that, a year ago, captain ellice had been driven there in his brig by stress of weather, and, after refitting and taking in a supply of provisions, had set sail for england. here the _dolphin_ laid in a supply of dried fish, and procured several dogs, besides an esquimaux interpreter and hunter, named meetuck. leaving this little settlement, they stood out once more to sea, and threaded their way among the ice, with which they were now well acquainted in all its forms, from the mighty berg, or mountain of ice, to the wide field. they passed in succession one or two esquimaux settlements, the last of which, votlik, is the most northerly point of colonisation. beyond this all was terra incognita. here enquiry was again made, through the medium of the esquimaux interpreter, who had been taken on board at uppernavik, and they learned that the brig in question had been last seen, beset in the pack, and driving to the northward. whether or not she had ever returned, they could not tell. a consultation was now held, and it was resolved to proceed north as far as the ice would permit, towards smith's sound, and examine the coast carefully in that direction. for several weeks past there had been gradually coming over the aspect of nature, a change to which we have not yet referred, and which filled fred ellice and his friend, the young surgeon, with surprise and admiration; this was the long-continued daylight, which now lasted the whole night round, and increased in intensity every day, as they advanced north. they had, indeed, often heard and read of it before, but their minds had utterly failed to form a correct conception of the exquisite calmness and beauty of the _midnight-day_ of the north. everyone knows that, in consequence of the axis of the earth not being perpendicular to the plane of its orbit round the sun, the poles are alternately directed more or less _towards_ that great luminary during one part of the year, and _away_ from it during another part. so that, far north, the days during the one season grow longer and longer until, at last, there is _one long day_ of many weeks' duration, in which the sun does not set at all; and during the other season there is _one long night_, in which the sun is never seen. it was approaching the height of the summer season when the _dolphin_ entered the arctic regions, and, although the sun descended below the horizon for a short time each night, there was scarcely any diminution of the light at all, and, as far as one's sensations were concerned, there was but one long continuous day, which grew brighter and brighter at midnight, as they advanced. "how thoroughly splendid this is," remarked tom singleton to fred one night, as they sat in their favourite out-look, the main-top, gazing down on the glassy sea, which was covered with snowy icebergs and floes, and bathed in the rays of the sun, "and how wonderful to think that the sun will only set for an hour or so, and then get up as splendid as ever!" the evening was still as death. not a sound broke upon the ear save the gentle cries of a few sea-birds, that dipped ever and anon into the sea, as if to kiss it gently while asleep, and then circled slowly into the bright sky again. the sails of the ship, too, flapped very gently, and a spar creaked plaintively, as the vessel rose and fell on the gentle undulations that seemed to be the breathing of the ocean; but such sounds did not disturb the universal stillness of the hour; neither did the gambols of yonder group of seals and walrus, that were at play round some fantastic blocks of ice; nor did the soft murmur of the swell that broke in surf at the foot of yonder iceberg, whose blue sides were seamed with a thousand water-courses, and whose jagged pinnacles rose up like needles of steel into the clear atmosphere. there were many bergs in sight, of various shapes and sizes, at some distance from the ship, which caused much anxiety to the captain, although they were only a source of admiration to our young friends in the main-top. "tom," said fred, breaking a long silence, "it may seem a strange idea to you, but, do you know, i cannot help fancying that heaven must be something like this." "i'm not sure that that's such a strange idea, fred, for it has two of the characteristics of heaven in it--peace and rest." "true; that didn't strike me. do you know, i wish that it were always calm like this, and that we had no wind at all." tom smiled. "your voyage would be a long one if that were to happen. i dare say the esquimaux would join with you in the wish, however, for their kayaks and oomiaks are better adapted for a calm than a stormy sea." "tom," said fred, breaking another long silence, "you're very tiresome and stupid tonight; why don't you talk to me?" "because this delightful dreamy evening inclines me to think and be silent." "ah, tom! that's your chief fault. you are always inclined to think too much, and to talk too little. now i, on the contrary, am always--" "inclined to talk too much, and think too little; eh, fred?" "bah! don't try to be funny, man; you haven't it in you. did you ever see such a miserable set of creatures as the old esquimaux women are, at uppernavik?" "why, what put _them_ into your head?" enquired tom, laughing. "yonder iceberg; look at it! there's the nose and chin, exactly, of the extraordinary hag you gave your silk pocket-handkerchief to at parting. now, i never saw such a miserable old woman as that before; did you?" tom singleton's whole demeanour changed, and his dark eyes brightened as the strongly marked brows frowned over them, while he replied: "yes, fred, i have seen old women more miserable than that. i have seen women so old that their tottering limbs could scarcely support them, going about in the bitterest november winds, with clothing too scant to cover their wrinkled bodies, and so ragged and filthy, that you would have shrunk from touching it--i have seen such groping about among heaps of filth that the very dogs looked at, and turned away as if in disgust." fred was inclined to laugh at his friend's sudden change of manner, but there was something in the young surgeon's character--perhaps its deep earnestness--that rendered it impossible, at least for his friends, to be jocular when he was disposed to be serious. fred became grave as he spoke. "where have you seen such poor wretches, tom?" he asked with a look of interest. "in the cities, the civilised cities of our own christian land. if you have ever walked about the streets of some of these cities, before the rest of the world was astir, at grey dawn, you must have seen them shivering along, and scratching among the refuse cast out by the tenants of the neighbouring houses. oh, fred, fred, in my professional career, short though it has been, i have seen much of these poor old women, and many others, whom the world never sees on the streets at all, experiencing a slow, lingering death by starvation, and fatigue, and cold. it is the foulest blot on our country, that there is no sufficient provision for the _aged poor_." "i have seen those old women too," replied fred, "but i never thought very seriously about them before." "that's it--that's just it; people don't _think_, otherwise this dreadful state of things would not continue. just listen _now_, for a moment, to what i have to say. but don't imagine that i'm standing up for the poor in general. i don't feel--perhaps i'm wrong," continued tom thoughtfully,--"perhaps i'm wrong--i hope not--but it's a fact i don't feel much for the young and the sturdy poor, and i make it a rule _never_ to give a farthing to _young_ beggars, not even to little children, for i know full well that they are sent out to beg by idle, good-for-nothing parents. i stand up only for the _aged_ poor, because, be they good or wicked, they _cannot_ help themselves. if a man fell down in the street, struck with some dire disease that shrunk his muscles, unstrung his nerves, made his heart tremble, and his skin shrivel up, would you look upon him and then pass him by _without thinking_?" "no!" cried fred in an emphatic tone; "i would not! i would stop and help him." "then, let me ask you," resumed tom earnestly, "is there any difference between the weakness of muscle and the faintness of heart which is produced by disease, and that which is produced by old age, except that the latter is incurable? have not these women feelings like other women? think you that there are not amongst them those who have `known better times?' they think of sons and daughters dead and gone, perhaps, just as other old women in better circumstances do; but they must not indulge such depressing thoughts, they must reserve all the energy, the stamina, they have, to drag round the city--barefoot, it may be, and in the cold--to beg for food, and scratch up what they can find among the cinder-heaps. they groan over past comforts and past times, perhaps, and think of the days when their limbs were strong, and their cheeks were smooth--for they were not always `hags',--and remember that _once_ they had friends who loved them and cared for them, although they are old, unknown, and desolate now." tom paused and pressed his hand upon his flushed forehead. "you may think it strange," he continued, "that i speak to you in this way about poor old women, but i feel _deeply_ for their forlorn condition. the young can help themselves, more or less, and they have strength to stand their sorrows, with _hope_, blessed hope, to keep them up; but _poor_ old men and old women cannot help themselves and cannot stand their sorrows, and, as far as this life is concerned, they have _no hope_; except to die soon and easy, and, if possible, in summer-time, when the wind is not so very cold and bitter." "but how can this be put right, tom?" asked fred in a tone of deep commiseration. "our being sorry for it, and anxious about it (and you've made me sorry, i assure you) can do very little good, you know." "i don't know, fred," replied tom, sinking into his usual quiet tone. "if every city and town in great britain would start a society whose first resolution should be that they would not leave one poor _old_ man or woman unprovided for, _that_ would do it. or if the government would take it in hand _honestly_, that would do it." "call all hands, mr bolton," cried the captain in a sharp voice. "get out the ice-poles, and lower away the boats." "hallo! what's wrong!" said fred, starting up. "getting too near the bergs, i suspect," remarked tom. "i say, fred, before we go on deck, will you promise to do what i ask you?" "well--yes, i will." "will you promise, then, all through your life, especially if you ever come to be rich or influential, to think _of_, and _for_, old men and women who are poor?" "i will," answered fred, "but i don't know that i'll ever be rich, or influential, or able to help them much." "of course you don't. but when a thought about them strikes you, will you always _think it out_, and, if possible, _act it out_, as god shall enable you?" "yes, tom, i promise to do that as well as i can." "that's right, thank you, my boy!" said the young surgeon, as they descended the shrouds and leaped on deck. here they found the captain walking up and down rapidly, with an anxious expression of face. after taking a turn or two he stopped short, and gazed out astern. "set the stun'sails, mr bolton. the breeze will be up in a little, i think. let the men pull with a will." the order was given, and soon the ship was under a cloud of canvas, advancing slowly as the boats towed her between two large icebergs, which had been gradually drawing near to each other the whole afternoon. "is there any danger, buzzby?" enquired fred, as the sturdy sailor stood looking at the larger berg, with an ice-pole in his hands. "danger! ay, that there is, lad! more nor's agreeable, d'ye see. here we are without a breath o' wind to get us on, right between two bergs as could crack us like a walnut. we can't get to starboard of 'em for the current, nor to larboard of 'em for the pack, as ye see, so we must go between them, neck or nothing." the danger was indeed imminent. the two bergs were within a hundred yards of each other, and the smaller of the two, being more easily moved by the current, probably, was setting down on the larger at a rate that bade fair to decide the fate of the _dolphin_ in a few minutes. the men rowed lustily, but their utmost exertions could move the ship but slowly. aid was coming, however, direct from the hand of him who is a refuge in the time of danger. a breeze was creeping over the calm sea right astern, and it was to meet this that the studding sails had been set a-low and aloft, so that the wide-spreading canvas, projecting far to the right and left, had, to an inexperienced eye, the appearance of being out of all proportion to the little hull, by which it was supported. with breathless anxiety those on board stood watching the two bergs and the approaching breeze. at last it came. a few cat's-paws ruffled the surface of the sea, distending the sails for a moment, then leaving them flat and loose as before. this, however, was sufficient; another such puff and the ship was almost out of danger, but before it came, the projecting summit of the smaller berg was overhanging the deck. at this critical moment the wind began to blow steadily, and soon the _dolphin_ was in the open water beyond. five minutes after she had passed, the moving mountains struck with a noise louder than thunder; the summits and large portions of the sides fell, with a succession of crashes like the roaring of artillery, just above the spot where the ship had lain not quarter of an hour before, and the vessel, for some time after, rocked violently to and fro, in the surges that the plunge of the falling masses raised. chapter six. the gale--anchored to a berg which proves to be a treacherous one-- dangers of the "pack"--beset in the ice--mivins shows an enquiring mind--walrus--gale freshens--chains and cables--holding on for life--an unexpected discovery--a "nip" and its terrible consequences--yoked to an iceberg. the narrow escape related in the last chapter was but the prelude to a night of troubles. fortunately, as we have before mentioned, _night_ did not now add darkness to their difficulties. soon after passing the bergs, a stiff breeze sprang up off shore, between which and the _dolphin_ there was a thick belt of loose ice, or sludge, while outside, the pack was in motion, and presented a terrible scene of crashing and grinding masses under the influence of the breeze, which soon freshened to a gale. "keep her away two points," said captain guy to the man at the wheel; "we'll make fast to yonder berg, mr bolton; if this gale carries us into the pack, we shall be swept far out of our course, if, indeed, we escape being nipped and sent to the bottom." being nipped is one of the numberless dangers to which arctic navigators are exposed. should a vessel get between two moving fields or floes of ice, there is a chance, especially in stormy weather, of the ice being forced together and squeezing in the sides of the ship; this is called nipping. "ah!" remarked buzzby, as he stood with folded arms by the capstan, "many and many a good ship has been sent to the bottom by that same. i've see'd a brig, with my own two eyes, squeezed together a'most flat by two big floes of ice, and after doin' it they jist separated agin an' let her go plump down to the bottom. before she was nipped, the crew saved themselves by jumpin' on to the ice, and they wos picked up by our ship that wos in company." "there's no dependin' on the ice, by no means," remarked amos parr, "for i've see'd the self-same sort of thing that ye mention happen to a small schooner in davis straits, only, instead o' crushin' it flat, the ice lifted it right high and dry out o' the water, and then let it down again, without more ado, as sound as iver." "get out the warps and ice-anchors, there," cried the captain. in a moment the men were in the boats, and busy heaving and planting ice-anchors, but it was not until several hours had been spent in this tedious process that they succeeded in making fast to the berg. they had barely accomplished this when the berg gave indications of breaking up, so they cast off again in great haste, and, not long afterwards, a mass of ice, many tons in weight, fell from the edge of the berg close to where they had been moored. the captain now beat up for the land in the hope of finding anchoring-ground. at first the ice presented an impenetrable barrier, but at length a lead of open water was found, through which they passed to within a few hundred yards of the shore, which, at this spot, showed a front of high precipitous cliffs. "stand by to let go the anchor," shouted the captain. "ay, ay, sir!" "down your helm! let go!" down went the anchor to the music of the rattling chain-cable, a sound which had not been heard since the good ship left the shores of old england. "if we were only a few yards farther in, sir," remarked the first mate, "we should be better. i'm afraid of the stream of ice coming round yonder point." "so am i," replied the captain; "but we can scarcely manage it, i fear, on account of the shore ice. get out a boat, mr saunders, and try to fix an anchor. we may warp in a few yards." the anchor was fixed, and the men strained at the capstan with a will, but, notwithstanding their utmost efforts, they could not penetrate the shore ice. meanwhile the wind increased, and snow began to fall in large flakes. the tide, too, as it receded, brought a stream of ice round the point ahead of them, which bore right down on their bows. at first the concussions were slight, and the bow of the ship turned the floes aside, but heavier masses soon came down, and at last one fixed itself on the cable, and caused the anchor to drag with a harsh, grating sound. fred ellice, who stood beside the second mate, near the companion hatch, looked enquiringly at him. "ah! that's bad," said saunders, shaking his head slowly, "i dinna like that sound. if we're carried out into the pack there, dear knows where we'll turn up in the long run." "perhaps we'll turn bottom up, sir," suggested the fat cook, as he passed, at the moment with a tray of meat. mizzle could not resist a joke--no matter how unsuitable the time or dreadful the consequences. "hold your tongue, sir," exclaimed saunders indignantly. "attend to your business, and speak only when you're spoken to." with some difficulty the mass of ice that had got foul of the cable was disengaged, but in a few moments another and a larger mass fixed upon it, and threatened to carry it away. in this extremity the captain ordered the anchor to be hove up, but this was not easily accomplished, and when at last it was hove up to the bow, both flukes were found to have been broken off, and the shank was polished bright with rubbing on the rocks. ice now came rolling down in great quantities and with irresistible force, and at last the ship was whirled into the much-dreaded pack, where she became firmly embedded, and drifted along with it before the gale into the unknown regions of the north all that night. to add to their distress and danger a thick fog overspread the sea, so that they could not tell whither the ice was carrying them, and to warp out of it was impossible. there was nothing for it, therefore, but to drive before the gale and take advantage of the first opening in the ice that should afford them a chance of escape. towards evening of the following day the gale abated, and the sun shone out bright and clear, but the pack remained close as ever, drifting steadily towards the north. "we're far beyond the most northerly sea that has ever yet been reached," remarked captain guy to fred and singleton, as he leaned on the weather bulwarks, and gazed wistfully over the fields of ice in which they were embedded. "i beg your pardon for differing, captain guy, but i think that captain parry was farther north than this when he attempted to reach the pole," remarked saunders, with the air of a man who was prepared to defend his position to the last. "very possibly, mr saunders, but i think we are at least farther north in _this_ direction than anyone has yet been; at least i make it out so by the chart." "i'm no sure o' that," rejoined the second mate positively; "charts are not always to be depended on, and i've heard that whalers have been up hereabouts before now." "perhaps you are right, mr saunders," replied the captain, smiling; "nevertheless i shall take observations and name the various headlands until i find that others have been here before me. mivins, hand me the glass; it seems to me there's a water-sky to the northward." "what is a water-sky, captain?" enquired fred. "it is a peculiar, dark appearance of the sky on the horizon, which indicates open water--just the reverse of that bright appearance which you have often seen in the distance, and which we call the ice-blink." "we'll have open water soon," remarked the second mate authoritatively. "mr saunders," said mivins, who, having just finished clearing away and washing up the debris and dishes of one meal, was enjoying in complete idleness the ten minutes of leisure that intervened between that and preparations for the next,--"mr saunders, sir, can you hinform me, sir, 'ow it is that the sea don't freeze at 'ome the same as it does hout 'ere?" the countenance of the second mate brightened, for he prided himself not a little on his vast and varied stores of knowledge, and nothing pleased him so much as to be questioned, particularly on knotty subjects. "hem! yes, mivins, i can tell 'ee that. ye must know that before fresh water can freeze on the surface the whole volume of it must be cooled down to degrees, and _salt_ water must be cooled down to degrees. noo, frost requires to be very long continued and very sharp indeed before it can cool the deep sea from the top to the bottom, and until it is so cooled it canna freeze." "oh!" remarked mivins, who only half understood the meaning of the explanation, "'ow very hodd. but can you tell me, mr saunders, 'ow it is that them 'ere hicebergs is made? them's wot i don't comprehend no 'ow." "ay," replied saunders, "there has been many a wiser head than yours puzzled for a long time aboot icebergs. but if ye'll use yer eyes you'll see how they are formed. do you see the high cliffs yonder away to the nor'-east? well, there are great masses o' ice that have been formed against them by the melting and freezing of the snows of many years. when these become too heavy to stick to the cliffs, they tumble into the sea and float away as icebergs. but the biggest bergs come from the foot of glaciers. we know what glaciers are, mivins!" "no, sir, i don't." the second mate sighed. "they are immense accumulations of ice, mivins, that have been formed by the freezings and meltings of the snows of hundreds of years. they cover the mountains of norway and switzerland, and many other places in this world, for miles and miles in extent, and sometimes they flow down and fill up whole valleys. i once saw one in norway that filled up a valley eight miles long, two miles broad, and seven or eight hundred feet deep, and that was only a wee bit of it, for i was told by men who had travelled over it that it covered the mountains of the interior, and made them a level field of ice, with a surface like rough, hard snow, for more than twenty miles in extent." "you don't say so, sir!" said mivins in surprise. "and don't they _never_ melt?" "no, never. what they lose in summer they more than gain in winter. moreover, they are always in motion, but they move so slow that you may look at them ever so closely and so long, you'll not be able to observe the motion--just like the hour hand of a watch,--but we know it by observing the changes from year to year. there are immense glaciers here in the arctic regions, and the lumps which they are constantly shedding off into the sea are the icebergs that one sees and hears so much about." mivins seemed deeply impressed with this explanation, and would probably have continued the conversation much longer had he not been interrupted by the voice of his mischievous satellite, davie summers, who touched his forelock and said: "please, mr mivins, shall i lay the table-cloth, or would it be better to slump dinner with tea this afternoon?" mivins started. "ha! caught me napping! down below, you young dog!" the boy dived instantly, followed first by a dish-clout, rolled tightly up and well aimed, and afterwards by his active-limbed superior. both reached the region of smells, cruets, and crockery at the same moment, and each set energetically to work at their never-ending duties. soon after this the ice suddenly loosened, and the crew succeeded, after a few hours' hard labour, in warping the _dolphin_ once more out of the pack; but scarcely had this been accomplished when another storm, which had been gradually gathering, burst upon them, and compelled them once more to seek the shelter of the land. numerous walrus rolled about in the bays here, and they approached much nearer to the vessel than they had yet done, affording those on board a good view of their huge, uncouth visages, as they shook their shaggy fronts and ploughed up the waves with their tusks. these enormous creatures are the elephants of the arctic ocean. their aspect is particularly grim and fierce, and, being nearly equal to elephants in bulk, they are not less terrible than they appear. in form they somewhat resemble seals, having barrel-shaped bodies, with round, or rather square, blunt heads and shaggy bristling moustache, and two long ivory tusks which curve downwards instead of upwards, serving the purpose frequently of hooks, by means of which and their fore-flippers they can pull themselves up on the rocks and icebergs. indeed they are sometimes found at a considerable height up the sides of steep cliffs, basking in the sun. fred was anxious to procure the skull of one of these monstrous animals, but the threatening appearance of the weather rendered any attempt to secure one at that time impossible. a dark sinister scowl overhung the blink under the cloud-bank to the southward, and the dovkies which had enlivened their progress hitherto forsook the channel, as if they distrusted the weather. captain guy made every possible preparation to meet the coming storm, by warping down under the shelter of a ledge of rock, to which he made fast with two good hawsers, while everything was made snug on board. "we are going to catch it, i fear," said fred, glancing at the black clouds that hurried across the sky to the northward, while he walked the deck with his friend, tom singleton. "i suspect so," replied tom, "and it does not raise my spirits to see saunders shaking his huge visage so portentously. do you know, i have a great belief in that fellow. he seems to know everything and to have gone through every sort of experience, and i notice that most of his prognostications come to pass." "so they do, tom," said fred, "but i wish he would put a better face on things till they _do_ come to pass. his looks are enough to frighten one." "i think we shall require another line out, mr saunders," remarked the captain, as the gale freshened, and the two hawsers were drawn straight and rigid like bars of iron: "send ashore and make a whale-line fast immediately." the second mate obeyed with a grunt that seemed to insinuate that _he_ would have had one out long ago. in a few minutes it was fast, and not a moment too soon, for immediately after it blew a perfect hurricane. heavier and heavier it came, and the ice began to drift more wildly than ever. the captain had just given orders to make fast another line, when the sharp, twanging snap of a cord was heard. the six-inch hawser had parted, and they were swinging by the two others, with the gale roaring like a lion through the spars and rigging. half a minute more and "twang, twang!" came another report, and the whale-line was gone. only one rope now held them to the land, and prevented them being swept into the turmoil of ice, and wind, and water, from which the rocky ledge protected them. the hawser was a good one--a new ten-inch rope. it sung like the deep tones of an organ, loud above the rattle of the rigging and the shrouds, but that was its death-song. it gave way with the noise of a cannon, and in the smoke that followed its recoil, they were dragged out by the wild ice and driven hither and hither at its mercy. with some difficulty the ship was warped into a place of comparative security in the rushing drift, but it was soon thrown loose again, and severely squeezed by the rolling masses. then an attempt was made to set the sails and beat up for the land, but the rudder was almost unmanageable owing to the ice, and nothing could be made of it, so they were compelled to go right before the wind under close-reefed top-sails, in order to keep some command of the ship. all hands were on deck watching in silence the ice ahead of them, which presented a most formidable aspect. away to the north the strait could be seen growing narrower, with heavy ice-tables grinding up and clogging it from cliff to cliff on either side. about seven in the evening they were close upon the piling masses, to enter into which seemed certain destruction. "stand by to let go the anchor," cried the captain, in the desperate hope of being able to wind the ship. "what's that ahead of us?" exclaimed the first mate suddenly. "ship on the starboard bow, right inshore!" roared the look-out. the attention of the crew was for a moment called from their own critical situation towards the strange vessel which now came into view, having been previously concealed from them by a large grounded berg. "can you make her out, mr bolton?" "yes, sir, i think she's a large brig, but she seems much chafed, and there's no name left on the stern, if ever there was one." as he spoke, the driving snow and fog cleared up partially, and the brig was seen not three hundred yards from them, drifting slowly into the loose ice. there was evidently no one on board, and although one or two of the sails were loose, they hung in shreds from the yards. scarcely had this been noted when the _dolphin_ struck against a large mass of ice, and quivered under the violence of the shock. "let go!" shouted the captain. down went the heaviest anchor they had, and for two minutes the chain flew out at the hawse-hole. "hold on!" the chain was checked, but the strain was awful. a mass of ice, hundreds of tons weight, was tearing down towards the bow. there was no hope of resisting it. time was not even afforded to attach a buoy or log to the cable, so it was let slip, and thus the _dolphin's_ best bower was lost for ever. but there was no time to think of or regret this, for the ship was now driving down with the gale, scraping against a lee of ice which was seldom less than thirty feet thick. almost at the same moment the strange vessel was whirled close to them, not more than fifty yards distant, between two driving masses of thick ice. "what if it should be my father's brig?" whispered fred ellice, as he grasped singleton's arm, and turned to him a face of ashy paleness. "no fear of that, lad," said buzzby, who stood near the larboard gangway and had overheard the remark. "i'd know your father's brig among a thousand--" as he spoke, the two masses of ice closed, and the brig was nipped between them. for a few seconds she seemed to tremble like a living creature, and every timber creaked. then she was turned slowly on one side, until the crew of the _dolphin_ could see down into her hold, where the beams were giving way and cracking up as matches might be crushed in the grasp of a strong hand. then the larboard bow was observed to yield as if it were made of soft clay, the starboard bow was pressed out, and the ice was forced into the forecastle. scarcely three minutes had passed since the nip commenced; in one minute more the brig went down, and the ice was rolling wildly, as if in triumph, over the spot where she had disappeared. the fate of this vessel, which might so soon be their own, threw a momentary gloom over the crew of the _dolphin_, but their position left them no time for thought. one upturned mass rose above the gunwale, smashed in the bulwarks, and deposited half a ton of ice on deck. scarcely had this danger passed when a new enemy appeared in sight ahead. directly in their way, just beyond the line of floe-ice against which they were alternately thumping and grinding, lay a group of bergs. there was no possibility of avoiding them, and the only question was whether they were to be dashed to pieces on their hard blue sides or, perchance, in some providential nook to find a refuge from the storm. "there's an open lead between them and the floe-ice," exclaimed bolton in a hopeful tone of voice, seizing an ice-pole and leaping on the gunwale. "look alive, men, with your poles," cried the captain, "and shove with a will." the "ay, ay, sir!" of the men was uttered with a heartiness that showed how powerfully this gleam of hope acted on their spirits; but a new damp was cast over them when, on gaining the open passage, they discovered that the bergs were not at rest, but were bearing down on the floe-ice with slow but awful momentum, and threatened to crush the ship between the two. just then a low berg came driving up from the southward, dashing the spray over its sides, and with its fore-head ploughing up the smaller ice as if in scorn. a happy thought flashed across the captain's mind. "down the quarter boat," he cried. in an instant it struck the water, and four men were on the thwarts. "cast an ice-anchor on that berg." peter grim obeyed the order, and, with a swing that hercules would have envied, planted it securely. in another moment the ship was following in the wake of this novel tug! it was a moment of great danger, for the bergs encroached on their narrow canal as they advanced, obliging them to brace the yards to clear the impending ice-walls, and they shaved the large berg so closely that the port-quarter boat would have been crushed if it had not been taken from the davits. five minutes of such travelling brought them abreast of a grounded berg, to which they resolved to make fast; the order was given to cast off the rope; away went their white tug on his race to the far north, and the ship swung round in safety under the lee of the berg, where the crew acknowledged with gratitude their merciful deliverance from imminent danger. chapter seven. new characters introduced--an old game under novel circumstances-- remarkable appearances in the sky--o'riley meets with a mishap. dumps was a remarkably grave and sly character, and poker was a wag--an incorrigible wag--in every sense of the term. moreover, although they had an occasional fight, dumps and poker were excellent friends, and great favourites with the crew. we have not yet introduced these individuals to our reader; but as they will act a conspicuous part in the history of the _dolphin's_ adventurous career in the arctic regions, we think it right now to present them. while at uppernavik, captain guy had purchased a team of six good, tough esquimaux dogs, being desirous of taking them to england, and there presenting them to several of his friends who were anxious to possess specimens of those animals. two of these dogs stood out conspicuous from their fellows, not only in regard to personal appearance, but also in reference to peculiarities of character. one was pure white, with a lively expression of countenance, a large shaggy body, two erect, sharp-pointed ears, and a short projection that once had been a tail. owing to some cause unknown, however, his tail had been cut or bitten off, and nothing save the stump remained. but this stump did as much duty as if it had been fifty tails in one. it was never at rest for a moment, and its owner evidently believed that wagging it was the true and only way to touch the heart of man; therefore the dog wagged it, so to speak, doggedly. in consequence of this animal's thieving propensities, which led him to be constantly _poking_ into every hole and corner of the ship in search of something to steal, he was named _poker_. poker had three jet-black spots in his white visage--one was the point of his nose, the other two were his eyes. poker's bosom friend, dumps, was so named because he had the sulkiest expression of countenance that ever fell to the lot of a dog. hopelessly incurable melancholy seemed to have taken possession of his mind, for he never by any chance smiled--and dogs do smile, you know, just as evidently as human beings do, although not exactly with their mouths. dumps never romped either, being old, but he sat and allowed his friend poker to romp round him with a sort of sulky satisfaction, as if he experienced the greatest enjoyment his nature was capable of in witnessing the antics of his youthful companion--for poker was young. the prevailing colour of dumps's shaggy hide was a dirty brown, with black spots, two of which had fixed themselves rather awkwardly round his eyes, like a pair of spectacles. dumps, also, was a thief, and, indeed, so were all his brethren. dumps and poker were both of them larger and stronger, and in every way better, than their comrades; and they afterwards were the sturdy, steady, unflinching leaders of the team during many a toilsome journey over the frozen sea. one magnificent afternoon, a few days after the escape of the _dolphin_ just related, dumps and poker lay side by side in the lee-scuppers, calmly sleeping off the effects of a surfeit produced by the eating of a large piece of pork, for which the cook had searched in vain for three-quarters of an hour, and of which he at last found the bare bone sticking in the hole of the larboard pump. "bad luck to them dogs!" exclaimed david mizzle, stroking his chin as he surveyed the bone. "if i could only find out, now, which of ye it was, i'd have ye slaughtered right off, and cooked for the mess, i would." "it was dumps as did it, i'll bet you a month's pay," said peter grim, as he sat on the end of the windlass refilling his pipe, which he had just smoked out. "not a bit of it," remarked amos parr, who was squatted on the deck busily engaged in constructing a rope mat, while several of the men sat round him engaged in mending sails, or stitching canvas slippers, etcetera. "not a bit of it, grim; dumps is too honest by half to do sich a thing. 'twas poker as did it, i can see by the roll of his eye below the skin. the blackguard's only shammin' sleep." on hearing his name mentioned, poker gently opened his right eye, but did not move. dumps, on the contrary, lay as if he heard not the base aspersion on his character. "what'll ye bet it was dumps as did it?" cried davie summers, who passed at the moment with a dish of some sort of edible towards the galley or cooking-house on deck. "i'll _bet_ you over the 'ead, i will, if you don't mind your business," said mivins. "you'd _bet_ter not," retorted davie with a grin. "it's as much as your situation's worth to lay a finger on me." "that's it, youngster, give it 'im," cried several of the men, while the boy confronted his superior, taking good care, however, to keep the fore-mast between them. "what do you mean, you young rascal?" cried mivins with a frown. "mean!" said davie, "why, i mean that if you touch me i'll resign office; and if i do that, you'll have to go out, for everyone knows you can't get on without me." "i say, mivins," cried tom green, the carpenter's mate, "if you were asked to say: `hold on hard to this handspike here, my hearties,' how would ye go about it?" "he'd 'it you a pretty 'ard crack hover the 'ead with it, 'e would," remarked one of the men, throwing a ball of yarn at davie, who stood listening to the conversation with a broad grin. in stepping back to avoid the blow the lad trod on dumps's paw, and instantly there came from the throat of that excellent dog a roar of anguish that caused poker to leap, as the cook expressed it, nearly out of his own skin. dogs are by nature extremely sympathetic and remarkably inquisitive; and no sooner was dumps's yell heard than it was vigorously responded to by every dog in the ship, as the whole pack rushed each from his respective sleeping-place, and looked round in amazement. "hallo! what's wrong there for'ard?" enquired saunders, who had been pacing the quarter-deck with slow giant strides, arguing mentally with himself in default of a better adversary. "only trod on dumps's paw, sir," said mivins as he hurried aft; "the men are sky-larking." "sky-larking, are you?" said saunders, going forward; "weel, lads, you've had a lot o' hard work of late, ye may go and take a run on the ice." instantly the men, like boys set free from school, sprang up, tumbled over the side, and were scampering over the ice like madmen. "pitch over the ball!--the football!" they cried. in a second the ball was tossed over the ship's side, and a vigorous game was begun. for two days past the _dolphin_ had been sailing with difficulty through large fields of ice, sometimes driving against narrow necks and tongues that interrupted her passage from one lead, or canal, to another; at other times boring with difficulty through compact masses of sludge, or, occasionally, when unable to advance farther, making fast to a large berg or field. they were compelled to proceed north, however, in consequence of the pack having become fixed towards the south, and thus rendering retreat impossible in that direction until the ice should be again set in motion. captain guy, however, saw, by the steady advance of the larger bergs, that the current of the ocean in that place flowed southward, and trusted that in a short time the ice which had been forced into the strait by the gales, would be released, and open up a passage. meanwhile he pushed along the coast, examining every bay and inlet in the hope of discovering some trace of the _pole star_ or her crew. on the day about which we are writing, the ship was beset by large fields, the snow-white surfaces of which extended north and south to the horizon, while on the east the cliffs rose in dark, frowning precipices from the midst of the glaciers that encumber them all the year round. it was a lovely arctic day. the sun shone with unclouded splendour, and the bright air, which trembled with that liquidity of appearance that one occasionally sees in very hot weather under peculiar circumstances, was vocal with the wild music of thousands of gulls, and auks, and other sea-birds, which clustered on the neighbouring cliffs, and flew overhead in clouds. all round, the pure surfaces of the ice-fields were broken by the shadows which the hummocks and bergs cast over them, and by the pools of clear water which shone like crystals in their hollows, while the beautiful beryl blue of the larger bergs gave a delicate colouring to the dazzling scene. words cannot describe the intense _glitter_ that characterised everything. every point seemed a diamond; every edge sent forth a gleam of light, and many of the masses reflected the rich prismatic colours of the rainbow. it seemed as if the sun himself had been multiplied in order to add to the excessive brilliancy, for he was surrounded by _parhelia_, or _sun-dogs_ as the men called them. this peculiarity in the sun's appearance was very striking. the great orb of day was about ten degrees above the horizon, and a horizontal line of white passed completely through it extending to a considerable distance on either hand, while around it were two distinct halos, or circles of light. on the inner halo were situated the mock-suns, which were four in number--one above and one below the sun, and one on each side of him. not a breath of wind stirred the little flag that drooped from the mizzen-peak, and the clamorous ceaseless cries of sea-birds, added to the merry shouts and laughter of the men, as they followed the restless football, rendered the whole a scene of life, as it was emphatically one of beauty. "ain't it glorious?" panted davie summers vehemently, as he stopped exhausted in a headlong race beside one of his comrades, while the ball was kicked hopelessly beyond his reach by a comparatively fresh member of the party. "ah! then, it bates the owld country intirely, it does," replied o'riley, wiping the perspiration from his forehead. it is needless to say that o'riley was an irishman. we have not mentioned him until now, because up to this time he had not done anything to distinguish himself beyond his messmates; but on this particular day o'riley's star was in the ascendant, and fortune seemed to have singled him out as an object of her special attention. he was a short man, and a broad man, and a particularly _rugged_ man--so to speak. he was all angles and corners. his hair stuck about his head in violently rigid and entangled tufts, rendering it a matter of wonder how anything in the shape of a hat could stick on. his brow was a countless mass of ever-varying wrinkles, which gave to his sly visage an aspect of humorous anxiety that was highly diverting--and all the more diverting when you came to know that the man had not a spark of anxiety in his composition, though he often said he had. his dress, like that of most jack-tars, was naturally rugged, and he contrived to make it more so than usual. "an' it's hot, too, it is," he continued, applying his kerchief again to his pate. "if it warn't for the ice we stand on, we'd be melted down, i do belave, like bits o' whale blubber." "wot a jolly game football is, ain't it?" said davie, seating himself on a hummock, and still panting hard. "ay, boy, that's jist what it is. the only objiction i have agin it is that it makes ye a'most kick the left leg clane off yer body." "why don't you kick with your right leg, then, stupid, like other people?" enquired summers. "why don't i, is it? troth, then, i don't know for sartin. me father lost his left leg at the great battle o' the nile, and i've sometimes thought that had somethin' to do wid it; but then me mother was lame o' the _right_ leg intirely, and wint about wid a crutch, so i can't make out how it was, d'ye see?" "look out, pat," exclaimed summers, starting up, "here comes the ball." as he spoke, the football came skimming over the ice, towards the spot on which they stood, with about thirty of the men running at full speed and shouting like maniacs after it. "that's your sort, my hearties! another like that and it's home! pitch into it, mivins. you're the boy for me. now, then, grim, trip him up! hallo, buzzby, you bluff-bowed dutchman, luff! luff! or i'll stave in your ribs! mind your eye, mizzle, there's green, he'll be into your larboard quarter in no time. hurrah! mivins, up in the air with it. kick, boy, kick like a spanker boom in a hurricane!" such were a few of the expressions that showered like hail round the men as they rushed hither and thither after the ball. and here we may remark that the crew of the _dolphin_ played football in a somewhat different style, from the way in which that noble game is played by boys in england. sides, indeed, were chosen, and boundaries were marked out, but very little if any attention was paid to such secondary matters! to kick the ball, and keep on kicking it in front of his companions, was the ambition of each man; and so long as he could get a kick at it that caused it to fly from the ground like a cannon-shot, little regard was had by anyone to the direction in which it was propelled. but, of course, in this effort to get a kick, the men soon became scattered over the field, and ever and anon the ball would fall between two men, who rushed at it simultaneously from opposite directions. the inevitable result was a collision, by which both men were suddenly and violently arrested in their career. but generally the shock resulted in one of the men being sent staggering backwards, and the other getting the _kick_. when the two were pretty equally matched, both were usually, as they expressed it, "brought up all standing", in which case a short scuffle ensued, as each endeavoured to trip up the heels of his adversary. to prevent undue violence in such struggles, a rule was laid down that hands were not to be used on any account. they might use their feet, legs, shoulders, and elbows, but not their hands. in such rough play the men were more equally matched than might have been expected, for the want of weight among the smaller men was often more than counterbalanced by their activity; and frequently a sturdy little fellow launched himself so vigorously against a heavy tar as to send him rolling head over heels on the ice. this was not always the case, however, and few ventured to come into collision with peter grim, whose activity was on a par with his immense size. buzzby contented himself with galloping on the outskirts of the fight, and putting in a kick when fortune sent the ball in his way. in this species of warfare he was supported by the fat cook, whose oily carcass could neither stand the shocks nor keep up with the pace of his messmates. mizzle was a particularly energetic man in his way, however, and frequently kicked with such good-will that he missed the ball altogether, and the tremendous swing of his leg lifted him from the ice, and laid him sprawling on his back. "look out ahead!" shouted green, the carpenter's mate; "there's a sail bearing down on your larboard bow." mivins, who had the ball before him at the moment, saw his own satellite, davie, coming down towards him with vicious intentions. he quietly pushed the ball before him for a few yards, then kicked it far over the boy's head, and followed it up like an antelope. mivins depended for success on his almost superhuman activity. his tall, slight frame could not stand the shocks of his comrades, but no one could equal or come near to him in speed, and he was quite an adept at dodging a _charge_, and allowing his opponent to rush far past the ball by the force of his own momentum. such a charge did peter grim make at him at this moment. "starboard hard!" yelled davie summers, as he observed his master's danger. "starboard it is!" replied mivins, and, leaping aside to avoid the shock, he allowed grim to pass. grim knew his man, however, and had held himself in hand, so that in a moment he pulled up and was following close on his heels. "it's an ill wind that blows no good," cried one of the crew, towards whose foot the ball rolled, as he quietly kicked it into the centre of the mass of men. grim and mivins turned back, and for a time looked on at the general make that ensued. it seemed as though the ball must inevitably be crushed among them as they struggled and kicked hither and thither for five minutes, in their vain efforts to get a kick; and during those few exciting moments many tremendous kicks, aimed at the ball, took effect upon shins, and many shouts of glee terminated in yells of anguish. "it can't last much longer!" screamed the cook, his face streaming with perspiration, and beaming with glee, as he danced round the outside of the circle. "there it goes!" as he spoke, the ball flew out of the circle, like a shell from a mortar. unfortunately it went directly over mizzle's head. before he could wink he went down before them, and the rushing mass of men passed over him like a mountain torrent over a blade of grass. meanwhile mivins ran ahead of the others, and gave the ball a kick that nearly burst it and down it came exactly between o'riley and grim, who chanced to be far ahead of the others. grim dashed at it. "och! ye big villain," muttered the irishman to himself, as he put down his head and rushed against the carpenter like a battering-ram. big though he was, grim staggered back from the impetuous shock, and o'riley, following up his advantage, kicked the ball in a side direction, away from everyone except buzzby, who happened to have been steering rather wildly over the field of ice. buzzby, on being brought thus unexpectedly within reach of the ball, braced up his energies for a kick, but seeing o'riley coming down towards him like a runaway locomotive, he pulled up, saying quietly to himself: "ye may take it all yer own way, lad; i'm too old a bird to go for to make my carcass a buffer for a mad-cap like you to run agin." jack mivins, however, was troubled by no such qualms. he happened to be about the same distance from the ball as o'riley, and ran like a deer to reach it first. a pool of water lay in his path, however, and the necessity of going round it enabled the irishman to gain on him a little, so that it became evident that both would come up at the same moment and a collision be inevitable. "hold yer wind, paddy," shouted the men, who paused for a moment to watch the result of the race. "mind your timbers, mivins! back your top-sails, o'riley; mind how he yaws!" then there was a momentary silence of breathless expectation. the two men seemed about to meet with a shock that would annihilate both, when mivins bounded to one side like an india-rubber ball. o'riley shot past him like a rocket, and the next instant went head-foremost into the pool of water. this unexpected termination to the affair converted the intended huzzah of the men into a yell of mingled laughter and consternation as they hastened in a body to the spot; but before they reached it o'riley's head and shoulders reappeared, and when they came up, he was standing on the margin of the pool blowing like a walrus. "oh, then, but it is cowld!" he exclaimed, wringing the water from his garments. "och, where's the ball? give me a kick or i'll freeze, so i will." as he spoke, the drenched irishman seized the ball from mivins' hands and gave it a kick that sent it high into the air. he was too wet and heavy to follow it up, however, so he ambled off towards the ship as vigorously as his clothes would allow him, followed by the whole crew. chapter eight. fred and the doctor go on an excursion, in which, among other strange things, they meet with red snow and a white bear, and fred makes his first essay as a sportsman. but where were fred ellice and tom singleton all this time? the reader will probably ask. long before the game at football was suggested, they had obtained leave of absence from the captain, and, loaded with game-bags, a botanical box, and geological hammer, and a musket, were off along the coast on a semi-scientific cruise. young singleton carried the botanical box and hammer, being an enthusiastic geologist and botanist, while fred carried the game-bag and musket. "you see, tom," he said, as they stumbled along over the loose ice towards the ice-belt that lined the cliffs,--"you see, i'm a great dab at ornithology, especially when i've got a gun on my shoulder. when i haven't a gun, strange to say, i don't feel half so enthusiastic about birds!" "that's a very peculiar style of regarding the science. don't you think it would be worth while communicating your views on the subject to one of the scientific bodies when we get home again? they might elect you a member, fred." "well, perhaps i shall," replied fred gravely; "but i say, to be serious, i'm really going to screw up my energies as much as possible, and make coloured drawings of all the birds i can get hold of in the arctic regions. at least i would like to try." fred finished his remark with a sigh, for just then the object for which he had gone out to those regions occurred to him, and although the natural buoyancy and hopefulness of his feelings enabled him generally to throw off anxiety in regard to his father's fate, and join in the laugh, and jest, and game as heartily as anyone on board, there were times when his heart failed him, and he almost despaired of ever seeing his father again; and these feelings of despondency had been more frequent, since the day on which he witnessed the sudden and utter destruction of the strange brig. "don't let your spirits down, fred," said tom, whose hopeful and earnest disposition often reanimated his friend's drooping spirits. "it will only unfit you for doing any good service; besides, i think we have no cause yet to despair. we know that your father came up this inlet, or strait, or whatever it is, and that he had a good stock of provisions with him, according to the account we got at uppernavik, and it is not more than a year since he was there. many and many a whaler and discovery ship has wintered more than a year in these regions. and then, consider the immense amount of animal life all around us. they might have laid up provisions for many months long before winter set in." "i know all that," replied fred, with a shake of his head; "but think of yon brig that we saw go down in about ten minutes." "well, so i do think of it. no doubt the brig was lost very suddenly, but there was ample time, had there been anyone on board, to have leaped upon the ice, and they might have got to land by jumping from one piece to another. such things have happened before, frequently. to say truth, at every point of land we turn, i feel a sort of expectation, amounting almost to certainty, that we shall find your father and his party travelling southward on their way to the danish settlements." "perhaps you are right. god grant that it may be so!" as he spoke they reached the fixed ice which ran along the foot of the precipices for some distance, like a road of hard white marble. many large rocks lay scattered over it, some of them several tons in weight, and one or two balanced in a very remarkable way on the edge of the cliffs. "there's a curious-looking gull i should like to shoot," exclaimed fred, pointing to a bird that hovered over his head, and throwing forward the muzzle of his gun. "fire away, then," said his friend, stepping back a pace. fred, being unaccustomed to the use of firearms, took a wavering aim and fired. "what a bother! i've missed it!" "try again," remarked tom with a quiet smile, as the whole cliff vomited forth an innumerable host of birds, whose cries were perfectly deafening. "it's my opinion," said fred with a comical grin, "that if i shut my eyes and point upwards i can't help hitting something; but i particularly want yon fellow, because he's beautifully marked. ah! i see him sitting on a rock yonder, so here goes once more." fred now proceeded towards the coveted bird in the fashion that is known by the name of _stalking_--that is, creeping as close up to your game as possible, so as to get a good shot; and it said much for his patience and his future success, the careful manner in which, on this occasion, he wound himself in and out among the rocks and blocks of ice on the shore in the hope of obtaining that sea-gull. at last he succeeded in getting to within about fifteen yards of it, and then, resting his musket on a lump of ice, and taking an aim so long and steadily that his companion began to fancy he must have gone to sleep, he fired, and blew the gull to atoms! there was scarcely so much as a shred of it to be found. fred bore his disappointment and discomfiture manfully. he formed a resolution then and there to become a good shot, and although he did not succeed exactly in becoming so that day, he nevertheless managed to put several fine specimens of gulls and an auk into his bag. the last bird amused him much, being a creature with a dumpy little body and a beak of preposterously large size and comical aspect. there were also a great number of eider ducks flying about but they failed to procure a specimen. singleton was equally successful in his scientific researches. he found several beautifully green mosses, one species of which was studded with pale-yellow flowers, and, in one place, where a stream trickled down the steep sides of the cliffs, he discovered a flower-growth which was rich in variety of colouring. amid several kinds of tufted grasses were seen growing a small purple flower and the white star of the chickweed. the sight of all this richness of vegetation growing in a little spot close beside the snow, and amid such cold arctic scenery, would have delighted a much less enthusiastic spirit than that of our young surgeon. he went quite into raptures with it and stuffed his botanical box with mosses and rocks until it could hold no more, and became a burden that cost him a few sighs before he got back to the ship. the rocks were found to consist chiefly of red sandstone. there was also a good deal of greenstone and gneiss, and some of the spires of these that shot up to a considerable height were particularly striking and picturesque objects. but the great sight of the day's excursion was that which unexpectedly greeted their eyes on rounding a cape towards which they had been walking for several hours. on passing this point they stopped with an exclamation of amazement. before them lay a scene such as the arctic regions alone can produce. in front lay a vast reach of the strait, which at this place opened up abruptly and stretched away northward laden with floes, and fields, and hummocks, and bergs of every shade and size, to the horizon, where the appearance of the sky indicated open water. ponds of various sizes, and sheets of water whose dimensions entitled them to be styled lakes, spangled the white surface of the floes, and around these were sporting innumerable flocks of wild fowl, many of which, being pure white, glanced like snow-flakes in the sunshine. far off to the west the ice came down with heavy uniformity to the water's edge. on the right there was an array of cliffs whose frowning grandeur filled them with awe. they varied from twelve to fifteen hundred feet in height, and some of the precipices descended sheer down seven or eight hundred feet into the sea, over which they cast a dark shadow. just at the feet of our young discoverers, for such we may truly call them, a deep bay or valley trended away to the right, a large portion of which was filled with the spur of a glacier, whose surface was covered with _pink snow_! one can imagine with what feelings the two youths gazed on this beautiful sight. it seemed as if that valley, instead of forming a portion of the sterile region beyond the arctic circle, were one of the sunniest regions of the south, for a warm glow rested on the bosom of the snow, as if the sun were shedding upon it his rosiest hues. a little farther to the north the red snow ceased, or only occurred here and there in patches, and beyond it there appeared another gorge in the cliffs within which rose a tall column of rock, so straight and cylindrical that it seemed to be a production of art. the whole of the back country was one great rolling distance of glacier, and, wherever a crevice or gorge in the riven cliffs afforded an opportunity, this ocean of land-ice sent down spurs into the sea, the extremities of which were constantly shedding off huge bergs into the water. "what a scene!" exclaimed tom singleton, when he found words to express his admiration. "i did not think that our world contained so grand a sight. it surpasses my wildest dreams of fairy-land." "fairy-land!" ejaculated fred, with a slight look of contempt; "do you know, since i came to this part of the world i've come to the conclusion that fairy tales are all stuff, and very inferior stuff too! why, this reality is a thousand million times grander than anything that was ever invented. but what surprises me most is the red snow. what can be the cause of it?" "i don't know," replied singleton; "it has long been a matter of dispute among learned men; but we must examine it for ourselves, so come along." the remarkable colour of the snow referred to, although a matter of dispute at the period of the _dolphin's_ visit to the arctic seas, is generally admitted now to be the result of a curious and extremely minute vegetable growth, which spreads not only over its surface, but penetrates into it sometimes to a depth of several feet. the earlier navigators who discovered it, and first told the astonished world that the substance which they had been accustomed to associate with the idea of the purest and most radiant whiteness had been seen by them lying _red_ upon the ground, attributed the phenomenon to innumerable multitudes of minute creatures belonging to the order _radiata_, but the discovery of red snow among the central alps of europe, and in the pyrenees, and on the mountains of norway, where _marine_ animalcules could not exist, effectually overturned this idea. the colouring matter has now been ascertained to result from plants belonging to the order called _algae_, which have a remarkable degree of vitality, and possess the power, to an amazing extent, of growing and spreading with rapidity even over such an ungenial soil as the arctic snow. while singleton was examining the red snow, and vainly endeavouring to ascertain the nature of the minute specks of matter, by which it was coloured, fred continued to gaze with a look of increasing earnestness towards the tall column, around which a bank of fog was spreading, and partially concealing it from view. at length he attracted the attention of his companion towards it. "i say, i'm half inclined to believe that yon is no work of nature, but a monument set up to attract the attention of ships. don't you think so?" singleton regarded the object in question for some time. "i don't think so, fred; it is larger than you suppose, for the fog-bank deceives us; but let us go and see--it cannot be far off." as they drew near to the tall rock, fred's hopes began to fade, and soon were utterly quenched by the fog clearing away and showing that the column was indeed of nature's own constructing. it was a single, solitary shaft of green limestone, which stood on the brink of a deep ravine, and was marked by the slaty limestone that once encased it. the length of the column was apparently about five hundred feet, and the pedestal of sandstone on which it stood was itself upwards of two hundred feet high. this magnificent column seemed the flag-staff of a gigantic crystal fortress, which was suddenly revealing by the clearing away of the fog-bank to the north. it was the face of the great glacier of the interior, which here presented an unbroken perpendicular front--a sweep of solid glassy wall, which rose three hundred feet above the water-level, with an unknown depth below it. the sun glittered on the crags, and peaks, and battlements of this ice fortress as if the mysterious inhabitants of the far north had lit up their fires, and planted their artillery to resist further invasion. the effect upon the minds of the two youths, who were probably the first to gaze upon those wondrous visions of the icy regions, was tremendous. for a long time neither of them could utter a word, and it would be idle to attempt to transcribe the language, in which, at length, their excited feelings sought to escape. it was not until their backs had been for some time turned on the scene, and the cape near the valley of red snow had completely shut it out from view, that they could condescend to converse again in their ordinary tones on ordinary subjects. as they hastened back over the ice-belt at the foot of the cliffs, a loud boom rang out in the distance, and rolled in solemn echoes along the shore. "there goes a gun," exclaimed tom singleton, hastily pulling out his watch. "hallo! do you know what time it is?" "pretty late, i suppose; it was afternoon, i know, when we started, and we must have been out a good while now. what time is it?" "just two o'clock in the morning!" "what! do you mean to say it was _yesterday_ when we started, and that we've been walking all night, and got into _to-morrow morning_ without knowing it?" "even so, fred. we have overshot our time, and the captain is signalling us to make haste. he said that he would not fire unless there seemed some prospect of the ice moving, so we had better run, unless we wish to be left behind; come along." they had not proceeded more than half a mile when a polar bear walked leisurely out from behind a lump of ice, where it had been regaling itself on a dead seal, and sauntered slowly out towards the icebergs seaward, not a hundred yards in advance of them. "hallo! look there! what a monster!" shouted fred, as he cocked his musket and sprang forward. "what'll you do, tom, you've no gun?" "never mind, i'll do what i can with the hammer. only make sure you don't miss. don't fire till you are quite close to him." they were running after the bear at top speed while they thus conversed in hasty and broken sentences, when suddenly they came to a yawning crack in the ice, about thirty feet wide, and a mile long on either hand, with the rising tide boiling at the bottom of it. bruin's pursuers came to an abrupt halt. "now, isn't that disgusting!" probably it was, and the expression of chagrin on fred's countenance as he said so evidently showed that he meant it, but there is no doubt that this interruption to their hunt was extremely fortunate; for to attack a polar bear with a musket charged only with small shot, and a geological hammer, would have been about as safe and successful an operation as trying to stop a locomotive with one's hand. neither of them had yet had experience of the enormous strength of this white monarch of the frozen regions and his tenacity of life, although both were reckless enough to rush at him with any arms they chanced to have. "give him a long shot quick!" cried singleton. fred fired instantly, and the bear stopped, and looked round, as much as to say: "did you speak, gentlemen?" then, not receiving a reply, he walked away with dignified indifference, and disappeared among the ice-hummocks. an hour afterwards the two wanderers were seated at a comfortable breakfast in the cabin of the _dolphin_, relating their adventures to the captain and mates, and, although unwittingly, to mivins, who generally managed so to place himself, while engaged in the mysterious operations of his little pantry, that most of the cabin-talk reached his ear, and travelled thence through his mouth to the forecastle. the captain was fully aware of this fact, but he winked at it, for there was nothing but friendly feeling on board the ship, and no secrets. when, however, matters of serious import had to be discussed, the cabin door was closed, and mivins turned to expend himself on davie summers, who, in the capacity of a listener, was absolutely necessary to the comfortable existence of the worthy steward. having exhausted their appetites and their information, fred and tom were told that, during their absence, a bear and two seals had been shot by meetuck, the esquimaux interpreter, whom they had taken on board at uppernavik; and they were further informed that the ice was in motion to the westward, and that there was every probability of their being released by the falling tide. having duly and silently weighed these facts for a few minutes, they simultaneously, and as if by a common impulse, yawned and retired to bed. chapter nine. the dolphin gets beset in the ice--preparations for wintering in the ice--captain guy's code of laws. an accident now befell the _dolphin_ which effectually decided the fate of the ship and her crew, at least for that winter. this was her getting aground near the ravine of the giant flagstaff before mentioned, and being finally beset by ice from which all efforts on the part of the men to extricate her proved abortive, and in which she was ultimately frozen in--hard and fast. the first sight the crew obtained of the red snow filled them with unbounded amazement, and a few of the more superstitious amongst them with awe approaching to fear. but soon their attention was attracted from this by the wonderful column. "och, then! may i niver!" exclaimed o'riley, the moment he caught sight of it, "if there ben't the north pole at long last--sure enough!" the laugh that greeted this remark was almost immediately checked, partly from the feelings of solemnity inspired by the magnificent view which opened up to them, and partly from a suspicion on the part of the more ignorant among the men that there might be some truth in o'riley's statement after all. but their attention and energies were speedily called to the dangerous position of the ship, which unexpectedly took the ground in a bay where the water proved to be unusually shallow, and before they could warp her off, the ice closed round her in compact, immovable masses. at first captain guy was not seriously alarmed by this untoward event, although he felt a little chagrin in consequence of the detention, for the summer was rapidly advancing, and it behoved him to return to baffin's bay, and prosecute the whale-fishing as energetically as possible; but when day after day passed, and the ice round the ship still remained immovable, he became alarmed, and sought by every means in his power to extricate himself. his position was rendered all the more aggravating by the fact that, a week after he was beset, the main body of the ice in the strait opened up and drifted to the southward, leaving a comparatively clear sea through which he could have pushed his way without much difficulty in any direction, but the solid masses in which they lay embedded were fast to the ground for about fifty yards beyond the vessel, seaward, and until these should be floated away there was no chance of escape. "get up some powder and canisters, mr bolton," he exclaimed, one morning after breakfast; "i'll try what can be done by blasting the ice. the highest spring tide will occur to-morrow, and if the ship don't move then we shall--" he did not finish the sentence, but turned on his heel, and walked forward, where he found buzzby and some of the men preparing the ice-saws. "ay, ay," muttered the mate, as he went below to give the necessary directions, "you don't need to conclude your speech, captain. if we don't get out to-morrow, we're locked up for one winter at least if not more." "ay, and ye'll no get oot to-morrow," remarked saunders with a shake of his head, as he looked up from the log-book, in which he was making an entry. "we're hard and fast, so we'll just have to make the best o't." saunders was right as the efforts of the next day proved. the ice lay around the vessel in solid masses, as we have said, and with each of the last three tides these masses had been slightly moved. saws and ice chisels, therefore, had been in constant operation, and the men worked with the utmost energy, night and day, taking it by turns, and having double allowance of hot coffee served out to them. we may mention here that the _dolphin_ carried no spirits, except what was needed for medicinal purposes, and for fuel to several small cooking-lamps that had been recently invented. it had now been proved by many voyagers of experience that in cold countries, as well as hot, men work harder, and endure the extremity of hardship better, without strong drink than with it, and the _dolphin's_ crew were engaged on the distinct understanding that coffee, and tea, and chocolate were to be substituted for rum, and that spirits were never to be given to anyone on board, except in cases of extreme necessity. but, to return--although the men worked as only those can who toil for liberation from long imprisonment, no impression worth mentioning could be made on the ice. at length the attempt to rend it by means of gunpowder was made. a jar containing about thirty pounds of powder was sunk in a hole in an immense block of ice which lay close against the stern of the ship. mivins, being light of foot, was set to fire the train. he did so, and ran--ran so fast that he missed his footing in leaping over a chasm, and had well-nigh fallen into the water below. there was a whiz and a loud report, and the enormous mass of ice heaved upwards in the centre, and fell back in huge fragments. so far the result was satisfactory, and the men were immediately set to sink several charges in various directions around the vessel, to be in readiness for the highest tide, which was soon expected. warps and hawsers were also got out and fixed to the seaward masses, ready to heave on them at a moment's notice; the ship was lightened as much as possible, by lifting her stores upon the ice, and the whole crew--captain, mates, and all--worked and heaved like horses, until the perspiration streamed from their faces, while mizzle kept supplying them with a constant deluge of hot coffee. fred and the young surgeon, too, worked like the rest, with their coats off, handkerchiefs bound round their heads, and shirt-sleeves tucked up to their shoulders. at last the tide rose--inch by inch, and slowly, as if it grudged to give them even a chance of escape. mivins grew impatient and unbelieving under it. "i don't think it'll rise another hinch," he remarked to o'riley, who stood near him. "niver fear, boy. the capting knows a sight better than you do, and _he_ says it'll rise a fut yit." "does he?" asked grim, who was also beginning to despond. "ov coorse he does. sure he towld me in a confidential way, just before he wint to turn in last night--if it wasn't yisturday forenoon, for it's meself as niver knows an hour o' the day since the sun became dissipated, and tuck to sittin' up all night in this fashion." "shut up yer tatie trap and open yer weather eye," muttered buzzby, who had charge of the gang, "there'll be time enough to speak after we're off." gradually, as the tide rose, the ice and the ship moved, and it became evident that the latter was almost afloat though the former seemed to be only partly raised from the ground. the men were at their several posts ready for instant action, and gazing in anxious expectation at the captain, who stood, watch in hand, ready to give the word. "now, then, fire!" he said in a low voice. in a moment the ice round the ship was rent and upheaved, as if some leviathan of the deep were rising from beneath it and the vessel swung slowly round. a loud cheer burst from the men. "now, lads, heave with a will!" roared the captain. round went the capstan, the windlass clanked, and the ship forged slowly ahead as the warps and hawsers became rigid. at that moment a heavy block of ice, which had been overbalanced by the motion of the vessel, fell with a crash on the rudder, splitting off a large portion of it, and drawing the iron bolts that held it completely out of the stern-post. "never mind; heave away--for your lives!" cried the captain. "jump on board all of you!" the few men who had until now remained on the ice scrambled up the side. there was a sheet of ice right ahead which the ship could not clear, but which she was pushing out to sea in advance of her. suddenly this took the ground and remained motionless. "out there with ice-chisels. sink a hole like lightning. prepare a canister, mr bolton; quick!" shouted the captain in desperation, as he sprang over the side and assisted to cut into the unwieldy obstruction. the charge was soon fixed and fired, but it only split the block in two, and left it motionless as before. a few minutes after, the ship again grounded; the ice settled round her; the spring tide was lost, and they were not delivered. those who know the bitterness of repeated disappointment, and of hope deferred, may judge of the feelings with which the crew of the _dolphin_ now regarded their position. little, indeed, was said, but the grave looks of most of the men, and the absence of the usual laugh, and jest, and disposition to skylark, which on almost all other occasions characterised them, showed too plainly how heavily the prospect of a winter in the arctic regions weighed upon their spirits. they continued their exertions to free the ship, however, for several days after the high tide, and did not finally give in until all reasonable hope of moving her was utterly annihilated. before this, however, a reaction began to take place; the prospects of the coming winter were discussed, and some of the more sanguine looked even beyond the winter, and began to consider how they would contrive to get the ship out of her position into deep water again. fred ellice, too, thought of his father, and this abrupt check to the search, and his spirits sank again as his hopes decayed. but poor fred, like the others, at last discovered that it was of no use to repine, and that it was best to face his sorrows and difficulties "like a man!" among so many men there were all shades of character, and the fact that they were doomed to a year's imprisonment in the frozen regions was received in very different ways. some looked grave and thought of it seriously; others laughed and treated it lightly; a few grumbled and spoke profanely, but most of them became quickly reconciled, and in a week or two nearly all forgot the past and the future in the duties, and cares, and amusements of the present. captain guy and his officers, however, and a few of the more sedate men, among whom were buzzby and peter grim, looked forward with much anxiety, knowing full well the dangers and trials that lay before them. it is true the ship was provisioned for more than a year, but most of the provisions were salt, and tom singleton could have told them, had they required to be told, that without fresh provisions they stood a poor chance of escaping that dire disease, scurvy, before which have fallen so many gallant tars whom nothing in the shape of dangers or difficulties could subdue. there were, indeed, myriads of wild fowl flying about the ship, on which the men feasted and grew fat every day; and the muskets of meetuck, and those who accompanied him, seldom failed to supply the ship with an abundance of the flesh of seals, walrus, and polar bears, portions of all of which creatures were considered very good indeed by the men, and particularly by the dogs, which grew so fat that they began to acquire a very disreputable waddle in their gait as they walked the deck for exercise, which they seldom did, by the way, being passionately fond of sleep! but birds and, perchance, beasts might be expected to take themselves off when the winter arrived, and leave the crew without fresh food. then, although the _dolphin_ was supplied with every necessary for a whaling expedition, and with many luxuries besides, she was ill-provided with the supplies that men deem absolutely indispensable for a winter in the arctic regions, where the cold is so bitterly intense that, after a prolonged sojourn, men's minds become almost entirely engrossed by two clamant demands of nature--food and heat. they had only a small quantity of coal on board, and nothing except a few extra spars that could be used as a substitute, while the bleak shores afforded neither shrub nor tree of any kind. meanwhile they had a sufficiency of everything they required for at least two or three months to come, and for the rest as grim said, they had "stout hearts and strong arms." as soon as it became apparent that they were to winter in the bay, which the captain named the bay of mercy, all further attempt to extricate the ship was abandoned, and every preparation for spending the winter was begun and carried out vigorously. it was now that captain guy's qualities as a leader began to be displayed. he knew, from long experience and observation, that in order to keep up the _morale_ of any body of men it was absolutely necessary to maintain the strictest discipline. indeed this rule is so universal in its application that many men find it advantageous to impose strict rules on themselves in the regulation of their time and affairs, in order to keep their own spirits under command. one of the captain's first resolves, therefore, was to call the men together and address them on this subject, and he seized the occasion of the first sabbath morning they spent in the bay of mercy, when the crew were assembled on the quarterdeck, to speak to them. it was an exceedingly bright day. captain guy stood up, and, in an earnest, firm tone, said:-- "my lads, i consider it my duty to say a few plain words to you in reference to our present situation and prospects. i feel that the responsibility of having brought you here rests very much upon myself, and i deem it my solemn duty, in more than the ordinary sense, to do all i can to get you out of the ice again. you know as well as i do that this is impossible at the present time, and that we are compelled to spend a winter here. some of you know what that means, but the most of you know it only by hearsay, and that's much the same as knowing nothing about it at all. before the winter is done your energies and endurance will probably be taxed to the uttermost. i think it right to be candid with you. the life before you will not be child's-play, but i assure you that it may be mingled with much that will be pleasant and hearty if you choose to set about it in the right way. well, then, to be short about it. there is no chance whatever of our getting through the winter in this ship comfortably, or even safely, unless the strictest discipline is maintained aboard. i know, for i've been in similar circumstances before, that when cold and hunger, and, it may be, sickness, press upon us--should it please the almighty to send these on us in great severity--you will feel duty to be irksome, and you'll think it useless, and perhaps be tempted to mutiny. now i ask you solemnly, while your minds are clear from all prejudices, each individually to sign a written code of laws, and a written promise that you will obey the same, and help me to enforce them even with the punishment of _death_, if need be. now, lads, will you agree to that?" "agreed, agreed!" cried the men at once, and in a tone of prompt decision that convinced their leader he had their entire confidence--a matter of the highest importance in the critical circumstances, in which they were placed. "well, then, i'll read the rules; they are few, but sufficiently comprehensive. "first. prayers shall be read every morning before breakfast, unless circumstances render it impossible to do so." the captain laid down the paper, and looked earnestly at the men. "my lads, i have never felt so strongly as i now do the absolute need we have of the blessing and guidance of the almighty, and i am persuaded that it is our duty as well as our interest to begin, not only the sabbath, but _every_ day with prayer. "second. the ordinary duties of the ship shall be carried on, the watches regularly set and relieved, regular hours observed, and the details of duty attended to in the usual way, as when in harbour. "third. the officers shall take watch and watch about as heretofore, except when required to do otherwise; the log-books, and meteorological observations, etcetera, shall be carried on as usual. "fourth. the captain shall have supreme and absolute command as when at sea, but he, on his part, promises that, should any peculiar circumstance arise, in which the safety of the crew or ship shall be implicated, he will, if the men are so disposed, call a council of the whole crew, in which case the decision of the majority shall become law, but the minority in that event shall have it in their option to separate from the majority and carry along with them their share of the general provisions. "fifth. disobedience to orders shall be punishable according to the decision of a council, to be appointed specially for the purpose of framing a criminal code, hereafter to be submitted for the approval of the crew." the rules above laid down were signed by every man in the ship. several of them could not write, but these affixed a cross (x) at the foot of the page, against which their names were written by the captain in presence of witnesses, which answered the same purpose. and from that time, until events occurred which rendered all such rules unnecessary, the work of the ship went on pleasantly and well. chapter ten. beginning of winter--meetuck effects a remarkable change in the men's appearance--mossing, and working, and plans for a winter campaign. in august the first frost came and formed "young ice" on the sea, but this lasted only for a brief hour or two, and was broken up by the tide and melted. by the th of september the young ice cemented the floes of last year's ice together, and soon rendered the ice round the ship immovable. hummocks clustered round several rocky islets in the neighbourhood, and the rising and falling of the tide covered the sides of the rocks with bright crystals. all the feathered tribes took their departure for less rigorous climes, with the exception of a small white bird about the size of a sparrow, called the snow-bird, which is the last to leave the icy north. then a tremendous storm arose, and the sea became choked up with icebergs and floes which the frost soon locked together into a solid mass. towards the close of the storm snow fell in great abundance, and when the mariners ventured again to put their heads up the opened hatchways, the decks were knee-deep, the drift to windward was almost level with the bulwarks, every yard was edged with white, every rope and cord had a light side and a dark, every point and truck had a white button on it, and every hole, corner, crack, and crevice was choked up. the land and the sea were also clothed with this spotless garment, which is indeed a strikingly appropriate emblem of purity, and the only dark objects visible in the landscape were those precipices which were too steep for the snow to lie on, the towering form of the giant flag-staff, and the leaden clouds that rolled angrily across the sky. but these leaden clouds soon rolled off, leaving a blue wintry sky and a bright sun behind. the storm blew itself out early in the morning, and at breakfast-time on that day, when the sun was just struggling with the last of the clouds, captain guy remarked to his friends, who were seated round the cabin table: "well, gentlemen, we must begin hard work to-day." "hard work, captain!" exclaimed fred ellice, pausing for a second or two in the hard work of chewing a piece of hard salt junk; "why, what do you call the work we've been engaged in for the last few weeks?" "play, my lad; that was only play--just to bring our hands in, before setting to work in earnest! what do you think of the health of the men, doctor?" "never was better, but i fear the hospital will soon fill if you carry out your threat in regard to work." "no fear," remarked the second mate; "the more work the better health is my experience. busy men have no time to git seek." "no doubt of it sir," said the first mate, bolting a large mouthful of pork. "nothing so good for 'em as work." "there are two against you, doctor," said the captain. "then it's two to two," cried fred, as he finished breakfast, "for i quite agree with tom, and with that excellent proverb which says: `all work and no play makes jack a dull boy.'" the captain shook his head as he said: "of all the nuisances i ever met with in a ship a semi-passenger is the worst. i think, fred, i must get you bound apprentice, and give you regular work to do, you good-for-nothing." we need scarcely say that the captain jested, for fred was possessed of a spirit that cannot rest, so to speak, unless at work. he was able to do almost anything _after a fashion_, and was never idle for a moment. even when his hands chanced to be unemployed his brows were knitted, busily planning what to do next. "well now, gentlemen," resumed the captain, "let us consider the order of business. the first thing that must be done now is to unstow the hold, and deposit its contents on the small island astern of us, which we shall call store island, for brevity's sake. get a tent pitched there, mr bolton, and bank it up with snow. you can leave grim to superintend the unloading. then, mr saunders, do you go and set a gang of men to cut a canal through the young ice from the ship to the island. fortunately the floes there are wide enough apart to let our quarter-boats float between them. the unshipping won't take long. tell buzzby to take a dozen men with him and collect moss; we'll need a large quantity for fuel, and if another storm like this comes, it'll be hard work to get down to it. send meetuck to me when you go on deck; i shall talk to him as to our prospects of finding deer hereabouts, and arrange a hunt. doctor, you may either join the hunting party or post up the observations, etcetera, which have accumulated of late." "thank you, captain," said singleton, "i'll accept the latter duty, the more willingly that i wish to have a careful examination of my botanical specimens." "and what am i to do, captain?" enquired fred. "what you please, lad." "then i'll go and take care of meetuck; he's apt to get into mischief when left--" at this moment a tremendous shout of laughter, long-continued, came from the deck, and a sound as of numbers of men dancing overhead was heard. the party in the cabin seized their caps and sprang up the companion, where they beheld a scene that accounted for the laughter, and induced them to join in it. at first sight it seemed as if thirty polar bears had boarded the vessel, and were executing a dance of triumph before proceeding to make a meal of the crew; but on closer inspection it became apparent that the men had undergone a strange transformation, and were capering with delight at the ridiculous appearance they presented. they were clad from head to foot in esquimaux costume, and now bore as strong a resemblance to polar bears as man could attain to. meetuck was the pattern and the chief instrument in effecting this change. at uppernavik captain guy had been induced to purchase a large number of fox-skins, deer-skins, seal-skins, and other furs as a speculation, and had them tightly packed and stowed away in the hold, little imagining the purpose they were ultimately destined to serve. meetuck had come on board in a mongrel sort of worn-out seal-skin dress, but the instant the cold weather set in he drew from a bundle, which he had brought with him, a dress made of the furs of the arctic fox, some of the skins being white and the others blue. it consisted of a loose coat somewhat in the form of a shirt, with a large hood to it, and a short elongation behind like the commencement of a tail. the boots were made of white bear-skin which, at the end of the foot, were made to terminate with the claws of the animal, and they were so long that they came up the thigh under the coat, or "jumper" as the men called it, and thus served instead of trousers. he also wore fur mittens, with a bag for the fingers, and a separate little bag for the thumb. the hair on these garments was long and soft, and worn outside, so that when a man enveloped himself in them, and put up the hood, which well-nigh concealed the face, he became very much like a bear, or some such creature, standing on its hind-legs. meetuck was a short, fat, burly little fellow by nature, but when he put on his winter dress he became such a round, soft, squat, hairy, and comical-looking creature that no one could look at him without laughing; and the shout with which he was received on deck the first time he made his appearance in his new costume was loud and prolonged. but meetuck was as good-humoured an esquimaux as ever speared a walrus or lanced a polar bear. he joined in the laugh, and cut a caper or two to show that he entered into the spirit of the joke. when the ship was set fast, and the thermometer fell pretty low, the men found that their ordinary dreadnoughts and pea-jackets, etcetera, were not a sufficient protection against the cold, and it occurred to the captain that his furs might now be turned to good account. sailors are proverbially good needle-men of a rough kind. meetuck showed them how to set about their work; each man made his own garments, and in less than a week they were completed. it is true the boots perplexed them a little, and the less ingenious among the men made very rare and curious-looking foot-gear for themselves, but they succeeded after a fashion, and at last the whole crew appeared on deck in their new habiliments, as we have already mentioned, capering among the snow like bears, to their own entire satisfaction and to the intense delight of meetuck, who now came to regard the white men as brothers--so true is it that "the tailor makes the man!" "'ow 'orribly 'eavy it is, hain't it?" gasped mivins, after dancing round the main-hatch till he was nearly exhausted. "heavy?" cried buzzby, whose appearance was such that you would have hesitated to say whether his breadth or length was greater,--"heavy, d'ye say? it must be your sperrits wot's heavy, then, for i feel as light as a feather myself." "o morther! then may i niver sleep on a bed made o' sich feathers!" cried o'riley, capering up to green, the carpenter's mate, and throwing a mass of snow in his face. the frost rendered it impossible to form the snow into balls, but the men made up for this by throwing it about each other's eyes and ears in handfuls. "what d'ye mean by insultin' my mate?--take that!" said peter grim, giving the irishman a twirl that tumbled him on the deck. "oh, bad manners to ye," spluttered o'riley, as he rose and ran away, "why don't ye hit a man o' yer own size." "'deed, then, it must be because there's not one o' my own size to hit," remarked the carpenter with a broad grin. this was true. grim's colossal proportions were increased so much by his hairy dress that he seemed to spread out into the dimensions of two large men rolled into one. but o'riley was not to be overturned with impunity. skulking round behind the crew, who were laughing at grim's joke, he came upon the giant in the rear, and seizing the short tail of his jumper, pulled him violently down on the deck. "ah! then give it him, boys," cried o'riley, pushing the carpenter flat down, and obliterating his black beard and his whole visage in a mass of snow. several of the wilder spirits among the men leaped on the prostrate grim, and nearly smothered him before he could gather himself up for a struggle; then they fled in all directions, while their victim regained his feet and rushed wildly after them. at last he caught o'riley, and grasping him by the two shoulders gave him a heave that was intended and "calc'lated," as amos parr afterwards remarked, "to pitch him over the foretop-sail-yard!" but an irishman is not easily overcome. o'riley suddenly straightened himself and held his arms up over his head, and the violent heave, which, according to parr, was to have sent him to such an uncomfortable elevation, only pulled the jumper completely off his body, and left him free to laugh in the face of his big friend, and run away. at this point the captain deemed it prudent to interfere. "come, come, my lads," he cried, "enough o' this! that's not the morning work, is it? i'm glad to find that your new dresses," he added with a significant smile, "make you fond of rough work in the snow; there's plenty of it before us. come down below with me, meetuck; i wish to talk with you." as the captain descended to the cabin the men gave a final cheer, and in ten minutes they were working laboriously at their various duties. buzzby and his party were the first ready and off to cut moss. they drew a sledge after them towards the red-snow valley, which was not more than two miles distant from the ship. this "mossing", as it was termed, was by no means a pleasant duty. before the winter became severe the moss could be cut out from the beds of the snow streams with comparative ease, but now the mixed turf of willows, heaths, grasses, and moss was frozen solid, and had to be quarried with crowbars and carried to the ship like so much stone. however, it was prosecuted vigorously, and a sufficient quantity was soon procured to pack on the decks of the ship, and around its sides, so as to keep out the cold. at the same time the operation of discharging the stores was carried on briskly, and fred, in company with meetuck, o'riley, and joseph west, started with the dog-sledge on a hunting expedition. in order to enable the reader better to understand the condition of the _dolphin_ and her crew, we will detail the several arrangements that were made at this time and during the succeeding fortnight. as a measure of precaution, the ship, by means of blasting, sawing, and warping, was with great labour got into deeper water, where one night's frost set her fast with a sheet of ice three inches thick round her; in a few weeks this ice became several feet thick, and the snow drifted up her hull so much that it seemed as if she were resting on the land, and had taken final leave of her native element. strong hawsers were then secured to store island in order to guard against the possibility of her being carried away by any sudden disruption of the ice. the disposition of the masts, yards, and sails were next determined on; the top-gallant masts were struck, the lower yards got down to the housings. the top-sail yards, gaff, and jib-boom, however, were left in their places. the top-sails and courses were kept bent to the yards, the sheets being unrove, and the clews tucked in. the rest of the binding sails were stowed on deck to prevent their thawing during winter; and the spare spars were lashed over the ship's sides, to leave a clear space for taking exercise in bad weather. the stores, in order to relieve the strain on the ship, were removed to store island, and snugly housed under the tent erected there, and then a thick bank of snow was heaped up round it. after this was accomplished, all the boats were hauled up beside the tent and covered with snow, except the two quarter boats, which were left hanging at the davits all winter. when the thermometer fell below zero it was found that the vapours below, and the breath of the men, condensed on the beams of the lower deck and in the cabin near the hatchway. it was therefore resolved to convert some sheet-iron, which they fortunately possessed, into pipes, which, being conducted from the cooking-stove through the length of the ship, served in some degree to raise the temperature and ventilate the cabins. a regular daily allowance of coal was served out, and four steady men appointed to attend to the fire in regular watches, for the double purpose of seeing that none of the fuel should be wasted, and of guarding against fire. they had likewise charge of the fire-pumps and buckets, and two tanks of water, all of which were kept in the hatchway in constant readiness in case of accidents. in addition to this, a fire-brigade was formed, with joseph west, a steady, quiet, active young seaman, as its captain, and their stations in the event of fire were fixed beforehand; also a hole was kept constantly open in the ice alongside to ensure at all times a sufficient supply of water. strict regulations as to cleanliness, and the daily airing of the hammocks, were laid down, and adhered to throughout the winter. a regular allowance of provisions was appointed to each man, so that they should not run the risk of starving before the return of the wild fowl in spring. but those provisions were all salt, and the captain trusted much to their hunting expeditions for a supply of fresh food, without which there would be little hope of their continuing in a condition of good health. coffee was served out at breakfast, and cocoa at supper, besides being occasionally supplied at other times to men who had been engaged in exhausting work in extremely cold weather. afterwards, when the dark season set in, and the crew were confined by the intense cold more than formerly within the ship, various schemes were set afoot for passing the time profitably and agreeably. among others a school was started by the captain for instructing such of the crew as chose to attend in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in this hyperborean academy fred ellice acted as the writing-master, and tom singleton as the accountant. the men were much amused at first at the idea of "goin' to school", and some of them looked rather shy at it, but o'riley, after some consideration, came boldly forward and said: "well, boys, bad luck to me if i don't think i'll be a scholard afther all. my old gran'mother used to tell me, whin i refused to go to the school that was kip be an owld man as tuck his fees out in murphies and photteen,--says she: `ah ye spalpeen, ye'll niver be cliverer nor the pig, ye wont.' `ah, then, i hope not,' says i, `for sure she's far the cliverest in the house, an' ye wouldn't have me to be cliverer than me own gran'mother, would ye?' says i. so i niver wint to school, and more be token, i can't sign me name, and if it was only to learn how to do that, i'll go and jine; indeed i will." so o'riley joined, and before long every man in the ship was glad to join, in order to have something to do. the doctor also, twice a week, gave readings from shakespeare, a copy of which he had fortunately brought with him. he also read extracts from the few other books they happened to have on board, and after a time, finding unexpectedly that he had a talent that way, he began to draw upon his memory and his imagination, and told long stories (which were facetiously called _lectures_) to the men, who listened to them with great delight. then fred started an illustrated newspaper once a week, which was named the _arctic sun_, and which was in great favour during the whole course of its brief existence. it is true, only one copy was issued each morning of publication, because, besides supplying the greater proportion of the material himself, and executing the illustrations in a style that would have made mr leech of the present day envious, he had to transcribe the various contributions he received from the men and others in a neat, legible hand. but this _one_ copy was perused and reperused as no single copy of any paper extant--not excepting _the times_ or _punch_--has ever yet been perused; and when it was returned to the editor to be carefully placed in the archives of the _dolphin_, it was emphatically the worse for wear. besides all this, a theatre was set agoing--of which we shall have more to say hereafter. in thus minutely recounting the various expedients which these banished men fell upon to pass the long dark hours of an arctic winter, we may, perhaps, give the reader the impression that a great deal of thought and time were bestowed upon _amusement_, as if that were the chief end and object of their life in those regions. but we must remind him that though many more pages might be filled in recounting all the particulars, but a small portion of their time was, after all, taken up in this way; and it would have been well for them had they been able to find more to amuse them than they did, for the depressing influence of the long-continued darkness, and the want of a sufficiency of regular employment for so many months, added to the rigorous nature of the climate in which they dwelt, well-nigh broke their spirits at last. in order to secure warmth during winter, the deck of the ship was padded with moss about a foot deep, and, down below, the walls were lined with the same material. the floors were carefully plastered with common paste, and covered with oakum a couple of inches deep, over which a carpet of canvas was spread. every opening in the deck was fastened down and covered deeply over with moss, with the exception of one hatch, which was their only entrance, and this was kept constantly closed, except when it was desirable to ventilate. curtains were hung up in front of it to prevent draughts. a canvas awning was also spread over the decks from stem to stern, so that it was confidently hoped the _dolphin_ would prove a snug tenement even in the severest cold. as has been said before, the snow-drift almost buried the hull of the ship; and, as snow is a good _non-conductor_ of heat, this further helped to keep up the temperature within. a staircase of snow was built up to the bulwarks on the larboard quarter, and on the starboard side an inclined plane of snow was sloped down to the ice to facilitate the launching of the sledges when they had to be pulled on deck. such were the chief arrangements and preparations that were made by our adventurers for spending the winter; but although we have described them at this point in our story, many of them were not completed until a much later period. chapter eleven. a hunting expedition, in the course of which the hunters meet with many interesting, dangerous, peculiar, and remarkable experiences, and make acquaintance with seals, walrus, deer, and rabbits. we must now return to fred ellice and his companions, meetuck the esquimaux, o'riley, and joseph west, whom we left while they were on the point of starting on a hunting expedition. they took the direction of the ice hummocks out to the sea, and, seated comfortably on a large sledge, were dragged by the team of dogs over the ice at the rate of ten miles an hour. "well! did i iver expect to ride in a carriage and six?" exclaimed o'riley in a state of great glee as the dogs dashed forward at full speed, while meetuck flourished his awful whip, making it crack like a pistol-shot ever and anon. the sledge on which they travelled was of the very curious and simple construction peculiar to the esquimaux, and was built by peter grim under the direction of meetuck. it consisted of two runners of about ten feet in length, six inches high, two inches broad, and three feet apart. they were made of tough hickory, slightly curved in front, and were attached to each other by cross bars. at the stem of the vehicle there was a low back composed of two uprights and a single bar across. the whole machine was fastened together by means of tough lashings of raw seal-hide, so that, to all appearance, it was a rickety affair, ready to fall to pieces. in reality, however, it was very strong. no metal nails of any kind could have held in the keen frost; they would have snapped like glass at the first jolt; but the seal-skin fastenings yielded to the rude shocks and twistings, to which the sledge was subjected, and seldom gave way, or, if they did, were easily and speedily renewed without the aid of any other implement than a knife. but the whip was the most remarkable part of the equipage. the handle was only sixteen inches in length, but the lash was twenty _feet_ long, made of the toughest seal-skin, and as thick as a man's wrist near the handle, whence it tapered off to a fine point. the labour of using such a formidable weapon is so great that esquimaux usually, when practicable, travel in couples, one sledge behind the other. the dogs of the last sledge follow mechanically and require no whip, and the riders change about so as to relieve each other. when travelling, the whip trails behind, and can be brought with a tremendous crack that makes the hair fly from the wretch that is struck--and esquimaux are splendid _shots_, so to speak. they can hit any part of a dog with certainty, but usually rest satisfied with simply cracking the whip, a sound that produces an answering yell of terror whether the lash takes effect or not. our hunters were clothed in their esquimaux garments, and cut the oddest imaginable figures. they had a soft, rotund, cuddled-up appearance that was powerfully suggestive of comfort. the sled carried one day's provisions, a couple of walrus harpoons, with a sufficient quantity of rope, four muskets, with the requisite ammunition, an esquimaux cooking-lamp, two stout spears, two tarpaulins to spread on the snow, and four blanket sleeping-bags. these last were six feet long, and just wide enough for a man to crawl into at night, feet first. "what a jolly style of travelling, isn't it?" cried fred, as the dogs sprang wildly forward, tearing the sledge behind them, dumps and poker leading, and looking as lively as crickets. "well now, isn't it true that wits jump?--that's jist what i was sayin' to meself," remarked o'riley, grinning from ear to ear as he pulled the fur hood farther over his head, crossed his arms more firmly on his breast, and tried to double himself up as he sat there like an overgrown rat. "i wouldn't exchange it with the lord mayor o' london and his coach an' six--so i wouldn't. arrah! have a care, meetuck, ye baste, or ye'll have us kilt." this last exclamation was caused by the reckless driver dashing over a piece of rough ice that nearly capsized the sledge. meetuck did not answer, but he looked over his shoulder with a quiet smile on his oily countenance. "ah, then, ye may laugh!" said o'riley, with a menacing look, "but av ye break a bone o' me body i'll--" down went the dogs into a crack in the ice as he spoke, over went the sledge, and hurled them all out upon the ice. "musha! but ye've done it!" "hallo, west, are you hurt?" cried fred anxiously, as he observed the sailor fall heavily on the ice. "oh no, sir; all right, thank you!" replied the man, rising alertly and limping to the sledge. "only knocked the skin off my shin, sir." west was a quiet, serious, polite man, an american by birth, who was much liked by the crew in consequence of a union of politeness and modesty with a disposition to work far beyond his strength. he was not very robust, however, and in powers of physical endurance scarcely fitted to engage in an arctic expedition. "an' don't ye think it's worth makin' enquiries about _me_?" cried o'riley, who had been tossed into a crevice in a hummock, where he lay jammed and utterly unable to move. fred and the esquimaux laughed heartily, while o'riley extricated himself from his awkward position. fortunately no damage was done, and in five minutes they were flying over the frozen sea as madly as ever in the direction of the point at the opposite side of red-snow valley, where a cloud of frost-smoke indicated open water. "now, look you, mr meetuck, av ye do that again ye'll better don't, let me tell ye. sure the back o' me's track entirely," said o'riley, as he rearranged himself with a look of comfort that belied his words. "och, there ye go again," he cried, as the sled suddenly fell about six inches, from a higher level to a lower, where the floe had cracked, causing the teeth of the whole party to come together with a snap. "a man dursen't spake for fear o' bitin' his tongue off." "no fee," said meetuck, looking over his shoulder with a broader smirk. "no fee, ye lump of pork! it's a double fee i'll have to pay the dacter an ye go on like that." _no fee_ was meetuck's best attempt at the words _no fear_. he had picked up a little english during his brief sojourn with the sailors, and already understood much of what was said to him, but words were as yet few, and his manner of pronouncing them peculiar. "holo! look! look!" cried the esquimaux, leaping suddenly off the sledge and checking the dogs. "eh! what! where?" ejaculated fred, seizing his musket. "i think i see something, sir," cried west, shading his eyes with his hand, and gazing earnestly in the direction indicated by meetuck. "so do i, be the mortial!" said o'riley in a hoarse whisper. "i see the mountains and the sky, i do, as plain as the nose on me face!" "hush! stop your nonsense, man," said fred. "i see a deer, i'm certain of it." meetuck nodded violently to indicate that fred was right. "well, what's to be done? luckily we are well to leeward, and it has neither sighted nor scented us." meetuck replied by gestures and words to the effect that west and o'riley should remain with the dogs, and keep them quiet, under the shelter of a hummock, while he and fred should go after the reindeer. accordingly, away they went making a pretty long detour in order to gain the shore, and come upon it under the shelter of the grounded floes, behind which they might approach without being seen. in hurrying along the coast they observed the footprints of a musk ox, and also of several arctic hares and foxes, which delighted them much, for hitherto they had seen none of those animals, and were beginning to be fearful lest they should not visit that part of the coast at all. of course fred knew not what sort of animals had made the tracks in question, but he was an adept at guessing, and the satisfied looks of his companion gave him reason to believe that he was correct in his surmises. in half an hour they came within range, and fred, after debating with himself for some time as to the propriety of taking the first shot, triumphed over himself, and, stepping back a pace, motioned to the esquimaux to fire. but meetuck was an innate gentleman, and modestly declined, so fred advanced, took a good aim, and fired. the deer bounded away, but stumbled as it went, showing that it was wounded. "ha! ha! meetuck," exclaimed fred, as he recharged in tremendous excitement (taking twice as long to load in consequence), "i've improved a little you see in my shoot--, o' bother this--ramrod!--tut! tut! there, that's it." bang went meetuck's musket at that moment, and the deer tumbled over upon the snow. "well done, old fellow!" cried fred, springing forward. at the same instant a white hare darted across his path, at which he fired, without even putting the gun to his shoulder, and knocked it over, to his own intense amazement. the three shots were the signal for the men to come up with the sledge, which they did at full gallop, o'riley driving, and flourishing the long whip about in a way that soon entangled it hopelessly with the dogs' traces. "ah, then, ye've done it this time, ye have, sure enough! musha! what a purty crature it is. now, isn't it, west? stop, then, won't ye (to the restive dogs), ye've broke my heart entirely, and the whip's tied up into iver so many knots. arrah, meetuck! ye may drive yer coach yerself for me, you may; i've had more nor enough of it." in a few minutes the deer and the hare were lashed to the sledge--which the irishman asserted was a great improvement, inasmuch as the carcass of the former made an excellent seat--and they were off again at full gallop over the floes. they travelled without further interruption or mishap until they drew near to the open water, when suddenly they came upon a deep fissure or crack in the ice, about four feet wide, with water in the bottom. here they came to a dead stop. "arrah! what's to be done now?" enquired o'riley. "indeed i don't know," replied fred, looking toward meetuck for advice. "hup, cut-up ice, mush, hurroo!" said that fat individual. fortunately he followed his advice with a practical illustration of its meaning. seizing an axe he ran to the nearest hummock, and, chopping it down, rolled the heaviest pieces he could move into the chasm. the others followed his example, and, in the course of an hour, the place was bridged across, and the sledge passed over. but the dogs required a good deal of coaxing to get them to trust to this rude bridge, which their sagacity taught them was not to be depended on like the works of nature. a quarter of an hour's drive brought them to a place where there was another crack of little more than two feet across. meetuck stretched his neck and took a steady look at this as they approached it at full gallop. being apparently satisfied with his scrutiny, he resumed his look of self-satisfied placidity. "look out, meetuck, pull up!" cried fred in some alarm; but the esquimaux paid no attention. "o morther, we're gone now, for iver," exclaimed o'riley, shutting his eyes and clenching his teeth as he laid fast hold of the sides of the sledge. the feet of the dogs went faster and faster until they pattered on the hard surface of the snow like rain. round came the long whip, as o'riley said, "like the shot of a young cannon," and the next moment they were across, skimming over the ice on the other side like the wind. it happened that there had been a break in the ice at this point on the previous night, and the floes had been cemented by a sheet of ice only an inch thick. upon this, to the consternation even of meetuck himself, they now passed, and in a moment, ere they were aware, they were passing over a smooth, black surface that undulated beneath them like the waves of the sea and crackled fearfully. there was nothing for it but to go on. a moment's halt would have allowed the sledge to break through and leave them struggling in the water. there was no time for remark. each man held his breath. meetuck sent the heavy lash with a tremendous crack over the backs of the whole team, but just as they neared the solid floe, the left runner broke through. in a moment the men flung themselves horizontally upon their breasts, and scrambled over the smooth surface until they gained the white ice, while the sledge and the dogs nearest to it were sinking. one vigorous pull, however, by dogs and men together, dragged the sledge upon the solid floe, even before the things in it had got wet. "safe!" cried fred, as he hauled on the sledge rope to drag it farther out of danger. "so we are," replied o'riley, breathing very hard, "and it's meself thought to have had a wet skin at this minute. come, west, lind a hand to fix the dogs, will ye?" a few minutes sufficed to put all to rights and enable them to start afresh. being now in the neighbourhood of dangerous ice, they advanced with a little more caution; the possibility of seals being in the neighbourhood also rendered them more circumspect. it was well that they were on the alert, for a band of seals were soon after descried in a pool of open water not far ahead, and one of them was lying on the ice. there were no hummocks, however, in the neighbourhood to enable them to approach unseen; but the esquimaux was prepared for such a contingency. he had brought a small sledge, of about two feet in length by a foot and a half in breadth, which he now unfastened from the large sledge, and proceeded quietly to arrange it, to the surprise of his companions, who had not the least idea what he was about to do, and watched his proceedings with much interest. "is it to sail on the ice ye're goin', boy?" enquired o'riley, at last, when he saw meetuck fix a couple of poles, about four feet long, into a hole in the little sledge, like two masts, and upon these spread a piece of canvas upwards of a yard square, with a small hole in the centre of it. but meetuck answered not. he fastened the canvas "sail" to a cross-yard above and below. then, placing a harpoon and coil of rope on the sledge, and taking up his musket, he made signs to the party to keep under the cover of a hummock, and, pushing the sledge before him, advanced towards the seals in a stooping posture, so as to be completely hid behind the bit of canvas. "oh the haythen, i see it now!" exclaimed o'riley, his face puckering up with fun. "ah, but it's a cliver trick, no doubt of it!" "what a capital dodge!" said fred, crouching behind the hummock, and watching the movements of the esquimaux with deep interest. "west, hand me the little telescope; you'll find it in the pack." "here it is, sir," said the man, pulling out a glass of about six inches long, and handing it to fred. "how many is there, an' ye plaze?" "six, i think; yes--one, two, three,--i can't make them out quite, but i think there are six, besides the one on the ice. hist! there he sees him. ah! meetuck, he's too quick for you." as he spoke, the seal on the ice began to show symptoms of alarm. meetuck had approached to within shot, but he did not fire; the wary esquimaux had caught sight of another object which a lump of ice had hitherto concealed from view. this was no less a creature than a walrus, who chanced at that time to come up to take a gulp of fresh air, and lave his shaggy front in the brine, before going down again to the depths of his ocean home. meetuck, therefore, allowed the seal to glide quietly into the sea, and advanced towards this new object of attack. at length he took a steady aim through the hole in the canvas screen, and fired. instantly the seal dived, and at the same time the water round the walrus was lashed into foam, and tinged with red. it was evidently badly wounded, for had it been only slightly hurt it would probably have dived. meetuck immediately seized his harpoon, and rushed towards the struggling monster, while fred grasped a gun, and o'riley a harpoon, and ran to his assistance. west remained to keep back the dogs. as meetuck gained the edge of the ice the walrus recovered partially and tried, with savage fury, to reach his assailant, who planted the harpoon deep in its breast, and held on to the rope while the animal dived. "whereabouts is he?" cried o'riley, as he came panting to the scene of action. as he spoke, the walrus ascended almost under his nose, with a loud bellow, and the irishman started back in terror as he surveyed at close quarters, for the first time, the colossal and horrible countenance of this elephant of the northern sea. o'riley was no coward, but the suddenness of the apparition was too much for him, and we need not wonder that in his haste he darted the harpoon far over the animal's head into the sea beyond. neither need we feel surprised that when fred took aim at its forehead, the sight of its broad muzzle, fringed with bristling moustache and defended by huge tusks, caused him to miss it altogether. but o'riley recovered, hauled his harpoon back, and succeeded in planting it deep under the creature's left flipper, and fred, reloading, lodged a ball in its head which finished it. with great labour the four men, aided by the dogs, drew it out upon the ice. this was a great prize, for walrus flesh is not much inferior to beef, and would be an acceptable addition of fresh meat for the use of the _dolphin's_ crew, and there was no chance of it spoiling, for the frost was now severe enough to freeze every animal solid almost immediately after it was killed. the body of this walrus was not less than eighteen feet long and eleven in circumference. it was more like an elephant in bulk and rotundity than any other creature. it partook very much of the form of a seal, having two large paw-like flippers, with which, when struggling for life, it had more than once nearly succeeded in getting upon the ice. its upper face had a square, bluff aspect, and its broad muzzle and cheeks were completely covered by a coarse, quill-like beard of bristles, which gave to it a peculiarly ferocious appearance. the notion that the walrus resembles man is very much overrated. the square, bluff shape of the head already referred to, destroys the resemblance to humanity when distant, and its colossal size does the same when near. some of the seals deserve this distinction more, their drooping shoulders and oval faces being strikingly like to those of man when at a distance. the white ivory tusks of this creature were carefully measured by fred, and found to be thirty inches long. the resemblance of the walrus to our domestic land-animals has obtained for it, among sailors, the names of the sea-horse and sea-cow, and the records of its ferocity when attacked are numerous. its hide is nearly an inch thick, and is put to many useful purposes by the esquimaux, who live to a great extent on the flesh of this creature. they cut up his hide into long lines, to attach to the harpoons, with which they catch himself, the said harpoons being pointed with his own tusks. this tough hide is not the only garment the walrus wears to protect him from the cold. he also wears under-flannels of thick fat and a top-coat of close hair, so that he can take a siesta on an iceberg without the least inconvenience. talking of siestas, by the way, the walrus is sometimes "caught napping". occasionally, when the weather is intensely cold, the hole through which he crawls upon the ice gets frozen over so solidly that, on waking, he finds it beyond even his enormous power to break it. in this extremity there is no alternative but to go to sleep again, and--die! which he does as comfortably as he can. the polar bears, however, are quick to smell him out, and assembling round his carcass for a feast, they dispose of him, body and bones, without ceremony. as it was impossible to drag this unwieldy animal to the ship that night, for the days had now shortened very considerably, the hunters hauled it towards the land, and, having reached the secure ice, prepared to encamp for the night under the lee of a small iceberg. chapter twelve. a dangerous sleep interrupted--a night in a snow-hut, and an unpleasant visitor--snowed up. "now then," cried fred, as they drew up on a level portion of the ice-floe, where the snow on its surface was so hard that the runners of the sledge scarce made an impression on it, "let us to work, lads, and get the tarpaulins spread; we shall have to sleep to-night under star-spangled bed-curtains." "troth," said o'riley, gazing round towards the land, where the distant cliffs loomed black and heavy in the fading light, and out upon the floes and hummocks, where the frost smoke from pools of open water on the horizon circled round the pinnacles of the icebergs,--"troth, it's a cowld place intirely to go to wan's bed in, but that fat-faced exqueemaw seems to be settin' about it quite coolly; so here goes!" "it would be difficult to set about it otherwise than coolly with the thermometer thirty-five below zero," remarked fred, beating his hands together, and stamping his feet, while the breath issued from his mouth like dense clouds of steam, and fringed the edges of his hood and the breast of his jumper with hoar-frost. "it's quite purty, it is," remarked o'riley, in reference to this wreath of hoar-frost, which covered the upper parts of each of them; "it's jist like the ermine that kings and queens wear, so i'm towld, and it's chaper a long way." "i don't know that," said joseph west. "it has cost us a rough voyage and a winter in the arctic regions, if it doesn't cost us more yet, to put that ermine fringe on our jumpers. i can make nothing of this knot; try what you can do with it, messmate, will you?" "sorra wan o' me 'll try it," cried o'riley, suddenly leaping up and swinging both arms violently against his shoulders; "i've got two hands, i have, but niver a finger on them--leastwise i feel none, though it _is_ some small degrae o' comfort to see them." "my toes are much in the same condition," said west, stamping vigorously until he brought back the circulation. "dance, then, wid me," cried the irishman, suiting his action to the word. "i've a mortial fear o' bein' bit wid the frost for it's no joke, let me tell you. didn't i see a whole ship's crew wance that wos wrecked in the gulf o' saint lawrence about the beginnin' o' winter, and before they got to a part o' the coast where there was a house belongin' to the fur-traders, ivery man-jack o' them was frost-bit more or less, they wor. wan lost a thumb, and another the jint of a finger or two, and most o' them had two or three toes off, an' there wos wan poor fellow who lost the front half o' wan fut, an' the heel o' the other, an' two inches o' the bone was stickin' out. sure, it's truth i'm tellin' ye, for i seed it wid me own two eyes, i did." the earnest tones in which the last words were spoken convinced his comrades that o'riley was telling the truth, so, having a decided objection to be placed in similar circumstances, they danced and beat each other until they were quite in a glow. "why, what are you at there, meetuck?" exclaimed fred, pausing. "igloe, make," replied the esquimaux. "ig--what?" enquired o'riley. "oh, i see!" shouted fred, "he's going to make a snow-hut,--igloes they call them here. capital!--i never thought of that! come along; let's help him!" meetuck was indeed about to erect one of those curious dwellings of snow, in which, for the greater part of the year, his primitive countrymen dwell. he had no taste for star-spangled bed-curtains, when solid walls, whiter than the purest dimity, were to be had for nothing. his first operation in the erection of this hut was to mark out a circle of about seven feet diameter. from the inside of this circle the snow was cut by means of a long knife in the form of slabs nearly a foot thick, and from two to three feet long, having a slight convexity on the outside. these slabs were then so cut and arranged that, when they were piled upon each other round the margin of the circle, they formed a dome-shaped structure like a bee-hive, which was six feet high inside, and remarkably solid. the slabs were cemented together with loose snow, and every accidental chink or crevice filled up with the same material. the natives sometimes insert a block of clear ice in the roof for a window, but this was dispensed with on the present occasion--firstly, because there was no light to let in; and, secondly, because if there had been, they didn't want it. the building of the hut occupied only an hour, for the hunters were cold and hungry, and in their case the old proverb might have been paraphrased: "no _work_, no supper." a hole, just large enough to permit a man to creep through on his hands and knees, formed the door of this bee-hive. attached to this hole, and cemented to it, was a low tunnel of about four feet in length. when finished, both ends of the tunnel were closed up with slabs of hard snow, which served the purpose of double doors, and effectually kept out the cold. while this tunnel was approaching completion, fred retired to a short distance, and sat down to rest a few minutes on a block of ice. a great change had come over the scene during the time they were at work on the snow-hut. the night had settled down, and now the whole sky was lit up with the vivid and beautiful coruscations of the aurora borealis--that magnificent meteor of the north which, in some measure, makes up to the inhabitants for the absence of the sun. it spread over the whole extent of the sky in the form of an irregular arch, and was intensely brilliant. but the brilliancy varied, as the green ethereal fire waved mysteriously to and fro, or shot up long streamers toward the zenith. these streamers, or "merry dancers" as they are sometimes termed, were at times peculiarly bright. their colour was most frequently yellowish white, sometimes greenish, and once or twice of a lilac tinge. the strength of the light was something greater than that of the moon in her quarter, and the stars were dimmed when the aurora passed over them as if they had been covered with a delicate gauze veil. but that which struck our hero as being most remarkable was the magnitude and dazzling brightness of the host of stars that covered the black firmament. it seemed as if they were magnified in glory, and twinkled so much that the sky seemed, as it were, to tremble with light. a feeling of deep solemnity filled fred's heart as he gazed upwards; and as he thought upon the creator of these mysterious worlds--and remembered that he came to this little planet of ours to work out the miracle of our redemption, the words that he had often read in the bible: "lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him?" came forcibly to his remembrance, and he felt the appropriateness of that sentiment which the sweet singer of israel has expressed in the words: "praise ye him, sun and moon; praise him, all ye stars of light." there was a deep, solemn stillness all around--a stillness widely different from that peaceful composure which characterises a calm day in an inhabited land. it was the death-like stillness of that most peculiar and dreary desolation which results from the total absence of animal existence. the silence was so oppressive that it was with a feeling of relief he listened to the low, distant voices of the men as they paused ever and anon in their busy task to note and remark on the progress of their work. in the intense cold of an arctic night the sound of voices can be heard at a much greater distance than usual, and although the men were far off, and hummocks of ice intervened between them and fred, their tones broke distinctly, though gently, on his ear. yet these sounds did not interrupt the unusual stillness. they served rather to impress him more forcibly with the vastness of that tremendous solitude in the midst of which he stood. gradually his thoughts turned homeward, and he thought of the dear ones who circled round his own fireside, and, perchance, talked of him; of the various companions he had left behind, and the scenes of life and beauty where he used to wander; but such memories led him irresistibly to the far north again, for in all home-scenes the figure of his father started up, and he was back again in an instant, searching toilsomely among the floes and icebergs of the polar seas. it _was_ the invariable ending of poor fred's meditations, and, however successful he might be in entering, for a time, into the spirit of fun that characterised most of the doings of his shipmates, and in following the bent of his own joyous nature, in the hours of solitude, and in the dark night, when no one saw him, his mind ever reverted to the one engrossing subject, like the oscillating needle to the pole. as he continued to gaze up, long and earnestly, into the starry sky, his thoughts began to wander over the past and the present at random, and a cold shudder warned him that it was time to return to the hut; but the wandering thoughts and fancies seemed to chain him to the spot, so that he could not tear himself away. then a dreamy feeling of rest and comfort began to steal over his senses, and he thought how pleasant it would be to lie down and slumber; but he knew that would be dangerous, so he determined not to do it. suddenly he felt himself touched, and heard a voice whispering in his ear. then it sounded loud. "hallo, sir! mr ellice! wake up, sir, d'ye hear me?" and he felt himself shaken so violently that his teeth rattled together. opening his eyes reluctantly, he found that he was stretched at full length on the snow, and joseph west was shaking him by the shoulder as if he meant to dislocate his arm. "hallo, west! is that you? let me alone, man, i want to sleep." fred sank down again instantly--that deadly sleep, produced by cold, and from which those who indulge in it never awaken, was upon him. "sleep!" cried west frantically, "you'll die, sir, if you don't rouse up. hallo! meetuck! o'riley! help here!" "i tell you," murmured fred faintly, "i want to sleep--only a moment or two--ah! i see; is the hut finished? well, well, go, leave me. i'll follow--in--a--" his voice died away again, just as meetuck and o'riley came running up. the instant the former saw how matters stood, he raised fred in his powerful arms, set him on his feet, and shook him with such vigour that it seemed as if every bone in his body must be forced out of joint. "what mane ye by that, ye blubber-bag?" cried the irishman wrathfully, doubling his mittened fists and advancing in a threatening manner towards the esquimaux; but, seeing that the savage paid not the least attention to him, and kept on shaking fred violently with a good-humoured smile on his countenance, he wisely desisted from interfering. in a few minutes fred was able to stand and look about him with a stupid expression, and immediately the esquimaux dragged, and pushed, and shook him along towards the snow-hut, into which he was finally thrust, though with some trouble, in consequence of the lowness of the tunnel. here, by means of rubbing and chafing, with a little more buffeting, he was restored to some degree of heat; on seeing which meetuck uttered a quiet grunt, and immediately set about preparing supper. "i do believe i've been asleep," said fred, rising and stretching himself vigorously as the bright flame of a tin lamp shot forth and shed a yellow lustre on the white walls. "aslape is it! be me conscience an' ye have just. oh then, may i never indulge in the same sort o' slumber!" "why so?" asked fred in some surprise. "you fell asleep on the ice, sir," answered west, while he busied himself in spreading the tarpaulin and blanket-bags on the floor of the hut, "and you were very near frozen to death." "frozen, musha! i'm not too shure that he's melted yit!" said o'riley, taking him by the arm and looking at him dubiously. fred laughed. "oh yes; i'm melted now! but let's have supper, else i shall faint for hunger. did i sleep many hours?" "you slept only five minutes," said west, in some surprise at the question. "you were only gone about ten minutes altogether." this was indeed the case. the intense desire for sleep which is produced in arctic countries when the frost seizes hold of the frame soon confuses the faculties of those who come under its influence. as long as fred had continued to walk and work, he felt quite warm, but the instant he sat down on the lump of ice to rest, the frost acted on him. being much exhausted, too, by labour and long fasting, he was more susceptible than he would otherwise have been to the influence of cold, so that it chilled him at once, and produced that deadly lethargy from which, but for the timely aid of his companions, he would never have recovered. the arrangements for supping and spending the night made rapid progress, and under the influence of fire and animal heat--for the dogs were taken in beside them--the igloe became comfortably warm; yet the snow-walls did not melt, or become moist, the intense cold without being sufficient to counteract and protect them from the heat within. the fair roof, however, soon became very dingy, and the odour of melted fat rather powerful. but arctic travellers are proof against such trifles. the tarpaulin was spread over the floor, and a tin lamp, into which several fat portions of the walrus were put, was suspended from a stick thrust into the wall. round this lamp the hunters circled, each seated on his blanket-bag, and each attended to the duty which devolved upon him. meetuck held a tin kettle over the flame, till the snow, with which it was filled, melted and became cold water, and then gradually heated until it boiled; and all the while he employed himself in masticating a lump of raw walrus flesh, much to the amusement of fred, and to the disgust, real or pretended, of o'riley. but the irishman, and fred too, and every man on board the _dolphin_, came at last to _relish_ raw meat, and to long for it. the esquimaux prefer it raw in these parts of the world (although some travellers assert that in more southern latitudes they prefer cooked meat), and with good reason, for it is much more nourishing than cooked flesh; and learned, scientific men, who have wintered in the arctic regions, have distinctly stated that in those cold countries they found raw meat to be better for them than cooked meat, and they assure us that they at last came to _prefer_ it! we would not have our readers to begin forthwith to dispense with the art of cookery, and cast soyer to the dogs; but we would have them henceforth refuse to accept that common opinion, and vulgar error, that esquimaux eat their food raw _because they are savages_. they do it because nature teaches them that, under the circumstances, it is best. the duty that devolved upon o'riley was to roast small steaks of the walrus, in which operation he was assisted by west, while fred undertook to get out the biscuit-bag and pewter plates, and to infuse the coffee when the water should boil. it was a strange feast in a strange place, but it proved to be a delightful one; for hunger requires not to be tempted, and is not fastidious. "oh, but it's good, isn't it?" remarked o'riley, smacking his lips, as he swallowed a savoury morsel of the walrus and tossed the remnant--a sinewy bit--to dumps, who sat gazing sulkily at the flame of the lamp, having gorged himself long before the bipeds began supper. "arrah! ye won't take it, won't ye? here, poker!" poker sprang forward, wagging the stump of his tail, and turned his head to one side, as if to say: "well, what's up? any fun going?" "here, take that, old boy; dumps is sulky." poker took it at once, and a single snap caused it to vanish. he, too, had finished supper, and evidently ate the morsel to please the irishman. "hand me the coffee, meetuck," said fred. "the biscuit lies beside you, don't give in so soon, man." "thank you, sir, i have about done." "meetuck, ye haythen, try a bit o' the roast; do now, av it was only to plaaze me." meetuck shook his head quietly, and, cutting a _fifteenth_ lump off the mass of raw walrus that lay beside him, proceeded leisurely to devour it. "the dogs is nothin' to him," muttered o'riley. "isn't it a curious thing, now, to think that we're all at _sea_ a eatin', and drinkin', and slaapin'--or goin' to slaape--jist as if we wor on the land, and the great ocean away down below us there, wid whales, and seals, and walrusses, and mermaids, for what i know, a swimmin' about jist under whare we sit, and maybe lookin' through the ice at us this very minute. isn't it quare?" "it is odd," said fred, laughing, "and not a very pleasant idea. however, as there is at least twelve feet of solid ice between us and the company you mention, we don't need to care much." "ov coorse not," replied o'riley, nodding his head approvingly as he lighted his pipe; "that's my mind intirely, in all cases o' danger, when ye don't need to be afeared, ye needn't much care. it's a good chart to steer by, that same." this last remark seemed to afford so much food for thought to the company that nothing further was said by anyone until fred rose and proposed to turn in. west had already crawled into his blanket-bag, and was stretched out like a mummy on the floor, and the sound of meetuck's jaws still continued as he winked sleepily over the walrus meat, when a scraping was heard outside the hut. "sure, it's the foxes; i'll go and look," whispered o'riley, laying down his pipe and creeping to the mouth of the tunnel. he came back, however, faster than he went, with a look of consternation, for the first object that confronted him on looking out was the enormous head of a polar bear. to glance round for their firearms was the first impulse, but these had unfortunately been left on the sledge outside. what was to be done? they had nothing but their clasp-knives in the igloe. in this extremity meetuck cut a large hole in the back of the hut intending to creep out and procure one of the muskets, but the instant the opening was made the bear's head filled it up. with a savage yell o'riley seized the lamp and dashed the flaming fat in the creature's face. it was a reckless deed, for it left them all in the dark, but the bear seemed to think himself insulted, for he instantly retreated, and when meetuck emerged and laid hold of a gun he had disappeared. they found, on issuing into the open air, that a stiff breeze was blowing, which, from the threatening appearance of the sky, promised to become a gale; but as there was no apprehension to be entertained in regard to the stability of the floe, they returned to the hut, taking care to carry in their arms along with them. having patched up the hole, closed the doors, rekindled the lamp, and crept into their respective bags, they went to sleep, for, however much they might dread the return of bruin, slumber was a necessity of nature that would not be denied. meanwhile the gale freshened into a hurricane, and was accompanied with heavy snow, and when they attempted to move next morning they found it impossible to face it for a single moment. there was no alternative, therefore, but to await the termination of the gale, which lasted two days, and kept them close prisoners all the time. it was very wearisome, doubtless, but they had to submit, and sought to console themselves and pass the time as pleasantly as possible by sleeping, and eating, and drinking coffee. chapter thirteen. journey resumed--the hunters meet with bears and have a great fight, in which the dogs are sufferers--a bear's dinner--mode in which arctic rocks travel--the ice-belt. in the abating of the great storm, referred to in the last chapter, the hunters sought to free themselves from their snowy prison, and succeeded in burrowing, so to speak, upwards, after severe labour, for the hut was buried in drift which the violence of the gale had rendered extremely compact. o'riley was the first to emerge into the upper world. having dusted the snow from his garments, and shaken himself like a newfoundland dog, he made sundry wry faces, and gazed round him with the look of a man that did not know very well what to do with himself. "it's a quare place, it is, intirely," he remarked, with a shake of the head that betokened intense sagacity, while he seated himself on a mound of snow and watched his comrades as they busied themselves in dragging their sleeping-bags and cooking utensils from the cavern they had just quitted. o'riley seemed to be in a contemplative mood, for he did not venture any further remark, although he looked unutterable things as he proceeded quietly to fill his little black pipe. "ho, o'riley! lend a hand, you lazy fellow," cried fred; "work first and play afterwards, you skulker." "sure that same is what i'm doin'," replied o'riley with a bland smile which he eclipsed in a cloud of smoke. "haven't i bin workin' like a naagur for two hours to git out of that hole, and ain't i playin' a tune on me pipe now? but i won't be cross-grained. i'll lind ye a hand av ye behave yerself. it's a bad thing to be cross-grained," he continued, pocketing his pipe and assisting to arrange the sledge; "me owld grandmother always towld me that, and she was wise, she wos, beyand ordn'r. more like salomon nor anything else." "she must have directed that remark specially to you, i think," said fred--"let dumps lead, west, he's tougher than the others,--did she not, o'riley?" "be no manes. it wos to the pig she said it. most of her conversation (and she had a power of it) wos wid the pig, and many's the word o' good advice she gave it, as it sat in its usual place beside the fire forenint her; but it was all thrown away, it wos, for there wosn't another pig in all the length o' ireland as had sich a will o' its own; and it had a screech, too, when it wasn't plaazed, as bate all the steam whistles in the world, it did. i've often moralated on that same, and i've noticed that as it is wid pigs, so it is wid men and women--some of them at laste--the more advice ye give them, the less they take." "down, poker; quiet, good dog!" said west, as he endeavoured to restrain the ardour of the team, which, being fresh and full fed, could scarcely be held in by the united efforts of himself and meetuck while their companions lashed their provisions, etcetera, on the sledge. "hold on, lads!" cried fred, as he fastened the last lashing. "we'll be ready in a second. now, then, jump on, two of you! catch hold of the tail-line, meetuck! all right!" "hall right!" yelled the esquimaux, as he let go the dogs and sprang upon the sledge. the team struggled and strained violently for a few seconds in their efforts to overcome the _vis inertiae_ of the sledge, and it seemed as if the traces would part, but they were made of tough walrus hide, and held on bravely, while the heavy vehicle gradually fetched way, and at length flew over the floes at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour. travelling, however, was not now quite as agreeable as it had been when they set out from the ship, for the floes were swept bare in some places by the gale, while in other places large drifts had collected, so that the sledge was either swaying to and fro on the smooth ice, and swinging the dogs almost off their feet, or it was plunging heavily through banks of soft snow. as the wind was still blowing fresh, and would have been dead against them had they attempted to return by a direct route to the ship, they made for the shore, intending to avail themselves of the shelter afforded by the ice-belt. meanwhile the carcass of the walrus, at least as much of it as could not be packed on the sledge, was buried in the hut, and a spear planted above it to mark the spot. "hah! an' it's cowld," said o'riley, wrapping himself more closely in his fur jumper as they sped along. "i wish we wos out o' the wind, i do." "you'll have your wish soon, then," answered west, "for that row of icebergs we're coming to will shelter us nearly all the way to the land." "surely you are taking us too much off to the right, meetuck," said fred; "we are getting farther away from the ship." "no fee. be win' too 'trong. we turn hup 'long shore very quick, soon--ha!" meetuck accompanied each word with a violent nod of his head, at the same time opening and shutting his mouth and winking with both eyes, being apparently impressed with the conviction that such contortions of visage rendered his meaning more apparent. "look! look! ho! nannook, nannook!" (a bear, a bear!) whispered the esquimaux with sudden animation, just as they gained the lee of the first iceberg. the words were unnecessary, however, for the whole party were looking ahead with the most intense eagerness at a bear which their sudden advent had aroused from a nap in the crevice of the iceberg. a little cub was discerned a moment after, standing by her side, and gazing at the intruders with infantine astonishment. while the muskets were being loosened and drawn out, meetuck let slip all the dogs, and in a few seconds they were engaged in active warfare with the enemy. "oh! musha! dumps is gone intirely!" the quadruped referred to was tossed to a height of about thirty feet, and alighted senseless upon the ice. the bear seized him with her teeth and tossed him with an incredibly slight effort. the other dogs, nothing daunted by the fate of their comrade, attacked the couple in the rear, biting their heels, and so distracting their attention that they could not make an energetic attack in any direction. another of the dogs, however, a young one, waxing reckless, ventured too near the old bear, and was seized by the back, and hurled high into the air, through which it wriggled violently, and descended with a sounding whack upon the ice. at the same moment a volley from the hunters sent several balls into the carcass of both mother and cub; but, although badly wounded, neither of them evinced any sign of pain and exhaustion as they continued to battle with the remaining dogs. the dogs that had already fallen in the fray had not been used to bear-hunting--hence their signal defeat; but this was not the case with the others, all of which were old campaigners; and poker especially, although not old in years, was a practical fighter, having been trained not to attack but to harass. the systematic and steady way in which they advanced before the bear, and retired, right and left, leading her into a profitless pursuit, was very interesting to witness. another volley from the hunters caused them to make off more rapidly, and wounded the cub severely, so much so that in a few minutes it began to flag. seeing this, the mother placed it in front of her, and urged it forward with her snout so quickly that it was with the utmost difficulty the men could keep up with them. a well-directed shot, however, from fred ellice brought the old bear to the ground; but she rose instantly, and again advanced, pushing her cub before her, while the dogs continued to embarrass her. they now began to fear that, in spite of dogs and men, the wounded bears would escape, when an opportune crack in the ice presented itself, into which they both tumbled, followed by the yelping, and, we may add, limping, dogs. before they could scramble up on the other side, meetuck and fred, being light of foot, gained upon them sufficiently to make sure shots. "there they go," cried fred, as the she-bear bounced out of the crack with poker hanging to her heels. poker's audacity had at last outstripped his sagacity, and the next moment he was performing a tremendous somersault. before he reached the ice, meetuck and fred fired simultaneously, and when the smoke cleared away, the old bear was stretched out in death. hitherto the cub had acted exclusively on the defensive, and entrusted itself entirely to the protection of its dam, but now it seemed to change its character entirely. it sprang upon its mother's body, and, assuming an attitude of extreme ferocity, kept the dogs at bay, snapping and snarling right and left until the hunters came up. for the first time since the chase began, a feeling of intense pity touched fred's heart, and he would have rejoiced at that moment had the mother risen up, and made her escape with her cub. he steeled his heart, however, by reflecting that fresh provisions were much wanted on board the _dolphin_; still, neither he nor his shipmates could bring themselves to shoot the gallant little animal, and it is possible that they might have made up their minds to allow it to escape after all, had not meetuck quietly ended their difficulty by putting a ball through its heart. "ah, then, meetuck!" said o'riley, shaking his head as they examined their prize, "ye're a hard-hearted spalpeen, ye are, to kill a poor little baby like that in cowld blood. well, it's yer natur', an' yer trade, so i s'pose it's all right." the weight of this bear, which was not of the largest size, was afterwards found to be above five hundred pounds, and her length was eight feet nine inches. the cub weighed upwards of a hundred pounds, and was larger than a newfoundland dog. the operation of cutting out the entrails, preparatory to packing on the sledge, was now commenced by meetuck, whose practised hand applied the knife with the skill, though not with the delicacy, of a surgeon. "she has been a hungry bear, it seems," remarked fred, as he watched the progress of the work, "if we may judge from the emptiness of her stomach." "och, but she's had a choice morsel, if it was a small wan!" exclaimed o'riley in surprise, as he picked up a plug of tobacco. on further examination being made, it was found that this bear had dined on raisins, tobacco, pork, and adhesive plaster! such an extraordinary mixture of articles, of course, led the party to conclude that either she had helped herself to the stores of the _dolphin_ placed on store island, or that she had fallen in with those of some other vessel. this subject afforded food for thought and conversation during the next hour or two, as they drove towards the ship along the ice-belt of the shore. the ice-belt referred to is a zone of ice which extends along the shore from the unknown regions of the north. to the south it breaks up in summer and disappears altogether, but, in the latitude which our travellers had now reached, it was a permanent feature of the scenery all the year round, following the curvatures and indentations of bays and rivers, and increasing in winter or diminishing in summer, but never melting entirely away. the surface of this ice-belt was covered with immense masses of rock many tons in weight, which had fallen from the cliffs above. pointing to one of these, as they drove along, west remarked to fred: "there is a mystery explained, sir; i have often wondered how huge solitary stones, that no machinery of man's making could lift, have come to be placed on sandy shores where there were no other rocks of any kind within many miles of them. the ice must have done it, i see." "true, west, the ice, if it could speak, would explain many things that now seem to us mysterious, and yonder goes a big rock on a journey that may perhaps terminate at a thousand miles to the south of this." the rock referred to was a large mass that became detached from the cliffs and fell, as he spoke, with a tremendous crash upon the ice-belt, along which it rolled for fifty yards. there it would lie all winter, and in spring the mass of ice to which it was attached would probably break off and float away with it to the south, gradually melting until it allowed the rock to sink to the bottom of the sea, or depositing it, perchance, on some distant shore, where such rocks are not wont to lie-- there to remain an object of speculation and wonderment to the unlearned of all future ages. some of the bergs close to which they passed on the journey were very fantastically formed, and many of them were more than a mile long, with clear, blue, glassy surfaces, indicating that they had been but recently thrown off from the great glacier of the north. between two of these they drove for some time before they found that they were going into a sort of blind alley. "sure the road's gittin' narrower," observed o'riley, as he glanced up at the blue walls, which rose perpendicularly to a height of sixty feet on either hand. "have a care, meetuck, or ye'll jam us up, ye will." "'tis a pity we left the ice-belt," remarked fred, "for this rough work among the bergs is bad for man and dog. how say you, meetuck, shall we take to it again when we get through this place?" "faix, then, well niver git through," said o'riley, pointing to the end of the chasm, where a third iceberg had entirely closed the opening. the esquimaux pulled up, and, after advancing on foot a short way to examine, returned with a rueful expression on his countenance. "ha! no passage, i suppose?" said fred. "bad luck to ye," cried o'riley, "won't ye spaake?" "no rod--muss go back," replied meetuck, turning the dogs in the direction whence they had come, and resuming his place on the sledge. the party had to retrace their steps half a mile in consequence of this unfortunate interruption, and return to the level track of the ice-belt, which they had left for a time and taken to the sea-ice, in order to avoid the sinuosities of the land. to add to their misfortunes, the dogs began to flag, so that they were obliged to walk behind the sledge at a slow pace, and snow began to fall heavily. but they pressed forward manfully, and, having regained the shore-ice, continued to make their way northward towards the ship, which was now spoken of by the endearing name of home. chapter fourteen. departure of the sun--effects of darkness on dogs--winter arrangements in the interior of the dolphin. it is sad to part with an old friend, especially if he be one of the oldest and best friends we ever had. when the day of departure arrives, it is of no avail that he tells us kindly he will come back again. that assurance is indeed a comfort after he is gone, and a sweet star of hope that shines brighter and brighter each day until he comes back; but it is poor consolation to us at the time of parting, when we are squeezing his hand for the last time, and trying to crush back the drops that _will_ overflow. the crew of the _dolphin_ had, in the course of that winter, to part with one of their best friends; one whom they regarded with the most devoted attachment; one who was not expected to return again till the following spring, and one, therefore, whom some of them might perhaps, never see again. mivins became quite low-spirited about it, and said "as 'ow 'e'd 'ave a 'eavy 'eart for hever and hever, hamen," after he was gone. o'riley remarked, in reference to his departure, that every man in the ship was about to lose a "_son_!" yes, indeed he did; he perpetrated that atrocious pun, and wasn't a bit ashamed of it. o'riley had perpetrated many a worse pun than that before; it's to be hoped that for the credit of his country he has perpetrated a few better ones since! yes, the period at length arrived when the great source of light and heat was about to withdraw his face from these arctic navigators for a long, long time, and leave them in unvarying night. it was a good while, however, before he went away altogether, and for many weeks after winter set in in all its intensity, he paid them a daily visit which grew gradually shorter and shorter, until that sad evening in which he finally bade them farewell. about the middle of october the dark months overspread the bay of mercy, and the reign of perpetual night began. there was something terribly depressing at first in this uninterrupted gloom, and for some time after the sun ceased to show his disc above the horizon the men of the _dolphin_ used to come on deck at noon, and look out for the faint streak of light that indicated the presence of the life-giving luminary with all the earnestness and longing of eastern fire-worshippers. the dogs, too, became sensibly affected by the continued absence of light, and seemed to draw more sympathetically than ever to their human companions in banishment. a curious and touching instance of this feeling was exhibited when the pack were sent to sleep on store island. a warm kennel had been erected for them there, partly in order that the ship might be kept more thoroughly clean, and partly that the dogs might act as a guard over the stores, in case bears or wolves should take a fancy to examine them. but nothing would induce the poor animals to keep away from the ship, and remain beyond the sound of human voices. they deserted their comfortable abode, with one consent, the first time they were sent to it, preferring to spend the night by the side of the ship upon the bare snow. coaxing them was of no use. o'riley tried it in vain. "at, then," said he to dumps with a wheedling air and expression of intense affection that would have taken by storm the heart of any civilised dog, "_won't_ ye come now an' lay in yar own kennel? sure it's a beautiful wan, an' as warm as the heart of an iceberg. doo come now, avic, an' i'll show ye the way." but dumps's heart was marble. he wouldn't budge. by means of a piece of walrus, however, he was at length induced to go with the irishman to the kennel, and was followed by the entire pack. here o'riley endeavoured to make them comfortable, and prevailed on them to lie down and go to sleep, but whenever he attempted to leave them they were up and at his heels in a moment. "och, but ye're too fond o' me entirely! doo lie down agin, and i'll sing ye a ditty!" true to his word, o'riley sat down by the dog-kennel, and gave vent to a howl which his "owld grandmother," he said, "used to sing to the pig," and whether it was the effects of this lullaby, or of the cold, it is impossible to say, but o'riley at length succeeded in slipping away and regaining the ship, unobserved by his canine friends. half an hour later he went on deck to take a mouthful of fresh air before supper, and on looking over the side he saw the whole pack of dogs lying in a circle close to the ship, with dumps comfortably asleep in the middle, and using poker's back for a pillow. "faix, but ye must be fond of the cowld, to lie there all night when ye've got a palace on store island." "fond of society, rather," observed captain guy, who came on deck at the moment, "the poor creatures cannot bear to be left alone. it is a strange quality in dogs which i have often observed before." "have ye, capting? sure i thought it was all owin' to the bad manners o' that baste dumps, which is for iver leadin' the other dogs into mischief." "supper's ready, sir," said mivins, coming up the hatchway and touching his cap. "look here, mivins," said o'riley, as the captain went below, "can ye point out the mornin' star to me, lad?" "the morning star?" said mivins slowly, as he thrust his hands into the breast of his jumper, and gazed upwards into the dark sky, where the starry host blazed in arctic majesty. "no, of course i can't. why, don't you know that there hain't no _morning_ star when it's _night_ all round?" "faix ye're right. i niver thought o' that." mivins was evidently a little puffed up with a feeling of satisfaction at the clever way in which he had got out of the difficulty without displaying his ignorance of astronomy, and was even venturing, in the pride of his heart, to make some speculative and startling assertions in regard to the "'eavenly bodies" generally, when buzzby put his head up the hatchway. "hallo! messmates, wot's ado now? here's the supper awaitin', and the tea bilin' like blazes!" mivins instantly dived down below, as the sailors express it; and we may remark, in passing, that the expression, in this particular case, was not inappropriate, for mivins, as we have elsewhere said, was remarkably agile and supple, and gave beholders a sort of impression that he went head-foremost at everything. o'riley followed at a more reasonable rate, and in a few minutes the crew of the _dolphin_ were seated at supper in the cabin, eating with as much zest, and laughing and chatting as blithely as if they were floating calmly on their ocean home in temperate climes. sailors are proverbially lighthearted, and in their moments of comfort and social enjoyment they easily forget their troubles. the depression of spirits that followed the first disappearance of the sun soon wore off, and they went about their various avocations cheerfully by the light of the aurora borealis and the stars. the cabin, in which they now all lived together, had undergone considerable alterations. after the return of fred ellice and the hunting-party, whom we left on the ice-belt in the last chapter, the bulk-head, or partition, which separated the cabin from the hold, had been taken down, and the whole was thrown into one large apartment, in order to secure a freer circulation of air and warmth. all round the walls inside of this apartment moss was piled to the depth of twelve inches to exclude the cold, and this object was further gained by the spreading of a layer of moss on the deck above. the cabin hatchway was closed, and the only entrance was at the farther end, through the hold, by means of a small doorway in the bulkhead, to which was attached a sort of porch, with a curtain of deer-skins hung in front of it. in the centre of the floor stood an iron cooking-stove, which served at once the purpose of preparing food and warming the cabin, which was lighted by several small oil-lamps. these were kept burning perpetually, for there was no distinction between day and night in midwinter, either in the cabin or out-of-doors. in this snug-looking place the officers and men of the ship messed, and dwelt, and slept together; but, notwithstanding the _apparent_ snugness, it was with the greatest difficulty they could keep themselves in a sufficient degree of warmth to maintain health and comfort. whenever the fire was allowed to get low, the beams overhead became coated with hoar-frost; and even when the temperature was raised to the utmost possible pitch it was cold enough, at the extreme ends of the apartment, to freeze a jug of water solid. a large table occupied the upper end of the cabin, between the stove and the stern, and round this the officers and crew were seated, when o'riley entered and took his place among them. each individual had his appointed place at the mess-table, and with unvarying regularity these places were filled at the appointed hours. "the dogs seem to be disobedient," remarked amos parr, as his comrade sat down; "they'd be the better of a taste o' meetuck's cat i think." "it's truth ye're sayin'," replied o'riley, commencing a violent assault on a walrus steak; "they don't obey orders at all, at all. an' dumps, the blaggard, is as cross-grained as me grandmother's owld pig--" a general laugh here interrupted the speaker, for o'riley could seldom institute a disparaging comparison without making emphatic allusion to the pig that once shared with him the hospitalities of his grandmother's cabin. "why, everything you speak of seems to be like that wonderful pig, messmate," said peter grim. "ye're wrong there intirely," retorted o'riley. "i niver seed nothing like it in all me thravels except yerself, and that only in regard to its muzzle, which was black and all kivered over with bristles, it wos. i'll throuble for another steak, messmate; that walrus is great livin'. we owe ye thanks for killin' it, mister ellice." "you're fishing for compliments, but i'm afraid i have none to give you. your first harpoon, you know, was a little wide of the mark, if i recollect right, wasn't it?" "yis, it wos--about as wide as the first bullet. i misremember exactly who fired it; wos it you, meetuck?" meetuck, being deeply engaged with a junk of fat meat at that moment expressed all he had to say in a convulsive gasp, without interrupting his supper. "try a bit of the bear," said fred to tom singleton; "it's better than the walrus to my taste." "i'd rather not," answered tom, with a dubious shake of the head. "it's a most unconscionable thing to eat a beast o' that sort," remarked saunders gravely. "especially one who has been in the habit of living on raisins and sticking-plaster," said bolton with a grin. "i have been thinking about that," said captain guy, who had been for some time listening in silence to the conversation, "and i cannot help thinking that esquimaux must have found a wreck somewhere in this neighbourhood, and carried away her stores, which bruin had managed to steal from them." "may they not have got some of the stores of the brig we saw nipped some months ago?" suggested singleton. "possibly they may." "i dinna think that's likely," said saunders, shaking his head. "yon brig had been deserted long ago, and her stores must have been consumed, if they were taken out of her at all, before we thought o' comin' here." for some time the party in the cabin ate in silence. "we must wait patiently," resumed the captain, as if he were tired of following up a fruitless train of thought. "what of your theatricals, fred? we must get them set a-going as soon as possible." the captain spoke animatedly, for he felt that, with the prospect of a long dark winter before them, it was of the greatest importance that the spirits of the men should be kept up. "i find it difficult to beat up recruits," answered fred, laughing; "peter grim has flatly refused to act, and o'riley says he could no more learn a part off by heart than--" "his grandmother's pig could," interrupted david mizzle, who, having concluded supper, now felt himself free to indulge in conversation. "och! ye spalpeen," whispered the irishman. "i have written out the half of a play which i hope to produce in a few days on the boards of our arctic theatre with a talented company, but i must have one or two more men--one to act the part of a lady. will you take that part, buzzby?" "wot! _me_?" cried the individual referred to with a stare of amazement. "oh yes! _do_, buzzby," cried several of the men with great delight. "you're just cut out for it." "blue eyes," said one. "fair hair," cried another. "and plump," said a third. "wid cheeks like the hide of a walrus," cried o'riley; "but, sure, it won't show wid a veil on." "come, now, you won't refuse." but buzzby did refuse; not, however, so determinedly but that he was induced at last to allow his name to be entered in fred's note-book as a supernumerary. "hark!" cried the captain; "surely the dogs must have smelt a bear." there was instantly a dead silence in the cabin, and a long, loud wail from the dogs was heard outside. "it's not like their usual cry when game is near," said the second mate. "hand me my rifle, mivins," said the captain, springing up and pulling forward the hood of his jumper, as he hurried on deck followed by the crew. it was a bright, still, frosty night, and the air felt intensely sharp, as if needles were pricking the skin, while the men's breath issued from their lips in white clouds, and settled in hoar-frost on the edges of their hoods. the dogs were seen galloping about the ice hummocks as if in agitation, darting off to a considerable distance at times, and returning with low whines to the ship. "it is very strange," remarked the captain. "jump down on the ice, boys, and search for footprints. extend as far as store island and see that all is right there." in a few seconds the men scattered themselves right and left, and were lost in the gloom, while the vessel was left in charge of mivins and four men. a strict search was made in all directions, but no traces of animals could be found; the stores on the island were found undisturbed, and gradually the dogs ceased their agitated gyrations and seemed inclined to resume their slumbers on the ice. seeing this, and supposing that they were merely restless, captain guy recalled his men, and, not long after, every man in the cabin of the _dolphin_ was buried in profound slumber. chapter fifteen. strangers appear on the scene--the esquimaux are hospitably entertained by the sailors--a spirited traffic--thieving propensities and summary justice. dumps sat on the top of a hummock, about quarter of a mile from the ship, with an expression of subdued melancholy on his countenance, and thinking, evidently, about nothing at all. poker sat in front of him, gazing earnestly and solemnly right into his eyes with a look that said, as plain as if he had spoken: "what a tremendously stupid old fellow you are, to be sure!" having sat thus for full five minutes dumps wagged his tail. poker, observing the action, returned the compliment with his stump. then poker sprang up and barked savagely, as much as to say: "play, won't you!" but dumps wouldn't; so poker endeavoured to relieve his mind by gambolling violently round him. we would not have drawn your attention, reader, to the antics of our canine friends, were it not for the fact that these antics attracted the notice of a personage who merits particular description. this was no other than one of the esquimaux inhabitants of the land--a woman, and _such_ a woman! most people would have pronounced her a man, for she wore precisely the same dress--fur jumper and long boots--that was worn by the men of the _dolphin_. her lips were thick and her nose was blunt; she wore her hair turned up, and twisted into a knot on the top of her head; her hood was thrown back, and inside of this hood there was a baby--a small and a very fat baby! it was, so to speak, a conglomerate of dumplings. its cheeks were two dumplings, and its arms were four dumplings--one above each elbow and one below. its hands, also, were two smaller dumplings, with ten extremely little dumplings at the end of them. this baby had a nose, of course, but it was so small that it might as well have had none; and it had a mouth, too, but that was so capacious that the half of it would have been more than enough for a baby double the size. as for its eyes, they were large and black--black as two coals--and devoid of all expression save that of astonishment. such were the pair that stood on the edge of the ice-belt gazing down upon dumps and poker. and no sooner did dumps and poker catch sight of them than they sprang hastily towards them, wagging their tails--or, more correctly speaking, their tail and a quarter. but on a nearer approach those sagacious animals discovered that the woman and her child were strangers, whereupon they set up a dismal howl, and fled towards the ship as fast as they could run. now it so happened that, at this very time, the howl of the dogs fell upon the ears of two separate parties of travellers--the one was a band of esquimaux who were moving about in search of seals and walrus, to which band this woman and her baby belonged; the other was a party of men under command of buzzby, who were returning to the ship after an unsuccessful hunt. neither party saw the other, for one approached from the east, the other from the west, and the ice-belt, on the point of which the woman stood, rose up between them. "hallo! what's yon," exclaimed peter grim, who was first to observe the woman. "dunno," said buzzby, halting; "it looks like a bear." "faix an it is, then, it's got a young wan on its back," cried o'riley. "we had better advance and find out," remarked west, as he led the way, while several of the men threw up their arms in token of their friendly intentions. o'riley capered somewhat extravagantly as he drew near, partly with the intention of expressing his feelings of good-will towards the unknown, and partly in order to relieve the excitement caused by the unexpected apparition. these demonstrations, however, had the effect of terrifying the woman, who wheeled suddenly round and made off. "och! it _is_ a man. hooray, boys! give chase." "men don't usually carry babies on their backs and tie their hair up into top-knots," remarked grim, as he darted past in pursuit. a few seconds sufficed to enable grim to overtake the woman, who fell on her knees the instant she felt the sailor's heavy hand on her shoulder. "don't be afeard; we won't hurt ye," said buzzby in a soothing tone, patting the woman on the head and raising her up. "no, avic, we's yer frinds; we'll not harm a hair o' yer beautiful head, we won't. ah, then, it's a swate child, it is, bless its fat face!" said o'riley, stroking the baby's head tenderly with his big hand. it was with difficulty that the poor creature's fears were calmed at first, but the genuine tenderness displayed by the men towards the baby, and the perfect complacency with which that conglomerate of dumplings received their caresses, soon relieved her mind, and she began to regard her captors with much curiosity, while they endeavoured by signs and words to converse with her. unfortunately meetuck was not with the party, he having been left on board ship to assist in a general cleaning of the cabin that had been instituted that day. "sure, now, ye don't know how to talk with a girl at all, ye don't; let _me_ try," cried o'riley, after several of the party had made numerous ineffectual attempts to convey their meaning. "listen to _me_, darlint, and don't mind them stupid grampusses. where have ye comed from, now; tell me, dear, _doo_ now?" o'riley accompanied the question with a smile of ineffable sweetness and a great deal of energetic pantomime, which, doubtless, explained much of his meaning to himself, but certainly to no one else. "ah, then, ye don't onderstand me? well, well, now, isn't that strange? look you, avic, have ye seen a brig or a brig's crew anywhere betune this and the north pole--try, now, an' remimber." he illustrated this question by holding up both arms straight above his head to represent the masts of a brig, and sticking his right leg straight out in front of him, to represent the bowsprit; but the woman gazed at him with an air of obtuse gravity that might have damped the hopes even of an irishman. o'riley prided himself, however, on not being easily beat, and despite his repeated failure, and the laughter of his messmates, was proceeding to make a third effort, when a loud shout from the cliffs caused the whole party to start and turn their eyes in that direction. the cry had been uttered by a figure whose costume bore so close a resemblance to that which they themselves wore that they thought for a moment it was one of their own shipmates, but a second glance proved that they were mistaken, for the individual in question carried a spear which he brandished with exceedingly fierce and warlike intentions. "faix, it must be her husband," said o'riley. "hallo, lads, there's more on 'em!" cried grim, as ten or twelve esquimaux emerged from the rents and caverns of the ice-belt, and, scrambling to the top of surrounding hummocks and eminences, gazed towards the party of white men, while they threw about their arms and legs, and accompanied their uncouth and violent gesticulations with loud, excited cries. "i've a notion," he added, "that it was the scent o' them chaps set the dogs off after yon strange fashion t'other _night_." it was evident that the esquimaux were not only filled with unbounded astonishment at this unexpected meeting with strangers, but were also greatly alarmed to see one of their own women in their power. "let's send the woman over to them," suggested one of the men. "no, no; keep her as a hostage," said another. "look out, lads," cried buzzby, hastily examining the priming of his musket, as additional numbers of the wild inhabitants of the north appeared on the scene, and crowned the ice-belt and the hummocks around them. "let's show a bold front. draw up in single line and hold on to the woman. west, put her in front." the men instantly drew up in battle array, and threw forward their muskets; but as there was only a dozen of them, they presented a very insignificant group compared with the crowds of esquimaux who appeared on the ice in front of them. "now, then, stand fast, men, and i'll show ye wot's the way to manage them chaps. keep yer weather-eyes open, and don't let them git in rear o' ye." so saying, buzzby took the woman by the arm and led her out a few yards in front of his party, while the esquimaux drew closer together, to prepare either to receive or make an attack, as the case might be. he then laid his musket down on the ice, and, still holding the woman by the arm, advanced boldly towards the natives unarmed. on approaching to within about twenty yards of them he halted, and raised both arms above his head as a sign of friendship. the signal was instantly understood, and one big fellow leaped boldly from his elevated position on a lump of ice, threw down his spear, and ran to meet the stranger. in a few minutes buzzby and the esquimaux leader came to a mutual understanding as to the friendly disposition of their respective parties, and the woman was delivered up to this big fellow, who turned out to be her husband after all, as o'riley had correctly guessed. the other esquimaux, seeing the amicable terms on which the leaders met, crowded in and surrounded them. "leave the half o' ye to guard the arms, and come on the rest of ye without 'em," shouted buzzby. the men obeyed, and in a few minutes the two parties mingled together with the utmost confidence. the sailors, however, deemed it prudent to get possession of their arms again as soon as possible, and, after explaining as well as they could by signs that their home was only at a short distance, the whole band started off for the ship. the natives were in a most uproarious state of hilarity, and danced and yelled as they ambled along in their hairy dresses, evidently filled with delight at the prospect of forming a friendship with the white strangers, as they afterwards termed the crew of the _dolphin_, although some of the said crew were, from exposure, only a few shades lighter than themselves. captain guy was busily engaged with fred ellice and tom singleton in measuring and registering the state of the tide when this riotous band turned the point of the ice-belt to the northward, and came suddenly into view. "jump down below, fred, and fetch my rifle and sword; there are the natives," cried the captain, seizing his telescope. "call all hands, mivins, and let them arm; look alive!" "all 'ands, _ahoy_!" shouted the steward, looking down the hatchway; "tumble up there, tumble up, 'ere come the heskimows. bring your harms with ye. look alive!" "ay, ay," shouted the men from below; and in a few minutes they crowded up the hatchway, pulling up their hoods and hauling on their mittens, for it was intensely cold. "why, captain, there are some of our men with them," exclaimed tom singleton, as he looked through his pocket-glass at them. "so there are--i see buzzby and grim; come, that's fortunate, for they must have made friends with them, which it is not always easy to do. hide your muskets, men, but keep on your cutlasses; it's as well to be prepared, though i don't expect to find those people troublesome. is the soup in the coppers, david mizzle?" "yes, sir, it is." "then put in an extra junk of pork, and fill it up to the brim." while the cook went below to obey this order, the captain and half of the crew descended to the ice, and advanced unarmed to meet the natives. the remainder of the men stayed behind to guard the ship, and be ready to afford succour if need be; but the precaution was unnecessary, for the esquimaux met the sailors in the most frank and confiding manner, and seemed quite to understand captain guy when he drew a line round the ship, and stationed sentries along it to prevent them from crossing. the natives had their dogs and sledges with them, and the former they picketed to the ice, while a few of their number, and the woman, whose name was aninga, were taken on board and hospitably entertained. it was exceedingly interesting and amusing to observe the feelings of amazement and delight expressed by those barbarous but good-humoured and intelligent people at everything they saw. while food was preparing for them, they were taken round the ship, on deck and below, and the sailors explained, in pantomime, the uses of everything. they laughed, and exclaimed, and shouted, and even roared with delight, and touched everything with their fingers, just as monkeys are wont to do when let loose. captain guy took aninga and her tall husband, awatok, to the cabin, where, through the medium of meetuck, he explained the object of their expedition, and questioned the chief as to his knowledge of the country. unfortunately awatok and his band had travelled from the interior to the coast, and, never having been more than twenty or thirty miles to the north of the bay of mercy, could give no information either in regard to the formation of the coast or the possibility of europeans having wintered there. in fact, neither he nor his countrymen had ever seen europeans before; and they were so much excited that it was difficult to obtain coherent answers to questions. the captain, therefore, postponed further enquiries until they had become somewhat accustomed to the novelty of their position. meanwhile, david mizzle furnished them with a large supply of pea-soup, which they seemed to relish amazingly. not so, however, the salt pork with which it had been made. they did, indeed, condescend to eat it, but they infinitely preferred a portion of raw walrus flesh, which had been reserved as food for the dogs, and which they would speedily have consumed had it not been removed out of their reach. having finished this, they were ordered to return to their camp on the ice beside the ship, and a vigorous barter was speedily begun. first of all, however, a number of presents were made to them, and it would really have done your heart good, reader, to have witnessed the extravagant joy displayed by them on receiving such trifles as bits of hoop--iron, beads, knives, scissors, needles, etcetera. iron is as precious among them as gold is among civilised people. the small quantities they possessed of it had been obtained from the few portions of wrecks that had drifted ashore in their ice-bound land. they used it for pointing their spear-heads and harpoons, which, in default of iron, were ingeniously made of ivory from the tusks of the walrus and the horn of the narwal. a bit of iron, therefore, was received with immense glee, and a penny looking-glass with shouts of delight. but the present which drew forth the most uproarious applause was a union jack, which the captain gave to their chief, awatok. he was in the cabin when it was presented to him. on seeing its gaudy colours unrolled, and being told that it was a gift to himself and his wife, he caught his breath, and stared, as if in doubt, alternately at the flag and the captain, then he gave vent to a tremendous shout, seized the flag, hugged it in his arms, and darted up on deck literally _roaring_ with delight. the sympathetic hearts of the natives on the ice echoed the cry before they knew the cause of it; but when they beheld the prize, they yelled, and screamed, and danced, and tossed their arms in the air in the most violent manner. "they're all mad, ivery mother's son o' them," exclaimed o'riley, who for some time had been endeavouring to barter an old, rusty knife for a pair of sealskin boots. "they looks like it," said grim, who stood looking on with his legs apart and his arms crossed, and grinning from ear to ear. to add to the confusion, the dogs became affected with the spirit of excitement that filled their masters, and gave vent to their feelings in loud and continuous howling, which nothing could check. the imitative propensity of these singular people was brought rather oddly into play during the progress of traffic. busby had produced a large roll of tobacco--which they knew the use of, having already been shown how to use a pipe--and cut off portions of it, which he gave in exchange for fox-skins, and deer-skins, and seal-skin boots. observing this, a very sly old esquimaux began to slice up a deer-skin into little pieces, which he intended to offer for the small pieces of tobacco! he was checked, however, before doing much harm to the skin, and the principles of exchange were more perfectly explained to him. the skins and boots, besides walrus and seals' flesh, which the crew were enabled to barter at this time, were of the utmost importance, for their fresh provisions had begun to get low, and their boots were almost worn out, so that the scene of barter was exceedingly animated. davie summers and his master, mivins, shone conspicuous as bargain-makers, and carried to their respective bunks a large assortment of native articles. fred and tom singleton, too, were extremely successful, and in a few hours a sufficient amount of skins were bartered to provide them with clothing for the winter. the quantity of fresh meat obtained, however, was not enough to last them a week, for the esquimaux lived from hand to mouth, and the crew felt that they must depend on their own exertions in the hunt for this indispensable article of food, without which they could not hope to escape the assaults of the sailors' dread enemy, scurvy. meetuck's duties were not light upon this occasion, as you may suppose. "arrah, then, _don't_ ye onderstand me?" cried o'riley in an excited tone to a particularly obtuse and remarkably fat esquimaux, who was about as sharp at a bargain as himself. "hallo! meetuck, come here, do, and tell this pork-faced spalpeen what i'm sayin'. sure i couldn't spake it plainer av i was to try." "i'll never get this fellow to understand," said fred. "meetuck, my boy, come here and explain to him." "ho, meetuck!" shouted peter grim, "give this old blockhead a taste o' your lingo. i never met his match for stupidity." "i do believe that this rascal wants the 'ole of this ball o' twine for the tusk of a sea-'oss. meetuck! w'ere's meetuck! i say, give us a 'and 'ere like a good fellow," cried mivins; but mivins cried in vain, for at that moment saunders had violently collared the interpreter, and dragged him towards an old esquimaux woman, whose knowledge of scotch had not proved sufficient to enable her to understand the energetically-expressed words of the second mate. during all this time the stars had been twinkling brightly in the sky, and the aurora shed a clear light upon the scene, while the air was still calm and cold; but a cloud or two now began to darken the horizon to the north-east, and a puff of wind blew occasionally over the icy plain, and struck with such chilling influence on the frames of the traffickers that with one consent they closed their business for that day, and the esquimaux prepared to return to their snow village, which was about ten miles to the southward, and which village had been erected by them only three days previous to their discovery of the ship. "i'm sorry to find," remarked the captain to those who were standing near him, "that these poor creatures have stolen a few trifling articles from below. i don't like to break the harmonious feeling which now exists between us for the sake of a few worthless things, but i know that it does more harm than good to pass over an offence with the natives of these regions, for they attribute our forbearance to fear." "perhaps you had better tax them with the theft," suggested the surgeon; "they may confess it, if we don't look very angry." a few more remarks were made by several of those who stood on the quarter-deck, suggesting a treatment of the esquimaux which was not of the gentlest nature, for they felt indignant that their hospitality had been abused. "no, no," replied the captain to such suggestions, "we must exercise forbearance. these poor fellows do not regard theft in the same light that we do; besides, it would be foolish to risk losing their friendship. go down, meetuck, and invite awatok and his wife, and half a dozen of the chief men, into the cabin. say i wish to have a talk with them." the interpreter obeyed, and in a few minutes the officers of the ship and the chiefs of the esquimaux were assembled in solemn conclave round the cabin table. "tell them, meetuck," said the captain, "that i know they have stolen two pieces of hoop iron and a tin kettle, and ask them why they were so ungrateful as to do it." the esquimaux, who were becoming rather alarmed at the stern looks of those around them, protested earnestly that they knew nothing about it, and that they had not taken the things referred to. "say that i do not believe them," answered the captain sternly. "it is an exceedingly wicked thing to steal and to tell lies. white men think those who are guilty of such conduct to be very bad." "ah, ye villain!" cried saunders, seizing one of the esquimaux named oosuck by the shoulder, and drawing forth an iron spoon which he observed projecting from the end of his boot. an exclamation of surprise and displeasure burst from the officers, but the esquimaux gave vent to a loud laugh. they evidently thought stealing to be no sin, and were not the least ashamed of being detected. awatok, however, was an exception. he looked grave and annoyed, but whether this was at being found out, or at the ingratitude of his people, they could not decide. "tell them," said the captain, "that i am much displeased. if they promise to return the stolen goods immediately, i will pass over their offence this time, and we will trade together, and live like brothers, and do each other good; but if not, and if any more articles are taken, i will punish them." having had this translated to them, the chiefs were dismissed, but the expression of indifference on some of their faces proved that no impression had been made upon them. in a quarter of an hour the articles that had been mentioned as missing were returned; and, in order to restore harmony, several plugs of tobacco and a few additional trinkets were returned by the messenger. soon after, the dogs were harnessed, the sledges packed, and, with many protestations of good-will on both sides, the parties separated. a few cracks of their long whips--a few answering howls from the dogs--and the esquimaux were off and out of sight, leaving the _dolphin_ in her former solitude under the shadow of the frowning cliffs. "fetch me the telescope, mivins," said the captain, calling down the hatchway. "ay, ay, sir," answered the steward. "where's my hatchet?" cried peter grim, striding about the deck, and looking into every corner in search of his missing implement. "it's my best one, and i can't get on without it, nohow." the captain bit his lip for he knew full well the cause of its absence. "please, sir," said the steward, coming on deck with a very perturbed expression of countenance, "the--the--a--" "speak out, man; what's the matter with you?" "the glass ain't nowhere to be seen, sir." "turn up all hands!" shouted the captain, jumping down the hatchway, "arm the men, mr bolton, and order the largest sledge to be got ready instantly. this will never do. harness the whole team." instantly the _dolphin's_ deck was a scene of bustling activity. muskets were loaded, jumpers and mittens put on, dogs caught and harnessed, and every preparation made for a sudden chase. "there, that will do," cried the captain, hurrying on deck with a brace of pistols and a cutlass in his belt, "six men are enough; let twelve of the remainder follow on foot. jump on the sledge, grim and buzzby; o'riley, you go too. have a care, fred; not too near the front! now, meetuck--" one crack of the long whip terminated the sentence as if with a full stop, and in another moment the sledge was bounding over the snow like a feather at the tails of twelve dogs. it was a long chase, for it was a "stern" one, but the esquimaux never dreamed of pursuit, and, as their dogs were not too well fed, they had progressed rather slowly. in less than two hours they were distinguished on the horizon, far off to the southward, winding their way among the hummocks. "now, meetuck," said the captain, "drive like the wind, and lay me alongside of awatok's sledge, and be ready, men, to act." "ay, ay, sir!" was the prompt reply, as the heavy whip fell on the flanks of the leaders. a few minutes brought them up with awatok's sledge, and captain guy, leaping upon it with a clasp-knife in his hand, cut the traces in a twinkling, set the dogs free, and, turning round, seized the esquimaux by the collar. the big chief at first showed a disposition to resent this unceremonious treatment, but before he could move, grim seized his elbows in his iron grasp, and tied them adroitly together behind his back with a cord. at the same time poor aninga and her baby were swiftly transferred to the sailors' sledge. seeing this, the whole band of natives turned back, and rushed in a body to the rescue, flourishing their lances and yelling fiercely. "form line!" shouted the captain, handing awatok and aninga over to the care of o'riley. "three of you on the right fire over their heads, and let the rest reserve their fire. i will kill one of their dogs, for it won't do to let them fancy that nothing but noise comes out of our muskets. ready--present!" a rattling volley followed, and at the same moment one of the dogs fell with a death-yell on the ice and dyed it with its blood. "forward!" shouted the captain. the men advanced in a body at a smart run, but the terrified esquimaux, who had never heard the report of firearms before, did not wait for them; they turned and fled precipitately, but not before grim captured oosuck and dragged him forcibly to the rear, where he was pinioned and placed on the sledge with the others. "now then, lads, that will do; get upon the sledge again. away with you, meetuck. look after awatok, grim; o'riley will see that aninga does not jump off." "that he will, darlint," said the irishman, patting the woman on the back. "and i shall look after the baby," said fred, chucking that series of dumplings under the chin--an act of familiarity that seemed to afford it immense satisfaction, for, notwithstanding the melancholy position of its father and mother as prisoners, it smiled on fred benignly. in five minutes the party were far on their way back to the ship; and in less than five hours after the esquimaux had closed their barter, and left for their village, four of their number, including the baby, were close prisoners in the _dolphin's_ hold. it was not captain guy's intention, however, to use unnecessarily harsh means for the recovery of the missing articles. his object was to impress the esquimaux with a salutary sense of the power, promptitude, and courage of europeans, and to check at the outset their propensity for thieving. having succeeded in making two of their chief men prisoners, he felt assured that the lost telescope and hatchet would soon make their appearance; and in this he was not mistaken. going to the hold, where the prisoners sat with downcast looks, he addressed to them a lengthened speech as to the sin and meanness of stealing in general, and of stealing from those who had been kind to them in particular. he explained to them the utter hopelessness of their attempting to deceive or impose upon the white men in any way whatever, and assured them that if they tried that sort of thing again he would punish them severely; but that if they behaved well, and brought plenty of walrus flesh to the ship, he would give them hoop-iron, beads, looking-glasses, etcetera. these remarks seemed to make a considerable impression on his uncouth hearers. "and now," said the captain in conclusion, "i shall keep awatok and his wife and child prisoners here until my telescope and hatchet are returned (awatok's visage fell, and his wife looked stolid), and i shall send oosuck to his tribe (oosuck's face lit up amazingly) to tell them what i have said." in accordance with this resolve oosuck was set free, and, making use of his opportunity, with prompt alacrity he sped away on foot over the ice to the southward, and was quickly lost to view. chapter sixteen. the arctic theatre enlarged upon--great success of the first play--the esquimaux submit and become fast friends. the st of december was a great day on board the _dolphin_, for on that day it was announced to the crew that "the arctic theatre" would be opened, under the able management of mr f. ellice, with the play of "blunderbore; or, the arctic giant". the bill, of which two copies were issued gratis to the crew, announced that the celebrated peter grim, esquire, who had so long trodden the boards of the _dolphin_ with unparalleled success, had kindly consented to appear in the character of _blunderbore_ for one winter only. the other parts were as follows:--_whackinta_, a beautiful esquimaux widow, who had been captured by two polar bears, both of which were deeply in love with her, by frederick ellice, esquire. _first bear_, a big one, by terence o'riley, esquire. _second bear_, a little one, by david summers, esquire. _ben bolt_, a brave british seaman, who had been wrecked in blunderbore's desolate dominions, all the crew having perished except himself, by john buzzby, esquire. these constituted the various characters of the piece, the name of which had been kept a profound secret from the crew, until the morning of the day, on which it was acted. fred's duties as manager and author upon this occasion were by no means light, for his troop, being unaccustomed to study, found the utmost difficulty in committing the simplest sentences to memory. o'riley turned out to be the sharpest among them, but having agreed to impersonate the first bear, and having to act his part in dumb show-- bears not being supposed capable of speech--his powers of memory had not to be exerted. grim was also pretty good, but davie summers could not be got to remember even the general arrangements of the piece; and as for buzzby, he no sooner mastered a line than he forgot the one before it, and almost gave it up in despair; but by dint of much study and many rehearsals in secret, under the superintendence of fred and tom singleton, who undertook to assist, they succeeded at last in going through with it, with only a few mistakes. on the morning of the st december, while the most of the crew were away at red snow valley cutting moss, fred collected his _corps dramatique_ for a last rehearsal in the forecastle, where they were secure from interruption, the place being so cold that no one would willingly go into it except under the force of necessity. a dim lantern lit up the apartment faintly. "we must do it without a mistake this time," said fred ellice, opening his book and calling upon grim to begin. "'tis cold," began grim. "stop, you're wrong." "oh, so i am!" cried grim, slapping his thigh; "i'll begin again." it may be remarked here that although blunderbore was supposed to be an esquimaux monarch, he was compelled to speak english, being unfortunately ignorant--if we may so speak--of his native tongue! "oh! 'tis a dismal thing," began grim again, "to dwell in solitude and cold! 'tis very cold," (grim shuddered here tremendously) "and--and-- what's next?" "hunger," said fred. "hunger gnaws my vitals. my name is blunderbore. 'twere better had i been born a blunderbuss, 'cause then i have _gone off_ and dwelt in climes more shootable to my tender constitoosion. ha! is that a bear i sees before me?" "it's not _sees_," interrupted fred. at this moment a tremendous roar was heard, and o'riley bounded from behind a top-sail which represented an iceberg, dressed from head to foot in the skin of a white bear which had been killed a few days before. "stop, o'riley," cried fred, "you're too soon, man. _i_ have to come on first as an esquimaux woman, and when grim says to the woman he wishes he could see a bear, _then_ you are to come." "och! whirra, but me brains is confuged intirely wid it all," said o'riley, rising on his hind-legs and walking off with his tail, literally as well as figuratively, between his legs. "now, buzzby, now; it's _your_ time--when you hear the word `misery' come on and fight like a trojan with the bears. the doctor will remind you." fred was remarkably patient and painstaking, and his pupils, though not apt scholars, were willing, so that the morning rehearsal was gone through with fewer mistakes than might have been expected, and when the crew came back to dinner about mid-day, which, however, was as dark as midnight, their parts were sufficiently well got up, and nothing remained to be done but to arrange the stage and scenery for the evening's entertainment--it having been resolved that the performance should commence after supper. the stage was at the after part of the cabin, and raised about a foot above the deck, and its management had been intrusted to the doctor, who, assisted by peter grim, transformed that portion of the ship into a scene so romantically beautiful that the first sight of it petrified the crew with surprise. but until the curtain should rise all arrangements were carefully concealed from everyone except the _dramatis personae_. even the captain and officers were forbidden to peep behind the sail that formed a curtain to the stage, and this secrecy, besides being necessary, was extremely useful, inasmuch as it excited the curiosity of the men and afforded them food for converse and speculation, for a week before the great day arrived. the longed-for hour came at last. the cabin tables having been removed, and rows of seats placed in front of the stage, the men were admitted from the deck, to which they had been expelled an hour previous in order not to impede preliminary arrangements. there was great joking, of course, as they took their seats and criticised the fittings up. david mizzle was of opinion that the foot-lights "wos oncommon grand", which was an unquestionable fact, for they consisted of six tin lamps filled with seal-oil, from the wicks of which rose a compound of yellow flame and smoke that had a singularly luminous effect. amos parr guessed that the curtain would be certain sure to get jammed at the first haul, and several of the others were convinced that o'riley would stick his part in one way or another. however, an end was put to all remarks, and expectation raised on tiptoe by the ringing of a small hand-bell, and immediately thereafter a violent pulling at the curtain which concealed the stage; but the curtain remained immovable (they always do on such occasions), and a loud whispering was heard behind the scenes. "clap on extra tackle and call all hands to hoist away," suggested one of the audience. the laugh with which this advice was received was checked in the bud by the sudden rising of the curtain with such violence that the whole framework of the theatre shook again. for a few seconds a dead silence reigned, for the men were stricken dumb with genuine amazement at the scene before them. the stage was covered with white sheets arranged in such a manner as to represent snow, and the more effectually to carry out the idea, several huge blocks of real ice and a few patches of snow were introduced here and there, the cold in the after-part of the cabin being too great to permit of their melting. a top-gallant sail, on which were painted several blue cracks and some strong white lights, did duty for an iceberg, and filled up the whole back of the scene. in front of this, in the centre of the stage, on an extemporised hummock, sat peter grim as the giant blunderbore. his colossal proportions were enhanced by the addition of an entire white bearskin to his ordinary hairy dress, and which was thrown round his broad shoulders in the form of a tippet. a broad scarlet sash was tied round his waist, and a crown of brown paper, painted in alternate diamonds of blue, red, and yellow, sat upon his brow. grim was in truth a magnificent-looking fellow, with his black beard and moustache; and the mock-heroic frown with which he gazed up (as one of the audience suggested) at the aurora borealis, while he grasped an enormous club in his right hand, became him well. the first few seconds of dead silence, with which this was received, were succeeded by a long and loud burst of applause, the heartiness of which plainly showed that the scene far exceeded the expectations of the men. "bravo!" cried the captain, "excellent! nothing could be better." "it beats natur, quite," said one. "all to sticks," cried another. "and wot a tree-mendous giant he makes. three cheers for peter grim, lads!" three cheers were promptly given, with right good-will, but the giant did not move a muscle. he was far too deeply impressed with the importance of playing his part well to acknowledge the compliment. having gazed long enough to enable the men to get rid of their first flow of enthusiasm, blunderbore rose majestically, and, coming forward to the foot-lights, looked straight over the heads of the men, and addressed himself to the opposite bulkhead. "oh! 'tis a dismal thing," he began, and continued to spout his part with flashing eyes and considerable energy until he came to the word blunderbuss, when, either from a mistaken notion as to when it was his time to go on, or nervous forgetfulness of the plan of the piece, the little bear sprang over the edge of the iceberg and alighted on the middle of the stage. "oh! bad luck to yees intirely," said the big bear from behind the scenes in an angry whisper, which was distinctly heard by the audience, "ye've gone and spoiled it all, ye have. come off, will ye, and take yer turn at the right time, won't ye?" in the midst of the shout of delight caused by this mistake, o'riley, forgetting that he was a bear, rushed on the stage on his hind-legs, seized the little bear by the fore-leg, and dragged him off at the other side amid loud applause. blunderbore, with admirable self-possession, resumed his part the instant there was a calm, and carried it successfully to a close. just as he ended, fred waddled on, in the guise of an esquimaux woman, and so well was he got up that the crew looked round to see if aninga (who, with her husband, had been allowed to witness the play) was in her place. fred had intentionally taken aninga as his model, and had been very successful in imitating the top-knot of hair. the baby, too, was hit off to perfection, having been made by mivins, who proved himself a genius in such matters. its head was a ball of rags covered with brown leather, and two white bone buttons with black spots in the centre did duty for its eyes. the first thing whackinta did on coming forward was to deposit the baby on the snow with its head downwards by mistake, whereat it began to scream vociferously. this scream was accomplished by davie summers creeping below the stage, and putting his mouth to a hole in the flooring, close to which the baby's head lay. davie's falsetto was uncommonly like to a child's voice, and the effect was quite startling. of course whackinta tried to soothe it, and, failing in this she whipped it, which caused it to yell with tenfold violence. thereafter, losing all patience, she covered its face and stuffed its mouth with a quantity of snow, and, laying it down on its back, placed a large block of ice on its head. this, as might be expected, had the desired effect, and the baby was silenced,--not, however, until whackinta had twice called down the hole in a hoarse whisper: "that'll do, davie; stop, man, stop!" then, sitting down on the hummock which blunderbore had just left--and from behind which he was now eagerly watching her,--she began to weep. having given full vent to her feelings in a series of convulsive sobs, whackinta addressed a lengthened harangue, in a melancholy tone of voice, to the audience, the gist of which was that she was an unfortunate widow; that two bears had fallen in love with her, and stolen her away from her happy home in nova zembla; and, although they allowed her to walk about as much as she chose, they watched her closely and prevented her escaping to her own country. worst of all, they had told her that she must agree to become the wife of one or other of them, and if she did not make up her mind, and give them an answer that very day, she was to be killed and eaten by both of them. in order the more strongly to impress the audience with her forlorn condition, whackinta sang a tender and touching ditty, composed by herself expressly for the occasion, and sang it so well that it was encored twice. to all this blunderbore listened with apparent rapture, and at length ventured to advance and discover himself, but the instant whackinta saw him she fell on her knees and trembled violently. "spare me, good king," she said; "do not slay me. i am a poor widow, and have been brought here by two bears against my will." "woman," said the giant, "my name is blunderbore. i am, as you perceive by my crown, a king, and i am a lonely man. if i kill the two bears you speak of, will you marry me?" "oh, do not ask me, good blunderbore, i cannot! it is impossible. i cannot love you; you are--forgive me for saying it--too big, and fierce, and ugly to love." blunderbore frowned angrily, and the audience applauded vociferously at this. "you cannot love me! hah!" exclaimed the giant, glaring round with clenched teeth. at this moment the big bear uttered an awful roar, whackinta gave a piercing scream and fled, and blunderbore hid himself hastily behind the hummock. the next moment the two bears bounded on the stage and began to gambol round it, tossing up their hind-legs and roaring and leaping in a manner that drew forth repeated plaudits. at length the little bear discovered the baby, and, uttering a frantic roar of delight, took it in its fore-paws and held it up. the big bear roared also of course, and, rushing forward, caught the baby by the leg, and endeavoured to tear it away from the little bear, at which treatment the poor baby again commenced to cry passionately. in the struggle the baby's head came off, upon which the little bear put the head into its mouth and swallowed it. the big bear immediately did the same with the body; but its mouth was too small, and the body stuck fast and could not be finally disposed of until the little bear came to the rescue and pushed it forcibly down its throat. having finished this delicate little morsel, the two bears rose on their hind-legs and danced a hornpipe together--tom singleton playing the tune for them on a flute behind the scenes. when this was done they danced off the stage, and immediately, as if in the distance, was heard the voice of a man singing. it came gradually nearer, and at last buzzby, in the character of ben bolt, swaggered up to the foot-lights with his hands in his breeches pockets. "i'm a jolly, jolly tar, wot has comed from afar, an' it's all for to seek my fortin," sang buzzby. "but i've not found it yit," he continued, breaking into prose, "and there don't seem much prospect o' findin' it here anyhow. wot an 'orrible cold place it is, ugh!" buzzby was received with enthusiastic cheers, for he was dressed in the old familiar blue jacket, white ducks, pumps, and straw hat set jauntily on one side of his head--a costume which had not been seen for so many months by the crew of the _dolphin_ that their hearts warmed to it as if it were an old friend. buzzby acted with great spirit and was evidently a prime favourite. he could scarcely recollect a word of his part, but he remembered the general drift of it, and had ready wit enough to extemporise. having explained that he was the only survivor of a shipwrecked crew, he proceeded to tell some of his adventures in foreign lands, and afterwards described part of his experiences in a song, to which the doctor played an accompaniment behind the scenes. the words were composed by himself, sung to the well-known scotch air, "corn riggs", and ran as follows:-- "the jolly tar. "my comrades, you must know it was many years ago i left my daddy's cottage in the green wood o! and i jined a man-o'-war an' became a jolly tar, an' fought for king and country on the high seas o! pull, boys, cheerily, our home is on the sea. pull, boys, merrily and lightly o! pull, boys, cheerily, the wind is passing free an' whirling up the foam and water sky-high o! "there's been many a noble fight, but trafalgar was the sight that beat the greeks and romans in their glory o! for britain's jolly sons worked the thunder-blazing guns, and nelson stood the bravest in the fore-front o! pull, boys, etcetera. "a roaring cannon shot came an' hit the very spot where my leg goes click-an'-jumble in the socket o! and swept it overboard with the precious little hoard of pipe, an' tin, an' baccy in the pocket o! pull, boys, etcetera. "they took me down below, an' they laid me with a row of killed and wounded messmates on a table o! then up comes dr keg, an' says, here's a livin' leg i'll sew upon the stump if i am able o! pull, boys, etcetera. "this good and sturdy limb had belonged to fightin' tim, an' scarcely had they sewed it on the socket o! when up the hatch i flew, an' dashed among the crew, an' sprang on board the frenchman like a rocket o! pull, boys, etcetera. "'twas this that gained the day, for that leg it cleared the way-- and the battle raged like fury while it lasted o! then ceased the shot and shell to fall upon the swell, and the union-jack went bravely to the mast-head o! pull, boys, etcetera." we need scarcely say that this song was enthusiastically encored, and that the chorus was done full justice to by the audience, who picked it up at once and zang it with lusty vehemence. at the last word ben bolt nodded familiarly, thrust his hands into his pockets, and swaggered off whistling "yankee doodle". it was a matter of uncertainty where he had swaggered off to, but it was conjectured that he had gone on his journey to anywhere that might turn up. meanwhile blunderbore had been bobbing his head up and down behind the hummock in amazement at what he heard and saw, and when ben bolt made his exit he came forward. this was the signal for the two bears to discover him and rush on with a terrific roar. blunderbore instantly fetched them each a sounding whack on their skulls, leaped over both their backs, and bounded up the side of the iceberg, where he took refuge, and turned at bay on a little ice pinnacle constructed expressly for that purpose. an awful fight now ensued between the giant and the two bears. the pinnacle on which blunderbore stood was so low that the big bear, by standing up on its hind-legs, could just scratch his toes, which caused the giant to jump about continually, but the sides of the iceberg were so smooth that the bears could not climb up it. this difficulty, indeed, constituted the great and amusing feature of the fight, for no sooner did the little bear creep up to the edge of the pinnacle than the giant's tremendous club came violently down on his snout (which had been made of hard wood on purpose to resist the blows) and sent it sprawling back on the stage, where the big bear invariably chanced to be in the way, and always fell over it. then they both rose, and, roaring fearfully, renewed the attack, while blunderbore laid about him with the club ferociously. fortune, however, did not on this occasion favour the brave. the big bear at last caught the giant by the heel and pulled him to the ground; the little bear instantly seized him by the throat, and, notwithstanding his awful yells and struggles, it would have gone ill with blunderbore had not ben bolt opportunely arrived at that identical spot at that identical moment in the course of his travels. oh! it was a glorious thing to see the fear-nothing, dare-anything fashion in which, when he saw how matters stood, ben bolt threw down his stick and bundle, drew his cutlass, and attacked the two bears at once, single-handed, crying "come on," in a voice of thunder. and it was a satisfactory thing, to behold the way, in which he cut and slashed at their heads (the heads having been previously prepared for such treatment), and the agility he displayed in leaping over their backs and under their legs, and holding on by their tails, while they vainly endeavoured to catch him. the applause was frequent and prolonged, and the two esquimaux prisoners rolled about their burly figures and laughed till the tears ran down their fat cheeks. but when ben bolt suddenly caught the two bears by their tails, tied them together in a double knot, and fled behind a hummock, which the big bear passed on one side and the little bear on the other, and so, as a matter of course, stuck hard and fast, the laughter was excessive; and when the gallant british seaman again rushed forward, massacred the big bear with two terrific cuts, slew the little bear with one tremendous back-hander, and then sank down on one knee and pressed his hand to his brow as if he were exhausted, a cheer ran from stem to stern of the _dolphin_, the like of which had not filled the hull of that good ship, since she was launched upon her ocean home! it was just at this moment that whackinta chanced, curiously enough, to return to this spot in the course of _her_ wanderings. she screamed in horror at the sight of the dead bears, which was quite proper and natural, and then she started at the sight of the exhausted bolt, and smiled sweetly--which was also natural--as she hastened to assist and sympathise with him. ben bolt fell in love with her at once, and told her so off-hand, to the unutterable rage of blunderbore, who recovered from his wounds at that moment and, seizing the sailor by the throat, vowed he would kill, and quarter, and stew, and boil, and roast, and eat him in one minute if he didn't take care what he was about. the audience felt some fears for ben bolt at this point, but their delight knew no bounds when, shaking the giant off, and springing backwards, he buttoned up his coat and roared, rather than said, that though he were all the blunderbores and blunderbusses in the world rolled together, and changed into one immortal blunder-cannon, he didn't care a pinch of bad snuff for him, and would knock all the teeth in his head down his throat. this valorous threat he followed up by shaking his fist close under the giant's nose, and crying out: "come on!" but the giant did not come on; he fortunately recollected that he owed his life to the brave sailor, so he smiled, and, saying he would be his friend through life, insisted on seizing him by the hand and shaking it violently. thereafter he took ben bolt and whackinta by their right hands, and, leading them forward to the foot-lights, made them a long speech to the effect that he owed a debt of gratitude to the former for saving his life which he could never repay, and that he loved the latter too sincerely to stand in the way of her happiness. then he joined their right hands, and they went down on one knee, and he placed his hands on their heads, and looked up at the audience with a benignant smile, and the curtain fell amid rapturous cheers. in this play it seemed somewhat curious and unaccountable that whackinta forgot to enquire for her demolished baby, and appeared to feel no anxiety whatever about it; it was also left a matter of uncertainty whether ben bolt and his esquimaux bride returned to live happily during the remainder of their lives in england, or took up their permanent abode with blunderbore; but it is not our province to criticise--we merely chronicle events as they occurred. the entertainments were to conclude with a hornpipe from mivins, but just as that elastic individual had completed the first of a series of complicated evolutions, and was about to commence the second, a vociferous barking of the dogs was heard outside, accompanied by the sound of human voices. the benches were deserted in a moment and the men rushed upon deck, catching up muskets and cutlasses, which always stood in readiness, as they went. the sounds proceeded from a party of about twenty esquimaux, who had been sent from the camp with the stolen property, and with a humble request that the offence might be forgiven, and their chief and his wife returned to them. they were all unarmed, and the sincerity of their repentance was further attested by the fact that they brought back, not only the hatchet and telescope, but a large assortment of minor articles that had not been missed. of course the apology was accepted; and after speeches were delivered, and protestations of undying friendship made on both sides, the party were presented with a few trinkets and a plug of tobacco each, and sent back in a state of supreme happiness to their village, where for a week awatok kept the men of his tribe, and aninga the women, in a state of intense amazement by their minute descriptions of the remarkable doings of the white strangers. the friendship thus begun between the esquimaux and the _dolphin's_ crew was never once interrupted by any unpleasant collision during the months that they afterwards travelled and hunted in company. strength of muscle and promptitude in action are qualities which all nations in a savage state understand and respect; and the sailors proved that they possessed these qualities in a higher degree than themselves during the hardships and dangers incident to arctic life, while at the same time their seemingly endless resources and contrivances impressed the simple natives with the belief that white men could accomplish anything they chose to attempt. chapter seventeen. expeditions on foot--effects of darkness on dogs and men--the first death--caught in a trap--the esquimaux camp. "don't know how it is, an' i can't tell wot it is, but so it is," remarked buzzby to grim, a week after the first night of the theatricals, "that that 'ere actin' has done us all a sight o' good. here we are as merry as crickets every one, although we're short of fresh meat, and symptoms o' scurvy are beginnin' to show on some of us." "it's the mind havin' occupation, an' bein' prewented from broodin' over its misfortins," replied grim with the air of a philosopher. grim did not put this remark in turned commas, although he ought to have done so, seeing that it was quoted from a speech made by the captain to singleton the day before. "you see," continued grim, "we've been actin' every night for a week past; well, if we hadn't been actin', we should ha' been thinkin' an' sleepin'--too much of which, you see, ain't good for us, buzzby, and would never pay." buzzby was not quite sure of this, but contented himself by saying: "well, mayhap ye're right. i'm sorry it's to come to an end so soon, but there is no doubt that fresh meat is ondispensable--an' that reminds me, messmate, that i've not cleaned my musket for two days, an' it wouldn't do to go on a hunt with a foul piece, nohow. we start at o'clock a.m., don't we?" grim admitted that they did--remarking that it might just as well be p.m., for all the difference the _sun_ would make in it--and went below with buzzby. in the cabin active preparations were making for an extended hunting expedition, which the empty state of the larder rendered absolutely necessary. for a week past the only fresh provisions they had procured were a white fox and a rabbit, notwithstanding the exertions of meetuck, fred, and the doctor, who with three separate parties had scoured the country for miles round the ship. scurvy was now beginning to appear among them, and captain guy felt that although they had enough of salt provisions to last them the greater part of the winter, if used with economy, they could not possibly subsist on these alone. an extended expedition in search of seals and walrus was therefore projected. it was determined that this should consist of two parties, the one to proceed north, the other to travel south in the tracks of the esquimaux, who had left their temporary village in search of walrus--they also being reduced almost to a state of starvation. the plan of the expedition was as follows:-- one party, consisting of ten men, under bolton, the first mate, was to take the largest sledge, and the whole team of dogs, on which, with twelve days' provisions and their sleeping-bags, they were to proceed northward along the coast as far as possible; and, in the event of being unsuccessful, they were to turn homeward on the eighth day, and make the best of their way back on short allowance. the other party, consisting of fifteen men under saunders, the second mate, was to set off to the southward on foot, dragging a smaller sledge behind them, and endeavour to find the esquimaux, who, it was supposed, could not be far off, and would probably have fresh meat in their camp. it was a clear, cold, and beautiful starlight day, when the two parties started simultaneously on their separate journeys. the coruscations of the aurora were more than usually vivid, and the snow gave forth that sharp, dry, _crunching_ sound, under the heels of the men as they moved about, that denotes intense frost. "mind that you hug the land, mr bolton," said the captain at parting, "don't get farther out on the floes than you can help. to meet with a gale on the ice is no joke in these latitudes." the first mate promised obedience, and the second mate having been also cautioned to hug the land, and not to use their small supply of spirits for any other purpose than that of lighting the lamp, except in cases of the most urgent need, they set off with three hearty cheers, which were returned by captain guy and those who remained with him in the ship. all the able and effective men were sent on these expeditions; those who remained behind were all more or less affected with scurvy, except the captain himself, whose energetic nature seemed invulnerable, and whose flow of spirits never failed. indeed it is probable that to this hearty and vigorous temperament, under god, he owed his immunity from disease, for, since provisions began to fail, he, along with all his officers, had fared precisely like the men--the few delicacies they possessed having been reserved for the sick. unfortunately their stock of lime-juice was now getting low, and the crew had to be put on short allowance. as this acid is an excellent anti-scorbutic, or preventive of scurvy, as well as a cure, its rapid diminution was viewed with much concern by all on board. the long-continued absence of the sun, too, now began to tell more severely than ever on men and dogs. on the very day the expeditions took their departure, one of the latter, which had been left behind on account of illness, was attacked with a strange disease, of which several of the team eventually died before the winter came to an end. it was seized with spasms, and, after a few wild paroxysms, lapsed into a lethargic state. in this condition the animal functions went on apparently as well as usual, the appetite continued not only good but voracious. the disease was clearly mental. it barked furiously at nothing, and walked in straight or curved lines perseveringly; or at other times it remained for hours in moody silence, and then started off howling as if pursued. in thirty-six hours after the first attack the poor animal died, and was buried in the snow on store island. this was the first death that had occurred on board, and although it was only a dog, and not one of the favourites, its loss cast a gloom over the crew for several days. it was the first blow of the fell destroyer in the midst of their little community, which could ill spare the life even of one of the lower animals, and they felt as if the point of the wedge had now been entered, and might be driven farther home ere long. the expressive delight of the poor dogs on being admitted to the light of the cabin showed how ardently they longed for the return of the sun. it was now the beginning of december, and the darkness was complete. not the faintest vestige of twilight appeared, even at noon. midnight and noonday were alike. except when the stars and aurora were bright, there was not light enough to distinguish a man's form at ten paces distant, and a blacker mass than the surrounding darkness alone indicated where the high cliffs encompassed the bay of mercy. when, therefore, anyone came on deck, the first thing he felt on groping his way about was the cold noses of the dogs pushed against his hands, as they frisked and gambolled round him. they howled at the appearance of an accidental light, as if they hoped the sun, or at least the moon, were going to rise once more, and they rejoiced on being taken below, and leaped up in the men's faces for sympathy, and whined, and all but spoke, with excess of satisfaction. the effect of the monotony of long-continued darkness, and the absence of novelty, had much to do also with the indifferent health of many of the men. after the two expeditions were sent out, those who remained behind became much more low-spirited, and the symptoms of scurvy increased. in these circumstances captain guy taxed his inventive genius to the utmost to keep up their spirits and engage their minds. he assumed an air of bustling activity, and attached a degree of importance to the regular performance of the light duties of the ship that they did not in reality possess, apart from their influence as discipline. the cabin was swept and aired, the stove cleaned, the fittings dusted, the beds made, the tides, thermometers, and barometers registered; the logs posted up, clothes mended, food cooked, traps visited, etcetera, with the regularity of clockwork, and every possible plan adopted to occupy every waking hour, and to prevent the men from brooding over their position. when the labours of the day were over, plans were proposed for getting up a concert, or a new play, in order to surprise the absentees on their return. stories were told over and over again, and enjoyed if good, or valued far beyond their worth if bad. when old stories failed, and old books were read, new stories were invented, and here the genius of some was drawn out, while the varied information of others became of great importance. tom singleton, in particular, entertained the men with songs and lively tunes on the flute, and told stories, as one of them remarked, "like a book". joseph west, too, was an invaluable comrade in this respect. he had been a studious boy at school, and a lover of books of all kinds, especially books of travel and adventure. his memory was good, and his inventive powers excellent, so that he recalled wonderful and endless anecdotes from the unfathomable stores of his memory, strung them together into a sort of story, and told them in a soft, pleasant voice that captivated the ears of his audience; but poor west was in delicate health, and could not speak so long as his messmates would have wished. the rough life they led, and the frequent exposure to intense cold, had considerably weakened a frame which had never been robust, and an occasional cough, when he told a long story, sometimes warned him to desist. games, too, were got up. "hide-and-seek" was revived with all the enthusiasm of boyhood, and "fox-chase" was got up with tremendous energy. in all this the captain was the most earnest and vigorous, and in doing good to others he unconsciously did the greatest possible amount of good to himself; for his forgetfulness of self, and the activity of his mind in catering for the wants and amusements of his men, had the effect of imparting a cheerfulness to his manner, and a healthy tone to his mind, that tended powerfully to sustain and invigorate his body. but despite all this, the men grew worse, and a few of them showed such alarming symptoms that the doctor began to fear there would soon be a breach in their numbers. meanwhile saunders and his fifteen men trudged steadily to the southward, dragging their sledge behind them. the ice-floes, however, turned out to be very rugged and hummocky, and retarded them so much that they made but slow progress until they passed the red snow valley, and doubled the point beyond it. here they left the floes, and took to the natural highway afforded by the ice-belt, along which they sped more rapidly, and arrived at the esquimaux village in the course of about five hours. here all was deserted and silent. bits of seal and walrus, hide, and bones and tusks were scattered about in all directions, but no voices issued from the dome-shaped huts of snow. "they're the likest things to bee-skeps i ever saw," remarked saunders, as he and his party stood contemplating the little group of huts. "and they don't seem to care much for big doors." saunders referred here to the low tunnels, varying from three to twelve feet, that formed the entrance to each hut. "mayhap there's some o' them asleep inside," suggested tom green, the carpenter's mate; "suppose we go in and see?" "i dare say ye're no far wrong," replied the second mate, to whom the idea seemed to be a new one. "go in, davie summers, ye're a wee chap, and can bend your back better than the most o' us." davie laughed as he went down on his hands and knees, and, creeping in at the mouth of one of the tunnels, which barely permitted him to enter in that position, disappeared. several of the party at the same time paid similar visits to the other huts, but they all returned with the same remark, "empty". the interiors were begrimed with lamp-black and filth, and, from their appearance, seemed to have been deserted only a short time before. buzzby, who formed one of the party, rubbed his nose for some time in great perplexity, until he drew from davie summers the remark that his proboscis was red enough by nature and didn't need rubbing. "it's odd," he remarked, "they seems to ha' bin here for some time, and yit they've niver looked near the ship but once. wot's become on 'em _i_ don't know." "don't you?" said davie in a tone of surprise; "now that _is_ odd. one would have thought that a fellow who keeps his weather-eye so constantly open should know everything." "don't chaff; boy, but lend a hand to undo the sled-lashings. i see that mr saunders is agoin' to anchor here for the night." the second mate, who had been taking a hasty glance at the various huts of the village, selected two of the largest as a lodging for his men, and, having divided them into two gangs, ordered them to turn in and sleep as hard as possible. "'spose we may sup first," said summers in a whining tone of mock humility. "in coorse you may," answered tom green, giving the lad a push that upset him in the snow. "come here, buzzby, i want to speak to 'ee," said saunders, leading him aside. "it seems to me that the esquimaux canna be very far off, and i observe their tracks are quite fresh in the snow leadin' to the southward, so i mean to have a night march after them, but as the men seem pretty weel tired i'll only take two o' the strongest. who d'ye think might go?" "i'll go myself, sir." "very good, and who else, think 'ee? amos parr seems freshest." "i think tom green's the man wot can do it. i seed him capsize davie summers jist now in the snow, an' when a man can skylark, i always know he's got lots o' wind in 'im." "very good. then go, buzzby, and order him to get ready, and look sharp about it." "ay, ay, sir," cried buzzby, as he turned to prepare green for the march. in pursuance of this plan, an hour afterwards saunders and his two followers left the camp with their sleeping-bags and a day's provisions on their shoulders, having instructed the men to follow with the sledge at the end of five hours, which period was deemed sufficient time for rest and refreshment. for two hours the trio plodded silently onward over the icebelt by the light of a clear, starry sky. at the end of that time clouds began to gather to the westward, rendering the way less distinct, but still leaving sufficient light to render travelling tolerably easy. then they came to a part of the coast where the ice-belt clung close to a line of perpendicular cliffs of about three miles in extent. the ice-belt here was about twenty feet broad. on the left the cliffs referred to rose sheer up several hundred feet; on the right the ice-belt descended only about three feet to the floes. here our three adventurous travellers were unexpectedly caught in a trap. the tide rose so high that it raised the sea ice to a level with the ice-belt and, welling up between the two, completely overflowed the latter. the travellers pushed on as quickly as possible, for the precipices on their left forbade all hope of escape in that direction, while the gap between the ice-belt and the floes, which was filled with a gurgling mixture of ice and water, equally hemmed them in on the right. worse than all, the tide continued to rise, and when it reached half-way to their knees, they found it dangerous to advance for fear of stepping into rents and fissures which were no longer visible. "what's to be done noo?" enquired saunders, coming to a full stop, and turning to buzzby with a look of blank despair. "dunno," replied buzzby, with an equally blank look of despair, as he stood with his legs apart and his arms hanging down by his side--the very personification of imbecility. "if i wos a fly i'd know wot to do. i'd walk up the side o' that cliff till i got to a dry bit, and then i'd stick on. but, not bein' a fly, in coorse i can't." buzzby said this in a recklessly facetious tone, and tom green followed it up with a remark to the effect that "he'd be blowed if he ever wos in sich a fix in his life;" intimating his belief, at the same time, that his "toes wos freezin'." "no fear o' that," said the second mate, "they'll no' freeze as lang as they're in the water. we'll just have to stand here till the tide goes doon." saunders said this in a dogged tone, and immediately put his plan in force by crossing his arms and planting his feet firmly on the submerged ice and wide apart. buzzby and green, however, adopted the wiser plan of moving constantly about within a small circle, and after saunders had argued for half an hour as to the advantages of this plan, he followed their example. the tide rose above their knees, but they had fortunately on boots, made by the esquimaux, which were perfectly waterproof; their feet, therefore, although very cold, were quite dry. in an hour and three-quarters the ice-belt was again uncovered, and the half-frozen travellers resumed their march with the utmost energy. two hours later and they came to a wide expanse of level ground at the foot of the high cliffs, where a group of esquimaux huts, similar to those they had left, was descried. "they're all deserted too," remarked buzzby. but buzzby was wrong, for at that moment a very small and particularly fat little boy in a fox-skin dress appeared at the mouth of one of the low tunnels that formed the entrance to the nearest hut. this boy looked exactly like a lady's muff with a hairy head above it and a pair of feet below. the instant he observed the strangers he threw up his arms, uttered a shrill cry of amazement, and disappeared in the tunnel. next instant a legion of dogs rushed out of the huts, barking furiously, and on their heels came the entire population, creeping on their hands and knees out of the tunnel mouths like dark hairy monsters issuing from their holes. they had spears and knives of ivory with them, but a glance showed the two parties that they were friends, and in a few moments awatok and his comrades were chattering vociferously round the sailors, and endeavouring by word and sign to make themselves understood. the esquimaux received the three visitors and the rest of the sledge-party, who came up a few hours later, with the utmost hospitality. but we have not space to tell of how they dragged them into their smoky huts of snow, and how they offered them raw seals' flesh to eat; and how, on the sailors expressing disgust they laughed, and added moss mixed with oil to their lamps to enable them to cook their food; and how they managed, by signs and otherwise, to understand that the strangers had come in search of food, at which they (the esquimaux) were not surprised; and how they assured their visitors (also by means of signs) that they would go a-hunting with them on the following day, whereat they (the sailors) were delighted, and shook hands all round. neither have we space to tell of how the visitors were obliged to conform to custom, and sleep in the same huts with men, women, children, and dogs, and how they felt thankful to be able to sleep anywhere and anyhow, without being frozen. all this, and a great deal more, we are compelled to skip over here, and leave it unwillingly, to the vivid imagination of our reader. chapter eighteen. the hunting party--reckless driving--a desperate encounter with a walrus, etcetera. late in the day, by the bright light of the stars, the sailors and the esquimaux left the snow-huts of the village, and, travelling out to seaward on the floes, with dogs and sledges, lances and spears, advanced to do battle with the walrus. the northern lights were more vivid than usual, making the sky quite luminous, and there was a sharp freshness in the air, which, while it induced the hunters to pull their hoods more tightly round their faces, also sent their blood careering more briskly through their veins, as they drove swiftly over the ice in the esquimaux sledges. "did ye ever see walrusses a'fore, davie!" enquired buzzby who sat beside summers on the leading sledge. "none but what i've seed on this voyage." "they're remarkable creeturs," rejoined buzzby, slapping his hand on his thigh. "i've seed many a one in my time, an i can tell ye, lad, they're ugly customers. they fight like good 'uns, and give the esquimaux a deal o' trouble to kill them--they do." "tell me a story about 'em, buzzby--do, like a good chap," said davie summers, burying his nose in the skirts of his hairy garment to keep it warm. "you're a capital hand at a yarn, now, fire away." "a story, lad; i don't know as how i can exactly tell ye a story, but i'll give ye wot they calls a hanecdote. it wos about five years ago, more or less, i wos out in baffin's bay, becalmed off one o' the eskimo settlements, when we wos lookin' over the side at the lumps of ice floatin' past, up got a walrus not very far offshore, and out went half a dozen kayaks, as they call the eskimo men's boats, and they all sot on the beast at once. well, it wos one o' the brown walrusses, which is always the fiercest; and the moment he got the first harpoon he went slap at the man that threw it; but the fellow backed out, and then a cry was raised to let it alone, as it wos a brown walrus. one young eskimo, howsiver, would have another slap at it and went so close that the brute charged, upset the kayak, and ripped the man up with his tusks. seein' this, the other eskimos made a dash at it, and wounded it badly; but the upshot wos that the walrus put them all to flight and made off, clear away, with six harpoons fast in its hide." "buzzby's tellin' ye gammon," roared tom green, who rode on the second sledge in rear of that on which davie summers sat. "what is't all about?" "about gammon, of coorse," retorted davie. "keep yer mouth shut for fear your teeth freeze." "can't ye lead us a better road?" shouted saunders, who rode on the third sledge; "my bones are rattlin' about inside a' me like a bag o' ninepins." "give the dogs a cut, old fellow," said buzzby, with a chuckle and a motion of his arm to the esquimaux who drove his sledge. the esquimaux did not understand the words, but he quite understood the sly chuckle and the motion of the arm, so he sent the lash of the heavy whip with a loud crack over the backs of the team. "hold on for life!" cried davie, as the dogs sprang forward with a bound. the part they were about to pass over was exceedingly rough and broken, and buzzby resolved to give his shipmates a shake. the pace was tremendous. the powerful dogs drew their loads after them with successive bounds, which caused a succession of crashes as the sledges sprang from lump to lump of ice, and the men's teeth snapped in a truly savage manner. "ba-a-ck ye-e-r to-o-psails, will ye?" shouted amos parr. but the delighted esquimaux leader, who entered quite into the joke, had no intention whatever of backing his top-sails; he administered another crack to the team, which yelled madly, and, bounding over a wide chasm in the ice, came down with a crash which snapped the line of the leading dog and set it free. here buzzby caused the driver to pull up. "stop, ye varmint! come to an anchor!" said he. "is that a way to drive the poor dogs!" "ye might have stopped him sooner, i think," cried the second mate in wrath. "hai!" shouted the band of esquimaux, pointing to a hummock of ice, a few hundred yards in advance of the spot, on which they stood. instantly all were silent, and gazing intently ahead at a dark object that burst upwards through the ice. "a walrus!" whispered buzzby. "so it is," answered amos parr. "i've my doobts on that point," remarked saunders. before the doubts of the second mate could be resolved, the esquimaux uttered another exclamation and pointed to another dark object a quarter of a mile to the right. it was soon found that there were several of these ocean elephants sporting about in the neighbourhood, and bursting up the young ice that had formed on several holes, by using their huge heads as battering-rams. it was quickly arranged that the party should divide into three, and while a few remained behind to watch and restrain the dogs the remainder were to advance on foot to the attack. saunders, buzzby, amos parr, davie summers, and awatok formed one party, and advanced with two muskets and several spears towards the walrus that had been first seen, the sailors taking care to keep in rear of awatok in order to follow his lead, for they were as yet ignorant of the proper mode of attack. awatok led the party stealthily towards a hummock, behind which he caused them to crouch until the walrus should dive. this it did in a few minutes, and then they all rushed from their place of concealment towards another hummock that lay about fifty yards from the hole. just as they reached it, and crouched, the walrus rose, snorting the brine from its shaggy muzzle, and lashing the water into foam with its flippers. "losh, what a big 'un!" exclaimed saunders in amazement; and well he might, for this was an unusually large animal, more like an elephant in size than anything else. it had two enormous ivory tusks, with which it tore and pounded large fragments from the ice-tables, while it barked like a gigantic dog, and rolled its heavy form about in sport. awatok now whispered to his comrades, and attempted to get them to understand that they must follow him as fast as possible at the next run. suddenly the walrus dived. awatok rushed forward, and in another instant stood at the edge of the hole with his spear in readiness in his right hand, and the coil of line in his left. the others joined him instantly, and they had scarcely come up when the huge monster again rose to the surface. saunders and buzzby fired at his head the moment it appeared above water, and awatok at the same time planted a spear in his breast, and ran back with the coil. the others danced about in an excited state, throwing their spears and missing their mark, although it was a big one, frequently. "give him a lance-thrust, amos," cried saunders, reloading his piece. but amos could not manage it, for the creature lashed about so furiously that, although he made repeated attempts, he failed to do more than prick its tough sides, and render it still more savage. buzzby, too, made several daring efforts to lance it, but failed, and nearly slipped into the hole in his recklessness. it was a wild scene of confusion-- the spray was dashed over the ice round the hole, and the men, as they ran about in extreme excitement, slipped and occasionally tumbled in their haste, while the maddened brute glared at them like a fiend, and bellowed in its anger and pain. suddenly it dived, leaving the men staring at each other. the sudden cessation of noise and turmoil had a very strange effect. "is't away?" enquired saunders with a look of chagrin. he was answered almost instantly by the walrus reappearing, and making furious efforts by means of its flippers and tusks to draw itself out upon the ice, while it roared with redoubled energy. the shot that was instantly fired seemed to have no effect, and the well-directed harpoon of awatok was utterly disregarded by it. amos parr, however, gave it a lance-thrust that caused it to howl vehemently, and dyed the foam with its blood. "hand me a spear, buzzby," cried saunders, "the musket-balls seem to hurt him as little as peas. oot o' my gait." the second mate made a rush so tremendous that something awful would infallibly have resulted had he not struck his foot against a bit of ice and fallen violently on his breast. the impetus with which he had started shot him forward till his head was within a foot of the walrus's grim muzzle. for one moment the animal looked at the man as if it were surprised at his audacity, and then it recommenced its frantic struggles, snorting blood, and foam, and water into saunders's face as he scrambled out of its way. immediately after, awatok fixed another harpoon in its side, and it dived again. the struggle that ensued was tremendous, and the result seemed for a long time to be doubtful. again and again shots were fired and spear-thrusts made with effect, but the huge creature seemed invulnerable. its ferocity and strength remained unabated, while the men--sailors and esquimaux alike--were nearly exhausted. the battle had now lasted three hours; the men were panting from exertion; the walrus, still bellowing, was clinging to the edge of the ice, which for several yards round the hole was covered with blood and foam. "wot a brute it is!" said buzzby, sitting down on a lump of ice and looking at it in despair. "we might have killed it lang ago had i not wet my gun," growled saunders, regarding his weapon, which was completely drenched, with a look of contempt. "give it another poke, awatok," cried amos parr; "you'll know best whereabouts its life lies; i can make nothin' o't." awatok obeyed, and gave it a thrust under the left flipper that seemed to reach its heart, for it fell back into the water and struggled violently. at the same moment davie summers mounted to the top of a hummock, part of which overhung the pool, and launched a harpoon down upon its back. this latter blow seemed to revive its ferocity, for it again essayed to clamber out on the ice, and looked up at davie with a glance of seeming indignation, while buzzby, who had approached, fell backward as he retreated from before it. at the same time saunders succeeded in getting his musket to go off. the ball struck it in the eye, and, entering the brain, caused instant death, a result which was greeted with three enthusiastic cheers. the getting of this enormous creature out of the water would have been a matter of no small difficulty had there not been such a large party present. even as it was, it took them a considerable time to accomplish this feat, and to cut it up and pack it on the sledges. while the battle above described was going on, two smaller walrus had been killed and secured, and the esquimaux were in a state of great glee, for previous to the arrival of the sailors they had been unsuccessful in their hunts, and had been living on short allowance. on returning home there was a general feasting and merry-making, and saunders felt that if he remained there long they would not only eat up their own meat, but his also. he therefore resolved to return immediately to the ship with his prize, and leave part of his men behind to continue the hunt until he should return with the sledge. but he was prevented from putting this intention into practice by a hurricane which burst over the arctic regions with inconceivable bitterness, and for two days kept all the inhabitants of the snow-village confined to their huts. this hurricane was the fiercest that had swept over these bleak regions of ice since the arrival of the _dolphin_. the wind shrieked, as it swept round the cliffs, and down the ravines, and out upon the frozen sea, as if a legion of evil spirits were embodied and concentrated in each succeeding blast. the snow-drift rose in solid masses, whirled madly round for a few seconds, and then was caught by the blast, and swept away like sheets of white flame. the thermometer stood at degrees below zero, a temperature that was mild compared with what it usually had been of late, but the fierce wind abstracted heat from everything exposed to it so rapidly that neither man nor beast could face it for a moment. buzzby got a little bit of his chin frozen while he merely put his head out at the door of the hut to see how the weather looked, and davie summers had one of his fingers slightly frozen while in the act of carrying in one of the muskets that had been left outside by mistake. as for the esquimaux, they recked not of the weather. their snow-huts were warm, and their mouths were full, so like wise men and women they waited patiently within-doors till the storm should blow itself out. the doings of these poor people were very curious. they ate voraciously, and evidently preferred their meat raw. but when the sailors showed disgust at this, they at once made a small fire of moss, mingled with blubber, over which they half-cooked their food. their mode of procuring fire was curious. two small stones were taken, one a piece of white quartz, the other a piece of iron-stone, and struck together smartly; the few sparks that flew out were thrown upon a kind of white down, found on the willows, under which was placed a lump of dried moss. it was usually a considerable time before they succeeded in catching a spark, but once caught they had no difficulty in blowing it into a flame. they had also an ingenious contrivance for melting snow. this was a flat stone, supported by two other stones, and inclined slightly at one end; upon this flat stone a lump of snow was placed, and below it was kindled a small fire of moss and blubber. when the stone became heated, the snow melted and flowed down the incline into a small seal-skin cup placed there to catch it. during the continuance of the storm the sailors shared the food and lodging of these esquimaux. they were a fat, oily, hospitable, dirty race, and vied with each other in showing kindness to those who had been thus thrown into their society. as davie summers expressed it, "they were regular trumps"; and, according to buzzby's opinion, "they wos the jolliest set o' human walrusses wot he had ever comed across in all his travels, and he ought to know, for he had always kep' his weather-eye open, he had, and wouldn't give in on that p'int, he wouldn't, to no man livin'." chapter nineteen. the northern party--a narrow escape, and a great discovery--esquimaux again, and a joyful surprise. it is interesting to meditate, sometimes, on the deviousness of the paths by which men are led in earthly affairs--even when the starting-point and object of pursuit are the same. the two parties which left the _dolphin_ had for their object the procuring of fresh food. the one went south and the other north, but their field was the same--the surface of the frozen sea and the margin of the ice-girt shore. yet how different their experiences and results were the sequel will show. as we have already said, the northern party was in command of bolton, the first mate, and consisted of ten men, among whom were our hero fred, peter grim, o'riley, and meetuck, with the whole team of dogs, and the large sledge. being fine weather when they set out, they travelled rapidly, making twenty miles, as near as they could calculate, in the first six hours. the dogs pulled famously, and the men stepped out well at first, being cheered and invigorated mentally by the prospect of an adventurous excursion and fresh meat. at the end of the second day they buried part of their stock of provisions at the foot of a conspicuous cliff, intending to pick it up on their return, and, thus lightened, they advanced more rapidly, keeping farther out on the floes, in hopes of falling in with walrus or seals. their hopes, however, were doomed to disappointment. they got only one seal, and that was a small one--scarcely sufficient to afford a couple of meals to the dogs. they were "misfortunate entirely", as o'riley remarked, and, to add to their misfortunes, the floe-ice became so rugged that they could scarcely advance at all. "things grow worse and worse," remarked grim, as the sledge, for the twentieth time that day, plunged into a crack in the ice, and had to be unloaded ere it could be got out. "the sledge won't stand much o' sich work, and if it breaks--good-bye to it, for it won't mend without wood, and there's none here." "no fear of it," cried bolton encouragingly; "it's made of material as tough as your own sinews, grim, and won't give way easily, as the thumps it has withstood already prove. has it never struck you, fred," he continued, turning to our hero, who was plodding forward in silence,--"has it never struck you that when things in this world get very bad, and we begin to feel inclined to give up, they somehow or other begin to get better." "why, yes, i have noticed that; but i have a vague sort of feeling just now that things are not going to get better. i don't know whether it's this long-continued darkness, or the want of good food, but i feel more downcast than i ever was in my life before." bolton's remark had been intended to cheer, but fred's answer proved that a discussion of the merits of the question was not likely to have a good effect on the men, whose spirits were evidently very much cast down, so he changed the subject. fortunately at that time an incident occurred which effected the mate's purpose better than any efforts man could have made. it has frequently happened that when arctic voyagers have, from sickness and long confinement during a monotonous winter, become so depressed in spirits that games and amusements of every kind failed to rouse them from their lethargic despondency, sudden danger has given to their minds the needful impulse, and effected a salutary change, for a time at least, in their spirits. such was the case at the present time. the men were so worn with hard travel and the want of fresh food, and depressed by disappointment and long-continued darkness, that they failed in their attempts to cheer each other, and at length relapsed into moody silence. fred's thoughts turned constantly to his father, and he ceased to remark cheerfully, as was his wont, on passing objects. even o'riley's jests became few and far between, and at last ceased altogether. bolton alone kept up his spirits, and sought to cheer his men, the feeling of responsibility being, probably, the secret of his superiority over them in this respect. but even bolton's spirits began to sink at last. while they were thus groping sadly along among the hummocks, a large fragment of ice was observed to break off from a berg just over their heads. "look out! follow me, quick!" shouted the first mate in a loud, sharp voice of alarm, at the same time darting in towards the side of the berg. the startled men obeyed the order just in time, for they had barely reached the side of the berg when the enormous pinnacle fell, and was shattered into a thousand fragments on the spot they had just left. a rebounding emotion sent the blood in a crimson flood to fred's forehead, and this was followed by a feeling of gratitude to the almighty for the preservation of himself and the party. leaving the dangerous vicinity of the bergs, they afterwards kept more inshore. "what can yonder mound be?" said fred, pointing to an object that was faintly seen at a short distance off upon the bleak shore. "an esquimaux hut, maybe," replied grim. "what think'ee, meetuck?" meetuck shook his head and looked grave, but made no reply. "why don't you answer?" said bolton; "but come along, we'll soon see." meetuck now made various ineffectual attempts to dissuade the party from examining the mound, which turned out to be composed of stones heaped upon each other; but, as all the conversation of which he was capable, failed to enlighten his companions, as to what the pile was, they instantly set to work to open a passage into the interior, believing that it might contain fresh provisions, as the esquimaux were in the habit of thus preserving their superabundant food from bears and wolves. in half an hour a hole large enough for a man to creep through was formed, and fred entered, but started back with an exclamation of horror on finding himself in the presence of a human skeleton, which was seated on the ground in the centre of this strange tomb with its head and arms resting on the knees. "it must be an esquimaux grave," said fred, as he retreated hastily; "that must be the reason why meetuck tried to hinder us." "i should like to see it," said grim, stooping and thrusting his head and shoulders into the hole. "what have you got there?" asked bolton, as grim drew back and held up something in his hand. "don't know exactly. it's like a bit o' cloth." on examination the article was found to be a shred of coarse cloth, of a blue or black colour, and, being an unexpected substance to meet with in such a place, bolton turned round with it to meetuck in the hope of obtaining some information. but meetuck was gone. while the sailors were breaking into the grave, meetuck had stood aloof with a displeased expression of countenance, as if he were angry at the rude desecration of a countryman's tomb; but the moment his eye fell on the shred of cloth an expression of mingled surprise and curiosity crossed his countenance, and without uttering a word he slipped noiselessly into the hole, from which he almost immediately issued bearing several articles in his hand. these he held up to view, and with animated words and gesticulations explained that this was the grave of a white man, not of a native. the articles he brought out were a pewter plate and a silver table-spoon. "there's a name of some kind written here," said bolton, as he carefully scrutinised the spoon. "look here, fred, your eyes are better than mine; see if you can make it out." fred took it with a trembling hand, for a strange feeling of dread had seized possession of his heart, and he could scarcely bring himself to look upon it. he summoned up courage, however, but at the first glance his hand fell down by his side, and a dimness came over his eyes, for the word "_pole star_" was engraven on the handle. he would have fallen to the ground had not bolton caught him. "don't give way, lad, the ship may be all right. perhaps this is one o' the crew that died." fred did not answer, but, recovering himself with a strong effort, he said: "pull down the stones, men." the men obeyed in silence, and the poor boy sat down on a rock to await the result in trembling anxiety. a few minutes sufficed to disentomb the skeleton, for the men sympathised with their young comrade, and worked with all their energies. "cheer up, fred," said bolton, coming and laying his hand on the youth's shoulder, "it's _not_ your father. there is a bit of _black_ hair sticking to the scalp." with a fervent expression of thankfulness fred rose and examined the skeleton, which had been placed in a sort of sack of skin, but was destitute of clothing. it was quite dry, and must have been there a long time. nothing else was found, but from the appearance of the skull, and the presence of the plate and spoon, there could be no doubt that it was that of one of the _pole star's_ crew. it was now resolved that they should proceed along the coast and examine every creek and bay for traces of the lost vessel. "oh, bolton, my heart misgives me!" said fred, as they drove along; "i fear that they have all perished." "niver a bit sir," said o'riley in a sympathising tone, "yon chap must have died and been buried here be the crew as they wint past." "you forget that sailors don't bury men under mounds of stone, with pewter plates and spoons beside them." o'riley was silenced, for the remark was unanswerable. "he may ha' bin left or lost on the shore, and been found by the esquimaux," suggested peter grim. "is that not another tomb?" enquired one of the men, pointing towards an object which stood on the end of a point or cape towards which they were approaching. ere anyone could reply, their ears were saluted by the well-known bark of a pack of esquimaux dogs. in another moment they dashed into the midst of a snow village, and were immediately surrounded by the excited natives. for some time no information could be gleaned from their interpreter, who was too excited to make use of his meagre amount of english. they observed, however, that the natives, although much excited, did not seem to be so much surprised at the appearance of white men amongst them as those were whom they had first met with near the ship. in a short time meetuck apparently had expended all he had to say to his friends, and turned to make explanations to bolton in a very excited tone; but little more could be made out than that what he said had some reference to white men. at length, in desperation, he pointed to a large hut which seemed to be the principal one of the village, and, dragging the mate towards it, made signs to him to enter. bolton hesitated an instant. "he wants you to see the chief of the tribe, no doubt," said fred; "you'd better go in at once." a loud voice shouted something in the esquimaux language from within the hut. at the sound fred's heart beat violently, and pushing past the mate he crept through the tunnelled entrance and stood within. there was little furniture in this rude dwelling. a dull flame flickered in a stone lamp which hung from the roof, and revealed the figure of a large esquimaux reclining on a couch of skins at the raised side of the hut. the man looked up hastily as fred entered, and uttered a few unintelligible words. "father!" cried fred, gasping for breath, and springing forward. captain ellice, for it was indeed he, started with apparent difficulty and pain into a sitting posture, and, throwing back his hood, revealed a face whose open, hearty, benignant expression shone through a coat of dark brown which long months of toil and exposure had imprinted on it. it was thin, however, and careworn, and wore an expression that seemed to be the result of long-continued suffering. "father!" he exclaimed in an earnest tone; "who calls me father?" "don't you know me, father?--don't you remember fred?--look at--" fred checked himself, for the wild look of his father frightened him. "ah! these dreams," murmured the old man, "i wish they did not come so--" placing his hand on his forehead he fell backwards in a state of insensibility into the arms of his son. chapter twenty. keeping it down--mutual explanations--death--new-year's day. it need scarcely be said that the sailors outside did not remain long in ignorance of the unexpected and happy discovery related in the last chapter. bolton, who had crept in after fred, with proper delicacy of feeling retired the moment he found how matters stood, and left father and son to expend, in the privacy of that chamber of snow, those feelings and emotions which can be better imagined than described. the first impulse of the men was to give three cheers, but bolton checked them in the bud. "no, no, lads. we must hold on," he said in an eager but subdued voice. "doubtless it would be pleasant to vent our feelings in a hearty cheer, but it would startle the old gentleman inside. get along with you, and let us get ready a good supper." "oh morther!" exclaimed o'riley, holding on to his sides as if he believed what he said, "me biler'll bust av ye don't let me screech." "squeeze down the safety-valve a bit longer, then," cried bolton, as they hurried along with the whole population to the outskirts of the village. "now, then, ye may fire away; they won't hear ye--huzza!" a long enthusiastic cheer distantly burst from the sailors, and was immediately followed by a howl of delight from the esquimaux, who capered round their visitors with uncouth gestures and grinning faces. entering one of the largest huts, preparations for supper were promptly begun. the esquimaux happened to be well supplied with walrus flesh, so the lamps were replenished, and the hiss of the frying steaks and dropping fat speedily rose above all other sounds. meanwhile fred and his father, having mutually recovered somewhat of their wonted composure, began to tell each other the details of their adventures since they last met, while the former prepared a cup of coffee and a steak for their mutual comfort. "but, father," said fred, busying himself at the lamp, "you have not yet told me how you came here, and what has become of the _pole star_, and how it was that one of your men came to be buried in the esquimaux fashion, and how you got your leg broken?" "truly, fred, i have not told you all that; and to give it you all in detail will afford us many a long hour of converse hereafter, if it please god, whose tenderness and watchful care of me has never failed. but i can give you a brief outline of it thus:-- "i got into baffin's bay and made a good fishing of it the first year, but was beset in the ice and compelled to spend two winters in these regions. the third year we were liberated, and had almost got fairly on our homeward voyage, when a storm blew us to the north, and carried us up here. then our good brig was nipped and went to the bottom, and all the crew were lost except myself and one man. we succeeded in leaping from one piece of loose ice to another until we reached the solid floe and gained the land, where we were kindly received by the esquimaux. but poor wilson did not survive long. his constitution had never been robust, and he died of consumption a week after we landed. the esquimaux buried him after their own fashion, and, as i afterwards found, had buried a plate and a spoon along with him. these, with several other articles, had been washed ashore from the wreck. since then i have been living the life of an esquimaux, awaiting an opportunity of escape, either by a ship making its appearance or a tribe of natives travelling south. i soon picked up their language, and was living in comparative comfort when, during a sharp fight i chanced to have with a polar bear, i fell and broke my leg. i have lain here for many months and have suffered much, fred; but, thank god, i am now almost well, and can walk a little, though not yet without pain." "dear father," said fred, "_how_ terribly you must have felt the want of kind hands to nurse you during those dreary months, and how lonely you must have been!" it were impossible here to enter minutely into the details of all that captain ellice related to fred during the next few days, while they remained together in the esquimaux village. to tell of the dangers, the adventures, and the hairbreadth escapes that the crew of the _pole star_ went through before the vessel finally went down would require a whole volume. we must pass it all over, and also the account of the few days that followed, during which sundry walrus were captured, and return to the _dolphin_, to which captain ellice had been conveyed on the sledge, carefully wrapped up in deer-skins and tended by fred. a party of the esquimaux accompanied them, and as a number of the natives from the other village had returned with saunders and his men to the ship, the scene she presented, when all parties were united, was exceedingly curious and animated. the esquimaux soon built quite a little town of snow-huts all round the _dolphin_, and the noise of traffic and intercourse was peculiarly refreshing to the ears of those who had long been accustomed to the death-like stillness of an arctic winter. the beneficial effect of the change on men and dogs was instantaneous. their spirits rose at once, and this, with the ample supply of fresh meat that had been procured, soon began to drive scurvy away. there was one dark spot, however, in this otherwise pleasant scene--one impending event that cast a gloom over all. in his narrow berth in the cabin joseph west lay dying. scurvy had acted more rapidly on his delicate frame than had been expected. despite tom singleton's utmost efforts and skill the fell disease gained the mastery, and it soon became evident that this hearty and excellent man was to be taken away from them. during the last days of his illness captain ellice was his greatest comfort and his constant companion. it was on christmas-day that west died. next day the body of joseph west was put in a plain deal coffin and conveyed to store island, where it was placed on the ground. they had no instruments that could penetrate the hard rock, so were obliged to construct a tomb of stones, after the manner of the esquimaux, under which the coffin was laid and left in solitude. new-year's day came, and preparations were made to celebrate the day with the usual festivities. but the recent death had affected the crew too deeply to allow them to indulge in the unrestrained hilarity of that season. prayers were read in the morning, and both captain guy and captain ellice addressed the men feelingly in allusion to their late shipmate's death and their own present position. a good dinner was also prepared, and several luxuries served out, among which were the materials for the construction of a large plum-pudding. but no grog was allowed, and they needed it not. as the afternoon advanced, stories were told, and even songs were sung, but these were of a quiet kind, and the men seemed, from an innate feeling of propriety, to suit them to the occasion. old friends were recalled, and old familiar scenes described. the hearths of home were spoken of with a depth of feeling that showed how intense was the longing to be seated round them again, and future prospects were canvassed with keen interest and with hopeful voices. new year's day came and went, and when it was gone the men of the _dolphin_ did not say, "what a jolly day it was!" they _said_ little or nothing, but, long after, they _thought_ of it as a bright spot in their dreary winter in the bay of mercy--as a day in which they had enjoyed earnest, glad, and sober communings of heart. chapter twenty one. first gleam of light--trip to welcome the sun--bears and strange discoveries--o'riley is reckless--first view of the sun. the wisest of men has told us that, "it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun," but only those who spend a winter in the arctic regions can fully appreciate the import of that inspired saying. it is absolutely essential to existence that the bright beams of the great luminary should fall on animal as well as plant. most of the poor dogs died for want of this blessed light, and had it been much longer withheld, doubtless our navigators would have sunk also. about the th of january a faint gleam of light on the horizon told of the coming day. it was hailed with rapture, and, long before the bright sun himself appeared on the southern horizon, the most of the men made daily excursions to the neighbouring hill-tops to catch sight of as much as possible of his faint rays. day by day those rays expanded, and at last a sort of _dawn_ enlightened a distant portion of their earth, which, faint though it was at first, had much the appearance in their eyes of a bright day. but time wore on, and _real_ day appeared! the red sun rose in all its glory, showed a rim of its glowing disc above the frozen sea, and then sank, leaving a long gladsome smile of twilight behind. this great event happened on the th of february, and would have occurred sooner but for the high cliffs to the southward, which intervened between the ship and the horizon. on the day referred to a large party was formed to go to the top of the cliffs at red snow valley to welcome back the sun. "there's scarce a man left behind," remarked captain guy, as they started on this truly joyous expedition. "only mizzle, sir," said buzzby, slapping his hands together, for the cold was intense; "he said as how he'd stop and have dinner ready agin our return." there was a general laugh from the men, who knew that the worthy cook had other reasons for not going--namely, his shortness of wind and his inveterate dislike to ascend hills. "come, fred," cried captain ellice, who had completely recovered from his accident, "i shall be quite jealous of your friend singleton if you bestow so much of your company on him. walk with me, sirrah, i command you, as i wish to have a chat." "you are unjust to me," replied fred, taking his father's arm, and falling with him a little to the rear of the party; "tom complains that i have quite given him up of late." "och! isn't it a purty sight," remarked o'riley to mivins, "to see us all goin' out like good little childers to see the sun rise of a beautiful mornin' like this?" "so it _h_is," answered mivins, "but i wish it wasn't quite so cold." it was indeed cold--so cold that the men had to beat their hands together, and stamp their feet, and rush about like real children, in order to keep their bodies warm. this month of february was the coldest they had yet experienced. several times the thermometer fell to the unexampled temperature of degrees below zero, or degrees below the freezing-point of water. when we remind our young readers that the thermometer in england seldom falls so low as zero, except in what we term weather of the utmost severity, they may imagine--or, rather, they may try to imagine--what degrees _below_ zero must have been. it was not quite so cold as that upon this occasion, otherwise the men could not have shown face to it. "let's have leap-frog," shouted davie; "we can jump along as well as walk along. hooray! _hup_!" the "hup" was rather an exclamation of necessity than of delight inasmuch as that it was caused by davie coming suddenly down flat on the ice in the act of vainly attempting to go leap-frog over mivins's head. "that's your sort," cried amos parr; "down with you, buzzby." buzzby obeyed, and amos, being heavy and past the agile time of life, leaped upon, instead of over, his back, and there stuck. "not so high, lads," cried captain guy. "come, mr saunders, give us a back." "faix, he'd better go on his hands an' knees." "that's it! over you go; hurrah, lads!" in five minutes nearly the whole crew were panting from their violent exertions, and those who did not, or could not, join, panted as much from laughter. the desired result, however, was speedily gained. they were all soon in a glow of heat, and bade defiance to the frost. an hour's sharp climb brought the party almost to the brow of the hill, from which they hoped to see the sun rise for the first time for nearly five months. just as they were about to pass over a ridge in the cliffs, captain guy, who had pushed on in advance with tom singleton, was observed to pause abruptly and make signals for the men to advance with caution. he evidently saw something unusual, for he crouched behind a rock and peeped over it. hastening up as silently as possible, they discovered that a group of polar bears were amusing themselves on the other side of the cliffs, within long gunshot. unfortunately not one of the party had brought firearms. intent only on catching a sight of the sun, they had hurried off, unmindful of the possibility of their catching sight of anything else. they had not even a spear, and the few oak cudgels that some carried, however effectual they might have proved at donnybrook, were utterly worthless there. there were four large bears and a young one, and the gambols they performed were of the most startling as well as amusing kind. but that which interested and surprised the crew most was the fact that these bears were playing with barrels, and casks, and tent-poles, and sails! they were engaged in a regular frolic with these articles, tossing them up in the air, pawing them about, and leaping over them like kittens. in these movements they displayed their enormous strength several times. their leaps, although performed with the utmost ease, were so great as to prove the iron nature of their muscles. they tossed the heavy casks, too, high in the air like tennis-balls; and in two instances, while the crew were watching them, dashed a cask in pieces with a slight blow of their paws. the tough canvas yielded before them like sheets of paper, and the havoc they committed was wonderful to behold. "most extraordinary!" exclaimed captain guy, after watching them for some time in silence. "i cannot imagine where these creatures can have got hold of such things. were not the goods at store island all right this morning, mr bolton?" "yes, sir, they were." "nothing missing from the ship!" "no, sir, nothing." "it's most unaccountable." "captain guy," said o'riley, addressing his commander with a solemn face, "haven't ye more nor wance towld me the queer thing in the deserts they calls the _mirage_?" "i have," answered the captain with a puzzled look. "an' didn't ye say there was something like it in the polar seas, that made ye see flags, an' ships, an' things o' that sort when there was no sich things there at all?" "true, o'riley, i did." "faix, then, it's my opinion that yon bears is a mirage, an' the sooner we git out o' their way the better." a smothered laugh greeted this solution of the difficulty. "i think i can give a better explanation--begging your pardon, o'riley," said captain ellice, who had hitherto looked on with a sly smile. "more than a year ago, when i was driven past this place to the northward, i took advantage of a calm to land a supply of food, and a few stores and medicines, to be a stand-by in case my ship should be wrecked to the northward. ever since the wreck actually took place i have looked forward to this _cache_ of provisions as a point of refuge on my way south. as i have already told you, i have never been able to commence the southward journey, and now i don't require these things, which is lucky, for the bears seem to have appropriated them entirely." "had i known of them sooner, captain," said captain guy, "the bears should not have had a chance." "that accounts for the supply of tobacco and sticking-plaster we found in the bear's stomach," remarked fred, laughing. "true, boy, yet it surprises me that they succeeded in breaking into my _cache_, for it was made of heavy masses of stone, many of which required two and three men to lift them, even with the aid of handspikes." "what's wrong with o'riley?" said fred, pointing to that eccentric individual, who was gazing intently at the bears, muttering between his teeth, and clenching his cudgel nervously. "shure, it's a cryin' shame," he soliloquised in an undertone, quite unconscious that he was observed, "that ye should escape, ye villains; av' i only had a musket now--but i han't. arrah, av' it was only a spear! be the mortial! i think i could crack the skull o' the small wan! faix, then; i'll try!" at the last word, before anyone was aware of his intentions, this son of erin, whose blood was now up, sprang down the cliffs towards the bears, flourishing his stick, and shouting wildly as he went. the bears instantly paused in their game, but showed no disposition to retreat. "come back, you madman!" shouted the captain; but the captain shouted in vain. "stop! halt! come back!" chorused the crew. but o'riley was deaf; he had advanced to within a few yards of the bears, and was rushing forward to make a vigorous attack on the little one. "he'll be killed!" exclaimed fred in dismay. "follow me, men," shouted the captain, as he leaped the ridge; "make all the noise you can." in a moment the surrounding cliffs were reverberating with the loud halloos and frantic yells of the men, as they burst suddenly over the ridge, and poured down upon the bears like a torrent of maniacs! bold though they were they couldn't stand this. they turned tail and fled, followed by the disappointed howls of o'riley, and also by his cudgel, which he hurled violently after them as he pulled up. having thus triumphantly put the enemy to flight the party continued their ascent of the hill and soon gained the summit. "there it is!" shouted fred, who, in company with mivins, first crossed the ridge and tossed his arms in the air. the men cheered loudly as they hurried up, and one by one emerged into a red glow of sunshine. it could not be termed _warm_, for it had no power in that frosty atmosphere, and only a small portion of the sun's disc was visible. but his _light_ was on every crag and peak around; and as the men sat down in groups, and, as it were, bathed in the sunshine, winking at the bright gleam of light with half-closed eyes, they declared that it _felt_ warm, and wouldn't hear anything to the contrary, although saunders, true to his nature, endeavoured to prove to them that the infinitely small degree of heat imparted by such feeble rays could not by any possibility be _felt_ except in imagination. but saunders was outvoted. indeed, under the circumstances, he had not a chance of proving his point; for the more warm the dispute became the greater was the amount of animal heat that was created, to be placed, falsely, to the credit of the sun. patience, however, is a virtue which is sure to meet with a reward. the point which saunders failed to prove by argument was pretty well proved to everyone (though not admitted) by the agency of john frost. that remarkably bitter individual nestled round the men as they sat sunning themselves, and soon compelled them to leap up and apply to other sources for heat. they danced about vigorously, and again took to leap-frog. then they tried their powers at the old familiar games of home. hop-step-and-jump raised the animal thermometer considerably; and the standing leap, running leap, and high leap sent it up many degrees. but a general race brought them almost to a summer temperature, and at the same time, most unexpectedly, secured to them a hare. this little creature, of which very few had yet been procured, darted in an evil hour out from behind a rock right in front of the men, who having begun the race for sport now continued it energetically for profit. a dozen sticks were hurled at the luckless hare, and one of these felled it to the ground. after this they returned home in triumph, keeping up all the way an animated dispute as to the amount of heat shed upon them by the sun, and upon that knotty question: "who killed the hare?" neither point was settled when they reached the _dolphin_, and, we may add, for the sake of the curious reader, neither point is settled yet. chapter twenty two. "the arctic sun"--rats! rats! rats!--a hunting-party--out on the floes--hardships. among the many schemes that were planned and carried out for lightening the long hours of confinement to their wooden home in the arctic regions, was the newspaper started by fred ellice, and named, as we have already mentioned, _the arctic sun_. it was so named because, as fred stated in his first leading article, it was intended to throw light on many things at a time when there was no other sun to cheer them. we cannot help regretting that it is not in our power to present a copy of this well-thumbed periodical to our readers; but being of opinion that _something_ is better than _nothing_, we transcribe the following extract as a specimen of the contributions from the forecastle. it was entitled-- "john buzzby's oppinyuns o' things in gin'ral." "mr editer,--as you was so good as to ax from me a contribootion to your waluable peeryoddical, i beg heer to stait that this heer article is intended as a gin'ral summery o' the noos wots agoin'. your reeders will be glad to no that of late the wether's bin gittin' colder, but they'll be better pleased to no that before the middle o' nixt sumer it's likely to git a long chawk warmer. there's a gin'ral complaint heer that mivins has bin eatin' the shuger in the pantry, an' that's wot's makin' it needfull to put us on short allowance. davie summers sais he seed him at it, and it's a dooty the guvermint owes to the publik to have the matter investigated. it's gin'rally expected, howsever, that the guvermint won't trubble its hed with the matter. there's bin an onusual swarmin' o' rats in the ship of late, an' davie summers has had a riglar hunt after them. the lad has becum more than ornar expert with his bow an' arrow, for he niver misses now--exceptin' always, when he dusn't hit--an' for the most part takes them on the pint on the snowt with his blunt-heded arow, which he drives in--the snowt, not the arow. there's a gin'ral wish among the crew to no whether the north pole _is_ a pole or a dot. mizzle sais it's a dot and o'riley swears (no, he don't do that, for we've gin up swearin' in the fog-sail); but he sais that it's a real post 'bout as thick again as the main-mast, an' nine or ten times as hy. grim sais it's nother wun thing nor anuther, but a hydeear that _is_ sumhow or other a fact, but yit don't exist at all. tom green wants to no if there's any conexshun between it an' the pole that's connected with elections. in fact, we're all at sea, in a riglar muz abut this, an' as dr singleton's a syentiffick man, praps he'll give us a leadin' article in your nixt--so no more at present from-- "yours to command, john buzzby." this contribution was accompanied with an outline illustration of mivins eating sugar with a ladle in the pantry, and davie summers peeping in at the door--both likenesses being excellent. some of the articles in the _arctic sun_ were grave, and some were gay, but all of them were profitable, for fred took care that they should be charged either with matter of interest or matter provocative of mirth. and, assuredly, no newspaper of similar calibre was ever looked forward to with such expectation, or read and reread with such avidity. it was one of the expedients that lasted longest in keeping up the spirits of the men. the rat-hunting referred to in the foregoing "summery" was not a mere fiction of buzzby's brain. it was a veritable fact. notwithstanding the extreme cold of this inhospitable climate, the rats in the ship increased to such a degree that at last they became a perfect nuisance. nothing was safe from their attacks; whether substances were edible or not, they were gnawed through and ruined, and their impudence, which seemed to increase with their numbers, at last exceeded all belief. they swarmed everywhere--under the stove, about the beds, in the lockers, between the sofa-cushions, amongst the moss round the walls, and inside the boots and mittens (when empty) of the men. and they became so accustomed to having missiles thrown at them that they acquired to perfection that art which buzzby described as "keeping one's weather-eye open." you couldn't hit one if you tried. if your hand moved towards an object with which you intended to deal swift destruction, the intruder paused and turned his sharp eyes towards you as if to say: "what! going to try it again?--come, then, here's a chance for you." but when you threw, at best you could only hit the empty space it had occupied the moment before. or if you seized a stick, and rushed at the enemy in wrath, it grinned fiercely, showed its long white teeth, and then vanished with a fling of its tail that could be construed into nothing but an expression of contempt. at last an expedient was hit upon for destroying these disagreeable inmates. small bows and arrows were made, the latter having heavy, blunt heads, and with these the men slaughtered hundreds. whenever anyone was inclined for a little sport he took up his bow and arrows, and, retiring to a dark corner of the cabin, watched for a shot. davie summers acquired the title of nimrod, in consequence of his success in this peculiar field. at first the rats proved a capital addition to the dogs' meals, but at length some of the men were glad to eat them, especially when fresh meat failed altogether, and scurvy began its assaults. white or arctic foxes, too, came about the ship, sometimes in great numbers, and proved an acceptable addition to their fresh provisions; but at one period all these sources failed, and the crew were reduced to the utmost extremity, having nothing to eat except salt provisions. notwithstanding the cheering influence of the sun, the spirits of the men fell as their bodily energies failed. nearly two-thirds of the ship's company were confined to their berths. the officers retained much of their wonted health and vigour, partly in consequence, no doubt, of their unwearied exertions in behalf of others. they changed places with the men at last, owing to the force of circumstances--ministering to their wants, drawing water, fetching fuel, and cooking their food,--carrying out, in short, the divine command, "by love serve one another." during the worst period of their distress a party was formed to go out upon the floes in search of walrus. "if we don't get speedy relief," remarked captain guy to tom singleton in reference to this party, "some of us will die. i feel certain of that. poor buzzby seems on his last legs, and mivins is reduced to a shadow." the doctor was silent, for the captain's remark was too true. "you must get up your party at once, and set off after breakfast, mr bolton," he added, turning to the first mate. "who can accompany you?" "there's peter grim, sir, he's tough yet, and not much affected by scurvy, and mr saunders, i think, may--" "no," interrupted the doctor, "saunders must not go. he does not look very ill, and i hope is not, but i don't like some of his symptoms." "well, doctor, we can do without him. there's tom green and o'riley. nothing seems able to bring down o'riley. then there's--" "there's fred ellice," cried fred himself, joining the group; "i'll go with you if you'll take me." "most happy to have you, sir; our healthy hands are very short, but we can muster sufficient, i think." the captain suggested amos parr and two or three more men, and then dismissed his first mate to get ready for an immediate start. "i don't half like your going, fred," said his father. "you've not been well lately, and hunting on the floes, i know from experience, is hard work." "don't fear for me, father; i've quite recovered from my recent attack, which was but slight after all, and i know full well that those who are well must work as long as they can stand." "ho, lads, look alive there! are you ready?" shouted the first mate down the hatchway. "ay, ay, sir!" replied grim, and in a few minutes the party were assembled on the ice beside the small sledge, with their shoulder-belts on, for most of the dogs were either dead or dying of that strange complaint to which allusion has been made in a previous chapter. they set out silently, but ere they had got a dozen yards from the ship captain guy felt the impropriety of permitting them thus to depart. "up, lads, and give them three cheers," he cried, mounting the ship's side and setting the example. a hearty, generous spirit, when vigorously displayed, always finds a ready response from human hearts. the few sailors who were on deck at the time, and one or two of the sick men who chanced to put their heads up the hatchway, rushed to the side, waved their mittens--in default of caps--and gave vent to three hearty british cheers. the effect on the drooping spirits of the hunting-party was electrical. they pricked up like chargers that had felt the spur, wheeled round, and returned the cheer with interest. it was an apparently trifling incident, but it served to lighten the way, and make it seem less dreary for many a long mile. "i'm tired of it entirely," cried o'riley, sitting down on a hummock, on the evening of the second day after setting out on the hunt; "here we is, two days out, and not a sign o' life nowhere." "come, don't give in," said bolton cheerfully, "we're sure to fall in with a walrus to-day." "i think so," cried fred; "we have come so far out upon the floes that there must be open water near." "come on, then," cried peter grim; "don't waste time talking." thus urged, o'riley rose, and, throwing his sledge-strap over his shoulder, plodded on wearily with the rest. their provisions were getting low now, and it was felt that if they did not soon fall in with walrus or bears they must return as quickly as possible to the ship in order to avoid starving. it was, therefore, a matter of no small satisfaction that, on turning the edge of an iceberg, they discovered a large bear walking leisurely towards them. to drop their sledge-lines and seize their muskets was the work of a moment. but unfortunately, long travelling had filled the pans with snow, and it required some time to pick the touch-holes clear. in this extremity peter grim seized a hatchet and ran towards it, while o'riley charged it with a spear. grim delivered a tremendous blow at its head with his weapon, but his intention was better than his aim, for he missed the bear and smashed the corner of a hummock of ice. o'riley was more successful. he thrust the spear into the animal's shoulder, but the shoulder-blade turned the head of the weapon, and caused it to run along at least three feet, just under the skin. the wound, although not fatal, was so painful that bruin uttered a loud roar of disapproval, wheeled round, and ran away!--an act of cowardice so unusual on the part of a polar bear that the whole party were taken by surprise. several shots were fired after him, but he soon disappeared among the ice-hummocks, having fairly made off with o'riley's spear. the disappointment caused by this was great; but they had little time to think of it, for, soon after, a stiff breeze of wind sprang up, which freshened into a gale, compelling them to seek the shelter of a cluster of icebergs, in the midst of which they built a snow-hut. before night a terrific storm was raging, with the thermometer degrees below zero. the sky became black as ink; drift whirled round them in horrid turmoil; and the wild blast came direct from the north, over the frozen sea, shrieking and howling in its strength and fury. all that night and the next day it continued. then it ceased; and for the first time that winter a thaw set in, so that ere morning their sleeping-bags and socks were thoroughly wetted. this was of short duration, however. in a few hours the frost set in again as intense as ever, converting all their wet garments and bedding into hard cakes of ice. to add to their misfortunes their provisions ran out, and they were obliged to abandon the hut and push forward towards the ship with the utmost speed. night came on them while they were slowly toiling through the deep drifts that the late gale had raised, and to their horror they found they had wandered out of their way, and were still but a short distance from their snow-hut. in despair they returned to pass the night in it, and, spreading their frozen sleeping-bags on the snow, they lay down, silent and supperless, to rest till morning. chapter twenty three. unexpected arrivals--the rescue-party--lost and found--return to the ship. the sixth night after the hunting-party had left the ship, grim and fred ellice suddenly made their appearance on board. it was quite dark, and the few of the ship's company who were able to quit their berths were seated round the cabin at their meagre evening meal. "hallo, fred!" exclaimed captain ellice, as his son staggered rather than walked in, and sank down on a locker. "what's wrong, boy? where are the rest of you?" fred could not answer; neither he nor grim were able to utter a word at first. it was evident that they laboured under extreme exhaustion and hunger. a mouthful of hot soup administered by tom singleton rallied them a little, however. "our comrades are lost, i fear." "lost!" exclaimed captain guy. "how so? speak, my boy; but hold, take another mouthful before you speak. where did you leave them, say you?" fred looked at the captain with a vacant stare. "out upon the ice to the north; but, i say, what a comical dream i've had!" here he burst into a loud laugh. poor fred's head was evidently affected, so his father and tom carried him to his berth. all this time grim had remained seated on a locker, swaying to and fro like a drunken man, and paying no attention to the numerous questions that were put to him by saunders and his comrades. "this is bad!" exclaimed captain guy, pressing his hand on his forehead. "a search must be made," suggested captain ellice. "it's evident that the party have broken down out on the floes, and fred and grim have been sent to let us know." "i know it," answered captain guy; "a search must be made, and that instantly, if it is to be of any use; but in which direction are we to go is the question. these poor fellows cannot tell us. `out on the ice to the north' is a wide word. fred, fred, can you not tell us in which direction we ought to go to search for them?" "yes, far out on the floes--among hummocks--far out," murmured fred half-unconsciously. "we must be satisfied with that. now, mr saunders, assist me to get the small sledge fitted out. i'll go to look after them myself." "an' i'll go with 'ee, sir," said the second mate promptly. "i fear you are hardly able." "no fear o' me, sir. i'm better than 'ee think." "i must go too," added captain ellice; "it is quite evident that you cannot muster a party without me." "that's impossible," interrupted the doctor; "your leg is not strong enough, nearly, for such a trip; besides, my dear sir, you must stay behind to perform my duties, for the ship can't do without a doctor, and i shall go with captain guy, if he will allow me." "that he won't," cried the captain. "you say truly the ship cannot be left without a doctor. neither you nor my friend ellice shall leave the ship with my permission. but don't let us waste time talking. come, summers and mizzle, you are well enough to join, and meetuck, you must be our guide; look alive and get yourselves ready." in less than half an hour the rescue party were equipped and on their way over the floes. they were six in all--one of the freshest among the crew having volunteered to join those already mentioned. it was a very dark night, and bitterly cold, but they took nothing with them except the clothes on their backs, a supply of provisions for their lost comrades, their sleeping-bags, and a small leather tent. the captain also took care to carry with them a flask of brandy. the colossal bergs, which stretched like well-known landmarks over the sea, were their guides at first, but, after travelling ten hours without halting, they had passed the greater number of those, with which they were familiar, and entered upon an unknown region. here it became necessary to use the utmost caution. they knew that the lost men must be within twenty miles of them, but they had no means of knowing the exact spot, and any footprints that had been made were now obliterated. in these circumstances captain guy had to depend very much on his own sagacity. clambering to the top of a hummock he observed a long stretch of level floe to the northward. "i think it likely," he remarked to saunders, who had accompanied him, "that they may have gone in that direction. it seems an attractive road among the chaos of ice-heaps." "i'm no sure o' that," objected saunders; "yonder's a pretty clear road away to the west, maybe they took that." "perhaps they did, but as fred said they had gone far out on the ice _to the north_, i think it likely they've gone in _that_ direction." "maybe yer right sir, and maybe yer wrang," answered saunders, as they returned to the party. as this was the second mate's method of intimating that he _felt_ that he ought to give in (though he didn't give in, and never would give in, _absolutely_), the captain felt more confidence in his own opinion. "now, meetuck, keep your eyes open," he added, as they resumed their rapid march. after journeying on for a considerable distance, the men were ordered to spread out over the neighbouring ice-fields, in order to multiply the chances of discovering tracks; but there seemed to be some irresistible power of attraction which drew them gradually together again, however earnestly they might try to keep separate. in fact, they were beginning to be affected by the long-continued march and the extremity of the cold. this last was so great that constant motion was absolutely necessary in order to prevent them from freezing. there was no time allowed for rest--life and death were in the scale. their only hope lay in a continuous and rapid advance, so as to reach the lost men ere they should freeze or die of starvation. "holo! look 'eer!" shouted meetuck, as he halted and went down on his knees to examine some marks on the snow. "these are tracks," cried captain guy eagerly. "what think you, saunders?" "they look like it." "follow them up, meetuck. go in advance, my lad, and let the rest of you scatter again." in a few minutes there was a cry heard, and as the party hastened towards the spot whence it came, they found davie summers pointing eagerly to a little snow-hut in the midst of a group of bergs. with hasty steps they advanced towards it and the captain, with a terrible misgiving at heart, crept in. "ah, then, is it yerself, darlint?" were the first words that greeted him. a loud cheer from those without told that they heard and recognised the words. immediately two of them crept in, and, striking a light, kindled a lamp, which revealed the careworn forms of their lost comrades stretched on the ground in their sleeping-bags. they were almost exhausted for want of food, but otherwise they were uninjured. the first congratulations over, the rescue party immediately proceeded to make arrangements for passing the night. they were themselves little better than those whom they had come to save, having performed an uninterrupted march of eighteen hours without food or drink. it was touching to see the tears of joy and gratitude that filled the eyes of the poor fellows, who had given themselves up for lost as they watched the movements of their comrades while they prepared food for them; and the broken, fitful conversation was mingled strangely with alternate touches of fun and deep feeling, indicating the conflicting emotions that struggled in their breasts. "i knowed ye would come, captain; bless you, sir," said amos parr in an unsteady voice. "come! av coorse ye knowed it," cried o'riley energetically. "och, but don't be long wid the mate, darlints, me stummik's shut up intirely." "there won't be room for us all here, i'm afraid," remarked bolton. this was true. the hut was constructed to hold six, and it was impossible that ten could _sleep_ in it, although they managed to squeeze in. "never mind that," cried the captain. "here, take a drop of soup; gently, not too much at a time." "ah, then, it's cruel of ye, it is, to give me sich a small taste!" it was necessary, however, to give men in their condition a "small taste" at first, so o'riley had to rest content. meanwhile the rescue party supped heartily, and, after a little more food had been administered to the half-starved men, preparations were made for spending the night. the tent was pitched, and the sleeping-bags spread out on the snow, then captain guy offered up fervent thanks to god for his protection thus far, and prayed shortly but earnestly for deliverance from their dangerous situation, after which they all lay down and slept soundly till morning--or at least as soundly as could be expected with a temperature at degrees below zero. next morning they prepared to set out on their return to the ship. but this was no easy task. the exhausted men had to be wrapped up carefully in their blankets, which were sewed closely round their limbs, then packed in their sleeping-bags and covered completely up, only a small hole being left opposite their mouths to breathe through, and after that they were lashed side by side on the small sledge. the larger sledge, with the muskets, ammunition, and spare blankets, had to be abandoned. then the rescue party put their shoulders to the tracking-belts, and away they went briskly over the floes. but the drag was a fearfully heavy one for men who, besides having walked so long and so far on the previous day, were, most of them, much weakened by illness and very unfit for such laborious work. the floes, too, were so rugged that they had frequently to lift the heavy sledge and its living load over deep rents and chasms which, in circumstances less desperate, they would have scarcely ventured to do. work as they would, however, they could not make more than a mile an hour, and night overtook them ere they reached the level floes. but it was of the utmost importance that they should continue to advance, so they pushed forward until a breeze sprang up that pierced them through and through. fortunately there was a bright moon in the sky, which enabled them to pick their way among the hummocks. suddenly, without warning, the whole party felt an alarming failure of their energies. captain guy, who was aware of the imminent danger of giving way to this feeling, cheered the men to greater exertion by word and voice, but failed to rouse them. they seemed like men walking in their sleep. "come, saunders, cheer up, man," cried the captain, shaking the mate by the arm; but saunders stood still, swaying to and fro like a drunken man. mizzle begged to be allowed to sleep, if it were only for two minutes, and poor davie summers deliberately threw himself down on the snow, from which, had he been left, he would never more have risen. the case was now desperate. in vain the captain shook and buffeted the men. they protested that they did not feel cold--"they were quite warm, and only wanted a little sleep." he saw that it was useless to contend with them, so there was nothing left for it but to pitch the tent. this was done as quickly as possible, though with much difficulty, and the men were unlashed from the sledge and placed within it. the others then crowded in, and, falling down beside each other, were asleep in an instant. the excessive crowding of the little tent was an advantage at this time, as it tended to increase their animal heat. captain guy allowed them to sleep only two hours, and then roused them in order to continue the journey; but short though the period of rest was, it proved sufficient to enable the men to pursue their journey with some degree of spirit. still, it was evident that their energies had been overtaxed, for when they neared the ship next day, tom singleton, who had been on the lookout, and advanced to meet them, found that they were almost in a state of stupor, and talked incoherently; sometimes giving utterance to sentiments of the most absurd nature, with expressions of the utmost gravity. meanwhile good news was brought them from the ship. two bears and a walrus had been purchased from the esquimaux, a party of whom--sleek, fat, oily, good-humoured, and hairy--were encamped on the lee side of the _dolphin_, and busily engaged in their principal and favourite occupation--eating! chapter twenty four. winter ends--the first insect--preparations for departure--narrow escape--cutting out--once more afloat--ship on fire--crew take to the boats. winter passed away, with its darkness and its frost, and, happily, with its sorrows; and summer--bright, glowing summer--came at last to gladden the heart of man and beast in the polar regions. we have purposely omitted to make mention of spring, for there is no such season, properly so called, within the arctic circle. winter usually terminates with a gushing thaw, and summer then begins with a blaze of fervent heat. not that the heat is really so intense as compared with that of southern climes, but the contrast is so great that it _seems_ as though the torrid zones had rushed towards the pole. about the beginning of june there were indications of the coming heat. fresh water began to trickle from the rocks, and streamlets commenced to run down the icebergs. soon everything became moist, and a marked change took place in the appearance of the ice-belt, owing to the pools that collected on it everywhere and overflowed. seals now became more numerous in the neighbourhood, and were frequently killed near the _atluks_, or holes; so that fresh meat was secured in abundance, and the scurvy received a decided check. reindeer, rabbits, and ptarmigan, too, began to frequent the bay, so that the larder was constantly full, and the mess-table presented a pleasing variety--rats being no longer the solitary dish of fresh meat at every meal. a few small birds made their appearance from the southward, and these were hailed as harbingers of the coming summer. one day o'riley sat on the taffrail, basking in the warm sun, and drinking in health and gladness from its beams. he had been ill, and was now convalescent. buzzby stood beside him. "i've bin thinkin'," said buzzby, "that we don't half know the blessin's that are given to us in this here world till we've had 'em taken away. look, now, how we're enjoyin' the sun an' the heat just as if it wos so much gold!" "goold!" echoed o'riley in a tone of contempt; "faix, i niver thought so little o' goold before, let me tell ye. goold can buy many a thing, it can, but it can't buy sunshine. hallo! what's this!" o'riley accompanied the question with a sudden snatch of his hand. "look here, buzzby! have a care, now! jist watch the opening o' my fist." "wot is it?" enquired buzzby, approaching, and looking earnestly at his comrade's clenched hand with some curiosity. "there he comes! now, then; not so fast, ye spalpeen!" as he spoke, a small fly, which had been captured, crept out from between his fingers, and sought to escape. it was the first that had visited these frozen regions for many, many months, and the whole crew were summoned on deck to meet it, as if it were an old and valued friend. "let it go, poor thing?" cried half a dozen of the men, gazing at the little prisoner with a degree of interest that cannot be thoroughly understood by those who have not passed through experiences similar to those of our arctic voyagers. "ay, don't hurt it, poor thing! you're squeezin' it too hard!" cried amos parr. "squaazing it! no, then, i'm not. go, avic, an' me blessin' go wid ye." the big, rough hand opened, and the tiny insect, spreading its gossamer wings, buzzed away into the bright atmosphere, where it was soon lost to view. "rig up the ice-saws, mr bolton, set all hands at them, and get out the powder-canisters," cried captain guy, coming hastily on deck. "ay, ay, sir," responded the mate. "all hands to the ice-saws! look alive, boys! ho! mr saunders! where's mr saunders?" "here i am," answered the worthy second mate in a quiet voice. "oh, you're there? get up some powder, mr saunders, and a few canisters." there was a heartiness in the tone and action with which these orders were given and obeyed that proved they were possessed of more than ordinary interest; as, indeed, they were, for the time had now come for making preparations for cutting the ship out of winter-quarters, and getting ready to take advantage of any favourable opening in the ice that might occur. "do you hope to effect much?" enquired captain ellice of captain guy, who stood at the gangway watching the men as they leaped over the side, and began to cut holes with ice chisels preparatory to fixing the saws and powder-canisters. "not much," replied the captain; "but a _little_ in these latitudes is worth fighting hard for, as you are well aware. many a time have i seen a ship's crew strain and heave on warps and cables for hours together, and only gain a yard by all their efforts; but many a time, also, have i seen a single yard of headway save a ship from destruction." "true," rejoined captain ellice; "i have seen a little of it myself. there is no spot on earth, i think, equal to the polar regions for bringing out into bold relief two great and _apparently_ antagonistic truths--namely, man's urgent need of all his powers to accomplish the work of his own deliverance, and man's utter helplessness and entire dependence on the sovereign will of god." "when shall we sink the canisters, sir?" asked bolton, coming up and touching his hat. "in an hour, mr bolton; the tide will be full then, and we shall try what effect a blast will have." "my opeenion is," remarked saunders, who passed at the moment with two large bags of gunpowder under his arms, "that it'll have no effect at a'. it'll just loosen the ice roond the ship." the captain smiled as he said: "_that_ is all the effect i hope for, mr saunders. should the outward ice give way soon, we shall then be in a better position to avail ourselves of it." as saunders predicted, the effect of powder and saws was merely to loosen and rend the ice-tables, in which the _dolphin_ was imbedded; but deliverance was coming sooner than any of those on board expected. that night a storm arose, which, for intensity of violence, equalled, if it did not surpass, the severest gales they had yet experienced. it set the great bergs of the polar seas in motion, and these moving mountains of ice slowly and majestically began their voyage to southern climes, crashing through the floes, overturning the hummocks, and ripping up the ice-tables with quiet, but irresistible momentum. for two days the war of ice continued to rage, and sometimes the contending forces, in the shape of huge tongues and corners of bergs, were forced into the bay of mercy, and threatening swift destruction to the little craft, which was a mere atom that might have been crushed and sunk and scarcely missed in such a wild scene. at one time a table of ice was forced out of the water and reared up, like a sloping wall of glass, close to the stern of the _dolphin_, where all the crew were assembled with ice-poles ready to do their utmost; but their feeble efforts could have availed them nothing had the slowly-moving mass continued its onward progress. "lower away the quarter-boat," cried the captain, as the sheet of ice six feet thick came grinding down towards the starboard quarter. buzzby, grim, and several others sprang to obey, but, before they could let go the fall-tackles, the mass of ice rose suddenly high above the deck, over which it projected several feet, and caught the boat. in another moment the timbers yielded; the thwarts sprang out or were broken across, and slowly, yet forcibly, as a strong hand might crush an egg-shell, the boat was squeezed flat against the ship's side. "shove, lads; if it comes on we're lost," cried the captain, seizing one of the long poles with which the men were vainly straining every nerve and muscle. they might as well have tried to arrest the progress of a berg. on it came, and crushed in the starboard quarter bulwarks. providentially at that moment it grounded and remained fast; but the projecting point that overhung them broke off and fell on the deck with a crash that shook the good ship from stem to stern. several of the men were thrown violently down, but none were seriously hurt in this catastrophe. when the storm ceased, the ice out in the strait was all in motion, and that round the ship had loosened so much that it seemed as if the _dolphin_ might soon get out into open water and once more float upon its natural element. every preparation, therefore, was made; the stores were reshipped from store island; the sails were shaken out, and those of them that had been taken down were bent on to the yards. tackle was overhauled, and, in short, everything was done that was possible under the circumstances. but a week passed away ere they succeeded in finally warping out of the bay into the open sea beyond. it was a lovely morning when this happy event was accomplished. before the tide was quite full, and while they were waiting until the command to heave on the warps should be given, captain guy assembled the crew for morning prayers in the cabin. having concluded, he said: "my lads, through the great mercy of heaven we have been all, except one, spared through the trials and anxieties of a long and dreary winter, and are now, i trust, about to make our escape from the ice that has held us fast so long. it becomes me at such a time to tell you that, if i am spared to return home, i shall be able to report that every man in this ship has done his duty. you have never flinched in the hour of danger, and never grumbled in the hour of trial. only one man--our late brave and warm-hearted comrade, joseph west--has fallen in the struggle. for the mercies that have never failed us, and for our success in rescuing my gallant friend, captain ellice, we ought to feel the deepest gratitude. we have need, however, to pray for a blessing on the labours that are yet before us, for you are well aware that we shall probably have many a struggle with the ice before we are once more afloat on blue water. and now, lads, away with you on deck, and man the capstan, for the tide is about full." the capstan was manned, and the hawsers were hove taut. inch by inch the tide rose, and the _dolphin_ floated. then a lusty cheer was given, and amos parr struck up one of those hearty songs intermingled with "ho!" and "yo heave ho!" that seem to be the life and marrow of all nautical exertion. at last the good ship forged ahead, and, _boring_ through the loose ice, passed slowly out of the bay of mercy. "do you know i feel quite sad at quitting this dreary spot?" said fred to his father, as they stood gazing backward over the taffrail. "i could not have believed that i should have become so much attached to it." "we become attached to any spot, fred, in which incidents have occurred to call forth, frequently, our deeper feelings. these rocks and stones are intimately associated with many events that have caused you joy and sorrow, hope and fear, pain and happiness. men cherish the memory of such feelings, and love the spots of earth with which they are associated." "ah, father, yonder stands one stone, at least, that calls forth feelings of sorrow." fred pointed, as he spoke, to store island, which was just passing out of view. on this lonely spot the men had raised a large stone over the grave of joseph west. o'riley, whose enthusiastic temperament had caused him to mourn over his comrade more, perhaps, than any other man in the ship, had carved the name and date of his death in rude characters on the stone. it was a conspicuous object on the low island, and every eye in the _dolphin_ was fixed on it as they passed. soon the point of rock, that had sheltered them so long from many a westerly gale, intervened and shut it out from view for ever. a week of uninterrupted fair wind and weather had carried the _dolphin_ far to the south of their dreary wintering-ground, and all was going well, when the worst of all disasters befell the ship--she caught fire! how it happened no one could tell. the smoke was first seen rising suddenly from the hold. instantly the alarm was spread. "firemen to your posts!" shouted the captain. "man the water-buckets; steady, men, no hurry. keep order." "ay, ay, sir," was the short, prompt response, and the most perfect order _was_ kept. every command was obeyed instantly, with a degree of vigour that is seldom exhibited save in cases of life and death. buzzby was at the starboard, and peter grim at the larboard gangway, while the men stood in two rows, extending from each to the main hatch, up which ever-thickening clouds of dark smoke were rolling. bucket after bucket of water was passed along and dashed into the hold, and everything that could be done was done, but without effect. the fire increased. suddenly a long tongue of flame issued from the smoking cavern, and lapped round the mast and rigging with greedy eagerness. "there's no hope," said captain ellice in a low voice, laying his hand gently on captain guy's shoulder. the captain did not reply, but gazed with an expression of the deepest regret, for one moment, at the work of destruction. next instant he sprang to the falls of the larboard quarterboat. "now, lads," he cried energetically, "get out the boats. bring up provisions, mr bolton, and a couple of spare sails. mr saunders, see to the ammunition and muskets. quick, men. the cabin will soon be too hot to hold you." setting the example, the captain sprang below, followed by fred and tom singleton, who secured the charts, a compass, chronometer, and quadrant; also the log-book and the various journals and records of the voyage. captain ellice also did active service, and, being cool and self-possessed, he recollected and secured several articles which were afterwards of the greatest use, and which, but for him, would in such a trying moment have probably been forgotten. meanwhile the two largest boats in the ship were lowered. provisions, masts, sails, and oars, etcetera, were thrown in. the few remaining dogs, among whom were dumps and poker, were also embarked, and the crew, hastily leaping in, pushed off. they were not a moment too soon. the fire had reached the place where the gunpowder was kept and, although there was not a great quantity of it, there was enough, when it exploded, to burst open the deck. the wind, having free ingress, fanned the fire into a furious blaze, and in a few moments the _dolphin_ was wrapped in flames from stem to stern. it was a little after sunset when the fire was discovered; in two hours later the good ship was burned to the water's edge; then the waves swept in, and, while they extinguished the fire, they sank the blackened hull, leaving the two crowded boats floating in darkness on the bosom of the ice-laden sea. chapter twenty five. escape to uppernavik--letter from home--meetuck's grandmother--dumps and poker again. for three long weeks the shipwrecked mariners were buffeted by winds and waves in open boats, but at last they were guided in safety through all their dangers and vicissitudes to the colony of uppernavik. here they found several vessels on the point of setting out for europe, one of which was bound for england; and in this vessel the crew of the _dolphin_ resolved to ship. nothing of particular interest occurred at this solitary settlement except _one_ thing, but that one thing was a great event, and deserves very special notice. it was nothing less than the receipt of a letter by fred from his cousin isobel! fred and isobel, having been brought up for several years together, felt towards each other like brother and sister. fred received the letter from the pastor of the settlement shortly after landing, while his father and the captain were on board the english brig making arrangements for their passage home. he could scarcely believe his eyes when he beheld the well-known hand, but, having at last come to realise the fact that he actually held a real letter in his hand, he darted behind one of the curious, primitive cottages to read it. here he was met by a squad of inquisitive natives; so, with a gesture of impatience, he rushed to another spot; but he was observed and followed by half a dozen esquimaux boys, and in despair he sought refuge in the small church near which he chanced to be. he had not been there a second, however, when two old women came in, and, approaching him, began to scan him with critical eyes. this was too much, so fred thrust the letter into his bosom, darted out, and was instantly surrounded by a band of natives, who began to question him in an unknown tongue. seeing that there was no other resource, fred turned him round and fled towards the mountains at a pace that defied pursuit, and, coming to a halt in the midst of a rocky gorge that might have served as an illustration of what chaos was, he sat him down behind a big rock to peruse isobel's letter. having read it, he re-read it; having re-read it, he read it over again. having read it over again, he meditated a little, exclaiming several times emphatically: "my _darling_ isobel," and then he read bits of it here and there; having done which, he read the _other_ bits, and so got through it again. as the letter was a pretty long one it took him a considerable time to do all this; then it suddenly occurred to him that he had been thus selfishly keeping it all to himself instead of sharing it with his father, so he started up and hastened back to the village, where he found old mr ellice in earnest confabulation with the pastor of the place. seizing his parent by the arm, fred led him into a room in the pastor's house, and, looking round to make sure that it was empty, he sought to bolt the door, but the door was a primitive one and had no bolt, so fred placed a huge old-fashioned chair against it, and, sitting down therein, while his father took a seat opposite, he unfolded the letter, and, yet once again, read it through. the letter was about twelve months old, and ran thus:-- "grayton, th july. "my darling fred, "it is now two months since you left us, and it seems to me two years. oh, how i _do_ wish that you were back! when i think of the terrible dangers that you may be exposed to amongst the ice my heart sinks, and i sometimes fear that we shall never see you or your dear father again. but you are in the hands of our father in heaven, dear fred, and i never cease to pray that you may be successful and return to us in safety. dear, good old mr singleton told me yesterday that he had an opportunity of sending to the danish settlements in greenland, so i resolved to write, though i very much doubt whether this will ever find you in such a wild far-off land. "oh, when i think of where you are, all the romantic stories i have ever read of polar regions spring up before me, and _you_ seem to be the hero of them all. but i must not waste my paper thus. i know you will be anxious for news. i have very little to give you, however. good old mr singleton has been _very_ kind to us since you went away. he comes constantly to see us, and comforts dear mamma very much. your friend, dr singleton, will be glad to hear that he is well and strong. tell my friend buzzby that his wife sends her `compliments'. i laugh while i write the word! yes, she actually sends er `compliments' to her husband. she is a very stern but a really excellent woman. mamma and i visit her frequently when we chance to be in the village. her two boys are the finest little fellows i ever saw. they are both so like each other that we cannot tell which is which when they are apart, and both are so like their father that we can almost fancy we see him, when looking at either of them. "the last day we were there, however, they were in disgrace, for johnny had pushed freddy into the washing-tub, and freddy, in revenge, had poured a jug of treacle over johnny's head! i am quite sure that mrs buzzby is tired of being a widow--as she calls herself--and will be very glad when her husband comes back. but i must reserve chit-chat to the end of my letter, and first give you a minute account of all your friends." here followed six pages of closely-written quarto, which, however interesting they might be to those concerned, cannot be expected to afford much entertainment to our readers, so we will cut isobel's letter short at this point. "cap'n's ready to go aboord, sir," said o'riley, touching his cap to captain ellice while he was yet engaged in discussing the letter with his son. "very good." "an', plaaze sir, av ye'll take the throuble to look in at mrs meetuck in passin', it'll do yer heart good, it will." "very well, we'll look in," replied the captain as he quitted the house of the worthy pastor. the personage whom o'riley chose to style mrs meetuck was meetuck's grandmother. that old lady was an esquimaux whose age might be algebraically expressed as an _unknown quantity_. she lived in a boat turned upside down, with a small window in the bottom of it, and a hole in the side for a door. when captain ellice and fred looked in, the old woman, who was a mere mass of bones and wrinkles, was seated on a heap of moss beside a fire, the only chimney to which was a hole in the bottom of the boat. in front of her sat her grandson, meetuck, and on a cloth spread out at her feet were displayed all the presents with which that good hunter had been loaded by his comrades of the _dolphin_. meetuck's mother had died many years before, and all the affection in his naturally warm heart was transferred to, and centred upon, his old grandmother. meetuck's chief delight in the gifts he received was in sharing them, as far as possible, with the old woman. we say _as far as possible_, because some things could not be shared with her, such as a splendid new rifle, and a silver-mounted hunting-knife and powder-horn, all of which had been presented to him by captain guy over and above his wages, as a reward for his valuable services. but the trinkets of every kind which had been given to him by the men were laid at the feet of the old woman, who looked at everything in blank amazement yet with a smile on her wrinkled visage that betokened much satisfaction. meetuck's oily countenance beamed with delight as he sat puffing his pipe in his grandmother's face. this little attention, we may remark, was paid designedly, for the old woman liked it, and the youth knew that. "they have enough to make them happy for the winter," said captain ellice, as he turned to leave the hut. "faix, they have. there's only two things wantin' to make it complate." "what are they?" enquired fred. "murphies and a pig, sure. that's all they need." "wots come o' dumps and poker?" enquired buzzby, as they reached the boat. "oh, i quite forgot them!" cried fred; "stay a minute, i'll run up and find them. they can't be far off." for some time fred searched in vain. at last he bethought him of meetuck's hut, as being a likely spot, in which to find them. on entering he found the couple as he had left them, the only difference being that the poor old woman seemed to be growing sleepy over her joys. "have you seen dumps or poker anywhere?" enquired fred. meetuck nodded and pointed to a corner where, comfortably rolled up on a mound of dry moss, lay dumps; poker, as usual, making use of him as a pillow. "thems is go bed," said meetuck. "thems must get up then and come aboard," cried fred, whistling. at first the dogs, being sleepy, seemed indisposed to move, but at last they consented, and, following fred to the beach, were soon conveyed aboard the ship. next day captain guy and his men bade meetuck and the kind, hospitable people of uppernavik farewell, and, spreading their canvas to a fair breeze, set sail for england. chapter twenty six. the return--the surprise--buzzby's sayings and doings--the narrative-- fighting battles o'er again--conclusion. once again we are on the end of the quay at grayton. as fred stands there, all that has occurred during the past year seems to him but a vivid dream. captain guy is there, and captain ellice, and buzzby, and mrs buzzby too, and the two little buzzbys also, and mrs bright, and isobel, and tom singleton, and old mr singleton, and the crew of the wrecked _dolphin_, and, in short, the "whole world"--of that part of the country. it was a great day for grayton, that. it was a wonderful day--quite an indescribable day; but there were also some things about it that made captain ellice feel somehow that it was a mysterious day, for, while there were hearty congratulations, and much sobbing for joy on the part of mrs bright, there were also whisperings which puzzled him a good deal. "come with me, brother," said mrs bright at length, taking him by the arm, "i have to tell you something." isobel, who was on the watch, joined them, and fred also went with them towards the cottage. "dear brother," said mrs bright, "i--i--oh, isobel, tell him! _i_ cannot." "what means all this mystery?" said the captain in an earnest tone, for he felt that they had something serious to communicate. "dear uncle," said isobel, "you remember the time when the pirates attacked--" she paused, for her uncle's look frightened her. "go on, isobel," he said quickly. "your dear wife, uncle, _was not lost at that time_--" captain ellice turned pale. "what mean you, girl? how came you to know this?" then a thought flashed across him. seizing isobel by the shoulder he gasped, rather than said: "speak quick--is--is she alive?" "yes, dear uncle, she--" the captain heard no more. he would have fallen to the ground had not fred, who was almost as much overpowered as his father, supported him. in a few minutes he recovered, and he was told that alice was alive--in england--_in the cottage_. this was said as they approached the door. alice was aware of her husband's arrival. in another moment husband, and wife, and son were reunited. scenes of intense joy cannot be adequately described, and there are meetings in this world which ought not to be too closely touched upon. such was the present. we will therefore leave captain ellice and his wife and son to pour out the deep feelings of their hearts to each other, and follow the footsteps of honest john buzzby, as he sailed down the village with his wife and children, and a host of admiring friends in tow. buzzby's feelings had been rather powerfully stirred up by the joy of all around, and a tear _would_ occasionally tumble over his weather-beaten cheek, and hang at the point of his sunburnt, and oft frost-bitten nose, despite his utmost efforts to subdue such outrageous demonstrations. "sit down, john, dear," said mrs buzzby in kind but commanding tones, when she got her husband fairly into his cottage, the little parlour of which was instantly crowded to excess. "sit down, john, dear, and tell us all about it." "wot! begin to spin the whole yarn o' the voyage afore i've had time to say `how d'ye do?'" exclaimed buzzby, at the same time grasping his two uproarious sons, who had, the instant he sat down, rushed at his legs like two miniature midshipmen, climbed up them as if they had been two masts, and settled on his knees as if they had been their own favourite cross-trees! "no, john, not the yarn of the voyage," replied his wife, while she spread the board before him with bread and cheese and beer, "but tell us how you found old captain ellice, and where, and what's comed of the crew." "werry good, then here goes!" buzzby was a man of action. he screwed up his weather-eye (the one next his wife, _of course_, that being the quarter from which squalls might be expected) and began a yarn which lasted the better part of two hours. it is not to be supposed that buzzby spun it off without interruption. besides the questions that broke in upon him from all quarters, the two buzzbys junior scrambled, as far as was possible, into his pockets, pulled his whiskers as if they had been hoisting a main-sail therewith, and, generally, behaved in such an obstreperous manner as to render coherent discourse all but impracticable. he got through with it, however, and then mrs buzzby intimated her wish, pretty strongly, that the neighbours should vacate the premises; which they did, laughingly, pronouncing buzzby to be a "trump", and his better half a "true blue." "good-day, old chap," said the last who made his exit; "tiller's fixed agin--nailed amidships? eh!" "hard and fast," replied buzzby with a broad grin, as he shut the door and returned to the bosom of his family. two days later a grand feast was given at mrs bright's cottage, to which all the friends of the family were invited to meet with captain ellice and those who had returned from their long and perilous voyage. it was a joyful gathering, that, and glad and grateful hearts were there. two days later still, and another feast was given. on this occasion buzzby was the host, and buzzby's cottage was the scene. it was a joyful meeting, too, and a jolly one to boot, for o'riley was there, and peter grim, and amos parr, and david mizzle, and mivins--in short the entire crew of the lost _dolphin_,--captain, mates, surgeon, and all. fred and his father were also there, and old mr singleton, and a number of other friends, so that all the rooms in the house had to be thrown open, and even then mrs buzzby had barely room to move. it was on this occasion that buzzby related to his shipmates how mrs ellice had escaped from drowning on the night they were attacked by pirates on board the indiaman. he took occasion to relate the circumstances just before the "people from the house" arrived, and as the reader may perhaps prefer buzzby's account to ours, we give it as it was delivered. "you see, it happened this way," began buzzby. "hand us a coal, buzzby, to light my pipe, before ye begin," said peter grim. "ah, then, howld yer tongue, blunderbore!" cried o'riley, handing the glowing coal demanded, with as much nonchalance as if his fingers were made of cast-iron. "well, ye see," resumed buzzby, "when poor mrs ellice wos pitched overboard, as i seed her with my own two eyes--" "stop, buzzby," said mivins, "'ow was 'er 'ead at the time?" "shut up!" cried several of the men; "go on, buzzby." "well, i think her _'ead_ was sou'-west, if it warn't nor'-east. anyhow it was pintin' somewhere or other round the compass. but, as i wos sayin', when mrs ellice struck the water (an' she told me all about it herself, ye must know) she sank, and then she comed up, and didn't know how it wos, but she caught hold of an oar that wos floatin' close beside her, and screamed for help, but no help came, for it was dark, and the ship had disappeared, so she gave herself up for lost, but in a little the oar struck agin a big piece o' the wreck o' the pirate's boat, and she managed to clamber upon it, and lay there, a'most dead with cold, till mornin'. the first thing she saw when day broke forth wos a big ship, bearin' right down on her, and she wos just about run down when one o' the men observed her from the bow. "`hard a-port!' roared the man. "`port it is,' cried the man at the wheel, an' round went the ship like a duck, jist missin' the bit of wreck as she passed. a boat wos lowered, and mrs ellice wos took aboard. well, she found that the ship wos bound for the sandwich islands, and as they didn't mean to touch at any port in passin', mrs ellice had to go on with her. misfortins don't come single, howsiver. the ship was wrecked on a coral reef, and the crew had to take to their boats, w'ich they did, an' got safe to land, but the land they got to wos an out-o'-the-way island among the feejees, and a spot where ships never come, so they had to make up their minds to stop there." "i thought," said amos parr, "that the feejees were cannibals, and that whoever was wrecked or cast ashore on their coasts was killed and roasted, and eat up at once." "so ye're right," rejoined buzzby; "but providence sent the crew to one o' the islands that had bin visited by a native christian missionary from one o' the other islands, and the people had gin up some o' their worst practices, and wos thinkin' o' turnin' over a new leaf altogether. so the crew wos spared, and took to livin' among the natives, quite comfortable like. but they soon got tired and took to their boats agin, and left. mrs ellice, however, determined to remain and help the native christians, till a ship should pass that way. for three years nothin' but canoes hove in sight o' that lonesome island; then, at last a brig came, and cast anchor offshore. it wos an australian trader that had been blown out o' her course on her way to england, so they took poor mrs ellice aboard, and brought her home--and that's how it wos." buzzby's outline, although meagre, is so comprehensive that we do not think it necessary to add a word. soon after he had concluded, the guests of the evening came in, and the conversation became general. "buzzby's jollification", as it was called in the village, was long remembered as one of the most interesting events that had occurred for many years. one of the chief amusements of the evening was the spinning of long yarns about the incidents of the late voyage, by men who could spin them well. their battles in the polar seas were all fought o'er again. the wondering listeners were told how esquimaux were chased and captured; how walrus were lanced and harpooned; how bears were speared and shot; how long and weary journeys were undertaken on foot over immeasurable fields of ice and snow; how icebergs had crashed around their ship, and chains had been snapped asunder, and tough anchors had been torn from the ground, or lost; how schools had been set agoing and a theatre got up; and how, provisions having failed, rats were eaten--and eaten, too, with gusto. all this and a great deal more was told on that celebrated night--sometimes by one, sometimes by another, and sometimes, to the confusion of the audience, by two or three at once, and, not unfrequently, to the still greater confusion of story-tellers and audience alike, the whole proceedings were interrupted by the outrageous yells and turmoil of the two indomitable young buzzbys, as they romped, in reckless joviality, with dumps and poker. but at length the morning light broke up the party, and stories of the world of ice came to an end. and now, reader, our tale is told. but we cannot close without a parting word, in regard to those, with whom we have held intercourse so long. it must not be supposed that from this date everything in the affairs of our various friends flowed on in a tranquil, uninterrupted course. this world is a battle-field, on which no warrior finds rest until he dies; and yet, to the christian warrior on that field, the hour of death is the hour of victory. "change" is written in broad letters on everything connected with time; and he who would do his duty well, and enjoy the greatest possible amount of happiness here, must seek to prepare himself for _every_ change. men cannot escape the general law. the current of their particular stream may long run smooth, but, sooner or later, the rugged channel and the precipice will come. some streams run quietly for many a league, and only at the last are troubled. others burst from their very birth on rocks of difficulty, and rush throughout their course in tortuous, broken channels. so was it with the actors in our story. our hero's course was smooth. having fallen in love with his friend tom singleton's profession, he studied medicine and surgery, became an m.d., and returned to practise in grayton, which was a flourishing sea-port, and, during the course of fred's career, extended considerably. fred also fell in love with a pretty young girl in a neighbouring town, and married her. tom singleton also took up his abode in grayton, there being, as he said, "room for two". ever since tom had seen isobel on the end of the quay, on the day when the _dolphin_ set sail for the polar regions, his heart had been taken prisoner. isobel refused to give it back unless he, tom, should return the heart which he had stolen from her. this he could not do, so it was agreed that the two hearts should be tied together, and they two should be constituted joint guardians of both. in short, they were married, and took mrs bright to live with them, not far from the residence of old mr singleton, who was the fattest and jolliest old gentleman in the place, and the very idol of dogs and boys, who loved him to distraction. captain ellice, having had, as he said, "more than his share of the sea," resolved to live on shore, and, being possessed of a moderately comfortable income, he purchased mrs bright's cottage on the green hill that overlooked the harbour and the sea. here he became celebrated for his benevolence, and for the energy with which he entered into all the schemes that were devised for the benefit of the town of grayton. like tom singleton and fred, he became deeply interested in the condition of the poor, and had a special weakness for _poor old women_, which he exhibited by searching up, and doing good to, every poor old woman in the parish. captain ellice was also celebrated for his garden, which was a remarkably fine one; for his flag-staff, which was a remarkably tall and magnificent one; and for his telescope, which constantly protruded from his drawing-room window, and pointed in the direction of the sea. as for the others--captain guy continued his career at sea, as commander of an east indiaman. he remained stout and true-hearted to the last, like one of the oak timbers of his own good ship. bolton, saunders, mivins, peter grim, amos parr, and the rest of them, were scattered in a few years, as sailors usually are, to the four quarters of the globe. o'riley alone was heard of again. he wrote to buzzby, "by manes of the ritin' he had larn'd aboord the _dolfin_," informing him that he had forsaken the "say" and become a small farmer near cork. he had plenty of murphies and also a pig--the latter "bein'," he said, "so like the wan that belonged to his owld grandmother that he thought it must be the same wan comed alive agin, or its darter." and buzzby--poor buzzby--he, also, gave up the sea, much against his will, by command of his wife, and took to miscellaneous work, of which there was plenty for an active man in a seaport like grayton. his rudder, poor man, was again (and this time permanently) lashed amidships, and whatever breeze mrs buzzby chanced to blow, his business was to sail _right before it_. the two little buzzbys were the joy of their father's heart. they were genuine little true-blues, both of them, and went to sea the moment their legs were long enough, and came home, voyage after voyage, with gifts of curiosities and gifts of money to their worthy parents. dumps resided during the remainder of his days with captain ellice, and poker dwelt with buzzby. these truly remarkable dogs kept up their attachment to each other to the end. indeed, as time passed by, they drew closer and closer together, for poker became more sedate, and, consequently, a more suitable companion for his ancient friend. the dogs formed a connecting-link between the buzzby and ellice families-- constantly reminding each of the other's existence, by the daily interchange of visits. fred and tom soon came to be known as skilful doctors. together they went through life respected by all who knew them--each year as it passed cementing closer and closer that undying friendship which had first started into being in the gay season of boyhood, and had bloomed and ripened amid the adventures, dangers, and vicissitudes of the world of ice. old jack, by w.h.g. kingston. ________________________________________________________________________ this novel is written as a biography of a seaman, whose life at sea starts as an illiterate boy-seaman, and whose career spans the last twenty years of the eighteenth century and the first third of the nineteenth. we learn much of how ships were managed in those days, the press-gangs, the training, and the life of the common sailor in the fo'cstle. we experience the life aboard a man-of-war, a merchantman, a whaler, and even spend a few years ashore among the cannibals of the feejee islands. there is a lot of meat in this book (not intended as a pun), and the reader will finish it with his or her eyes filled with wonderment. we now give the preface which kingston himself wrote for the book. preface, by w.h.g. kingston. i had more than once, in my rambles in the neighbourhood of blackheath, greenwich and woolwich, met an old man walking briskly along, whose appearance struck me as unusual; but we never even exchanged salutations. one day, however, when i was in company with my friend captain n--- of the navy, seeing the stranger, he stopped and addressed a few words to him, from which i gleaned that he had been a sailor. my friend told me, as we moved on, that he often had conversations on religious subjects with the old man, who had for long been in a south sea whaler, and had seen many parts of the world. my interest was much excited. i took an early opportunity of making the acquaintance of old jack--for such, he told me, was the name by which he was best known; and without reluctance he gave me his history. this i now present to the public with certain emendations, with which i do not think my younger readers will find fault. w.h.g.k. ________________________________________________________________________ old jack, by w.h.g. kingston. chapter one. donnybrook fair. jack began his story thus: of course you've heard of donnybrook fair, close to the city of dublin. what a strange scene it was, to be sure, of uproar and wild confusion-- of quarrelling and fighting from beginning to end--of broken heads, of black eyes, and bruised shins--of shouting, of shrieking and swearing-- of blasphemy and drunkenness in all its forms of brutality. ay, and as i've heard say, of many a deed of darkness, not omitting murder, and other crimes not less foul and hateful to him who made this beautiful world, and gave to man a religion of love and purity. there the rollicking, roaring, bullying, fighting, harum-scarum irishman of olden days had full swing for all the propensities and vile passions which have ruined him at home, and gained him a name and a fame not to be envied throughout the world. often have i wondered whether, had a north american indian, or a south-sea islander, visited the place, he could have been persuaded that he had come to a land of christian men. certainly an angel from heaven would have looked upon the assemblage as a multitude of satan's imps let loose upon the world. they tell me that the fair and its bedevilments have pretty well been knocked on the head. i am glad of it, though i have never again been to the spot from the day of which i am about to speak. i remember very little of my childish life. indeed, my memory is nearly a blank up to the time to which i allude. that time was one of the first days of that same donnybrook fair; but i remember _that_ and good reason i have so to do. i was, however, but a small chap then, young in years, and little as to size. my father's name was amos williams. he came from england and settled in dublin, where he married my mother, who was an irishwoman. her name i never heard. if she had relations, they did not, at all events, own her. i suspect, from some remarks she once let drop which i did not then understand, that they had discarded her because she had become a protestant when she married my father. she was gentle and pious, and did her utmost, during the short time she remained on earth, to teach me the truths of that glorious gospel to which, in many a trial, she held fast, as a ship to the sheet-anchor with a gale blowing on a lee-shore. she died young, carried off by a malignant fever. her last prayers were for my welfare here and hereafter. had i always remembered her precepts i should, i believe, have been in a very different position to what i now am in my old age. my poor father took her death very much to heart. for days after her funeral he sat on his chair in our little cottage with his hands before him, scarcely lifting up his head from his breast, forgetting entirely that he ought to go out and seek for work, as without it he had no means of finding food for himself and me. i should have starved had not a kind woman, a neighbour, brought me in some potatoes and buttermilk. little enough i suspect she had to spare after feeding her own children. at length my father roused himself to action. early one morning, seizing his hat and bidding me stay quiet till his return, he rushed out of the house. he was a stonemason. he got work, i believe, but the tempter came in his way. a fellow-workman induced him to enter a whisky shop. spirits had, in his early days, been his bane. my mother's influence had kept him sober. he now tried to forget his sorrow in liquor. "surely i have a right to cure my grief as best i can," said he. unhappily he did not wait for a reply from conscience. little food could he buy from the remnant of his day's wages. thus he went on from day to day, working hard when sober, drinking while he had money to pay for liquor. still his affection for me did not diminish. while in his right mind he could not bear to have me out of his sight. every morning we might have been seen leaving our cottage, i holding his hand as he went to his work; yet nearly as certainly as the evening came round i had to creep supperless to bed. all day he would keep me playing about in his sight, except when any of his fellow-workmen, or people living near where we happened to be, wanted a lad to run on an errand. then i was always glad of the job. whenever, by happy chance, he came home sober in an evening, he would take me between his knees, and, parting my hair, look into my face and weep till his heart seemed ready to burst. but these occasions grew less and less frequent. what i have said will show that i have reason to love the memory of both my parents, in spite of the faults my unhappy father undoubtedly possessed. several months had thus passed away after my mother's death, when one afternoon my father entered our cottage where he had left me since the morning. "jack, my boy," said he, taking my hand, "come along, and i will show you what _life is_." oh, had he said, "what _death is_," he would have spoken the truth. i accompanied him willingly, though i saw at a glance that he had already been drinking. crowds of people were going in the direction we took. for some days past i had heard the neighbours talking of the fair. i now knew that we were bound there. my mother had never allowed me to go to the place, so i had no notion what it was like. i expected to see something very grand and very beautiful--i could not tell what. i pushed on into the crowd with my father as eagerly as any one, thinking that we should arrive at the fair at last. i did not know that we were already in the middle of it. i remember, however, having a confused sight of booths, and canvas theatres, and actors in fine clothes strutting about and spouting and trumpeting and drumming; of rope-dancers and tumblers with painted faces; and doctors in gilded chariots selling all sorts of wonderful remedies for every possible complaint; and the horsemanship, with men leaping through hoops and striding over six steeds or more at full gallop; and the gingerbread stalls, and toy shops, and similar wonders; but what was bought and sold at the fair of use to any one i never heard. my father had taken me round to several of the shows i have spoken of: when he entered a drinking-booth, and set himself down with me on his knee, among a number of men who seemed to be drinking hard. their example stimulated him to drink harder than ever, and in a short time his senses completely left him. as, however, even though the worse liquor, he was peaceable in his disposition, instead of sallying forth as many did in search of adventures, he laid himself down on the ground with his head against the canvas of the tent, and told me to call him when it was morning. some one at the same time handed me a piece of gingerbread, so i set myself down by his side to do as he bid me. those were the days of faction fights; and if people happened to have no cause for a quarrel, they very soon found one. the tent we were in was patronised by orangemen, and of course was a mark for the attacks of the opposite party. my poor father had slept an hour or so, with three or four men near him in a similar condition, when a half-drunken body of men came by, shillelah in hand, looking out for a row. unhappily the shapes of the heads of most of the sleepers were clearly developed through the canvas. the temptation was not to be resisted--whack-- whack--whack! down came the heavy stick of a sturdy irishman upon that of my father. "get up out of that, and defend yourselves!" sung out their assailants. most of his companions rushed out to avenge the insult offered them, but my father made no answer. numbers joined from all directions--shillelahs were flourished rapidly, and the scrimmage became general. i ran to the front of the tent and clapped my hands, and shouted with sympathy. now the mass of fighting, shrieking men swayed to one side, now to the other; now they advanced, now they retreated, till by degrees the fight had reached a considerable distance from the tent. i then went back to my place by my father's side, wondering that he did not get up to join the fray. i listened, he breathed, but he did not speak. still i thought he must be awake. "father, father," said i, "get up, do. it's time to go home, sure now." i shook him gently, but he made no reply. at length i could hear no sound proceeding from his lips. i cried out in alarm. the keeper of the booth saw that something was wrong, and came and looked curiously into his face. he lifted up my father's hand. it fell like lead by his side. "why won't father speak to me?" i asked, dreading the answer. "he'll never speak again! your father's dead, lad," answered the man in a tone of commiseration. with what oppressive heaviness did those words strike on my young heart, though at that time i did not fully comprehend the extent of my loss,-- that i should never again hear the tone of his voice--that we were for ever parted in this world--that i was an orphan, without a human being to care for me. but though bewildered and confused at that awful moment, the words he had uttered as we left home rung strangely in my ears--"lad, i'll show you what life is." too truly did he show me what death was. often and often have i since seen the same promise fulfilled in a similar fearful way. what men call _life_ is a certain road to _death_; death of the body, death of the soul. of course i did not understand this truth in those days; not indeed till long, long afterwards, when i had gone through much pain and suffering, and had been well-nigh worn-out. i was then very ignorant and very simple, and i should probably have been vicious also had not my mother watchfully kept me out of the way of bad example; and even after she was taken from me, i was prevented from associating with bad companions. when i found that my poor father was really dead, i stood wringing my hands and crying bitterly. the sounds of my grief attracted many of the passers-by; some stopped to inquire its cause, and when they had satisfied their curiosity they went their way. at last several seamen, with an independent air, came rolling up near the tent. the leader of the party was one of the tallest men i ever saw. though he stooped slightly as he walked, his head towered above all the rest of the crowd. "what's the matter with the young squeaker there, mate?" he asked in a bantering tone, thinking probably that i had broken a toy, or lost a lump of gingerbread from my pocket. "his daddy's dead, and he's no one to look after him!" shouted an urchin from the crowd of bystanders. "he's in a bad case then," replied the seaman, coming up to me. "what, lad! is it true that you have no friends?" he asked, stooping down and taking me by the hand. "no one but father, and he lies there!" i answered, giving way to a fresh burst of grief as i pointed to my parent's corpse. "he speaks the truth," observed the man of the booth; "he has no mother, nor kith nor kin that i know of, and must starve if no one takes charge of him, i suspect." the tall sailor looked at me with an expression of countenance which at once gained my confidence. "what say you, lad, will you come with us?" he asked, pointing to his companions; "we'll take you to sea, and make a man of you!" "we may get him entered aboard the _rainbow_, i think, mates," he added, addressing them. "he'll do as well as the monkey we lost overboard during the last gale; and though he may be as mischievous now, he will learn better manners, which jocko hadn't the sense to do." "oh ay! bear him along with us," replied the other sea men; "he'll be better afloat, whichever way the wind blows, than starving on shore." "come along, youngster, then," said the tall seaman; and, without waiting for my reply, he seized me by the arm, and began to move off with me through the crowd. "but what will be done with poor father? sure i cannot leave him now!" i exclaimed, looking back with anguish at my father's corpse. "oh, we'll see all about that," answered my new friend; "he shall be waked in proper style, and have a decent funeral; so you may leave home with a clear conscience. never fear!" i need not dwell longer on the events of that sad day. aided by some of the men who knew my father, and who returned to the tent after the fray was over, the kind-hearted seamen bore the corpse to our cottage. the promise of a supply of whisky easily induced some of the neighbours to come and howl during the livelong night. this they did with right good will, although my father was a protestant and a foreigner; and i cried and howled in sympathy. i would fain, however, have forgotten my grief in sleep. the seamen had taken their departure, promising to return to look after me. as there was no chance of a man with a fractured skull coming to life again, the funeral speedily took place. the small quantity of furniture remaining in the cottage was sold; but the proceeds were barely sufficient to pay the expenses. thus i was left, with the exception of a suit of somewhat ragged clothes on my back, as naked and poor as when i came into the world about twelve years before, with a much more expensive appetite than i then had to supply. some boys at that age are well able to take care of themselves, but, as i have said, i was small for my years, and i had been kept by my poor mother so much by myself, that i knew nothing of the world and its ways. alter the funeral a compassionate neighbour, with a dozen or more children of her own to feed, took me to her house till it was settled what was to become of me. she and her husband laughed at the idea of the tall sailor coming to take me away. "i know what sailors are," said the husband; "they'll just chuck a handful of silver to the first beggar who asks them for it, and then they'll go away and forget all about it! maybe your friend was only after joking with you, and is off to sea long ago!" "oh no! he meant what he said," i replied; "i know that by the look of his face. he's a kind man, i'm certain!" "it may be better for us all if he comes, but it's not very likely," was the answer. still i trusted that my new friend would not deceive me. i was standing in front of the cottage which was next to that my father and i had inhabited, when my heart beat quick at seeing a tall figure turn a corner at the other end of the street. i was certain it was my sailor friend. "it's him! it's him! i knew he'd come!" i shouted, and ran forward to meet him. he smiled as he saw my eagerness. "you've not forgotten me, i see, lad," said he; "well, come along. it's all arranged; and if you're in the same mind, you've only to say so, and we'll enter you aboard the _rainbow_!" i told the tall sailor that i was ready to go wherever he liked to take me. this seemed to please him. after i had wished the neighbours, who had been so kind to me, good-bye, he took me by the hand, and led me rapidly along in the direction of the docks. before reaching them, we entered a house where some old gentlemen were sitting at a table. one of them asked me if i wished to go to sea and become an admiral. i replied, "yes, surely," though i did not know what being an admiral meant; and on this the other old gentlemen laughed, and the first wrote something on a paper, which he handed across the table. on this a sunburnt fine-looking man stepped forward and wrote on the paper, and i was then told that i was bound apprentice to captain helfrich, of the _rainbow_ brig. the fine-looking man was, i found, captain helfrich. "well, that matter is squared now!" exclaimed the tall sailor; "so, youngster, we'll aboard at once, before either you or i get into mischief." on our way to the brig, we stopped at a slop clothes-shop. "here, mr levi! i want an outfit for this youngster," said my friend, taking me in. "let his duds be big enough, that he may have room to grow in them. good food and sea air will soon make him sprout like a young cabbage." the order was literally fulfilled, and i speedily found myself the possessor of a new suit of sailors' clothes, of two spare shirts, and sundry other articles of dress. my friend made me put them on at once. "now, do the old ones up in that handkerchief," said he; "we'll find a use for them before long." the spare new things he did up into a bundle, and carried it himself. "i did not want the jew to get your old clothes, for which he would have allowed nothing," said he, as we left the shop. "we shall soon fall in with a little ragged fellow, to whom they'll be a rich prize." as we went along, two or three boys begged of us, and pointed to their rags as a plea for their begging. "they'll not do," said he; "the better clothes would ruin them." at last, passing along the quays, we saw a little fellow sitting on the stock of an anchor, and looking very miserable. he had no shoes on his feet; his trousers were almost legless, and fastened up over one shoulder by a piece of string, while his arms were thrust into the sleeves of an old coat, much too large for him, and patched and torn again in all directions. he did not beg, but just looked up into my tall friend's face, as if he saw something pleasing there. "what do you want?" said the sailor. "nothing," answered the boy, not understanding him. "you're well off then, lad," said the tall sailor, smiling at him. "but i think that you would be the better for some few things in this world-- for a suit of clothes, for instance." "the very things i do want!" exclaimed the lad. "you've hit it, your honour. i'd a dacent suit as ever you'd wish to see, and they were run away with, just as i'd got the office of an errand-boy with a gentleman, and was in a fair way to make my fortune." "well, then, here's a suit for you, my lad," said the sailor; "just get your mother to give them a darning up, and they'll serve your purpose, i daresay. give him your bundle." "sure your honour isn't joking with me!" exclaimed the lad, his countenance beaming with pleasure as he undid the bundle of clothes, which were certainly very far better than those he had on. "i'm a made man--that i am! blessings on your honour, and the young master there!" "you're welcome, lad, with all my heart," answered my friend. "oh, it's terence mcswiney will have to thank you to the end of his days, and ever after!" exclaimed the boy, as we were walking on. "well, terence, i hope you'll get the post, and do your duty in it," said the tall sailor, moving off to avoid listening to the expressions of gratitude which the lad poured forth. the incident made a deep impression on me. i learned by it that others might be worse off than i was, and also that a gift at the right time might be of the greatest service. of this i had the proof many years afterwards. if the rich and the well-to-do did but know of what use their own or their children's cast-off clothes would be to many not only among the labouring classes, but to people of education and refinement, struggling with poverty, they would not carelessly throw them away, or let them get into the hands of jews, sold by their servants for a sixth of their value. i must observe that, in the course of my narrative i shall often make remarks on various ideas which, at the time i speak of, could not possibly have occurred to me. the tall sailor and i walked along the quay. all of a sudden it occurred to me that i did not know his name. i looked up in his face and asked him. "i'm called peter poplar," he answered, with one of his kind smiles. "the name suits me, and i suit the name; so i do not quarrel with it. you'll have to learn the names, pretty quickly too, of all the people on board. there are a good many of us, and each and every one of them will consider himself your master, and you'll have to look out to please them all." "i'll do my best to please them, mr poplar," said i. "that's right! but i say, lad, don't address me so. call me plain peter, or peter poplar; we don't deal in misters aboard the _rainbow_. it is all very well for shore-going people to call each other mister; or when you speak to an officer, just to show that he is an officer; but sharp's the word with us forward--we haven't time for compliments." "but i thought you were an officer, peter," said i. "you look like one." "do i?" he answered, with his pleasant smile. "well, jack, perhaps i ought to have been one, and it's my own fault that i am not. but the truth is, i haven't got the learning necessary for it. i never have learned to read, and so i haven't been able to master navigation. without it, you know, a man cannot be an officer, however good a seaman he may be; and in that point i'll yield to no man." peter, as he spoke, drew himself up to his full height, and i thought he looked fit to be a very great officer indeed; even to be an admiral, such as the old gentleman in the office had spoken of. "i am very bad at my books too," said i. "i can just read a little though, and if i can get the chance of falling in with a book, i'll like to read to you, peter." my friend thanked me, but said books were not often seen aboard the _rainbow_; nor were they found in many other merchant-craft, for that matter, in those days. we found the brig just ready to haul out into the outer basin, preparatory to putting to sea. she was a fine large craft, and had been built for a privateer in the war-time. her heavy guns had been landed, but she still carried some eight six-pounders; and as she had a strong crew of fully twenty men, she was well able to defend herself from any piratical craft, or other gentry of that description. when peter first took me on board, some of the seamen would scarcely believe i was the same little boy they had seen at the fair, i looked so much stouter and stronger in my seaman's dress. i did not much like the look of the forepeak, into which peter introduced me, telling me that it was to be my house and home for the next few years of my life. i had been accustomed to the dingy obscurity of an irish cabin, but never had i been, i thought, in a more dark and gloomy habitation than this. "never fear, jack, you'll soon find yourself at home here," said peter, divining my thoughts. while he was speaking, a seaman lighted a lantern which hung from a beam, and its glare showed me that the place was more roomy than i had supposed, and that every part of it was perfectly clean. i found, indeed, afterwards, that it was very superior to the places merchant-seamen are compelled often to live in. some of the crew slept in standing bed-places ranged round the sides of the vessel, or rather inside her bows, while for others hammocks were slung from the beams which supported the deck. the chests were arranged to serve as seats, while there was a rack for the plates and mugs belonging to their mess. the greater part of the crew was still on shore. "now, jack, that you know the sort of place we have to live in, i'll show you the accommodation prepared for the captain and his passengers. it must not make you envious any more than it does me, for i think that those who have learning and education should enjoy advantages in proportion. i feel that it is my own fault that i do not live in as fine a cabin as the captain does." even though peter had thus prepared me to see something very fine, the richness of the cabin fittings and furniture surpassed anything i had in my simplicity imagined to exist. perhaps those accustomed to such things might not have thought it so very great. i know that there were damask curtains, and coverings to the sofas, and mirrors, and pictures in gold frames, and mahogany tables and chairs, and cut-glass decanters, and china in racks, and a number of pistols and muskets and cutlasses, all burnished and shining, fixed against a bulkhead. "why, this is a place fit for a king," i exclaimed; "sure he can't have anything grander." peter laughed. "the captain prides himself on being very natty, and having everything in good order," said he; "but kings, i fancy, live in finer places than this. however, my reason for bringing you here was to show you the place, that you may know how to behave yourself should you be sent for to attend on the captain. you must obey him quickly, try and understand his wishes, and keep things clean and in their places. if you do this, you are certain to please him." thus it was that my friend kindly tried to prepare me for my new career. "now, jack," said he at last, "i've done my best to set you on your legs. you must try to walk alone. i don't want to make a nursing baby of you, remember." from that day forward peter left me very much to take care of myself. still i felt that his eye was watching over me, and this feeling gave me a considerable amount of confidence which i should not otherwise have possessed. by the next day at noon, the rest of the crew had assembled; the captain and several passengers, mostly merchants and planters, came on board. there was a fair wind blowing down the liffey. "open the dock-gates, mr thompson, and let her go. she'll find her own way to jamaica and back again by herself, without a hand at the helm, she knows it so well," the captain, as he stood on the poop, sung out to the dock-master. i found that this was a standing joke of his. the _rainbow_ was a regular west india trader, and had had many successful voyages there. captain helfrich was chief owner as well as master, and was a great favourite with the merchants and planters at the different islands at which he was in the habit of touching, and consequently had always plenty of passengers, and never had to wait long for freight. he was very proud of his brig, and of everything connected with her. he himself also was a person not a little worthy of note. he was, as i have said, a tall, fine man, robust and upright in figure, with large, handsome features, and teeth of pearly whiteness. he was probably at this time rather more than forty years old, but not a particle of his crisp, curly, brown hair had a silvery tint. he had a fine beaming smile, though he was very firm and determined, and could look very fierce when angry. i had an unbounded respect for him. thus commanded, and with as good a crew as ever manned a ship, the _rainbow_ dropped down the liffey, and made sail to the southward; and under these propitious circumstances i found myself fairly launched in my career as a sailor. chapter two. the bitters and sweets of a sea-life. "and so, jack, you like a sea-life, do you?" said peter poplar to me one day after we had been about two weeks from port. we had had very fine weather all the time, with a north or easterly wind, and i expected to find the ocean always as smooth and pleasant as it then was. one good result was, that i had been able to pick up a good many of the details of my duty, which i should not have done had i been sea-sick, and knocked about in a gale. "yes, thanks to you, peter, i like it much better than running errands on shore," i answered. "i don't wish for a pleasanter life." peter laughed. "you've had only the sweets as yet, boy; the bitters are to come," he observed. "still, if you get a fair share of the first, you'll have no reason to complain." i did not quite understand him. i then only thought of the sweets, as he called them. the truth was, i had generally been very kindly treated on board. to be sure, i got a kick, or the taste of a rope's end, now and then, from some of the men if they happened to be out of humour; but those were trifles, as i never was much hurt, and peter told me i was fortunate to get nothing worse. there was one ill-conditioned fellow, barney bogle by name, who lost no opportunity of giving me a cuff for the merest trifle, if he could do so without being seen by peter, of whom he was mortally afraid. in his presence, the bully always kept his hands off me. of course it would not have been wise in me to complain of barney to peter, as it might have caused a quarrel; so i contented myself with doing my best to keep out of my enemy's way, just as a cat does out of the way of a dog which has taken a fancy to worry her. captain helfrich had hitherto taken no notice whatever of me, and he seemed to me so awful a person, that i never expected to be spoken to by him. now and then the mates ordered me to do some little job or other, to fetch a swab or a marlinespike, or to hold a paint-pot, but they in no other way noticed me. i remember how blue the sky was, and how sparkling the sea, and how hot the sun at noon shone down on our heads, and how brightly the moon floated above us at night, and formed a long, long stream of silvery light across the waters; and i used to fancy, as i stood looking at it, that i could hear voices calling to me from far, far-off, and telling me of my sweet, calm-eyed mother, still remembered fondly, and of my poor father, snatched from me so suddenly. i won't talk much about that sort of thing. it seems now like a long-forgotten dream--i believe that, even then, i was dreaming. well, as i said, the fine weather continued for a long time, till i was awoken one morning by a loud, roaring, dashing, creaking sound, or rather, i might say, of a mixture of such sounds; and as i began to rub my eyes, i thought that i should have been hove out of the narrow crib in which i was stowed away in the very bows of the vessel. sometimes i felt the head of the brig lifted up, and then down it came like a sledge-hammer into the water; now i felt myself rolled on one side, now on the other. i fully thought that the vessel must be on the rocks. not a gleam of light reached me, nor could i hear the sound of a human voice. i wanted to be out of the place; but when i tried to get up, i felt so sick and wretched, that i lay down again with an idea that it would be more comfortable to die where i was. at last, however, barney bogle came below and discovered me. "turn out, you young skulker; turn out!" he exclaimed, belabouring me with a rope's end. "didn't you hear all hands called to shorten sail an hour ago?" i had no help for it, so on deck i crawled, where the grey light of morning was streaming from beneath a dark mass of clouds which hung overhead, and a gale was blowing which sent the foam flying from the tops of the seas, deluging us fore and aft. now the brig was lifted up to the summit of a wave, and now down she sank into the trough of the sea, with a liquid wall on one side which, as it came curling on, looked as if it must inevitably overwhelm her. she was under close-reefed topsails and storm-jib, and two of the best hands were at the helm. peter was one of them. i managed to climb up to windward, and to hold on by the weather-fore-rigging, where the rest of the crew were collected. i shall never forget the dark, dreary, and terrific scene which the ocean presented to my unaccustomed sight. at first, too, i felt very sick and miserable, and i thought that i would far rather have been starving on shore than going to be drowned, as i fancied, and being tossed about by the rough ocean. barney, who was on deck before me, abused me as i crawled up near him, and contrived to give me a kick, which, had i let go my hold, as it was calculated to make me do, would probably have been the cause of my immediate destruction. at that moment a huge sea came rolling up towards the brig, topping high above our deck. i saw peter poplar and the other man at the helm looking out anxiously at it. they grasped tighter hold of the spokes of the wheel, and planted their feet firmer on the deck. captain helfrich and his mates were standing by the main-rigging. "hold on, hold on for your lives, my men!" he sung out. the crew did not neglect to obey him, and i clung to a rope like a monkey. most of the passengers were below, sick in their berths. down came the huge sea upon us like the wall of a city overwhelming its inhabitants. over our deck it rushed with terrific force. i thought to a certainty that we were sinking. what a horrible noise there was!--wrenching and tearing, and the roar and dashing sound of the waves, and the howling of the wind! all contributed to confuse my senses, so that i forgot altogether where i was. i had an idea, i believe, that the end of the world was come. still my shipmates did not shriek out, and i was very much surprised to find the brig rise again out of the water, and to see them standing where they were before, employed in shaking the wet off their jackets. the deck of the brig, however, presented a scene of no little confusion and havoc. part of her weather-bulwarks forward had been stove in, the long-boat on the booms had been almost knocked to pieces, and a considerable portion of the after-part of the lee-bulwarks had been washed away, showing the course the sea had taken over us. "we must not allow that trick to be played us again," said the captain to the mates. i had crept as far aft as i dared go, for i did not like the look of the sea through the broken bulwark, so i could hear him. "stand by to heave the ship to!" he shouted, and his voice was easily heard above the sounds of the tempest. "down with the helm!--in with the jib!--hand the maintopsail!" the officers and men, who were at their stations, flew to obey their orders. i trembled as i saw the third mate, with several other men, taking in the jib. having let go the halliards, and eased off the sheets, hauling away on the down-hauler; and having got it down on the bowsprit-cap, though nearly blown out of the bolt-ropes, stowing it away in the foretopmast staysail-netting. as the bows of the brig now rose and now plunged into the trough of the sea, i thought they must have been, to a certainty, washed away. the maintopsail was, in the meantime, taken in, and i felt that i was very glad i was not obliged to lay-out on the yard with the other men. it seemed a wonder how they were not shaken off into the sea, or carried away by the bulging sail. the great thing in taking in a sail in a gale, as i now learned from peter, is not to allow the sail to shake, or it is very likely to split to pieces. keep it steadily full, and it will bear a great strain. accordingly, the clew-lines, down-haul-tackle, and weather-brace being manned, the halliards were let go, the weather-brace hauled in, the weather-sheet started and clewed up; then the bowline and lee-sheets being let go, the sail caught aback, and the men springing on the yard, grasped it in their arms as they hung over it. folding it in inch by inch, they at length mastered the seeming resistless monster, and passing the gaskets round it, secured it to the yard. those who for the first time see a topsail furled in a heavy gale may well deem it a terrific operation, and perilous in the extreme to those employed in it. i know that i breathed more freely when all the men came down safely from the yard, barney bogle among the number; and the helm being lashed a-lee, the brig rode like a duck over the seas. there was no time, however, to be idle, and all hands set to work to repair damages. i now saw that the captain, who appeared so fine a gentleman in harbour, or when there was nothing to do, could work as well, if not rather better, than any one. with his coat off, and saw, axe, or hammer in hand, he worked away with the carpenter in fitting a new rail, and planking up the bulwarks; and the steward had twice to call him to breakfast before he obeyed the summons. his example inspired the rest; and in a very short time the bulwarks were made sufficiently secure to serve till the return of fine weather. "i told you, jack, that you would have a taste of the bitters of a sea-life before long," said peter, as soon as he had time to have a word with me. "let me tell you, however, that this is just nothing, and that we shall be very fortunate if we do not fall in with something much worse before long." i knew that peter would not unnecessarily alarm me, and so i looked up at the dark clouds driving across the sky, and saw the hissing, foaming waves dancing up wildly around us, looking as if every moment they were ready to swallow up the brig, i asked myself what worse could occur, without our going to the bottom. i had never then been in a regular hurricane or a typhoon, or on a lee-shore on a dark night, surrounded by rocks, or among rapid currents, hurrying the ship within their power to destruction; nor had i been on board a craft when all hands at the pumps could scarcely keep her afloat; nor had i seen a fire raging. indeed, i happily knew nothing of the numberless dangers and hardships to which a seaman in his career is exposed. i must not say that i was in any way frightened. i resolved to keep a bold heart in my body. "never mind," i answered to peter's remark; "while i've got you and the captain on board, i don't fear anything." peter laughed. "we may be very well in our way," said he; "but, jack, my advice is: trust in god, and hold on by the weather-rigging. should the ship go down, look out for spar or a plank if there's no boat afloat; and if you can find nothing, swim as long as you can; but whatever you do, trust in god." i have never forgotten peter's advice. never have i found that trust deceive me; and often and often have i been mercifully preserved when i had every reason to believe that my last hour had come. i should remark also that, badly off as i have often fancied myself, i have soon had reason to be thankful that i was not in the condition of others around me. while peter was speaking, one of the crew sung out, "a sail on the weather-bow!" sure enough, as we rose on the summit of a sea, a ship could be seen with all her topsails set running before the wind. peter remarked that she was standing directly for us. "she is a large ship, by the squareness of her yards; probably either from the west indies or south america, or maybe china, or from some port in the pacific, and she has come round the horn." we watched her for some time. "she has a signal of distress flying, sir," said the first mate, who had been looking at her through a glass. "she is in a bad way, then," remarked the captain. "i fear that unless the sea goes down, and she in the meantime can heave-to near us, we can render her no assistance." on came the ship right for us. i thought that she would run us down; so, indeed, i found did others on board. the mates, indeed, went to the wheel to put the helm up to let the brig fall off, that we might get out of her way; but as she approached, she altered her course a little, so that she might pass clear under our stem. never shall i forget the look of that strange ship; for, as she came near us, rolling in the trough of the sea, we could see clearly everything going forward on her decks. she was a spaniard, so peter told me, as he knew from the ensign which flew out, hoisted half-way to her peak. she was a high-pooped ship, with a deep waist and a lofty forecastle, her upper works narrowing as they rose, with large lanterns, and much rich carved work all gilt and painted. such a craft is never seen now-a-days. she was crowded with people. some were soldiers, worn-out men, with their wives and families returning home from the colonies; others were cabin passengers. there were rich hidalgos, attended on by their slaves--old men, who had spent their lives abroad in the pursuit of wealth; and there were fair girls, too, probably their daughters, some young and lovely; and there were young men, with life before them, and thinking that life was to be very sweet; and there were children, and infants in arms, and their fond mothers or nurses anxious to shelter them from harm. then there were the officers of the ship and the crew; fierce, dark-bearded men--a mongrel set of various ranks and many nations. she was evidently a rich galleon, returning to old spain from one of her ill-governed dependencies in south america. but it was the way in which all these people were employed that made so deep an impression on me. then the scene looked only like a strange picture. it was not till long afterwards, when i reasoned on what i had observed, that i understood what i now describe. the greater number of the men were at the pumps, labouring in a way which showed that they fancied their lives depended on their exertions; but the clear streams of water which came out of the scuppers, and the heavy way in which the ship plunged into the trough of the sea, showed that their labour would too probably be in vain. others seemed paralysed or pitied, and sat down with their heads on their breasts waiting their fate. many, as they passed us, came to the side of their ship, and held out their hands imploringly towards us, as if we could help them. but what seemed most dreadful--some of the sailors and soldiers had got hold of a quantity of wine and spirits, and were reeling about the decks, offering liquor to every one they encountered, and holding out bottles and cans of wine mockingly at us, or as if inviting us to join them. several, although they must have given up all hope of assistance from man, might have looked for it from heaven, for they were on their knees imploring help--was it from him who alone can give it, or was it from their various saints? i don't know. two groups of figures on the poop especially struck me. in the centre of one stood a tall man in rich vestments of gold, and white, and purple. he had a shorn crown. he was a priest. he was holding aloft a golden crucifix, which i thought the wind would have blown out of his hand, but he must have been a powerful man, and he grasped it fast. assisting to support him and it were two monks in dark dresses, kneeling on the deck on either side of him. around them knelt and clung, holding on to each other, a number of men and women, and among them were some little children, holding up their tiny hands in supplication towards the crucifix. of course, no sound could reach us, but there seemed to be much wailing, and crying, and groaning. some were stretching out their arms, others were beating their breasts and tearing their hair. the priest stood unmoved, with head erect, uttering prayers, or pronouncing absolution. at some distance from them were a couple, not to be overlooked either. one was a fine handsome young man, in the uniform of a military officer; the other a young and beautiful girl, who lay nearly fainting in his arms. he looked towards us eagerly, hopefully, as if he fancied that he would plunge with his precious charge into the water. i thought that at that moment he was going to make the daring leap. some of the officers of the ship were gathered round the wheel. just then the helm was put down, and we saw some of them with blows and threats urging the drunken crew to take in the headsails, leaving the maintopsail only to steady the ship. in the operation, however, carelessly performed, the sails were blown to ribbons, and the ship drifted away to leeward of us. she had before this evidently suffered severely. her boats were gone; her bulwarks in many places stove in; and her bowsprit and foretopmast had been carried away, while, of course, still more serious damage had been sustained in her hull. "shall we be able to do anything for all those poor people?" i asked of peter, who stood near me. "no, jack, we shall not," he answered; "man can't help them. this ship, by the look of her, will not keep above water another half-hour; and then heaven have mercy on their souls! i doubt if the captain will venture to lower a boat in this sea to attempt to save them, or if a boat could lift if he did." "it's very dreadful," said i. "yes, jack; but it's the lot all sailors must be prepared for," answered peter. "remember, it may be my fate or yours one of these days. we should not be afraid; but i repeat it, jack, we should be prepared." i did not quite understand peter then. "then, peter, you would not go in the boat if one was lowered?" i observed. "wait till the captain says what he wants done," he answered calmly. "if he thinks a boat can live, and wants volunteers, it's my duty to go, you know. remember, jack, obey first, and calculate risk afterwards." peter's predictions as to the fate of the spanish ship were fulfilled sooner even than he had expected. that moment, while we were looking at her, she settled lower and lower in the water; she rolled still more heavily; her bow looked as if about to rise, but instead her stem lifted high--up it went. there seemed a chasm yawning for her. into it she plunged, and down, down she went--the waves wildly rushing over her decks, and scattering the shrieking multitude assembled on them far and wide over the foaming ocean; mothers, children, husbands, wives, lovers, and friends, the priests and their disciples, were rudely torn asunder, and sent hither and thither. numbers went down in the vortex of the huge ship--the men at the pumps, the drunken seamen, some who had clung madly to the rigging. others supported themselves on anything which could float; and brave swimmers struck out for dear life. "i can't stand this," cried our captain, unconscious that he was speaking aloud; "we must try at all risks to save the poor wretches." "i'll go," cried the second mate, harry gale, a fine, quiet, gentleman-reared young man as ever i met. "i'm one with you, mr gale," cried peter poplar, springing aft to the falls of the lee-quarter-boat, the only one which could be lowered. "bear a hand here, mates; there'll no time to be lost!" "hold fast!" shouted the captain. "no hurry, my men; those who go clear the boat. the mates will stand by the falls with jackson and farr. all ready now!--lower away!" the captain gave the word, so that the boat touched the water just at the best time. peter poplar stood in the bows, boat-hook in hand, and moved off; mr gale steered; the three other men were the strongest of the ship's company; and truly it required all the care and seamanship mortal man could possess to keep a boat alive in such a boiling caldron as the wide atlantic then was. i was very anxious for peter's safety, for he was indeed my friend. i feared also for the rest. i was fully alive to the danger of the expedition they were on. the boat, keeping under the lee of the brig, dropped down towards the scene of the catastrophe. so fiercely boiling, however, were the waves, that with awful rapidity the greater number of those who had lately peopled the deck of that big ship were now engulfed beneath them. some, however, still struggled for existence. had the sea been less violent many might have been saved; for as we stood on the deck we could see the poor wretches struggling among the foam, but by the time the boat reached the spot they had sunk for ever. the captain had gone into the main-rigging, and with his outstretched arm was indicating to the second mate the direction in which to steer; but of course she could venture to go very little out of one particular direction without a certainty of being swamped. it was very dreadful to watch one human being after another engulfed in the hungry ocean. we have just to picture to ourselves how we should be feeling if we were in their places, to make us eager to save those under like circumstances. the most conspicuous object was the tall priest, and towards him the boat was accordingly making her way. two other figures were at the same time seen. one floated only a short distance to leeward of the brig; it was that, i felt certain, of the beautiful girl i had seen supported by the young officer. she was unconscious of all around, and i believe that even then life had left her frame. she was supported by a piece of plank, to which probably she had been secured with the last fond effort of affection by him who had thus been unable to provide any means of escape for himself. he, however, must have struggled bravely for existence, for i made him out at a short distance beyond, now rising on the crest of a wave, now sinking into the trough of the sea, but still swimming on with his eye gazing steadily in the direction of that floating form. meantime the boat was making towards the priest. "give way, lads!" shouted several of our people in their eagerness, forgetting that they could not possibly be heard. no time was to be lost, for already the priest's rich dress was saturated with water, and he was sinking lower and lower, and what at first had supported him was now dragging him down. still he did not give in, but, cross in hand, waved the boat on. the distance he was from the boat must have been greater than we supposed. suddenly he threw up his arms, and a white-crested top of a sea breaking over him, he disappeared for ever amidst a mass of foam. mr gale saw what had occurred, and instantly turned the boat's head towards the young officer, who was still swimming on with wonderful strength. in this instance the men were more successful; the boat's head dropped down close to him, and peter, stretching out his arm, grasped the young man by the shoulder, and hauled him in over the bows, and passed him on into the stern-sheets. though faint at first, the spaniard instantly recovered himself, and stood upright in the boat, gazing eagerly around. as the boat rose on a sea, he caught sight of the object of his search. he pointed towards the floating form of the young lady. even when first seen, the line by which she had been hurriedly and imperfectly secured to the plank i observed was loosened. the wash of the sea now parted her from it entirely. the young man saw what had occurred. with a cry of anguish, before our people could seize him, he sprang from the gunwale towards the object of his love, as her dress carried her down beneath the foaming waters. i think he reached her. they disappeared at the same moment, and never rose again! still a few people kept above water, holding on to planks, or swimming, chiefly seamen or soldiers; but most of them had been carried to too great a distance from the brig for a boat to save them. it was only by keeping under our lee, our hull preventing the sea from breaking so much, that the boat avoided being swamped. thus we could expect that only a very few of those who floated to the last could be saved. no one could have ventured further than did our brave mate and his crew;--they would in all probability have thrown away their own lives had not captain helfrich recalled them. he signalled with his hand, but mr gale did not observe him. "fire a gun there," he shouted; "quick, for your lives!" a gun had been ready loaded for the purpose. its report served as the funeral knell of many a despairing wretch. the boat put about. the returning alongside was as perilous an operation almost as the lowering the boat had been. all hands not required at the falls stood ready with ropes to heave to our shipmates should she be swamped alongside; but the oars being thrown in, mr gale and peter seizing the fall-tackles at the right moment, hooked on, and the rest of the people handing themselves up by the ropes hanging ready for them, the boat was hoisted up before the sea again rose under her bottom. it was sad to think: that all their gallant efforts had been unavailing. in two or three minutes more not a human being of all the spaniard's crew was to be seen alive; and except a few planks and spars, and here and there a bale or a chest, mere dots in the ocean, we might have fancied, as we looked out on those foaming waters, that all that had passed was some hideous dream. often, indeed, have i since had the same dreadful drama acted over before my eyes while i slept; so deep was the impression made on me by the reality. very many things which long after that time occurred have entirely faded from my memory. had it been possible, (as peter told me he thought it would have been, had all the crew done their duty), to keep the galleon afloat a few hours longer, in all probability we should have been the means of saving the people. in the course of the day the wind fell, and the sea went down sufficiently to have allowed our boats to have passed between the two vessels without any great risk. captain helfrich was certainly not a man to have deserted her while a chance remained of saving a human being. while she floated he would have stuck to her. "remember, jack," said peter, "the first duty of a ship's company is to stick by each other--to keep sober, and to obey their officers. without a head, men can do nothing. they are like a flock of sheep running here and there, and never getting on. what is a man's duty is best; and you see here, for instance, that the lives of all depend on their doing their duty." sail was again made on the brig, and she was able to lay her course. at night, however, it came on to blow again, and by next morning we were once more hove-to with more sea, and the wind chopping about and making it break in a far more dangerous way than it had done on the previous day. i found, when i came on deck after my watch below, all hands looking out at an object which had just been discovered a little abaft the lee-bow. some said it was a dead whale; one or two declared that it was a rock; but the officers, after examining it with their glasses, pronounced it to be a vessel bottom uppermost! the question was, whether the wreck was deserted, or whether any people still clung to it. hove-to as we were, we made of course considerable lee-way; and keeping in the direction we were then driving, we should before long get near enough to examine her condition. had not the brig already received some damage, captain helfrich would, i believe, have run down at once to the wreck; but this, a right care for the safety of his own vessel would not allow him to do. every instant, too, the gale was increasing, till it blew a perfect hurricane; and not for a moment could a boat have lived had one been lowered. the wreck drove before the wind, but of course we moved much faster; it was some hours, however, before we got near enough to the wreck to discover if anyone was upon it. "there are three or four people at least upon it," exclaimed mr gale. "poor fellows! can we do nothing for them, sir?" "i cannot allow you to throw away your life, as you would if you had your own way," answered the captain, to whom he spoke. "all we can do is to hope that the wind will go down before we drift out of sight of each other." unhappily our course took us some way from the wreck, though near enough to see clearly the poor fellows on it. how intense must have been their feelings of anxiety as they saw us approaching them! and how bitter their disappointment when they discovered how impossible it was for us to render them any assistance till the weather moderated! the wreck appeared to be that of a schooner, or brig of a hundred and fifty tons or so. the people were holding on to her keel. there were three white men and two blacks. they waved their handkerchiefs and caps, and held out their hands imploringly towards us. some were sitting astride on the keel; one was lying down, held on by his shipmates; and another lay right over it looking almost dead. we made out this through the glasses. peter got me a look through a telescope which one of the men had. it brought the countenances of the poor fellows fearfully near--their expressions of horror and despair could be seen. we longed more than ever for the gale to abate that we might help them. still it blew on as fiercely as ever all day. the wreck remained during this time in sight, but of course we were increasing our distance from her. "what would have happened," said i to peter, "if it had been night instead of day; and if, instead of passing by the wreck, we had struck against her?" "why, we should have given her a finishing-stroke, and very likely have stove in our bottom and followed her," he answered. "i like to hear you ask such questions; they show that you think. the event you have spoken of occurs very frequently, i suspect. numbers of vessels leave port, and are never again heard of. they are either run down, or they run their bows against a wreck, or the butt-end of a tree or log of timber; some are burned; some run against icebergs, or fields of ice; and some are ill put together, or rotten, and spring leaks, and so go down: but to my mind the greater number are lost from the first cause i have spoken of. you'll find out in time, jack, all the perils to which a seaman is exposed, as well as the hardships i once before spoke to you about." i did not think at the time how true peter's words would come. we were nearly a mile from the wreck, i suppose, when night came on; but the captain took her bearings by the compass, that he might know in what direction to look for her should he be able to make sail before the morning. i had got pretty well accustomed to the tumbling about by this time, but i could scarcely sleep for thinking of the poor fellows on the wreck. the night passed away without any change in the weather. when morning came all hands were looking out for the wreck; but we all looked in vain. there was the leaden sky, the dark-green foaming sea, but not a spot on it to be observed far as the eye could reach. before noon the wind once more moderated, and making all sail we stood over the place where, by our captain's calculations, the wreck would be found. not a sign of her was to be seen. it was too certain that she must have gone down during the night. every day seemed to have its event. we were again on our proper course, though the sea was still running high, when towards evening an object was seen floating ahead of us, just on the lee-bow. we were at no great distance, little more than half a mile or so, when first seen, so that we were not left long in doubt as to what it was. "a raft!" said one; "a piece of a wreck," said another; "some casks," said a third. "whatever it is, there is a man upon it," exclaimed peter; "and, messmates, he's alive! steady you," he added, looking at the man at the wheel. "keep her away a little," he said, addressing mr gale, who had charge of the deck. the news of what was seen at once spread below, and all hands were soon on deck on the look-out. the man was alive, and saw us coming, for he waved a handkerchief to attract our notice, lest he might not have been observed. we waved to him in return, to keep up his spirits. as we approached, we saw that the man was dressed as a sailor. he was seated on a grating, made more buoyant by several pieces of spars and planks. he was leaning against another plank, which he had secured in an upright position by means of stays on the grating. had not the sea been still very high, we could have run alongside his raft and picked him off without difficulty; but as it was impossible to steer with the necessary nicety, there was a risk of running him down by so doing. we therefore hove-to to windward of him; and mr gale, with the boat's crew who had before volunteered, being lowered, they pulled carefully towards him. the man stood up as he saw them approach; and scarcely had the bow of the boat touched the grating, than he sprung on board, and without help stepped over the shoulders of the men into the stern-sheets. when there, however, his strength seemed to give way, and he sank down into the bottom of the boat in what appeared to be a fainting fit. a few drops from a flask, which mr gale had thoughtfully carried in his pocket, partially revived the man, though he was unable to help himself up the side. he was therefore slung on deck, and the boat being hoisted in without damage, we again made sail. the man, who was placed on deck with his back against the companion-hatch, remained some time in an almost unconscious state; but at length, after much care had been bestowed on him, he recovered sufficiently to speak. he was a fine, good-looking young man; and his well-browned countenance and hands showed that he had been long in a tropical climate. a little food, taken slowly, still further revived him; and he was soon able to lift himself up and look about him. "how was it you came to be where we found you?" asked captain helfrich, who was seated near him on the companion-hatch, while i was employed in polishing up the brass rail of the companion-ladder. "why, i belonged to a ship, the _oak tree_, bound from honduras to bristol with mahogany and logwood," answered the stranger. "we had made a fair run of it, three days ago, when we were caught in a heavy squall, which carried away our maintop-mast, and did us much damage. fortunately, i was at supper when all hands were called to shorten sail; and not thinking what i was about, i clapped a whole handful of biscuit and junk into my pocket before i sprang on deck. a few hours after dark, a heavy sea struck the ship, and carried away our boats and bulwarks, washing me with one or two other poor fellows overboard. i was without my shoes, and had only a thin cotton jacket on; so, being a good swimmer, i was able to regain the surface, and to look about me. away flew the ship before the wind, without a prospect of my being able to regain her; so i did not trouble myself upon that point. the other men who had been washed overboard with me had sunk: i could do them no good. i therefore had only to look after myself. i first cast my eyes about me, to see what i could get hold of to keep me afloat. the wreck of the bulwarks and boats, with the spars which had been washed overboard, had sent me some materials; and i got a couple of pieces under my arms to support me while i looked for more. in the heavy sea that was running, i could not have made much of a raft, when fortunately my eye caught a grating; which i managed, after much exertion, to reach. by degrees i fished up other pieces of plank and broken spars, till i had formed the raft you found me on. fortunately, i had started on my cruise just after supper, so that i was able to hold out for some time without eating. but when morning came, and there was not a sail in sight, i began to feel somewhat down-hearted. however, i soon plucked up again. said i to myself, `though the ocean is wide, there are a good many craft afloat, and it will be hard if someone doesn't make me out before very long.' i tried to think of all the wonderful escapes people had made who had been in a similar condition; and i prayed that god would deliver me in the same way. one thing weighed on my mind, and still weighs there: i left a wife and a small child at home, near bristol; and when the ship arrives there, the poor girl will hear that i was was washed overboard, and will believe me dead. when you got near me, i saw that you were outward-bound; and the thought that she might have to go many a month and not hear of me, served more than anything else to upset me. my strength gave way, and i went off in a faint, as you saw, in the bottom of the boat." he then told the captain that his name was walter stenning. the captain, who was a kind-hearted man, did his best to raise his spirits; and promised him that if we fell in with a homeward-bound ship he would endeavour to put him on board. as it happened, we did not speak any vessel till we reached the west indies; so we had to carry walter stenning with us. chapter three. the west indies. "land! land on the starboard-bow!" was shouted from the foretopmast cross-trees, where several of our men had been, in spite of a pretty hot scorching sun, since dawn, on the look-out for it. "who saw it first?" asked the captain, who was always more anxious when nearing the coast than at any other time. "tom tillson," was the answer from aloft. "a glass of grog for you, tom, if it proves to be the land, and you have kept your eyes open to good purpose!" said the captain, preparing himself to go to the mast-head, where the mates followed him. they were satisfied that tom had fairly won his glass of grog, i suppose; for, after some time, when i went aloft, i saw a high blue-pointed mountain rising out of the sparkling sea with ranges of lower hills beneath it. as we drew in with the shore, we could distinguish the fields of sugar-cane surrounded by lime-trees, and the white houses of the planters, and the huts of the negroes; and i thought that i should very much like to take a run among the lofty palmetto and the wild cotton-trees and the fig-trees, and to chase the frolicsome monkeys i had heard spoken of among their branches. a light silvery mist hung over the whole scene, and made it look doubly beautiful. i asked peter what land it was, for i thought that we had arrived at america itself. he laughed, and said that it was only a little island called saint christopher's; and that he'd heard say that it was first discovered by the great admiral who had found out america, and that he had called it after his own name. peter, though he could not read, had a great store of information, which he had picked up from various people. he was not always quite correct; and that was from not being able to read, as he was less able to judge of the truth of what people told him; but altogether, i learned a great deal from his conversation. we came to an anchor before the town of basseterre, the capital of the island. it was a clean handsome-looking place, and a number of ships lay before it; while behind it, rising from the wide valley, richly cultivated and beautiful in the extreme, rose the lofty and precipitous crags of mount misery, feet high. it may well be so-called, for it would be pain and misery to have to climb up it, and still greater not to be able to come down again! after the events i have before described, we had come south till we fell in with the trade-winds, which had brought us on a due westerly course to this place. i did not go on shore; but i heard the captain say that the merchants and planters were very civil and polite to him. they had, however, suffered very much in the late war with france. it was in the year that a french general, the marquis de bouille, having eight thousand men with him, besides a fleet of twenty-nine sail of the line, commanded by the admiral count de grasse, captured the island from the english. it was, however, restored to great britain when the war ended the following year. we had a quantity of fruit brought off to us, which did most of us a great deal of good, after living so long on salt provisions. i remember how delicious i thought the shaddock--which is a fruit something like a very large orange. its outer coat is pale, like a lemon, but very thick. it is divided into quarters by a thin skin, like an orange; and the taste--which is very refreshing--is between a sweet and an acid. the colour of the inside of some is a pale red--these are the best; others are white inside. peter told me that he had heard that the tree was brought from the coast of guinea by a captain shaddock, and that the fruit has ever since borne his name. we spent three or four days at anchor before this beautiful place; and then, having landed two or three of our passengers, and put walter stenning on board a vessel returning to england, once more made sail for our destination. the trade-wind still favoured us, though it was much lighter than it had been before we entered the caribbean sea. "jack," said peter to me the afternoon we left basseterre, "i've good news for you. the captain wants a lad in the place of sam dermot, whom he has left on board a homeward-bound ship, for he found that he was not fit for a sea-life, and mr gale has been speaking a word in your favour. i don't say it's likely to prove as pleasant a life as you lead forward, but if you do your duty and please him, the captain has the power to advance your interests--and i think he is the man to do it." this was good news, i thought; and soon afterwards mr gale told me to go into the cabin. the captain, who was looking over some papers, scarcely raised his head as i entered. "oh, jack williams--is that your name, boy?" said he. "you are to help roach, the steward. go to him; he'll show you what you are to do." the steward soon gave me plenty of work cleaning up things; for the captain was a very particular man, and would always have everything in the best possible order. the next morning at daybreak, mr gale--whose watch it was at the time-- roused me up, and sent me to tell the captain that there was a strange sail on the starboard-bow, which seemed inclined to cross our fore-foot. the captain was soon on deck and examining the stranger with his glass. "well, what do you make of her, mr gale?" he asked. she was a low, little vessel, with considerable beam, and a large lateen mainsail, and a jib on a little cock-up bowsprit--something like a 'mudian rig. "she's a suspicious-looking craft; and if it were not that we are well-armed, and could sink her with a broadside, i should not much like her neighbourhood, sir," answered the second mate. as he spoke, a gun was fired by the stranger, but not at us. "he wants to speak us, at all events," observed captain helfrich. "if he had intended us mischief he would have fired at us, i should think." "not quite so certain of that, sir," answered mr jones, the first mate. "those pirating fellows are up to all sorts of tricks; and if he's honest he belies himself, for a more roguish craft i never saw. he doesn't show any colours, at all events." "we'll not be taken by surprise, then," answered the captain. "arm the people, and see the guns all ready to run out. boy, get my pistols and cutlass from the steward. tell him to show himself on deck; and let the gentlemen in the cabin know that if they get up, they may find something to amuse them." i dived speedily below to deliver my message. while the steward was getting ready the captain's arms, i ran round to the berths of the passengers. one had heard me ask for the pistols; thus the report at once went round among them that there was fighting in prospect. in a few minutes, therefore, several gentlemen in straw-hats, with yellow nankeen trousers and gay dressing-gowns, appeared on deck. "what!--is that little hooker the craft we are going to fight, captain?" exclaimed one of them. "we shouldn't have much difficulty in trouncing her, i should think." "not the slightest, sir, if we have the chance," he answered. "but her crew would have no difficulty either in cutting all our throats, if we once let them get on board! the chances are that she has a hundred desperadoes or more under hatches, and as she can sail round us like a witch, they may choose their own time for coming alongside. i tell you, gentlemen, i would rather she were a hundred miles away than where she is!" these remarks of the captain very much altered the manner of some of the gentlemen. they were all ready enough to fight, but they put on much more serious countenances than they had at first worn, and kept eyeing the stranger curiously through their telescopes. still the stranger kept bowling away before us on our starboard-bow, yawing about so as not greatly to increase his distance from us. if he could thus outsail us before the wind, he would be very certain to beat us hollow on a wind. we had, therefore, not the slightest prospect of being able to get away from him so long as he chose to keep us company. suddenly he luffed up with his head to the northward. "he thinks that he had better not play us any tricks; he has found out that we are too strong for him," observed mr jones. scarcely had the mate spoken, when a dozen men or so appeared on the deck of the felucca, and launched a boat from it into the water. as soon as she was afloat, two people stepped into her. one seized the oars, and the other seated himself in the stern-sheets. "well, that is a rum-looking little figure!" i heard one of our passengers exclaim, bursting into a fit of laughter. "i wonder if he is skipper of that craft?" "she's not a craft that will stand much joking," observed the first mate. "see, sir; she has begun to show that she is not lightly armed." he pointed to the deck of the felucca, on which there now appeared at least full thirty men. they looked like a fierce set of desperadoes. they were of all colours, from the fair skin of the saxon to the ebony hue of some of the people of africa. the captain saw, i suppose, that there was no use in trying to prevent the boat from coming alongside; for had he done so, the felucca would very quickly have been after us again, and might not another time have treated us so civilly. he therefore, as soon as the boat shoved off from the side of the felucca, ordered the sails to be clewed up, to allow her more easily to approach. as she pulled towards us, we were able to examine the people in her. he who sat in the stern-sheets was a little old man, with a little three-cornered hat on his head, and a blue long-skirted coat and waistcoat, richly laced. he had on also, i afterwards saw, knee-breeches, and huge silver buckles to his shoes. his countenance seemed wizened and dried up like a piece of parchment. some of the younger passengers especially seemed to think him, by their remarks, a fair subject for their ridicule. the person who pulled was a huge negro. he must have been as tall as peter poplar, but considerably stouter and stronger of limb. he was clothed in a striped cotton dress and straw-hat. it would have been difficult to find two people associated together more unlike each other. the old man took the helm, and by the way he managed the boat it was clear that he was no novice in nautical affairs. "what can he want with us!" exclaimed the captain. "we'll treat him with politeness, at all events!" side-ropes and a ladder were therefore prepared; but scarcely had the bowman's boat-hook struck the side, than the old gentleman had handed himself up by the main-chains on deck with the agility of a monkey, followed by the big negro. i then saw that he had a brace of silver-mounted pistols stuck in his belt, and that he wore a short sword by his side; but the latter was apparently more for ornament than use. the negro also had a large brace of pistols and a cutlass. in the boat were two iron-clamped chests, one of them being very large, the other small. the old gentleman singled out the captain as soon as he reached the deck, and walked up to him. "ah, captain helfrich, i am glad to have fallen in with you!" he exclaimed, in a singularly firm and full voice, with nothing of the tremulousness of age in it. "i've come to ask you for a passage to jamaica, as i prefer entering port-royal harbour in a respectable steady-going craft like yours, rather than in such a small cockle-shell as is my little pet there!" as he spoke he pointed with a smile--and such a smile! how wrinkled and crinkled did his face become-- to the wicked-looking little felucca. "impossible, sir," answered the captain; "my cabins are already so crowded that i could not accommodate another person!" "oh! how are the places of mr wilmot and mr noel occupied then?" asked the stranger with a peculiar look. they were the gentlemen who landed at saint kitt's! the captain started, and looked at his visitor with a scrutinising glance; but he remained unabashed. "how did you learn that?" asked the captain quickly. "oh, there are very few things which happen in these parts the which i don't know," answered the stranger quietly. "however, captain, even if all your cabins are full, that excuse will not serve you. i can stow myself away anywhere. i've been accustomed to rough it, and cudjoe here won't object to prick for a soft plank!" the black, hearing his name pronounced, grinned from ear to ear, though he said nothing. still the captain, who evidently could not make out who his visitor was, and much mistrusted him, was about to refuse the request, when the old gentleman took him by the button of his coat, as a man does a familiar friend, and led him aside. what was said i do not know, nor could i judge from his countenance how the captain took the communication made to him--i saw him start, and examine the old man attentively from head to foot. the result, i know, was that the boat and the chests were hoisted on board--the sails were let fall and sheeted home. the stranger went to the taffrail and waved his hat. on his doing this, the felucca hauled her wind and stood to the northward. just under the companion-stair was a small cabin, which had been filled with stores. this was cleared out, and our strange passenger took possession of it with his chests, while cudjoe slept at the door. he at once made himself at home, and entered into conversation with every one. no one seemed, however, inclined to quiz him. when he was on deck, i heard the gentlemen in the cabin wondering who he was, for none of them had the slightest notion about the matter; and if the captain knew, he certainly would not tell them. the negro never spoke to any of the passengers or crew. some said he was dumb; but i knew that was not the case, for i often heard him and the old gentleman talking, but in a language i could not understand. his only care appeared to be to watch over the old gentleman's chests, which had been placed in his cabin, and to keep an eye on the little skiff which had brought them on board. those of the passengers who had lived in the west indies could do nothing for themselves, and were constantly wanting me to perform some little job or other for them. i was thus oftener in the cabin than out of it. while i was attending on them, my great amusement was listening to the yarns which the old gentleman used to spin. they took in all he said for fact; but there used to be often a twinkle in his eye which made me doubt the truth of all he said. "a man who can look back the larger part of a century, as i have done, must have heard a number of strange things, and seen a number of strange people and strange sights, unless he has gone through the world with his eyes and ears closed, which i have not," he remarked one day when several of the passengers were collected in the cabin. "gentlemen, i have served both on shore and afloat, and have seen as many shots fired as most people. i cannot quite recollect admiral benbow's action in these seas, but i was afloat when that pretty man edward teach was the terror of all quiet-going merchantmen. his parents lived at spanish town, jamaica, and were very respectable people. some of his brothers turned out very well; and one of them was in the king's service, in command of a company of artillery. he, however, at an early age showed himself to be of a somewhat wildish disposition, and rather than submit to control, ran away to sea. for many years he knocked about, among not the best of characters perhaps, in different parts of the world, till he became as daring a fellow as ever stepped a plank. in a short time, while still very young, he got together a band of youths much of his own way of thinking; and they commenced, after the old fashion, the life of gentlemen rovers. their mode of proceeding was to run alongside any merchantman they fell in with, which they thought would prove a prize worth having. having taken possession of everything they wanted, they then made every landsman walk the plank, as they did likewise every seaman who would not join them. those only who would take their oaths, and sign their articles, were allowed to live. mr teach used to dress himself out in a wild fashion, and as he wore a great black beard, he certainly did look very ferocious. from this circumstance he got the name of blackbeard. i don't fancy that he committed all the acts imputed to him, but he did enough to gain himself a very bad name. the governors of the west india islands, in those days, and the american settlements, were rather fonder of their ease than anything else, so they allowed him to range those seas with impunity. at last, however, a naval officer, feeling indignant that one man should hold a whole community in awe, undertook to destroy the pirate. he got a ship fitted out, well-armed and well-manned, and larger than any teach was likely to have with him. after a long search, he fell in with the pirate. teach had never given quarter, and it was not expected that he would take it. more than half drunk, the pirates went to their quarters, and fought more like demons than men. the crew of the king's ship had to fight desperately also. for a long time it was doubtful which would come off the conqueror. at length, however, a large number of the pirates being killed or wounded. teach was about to blow up his ship. before, however, he could get below, his ship was boarded by his enemies, and he had to defend himself from the attack of the gallant english officer. for a long time he fought most desperately, but at last he was brought on his knees; and as he would not surrender, he was cut down, and died on the spot. scarcely a third of his men were taken alive, and they were mostly wounded. his head was cut off and carried to virginia, where it was stuck on a pole; and where the greater number of the pirates taken were hung in chains, to show to others what very likely would be their fate if they should design to follow the same course." "why, you seem to know so much about the matter, i suppose you were there, sir," said one of the passengers, intending his remark to be jocose. "that is possible, young 'un," answered the old gentleman, fixing his eyes on the speaker. "perhaps i formed part of the pirate crew; but you don't fancy i was hung, do you?" the young man did not venture a reply. "i'll tell you where i saw some service," continued the old gentleman. "the spaniards had for a long time ruled it insultingly over the english in these seas, fancying that, because we didn't bark, we could not bite. at last a fleet was fitted out in england, and despatched to the west indies, under the command of admiral vernon, in . he first touched at jamaica, where he refreshed his men, and took on board a body of troops and some pilots, as well as provisions; and, on the th of november, sailed for the spanish town of porto bello, which lies on the north side of the isthmus of darien. its harbour and strong forts afforded protection to the guarda costas, or spanish cruisers, which attempted to put a stop to the commerce of other nations in these seas; and it was, likewise, the great rendezvous of the spanish merchants from various quarters. the town consisted of five or six hundred houses, and some public buildings. the inhabitants depended almost entirely on the fair, which was held there every two or three years, and which lasted about six weeks. the fair took place according to the time when the galleons arrived from carthagena, where they first touched to dispose of part of their goods. at porto bello they were met by the merchants from lima and panama, who came, with millions of dollars, to purchase their merchandise. so crowded was the place during the fair, that there was scarcely room to stow the chests of money! the entrance of the harbour is narrow, but widens within; and at the bottom lies the town, in the form of a half moon. at the east end of the town is a huge stable for the mules employed in the traffic between it and panama. it is very unhealthy, as on the east side there is a swamp; and in the harbour, at low tide, a wide extent of black slimy mud is exposed, exhaling noisome vapours. the town was defended by three forts. the iron fort was on the north side of the harbour's mouth, and had a hundred guns. the gloria castle was a mile from the first, on the south side of the harbour, and had a hundred and twenty guns. and lastly, there was the fort called hieronymo, with twenty guns. the spaniards having been warned of the approach of the english squadron by a fast-sailing vessel which escaped from them, were prepared to receive them, and hoped to send them to the bottom at once. the fleet consisted only of the _burford_, commanded by the admiral; the _hampton court_, commodore brown; the _norwich_, captain herbert; the _worcester_, captain main; the _princess louisa_, captain waterhouse; and the _stafford_, captain trevor. on the st they came up with the harbour. the _hampton court_ first entered, and came to action not a cable's length from the iron fort; and in twenty-five minutes' time fired away about four hundred shot; so that nothing was to be seen but fire and smoke. the _norwich_ came next, the _worcester_ next, and then the admiral, who anchored within half a cable's length of the castle: and though he was warmly received, the spaniards were soon driven from their guns. then, although no breach was made, the troops were landed, and the boats' crews, climbing up through the embrasures, struck the spanish flag and hoisted the english colours! the other two forts capitulated next day, and all three were completely demolished; the spanish troops being allowed to march out with their arms. the work was done by four ships, for the other two had not come up; and its history serves to show what men can do, if they are not afraid of the consequences. the same spirit, in a juster cause, animated vernon which had animated morgan and the buccaneers of old, and enabled them to succeed in their desperate enterprises. if a thing must be done, or should be done, never calculate consequences. if a thing is not urgent, then balance the probable consequences against the value of the desired result. that has been my way through life, gentlemen. i have never undertaken anything unless i wished to succeed and had secured the necessary means; and then i have guarded as best i could against unforeseen circumstances." this was the sort of way the old gentleman talked. he told the gentlemen one day that he was not born when the earthquake occurred during which port-royal was swallowed up; but that he had often heard people speak of it who had witnessed it. it began about noon on the th of june . nine-tenths of the city and all the wharves sunk at once; and in two minutes from the commencement of the earthquake several fathoms of water lay over the spot where the streets had just stood. two thousand persons perished. some, it was said, who were swallowed up in one place, rose again in another still alive; but that i do not think possible. very likely they were washed from one place to another, clinging to beams or rafters; and not knowing, in their horror and confusion, where they had been, were picked up and saved. a mountain toppled over into a river, and, by blocking up the course, a vast number of fish were taken, which afforded food to many of the nearly starving inhabitants. nearly all the vessels in the harbour were lost; but one ship of war, the _swan_ frigate, was driven over the tops of the houses without capsizing. she received but slight damage, and was the means of saving many lives. scarcely had the earthquake ceased than a fever broke out, which carried off numbers of people. what with hurricanes, plagues, insurrections of the blacks, and attacks from foreign foes, jamaica had an uneasy time of it; and it proves her unbounded resources that, in spite of all drawbacks, she has continued wealthy and flourishing. the old gentleman said a great deal more about jamaica, but this was the substance, i know, of his remarks. that there was something mysterious about the old man was very evident. the captain, i thought, stood somewhat in awe of him, and in his absence never even alluded to him. the rest of the passengers, however, indulged in all sorts of suspicions about him, though they never expressed them, except among themselves. they spoke freely enough before me, for they fancied, i believe, that i did not understand them. i was one day beginning to tell peter what i had been hearing. "jack," said he, "i have a piece of advice to give you, which you'll find useful through life. never go and repeat what you hear about anybody. it's done by people through idleness sometimes, and often through ill-nature, or with a downright evil intention; but whatever is the cause, it's a contemptible propensity, and is certain to lead to harm." i promised that i would follow this advice, and i did so. though we had light winds, the strong current which set in from east to west across the caribbean sea helped us along, and enabled us to reach jamaica about seven days after we left saint kitt's. after coasting along some way, we cast anchor in port-royal harbour, about five miles from kingston. there were from two to three hundred sail of craft of all sizes brought up in the harbour. scarcely had we dropped our anchor, when the wind, which had before been very light, fell completely. i saw the old gentleman come on deck, and look round earnestly on every side, and then up at the sky. he then went to the captain, and took him aside. "i tell you it will be down upon us before very long," i heard him say. "house your topmasts, and range your cables, and have every anchor you've got ready for letting go." the captain seemed to expostulate: "not another craft seems to be expecting danger." "never mind what other crafts are doing," was the answer. "take the warning of a man who has known these seas from his earliest days, and do you be prepared. if they are lost, it is no reason that you should be lost with them." the captain at last yielded to the advice of the old gentleman. the topmasts were struck and every particle of top hamper was got down on deck. the cables were all ranged, and two other anchors were carried out ahead, while full scope was given to the best bower which we had down. the old gentleman went about the deck seeing that everything was done properly. had we not, indeed, been well-manned the work could not have been accomplished at all. oh, how hot and sultry it was! i had never before felt anything like it. the pitch bubbled and boiled out of the seams on the deck, and the very birds sought shelter far away in some secluded spot. "why has the ship been gut into this condition?" i asked of peter. "because they think a hurricane is coming, jack. if there is, we have just got into harbour in time. i don't see any signs of it myself, except the wind dropping so suddenly; but i suppose the officers know best." i told him that the old gentleman had persuaded the captain to prepare for whatever was coming. "ah! he knows, depend on't, jack," said peter. "i can't tell what it is, but there is something curious about that old man. he knows a great deal about these parts." such was the opinion all forward had formed of the stranger. when the wind fell the sea became like a sheet of glass. a feather could not have moved over it. it became hotter and closer than ever, and we were glad to get anywhere out of the sun, stifling even as the heat was below. even the old hands, who were inclined to laugh at the newcomers' complaints of the heat, confessed that they would rather have it cooler. the rest of the vessels in the harbour, with few exceptions, had not hitherto been prepared to meet any unusual tempest but lay as if their crews were totally regardless of any signs of a change. a few, however, had followed our example by striking their topmasts and getting out fresh anchors. some of the passengers, meantime, were very anxious to go on shore; but the stranger urged them to remain on board, and assured them that before they could be half-way there the hurricane would be upon them. two of them, however, were incredulous. the boat of a merchantman lying not far from us, was just then passing with her master in her. "ah! i know captain williams well. if he is bound for kingston, he will give us a passage!" exclaimed one of the gentlemen; and he hailed the boat. she came alongside, and refusing all warning, they, taking their portmanteaus, got into her. "we'll take any message for anyone," they sung out jokingly as they shoved off. "the storm you are afraid of will blow over, depend on it." "fools are wise in their own conceit," muttered the old gentleman, as he turned on his heel. i remember, even now, the sound of their laughter as they pulled away up the harbour. the heat continued to increase, though a thick reddish haze overspread the sky; but as yet not a vapour floated in it. suddenly, as if by magic, from all quarters came hurrying up dark lowering clouds, covering the whole concave of heaven, a lurid light only gleaming out from near the horizon. then, amidst the most terrific roars of thunder, the brightest flashes of lightning, and the rushing, rattling, crashing sound of the tempest, there burst upon us a wind, which made the ship reel like a drunken man, and sent the white foam, torn off the surface of the harbour, flying over the deck in sheets, which drenched us through and through. in an instant, the surrounding waters were lashed into the wildest foaming billows. the vessels pitched fearfully into the seas, and began, one after the other, to drag their anchors. some broke adrift altogether, and were hurled along till they were cast helplessly on the shore; and fortunate were any of the crew who could scramble clear of the hungry waves which rolled after them up the beach. some of the smaller craft pitched heavily a few times, and then apparently the sea rushed over them, and down they went to rise no more. i was holding on all the time to the fore-rigging with hands and feet, fearing lest i should be blown away, and expecting every moment to see our turn come next to be driven on shore. we were, however, exposed to a danger on which i had not calculated: the vessels breaking adrift, or dragging their anchors, might be driven against us, when we and they would probably have been cast on shore or sunk together. on land, wherever we could see, a terrific scene of confusion and destruction was taking place; tall trees bent and broke like willow wands, some were torn up by their roots, and huge boughs were lifted high in the air and carried along like autumn leaves; houses as well as huts were cast down, and their roofs were carried bodily off through the air. i doubted whether i would rather be afloat or on shore, unless i could have got into a deep cave, out of the way of the falling walls, and trees, and roofs. all this time every one was on deck,--the officers and crew at their stations, ready to try and avert any danger which might threaten us. with a steady gale we might have cut or slipped and run out to sea; but in a hurricane the wind might have shifted round before we were clear of the land, and sent the ship bodily on shore. while all hands were thus on the look-out, a boat, bottom uppermost, was seen drifting down near us amidst the foaming waters. one man was clinging to the keel. he looked imploringly towards us, and seemed to be shrieking for aid. no assistance could we give him. i could distinguish his countenance: it was that of one of the passengers who had just before persisted in leaving the ship! his companion, and the master and crew, where were they? he, poor wretch, was borne by us, and must have perished among the breakers at the mouth of the harbour. we had not much time to think of him, for we soon had to look to our own safety. a large ship, some way inside of us, was seen to break adrift, and soon after came driving down towards us. being twice our size, she might speedily have sunk us. mr gale and peter were at the helm to try and sheer the brig clear of her as she approached us. this, however, was not easily effected when there was but a slight current. down came the ship! "stand by with your axes, my lads, to cut her clear if she touches us!" shouted the captain. the ship was still some way off, and before she reached us, a schooner broke from her anchorage just ahead of us and drove towards us. the poor fellows on board stood ready to leap on our deck had she touched us; but she just grazed by, her main-rigging for an instant catching in ours. a few strokes of an axe cut her clear, and before any of her crew could reach us she was driven onward. in another instant the wind catching her side, she turned completely over. there was a wild shriek of despair from her hapless crew. for a few moments they struggled desperately for life; but the wind and the waves quickly drove those off who had clung to the driving hulk, and soon not a trace of them or her could we perceive. while this was occurring the old man stood unmoved near the helm, watching the approaching ship. "arm your people with axes, captain helfrich, you'll want them," said he quietly. his advice was followed. the ship came driving down on us on the starboard bow. it appeared that if she struck us she must sink us at the moment. our helm was put to starboard, and by sheering a little to the other side, we escaped the dreaded blow. at that instant she turned round, and her main-yard got foul of our after-rigging. this brought our sides together, and she hung dragging on us. instantly all hands flew to cut her adrift, for already we had begun to drag our anchors. if we escaped sinking at once, there was certain prospect of both of us being cast on shore. some of her crew endeavoured to get on board the _rainbow_; but at the moment they were making the attempt, down came our mainmast, crushing several of our people beneath it. i saw the captain fall, and i thought he was killed. the first mate was much hurt. still the ship hung to us, grinding away at our side and quarter, and destroying our bulwark and boats. the foremast, it was evident, would soon follow the mainmast, when the stranger wielding a glittering axe, sprung, with the agility of a young man, towards the stays and other ropes which held them, and one after the other severed them. his example was followed by mr gale and the crew, and in a shorter time than it has taken to describe the scene, we were freed from our huge destroyer. she went away to leeward, and very soon met her fate. still the hurricane raged on. we were not safe, for other vessels might drive against us. however, our next work was to clear the wreck. no one was more active in this than the stranger. at first we thought that the captain was dead; but the news spread that, though much injured, he was still alive. almost blinded by the spray and rain and vivid lightning, the crew worked on. at length the storm ceased almost as suddenly as it had begun; but words cannot describe the scenes of destruction which were presented to our eyes on every side, wrecks strewed the shore, and the plantations inland seemed but masses of ruin. night at last came, and the ship was made snug. when i went on deck early in the morning, i looked about for the stranger. neither he nor his black attendant, nor his chests and boat were to be found. yet it was declared that no one had seen them leave the ship! this unaccountable disappearance made all hands wonder still more who the mysterious stranger could be. such was my first introduction to the west indies. chapter four. the return home. "hurrah! hurrah! erin-go-bragh!" such were the cries which the irish part of our crew uttered, and in which i through sympathy joined, as once more the capstan was manned, and the anchor being hove up, and the topsails sheeted home, we made sail for dublin. we had been longer than usual at kingston; for the damage the brig had received in the hurricane, and the illness of the captain, which impeded the collection of freight, had much delayed us. in reality our return home brought very little satisfaction to me. i had no friends to see, no one to care for me. i therefore remained on board to assist the ship-keeper; and the whole time we were in the dublin dock i scarcely ever set my foot on shore. the same thing occurred after my second voyage. i did not attempt to form a friendship with anyone. not that i was of a sulky disposition; but i was not inclined to make advances, and no one offered me his friendship. the ship-keeper, old pat hagan, had seen a great deal of the world, and picked up a good deal of information in his time, and i was never tired of listening to his yarns; and thus, though i had no books, i learned more of things in general than if i had bad; for i was but a bad reader at any time. pat trusted to a good memory, for he had never looked into a book in his life. thus, with a pretty fair second-hand knowledge of the world, i sailed on my third voyage to the west indies in the _rainbow_. we had the same officers, and several of the crew had rejoined her, who were in her when i first went to sea. i had now become strong and active, and though still little and young-looking, i had all my wits wide-awake, and knew well what i was about. the captain had taken another boy in the cabin instead of me, and i was sent forward to learn seamanship; which was, in reality, an advantage to me, though i had thus a rougher life of it than aft. still i believe that i never lost the captain's good-will, though he was not a man to talk to me about it. once more, then, the stout old brig was following her accustomed track across the atlantic. peter poplar was also on board. we had been about a fortnight at sea, when, the ship lying almost becalmed with a blue sky overhead, a large white cloud was seen slowly approaching us. the lower part hung down and grew darker and darker, till it formed almost a point. below the point was a wild bubbling and boiling of the water, although the surrounding sea was as smooth as glass. "what can that be?" said i to peter. "are there any fish there?" "no--fish! certainly not; but you'll soon see," he answered. "i wish it were further off; i don't like it so near." "why, what harm can it do?" i asked. "send as stout a ship as we are to the bottom with scant warning!" he answered. "that's a water-spout. i've seen one rise directly ahead of a ship, and before there was time to attempt to escape it, down it came bodily on her deck like a heavy sea falling over a vessel. she never rose again, but went down like a shot." "i hope that won't be our fate," said i. at that moment the captain came on deck. "get ready a gun there, forward!" he sung out. "quick now!" while i had been talking to peter, a pillar of water had risen out of the sea, so it seemed; and, having joined the point hanging from the cloud, came whirling towards us. had there been sufficient wind to send the ship through the water, we might have avoided it; but there was scarcely steerage-way on her. i thought of what peter had just told me, and i thought if it does break over us, it will certainly send us to the bottom. the captain ordered the slow match to be brought to him, and went forward to the gun, which had been loaded and run out. on came the water-spout. i could not conceive what he was going to do. he stooped down, and, running his eye along the gun, fired a shot right through the watery pillar. down came the liquid mass with a thundering sound into the sea, but clear of the ship, though even our deck got a little sprinkling; and when i looked up at the sky, not a sign of a cloud was there. peter told me that we ought to be thankful that we had escaped the danger so well, for that he had never been in greater risk from a water-spout in his life. we used frequently to catch dolphins during the passage, by striking them with a small harpoon as they played under the bow of the brig. they are not at all like the creatures i remember carved in stone at the entrance of some gentleman's park near dublin. they measure about four feet in length; are thick in the middle, with a green back and a yellow belly, and have a sinking between the tip of the snout and the top of the head; indeed, they are something like a large salmon. we used to eat them, and they were considered like a fat turbot. frequently flying-fish fell on our deck in attempting to escape from their two enemies--the dolphin and the bonito: but they fell, if not from the frying-pan into the fire, from the water into the frying-pan; for we used to eat them also. indeed nothing comes amiss to a sailor's mess. the flying-fish, which is about the size of a herring, has two long fins which serve it as wings; but it can only keep in the air so long as its fins remain wet. these fish, like herrings, also swim together in large shoals, which, as their pursuers come among them, scatter themselves far and wide. nothing very particular occurred on the passage, till once more we made the land. i went aloft when i heard the ever-welcome cry from the foretopmast-head: "land! land on the starboard bow!" then i saw it rising in a succession of faint blue hills out of the sparkling sea. peter told me that it was the large island of hispaniola, or saint domingo, and that it belonged partly to spain and partly to france; but that there were a great number of blacks and coloured people there, many of whom were free and possessed considerable wealth. not long after this, in the year , these coloured people rose on the whites, who had long tyrannised over them, and having murdered vast numbers, declared their island an independent kingdom. we were entering, i found, the caribbean sea by the porto rico passage; and were to coast along the southern shore on our course to jamaica. now and then we were sufficiently close in with the land to make out objects distinctly; but, in general, we kept well out at sea, as it is not a coast seamen are fond of hugging. the silvery mist of the early morning still lay over the land, when, right ahead of us, the white canvas of a vessel appeared shining brightly in the rays of the rising sun. the officer of the watch called the attention of the captain to her. peter and i were also looking out forward. "why, jack!" he exclaimed, "she's the very craft which put that old gentleman aboard the time we came away from saint kitt's, you remember?" "of course i do," said i. "she is like her, at all events; and as for that old gentleman, i shall not forget him and his ways in a hurry." "he was a strange man, certainly," observed peter. "the captain seems to have a suspicion about the craft out there. see, he and the mates are talking together. they don't like her looks." still we stood on with all sails set. much the same scene occurred which had happened before, when we saw the felucca off saint kitt's. ammunition was got up--the guns were all ready to run out--the small-arms were served out--and the passengers brought out their pistols and fowling-pieces. everybody, indeed, became very warlike and heroic. still the little craft which called forth these demonstrations, as she lay dipping her bows into the swell, with her canvas of whiteness so snowy, the emblem of purity, looked so innocent and pretty, that a landsman would scarcely have expected any harm to come out of her. yet those accustomed to the west indies had cause to dread that style of craft, capable of carrying a numerous crew, of pulling a large number of oars, and of running up a narrow river, or shallow lagoon, to escape pursuit. at last we came up with the felucca. she lay hove-to with her head towards us. there was, certainly, a very suspicious look about her, from the very apathy with which the few people on deck regarded us. however, as we looked down on her deck, we saw six guns lashed along her bulwarks, and amidship there was something covered with a tarpaulin, which might be a heavier gun than the rest. we stood on till her broadside was brought to bear on our counter. at that moment, up sprung from each hatchway some sixty as ugly-looking cut-throats as i ever wish to see; and they were busily engaged in rapidly casting loose their guns; and we were on the point of firing, when, who should we see on their deck, but the old man who had been our passenger! he instantly recognised captain helfrich, who was standing near the taffrail, and making a sign to the crew of the felucca, they dived below as quickly as they had appeared. he took off his three-cornered hat and waved it to our captain, who waved his in return; and then he made a sign that he would come on board us. instantly the captain ordered the sails to be clewed up. had the old gentleman been an admiral, he could not have been obeyed more promptly. a boat shoved off from the felucca with four hands in her, and he came on board us. the big negro was not with him, nor did i see him on the deck of the felucca. the captain and the stranger were closeted together for a quarter of an hour or more; and the latter then coming on deck, bowed, with somewhat mock politeness to the passengers, who were assembled staring at him, and stepped into his boat. no sooner had he gone, than we again made sail. the felucca lay hove-to some little time. she then wore round, and stood after us. so rapidly did she come up with us, that it was very clear we had not the slightest chance of getting away from her, however much we might wish to do so. she kept us company all the day, and at night, in the first watch, i could see her shadowy form gliding over the sea astern of us. peter and i talked the matter over together in a whisper. "i'll tell you what i think is something like the truth," said he. "to my mind it's this:--when the captain was a young man out in these parts, he fell in with that old gentleman,--who isn't so old though as he pretends to be. well, the captain went and did something to put himself in his power; and that's the reason the captain is so afraid of him. and then, from what i see, i suspect that the captain saved him from drowning, or maybe from hanging; or in some way or other preserved his life; and that makes him grateful, and ready to do the captain a good turn; or, at all events, prevents him from doing him a bad one. if it was not for that, we should have had all our throats cut by those gentry, if we hadn't managed to beat them off; and that would have been no easy job. i may be wrong altogether, but this is what i think," continued peter. "there's one thing, particularly, i want to say to you, jack: never go and do anything wrong, and fancy that it will end with the thing done. there's many a man who has done a wrong thing in his youth, and has gone through life as if he had a rope round his neck, and he has found it turning up here and there, and staring him in the face when he has least expected it. when once a bad thing is done, you can't get rid of it-- you can't undo it--you can't get away from it, any more than you can call the dead to life. you may try to forget it; but something or other will always remind you of it, as long as you live. then, remember there is another life we've got to look to, when every single thing we've done on earth must be remembered--must be acknowledged--must be made known. you and i, and every sailor, should know that any moment we may be sent into another world to begin that new life, and to stand before god's judgment-seat. i think of this myself sometimes; but i wish that i could think of it always; and that i ever had remembered it. had i always thought of that awful truth, there are many things i could not possibly have ventured to do which i have done; and many things which i have left undone, which i should have done. jack, my boy, i say i have done you some little good, but there's no good i could ever possibly do you greater than teaching you to remember that truth always. but i must not knock off this matter without warning you, that i may be thinking unjustly of the captain: and i certainly would not speak to anyone else aboard as i have done to you." i thanked peter for the advice he had given me, and promised that i would not repeat what he had said. "can you see the felucca, tillson?" i heard mr gale say to tom, who was reputed to have the sharpest eyes aboard. "no, sir; she's nowhere where she was," he answered, after peering for some time into the darkness astern. we all kept looking out for some time, but she did not reappear. the mate seemed to breathe more freely, and i must say that i was glad to be rid of the near neighbourhood of the mysterious stranger. when morning broke, she was nowhere to be seen. whenever, during that and the following days, a sail appeared anywhere abaft the beam, till her rig was ascertained, it was instantly surmised that she was the felucca coming back to overhaul us. even the mates did not seem quite comfortable about the matter; and the captain was a changed man. his usual buoyant spirits had deserted him, and he was silent and thoughtful. i could not help thinking that peter's surmises were correct. at last we brought up once more in port-royal harbour. having landed our passengers, and discharged our cargo, we sailed again for morant bay, saint thomas's, and other places along the coast, to take in a freight of sugar, which was sent down in hogsheads from the plantations in the neighbourhood. we were rather earlier than usual, and we had some time to wait till the casks were ready for us. on one of these occasions the captain was invited by a planter, mr johnstone by name, to pay him a visit at his farm, which was some way up the country. in that climate every gentleman has a servant to attend on him; and all the planters, and others who live there, always have negroes to help them to wash and dress in the morning, to put on their stockings, and all that sort of thing. as the captain had no black fellow to wait on him, he told me that he should want me to accompany him, and i was too glad to have a chance of seeing something of the country. meantime, to collect our freight faster, he had chartered a schooner which was lying idle in the harbour, and sent her round to the various smaller ports to pick it up, and to bring it to the brig. he had put her under charge of mr gale, who had with him peter poplar and several other of our men, and also a few blacks, who were hired as seamen. i thought it very good fun when i found myself once more on a horse; i had not got on the back of one since i was a little boy in dublin, and then, of course, there was no saddle nor stirrups, and only an old rope for a bridle. they are generally razor-backed beasts, with one or two raws, and blind, at least, of one eye. the captain was mounted on a strong spanish horse well able to bear him, and i followed on a frisky little animal with his valise and carpet-bags. i wish that i could describe the wonderful trees we passed. i remember the wild plantains, with huge leaves split into slips, and their red seed-pods hanging down at the end of twisted ropes; the tall palms, with their feathery tops; the monster aloes, with their long flashy thorny leaves; and the ferns as large as trees, and yet as beautifully cut as those in our own country, which clothed every hillside where a fountain flowed forth; and then the countless variety of creepers, whose beautiful tracery crowned every rock, and hung down in graceful festoons from the lofty trees. now and then, as passing through a valley and mounting a hill, we stopped and looked back, we caught sight of the blue sparkling sea, with the brig and other vessels in the harbour; a few white sails glancing in the sun, between it and the horizon; and nearer to us, valleys with rich fields and streams of water, and orchards of oranges, limes, and shaddocks; and planters' houses with gardens full of beautiful flowers, and negro huts under the shade of the plantain-trees. then there were those forest-giants, the silk-cotton-trees, and various kinds of fig-trees and pines, such as in the old world are never seen. but the creepers i have spoken of make the woods still more curious, and unlike anything at home. first, a creeper drops down from a branch feet high, and then another falls close to it, and the wind blows and twists them together; others grow round it till it takes root, and form a lofty pillar which supports the immense mass of twisting and twining stems above. as we rode along, i saw from many a lofty branch the net-like nests of the corn-bird hanging at the end of long creepers. those mischievous rascals, the monkeys, are fond of eggs, and will take great pains to get them; so the corn-bird, to outwit them, thus secures her nest. it has an entrance at the bottom, and is shaped like a net-bag full of balls. there the wise bird sits free from danger, swinging backwards and forwards in the breeze. we slept that night at the house of a friend of the captain's, who had come out with him in the brig. it was a low building of one storey, with steps leading up to it, and built chiefly of wood. a veranda ran all the way round it. the rooms were very large, but not so handsomely furnished, i thought, as the captain's cabin. people do eat curious food in the west indies. among other things, there was a monkey on the table; but if it had not been for the name of the thing, i cannot say there was any harm in it. i got a bit of it after it was taken from the table, and it was very like chicken. there were lizards and snakes, which were very delicate. there was a cabbage cut from the very top of a lofty tree, the palmetto; but that tree is too valuable to be cut down often for the purpose. then there were all sorts of sweetmeats and dishes made with them. i recollect a mass of guava-jelly swimming in a bowl full of cream, and wine, and sugar, and citron. there were plenty of substantials also; and wines and liquids of all sorts. i know that i thought i should very much like to live on shore, and turn planter. i had reason afterwards to think that they had bitters as well as sweets to taste, so i remained contented, as i have ever been, with my lot. at night, the captain had a sofa given him to sleep on in the dining-room, and i had a rug in another corner. it was many a long night since i had slept on shore, and i was constantly startled by the strange noises i heard. often it was only the wind rustling in the palm-trees; but when i opened my eyes, i saw one whole side of the room sparkling with flashes of light; then it would burst forth on the other side; and then here and there single bright stars would gleam and vanish; and lastly, the entire roof would be lighted up. i dared not wake the captain to ask what was the matter, and it was not till afterwards that i discovered that the light was produced by fireflies, which are far more brilliant than the glow-worms of more northern climes. i had gone to sleep, when, just before daybreak, i was again awoke by a most terrific yelling, and screeching, and laughing, and roaring. i thought that the savages were down upon us, or that all the wild beasts in the country were coming to devour us. i could stand it no longer, but shrieked out, "o captain, captain! what's going to happen us?" the captain started up, and listened, and then burst into a fit of laughter. "why, you young jackanapes, they are only some of your brothers, the monkeys, holding a morning concert," said he. "go to sleep again; don't rouse me up for such nonsense as that." i found afterwards that the noise did proceed only from monkeys, though i did not suppose that such small animals could have made such hideous sounds. to go to sleep again, however, i found was impossible, as i had already enjoyed much more than i usually got on a stretch. the captain, on the contrary, went off again directly; but his sleep was much disturbed, for he tumbled about and spoke so loudly, that at times i thought he was awake and calling me. "you'll make me, will you?" i heard him say. "i don't fear you, captain ralph. i--a pirate--so i might have been called--i was but a lad--i consented to no deed of blood--it cannot be brought against me--well, i know--i know--i acknowledge my debt to you.--you exact it to the uttermost--i'll obey you--the merchants deem me an honest trader--what would they say if they heard me called pirate?--ha, ha, ha?" he laughed long and bitterly. i was very glad that no one else was in the room to hear what the captain was saying. a stranger would certainly have thought much worse of him than he deserved. i had now been so long with him that i was confident, whatever he might have done in his youth, that he was now an honest and well-intentioned man. at the same time i could no longer have any doubts that peter's surmises about him were correct, "that old gentleman aboard the felucca is captain ralph, then," i thought to myself, "if i ever fall in with him, i shall know how to address him, at all events." at length the captain awoke; and after an early breakfast, the owner took him round the plantation, and i was allowed to follow them. the sugar-cane grows about six feet high, and has several stalks on one root. it is full of joints, three or four inches apart. the leaves are light green; the stalk yellow when ripe. the mode of cultivation is interesting. a trench is dug from one end of the field to the other, and in it longways are laid two rows of cane. from each joint of these canes spring a root and several sprouts. they come up soon after they are planted, and in twelve weeks are two feet high. if they come up irregularly, the field is set on fire from the outside, which drives the rats, the great destroyers of the cane, to the centre, where they are killed. the ashes of the stalks and weeds serve to manure the field, which often produces a better crop than before. the canes are cut with a billhook, one at a time; and being fastened together in faggots, are sent off to the crushing-mill on mules' backs or in carts. windmills are much in use. the canes are crushed by rollers and as the juice is pressed out, it runs into a cistern near the boiling-house. there it remains a day, and is then drawn off into a succession of boilers, where all the refuse is skimmed off. to turn it into grains, lime-water is poured into it; and when this makes it ferment, a small piece of tallow, the size of a nut, is thrown in. it is next drawn into pots to cool, with holes in the bottom through which the molasses drain off. rum is made from the molasses, which being mixed with about five times as much water, is put into a still. there are three sorts of _cotton-trees_. one creeps on the earth like a vine; another is a bushy dwarf tree; and the third is as high as an oak. the second-named, after it has produced very beautiful flowers about the size of a rose, is loaded with a fruit as large as a walnut, the outward coat of which is black. this fruit, when it is fully ripe, opens, and a down is discovered of extreme whiteness, which is the cotton. the seeds are separated from it by a mill. the stem of the cacao-tree is about four inches in diameter. in height it is about twelve feet from the ground. the cacao grows in pods shaped like cucumbers. each pod contains from three to five nuts, the size of small chestnuts, which are separated from each other by a white substance like the pulp of a roasted apple. the pods are found only on the larger boughs, and at the same time the tree bears blossoms and young fruit. the pods are cut down when ripe, and allowed to remain three or four days in a heap to ferment. the nuts are then cut out, and put into a trough covered with plantain-leaves, where they remain nearly twenty days; and, lastly, dried three or four weeks in: the sun. indigo is made from an herb not unlike hemp. this is cut, and put into pits with water; and being continually stirred up, forms a sort of mud, which, when dry, is broken into bits for exportation. i will mention one plant more of general use--coffee. it is a shrub, with leaves of a dark-green colour. the berries grow in large clusters. the bean is enclosed in a scarlet pulp, often eaten, but very luscious. one bush produces several pounds. when the fruit is ripe, it turns black, and is then gathered; and the berries, being separated from the husk, are exposed to the sun till quite dry, when they are fit for the market. however, i might go on all day describing the curious plants, and trees, and animals, and birds i saw. i must speak of the ginger. the blade is not unlike that of wheat. the roots, which are used, are dug up and scraped free from the outward skin by the negroes. this is the best way of preparing it, and it is then soft and white; but often, from want of hands, it is boiled, when the root becomes hard and tough, and is of much less value. i shall never forget the beautiful humming-birds, with magnificent plumage gleaming in the sun, and tongues fine as needles, yet hollow, with which they suck the juices from flowers. we did not, on account of the heat, recommence our journey till the afternoon. the planter accompanied us. i heard him and the captain talking about the outbreaks of the fugitive negroes in former days. "they are a little inclined to be saucy just now," i heard him remark. "but we taught them a lesson which they will not easily forget. those we caught we punished in every way we could think of. hanging was too mild for them. some we burned before slow fires; others were tied up by the heels; and others were lashed to stakes, their bodies covered over with molasses to attract the flies, and then allowed to starve to death. oh, we know how to punish rebels in this country." i listened to what the planter was saying. i could scarcely believe the testimony of my ears. was it really a man professing to be a christian thus talking, thus boasting of the most horrible cruelties which even the fiercest savages could not surpass? the captain replied, that he supposed they deserved what they got, though, for his part, he thought if a man was deserving of death, he should be hung or shot outright, but that he did not approve of killing people by inches. from what i heard i was not surprised to find that there were large numbers of these revolted negroes, under the name of maroons, living among the mountain-fastnesses in the interior of the island, where they could not be reached; that their numbers were continually augmented by runaway slaves; and that they declined to submit to the clemency of the whites. it was quite dark before we reached the house of the planter, where the captain proposed to spend a few days. it stood on the side of a hill covered with trees, and had a considerable slope below it. it was a rough wooden edifice, of one storey, though of considerable size, and had a veranda running round it. besides the owner, there were the overseer, and two or three white assistants; and an attorney, a gentleman who manages the law business of an estate; and two english friends. altogether, there was a large party in the house. during dinner the company began to talk about pirates, and i saw the captain's colour change. the attorney said that several piracies had been committed lately in the very neighbourhood of jamaica; and that unarmed vessels, in different parts of the west indies, were constantly attacked and plundered. they remarked that it was difficult to find out these piratical craft. sometimes the pirates appeared in one guise and sometimes in another; at one time in a schooner, at others in a felucca, or in a brig; and often even in open boats. "yes," observed the attorney, "they seem to have excellent information of all that goes on in kingston. i suspect that they have confederates on shore, who tell them all they want to know." i thought the captain would have fallen off his chair, but he quickly recovered himself, and no one appeared to have remarked his agitation. they did carry on, to be sure! what quantities of wine and rum-punch they drank! how their heads could stand it i don't know. two or three of them did roll under the table, when their black slaves came and dragged them off to bed; which must have raised them in the negroes' opinion. even the captain, who was generally a very sober man, got up and sang songs and made speeches for half an hour when no one was listening. at last the slaves cleared the dining-room, and beds were made up there for several of the party. i was afraid that the captain might begin to talk again in his sleep of his early days, and accuse himself of being a pirate; and i was anxious to warn him, lest anyone might be listening; but then, i thought to myself, they are all so drunk no one will understand him, and he won't like to be reminded by me of such things as that. the night seemed to be passing quietly away. as i lay on a rug in the corner of the room, i could hear the sound of some night-birds, or frogs, or crickets, and the rustling of the wind among the plantain-leaves, till i fell asleep. before long, however, i started up, and thought that the monkeys had begun their concert at an earlier hour than usual. there were the most unearthly cries and shrieks imaginable, which seemed to come from all sides of the house, both from a distance and close at hand. for a moment all was silent, and then they were repeated louder than before. had not the company been heavy with drink, they must have been awoke at once. as it was, the second discharge of shrieks and cries roused them up, and in another minute people came rushing into the dining-hall from different parts of the house, their pale countenances showing the terror they felt. "what's the matter? what's all this?" they exclaimed. "that the negroes have come down from the hills, and that we shall all be murdered!" exclaimed the master of the house, who had just hurried in with a rifle in his hand. "gentlemen, we may defend ourselves, and sell our lives dearly, but that is all i can hope for." "let us see what can be done," said captain helfrich coolly. "this house may not stand a long siege, perhaps, though we'll do our best to prepare it. we'll block up the windows and all outlets as fast as we can. see, get all the rice and coffee bags to be found, and fill them with earth; we may soon build up a tolerably strong fortification." the captain's confidence and coolness encouraged others, and every one set to work with a will to make the proposed preparations. all the household slaves, and several blacks residing in the neighbouring huts had come into the house to share their master's fortunes but the greater number had run away and hid themselves. there was no lack of muskets and ammunition; indeed, there were among us weapons sufficient to arm twice as many men as were assembled. the white gentlemen were generally full of fight, and began to talk hopefully of quickly driving back the maroons: but the blacks were in a great state of excitement, and ran about the house chattering like so many monkeys, tumbling over each other, and rather impeding than forwarding the work to be done. though matters were serious enough, i, with a youngster's thoughtlessness, enjoyed a fit of laughter while we were in the middle and hottest hurry of our preparations. it happened that two stout blackies rushed into the hall from different quarters, one bearing on his back a sack of earth, the other a bundle of canes or battens. tilt they went with heads stooping down right against each other. their skulls met with a clap like thunder, and both went sprawling over on their backs, with their legs up in the air. the sack burst, and out tumbled the earth; and the bundle of canes separating, lay in a confused heap. "for what you do dat, jupiter?" exclaimed he of the canes, as he jumped up ready to make another butt at his opponent. "oh, ki! you stupid caesar, you 'spose i got eyes all round," replied jupiter, leaping on his legs with the empty sack hanging round his nook, and stooping down his head ready to receive the expected assault. the black knights were on the point of meeting, and would probably each have had another fall, when one of the overseers passing bestowed a few kicks upon caesar. off ran the hero, and jupiter expecting the same treatment, took himself off to bring in a fresh bag of earth. ten minutes or a quarter of an hour passed away, but still the rebels did not commence their attack. the overseer said that they had uttered the shrieks to frighten us, and also to get the slaves to desert us, that they might murder us alone. i should have supposed that, like other savages, they would have crept silently on us, so as to have taken us unawares; but negroes, i have remarked, seldom act like other races of people. during the short time which had passed since the alarm was given, we had made very tolerable preparations to receive the rebels. i had been running about, trying to make myself as useful as i could, when the captain called me up to him. "i'm glad to see you wide-awake, jack," said he. "remember, when the fight begins, as it will before long, stick close to me. i may want to send you here and there for something or other; and if the worst comes, and we are overpowered, we must try to cut our way out through the rascals. now set to work, and load those muskets; you know how, i think. ay, that will do; keep loading them as fast as i discharge them. we may teach the niggers a lesson they don't expect." i was very proud of being thus spoken to by the captain, for it was the first time that he had ever condescended to address me in so familiar a way. it was generally--"boy, bring me my shoes;" "jump forward there, and call the carpenter." i resolved to do my best not to disappoint him. i placed the powder-flask and bullets on one side of me, and the muskets on the other, so that i could load one after the other without altering my position. it never occurred to me all the time that there was the slightest degree of danger. i thought that we had only to blaze away at the niggers, and that they would run off as fast as their legs could carry them. never was i more mistaken. soon after the captain had spoken to me we were startled by another thunder-clap of shouts, and shrieks, and unearthly cries, followed by several shot, the ringing taps which succeeded each showing that the bullets had struck the house. presently a negro, who had been sent to keep a look-out on the roof, came tumbling through a skylight, exclaiming, "dey is coming, dey is coming, oh ki!" directly after this announcement, the shrieks and cries were heard like a chorus of demons, and it was evident that our enemies were closely surrounding us. whichever way we turned, looking up the hill or down the valley, the terrific noises seemed to come loudest and most continuous from that quarter. captain helfrich, as if by the direct appointment of all, took the command. "now, my lads, be steady," he exclaimed; "don't throw your shots away. you'll want all you've got, and a bullet is worth the life of a foe." each man on this grasped his musket; but the negroes held theirs as if they were very much more afraid of the weapons doing them harm than of hurting their enemies. the greater number of the lights in the house had been put out, a few lanterns only remaining here and there, carefully shaded, to show us our way about. not a word or a sound was uttered by any of us, and thus in darkness and silence we awaited the onslaught of our enemies. chapter five. the planter's house besieged. the maroons did not leave us long in suspense. once more uttering the most fearful and bewildering shrieks, they advanced from every quarter, completely surrounding, as we judged, the house. for a minute they halted, and must have fired every musket they had among them. loopholes had been left in all the windows, and every now and then i peeped through one of them, to try and discover what was taking place. there was just sufficient light to enable me to see the dusky forms of the rebels breaking through the fences and shrubberies which surrounded the house. as they arrived, they formed in front, dancing, and shrieking, and firing off their muskets and blunderbusses in the most irregular fashion, expending a great deal of gunpowder, but doing us no harm. captain helfrich was watching them. when some hundreds had been thus collected, he suddenly exclaimed, "now, my lads, give it them! don't throw your shots away on the bushes!" obedient to the order, every man in the house fired, and continued firing as fast as he could load his musket. i dropped on my knee alongside the arms the captain had appropriated, and as i handed a loaded musket to him he gave me back the one he had fired, which i reloaded as rapidly as i could. this continued for some minutes, the constant shrieks and groans of our black assailants showing us that the shot frequently took effect. i believe, indeed, that very few of the captain's missed. though he fired rapidly, it was always with coolness and steadiness, and it appeared to me that he had singled out his victim before he turned round to take the musket from me. as yet none of our people had been killed, though some of the enemy's shot had found their way through the loopholes in the windows and doors. growing, however, more desperate at the loss of their companions, and burning for revenge, they rushed up closer to the house, pouring in their fire, which searched out every hole and cranny. some of the slaves who incautiously exposed themselves were the first to suffer. a poor fellow was standing at the window next to me. a bullet struck him on the breast. it was fired from a tree, i suspect. down he fell, crying out piteously, and writhing in his agony. it was very dreadful. then the blood rushed out of his mouth in torrents, and he was quiet. i sprang forward, intending to help him. the pale light of the lantern fell on his countenance. he looked perfectly calm. i thought he was resting, and would get up soon and fire away again. my glance was but momentary, for the captain called me back to my post. the fire on this became hotter and hotter. two more negroes were struck. they did not fall, but cried out most piteously. one of the english gentlemen was next shot. he fell without a groan. the captain told me to run and see where he was hurt. i tried to lift him up, but his limbs fell down motionless. there was a deep hole in his forehead, through which blood was bubbling. i suspected the truth that he was dead. i told the captain that he was hit on the head. "leave him, then, jack," said he; "you can do him no good." on my return, i looked at the negro who had been first hit. he, too, was motionless. i tried to place him in a sitting posture, but he fell back again. "let him alone, jack," cried the captain; "his work is done; he's no longer a slave." i thus found that the negro also was dead. it seemed very dreadful to me; i burst into tears. i cried heartily as i knelt loading the muskets, forgetting that in a short time the captain, and i, and every one in the house, might be in the same state. had not the whites shown great determination, all must before this have fallen victims to the rage of the maroons. numbers of our enemies were shot, but still they rushed on, resolved to destroy the house and all in it. while the uproar they made was at its height, a loud battering was heard at one of the doors. the enemy had cut down the trunk of a young tree, and were endeavouring to break in the door with it. the captain and the other gentlemen shot down several who were thus engaged, but still they persevered; and, as some fell, fresh assailants rushing up, seized the battering-ram, and continued the work. the door was stout, but we saw that it was giving way. it began to crack in every direction. pieces of furniture and sand-bags were piled up against it, but with little avail. each blow shattered a part of it, and soon, with a loud crash, it was driven in, and the fierce, excited faces of our dark foes were seen above the barricade formed by the bags, and furniture, and broken door. several who attempted to pass over it were shot down, but our people being now much more than ever exposed to the fire of the enemy, proportionably suffered. the shot came in thick among us, and one after the other was wounded. while the captain and others were defending the breach, the battering-ram was withdrawn; why, we were not long left in doubt. to our great horror, the battering, cracking sound was heard in the rear of the house. still we were not at once to be defeated, and some of our party hurried to defend the spot. the attack on the front-door had cost the negroes so many lives that they were more cautious in approaching the second; and, when our party began to fire, they retreated under shelter, leaving the trunk of the tree on the ground. at the same time, they began apparently to weary of their ill success in front of the house; for of course they could not be aware that they had killed any of its defenders. we were thus hoping that they would at length withdraw, when the whole country in front of us seemed to burst into flame. "they have set the fields on fire!" exclaimed the planter. "no, no," said captain helfrich; "worse than that--see there? our watch is out, depend on that. not one of us will see another sun arise. so, my men, let us sally out, and sell our lives dearly." i looked through one of the loopholes to see what he meant. emerging from among the trees came hundreds of dusky forms, each man bearing in his hand a torch which he flourished wildly above his head, dancing and shrieking furiously. i thought the captain's advice would be followed, but it was not. the rest of the party were either too badly wounded or wanted nerve for the exploit, and the slaves could not be depended on. all we did was to guard the battered-in door, and to fire away as before. on came the maroons with their frantic gestures, and, to our horror, as soon as they reached the door, they began to throw their torches in among us. at first we tried to trample out the fire under foot, but they soon outmastered our powers, and the furniture which composed our barricade ignited, so did the walls of the house, and the negroes shrieking and cheering, encouraged each other in throwing in fresh torches to overwhelm us. still, induced to fight on by my gallant captain, we continued our exertions, when the attack on the back-door was renewed. it gave way! loud shouts burst from the maroons. their revenge was about to be satiated. "now, my lads, follow me," shouted the captain; "we'll cut our way through them. stick to me, jack, whatever you do!" as he said this, he seized a cutlass which lay on the ground, and, before the negroes had time to bring the torches round to that side, he rushed through the back-door which they had just battered down. i clung to his skirts as he told me, springing along so as not to impede him; and so heartily did he lay about him with his weapon, cutting off by a blow a head of one and an arm of another, that he speedily cleared himself a wide passage. several of our party endeavoured to follow him with such weapons as they could seize, but, unable to make the progress he did, they were either knocked down and captured or killed on the spot. on we went towards the wood behind the house, but we had still numberless enemies on every side of us,--enemies who seemed resolved not to allow any of their intended victims to escape them. i did not think it possible that any man could keep so many foes at bay as did the captain. just as i thought we should escape, his foot caught in a snake-like creeping root which ran along the ground. over he went almost flat on his face; but he did not lose a grasp of his sword. he tried to rise, and i endeavoured to pull him up. he was almost once more on his feet, when another creeper caught his foot. again he fell, and this time our enemies were too quick for him. rushing on him by hundreds, they threw themselves on his body, almost suffocating him as they held him down by main force. i was treated much in the same way, when a huge negro caught me up by the back of the neck, and made as if he was about to cut off my head. he did not do so, but held me tightly by the collar while the rest secured the captain. flames were now bursting forth from every part of the planter's house, and lighted up the surrounding landscape,--the tall plantains and cotton and fig-trees, the tangled mass of creepers and their delicate tracery as they hung from their lofty boughs, the fields of sugar-cane, the cactus-bushes, and numberless other shrubs, and the grey sombre mountain-tops beyond. from the way the blacks were running here and there in dense masses, and the excited shouts i heard, i discovered that they were in pursuit of some of the late defenders of the house, who, when too late, were endeavouring to make their escape. had they closely followed the captain, they might all, perhaps, have cut their way through the enemy. the blacks seemed to consider the captain a perfect samson, for they lashed his arms and legs in every way they could think of; and then making a sort of litter, they put him on it, and carried him along towards the mountains. they treated me with less ceremony. my first captors handed me over to four of them, who contented themselves with merely binding my arms, and driving me before them at the points of their weapons. now and then one of them, more vicious than the rest, would dig the point of his spear into me, to expedite my movement. i could not help turning round each time with a face expressive, i daresay, of no little anger or pain, at which his companions all laughed, as if it were a very good joke. they seemed to do this to recompense themselves for the loss of the booty they might have supposed the rest were collecting from the burning house. we had not proceeded far before we were joined by a large band, carrying along, bound hand and foot, the survivors among the defenders of the house. the planter himself, and four or five of his guests, were there, and seven or eight slaves. from the disappearance of the rest of the maroons, i concluded that they had gone off to attack some other residences. on we went hour after hour, and when the sun rose, exposed to its broiling heat, without stopping. the negroes ate as they went along, but gave us nothing. it would have been a painful journey, at all events; but when we expected to be tortured and put to death at the end of it, i found it doubly grievous to be endured. i longed for a dagger, and that i might find my arms free, to fight my way out from among them. at last i thought that it would be the best way to appear totally unconcerned when they hurt me, so that i became no longer a subject for their merriment. at length, about noon, we stopped to rest; and most of our guards, after eating their meal of plantains, went to sleep. i thought that it would be a good opportunity to try and get near the captain, to learn if he thought that there was any chance of our escaping. some few of the maroons, with arms in their hands, sat up watching us narrowly; i therefore put on as unconcerned a manner as possible, and lay down on the ground, pretending to go to sleep likewise. i in return watched our guards, and one by one i saw sleep exerting its influence over them. their eyes rolled round in their heads like those of owls; their heads nodded; then they looked up, trying to appear prodigiously wise; but it would not do, and at length the whole camp was asleep. i considered that now or never was my time for communicating with the captain. though i saw that no one near was likely to observe me, i thought that some one at a distance might, and therefore that it would be necessary to be cautious. instead of getting up and walking, i rolled myself gently over and over till i got close up to him. "captain," said i, very softly--"captain helfrich, sir. i am here. what can i do?" he was drowsy, and at first did not hear me; but soon rousing himself, he turned his eyes towards me, for he could not move his head. "ah, jack! is that you?" said he; "we are in a bad plight, lad." "do you think the savages are going to kill us, sir?" said i. "no doubt about it, jack, if we are not rescued, or don't manage to escape," he answered. "i see little prospect of either event." "but what can i do, sir?" i asked. "little enough, i am afraid, lad," he replied, in a subdued, calm tone. "but stay, if you can manage to get your hands near my teeth, i will try and bite the bands off them, and then you can loosen the lashings round my limbs. we must wait for the night before we try to escape. we should now be seen, and pursued immediately." i did as he bid me, and by means of his strong teeth he was soon able to free my hands from the ropes which had confined them. i also at length, with much more difficulty, so far slackened all his bands and the lashings which secured him to the litter, that he might with ease slip his limbs completely out of them. having accomplished this important undertaking, i crawled back to the spot i had before occupied. scarcely had i got there, when a black lifted up his head and looked around. i thought he had fixed his malignant eyes on me, and had probably been a witness of what i had done. i lay trembling, expecting every moment to have the wretch pounce upon me and bind my hands tighter than before. however, after a little, he lay down again, and grunted away as before. soon after this another maroon sat up and looked round, and then another, and another; so that i was very glad i had not lost the opportunity of which i had taken advantage. in another quarter of an hour, the whole force was on the move. i looked anxiously to ascertain whether they had discovered that the captain's bands had been loosened; but without examining him, they lifted up the litter, and bore him on as before. in consequence of this i walked on much more cheerily than i had previously done, though i still got an occasional prick to hasten my steps. as we advanced, we got into still more hilly and wild country. all signs of cultivation had ceased, and vegetation revelled in the most extravagant profusion. our chief difficulty was to avoid the prickly pears, and the cacti, and the noose-forming creepers, which extended across our path. we were in the advance party; the rest of the white men followed at a distance from us, so that we had no prospect of communicating with them. the encouragement the captain had given me helped to raise my spirits, and i endeavoured further to keep them up by whistling and singing occasionally, but it was with a heavy heart that i did so. my great consolation was all the time that my friend peter poplar was not in the same predicament. he would have felt it more than any of us. he had long been prepared for any misfortune which could happen to him at sea, but he had not made up his mind to undergo hardships on shore as well. at last i began to grow very weary of walking so far over such rough and uneven ground, and i was glad to find that the blacks were approaching their encampment or village. it consisted of a number of rude huts, built on the summit of a high rock, with steep precipices on every side. a narrow causeway led to it from another rock, which jutted out from the side of the hill. it was a very strong place, for it extended too far into the valley to be reached by musketry from the hill; and the hill itself was too rugged to allow cannon to be dragged up it. the rock appeared to have rude palisades and embankments, to serve as fortifications, over a large portion of its upper surface. as i examined it, i saw that our chance of escape from such a place, by any method i could imagine, was small indeed. i do not know what the captain thought about the matter, but he was not a man to be defeated by difficulties, or to abandon hope while a spark of life remained. as we went along the causeway, a number of women, and children, and dogs came out to meet us, our welcome consisting in a most horrible screaming, and crying, and barking, which, i suspect, as far as the prisoners were concerned, was far from complimentary. among them were some dreadful old crones, who came stretching out their withered, black, parchment arms, shrieking terrifically, and abusing the white men as the cause of all the misery and hardships it had been their lot to endure. their accusations were, i believe, in most respects, too just. certainly white men had torn them or their ancestors from their native land--white men had brought them across the sea in the crowded slave-ship--white men had made them slaves, treated them with severity and cruelty, and driven them to seek for freedom from tyranny among the wild rocks and fastnesses where they were now collected. the other prisoners seemed to feel, by their downcast, miserable looks, that they were in the power of enemies whom they had justly made relentless, and that they had no hope of escape. the old crones went up to them, pointed their long bony fingers in their eyes, and hissed and shrieked in their ears. what was said i could not understand, but they were evidently using every insulting epithet they could imagine to exasperate or terrify their victims. i have often thought of that dreadful scene since. how must the acts of those white men have risen up before them in their true colours--the wrong they had inflicted on young and innocent girls--the lashes bestowed on men of free and independent natures--the abuse showered on their heads--the total neglect of the cultivation of all their moral attributes! oh, you christian gentlemen, did it ever occur to you that those slaves of yours were men of like passions as yourselves; that they had minds capable of cultivation in a high degree, if not as high as your own; that they had souls like your souls to be saved--souls which must be summoned before the judgment-seat of heaven, to be judged with yours; and that you and they must there stand together before an all-righteous and pure and just god, to receive the reward of the things you have done in this life? did it occur to you that, had you made those people true christians; that, had you taught them the holy religion you profess--a religion of love and forgiveness--that they would not now be taking pleasure in tormenting you, in exhibiting the bitter vengeance which rankled in their souls! i could not help thinking that some such accusing thoughts as these rose to the consciences of the planter and his companions. i know that i would not for worlds have changed places with him, though he was the owner of rich fields and wealth long hoarded up, which he was on the point of returning to england to enjoy. either on account of my youth, or because, as they saw, i was a sailor, the rebels must have known that i could not have treated them cruelly, and i was allowed to remain quiet. after the whole population had given vent to their feelings by abusing the prisoners in every possible way, they were thrust into a hut together, and a guard placed over them. the captain and i were then put into another hut, and ordered not to stir on pain of being shot. "not bery good chance of dat!" observed one of our captors, a grey-headed old negro with a facetious countenance, looking at the numerous lashings which confined our limbs. "better chance than you suppose, old fellow!" thought i to myself; but i kept as melancholy and unconcerned a look as i could assume. i concluded, that as the other prisoners were guarded so were we, and that we should have very little chance of effecting our escape, unless our guards fell asleep. the difficulties were, at all events, very great. we should, in the first place, have either to scramble down the sides of the rock, or to cross the narrow causeway, where one man as a guard could instantly stop us. there was every probability that the maroons would place one there. for some hours there was a great deal of noise in the village. the blacks were rejoicing over their victory, and there was no chance of our guards outside the hut being asleep. i waited, therefore, without moving, till the sounds of revelry subsided, the tom-toms were no longer beaten, the trumpets ceased braying, and the cymbals clashing. then i could hear the guards talking to each other outside. the few words i could comprehend out of this jargon were not very consolatory. i made out clearly that they proposed to shoot all their prisoners the next day, and that, besides those already in camp, they expected a number more from other estates which were to be attacked. there appeared only a possibility that our lives might be prolonged another day, till all their forces out on various expeditions were assembled. little did those at home, looking at the map of jamaica, fancy that, in the very centre of that beautiful island, there existed so numerous a band of savages in open revolt against the authority of the king. at first our guards were animated enough in their conversation; then their voices grew thicker and thicker, and their tones more drowsy and droning, till they could scarcely have understood what each other said. at last one began to snore, then another, and the last speaker found himself without auditors. i longed for him to hold his tongue, and to go to sleep, but talk on he would, though he had no listeners. this, i thought, was a good opportunity to allow me to speak to the captain, so i crawled up to him. he was awake, waiting for me. "what's to be done now, captain?" said i. "we must wait the course of events, jack," he answered. "i have been turning over every plan in my mind which affords a chance of escape. if we were to start off now, we should certainly be caught by some of these black gentlemen; and if brought back, we should be put under stricter watch and ward than hitherto. something may occur during the night, or perhaps to-morrow. at all events, i do not intend to die without a fight for it. try and go to sleep now, and get some rest; you'll want it for what you may have to go through. go, lie down, lad; my advice is good. don't fear." i followed the captain's advice, though it was difficult to go to sleep, and still more so not to fear. i did go to sleep, however, and never slept more soundly in my life. i was awoke by feeling a hand placed on my shoulder. it was that of the captain. "jack," he whispered, "be prepared to follow me if i summon you, but not otherwise. if we can manage to get down the rock, or to cross the causeway without being seen, we will go; but if not, we must wait another opportunity. i do not feel as if either of us had come to the end of the cable yet, but how we are to get free i don't know." saying this the captain gently lifted up some of the leaves which formed the side of the hut, and crept out. his words and tone gave me great encouragement. i wished that i could have gone with him, but i knew that i must obey him. o how anxiously i waited his return! minute after minute passed away, and still he did not come back. i began to fear that some harm had happened to him--that he might have fallen over the precipice in the dark, or have been captured. it never for a moment occurred to me that he would desert me. an hour or more must have passed. still he did not appear. i began to consider whether i could not creep out to search for him. i could have loosened from off me the ropes which bound my arms in an instant; but i did not want to do so unless i was prepared to run away altogether. i have heard of people's hair turning grey in a night; mine would, i think, have done so with anxiety had i been older. at last the side of the hut was lifted up, and the captain crawled in, and placed himself on the litter on which he had been brought to the place. "quick, jack," he whispered, "put the ropes round me as they were before! those blacks are more wide-awake rascals than i fancied. i have been most of the time lying down not twenty yards from the hut, afraid to move. i was creeping along when i saw a black fellow, with musket on shoulder, emerge from behind a hut. he stood for some time looking directly at me, as if he had seen me. he had not though; but directly afterwards he began pacing up and down with the steadiness of an old soldier. i crept on when his back was turned, but never could move far enough before he was about again, and scrutinising all the ground before him. the only direction in which i could move without the certainty of being seen was towards this spot, so back again i have come, with the hope still strong that we might find some other way of escaping. once or twice i thought of springing up and killing the man; but in so doing i should very likely have roused others, and we should have lost any future chance of escaping." this result of the captain's expedition put me into low spirits again, for i fully expected that the blacks would kill us all in the morning, and my only surprise was that they had not so done already. i did not say so to the captain, but he, having with his teeth secured the bands round my arms again, i went and sat down where the blacks had first placed me. i did not sleep soundly again, nor did he. i sat silent, anxiously waiting for the morning. i think i must have gone off into a doze, when, before daybreak, i was roused up by a chorus of loud cries and shouts, which was soon answered by every man, woman, and child in the village, who came rushing out of their huts. it was to welcome, i found, a party of their comrades from an attack on one of the neighbouring estates, in which they had come off the victors, with numerous prisoners and much spoil. there began, as before, a horrible din of tom-toms and other musical instruments, mixed with the very far from musical voices of the old women who had been tormenting us. this continued till the sun rose, and then there was a comparative silence for an hour or so. i suppose the savages were breakfasting. an this time we were left in suspense as to what was to be our fate. we did not talk much, and, of course, did not allude to any plan for escaping, lest we should be overheard. at last several stout negroes entered the hut, and while some of them lifted up the captain and carried him out, two seized me by the collar, and dragged me after him. i thought that they were about to throw us over the cliffs, or to hang us or shoot us forthwith. i could only think of one way by which we had the slightest prospect of escaping. it was that the government authorities might have heard of the outbreak, and sent troops to attack the rebels. i did not know in those days that those sort of gentlemen considered the art of tying up packages neatly with red tape to be the most important of their official duties, and that they were not apt to do anything in a hurry of so trifling importance as attempting to save the lives of a few people! we very soon reached a large concourse of people in an open space. on one side of the ground there was a steep bank, on the top of which a chair or throne was placed, whereon sat a tall fine-looking negro, dressed somewhat in military style, while a number of other men sat round him. on the level ground, on one side, was a group of some twenty white men, among whom i recognised our companions in the defence of the house. they had their hands bound, and were strongly guarded by armed negroes. we were carried up and placed among them. two or three other prisoners arrived after us, and served to increase our unhappy group. a sort of trial was then commenced, and several maroons stepped forward, accusing the whites of unheard-of cruelties, and especially of being taken with arms in our hands against the authority of the true and proper chief of the island. it is impossible to describe the absurd language used, and the ceremonies gone through. it would have been a complete burlesque had not the matter been somewhat too serious. as it was, when one of the counsellors kicked another for interrupting him, and the judge threw a calabash at their heads to call them to order, i could not help bursting into a fit of laughter, which was soon quelled when one of my guards gave me a progue with the tip of his spear, to remind me where i was. i very nearly broke out again when the one who was hit looked up and exclaimed, "what dat for, pompey, you scoundrel you?--what you tink me made of, hey?" the judge took no notice of this address, but coolly went on summing up the evidence placed before him. it was, i must own, clearly condemnatory of most of the prisoners. on the oaths of the negro witnesses, they were proved to have committed the most atrocious acts. some had hung blacks for no sufficient cause, or had shot them, or had beaten them to death, or even burned them, or had tortured them with every refinement of cruelty. scarcely one present who had not given way to passion, and barbarously ill-treated their slaves, or caused them to submit to the greatest indignity. at length the judge rose from his seat. he was a remarkably fine, tall man, and as he stretched out one arm towards the prisoners, i could not help acknowledging that there was much grace and dignity in his whole air and manner. to what had been adduced by others, he added the weight of his own testimony. "me prince not long ago in me own country,--me would be king now,--me carried off--beaten--kicked--wife torn away--me piccaninnis killed--me made to work with whip--beat, beat, beat on shoulders--me run away-- nearly starve and die. dose men do all dat, and much worse! day deserve to die! shoot dem all--quick! de earth hate dem--no stay on it longer!" i cannot pretend to say that these were the exact words used by the chief, but they had a similar signification. immediately we were all seized, each prisoner being held by four blacks, and marched along to an open space near the edge of the precipice. a firing-party of twenty blacks, which had been told off, followed us, their horrible grins showing the intense satisfaction they felt at being our executioners. the judge or chief and all the rest of the people accompanied us as spectators. the captain was carried along on his litter, for the negroes had conceived a very just idea of his prowess, and kept him, as they fancied, more strongly secured than was necessary with regard to the rest. i stood near him waiting the result. things were now, indeed, looking very serious, and i could not see by what possible means we should escape. still, there was so much buoyancy in my disposition, that, even then, i did not give up all hope. i am afraid that i cannot say i was sustained by any higher principle. the thought of what death was, did, however, come over me; and i tried to pray, to prepare myself for the world into which i saw every probability that i was about to enter. still, though i wanted to pray, and wished to go to heaven, i made but a very feeble attempt to do so. i had been so long unaccustomed to pray, that i could not now find the thoughts or the words required. my heart was not in a praying state. i had not sought reconciliation with god. i did not know in what to trust, through whom i could alone go into the presence of my maker cleansed from my sins, relieved from the weight of the sinful nature in which i was born. of all this i remained perfectly ignorant. i felt very wretched, like a drowning wretch without a spar or a plank of which i might catch hold. i learned, however, an important lesson. oh! do you, who read this notice of my life, learn it from me. do not suppose that the time is _coming_ when you may begin to prepare for another world. the time is _come now_ with all of you. from the period you entered this world, from the moment the power of thought and speech was given you, the time had arrived for you prepare for the world to come--that eternal world of glory and joy unspeakable, or of misery, regret, and anguish. remember this--note it well--don't ever let it be out of your thoughts. you were sent into this transient, fleeting world, for one sole object--that you might prepare yourselves in it for the everlasting future. not that you might amuse yourselves--not that you might gain wealth, and honours, and reputation--not that you might study hard, and obtain prizes at school or college--that you might be the leader in all manly--exercises--that you might speak well, or sing well, or draw well, or attain excellence in science--or that you might become rich merchants, or judges, or generals, or admirals, or ambassadors, or, indeed, attain the head of any professions you may choose. these things are all lawful; it may be your duty thus to rise, but it should not be your aim, it should not alone be in your thoughts; you should have a far higher motive for labouring hard, for employing your talents: that motive should be to please god, to obey the laws and precepts of our lord and master. all should be done from love to him. if you have not got that love for him, pray for it, strive for it, look for guidance from above that you may obtain it. but, as i was saying, in those days i could not have comprehended what i have now been speaking about. finding my efforts to pray almost unavailing, i did pray for deliverance, though i waited my fate in sullen indifference, or rather, indeed, somewhat as if i was an unconcerned spectator of what was taking place. the chief lifted his arm on high as a sign that the execution was to commence. the first person led forward was the planter whose house we had attempted to defend. oh! what scorn, and loathing, and defiance there was depicted in his countenance! what triumph and hatred in that of his executioners! should such feelings find room in the bosom of a dying christian? i wot not. again the fatal sign was given. the firing-party discharged their muskets, and the planter fell a lifeless corpse. i tried to turn my eyes away from the scene, but they were rivetted on the spot. chapter six. a terrible execution, and a narrow escape. one after the other my white companions were led out for execution. every moment i expected that my turn would come. very few showed any great signs of fear, with the exception of the overseers, who had been often and often the actual instruments of cruelty towards those who now had them in their power. i am surprised that the ignorant savage blacks did not torture them as they had themselves been tortured, before putting an end to their existence. perhaps they wished to set an example of leniency to the civilised whites. they went about the execution, however, with deliberation, sufficient to make it a very terrible affair. they shot the planter dressed as he was taken. when he had fallen, numbers of the blacks rushed up, and having stripped him, they threw his body, after inflicting numberless wounds on it, over the precipice. as his clothes had been injured by the bullets, they proceeded to strip the next person of his garments, with the exception of his trousers and shoes, which they allowed him to retain--the latter, at all events, being of very little use to them. he was one of the overseers, a fierce, dark, stern man. he looked as if he was incapable of experiencing any of the softer sympathies of our nature. he was standing close to me while the planter was being shot, and not one of us knew who would next be selected for execution. when the men who had taken out the overseer seized hold of him, he turned deadly pale, and shrieked out for mercy. "don't kill me! don't kill me!" he exclaimed. "i am not fit to die. i cannot go as i am into another world. oh, let me live! let me live! i will toil for you; i will build your cottages; i will till your fields. kind africans! hear me: if i have injured anyone, i will repay him an hundred-fold. i'll do anything you require of me; but don't, oh, don't kill me!" the negro chief smiled at him scornfully, and the others who surrounded him grinned horribly in his face. "hi! hi! you mark my back with hot iron," said one, gripping him by the shoulder; "you take out de mark?" "you kill my piccaninni!" cried another in a hissing tone in his ear. "you gib him back, eh? you make him smile in me face 'gain, eh?" "you take away me young wife!" exclaimed another, in a hoarse voice, looking him in the face. "where she gone to now, eh? you give her back good and fond as she once was--no! you repay a hundred-fold!--you undo the harm you have done!" "wretched man! go meet the judge whose laws you have outraged; go encounter the reproachful spirits of those who, in life, you have irretrievably injured! you are a blot on the world; you must be put out of it. you must stand before your almighty judge, your god. he is a god of mercy to those who have shown mercy. but have you shown it? no! still you must die!" the latter expressions were, of course, not uttered by the negroes, but something very similar was said; and amid the shouts and execrations of the multitude, the wretched man was dragged out, and being shot down, a hundred weapons were plunged in his yet warm and writhing body ere he was thrown over the cliff to be food for the fowls of the air, which, in spite of the firing, had already settled on the body of the planter, once his superior, now his wretched equal. the same scene was enacted with several others. in vain they pleaded for life, in vain they offered rewards--large bribes, freedom to some, the means of returning to africa to others who had been brought over. the negroes laughed all offers to scorn. no promises were believed: too often had they been made and broken; too exquisitely cruel and barbarous had been the punishments inflicted on prisoners taken in former outbreaks, to allow them to lose the gratification of their present revenge. often, as this scene has occurred to my mind, have i thought of what would be the fate of the planters, and overseers, and other white residents in the slave states of the american union, should the negroes ever find an opportunity of revolting. what sanguinary massacres would take place! what havoc and destruction would be the result! few men have a better right to speak on the subject than i have. i was born before that great country called the united states was a nation. when i could walk, they were part and parcel of england. i have talked with men who were engaged in active life before the great washington saw the light; who fought against the french on the heights of abraham, under the hero wolfe, and aided to win one of the brightest of her jewels for the british crown. i, therefore, cannot help looking on the americans in the light of children--dear relatives; and when i address them, i speak to them with love and affection. i say to them, take warning from the scene i have been describing; do not submit to the incubus of slavery a moment longer than you can avoid it. no sensible man expects you to throw it off at once; but every right-feeling, right-thinking man, does expect you to take every means and make every preparation for its abolition, as soon as that important work can be accomplished. the only means you have of effecting this object with safety to yourselves, and with justice to those beings with immortal souls now intrusted by an inscrutable decree of providence to your care, is by educating them, by making them christians, by preparing them for liberty, by setting them an example which they may hereafter follow. teach them to depend on their own exertions for support--to govern themselves--raise them in the scale of humanity: treat them as men should men, and not as christians so-called treat the hapless sons of africa. remember that the british west india islands were brought to the verge of ruin, and numberless families depending on them were ruined, not because the slaves were made free, but because they were not properly prepared for freedom. whose fault was that? not that of the british government, not that of the nation; but of the planters themselves, of the white inhabitants of the island. they refused to the last to take any steps to christianise, to educate, to raise the moral character of the negroes; and of course the negroes, when no longer under restraint, revelled in the barbarism in which they had been allowed to remain, with all the vices consequent on slavery superadded. should these remarks be read by any citizens of the american slave states, i trust that they will remember what old jack says to them. he has reason to wish them well, to love them, for he has received much kindness at the hands of many of their fellow-countrymen; and he repeats that they have the power in their own hands to remove for ever from off them the stigma which now attaches to their name. he does not urge them to do it in consequence of any pressure from without--not at the beck and call of foreigners, but from their own sense of justice; because they are convinced that they are doing their duty to god and man; and lastly, that they will be much better served by educated, responsible freemen, than by slaves groaning in bondage, and working only from compulsion. [see note.] but avast! i cry. i have been driving a long way from the scene i was describing. the negroes i have been mentioning were men who had been slaves, and had made themselves free, and we see the way they treated the whites whom they had got into their power. they were, it must be granted, savages, barbarians, heathens. their people, who had been captured as rebels, had been treated by their white christian conquerors with every refinement of cruelty which the malice of man could invent: they had been slain with the most agonising tortures; and yet these savages, disdaining such an example, merely shot their prisoners, killing them without inflicting an unnecessary pang. i cannot say that at the time, however, i thought that they were otherwise than a most barbarous set. one after the other my companions were led out and shot, and treated as their predecessors. one, a sturdy englishman, who had not been long in the country, it seemed, broke loose, and knocked down several of his guards. he fought long and bravely with them. had he been able to get hold of a weapon, he would, i believe, have cut his way out from among them. as it was, his fists served him in good stead; and he had already very nearly cleared himself a path, when a shot from pistol struck him on the knee, and brought him to the ground. still he struggled bravely; but the negroes, throwing themselves on him, completely overpowered him, and he was at once dragged up to the place of execution. before he had time to look around, or to offer up a prayer to heaven, a dozen bullets had pierced his body, and he who was but lately so full of life and strength was a pallid corpse! i scarcely like to describe the dreadful scene. even now i often shudder as i think of it. i have seen men shot down in battle--i have beheld numbers struggling in the raging sea, which was about to prove their grave; but i never saw men in full health and strength waiting for their coming death without the means of struggling for life--i have never seen men deprived of life in so cool and deliberate a way--i have never so surely expected to be deprived myself of life. our numbers had now been dreadfully thinned; the captain, and i, and three others only remained alive. one of those had become a raving maniac, his mind had given way under the horror of death; but now he feared nothing; he laughed the murderers to scorn; with shouts of derision on his lips he was shot down. the next man was seized: calmly he walked to the spot, and he likewise fell. will it be the captain next, or i, or the only other remaining prisoner? the latter was seized: he looked up to the bright blue sky; to the green woods, waving with rich tropical luxuriance of foliage; to the dark faces of the surrounding multitude; and then at us two, his companions in misfortune; and i shall never forget the look of anguish and terror i saw there depicted. he saw no help, no chance of escape; in another instant he also was numbered with the dead. then, indeed, my heart sank within me, for i expected to be like those who were to mortal eyes mere clods of earth. but instead of seizing me, they approached the captain. before, however, they could lay their hands on him, his bonds seemed as if by superhuman strength to be torn asunder, and up he sprung to do battle for life! the negroes literally sprung back as they saw him with amazement, and on he bounded towards their chief. no one tried to stop him, and in another instant he had thrown his powerful well-knit limbs so completely around him, that the negro, tall and strong as he was, was entirely unable to help himself. while this scene was enacting i remember seeing another tall negro with a few followers coming along the causeway. when i saw what the captain had done, remembering also that my bonds could be easily slackened, i cast them off, and sprang after him; and so sudden were my movements, that before any of the astonished blacks could stop me, i had clung to the legs of the black chief as tightly as i ever clung to a top-gallant-yard in a gale of wind. the chief and his followers were so much taken by surprise, that no one knew what to say or how to act. the awe with which the captain had inspired them, and the supernatural mode, as it seemed, by which he had freed himself from his bonds, and freed me also, made them afraid of approaching lest he should destroy them or the chief. the captain saw his advantage, and was not a man to lose it. his life depended on his resolution. the horror he must have felt at the scene just enacted made him resolve not to throw a chance away. as he held the chief in his vice-like grasp, with his arms pinioned down, he looked him fully in the face and laughed long and loudly. "you thought to kill me, did you?" he exclaimed--"you thought that you could deprive me of life as easily as you did those miserable men you have just destroyed--me, a man who never injured you or yours; who has never wronged one of the sons of africa. ay, i can say that with a clear conscience. often have i benefited them, often have i saved them from injury; and perhaps even here there are some who know me, and know that i speak the truth." "one is here who can prove all he says to be true," exclaimed a tall negro, stepping forward from among the crowd. he was the very man i had remarked approaching the spot along the causeway. "my friends, hear me," he exclaimed. "we have already satisfied our just vengeance, and do not let us destroy the innocent with the guilty. some years ago a ship from africa, laden with the children of her fruitful soil torn cruelly from their homes, struck on a coral-reef. a heavy sea dashed over the devoted vessel. land was in sight, but yet far-off, blue and indistinct. the white crew had many boats. they launched them and pulled away with heartless indifference, leaving three hundred human beings, men, women, and helpless children, to almost certain destruction. night came on. oh, what a night of horrors! many died, some from terror; many were drowned, manacled as they lay in the noisome hold. when the morning broke a sail appeared in sight. she approached the spot. some of the negroes who had broken loose made signs to notify that human beings were still alive on board. the storm had much abated; a boat was lowered and came close to the wreck. when they saw that no white men were on board, did they pull away and leave us to our fate? no; they hailed us as fellow-creatures, and told us to calm our alarms, and that they would do their best to save us. i was there--a slave--i who had been a chief in my own country! i asked how many the boat would hold, and as many, about a dozen, i allowed to enter her at a time. another boat from the ship soon came to our assistance, and one remained uninjured on board the wreck. we launched her, and many of the africans being able to paddle, helped to carry her people to the ship. thus all who remained alive on board the wreck were saved. the ship sailed from the spot and approached the land. i asked the brave captain how he would dispose of us. some of the people believed that he would carry us into a port, and there sell us as slaves. he looked at me hard. `i am no slave-dealer,' he exclaimed. `men have called me what they deem worse, but that matters not. i should obtain a large price for you all, and steep my soul in as black a sin as ever stained our human nature. no; i will land you on yonder coast, far from the habitations of men. there fruit, and roots, and numberless productions of kind nature will amply supply you with food. there you may be free. i cannot take you back to your own country. i have no other means of helping you.' the generous captain was as good as his word--we were landed in safety ere the sun set; and more than that, he supplied us with such food as he could spare to strengthen us for our journey inland to the spot he advised us to seek, where we might remain in safety. yes, my friends; there is the man who did this noble deed-- there is the man whom you were, in your blindness, about so cruelly to slay!" while the stranger was speaking, i recognised in him the tall negro who had come on board the brig, on my first voyage, with the mysterious old man, whom i supposed to be captain ralph. as soon as he stepped forward i felt almost certain that our lives would be spared; but still i did not let go the chief's legs. he did not often get them so thoroughly pinched, i suspect. "i have yet more to tell you," continued the tall negro. "the noble deed which that brave man had done was discovered by some of his white countrymen, and he was persecuted by them, and compelled to fly for his life, and for long to become a wanderer over the face of the ocean. they drove him to take to a course of life which they themselves condemned; and had they captured him, they would have made it plea for his destruction." the harangue which the negro made was even longer than i have given, and the language was perhaps somewhat more suited to the comprehension of his hearers. the effect, at all events, was most satisfactory. enthusiastic shouts of applause burst from every side; and the chief, in words and by looks not to be mistaken, assured the captain that both his and my life would be preserved, and only begged that he would have the goodness not to squeeze him so tightly. on this the captain released him, and the negroes rushing forward, lifted him up on their shoulders, and bore him in triumph round their village. the boys, not to be outdone by their elders, got hold of me as soon as i had let go the chief's legs, and lifting me up in the same way, followed the captain. tom-toms were beat, and horns sounded, and cymbals were clashed, and men, and women, and children shrieked and shouted at the top of their voices, and never was heard a wilder outcry and hubbub than that with which we were welcomed as we passed through the rebel village. it was far pleasanter than being shot, i thought. the truth is, that so great and sudden was the change in our position, that i could scarcely collect my ideas and convince myself of its reality. everything seemed like a dream, both past and present. still i felt that my life was spared. i tried to be serious, and to be thankful for the mercy shown me; but i am conscious that i succeeded very ill, and allowed my mind to be entirely occupied with the scene going forward before my eyes. while we were being thus paraded about the village, the women were engaged in preparing a feast, of which we were invited to partake; and i know that, however excited had been my feelings, i had not lost my appetite. "captain," said i, holding the leg of a roasted monkey in my fist, while he was munching away at a stewed snake, or lizard, or some creeping thing or other, "this is pleasanter than feeding the crows down below there. i want, sir, to beg the chief's pardon for pinching his legs so tight. i hope that he was not offended." i spoke in a very different tone to that in which i had ever before addressed my captain. the truth was, i felt and acted almost as if i were tipsy. the captain looked at me somewhat sternly. "be more serious, jack," he answered; "we should be thankful to heaven that we are not as those unhappy men are. we have both been mercifully preserved. restrain your feelings, lad; you'll have much to go through before you are out of the fire." i do not remember much more about the feast. the negroes ate, and drank, and laughed, and then got up and danced and sang as merrily as if they had not just been the principal actors in a terrific tragedy. before the feast was over, our old acquaintance the tall negro came up to the captain, and sat himself down by his side. "prepare to leave this at a moment's notice," said he in a low tone of voice. "these people's tempers may change again as rapidly against you as they have lately turned in your favour. they believed what i told them of your generosity; but as there is no one here to corroborate the account, they might as easily be taught to discredit it." "thanks, my friend," answered the captain, grasping the negro's hand. "thanks, michael; you have indeed repaid any debt you might have thought you owed me. i'll follow your advice, and shall be ready to start whenever you give the sign." "directly it is dark, then, we must away, you and your young follower there," answered the tall negro, whom the captain addressed as michael. "i have another reason for wishing to be off. this work they have been about will certainly bring the military up here; and though they might hold the place against an army if they knew how, none of them can be depended on. now, if you remain here, our friends would expect you to fight for them; and if you were captured by the white men, you would to a certainty be treated as a rebel." "your arguments are quite strong enough, michael, to make me wish to be off," answered the captain, laughing. i did not hear the remainder of the conversation. the young negroes who had carried me about on their shoulders continued to treat me very kindly, and brought me all sorts of things to eat, till really i could not stuff in a mouthful more. they were much amused by examining my hands, and face, and clothes, for many of them till that day had never seen a white boy. they had been born up in the mountainous district, where we then were, and where no white person had ever ventured to come. at last the negro michael called the captain and me, and in the hearing of the people, pointing to a hut, told us that it was to be our home. the whole population having had plenty of work for the last few days, retired to their huts, and left us in quiet. as may be supposed, neither the captain nor i ventured to sleep, though, for my part, i would very gladly have done so. we waited for some time with no little anxiety. it was at last relieved by the appearance of michael. "come," he whispered, "follow me. i could only ask seamen to take the path by which i must lead you." he glided out, and we stepped after him. there was no moon, but the stars shone forth brightly, and gave us sufficient light to see what was near at hand. michael led the way close to the spot where our companions had been murdered in the morning. on a sudden he disappeared, and i thought that he had fallen over the precipice. a pang shot through me. but no, he had merely begun to descend by a narrow path cut in the rock. it was indeed both narrow and steep. sometimes we had to drop down several feet to a ledge below. there were probably holes in the rock by which people might ascend, but it was too dark to see them. often we had to press along with our breasts to the precipice, holding on to its rugged sides, and with our backs over a yawning gulf. i would rather, however, have been on the topsail-yard-arm in the heaviest gale that ever blew: with a good honest rope in my hand, than where i then was. but darkness prevented our seeing half its terrors. more than once i thought that i should have gone over; but the captain, whose steps i closely followed, supported me with his powerful arm, and brought me along in safety. he did not utter a word, and his breath often came fast, as if he was undergoing great physical exertion, and was well aware of our perilous position. i know that my knees trembled beneath me when michael told us that we had reached the bottom. "we have gained some miles by this path towards the sea," said he, "and escaped the risk of being observed. few even of the people up there know the path, and fewer still would venture to descend by it. now, let us on; we have many miles to go before morning." i need not describe our night's journey. for several hours we walked, and often ran on, without stopping even a moment to rest. it is extraordinary what people can do when they are pressed by circumstances. we had not accomplished many miles when the moon arose, and shed her light over the strangely wild and beautiful scene, her beams glancing through the tall trees and the numberless creepers which decked their branches. suddenly michael stopped, and then pressing us back without speaking, conducted us into a thicket composed of prickly pear, cacti, and other strangely-shaped shrubs. scarcely had he done so when the tramp of men and the sound of horses' feet were heard coming through a rocky defile ahead of us, and soon afterwards a body of cavalry passed along, their helmets and shining arms playing in the moonbeams. they were immediately followed by a regiment of infantry, less showy but more useful in the style of warfare in which they were likely to engage. it would scarcely be believed, at the present day, that several troops of dragoons were stationed at that time at kingston, to do what it would be difficult to say, as they were totally unfit for mountain warfare, and would scarcely have been of much use to repel invasion. we remained silent and concealed as they passed. i concluded that michael or the captain had good reasons not to wish to encounter them. they were going, of course, to attack the rebels; but i understood afterwards that they obtained but a very slight success, and had to return without in any way contributing to put a stop to the outbreak. that was not done till some time afterwards, when, by a general amnesty, and a guarantee being given for their safety, the maroons were induced to break up their confederacy, and return within the pale of civilisation. when daylight came we concealed ourselves in a thick wood, where i could not help feeling terribly alarmed lest some snake or other noxious reptile should injure us while we slept; but michael assured me that i need not fear, and that he would watch that no harm should happen to us. thus for three nights and a portion of one day we travelled on, till once more the bright blue waters of the ocean gladdened our sight. from a hill we climbed we looked down into a sheltered bay, and there lay calmly at anchor a schooner, which we recognised as the one which had been sent away from the brig under command of mr gale. we were not long in descending the hill, and hailing her from the shore. here michael parted from us, under the plea that he had business which would detain him longer in that part of the island. the schooner's boat took us off, and we were soon on board. mr gale had heard rumours of the attack on the planter's house, and that every one had been murdered, and he was truly glad to see his captain safe; while my kind friend peter assured me that he was not a little pleased to find that i had not lost the number of my mess. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ note. the above was written before the late american civil war, which emancipated the slaves of the southern states. chapter seven. a pirate stronghold. the little schooner very soon got her cargo on board, and we then put to sea, to return to the brig. we had to make a long reach off-shore to weather a headland, which ran out towards the north, and we were just about to tack when the wind, which had been very light, failed us altogether. there we lay, with our sides lazily lapping up the burnished water, and throwing it off again in showers of sparkling drops, as we rolled away helplessly in the swell. at the same time a strong current was running, which was setting us imperceptibly off-shore. however, after having been exposed to it for three or four hours, i found, on looking up, that we had very much increased our distance from the land. the day passed away and the night came, and there we lay like a log in the water, drifting further and further from the land. it was truly a solemn night. every star which floated in the vast expanse above us was reflected on the surface of the deep; and as i looked over the side, i fancied that i could see numberless bright orbs floating far, far down in the limpid water. strange sounds reached my ears. suppressed shrieks, and groans, and cries--loud hisses, and murmuring voices, and strange monsters came up from their rocky weed-covered homes, their fins sparkling, and their eyes flashing as they clove through the sea. some would now and again spring into the air and fall back with a loud splash. others, of huge bulk, i thought, would come and float silently, looking at the little schooner, an intruder on their domain, seemingly devising means how they might drive her from it. i ought to have been below resting, as the captain had ordered me, but i was hot and feverish, and could not remain in the close atmosphere of the forepeak. as i stood gazing at the sea, i thought i saw the forms of all the unhappy men murdered by the maroons pass before me. each countenance bore the agonised look which i had beheld before the fatal signal was given to the firing-party to perform the work of death. they stretched out their hands to me to help them, and moaned piteously, as i stood spell-bound, unable to move. one after the other they came gliding by, and then sank down into the water ahead of the schooner. i could stand the dreadful sight no longer, and shrieked out in an attempt to go and help them. "what's the matter, lad?" said the voice of peter poplar close to my ear. "you are overtired--no wonder. here--i have put a mattress and a blanket for you under shelter. lie down and take a little rest. you'll want to use your strength perhaps before long. a sailor should always eat when he can, and take his sleep when he can. he is never certain when he may have to go without either food or rest." i took peter's advice, and very soon the feelings which oppressed me wore off, and i fell soundly asleep. i did not awake till the bright sun was just rising out of the mirror-like sea. the calm was as perfect as before; and when i looked for the land, i could only just make out its blue and hazy mountains rising out of the ocean. hot enough the weather was; but as the sun glided upwards in the sky, a thick mist was drawn over the whole face of nature. the captain and mr gale were on deck, and i saw them scanning the horizon anxiously on every side. they seemed far from satisfied with the look of the weather. still for some time they could not make up their minds how to act. "what's going to happen now?" said i to peter some time after this. "do you remember the breeze we had in kingston harbour on your first voyage?" he asked. "what? the hurricane do you mean? indeed i do," i replied. "i hope we are not going to have such another in this little craft out here." "i'm not so sure of that, jack," he replied. "the captain begins to think so likewise. he'll be for making everything snug, if i mistake not." peter was right. the order was soon given to strike topmasts, to furl sails, to set up the rigging, to fasten down the hatches, to secure everything below, and to lash the boats and all spare spars on deck. everything that could be accomplished was done to prepare the little craft for the expected tempest. still everything around us was so calm and quiet that it required no little faith in the judgment of our officers to believe that all this preparation was necessary. much in the same way do men feel it difficult to believe in the importance of preparing for another world, when the tide of prosperity carries them along, without care or anxiety, over the sea of life. i have often thought that a gale of wind, a lee-shore on a dark night, and the risk of shipwreck, are of use to seamen, to make them prepare for the dangers which sooner or later must come upon them. so are all misfortunes--pain, sorrow, loss of friends, deprivation of worldly honours or position--sent to remind people that this world is not their abiding-place; that they are sent into it only that they may have the opportunity of preparing in it for another and a better world, which will last for eternity. hour after hour passed away. still the calm continued. i suspect the officers themselves began to doubt whether the looked-for hurricane would ever come. i asked peter what he thought about it. "come! ay, that it will," he replied. "more reason that it will come with all its strength and fury because it is delayed. look out there! do you see that?" he pointed towards the now distant land. a dark cloud seemed to be rushing out from that direction, and extending rapidly on either side, while below the cloud a long line of white foam came hissing and rolling on towards us. as it reached the spot where we lay, the little vessel heeled over till i thought she would never rise again, and then she was turned round and round as if she had been a piece of straw. loudly roared and howled the fierce blast, and on she drove helplessly before it. every instant the sea rose higher and higher, and the schooner began to pitch, and toss, and tumble about, till i thought she would have been shaken to pieces. "peter," said i, "we are in a bad way, i am afraid." "we should have been in a very much worse way had the wind come from another quarter, and driven us towards the land," he replied, gravely. "some of the people had begun to grumble because we had been drifted so far off-shore. we may now be thankful that we were not caught nearer to it, and have already made so much offing. we shall very likely have it round again, and then we shall require all the distance we have come to drive in, and none to spare." "i was thinking of the chance we have of going to the bottom," said i, looking at the huge seas which kept tumbling tumultuously around us. "not much fear of that," he answered. "we are in a strongly-built and tight little craft; and as long as she keeps off-shore, she'll swim, i hope." peter's prognostications as to a shift of the wind were speedily fulfilled, and we found the vessel driving as rapidly towards the dreaded shore as she had before been carried from it. to struggle against it was hopeless; our only prospect of safety, should she be blown on it, was to find some creek or river into which we might run; but the probabilities of our finding such a shelter were so very remote, that all we could do was to pray that we might once more be driven away from the treacherous land. happily such was our fate. another eddy, as it were, of the whirlwind caught us, and once more we went flying away towards the coast of cuba. that was, however, so far distant that there was but little fear but that the tempest would have spent its fury long before we could reach it. no sail could be set; but the vessel being in good trim, answered her helm, and kept before the wind. away! away we flew! surrounded with sheets of hissing foam, the wild waters dancing up madly on every side, threatening, should we stop but for a moment in our course, to sweep over our decks! even careless as i then was, i could not help feeling grateful that we were not driving on towards a shore which must speedily stop us in our career; and i thought of the many poor fellows who would that day meet a watery grave, their vessels cast helplessly on the sea-beat rocks. as the wind took us along with it, we got more than our fair share of the hurricane; and the night came on while we were still scudding on, exposed to its fury. if the scene was wild in the day-time, much more so was it when we were surrounded by darkness, and a thousand unseen horrors presented themselves to our imagination. though i was not very easily overcome, i had suffered so much lately that i felt that i could not endure much longer the continuance of this sort of work. at last i fell into a sort of stupor, and i believe that i should have been washed overboard had not peter secured me to the rigging, close to himself. i knew nothing more till i awoke and found myself lying on the deck, with the sun glancing brightly over the sparkling waters; the schooner, with all sail set, close-hauled, and a gentle breeze blowing. on one side was seen a range of blue hills rising out of the ocean. peter was kneeling by my side. "get up, jack," said he; "you've had a long snooze, but you wanted it, lad, i'm sure. there's some breakfast for you; it will do you good after all you have gone through." i thanked my kind friend, and swallowed the cocoa and biscuit which he brought me with no little relish. "what! have we so soon got back to jamaica?" said i, looking over the side, and seeing the blue ranges of hills i have spoken of. "jamaica! no, lad--i wish it was," he replied. "that's the island of cuba; and from what i know of it, i wish that we were further off than we are. some ugly customers inhabit it! there has been a suspicious-looking craft for the last hour or so standing out from the land towards us, and as she has long sweeps, she is making good way. i suspect the captain don't admire her looks, for i have never seen him in such a way before from the moment he came on deck and caught sight of her. if we were in the brig we need not have been afraid of her, but in this little cockle-shell we cannot do much to help ourselves." "we can fight, surely!" said i. "we have arms, have we not?" "what can eight or ten men do against forty or fifty cut-throats, which probably that craft out there has on board?" answered peter. "we'll do our best, however." the approaching vessel was lateen-rigged, with two masts, and of great beam; and though low in the water, and at a distance looking small, capable of carrying a considerable number of men. certainly she had a very dishonest appearance. i saw the captain often anxiously looking out on the weather-side, as if for a sign of more wind; but the gentle breeze just filled our sails, and gave the craft little more than steerage-way. all hands kept whistling away most energetically for a stronger wind, but it would not come. the felucca, however, sailed very fast. as we could not get out of her way, the captain hailed, and very politely asked her to get out of ours, or rather to steer clear of us. instead of replying, or acting according to his request, some forty ugly fellows or more, of every hue, from jet-black to white, and in every style of costume, sprung up on her decks from below, and directly afterwards she ranged up alongside of us. the captain, on this, ordered her to sheer off; but instead of so doing, grappling-irons were thrown aboard us, and her fierce-looking crew made a rush to leap on our deck. they were met, however, by our captain, mr gale, peter, and the rest of our people, who, with pistol and cutlass in hand, were prepared to dispute their passage. the pirates, for such there could be no doubt our visitors were, had four or more guns mounted on their deck; but they seemed resolved to depend rather on their overwhelming numbers than on them for victory. they had not calculated, apparently, what a few determined men could do. "stand back, ye scoundrels!" shouted our brave captain, in a voice which made the ruffians look up with amazement, though i do not think they understood his words. he gave them further force by a sweep of his cutlass, with which he cut off the head of the nearest of his assailants. peter, whose arm was almost as powerful, treated another in the same way; and mr gale knocked a third over with his pistol before any of them had time to get hold of our rigging. this determined resistance caused them to draw back for an instant, which enabled peter, with one of the other men, to cast loose the grappling-irons forward. at the same time two of the pirates, who were attempting to leap on board, were dealt such heavy blows on the head that they were knocked overboard before any of their companions could help them. "well done, my lads!" cried the captain. "keep up the game in this way, and we may yet beat off the villains!" saying this he sprang aft to drive back a gang of the pirates, who were attempting to board on our quarter. two of the first paid dearly for their temerity, and were cut down by either the captain or mr gale. i got a long pike, and kept poking away over the bulwarks at every fellow i could reach. several pistols were fired at me, but missed their aim; but at last the pike was dragged out of my hands, and thrown overboard. unfortunately there was so little wind that the pirates, by getting out a sweep on the opposite side of their vessel, brought her head aboard, and at the same time made a rush to get on our deck. peter, with two of our men, hurried to repel them; but a bullet at that moment struck one of them on the breast, and knocked him over. poor fellow! i tried to save him as he fell; but the heavy way in which he came to the deck showed me that his fighting days were over. i ran to help peter and my other shipmates, but the pirates pressed us so hard that we had little hope of keeping them out. in the meantime also a stout active little spaniard, followed by two or three blacks and another white man, made a spring at our bulwarks about midships; and though one of our men, tom hardy, most bravely threw himself before them, they gained the deck, and cut him down before any further opposition could be offered. others followed them, and gaining the whole centre part of the vessel, our crew were completely divided. we had lost two men. thus the captain, mr gale, and one man held the deck aft; while peter, another man, and i still stood at our post forward. but what could we hope to do against the crowd of ruffians who swarmed on board? at the same moment they pressed towards us and the captain, and would have carried us overboard had we not sung out, and asked for quarter. the bravery which the captain and the rest had displayed seemed to have won their admiration and respect; for instead of cutting us down and throwing us into the sea, they instantly granted us the quarter we asked. our arms were taken from us, and we were ordered to go on board the felucca, while the pirates proceeded to rifle the schooner. except the hogsheads of sugar, which would not have been of much use to them, they found very little, i suspect, to repay them for the heavy cost of our capture. the vessel, however, would probably have been of some value to them, as she was a fine little craft. the schooner having a crew put on board her, the two vessels stood away to the westward. peter told me that he suspected we were bound to one of the numerous small islands--keys they are called--which are found in great numbers off the south coast of cuba. we were allowed to walk about the deck without molestation; but our position was far from a pleasant one, for any moment our captors might take it into their heads to make us walk the plank, or to get rid of us by some other means. i had never seen a person made to walk the plank, but i had heard it described as a favourite method employed by pirates to get rid of their prisoners. a long plank is run out over the side, and the victim, blindfolded, is made to walk along it. when he gets to the outer end, the inner part is tilted up, and he is slid into the sea. i earnestly prayed that such might not be our fate, and yet i could not see what better we could expect. we had evidently fallen into the hands of desperate outlaws, not likely to be influenced by any of the dictates of humanity. at all events, we were likely to be kept prisoners, and probably made to work as slaves for these villains, without a chance of escaping. the captain seemed most cast down. he would, of course, most certainly be thought to be lost. his vessel would sail without him, and report his death at home. as he was a married man, with several children, the trial was indeed great to him. i tried to make out who was the captain of the pirates, but they appeared at first to me to be all equal. a fat, sturdy mulatto, was, i after a time suspected, the chief mate, or one of the principal officers; and the spaniard, who had first succeeded in boarding us, was another. not one of them spoke a word of english, though from the first i suspected that two or more of the white men understood it, if they were not englishmen or people from the american colonies. at all events, i followed peter's advice--not to say anything about which it might be well not to have heard. i have often seen people get into great scrapes, and bring most disagreeable consequences on themselves, from disregarding that rule. never say anything among foreigners, in your own or any other language, which you do not wish them to understand; or even give expression to your feelings in looks, which even savages, you should remember, can frequently comprehend. our two poor shipmates who had been wounded died, i hope, before we left the schooner. at all events, the pirates threw them overboard. including peter and me, there were thus only three foremast-men, besides the blacks, and a mulatto who had been shipped as pilot for the trip round the coast. we all kept together sitting on and about one of the guns; but very little conversation passed between us. the captain and mr gale walked the deck near us, but they said very little to each other. a negro brought us, towards the evening, a large dish of farina, with some sort of meat stewed in it. though not over pleasant to the look, it was acceptable enough to hungry men, for we had had nothing to eat since the morning. a more palatable-looking dish was placed before the captain and mr gale. this care of us showed that they did not, at all events, intend to starve us to death, as they would scarcely have fed people whom they intended to kill. i observed the spaniard and the mulatto mate occasionally going down an after-hatchway, which i supposed led into the chief cabin, but for what reason they went i could not tell; and i observed that whenever the captain and mr gale approached the spot, a guard stationed there turned them back. when night came on, a sail was handed to us, which we spread over the gun, and crept under it; and i observed that a couple of mattresses were sent on deck, and that a sail was secured over the bulwarks, to make a somewhat better tent for our officers. we passed the whole of the next day much as we had done the first. the black, and white, and coloured crew did not regard us with very friendly looks; but they did not molest us. a dark-skinned lad would, however, occasionally come up to me when neither of the mates were looking, and touching a formidable-looking knife he wore in his sheath, signify that he should enjoy running the point into me. some relation of his had been among the men killed, and this made him feel bitter towards us. peter, who saw the action, advised me to remain quiet, and to take no notice of it. "he only wants an excuse for a quarrel, and therefore, unless you wish to please him, do not give it," observed my friend. i followed his advice, not only at the present, but on many future occasions, and thus avoided many of the quarrels and disputes into which i saw others plunged. the men who brought us our food growled a little at us, as if they would much rather have been making us food for the fish; but as we made them no answer, they went away and left us to ourselves. as the wind was generally light, we did not make much progress. thus another night passed away. when the morning of the next day broke, i saw that we were running in among reefs, which i could tell by the ripple of the otherwise calm water breaking over them. ahead was a low sandy shore, mangrove-bushes lining some portion of it, with palms and plantains, and a few other tropical trees, rising beyond them. as we sailed on, threading the glass-like channels, the sun rose higher and higher, and shone down with intense heat on our heads, drawing forth, at the same time, a thin gauze-like mist over the whole scene. "this is a regular trap," observed peter. "if a man once gets in here, i defy him to find his way out again, unless he was born and bred on the spot." the captain and mr gale were watching the progress of the vessel, and tried to look as unconcerned as possible; but they were evidently considering if it were possible to take a vessel out by the way they had come in. at length we entered the mouth of a narrow creek, lined with the mangrove-bushes i have spoken of on either side; some growing in the bright pure water, others with their branches just dipping into the clear liquid, and so distinctly reflected that i could not tell where the real bough ended and its phantom-likeness began. after running on for half a mile, and making frequent turns, we found ourselves in a wide lagoon, several other craft of different sizes and rigs being at anchor in it. on shore, there was a collection of large wooden sheds looking like stores, and some huts, and a few buildings of more pretensions, apparently dwelling-houses. there was nothing like order or regularity in the arrangement of the village; but each store or cottage seemed to have been placed as suited the fancy of the owner, the whole wearing a very nautical, shipwreck appearance. many of the roofs were formed of the bottoms of boats; sails, with a coating of paint or tar, were nailed over others; and the planks and ribs of vessels had entered largely into the construction of all the edifices. i made these observations as we were shortening sail and coming to an anchor. it was very clearly a pirate stronghold, and had been probably so for some years. the pirates had allowed us to remain on deck and see the approach to it, evidently trusting to the difficulties of the navigation to prevent any of us finding our way out of it, or in again, should we obtain our liberty. though art had done nothing, nature had done everything to make the place impregnable, unless a pilot could be found to show an enemy the way. against such a result they had several safeguards: each man of this fraternity had bound himself by an oath not to betray any of their secrets. the spanish authorities took very little cognisance of them, as their own vessels were not attacked; while at that time the governors of the west india islands did not trouble themselves much about rooting out piracy; and it was only when some act of especial atrocity had been committed, that, if a man-of-war was in the way, she was sent in chase of the pirate. as soon as we had dropped our anchor, several boats came off from the shore with people eager to learn the news we brought. they looked suspiciously at us, and seemed not very well satisfied at the result of their inquiries. it was far from pleasant to see a number of cut-throat-looking fellows parading up and down before us with their hands on the hilts of their long knives, with which they kept playing as if anxious to try their temper in our bodies. captain helfrich stood all the time with folded arms leaning against the bulwarks, and all we could do was to imitate his example. i was not sorry, however, when the mulatto mate intimated to us that we were to get into the boat and go on shore, as i thought that we should then probably be more out of the way of our irascible-looking friends. we were ordered into one boat with mr gale, while the captain was carried away in another. this seriously excited our apprehension, as we could not tell what evil might be intended him. he, however, though very grave, seemed to be under no apprehension, but stepped into the boat as if he was going on shore on his own business. as soon as we landed, we were marched up to one of the store-like buildings; and a ladder being shown us, up which we went through a trap which closed behind us, we found ourselves in a large airy loft. the furniture consisted of some heaps of the straw or leaves of indian corn. it looked clean, and was, therefore, more suited to our wants than would have been any number of pieces of the handsomest furniture--such as marble tables, mahogany sideboards, satin-wood wardrobes, or gold and china vases. as peter observed, when he threw himself on one of the heaps: "never mind, my lads, we're rich if we've got what we want. if our friends below would send us up a dish of turtle and rice, or some of their ollas, we, at any rate, shall have no reason to complain of our lot. we shall get out of this one of these days; so, in the meantime, let us make ourselves comfortable." peter's good temper kept up the spirits of the rest of our party. i have often found the advantage of having a person like peter among a number of people placed in circumstances like ours, either in prison, or cast away, or detained in some disagreeable place; and i have, therefore, always endeavoured to imitate him in that respect, as well as in others, by keeping up my own spirits, and by cheering my companions in misfortune. mr gale, under most circumstances, would have contributed to support us; but on the present occasion he was evidently too much weighed down with grave apprehensions as to what was likely to befall us all, to act as he would otherwise have done. not having anything else to do, and being very tired, we all went to sleep. after some hours, for the sun was low by that time, we were awoke. hearing a bolt being withdrawn, and looking up, i saw the trap lifted, and a negro appeared. on his head he carried a large bowl, with some wooden spoons in it. he placed the bowl before us, and signified that we might eat its contents. curiously enough, it contained the very thing peter had been wishing for--a stew of turtle and rice, a thing not to be despised by hungry men. it was very good, i know. after eating it, we went to sleep again, and for my own part i did not awake till daylight. after some time, a bowl of a sort of porridge was brought us, and some plantains, which, with pork, forms the common food of the people of cuba. twice in the day food was brought us. it was both abundant and good, so that we had no reason to complain of the way the pirates treated us. the great puzzle was to discover why it was that they were so civil. had they kept us on bread and water, and spared our lives, we should have had reason to be grateful; as the usual mode of proceeding of such gentry, we understood, always was to shoot all who would not take the oaths and join them. we were not allowed to go out of the place, or to hold intercourse with anybody. the only light which was let into the place came from a hole in the roof above our heads. it was so placed that we could not manage to climb up to it. i managed, however, to find a chink in the floor, near the trap; and whenever i looked through it, i saw a man with a musket standing there as a guard. three or four days thus passed away. we could hear nothing of the captain, for the only person we saw was the negro, and when we asked him, he only shook his head, and intimated that he did not understand what we said. mr gale, after a time, aroused himself, and gave us instructions in various matters; and peter and one of the other men told some capital stories, and we all took it by turns to sing songs. i was not a bad hand at that, by-the-by; i had learned several as a child, and had picked up others since then, and as my voice was a good one, my songs were generally favourites. the time, however, began to hang rather heavily on our hands, when one evening a stranger made his appearance, and looking at me, said in english, "youngster, you are wanted." i was startled at hearing the sound of an english voice; but i, of course, thought the captain wanted me, so i went, very willing to accompany him. the trap was bolted behind me. he took me to one of the largest cottages i had observed, and entering it, pointed to a door, and told me to go in. i did so, and there i saw seated at a table the identical old gentleman whom i believed to be called captain ralph. he did not look a day older than when he came on board the _rainbow_ off saint kitt's, and he wore the same old-fashioned three-cornered hat and laced-coat. "you have seen me before, lad," said he, eyeing me closely. "yes, sir," said i, resolving to be frank with him; "on board the _rainbow_." "you are attached to your captain, and would wish to do him a service?" he added. "yes, sir," said i. "what do you want me to do?" "tell him that all his people have taken the oaths and joined the confederacy," he answered, looking at me hard. "i don't know what oaths, or what else you mean, sir," i answered. "i cannot tell him anything that is not true." "what? a ship-boy with a conscience?" he exclaimed, bursting into a fit of laughter. "i tell you, lad, you must do as you are bid." "yes, sir, i'll do what my captain tells me," i replied, simply. "but for the matter of saying anything to deceive him, i won't do it. i'll tell him the truth, and then he'll know how to act." he looked at me very hard for a moment or so, and then rang a bell by his side. from what he had said, i hoped that the captain was safe and well. the same man who had brought me in appeared. "send diego here to take care of this youngster, and bring in one of the other men, the tall one--i will try what i can make of him," he said; and the white man disappeared. directly afterwards, a sturdy black man came in. captain ralph pointed to me. he seized me by the collar, and held me a prisoner on one side of the room. in a short time peter was brought in. "you find life and liberty sweet, my man?" said the old gentleman, addressing him. "i've no objection to either," answered peter sturdily. "you've been well-treated since you've been here?" said captain ralph. "i've no reason to complain," was peter's laconic reply. "very well; you may judge that i do not wish you ill," observed captain ralph. "now, i won't conceal it from you, we have a body of people on this island who don't own any laws except those of our own making. a large number of them are spaniards, and i want a few honest englishmen, who will stick by one another, to join us. what do you say? are you inclined to join us? your captain will, i have no doubt, and so will this lad and the rest of your shipmates." i shook my head. captain ralph did not see me, but the negro did, and gave me a cuff on the head in consequence. i had not fancied that the negro understood english, but from this circumstance i have no doubt he did. peter gave a hitch to his trousers when the question was put to him, and then vehemently scratched his head. "look ye here, sir," he answered in a firm voice, which showed that he had made up his mind how to act, "i am much obliged for the treatment i and my shipmates have received since we came to this place, barring the being kept inside a sort of prison, so to speak; but you must just understand, sir, that i've been brought up to be an honest man, and an honest man i hope to remain to the end of my days; and so, as to taking any oath to turn pirate, or in any way to associate with those who do, i'll not do it. so now you've my answer." the pirate chief--for so i may as well at once call him--seemed to be somewhat taken aback at this answer; but he laughed as i had before heard him. "you _rainbow_ lads have odd notions of your own about honesty! we'll see what the rest of you have to say on the subject." mr gale was next sent for. he, as may be supposed, at once refused to join the pirates. the other men, fancying that we had joined them, promised to do so; but it struck me that captain ralph did not look particularly well satisfied at hearing their reply. what his intentions were we could not tell, for he ordered us all at once to be taken back to our place of confinement, under a guard of five or six men, who stood outside ready for that purpose. what had become of the captain puzzled us most to discover. we said nothing, however, as we went along, for we were pretty certain that the people who had charge of us perfectly understood english, if they were not mostly englishmen. we remained two or three days longer shut up, in a state of great doubt and uncertainty. sometimes we fancied that we should be taken out and shot; at others, that we might be set at liberty. however, i could not help hoping that captain ralph was well-disposed towards us. what the pirates were about all this time we could not tell; but we supposed that they could scarcely remain idle, and if we were to make our escape at all, we looked forward to the time when the greater portion were gone away on some expedition. we very soon got tired of not being able to see what was going forward in the outer world. we accordingly hunted about the roof, to find a spot where we could remove the shingles, or split planks of wood which formed it, without leaving any marks which might be observed. this, after a little time, we succeeded in doing with our knives; and thus we formed a look-out hole on each side of the building. on one side, we could see all over the harbour; on another, we looked down towards the mouth; a third looked over a very uninviting country inland, with the mountains of cuba seen in the far distance, blue and indistinct; while, by looking through the fourth, we discovered that we were separated from the open sea by a piece of land little more than a mile in width. we could not, of course, see what was going forward close under the buildings, but we could observe the movements of people on shore at a little distance off. our ears, however, helped us when our eyesight failed. one of us was always on the look-out at each hole, while the fifth kept watch at the chink, to give timely notice of anybody's approach to the ladder. for some days we had observed the people busily employed in fitting, rigging, and in shaping and altering spars. at length there was an unusual bustle, and boats were continually going backwards and forwards between the vessels, carrying stores of various sorts. it was clear that there was at length an expedition on foot. we naturally fancied that it would produce some change in our position, but whether for better or worse remained to be seen. the next morning the harbour was covered with boats carrying people on board the vessels; and directly afterwards six of them got under way, and stood out towards the sea. whether or not captain ralph went with them we could not discover. we could not perceive our own schooner in the harbour, but there was a vessel which we thought might be her lying out towards the mouth of the creek. there were still, we remarked, a good number of people left on the island. we saw them moving about in all directions for some hours after the fleet had sailed, and then they retired into the huts and sheds which served as their homes. such was the state of things when we lay down to rest that night. about midnight, we were startled by hearing the trap-door lifted. at the same time a man appeared with a lantern in his hand. i recognised him as the person who had conducted me to the presence of captain ralph. "i have come here as a friend, my men," he said in a low voice, putting down the lantern. "you have shown that you can be faithful to your own captain, and mine, therefore, believes that he can trust you to do him a service. is he right?" "yes," answered mr gale, speaking for the rest of us; "anything which, as honest men, we can do to help him we will gladly undertake." "that's right," said the stranger. "you must know, then, that we have here men of various nations. many of them are spaniards. they and other foreigners have lately been growing more and more jealous of our captain. he has done two or three things lately to offend their prejudices, certainly. the consequence is, that they have hatched a conspiracy, which has just been discovered, to murder him and all the english in the place; you all will be among the first victims. in asking you to fight for us, i invite you to fight for your own lives. to show that i trust you, i have brought you some pistols and ammunition, and a bundle of swords done up in this sail. the villains have fixed on an hour before daybreak to begin the attack on us. arm yourselves, and be ready to sally forth at a moment's notice. they will sound a trumpet as a signal to their party to begin the work of slaughter. i will try to be here before then. if i am not, make your way to captain ralph's quarters. he will have, before that, released your captain, who will put himself at your head. you will also be joined by four or five men, who, like me, will be glad to get away from this den, and regain our liberty at any cost. i must stay no longer, or i may be missed. be prompt and firm, and we may come off conquerors. remember, however, it is victory or death for all of us!" these words came like a thunder-clap among us. we could scarcely believe our ears. mr gale, however, at once replied, that we would undertake exactly to follow the stranger's directions, as we clearly understood the dangerous predicament in which we all stood. the instant he received our reply, he hurried from the loft, and we could see his figure from our loophole proceeding to the upper part of the settlement. our first care was to examine the package, which we found contained the arms he had promised. we immediately loaded the pistols, and buckled on the cutlasses, and then stood ready to descend at the expected signal. to men long shut up as we had been, any excitement is acceptable; so that, far from feeling any alarm at what we had heard, scarcely anything could have contributed so much to raise our spirits. i truly believe that we valued the prospect of obtaining our liberty much more from the chance of having to fight for it. we were only eager for the fray to begin. we could not tell exactly how we were to find out our enemies; but mr gale charged us not to attack anyone till we were attacked, unless we received directions from captain helfrich, or the stranger who had just visited us. the state of things which existed, it appeared, among this community of sea-robbers, showed me a truth which i have since found frequently confirmed, that oaths are of little or no value among men who are continually breaking god's laws. they are kept as a rule only as long as it is convenient or necessary to each individual to keep them; but the moment he thinks it to his advantage to break them, he does so without the slightest compunction. the terrific oaths which were supposed to bind together the ruffians of the blackbeard school, were over and over again broken, and would never have been kept unless interest, or the lowest superstition, had held the ruffians faithful to them. the value of an oath, as a pledge taken in the sight of the almighty god, they could not comprehend. much the same was evidently the case in the present instance; and here there was every prospect of a long existing community of outlaws breaking up from internal dissensions. we could only earnestly hope that such might be their fate. "depend on it, jack, my boy," said peter to me, when talking on the subject, "there's only one thing can bind men truly together, and that is honesty of purpose. real friendship cannot exist among knaves." in my long life i have invariably found his remarks verified. hour after hour passed away while we waited for the signal. of course we were very anxious, but our spirits rather rose than fell as we talked over the various plans which it might be necessary for us to adopt to effect our escape. we had an advantage the pirate who visited us did not suspect: we had surveyed the ground from our look-out, and knew that our own schooner, or one like her, was at the mouth of the harbour. we agreed, as soon as we had driven back the spaniards and their party, to set fire to their stores; and while they were endeavouring to put them out, to make a rush for the boats, and thus to effect our escape down the lagoon. the night had become very silent--not a sound was heard, either on shore or on the water. there was a gentle land-breeze blowing, which would be all in our favour if once we could get to the vessel. suddenly the shrill blast of a trumpet was heard. peter gave one glance through the loophole, and said he saw torches flaming in the upper part of the village; and presently loud shouts and cries burst forth from the same direction. we slid down the ladder as fast as one could follow the other, mr gale leading. if a guard had been there, he had run off at the first sound of the trumpet. we hurried on in the direction we had been desired to take. we had not gone far when we were met by the stranger. "no time to lose; on, my lads!" he exclaimed, leading the way. before us torches were waving, and there were the flashes of fire-arms. their reports were heard, as was the clash of steel. we advanced together rapidly. suddenly flames burst out of one of the large stores. the building itself and its contents, probably being of inflammable materials, blazed up fiercely, and its light fell on the figures of a number of men fighting desperately. one person was conspicuous above those of all the others. it was that of our own captain. as we saw him we raised a cheer, which must have reached his ears. he answered it with a shout such as few but he could give. again we cheered, and dashed on with redoubled speed. we were but just in time to help him. he stood with his back against a wall, almost surrounded with enemies, bestriding the body of captain ralph; while his right hand wielded a huge sword, such as few but he could use to advantage. "on, my lads! charge the villains!" he shouted. we needed not the command, but rushed against the mass of spaniards, mulattoes, and blacks, who were besetting him, with such hearty good-will, and our attack being, at the same time, so unexpected, that we drove them back, helter-skelter, some hundred yards, killing and wounding a number of them in the way. we should have gone further, but we were recalled by the captain's voice. we found him lifting captain ralph's body in his arms. "to the boats! to the boats!" shouted some of the englishmen, each of whom bore, i perceived, a considerable bundle on his shoulders. we, supporting our captain, followed the way they led. five or six boats, with their oars and sails in them, were in the water at a rough wooden quay. we jumped into them, and shoved off. several english had been killed, and some had been wounded, whom their comrades had assisted to the water-side. the scene was lighted up by the blaze of several wooden stores and other buildings. among them was captain ralph's cottage. the lights from the flaming mass fell on a large body of spaniards, who had rallied, and were advancing rapidly towards us. "it matters not," shouted some of our new companions, with a laugh of derision; "they'll find no boats to pursue us; and when they get back to their homes, they'll discover that not a few of their gold ingots are gone. hurrah! hurrah! give way, my lads, though! they'll bring their guns to bear upon us if we do not make good way down the creek." we had all jumped into the nearest boats at hand, without any respect to order, and the stoutest hands had seized the oars. i found myself in the boat with my captain and captain ralph. the old man lay in the stern-sheets supported in my captain's arms. he still lived, but he appeared to be badly wounded. neither spoke for some time. the captain told me to take the yoke-lines, and to steer according to his directions. peter pulled one of the oars, and our boat took the lead; but, to my surprise, my captain seemed to know all the turnings of the creek as well as any of the pirates. we had got but a short distance when our opponents reached the side of the water, when, finding no boats, they began rapidly firing away at us. though the light from the blazing buildings fell on us, it did not enable them to judge accurately of the distance we were from them, and most of their shot went over our heads. though we had plenty of arms in the boat, we did not attempt to return their fire; but some of our lawless companions gave vent to their anger in shouts and execrations. wild as the scene had hitherto been, it was yet further heightened by a loud explosion, which sent fragments of burning embers falling even around the boats. at the sound, captain ralph raised his head and looked towards the village. "they have lost their expected prize, and many of them have received what they little expected!" he exclaimed, with that peculiar low laugh in which i had before heard him indulge. he had for the moment forgotten his condition. he was, i saw clearly, desperately wounded. the exertion of moving and speaking was greater than he could bear, and he sunk back into the captain's arms. the bullets were all this time flying thickly about the boats, though we were rapidly increasing our distance from the shore. several of them had whistled by my ear. then i heard one strike close to me with a peculiar dead sound. at the same moment a sharp, unearthly cry rung in my ear. it was uttered by captain ralph. "helfrich!" he exclaimed, "they have done for me. i thought that i had secured all i required, and might live henceforth in peace. i die with unnumbered sins on my conscience, without one good act performed, with every advantage neglected, with a thousand opportunities of reformation thrown away. i have lived a life of imposture, outraging all laws, human and divine, and i die miserably without hope--without hope--without hope! oh, save me! save me! save me!" the last words the miserable man gasped out with difficulty. scarcely had he spoken them, when his head fell down over his breast, a convulsive shudder passed through his frame, and the once dreaded pirate was dead! chapter eight. pirates in both hemispheres. the balls from the pirates' muskets not a little increased the rapidity of our movements. two or three men in the other boats were hit, and one was killed. when captain helfrich discovered what had occurred, he carefully closed the old pirate's eyes, and placed the body on the seat by his side. his men, however, evinced very little sorrow at his death. who he was, and what he had done during his life, i was never able clearly to learn. he was a man of education, and a first-rate seaman, as i had had an opportunity of observing; and i should think that he would have succeeded in any line of life he might have chosen to adopt. he selected, unhappily, a very bad one, for i believe that his whole career had been lawless; but that, rather from the peculiarity of his temper than from any fear of committing evil, he had usually abstained, when he had the power in his own hands, from shedding blood. the grey dawn broke as we were pulling down the creek, and just as the headmost boat touched the side of a schooner which lay at its mouth, the sun rose in a blaze of glory out of the smooth dark blue ocean. peter, looking over his shoulder, recognised her as our little sugar vessel. we were soon alongside. friends to our lawless companions were on board. the cable was hove short, the mainsail was set, and all was ready to weigh in a moment. as many boats as the schooner could stow on deck: were hoisted on board; the rest went ahead to tow her out. the plan of escape had been well arranged by captain ralph and his followers. when they found that their long-trusted leader was dead, their dismay was great. no time, however, was to be lost. a man who had gone to the mast-head, whence he could look over the mangrove-bushes into the lagoon, reported that some of the vessels there were making sail in pursuit. we, however, had a good start of them. still, without a leader, there was some confusion, and the energies of the people were not applied to their full advantage. suddenly there arose a cry among them that a captain must be chosen. "the english captain! the english captain!--captain helfrich is our man!" was shouted by all the pirates; and it was very evident that, whether he would or not, they would compel him to take the post. "my men, i am obliged to you for your good opinion of me," said captain helfrich, standing up among them; "still i cannot be your captain. i will be your pilot to take you out of this harbour, and to enable you to gain a place of safety, on one condition, that you disperse at the time i point out to you. i make this agreement for your own advantage. if you keep together, you are certain before long to get into trouble. will you trust me?" "we agree! we agree!" was replied on all sides. "we trust you, sir, for we know you mean us well." "then heave up the anchor, sheet home the headsails, up with the helm, and let her cast to starboard," cried the captain, almost in the same breath. a man was stationed at the bowsprit-end, and another at the mast-head, to give notice of any rocks beneath the water which might lie in our course; but captain helfrich seemed scarcely to require such information. the little schooner threaded the narrow and intricate passage with unerring accuracy, every instant the rapidity of her progress being increased by the freshening wind. it was well, indeed, for our safety that we had a steady breeze, for while we were still within the labyrinth of reefs, several vessels were seen emerging from among the mangrove-bushes. as they advanced, they fired their guns at us; but we were still far beyond their range. had it not been, indeed, for the many turns in the passage, we should have been so far away that they could not have hoped to reach us. we had only our heels to depend on, for, with so overpowering a force, the spaniards must easily have overcome us. our great danger consisted in the possibility of striking on a rock before we could get clear of the reefs. on this probability our enemies calculated when they came in pursuit. we had several reaches to pass through, which in no way increased our distance from them through the air, and at last several of their shot came whistling over our mast-heads. one went through our mainsail. we could only stand still and look at our enemies, while our little vessel made the best of her way from them. "hurrah, my lads! we are in the last reach," shouted our captain; "in five minutes we shall be in clear water!" the men shouted in return. stronger blew the breeze, making the blue sea sparkle and leap outside. on either hand it broke in masses of foam, which leaped high into the air. on we flew! a narrow channel of smooth water was before us. we glided through it. "hurrah--hurrah! we are free--we are free!" i remember how fresh and pure i thought the sea air smelt. with what freedom i breathed, after being shut up so long in a hot loft! the breeze was easterly--a wind which would carry us on a bowline to jamaica. every sail the little schooner could carry was set on her. our pursuers were not, however, yet willing to give up the chase. once clear, with the open sea before us, we distanced them fast, and the sailing qualities of the little schooner being very fair, we had little fear of being overtaken. from what i saw of our present companions, i certainly should not have liked to have associated much with them. while danger threatened, they were quiet enough; but as the prospect of being overtaken decreased, they grew more reckless and overbearing in their manner, and showed with how little provocation they would be ready to break into a quarrel with us, or among themselves. thanks to mr gale's and peter's example, we were not likely to give them cause for that. as they had been prepared for flight, they had not only put on a considerable quantity of additional clothing, but each man carried round his waist a belt filled with gold and silver coins, while his pockets were filled with jewels and such silver ornaments and other articles of value which he could manage to stow away in them. this much impeded their activity, though, of course, it was but natural that they should wish to carry away with them as much as they could of those spoils, to gain which they had hazarded the loss both of life and soul! "it will be as well, for their own sakes, that none of those fellows fall overboard," observed peter to me when none of them were near to listen; "they'll go down like a shot, and then what will be the use to them of all the dollars and the gold they have collected? what's the use of it to them now? just to spend in the grossest folly and debauchery; and for the sake of collecting it, they have been living a life of murder and rapine! all i can say is that i don't want to change places with them, though their pockets are full and mine are empty!" i agreed with peter that neither would i, and we had good reason before long to think the same. we were still not clear of danger from our pursuers. the breeze freshened so much that it was with difficulty we could stagger along under the press of canvas we carried; and as the spaniards' vessels were much larger, had we been compelled to shorten sail, they might easily have come up with us. if they did, we well knew that we could expect no mercy from them. still the chase was very exciting. however, i would rather be the pursuer than the pursued; and i suppose that a hare, or a fox, or a stag would, if it could express its opinion, agree with me in the latter remark. fortunately for us the breeze kept very steady; and as, after a time, the spaniards found that they lost ground rather than gained on us, they tacked and stood back towards the cuban coast. this event was noticed with loud cheers by all our people, nor was i slack in joining them. our passage, till we sighted the coast of jamaica, was very rapid. captain helfrich had made some arrangement with the pirates as to their future course. i do not know what it was. some were to go away in their boats in different directions; some wished to land, and others to be put on board homeward-bound vessels. they wanted to take the schooner, but, of course, he could not willingly let them have her, as she was not his property. i suspect that they had formed a plan to take her; but their designs, if such existed, were defeated. among the cargo were some small casks of rum. a knowledge of this fact the captain wished to keep concealed from everybody on board. unhappily, however, the pirates discovered them, and, in spite of captain helfrich's remonstrances and warnings, they very soon had them up and broached on deck. every minute they became more and more riotous and inclined to quarrel among themselves. again the captain warned them that they would betray themselves; but laughingly they answered that they knew him well, and that he would take care that they got into no mischief. the wind heading us, we had to stand in-shore, so as to beat up towards kingston. there was a little sea on, but not enough to prevent our observing objects some way below the surface. peter and i were looking over the side--one of the other men being at the helm--when we noticed a dark pointed object floating alongside; another came up near it. looking down, we with a shudder discovered the long tapering bodies of two sharks swimming just on our quarter. nothing is so hateful to a sailor, even when he has a sound plank under his feet, as a sight of those tigers of the deep. happening shortly after to go over to the other side, and glancing my eye over the bulwarks, with almost a thrill of horror i saw two others precisely in the same relative position. at first i thought they must be the same, but going back to the other side, there were those first seen just as they had been before. "i don't like the look of those brutes," said peter. "i am not superstitious, but i never have seen sharks swimming along as those are but what some mischief or other has happened--a man has fallen overboard, or something of that sort!" i, as may be supposed, shared fully in peter's feelings, and set to work wondering what the harm would be. i had not long to wait. the schooner had tacked, and was laying pretty well along-shore, with her head off it, and about a mile distant. one of the pirates, with drunken gravity, had insisted that he was not going to be idle, and that he would tend the fore-sheet. the state of things on board had made the captain doubly anxious to get in before night, and we were, therefore, carrying on perhaps even more sail than the little craft could well bear. we were taking the water in well over our bows; but that seemed in no way to inconvenience the hardy pirates, as they sat on the deck at their levels. i will not attempt to paint the picture presented by the pirates. the horrid oaths and blasphemy, the obscene songs, the shouts of maniac laughter, may be better imagined than described. peter and i and the other men had gone aft, where was also the captain, while mr gale stood at the helm. the sun was perhaps an hour above the horizon. frequently the captain had turned his eyes in the direction of kingston harbour. a sail was seen standing out of the harbour, steering towards us, for the purpose, evidently, of getting a good offing before nightfall. as her topsails appeared above the horizon, we could make out very clearly that she was a brig. "hand me up my glass, jack," said the captain with animation. he took a long, steady look at her, and then handed the glass to mr gale, whose place peter took at the helm. while they were all looking eagerly at the approaching brig, i felt the schooner heel over even more than she had been doing. the captain likewise became sensible of the movement. he looked round-- "let go the fore-sheet!" he shouted loudly. mr gale at the same moment sprang forward to execute the order; but the pirate who was tending it held it on tight with drunken stupidity. mr gale tried to drag him away from it; but the man, instead of letting go, gave a turn, and jammed the sheet. down came the squall on us with redoubled strength. the little vessel heeled over till her gunwale was buried in the sea. the water rose higher and higher up her deck. it was too late to cut the sheet. no skill could save her. down, down went the vessel! shrieks and cries arose, but they were no longer the sounds of revelry. they were those of horror and hopeless dismay, uttered by the pirates as they found the vessel sinking under their feet and they were thrown struggling into the water. so suddenly did she go over, and so rapidly did she fill, that even the most sober had no time to consider how they could save themselves, much less had those wretched drunken men. overloaded as they were with clothes and booty, they could neither swim nor struggle towards the spars, and planks, and oars, and boats, which were floating about on every side. when mr gale found that it was too late to save the schooner, he sprung back towards one of the boats which had been stowed right aft on the weather-side; the captain, peter, and i, with our men, had been cutting the lashings which had secured it with our knives; and giving it a shove as the deck of the vessel touched the water, we were able to get clear just as she went down. the mate had not quite reached the boat, but peter, leaning forward, hauled him in before he was drawn into the vortex made by the schooner as she sunk. to clear her, we had of necessity to shove astern, and this drove us still further from the spot where the rest of the people were still struggling in the waves. some of the soberest had managed to disencumber themselves of their clothing, and to clutch hold of spars to support themselves; but they had another danger, from the seaman's remorseless enemy, to contend with. we now guessed why the sharks had been accompanying us; or could they have scented the dead body of the pirate chief, which we had still on board? why the captain had not buried him i do not know. scarcely had we leaped into the boat, when the terrific shrieks of the struggling pirates reminded us of what we had seen. in an instant the monsters were at them, and one after the other, with fearful rapidity, they were dragged from the supports to which they clung, their bodies mangled, and limbs torn asunder. we got out our oars as quickly as possible, and pulled back, endeavouring to save some; but before we could reach the nearest man a shark had seized him, and we could see his arms helplessly stretched out, as he was dragged down through the clear waters. on we pulled towards another, but he likewise was carried off after he had already seized the boatswain's oar, and thought himself safe. a third cried out to us piteously to come and save him. we pulled towards him with all our might; but fast as we flew through the water, two huge sharks went faster, and before we could reach him he was their prey, literally torn in sunder between them. he was the last who yet floated; the others had gone down at once, or had been torn to pieces with all their wealth about them. while we were looking round, an object rose to the surface. "what means that?" exclaimed our captain with an expression of horror and alarm such as i did not believe his countenance capable of wearing. it was the body of the old pirate: his face was turned towards us, and one of his arms moved as if beckoning us to follow him! "no, no--you do not want me! i have visited you once at your summons! i'll no longer obey you!" shouted our captain with a hoarse voice, staring wildly; then he sank down into the stern-sheets overcome with his emotions. for a minute, fancying that the old pirate was alive, we pulled towards him; then we remembered that he had been placed in a rough coffin of thick light wood, the lid of which had not been secured. some nails, probably, had caught the clothes and kept the body in. when the vessel sunk the coffin had floated through the hatchway, the lid being knocked off; and thus the old man was once more presented to our view. the monsters who had so speedily disposed of his wretched followers now darted forward to attack the coffin. round and round they turned it; one arm was seized, then another, and we saw the body dragged down with a dozen sharks surrounding it, tearing it limb from limb! our captain very quickly recovered himself, and passing his hand over his brow, as if to shut out some dreadful vision, ordered us in a calm tone to pull towards the approaching brig. as we pulled from the spot, the water appeared here and there tinged with a crimson tint; but scarcely a vestige of the unfortunate little schooner remained. the brig approached. "she is the _rainbow_, sir; there can be no doubt of it!" exclaimed peter, who had been eyeing her narrowly over his right shoulder. he was right. on her people seeing a boat she was hove-to, and we were very quickly on board. i need not describe the surprise of mr jones, the first mate, who had now command of her as captain, or of the officer who had been shipped instead of mr gale. of course, we had all long been given over as lost. mr jones very willingly gave up his command to captain helfrich, and re-occupied his post as first mate; but the new officer who had been shipped, in a most foolish way nourished a peculiar dislike not only for mr gale for superseding him, but towards all of us, and took every opportunity of showing it. the vessel had got a full cargo in, and was on her way back to dublin. at first, however, he pretended that he wished to be very kind to me, in consequence of the hardships i had gone through, and the narrow escape i had of death from the maroons. of course, there was no reason for keeping that part of our adventures secret, so i gave him a full account of all that had occurred; but then he led me on to describe the hurricane, and our capture by the pirates; and from the interest he took in the questions he asked me, i felt that he had some sinister motive for his inquiries. this made me hold my tongue for the time; and when i told peter all the mate had asked me, he told me that i was perfectly right not to give him any further information, as he was sure that he would make a bad use of it. we neither of us liked the expression of the man's countenance, or his manner to his superiors, or us his inferiors. time was to show us that we were right in our conjectures. when the extra mate found that he could get nothing out of peter or me he attacked the other men; and from what they confessed to us they had told him, we feared that he had obtained from them all the information he required. he left the brig directly we entered port, and immediately returned to jamaica. captain helfrich was received in dublin as one who had returned from the dead; for the account of his supposed death had preceded us, and his wife had actually assumed widow's mourning for him. his sudden appearance very nearly cost her her life. we took the usual time to refit the brig, and then sailed once more for the same destination. we had the usual number of passengers, and all went well till we reached kingston. after we had lain a little time there, we saw from the captain's manner that all was not going well with him; and peter told me that from what he heard on shore, that he was accused of having been leagued with pirates; and that all sorts of things were said about him. this, to a man of the captain's temperament, was very trying. those who knew him best, must have been perfectly convinced that, for many years past, he could not possibly have been guilty of any act of piracy; although i could have little doubt that, in his early days, he must, in some way or other, have been connected with the person whom i knew alone by the name of captain ralph. it was a practical evidence of the truth of that saying of holy writ, that the sins of his youth rise up in judgment against a man in his old age. we had little difficulty in tracing the reports to the malignity of the man who had acted as mate during the last passage home. in consequence of these reports, captain helfrich had considerable difficulty in obtaining a cargo for the brig; and so disgusted was he with all the annoyance he had received, that he resolved not to return again to the west indies. at last, however, we were ready to sail. the evening before we were to go to sea, a boat came alongside, pulled by black men, with one man only in the stern-sheets. he asked to see captain helfrich. i looked over the side, and recognised him as michael, the tall negro who had been the means of rescuing us from the maroons. mr gale sent me to let the captain know that a person wanted to see him, and of course i told him who he was. the captain accordingly directed me to invite him below at once. i did so, and remained in the cabin. "i've come, captain," said he, "to ask a favour of you." "anything you ask i am bound to grant," answered the captain. "all i have to beg is a passage to england," replied the negro. "i go to seek in your country that liberty which i can find nowhere else. for years have i been striving to instil into my unhappy countrymen a knowledge of their true position; but they are too ignorant, too gross-minded to understand me. i have had no wish to set them against their masters. in most instances, both parties have been born to the position they occupy, and cannot help themselves. all i want is, that the masters should do them justice, and should treat them as men--as human beings with souls, with like passions, with like thoughts as themselves--that they should do their best to improve their minds, to educate them, to prepare them for that liberty they must sooner or later obtain. the question is, how will it be obtained? by fair and gentle means, granted--not taken by force as a right, or by violence and bloodshed. i have tried all means. i have leagued with all classes of men to commence, in some way or other, the work. thus, for a time, i associated with captain ralph; but he grossly deceived me, as he did everybody else. i joined the maroon bands, in the idea that force might avail; but in that respect i found that i was totally wrong in my calculations. i have tried to influence the planters, to show them their true interests: that with a well-instructed peasantry they would get far more work done, and at a smaller cost, than they do now with their gangs of ignorant slaves; but they laugh my notions to scorn. they fancy, because they find the negro ignorant, brutal, and stupid, that he can never be anything else. they forget that they made him so when they made him or his ancestors slaves; and that it must take more than one generation of gentle, watchful, judicious education to raise him out of the wretched state in which he now grovels. no philanthropist would wish them to emancipate their slaves now without long previous training, to fit them for liberty. if they ever free them without that training, they will ruin their properties. i find fault with them for not commencing that training at once, for not teaching them the religion they themselves profess, for not in any way attempting to enlighten their ignorance. perhaps i may induce people in england to advocate the negro's cause; but yet if christian men here, on the scene of their sufferings, do not care for them, how can i expect people at a distance to listen to their cries, to labour that they may obtain justice?" michael said much more on the same subject. our captain listened, but did not clearly understand him; nor did i at the time. he, however, willingly granted him a passage, and treated him with the attention he deserved at our hands during it. michael was a man far beyond his time. not many blacks are like him; but i have met some with comprehensive minds equal to those of any white men. the vicious system to which the generality are subject, stunts or destroys all mental development; but had they the advantages of the whites, i believe as many buds in the one case as in the other would bear rich fruit. michael left us in dublin, and it was not till long afterwards that i heard his subsequent fate. we had a prosperous passage to dublin, and nothing occurred during it worthy of being mentioned. the captain very slowly recovered his usual spirits, but was completely himself again before we reached home. the _rainbow_ remained longer in dock than usual, and during the time i had charge of her, peter took the opportunity of visiting his friends, who lived some miles from liverpool. my life was almost like that of a hermit's though surrounded by multitudes. i scarcely spoke to anyone. i amused myself, however, in my own way. i cut out all sorts of things in wood and bone, and practised every variety of knot-and-splice. at last it occurred to me that i would try to make a model of the brig. i bought at a timber-yard a soft piece of white american pine, without a knot in it; and as i had charge of the carpenter's tools, i got some of the chisels and gouges sharpened up, and set to work. with rule and compass i drew two lines for her keel on one side, and then pencilled out the shape of her deck on the other. i first, by-the-by, made a scale of so many parts of an inch to a foot, and measured every part of the brig i could reach. having got the shape of her deck exact, and her depth, i used to go ahead and astern and look at her shape, and then come aboard again, and chisel away at my model. i shaved off very little of the wood at a time, and my eye being correct, i made one side exactly equal to the other. then fixing the wood in a vice, i scooped out the whole of the interior with an even thickness on every side. at length the hull was completed very much to my satisfaction. then i got a piece of thin plank for her deck, and built on her bulwarks, with the windlass, the binnacle, caboose, and combings of her hatchway complete. next i commenced rigging her. i formed all the blocks, and expended many a penny in purchasing whipcord and twine of different thickness, as well as linen for her sails. having often carefully watched the sailmakers at work, and helped them when they would allow me, i was able not only to cut out the sails properly, but to fasten on the bolt-ropes, and to mark exactly the divisions of the cloths. i had also to bring the painter's art into play; and to fashion with a file various stancheons, and belaying-pins, and such like things, out of bits of iron and copper; indeed, i am vain to say that i made a very complete model. when she was perfectly completed, i walked round and round her with no little satisfaction, surveying her from every quarter, and placing her in every possible position--indeed, i was never tired of trimming sails. i had had a purpose in building her, for i wanted to present her to my kind captain for one of his little boys, whom i had seen occasionally on board. old pat hagan, though too advanced in years to be intrusted entirely with the charge of the ship, occasionally came down to enable me to take a run on shore. the first day, therefore, that he made his appearance, i started with my model on my head to the captain's residence. "who has sent you here, jack, with that pretty little craft?" asked captain helfrich, as i was shown into his parlour, where he with his wife and children were sitting. "why, sir, as i hoped that you would not think me taking too much on myself in offering it to master james, i made bold to bring it myself," i replied, looking down and feeling somewhat bashful at the praise my model was receiving. "i cannot refuse your pretty gift, jack, which, i am sure is given with a good heart. but where did you pick her up my man?" answered the captain. "but just let me look at her nearer. why, she is the very model of the _rainbow_!" when i told him that i had built her myself, he still further praised me, as did his lady; and master james was delighted with his present, and jumped about round her, and thanked me over and over again. "i am very much pleased, my lad, with this little craft, and from the way you have built her, and, still more, from your general conduct, i tell you that you would be fitted to become an officer if you had but the necessary education. you must try and obtain that, and i will have my eye on you. the next time you come home, you shall go to school; and see if you cannot pick up some knowledge of reading during the voyage." i constantly think of the saying, "man proposes, but heaven disposes." so i found it in this instance. my kind captain would have done all he intended, but his plans for my benefit were frustrated by circumstances then unforeseen by either of us. a few days after this, we sailed for the mediterranean. we had shipped a couple more guns, and four additional hands. in those days it was necessary for merchantmen frequenting that sea to be strongly armed, for it was sadly infested by pirates. there were moorish pirates, salee rovers, and others, who went to sea in large vessels as well as in boats, and robbed indiscriminately all vessels they could overpower; then there were algerine pirates, who had still larger vessels, and were superior to them in numbers; and, lastly, there were greek pirates, every island and rock in the aegean sea harbouring some of them. long years of turkish misrule and tyranny had thoroughly enslaved and debased the great mass of the people; and the more daring and adventurous spirits, finding all lawful exercise of their energies denied them on shore, sought instead for such excitement and profit as piracy could afford them afloat. some of them darted out in small boats from the sheltered coves and bays when any unarmed merchantman was becalmed near them; while others, in well-formed and well-manned vessels of large size, cruised about in all directions in search of prizes. sometimes their strongholds, when discovered by the turks, were attacked and destroyed, but generally they carried on their system of rapine with perfect impunity; and though the people of other governments complained, they had no legal power to punish the subjects of a friendly nation. so the greeks, rejoicing in impunity, grew more and more audacious, till they levied contributions on all the civilised nations of europe whose traders ventured into the levant. such was the state of things when the _rainbow_ sailed on her first voyage to smyrna. captain helfrich had been there before, and he knew the character of the people he had to deal with. we met with bad weather soon after leaving the channel, and had already been driven some way to the westward, when, as we were in about the latitude of lisbon, it came on to blow harder than ever from the eastward. had we been close in with the land, this would not have signified; but before we could beat up again, a continuance of northerly and easterly gales drove us to the southward of the gut of gibraltar. when there, they left us in a dead calm, with our sails idly flapping against the masts, and rolling bulwarks under in the heavy swell they had caused on old ocean's bosom. the sun arose over the distant morocco coast--not then in sight, however--and sent his rays down on our decks with an ardour which made the pitch bubble and hiss up out of the seams. not a ripple disturbed the rounded smoothness of the heaving swells, while even the bubbles thrown off from our sides refused to float to any distance from us. we were not the only occupants of our own horizon. some eight miles off, or so, there was another brig rolling away much in the same fashion that we were. all hands were anxious for a breeze, as we in no way liked the heat after the cold of a northern clime, though it mattered nothing to us whether we made a quick or a slow passage. we whistled, as sailors always whistle when they want a breeze; but the breeze did not come the faster for all our whistling. i never knew it do so, with all my experience. what folly, indeed, in man to suppose that he who rules the winds and waves should alter his laws in consequence of their puny efforts to make a wind with their mouths! in those days, of course, i did not think about the matter. i whistled because others whistled; but if any of us had been asked on what ground we founded our hope that the wind would come in consequence, i suspect that we should have been very much puzzled to return a satisfactory answer. "what countryman do you make that craft out there to be, mr gale?" said the captain, handing the mate the glass through which he had been looking. "not an englishman, certainly," was the reply, after the usual steady glance. "i should say, from the whiteness of her canvas, and her light upper-rigging, that she belongs to some of those turban-wearing people along the african coast in there, or up the straits. they are seldom pleasant customers for an unarmed craft to come across." "i had formed the same idea of her," observed captain helfrich. "we know pretty well, however, how to deal with such gentry: and if she come across us, she'll find that she has caught a tartar." i told peter what i had heard; and he, i found, after looking through the telescope, formed much the same opinion of the stranger. the day wore on, and still the calm continued, so that we in no way decreased our distance from her. night also overtook us, while we lay rolling away helplessly as before. the swell, however, was going down gradually; as it did so, the brig became more steady in the water. it was about the first hour of the morning-watch, which peter and i were keeping, when he asked me suddenly if i did not hear oars. i listened: there could be no doubt about it. there was more than one boat, and the oars were pulled pretty rapidly too. the night was not dark, though there was no moon; but a mist floated on the surface of the water, and served to veil it from our sight, though right overhead the stars could still be seen glimmering faintly in the sky. peter instantly went and reported what he had heard to mr gale, who was officer of the watch. after listening for some time he could hear no sound, and seemed to doubt the correctness of our assertion. the boats had probably ceased pulling, for a purpose at which we could only then conjecture. at last the sound of the oars reached mr gale's ears also. "there's something in this," he exclaimed. "jack, go and call the captain." captain helfrich was on deck in an instant. "the crew of some vessel which has foundered, and taken to their boats," suggested the mate. "from what quarter does the sound come?" asked the captain, listening attentively. "visitors from the brig we saw last night," he cried out. "depend on it, they come to us with no good intention." his experience in the west indies and elsewhere had taught him to be prepared for any such emergency as the present. he was not above being prepared, and he knew that the greatest folly is to despise an enemy. "turn the hands up, mr gale. get the arm-chest open, and the guns loaded and run out. we must be ready. no noise, though: if anyone intends to surprise us, it is as well that we should surprise them instead." the watch below were instantly on deck, and in a few minutes every preparation was made for the reception of an enemy. still we could not see any boats, but the louder sound of oars in the rowlocks convinced us that they were approaching. again the sound ceased. "they are not quite certain of our position," observed mr gale. "if they were people escaping from a wreck, and not aware that a vessel is near, they would have pulled steadily on." "you are right," said the captain. "have a torch ready to heave in among them, that i may make certain who they are before i give the word to fire. it won't do to run the risk of hurting friends; but when once you hear the word, my men, blaze away with all your might. if they are enemies, they will not be such as will give us quarter, however loudly we may cry for it." a murmur ran round among the people, to signify that we would obey the captain's orders. the atrocities committed of late years by the algerines, and the subjects of the emperor of morocco, had made those people the dread of all sea-going people, and gained them a proportionate amount of hatred. once more the sound of oars was heard, and in a short time even their splash in the water could be distinguished. there are few things more trying to a man's nerves than to know that an enemy is approaching, and not to be able to discover his strength or form, or the quarter from whence he is coming. our cutlasses were buckled on, our muskets were ready to be seized, and the slow matches were in our hands, but concealed, so that the enemy might not perceive them. mr gale stood with a torch ready to light at a moment's notice. slowly the boats approached. apparently they seemed to think some caution necessary, or perhaps they could not see how we lay, and wished to attack us according to some preconcerted plan. there was a pause. i know that my heart beat pretty quick to learn what would follow. then there was a dash towards us, and we could hear the sound even from the rowers' chests as they strained at their oars. dark forms were seen gliding out of the darkness. suddenly the bright light of a torch burst forth on our deck. mr gale waved it above his head, and threw it towards the boats, its glare showing us swarthy features, and turbaned heads, and coloured vests, and jewelled arms. there could be no doubt as to the character of our midnight visitors. "fire!" shouted the captain; "fire! and aim low." our guns, loaded with langrage, sent forth a deadly shower among the pirate crew. shrieks and groans arose in return. we followed it up with a discharge of musketry. the enemy were completely taken by surprise. many, abandoning their oars, ceased pulling towards us. this gave us time to reload our guns and small-arms. their leaders, it seemed, were attempting to rally them. once more we could distinguish their dark forms amid the gloom of night. "fire!" again shouted our captain. the shrieks and groans were redoubled, and the boats again disappeared in the darkness. we remained at our quarters expecting their return. they did not come. a light breeze from the southward and westward at length sprung up, and we were able to shape our course towards the rock of gibraltar, and when the morning broke no sail was in sight. chapter nine. a ship without a crew. we touched at gibraltar, that the captain might obtain information as to the ports he was to call at. smyrna, we found, was to be our ultimate destination. he gave notice of the attack made on us by the pirate, and a brig of war was sent to look out for her. i shall have a good deal more to say about our turbaned friends by-and-by. gibraltar i thought a wonderful place, with the face of its high rock, which stands out into the sea, cut full of galleries, and ports with heavy guns grinning from them in every direction. of course, the seamen very often do not know at what port the ship is to touch, or whereabouts they are. such was my case: i had never seen a chart of the mediterranean. the first definite notion i got of it was from peter, who afterwards drew one for me with a piece of chalk on the lid of his chest. i only knew that we were steering towards the east, and that we were likely to see several strange places and many strange people. some time after leaving gibraltar, i had just come on deck one night to keep my watch, when out of the dark ocean, as it seemed, i saw a bright light burst forth and blaze up into the sky. i thought some ship must have blown up; but the light continued, and grew stronger and stronger, and reached higher and higher. the fire seemed to spout out, and then to fall in a shower on every side, something like the branches of a weeping ash, or some wide-spreading tree. the ship was standing towards it, and i thought we should certainly be burned. "oh, peter, peter," i exclaimed, "what is the matter? surely the world has caught fire, and we shall all be destroyed!" "no fear of that just yet, lad," he answered, laughing. "that's only a burning island, which is called stromboli. there are some mountains in these parts, as i have heard say, which send out such a quantity of hot stones, and ashes, and boiling earth, that whole towns, and villages, and fields are overwhelmed and buried. in those countries you may buy for a penny as much fruit as you can carry, and get as much wine as you can drink for twopence, while all sorts of other good things are very cheap; and the weather is almost always like summer. but, for my part, i would rather live in old england, with the foul weather and the fair we get there, and a piece of beef, often somewhat hard to come at, than in a country where your house may any moment be knocked down by an earthquake or covered up with hot ashes. to my mind, all countries have their advantages and their drawbacks; and the great thing is, to be grateful for the one, and to learn how to guard against the other." we touched at several places on our passage. malta was one of them. the english had not at that time taken possession of it. at length we reached smyrna, which is partly situated on level ground, the harbour backed by a lofty hill. there is more trade here than in any other place in the east. the climate, though hot, is very fine; but the place is often shaken by earthquakes, which have at times caused great destruction to lives and property. that dreadful scourge, also, the plague, is a frequent visitor. the former may truly be said to be beyond man's control; but the latter is, i am certain, brought about very much by the dirty habits of the people, and their ill-ventilated and ill-drained habitations. in the neighbourhood of smyrna grow great quantities of figs, which are dried and packed in boxes and baskets. they formed part of our cargo home. we had likewise raisins and other dried fruits, and preserves, and rich silks and embroideries. none of the seamen were allowed to go on shore, for christians were very likely to get insulted, if not ill-treated, by the turks. in those days they used to look upon all christians as dogs, and to behave towards them as such. besides turks, there were a great number of jews and greeks, and people from every part of the east, living at smyrna; but all had to submit to the caprices and ignorance of the first. i was not sorry when we once more made sail, with the ship's head to the westward. we had a somewhat tedious passage down the mediterranean, having frequent baffling or light winds. at times of the year gales, however, blow with great fury in that sea, though they seldom last long. most to be dreaded are the sudden gales which, under the name of "white squalls," have sent many a vessel, caught unprepared, to the bottom. at last we reached gibraltar again. the captain inquired if anything had been seen of the pirate which had attempted to surprise us with her boats; but the brig of war had returned without hearing anything of her. we remained but a day at the rock. we took on board there the crew of a ship which had foundered at sea, and had been brought in by a greek brig which had picked them up, and, for a wonder, had not murdered them. however, as they were nearly naked, and had promised the greeks a reward if they arrived in safety, more was to be got by keeping them alive than by killing them. we were thus very strongly manned. foul winds and a heavy gale made us stand a good way to the westward on our passage home, after getting clear of the gut. soon after sunrise one morning a sail was reported away to windward, running down towards us, the wind being about on her quarter. as she approached with all sail set, she appeared to be sailing very wildly; that is to say, instead of keeping a steady, straight course, her head went now on one side, now on the other, as if a drunken man was at the helm. the captain and mates were looking at her through their glasses. "she looks like an english craft, by the cut of her canvas," observed mr gale. "i can make out the ensign at her peak, and there's no doubt she is english," answered the captain. "there is something wrong aboard her, however, depend on that. i suspect that they have had a fever among them, or the plague, and that all her people are sick, and they have not strength to shorten sail." "perhaps there is a mutiny aboard, or the people are all quarrelling among each other," observed mr gale. "i have known of such things: when the master and officers have ill-treated the men, the crew have risen against them, and either hove them overboard or confined them below, and carried the ship into an enemy's port." i was surprised at the expression of the captain's countenance while the mate was speaking. the words seemed to remind him, i thought, of some occurrence of his youth. "depend on it, gale, no good ever came of such a deed," he remarked. "either the actors in such work have gone on all their lives afraid of detection, or have very speedily paid the penalty of it. unless a man has become a hardened wretch, the recollection of such an act will throw a gloom over the whole of his after-life, and blight all his earthly prospects." "not if he feels that he is forgiven, surely, sir," said the mate, looking at him steadfastly. "sincere repentance and firm trust in the merits of one who died for us will gain us that boon, i am certain. i am not learned in divinity, but this much i know and feel; and i believe that it is the sum and substance of what a christian should know and feel." i had never heard mr gale speak in that way before. i did not know even that he was what is called a religious man. i certainly never heard him swear or abuse any of the men, or accuse them wrongfully, as too many officers do; but i just thought him a quiet, brave, amiable young man, who was content to do his duty and let other people follow their own ways. i afterwards had reason to know that he was even more than that. he was eminently judicious, and he now felt that the time had arrived when he might speak a word in season to good effect. the captain listened, and after some time i saw him put out his hand and grasp that of mr gale; but he said nothing in reply. meantime the brig was drawing near to us. "have a boat ready to board her," cried the captain, after he had again examined her through his glasses. "it is strange, indeed; i can see no one on her deck." the _rainbow_ was now hove-to, and a boat was lowered. i went in her; so did peter. mr gale had charge of her. we all were, by the captain's orders, strongly armed, and he directed the mate to approach cautiously, so as not to be taken by surprise. i never met a braver man than the captain, or one who, at the same time, was more cautious and careful of the lives of his people. during my apprenticeship with him, on several occasions, had it not been for this constant caution and care not to be taken by surprise, both he and all his people would have been destroyed. while the boat pulled towards the stranger, the brig, with her guns run out, and the people at their quarters ready to fire, stood so as to cross her bows, and to punish her should any treachery be intended. we had to be careful in going alongside, lest she should run us down; for as her head now went in one direction, now in another, it was difficult to determine on which side she would come. she was a fine large brig, fully as large as the _rainbow_, and it did look strange to see her sailing along over the wide atlantic without apparently a human being to guide her course. still, from what i had heard the captain say, i could not help fancying that there was some trick, and fully expected to see a number of men start up the moment we touched her side, and either send our boat to the bottom with a cold shot, or seize us and carry us as prisoners below. it was a satisfaction, however, to feel that, with the shipwrecked crew, we had plenty of men on board to carry the ship home, and to punish those who might injure us. i must say that i felt rather curious as, giving way, we dashed alongside the stranger, and peter with his boat-hook catching hold of the fore-chains, we, with our cutlasses in our mouths, scrambled on board. no one appeared. a perfect silence reigned over the deck. our first business was to shorten sail, and round-to the ship. mr gale flew to the helm, and put it down, while we flattened in the topsail-braces, and clewed up top-gallant-sails, and brailed up the courses, throwing the foretop-sail aback. as this work occupied all our attention, we had no time to make any remarks as to the state of affairs on deck. as i was running forward, my foot slipped in a wet mass and i came to the deck. jumping up again, i seized the rope at which i had been ordered to haul. when the work was done, and the ship hove-to, i looked at my hands. a cold shudder came over me: they were covered with _blood_! i gave a cry of horror and disgust. it attracted the attention of my shipmates. we now looked along the deck. in several places were other dark clotted marks scarcely yet dry. other signs there were which showed that plunder had been the object of the deadly attack, which, it was evident, had been made on the crew of the brig. articles of dress were strewed about, and cases of provisions, nautical instruments, books and charts, and opened bales of merchandise; but there were no signs of a struggle--nothing to show that the hapless crew had even been enabled to fight for their lives. "what has been the matter aboard?" shouted captain helfrich, as the _rainbow_ passed close to us. "murder, sir! foul murder!--there can be no doubt of it," answered mr gale, who was about to descend the companion-hatch. i with others followed him. what a scene of havoc, confusion, and wanton destruction the cabin presented, as seen in the dim light which came down the companion-hatch, for the covering of the skylight was on. there had evidently been a fierce strife there. a mirror over the stove was broken to atoms--the chairs were overturned--china-plates and cut-glasses lay scattered about in fragments amid clothing, and books, and boxes; the cabin lamp and a cabin compass, and stores of every sort, of which the lockers had been rifled--chests and trunks lay open, despoiled of their contents, but no human form, either alive or dead, was to be seen. mr gale ordered the hands on deck to lift off the skylight. as the bright sunshine came down into the cabin, the full horror of the scene was exhibited. among a mass of articles, such as i have enumerated, which lay on the cabin table, were six human heads with ghastly grins, holding pieces of meat in their mouths! they were placed at each side of the table, and knives, and forks, and plates with food, were placed before them! they had evidently thus been arranged in savage mockery by their ruthless murderers, as they were about to leave the scene of their atrocity. we searched about: no bodies were found. on one side of the cabin there was a complete pool of blood, though part of it had been lapped up by the bedclothes, which had been dragged from one of the berths. the beds in the other state-rooms had been undisturbed. everything in the cabin showed us that the vessel was english; and this was confirmed by opening the books, which were all in english. so, as far as we could judge, were the countenances of the murdered people--i will not say men; for on examining one of the heads, our horror was increased by discovering that one of them was that of a woman--young and beautiful she had been. oh, what a scene of horror must her eyes last have beheld; with what anguish must her heart last have beat! even in death the features of the murdered men wore various expressions. horror on one was clearly portrayed--desperate determination on that of another--fierce rage showed itself on the face of another. so i fancied; but, at all events, had i known any of the people, i think that i should have recognised them. there were the same anglo-saxon features common to all. the complexions of some were fair, and of others sunburnt. there was one with a weather-beaten countenance, and large bushy whiskers, whom we took to be one of the officers of the ship, while most of the others had the smooth complexions of shore-going people, and were probably those of passengers. what we had already discovered plainly told the story of the catastrophe. the brig had been surprised in the evening by some piratical miscreants, while the captain and passengers, and some of the officers probably, were below at supper. the watch on deck must have instantly been overpowered before those below had time to come to their assistance. some, probably hearing a scuffle, and coming on deck, were instantly slaughtered, or, it might have been, secured and carried off all prisoners. the people in the cabin could not even have been aware of what was going forward, and the first announcement of the misfortune which had befallen them, was the appearance of the pirates rushing into the cabin. rising from the table, they had seized whatever weapons came nearest to hand to defend themselves. desperately they might have fought, but all in vain. one clearly had been dragged from bed, holding fast to the clothes. most likely the unfortunate lady had been so treated, and deprived of life on the body of her husband. mr gale's opinion was, that the captain's head was not among those in the cabin; but that, on first hearing the scuffle, he had sprung on deck, as being nearest the door, to ascertain its cause. this opinion was afterwards confirmed by the discoveries we made. as soon as they had been overpowered, their heads must have been cut off, perhaps to make the rest show where any valuables they might possess were concealed. however performed, at all events the butchery was complete. never, indeed, have my eyes beheld a scene of greater horror. death alone, we know, may bring peace and joy; but death under such outrageous aspects as those i have described, affrights the soul. while some of the men went forward to ascertain the state of matters in the forepeak, mr gale kept peter and me to look after the ship's papers. we hunted about in a number of places for some time without avail. at last i went into what i concluded to be the master's cabin, and in a tin case, under his pillow, i found them. i took them to mr gale, who glanced over them. "the _dolphin_, the vessel is called," he observed. "ah, and here's a name i think i remember,--walter stenning, master. why, poplar, is not that the name of the young man we picked up at sea a few voyages back to the west indies?" "yes, sir; the very same," answered peter. "i've had notice of him since then, and i heard say that he had become master and owner of a fine craft, and gone with his wife and family to live out in one of the colonies; i don't know which." "halifax, nova scotia, the brig hails from, i see. she was bound from bristol to demerara," continued mr gale, reading on from the papers. "i suppose, though, we shall have to send her to halifax, where, as far as i can make out, her owners reside, as well as the merchants who have shipped most of her freight." while the mate was still looking over the papers, captain helfrich, who had come on board in another boat, entered the cabin. he was more affected than any of us by the horrid sight which met his eyes. "who can have done this?" he exclaimed, casting his eyes round in every direction. "ah, what is that i see in the corner there?" he pointed to what proved to be a moorish turban; while near it lay a piece of a sabre, which, from its curved form, evidently belonged to the same people. "this work was done, i doubt not, by the very villains who attempted to surprise us," he observed, as i handed him the articles to examine. "we may truly be thankful that they did not find us unprepared, as they did the unfortunate people of this vessel, or their lot might have been ours." "indeed we have cause of gratitude to god, who, in his mercy, preserved us," responded mr gale. "i wish that we could find the people who did this work, to stop their committing further mischief." "the miscreants cannot be far-off," exclaimed the captain. "if we could fall in with them, we might punish them in a way they little expect." "i suspect, sir, when the moors let the brig go free, they must have hauled their wind, and kept away to the eastward," observed mr gale. "they are not fond, in general, of keeping so far away from their own shores." "you are right, gale," said the captain. "however, though i think we might find them, i should not be justified in going out of our course to look for them. we must, therefore, consider how we are to dispose of the brig. as far as i can judge, without thinking more of the matter, i am bound to send her to halifax at once to her owners, from whom we shall obtain the proper salvage. now, as i shall be glad to do what i think will be of service to you, i will give you the command of her, with a few hands whom i can spare; while with the seamen whom we have as passengers on board, the _rainbow_ will still be sufficiently manned to reach home in safety." mr gale did not refuse the captain's offer, and i was far from sorry when i found that he had selected peter poplar and me among the people who were to accompany him. besides us, as the shipwrecked seamen were all anxious to reach england, and would not volunteer, we had only three other men; so that, considering the size of the _dolphin_, we were somewhat short-handed. before committing the heads to the deep, we examined their features, and it was the opinion of all on board, who had known walter stenning, that none of them bore any resemblance to him; so that if the young man, who had for so long been on board the _rainbow_, was the same person who lately commanded this unfortunate vessel, his fate was still uncertain. too probably, however, he had been murdered by the miscreants on deck. scarcely less melancholy would be his lot if he still survived, for he would have been carried away to morocco, and there sold as a slave, to labour in the fields or gardens. one or two other bits of arms and ornaments were found about the deck; and the captain, on examining them, gave it as his opinion that the pirate was one of those craft which had long been known under the name of salee rovers. at one time the greater number of vessels fitted out by the moors to plunder on the high seas hailed from that port. before the captain left the vessel, every part of her was examined, but not a trace of a living being could be found. still, too clearly to be mistaken did she tell her own dreadful tale. the log-book showed that, three days before, she had been in a dead calm since sunrise, and that a strange sail was in sight. little did her crew dream of the woe that stranger was to work them! we were allowed to go on board the _rainbow_ to get our chests, and to wish our shipmates good-bye; and then i bade farewell to my old captain, and the craft i had learned to love as a seaman only can,--the vessel within whose wide timbers i had spent many a happy day, and which had carried me in safety across many a wide sea. we found nearly everything we required on board the _dolphin_. it took some time, however, to get her to rights, to wash out the stains of blood, and to put the cabin in order, and to remove all remnants of the horrid deed which had been enacted there. it was some time, however, before mr gale could prevail on himself to take possession of the cabin. at last all the necessary arrangements on board the _dolphin_ were made, and captain helfrich ordering mr gale to proceed on his voyage, bore away to the north-east, while we kept to the westward of north. i felt very strange as i found myself on board a new vessel, and saw the old one, in which i had served for so many years, sailing away from us. i should have felt very forlorn and melancholy if peter had not been with me. i was also very much attached to mr gale, and was very glad that he was now my captain. the irish, i have observed, generally possess a considerable amount of imagination, and i conclude that i inherited no small share of that quality from my poor mother. i remember that the first night i passed on board the _dolphin_, i fancied in my sleep that i saw again the whole of the scene of horror which had so short a time before been enacted there. several times i jumped up, thinking that the rovers were coming on board, and that i had to fight for my life. then i fancied that i heard the cries and the groans of the poor fellows who had slept where i was sleeping, and had met their death close to where i lay; and i looked out and saw them writhing and struggling in the hands of their barbarous murderers. peter, instead of laughing at me when i told him of my dreams, answered me that the surest way to banish all such thoughts, was to say my prayers earnestly at night whenever i turned in, and to pray that i might be preserved from all dangers, and especially from the fate which had overtaken these poor men. i was very fortunate in falling in, at this time of my life, with two such men as mr gale and peter poplar. the latter was uneducated, certainly, but had learned his religion from the bible, and therefore he possessed the true principles, the essentials of a saving faith; and he was the instrument of gradually opening my mind and heart to them. captain gale, for so i shall now call him, had a very sharp look-out kept lest we should again fall in with the salee rover, or any of his consorts, which, it was very probable, might still be hovering about in that part of the ocean. the first day after parting company with the _rainbow_ passed by without a single sail heaving in sight. the breeze had got round to the southward, so that we had a fair wind; and as it was light, we were able to carry all the canvas we could set. at night, however, as we were somewhat short-handed, the captain ordered us to furl top-gallant-sails, and to take a reef in the topsails, that we might be better prepared should it come on to blow. the second night, however, passed away, and the same fine weather continued. the next morning, soon after daybreak, captain gale came on deck, and ordered us to loose top-gallant-sails. on going aloft to obey the order, as i cast my eyes round the horizon, i saw, right away on our weather-beam, just rising out of the water, the top-gallant-sails of a brig, close-hauled, standing, i judged, across our course. i hailed the deck to say what i had observed; and after the reefs were shaken out of the topsails, the captain told me to keep aloft to watch the movements of the stranger. she stood steadily on till she rose her topsails out of the water, and then, as i judged, on seeing us, kept more away, so as to cut us off. on hearing this, the captain himself went aloft to have a look at the stranger. he remained some time, examining her narrowly through his glass. the breeze had freshened up a good deal, and it was not a time, i should have supposed, to have made more sail; but the moment he came down, he ordered us to set studden-sails and royals. "we must make the craft put her best leg foremost," said he to peter. "i do not altogether like the look of that ship out there. she is certainly not english; and by her movements she seems very much inclined to overhaul us. just tell us what you think about the matter." peter took the glass, and went aloft. he also was some time there. when he came down, he handed the glass to the captain without speaking. "well, peter, what do you think of her?" asked the latter. peter took off his hat, and passed his hand over his brow. "why, to say the truth, captain gale, i don't like her looks at all. if ever one craft was like another, she's like that strange brig which lay becalmed near us the time when we were attacked before going up the mediterranean. it's difficult to tell one vessel from another, but i very much suspect that she's the very same piratical rascal we before fell in with, and that this brig is no stranger to her either." the captain replied, that he was afraid his apprehensions were too well-founded. the next question was, how we were to escape from the corsair, should the stranger really be her. a couple of hours passed away, and although we were going at a good rate through the water, there could be no doubt that she was coming up with us. it was now blowing a stiffish breeze, and i saw the captain and peter often casting an anxious glance aloft, to see whether the masts and spars would bear the heavy strain put on them. happily there was not much sea; and though the studden-sail-booms bent and cracked again, they held on bravely. our great hope was, that we might be able to keep well ahead of the stranger till night came on; and then that, by hauling our wind, he might pass us in the dark. we had already got as much wind as the brig could stagger under, and thus one of the greatest dangers we had to apprehend was from carrying away any of our spars. over and over again the captain looked up at the mast-head, and exclaimed, "hold on, good sticks, hold on, and serve us a good turn!" a stern chase is a long chase; and though this was not quite a stern chase, by-the-by, it was nearly one, and we hoped it might prove so long as to have no end. still our pursuer kept after us. as he drew nearer, we had less and less doubt that he was the very salee rover we had before so much to do with. at the same time, our hopes of escaping him decreased. peter had set himself down on the heel of the bowsprit to rest. i brought him his dinner there, for he had not left the deck for a moment since the morning. he did not look up for some time till i begged him to eat. still he did not answer. at last i asked him what he was thinking about. "why, jack, how we may manage to escape from the pirate," he answered after some time. "a very curious idea has struck me, and if the captain will listen to me, we'll put it into execution. it can do no harm, and if our pursuer comes up with us, i think it will make him haul his wind in a pretty considerable hurry." i asked peter to tell me his plan, wondering what it could possibly be. "i take it, you see, that the brig out there is the very same which attacked this vessel, and her crew, of course, know that there was not a living soul left on board, but that there were six heads in the cabin," he answered, speaking very slow. "now, in my wild young days, i was once for some time behind the scenes of a theatre, and if i had been a scholar i might have become a play-actor. when there, i saw what wonders a little paint, and canvas, and pasteboard could work. as there are six of us, i propose to put a false neck over each of our heads, and i'll manage to paint in a quarter less than no time, six as ugly faces as you ever saw, on as many balls of canvas, which i'll stuff with oakum. so each of us will have a head to hold in his hand. unless some accident happens, we certainly can manage to keep ahead of the rover till nightfall. then we'll just mix up a number of lumps of gunpowder and sulphur, and place them about the deck before each of us. as soon as the rover ranges up alongside, we'll fire them all at the same moment, and i shall be very much mistaken if the cut-throats don't think that there's a company on board they would rather not have anything to do with." i could not help laughing at peter's quaint notion--still, however little effect it might have on civilised people, i thought it was very likely to scare away the sort of men who composed the moorish crew, and i advised him instantly to propose it to the captain. peter, accordingly, bolting his dinner with a haste which showed that he was thinking more about his idea than it, went aft, and opened up the case. captain gale listened more attentively than i expected, and, after a little consideration, said that he thought it was very likely to succeed. the plan once adopted, all hands set energetically to work to make the required preparations. there was, fortunately, an abundance of materials. i got out the paint-pots, and mixed the colours according to peter's directions. he himself, with canvas and palm needles, fitted the necks, cutting holes for us to see through them; the other men were employed in making six prodigious round balls for heads, and covering one part with shakings, to serve as hair. he undertook to stand at the helm, and to have his head at the end of the boat-hook by his side, that he might lift it up at the proper moment. all the frying-pans and shallow pots which could be found were collected, and the captain made with damp gunpowder a number of what schoolboys call "vesuviuses." these, however, were very much larger than the contents of a schoolboy's purse would allow him to make. he tried one of them, and found it sent forth a lurid glare, which even in the day-time showed what effect it would produce at night. before sunset all our preparations were completed; and when dressed up, a very curious and horrid crew we most certainly did look. had there been more of us, the effect might perhaps have been increased. we now waited almost with boyish impatience for the coming up of the rover to put our trick into execution. captain gale was, however, too wise to trust to it till all other means of escape had failed. the wind had rather fallen than increased, and this was an advantage to us in two ways: it enabled us to shorten sail with less difficulty than we should otherwise have done; and we found that, with less wind, we went faster in proportion through the water than did our pursuer. it was with feelings such as i had very seldom before experienced, that i saw the sun sinking towards the ocean, surrounded with a blaze of glory; its bright rays falling on the loftier sails of the rover, while they still reached our courses. down it went beneath its watery home, and i questioned very much with myself whether i should ever again see it rise. i had no great confidence in peter's trick, nor do i suppose that he had much himself, when he came seriously to think about the matter; but still, if overtaken, we had no other means of escaping--we could not fight, and still less could we have any hope from the mercy of our foes. i did not, however, mention my doubts to peter, and far less would i have done so to any of the other men. young as i was, i had seen enough of the world to have learned the value of discretion. as the daylight disappeared, a grey canopy of clouds was spread over the sky, sufficiently thick to obscure the stars. thus the night was more than usually dark. still, as the atmosphere was free from mist, seamen's eyes could distinguish objects at a considerable distance off. with much anxiety we watched the rover, in the hope that the growing darkness would hide her from our view; but still we could see her following closely in our wake, and thus, of course, there was every probability that she could see us. we could not expect that the darkness would increase; consequently there would have been no use in altering our course, as it would have been perceived on board; so all we could do was to stand boldly on as before. at the rate she was overhauling us, as the captain calculated, she would be up with us by midnight. i should have liked to have shortened sail, and brought the matter to an issue, but captain gale was not a man to act thus unwisely. he knew that we might fall in with some friendly vessel, or that the pirate might give up the chase, or that some sudden change in the weather might enable us to escape at the last moment. everything, however, was prepared; and thus standing at our posts, we waited the result. nearer and nearer drew the pirate. we were within range of her guns, still she did not fire. on she came. she was close upon our quarter. "wait till i give the word," said the captain, in a low voice. she was ranging up on our beam. "ready!" exclaimed the captain. "now!" in a moment a terrifically lurid glare was cast over our decks. up went the helmsman's gory head at the end of a boarding-pike, though he steered as steadily as before, while we all shook ours in our hands, and at the same moment gave vent to the most unearthly shrieks, and groans, and cries, our headless helmsman shrieking and shouting louder than any of us. at this we all again shook our ghastly heads. peter had given the necks the appearance of dropping blood, and again we shrieked and groaned louder than ever. the effect on board the rover was instantaneous. the crew must have fully thought that they had got hold of some demon-craft as a punishment for their crimes. down went their helm; the tacks and sheets seemed all to be flying away together; and the topsails came down on their caps. ropes were let go, but no one thought of hauling on others, or belaying them; no one seemed to know what they were about; and many even shrieked and cried out with terror and dismay. nothing could have been more complete than the success of our trick. we were all eagerly watching its effect, when, just as the vessels were parting, a figure was seen to spring into the main-rigging of the rover. we all saw him, and all recognised the person as no other than walter stenning, the late master of the _dolphin_. on we sailed. the dark outline of the rover grew less and less distinct, till it was totally lost in the gloom of night. chapter ten. the water-logged ship. for the remainder of the night we kept anxiously looking over the taffrail, lest our enemy should have again made sail in chase. more than once i thought i saw the rover's shadowy form stealing up towards us through the darkness; but just as i expected to make it out clearly, to my great relief it dissipated into mist. voices, also, i thought, seemed to be shouting after us from out of the gloom; but neither did they ever assume any distinctness, and fancy, i found, had caused the creation of them both. slowly the night passed away, and as soon as the first bright streaks of dawn appeared in the grey sky, the captain went himself aloft to take a survey of the horizon. "there is not a sail in sight in any quarter," he exclaimed to peter, as he returned on deck. "to your clever suggestion we owe our own lives and the safety of the ship; but clever as it was, i would not advise others to try a similar one. they might not meet with enemies so easily deceived." "no, sir," answered peter, "certainly not; and, for my part, i would much rather have beat off the scoundrels in a fair stand-up fight than with such a play-acting trick as that; but then, you see, air, it was hobson's choice--neck or nothing with us!" peter's curious contrivances were kept, that they might be shown as an evidence of the way in which we had escaped from the rover. the appearance of walter stenning on board the rover was a subject of constant conversation among us. there could be no doubt, then, that he had been carried on board the rover, and that his life had been preserved. this would be a satisfaction to his friends, though a melancholy one, as his ultimate fate must still be uncertain. we had still a long passage before us to halifax, and might meet with many adventures. at all events, we could scarcely expect to escape some bad weather, though it was not likely we should encounter the rover, or any of her consorts, as gentry of that class were not fond of venturing into northern latitudes. for more than a couple of weeks the fine weather continued, and we met with no event worthy of note. we had, however, to learn somewhat more of the sufferings which people meet with on the wide ocean. one morning the sky became overcast; the water was of that dull leaden hue, striped with white foam, which gives so gloomy an aspect to the ocean; and heavy squalls compelled us to shorten sail as fast as all hands could get through the task. for the greater part of the day the squalls continued; but in the afternoon, though it was hazy, the weather again improved. i was looking out, when i saw through the mist what i took to be a sail. there was something strange about her rig--i could not make it out. accordingly, i reported it to the captain, who came on deck. he called peter to him. "she looks to me like a vessel in distress, with most of her spars and upper-rigging carried away," he observed. she was about six miles off, on the lee-bow. accordingly, the brig was kept away towards her. heavy squalls of rain occasionally blew over us, and for a time completely hid the wreck from view. when it cleared for an instant, we made out that she had an english ensign reversed secured to the main-rigging. her mainmast alone was standing entire, her foremast had gone by the board, her mizzen-mast was carried away at the top, and part only of her bowsprit remained. her maintop-mast-yard was still crossed; but the sail, torn to ribbons, now fluttered in the wind, and not another inch of canvas had she set. "she looks dreadfully knocked about," observed the captain. "and from the way she rolls in the trough of the sea, there can be no doubt that she is water-logged. if it were not for the signal flying, i should scarcely expect to find anyone on board." we had as much sail set as we could venture to carry, so that we could not make greater speed towards her; but the squalls increased in number, and night was coming on, so that we began to fear that we should be unable to get up to her before darkness hid her from our sight. even when we had got up to her, unless she had her own boats, short-handed as we were, with a heavy sea running, we could scarcely hope to render her much assistance. still captain gale was not the man to neglect making the attempt. some, i am sorry to say, would have sailed on their way, and allowed any poor wretches who might have been on the wreck to perish miserably. as we approached the wreck, we could just distinguish through the driving mists and thickening gloom of night, several human beings leaning against the stumps of her masts, or sitting on her deck eagerly waving to us. the captain on seeing them exclaimed-- "peter, we must do something to save those poor fellows." "i should think: so, sir," was the answer. "if you let me have a boat, with jack there, and one hand besides, i'll undertake to get on board and bring them off. i know that it would leave you terribly short-handed if we were lost; but i don't think that there's any chance of that, and i'm sure that we shall be protected in doing what's right." "you shall have your way, peter; i cannot refuse you," exclaimed the captain, warmly. "we'll heave the brig to to leeward of the wreck, so that if you can manage to get the poor fellows into the boat, you can with less difficulty drop aboard of us again." according to this plan, we ran under the stern of the ship and rounded to. i never saw a more complete wreck yet floating on the surface. her entire bulwarks, her boats, caboose, booms--indeed everything on deck-- had been completely carried away, and the sea even now occasionally washed entirely over her. it was not an easy matter to lower our boat, but it was done without an accident; and peter, andrew blair, a fine young fellow, and i, pulled away in her for the wreck. the unfortunate wretches on board waved us on. several more made their appearance, as we approached, from behind a sail which had been triced up round the mainmast, which appeared to be the only shelter they had from the inclemency of the weather. they were all holding on to ropes secured to the masts or rigging, for without them they would certainly at once have been washed off the deck into the sea. on getting nearer, we saw one or two heads looking at us from above the companion-hatch, which had escaped, and seemed to have afforded some shelter to others. we pulled as close to her as we could venture to go. "remember if we come alongside only four of you at a time must get into the boat, or we shall all lose our lives together!" shouted peter. "do you hear me there?" they signified that they did hear; but peter's caution was very unnecessary, for few of them could do more than crawl, and none of them, without assistance, could have got into the boat. "i see what must be done," said peter to us. "you two remain in the boat. there's a rope towing overboard from the main-rigging; i'll get hold of it, and haul myself on her deck, and then, as best i can, i'll drop the poor fellows into the boat!" to propose was with him to act. as the boat with the send of the sea approached the wreck, while we fended her off he seized the rope, which he found secure, and though the water, as it came pouring down to leeward, washed over him, he hauled himself up in a moment on her deck, and stood among the miserable wretches who peopled it. they crawled round him, and grasped his legs, to show their gratitude to him as their deliverer. i saw by his action that he was telling them that there was not a moment to be lost. beckoning to us to approach, he seized one of them up in his arms as if he had been an infant, and grasping the rope with one hand, swung himself off from the side of the ship, and deposited his burden in the boat, or rather in our arms, as we stood ready to receive him. in a moment he was on the deck, and lifting up another human being, sprung as before into the boat. "how many of you are there?" he asked of one who seemed to be the strongest of the crew, and looked by his dress like an officer. once he had evidently been a stout, broad-shouldered, muscular young man, now he was a mere skeleton like the rest. "twelve or fourteen there were this morning, but i know not how many may since have died," was the answer, given in a hollow tone scarcely audible. "then we'll take four at a time to the brig, and we shall have to make three trips," answered peter. "we must not venture with more, though as to weight the boat would carry the whole of you. now, my lad," he continued, addressing the mate, for so the man who had spoken proved to be, "just do you come with us this trip. i'll lend you a hand into the boat." "no, no!" answered the fine fellow; "take some of the others who are worse off than i am. there were a couple of women. they will be found aft under the companion-hatch." as no persuasion would make the mate alter his determination, peter hurried aft, and diving under the hatch, returned with what looked like a long bundle of clothes in his arms. "gently, now," he sung out; "she has life in her, but very little of it." the clothes enveloped a female form, but so emaciated that she seemed to be of no weight whatever. before placing her in the boat, peter poured a few drops of liquid down her throat from a flask the captain had given him. "there's no use to bring the other poor thing; her sufferings are over," he observed, as he lifted in another man. "and now, my lads, we'll put these on board." we soon dropped down to the brig, and with less difficulty got the poor wretches up the side. the captain proposed sending the two other hands instead of blair and me, but we begged that we might be allowed to return to the wreck. once more we pulled away from the brig, the boat, it must be remembered, tumbling and tossing about, now sunk in the trough of the sea, now rising to the top of a foam-crested wave; the sky overhead threatening and cloudy; a dense mist driving in our faces; and darkness rapidly coming on. we had the lives of fellow-creatures to save, and we persevered. again the undaunted peter sprung on board the wreck. "take care of that man!" exclaimed the mate, as an extraordinary-looking figure, in a long dressing-gown, with strips of canvas fastened about his head, ran up from behind the woman; "he is not altogether right in his mind, i fear." "avaunt, ye pirates! ye plunderers! ye marauders!" shrieked out the person spoken of. "how dare ye venture on board my noble ship? away with ye! away! away!" and flourishing a piece of timber which he had wrenched, it seemed, from the side of the ship, he advanced towards peter. my shipmate would have been struck down by the maniac's blow, had he not sprung nimbly aside, and then, rushing in, he closed with the wretched being, and wrenched the weapon out of his grasp. the madman's strength was exhausted. "i yield! i yield me!" he cried; and though he was a tall man, peter lifted him up as he had done the others, and handed him to us. he lay quiet enough in the bottom of the boat, regarding the wreck he was leaving with a stare of wonder. three other men were lifted in, but still the mate refused to leave while any remained alive on board. as we were leaving the wreck a second time, a man lifted himself up from the deck, and stood for a moment gazing at us. "what! again deserted!" he exclaimed, shrieking frantically. "oh, take me! take me!" and staggering forward, before the mate could prevent him he cast himself headlong into the sea. we endeavoured to put back, but he floated scarcely a moment, and then the foaming waters closed over his head. it was another of the numberless instances i have witnessed of the crime and folly of not waiting with calmness and resignation for what the almighty has in his providence prepared for us. i trust that the poor man's mind had given way in this instance; but even that result is often produced by a want of reliance on god's mercy. we put our hapless freight on board the brig, and a third time returned to the wreck. besides the brave mate, peter found only two more people alive on board. several were dead. at the earnest solicitation of the mate, peter helped him to commit them to the deep. it was a melancholy and loathsome task, for some had been long dead. the delay also was of serious consequence. more than once i summoned peter, for another thick squall of rain had come on, and when i glanced round for an instant to look for the brig, she was nowhere to be seen! a pang of dread ran through my heart, and all sorts of horrid ideas rushed into my head. i thought that the squall might have struck her, and that she might have capsized, or that she might have drifted so far to leeward that we might not be able to find her. i said nothing, however, but helped peter to take the mate and the other two survivors off the wreck. then, indeed, the question pressed on us, what has become of the brig? "cheer up, my lads!" cried peter; "hold on yet a while; we'll see her presently." we waited with intense anxiety, and the darkness seemed every instant increasing. it was, however, only the result of the tail of the squall passing by. suddenly a bright light burst forth, which we knew must proceed from the deck of the brig. "the captain has not forgotten the trick we played the pirates!" exclaimed peter. "shove off, my lads!" with lightened hearts we pulled away to leeward, and were soon once more on the deck of the brig, with our boat hoisted up and secured. every care and attention which we could possibly bestow was paid to the poor starving wretches. captain gale was enlightened as well as brave and generous, so that he knew well how to treat them. first he gave them only a little liquid--tea and cocoa; and then after a time a little simple arrowroot; afterwards he gave them some with broth; and, lastly, he mixed a few drops of wine with the arrowroot. scarcely, however, had we got them down below, than the gale which had been threatening came on; and while the captain went to the helm, all hands had to spring aloft to shorten sail. happily the gale was in our favour, so that we were able to run before it, and keep our course. there can be little doubt that had we not providentially appeared that very night, everybody on board the wreck would have perished. we had hard work enough to do the duty of the ship and to attend to our passengers, who could for some days do nothing to help themselves. they were all too weak to speak without fatigue, so we forbore to question them as to the particulars of the events which had brought them into the condition in which we had found them. for some days all we knew was, that the ship was the _eagle_, from quebec, laden with timber, and that she had been six weeks very nearly in the condition we found her--water-logged, with spars and sails carried away. the captain had died, and the lady we had rescued was his wife. poor thing! at first she was almost insensible to everything; but when she recovered her health and strength, it was pitiable to see her grief. the tall, gaunt man, whom we found deranged, had been a merchant's clerk, and had gone out to canada in the vain hope of finding employment. disappointed in his expectations, he was returning home. at first he appeared to recover strength, but a relapse took place, and he rapidly seemed to grow weaker and weaker. i was sent to watch him. suddenly he sat up in his berth, and glared wildly around. "where am i?--where am i going?--what has occurred?" he exclaimed. "tell me, young man. i have had a horrid dream. for worlds i would not dream it again!" then his voice lowered, and, rubbing his hand across his brow, he added, in a low, calm tone-- "i know all about it. i am going to a land where i have only one account to render; but my judge will be great and just; and there is one in whom i trust who has taken all my sins on himself. young man, thank all those who have been kind to me. i am grateful. good-night!" he fell back on his pillow, and was dead. among those saved was one other passenger. the rest consisted of the first mate, and the crew of the ship. with one of the crew, a young canadian, who was making his second trip to sea, i formed a strong friendship; adam de lisle was his name. from him i learned the particulars of the disaster. "you must know," he observed, "that the timber which is sent from canada to england is cut down from forests many hundreds of miles up the country. numerous large and rapid rivers run into the great river saint lawrence. at the fall of the year gangs of woodcutters, under regular leaders, proceed up these rivers in canoes, with a supply of food, and every requisite, to enable them to spend the winter far from the haunts, of civilisation. arrived at the forest they have selected for their operations, they build their habitations, and then set to work to cut down the trees they require. these, when shaped into square logs, as soon as snow has fallen, and ice covers the water, are dragged to the nearest stream. when spring returns, they are bound together in small rafts, and floated down towards the main river. sometimes, when rapids occur, they are separated, and a few trees are allowed to glide down together. slides have, of late years, been formed by the sides of the rapids, through which the timber descends without injury. at the foot of the rapids the rafts are re-formed, and ultimately, when they reach the saint lawrence, they are made so large that huts are built on them, in which their conductors live till they reach quebec. this they frequently do not do till the end of the summer, when all the ships have sailed. the timber, therefore, remains in shallow docks at the mouth of the charles river, which runs into the saint lawrence on one side of quebec, till the following spring. the timber is often shipped through a large port in the bow of a ship, but a quantity is also piled upon deck, and lashed there to ring-bolts, making a ship with so great a weight above board very uneasy in a sea. thus, i think, more accidents happen to the spars and rigging of timber-ships than to any other, though they have an advantage in floating longer than other craft. "the _eagle_ was one of the first ships which left quebec this year, with a crew of eighteen, all told fore-and-aft, with the captain's wife and several passengers. scarcely had we got clear of the gulf when we fell in with bad weather; and about ten days afterwards, a heavy gale sprung up from the westward. it was night. the sea soon ran very high, and the ship being deep, and steering ill, before she could be got before the wind, it made a clear breach over her. there she lay helplessly in the trough of the sea, most of her bulwarks carried away, and the water pouring down her companion-hatch, and deluging the cabin. it soon found its way forward, and every instant we thought she would capsize. the captain ordered the main and mizzen topsail-sheets to be cut away, for there was no time to let them go, or clew-up the sails; but still the ship lay helpless and unable to answer her helm. two men went to the helm, while others rigged relieving-tackles, and at length all the after-sail being taken off her, the headsail filled, and once more she ran before the wind. this was a great relief, but still the water was gaining on us. the seas continued rolling up after us high above the poop, and at length one broke on board, carrying the taffrail clean away, and sweeping the after-part of the deck. had we not had safety-lines passed across the deck, the greater number of us would at once have been washed overboard. our sufferings had now become intense, both from cold and hunger. all the provisions we could get at were spoiled with salt water, and the few clothes we had on were drenched also with water, and the wind pierced through them to our very bones. we still managed to keep a close-reefed foretop-sail on the ship, with a mainstay-sail and trysail, or we could not have avoided being constantly pooped. the gale, in a short time, increased in fury as the sea did in height. again it made a clean breach over the ship. all the bulwarks were carried away; and the ring-bolts being torn from the decks, the deck timber, which consisted of large logs, was washed overboard, as were all our boats. at the same moment the foresail blew clean out of the bolt-ropes; and all those we could muster fit for duty had not strength sufficient to go aloft to set another. we knew well that our safety much depended on our being able to keep sail on the ship; but each man felt that his death would be the consequence if he attempted to go aloft, with that raging sea tumbling the ship about in every direction, the wind howling round him, and the torn sail flapping fiercely in his face. still we managed to keep the ship before the wind, and thus, by easing the strain on her, she was prevented from going to pieces, which she would otherwise inevitably have done. "our first mate, james carr, was a fine fellow. to look at him, you would not have supposed that he had so much endurance in his body. his spirit kept him up. when very few besides he and i could bear up, he went about the decks as if nothing unusual had occurred. he was a slight, fair man, and far from strongly-built; but he was a thoughtful, reading, and more than that, a religious man. those who had led the wildest and most careless lives, and had no faith or hope to sustain them, were the first to succumb. i held out--first, because i believed that god would sustain me; and because i had a good constitution, which i had never injured by vice and debauchery, as too many of the rest had done. the captain was a good, kind man, and he did his best for us as long as his strength lasted. the little food we could get at was carefully husbanded, and all hands were put on short allowance. many days thus passed away, the ship running before the wind, and still keeping together. at length the wind lulled, and we began to look forward with hope to the future. the caboose had hitherto stood, and the cook managed to light a fire in it, and to dress several meals, which we ate with comparative comfort. as long as there was a moderate breeze the ship ran steadily before it, but what many people would have thought an advantage, proved our greatest bane. too much wind had injured us--too little almost destroyed us. it fell a dead calm; and this, far from bettering our condition, made the ship roll still more than ever, and soon reduced us to the condition in which you found us. the greater part of the bowsprit had already gone, the foremast was next rolled out of her, and then the mizzen-mast went--the mainmast must have been an unusually good stick, or that would have gone likewise. we had scarcely strength left to cut away the wreck. hitherto, though all hands were growing daily weaker, no deaths had occurred, nor had anyone any particular sickness. however, anxiety of mind now helped to make our poor captain ill, and he took to his cot. the daily provision for each of us consisted also of but three ounces of bread, and half a pint of water. we agreed to this, because we felt that it was enough to sustain life for some time, and that it was better to have a little each day than have to go many days without any food at all. the officers proposed, however, before long, to diminish even this small allowance-- though, by mixing a little spirits with the water, our food sustained us more than it would otherwise have done. starvation, after a time, began to tell sadly on our tempers; and we, who had generally lived in good-fellowship with each other, spent the day in wrangling and peevishness. a breeze, however, had again sprung up, which seemed to steady the ship, though we could not keep her on her proper course. such was the state of things, when one morning mr carr going on deck, as was his custom, to take a look-out, and to hoist our signal of distress, he shouted out, `sail, ho!' "how did our hearts leap with joy as we heard those words! we all crawled up as best we could to take a look at the stranger, which we hoped would save us. she saw us, and drew nearer. the captain got the mate and me to help him up on deck, and then, as he saw the approaching vessel, his heart bursting forth with gratitude, he called on us all to return thanks to god for the deliverance he hoped was at hand. his poor wife, who had held out bravely, and scarcely ever left his side, wept with joy at the thought that his life might yet be spared. "`now, my lads, let's see if we cannot get the ship somewhat clear of water,' exclaimed mr carr, going to the pumps; `it will never do to have it said that we did nothing to help ourselves.' "i believe he did this to employ the men's minds till assistance could reach us. he set the example, which we all followed; and, weak as we were, we pumped away with such good-will that she rose perceptibly in the water, showing us that there was no leak to injure her. "at last the stranger, a large brig, reached us, and heaving-to just to leeward, mr carr gave him an account of all that had happened to us. "the master of the brig said that he was himself somewhat short of provisions, but would send us what he could venture to give in his own boat. we thanked him with grateful hearts. still the boat did not come. there was some consultation on board; we could not tell what. a breeze from the westward again sprung up. it was a fair wind for the stranger. "`what's he about now?' exclaimed several voices, trembling with agitation. "he put up his helm and filled his headsails. "`he'll go about directly, and heave-to on the other tack,' said mr carr. "still the stranger stood on. "`where can he be going to?' again exclaimed several of us. "on, on he stood, steadily, with all sail set! oh, how bitter were the words which followed him! could that heartless stranger have heard them, would he have ventured to brave the fate to which he had left so many of his fellow-creatures? how completely had he forgotten that golden rule, `do unto others as you would wish others to do unto you!' what will be his thoughts some day when he is suffering from all the miseries to which we were exposed, when he remembers the wreck he deserted on the wild ocean! hour after hour we watched him anxiously, scarcely believing, till his topsails dipped beneath the horizon, that so heartless a wretch existed in the creation." "ay, it's another proof of the depth of man's vileness, and wickedness, and contempt of the laws of a god of mercy," observed peter poplar. "i have known many such instances almost as bad; so i am not surprised." "when we found that we really were deserted, the spirits of all of us and the minds of some gave way. several of the crew broke into the spirit-room, which they could now reach, and, broaching a cask of liquor, endeavoured to forget their miseries by getting drunk. the mate and i, and most of the passengers, abstained from the temptation. those who indulged in it were the first to pay the penalty by a miserable death. "still discipline had been maintained. mr carr called on me to accompany him round the ship in search of anything which might serve as food to stay the cravings of hunger. we discovered a few pounds of candles, some bits of old leather, leather shoes, a rug, a couple of hides; but our greatest prize was about a gallon of lamp-oil, and some oil intended to mix with paint. these we brought into the cabin, to be kept in safety. while we were there, mr carr's eyes fell on old trojan, the captain's favourite newfoundland dog, as he lay almost dying under his master's cot. the captain very naturally had not brought himself to order its death. "`i am sorry, sir,' said mr carr, `to propose what i do; but that dog may be the means of preserving the lives of all of us. we must kill him.' "`you'll be proposing to kill and eat each other before long,' exclaimed the poor master, in a querulous tone. "`heaven forbid!' answered the mate. `but to take the life of a brute beast is a different matter. i don't see how we can spare him. even if we do, he will not live long, and now his blood alone will be of great importance.' "at last the captain consented to the death of his favourite, and poor trojan was led up on deck to be put to death. before he was killed, we all of us took an anxious look round the horizon, to ascertain that no sail was near. we would gladly, even then, have saved the poor dog's life. the cravings of hunger soon, however, drove all feelings of remorse from our bosoms. the faithful brute looked up into our faces, and his eyes said as clearly as if he had spoken the words, `i know that it is necessary--be quick about it.' how carefully we husbanded every drop of the blood! the mate got a teaspoon, and served it out with that measure full to each of us at a time, while the flesh was reserved for another day. "i cannot describe how those wretched days passed away. except the mate and three others of us, no one could even stand. the captain lay in his cot growing worse and worse. i was on deck one afternoon with mr carr, steering and keeping the ship's head to the eastward, when we were startled by a faint shriek from the cabin. presently afterwards the captain rushed on deck. "`mutiny! mutiny!' he exclaimed, frantically flourishing his arms about. `but i'll take care that no one takes the ship from me. i'll shoot the first man who approaches me, be he whom he may. see here here!' "he drew a brace of pistols from his bosom, and presented them at us. happily, one missed fire; the ball from the other passed close to mr carr's head. "`that's right, sir,' said mr carr, quite coolly. `now you've quelled the mutiny, let's go below.' "he signed to one of the other men, who crawled aft to help me to steer, while he took the captain below. this outbreak was the last flaring up of the poor man's almost exhausted strength. his wife watched him as the flame of life sank lower and lower in the socket; and two days after that, when i went into the cabin, i found her fainting beside him, and he was dead. she entreated that the body might be allowed to remain in the cabin another day; but the next she allowed the mate and me to remove it, and to commit it to the sea. "oh, how sad and melancholy were those long, dreary nights, as we stood at the helm, the gale howling over our heads, the ship groaning and creaking, and the seas roaring up astern and threatening every moment to wash us from our uncertain support--darkness above us, darkness on every side! "at last not a particle of food remained. mr carr made another search into every cranny of the ship. some grease was found; it served to keep life in us another day. then the dreadful information spread among us that there was nothing else. relief must come, or we must die. "`others have lived under like circumstances,' said one, looking up under his scowling brow. "`ay, if it's necessary, it must be done,' hissed another. "`there is no need why we should all die,' growled a third. "they clearly understood what each other meant. i was listening, but could: not believe the horrid truth. those who were but able to move crawled aft to mr carr, to tell him of their determination. for long he would not listen to them, but drove them forward, calling them cannibals, and telling them to wait god's providence. for my own part, i felt that i would rather have died than have agreed to their proposals. what they wanted was that lots should be drawn, and that he who drew the shortest should be put to death, and the one next should be the executioner. the captain's wife was to be free. at last their importunity became so great that mr carr agreed that, should no sail appear at the end of another twenty-four hours, he would no longer oppose their wishes. before that time, two of those who were most eager for the dreadful mode of sustaining life, or most fearful of death, were summoned away. the crime was prevented; no one had to become a murderer. i will not describe how my wretched shipmates sustained life. mr carr abstained from the dreadful repast. so did i and one or two others; and though we lost in strength, our sufferings were much less acute, and our minds more tranquil, and our judgment far clearer than was the case with those who thus indulged their appetites. what we might have done i know not, had not god in his mercy sent your brig to our aid, with men on board with hearts to feel for us, and courage, in spite of all dangers, to rescue us. some time before this the ship had become completely water-logged; and we, being driven from all shelter below, were reduced to the state in which you found us." the account de lisle gave of mr carr raised him very much in my opinion, and i thought at the time that he was just the man i should like to sail with. we more than once spoke on the subject of the condition to which the crew of the _eagle_ had been reduced. "to my mind," observed de lisle, "i cannot believe that people are justified in taking away the life of a fellow-creature even to preserve their own. i thought so at the time, and i think so now, that our duty is to resign ourselves implicitly to god's will--to do our very utmost to preserve our lives, and to leave the rest in his hands." peter agreed with him. he told him that he wondered mr carr did not mix up the grease on which they had fed with very fine saw-dust, as it would have made it go much further. de lisle replied, that had they even supposed such a thing would have been beneficial, they had no means of making fine saw-dust, as they could get at no saw, and every particle of wood, as well as everything else, was soaked with wet. after all the dangers and adventures we had gone through, it was with no little satisfaction that, as i was stationed on the look-out aloft, i espied land on the starboard-bow, which captain gale pronounced to be that of nova scotia, a little to the westward of cape spry. we were in sight of sambro head just at nightfall, but had to lay off till the morning before we could run in among the numerous islets which exist between that point and devil's island. thus another night had to be passed on board by our weary shipwrecked visitors. dark and dreary it proved. the wind came off cold and cheerless, in fitful gusts, from the shore, and moaned and howled through the rigging; the rain beat on our decks; and broken cross-seas tumbled and danced round us like imps of evil, eager to prevent our escaping from their malign influence. thus wore on the night. chapter eleven. adventures in morocco--search for the lost captain. as the morning sun arose, lighting up sambro head in the distance, the clouds of night dispersed from off the sky, and with a fair breeze we ran in under the forts which guard mcnab's island, at the entrance of the fine harbour of halifax. the capital of nova scotia stands on the side of a hill facing the east, which rises gradually from the water's edge. its streets are wide, well laid out, and handsome, mostly crossing each other at right angles, and extending along the shores of the harbour for a distance of two miles, and running inland about half a mile. fine wharfs, at which ships of any burden can discharge their cargoes, extend along the water's edge; above them are the warehouses and merchants' stores; and then come the public buildings; and, lastly, the houses of the more wealthy inhabitants. the harbour is very fine, and would hold as large a fleet as ever put to sea. the naval dockyard is also a handsome establishment, and it is the chief naval station in british north america. as it is completely open to the influence of the sea air, its anchorage is very seldom blocked up by ice. it is altogether an important place, and would become still more important in war-time. as soon as we had dropped our anchor, captain gale, taking me with him to carry his papers and other articles, went on shore to find out the owners of the _dolphin_. davidson and stenning were their names, the latter being the brother of the master, who was also part owner. he was dreadfully overcome when captain gale announced his errand. "what do you mean, sir? my brave brother walter dead! murdered by rascally pirates!" he exclaimed. "oh, impossible!--it's too horrid! what will his poor wife do?" "i have my hopes that he may still be numbered among the living," replied captain gale. and he then recounted all that had occurred connected with the salee rover. both the gentlemen complimented the captain on the way he had behaved, and then begged him to wait to see mrs walter stenning, who was residing there. after some time, during which her brother-in-law was preparing her for the captain's communication, we were called in to see the lady. she begged that i might come too, that she might question me about having seen her husband in the rigging of the rover. she was not very young, but she was handsome, and very modest-looking; and as she was dressed in mourning, she appeared very interesting, and i for one thought that i should be ready to do anything to please her. she listened attentively to all the captain had to say; and after talking to him some time, cross-questioned me very narrowly as to how i knew that he was the man i had seen on board the rover. "it was him--it was him, i am certain!" she exclaimed. "my good and noble husband cannot be killed. his life has been spared. i feel it--i know it. i'll go and find him out. i'll search for him everywhere. i'll rescue him even if he is in the very heart of morocco." "i fear, madam, that's more than you or any other woman can accomplish," answered captain gale. "but if any human being is able to rescue your husband, even though the risk may be very great, i for one shall be more than glad to engage in the work. if he's above the water and above the earth, we'll find him." there spoke the warm-hearted impetuous sailor. he did not stop to consider difficulties, but at once undertook to do what his heart prompted. it was not quite at the spur of the moment either, because he had, from the moment he thought stenning dead, been feeling a sentiment of pity for his widow; and now he saw her sweet, amiable face, he was still more anxious to relieve her grief. mrs stenning, as may be supposed, could scarcely find words to thank captain gale for his offer; and when he repeated it the following day, the owners replied that they would most thankfully accept it, and would put him in charge of the _dolphin_, that he might go out in her to commence his search. in the meantime, the people we had picked up at sea were landed, and taken care of by the inhabitants of the place. mrs stenning insisted on taking charge of poor mrs ellis, the widow of the captain of the _eagle_; and mr carr volunteered to join the _dolphin_, to go in search of walter stenning, with whom, curiously enough, he was well acquainted. captain gale at once offered to take me instead of sending me home, as had been arranged he should do; and, of course, i was delighted to join him. peter poplar at once volunteered to accompany him; as indeed did all the crew of the brig, and some of the seamen we saved from the wreck: the greater number were, however, too ill to serve again at sea. the articles, as it happened, which composed the cargo, being much in demand at the time, sold well; and the owners were the better able, therefore, to fit out the brig in as liberal a way as could be desired. she was, accordingly, strongly armed, and well able to contend with any rover or other vessel we might meet on the african coast. after the lessons we had received, also, we were not likely to be taken by surprise,--the mode in which the pirates of those days usually attempted to capture their prey. mrs stenning used frequently to come on board, to superintend the outfit of the ship, and to hasten the workmen; and thus everybody working with a will, and with an important object in view, she was soon ready for sea. often and often, on the contrary, have i seen work which might and should have been rapidly performed, most vexatiously delayed through the laziness, or ignorance, or carelessness of those employed on it. one man has not taken a correct measure; another has forgotten to give a simple order; a third has put off a small piece of work to do something else which was not so much required; a fourth has ill-fitted a portion of the machine, or has broken what he calls some trifle which he has not replaced; and so forth. how much better would it be if they, and all whose eyes read my story, would but remember that saying of holy writ--"whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." yes, in that book, if men would but search earnestly, they would find with an overflowing abundance all that they can require to guide them aright, both in everything in regard to this life, as well as to make them wise unto salvation. but, then, they must not hope to be guided partly by the rules and maxims of the world, and partly by those of the bible. they must study the bible by the light which the bible affords-- not by man's light or man's wisdom. they must not suppose that a mere cursory or occasional reading will suffice. they must read it diligently with all their heart, with an earnest prayer for enlightenment, and with an honest wish to comprehend it fully, and a resolution to be guided by its precepts. let the worldly-minded understand that those who do so succeed best, and are at the same time the happiest men in the world in the long-run. however, old jack does not want to preach just now. if his readers will not believe him, deeply does he mourn the inevitable consequences to them. the brig, as i said, was soon ready for sea. it might have appeared that the shortest way to proceed about our expedition would have been to sail at once for morocco; but as the productions of nova scotia are chiefly food and timber, and such articles were in no request in that part of africa, it was necessary to go first to england with a cargo, and then to take in what was required, such as cotton and woollen manufactures, hardware, arms, and ammunition. accordingly, we took on board some quintals of dry fish, and barrels of flour, and beef, and pork, and pickled fish, and staves, and shingles, and lath-wood, and hoops, and such like productions of the forest. at that time, however, the country did not produce any large quantity of those articles for exportation. the owners directed us first to proceed to bristol, where we were to discharge our cargo, and to take on board another suited to the morocco markets. our departure excited great interest in halifax, where walter stenning and his family were well-known; and his poor wife was one of the last people to leave the brig before she sailed. once more, then, we were at sea. several occurrences took place during the voyage which would be worth narrating, had not i other subjects of more interest to describe. people talk a great deal of the monotony of this or that existence, and especially of a long sea voyage. for my part, i have learned to believe that no day is altogether barren of incident, if people would but learn to look inwardly as well as outwardly. something of interest is always taking place in nature, but men must keep their senses awake to observe it; so some process is always going forward in a man's moral being, but his conscience must be alive to take note of it. we reached bristol in six weeks--not a bad passage in those days, when navigation had not made the strides it since has. we brought the first account of all the events i have described, and as the passengers and most of the crew of the _dolphin_ had belonged to bristol, several families of the place were plunged in deep grief, and a universal desire prevailed to recover any of those who might have been carried into captivity, and to ascertain further particulars of the tragedy. no time, therefore, was lost in shipping a fresh cargo, and in furnishing us with such supplies as might be required. our directions were to proceed first to the port of alarache, where resided a merchant who corresponded occasionally with our bristol consignees. from him we were to obtain an interpreter, and to proceed to such other ports as might be judged advantageous according to the information he might furnish. we had a fair run to cape spartel, the north-western point of africa. it then fell calm for a day or so. after this we had very light and baffling winds, and we sighted more than one suspicious-looking craft; but they did not, apparently, like our appearance, and made sail away from us. at length we came off alarache. a bar runs across the mouth of the harbour, which even at spring-tides prevents large ships from entering, though there were sufficient water on it to allow us to get over. no pilot came out, so captain gale resolved to make a bold stroke, and to carry the brig in by himself. it was nearly high-water, and the breeze was favourable as we stood towards the land. the sky and sea were blue and bright, with a line of foam where the water ran over the shallower part of the bar. dark rocks and yellow sands were before us, with white-washed, flat-roofed houses, and here and there a minaret or cupola of a mosque, and tall, slender, wide-spreading topped date-trees scattered over the landscape; while lower down, protecting the town, was a frowning castle or fort, with a few vessels at anchor before it. a boat-load of officials, with very brown faces, white dresses, and red caps, came off to inquire our business, and get bucksheesh, as the turks call such gratuities as they can collect from travellers and voyagers. the captain could only reply by showing a document in moorish with which he had been furnished, and repeating the name of mynheer von donk, the dutch merchant at the place, to whom we were consigned. this, in the course of a couple of hours, produced mynheer von donk himself, to ascertain what was required of him. i cannot pretend to say that all dutch merchants are like him, for if so, they must be a very funny set of people. he was very short and very fat, with queer little sparkling eyes, and a biggish snub-nose, and thick lips, and hair so long and stiff that his three-cornered hat could scarcely keep it from starting out all round his bullet-shaped head. he had on very very wide brown breeches; and very very large silver buckles to his shoes; and a waistcoat of yellow silk, embroidered all over with strange designs, and so ample that it almost superseded the necessity of breeches; and his brown coat looked as if made with a due preparation for the still further enlargement of its respectable owner. mynheer informed the captain that he could speak every language under the sun like a native; but, as peter remarked, then it must have been like a native who had lived away from home all his life, and forgotten his mother-tongue. we, however, made out that it was very necessary to be cautious in our dealings with the moors, as they were the greatest thieves and rogues in the world, and that they would only desire an opportunity of seizing the brig, and making slaves of us all; but that while we remained in alarache, we should be safe under his protection. when captain gale explained to him the real object of the voyage, he brightened up considerably, as he saw that he might have an opportunity of making even more out of the ship than he at first expected. i do not say that mynheer von donk was destitute of human sympathies; but he had gone out to that far from agreeable place to make money, and money he was resolved to make by every means in his power. he was ready enough even to promise to assist in finding poor captain stenning, provided he could be paid for it--he preferred labouring in a laudable object with pay, to labouring in an object which was not laudable, if no more money was to be made in one way than in another; but he had no desire to labour in anything without pay. we saw very little of the shore in this place, for he asked that we should not be allowed to land, except in company with one of our officers and his interpreter. we had, however, a pretty brisk traffic for the goods we had brought, we taking chiefly hard dollars in return; however, the captain did not refuse some articles, such as bees-wax, hides, copper; dates, and almonds, and other fruits not likely to spoil by keeping. it was, at the same time, important that we should not fill up entirely with merchandise, that we might have an excuse for visiting other ports. as far as we could judge, the dangers we had heard of had been very much exaggerated, and arose chiefly from the careless and often violent conduct of those who visited the country. captain gale, aided by mr carr, kept the strictest discipline on board; and we must have gained the character of being very quiet well-disposed traders, without a thought beyond disposing of our merchandise. our guns merely showed that we were able to defend what had been placed under our care. meantime mynheer von donk was making every inquiry in his power for captain stenning, or any of the survivors from the massacre on board the _dolphin_. he ascertained that no such vessel as we described had come into alarache, but that one exactly answering her description belonged to the port of salee, some leagues to the southward, and that she had been on a long cruise, and had returned about the time the captain calculated she might, with some booty and some captives on board. what had become of them he could not learn, but concluded that, as they had not been sent to the northward, they were still in the neighbourhood. one day, the interpreter having come on board, we got under way, and without let or hindrance stood over the bar. we lay up well along-shore, which is in some places very mountainous and rocky, and the following day we were off salee. this is also a bar harbour, but, waiting for high-tide, we ran over it, and came to an anchor opposite the town, and near an old fort, the guns of which did not look very formidable. as we ran up the harbour we looked anxiously around to ascertain if our friend the rover was there; but no vessel exactly like her could we see, though there were several suspicious-looking craft, which, no doubt, were engaged in the same calling. salee itself is composed chiefly of mean houses, with very narrow dirty steep streets; but some of the dwellings in the higher part of the town are of greater pretensions as to size and architectural beauty. our consignee in this place was an armenian merchant, who presented a great contrast in outward appearance to mynheer von donk. keon y kyat was tall, and thin, and sallow and grave, dressed in long dark robes, and a high-pointed cap of astrakan fur,--he looked more like a learned monk than a merchant; but in one point he was exactly like his respected correspondent,--he came to the country to make money, and money he was resolved to make, at all events! this circumstance, however, was an advantage to our enterprise, as he was willing for money to afford us that assistance which he would, probably, otherwise have refused. our interpreter, sidy yeusiff, was a character in his way, though certainly not one to be imitated. his mother was a christian slave, an irish roman catholic, married to a mohammedan moor. she had brought him up in her own faith, in which he continued till her death, when, to obtain his liberty, he professed that of his stepfather. he had all the vices consequent on slavery. he was cringing, cowardly, false, and utterly destitute of all principle; but, at the same time, so plausible, that it was difficult not to believe that he was speaking the truth. he was a young, pleasant-looking man; and as he used to come forward and talk freely with the seamen, he became a favourite on board. poor fellow! had he been brought up under more favourable circumstances, how different might have been his character! his professed object was, of course, to interpret for the captain in all matters connected with the sale of the cargo; but he used to take every opportunity of going on shore to try and gain information about captain stenning or any of his companions. i had few opportunities of making remarks about the people of this place, but sidy corrected some of the notions i had first formed. the boys all go bare-headed; the men wear red caps. they have their hair shaved off their heads, with the exception of a tuft on the top, by which they expect mohammed will draw them up to paradise. i have seen it remarked that mohammed, who had very erroneous notions on scientific subjects, fixed the articles for the religious belief of his followers according to them, thereby entirely disproving their divine origin; whereas the writers of the bible, guided by inspiration, made numerous statements which, with the knowledge then possessed by mankind, would have been impossible for them to understand clearly unless explained to them by the holy spirit, but which subsequent discoveries in science have shown to be beautifully and exactly correct. mohammed thought that the world was flat, and so placed his paradise in an atmosphere above it. to return to the dress of the moors. they wear long beards and large whiskers, but shave their upper lip and directly under the chin. a gentleman of the upper class wears a long shirt without a collar, and over it a sort of spencer or waistcoat, joined before and behind. again, over this he puts a very large coat, ornamented with numberless buttons, and with sleeves reaching only to his elbows. his coat, which he folds round him, is secured by a thick coloured sash or girdle, into which he sticks a very long knife or dagger, and where he carries his money, supposing he has any. he wears only a pair of linen drawers reaching to the ankle. his shoes are of goat-skin, very well-dressed, the sole being but of one thickness. he wears over his dress a fine white blanket, with which he can completely shroud himself, leaving only his right arm exposed. it is called a haik. some of these haiks are very fine and transparent, while others are thicker and more fit for general use. in cold weather he puts on a bournous or capote, with a hood such as the greek fishermen and sailors wear. a labouring man does not wear a shirt, and his drawers come only as far as his knee, leaving the rest of his leg exposed. the women's clothes are cut something like those of the men. round the head they wear a coloured sash, which hangs down to the waist; their hair is plaited; and they have the usual gold and silver ornaments in their ears and on their fingers, and red shoes. the poorer classes wear necklaces, and silver or copper rings on their fingers and thumbs. their shirts are beautifully ornamented in front, to look like lace. when they leave the house they put on drawers of great length, which they turn up into numerous folds over their legs, giving them a very awkward appearance. besides the haik, which is like that of a man's, a lady wears a linen cloth over her face, to conceal it from the profane vulgar when abroad. such were the people we saw moving about on shore. day after day passed by, and no account could we gain of poor captain stenning. it was very clear, also, that if we did, we should not be able to obtain his liberation by force. at last one day the captain sent for me. "williams," said he, "i have had news of one of the _dolphin's_ people, if not of captain stenning himself. i must myself go and see him, and i want a companion in whom i have perfect confidence. as you are a steady, sensible man, with good nerve, i shall be glad to take you with me, if you are willing to accompany me. i should probably have taken poplar, but his figure is so conspicuous that he would have been remarked." i was much pleased with the way in which he spoke of me, and i told him that i was ready to follow wherever he chose to lead the way. "that is the spirit i expected to find in you," he replied. "it is, however, right that you should understand that there is considerable danger in the expedition; for if our errand was to be discovered, we should certainly be sacrificed to the fury of the moors." "i've no fear about that, sir," said i. "a man cannot expect to be always able to do what is right without running some risk and taking some trouble." sidy that evening brought us off some moorish clothes, in which the captain and i rigged ourselves out. we certainly did look two funny figures, i thought, as we turned ourselves round and round in them. sidy had not forgotten a couple of long knives, to which the captain added a brace of pistols a piece. i was very glad it was dusk when we left the ship, for i should not have liked my shipmates to have seen me with my bare legs and slippers, and a dirty blanket over my head just like an old irishwoman. a shore-boat was alongside--a sort of canoe turned up at both ends, and flat-bottomed. an old moor sat in her. sidy had bribed him to put us on shore, and to ask no questions. he told him that we were moors, who had had business on board the brig, and that we desired to land without notice. he accordingly pulled to an unfrequented part of the harbour, and we stepped on shore, as we believed, unnoticed. the captain and sidy led the way, i following in the character of a servant. of course, if spoken to, i was to be dumb. we passed along a narrow sandy road, with low stone walls on either side skirting the town, till we arrived at the entrance of a house of somewhat larger dimensions than those of the neighbouring edifices. this, i found, was the residence of a german renegade and a merchant, who had, by sidy's means, been bribed to assist us. we were ushered into his presence as moorish guests come to visit him. he was seated cross-legged on a cushion at one end of a room, with a large pipe by his side. the apartment was not very finely furnished, seeing that it had little else in it besides a few other cushions like the one he sat on. certainly he looked exactly like an old moor, and i could not persuade myself that he was not one. he invited us to sit down; which the captain and sidy did near him, while i tucked my legs under me at a distance. after he had bowed and talked a little through the interpreter, he clapped his hands, and some slaves brought each of us a pipe--not an unpleasant thing just then to my taste. again he clapped his hands, and the slaves brought in some low, odd, little tables, one of which was placed before each of us. there was a bowl of porridge, and some plates with little lumps of fried meat, and rice, and dates, but not a drop of grog or liquor of any sort. afterwards, however, coffee was brought to us in cups scarcely bigger than thimbles; but it did little more than just warm up my tongue. as soon as the slaves had withdrawn, i was not a little surprised to hear the seeming moor address the captain in tolerable english. "so you want to find one of your captured countrymen?" said he. "well, to-morrow morning i start on a journey to visit a friend who has one as a slave. his description answers that of him whom you seek. i will obtain for you a short conversation with him. you must contrive the means of rescuing him. i can do no more." after some further talk on the subject our host got up, and, having carefully examined all the outlets to the room to ascertain that no one was looking in, produced a stout black bottle from a chest, and some glasses. i found that the bottle contained most veritable schiedam. "now, as i don't think this good stuff was known to master mohammed when he played his pranks on earth, he cannot object to any of his faithful followers tasting a drop of it now and then." thereon he poured out a glass for each of us, and winked at sidy, as much as to say, "we understand each other--we are both of us rogues." the captain took but little; so did i: but muly hassan the merchant, and the interpreter, did not stop their potations till they had finished the bottle, and both were very drunk. the merchant had sense enough left to hide his bottle, and then his slaves came and made him up a couch in one corner of the room. they also prepared beds for us in the other corners. the next morning we were up before break of day, and mounted on some small horses, almost hid by their gaily-coloured saddle-cloths and trappings. and such saddles! rising up in peaks ahead and astern, a drunken tailor could not have tumbled off one of them had he tried. i do not remember much about the appearance of the country. a large portion was lying waste; but there were fields of various sorts of corn, and even vineyards, though the grapes produced from them were not, i suppose, used for the manufacture of wine: indeed, i know that they are eaten both fresh and dried. date-trees were, however, in great abundance, the fruit being one of the principal articles of food among the people. the roads were very bad; and altogether there was an air of misery and neglect which will always be seen where the ruler is a tyrant and the people are slaves. we rested in some sheds put up for the accommodation of passengers during the heat of the day, and in the afternoon proceeded on to our destination. "now, my friends, look out for your countryman," said the renegade. "you will probably see him tending cattle or labouring in the fields among other slaves. he is probably in his own dress, and you will easily recognise him." curiously enough, we had not ridden on for ten minutes further, when, not far from the road, we saw a man seated on a bank a short distance from the road, and looking very sorrowful and dispirited. his dress was that of a seaman. i looked round, and seeing no one near except our own party, i slipped off my horse, and ran up to him. of course, he thought i was a moor, and he looked as if he would have fainted with surprise when he heard me hail him in english. "who are you? what do you come here for?" he exclaimed, panting for breath. "i belong to the _dolphin_ brig, and i came here to try and find captain stenning and any of his companions." "heaven be praised, then?" he exclaimed, bursting into tears. "he and i are the only survivors of that demon-possessed craft which he commanded. but how came your vessel to be called by the name of one which proved so unfortunate?" "i cannot tell you all about that just now," i answered, seeing that much time would be lost if i entered into particulars. i therefore merely explained the steps we had taken to discover them, and asked him what had become of captain stenning. "the captain! he has been in this very place till within the last three or four weeks, when the moors carried him away to serve on board one of their ships--the very ship which captured us. they found out that he was the captain and understood navigation, so they took him to navigate one of their piratical craft. i was sick and unfit for work, or they would have taken me likewise; but they saw that i was only a man before the mast, and guessed that i did not understand navigation. what has since become of the captain i don't know. there is no one here i can talk to. they set me to work by signs, which, if i do not understand, they sharpen my wits with a lash; and they take care that i shall not run away, by securing me at night with a chain round my leg. there are several other slaves employed by the same master, but not one of them understands a word of english." the young man's name was jacob lyal, he told me; and he said that he was just out of his apprenticeship when he joined the _dolphin_. "i have a father and mother, and brothers and sisters, at home, in somersetshire, and it would make their hearts sorrowful if they heard that i was left a slave in this barbarous country; so you'll do all you can to help me," he exclaimed, as i was about to leave him, for i was afraid of remaining longer lest we should be observed. just as i was going, however, i told him to try and arrange some plan by which we might have a talk with him, and let him know how things stood before we left the place, should we be unable to take him with us. he also described very accurately the sort of place in which he was locked up at night; and i promised, if i could, to go and have some more conversation with him. as we did not lose time in talking of anything except the matter in hand, i was speedily able to rejoin the captain and his companions. the captain approved of the arrangements i had made, though he was very sorry that there was no immediate prospect of meeting with captain stenning. we were received with all the usual marks of respect by the old moor who owned the property. he had been a pirate in his youth, and cut-throats and robbed without compunction; but he was now a dignified old gentleman, who looked as if he had been engaged in rural affairs all his life. i came in for almost as much of the attention and good fare as the captain; for in that country a beggar may eat off the same table, or rather the same floor, and sit under the same roof as a prince. the excuse for the visit was to sell to the old moor some of the goods aboard the _dolphin_, specimens of which the captain had brought with him. as soon after our arrival as we had shaken the dust out of our clothes, and washed our faces and our hands and feet, we were ushered by slaves into a hall, at one end of which sat the old moor, and the captain and the renegade and the interpreter were placed on each side of him, and i sat a little further off, tucking up my legs as i had done before; and then some black slaves in white dresses brought in a little table for each of us, with all sorts of curious things to eat, which i need not describe, for in that country one feast is very much like another. the renegade had also brought a case; but that it contained something besides merchandise he proved by producing, one after the other, several of his favourite bottles of schiedam, which apparently were no less acceptable to the old moor than to him. i am not, however, fond of describing such scenes, or of picturing such gross hypocrites as the renegade and the old moor. i gained an advantage, however, from their drunken habits; for as soon as it was dark i stole out of the house, and tried to find my way to the shed where lyal told me he was chained at night. i had taken good note of the bearings of the place as we rode along. i knew that if i was found prying about, i should run a great chance of being killed; but still i was resolved to run every risk to try and rescue the poor fellow from captivity. of course, as the captain afterwards told me, we might have gone home to england, and laid the state of the case before the government; and after a year or so spent in diplomatising, the poor fellow, if he was still alive, might have been released, or the emperor of morocco might have declared that he could not find him, or that he was dead; and thus he would have remained on, like many others, in captivity. there was a little light from the moon, which enabled me to mark the outlines of the house i was leaving, as well as to find my way. two servants were stationed in the entrance passage, but they had wrapped themselves up in their haiks and gone soundly to sleep, so i stepped over their bodies without waking them. every person about the house, indeed, seemed to have gone to sleep, but the dogs were more faithful than the human beings, and some of them barked furiously as i walked along. they were either chained or locked up, and finding my footsteps going from them, they were soon silent. at length i reached the shed i was in search of. it was near a cottage, with several other similar sheds in the neighbourhood. as i came to the entrance, a voice said-- "come in; but speak low." at first i could see no one, but on going further in, i discovered the object of my search sitting in a corner on a heap of straw. he was chained there, and could not move. "it gives me new life to see a countryman here, and one who wants to help me," said the poor fellow. "i thought all the world had deserted me, and that i should be left to die in this strange land, among worse than heathens, who treat me as a dog; or that i should be tempted to give up my faith and turn mohammedan, as others have done." i cannot repeat all our conversation. at last an idea struck me. "i'll tell you what," said i; "just do you pretend to be mad, and play all sorts of strange pranks, and do all the mischief you can; and then the captain will propose to buy you, and perhaps the old moor will sell you a bargain, and be glad to be rid of you." "a very good idea," he answered. "but here am i chained up like a dog, and how am i to get free?" "no fear," said i, producing a knife which peter had given me, containing all sorts of implements, and among them a file. "you shall soon be at liberty, at all events." accordingly i set to work, and in less than an hour i had filed the chain from off his legs. while we were filing away, we arranged what he was to do. he was to make a huge cap, with a high peak of straw, and he was to cut his jacket into shreds, and a red handkerchief i had into strips, and to fasten them about him in long streamers, and he was to take a thick pole in his hand, covered much in the same way, and then he was to rush into the house, shrieking and crying out as if a pack of hounds were after him. "they will not wonder at seeing me mad, for i have done already many strange things, and very little work, since i came here," he remarked. "but what it to become of the chain?" "you had better carry that with you, and clank it in their faces," said i. "make as if you had bitten it through. that will astonish them, and they will, at all events, be afraid to come near your teeth." to make a long story short, we worked away with a will, and in half an hour or so he was rigged out in a sufficiently strange fashion. i have no doubt, had peter been with us, he would have improved on our arrangement. i then, advising lyal to follow me in a short time, stole back, and took my place unobserved in the old moor's dining-hall. the captain guessed what i had been doing, but the rest of the party had been too much engaged in their potations to miss me. after a little time i stole over to the captain and told him the arrangements i had made, that he might be ready to act accordingly. in a short time the silence which had hitherto prevailed was broken by a terrible uproar of dogs barking, and men hallooing and crying out at the top of their voices; while, above all, arose as unearthly shrieks as i had ever heard. presently in rushed a crowd of black and brown servants, followed by a figure which i recognised as that of lyal, though he had much improved his appearance by fastening a haik over his shoulders and another round his waist, while he waved above his head a torch, at the risk of setting his high straw-cap on fire. the people all separated before him, as he dashed on, right up to the old moor, who, with a drunken gaze of terror and astonishment, stared at him without speaking. "ho! ho!" shouted the sailor, seizing him by the nose; "old fellow, i have you now!" thereon he kicked over the jar of schiedam, the contents of which he set on fire with his torch; and keeping fast hold of the old moor's nose, who in his fright knew not how to resist, dragged him round and round the room, shouting and shrieking all the time like a very demoniac. the place would have been meantime set on fire had not the captain and i quenched the flames, while the renegade and the interpreter, in their drunken humours, could only lean back on their cushions, and laugh as if they would split their sides at the extraordinary predicament of our host. "i say, countrymen, if you had but your horses ready, we might gallop away before all these people knew where they are," shouted lyal. "who'll just take a spell at the old fellow's nose, for i am tired of holding on?" on this captain gale thought that it was time to interfere, and he and i going up to the old moor, pretended to use great exertion in dragging away the sailor from him. the captain then led him back to his seat, while i held lyal. "here, sidy," said the captain to the interpreter; "tell the old man that if he will give me fifty dollars, i will take that madman off his hands." when the old moor had somewhat recovered his composure, sidy explained the offer. "he says that he can kill him, and so get him out of his way!" was the answer. "he dare not do that," put in the renegade; "all the people here will own him as inspired. abate your price, and stick to it." finally, the captain consented to carry away the madman on having twenty dollars added to the price he was to receive for his goods. "take him! take him!" exclaimed the old moor. "the man who can eat through iron, drive all my slaves before him, set fire to my house, and pull me by the nose, is better away from me than near! take care, though, that he does not come back again!" the captain promised that he would take very good care of that; and the next day, with joyful hearts at our unexpected success, we set forward on our return-journey to salee. as the renegade and sidy were both to be rewarded according to our success, they were well content; and by their aid, the same night we got on board the brig with our recovered countryman without being observed. we had now to turn the whole of our attention to the recovery of captain stenning; and every excuse which captain gale could think of was made for our stay in the harbour. still, we had very little of our cargo left, and every day saw it decrease. the spring-tides were also coming on, when there was the greatest depth of water on the bar, and we could the most easily make our escape without a pilot. chapter twelve. the salee rover and the british corvette. as we lay at our anchors off salee, we had a view from the mast-head of the open sea, over a point of land which ran out below the town. snug as we were, it was one day blowing a heavy gale outside from the northward. dark clouds chased each other across the sky, and the ocean--black and gloomy--was sprinkled over with white-topped seas. i was engaged aloft about the rigging, when i observed a sail to the north-west staggering along with as much canvas as she could carry. so rapidly did she make her way through the water, that i soon perceived that she was a brig, and that she was standing towards the harbour. the reason of her carrying so much sail, with so heavy a gale blowing, was soon explained. two or three miles astern of her came a large ship, with all her topsails set, evidently in chase. the latter, better able from her size to bear a heavy press of sail, was coming up with her rapidly. on seeing this i hailed the deck, and the captain, and mr carr, and peter, and others, soon came aloft to watch the progress of the chase. "i make it all out clearly," exclaimed the captain, after watching the state of affairs through his glass. "that craft is the very rover which plundered this vessel, or exactly like her; and the ship is a british man-of-war corvette, which is in chase of her. i can make out the english ensign clearly. the rover hopes to get into port before the guns of the corvette can be brought to bear on her; and that's just what i hope the rascal won't be able to do." "but that's the very craft stenning is said to be on board," observed mr carr. "poor fellow, it will go hard with him when the corvette's guns begin to play on the brig." "i wish that we could run out and bring her to action, so as to give the corvette time to come up and take possession," said i to peter, who was near me. "if the weather were moderate we might do it; but, with this gale blowing, i doubt if even our captain would run the risk," he answered. "besides you see, jack, all the people we have had anything to do with here would get into a great scrape if we played such a trick to one of their vessels. yet i tell you, lad, i would like the fun amazingly. the villains don't deserve any mercy at our hands." while peter and i were discussing the subject, so were the captain and mr carr. they gave up the idea of running out to meet the rover, as thereby they would have but little chance of saving the life of walter stenning, if he was still on board. by this time, both the brig and ship had drawn close in-shore, and every movement could clearly be observed with the naked eye. poor jacob lyal had come aloft; and as soon as he recognised the brig, he was nearly falling on deck, overpowered with all the dreadful recollections her appearance conjured up. no vessel, unless one well acquainted with the coast, could have ventured to stand in as close as the brig had done. she was now about a mile from the entrance of the harbour; and the corvette, outside of her, had just begun to fire a bow-gun now and then, to try its range. at last a shot went through one of the brig's topsails. she, in return, fired, endeavouring to cripple her pursuer, thus to have time to run under the shelter which was so near. never have i witnessed a more exciting scene. our mast-heads were soon crowded with spectators. even the sluggish moors rushed out of their houses, and went to the neighbouring heights to watch what was going forward. their interest was, however, on the other side of the question. many of them must have had relatives and friends on board the rover, and they were as anxious for her escape as we were to see her captured. the action now became warm--both corvette and brig were firing away as fast as they could load. "hurrah! the pirate seems to be getting the worst of it," said i to peter. "the rovers will meet with their deserts before long, i hope." "so do i," he answered. "but do you know, jack, i'm more anxious about the corvette. if she were to receive any damage, and not be able to haul off-shore, she is, do you see, on an enemy's coast, and all her people would be made prisoners, if not murdered; while the brig has a port under her lee, and can run in even if she gets a good deal of knocking about." while we were thus talking, the corvette had drawn still nearer to the brig, and her shot began to tell with considerable effect. down came the brig's maintop-gallant-mast, the spars hanging by the rigging. we next saw several hands going aloft to clear it away, when another shot struck the maintop-mast. the moors attempted in haste to slide down the stays and shrouds, but scarcely had they begun their descent when the mast bent over to leeward, and down it came with a crash, jerking off many of them into the sea. there in vain they struggled for life; the combatants flew on, leaving them to their fate. still the brig had her mainsail set, and with the gale there was blowing, that was sufficient after-canvas for her to carry with advantage. she ceased firing. "hurrah! she is going to strike," we exclaimed; but the wreck of the maintop-mast was quickly cleared away, and she commenced again with greater briskness than ever. in return, the corvette plied her fast and furiously with shot, which must have told pretty severely among her people on deck, though, of course, we could not see the damage which was done. the brig was within a quarter of a mile of the mouth of the harbour. it was high-tide, but we well knew that there was not water sufficient on the bar to allow the corvette to enter. still, on she boldly came in hot chase. "she cannot surely fancy that she can venture in," exclaimed captain gale. "she'll be lost to a certainty if she does. poor fellows! not one will escape with their lives should she strike. carr, we must run out, and try and pick some of them up, at all hazards. the wind is sufficiently to the northward to carry us clear, and the people on shore are so engaged in watching the chase, that they will not observe us getting under way till we are clear from the guns of the castle." "ay, ay, sir, with all my heart," answered the mate. "i'm not quite certain that the brig will get scot-free either." as he spoke, i saw a thick smoke ascending from the deck of the rover. "she's on fire! she's on fire!" shouted several of us. but then we thought of poor stenning, and what would become of him. "all hands make sail," cried the captain, descending on deck. "we must slip, mr carr. there's no time for heaving up the anchor." the crew could scarcely refrain from giving vent to their feelings of excitement in a shout. "silence, my lads; we must not let the moors know what we are about." never did a crew let fall the topsails with greater good-will than we did. we had kept two reefs in them for an emergency. i now saw the wisdom of the captain's forethought when he gave the order, as some time before we had loosed sails. we were riding with the ship's head towards the mouth of the river, the tide still running in. thus, being strongly manned with willing hearts, we were soon under way. no one from the shore observed us, or, at all events, came off to stop us. sidy, the interpreter, was fortunately on shore, so that we had no trouble about him, and the captain knew that he could easily pay him through the consignee of the ship. captain gale's intention was, i learned, to run down to the mouth of the harbour, and to anchor if necessary. we got a cable ranged accordingly, with an anchor ready to let go. the brig quickly felt the force of the wind, and, happily canting the right way, and her sails filling, away she flew, heeling over to the gale towards the open sea. the captain, or one of the mates, or peter, had been constantly sailing about the harbour, as if to amuse themselves, or to catch fish, but in reality to sound the depth of the water, and to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the harbour. we thus required no pilot to carry us out. as we rounded the point i have described, the mouth of the river lay before us--a long line of surf, with heavy breakers rolling and roaring in from the sea, apparently barring our exit. outside of it was the corvette, close-hauled with three reefs in her topsail, standing off-shore, and, as far as we could see, uninjured. but the pirate brig, where was she? a dark mass of rocks lay at the northern part of the entrance to the harbour. over them the sea broke furiously; and amid the masses of foam which flew high into the air was the black hull of a vessel, with shattered masts and spars heaving up amid the breakers; while from the centre of it, as if striving with the waves which should most speedily destroy it, bright flames were bursting forth and raging furiously. as we gazed with horror at the dreadful spectacle, feeling our compassion excited rather for our hapless countryman, whom we believed to be on board, than for the ruthless wretches who formed her crew, there was a loud explosion, and fragments of wreck, and what had once been human beings, were thrown up into the air; and by the time they had again fallen into the foaming water, no portion of the rover remained to show where she just had been. we were now about a quarter of a mile from the bar, and not a moment was to be lost in deciding what was to be done, whether we were to bring-up or to attempt to cross. in the line of breakers which rolled over the bar, a spot was observed where the water was smoother, and which the captain knew to be the deepest channel. "we may run out there without fear, light as we are; and if we remain, these mohammedan fanatics will certainly revenge themselves on us for the destruction of their friends," he observed to mr carr, who agreed with him that the attempt should be made, though far from free of risk. and most people, indeed, would have agreed that the passage was hazardous in the extreme, but yet no one on board doubted that it was the right thing to do. the second mate, who was at the helm with another steady hand, was ordered to steer towards the opening. the tide was still running in strong, which gave us greater command over the vessel than would have otherwise been the case. all hands were at their stations, and every one of us knew the position we were in. a shift of wind, the least carelessness, the carrying away a spar or rope, might bring upon us the same fate which had destroyed the rover. scarcely had the determination i have mentioned been arrived at, when, as i was looking out ahead, i saw on the starboard-bow a spar floating in the water. i looked again; a man was holding on to it, and drifting up towards us. i was certain i saw him lift up his hand and wave it. i immediately reported the circumstance to the captain. "although he is probably one of those wretched moors, he is a fellow-creature, and it is our duty to try and save him," he observed. "about-ship! helm a-lee!" he sung out. the brig, under her topsails, worked like a top, and we had ample room to put her about and heave her to. just as we had done so, the spar came drifting up close to us. again the man clinging to it waved his hand. his unshorn head of light curling hair showed that he was no moor. "here, mates, just pay out this line as i want it!" sung out peter, passing the bight of a rope under his arms and leaping overboard. "i'll tackle him to, i warrant." in an instant he was in the water, and a few strokes bringing him up to the spar as it floated by, he grasped hold of the person hanging to it, and then sung out, "haul away, my lads; it's all right!" the whole incident took place, it seemed, in a few seconds. once more he was on the deck, and there could be no doubt of it, with no other than walter stenning in his arms! the poor fellow breathed, but the dangers he had gone through, and the sudden restoration to safety, had overcome him, and he lay almost unconscious on the deck. "now, sir, the sooner we fill and stand out of this the better," said peter, turning to the captain, after he had placed stenning on the deck. "i did not speak of it before, but just now i saw another of those piratical fellows getting under way just from opposite where we lay, doubtless to be after us." peter's remark was found to be true; and up the harbour another brig was seen making sail, of course with the hope of overtaking us. i, with another man, received orders to carry captain stenning below, which we did, placing him on a mattress on the floor of the cabin, and then hurried up again to attend to our duty. once more the brig was put about, and head up towards the passage. on we rushed, the foam flying over us as we approached the spot. she lifted to the first rolling sea, and then down she came, as if she must strike the sand below; but another roller came tumbling in, and mounting like a sea-bird on its summit, she descended on the other side amid clouds of spray, again to mount another huge wave, and then to rush on with impetuous force as she felt the blast which laid her over almost on her beam-ends towards the open ocean. still, on either hand, wild foaming water broke in mountain masses around us; but on we sped. "hold on! hold on for your lives!" shouted the captain, as yet another mountain sea came thundering on towards us, close upon a previous one over which we had ridden in safety. the brig seemed to spring at it, as if able to dash it aside; but vain indeed was the attempt. high above us it rose. right into it we went, and for a moment i thought all was over. along our decks it found its way, and fell in torrents below, sweeping everything before it; but still buoyantly our brave vessel flew on, and wave after wave being surmounted, a loud shout burst from all hands as once more we found ourselves in the open sea, following in the wake of the british corvette. as soon as we were in safety, the captain called me below to attend to captain stenning. we found him sitting up on the mattress, and, as he held on by the leg of the table, looking somewhat wildly around him. "where am i? what is all this that has happened?" he exclaimed, as we appeared. "that you are safe aboard the _dolphin_, my friend, and that you have escaped from the wreck of a moorish pirate," answered the captain. "but before i answer more questions, we'll just get off your wet clothes, and clap you into bed with a glass of hot grog." this we accordingly did, and the result was that the poor fellow very soon fell fast asleep--the best thing he could do under the circumstances. when i went on deck, i found that the moorish brig which had pursued us, seeing the fate which had befallen her companion, and that we had got safe over the bar, had put about, and stood back again to her anchorage. "i should have begrudged the rascals our anchor and cable," said peter. "but as we have got mr stenning back safe, they are welcome to them, though i would rather see the honest hemp used to hang some of the knaves." the gale, which truly seemed to have effected its purpose in the destruction of the miscreant rovers, now began to abate its fury, and before dark we came up with the corvette, which had hove-to in order to speak us. we found that she was his britannic majesty's sloop-of-war _syren_, of eighteen guns; and the captain directed us to lay by him till the morning, when he would send on board to hear all the particulars of what had occurred. meantime i had been sent to sit by captain stenning, to be ready to attend to him when he awoke. when he did so, i called captain gale to him. the account i then heard of his adventures was very short. we had, indeed, guessed very nearly the truth. the _dolphin_ had been surprised by the pirates, and while he, with some of his crew, were in vain attempting to defend her deck, he had been struck down. when he returned to consciousness, he found himself on board the pirate, with two or three others, of whom lyal alone survived. the pirates had been driven from their prey by the appearance of a large ship, which they took to be a man-of-war; and in revenge, he concluded, they murdered all who then remained on board. he and lyal would have been killed also; but their lives were saved by a moor, whom he once saved at gibraltar from ill-treatment by some english seamen, with whom he had quarrelled. though the moor had saved his life, he had not interest to do more for him at that time. when the pirates again fell in with the _dolphin_, and were frightened from attacking her by the trick peter invented, thinking some evil spirits possessed the vessel, they made all sail to return to port. he confessed that he was himself very much astonished, and could in no way account for what he had witnessed. had he not received the explanation we gave him, he should all his life have believed that the appearance he had beheld was produced by supernatural agency. when carried into port, he, with lyal, was sold to the old moor, as we knew; but his friend had not forgotten him. the rover much wanted a skilful navigator, and thinking that he would prefer a life of comparative freedom at sea to slavery on shore, he repurchased him, and carried him on board the brig. he was rather disappointed, however, to find that, without a quadrant or nautical almanac, the captain could be of very little use to them in that way. he told us, indeed, that the pirates were very nearly killing him for his supposed obstinacy, because he could not tell them one day whereabouts they were, when they put their own rough instruments into his hands. he had great difficulty in explaining that, without his own books and charts, he could be of little help to them. however, they promised to attack an english vessel before long, that they might supply him. with this object in view, they made sail towards the corvette, which they took for a merchantman, and thus very nearly caught a tartar. they discovered their mistake only when within six miles or so of her; and by then suddenly altering their course, and standing away from her under all sail, her suspicions were excited, and she made chase after them. in such terror were the pirates, when they found themselves so hard pressed, that they seemed to forget him, or his life would probably have been sacrificed; but as he was left himself, he was allowed to consider the best means of preserving it. when, therefore, he saw that the brig must inevitably strike the rocks, he seized a loose spar on the deck and sprang overboard, trusting that the current would carry him through the breakers into smooth water. he had seen us coming out, and guessing that the brig was an english trader, hoped to be picked up by her. his surprise and pleasure at meeting with lyal was very great. "it would have been a great to damper my own satisfaction, if i thought that you had still been left in slavery," he remarked, as he wrung the seaman's hand. "well, sir, i can only say that i would go back and be chained up like a dog, as i was before, for the sake of seeing you free, and sent safe home to your wife and family," returned the honest fellow, passing the cuff of his jacket across his eyes, to brush away a tear which his feelings had brought them. yes; the rough sailor has got just the same sort of feelings inside his bosom which dwells within the silken vest of any young lady or gentleman who can weep over a novel, or better, sometimes, a deed of heroism; and right honest, genuine feelings, they are too--which is more than can be said for those hackneyed sentiments possessed by people who have lived all their lives in what they choose to call the great world. altogether, never was an enterprise more successful than ours had hitherto been. we had not only succeeded in recovering both the survivors of the _dolphin's_ crew at small cost, but, from the high prices we had obtained for our merchandise, we had paid all the probable expenses of the voyage, and left a handsome profit for our owners. the next morning we were close up with the corvette, when a lieutenant from her boarded us to learn all the particulars we had to describe. the two masters, with lyal and i, were then requested by the lieutenant to accompany him aboard the ship-of-war, to give a further account to the captain himself of what had occurred. captain hudson received us very kindly; and while our two captains sat down, we stood with our hats in our hands behind their chairs. i remember that he laughed very heartily at my idea of rigging up lyal as a madman, and at the way he put my advice in practice, by pulling the old moor's nose. "well, gentlemen," said captain hudson, "from the account you have given me, i think we have ample grounds to enable the british government to make a demand on that of morocco for compensation; so that if you will accompany me to england, i hope to obtain ample satisfaction for you." neither lyal nor i exactly understood what all this meant; but captain gale had an inkling that very little satisfaction would result either to him or captain stenning. "thank you, sir," he answered; "but i can't accept your offer, for my brother-master wants to return to his wife and family, and my owners directed me to make the best of my way back to halifax." "of course these are strong arguments against the execution of my wishes," returned captain hudson. "you will, i conclude, therefore proceed on your voyage, and give your evidence when you return to england. but i find, captain gale, that you are more strongly manned than is necessary for a merchantman. these two young men will remain on board the _syren_, and one of my lieutenants will accompany you to your brig, and select a few more. however, we will not leave you short-handed; but his majesty's ships must be manned, do you see?" "it is very hard, sir. all my people are volunteers on what appeared a somewhat hazardous expedition, and are anxious to return to their families," replied captain gale. "you will allow me, without offence, to observe, that one of these young men has only just been released from slavery, and that the other is an apprentice." "the first does not belong to your crew, so it is my duty to take care of him; and if the other is still an apprentice, i cannot keep him, but i shall like to see his papers. mistakes in these matters sometimes occur. we do everything according to law, do you see, mr gale." captain hudson spoke very mildly and blandly, but there was something in his eye which showed that he was not to be trifled with. "you will understand, sir," he continued, turning to captain stenning, "i have the power to press you. under the circumstances of the case, i will not, unless i am forced to do it; but your friend will throw no impediment in the way of my getting any of the hands i may require. i will not detain you, gentlemen, and i wish you a prosperous voyage and a happy termination to your enterprise." this, then, was the object for which the naval captain wished to communicate with the _dolphin_. it was not with the best possible grace that the two masters got up to take their leave; and yet captain stenning well knew that he was completely in the power of the commander of the sloop-of-war, and that there was no law to prevent him from being sent to do duty before the mast on board of her. they both shook hands warmly and kindly with lyal, and promised to send him a spare chest, with such things as could be collected; for of course he had but a scanty outfit. as they were going, i put out my hand also. "you'll let me shake hands, sir, won't you?" said i. "there's many a kind act you've done me, captain gale, from the time i was a little helpless lad till now; and i thank you from the bottom of my heart, and may heaven bless you, sir." "why, what's all this about?" exclaimed my kind captain, "you have your papers, jack, and you cannot, as an apprentice, be touched." "but the papers won't protect me, sir; i am no longer an apprentice," i answered. "not long ago, i got a mate to look over them for me, and i was, i find, out of my apprenticeship a month ago." "there is no use giving in without an attempt to escape; i'll see what can be done," he answered. "may i not take this man with me, sir?" he asked, turning to captain hudson, who stood on the quarter-deck, and of course had not heard this part of our conversation. "send his papers and his chest likewise," was the only answer the captain of the _syren_ deigned to give. before the brig's boat shoved off, i went over the side, and sent many a message to peter poplar and the rest of my shipmates. i regretted leaving the brig, but i was more sorry at the thought of parting from peter than for any other reason. as i looked at the _dolphin_ with the eye of that affection which a seaman soon gains for a vessel in which he is tolerably happy, i observed that the man-of-war's boat was already alongside. in a short time she shoved off, and pulled back to the corvette. there were several chests, and five people besides her crew in her. i rubbed my eyes. could i believe them? among the people sat peter poplar! he sprung up the side, and was soon engaged in shaking hands with several of the _syren's_ crew. "what! are you pressed, peter?" said i to him; and in my heart i could not be very sorry to have him with me. "not exactly that either," he answered. "you see, jack, i found that you were pressed, or would be to a certainty, and i did not like to have one whom i had nursed up almost from a baby on the salt waters, so to speak, altogether out of my sight, though you are big enough now to take care of yourself; so, says i to myself, well, if they take me, i'll go with a free will--i don't mind. however, when the lieutenant picked out the men he would like to have, and who have no protection, he passed me over, thinking that, on account of my age, he could not touch me. but among the men he chose was poor bill jackson, who has a wife and small family at halifax, and who only came the voyage from his love for captain stenning, and was going to give up the sea and live on shore with his wife's relations up the country. i never saw a poor fellow so cut up and broken-hearted when he saw all his hopes blown to the winds, and knew that, for many a long year, he might not see his wife or little ones. he knows well the ups and downs of a sailor's life, and that very likely he might never see them again. i know that i could not stand his grief. captain gale did all he could to get the lieutenant to let him off, but nothing would do. the only answer was, `his majesty wants seamen, and seamen he must have.' "`so he shall!' said i, walking up to the officer. `now, sir, if you will let that man go, you may have me in his stead; and i'll make bold to say, that there isn't a man aboard this brig but will acknowledge that, blow high or blow low, i'm his equal, either aloft or at the helm, or in handling the lead. what say you, mates? who'll speak for me? it isn't because i want to boast, you know; but i do want to save poor bill jackson from being pressed aboard a man-of-war!' "`he speaks the truth, that he does!' exclaimed all the crew, who were mustered on deck. `there are few of us can come up to him.' "`i tell you, sir,' said captain gale, `i should be very sorry to lose either jackson or poplar; but if you ask me which is the best seaman of the two, i am bound to say that poplar is; and besides, in him you get a willing hand, who loves the sea, which i am sure poor jackson does not.' "`then poplar let us have, by all means,' answered the lieutenant, telling jackson that he was free, and ordering us all to be smart in getting our traps ready to take with us. "the captain, meantime, told me to bring him your papers, which i did, though i well knew that they were no protection to you, and so he discovered, and so i got your chest ready with the rest: and so you see, jack, you and i are man-of-war's men, and so, lad, let's do our duty like men, and stand up boldly for our king and country." peter's hearty way of talking gave me spirits which i should not otherwise have felt. i never had before stood on the deck of a man-of-war, but i had heard a good deal about the cruelty and injustice practised on board them, from some of my shipmates; and i had, with the great mass of merchant-seamen in those days, and for many years afterwards, formed a strong prejudice against them. from the system which was practised in some ships, i naturally, with others, formed an opinion of the whole navy; and when i first found myself a pressed-man on board the _syren_, i looked forward to a life of ill-treatment and wretchedness till i could again obtain my freedom. i truly believe, indeed, that had i not had peter again as my counsellor, i should have yielded to the force of my impression, and have been guilty of the very conduct which would have brought me into trouble. i found a number of pressed-men and discontented men, and not a few bad characters in the ship, who were always ready to grumble at what was done, and whose great aim seemed to be how they could oftenest shirk duty, most speedily get drunk, and most readily break the rules and regulations of the service. at first i was inclined to think them somewhat fine fellows, lads of spirit, whose example was worthy of imitation; but peter observing my tendency, very soon put their conduct in its true light. "you see, jack," said he, "those fellows are, in the first place, acting a sneaking, unfair part, to their shipmates. the duty has to be got through, and so the willing, good men, have to do the work which those knaves neglect. then they benefit by the laws of the country; and the country would go to ruin if it was without a navy, and the navy could not be kept up without the rules and regulations which they are always trying to break through. as to their drunkenness, it unfits them for duty. no man knows what he may do when he is drunk; and besides making him ill at the time, he who drinks to excess is guilty of suicide, as so doing will most certainly shorten his life. just think what excuse will a man have to offer when he has thus hurried himself into the presence of his maker! how awful will be the doom he cannot fail to receive! then, again, those idle fellows who try to avoid work, are always getting into trouble, for no officer will find any excuse for them, or attempt to shield them; and they thus spend a much longer time than they idle away in the black list, or with the tingling of the cat on their backs. but, jack, i don't want any of these to be your motives for acting rightly. one motive should be sufficient for us all--and that is, the wish to do our duty to our god." i repeat here my kind friend's advice, but it was long, very long, before it seemed to sink into the sandy soil of my heart, and to bring forth fruit. i am very glad that the press-gang system no longer exists. no man can any longer be forced to serve on board a man-of-war. the case, such as i have described, may appear hard when the master of a merchantman was deprived of a considerable portion of his crew--hard to him, and hard to the pressed-men, and harder in a pecuniary point of view to the underwriters, the property they had insured being thereby made much more liable to shipwreck; but still it was not one-tenth part as hard as numberless cases which i have known during my career afloat. little did i think when, from the mast-head of the _dolphin_, i first saw the _syren_ heave in sight, that before that time on the following day i should form one of her crew. such is the ever-changing scene of a sailor's life! chapter thirteen. jack a man-of-war's-man. there is a time of life when a person feels that he has left for ever his boyish days and stepped into manhood. i felt that i had passed that boundary when i found myself rated as an able seaman on board the _syren_ sloop of war. i was now under a far stricter system of discipline than i had been accustomed to. at first i felt it somewhat galling; but i soon saw that without the greatest regularity it would be impossible to keep order among the crew of a ship even of the size of the _syren_. my early days i had spent on board a merchantman, and had met with many adventures somewhat strange and exciting. i did not expect to meet with fewer in my new career, though they would probably be of a different character. the result of my last, in which i had aided in rescuing two of my countrymen from captivity, had proved most satisfactory. jacob lyal, one of them, was now with me, and i knew he would speak well of me among my new shipmates. the other, captain stenning, late master of the _dolphin_, was on board that vessel, and, i hoped, would soon be enabled to rejoin his wife and family in halifax. captain gale, her present master, would also, i knew, speak favourably of me to my first commander in the _rainbow_, captain helfrich, whenever he should fall in with him. i pity the man who does not desire to be thought well of by those who know him, and who does not feel that he deserves their good wishes. i certainly had not made many friends, but those i had found were true and fast ones; and a great source of satisfaction to me was the having with me peter poplar, my first and best friend--that true-hearted seaman who had saved me from starvation--who had tended me as a father in my boyhood and youth--who had given me a profession which would enable me to support myself while health and strength remained--and who had ever endeavoured to instil into me those true principles which would enable me to steer clear of the rocks and quicksands to be found in my course through life. the wind had fallen and become fair; the helm of the corvette was put down, the sails were trimmed, and, under a crowd of canvas such as few merchantmen can attempt to set, we quickly ran the coast of africa out of sight--the last we saw of its sandy shores being over our starboard quarter. the commander of the _syren_, captain hudson, was, i found, very much liked by the crew, as, although he was a strict officer, he was a just one, and known to be a thorough seaman. he was a gentleman also in all respects, a brave man, and kind-hearted; and these are the qualities which sailors with good reason respect. without possessing them, no man is fit to be placed in command over his fellow-men. my old ship, the _dolphin_, continued in our company for several days, during which we made the best of our way to the northward, the wind, though scant, enabling us, close-hauled, to keep a course in that direction. when somewhere about the latitude of lisbon, a ship hove in eight, standing towards us under all sail. as her courses rose above the water, she was pronounced to be a frigate; and as her hull appeared, such was found to be the case. then commenced such a hauling up and down of flags as i had never before seen. what it all meant i could not tell, but it seemed to produce a great commotion among the officers; and soon the news ran along the deck that war was declared--war with france. it was the beginning of a long and bloody struggle. meantime, we hove-to, as the frigate had done, and captain hudson went on board her. when he returned, we found that we were ordered into the british channel. the frigate, a new ship, just fitted out, with her officers in glittering uniforms, and her white wide-spread of canvas, and her fresh paint, and her brightly burnished sides looked, i thought, the very picture of a gay and gallant craft, as, passing close to us, she glided by through the sparkling sea. i could not help comparing her with the weather-beaten, wall-sided, ill-formed, slow-sailing merchantmen i had been accustomed to see, and i began to feel a pride in belonging to a man-of-war which i had not hitherto experienced. before proceeding on our course, captain hudson signalled the _dolphin_, which had been hove-to, and informed captain gale that war had broken out, advising him to make the best of his way to halifax. it was not till some years afterwards that i heard she reached that place in safety, and that captain stenning had had the happiness of being re-united to his wife and family. no sooner was the news of war received on board the _syren_, than everybody seemed to wake up into activity. no one had time for a moment to be idle fore or aft. the armourer's crew were employed in polishing up muskets, and pistols, and sharpening cutlasses. for hours together we were practised at the small-arms and great-guns, which had never before been thought of. the gunners were busy making cartridges; the carpenters, plugs for shot-holes; indeed, we all felt that people should always feel that there was work to do. we had good reason to rejoice before the cruise was up that we had not been idle. we reached plymouth without meeting with an enemy or taking a prize. what a state of bustle and excitement the place was in! carriages-and-four dashing through the streets at all hours of the day; troops marching here and there, with drums and fifes playing--some coming in, others embarking for foreign lands; artisans of all sorts hurrying in, certain to get work at high wages; men-of-war, and merchantmen, and store-ships, and troop-ships sailing in and out every day; boats laden with men and chests pulling across the harbour; seamen crowding every quay; pressgangs at work catching men to fight england's battles; and then such hurrying to and fro, and shrieking of women, and shouting of men, and crying of children, and revelling, and laughter, and scenes of extravagance, and debauchery, and vice i had never before beheld, and did not think could exist in a civilised part of the globe. having refitted with as little delay as possible, and again put to sea, we found ourselves off the north coast of spain, far into the bay of biscay. for some time we were employed in looking along the coast of france, and picking up all the small coasters we could lay eyes on. we did a great deal of damage to a number of poor people, and taught them that war was a very disagreeable thing, so that they must heartily have wished it over, or rather, that it never had begun; but i doubt if we did ourselves any good in the way of collecting prize-money; at all events, i know that i never got any. at length, one morning, when we could just make out the french coast like a thin wavy blue line on the horizon, beyond which a rich yellow glow was bursting forth, the forerunner of the glorious sun, a sail was seen, hull down, to the northward, and apparently standing in on a bowline for the land. the ship, as was usual when cruising, had been quietly jogging on under her topsails during the night. "all hands, make sail in chase!" was the cheerful sound which made us spring on deck to our stations; and in a few minutes the corvette, with royals and studding-sails alow and aloft, was kept away after the stranger. the latter, which was pronounced to be a large topsail schooner, was soon seen to bear up, and to set all the canvas she could carry, in an endeavour to escape. the chase was a large and fast vessel of her class, for it was not till some time after breakfast that we could see half-way down her mainsail from the deck. still, we were gaining on her. she, meantime, was edging away in for the land, so that there was little doubt that she was an enemy's vessel--probably, from the way she made sail, a privateer with a number of hands on board, if not a man-of-war. hour after hour we continued the chase, till the french coast rose clear and distinct on our starboard-bow. jacob lyal and i were at this time stationed in the foretop, of which peter poplar was captain, though he was shortly afterwards made a quarter-master. we thus saw every movement of the chase. she, by degrees, edged away again more to the northward, as if wishing to avoid the coast thereabout. we had begun the chase soon after daylight, and the evening was now drawing on, when, close in with the land, we made out a large ship standing along-shore, the rays of the sinking sun shining brilliantly on her snowy canvas. the schooner hauled up towards her, and then kept away again, as if she did not like her appearance. "what do you make her out to be?" said i to peter, pointing to the ship. "why, jack, from the squareness of her yards and the whiteness of her canvas, i should say she is a man-of-war--probably a frigate, and a thundering big frigate, too, if i am not much mistaken." "i suppose, from the french schooner keeping away from her, she is an english frigate," said i. "not so sure of that either, jack," he answered. "we don't know that the schooner is french, in the first place; and even if she is, she may be mistaken as to the character of the frigate, or she may have altered her course just to deceive us, so as to let the frigate come up with us without our taking alarm about her. never fancy that you have made a right guess and neglect to take precautions, in case you should be wrong." "why, if she is an enemy's frigate, she'll sink us," said lyal. "we shall have to up stick and run for it!" "never do you fear that, lad," answered peter, somewhat sternly, i thought. "run?--no! if that is a french frigate it will just give us an opportunity of showing what british pluck can do. our lads know how to handle their guns and small-arms--thanks to the practice some of the grumblers complained of--and if we don't give a good account of that ship out there, my name is not peter poplar." the spirit with which peter spoke soon animated both lyal and me, and when we were relieved from our watch, and repeated his words, they were responded to by all the crew, and their great wish was that the frigate in sight should prove an enemy, that they might show how they would treat her. what the officers thought about the matter we could not tell, but as it grew dark the chase of the schooner was abandoned, studding-sails were taken in, and the ship was hauled on a wind and stood off-shore. as may be supposed, no one turned in that night; the hammocks remained in the nettings, and the ship was got ready for action. from the way the frigate was steering at nightfall, there could be little doubt that she was following in our track. anxiously we looked out for her lights astern. hour after hour passed away, and no sign of her appeared, and we began to fear that she had missed us altogether. at last a small glimmer was soon twinkling away in the darkness, and by degrees it grew larger and larger; and then out of the dense obscurity-- for no moon nor stars were visible--there glided a dark towering mass, like some phantom giant talking over the deep. the drum beat to quarters, and the crew sprung eagerly to their guns. every man was stripped to the waist, round which he had fastened a handkerchief, with another round his head, and had his cutlass ready to board or to repel boarders. in spite of the wish for battle we had all expressed, i could not help feeling a sensation of awe, if not of dread, creep over me, as we stood--thus in silence and darkness at our guns, expecting the attack of an enemy of vastly superior force. the muscular forms of our sturdy crew could just be distinguished grouped round their guns, the pale light of the ship's lanterns falling here and there upon them in fitful flashes, as the officers went their rounds to see that every one was at his station, or as the boys handed up shot and powder from below. we were prepared, i say, but still, i believe, the general impression aft was, that the stranger would prove a friend. as she drew nearer, the order was given to make the private night-signal. up went the lanterns to the mast-head. it was a moment of breathless suspense. no answering signal of friendship was made in return. in another instant, however, that unmistakable one of hatred and defiance--a shot--came whistling over our heads. it was replied to by one of our stern-chasers; and we then went about, that we might keep the weather-gauge--a most important point under present circumstances. the enemy, to avoid being raked, had to do the same. "give it them now, my lads!" shouted the captain. "let every shot tell, and show the big one what a little craft can do when her crew have the will to make her speak!" loud cheers were the reply to the address, and instantly every gun sent forth its flame of fire; and i believe that not a shot failed to take some effect on the hull or rigging of our opponent. now hotly broadside to broadside, at the distance of half-gun-shot from each other, we stood in towards the land. as fast as they could be run in loaded, our guns discharged their deadly showers. all the time we were edging closer towards each other, and as we got within hail we could see that considerable damage had already been suffered by the frigate. this gave fresh encouragement to us, and we blazed away with more hearty good-will than before. the enemy's shot had, however, been telling not a little on us. several of our men had lost the number of their mess, and more had been wounded; but no damage of consequence had been received aloft, and any the hull had received had been quickly repaired by our carpenter and his active crew. amid the roar of the guns a loud shout burst from our people. i looked up. the frigate's mizzen-topmast had been shot away, and came tumbling down on deck. our fore-topgallant-topmast, however, soon followed, cut through by a round-shot; but that was of little consequence, as our topsail-yard was uninjured, and the topsail still stood. we were not long in clearing the wreck, but for a moment there was a cessation of firing. just then a hail came across the dark waters from the frenchman's deck. "do you strike, sare? do you strike?" was asked through a speaking-trumpet. our captain seized his trumpet in return. "certainly, monsieur, certainly. we have been and intend to go on striking, just in the way englishmen have the fashion of doing." a loud laugh burst from our crew at this answer. it just suited our tastes, and then such a hearty cheer was uttered as could not have failed to convince the frenchman that our captain was likely to be backed by his people to the utmost. our guns were not long silent, and once more the darkness of night was illuminated by the bright sheets of flame which burst forth in almost a continuous stream from their mouths. what a contrast to the previous awful silence was there in the report of the guns, the rattle of musketry, the shouts of the officers, the cheers of the men, the crashing of spars and timber as the shot struck home, and the shrieks, and cries, and groans of the wounded! to these expressions of pain even the bravest cannot help giving way, when wounded where the nerves are most sensitive. several times the enemy attempted to close, when her greatly prepondering force of men would have told with fearful effect on our decks; but each time the attempt was made it was dexterously avoided by our captain. we had, however, begun to suffer considerably in spars and rigging, and the number of our killed and wounded was increasing. our second lieutenant had been severely injured by the fall of the foretop-gallant-mast. a midshipman, a young lad who had just come to sea, was struck down close to me. i lifted him up in my arms for a moment, to get him carried below out of harm's way; but the terrible injury he had received convinced me that no help could avail him. i put my hand on his heart: it had ceased to beat. yet what voice sounded more full of life and spirit than his as we cheered at the captain's answer to the frenchman's hail? on the other side of me a fine young fellow fell mortally wounded. he was just my own age, but not, like me, left alone in the world--he had many dear ones in his humble home. he felt that he had not many moments to live, though his mind was as active as ever. "williams!" he faintly cried. "stoop down, lad! don't let them take me below: i want to die here! and i say--you know my poor mother, and sally, and george: just tell them that you saw the last of me; that i thought of them, and prayed for them, and that i hope we may meet in that far, far-off port to which we are all bound! i haven't forgot the prayers mother taught me, tell her. it will comfort her to know that! good-bye, jack!" he pressed my hand as he uttered these words, but instantly afterwards his fingers relaxed. his spirit had fled, and i returned to my duty at my gun! there were not many seamen, unhappily, in those days, like poor james martin. another shipmate was killed not far from me, and he died uttering fearful curses on our enemies, utterly ignorant of the future world into which he was entering. thus we fought on. although we were severely punishing our big opponent, we could not feel that we were getting the best of the fight. "do you think we shall take her?" said i to peter, during another short cessation of firing. "i scarcely expect that," he answered. "but i am pretty certain that he won't take us. see, hurrah! he's been hit again pretty hard!" as he spoke, the frigate's mizzen-mast, which must have been before badly wounded, went by the board, and at the same time her main-yard came down by the run on deck, no doubt doing further damage by the fall. to show the enemy that our spirits were as high as ever, we cheered again; but, as if in retaliation, several shots, in quick succession, struck our foretopmast, and it, and the yard, and all our headsail, came thundering down on deck, in a confused mass of wreck, disabling several of our people, and rendering our foremost gun useless for a time. i was thankful that i had been stationed at a gun instead of being aloft. some of the officers hurried forward to get the wreck cleared away, while others encouraged the men to persevere in the strife--not that any encouragement was necessary, for we were all eager to continue it, still hoping to make prize of our antagonist. what had become of the schooner meantime we could not tell. we could only suppose that she was an unarmed vessel. had she been armed, she might have proved a very disagreeable addition to the force with which we had to contend. while we were clearing the wreck of the foretopmast, another broadside was poured into us, which we returned with our after-guns. it appeared to me, as i looked up again at her after loading, that the frigate was increasing her distance from us. there could be no mistake about it. her helm had been put up, and she was running off before the wind. didn't we cheer heartily! but then we remembered that, deprived of our headsail, we could not follow--so we cheered again, and sent a few shots flying after her, like a dog's farewell bark, just to show her that we claimed the victory, and would be ready for her if she chose to come back; and then we set to work with a will to repair damages. our couple of hours' night work had produced not a few, and sadly changed the appearance of our trim little sloop. still, as our foremast was standing, we were able to make headsail on the ship, and we hoped by the following morning to get matters sufficiently to rights to be able to renew the engagement should our opponent again venture to attack us. i, in common with many of the younger men, was very much disappointed at not having captured the frigate; but peter and others who had fought in the last war, told us that we were very fortunate in not having ourselves been obliged to strike, as our opponent could not have mounted less than six-and-thirty, if not forty guns--more than twice as many as we carried. notwithstanding this, we only hoped to see her again in the morning; and as soon as daylight appeared several eager pairs of eyes were aloft looking out for her. there, hull down to the northward, appeared a sail, which was most probably our opponent; but she was running directly before the wind. at first we supposed that our captain would follow her; but though as brave a man as need be, as he had proved himself, he saw that the probability of capturing the frigate was too small to justify him in making the attempt--in doing which he was much more likely to lose his own ship. shattered, indeed, did we look when the sun shone down on our blood-stained decks; and still more sad were the scenes which the wounded and dying presented below. i will not, however, now dwell on them. several shot had gone through the ship's sides, some between wind and water; but the holes had been quickly plugged by the carpenter's crew. altogether, so shattered was the sloop, that, unwilling as our captain was to give up the cruise, he had no resource but to make the best of his way to plymouth. we arrived there ten days after the engagement; but the pumps had to be kept going all the time, and the ship was ordered into dock to undergo a thorough repair. it is impossible for me to describe all the scenes of which i was witness during that interesting period of england's naval history; but there was one i must not omit, as it shows what presence of mind and courage can do, in rescuing people even from the greatest difficulties. at that time the french revolutionary party, so well named red republicans, were inflicting, with unsparing barbarity, the most dreadful atrocities on any of their unhappy countrymen who were even suspected of entertaining monarchical principles. the inhabitants of toulon, as well as of several other places, were known to be favourable to the cause of their sovereign; and to afford them support, lord hood-- then commander-in-chief in the mediterranean--landed a body of english and spanish troops, and took possession of the town and forts while his own fleet, with one sent by spain to join him, entered the harbour. at this time a number of supernumeraries, of whom i was one, sailed from plymouth to join various ships in the mediterranean, and, in course of time, i found myself on board the _juno_, a fine -gun frigate, commanded by captain samuel hood. we sailed from malta early in the year , with some officers and a few troops, to reinforce the scanty garrison at toulon, then besieged, as was reported, by a formidable army of the republicans, amounting to thirty-three thousand men, under generals kellerman and carteaux. the _juno_ was just the sort of dashing frigate a young fellow of spirit would wish to belong to, and her captain was just the man he would wish to serve under. strict discipline was kept up on board, and all hands were made to know their duty, and to do it. her officers, too, were as smart a set as ever stepped. i was very fortunate in this, because for the first time since i came to sea i was among strangers, with the exception of jacob lyal, who had joined her with me. peter poplar was far away in another ship, and i own i missed him sorely. still. i had learned my duty, and i hoped to continue to do it. we had a quick passage from malta, and made the french coast just before nightfall. we had carried on all sail, in the hope of getting in while daylight lasted, as the captain was anxious to deliver his despatches and land his passengers, and be out again in search of any stray cruisers of the enemy. the wind, however, fell so light that we were unable to do as he hoped. but he was not a man to be turned from his purpose. accordingly, rather than lose a day, he stood boldly in for the harbour-mouth, which is not a difficult one to make. we expected that a pilot would have come out to us, but none appeared; and as no signal was made for one, it was then known that the captain intended to find his way in in the dark. trusty men were placed in the chains with the lead; all hands were at their stations; those with the sharpest eyes were placed as look-outs; the captain stood, trumpet in hand, on the quarter-deck, ready to issue his orders. not a word was spoken fore or aft. the wind was light, and nearly abeam. thus, with a dead silence reigning on board, the gallant frigate entered the harbour of toulon. the officers, with their night-glasses in hand, were anxiously looking out for the british fleet, that they might ascertain where the frigate was to bring-up. in vain they swept them round in every direction; no fleet was to be seen. the circumstance was reported to the captain. "the easterly winds we have had have sent a heavy sea rolling in here. they must have run into the inner harbour to avoid it. we must follow them there," was his answer. "shorten sail! let the ship stand in under her topsails." the courses were accordingly brailed up, and the top-gallant-sails furled, and under easy sail we stood up the inner harbour. still nothing could we see of the fleet--not a light did any of the ships show. on we glided through the calm water. "a brig ahead, sir!" shouted the third lieutenant from forward. "shall we weather her?" asked the captain. the answer was in the negative. "set the foresail and spanker! ready, about-ship!" scarcely had the boatswain's shrill pipe uttered the appropriate call, than the sails were let fall and sheeted home; and as soon as the frigate felt the effect they produced, the helm was put a-lee, and she went about close under the stern of the brig, which lay in her course. a loud hail came from the brig, but i for one could not make out what was said. "that's not an english brig," observed one of the officers near me. she lay off what is called the grand tour point. "he is inquiring our name," said another officer. "his britannic majesty's frigate _juno_," shouted the first lieutenant. "wah--wah--wah!" or sounds something like that, came from the brig. some one also shouted, "viva!" "whereabouts is the english fleet?" asked the captain. "have they sailed? is the admiral still here?" "wah--wah--wah!" was the only answer we got. the questions were repeated in french. "yes--yes; oui--oui; wah--wah--wah!" was again the reply. "that's a french merchant-brig. they cannot make out what we say. the fleet must have gone over to the other side of the harbour." directly afterwards, the words, "luff--luff!" reached our ears. "they are afraid we shall be ashore, sir," said the first lieutenant. "then down with the helm!" shouted the captain. the order was promptly obeyed, and the frigate came up almost head to wind; but scarcely a minute had passed when we felt that she had run stem on to the ground; but so light was the wind, and so slight was the way on her, that no damage of any sort was done. of course the order was immediately given to clew-up and hand the sails; and in another minute or so the _juno_ lay with all sails furled right up in the centre of the harbour of toulon, with a line of heavy batteries between her and the sea. while we were handing sails, a boat was seen to put off from the brig; but instead of coming aboard us, she pulled away rapidly in the direction of the town. before, however, we were even off the yards, a flaw of wind took the ship's head, and happily drove it off the bank, when the anchor was let go, and she lay with her head up the harbour. still, however, she hung on the bank by the stern, while her rudder remained immovable and useless. seeing this, the captain ordered a kedge to be carried out to warp her off; which, as she hung very lightly, could easily be done. to perform this operation the launch was lowered; but being a heavy boat, it took some time to get her into the water. warps and the kedge-anchor were then placed in her, and her crew pulled away with the kedge in the proper direction to haul her off. while we were thus engaged, a boat was seen coming down the harbour. "what boat's that?" hailed the sentry from forward. "ay, ay," was the answer. "officers coming alongside!" cried the sentry--such being the answer given by naval officers when hailed by a ship-of-war. a captain repeats the name of his ship. the gangway was manned to receive the visitors. every one was puzzled to know the meaning of a visit at so unusual an hour, and anxious to know what it meant. a well-manned boat came alongside, and two french officers, with several other people, scrambled up on deck. "be smart, then, my lads, with the kedge," sung out mr webley, third lieutenant, from forward. "we must get the ship afloat before the wind drives her further on." the french officers looked about the decks for an instant, and then, followed by their people, went aft to the captain, who was standing on the quarter-deck ready to receive them. "monsieur le capitaine," said one of them, taking off his hat and bowing politely, "i am sent by the chief of the port to compliment you on the way you have brought your ship into this loyal port, but to express regret that the regulations he has been compelled to issue make it necessary for you to go over to the southern side of the harbour, there to perform a quarantine for a short ten days or so, as you come from alexandria, an infected place." "but we don't come from alexandria; we come from malta, which is not an infected place," answered the captain. "then, monsieur, malta is an infected place," returned the officer, quickly. "i cannot understand that," answered captain hood. "i have to deliver my despatches, and some supernumeraries for the army here, and then to be away again as fast as possible. i beg, gentlemen, you will inform me where the _victory_, lord hood's ship, is. i must be guided by his orders." "certainly, monsieur, certainly," said the frenchman, bowing with a bland smile. "we will pilot you to him." i remember thinking, as the frenchmen walked along the deck, that there was a good deal of swagger in their manner, but i only set it down to gallic impudence. while this conversation was going on, one of our midshipmen, a smart youngster--mowbray, i think, was his name--had been inquisitively examining the frenchmen, and he now hurried up to the captain, and drew him aside. "just look, sir--those are republican cockades!" he whispered. "as the light of a lantern fell on their hats, i observed it. there's some trick put upon us." "in truth you are right, my lad, i greatly fear," answered the captain, in an agitated voice. "where do you say lord hood is?" he asked, turning abruptly to the frenchman. "my lord hood! he is not here. he has long ago departed. we have no lords here," answered the french officer in a sneering tone. "you have made a great mistake, and are like a rat in a hole. the truth is, monsieur le capitaine, you and your ship's company are prisoners! but make yourself easy--the english are good people--we will treat them kindly." "prisoners!" exclaimed captain hood and the officers standing near, in tones of dismay. "prisoners! impossible!" but the assertion was too true. lord hood had been compelled to evacuate toulon some time before, with all the forces under his command, after blowing up, by the aid of sir sidney smith, several of the forts, and destroying or carrying away every ship in the harbour; while the unfortunate inhabitants were exposed to all the cruelties which their sanguinary opponents could inflict on them. as may be supposed, the republican frenchmen exulted in the idea of having so easily captured an english frigate, and a large number of englishmen on whom they might retaliate for some of the losses their party had sustained. as ill news travels quickly, so in an instant the words in everybody's mouth were, "we are prisoners! we are prisoners!" some would scarcely believe it, and the officers and many of the men hurried aft in a body to ascertain the fact. mr webley had remained forward, and before we had been able to haul on the warp she had laid out, he promptly recalled the launch, and ordered the people out of her up the side. the boatswain was standing near him. "see," he exclaimed, "there's a flaw of wind just come down the harbour. if it holds, the frenchmen, even should this report be true, need not be quite so sure as they think that they have caught us." saying this, he hurried aft to the captain, while the boatswain, not to lose time, made all the necessary preparations for making sail and cutting the cable. "i believe, sir, that we shall be able to fetch out, if we can get her under sail," said the lieutenant in the captain's ear. the words made him start, and restored vigour to his heart. "thank you, webley, thank you," exclaimed the captain, when the third lieutenant told him that the wind had come ahead. "we'll make the attempt, and may heaven prosper it!" without a moment's delay, the first lieutenant issued the order to make sail, while mr webley hurried forward to see the cable cut, as she tended the right way. like larks we sprang aloft to loose the topsails, and all was done so silently and so rapidly, that the frenchmen could not make out what was occurring. "gentlemen," said the captain, politely addressing the officers, "i must trouble you to step below. we have duty in this ship to carry on which will not require your presence." "but," exclaimed the frenchmen, uttering all the oaths in their ample vocabulary, "you are our prisoners. we do not choose to obey your orders." "you mistake; you are ours! englishmen do not yield unless to greatly superior force," exclaimed our captain. "gentlemen, you must go below." the frenchmen laughed scornfully. "treason! mutiny!" they exclaimed, drawing their sabres, and attempting to make a rush to the gangway; but as they turned, they found themselves confronted by a file of marines, with fixed bayonets presented at them! rage, and fury, and disappointed revenge were in the tones of their voices, as they gave vent to their feelings in oaths and execrations while they were being handed below. not a man of their boat's crew escaped, for all had come on board to witness the capture, as they supposed, of a british frigate. during this time the topsails had been let fall, and in less than three minutes were sheeted home. the headsails filled. at the very moment they did so, a stronger puff of wind came right down the harbour. "cut, cut!" was the word. round swung her head towards the open sea. almost with a bound it seemed her stern lifted off the ground. "hurrah! hurrah! we are free! we are free!" was the joyful cry. now, come shot or shell, or whatever our foemen choose to send. we have our brave ship under command, and if our stout sticks do but stand, we may yet escape the trap into which we have so unwarily fallen. such were the sentiments which were felt, if not expressed, by all on board the frigate. plenty of sharp eyes were on shore, watching through the gloom of night, as far as they were able, the movements of the english frigate, expecting to see her every moment glide up the harbour, where, of course, troops had been rapidly collected to take possession of the prize, and conduct us within the precincts of a french prison. the republicans must soon have discovered that their plan to capture us had not been altogether successful. as we sailed down the harbour, instead of up, as they had expected, lights began to gleam from the various strong forts which lined each side of the harbour below us, and also from the deck of our friend the brig, off great tower point. then, as we glided on, every moment gathering fresh way, from all directions a hot fire was opened on us. as with the light wind there was blowing it was necessary to be rid of every obstruction, both our barge and the frenchmen's boat were cut adrift, though we would gladly have prevented even them from falling into their hands. there was now no longer any necessity for concealment. the drums beat to quarters, the guns were cast loose, and as we passed down the harbour we began to return the compliments our enemies were so liberally bestowing on us. we had our guns ready in time to give our friend the brig a good dose, but what mischief we inflicted we could not tell; and, to do her justice, she was not slack in her attempts to cripple us. thus in an instant the harbour, so lately sleeping in silence, and, as it were, shrouded in the solemn gloom of night, was rudely awaked and lighted up with the roar and bright flashes of a hundred guns, which, fast as they could be discharged, sent forth a continuous fire at our seemingly devoted ship. thus far all had proceeded well; but we were far from free of danger. shot after shot struck us, several times we were hulled, but not a man had yet been hit, when, to our dismay, the wind grew very scant, and seemed about to head us. "if it shifts a couple of points more to the southward, we shall have to beat out of this place!" exclaimed the captain of the gun at which i was stationed. "never mind, lads; we'll teach these frenchmen what a british frigate can do in spite of all that." still the _juno_ steadily held on her course. the wind backed once more and came down the harbour, and on she glided. the enemy's guns were, however, telling on us with fearful effect--our topsails were riddled with shot, and our rigging much cut up; but as the damage occurred, our active crew flew here and there to repair it, as well as time and the darkness would allow. now the harbour opened out broadly before us, and the line of open sea could be perceived ahead. our masts and spars stood unharmed, the firing from the forts grew fainter and fainter. scarcely a shot reached us. on we stood. the shot began to drop astern. for several minutes not one had struck us. the frenchmen tried in their rage, but all in vain. "we are free! we are free indeed! hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" burst with one voice from all our crew, and the gallant _juno_ bounded forward on the wide ocean, to show what british daring, judgment, and promptitude will effect, even although the most fearful odds are ranged against success. i trust that some on board that ship felt also that a merciful providence had preserved us from a galling and painful lot, which would have endured for many a long year, to do our duty to heaven and our country. i trust that the example set by the crew of the _juno_ will serve as an example to all british seamen--never to yield while there is a possibility of escape. well, it was amusing to see how the frenchmen did stamp and rage when they found that, instead of capturing us, they had been taken prisoners; but we treated them very civilly, and after a few shrugs and grimaces, like people having to take physic, we soon had the men singing and jigging away as merry as crickets. i remained for some time on board the _juno_, and left her on a very short notice, and very much also against my own will. one dark night, as, with a convoy of merchantmen under our charge, we were standing for gibraltar, the watch below were roused up with the cry of, "all hands shorten sail!" i and others, tossing on our clothes, sprang aloft through the darkness, with a fierce wind blowing in our faces, to reef topsails. scarcely had i reached the lee foretop-sail yard-arm, and had, as i believed, the earing in my hand, when, how i cannot tell, i found myself jerked off the yard; and ere i could secure a firm grasp of the rope i held, i found myself hurled through the midnight air, clutching emptiness, till i reached the foam-covered water, through which the ship was hurriedly ploughing her way. i heard the cry, "a man overboard! a man overboard!" but the ship had been carrying too much sail, and without shortening it, it was impossible to round-to in order to pick me up. from the frigate, therefore, i knew that i could expect no help. i do not believe that for a moment after i fell i lost my consciousness, though i suspect that before i fell i was more asleep than awake. i had on only my shirt and light duck-trousers, so i threw myself on my back, to consider what was best to be done. there were plenty of vessels, i knew, astern of the frigate, but there was little chance of being seen by any of them, or of their being able to pick me up if they did see me. how long i could have remained floating on my back i don't know--some hours, i suppose, in smooth water; but as it was, the squall had blown up a sea, and the spray kept dashing over my head and half drowned me. on a sudden i found my head strike against something with so much force as almost to stun me, and, turning round, i found myself in contact with a large object. i caught hold of it. ropes were hanging down from it into the water; i climbed up by them, and found that it was the top and parts of the topmast of a ship of large size. i felt thankful that i was not likely to die for some time, unless the weather grew worse; and i did not allow myself to reflect that even a worse death might be in store for me--that of starvation. i had my knife secured by a lanyard round my neck, so i began to haul up the ropes, and endeavoured to form as secure a resting-place for myself as circumstances would allow. when i had done all i could, i looked round through the darkness for the chance of discovering a sail; but none could i see, so i sat down, and, strange to say, fell asleep. chapter fourteen. tyranny--war and mutiny, with a glimpse of home comforts between. as i said, i went to sleep hanging on to a piece of wreck in the middle of the mediterranean. it was not an agreeable position to be in, certainly, but it might have been worse. i might have been in the middle of the atlantic, or the bay of biscay, or near a country inhabited by cannibals, or with nothing to float on, as was the case till i got hold of the shattered mast. i did not feel it a very serious matter, i suppose, for i slept soundly. i knew that the sea at that time was swarming with vessels--men-of-war, transports, store-ships, and merchantmen, sailing in every direction, and i hoped one or the other would pick me up. at last the sun shining in my eyes awoke me, and looking around, i saw, about two miles or so to the eastward, a brig with her foretopmast gone and maintopsail-yard carried away. the damage had been done, i had no doubt, by the squall which had sent me out of my warm hammock into the cold water. the squall had passed over, and the sea was almost as smooth as glass. i had a handkerchief round my waist. i took it off, and, standing as high as i could on the wreck, i waved it above my head. i waited anxiously to see if my signal had produced any effect; but the brig's crew were all so busily engaged in repairing the damage she had received, that they did not see me. so i sat down again, hoping that by-and-by they might knock off work, and find a moment to look about them. one comfort was, that while the calm lasted the brig was not likely to go far away from me. the time seemed very long, and i was beginning to get hungry too as the hour of breakfast drew on. so i got up again and waved my handkerchief, and could not help shouting, though i well knew that no one at such a distance could hear me. i waved till my arm ached, and still i was unobserved; so i sat down a second time, and began to consider what means existed of attracting the attention of the people aboard the brig. i thought of swimming to her; but i reflected that it would be better to let well alone, and that, as there was a long distance to traverse before i could reach her, i might lose my strength, and sink without being observed. the sun, however, rose higher and higher in the sky, and i grew still more hungry; so for a third time i stood up and waved, and shouted, and played all sorts of curious antics, in my eagerness to attract notice. at length there was a stir aboard, and i thought i saw some one waving in return. i was right. a quarter-boat was lowered, and a fast galley pulled towards me. i was not a little pleased when i saw them coming. they were soon up to me, and though i had not been long floating on the broken mast, i can only say that i left it with very considerable satisfaction. the brig, i found, belonged, as i had suspected, to the _juno's_ convoy. as we approached her, i looked with a scrutinising eye at her hull. i thought i knew her build. "what brig's that?" i asked, with no little interest. "why, the old _rainbow_, lad," answered one of the boat's crew. "a good craft she is still, though she's seen plenty of work in her day." so i was indebted for my preservation to my old ship--my sea-cradle, i might call her. i hauled myself up her side, and there on her quarter-deck stood captain gale, working away as usual with his people, encouraging them by word and action. he seemed very glad to see me, as i am sure i was to see him. "i see, sir," said i, after having had a little talk with him, "you have plenty of work to do aboard, so, if i may just have some food to put life into me, i'll turn to and lend a hand." "ready as ever for work, jack, i see!" said he, smiling. "i am glad the men-of-war haven't knocked that out of you." fortunately the fine weather continued, and by nightfall we were able to rig a jury-mast and make sail on the brig. by the time we reached gibraltar the _juno_ had sailed, and, as may be supposed, i being a pressed-man, did not feel myself bound to follow her. i was very well satisfied with the treatment i had received in the navy, and do not think that i should have quitted it for any other vessel but my own brig; but as captain gale was willing to take me, i could not resist the temptation of remaining with him. after nearly foundering in a heavy gale, being more than once chased by an enemy's cruiser, and narrowly escaping being run down by one of our own line-of-battle-ships, we reached bristol, to which we were then bound, in safety. i had not forgotten my promise to poor james martin, my shipmate in the _syren_, who was killed in our action with the french frigate; and knowing that his family lived at a village within forty or fifty miles of bristol, i set off to visit them. except a small amount of pay due to me for the voyage home, i had little enough money in my pocket, so i was obliged to go on foot. i had never seen anything of the interior of england before, and knew nothing of its varied beauties, especially of its rural districts--the rich meadows, the waving corn-fields, the thick woods, and, more than all, the shady lanes and green hedges, full of roses and honeysuckles, with numberless beautiful flowers growing on the mossy bank beneath them. but still deeper impression did the sequestered village make on me, with its open green and neat cottages, surrounded by pretty gardens; and its clear pond, with gravelly bed; and its neighbouring coppice; and its quiet church, with graceful spire; and the neat and unpretending parsonage; and the old minister, with thin cheeks and long white hair, and grave, yet kind loving countenance, to whom all smiled and courtesied or doffed their hats as he passed; and the long low school-house, with rosy, noisy children rushing out of it, and scattering here and there instantly to begin their play; and the buxom mothers and old dames coming out from their doors to watch them, or to chat with each other in the intervals of work; and the sheep on the sunny downs above; and the sparkling stream which came murmuring by, half overgrown with bushes, so that its pleasant sound alone showed its locality; and its deep pool, where the trout loved to lie; and the cattle in the green meadow, seeking for shade under the tall elms, or with lazy strokes of their tails whisking off the flies; and the boys whistling in the fields; and the men, with long white smocks and gay handkerchiefs worked in front, tending the plough or harrow, or driving the lightly-laden waggon or cart with sturdy well-fed horses. and then the air of tranquillity and repose which pervaded the spot, the contentment visible everywhere, made an impression on me which time has never been able to obliterate, and which, in far, far-off regions, has come back on me with greater force than ever, and prevented me from remaining, as many of my companions did, among their half-savage inhabitants, to enjoy the supposed delights of idleness, and has renewed in me the desire to end my days in my fatherland. in such a scene as i have described i found the family of my poor shipmate. i easily made myself known. they had no doubt of the truth of my story, and gave me a kind though tearful welcome. the old mother seized my arm and pushed me into a seat, which she mechanically wiped with her blue apron; the tall sunburned father, with grizzled locks, and dressed in long smock and yellow gaiters, grasped my hand. "and you were with our james when he was struck down in battle, and he thought of us all here! bless him!" the old man could say no more. i told him how he not only thought of them, but prayed for them, and spoke of the great comfort which the prayers his mother had taught him had been to him, especially in his last mortal agony. the old woman alone wept, but not vehemently. they had long before this heard of his death. my message rather brought comfort than sorrow. after a time george came in--a sturdy young man, with well-knit limbs, and round, good-humoured countenance, with the universal smock, and shoes few legs but such as his could lift. when i spoke of james, his countenance grew sad, and, rising from his three-legged stool, he left the cottage, and did not return for nearly half an hour. one daughter came in from milking the cows at a neighbouring farm. she reminded me of james. how neat and clean she looked, even coming from work! and how modest and retiring in her manner! she might have been pretty--i don't remember: she was far better than pretty, i judged from all she said. her sisters were away at service, i found. she asked many questions about james; and though her voice was more than ever subdued when she mentioned his name, my replies seemed to give her satisfaction. but i had the sense gradually to leave off talking of my dead shipmate, and began to tell them of the adventures i had gone through, and of the strange scenes i had witnessed. there was an old black oak desk, or sloping board, near the small latticed window in the thick wall. on the desk was a large well-worn bible open, with a green spectacle-case to keep down the page. after supper the old man approached it, as was evidently his custom; and, while all sat round in reverential silence, he began to read slowly and distinctly, though not without difficulty, from the word of god. one thing struck me--that he read not for form's sake, but that he and his hearers might reap instruction for faith and practice from what he read. he was evidently aware of the truth, that those sacred pages before him were written for our instruction, to be a guide unto our feet, and a light unto our path. then he prayed--his words came from his heart--for all present, and for guidance and protection for those absent. he did not forget our king and country, and pleaded that god would prosper england's arms by sea and land in a righteous struggle. surely those prayers, rising from many a humble hearth, were not unheeded by the king of kings. then, i say to those who themselves believe, teach, oh, teach the poor to pray! for their own sakes, for your sake, for england's sake. such prayers alone can maintain her as she is--great, glorious, and free. the martins would not let me go to the village inn, as i proposed, but insisted on my taking a shake-down in the common room with george. the rest slept in a room above. the moonlight came through the lattice window. i saw george sitting up in his bed. "are you asleep, williams!" he asked, gently. "no," i replied. "then tell me now about poor james," he answered. i was not slack in obeying his wishes, and for many an hour i went on telling him all the anecdotes i could think of connected with james martin, from the moment i first knew him till i saw him committed to his watery grave. "thank you, master," he said quietly when i ceased; and as i lay down i heard many a sob bursting from his sturdy bosom. "that lad may be a chaw-bacon," i thought to myself; "but he has got a heart for all the world just like a sailor's." by daybreak next morning the family were astir, and went cheerfully about their daily labours. george had some two or three miles to go to the farm on which he found employment; the old man and susan had work near at hand. i spent a whole day in that quiet village, wandering about among the fields and lanes, and over the downs, till the family assembled again in the evening when their work was done. the next morning i took my departure. i had learned from a shipmate what would certainly be acceptable in a country district, and had brought with me a package of tea and sugar, which i left as a parting gift for poor james's mother. i remember that i put it down somewhat abruptly on the table after i had shaken hands, exclaiming, "that's for you, mother!" and with my small bundle at the end of my stick, i rushed out of the cottage, and took the way back to bristol. that was the only glimpse of english country-life i ever got, till--an old, broken-down man--my career at sea was ended. i was on shore often enough, but what scenes did i witness among docks, and narrow streets, and in the precincts of great commercial towns? what can the sailor who never strays beyond these know of all the civilising influences of a well-ordered country home? as i say, i never forgot that quiet scene, short as was the glimpse i obtained; and it had an influence on me for all my after-life, which, at the time, i could not have suspected. even at first when i got back to bristol, and breathed the moral atmosphere with which i was surrounded, i longed to be once more away on the free ocean. the old brig was soon ready again for sea; but as he was about to sail, captain gale was taken so ill that he could not proceed, and another master was sent in his stead. i ought to have mentioned that captain helfrich had sold her to some bristol merchants, and had got a large ship instead, which traded round cape horn. captain grindall was a very plausible man on shore, so he easily deceived the owners; but directly he got into blue water he took to his spirit bottle, and then cursed and swore, and brutally tyrannised over everybody under his orders. i had seen a good deal of cruelty, and injustice, and suffering in the navy, and had heard of more, but nothing could surpass what that man made his crew feel while he was out of sight of land. the first mate, mr crosby, who, with captain gale, had appeared a quiet sort of man, though rather sulky and ill-tempered at times, imitated the master's example. we were bound for barbadoes, in the west indies. we had not got half-way there, when one of the crew fell sick. poor fellow! he had not strength to work, but the master and mr crosby said that he had, and that they would make him; so they came down into the forepeak and hauled him out of his berth, and drove him with a rope's end on deck. he tried to work, but fell down; so they lashed him to the main-rigging in the hot sun, and there left him, daring any of us to release him, or to take him even a drop of water. i wonder that treatment did not kill him. two days after that, when there was some sea on, and the brig was pitching heavily, he fell down again, and mr crosby caught sight of him, and kicked him in the rib; and when the second mate, who was a quiet young man, and generally frightened at the other two, tried to interfere, he threatened to knock him down with a handspike. then, because poor taylor called them by some name they deserved, they dragged him aft by his hair, and then triced him up to the main-rigging by the heels. i was in the watch below; of the rest of the crew, one was at the helm, another forward, and the others aloft; so that there was no one to interfere. at last, the man forward looked down the fore-scuttle and told us what had happened. we sprung on deck. taylor was getting black in the face. it was more than we could stand, and in a body we rushed aft, and before the mate could interfere, for the captain was below, we cut him down, and carried him forward. the mate sung out, "mutiny!" and the captain came on deck with his pistols. but we told him he might shoot one and all of us, but we would not see a messmate murdered before our eyes. our determined manner somewhat awed the captain, and swearing that he would be even with us before long, he let us have our way. poor taylor did not die at once, as we expected he would; but that night he was in a high fever, and raved and shrieked till he made us all tremble with terror. at noon next day the captain observed that taylor was not on deck. he asked why he did not come. no one answered. "then i'll soon learn the cause," he exclaimed, leaping down forward. in another moment he sprung up again, followed by taylor. the hair of the latter was all standing on end; his eyeballs were starting from their sockets; he had only his shirt on, with the sleeves rolled up, showing his thin bony arms and legs. he was shrieking terrifically. the captain attempted to kick him back as he appeared above the hatchway; but he evaded the blow, and stood on deck confronting his persecutor. the strength of madness was upon him. he made a spring at the captain, and would have hurled him, i verily believe, overboard; but at that moment the first mate rushing forward, struck the poor fellow a blow on the back of the head with a handspike. he gave one glance at his murderer as he fell, and in a few minutes his limbs stiffened, and he was dead. the captain and mate went aft as he fell, leaving him on the deck, and talked together. after some time the mate sung out, "rouse that fellow up, some of you there! ill or not ill, he must do his duty." none of us spoke or stirred, and at last he came forward and kicked the corpse, as if to make the man get up. we guessed all the time that he knew perfectly well that taylor was dead. there he lay where he fell, till the second mate, who had been below, came on deck, and, going up to the body, discovered the truth. he, of course, reported the man's death to the captain. "heave the carcass overboard, mr sims," was the answer. "let's hear no more about the rascal." sailors have a dislike to have a dead body in the ship; so, before night set in, we lashed it up in a piece of canvas, and with a shot at the feet, committed it to the sea. strange as it may appear, when the mate found that we had taken the canvas for this purpose, he made it an excuse for further abuse and ill-treatment. not a day passed but one or other of us got a kick or a blow from him or the captain. they made one young lad very nearly leap overboard, where he would have been drowned. i hauled him back, and calming him down, showed him the enormity of the sin he was going to commit, and urged him to bear his trials, as they must shortly be over. at last we reached carlisle bay, where we brought up off bridge town, the capital of the fertile island barbadoes. the town lies round the bay, and contains some handsome houses and broad streets. this island is more level than most of the west india isles, with the exception of the north-eastern quarter, called scotland, when there is an elevation of a thousand feet above the sea. it is rather less in size than the isle of wight. what a wretched voyage had we had! how miserable and crushed in spirit did i feel! the scene struck me, therefore, as peculiarly beautiful, as, gliding up the bay, we saw spread out before us the blue waters, fringed by the tall, graceful palms; the shining white houses, circling round the shore; the trim, gallant men-of-war; the merchantmen with their many-coloured flags; the numerous boats pulling here and there, manned by shouting, grinning, laughing negroes;--and then the planters' houses, and woods, and fields of sugar-cane, and farms in the distance, made me feel that such scenes as we had gone through could no longer be enacted with impunity. the moment we dropped our anchor, the captain went on shore; and i found that, to be beforehand with any of us who might inform against him, he had given his own version of taylor's death; which, of course, his mate was ready to corroborate. when he returned on board, he gave a triumphant glance forward, as much as to say, i have you still in my power. so he had, as we found when once more we were at sea. i was glad that the young lad thompson, whom he had so ill-treated, deserted the day before we sailed, and, i believe, entered aboard a man-of-war, where he was safe. while in harbour we had been quiet enough, but we had not been two days at sea before the captain and mate commenced their old system of tyranny. everybody was ill-treated, and this time i was the chief victim. kicked and struck on the slightest pretext, and compelled to perform the most disgusting offices, i soon felt myself a degraded being both in body and mind; and when i thought of what i had been on board the _juno_, and what i now was, i shrunk from making the comparison. but i was to obtain relief in a way i little expected. i was in the second mate's watch. early one morning, about four bells in the middle watch--that is to say, about two o'clock--i had just been relieved from my trick at the helm. the weather was thick and squally, and the night very dark. the look-out was careless, or had bad eyesight; and the mate, knowing this, was constantly going forward himself. i was leisurely going along the deck, when i heard him sing out,--"a sail on the starboard-bow! luff!--luff all you can!" i sprang forward. the ship was nearer to us than he supposed. right stem on she came, towering like a huge mountain above us. in an instant the brig's bows were cut down to the water's edge. i sung out to those on deck to follow me, and clung on to whatever i could first get hold of. it proved to be the ship's bobstay. i climbed up it on to the bowsprit, and, as i looked down, i saw her going right over the vessel i had just left--her decks sinking from sight beneath the dark waters. the tall masts, and spars, and sails followed: down, down they went, drawn by an irresistible force! it seemed like some dreadful dream. before i could secure myself on the bowsprit, they had disappeared in the unfathomable abyss. not a cry or a groan reached my ears from my drowning shipmates--unwarned, unprepared they died. such has been many a hapless seaman's fate. one only escaped. he had hold of the dolphin-striker. i could just distinguish his form through the darkness as he followed me. i slid down to help him, and with difficulty hauled him up on the bowsprit. he seemed horror-struck at what had occurred; and so, indeed, we might both well be, and thankful that we had been preserved. such was the end of the old _rainbow_. i now first sung out, and gave notice of our escape to those on board the ship. several of the crew had rushed forward, and now helped poor mr sims and me off the bowsprit. we heard, meantime, the officers of the ship ordering the boats to be lowered; and she being hove up into the wind, one from each quarter was soon manned and in the water. while the two mates of the ship, anxious to save the lives of their fellow-creatures, pulled about in every direction near where the brig was supposed to have gone down, i was looking over the bows, hoping that some of my poor shipmates might yet survive; but no answering cry was made to the repeated shouts of the boats' crews. at last the boats returned on board, and i found that the mate and i were the only survivors of the _rainbow_. had she not been an old vessel, i do not think that she would so easily have foundered from the blow she received. i found that the ship i was on board of was the _rebecca_, a large west indiaman, trading between london and barbadoes, to which place she was then bound, so that i should have to return there instead of going home. the captain sent for the mate and me into the cuddy-cabin, to inquire about the vessel to which we had belonged. he was a quiet, kind-mannered man, and seemed very much cut up at the loss of the brig, though he said that he could not blame his people for what had occurred. when we had given him all the information he required, he directed that we should have berths and food supplied us. i turned in gladly, though it was some time before i went to sleep, and even then i could not get rid of the recollection of the sinking brig, which had borne me in safety for so many a long year over the wide ocean. the next morning i was told that the mate was very ill. the doctor of the ship had been attending him, but said that his case was hopeless. i sat by him all day. sometimes he would be perfectly quiet and do nothing but moan; and then he would start up, and shriek out,--"luff!-- luff!--or she'll be into us!" and then sink down again, overcome with horror at the recollection of the event. towards night he grew worse, and, after several fearful shrieks, he sunk back and expired. thus twice in less than two years was i mercifully preserved from destruction. there were a number of passengers on board, who were very kind to me, and took pleasure in asking me questions about my life at sea, and in listening to the accounts of my adventures. among them was a young gentleman, who, when he heard the name of the _rainbow_ brig, and that she sailed out of dublin, made many inquiries about her. he told me that he knew dublin well, and had often heard of the former owners of the _rainbow_. he was, i found, going out to bridge town, to take the management of a large mercantile house there. "you must come and see me when we get there," said he one day. "i am not certain, but i think we have met before." "where could that have been? i don't remember you, sir," i said. "hadn't you a very tall seaman aboard the brig when you first went to sea in her?" he asked abruptly. "yes, of course, sir!" i exclaimed. "peter poplar, my best of friends; i owe everything to him." "so do i, then, i suspect," said he warmly. "do you remember a little lad sitting crying on the quays at dublin, to whom he gave a bundle of old clothes? yours, i believe, they were." "yes," said i; "i remember, too, how grateful he seemed for them, and how peter walked away with me that he might not listen to his thanks." "he had reason to be thankful," said the gentleman. "that suit of clothes enabled him to obtain a situation, where, by honesty and perseverance, and an earnest wish to promote his kind master's interests, he rose by degrees to hold the most responsible situation in his establishment. do you remember the boy's name?" "no, sir," i replied. "i am not quite certain." "was it terence, do you think?" he asked. "yes, sir!" i exclaimed. "terence it was--terence mcswiney--that was his name. i remember it now, for he repeated it several times." "that is my name," said the gentleman; "and i, jack, am the very little lad to whom your kind friend gave your old clothes. i would much like to meet him again, to thank him, as i do you, for your share of the favour conferred on me. of one thing you may be certain--i have not been idle. when not engaged in my master's business, i was employed in study and in improving my own mind. i never lost an opportunity of gaining knowledge, and never willingly wasted a moment." mr mcswiney told me a good deal more about himself, and i felt how very different a life i had led, and how little i had ever done to improve my mind or to gain knowledge. i even then thought that it was too late to begin, and so i went on in my idleness. the day before we reached carlisle bay the captain sent for me, and told me that the passengers had been interested in my history, and that, as i had lost all my kit in the brig, they had made a collection to enable me to purchase a new one. this he presented to me in the shape of thirty dollars. i expressed myself, as i felt, very grateful for the kindness i had received. although mr mcswiney had once been in the same rank of life to which i belonged, and in one respect even worse off, because i had a suit of clothes on my back when he had none, i did not, in consequence, address him as an equal. he seemed to appreciate my feeling, and i believe that i thereby secured his esteem. he would have taken me to the lodging he had engaged at bridge town, but i said, "no, sir, thank you; i will remain on board the ship till i get a berth in some other craft. i have no fancy for living ashore." i went up to see him several times, and we parted, i believe, with mutual feelings of regard. he had more than repaid me for the benefit i had been formerly the means of doing him, and he as well as i soon found that our habits of thought were so different that we could not associate on really equal terms, however much we might wish the attempt to succeed. finding a brig, the _jane and mary_, short of hands, sailing for the port of hull, i shipped on board her. i was not much better off in her though, than i had been in the _rainbow_ with captain grindall. the captain and mates did not proceed to such extremities as he and mr crosby did, but they were rough, ignorant, ill-tempered men, and treated the crew as brutes, looking upon them as mere machines, out of whom they were to get as much work as their strength would allow. when we reached hull i was glad to leave the _jane and mary_; and without even going on shore for a day's spree--as most of the other hands did, and accordingly fell in with press-gangs--i transferred myself to a barque trading to archangel, on the north coast of russia. by the time i got back, i had had enough of a northern voyage, so for the first time went on shore at hull. sailors' lodging-houses are generally dirty, foul traps, kept by wretches whose great aim is to fleece the guests of everything they may possess at least cost to themselves. i got into one of this class, for, of course, i did not know where to go. a shipmate had invited me to accompany him, saying he had been very well-treated--though i found afterwards he had been supplied with as much food and liquor as he wanted, and indulged in every vice, and then, when he hadn't a farthing in his pocket, put on board a trader half drunk, and sent to sea. i found myself undergoing very shortly the same sort of treatment he had received; and when i refused to drink more, or yield to other temptations, such fierce, angry scowls were cast on me, that i was anxious to get away. they began, indeed, to quarrel with me; but seeing that had not much effect, they became very civil and polite. in a short time the man of the house--a sturdy ruffian, with a jewish cast of countenance--went to the cupboard, and i saw him pouring out several tumblers of grog. i pretended not to be watching him, but went on talking to my companions as before. directly afterwards his wife got up and placed a tumbler by the side of each of us, taking one-- "there are your saturday's night-caps, my lads," said she, sitting down opposite to us. "let us drink to sweethearts and wives, and lovers and friends; a bloody war, and plenty of prize-money!" and with a leer out of her evil eye, she gulped down half the contents of the tumbler between her thick lips. now i had seen old growler fumbling with several bottles at the dresser, and as i passed my nose over the tumbler which his wife placed near me, a certain rank odour arose from it which i did not like. how to avoid drinking it i was puzzled, as i did not wish to show the suspicion i felt that it was drugged. luckily the tumbler stood on a little round table by itself; so i jumped up on a sudden, as if something had stung me, and upset the table with the tumbler and its contents! old growler pretended to be very sorry for the accident, and insisted on mixing another. "no, thank you, master," i answered; "i've been very clumsy, and must pay the penalty by the loss of the grog." the couple looked at each other and then at me with such an evil glance, that i believe had it not been for my companions they would at that moment have turned me out into the street. there were six seamen in the room, lately discharged from different merchantmen. the house was at the end of a dirty, narrow court, all the inhabitants of which were of the lowest description. as we were sitting smoking, a tap was heard at the door. old growler went to it. several questions were asked by a person outside. he came back in a hurry, and beckoned to his wife to come and answer them. "there are some man-of-war's men outside," said he. "they say that they are come to look for a deserter. they'll soon make my missus open the door, so you've no time to lose, my lads. be quick, then; through the door, and stowaway in the coal-shed." the house had a back-door, or it would not have been fit for old growler's purposes; and the door opened into what they called a garden, but it was a bit of dirty barren ground, strewn with broken bricks and crockery, and bits of rotten wood, with some tumble-down sheds on either side of it. in one of these he proposed we should hide. as we opened the door, however, to rush out, we found ourselves confronted by a dozen stout seamen; and before we could make the slightest resistance, we were all of us bound hand and foot. the front-door being opened, an officer and several men entered through it, and a large party of us assembled in mrs growler's kitchen. the lieutenant and midshipman who commanded the press-gang took very coolly the abuse which our worthy host and hostess so liberally bestowed on them. we were allowed to go, two and two at a time, under escort, to collect our traps, and then marched down to a couple of boats waiting for us at the quay. in a short time we were put on board a cutter, with a number of other men who had been picked up in a similar way. there was a good deal of grumbling, and some of the men seemed to have been very hardly dealt with; but i cannot say that my change of lot made me particularly unhappy. another night's foray on shore considerably increased our numbers; besides which several volunteers, mostly landsmen, were obtained, and the cutter then sailed to discharge her passengers into the ships most requiring men. i and several others found ourselves going up the side of his majesty's ship _glutton_, of guns, commanded by captain henry trollope. as i stood on the deck looking about me, previous to being summoned aft, i saw on the other side the tall figure of a man whose back was turned towards me. my heart beat with surprise and joy, for i felt almost sure he must be peter poplar. he shortly turned his head. i was right. he was no other than my old friend. i sprung over to him, and warmly grasped his hand. he started when he saw me, stared at me with astonishment, and for a minute could not speak. "is it really you, jack?" he at length exclaimed. "why, lad, i thought you were dead. i was told that you had been lost overboard from the _juno_." "so i was," said i; "but i was found by an old friend, who in the end played me a somewhat scurvy trick." and i told him in a few words all that had occurred to me since we had been paid off from the _syren_. "well, i am right glad to see you, lad--that i am," he exclaimed, again wringing my hand. my yarn was scarcely out when i was summoned to have my name entered on the ship's books, and to hear my rating, which was that of "able seaman." the _glutton_ had been an indiaman, measuring tons, and had been purchased into the service. she was now armed with the then newly-invented carronades, -pounders on the lower, and -pounders on the upper deck. this was a weight of metal no ship had, i believe, previously carried; and captain trollope was very anxious to try its effect on the ships of the enemy, rightly believing that it would not a little astonish them. our first cruise was off the coast of flanders. we had not long to wait before an enemy was seen. on the th of july, when the days were longest and the weather fine, early in the afternoon six ships were seen from the mast-head running before the wind; and soon afterwards, further to leeward, appeared a brig and a cutter, which they were apparently bearing down to join. i was at the helm when the captain made out what they were. "four french frigates and two corvettes. they will just suit us!" said he, shutting up his glass with a smile of satisfaction. "a heavy squadron for one ship to attack," observed one of the lieutenants. "one!--every man on board will be sorry they ever met _us_!" said the captain. he knew that the officer who spoke was not one likely to flinch from the work to be done. we were standing directly for the enemy, whose ships were pretty close in with the land. notwithstanding the apparently overwhelming numbers of the foe, the ship, with the greatest alacrity, was cleared for action. "shall we really fight them?" asked a youngster of peter, who was a great favourite with all the midshipmen. "ay--that we shall, sir," he answered. "the captain only wishes that there were twice as many ships to fight." "that's all right!" exclaimed the young midshipman. "i was afraid that some trick was intended, and that we should soon have to up stick, and run for it." "no, no; no fear of that! i don't think our captain is the man to run from anything." it was now about eight o'clock in the evening, and the french ships, having formed in line, seemed to have no intention of avoiding us. a feeling of pride and confidence animated the bosoms of all our crew as we stood round the short heavy guns with which our ship was armed, while advancing towards an enemy of a force apparently so overwhelming. one french frigate, the _brutus_, was a razeed -gun ship, and now carried guns. then there were the _incorruptible_, of guns; the _magicienne_, of ; the _republicain_, of ; and the two corvettes, of guns each. on we stood. whatever the enemy did, we were not to fire till we got close up to them. there were to be no long shots with us. it had become almost dark before we arrived abreast of the three sternmost ships. "take care that not a gun is fired till i give the order," cried the captain. "steer for that big fellow there." this was the _brutus_, the second from the van. we were within thirty yards of this ship. "strike to his britannic majesty's ship _glutton_!" cried the captain, waving to the frenchman. this order the frenchmen were not likely to obey. up went the french colours at the peaks of all the ships, and immediately they began firing as they could bring their guns to bear. we glided on a few yards nearer the opponent our captain had singled out. "now, give it them, my lads!" he shouted; and immediately we poured our whole broadside into the hull of our enemy. the effects were as terrific as unexpected--she seemed literally to reel with the force of the concussion. meantime, the leading ship stood past us to windward, with the intention of cutting us up with her shot; but she got more than she bargained for, in the shape of our larboard-broadside. the heavy shot, nearly every one of which told, shattered her hull, tore open her decks, and damaged her spars. meantime we were standing on the larboard-tack, with the french commodore to leeward of us, with whom we were exchanging a hot fire--rather hotter than he liked, indeed. the pilot had been anxiously watching the coast--not indeed relishing, probably, the sort of work going on. he now hurried up to the captain: "we shall be on shore to a certainty, sir, if we stand on in this course." "never fear," answered captain trollope. "when the frenchman takes the ground, do you go about." all this time the enemy's shot were flying about us terribly, cutting up our spars and rigging; but, strange to say, as i looked around, i did not see one wounded! it was light enough all the time to enable us to see all the enemy's ships, and yet sufficiently dark to allow the flash of the guns to have its full effect, as we and our many opponents rapidly discharged them at each other. still the french commodore stood on. perhaps he hoped to drive us on shore. at last he was compelled to tack. captain trollope had been waiting the opportunity. the instant he hove in stays, we, who had been reserving our fire, poured in our broadside, raking him fore and aft with murderous effect. "all hands about-ship!" was now the cry. so cut up was our rigging, however, that we had no little difficulty in getting her about. our masts also were badly wounded. it was a question whether they would carry our canvas. "hands aloft!--reef topsails!" was the next order given. up we sprung, most unwillingly leaving our gnus, while the french ships, one after the other, stood away from us, glad to get out of reach of our fire though they did not fail to give us a parting salute. we were as smart as we could in reefing topsails, but as much of our running-gear was cut up, we were longer than usual; and the frenchmen, finding that we had ceased firing, took it into their heads. i suppose, that we were going to strike, for they all tacked and once more stood back towards us. "to your guns, my lads! to your guns!" was the cry, as we swung down off the yards; and then didn't we open fire again upon them in fine style! in a few minutes they had had enough of it, and hauled off as fast as their legs could carry them. if they hadn't so cruelly wounded our masts and spars we should have caught some of them. we made all the sail we could venture to carry; but they had faster keels than we could boast of, so we had no hope of success. they stood away for flushing, and i afterwards heard that one of them sunk as soon as she got there, and that all had their decks completely ripped up, besides losing a great number of men, and suffering terribly in other ways. strange as it may seem, we had not a single man killed, but one captain of marines and one marine only were wounded. we had to go into harbour to repair damages; and when the news of the action reached london, the merchants were so pleased with it, that, in commemoration of it, they presented captain trollope with a handsome piece of plate. he deserved it, for a braver or more dashing officer did not exist, as i had many opportunities of proving. some time after this, occurred those events in the navy which might have proved the destruction of the british empire. i speak of the mutinies which broke out at the nore, at spithead, and elsewhere. the particulars are generally so well-known, that i will not attempt to describe them; but the circumstance i am about to mention is known, i fancy, to very few. it is an example of what courage and determination may effect. on board the _glutton_, as in most large ships, we had a number of bad characters--runaway apprentices, lawyers' clerks, broken-down tradesmen, footmen dismissed for knavery, play-actors, tinkers, gipsies, pickpockets, thieves of all sorts; indeed, the magistrates on shore seemed to think nothing was too bad to send on board a man-of-war. these men were, of course, always ready for mischief of any sort. there is no denying it, the seamen also were often cruelly ill-treated, fleeced on all sides, cheated out of pay, supplied with bad provisions, and barbarously tyrannised over by their officers. now, on the contrary, a man-of-war's man is better fed, better lodged, better and more cheaply clothed, and in sickness better taken care of, than any class of labouring-men. when he has completed twenty-one years' service, he may retire with a pension for life of from tenpence to fourteen-pence a day; and when worn-out by age or infirmity, he may bear up for that magnificent institution, greenwich hospital, there among old comrades to end his days in peace. the mutiny i was speaking of had been going on for some time. the just demands of the seamen had been listened to, and their grievances remedied, when the mutiny broke out afresh, and, instigated by evil-disposed persons, the crews either landed their officers or put them under confinement, and made fresh demands, many of which it was impossible to grant. our ship, with others of lord duncan's squadron, was brought up in yarmouth roads. the delegates had been tampering with us. messages had at different times been sent on board, and i knew that something wrong was going forward; but what it was i could not tell. i was known to be a friend of peter poplar's, and no one doubted his remaining stanch to his captain and officers, so i am proud to say that they would not trust me. one day i found peter sitting down between decks, looking very grave. i asked him if something was not the matter with him. "a great deal, jack," he answered; "i don't like the look of things. you must know, jack, that the ships at the nore have again hoisted the red flag, and the mutineers swear that they'll make every ship of the fleet join them. what they now want, i don't know. they have got all the chief grievances redressed, and everything which reasonable men could expect granted. they'll not be content till all the delegates are made admirals, i suppose." "still, i hope that we shall not be following their example," said i. "we have a good number of black sheep on board, but still, i think, there are enough honest men to keep them in check." "that's the very thing i doubt, jack," he whispered. "i don't like the thoughts of peaching on a shipmate, but when villains are plotting treachery, as some on board here are doing, we have but one duty to perform. i must carry the information to the captain. in case they find me out, and heave me overboard, or trice me up at the yard-arm--as they are likely enough to do--if you live take care that my memory is treated with justice. now, jack, there is no time to lose; i'll tell the captain that he may trust to you and a few others, but the greater number of the ship's company have been won over by the promises of that artful fellow parker and his mates." saying this, peter walked boldly aft, and, unsuspected, entered the captain's cabin. he told me afterwards that captain trollope received the information very calmly, nor did he seem at all to doubt its correctness. the plan was to wait till the ship was under way to proceed on a cruise in the north sea, and then to seize the captain and all the officers, and to carry the ship instead to the nore. several other ships had already weighed without orders, and had joined the mutineers at the nore. no preparation, however, was made that i saw for the expected event. the next day peter and i were sent for into the cabin. "take up these things, and accompany me," said the captain to us. there was a compass and a basket of provisions; and i saw that the captain had a pistol-case under his arm. leaving the cabin, he led the way below to the door of the magazine. if any of the mutineers observed him, i don't suppose they guessed what he was about. the powder-magazine of a man-of-war has a clear space round it--a sort of ante-room, which is kept clear of everything, so as to decrease the risk of fire reaching it. this ante-room has a grated door before it. the captain produced a key, and opening the grated door, went in, taking from us the articles we carried. he then locked himself in from the inside. this done, he opened the inner door of the magazine, exposing a number of powder-flasks to view. having arranged his table and chairs, with the compass and his pistols, and some books he had brought, he said quietly, as if to himself, "i'm ready for them!" "williams," he continued, "go and request the first lieutenant to come here. poplar, do you go among the people, and say i directed you to call some of them to see me." i quickly performed my part of the duty; but poplar was longer in collecting any of the people. he, however, at last returned with about twenty of them. the first lieutenant seemed very much astonished at the summons, and could not make out what it meant. i fancy, indeed, when he got down there, and saw the captain quietly sitting in the powder-magazine, as if he was going to take up his berth there for the future, for an instant he thought him out of his senses. he did not long continue in that idea when the captain began to address him and the people who were assembled outside the grating. "turn the hands up, and get the ship under way!" he sung out in a loud voice. "the pilot will carry her through the passage, and then steer an easterly course till you receive further orders." "now, men, you've heard the orders i have given to the first lieutenant. i intend to have them obeyed. other ships' companies have refused to obey orders, and have joined the mutineers at the nore. this example shall not be followed on board this ship. i'd sooner die than see such disgrace brought on the ship i command. you all know me. the instant i find the course i have given altered--you see the magazine and this pistol--we all go up together!" some of the mutineers--for peter had taken care to summon those he most suspected--lingered below; but the boatswain's whistle sounded shrilly along the decks, and one more glance at the determined eye of the captain sent them flying up to obey its summons. i shall never forget the appearance of that dauntless man as he sat still and alone in that dark place, prepared by a dire necessity to hurl himself and all with him to a terrible destruction. it was a subject truly worthy of the painter's highest art. we all, indeed, did know him, and knew that, whatever the cost, he was a man to do what he had threatened. the ship was quickly got under way, and while the larger number of the ships of the squadron ran for the nore against the wishes of their officers, we, to the surprise of all, who little knew what extraordinary influence guided our course, stood out to sea in search of the enemies of our country. chapter fifteen. jack a prisoner--a privateer and a slaver. on leaving the _glutton_, i was struck down by sickness, and lay for many long months in the hospital at portsmouth, scarcely expecting to recover. oh, how hideous did death, which i had braved a hundred times in open fight, appear as silently he stalked along the wards of the hospital! i trembled as i thought of the past;--how small was the hope i had in the future! there was no one to bring me comfort--no one to afford counsel--no one to point out the right, the only way by which a sinner can be justified in the sight of a pure, just, holy god. many good resolutions i made--as many were soon afterwards broken. i recovered; health returned to my veins--vigour to my arm. once more i was afloat in a dashing frigate. we were off the frenchman's coast. in a deep bay lay a number of the enemy's vessels. it was necessary to ascertain their character. they were supposed to be gun-boats. our second lieutenant, mr ronald--a noble specimen of a naval officer, and as active as a cat, though he had but one leg--was directed to take the gig, a fast-pulling boat, and to gain all the information he could. i was with him; so was peter. the frigate had made sail, as if about to leave the coast; but as soon as it was dark, she stood back again. the gig was lowered, and we shoved off. in dead silence, with muffled oars, we pulled in towards the shore. we knew that the enemy mustered strong in the neighbourhood. thus it was necessary to be cautious. not a word was spoken. the phosphorescent light sparkled from the blades of our oars, appearing brighter from the darkness which prevailed, but that could not be seen at any distance. the time for our expedition had been well selected. we had pitchy darkness to favour our advance; but we knew that the moon would soon rise, and enable us to make the necessary observations. we pulled slowly in, for the tide was with us, and mr ronald told us to reserve our strength till it would be most required. as we got close in with the shore, we could make out the masts of a number of vessels, in a confused mass; but what they were without more light, it was impossible to say without going close up to them. mr ronald was not a man to leave his work half done through fear of consequences, so we pulled on till our oars almost touched some of the outer vessels. our officer made his remarks as we continued our course round the bay. not a sound had broken the stillness of the night except the almost inaudible dip of our oars in the water. the clouds, which had hitherto obscured the sky, floated gradually away; the stars shone forth bright and clear, their sparkling orbs reflected in the smooth water; and then, rising from behind the land, the moon shed her calm silvery gleam across the sheltered bay. we were at the time under the shadow of some high land. "give way, my lads; it is time we should be out of this!" whispered the lieutenant. it was time indeed! peter's quick eye, looking seaward, observed several dark objects floating in the distance. "boats in!" he said, pointing in that direction. the lieutenant looked there also. there could be no doubt about it. there were four large boats. he ordered us to lay on our oars, to watch in what direction they would pull. we hoped that they had not as yet observed us. the people in the boats seemed to be holding a conference. at last they parted. one pulled across the mouth of the bay in one direction; one in the other; but two advanced up the bay. there seemed no possibility of our escaping without being seen. still it was far from mr ronald's intention of giving in till he was actually laid hold of. hitherto the shade of the cliff prevented our being seen. the gap between the boats through which we could hope to escape widened more and more. meantime, our thoughts were occupied in the contemplation of the pleasures of a french prison, of which we had too often heard to have any wish to enjoy them. mr ronald watched our opportunity. "now, my lads," he whispered, "give way with a will!" we needed no encouragement. as a rat darts out of the corner in which it has taken shelter when the dogs stand ready on either side hoping to catch it, so we darted out from our sheltered nook towards the open sea. the movement drew the attention of the french boats towards us, and in another minute all four were steering courses which would give them every prospect of cutting us off. we were all armed, but it would have been madness to attempt to beat off so overwhelming a force. we had to trust alone to the fleetness of our heels. we might have a prospect of distancing the two boats which had gone up the bay, and which were on our larboard-hand, but we must inevitably run the gauntlet between the other two. the question was, whether we could pass through them before they closed in on us. we made the strong ash sticks bend again as we sent the boat flying through the bubbling water. we sung out in our eagerness, encouraging each other. every moment the space between the two boats was narrowing. we did not give in though. the frenchmen now saw that there was a chance of our escaping, and began firing. the bullets flew thickly about our heads. several hit the gunwale of the boat, but none of us were hurt. their firing rather encouraged us to persevere, in the hope of escaping. at last i felt a severe blow on my arm, and involuntarily dropped my oar. a bullet had struck it. still, i was sure it was not broken; so i took my handkerchief off my neck, and bound it up. i seized my oar, and pulled on. "oh, the blackguards! sure if they'd give us a fair start, and not be sending their dirty bullets at us, we'd be after bating them entirely, now!" sung out an irishman, who pulled the bow-oar. many people would, under the circumstances we were placed in, have given up before this; but mr ronald still hoped that we might dodge our enemies, and escape. the boats were not a hundred yards on either side of us. they gave way with a will. so did we. still we might slip between them. if we did, we should have a good start; and pulling fast, as we could do, we might escape, should they not continue firing at us; but how could we expect them to be so lenient? on they came; narrow, indeed, grew the space between them. we dashed on. with a cry of dismay, we saw that our efforts were of no avail! with such force did they come on, that they literally almost cut our boat in two; and as she sunk between them, we had to jump out--some into one boat, some into the other--to save ourselves from drowning, and to find ourselves prisoners. how the frenchmen did jabber away, and ask us all sorts of questions, none of which we could answer, from not being able to muster a word of french amongst us. the other boats came up, and then there was still more jabbering; and then the frenchmen made us all get into one boat, and pulled with us towards a point of land on the east side of the bay. the boat soon reached a small, rough pier, and then two of the men, jumping on shore, ran off towards the town, which stood a little way off from us. we sat, meantime, wondering what was to be our fate. shortly afterwards the tramp of feet was heard, and six or eight soldiers, or militiamen, or gendarmes, appeared, and halted near us. the officer of the boat then had a talk with them, and committed us to their charge. i have no doubt he told them to take good care that we did not run away. the boat, we concluded, had to row watch, and could not remain long absent from her post. the soldiers, before receiving us, grounded arms; shoved their ramrods down their muskets, to show us that they were loaded; examined the primings in the pans, and then, presenting their bayonets at our backs, in most unpleasant proximity, ordered us to advance. our cutlasses had been taken away, and, of course, the muskets had gone down with the gig; but both mr ronald and peter had their pistols stuck in their belts, inside their great-coats, so the frenchmen did not discover them. we did not wish our first captors good-bye, nor exchange a word with each other, but, seeing there was no help for it, slowly stumbled on over the uneven ground ahead of our guards. i hoped that they would keep their footing better than we did; for, if not, some of us would stand a great chance of being run through with their bayonets. had we not been unarmed, and aware that the boat was within hail, i don't think we should have allowed ourselves to have been carried along as prisoners. however, our walk was soon at an end, and we reached the tower, which stood a short distance along-shore from where we landed, and not three hundred yards from the beach. it appeared to be in a very tumble-down ruinous condition, as we inspected it from the outside. we concluded that we should have to wait here till the following morning, before being marched off to prison. whether the tower had been built for a fort, or only a mill, or a look-out place, it was difficult to discover in the scant light we had. there was a small arched door before us, with some stone winding-steps leading up from it. the sergeant in command of the party pointed to it, and some of the men gave us a gentle prick with the end of their bayonets, singing out, at the same time, some words which we guessed to be a command to go up there. "let me go first, sir," exclaimed peter poplar, springing through the door. "there may be some trap in the way, and it's hard that you should have to fall down that, at all events." when we were all in, the soldiers followed, making us go winding-up till we reached a chamber at the top of the building. the french soldiers saw us all in, and then shoving to the door, they shut it with a loud bang; but as there was no sound of bolts or bars, we guessed that there were none to the door. the light of the moon shone directly in through a loop-holed slip of a window, and we saw some billets of wood, and a small cask or two, and a few three-legged stools, with a broken table, and the remains of a bedstead, showing that the place had once been inhabited. mr ronald took a seat, and told us to follow his example; so we all sat down, feeling certainly very melancholy at first. we had much reason to be melancholy, for by this time we had heard a good deal about french prisons, and the treatment english prisoners received in them; and we could scarcely fancy a worse fate than to have to spend our future days in one. the lieutenant, however, was not the man to allow himself or others long to indulge in such thoughts. he got up. "we are in a bad plight, certainly, my lads," said he; "but we'll see if we cannot mend it. i have been in a worse plight myself--and so, i daresay, have you--and managed to escape without damage. perhaps we may do so in this case." "yes, sir," said peter; "indeed i have." and he described how we had escaped from the pirates' den in cuba. i told my companions how i had been preserved from being murdered by the maroons; and altogether we soon got each other's spirits up. my wounded arm hurt me not a little, but peter took off my jacket, and bound it up carefully; and though i cannot say that the pain was much decreased, i resolved to bear it without complaining. meantime, mr ronald made a minute examination of the place of our confinement; and by stepping on the table he discovered a hole in the roof, which he found that he could, without difficulty, make as large as he might wish. he at once set to work to do so, we all talking and walking about the room, to conceal any noise he might make. when he had got the hole large enough to admit his body, peter, putting his shoulder under him, gave him a hoist through it, and with his hands and elbows he quickly scrambled up on the roof. as it sloped very much he could not walk about, so he sat himself down to make his observations. having done so, and stayed some time to consider matters and form his plans, he came back into the room. "my lads," said he, calling us round him, "you must clearly understand the position we are in. we are prisoners to our greatest enemies. they may choose to consider us as spies, and may cut our throats, or shoot us as such; and, at all events, they will send us to prison, and there keep us, as they have done many of our countrymen, till the war is over. now, while i was on the roof i saw, not far from the beach, a small boat moored; and a mile or so away, i made out what i take to be a fleet of fishing-boats. what i propose is, to knock over the sentry at the door, and, if we can, we'll surprise the rest of the soldiers, and gag and bind them. if they show fight, it can't be helped: we must kill them. at all events, we must prevent them from raising an alarm, or following us. we will then make the best of our way to the beach, and i will undertake to swim off, and bring in the small boat i saw there. when we get her, it will be very hard if we cannot cut out some fishing-smack or other, in which we can cross over to england. if we don't succeed, we shall probably get killed ourselves; but if we do, we shall obtain our liberty, and that is worth a struggle." this speech inspirited us all, and we could scarcely refrain from shouting, as we promised to follow his directions, and to stick by him through thick and thin. the frenchmen seeing that he had a wooden leg, and hearing him stump up and down, of course fancied that he would never attempt to run away; or that if he did make the attempt, he would not go without them finding it out. this, perhaps, made them more careless in the way they watched us. at all events, they had not even then found out what stuff english sailors are made of; and i don't think they ever will. "then, my lads, there's no time to be lost," said the lieutenant. "are you all ready?" "yes, sir," said peter, speaking for the rest; "but i beg pardon, sir, won't your leg be heard as we go down, and it may give notice to the frenchmen?" "i have thought of that," said mr ronald, fastening a handkerchief round the end of the stump. "now, i shall tread as softly as a cat." we had all taken off our shoes, and armed ourselves with the legs of the table and the legs of the stools we had found in the room. my heart beat quick. never had i been engaged in so daring a work. we dared not try the door till the moment we were to rush out. mr ronald gave the signal, and he leading the way, we threw open the door, and, before the sentry could turn his head, or even cry out, we had our hands on his mouth, and throwing him down backwards among us, we squeezed every breath out of his body. whether he lived or died, i cannot say. we seized his musket and bayonet and sword, and without a moment's delay, which would have been fatal, we rushed on, and sprung like wild beasts into the room where our guards were sitting. some were sleeping; others were playing at cards; two were talking with their heads bent together. they had not time to look up even before we were upon them. mr ronald ran one of the card-players through with the sword we had taken from the guard; peter killed another with the bayonet. i shall not forget his look of astonishment and dismay when he saw us standing before him. one of the other men knocked over a third with the leg of the table. before the others could seize their arms, we had got hold of them. mr ronald was obliged to kill another man, who fought so desperately that we could not otherwise master him; and throwing ourselves on the remaining three, we bound and gagged them, and lashed them to the benches on which they had been sitting. the whole affair did not take us a minute. it was very bloody work, but it could not be helped. we then hurried to the bottom of the tower, and broke open the door. we had been prisoners a very short time, and could scarcely believe ourselves to be free. hastening down to the beach, mr ronald stripped off his clothes, and plunging into the water, with his knife in his mouth, swam off towards the little boat he had before observed. had it not been for my wound, i would gladly have gone instead of him. in spite of his wooden leg, he swam fast and strongly, and soon reached the boat. getting into her, he cut her from her moorings, and then quickly paddled her to the more. more than once we had turned a glance inland, lest we mould have been observed; but, without interruption, mr ronald dressed, and then all of us getting into the boat, we pulled out seaward. she was too small to allow us, with any prospect of safety, to cross the channel in her, so that we could not yet consider our enterprise accomplished. we had armed ourselves with the soldiers' weapons, so that, had there been a strong breeze off-shore, we should not have been afraid to have attacked and attempted to cut out any merchant vessel or other well-armed craft. as it was, mr ronald judged that it would be wiser to endeavour to capture one of the fishing-boats he had seen. muffling our oars, therefore, in dead silence we pulled out towards the largest of the fleet, and which lay the outermost of them all. gliding alongside, we stepped softly on board. her crew were, as we expected, asleep, and before they had opened their eyes we had our hands on their throats and our knees on their bosoms. as there were only three men and a boy, we easily mastered them; and, having bound and gagged them, we put them into the forepeak, while we proceeded to haul up the anchor and get the vessel under way. as soon as we could attend to our prisoners, we made signs to them that we would not hurt them; and i fancied that they considered themselves very fortunate in not having their throats cut, or being thrown overboard, by those terrible monsters, "_les betes anglais_." there was a light air off the shore, and, with very great satisfaction, we stood away from it. anxiously we looked towards the coast we were leaving, but, as far as our eyes could pierce the gloom, we could not discover any vessel in pursuit of us. still we were not free from danger, as we were likely enough to fall in with a french vessel, and again find ourselves prisoners. mr ronald, who was as kind and thoughtful as he was brave, told me to go to sleep; but my arm gave me too much pain to allow me to do so. the hours of night passed by, and day dawned; the bright sun arose on a cloudless sky. the coast of france rose in blue ridges astern of us, but not a sail was in sight all round the horizon. as our prospect of escaping recapture improved, our appetites, which we had not thought about, reminded us that we had gone a long time without eating; but when we came to examine the fishermen's lockers, we found only a little black bread aboard, and a most scanty supply of water. they made us understand that their boat had gone on shore with some of their comrades to bring off water and provisions. mr ronald insisted on preserving most of the water for me, as a fever was already on me, and i was suffering dreadfully from thirst. the wind was very light, and we made but little way. as the sun rose, however, clouds began to collect to the northward, and the sky overhead became covered over with those long wavy white lines which go by the name of "mares' tails," and which always betoken wind. still we stood on as before. every now and then, however, a puff would come which threw the sails aback; but it quickly passed away, to be succeeded shortly by a stronger and more continuous one. at last the breeze headed us altogether, freshening up rapidly, till mr ronald called all hands to reef sails. the wind soon got the sea up, and in a short time we were pitching away close-hauled, with the boat's head to the north-west. changed, indeed, was the weather since the morning: then all had been bright, and blue, and calm; now, in the afternoon, the sky hung dark and gloomy, with heavy clouds, and green foam-topped seas danced wildly around us. i do not know what mr ronald thought about the matter, but as i lay on my back suffering from pain, hunger, and thirst, i began to question whether the ill-found boat would live through the sea which was getting up. meantime a sharp look-out was kept for any vessel which might put us on shore anywhere on the english coast. at length a sail was seen to the eastward, and after watching her for some time, both mr ronald and peter were of opinion that she would cross our course. this news cheered the spirits of all hands, for they had begun to suffer painfully from hunger and thirst. no one had taken more than a very small piece of black bread, for we could not deprive the poor french fishermen of their share of food. we were most anxious, on several accounts, that the stranger should get up to us before dark--in the first place, that we might ascertain whether she was friend or foe, and also lest we should miss her altogether. should she prove french, we hoped, in spite of our hunger, still to avoid her. to mislead any enemies, we got out the frenchmen's clothes left on board, and rigged ourselves out as fishermen. "i feel pretty sure that vessel is english, sir," said peter, who had been watching the stranger. "but still i can't make out what is the matter with her; she has been handled pretty roughly, i suspect." mr ronald pronounced her to be a brig-of-war without any after-sail set; and as she drew near, we saw that there was good reason for this, as her mainmast had been carried away by the board, while her hull also had been much knocked about. it was clear that she had been in action. mr ronald waved to her; and, to our no small satisfaction, we saw her clewing up her sails to speak to us. before going alongside, however, mr ronald released the frenchmen, and, as he thought, explained to them that we were going on board the brig, and that they might return to the french coast. the frenchmen stretched their limbs, and looked about them while we were going alongside the brig. this was an operation not altogether easy or free of risk, but we succeeded in getting hold of her. mr ronald went up first, followed by the other men; and as i was far too weak to help myself up, peter had gone up the side, and was singing out for a rope, when the frenchmen, instigated by what notion i know not, but fancying, i believe, that they were to be made prisoners, cut off the tow-rope, and hoisting the foresail, put down the helm, and stood away from the brig. active as monkeys, they soon swayed up the mainsail, and, hauling close on a wind, they rapidly left the brig astern. i saw peter eagerly waving to them to come back, and i have no doubt but that he fancied if they did not they would murder me. the brig, having no after-sail, could not haul her wind, so that my shipmates were perfectly unable to recover me. i certainly could do nothing to help myself, so i lay quiet, and trusted that the frenchmen would have pity on me. i still thought they might murder me; and, at all events, expected that i should be sent to a french prison. i only hoped that we might not reach the part of the coast we had come from, for i could scarcely expect to escape being put to death when it was known that i was one of the party who had killed the french soldiers placed to guard us. i do not think, at the same time, that the frenchmen had any murderous intentions. they were so pleased at recovering their boat and their liberty, that they were inclined to treat me civilly, if not kindly, and they continued to supply me with bread and water as i required. as we were half-way across the channel, and they had lost their reckoning, we were not likely, i hoped, to make a good landfall in their attempt to reach their home. with anxious eyes i watched the brig on board which my shipmates had taken refuge, but darkness coming on, we very soon lost sight of her. my heart sunk within me, and i burst into a fit of tears, the first i had shed for many a long year. they were as anxious to avoid meeting any vessel as we had just been to find one. the wind had again chopped round to the southward, and though not blowing very strong, we made but little progress. all night we stood on under close-reefed canvas, and when the next morning dawned, i saw land to the southward. its appearance evidently puzzled the frenchmen. i guessed it to be no other than that of the island of guernsey; while not a mile off, standing towards us under her topsails, was a large schooner. had the frenchmen altered their course, and run away from her, it would have excited the suspicions of those on board, so they kept on as before. this plan, however, did not avail them. a shot, which before long came whistling across our fore-foot, showed them that they were wanted alongside the schooner. the schooner hoisted english colours, and from her general appearance i had no doubt that she was a privateer. as soon, therefore, as the boat went alongside, i sung out that i was an englishman, and a prisoner. "halloa! who's that?" said a man, looking over the side of the schooner. "what! jack williams, is that you?" the speaker, without waiting for my reply, let himself down into the boat, and as he grasped my hand, i recognised him as my old acquaintance jacob lyal. pointing to my arm, i told him that i had been wounded, and how ill i was; and he at once sung out for a sling, and in another minute i was safely placed on the deck of the vessel. the captain of the schooner then ordered the frenchmen into the boat, and putting some of his people in her, she was dropped astern. i don't know what he said to the frenchmen, but they seemed far from contented with the change of lot. i learned afterwards that he wanted the boat to go in and cut out some french merchantmen. the schooner had a surgeon on board, and when the captain heard the account i gave lyal of my late adventures, he directed that i should be immediately placed under his charge. i flesh, as soon as the fever abated, i got rapidly well and fit for duty. the schooner was, i found, the _black joke_, belonging to the island of guernsey. lyal so worked on my imagination, by the accounts he gave of the life of a privateer's-man, and the prize-money to be made, that he soon persuaded me to enter aboard her. there cannot be the shadow of a doubt that i ought to have gone back, by the first opportunity, to join my own ship; though, of course, i knew that, under the circumstances of the case, i ran very little fear of punishment by not doing so, should i at any time happen to fall in with her. the schooner was a very large vessel of her class, and mounted sixteen -pounders, with a crew of some eighty men or more. captain savage, who commanded her, was a bold dashing fellow, but he cared nothing for honour, or glory, or patriotism. he had only one object in view in fighting--it was to make money. privateering was the shortest and easiest way he knew of, and as his professional knowledge and experience fitted him for the life, he took the command of the _black joke_. his first officer, mr le gosselen, was just the man for the sort of work to be done. he was a strongly-built, short, bull-necked man, and a first-rate seaman; but whatever human sympathies he might have had in his youth had all apparently been washed out of him. the schooner had only left guernsey, after a refit, the day before i was taken on board her. i had been a fortnight in her before any prize of consequence was made. a few coasters had been surprised by means of the fishing-boat, but their cargoes were of very little value, and only two or three were worth sending into port. of the rest, some were sunk, and others allowed to continue on their voyage, after anything worth having was taken out of them. the time had at last arrived when captain savage hoped to fall in with a convoy of french ships coming home from the west indies. for a week or more we cruised about in the latitude they would probably be found in, but we saw nothing of them. at length, at daybreak one morning, several sail were seen hull down to the northward, and steering east. the wind was about south, so we stood away close-hauled towards them, in order to reconnoitre them more perfectly. as the sun rose, and we drew nearer, many more appeared, their white sails dotting the ocean far and wide. "that's what we've been looking for, my lads!" cried the captain, pointing them out to the crew. "if we get hold of two or three of those fellows, we shall soon line our pockets with gold." a loud cheer fore and aft showed that the speech suited the taste of his hearers. great, indeed, was the contrast in the discipline between a privateer and a man-of-war. there was plenty of flogging, and swearing, and rope's-ending, which the officers considered necessary to keep up their authority; but there was also a free-and-easy swagger, and an independent air about the men, which showed that they considered themselves on a par with their officers, and that they could quit the vessel whenever they fancied a change. at first i did not at all like it, but by degrees i got accustomed to the life, and imitated the example of all around. we stood on cautiously towards the frenchmen, the officers' glasses being continually turned towards them, to watch for any suspicious movement in the fleet. the captain had no doubt what they were, and all day we continued hovering about them, like a bird of prey ready to pounce down on its victim. we got near enough to make out a man-of-war in the van, and another in the centre of the fleet, while a number of stragglers brought up the rear. of some of these latter we hoped to make prizes. having ascertained this much, we stood off again from them, that, should our appearance have raised their suspicions, they might be again set to rest. marking well the course they were steering, we knew that we should easily again fall in with them. the nights, to favour our enterprise, had been very dark, so that we might hope to pick out several, provided no noise was made, without being discovered. we waited anxiously for night to put our enterprise into execution; and as the sun set, we crowded all sail to come up with the convoy. few vessels could surpass the schooner in her sailing qualities, which made her peculiarly fitted for the sort of work she was employed in. by midnight, we made out on our starboard-bow several sail, which we had no doubt were some of the sternmost vessels of the french convoy; so we stood towards them without hesitation. if any of the frenchmen caught sight of the privateer, they probably took her for one of their own fleet. slowly, their dark, misty-like forms glided by, while we watched them with eager eyes, wondering which the captain would select as our first victim. at last came a large brig. she was somewhat high out of the water, and her main-topgallant-mast had been carried away. "that's the craft for us, boys!" cried captain savage, pointing her out. "her cargo's light, and probably the most valuable; and i doubt not that she has some wealthy passengers with their jewel-boxes with them. we will run them aboard, and try if we can't take them without firing a shot!" we had got to windward of the fleet, and the helm being put up, we edged down towards the brig which it had been determined to take. in dead silence we approached our victim. as we drew near, the stranger observed us, and her people must have suspected that all was not right. he hailed, and inquired what schooner we were. "the french schooner _concorde_," answered our captain, who knew that a vessel of that name had been out in the west indies. for a short time the answer seemed to satisfy the frenchmen; but seeing us approach still nearer, they hailed again, and told us to keep off. captain savage did not deign a reply, but our grappling-irons being ready, our helm was put hard a starboard, we ran alongside the brig, and had her fast locked in a deadly embrace. although the frenchmen's suspicions had been aroused, they had made no preparations to receive us; yet as we ran her on board, we saw that there were numbers of people on her deck. "follow me, my lads!" shouted mr le gosselen, who saw that to secure an easy victory there was no time to be lost; and before any of the frenchmen had time to stand to their arms, some fifty of us had sprung on their deck and attacked them, previously driving some overboard, others fore and aft, and the rest below. the greater number of our opponents seemed to be soldiers, by their dress and the way they fought. in vain their officers called to them to stand firm, and tried to rally them to the last; they themselves were pistolled or cut down, and in less than five minutes we were masters of the whole deck, with the exception of the after-part of the poop. here a band of men stood firm, evidently surrounding a person of superior rank. he fought like a lion, and was likely to delay our victory, or to prevent it altogether. seeing this, captain savage, who was himself the best swordsman i ever met, calling twenty of us to follow him, sprang on board over the quarter; and thus attacked in front and on one side, the french officers were driven across the deck. a blow from captain savage's cutlass brought their chief on his knee. at that moment a piercing shriek arose high above the din of battle. how mournful! how full of agony it sounded! we had not before perceived a woman standing alone and unharmed among the wounded, the dead, and the dying, for not one of those who had opposed us had escaped. "spare my father's life! hurt not more his grey hairs!" she cried out in french. "that depends on circumstances, mademoiselle," answered the captain of the privateer. "here, my lads; carry the lady and the old man on board the schooner out of harm's way; we must secure the brig before we think of anything else." i was one of those to whom the captain spoke. i shall never forget the grief and agony of the poor young lady as she bent over her father. he was desperately wounded. i saw that he could not speak; but he still breathed. we lifted him as gently as we could, and carried him aboard the schooner, into the captain's cabin; we then assisted the young lady, who followed eagerly, not knowing where she was going. all her thoughts and feelings were concentrated on her father. we placed him on the sofa, and i then went and called the surgeon to attend him. mr blister's knowledge of his profession was very slight, and his practical experience limited; but still he had some notion of binding up a wound, and, at all events, he would treat a patient more gently than any of the rough hands belonging to the schooner. while what i have described was going on, the second officer, with a dozen men under him, had been directed to clew-up the brig's sails, so as to let her drop as much as possible astern of the rest of the fleet, no others appearing to be following. this had been done; and we had hopes that the flash of the pistols had not been seen, or the reports heard by any of the vessels in advance. having obeyed the orders, i again went on board the brig. the deck was now entirely in our possession. while some of our people were silencing several of the french crew, who still madly held out below, i followed the captain into the cabin. while we had been fighting on deck, others of our crew had found their way there, and, mad with rage at the opposition they had encountered, had spared neither age nor sex. i cannot venture to describe the scene of horror and confusion. there were several ladies, and their attendants, and children--among them, infants in arms, or just able to lisp their parents' names. already they were in the power of my ruffian companions. shrieks of despair, cries for mercy rose from among them. tables and chairs, and furniture of all sorts, lay broken on the door. several dead bodies lay at the entrance of the cabin--officers, as was shown by their uniform; another lay leaning against the bulkhead, gasping out his last breath. we had discovered enough to show us why our capture was so crowded with people. she was a merchantman, in which the governor of one of the islands, together with his staff and their families, had taken their passage, while a body of soldiers had likewise been put on board. captain savage, to do him justice, when he found that the brig was completely in his power, did his best to rescue her unfortunate prisoners from further molestation, though in this he was but ill seconded by his officers. rushing in among the men, he ordered them on deck, and to carry the dead bodies with them. one man refused to obey him. "mutiny!" he exclaimed. "this is the way i put it down." he levelled his pistol, and shot the man dead. "here, take this fellow and heave him overboard with the rest," he added, as the body fell to the deck. i with others obeyed, for all saw the stern justice of the proceeding. "my men," he continued, "we must make sail away from her as fast as possible; for after what has occurred we can expect but little mercy should we fall into the hands of our enemies." by this proceeding the cabin was cleared, and the wretched inmates were left in solitude, to mourn over their cruel fate. the captain placed lyal, and one or two of the more steady men, to guard the door. i accompanied him on deck. among the crew and passengers in that fierce though short night-battle, more than half had fallen; and, contrary to what is usually the case, the greater number had been killed. the rest, many of whom were wounded, were collected forward, all of them with their hands lashed behind their backs. they, believing themselves to have been captured by pirates, fully expected to be put to death. our crew, when not actually executing the commands of the officers, were engaged all the time in plundering. the ladies had been stripped of their jewels, the officers of their watches and money; and every corner of the ship was ransacked for plate and other valuables, while clothes and private property of all sorts were laid hold of and carried off; and the men, even in the midst of their pillage, amused themselves by putting on officers' coats, silk waistcoats, and cocked-hats. the captain now ordered the vessels to be separated. he, with the second mate and about forty men, remained in the brig, to commence the more serious work of examining the cargo; while the rest, greatly to their discontent, with about two-thirds of the male prisoners, were ordered aboard the schooner. the two vessels then made sail to the southward, on a course which would enable us, if we wished, to run down on the following night and pick out another prize. the examination of our capture was proceeded with very rapidly, and found of great value. the governor was carrying home a large fortune, much of it in specie; and the brig being an old trader, and considered a fine vessel, many merchants had shipped money by her. the poor ladies were left in possession of the cabin, and the captain ordered what food could be found to be taken down to them, while he directed the second mate, who was rather kinder-hearted than the first, to take charge of her, and to carry her into guernsey. all things being arranged, the captain, leaving a prize-crew aboard the brig, returned to the schooner, and i accompanied him. the surgeon met us as we stepped aboard. the captain asked for the old governor. "why, i suspect he will slip through our fingers. i have no power to keep him," answered the surgeon. "we must do what we can for the old man," observed the captain, with more feeling than i thought he possessed. "for his daughter's sake, i hope he won't die. what can she do, left alone in the world? williams, you seem to understand the sort of thing, go in and see what you can do." i obeyed the order gladly. i entered the cabin. already was the poor girl left alone in the world. her father's corpse lay on the sofa, and she had fallen in a swoon across it. i did not go and call the surgeon. i knew that he did not feel for her, and could not help her. so, lifting her gently up, i removed the corpse, which i covered with a flag, and placed her on the sofa instead. i then got water and sprinkled it on her face, and bathed her temples. the captain came in, and found me thus engaged. "where's the old man?" he exclaimed, looking astonished. i pointed to the flag. he lifted it up. "what! dead!" he said. "poor, poor thing!" i don't know if at that moment the thought of the amount of misery of which we had been the cause flashed across his mind. it did across mine. often have i since thought, what an accursed trade is that of a privateer's-man. licensed pirates at best; and often, as they perform their work, no better than the worst of pirates. "what's to be done?" he continued, talking to himself. "i cannot stand the girl's sorrow. we must get the body out of the way, at all events." he stopped, and shaded his eyes with his hand. he had a family at home. among them a daughter--tall and graceful, like that poor girl. "williams," he said abruptly, "call the surgeon." when blister came, he told him to ascertain if the old man were really dead. he stooped down, and lifting the flag, examined the body. "yes," he answered, in a perfectly satisfied tone. "i said he would die. there's no doubt about it." i believe he would have been vexed had he recovered to contradict him. "we must bury him, then," said the captain. "we'll do it decently. he was a fine old man, and fought like a lion. send the sailmaker here." the surgeon did as he was bid. "don't let him touch the poor girl, jack," he said. "she is better as she is. she would never let us remove her father's body, if she were conscious of what was going forward." the sailmaker came, and received orders to get a hammock with a shot at the feet, in which to enclose the old soldier's corpse. among the prisoners was a french priest. the captain sent for him; and he and a few officers who had escaped assembled on deck, the captain having explained to them that he wished to pay the last respect to a brave enemy. they, as frenchmen know how to do, expressed themselves gratified at the compliment; and all stood around while the body was brought from below. having been shown to them, it was secured in the hammock which had been prepared for the purpose. it was then placed on a plank at an open port, with the old soldier's hat and sword. the priest offered up some of the prayers of his church, and all stood with hats off in reverential awe. the prayers were finished--the captain had lifted his hand, as a signal to launch the body into the deep, when at that moment the tall, graceful figure of a lady appeared on deck. she cast one wild, hurried, inquiring glance around. her eye fell on the shrouded corpse as it glided into the deep. with a piercing shriek, which rung far over the waters, she cried, "father, i follow you!" and before anyone could prevent her, she sprung over the schooner's low bulwarks into the blue sea, within the first circles formed by her parent's form, as it vanished from our sight. in an instant all present rushed to the side; the boats were lowered rapidly; but as we looked around, no sign did there appear of the unhappy young lady. such was the result of our night's exploit! "it is better, perhaps, that it was so," said the captain, dashing a tear from his eye. i cannot say that the catastrophe made any lasting impression even on him. it did not on me. that very night we stood again up to the convoy, and were successful in picking out another of them without being discovered. both vessels reached guernsey in safety, and turned out valuable prizes. i cannot pretend to give even an outline of all the adventures i met with while serving on board the privateer. from her fast-sailing qualities, and the daring and talent of her commander, she was very successful. we were constantly on the look-out for single merchantmen; and, unless they were strongly armed, they were nearly certain to become our prey. we never attacked an armed vessel if we could help it, and never fought if we could escape an enemy capable of injuring us. now and then, when we thought that we were going to make prize of a rich merchantman, we found that we had caught a tartar, and had to up stick and run for it. twice we were very nearly caught; and should have been, had not night come to our aid, and enabled us to haul our wind without being seen, and thus get out of our pursuer's way. once, flight was impossible, and we found ourselves brought to action in the chops of the channel by a french sloop-of-war of eighteen guns. captain savage, however, gave evidence of his skill and courage by the way he handled the schooner against so superior a force. by making several rapid tacks, we got the weather-gauge of our opponent; and then, after the exchange of several broadsides, we stood across his bows, when we delivered so well-directed a raking-fire that we brought his topmast down by the run. we had not escaped without the loss of several men, besides getting an ugly wound in our mainmast; so, to avoid any further disaster, and being perfectly content with the glory of having crippled an opponent of force so superior, we hauled our wind and stood up channel. the frenchman was afterwards fallen in with, and captured by a corvette of her own size. i have, i think, sufficiently described the occupation of a privateer. what i might have become, under the instruction of my old friend peter, and the strict discipline of a man-of-war, i know not. on board the privateer, with the constant influence of bad example, i was becoming worse and worse, and more the slave of all the evil ways of the world. after serving on board the schooner for more than three years, i was paid off with my pocket full of prize-money, and, shipping on board a trader, i found my way to liverpool. that port then, as now, afforded every facility to a seaman to get rid of his hard-earned gains. in a few weeks i had but a few shillings left. i had not the satisfaction of feeling that i had done any good with it. how it all went i don't know. i believe that i was robbed of a large portion. i was so disgusted with my folly, that i was ready to engage in any enterprise, of however questionable a character, where i had the prospect of gaining more, which i resolved i would spend more discreetly. liverpool at that time fitted out a number of slavers--the slave-trade, which was afterwards prohibited, being then lawful, and having many respectable people engaged in it. hearing from a shipmate that the _royal oak_, a ship of eighteen guns, with a letter-of-marque commission, was fitting out for the coast of africa, and was in want of hands, i went and entered on board her. she carried, all told, eighty hands. i found two or three old shipmates aboard her, but no one whom i could call a friend. we reached the coast without any adventure, and in those days the slaves who had come down from the interior being collected in depots, ready for shipment, we soon got our cargo on board. for several years i remained in this trade, sometimes carrying our cargo of hapless beings to rio de janeiro or other parts of the brazils, and sometimes to the west indies. it never occurred to me that there was anything wrong in the system. all the lessons i had received in the west indies, in my early days, were thrown away. the pay was good; the work not hard, though pretty frequently we lost our people by fever; and so i thought no more about the matter. at length i found my way back to liverpool, just as the battle of waterloo and napoleon's abdication brought the blessings of peace to europe. chapter sixteen. whaling in the south-sea. every sea-port in england was thronged with seamen whom the cessation of war had cast on shore without employment, when as i was strolling along the quays of liverpool with my hands in my pockets, in rather a disconsolate mood, wondering in what direction my wayward fate would carry me, i ran bolt up against a post near which a gentleman was standing, and somehow or other managed to tumble over him. "beg pardon, sir," said i, looking up in his face; "i did not see you." "no harm done, my man; but stop," said he, as i was moving on; "i think i remember that voice and face. jack williams, i am certain?" "yes, that's certain," said i, looking at him hard. "and i may make bold to guess that you, sir, are mr carr." "you are right in your guess, jack;--that is to say, i have been captain carr for some years past. i am glad to have fallen in with you, for i am fitting out a ship for a long voyage, and i like to have men with me whom i know and can trust." "glad to have your good opinion, sir, and without another question i'll ship with you," i answered. "where are you bound for?" "a south-sea whaling-voyage," he answered. "i have been at it for some years now, both as mate and master, and i tell you there's nothing like it for excitement and novelty. there's our craft, jack; the _drake_ is her name. look at her. not a finer ship for her size sails out of liverpool--measures five hundred tons, and carries forty hands. you'll like the life, depend on it; and i say, if you fall in with any good men, let me know. i like to have trustworthy men serving with me." i promised to do as he desired, and then went on board to have a look at the ship. i found her everything i could wish, and felt perfectly satisfied with the arrangement i had made. having set my mind at ease on that point, i began to consider how i should pass my time till the _drake_ was ready to receive her crew on board, for she was still in the hands of the carpenters. i bethought me, then, that i would run across to dublin, to try and find out my old captain. i found a large smack--a regular passage vessel--just sailing, so i went aboard, and in two days we reached that port. on landing i inquired for captain helfrich, for i had forgotten where he lived. "there he goes along the quays," answered the person i had addressed; and i saw a gentleman whom, from his figure, i did not doubt was him. "captain helfrich, sir, i beg pardon; but i'm glad to see you looking so well. i'm jack williams," i exclaimed, running after him. "that's my name; but i do not remember you, my man," he answered. "i served my apprenticeship with you, and you were very kind to me, sir," i replied; but as i spoke i looked more narrowly in his face, and saw a much younger man than i expected to meet. "ah! you take me for my father, as others have done," he remarked, laughing. "he has given up the sea long ago, but he will be glad to meet an old shipmate; and now i think of it, i have to thank you for the model of his old craft the _rainbow_. come along by all means; i'm going to his house. you'll find him much changed, though." so i did, indeed, and it made me reflect how many years of my life had passed away. i found my old captain seated before the fire in a large arm-chair, with a book and spectacles on a table by his side, and a handkerchief over his knees. his hair was long and white as snow, and his cheeks thin and fallen in about the mouth; but still the hue of health had not altogether fled. he received me kindly and frankly, and seemed much pleased at my coming so far to see him. he desired to hear all about me, and was greatly moved at the account i gave him of the _rainbow's_ loss. he was sorry to find that all the time i had been at sea i had not improved my condition in the world. i confessed that it was owing to my idleness and unwillingness to learn. "ah, i have learned many a lesson i did not know in my youth, from this book here, jack," said he, pointing to the book by his side, which was the bible. "i now know in whom to trust; and had i known him in the days of my youth, how much grief and shame i might have avoided! mercifully, god has by his grace taught me to see my own errors; and i have endeavoured to remedy them as far as i have been able, in the way i have brought up my son. i have taught him what i learned from this book: `remember thy creator in the days of thy youth.'" i was very much struck by the way my old captain, i may say the once pirate, spoke; and i afterwards learned that he had not failed to instil into his son the better principles he had imbibed. still i am bound to say that he was an exception to the general rule; for, as far as my experience goes, men who grow careless of their duty to god and indifferent to religion, continue through life increasing in hardness of heart and conscience, without a thought of the past or a fear for the future--truly, living as if they had no souls to care for, as if there were no god who rules the world. dreadful is their end! therefore i say to all my readers: never put off for a single hour--for a single minute--repentance and a diligent searching for newness of life. you know not what an hour, what a minute may bring forth. you may be suddenly summoned to die, and there may be no time for repentance. among other questions, captain helfrich kindly inquired for my old friend peter poplar. how ashamed i felt of my own ingratitude, my heartlessness, when i could not tell him! no one i had met could tell me whether he still survived, or whether he had fallen among the thousands of brave men who had died that england might be free. i promised to make further inquiries before i sailed, and, should i fail to hear of him, to set out on my return from my proposed voyage with the express purpose of discovering him. that visit to my old captain is one of the few things performed of my own accord on which i can look back with satisfaction. the next day i sailed for liverpool. many strange and curious coincidences have occurred to me during my life. two days before the _drake_ was ready for sea, having failed to gain any tidings of peter, i was standing on the quay--work being over-- in the evening, with my hands in my pockets, just taking a look at my future home, when i observed a boat-load of men landing from a sloop which had lately brought up in the river. by their cut i knew that they were men-of-war's men. several of them i saw had been wounded, and, judging by their shattered frames, pretty severely handled. one was a tall thin man. the sleeve on his right side hung looped up to a button, and he leaned over on the opposite side, as if to balance himself. i looked eagerly in his face, for i doubted not i knew his figure. it was peter poplar himself! i sprung eagerly forward. captain helfrich's appearance had made me feel old, but peter's weather-beaten countenance and grizzly hair reminded me that my own manhood must be waning. for a moment i do not think he knew me. he had thought me dead--killed by the french fishermen, or murdered in prison. at all events he had heard nothing of me from the moment i was carried off in the fishing-boat. how kindly and warmly he shook my hand with his remaining one! "i've lost a flipper, jack, you see," said he, sticking out his stump. "i never mind. it was for the sake of old england; and i have got a pension, and there's greenwich ready for me when i like to bear up for it. there's still stuff in me, and if i had been wanted, i'd have kept afloat; but as i'm not wanted, i'm going to have a look at some of my kith and kin, on whom i haven't set eyes since the war began. many of them are gone, i fear. so do you, jack, come along with me. they will give you a welcome, i know." i told him how sorry i was that i could not go, as i had entered aboard the whaler; but i spent the evening with him, and all the next day; and he came and had a look at the _drake_, and captain carr was very glad to see him, and told him that he wished he had him even now with him. i cannot say how much this meeting with my old friend again lightened my heart; still i felt ashamed that i should have been in a trader, and away from one who had been more to me than a father, while he was nobly fighting the battles of our country. he had bravely served from ship to ship through the whole of the war. he, however, did not utter a word of blame. he only found fault with himself. "i told you once, jack," said he, "that i ought to have been a master, had it not been for my own ignorance, instead of before the mast; and having missed that, had i not continued too idle to learn, i might have got a boatswain's warrant. i tell you this because, though you are no longer a youngster, you have many years before you, i hope, and may still get the learning which books alone can give you, and without which you must ever remain before the mast." i need not say that he made me promise to find him out on my return. i shall never forget the kindly, fatherly glance the old man gave me as he looked down from the top of the coach which was to take him on his way to the home he had so long left. the _drake_, ready for sea, had hauled out into the stream. she might at once have been known as a south-sea whaler by the height she was out of the water, and by the boats which hung from their davits around her, painted white, light though strongly-built, with their stems and sterns sharp alike, and with a slight curve in their keels--each from about twenty-six to nearly thirty feet in length. although she had provisions enough on board--casks of beef, and pork, and bread, (meaning biscuit), and flour, and suet, and raisins, and rum, and lime-juice, and other antiscorbutics--to last us for nearly four years, they were not sufficient to bring her much down in the water, as she was built to carry many hundred barrels of oil, which we hoped to collect before our return. i may as well here describe the fittings of a whale-boat. in the after-part is an upright rounded post, called the loggerhead, by which to secure the end of the harpoon-line; and in the bows is a groove through which it runs out. it is furnished with two lines, each of which is coiled away in a tub ready for use. it has four harpoons; three or more lances; several small flags, called "whifts," to stick into the dead whale, by which it may be recognised at a distance when it may be necessary to chase another; and two or more "drogues," four-sided pieces of board to be attached to the end of the whale-line when it is hove overboard, and which, being dragged with its surface against the water, impedes the progress of the whale. besides these things, each boat is supplied with a case in which are stowed several necessary articles, the most important being a lantern and tinder-box--the lantern to be used as a signal when caught out at night--a compass, and perhaps a small cooking-apparatus. a whale-boat, when going in chase, has a crew of six men: one is called the headsman, the other the boat-steerer. the headsman has the command of the boat. he is either the captain, or one of his mates, or one of the most experienced hands on board. the _drake_ was a strongly-built, well-found ship, and as the greater number of the crew were experienced hands, and we had confidence in our captain, we had every prospect of a satisfactory voyage. the crew are not paid wages, but share in proportion to their rank or rating, according to the undertaking. provisions are, however, supplied them, so that although a man may, as sometimes happens, make very little all the time he is out, he cannot lose. still, want of success falls very heavily on the married men who have families to support. the evening before we were to sail, one of the crew fell so sick that it was evident he could not go the voyage; so the captain ordered the second mate with several hands to take him ashore. although not shipped as an able seaman, he was a strong, active young man, and it was necessary to supply his place. while some of the others carried the sick man to the hospital, i remained in the boat at the quay. while i was sitting, just looking up to watch what was taking place on shore, a young man in a seaman's dress came down the slip and hailed me. by the way he walked, and the look of his hands, i saw at a glance that he was not a seaman. "i say, mate," said he, in a sort of put-on manner, "i see that you've just landed one of your people. does your captain, think you, want another man in his stead?" "i suppose so," i answered, looking at him hard, to make out what he was, though i didn't succeed. "but the mate will be down presently-- you'd better ask him. he may meantime have shipped another hand." "i'll run the chance," he replied. "i'll go up and fetch my chest from my lodging. just tell him, if he comes down in the meantime, that a man has volunteered to join. you can judge whether i'm likely to be fit for work." he spoke in an off-hand, easy way, and without waiting for my reply, he walked rapidly up from the quay. the mate, directly after, came down without having found a man to his taste. i told him that one had offered--a strongly-built, active-looking, intelligent man, just cut out for a sailor, though, as i said, i did not think he was one. mr marsh, the mate, listened to my account, and as he stepped into the boat, seemed to be looking for the stranger. after waiting a few minutes, as the man did not appear, he gave the order to shove off. "there he comes, sir," said i, seeing him walking rapidly along the quay with a seaman's bag over his shoulder, while a porter accompanied him carrying a moderate-sized chest. "if you want another hand, i'm ready to ship for the voyage," said he, coming down the slip, and abruptly addressing the mate. "seaman or not, he'll do," said mr marsh to himself. "well, put your traps into the boat, and come aboard, and we'll see what the captain has to say to the matter," he answered, aloud. the young man dropped a shilling into the hand of the porter, who looked at the coin and then at his countenance, and touched his hat. the stranger sat down on his chest in the bow of the boat, and we were soon on board. the captain then sent for him aft, and held him in conversation for half an hour or more. what was said i do not know; but the result was, that the young man came forward and told me that he had been entered as one of the crew, requesting me to show him where he was to stow his chest and bag. "in the forepeak," said i; but he evidently did not know where that was, so without saying a word i helped him down with it. the first night we were at sea i had the middle watch, and scarcely had i made a dozen turns on deck, when he joined me. "what is your name?" said he; "i did not catch it." i told him. "well," he continued, "there is no use denying it--i am not a sailor. the captain knows this; but i have promised soon to become one, and i want to keep my promise. will you help me to do so, by teaching me all i want to know?" i told him i would do all i could for him, but that, as this was my first voyage in a whaler, i could not help him much about whaling matters. "oh, that will soon come," he answered. "i seldom see a thing done once that i cannot do afterwards; but i want you to help me in seamanship. i have been constantly on the water, and know how to handle a boat, but never before made a voyage." i was so pleased with the frank way in which he acknowledged his ignorance, and the hearty desire he showed to learn, that i resolved to instruct him in everything i knew. i never found anybody pick up information so rapidly as he did. it was only necessary to show him once how to do a thing, while he kept his sharp eye fixed on the work, and ever after he did it almost if not quite as well. he very soon dropped the nautical phraseology he had assumed when he came on board, and which was clearly not habitual to him; and though he picked up all our phrases, he made use of them more in a joking way than as if he spoke them without thought, as we did. from the way he spoke, or from his manner when he addressed any of his messmates or the officers, or from the way he walked the deck, it was difficult to suppose him anything else than a gentleman-born, or a gentleman by education, whatever he had now become, and he at once got the name forward of "gentleman ned." i asked him his name the day after he came on board. "oh, ay. i forgot that," he answered, quickly. "call me newman--ned newman. it's not a bad name, is it?" so ned newman he was called; but i felt pretty certain from the first that it was not his real name. he was good-looking, with fair hair and complexion, and a determined, firm expression about the mouth. he seemed to put perfect confidence in me, and we at once became great friends--not that we had at first many ideas in common, for i was very ignorant, and he knew more than i supposed it possible for any man to know. he showed me his chest, which surprised me not a little. most of his clothes were contained in his bag. he had not a large kit, but everything was new and of the best materials, calculated to outlast three times the quantity of sailors' common slops. instead of clothes, his chest contained a spy-glass, a quadrant, just like those of the officers, and a good stock of books, which i found were in a variety of languages, and some even, i afterwards learned, were in greek. then he had all sorts of drawing-materials--papers, and pencils, and sketch-books, and a colour-box, and mathematical instruments, and even a chronometer. he had a writing-case, and a tool-box, and a flute and violin, and some music-books. i asked him if he could use the quadrant. "i never took an observation in my life; but i can work a day's work as well as a lunar, so i think that i may soon learn the practical part of the business," he answered. i pointed to his musical instruments. "yes; i play occasionally, when i wish to dispel an evil spirit; but books are my great resource. jack, you lose much pleasure from your ignorance of the rudiments of learning. take my advice and study. it's not too late to begin. nonsense! difficult! everything worth doing is difficult! there's pleasure in overcoming difficulties. come, you have begun to teach me seamanship-- to knot and splice--to reef and steer. i'll teach you to read, and then the way is open to you to teach yourself whatever you like. navigation! certainly. why, you would have been master of a vessel by this time if you had known that." in the interval of newman's remarks i was making excuses for my ignorance; but he would listen to none of them, and i promised, old as i was, to put myself under his instruction, and to endeavour to be as apt a pupil to him as he was to me. as i have said, i never saw anyone learn so rapidly as he did everything which came in his way. before six weeks had passed, there was very little remaining for me to teach him. every knot and splice he mastered in a week or so, and could make them as neatly as i did. i don't think he had ever before been up a ship's mast; but from the first day he was constantly aloft, examining the rigging, and seeing where all the ropes led to. i had shown him how to reef and furl sails, and the very first squall we had, he was among the foremost aloft to lay-out on the yard. his hands went as readily as those of the oldest seaman into the tar-bucket; and so, though when he came aboard they were fair and soft, they soon became as brown and hard as any of ours. with the theory of seamanship he was already well acquainted--such as the way by which the wind acts on the sails, the resistance offered by the water on the hull, and so on; so that, when any manoeuvre was performed, he at once knew the reason of it. it is not too much to say that before we crossed the line he was as good a seaman, in many respects, as most of the hands on board; and certainly he would have made a better officer than any of us forward. we were bound round cape horn, and captain carr intended to try his fortune on the borders of the antarctic ice-fields, in the neighbourhood of new zealand and the coast of japan, among the east india islands; and those wide-spreading groups, among which are found the friendly islands, the navigators, the feejees, the new hebrides, the loyalty islands, and new caledonia, and known under the general name of polynesia. perhaps other places might be visited, so that we had a pretty wide range over which our voyage was likely to extend. people at home are little aware, in general, of the great number of places a south-seaman visits in the course of a three or four years' whaling-voyage; and certainly in no other trade is a lad of a roving disposition so likely to be able to gratify his tastes. the first place we touched at was porto praya, in the island of saint jago, one of the cape de verds, our captain being anxious to fill up with water, and to get for the crew a supply of fruit and vegetables and poultry, which are here to be procured in abundance. sailors, however, are apt to forget that fruit, at all events, is not to be found all the year round; and i have seen people very indignant because the fruit-trees were not bearing their ripe produce at the very moment they were honouring the place by their presence, and heartily abuse previous visitors for having deceived them. i was one of the boat's crew which went on shore to get provisions, and we were half pulled to pieces, as we entered the town, by men, women, and boys--brown, yellow, and black--chattering away in a jargon of half-african half-portuguese, as they thrust before our eyes a dozen chickens a few weeks old, all strung together; baskets of eggs, or tamarinds, or dates, or bananas, and bunches of luscious grapes, and pointed to piles of cocoa-nuts, oranges, or limes, heaped up on cocoa-nut leaves close at hand. the place seemed filled with beggars, pigs, monkeys, slatternly females, small donkeys, and big oxen; dirty soldiers and idle sailors of all the shades and colours which distinguish the human race, dressed in handkerchiefs, and shirts, and jackets, and petticoats of every hue of the rainbow--the only thing they had in common being their dirt. indeed, dirt predominates throughout the streets and dwellings, and in every direction. the houses, though mean, from being white-washed deceive a stranger at a little distance as to the cleanliness of the place. from a spirited sketch newman made of the scene i have described, i here discovered his talent for drawing. we next touched at the falkland islands, then uninhabited, except by a few gauchos, who had crossed from south america with a herd of cattle, which have since increased to a prodigious number, as they thrive well on the tussac grass, the chief natural production of the country. the fresh beef afforded by a couple of oxen was very acceptable, and contributed to keep us in health. even before crossing the line, we had been on the look-out for whales, and all the boats and gear were in readiness to be lowered, and to go in chase at a moment's notice. everybody on board a whaler must be wide-awake, and prepared for all emergencies, or the ship may chance to return home with an empty hold. in no position in which a seaman can be placed is it so necessary to belong to the _try_ fraternity. if whales are not to be found on one fishing-ground, the ship must move to another; and if not seen there, she must sail on till she chases them round the globe. so if, when a whale is seen, the harpooner misses his aim, and the fish dives and swims a mile or more off, he must watch and watch till she rises, and _try_ again. this try principle should be followed in all the concerns of life. whatever ought to be done, _try_ and do it; never suppose a work cannot be done till it has been tried-- perseverance in duty is absolutely necessary. its neglect must bring ruin. we had a look-out at each mast-head, and one of the mates, or the boatswain, and sometimes the captain, was stationed at the fore-topgallant yard-arm. sharp eyes were, therefore, constantly watching every part of the ocean, as our ship floated over it to the very verge of the horizon in search of the well-known spout of the whales. great improvements have taken place since the time i speak of in the apparatus employed in the whale-fishery. i am told that guns are now used with which to send the harpoon into the whale's body, while in my time it was driven by sheer strength and dexterity of arm, as the harpooner stood up at his full height in the bow of the tossing whale-boat, close to the huge monster, one blow of whose tail is sufficient to dash her into atoms. we were, it must be understood, in search of the sperm whale, which is a very different animal from what is called the black or greenland whale, whose chief habitation is towards the north polar regions, though found in other parts of the ocean. there are several sorts of whales, but i will not attempt to give a learned dissertation on them. i should not, indeed, have thought much about the matter, had not newman called my attention to it. i should have hunted them, and killed them, and boiled down their blubber, with the notion that we had the produce of so many _fish_ on board. now naturalists, as he told me, assert that whales should not be called _fish_. they swim and live in the water, and so do fish; they have no legs, nor have fish; but their implements of locomotion are more like arms than fins. but whales do what no fish do: they bring forth their young alive--they suckle them, and tend them with the fondest affection in their youth. they have warm blood, and a double circulation; and they breathe the atmospheric air by true lungs. the tail of a fish is placed vertically, or up and down; that of a whale, horizontally--that is to say, its broadest part is parallel with the surface of the water. the tail of a large whale is upwards of feet wide, and with a superficies of square feet, and it is moved by muscles of immense strength. this will give some idea of the terrific force with which it can strike a boat. i have, indeed, heard of instances where a whale has stove in a ship's bottom, and caused her to founder, with little time for the crew to escape. their progressive movement is effected entirely by the tail; sometimes, when wishing to advance leisurely, by an oblique lateral and downward impulse, first on one side and then on the other, just as a boat is sent through the water when sculled with an oar; but when rushing through the deep at their greatest speed, they strike the water, now upwards and now downwards, with a rapid motion and vast force. as whales breathe the atmospheric air, they must come to the surface frequently for a fresh supply. they have then to throw out the water which has got into their mouths when feeding. this they do by closing a valve leading to the nasal passages, and forcing it by means of air through the blow-hole placed in the upper part of the head. it is this necessity of whales for breathing at the surface which enables man to make them his prey, in spite of their immense strength, while their spouts point out to him the place where they are to be found. the remarks i have made apply in common to the two chief sorts of whales, but the greenland whale is a very different animal from the sperm whale, of which we were in search. the greenland whale, (_balaena mysticetus_), is also called the common, true, or whale-bone whale. i remember once, in a man-of-war, falling in with a dead whale in a perfect calm. we towed it alongside, but so ignorant was everybody on board of natural history, that no one knew where the whale-bone was to be found. at the cost of great trouble, with a horrible odour to our noses, we cut out a jaw-bone; which was perfectly valueless, except to make the front of a summer-house for our commander; and we then let our prize go with its rich contents, and glad enough we were to get rid of it. the greenland whale is less in size than the sperm--its length being about feet. the head occupies about a third of the entire length. it is narrow above, and broad, flat, and rounded beneath, so as to allow it to move rapidly under the water. the body is largest about the middle, and tapers suddenly towards the tail. the general colour is a blackish-grey, with part of the lower jaw, and throat, and belly white. the lips are five or six feet high, the eyes very small, and the external opening of the ears scarcely perceptible. the pectoral fins or arms are not long, and are placed about two feet behind the angle of the lips. the black whale has no teeth; but from the upper palate and jaw there hang down perpendicularly numerous parallel laminae--the baleen, or whale-bone, as it is called. [footnote: the baleen or whale-bone i have described forms a most valuable portion of the produce afforded by the black whale, although not so valuable as the oil extracted from the same animal.] these filaments fill up the whole of the cavity of the mouth, and form a most complete strainer, so that only the most minute animals can enter. this is necessary, as the swallow is too small to admit even the smallest fish. when a black whale feeds, it throws up millions of small animals at a time with its thick lower lip, into the straining apparatus i have described; and as they are scarcely perceptible to the naked eye, when its vast size is considered some slight notion may be formed of the prodigious number it must consume at meal. there is another whale, found in the northern regions, called the razor-backed whale, from a prominent ridge on its back. it is found feet long. as it is constantly moving along at the rate of five miles an hour, and is very powerful and active, frequently breaking away and carrying lines and gear with it, only the most daring whalers, in default of other prey, venture to attack it. there is a third sort of whale, called the broad-nosed whale, which is in many respects like a razor-back, but smaller--its length being from to feet. the smallest sort is the beaked whale, which is about feet long. great numbers of this whale are often caught in the deep bays and firths of shetland and orkney. i must now give an account of the spermaceti whale, (the _physeter macrocephalus_), to capture which was the object of our voyage. it is found through every part of the south pacific and atlantic oceans, and frequently makes its way to far northern latitudes. still the southern seas must be considered its chief abode. in appearance and habits it is very different from the black whale. it is nearly as long as the razor-back, and exceeds it in bulk. in length it may be said to be from to feet, and from to in circumference. looking at a sperm whale, the stem on its nose or snout appears very thick, and perfectly blunt, like a huge mallet about to strike. the head is a third part of the length of the body. at its junction with the body a hump rises, which we whalers call the _bunch of the neck_. behind this is the thickest part of the body, which tapers off till there is another rise which we call the hump, in the shape of a pyramid--then commences the _small_, as we call it, or tail, with a ridge partly down it. the "small" gradually tapers till it contracts very much; and at the end the flukes, or what landsmen would call the tail, is joined on. in the immense head is contained the case, which is a cavity of almost triangular shape, and of great size, containing, when the whale is alive, that oily substance or fluid called spermaceti. i have frequently seen a ton taken from the case of one whale, which is fully ten large barrels. the use to the whale of the spermaceti in its head is, that, being much lighter than water, it can rise with great facility to the surface, and elevate its blow-hole above it. its mouth is of great size, extending all the length of its head, or, as i have said, a third of its whole length. its jaws narrow forward to almost a point-- indeed, the lower one does so; and thus, as it swims along, like the stem of a ship, it serves to divide the water wedge, parting to make way for its huge body--the blunt snout being all the time like the lofty forecastle of an old-fashioned ship, clear of the waves high up above it. the inside of the monstrous cavity, the mouth, has nothing like the baleen or whale-bone, such as is found in the greenland whale; but in the lower jaw it has a formidable row of large teeth of conical shape, forty-two in number. it has, however, none in the upper jaw; but instead, there are holes into which fit the points of those in the lower. these teeth are blunt, and are not used for biting or mastication, but merely to keep in the food which has entered its mouth. this food is chiefly the _squid_ or _sepia octopus_, known also by the name of the cuttle-fish. in the south-seas they are of enormous size, and, with their long feelers or arms growing out of their heads, are sufficiently strong to hold a man under the water and to kill him. the sperm whale, however, swallows a variety of other fish. it catches them, not by swimming after them, but by opening wide its mouth and letting its prey swim into it! we will suppose ourselves looking down that vast mouth, as the lower jaw hangs perpendicularly to the belly; incapable it seems of moving. the interior of the throat is very large--capable of swallowing a man; the tongue is very small and delicate, and of a pure white colour; so are the teeth, which glisten brilliantly; and so is the whole interior. fish are particularly attracted by their white appearance. they take it, perhaps, to be some marble hall erected for their accommodation; so in they swim, big and little squid equally beguiled! how the whale's mouth must water when he feels a fine huge juicy octopus playing about his tongue! up goes the lower jaw like a trap-door, and cephalapods, small and large, find their bright marble palace turned into a dark, black prison, from which there is no return; for, giving a turn with his tongue, he gulps them all down with a smack which must make old ocean resound! in another respect, the sperm is very different from the greenland whale. it seems to know the power of its jaws, and will sometimes turn on its pursuers and attack them, though generally a timid animal, and disposed to seek safety by flight. the general opinion is, that sperm whales often fight with each other, as we have caught them with their lower jaws twisted in a variety of directions, and otherwise injured. the sperm whale's eyes are very small, with movable eyelids, and are placed directly above the angle of the mouth, or a third part of its whole length distant from the snout. it is very quick-sighted, as it is also quick of hearing. its ears--small round holes, which will not admit a little finger--are placed directly behind the eyes. the fins, which, as i have said, might be called paws, are close to the angle of the mouth. i have known a female whale support her young on them; and they are used to balance the body, to steer by, and, when hard pressed, to sink with greater rapidity below the surface. the skin of the whale is perfectly smooth, though old bulls get rough marks about them. as a rule, though black above and white below, as they advance in years, like human beings, they get grey on the head. oftentimes an old grey-headed bull proves a dangerous enemy. i have with greater minuteness than i intended given an account of the sperm whale. its habits and mode of capture i will describe in the course of my narrative. chapter seventeen. incidents of whaling. away, away the good ship flew to round the far-famed cape horn. stern and majestic it rose on our starboard-hand; its hoary front, as it looked down on the meeting of two mighty oceans, bore traces of many a terrific storm. now all was calm and bright, though the vast undulations of the ocean over which the ship rode, as they met the resistance of the cliffs, were dashed in cataracts of spray high up in the air, and gave evidence of what would be the effect when a storm was raging across them. there was something more grand in the contemplation than in the actual appearance of the scene, when we reflected where we were--on the confines of those two great seas which encompass the earth, and which wash the shores of nations so different in character--the one having attained the height of civilisation, the other being still sunk in the depths of a barbarism too terrible almost for contemplation, as i afterwards had good reason to know. then there was that strange, vast, dreamy swell--the breathings, as it were, of some giant monster. it seemed as if some wondrous force were ever acting on that vast body of water--that it could not for a moment rest quiet in its bed, but must ever go heaving on, in calm and sunshine as well as in storm and tempest. there was likewise in sight that wild weather-beaten shore, inhabited, as report declared, by men of gigantic stature and untameable fierceness; while to the south lay those mysterious frost-bound regions untrod by the foot of man--the land of vast glaciers, mighty icebergs, and wide extended fields of ice. on we sped with a favouring breeze, till we floated calmly on the smooth surface of the pacific off the coast of chili. with regard to patagonia, old knowles told me he had been there, but that, as far as he saw, the people were not much larger than the inhabitants of many other countries. some were big men; a few nearly seven feet high, and proportionably stout. they are capital mimics--the very parrots or magpies of the genus man. "i say, jack, bear a hand there now," exclaimed one, repeating the words after a sailor who had just spoken. "what! do you speak english, old fellow? give us your flipper then," said knowles, thinking he had found a civilised man in that distant region. "what! do you speak english, old fellow? give us your flipper then," repeated the savage with a grin, putting out his hand. "i should think i did! what other lingo am i likely to speak?" answered knowles, shaking the patagonian's huge paw. "what other lingo am i likely to speak?" said the savage, with perfect clearness. "why, i should have thought your own native patagonian, if you are a patagonian," exclaimed knowles, examining the savage's not over-handsome physiognomy. "if you are a patagonian!" said the savage, looking in like manner into knowles' face. "i--i'm an englishman, i tell you!" cried tom, somewhat puzzled. "i'm an englishman, i tell you!" cried the patagonian in the same indignant tone. "that's just what i want to arrive at," said tom. "so now just tell me where we can get some good baccy and a glass of honest grog." the patagonian repeated the words. "but i ask you!" said tom. "but i ask you!" said the savage. "i tell you i'm a stranger here!" exclaimed tom. "i tell you i'm a stranger here!" cried the savage. "where do you come from then?" asked tom. "where do you come from then?" repeated the savage. "i tell you i'm an englishman," cried knowles, getting angry. "i tell you i'm an englishman!" exclaimed the patagonian in the same indignant tones. "that's more than i'll believe; and, to speak my mind plainly, i believe that you are an arrant, bamboozling hum-bug!" cried tom. "no offence, though. you understand me?" whether it was tom's expression of countenance, or the tone of his voice, i know not, but as he uttered these words, all the savages burst into loud fits of merry laughter; and as he thought they were laughing at him, he said that he should have liked to have gone in among them, and knocked them down right and left with his fists; but they were such precious big fellows, that he thought he should have got the worst of it in the scrimmage. he used with infinite gusto frequently to tell the story for our amusement. i am not quite certain, however, whether he was describing the patagonians or the inhabitants of terra del fuego. the latter are very great mimics and are much smaller in size, less clothed, and more savage in appearance than the patagonians. we touched at valparaiso, in chili, or, as it may be called, the vale of paradise. it is certainly by nature a very beautiful and healthy spot, built on a number of high hills with ravines intervening; but man, by his evil practices and crimes, made it, when i was there, much more like the vale of pandemonium. drunkenness and all sorts of crimes were common, and the _cuchillo_--the long knife--was in constant requisition among the spaniards, scarcely a night passing without one or more murders being committed. it was then little more than a village, but has now become quite a large town, with a number of english and american merchants settled there. the houses are built with very thick walls, to withstand the constant attacks of earthquakes which they have to undergo. having supplied ourselves with fresh provisions and water, we sailed, and stretched away into the wide pacific. we had left the coast of chili about a day's sail astern. a light easterly breeze was just ruffling the blue sea--the noon-day sun shining brightly over it--the hands going listlessly about their work, rather out of spirits at our want of success, not a whale having hitherto been seen--when the cheery shout of the first mate reached our ears from the look-out, of "there she spouts! there she spouts, boys!" in an instant every one was aroused into the fullest activity--the watch below sprung on deck--captain carr hurried from his cabin, and with his hand to his mouth, shouted eagerly, "where away?--where away?" "about a mile on the starboard-bow," cried mr benson, the first mate, in return. "lower the boats, my lads!" exclaimed the captain, preparing to go in the leading one himself; the first and third mate and the boatswain went in command of the others. both newman and i, as new hands, remained on board, as did the second mate, to take charge of the ship. before the boats were in the water, the whale had ceased spouting; but just as they were shoving off, the look-out broke forth in a cheerful chorus, "there again--there again--there again!" the signal that the whale was once more sending up its spout of spray into the air. the words were taken up by all on deck, while we pointed with excited looks at the whale, whose vast head and hump could be clearly distinguished as he swam, unsuspicious of evil, through the calm waters of the deep. away flew the boats, urged on by rapid strokes, in hot pursuit. the captain took the lead. we who were left behind felt that we were accompanying them in heart and spirit. the foam bubbled and hissed round the bows of the boats as they clove their way through the water. not a moment was there to lose--the distance was great--the whale had been for some time breathing, and might go down, and perhaps be lost altogether, before the boats could get up to her, or they might have to chase her for many miles before they could again reach her. meantime, the wind being fair, the ship was kept almost in the wake of the boats. away they flew; each was anxious to strike the first whale, but the captain's took the lead, and maintained it. as they got nearer the monster, it was necessary to be careful, lest he should take the alarm, and, seeing his pursuers, go down to escape them. the men bent to their oars even more energetically than before; the captain stood up, harpoon in hand; his weapon was raised on high; we thought that the next instant it would be buried in the monster, when up went his small--the enormous flukes rose high in air--"back of all!--back of all!" we cried; not that our voices could be heard. if not, that terrific stroke it is giving will shiver the boat in atoms. the boat glided out of the way, but just in time, though her crew were drenched with spray. down went the whale--far, far into the depths of the ocean. nothing is to be had without trying for it--our captain knew this well. all eyes were now turned to watch where the whale would next rise, for rise, we knew, he before long must, and in all probability within sight; so the boats paddled slowly on, the men reserving their strength for the moment when it would be required; while we on board shortened sail, that we might have the ship more under command, to follow wherever they might lead. every one was watching with intense eagerness; the four boats were separated a short distance from each other; now and then the officers would stand up to see if the monster had risen, and then they would turn their gaze towards the ship for a signal from the look-out aboard. still the time passed away, and no whale appeared. an hour had elapsed, when again the inspiriting shout was heard of "there she spouts! there she spouts!" the look-outs pointing, as before, over the starboard-bow, where the whale had again risen, not much more than a mile away from the boats. again they were in rapid movement. we doubted not that this time they would reach the monster. through our glasses we made him out to be a bull--an old greyhead, and probably a cunning fellow, one likely to try every dodge which a whale can think of to escape, and if failing to do that, and hard pressed, one who was likely to turn on his pursuers, and attack them with his open jaws or mighty flukes. "well, whatever freak he takes, our captain is the man to meet him," observed old tom knowles--a long-experienced hand in the south-seas, but who, having hurt his arm, was unable to go in the boats. "as long as daylight lasts, he'll not give up the chase." i had thought that when a whale was seen, it was merely necessary to pull after him, dig the harpoons into him, and allow him to drag the boats along till he died; but i found it was often a far more difficult task than this to kill a whale. "there again--there again!" shouted the look-outs from aloft; and the cry was repeated by all on deck, while the whale continued spouting. fast as at first, if not faster, the boats flew after him--the captain's again leading. "this time we'll have him, surely," exclaimed newman, who was as eager as any of us. "not quite so sure of that, ned," observed old knowles. "i've seen one of these old chaps go down half-a-dozen times before a harpoon was struck in him, and, after all, with three or four in his side, break away, and carry them off just as the sun was setting, and there was no chance of getting another sight of him. i say, never be certain that you've got him, till he's safe in the casks. i've seen one, after he has been killed, go down like a shot, for no reason that anyone on board could tell, except to spite us for having caught him." while old tom was speaking, the boats had approached close to the whale. for my own part, after what i had heard, i fully expected to see him lift his flukes, and go down as he had done before. the captain's boat was up to him--the rest hung back, not to run the risk of alarming the wary monster. the captain stood up in the bows--a fine bold figure he looked, as he poised his glittering harpoon in his right hand, high above his head. "there!--peak your oars," cried old tom, as the crew raised them with a flourish to a perpendicular position, having given the boat sufficient impetus to take her alongside the whale. off flew the weapon, impelled by the captain's unerring arm, and buried itself up to the socket in the fat coating with which the leviathan was clothed. "it's socket up!" cried old knowles. "hurrah, lads--hurrah! our first whale's struck--good-luck, good-luck--hurrah, hurrah!" the cheer was taken up by all on board, as well as by those in the boats. they now gave way with a will after the whale; the harpooner, as another boat got up, sending his weapon into its side. but it is no child's play now. the captain had time to dart a lance into him, when, "stern all--stern all!" was now the cry of the headsman; and the crews, with their utmost strength, backed the boats out of the way of the infuriated animal, which in his agony began to lash the water with his huge flukes, and strike out in every direction with a force which would have shattered to atoms any boat they met. now his vast head rose completely out of the water--now his tail, as he writhed with the pain the weapons had inflicted. the whole surface of the surrounding ocean was lashed into foam by the reiterated strokes of those mighty flukes, while the boats were deluged with the spray he threw aloft--the sound of the blows reverberating far away across the water. the boat-steerer now stood ready to let the lines run through the loggerhead over the bows of the boat. should anyone be seized by their coils as they are running out, his death would be certain. soon finding the hopelessness of contending with his enemies above water, the whale lifted his flukes and sounded. down, down he went into the depths of the ocean. away flew the line over the bows of the boat. its rapid motion would have set fire to the wood, had not the headsman kept pouring water over it, as it passed through its groove. an oar was held up from the captain's boat: it was a sign that nearly the whole of their line, of two hundred fathoms, had run out. with caution, and yet rapidity, the first mate in the second boat bent on his line; soon the captain's came to an end, and then that flew out as rapidly as the first had done. to assist in stopping the whale's downward course, drogues were now bent on to the line as it ran out; but they appeared to have little more effect in impeding his progress than a log-ship has in stopping the way of a vessel; and yet they have, in reality, much more, as every pound-weight in addition tells on the back of a racer. again an oar went up, and the third boat bent on, adding more drogues to stop his way. they at length appeared to have effect. "there; haul in the slack," cried old tom. "he's rising, lads; he's rising!" the boat-steerer was seen in the last boat busily coiling away the line in the tub as he hauled it in. when he had got all his line, that belonging to the next boat was in like manner coiled away; then the captain's line was hauled in. thick bubbles now rose in rapid succession to the surface, followed by a commotion of the water, and the huge head of the monster rushed suddenly upward, sending forth a dense spout on high. the captain's boat was now hauled gently on, the boat-steerer guiding it close up to the fin of the wounded whale. again captain carr stood up with his long lance in hand, and plunged it, as few on board could have done, deep into his side. at the same moment the rest of the boats pulled up on the opposite side, the harpooner in the leading one striking his harpoon into him. again the cry arose of "stern all--stern all!" it was time, indeed, to get out of the way, for the whale seemed to feel that he was engaged in his last struggles for freedom and for life. he threw himself with all his monstrous bulk completely out of the water, in a vain attempt to get loose from his foes. off from him all the boats backed. he now became the assailant. he rushed at them with his head and lower jaw let drop, seemingly capable of devouring one of them entire. i almost thought he would; but he was already fatigued with his wounds and previous exertions. the line, too, of the mate's boat had many times encircled his body. suddenly it parts! the boat of the captain, after he had darted his lance, was backed in time, and got clear from the whale's attack, but the first mate was not so fortunate. the whale seemed to have singled him out as the victim of his revenge. having in vain lashed at him with his flukes, he turned towards him with his head, rushing on with terrific force. he caught the boat as she was retreating, in an instant capsizing her, and sending all her crew struggling in the waves. i thought he would immediately have destroyed them; but he swam on, they happily escaping the blows of his flukes, and went head out across the ocean, followed by the first boat and the two others. were they going to allow our shipmates to perish unaided? i thought and fully expected to hear the second mate order another boat to be lowered to go to their assistance. but they did not require any. two of the men could not swim, but the others supported them till they got them up to the boat, from which they had been a little way separated, and then by pressing down the gunwale they quickly righted her. they then, holding on on either side, baled away till they could get into her, and still have her gunwale above water, when they very quickly freed her altogether. everything had been secured in the boat, so that nothing was lost; and as soon as she was to right, off she started again in the chase. away flew the captain's boat, dragged on by the line, at the rate, it seemed, of full ten knots an hour. the other boats followed as fast as their crews could lay their backs to the oars; but for a long time they could gain nothing on him, but were fast falling astern. we had again filled, and were standing on. at last he began to slacken his pace. the loss of blood from his many wounds, and his evident exertions, were rapidly weakening him. still, so far-off had he gone, that the captain's boat was scarce to be seen, and the others were mere specks on the ocean. once again, however, we were overtaking them. the captain was once more hauling in the slack--the other boats were getting up--the headsmen standing, harpoon in hand, ready to give the whale fresh and still more deadly wounds. they ranged up alongside, and harpoons and lances flew from the boats. the monster no longer threw up water alone, but blood was sent in a thick spout from his blow-hole, sprinkling the men in the boats, and staining the bright blue sea around. still, in spite of all his foes, he struggled on bravely for life. lashing the water, so as to drive his relentless assailants to a distance, he once more lifted his flukes and sounded; but they were prepared to let the lines run. down he went again. "he'll be lost--he'll be lost!" i exclaimed, as did others not accustomed to the work. "not a bit of it on that account," said old knowles. "he can't remain long under water after what he's gone through. he'll be up again soon; and then stand by, my hearties, for his flurry!" old knowles was right. up came the whale again, at a short distance only from where he had gone down, having dragged out from each boat not a hundred fathoms of line. once more the boats approached, and fresh lances were darted into him; but they quickly had to retreat, for now his head went up, now his tail; now he sprung again right out of the water, twisting and turning in every direction. "he has his death-pang on him," cried old knowles. "he'll be ours before long;--but, ah! one of them has caught it!" one of the boats had indeed caught it. we could not tell which, for the others were covered with the foam and ensanguined water cast on every side by the monster in his wild contortions. the fragments lay floating, scattered far and wide, and several men were seen striking out towards the other boats, half-turning their heads, as if in expectation of being pursued. but, as we counted their number, they did not appear to be all there. there were but five. one, we feared, was missing. anxiously we kept our eyes fixed on the spot, hoping to see our shipmate, whoever he might be, appear. "hurrah!--he's there--he's there!" we shouted, as we discovered the sixth man swimming out from among the mass of bloody foam which surrounded the whale, who for an instant seemed to be resting from his exertions. while the boats were taking them on board, again the whale darted rapidly out, but this time it was to perform the segment of a circle. "he's in his flurry, lads--he's in his flurry!" shouted old knowles. "he'll be dead in another minute." "last scene of all, which ends this strange, eventful history," said newman, who through his glass had been eagerly watching the chase. as the words went out of his mouth the whale rolled over on his side, a well-won prize, and loud shouts from the crews of the boats and from all on deck rent the air. the fragments of the shattered boat being collected, and the three remaining ones made fast to the whale, they began towing it towards the ship, while we made sail to meet them. all hands were employed for an instant in congratulating each other when we got the whale alongside, and then every means were taken to secure it for "cutting-in"--so the operation of taking off the blubber is called. the coopers had meantime been getting ready the large caldrons for boiling the blubber; which operation is called "trying-out." a rope passed round the windlass, and rove through a block fast to the head of the mainmast, was carried over the side, with a large hook at the end of it. the first thing done was to cut off the head of the whale, which, with the neck-part up, was strongly secured, and floated astern. "that head has got better than a ton of oil in it," observed old knowles, who was aiding the work. "it's worth no end of money." "wears yet a precious jewel in his crown," observed newman, leaning eagerly over the side. "it's fine work this, though." a stage had been let down at the side of the vessel, on which those who had cut off the head were stationed. one of them now made a hole in the blubber with the instrument used for cutting-in, called a spade. a rope was then fastened round the waist of another man, and he descended on the body of the whale, taking the hook i have spoken of in his hand. this hook he fastened into the hole he had cut. the operation now began. some with spades cut the blubber or fat mass which surrounds the body into a strip between two and three feet wide, in a spiral form, while others hoisted away on the tackle to which the hook was attached. slowly the blanket-piece, thus cut off, ascended over the side, the body turning round and round as its coat or bandage, for so we may call it, was unwound. by the side of the pots were _horses_--blocks of wood--on which the blubber was cut up. as the long strip was drawn up, another hook was secured lower down, and the upper part of the blanket-piece was cut off and chopped into thin pieces on the blocks. the pieces were then thrown into big pots, under which fires were kindled. after the first caldrons-full had been boiled, the lumps of blubber from which the oil had been extracted were taken out, and served as fuel to continue our fires. in reality, the whole operation was performed in a very cleanly and orderly way; but a stranger at a distance would scarcely think so. night overtook us while we were engaged in the work, and watch and watch we continued it, lest a gale might spring up and compel us to abandon our prize before it was all secured. no scene could be wilder or more unearthly than that presented during the night by the whaler's decks. the lurid fires surrounding the seething caldrons cast a red glare on all around--on the masts and rigging of the ship, enveloped in the dense wreaths of smoke which ascended from them--on the sturdy forms of the seamen, with their muscular arms bared to the shoulder. some were cutting off huge blanket-pieces; others chopping them small on the horses; others throwing them into the pots, or with long poles stirring the boiling fluid, or raking out the scraps, as the refuse is called, to feed the flames; while others, again, were drawing off the oil into the casks ready to receive it, and stowing them away in the hold. the whole of the following day and the following night found us employed in a similar manner. at last the whole carcass was stripped to the very flukes of every particle of blubber, and, to our no little satisfaction, cast loose to float away, and to become a feast for the fish of the sea and the birds of the air. the head, full of the valuable spermaceti, was now floated alongside. a bucket was then forced down through the neck; by means of a long pole, into the case, till, by repeated dips, it was entirely emptied of its contents; and, as knowles predicted, the case was found to contain even more than a ton of oil. the spermaceti was carefully boiled by itself--an operation necessary to preserve it. the blubber surrounding the head was also taken off and boiled down, and the empty skull was then cast loose, and sunk, by its own weight, with rapidity to the bottom--there, perhaps, to form the caverned abode of some marine monster never yet seen by human eye. it took us nearly three days to cut-in, try-out, and stow away that huge whale, the produce altogether being no less than eighty-five barrels! we broke forth into loud shouts when our work was accomplished and our first fish stowed away. i have no great sympathy with those who talk of the cruelty of the work. a whale feels acutely, no doubt, and so does a mouse or a sparrow, when wounded; but not having huge bodies to twist and turn about in their agony, they do not appear to suffer so much as does the mighty monarch of the deep. i suspect that the amount of pain felt by the small animal is equally great with that felt by the large one. however, i would make my argument a plea for merciful treatment of all alike, and urge that pain should never be unnecessarily inflicted on even the smallest of created beings in whose nostrils is the breath of life. our success put us all in spirits, and we were ready to do or to dare anything. our captain had heard that sperm whales were to be found in the icy seas towards the antarctic pole, and, accordingly, before keeping across to new zealand and the isles of the indian ocean, he resolved to take a cruise to the south for a few weeks in order to try our fortune. over the seas on which we were sailing it was necessary, both night and day, to keep a very sharp look-out; not only for whales, but to avoid the dangers of coral-reefs, and islands of all sizes, which in many parts sprinkle it so thickly. "land ahead!" was shouted from the foretopmast-head one forenoon, as we were slowly gliding over the blue surface of the deep. as we got up with it, we saw that it was a long, low, almost barren island, a few trees only in the higher parts retrieving it from actual sterility. it was a wild, desolate, melancholy-looking spot, such as would make a man shudder at the very thought of being wrecked on it. at one end, inside a reef over which the surf was breaking violently, lay a dark object. as the officers were inspecting it through their glasses, they pronounced it to be a wreck. there could be no doubt about it, and captain carr resolved at once to visit the spot, to discover whether any of the crew still remained alive. as we stood on, a loud sound of roaring and yelping reached our ears, and we saw on many of the rocks which surrounded the island a vast number of seals, of the sort called "sea-lions." newman and several of us were eager to get in among them, to knock some of them on the head, that we might make ourselves caps and jackets for our cruise in the icy seas. the captain was equally anxious to get some seal-skins, and he told us that, after we had visited the wreck, and explored the island, we should try and catch some of the animals. seals are curious-looking creatures. the head, with its large mild eyes, and snout, and whiskers, looks like that of some good-natured, intelligent dog; and one expects, as they are swimming, to see four legs and a thin curly tail come out of the water. instead of that, the body narrows away till there is seen a tail like that of a fish. the hind-feet are like those of a duck when in the water, and the front ones have, beyond the skin, only a flapper or paw with claws, at the end of it. they are covered with thick, glossy hair, closely set against the skin. the form of their jaws and teeth proves that they are carnivorous, and they are known to live on fish, crabs, and sea-birds. the birds they catch in the water, as they can swim with great rapidity and ease. they can remain also for a considerable time under the water, without coming to the surface to breathe. the sea-lion, which was the species of seal we were hoping to attack, grows to the length of ten feet. the colour is of a yellowish-brown, and the males have a large mane, which covers their neck and shoulders, so that they have very much the appearance of lions when their upper part alone is seen above the water. such were the monsters which seemed to be guarding the island towards which we were pulling, their roar vying in loudness with the hoarse sound of the surf as it beat on the rock-bound shore. newman and i were in the captain's boat. as we pulled in for the land, we saw that the surf rolled up on every side, and for some time we could not discover a clear spot through which we might urge the boats. we continued pulling on for half a mile or more, and caught sight of what appeared to be a channel between the reefs. the captain ordered us to give way, and bending to our oars, we pulled on with a will. a sailor loves a run on shore, even though that shore may be but a barren sand; but here we had two objects to excite our interest. the deserted wreck claimed our first attention. it was easy to see how she had got into her present position. an unusually high-tide and heavy gale must have lifted her over the reef, and driven her on shore; and the wind falling before she had time to go to pieces, must have left her comparatively safe from further injury. the captain stood up in his boat to watch for an opportunity to enter the passage. "now, again, my lads, give way!" he shouted. the boat lifted on the summit of a roller, and rushing on with the dark rocks and hissing foam on either side of us, in another instant we found ourselves calmly floating in a reef-surrounded lagoon or bay. we had to pull back for some distance to get to the wreck, and as we advanced, we looked along the shore to discover, if we could, traces of any of the crew. all, however, was silent and desolate. from the appearance of the island, newman observed that he thought it must be the crater of an extinct volcano, and that even the lapse of ages had allowed scarcely soil enough to collect on it, to permit of more than the scanty vegetation which was visible. as we approached the wreck, we found that she had gone stem on into the mouth of a little creek, and there had been held fast by two rocks. her build at once made us suspect that she was a whaler like ourselves. all her boats and bulwarks were gone, and her stern was much stove in. her main and mizzen-masts had been carried away, so had her foretopmast and the head of the foremast below the top, the stump only remaining. on this a yard still hung across, and the tattered fragment of a sail, showing us that she had run stem on into her present position. as her stern could be approached by water which was quite smooth, we ran the boats under it, and climbed on board. the sea had made a clean breach through the stern, and inundated the cabin, which presented a scene of ruin and desolation. the bulkheads had been knocked away; the contents of the sideboard, and sleeping-places, and lockers, all lay scattered about, shattered into fragments, in the wildest confusion, among sand, and slimy sea-weed, and shells, which thickly coated the whole of the lower part of the cabin; while the hold itself, between which and the cabin all the partitions had been knocked away, was full of water. no living being remained on board to tell us how the catastrophe had occurred. on going forward, we found that the rocks between which she was jammed were separated from the shore, and that without a boat it would have been difficult to get aboard. after the captain had examined the wreck, he gave it as his opinion that she had been there three or four years, if not longer. one thing appeared certain, that she could not have got where she was without people on board to steer her; and then the question arose, what had become of them? if any of them were still alive on the shore, they must long ago have seen the ship, and would have been waiting to receive us. the captain thought that they might have possibly been taken off by another ship soon after the wreck; still he resolved not to return without having searched thoroughly for them. we pulled round astern of the wreck, and there, in a sort of natural dock, found an easy landing-place. as we walked across the island, we found that some of the lower spots, the dells and valleys, produced a greater amount of vegetation than had appeared at a distance; but could not retrieve the character of desolation given by the black, barren hills, and dark abrupt cliffs which arose on every side. we had given up all expectation of finding anyone alive, or any signs of the spot ever having been inhabited, when we heard a cry from newman, who had wandered a little on one side. we found him standing on a green hillock, raised a little above the valley, whence on one side a wide view over the blue sparkling sea could be obtained, with some shrubs of semi-tropical luxuriance, and the bright yellow sands forming the foreground, while behind arose the dark frowning cliffs and hills i have described. on the top of the hillock were four mounds, side by side, and at one end of each was seen a rough, flat piece of wood, a rude substitute for a grave-stone. there were names on them of englishmen, and dates showing that they had died at intervals of a month or two from one another. where were the survivors?--who had buried these men? was now the question. a group of cocoa-nut trees, all that were on the island, marked the spot. it was one selected with much taste. the discovery induced us to persevere in our search. we wandered on for another hour, turning in every direction; for so full of undulations was the island, that we might easily have passed the very spot we were in search of. at last we were again called together by a shout from newman. we found him standing before a rude hut erected in front of a cave, which formed, indeed, a back apartment to it. there was only one rough bed-place on one side of it, though there were several stools, and a table in the centre. a seaman's chest stood open, and contained a few articles of clothing. there were two muskets, and some powder-flasks hung up against the wall; but there was no food, although an iron pot and a saucepan, with a place where a fire had been made, showed that provisions had at one time been cooked there. on a shelf there were several books, both in english and in foreign languages, and above them was a flute with a music-book. a few carpenter's tools were arranged on another shelf. several things showed that the place had last been inhabited by a person of superior education. on opening the books, a name was found in several of them. it was that of william evans. two of them newman discovered to be on medical subjects, which of course made us conjecture that they had belonged to the surgeon of the ship. the decayed state of the books showed that it was long since they had been opened, and on a further examination of the hut, it also was found to be in a very dilapidated condition. from the number of things left in the hut, captain carr surmised that the last occupants must have left the place very suddenly, if, indeed, they had left it at all. one thing was certain, that we were not likely to find any of them on the island. we were, therefore, on our return to the boats, when i saw the figure of a man sitting, with his back to a rock, on a gentle slope, whence a view could be obtained of the blue ocean. i had separated a little from my companions. i called to him, and i thought i heard him answer, "halloa, who calls?" his face was turned away from me, and he did not move. i called again, and at that moment newman broke through the brushwood, and joined me. together we climbed the hill, both equally surprised that the man we saw did not get up to meet us. in another minute we were by his side. the straw-hat, stained and in tatters, covered a skull; the clothes, decayed and discoloured, hung loosely on a fleshless skeleton. a book was by his side. it was a copy of a latin poet--horace, newman told me. before him was another book of manuscript; and, as we looked about, we picked up the remains of pencil, which had dropped from the dead man's fingers. newman opened the manuscript, and though it was rotten, and the characters much defaced, he could still decipher them. he glanced his eye rapidly over them. "ah! poor fellow, his appears to have been a sad fate," he remarked, with a voice full of sadness. "compelled by a strong necessity to leave england--to wrench asunder all the ties which held him there, and embark on board a south-sea-man as surgeon--he seems to have had a hard life of it with a drunken, brutal captain, and ignorant--not a human being with whom he could sympathise. unable to return home, after three years' service he exchanged into another ship. his master and officers, with all the boats, were away in chase of whales, which had appeared about them in great numbers, when a gale arose. the crew, already too much weakened by that scourge of the ocean, the scurvy, and the loss of several men, were unable to shorten sail. the boats were far out of sight, as they believed, to windward. in vain they endeavoured to beat up to them. the main and mizzen-masts went by the board; and the gale still further increasing, they were compelled to run before it, without a prospect of picking up their shipmates in the boats. "away they drove for several days before the wind, till one night all who were below were thrown out of their berths by a violent concussion. again and again the ship struck--the sea beat in her stern. they rushed on deck. it was to find nearly all those who had been there washed away. the next instant, the ship again lifting, was carried into smooth water, and finally jammed fast in the position we had found her. "five only of all the crew then survived, and they were the most sickly. the writer was himself suffering from illness; happily, however, he bore up against it. they collected all the provisions, and all articles likely to be useful, which the sea had not destroyed, and carried them on shore, which they easily reached by means of a raft. "they had food enough to last them for some time; but they had but a scanty supply of water. in vain they searched through the island--no springs were to be found. with great labour they got up all the casks of water still uninjured from the hold, and resolved to husband the contents. they formed themselves a habitation. they made reservoirs in which to catch the rain when it fell; but, in those latitudes, for many weeks together no rain falls. for a time, with their fire-arms, they killed a few birds; but their ammunition failed them, and they could kill no more. their water was at last expended, and for many weeks together the only moisture they could obtain was by chewing the leaves of the shrubs and grass they found. they continued, as at first, very weak. they talked of building a boat from the wreck, but had neither strength nor knowledge among them sufficient for the undertaking. "at last their spirits gave way, and disease made fearful progress with them all. one by one they died, and the survivors buried them. the writer of the sad journal was alone left." alas! not a word did he say about seeking consolation where alone it can be given--not a thought about another world and judgment to come. the writer seemed to pride himself on his heathen stoicism--heathen expressions of resignation were alone mentioned. his dying eyes had rested on the pages of horace--his dying thoughts, were they heavenward? "in vain had he crawled to the spot where we found him, day after day, in the faint hopes of seeing a ship to bear him away. three long years had thus passed, and all the food that had been brought on shore had been consumed; and he had not strength to search for more, so he came up there and sat himself down, and his spirit passed away." mr newman had read this rapid sketch of the last events in the life of this unhappy exile before the captain came up, when he handed him the journal. the captain desired newman to keep the "horace," observing that he could not himself understand the contents. we had found some tools in the hut, with which we dug a shallow grave close to where we had found these sad remains of mortality, and in it we placed them. on the rock above we cut the name of william evans, and the date of the day on which we found him dead. loading ourselves with the articles found in the hut, newman being allowed to take most of the books as his share, we returned to the boats. although a longer time had been spent on shore than the captain intended, he allowed us to endeavour to capture some of the sea-lions. after pulling, however, some way along the lagoon, we discovered that they could not be approached from the land-side, as they had taken up their quarters on some high rocks, almost islands by themselves, in advance of the reefs. we were, therefore, compelled to pass into the open sea before attacking them--the passage by which we entered; and, waiting an opportunity, we dashed through in safety. as we approached the largest rock, it was curious to watch the hundreds, or, i may say, thousands of fierce-looking monsters which covered its slippery surface. it would have required bold men, not acquainted with their habits, to attack them, as they looked down upon us from their seemingly unapproachable fortress. on one side, the surf broke far too fiercely to allow the boats to venture near; but on the other, although there was a good deal of surf, captain carr told us we might land. the only way, however, to get on shore was to pull in on the summit of a breaker; and while those in the bow leaped out on the rock, the rest of the crew had to pull back the boat again with all their force into smooth water. we were armed for the attack with two or three harpoons, a lance, and the boat's stretchers. "stand by, my lads--now's the time!" shouted our captain, as the two boats rolled in towards the shore. he led the way, lance in hand; newman and i and old knowles following from his boat. our sudden appearance on the confines of their fortress evidently not a little astonished the sea-lions. opening wide their jaws, and gnashing with their formidable tusks, they glanced at us from the heights above, and then, with reiterated and terrific roars, began to descend with impetuous force, as if with their overwhelming numbers to drive us into the sea. an old sea-lion led the van--a fierce monster, who looked capable of competing with all of us together. so he might, if he had possessed legs instead of fins or flappers, the latter only enabling him to twist and turn and slide down the inclined plane on which we stood into the sea. on the beasts came in dense masses, roaring and snarling. i certainly did look for a moment at the boats, and wish myself safe back again in them; but it was only for a moment, for our antagonists demanded all our strength and agility to compete with them. our captain advanced boldly towards the old leader, and as he came right at him, plunged his lance into his side. it had not the effect of stopping the beast in his career; but, instead, very nearly carried him and the lance into the water. old knowles was, i thought, very inadequately armed only with a thick stick, which he always carried on shore with him, curiously cut and carved, and fastened to his wrist by a lanyard. "let me alone," said he; "old trusty is better in a scrimmage, whether with man or beast, than all your fire-arms and steel weapons. he always goes off, and never gets blunt." newman and i were armed with harpoons. newman, following the captain's example, plunged his harpoon into the side of a seal, just as the beast, with the greatest impetus, was sliding down the rock. in attempting to stop its way, his foot slipped, and with the line coiled round his arm, before any of us could go to his assistance, he was dragged off into the boiling waters. he was a first-rate swimmer, but with so huge a sea-monster attached to him, how could he hope to escape. the rock sloped in a different direction to where the boats were, so that they could render him no assistance. i thought of the scene we had just witnessed--the unhappy exile dying alone on the desert island--and i dreaded a similar fate for my friend. with a cry of dismay we looked towards the drowning man. he disappeared among the foaming breakers. still, but with little hope, we watched the spot. yes--there was his head! he was swimming free! bravely he mounted the crest of a roller; it rushed in for the rock; but before he could find his footing, or we could stretch out our arms to help him, he was carried off again among the foaming waves. meantime old knowles had climbed up the rock in the face of the sea-lions, whom he was knocking on the head right and left with his club, and signalled the boats to pull round to newman's assistance. still, however, with only a couple of hands in each, it would take, i saw, a considerable time before they could reach him, and i resolved to make one attempt to save his life, at the risk, though it might be, of my own. sticking my harpoon in a crevice of the rock which my eye at that instant fell on, i seized the end of the line, and in spite of the sea-lions, which kept rushing past me, i struck out into the surf as i saw newman once more approaching. happily i grasped him by the collar as the sea was once more heaving him back, and the captain and other shipmates coming to our assistance, we were hauled safely up the rocks. there was not now a moment to be lost if we would capture any seals. although many had escaped, still a good number remained near; and following the example set by old knowles, we began laying about us on every side most lustily with our weapons, bestowing heavy blows on the heads of the frightened beasts. one blow was generally sufficient to stun, if not to kill them outright, and we then quickly despatched them with our knives. "on, my lads, on!" cried the captain; and up the rocky steep we went, meeting the maddened inhabitants as they came floundering down upon us. we had literally often to climb over the fallen bodies of the slain. sometimes one of our party would miss his footing, and he and half-a-dozen seals would go sliding away down the rock, the beasts biting at him, and he struggling to get free, and in no small terror of being carried away into the surf. such would inevitably have been the lot of more than one of us had not we all kept a watch to help each other out of such difficulties. our captain's combat with the old lion was the most severe. as the captain, unwilling to lose his lance or the beast, holding on to the former, was dragged downwards, they reached a ledge of rock which sloped in an opposite direction to the surrounding parts, and thus formed a table on which they could rest. here the monster, finding that he could not escape from his opponent, turned bravely to bay, and grinning with his large, strong teeth, made fiercely at him. the captain held on pertinaciously to the handle of the spear, springing actively out of the way of the beast's mouth, as in its contortions and struggles it approached him too nearly. the lion roared, and snarled, and struggled, and the captain held on bravely, but i believe would soon have had to let go had not old knowles, springing down the rock, given the animal a blow on the head with his stick, which effectually settled him. there were many other single combats, and more of one man against half-a-dozen beasts; but the result was that we came off victorious without the loss of anyone, while we could boast of having killed upwards of sixty seals. our next work was to flay them. this, in the hands of experienced operators, was soon performed, and in a short time we had sufficient skins ready to load our boats, and to make caps and jackets for all hands, besides what were required for the ship's use. the boats now came back to the spot where we were to embark, and by carefully waiting our time, we leaped on board with no other damage than wet jackets. "williams," said newman, as we were pulling on shore, "you have nobly preserved my life at the risk of your own. i trust that i may be grateful." chapter eighteen. whaling and seal-catching in the icy regions. strong breezes, and cold and thick weather, showed us that we were getting out of the genial latitudes, in which, without much success, we had been for some time cruising, and were approaching those icy regions which encircle the antarctic pole. newman had made such progress in his knowledge of seamanship, that he was not only considered competent to undertake all the ordinary duties of a seaman, but was more trusted than many of the older hands. he soon gave evidence that this confidence was not misplaced. he and i were in the same watch. this was a great satisfaction to me, as i benefited largely by his conversation, which i was now beginning fully to appreciate. one night we had the middle watch, and were together on the look-out forward. it was unusually dark; neither moon nor stars were visible, and the clouds hung down in a thick canopy over us. a strong breeze was blowing from the southward and eastward, and we were standing to the south-west with our port-tacks aboard. the sea was not very heavy, but it struck me at the time that it was somewhat uneven and irregular, and this made me suspect that we might be in the neighbourhood of land or fields of ice. newman was talking of the aurora australis, and telling me how much he longed to see its effect in its fullest brilliancy, when suddenly he seized my arm with a firm grasp. "williams!" he exclaimed, "do you see that unusual whiteness glimmering there ahead, and on our starboard bow? i hear the surf beating on it! i'm sure it's an iceberg! starboard your helm! luff all you can! starboard for your lives!" he shouted, rushing aft to see this done. i meantime called on those on deck to get a pull at the head-braces; an inch might save the ship. there was no time for ceremony; no time to announce the fact in set form to the officer of the watch. this was the second mate. he was, happily, a sensible man. he at once comprehended the emergency, and gave the necessary orders to brace up the yards, and bring the ship close upon a wind. we were not a moment too soon in anything that was done. the white glimmering appearance grew every instant more distinct, till it resolved itself into a vast massive iceberg towering high above the mast-heads, while the roar of the breakers which dashed against its sides increased in loudness. the ship heeled over to the gale till her yard-arms seemed almost to touch the floating mountain. still she stood up bravely to her canvas, closely hugging the wind. had a rope been rotten, had a spar given way, our fate might have been sealed. in one instant after striking, the ship and everything in her might have been dashed to atoms. the man with firmest nerves among all our crew watched that lofty berg, as we rushed by it in our midnight course, with feelings of awe and anxiety, if not of alarm, and drew a breath more freely when he looked over the quarter and saw the danger past. it was not the only one we encountered that night. sail had been shortened; but it was evidently necessary, after the warning we had received, to keep the ship as much as possible under command. on, on we flew through the murky night, the gale every moment increasing in force, and the sea rising and breaking in unexpected directions. we had again kept away on our course. sail was still further reduced. the cold had before been considerable; it now much increased, and our decks were covered with ice. captain carr had, the moment we sighted the iceberg, come on deck; the watch below were called, and every one was at his post. it was not a time for anyone to be spared. we had evidently got into the icy regions sooner than had been expected. intending to get out of them, the captain gave the order to keep away; but scarcely had we done so when an ice-field was seen extending away on our lee-bow and ahead, and we were again obliged to haul up, hoping to get round it. on, therefore, we sailed; but as we advanced we found the ice-field extending away on our starboard-beam, the sea breaking over it with a noise which warned us what would be the consequence if we should strike it. let our position be pictured for an instant. the fierce waves dashing wildly and irregularly about us; the storm raging fiercely; the ship driving onwards through pitchy darkness; wide, massive fields of ice extending on every side; huge icebergs floating around we knew not where; no lighthouse, no chart to guide us; our eyes and ears stretched to the utmost, giving but short warning of approaching danger. such are the scenes which wear out a commander's strength, and make his hair turn quickly grey. we knew full well that dangers still thickly surrounded us, and heartily did we wish for the return of day to see them. newman and i were again forward. i was telling him that i had heard of a ship striking a berg, and of several of her people being saved on it, while she went down, when he startled me by singing out with a voice of thunder, "ice ahead!" at the same moment old knowles cried out, "ice on the weather-bow!" and immediately i had to echo the shout with "ice on the lee-bow!" and another cried, "ice abeam!" to tack would have been instant destruction; to wear, there was no room. every moment we expected to feel the awful crash as the stout ship encountered the hard ice. captain carr rushed forward. we must dash onward. though no opening could be seen, there might be one! onward we careered. every man held his breath; and pale, i doubt not, turned the faces of the bravest. suddenly, high above us, on the weather-side, appeared another iceberg. the sea became almost calm; but it was a calmness fraught with danger rather than safety. the sails, caught by the eddy-wind, were taken aback. in another moment we might have been driven, without power of saving ourselves, under that frowning cliff of ice. the storm raged above us--before us--behind us--on every side but there we lay, as if exhausted. still the ship had way on her, and we continued our course. the channel was too narrow to allow the helm to be put up. just as she was losing her way, and would inevitably, through the force of the eddy-wind, have got stern-way on her, her headsails again felt the force of the gale, and, like a hound loosed from the leash, she started forward on her course. again we were plunging madly through the wildly breaking seas; but the wind blew steadily, and the ice-fields widened away on either side till they were lost to view. once again we were saved by a merciful providence from an almost inevitable destruction. still, we had some hours of darkness before us, and an unknown sea full of ice-islands through which we must pass. not an eye was closed that night. again we were close to one, but we were now better able to distinguish them than at first. this time we had to keep away, and run to the northward; but before long, there arose ahead of us a fourth iceberg. again we sprung to the braces, the helm was put down, and, once more close-hauled, we weathered the danger. thus we hurried on--narrowly escaping danger after danger till daylight approached. before, however, the sun arose, the gale fell; the clouds cleared away; and a bright gleam appeared in the eastern sky. up shot the glorious sun, and never shall i forget the scene of gorgeous magnificence his bright rays lighted. both sky and sea became of a deep blue--the water calm and clear as crystal--while all around us floated mountains of brilliant whiteness, like masses of the purest alabaster, of every varied form and size. many were feet high, and nearly a third of a mile in length. some had perpendicular sides, with level summits--fit foundations, it might seem, for building cities of marble palaces, or fortresses for the kings of the east. some, again, were broken into every fantastic form conceivable--towers and turrets, spires and minarets, domes and cupolas; here, the edifices found most commonly under the symbol of the crescent; there, those of the cross: norman castles, gothic cathedrals, turkish mosques, grecian temples, chinese pagodas, were all here fully represented, and repeated in a thousand different ways. others had been broken or melted into the forms of jagged cliffs, gigantic arches, lofty caverns, penetrating far away into the interior. scarcely a shape which is to be found among the butting crags, sea-beat headlands, or mountain summits, in every part of the world, was not there represented in the most brilliant and purest of materials. whole cities, too, were there to be seen pictured; squares and streets, and winding lanes, running up from the water's edge, like a ruined genoa, with marble palaces, and churches, and alabaster fountains, and huge piles of buildings of every possible form standing proudly up amid the ocean, the whole appearing like some scene of enchantment rather than a palpable reality. here was seen a lofty mountain rent in two by some fierce convulsion of nature; there, a city overturned: here, rocks upheaved and scattered around in wild confusion; there, deep gorges, impenetrable ravines, and terrific precipices;-- indeed, here nature, in her wildest and most romantic forms, was fully represented. the beauty of the wondrous spectacle was heightened when the sun arose, from the varied gorgeous tints which flashed from mountain-top and beetling cliff, from tower, turret, and pinnacle, where its bright rays fell on them as they slowly moved round in their eccentric courses. no words, however, can describe the dazzling whiteness and brilliancy of the floating masses. from some of the most lofty, fountains might be seen gushing down, as from a mountain's top when the fierce rays of the sun melt the long-hardened snow; while in and out of the deep caverns the sea-birds flew and screamed, peopling those dreary solitudes with joyous life. the sun soon melted the ice from off our decks and rigging, and as we sailed onward the air became warm and genial. the most insensible of us could not but admire the scene; but newman could scarcely repress his exclamations of delight and surprise. his sketch-book was brought out, and rapidly he committed to paper some of the most remarkable portions of the beautiful scene. still, no pencil, no colours could represent the glorious, the magnificent tints in which the sea and sky, and the majestic varied-shaped icebergs, were bathed, as the sun, bursting forth from his ocean-bed, glided upwards in the eastern heavens. numbers of birds came circling round the ship in their rapid flight, or were seen perched on the pinnacles of the bergs, or flying among their caverned recesses--albatrosses, snow-white petrels, penguins, and ducks of various sorts. the albatross--diomedea, as newman called it--is the most powerful and largest of all aquatic birds. its long hard beak is very strong, and of a pale yellow colour. the feet are webbed. i have seen some, the wings of which, when extended, measured fifteen feet from tip to tip, while they weighed upwards of twenty pounds. it feeds while on the wing, and is very voracious, pouncing down on any object which its piercing eye can discover in the water; and many a poor fellow, when swimming for his life, having fallen overboard, has been struck by one, and sunk to rise no more. the snow-white petrel is a beautiful bird, and in its colours offers a strong contrast to the stormy petrel, (_thalassidroma_), the chief part of whose plumage is of a sooty black, and others dark brown. instead of being dreaded by seamen, it ought to be looked upon as their friend, for it seems to know long before they do when a storm is approaching, and by its piercing cry and mode of flight warns them of the coming danger. seamen, however, instead of being grateful, like the world of old, the world at present, and the world as it ever will be, look upon these little prophets with dread and hatred, and in their ignorance and stupidity consider them the cause of the evil portended. penguins are found only in the antarctic ocean. they derive their name from _pinguis_, "fat," they being noted for that quality. their legs are placed so far back that, when on shore, they stand almost upright. though on land their movements are very awkward, yet when in the water-- which, more than the air, must be considered their natural element, as their wings are too small to allow them to fly--they are bold birds, and will bravely defend themselves or their young when attacked, and will advance on a retreating enemy. we had not been long in these icy regions before we reaped an ample reward for all the dangers we had encountered. as we looked over the side, we observed the water full of animalcules, while vast quantities of shrimps of various sorts were seen in the neighbourhood of the icebergs; but what still more raised our hopes of finding whales, were the numbers of large squid, or cuttle-fish, on which, as i have said, they chiefly feed. we were watching a huge fellow floating near the ship, with outstretched tentaculae, of arms, extending an immense distance from his head, and with which he was dragging up into his voracious mouth thousands of animalculae every moment--and from his size he seemed capable of encircling the body of any unfortunate person he might find swimming--when the cry was heard from aloft of "there she, spouts--there she spouts!" in an instant newman's lecture of natural history, which he was giving us, was brought to a conclusion. all hands were on deck, and four boats were manned and lowered, and pulled away after no less than three fine bull whales, which appeared at the same instant round the ship. there is a danger in attacking a whale near an iceberg which is avoided in the open sea. when he is fast, he may sound under it, and come up on the other side; but instinct warns him not to come up so as to strike his head against it. newman and i had already gone in the boats, and had proved ourselves no bad oarsmen on the occasion. he, indeed, had been allowed by the captain to use the harpoon when one of the officers was ill, and had succeeded in striking his first fish in a way which gained him much credit. on this occasion, however, we both remained on board. suddenly, not far from the ship, another whale rose to the surface, and, in a most extraordinary manner, began to turn, and twist, to throw half his huge bulk at a time out of the water, and furiously to lash it with his tail till he was surrounded with a mass of foam. the boats were in another direction, or we should have thought he had been wounded, and had a lance or harpoon sticking in him, from which he was endeavouring to free himself. he swam on, however, and approached the ship, still continuing his extraordinary contortions. as he drew near, he lifted his enormous head out of the water, when we saw hanging to his lower jaw a large fish, twenty feet long or so, from which he was thus in vain endeavouring to free himself! we had no little cause to be alarmed, as he drew near, for the safety of the ship herself; for, in the blindness of his agony, he might unintentionally strike her, or he might rush against her side to get rid of his pertinacious enemy. more than once the whale threw himself completely out of the water; but the fish still hung on to his bleeding jaw. together they fell again into the sea, while all around them was stained of a crimson hue from the blood so copiously flowing from the worried monster. "that's a killer!" cried old tom. "he'll not let go the whale till he has him in his flurry, and then he and his mates will make a feast of him. they have great strong teeth, bigger than a shark's, and are the most voracious fish i ever saw. they bait a whale just as dogs do a wild beast, or a bull, and seldom fail to kill him if they once get hold of him." this killer had a long dorsal fin, and a brown back and white belly. on came the whale and the fish, twisting and turning as before. we all stood ready to try and send them off--though very little use that would have been, i own. happily they floundered by just astern of the ship; but so violent were their movements, and by such a mass of foam and blood were they surrounded, that it was difficult to observe the appearance of the killer. equally impossible would it have been to have approached the whale to harpoon him without an almost certainty of losing the boat and the lives of all her crew. we could, therefore, only hope that the whale might be conquered when still within sight, so that the boats might carry off the prize from the relentless killer. away went the monster and his tormentor. soon we could no longer distinguish them from the deck; but on going aloft, we again caught sight of them, still floundering on as before. "that fish gives us a lesson of what pertinacity will accomplish, even in conquering the greatest of difficulties," observed newman, laughing. "i admire the way in which he sticks to his object. he has made up his mind to kill the whale, and kill the whale he will." "ay, and eat him too, ned, as he deserves," said old knowles. "some of us might learn a lesson from that fish, i'm thinking." "i have been killing whales all my life," newman remarked to me with a forced laugh. "but somehow or other, jack, i never have found out how to eat them." "overcoming difficulties, but not benefiting by them!" said i. "there must be a fault somewhere." "ay, jack, ay--a fault in myself, and a curse well-deserved," he answered, bitterly, and then was silent. i never before had heard him speak in that way, and i did not venture to ask for an explanation. that saying of newman became common ever afterwards on board, when we saw a man determined to do a thing--"kill the whale he will!" i have often thought since, how seldom sailors, especially, learn to eat whales. what sums of money they make and throw carelessly away!--amply sufficient to enable them to pass the end of their days in comfort on shore, or to provide respectably for their families, instead, as is often the case with the merchant-seaman, ending their days in a poor-house, or leaving their families to the cold charity of the world. brother seamen, learn wisdom! prepare for the future of this life; and, more than all, prepare for the life to come. two of the whales chased were captured and brought alongside, when we set to work to cut-in and try-out with all the rapidity we could exert. in those high southern latitudes the weather is very variable, and we knew that a change might come and deprive us of our prey. we were, however, fortunate in securing both whales, and between them they gave us one hundred and sixty barrels of fine oil. before, however, the boats had returned with their prizes, the whale and the killer had got far out of sight even from the mast-head. we continued for some time fishing in those quarters, amply rewarded for the dangers we had encountered by the success we met with. sometimes, however, we were days and days together without even seeing a whale; and several were lost, after chasing them with much toil and difficulty. newman contributed much all the time to keep the people in good humour, by always finding them employment; and captain carr, unlike some masters i have met with, afforded him every assistance in his plans. among other things, he established regular classes below, and, with the exception of one or two very idle, stupid fellows, all the crew belonged to one or other of them. besides a reading and writing class, he had an arithmetic and geography class, and a music and a drawing class. his singing class was the most numerous, and he very soon taught nearly all hands to sing together in admirable tune and time. i at first exclusively attended the reading and writing class, devoting every moment i was off duty to my books; so that, much to my own surprise and delight, i soon found that i could read with ease and satisfaction. writing was a more difficult task: to one whose fingers had never been accustomed to the cramped position required for holding a pen. still, newman had a way of overcoming that difficulty. making me throw the weight of my body on my left side, he left my right hand and fingers free, and kept me for some time with a dry pen simply moving up and down across the page. even when i had begun to form letters, at the commencement of every lesson he made me follow this plan for a few minutes, that, as he said, i might get my fingers into training before i disfigured the paper and became disgusted with my own performance. he himself seemed never to grow weary of teaching. no ignorance or stupidity daunted him; and it used to surprise me that a man of such extensive information and extraordinary talents, should take the trouble of imparting knowledge to people who were so immeasurably his inferiors. i used to observe, from the first, that he was never for a moment idle. "ned must always be doing something or other," old tom observed of him. "it's all the better for him that he is afloat. if he were on shore, he would be doing mischief." his great object seemed to be to fly from himself. sometimes, when i was talking with him, from the strangeness of his remarks, and from his bursts of feeling, i thought that there must be a touch of madness about him; but then, again, immediately afterwards, he would say something so full of thought and sense, that i banished the idea. to me he proved the greatest blessing. i was becoming a new character. i had discovered powers within me of which i before had no conception. i had gone on through life, if not rejoicing in my ignorance, at least indifferent to it. i had picked up a certain amount of knowledge from the conversation of others, but it was ill-digested, and i was full of the grossest prejudices. i have scarcely, indeed, given a correct notion of what i was up to this time. i might describe myself just as i once heard a shipmate spoken of--as _just an ignorant common sailor_. such i had been. i could now read. i could dive into the rich stores collected by other minds, and make them my own. without robbing others, i could appropriate their wealth, and enjoy all the benefits it could afford. once having begun to read, the taste grew on me. i read through and through every book newman possessed. after a time, as his talents came to be known and appreciated by the captain, and officers, and surgeon, he was able to borrow books from them, which he allowed me to read. although not many of them were very enlightening, they served to show me my own ignorance from the allusions they made, which i was totally unable to comprehend; and this only made me desire to gain further information, which it was somewhat difficult to obtain. as to newman himself, he literally devoured every book which came in his way. he soon read through every book to be found on board; and whenever we fell in with another ship, he used to borrow all he could, or exchange his own books for others. unfortunately, the literature in those days to be found at sea was generally of a very inferior character, and not at all calculated to improve its readers. still, some knowledge was gleaned from all but the worst, and some errors and prejudices corrected. newman had, however, certain favourites among his books, both english and foreign, which he would on no account have parted with. these he used frequently to read to me in our spare hours, or when we were engaged in such work as required our hands alone to be employed. i observed, indeed, after a little time, that we had far less employment found for us than had been the case in other ships on board which i had served; and this, i suspect, was because we found it for ourselves, or rather newman found it for us. i never met with men so contented and happy as we all became; and this i could only account for by supposing that we were interested in our various occupations. newman was also the great peacemaker on board. whenever a dispute arose, he always inquired the point at issue, and, without allowing time for the temper of either party to become irritated, he generally contrived to settle the matter. if he could not manage that, he used to try and raise a laugh by some absurd observation, or would place the position assumed by one man or the other in so ridiculous a light, that he seldom failed to show him that he was wrong. one thing i remarked about newman was, that he never alluded to any religious subject. i never saw him pray. he had no bible or prayer-book with him. i never heard him give utterance to a sentiment of piety, or of trust in god's mercy or fear of his anger. i did, on the contrary, frequently hear him praise the greek and roman philosophers of old, and he often spoke of the stoicism and heroism of the heathens. still he neither blasphemed, nor cursed, nor swore, nor did he ever attempt to instil any infidel notions into the minds of any of us. however, i fear that he was, to all intents and purposes, a heathen. i doubt, indeed, whether he ever had any religion. i suspect that he was brought up without any; and that at no time, during the period he was gaining his education, did he meet with anyone to instruct him. i could not even then help contrasting the confiding piety and true religion of my old shipmates, peter poplar and captain gale, with the entire want of it which he displayed. indeed, captain carr, though a kind and worthy man, and a good sailor, was sadly unenlightened as to the truth; and all the years i served with him we neither had prayers nor any religious observance whatever on board. on a sunday, if the weather was fine, and no whales were in sight, we put on clean clothes, mended and washed our old ones, and had an additional glass of grog served out, with less work than usual given us to do. on board most south-seamen every day in the week was much the same. it was a fact, i fear, and one painful to contemplate, that newman, with all his great and varied talents, lived on as if there were no god in the world. i do not mention this without a purpose. it seems strange that it was from such a man i received the instruction which enabled me ultimately to attain to a knowledge of, and active belief in, the truth. it shows by what varied instruments god works to bring about his gracious purposes. it convinced me of the power and effect of grace. here was i, sunk deep myself in ignorance, and living among those who were equally unaware of the truth, called out of darkness into his marvellous light. but i am anticipating events. we continued cruising near the antarctic circle during the few short months of summer with unvaried success. we had frequent displays at night of the aurora australis. sometimes the whole southern hemisphere would be covered with arches of a beautiful straw-colour, from which streamers would radiate, both upwards and downwards, of a pure glittering white. the stars would be glittering brightly overhead; while, from east-south-east to west-north-west, a number of concentric arches would appear, forming a complete canopy in the sky; then suddenly they would vanish, again shortly to appear. some nights it appeared in the form of cumuli, tinged with pale yellow; and behind them arose brilliant red, purple, orange, and yellow tints, streaming upwards in innumerable radiations, with every combination of shade which these colours could produce. another night we saw a bright crescent, and from it feathery-edged rays, of a pale orange colour, branched off in every direction, while across it a succession of the prismatic colours appeared rapidly to flit. indeed, it is difficult to describe the various forms which the aurora assumes. one of the most curious sights i ever beheld we witnessed some time after this. it was the appearance of the sun and moon above the horizon at the same time: the moon, which was nearly full, throwing her light-- stolen from the sun, which blazed forth at the same time--on the world of icebergs. it was as if we had been looking on two distinct scenes. on one side, the bright rays of the luminary of day were throwing a golden hue on the vast mountain masses of ice which floated on the blue waters; on the other, the pale orb of night cast a silvery fringe on the clouds which surrounded it. there was, indeed, no night; the binnacle-lamp was not even lighted; and we were able to continue, without cessation, trying-out a whale, whose carcase floated alongside. among other curious things i observed, were large masses of rock-- boulders they are called--embedded in the base and centre of icebergs. it shows that they must originally have been formed on shore, and then floated away by some unusually high-tide or commotion of the sea. it explains also the appearance of boulders in places where it would be difficult otherwise to account for their being found. i have seen birds in great numbers on rocks in the ocean, in different parts of the globe, but never have i beheld so many as there were on an island we one day sighted before steering north. there was but little wind, and as the captain thought a supply of birds, although of a somewhat fishy taste, would be an acceptable addition to our daily fare of salt junk and salt pork, he directed the third mate, with newman, me, and four other men, to take a boat and bring off as many as we could kill. calm as it was, the surf rolled so heavily in on the rocks that it was a work of no little difficulty and danger to approach them so as to gain a footing out of the reach of the waves. the mate ordered an anchor to be let go, and, veering away on the cable, we dropped gradually in; and while, boat-hook in hand, one at a time leaped on shore, the boat-keepers with their oars kept the boat head to sea, and as soon as we had landed, which we did not succeed in doing without a thorough ducking, they hauled the boat off beyond the breakers. the island on which we stood was a wild, desolate place. not a tree or a shrub was to be seen; but the hills, which rose to a considerable height above the ocean, were covered with a long thick grass, of a character similar to what grows on the falkland islands. here and there dark rocks cropped out, and the sides of the island were formed in many parts of lofty, precipitous cliffs; while in others, such as the place we had landed on, were rugged rocks sloping gradually down to the sea. a thick fringe of kelp, a slippery sort of sea-weed, added somewhat to the difficulties of our landing. as we advanced, we were assailed by the most frightful gabbling, and screeching, and quacking i ever heard, from thousands and thousands of wild-fowls, chiefly penguins of various species. the whole hillside was literally covered with them and their eggs in dense masses. nothing daunted at our appearance, when they found that the hubbub they made could not compel us to retreat, they commenced a fierce attack on us with their beaks, pulling at our trousers and pecking at our flesh. in our own defence we were obliged to lay about us with the boat's stretchers, and to knock them right and left on the head. some, however, took warning from the fate of their companions; but while those at a distance gabbled and screeched louder than ever, those in the front waddled boldly up to the assault. as far as we could judge, we must have slaughtered the whole colony, or been pecked to death by them if we had attempted to sit down to rest. every inch of their native soil, like true patriots, they bravely disputed with us; and when any of us, for fun, retreated, to see what they would do, they advanced erect and determined, rolling their heads from side to side in the most comical way, their power of vision residing only in the lower part of each eye. then they would throw their heads backwards, and utter sounds very like the braying of a jackass; from which circumstance they have been called the jackass penguins. all the time, their little wings were actively employed as legs to expedite their movements. when in the water, they use their wings as fins to dive. when they rise again after a dive, they come up with so sudden a dash, instantly being down again, that it is often difficult to say whether they are fish or fowl. the most acceptable part of the spoils were their eggs, which we picked up in great quantities, and stowed away for safety in our caps and hats. newman and i being in advance of the party, came upon a large rock, on and about which were perched a number of much larger birds than those we had seen below. they sat quietly looking at us till we approached, and then they commenced scolding us as the others had done. they appeared to be arranged in the most perfect order, in ranks like those of an army, each class being by themselves. in one place were hen-birds sitting on their eggs; in another, the mother-birds tending their newly-hatched young; while their mates were away over the ocean fishing for their dinners--a labour in which the hens very soon assist their partners. the moulting birds sit by themselves; and the bachelors, i conclude, have also to dwell in solitude. when we frightened the sitting-hens, we observed that they had a peculiar way of lifting up their eggs between their legs, and waddling off with them. these birds which were much larger than those seen below, are called king penguins. we each carried off one over our shoulders as trophies. after we left the ship, another boat was lowered to attack some sea-lions, which had been observed on a rock a little way off. we saw our shipmates commencing the attack as we went up the hill. several were harpooned. one huge monster, notwithstanding a severe wound, managed to make his escape. as we returned down the hill, we found ourselves at the edge of a deep gully, into which the sea dashed, leaping up on either side, but leaving in the centre a space of comparatively clear water. as we looked down into it, we saw it curiously disturbed, and soon there rose to the surface two monsters, which seemed to be attacking each other with the greatest fury. we could have no doubt that they were sea-lions; and from the blood which flowed from the neck of one of them, we guessed that he was the one we had seen wounded. no animals on shore could have fought more desperately, although their teeth alone could be used as weapons of assault. they swam at each other, seizing each other's snouts, and fins, and lips, and struggled, and turned, and floundered about, till a big sea rushing up, carried both of them out of our sight. "such are human combats," observed newman, with one of his peculiar laughs. "the sharks or the birds of prey will alone benefit by their folly." while we were speaking, we saw several huge albatrosses flying, at the speed almost of lightning, towards the island. instantly they pounced down on some of the birds we had killed; but finding that they had not yet a sufficiently high flavour to suit their palates, they picked up some of the eggs which we had compelled the jackass penguins to desert, and flew off with them, it was impossible to say where. we returned to the ship with a boat-load of birds and eggs, but not without a thorough ducking. while i am on the subject of natural history, i will describe another species of seal, which we found on some islands on which we landed. we went on shore, as we had before done, armed with clubs and lances, to capture some of them. it required a knowledge of their inert and slothful character to give us courage to attack them with the weapons which we possessed, for in size and appearance they were most formidable-looking monsters. they were from twenty-five to thirty feet long, and some eighteen feet in circumference. their heads are armed with large tusks and formidable teeth, and the male has the power of elongating the upper lip into the form of a proboscis, from which circumstance they are called sea-elephants. they are only found in those regions in the summer, as they migrate into warmer latitudes in the winter. we very quickly dispatched a number of them with blows on the head, and then towed them off to the ship, where each produced some eighty gallons of oil. their skins also, which are of great use for many purposes, were preserved. the nights were again shortening, when, just before dark, it came on to blow hard. sail was taken off the ship, and those with the best eyes on board were stationed on each bow and at the bowsprit-end, to give notice of any dangers in sight. we were standing to the westward, going free, our captain intending soon to haul up for the northward. it was the darkest part of the still short night, when the lookers-out ahead gave notice that they heard the crashing sound of ice grinding together. directly afterwards the words "ice ahead!" echoed along the deck. immediately the starboard tacks were hauled aboard, and the ship was kept to the northward. again the startling cry was heard, "ice on the lee-bow!" then "ice ahead!" the ship had good way on her. the helm was put down. we flew to the tacks and sheets, and about she came, her counter actually grazing a sheet of ice, against which in another moment she would have struck! we could now only steer to the southward, where we knew more ice must be found, so that we must speedily be about again. it was necessary to keep sufficient sail on the ship to enable us to work her quickly. on we stood into the darkness, with a knowledge that danger was ahead of us. "ice! ice ahead!" was again the cry. we wore about, but just in time to escape contact with it. we could not tell all the time whether the ice-fields might not be closing on us. every tack we made was shorter and shorter. still, our only hope was to beat out of the narrow passage into which the ship had run. many tacks were made. a huge iceberg, dimly glimmering through the obscurity, towered up before us; yet, though dim, not the less terrific. the helm was put down. there might be space between it and the field-ice to the southward of it. the southern field hove in sight; we tacked, but just in time. then on we rushed towards the iceberg, beating closely into the wind. again it appeared on our lee-bow; the ship heeled over to the breeze. on we rushed--a flaw of wind heading us would send us to destruction. the wind held steady. on, on we rushed, the foam flying over our bows and freezing as it fell. a towering cliff of ice appeared over our mast-heads--still we hurried on. there was a loud thundering clash. the stoutest held their breath for fear. our deck was deluged with spray. several quickly-following seas struck our stern, lifting the ship before them. the summit of the vast iceberg had fallen--perhaps by the concussion of the air as we moved under it. a moment later, and we should have been crushed to atoms--driven far, far down into the depths of the ocean! the iceberg was passed. it seemed to be guarding the portals of that narrow inlet. as the dawn came on, we could discover the ice trending away to leeward. all day we stood on, gradually increasing our distance from icebergs and fields of ice, till we had, to our no little satisfaction, left them far astern. chapter nineteen. a visit to java. we had won many a prize from the vasty deep with no little toil, and visited many strange people living under burning suns, when we found ourselves at anchor in the roads of batavia, the capital of the large and fertile island of java. it was taken by the english in the year from the dutch, or rather from the french, who had temporary possession of it. the british fleet employed on the occasion was under the command of admiral sir robert stopford, and the army under that of general wetherall and colonel gillespie. that admirable and talented man, sir stamford raffles--the greatest benefactor the islands of the east had ever known, till sir james brooke followed in his footsteps, was then appointed governor, and had his counsels and prayers been followed, it would still have been a bright jewel in the british crown. unhappily neither were heeded. his letters describing the fertility and unbounded resources, when properly developed, of that immense territory, remained unread, unopened at the colonial office; and at the general peace java was cast back as a worthless trifle into the heap to be enjoyed by others, which england had gained by so much blood and treasure. the dutch took possession, and very speedily re-established the system of close monopoly and grinding tyranny which the enlightened policy of sir stamford raffles had abolished. newman had now so completely established himself in the good opinion of the captain, that he was treated more as an officer than a foremast-man, and whenever duty would allow, he was permitted to go on shore to visit whatever was worthy of notice. he looked upon me completely in the light of a pupil, in whose advancement he had the deepest interest. "never mind how old you are," he used to say; "you will outlive me yet by many a year, and will have plenty of use for all the information you can pick up before you die." i little thought at the time how true his words would prove. he used in joke to call me hardy old jack; and certainly for many years i never had had an hour's illness. the truth is, that i was gifted with a sound constitution, and had avoided playing tricks with it, as a great number of people do, and then complain of the sicknesses with which they are afflicted, shutting their eyes to the fact that they have brought them on themselves entirely in consequence of their own folly. while we lay at batavia, i was constantly on shore with newman. the roads of batavia are rather more than a quarter of a league from the city, and are guarded from the prevailing winds by a dozen small islands outside them. the ground on which the city stands bears evident signs of having been thrown up by the sea, but rises gradually to the mountains ten leagues off behind it. the river jacatra runs through the city, and it is intersected likewise in all directions by canals. it has also a moat running round it, as likewise a wall of coral-rock. its defences consist of twenty bastions, and a castle near the sea, with a mud-bank in front of it. it is, indeed, completely a dutch city. but besides its numberless canals and ditches, as it is situated in a dead marshy flat, and is surrounded with dirty fens, bogs, and morasses, over which a tropical sun sends down its burning rays, drawing up noxious vapours of every description, it may be considered, taken all in all, as one of the most unhealthy cities of the civilised world. by care and proper drainage these defects might be amended, and, as the general temperature of the atmosphere is not excessive, it might become as healthy as any other place in those regions. java is about two hundred miles long and forty broad, and has numerous deep inlets along the northern coast, where ships may anchor during the good or south-east monsoon. a chain of mountains, from which a number of rivers descend to the sea, runs down the centre, and divides the island into two parts. the air is cooled by the sea-breezes, which, as in the west indies, set in every day. the soil is particularly rich. it is cultivated by buffaloes, and in some places one is sufficient to drag a plough. java produces rice of a first-rate quality, sugar in abundance, cotton in considerable quantities, salt, timber, indigo, coffee, pepper, and various kinds of spices. java is, in reality, governed by the dutch east india company; but it is divided into a number of provinces, ruled over by puppet princes with the title of sultan. at the court of each, one of the company's chief officers, or head merchants, as they are called, resides. in some of the provinces these petty emperors have been deposed, and they are governed by one of the company's officers, under the title of resident. the religion of these princes is mohammedan, as is that of the natives generally, though intermixed with many superstitious observances. no government rules a country with a more despotic system, or is more jealous of foreign interference with its trade. i suspect, also, that none has done more injury to the advancement of civilisation in the east, from their readiness to submit to all the absurd customs and degrading ceremonies imposed on them by the chinese and other semi-barbarous nations, for the purpose of advancing their mercantile interests. taught by them, these people look upon all europeans as tribes of mean and despicable traders, who have neither the power nor the spirit to resent any injuries inflicted on them. in the environs of batavia are a number of villages, some inhabited by malays, and others by chinese, who visit the island in great numbers, and carry on a considerable trade, notwithstanding the persecutions to which they have at times been subject. in various beautiful spots, both near the city or the neighbouring hills, and along the sea-shore, are found the large and handsome country residences of the chief merchants and other authorities connected with the company. there are five principal roads which lead from the city towards the country, and which are planted with high and shady trees. one of the most beautiful roads leading to the port of jacatra is closely planted with a double row of mango-trees, and both sides of it are embellished with large and pleasant gardens, and many fine and elegant buildings. all the roads are much of the same description, and give a character of finished cultivation to the neighbourhood of the city. both sides of the streets, as well as of the numerous canals, are planted with fine trees, so that the country all round batavia may well be characterised as a tropical holland. the governor-general usually resides at his country-seat, called weltevreeden, a superb mansion, about an hour and a quarter's walk from the city. he there resides in great state, and never goes about without being attended by a body-guard, dressed in coats of scarlet cloth richly laced with gold. the ordinary habitations of the europeans are of brick, run up in a light airy manner, and stuccoed on the outside. they have sash-windows. the interiors are all on the same plan. the fronts are in general narrow, and the houses extend back a long way from the street. fronting the entrance, a narrow passage, with a parlour on one side, leads to a large long room, lighted from an inner court, into which it opens. this apartment is called the "gallery," and here the family live and dine. the floors are of large, square, dark-red stones. no hangings are to be seen, but the walls are neatly stuccoed and whitened. the furniture consists of some arm-chairs and two or three sofas. on the walls are numerous looking-glasses, and chandeliers or lamps are hung in a row along the ceiling of the gallery, and are lighted up in the evening. the stairs leading to the upper rooms are generally at the end of the gallery. the upper parts of the houses are divided much as below. they are generally but scantily provided with furniture; indeed, from the heat of the climate but little is required. behind the gallery are the lodgings for the slaves, the kitchen, and the out-houses. instead of being glazed, the windows are often closed with a lath-work of rattans. few of those in the city have gardens. in the country, on the contrary, the greatest attention is paid to them, many of which are very beautiful, though laid out in the formal dutch style, as they are full of the choicest flowers and shrubs. newman was especially struck with them. "ah, this would indeed be a beautiful country to live in, if people could but manage not to die!" he exclaimed. unhealthy as the country undoubtedly is, the city itself is far worse, so that, as a place of residence, it is almost abandoned by the more wealthy merchants, who only visit it as a place of business--their fine mansions being turned into stores or counting-houses. europeans at batavia, of whatever nation, live much in the same way. they rise at daybreak, and sit for some time cooling themselves in the thinnest dress in which they have passed the night; then they dress, and breakfast on coffee or tea, and are at their offices at eight. they work till nearly noon, when they dine, and take a nap till four, when they again attend to business till six. afterwards they drive out, or mix in social intercourse in an informal way till nine, when they sup, and retire to bed at eleven. newman, whose means of observation were greater than mine, told me that the men had their parties together, and the ladies theirs, which i should consider a very bad arrangement. the men of higher rank--the upper merchants--are each attended by a slave, holding an umbrella behind him; but a junior merchant must carry his umbrella himself. the women marry very young, are very ill-educated, and pass much of their time lolling on sofas, talking and laughing with their slaves, whom another moment they will order to be whipped for the slightest offence. those born in the country have very supple joints, and can twist their fingers, hands, and arms in almost every direction. what can be expected from women who are abandoned, almost as soon as born, to the care of ignorant slaves--little or no care being taken to inculcate moral or religious principles into their plastic minds, till they have fully imbibed all the superstitious notions and prejudices which are held by their attendants? while saying this, i must urge parents at home never--if they value the eternal happiness of their children--if they wish them to imbibe right principles, and to avoid pernicious ones--to commit them to the charge of persons, however decent in their behaviour, who are not likely, from their want of education, to be able to instil them. parents, children were given you by god; and at your hands he will require them. on your care, on your exertions, on your prayers, it depends whether they grow up a blessing to you and to themselves, or become miserable and lost. still, children, nothing will exonerate you, when you become free agents, and understand good from evil, if you reject the good and choose the evil. you have more need for prayer, more need for exertion, more need for self-control, to conquer the vices which have grown up with you; and, believe old jack, however you may be weighed down with them, if you will but _try_, if you will but cast all your burden on him who is alone able to bear it, you will succeed. provisions of all sorts we found abundant and cheap. the fruits are the cocoa, areca, banana, papaya, white and red shaddock, mangostan, rambootang, ananas, and betel. saffron is collected there, and every description of allspice. the betel is a creeping-plant with an aromatic leaf. the natives spread over the leaf a little slaked-lime, and place at one end a small piece of areca-nut and cardamom. they then roll the leaf up, and masticate it for hours together. it blackens their teeth and reddens their lips, and gives an effect which the chinese and malays admire considerably. java abounds in serpents--the smallest is the most dangerous. its bite is said to cause death. it is scarcely thicker than a candle, and from two to three feet long. they are of various colours:--some grey, spotted with white; and others green, with bright red and white streaks. we heard of one twenty feet long, and of the thickness of a man's arm; and saw another stuffed, as big round as the body of a man, and about fifteen feet long. the javanese are likewise plagued with ants, and all sorts of creeping things. having given a faint sketch of the mode of life of the rulers of this wealth-giving island, i must briefly describe the native inhabitants, as also some of the numerous tribes which flock there from other quarters. as i have already observed, the native princes, the nominal governors of the greater part of the country, are kept in the most perfect subjection by the company; and the common javanese are in the most abject state of slavery. the labourer is not only obliged, at fixed periods, to deliver a certain quantity of the fruits of his industry to the regent placed over him on behalf of the company, for whatever price the latter chooses to allow him, and that price, moreover, paid in goods, which are charged to him at ten times their real value; but he likewise cannot consider what may remain as his own property, not being permitted to do with it what he may think fit, nor allowed to sell it to others at a higher or a lower rate; on the contrary, he is compelled to part with this also, as well as with what the company claimed of him, to the same petty tyrant, at an arbitrary price, very much below its real value. the javanese, like all people living under a torrid zone and a despotic government, are of an indolent disposition, and, it is said, require great excitement to make them work; but the real secret of their idleness is the certainty that they will not be allowed to enjoy the fruits of their labour. possessing no certain property, they are satisfied with little. the food of those who inhabit the level country is rice and fish; but those who dwell in the mountains use a root called _tallas_, with salt. this salt they make out of the ashes of wood. their dwellings are little huts, constructed of bamboos, plastered with mud, and thatched with broad leaves. their furniture consists of a bedstead made of bamboos, a block on which to pound their rice, two pots for boiling food, and a few cocoa-nut shells for drinking. they seldom live much beyond their fiftieth year. they were converted to islamism about , when the arabian chick-ibn molana came over, and, marrying the daughter of the king of damak, received as her portion the province of cheribon. their mosques are generally of wood, and perfectly unadorned; but the tomb and mosque of the said ibn molana form a magnificent edifice. they do not place their dead in coffins, but wrap them in linen, and place a stone at the head and another at the foot of the grave, as seats for the two angels who, after their death, examine into their conduct while in this world. the javanese are, in general, well-shaped; of a light-brown colour; with black eyes and hair, their eyes being much sunk in the head. they have flattish noses and large mouths. in figure, they are generally thin, though muscular; here and there only a corpulent person being seen. the women, when young, have softer features than the men; but when they grow old, it is difficult to conceive any human being more hideous than they become. a man's dress consists of a pair of linen breeches, scarcely reaching half-way down the thighs, and over this a sort of shirt of blue or black coarse cotton cloth, which hangs loose below the knee. the hair of the head is bound up in a handkerchief, in the form of a turban. a woman's dress consists of a coarse chintz cloth, wrapped twice round the body, fastened under the bosom, and hanging down to the calf of the leg; over this is a short jacket, which reaches to the waist. no covering is worn on the head, but the hair is bound up in a fillet, and fastened at the back of the head with large pins. sometimes chaplets of flowers are worn. children run about without clothes till they are eight years old. of course, i have been speaking only of the lower classes. the upper generally dress with great magnificence. the javanese are not much employed as domestic servants, but slaves have been brought from the coast of bengal, malabar, sumatra, and other parts, as well as from celebes, and often become very accomplished servants. they are generally well-treated, and behave well; but their great vice is gaming, to which they are tempted by the chinese, who keep the gaming-houses, and are much too cunning to allow the poor slaves to regain what they may have lost. this vice, as is the case elsewhere, tempts them to rob their masters and to commit many other crimes, for the sake of supplying themselves with money to continue the practice, or to recover what they have lost. there are said to be a hundred thousand chinese in and about batavia, the whole population amounting only to a hundred and sixty thousand, made up of natives, armenians, persians, arabs, malays, negroes, and europeans. we were witnesses of a curious spectacle one day, when the chinese assembled from far and near to visit the tombs of their ancestors at jacatra, near the site of the capital of that ancient kingdom. the road from batavia to jacatra is a very fine one. on either side it is adorned with magnificent palaces, occupied by the councillors of the indies, the principal persons in the company's service, and the richest merchants. in front of these palaces, parallel to the causeway, is a navigable canal crossed by bridges very ingeniously constructed of bamboo. on the opposite banks are numerous native villages, which are seen peeping through the cocoa, banana, papaya, and other bushy shrubs, with which every hut is surrounded. near the ancient capital is the fortress to which the unhappy prince of genea withdrew when the dutch conquered the kingdom, and where he lost his life fighting desperately. in the chinese burying-place are great numbers of tombs, with inscriptions specifying the time of the death, age, name, and virtues of those whose remains are within. the tombs are much ornamented, and surrounded with cypresses; and on either side are benches on which the relatives and friends may rest when they come to perform their funeral duties. on the present occasion the tombs were ornamented with wreaths of paper or silk of different colours, and three wax tapers were burning on each. provisions, also, were either sent or brought, and placed as offerings on the tombs. the most opulent were distinguished from the rest by the richness of their viands--fish, fruit, sweetmeats, and beverages. these provisions, having been left for some hours on the tombs, were partly consumed by the family of the deceased, some was offered to the spectators, and the rest carried away. roasted fowls, which had been kept whole on purpose, were, however, left behind by some; for what purpose i could not ascertain. these travelled chinese had got over many of their national prejudices, and very politely offered newman and me some of the good things; of which we partook with no little satisfaction, though, as my companion observed, a cemetery was an odd place to pic-nic in. movable theatres were erected on one side of the cemetery, and temples had been built on the plain below. these temples are large saloons, ornamented with grotesque and antique statues, especially those representing josi in the midst of his family. josi, a disciple of confucius, and afterwards his most confidential friend, rose from the dregs of the people, and became the greatest legislator of his nation. after the death of confucius, the emperor banished him; so he retired in the bosom of his family to the low state from which he had sprung, where he declared that he enjoyed far more true happiness than he had ever done in his exalted position. to him and his benignant laws the chinese are indebted for the preservation of their manners, customs, and dress. he is always represented in his retirement after his labours for the public good were concluded. we had here, as newman observed, an example of the way in which the ancients deified their great men, and learned to worship them. opposite each idol were burning red wax tapers, of different sizes, and matches of incense. an altar or table covered with dainties stood in the middle of the temple, surrounded by idols; and in a room behind it was another altar, surmounted with a statue of josi. an old bonze or priest of venerable aspect, with a long white beard, stood up, reciting some prayers in a low voice. he had on his head a white straw-hat, in the shape of a cone. on the top of it was a little ball of gold, and behind a small tuft of red silk. he kept continually bowing with great regularity, and every now and then let fall a piece of wood like a ruler, which he as often picked up again. he was habited in a tunic of transparent violet silk, with a girdle of twisted silk ornamented with gold; and to it were attached the instruments required for the ceremony. over this he wore a gold-embroidered robe, with long sleeves turned up at the wrists. it was of violet colour, and a strong material; and, being closed all round, must have been put on over the head. on his breast and back were two plates of rich gold embroidery, representing an eagle, or a bird like one. in his hand he had a large fan, the case of which hung at his girdle like a knife-sheath. his slippers were square at the toes, and embroidered with gold; but his legs were bare. under the vestibule of the temple, a hog and a goat, with the horns on, were killed as burnt-offerings, and placed on a stand, with their entrails before them. the interior of the temple was filled with tables covered with preserved fruits and tea, where the bonzes and rich people were sitting eating, drinking, and smoking; but none of the multitude ventured in. many female bonzes, or bonzesses, were in the vestibule, dressed in violet silk robes, but without embroidery. their hair was twisted and turned up behind, forming a round tuft, fastened with two diamond-headed pins. these tufts were stuck round with other very rich pins, forming the beams of a most brilliant sun. they took no part that we saw in the ceremonies. what i have described seemed to be a prelude to the ceremonies. the bonzes, fifteen in number, left the vestry to the sound of shrill, noisy music. they took their stations before the altar, where they made many genuflexions and gestures. they then presented to the high-priest, who had no distinguishing mark, many meats which were on the altar. on this he made various signs, pronouncing some words in a whining tone of lamentation. after having made various libations with several liquors, which he spread over the offerings, the other bonzes replaced them on the altar. one of them then took a card, containing characters, from which he sung. judging from the loud laughter of part of the auditory, the words seemed to have little analogy to the ceremony. every bonze held in his hand a box filled with incense matches, one of which he lighted as soon as its predecessor was extinguished. after a repetition of this ceremony, during which the music was never discontinued, they entered the side-room to take refreshment. having drunk their tea, they went in procession to a second temple, where the same ceremony was gone through. thence they repaired to the theatre. when they had reached the front of it they halted. "are they going to act?" said i. "i should not be surprised," observed newman. "what are they but actors? the people, you see, have taken no part whatever in the matter." the chief bonze mounted the theatre alone, and having made many violent gestures and exclamations, again descended, when the performances began. during these ceremonies the gates of the temples, and both sides of the theatres, were filled with common chinese, a large number of whom were children, playing different games of chance. i never saw people so fond of gaming as they are. a part of the roasted poultry was left all night on the tombs, the common people imagining that at that period the dead assemble and eat it up. people in misfortune strew amulets over the graves of their ancestors, to obtain their favour. these amulets are bits of silk paper, on which are spread pieces of leaf silver, which they fancy passes current as a paper-money among the dead. i could not ascertain whether the hog and goat were actually offered up with any ceremony, or simply left to be devoured by the priests. "have you ever seen anything like this before?" asked newman, as we were on our way back to the ship. "yes, i think i have," i answered. "so have i," he remarked, "in a roman catholic church. the priests of rome--ancient and modern--and these bonzes are much alike. they have both copied their ceremonies from the jews and the heathens of old, travestying them somewhat, to make them pass for their own. depend on it josi understood human nature, and knew what would suit the taste of the vulgar." so numerous are the chinese in java, and so inclined to revolt, that the dutch government are always careful to provide them with amusements. in each place there is a chief, with the title of "captain," who is answerable for their good conduct. he is obliged to maintain, at his own cost, a troop of female actors, called bayadeers. they perform, without exception, every night, from nine o'clock till daybreak, in a kind of theatre, in the middle of the street. the play, as far as we could make out, represents the wars of the tartars against the chinese. various chiefs, in different costumes, with their faces smeared black or white, or masked, come to announce a new war, in which they anticipate great success. they harangue the soldiers with violent gestures. then comes a general or emperor, and, making another speech, gets up on a table with a chair on the top of it, when he takes his seat at the back of the stage. the combatants then come in with long spears, and, fighting desperately, one party runs away, while the other has to listen to a long speech on their bravery. the tartars are known by their short coats, large trousers, helmets, sabres, and great shields. the roaring music of gom-goms never stops during the performance. one day we visited the chinese quarter, where there are an immense number of gaming and eating tables. the seats, as well as the tables, are made of bamboo. the chinese eat with two little sticks, and use a spoon of china with a short crooked handle. each article of food is served on a little dish like a saucer. the jelly, minced meats, and soup, are generally cold, while their beverages are hot. the chief is arrack, sugar, and hot water. the favourite dish is part of a dog, of a species with a smooth skin, which they carefully fatten. it is eaten with every kind of sauce. no people eat so much pork as the chinese. the hundred thousand chinese in batavia are said to feed at least four hundred thousand pigs, which increase not a little the bad odours of the place. whether they do it to keep the jews at a distance, i do not know, but the two people do not get on well together. we used to meet in the chinese company, or quarter, curious processions of men, with marked or painted faces, having kettle-drums, gom-goms, and tambourines. some, grotesquely dressed, were carried on poles or in hampers, ornamented with paper, ribbons, and little bells; some were seated on monsters, like our representations of sea-horses. these processions are in honour of the spirit of evil. the reason they give for them is, that as the divinity is infinitely good, it is not necessary to implore him; but the devil, on the contrary, must be feasted and amused, to prevent him from going about and committing mischief. in every chinese house, in a sort of shrine, is a picture of confucius, represented as a great fat man, with the devil at his side tempting him. on each side are pots of flowers and tapers of red wax, gilt, which are lighted on certain days, together with a little lamp in front, just as is seen in romish chapels. chinese girls are always shut up, and employed in sewing and embroidery; and parents arrange marriages without the couple having even seen each other. the poorer sort, however, are allowed to serve in their shops. we heard the people generally well spoken of, as being good fathers, sons, husbands, and friends. they carry on every art and traffic, and engross nearly all the house and ship building in batavia, though they pay enormous annual duties to the company on their industry and trade. among other duties, they pay for being allowed to let their nails grow long, especially that of the little finger, as it is a proof that they do not work for their living. the twisted tail, which they wear extremely long, often down to their knees, pays in proportion to its length. it is measured every year at a fixed time. to cut off the tail of a chinaman, or to pare his nails, is looked upon as a most severe punishment. their dress consists of large trousers, and round coats, which reach to the middle of the thighs. it is either of black or very bright sky-blue. white is worn for mourning; and when for a very near relative, the collar has a rent in it. they have a custom of keeping their dead for some days in the house, which, in such a warm climate, frequently causes bad fevers. a chinese house, where a death has happened, is known by a white cloth hung in lieu of the door. this information, through newman's help, i picked up during our visits on shore. the ship had been at anchor about a week, when we again went on shore, and had walked on for an hour or so, when, a little beyond fort ansol, we found ourselves in front of a chinese temple, standing in a grove of cocoa-nut trees by the side of a rivulet, among very pretty scenery. the building was about twenty feet long, and twelve wide. the entrance was through a railing into a small area, and then into a hall, at the end of which was the sanctuary. in the middle of the hall, just within the door, was an altar, on which red wax tapers were burning. there was also an image of a lion, richly gilt. at the end of the hall was a picture of an old man and a woman, with crowns on their heads, and about two feet high. they were, i suppose, josi and his wife. while we were there, several people came in, and prostrating themselves before the picture, knocked their heads continually against the ground. at last a man came in to consult the idols by divination. he had in his hand two small longitudinal pieces of wood, flat on one side, and round on the other. holding these pieces of wood, with the flat sides toward each other, he let them fall on the ground. as they fell, with the flat or round side up, so he augured well or ill of some proposed enterprise or project. he let the sticks fall upwards of twenty times, but seemed as ill-contented as at first with the promises they made. every time they prognosticated evil, he shook his head with a most disconsolate look. i could not help saying, "try it again, chinaman; don't give in." whether he understood me or not i do not know, but down he went on the ground, and thumped his head very hard and often. then he jumped up and threw the sticks, and i suppose the omen proved favourable, for with a joyful countenance he lighted a thick candle and placed it on the altar. as soon as he was gone, the cunning old bonze blew it out and sold it to the next comer. we must not be surprised to hear that the chinese at times revolt against the authority of the europeans among whom they live, and commit murders and other atrocities; and then to hear of a cruel massacre committed by the dutch upon them in batavia. on one occasion, many thousands had collected; and some of them having been guilty of murders and robberies, a considerable apprehension was excited against the whole body. the council, therefore, determined that every chinese who could not prove that he was obtaining an honest livelihood, should be transported to ceylon, to be employed as a slave in the service of the company. among others, a number of chinese of wealth were seized; and a report getting abroad that all were to be thus treated, they flew to arms, and quitting the city in great numbers, took up their quarters in the mountains, and strengthened themselves so much as to render the fate of batavia itself precarious. in this dilemma the council offered the rebels an amnesty; but this they refused, and marching towards the city, ravaged the country on every side. here, however, they met with a severe repulse; and when the infuriated soldiers and sailors returned into the city, supposing that the chinese who had remained quiet within their houses were about to revolt, they attacked them wherever they could be found. all the chinese, men, women, and children, without distinction, were put to the sword; the prisoners in chains were slaughtered; and even some wealthy people, who had fled to europeans for safety, were, through the violation of every principle of humanity and morality, delivered up to their sanguinary pursuers--the europeans embezzling the property confided to them. thus, all the chinese, both innocent and guilty, were exterminated. notwithstanding this, however, thousands rushed in soon after to supply their places! it was apprehended that this occurrence would excite the indignation of the emperor of china, and, perhaps, induce him to stop their trade with his country; but when they sent deputies to apologise, their fears were shown to be groundless by his truly paternal reply,--to the effect that he was little solicitous for the fate of unworthy subjects, who, in the pursuit of lucre, had quitted their country, and abandoned the tombs of their ancestors! notwithstanding the unhealthiness of the climate, and the impediments thrown in the way of commerce by the unwise restrictions of the dutch, the roads of batavia are always full of the flags of all nations, attracted by the profit merchants are still able to make. as batavia is, or rather was, before singapore was established, the sole depot for the spices of the moluccas and the productions of the island of java, consisting of rice, coffee, sugar, arrack, and pepper, ships were coming continually from every part of india, africa, and even europe; and as they were not allowed to take away coin, they were compelled to fill up with some or other of the above-mentioned productions. the trade, indeed, was one almost exclusively of barter. bengal sent drugs, patnas, blue cloths, different kinds of stuffs, and opium; which were exchanged for rice, sugar, coffee, tea, spices, arrack, a small quantity of silks, and china-ware. the kings of achen and natal, in the island of sumatra, sent camphor--the best which is known--benzoin, birds'-nests, calin, and elephants' teeth; and in return took opium, rice, patnas, and frocks, which were made at java, macassar, and the moluccas. the princes of the isle of borneo sent gold dust, diamonds, and birds'-nests; and took opium, rice, patnas, frocks, gunpowder, and small guns, as they said, to defend themselves against pirates, but, in reality, for their own use as pirates. the americans brought kerseymeres, cloths, hats, gold-wire, silver-galloon, stationery, wine, beer, seltzer water, provisions, and piastres; in exchange for spices, sugar, arrack, tea, coffee, rice, rushes, and chinese silk and porcelain. the muscat ships brought piastres and gum-arabic; those from the isle of france, wine, olive-oil, vinegar, hams, cheese, soap, common trinkets, and ebony. from the cape of good hope were received kitchen-garden seeds, butter, constantia and madeira wines; while the chinese brought immense quantities of porcelain and silks of every kind, taking in return opium, ebony, sandal-wood, spices, and birds'-nests. these nests are half the size of a woman's hand. they are made by a very small sea-swallow, (_hirundo esculenta_), and consist of a glutinous substance, interwoven with filaments. they are found in the cavities of steep rocks on the coast of all the sunda islands, on the northern shores of australia, and in many other parts of the indian seas. the native way of procuring them is by fixing a stick on the summit of the precipice, with a rope-ladder secured to it, whence the hunters descend in their search into the most perilous situations. although they have neither taste nor smell, yet, from being supposed to be both tonic and a powerful stimulant, they are an ingredient in all the ragouts of the most wealthy people in china. they make an excellent broth. the white nests are most in request. they are prepared by being first washed in three or four changes of lukewarm water. when they have been some time in it, they puff up like large vermicelli. europeans, indeed, discover nothing more in this singular dish than an insipid jelly, very much indeed resembling vermicelli, when simply boiled. after java was restored to the dutch, england still carried on a considerable commerce with the island; but it is far smaller than it would be under a less restricted system. the dutch were for long the only european nation who kept up any commercial communication with japan, because no other would submit to the absurd restrictions and degrading ceremonies imposed by that barbarian power. every year, the governor-general sent a ship of fifteen hundred tons, laden with kerseymeres, fine cloths, clock-work, and spices. these were chiefly exchanged for bars of copper, which were made into a very clumsy kind of coin for paying the native and european troops, as well as the people employed in the counting-houses of java and the moluccas. these ingots are of the finest red copper, and as thick as the finger. they are cut into two, four, six, and eight sous-pieces of holland. the value is inscribed on them. this coin is termed in the malay language _baton_, which signifies a stone. the captain, however, brings back furniture, fans, various articles of copper, and sabres--the temper of the blades of which equals the best workmanship of turkey. the cargo always contains a present to the emperor; and he, in return, sends one to the dutch governor-general. when the batavian ship is seen, the emperor's agent hails it, to demand whether the captain is a christian. he replies that he is dutch, when a signal is made for him to approach. from that moment he is boarded by innumerable armed boats. he is first boarded to see that he has neither women nor books; for the law is very severe against the introduction of either into the island. were either found on board, the ship would be sent back without being allowed to anchor. this visit concluded, the merchandise is landed, the ship is disarmed and unrigged without the aid of the captain or crew, and the guns and rigging are carried on shore. the captain transmits the bill of lading to the emperor's agent, with a note of what he desires in exchange, and waits quietly for the merchandise he is to have in return. provisions are amply supplied in the meantime to the crew. when the return merchandise is ready on the beach, the emperor having notified what he chooses for the ensuing year, the japanese themselves again load the vessel, replace her rigging, and restore her arms, papers, and effects, of which they took possession on her arrival. there is no instance of anything having been lost; indeed, the dutch speak of the japanese as a most honest people. they are said to leave their shops and stores without guards or clerks. if a japanese goes to a shop, and finds no one there, he takes the article he wants, lays down the value marked on it, and goes out. all the streets of the towns are closed at night by iron gates, and each japanese is responsible for his neighbour; so they are all interested that no harm should happen to one another. when a theft is committed in any quarter, and the author cannot be discovered, the crier, (who is a kind of police agent), the judge of the division, and the neighbours are compelled to make good the loss, and are subject to severe corporal punishment. very little in those days was known of the interior of japan, as the dutch ambassadors were compelled to submit to the most humiliating conditions to keep up their intercourse with the country. on visiting the capital, they were conveyed in palanquins, well enclosed with fixed lattice-work, like prison-vans in england; and the bearers dared not, for fear of their lives, indulge them with a view of the country through which they passed. this information about japan newman gained from one of the officers of the ship trading there. to return to java. one day when we were on shore, we saw a great confusion among the crowd, who were dispersing on every side, as if in mortal dread of something; and presently we saw a half-naked malay with a long dagger in his hand, striking right and left at everybody he met, killing some and wounding others. as he ran on, crying out in his frenzy, "_amok--amok--amok_! kill--kill--kill!" we saw some of the police dashing towards him with long poles, at the end of which was a fork of wood with iron spikes inside it. he dodged by several of them, killing one on his way, till at last a guard met him full in front, and he ran in on the fork, when he was immediately pinned to the ground; but even then he struck out on every side with his glittering weapon. this is what is called running a _muck_! from the word used _amok_-- kill! he had, as is the custom, taken a large quantity of opium, and thus excited himself to fury in consequence of some supposed or real injury he had received from his master! most of these mucks are run by slaves brought from celebes. being mortally wounded, he was immediately broken alive on the wheel, in the presence of two councillors of justice. it is remarkable, that at batavia, where the assassins, when taken alive, are broken on the wheel, the mucks are of great frequency; while at bencoolen, where they are executed in the most simple and least cruel way, they seldom occur. slaves who have murdered their masters, were executed with the most horrible barbarity by being impaled. an iron was passed down their backs, so as not to touch any vital part, and by it they were suspended, one end of the iron rod being fixed in a post ten feet from the ground. if the weather is dry, they may live on many days in that horrid position; but if water enters the wound, mortification ensues, and they quickly die. the javanese emperors used till lately to throw their criminals to wild beasts, or compelled them to enter into combat with them. i heard a story of a javanese who was condemned to be torn in pieces by tigers. on being thrown down from the top of a large cage, he fell across the back of the largest and fiercest of them, where he sat astride! so intimidated was the animal, that he did not attempt to injure him; while the others, awed by the unusual appearance, endeavoured to avoid him! the poor wretch, however, having been condemned to death, was shot dead in the cage. this custom was, however, prohibited by the french. of course i have been speaking of a state of things as they existed some years ago, and i daresay some improvements have taken place; but at the same time the dutch are of a very conservative disposition, and i suspect that most of my descriptions would be found correct even at the present day. chapter twenty. strange adventures and naval exploits. not very long before we sailed, newman and i had gone on shore, he taking a large sketch-book under his arm; and striking up into the country, we reached a beautiful spot, the outlines of which he wished to commit to paper. we sat ourselves down under the shade of a wide-spreading palm, not far from the road. while newman took the sketch with his pencil, and in a masterly way threw in the colours, i read to him from a volume, i think, of the "spectator." during this time a gentleman, attended by two servants in handsome liveries rode by. seeing two common sailors, as our dresses showed we were, employed in a way so unusual, he dismounted, and, prompted by curiosity, came to see what the draughtsman had produced. he had been watching us for more than a minute before newman observed him. newman had a quick, prompt manner in addressing people, which arose somewhat from pride, i suspect, lest they should look down upon him; and seeing a stranger, he at once spoke to him in german, remarking on the beauty of the scenery. the gentleman stared at being thus addressed, but replied in the same language, asking leave to look at the sketch he had just finished. newman frankly showed him that and several others, which the stranger admired. "you are a german, i presume?" said the gentleman. newman replied that he was an englishman. "you speak dutch also, perhaps?" asked the stranger. "slightly," said newman; "but i prefer german, though i am more fluent in french." "ah, that is a tongue i am fond of," remarked the gentleman. "but may i ask where you picked up your knowledge of languages?" "in the world," replied newman, carelessly. "'tis a large book, and its leaves are never closed." "i am afraid that you will think me impertinent if i continue to ask questions," said the stranger; "but i shall be glad to know to what ship you belong?" newman told him. "ah, i know your captain--an honest man. i am under great obligations to him. are many of his crew able to amuse themselves as you two appear to be doing?" "some have lately taken to drawing and singing, and a few who could not read when the voyage began are now apt scholars," answered newman, carelessly. "we have occasionally a good deal of spare time on board a whaler, though we often have to work hard enough." a little further conversation passed. "i must not longer detain you from your task," said the gentleman. "i hope that we shall meet again." he bowed to newman, and nodded good-naturedly to me. he saw that i was but a common sailor, at the same time that he evidently discerned the educated gentleman in my friend. when i speak of newman as a gentleman, it must be understood that he was not particularly polished or refined in his manners or habits, though more so far than were those with whom he associated forward. his manners were too blunt and independent to be called polished, and he could rough it as well as any of us, eating the same coarse food and wearing the same rough clothes as we did, without inconvenience. when the gentleman had gone, newman and i discussed who he could be. "rather an inquisitive old fellow, i suspect," said newman. "he is a dutchman, i judge, by the way he pronounced both german and french, though he spoke them well." "how are you so well able to distinguish the difference in pronunciation?" i asked. "i was educated in germany," he answered. "i learned a good many things there besides what my tutors intended to teach me. you must not suppose that i could have picked up the various bits of information i possess in any english place of education. as it is, we beat most other nations in whatever we set our hands to; but if english lads had the same style of instruction given in most of the countries in europe, modified to suit our characters, we should beat them all hollow, wherever we encountered them abroad." it must be remembered that this conversation took place many years ago, and that very considerable improvements have since taken place in the style of education afforded to boys in many of our schools in england. we thought very little at the time of our encounter with the dutch gentleman, though, as it proved, it had a very great influence on newman's fate. when we got on board, we found that the ship was likely to remain some time longer in the roads, and that we might have a chance of seeing something more of the country. as malays, or natives, are employed in those hot climates to do the hard work on board ship, as kroomen are on the coast of africa--such as wooding and watering--we had more leisure time than we should otherwise have enjoyed. that evening a number of us, among whom was tom knowles, were sitting on the forecastle spinning yarns, when he told us what i did not know before--that he had served aboard a man-of-war at the taking of java. "you must know, mates," he began, taking out his quid and stowing it away in his waistcoat-pocket, "i belonged to a whaler which was lost out here, when those of her crew who escaped were picked up by an indiaman and carried to madras. i with others was there pressed on board the _caroline_ frigate. i didn't much like it at first; but when i had shaken myself, and looked about me, and heard that the captain was a fine sort of a fellow, i thought it was just as well to do my duty like a man, and to make myself happy. captain cole, that was his name, wasn't a chap to let the grass grow under the ship's bottom. directly after i joined, we were ordered off to amboyna, in company with the _piemontaise_, captain foote; the -gun brig _barracouta_; and transport _mandarin_, with a hundred european soldiers. we heard that when the captain went to take his leave of the admiral--drury was his name--he asked leave just to knock up some of the dutch settlements on the way. "`well,' says the admiral, `there's no harm just frightening them a little, and you may be able to surprise a port or two; but don't go and get into mischief, now, and hurt yourselves. there are several impregnable places, such as banda, for instance, which it would be out of the question for you to attack. vast heaps of wealth are stored up there, so the dutch will take precious good care that you don't get into the place.' "`we'll see about that,' thought the captain to himself, winking with the eye which was turned away from the admiral. `of course, sir, we'll do nothing rash,' says he. `it isn't the way of english sailors. we are always steady, sure sort of fellows.' "`that's right,' says the admiral; and away went the captain, having made up his mind to a thing or two. "we reached palo-penang on the th may, in the year . there the captain persuaded the governor to let him have about twenty artillery-men and a lot of scaling-ladders; and having learned something more about the chief place in banda, called banda-neira, he kept to the resolution he had all along in his mind, to try and get possession of it. in spite of the south-east monsoon, away we sailed, therefore, for the java sea. as it would not have done to let the dutchmen in other places guess what we were about to do, he determined to take the ship through the passage between the big island of borneo and malwalli. it was a touch-and-go matter to get through, for in every direction there were coral-reefs, which would pretty soon have brought us up if we had run on them; but we had look-outs at the jib-boom-end and the topsail-yard-arms, and as the water was clear, and the weather fine, we escaped all danger. "early in the morning, on the th of july, we made the banda islands, and by night were up with the place called banda-neira. as we stood in, the guns from the fort opened on us; but seeing they did us no harm, they soon left off throwing away their powder. that very evening there was a sudden change in the weather, and it came on to blow and rain very hard. "`too good a chance to be thrown away,' thought the captain. `we shall never be able to take this place in common ship-shape fashion; but as the mynheers won't be expecting us on such a bad night as this, and what's more, won't hear us coming, i'll just see if we can't get on shore in the boats and give them a surprise.' "now, anyone looking at banda-neira would have thought that it would be quite impossible to take it with the small force we had got with us; but, as i said, our captain wasn't a man to trouble his head about impossibilities. "the place was two miles long and half a mile wide, and protected by no less than ten sea-batteries and two strong forts--one called belgica, and the other nassau. they commanded each other, as they did the ten sea-batteries. the first alone mounted fifty-two heavy guns; and altogether there were no less than one hundred and thirty-eight guns in the place. having run in within two cables' length of the shore, we dropped our anchors, and at p.m. the boats under the command of captain cole shoved off with three hundred and ninety men, including officers. the place we were to pull for was the east point of banda. what a night it was--blowing and raining like fury and dark as pitch! but that, in many respects, was all the better for us. captains cole and kenah arrived first at the appointed spot in their gigs, and only by degrees did some of the other boats get up there--it was so difficult to find our way. the boat i was in, with several others, grounded on a coral-reef, not a hundred yards from a sea-battery, which we found mounted no less than ten long -pounders; and as they pointed directly on the reef, they could very soon have knocked us all to pieces. fortunately, the garrison slept so soundly, or the rain and wind made such a clatter, that they did not discover us. overboard we all jumped, and soon had the boats afloat, and pulling on, we reached a snug little sandy cove, surrounded by trees or jungle. here the captain mustered us, and found that he had only got about a hundred and forty seamen and marines, and forty red jackets, with captain kenah, five lieutenants, and some soldier officers. among the lieutenants was one called lieutenant edmund lyons, with whom i afterwards was at the taking of another place, of which i'll tell you presently. well, as i was saying, it was pelting and blowing and as black as pitch; and though we had little more than half our force on shore, our captain did not like to give up the enterprise, so says he, `my lads, i should just like to take possession of some of these forts, but we are a small number to do it, i own; yet, if i thought all would follow, i'd lead the way.' "we didn't shout, but we told him that, to a man, we were ready to go wherever he thought fit to lead us. "`then,' said he, `we'll just walk into the dutchmen's castles before they've time to rub their eyes.' "captain kenah, with a party of us armed with pikes, on this at once advanced to the rear of the nearest battery. not a word was spoken, and the noise of the storm drowned the sound of our footsteps. we got close up to the fort--a sentry was marching up and down--a pike was into him before he could discharge his musket--and in an instant we were over the ramparts. we could see the dutchmen, match in hand, at their guns on the sea side, and very much surprised were they to find us in their rear, knocking them down right and left, before they had time to fire a shot. they cried for quarter, and we had sixty of them prisoners in a few minutes. leaving a few men to take charge of the battery, captain kenah was pushing on to take possession of the next, when captain cole sent to say he had got hold of a guide, and was going to take fort belgica itself. "away we went along a narrow winding path, towards the castle. the dutchmen's bugles were sounding in all directions, showing us that they were awake; but probably they didn't know where their enemies were to be found. we had got close up to the citadel before we were discovered; and then, though they began firing away pretty briskly, as they could not see us, and were, i guess, in a mortal fright, none of us were hit. those in front had the scaling-ladders, and, with their help, we managed to climb up the steep bank on which the castle stood; and in no time, it seemed, we were in possession of all the lower works. we were not in though yet; but we soon hauled up the scaling-ladders, and began to place them against the wall of the citadel, when we found out that they were too short--more's the shame to the fellows who made them! the enemy discovering this, began peppering away at us with musketry, and fired several round-shot into the bargain. here was a sell! we began to think that we should have to be about-ship, when what should we see, but the gates open to let in the governor and some other officers who had been sleeping outside the walls. the opportunity was not to be lost. led by our gallant captain, we made a dash at the gate. the colonel defended it bravely, but he and several of his men were killed in a minute, and on we rushed into the very centre of the fort. never were fellows in such a mortal fright as were the dutchmen. daylight just then breaking, we saw them scrambling and leaping, like a flock of sheep, over the walls. however, some of the officers, and forty artillery-men, gave themselves up as prisoners. "we now had the british jack flying away on the flagstaff above our heads. still, we were a very small band to hold the forts we had conquered, and we looked out with no little anxiety for the arrival of the rest of our force. what had become of the boats we could not tell; but as the sun rose, we saw the _caroline_ and the other ships standing in towards the town. "the dutchmen did not know our numbers, probably; so the captain, putting a bold face on the matter, sent a flag of truce to fort nassau, to say that if the troops didn't behave themselves, and cease firing, he would fire into them with a vengeance, and into the city to boot. now, from what we had done, the dutchmen, having no doubt that he would keep his word, hauled down their flag; and before many hours were out, thinking discretion the best part of valour, their whole force, regulars and militia, to the number of one thousand and five hundred, laid down their arms on the glacis of fort nassau. thus you see what a few brave men, when well led, can do. "of our one hundred and eighty men, we lost very few. our less fortunate shipmates in the boats, after knocking about all night, got alongside the transport _mandarin_. captain foote was left as governor of the island with a garrison, while we went on to amboyna. our captain was a fine fellow. the ship's company afterwards presented him with a sword worth a hundred guineas, to show their love and estimation of his bravery. several cups and swords were presented to him by the officers and soldiers. i can't tell you what loads of prize-money we got from that place, but i can tell you that it very soon found its way out of the pockets of most of us. "well, as i was saying, i afterwards joined the _minden_ , to which ship lieutenant edmund lyons belonged. we had been cruising with a squadron off this place, batavia. now there was at the north-eastern end of java, not far from the straits of madura, a very strong fort or castle on pauka point, lately erected, called fort marrack. it was a considerable annoyance to all ships passing that way, and it was therefore deemed important to destroy it. however, as only between four and five hundred men could be spared for the enterprise, it was given up, as that number was looked upon as insufficient for the undertaking. however, the _minden_, having on board a number of dutch prisoners, lieutenant lyons was directed to land them in the launch and cutter at batavia. i was in the launch. after we had put the mynheers on shore, we stood along the coast to the eastward, for the lieutenant was in no hurry to get back to the ship. he had got something in his head, do you see? he remembered what he had helped to do with captain cole; so says he to himself, `i'll just see if we can't play the dutchmen just such another trick with regard to this here fort marrack.' when he had got a thing into his head to do, which he thought could be done, it was no easy matter for anyone else to knock it out again, till he had tried whether he was right or wrong. "two days after landing the prisoners, we got up to the fort just at dark. the lieutenant had a look at it, just to arrange his plan; and we then ran under a point of land, where we lay snug out of sight till the darkest part of the night. at first the moon was up, and would have discovered us to the enemy. the fort mounted fifty-four heavy guns, and had a garrison of one hundred and eighty regulars; but what did we care for that! we waited eagerly for the moon to go down, and then we both pulled away with muffled oars for the fort. there was a good deal of surf on the shore, but we hoped its noise, aided by the darkness, would prevent our approach being discovered. however, the dutchmen had learned to be more awake than when we took fort belgica, and as we got close under the land, the sentinels let off their muskets to give the alarm. no time was to be lost. lieutenant lyons ordered us to run the boats through the surf right on to the shore, under the very muzzles of the guns in the lower tier. `on, my lads!--on!' he exclaimed, leading us, sword in hand, right up over the embankment into the lower battery before the dutchmen had time to look round them. we found the gunners as before, with their matches in their hands, and had to kill three of them to prevent their firing. having knocked down every man we found, we did not stop to look around, but followed our gallant leader into the upper battery, which, in as little time as i have taken to describe, was in our possession. it was `hurrah, my boys!--at them!' and after a minute's cutting, and slashing, and firing of pistols, and dashing them at each other's heads, the place was ours. that's the way we used to do things in the war, when once a plan had been determined on by our officers! "but we had still plenty of work to do, for when we went on and reached the highest part of the fort, we found a large body of dutch troops drawn up to receive us. nothing daunted by this, our gallant lieutenant, singing in dutch, and french, and english, and all sorts of languages, that he had got four hundred men at his back, and would give no quarter if any opposition was offered, we fired a volley, and at them again we went, cutlass, and pike, and bayonet in hand. whether they had dutch courage in them or not, i don't know, but certainly they did not like our appearance; and as we came up with them they turned tail, and off they went helter-skelter through a gateway in the rear of the fort. after them we went, and sent the last man out with a hearty good kick, and shut the gate after him! "no sooner had we got the fort to ourselves than the enemy began peppering away at us from a fort in the rear, and from a couple of gun-boats; and considering that we hadn't the four hundred men the lieutenant talked of, but only just the two boats' crews, we had enough to do to spike the guns, and to keep up a brisk fire in return. you may be sure, mates, we were as busy as ants doing all the mischief we could in a short time. we had a young midshipman with us, mr franks, not fifteen years old; and while the fire was at the hottest, in the middle of it he hoisted the british ensign on the flagstaff on the top of the fort. "while we were busy spiking the gnus, and firing away right and left, we made out, through the darkness, what we took to be a large body of dutch troops. there were plenty of light carriage guns in the fort; and when information was brought him, lieutenant lyons ordered us to slue round two of them, and bring them close up to the gate. when we had done so, he and mr langton loaded them up to the muzzles with grape and musket balls. on came the enemy. he let them get close up to the gate, and then he and the midshipman fired slap in among them. it was much more than they expected, and lest they should get another dose, they put about in a great hurry, and off they went as fast as they could pelt, we hallooing and hurrahing after them. you may be sure we didn't follow them, or they would soon have found out the trick we had played them. all the time no one had been killed, and only mr langton and three men slightly wounded; but from the number of troops brought against him, mr lyons saw that we could not hope to hold the fort; so while the dutch troops were scampering off in one direction, we bolted over the ramparts in the other. when we got down to the beach, we were not a little taken aback by finding that the surf had driven the barge right up on the shore and bilged her; but, fortunately, the cutter was still afloat. so we all got into her as silently as mice, and shoved off, leaving the fort to take care of itself. we were much amused by seeing the dutchmen outside firing away into it as hard as ever. when they discovered their mistake, i don't know; but whenever they did, they must have found all the guns spiked, and the british ensign flying triumphantly over their heads, to show them who had done all the mischief. "we got safely back to the _minden_ next day, none of us much the worse for the exploit. soon after that, the whole of java and its dependencies capitulated to sir robert stopford and general wetherall. this was the only service i saw in the navy--for within a year of that time i got my discharge, and once more joined a whaler." old tom's account of these two gallant exploits was received by all hands with great applause, for that is just the sort of work in which seamen delight, and i know that all of us wished we had been with him. i need scarcely say that the lieutenant edmund lyons of those days was afterwards the well-known admiral lord lyons, who, from that commencement, won his way up to his well-deserved honours. two days after our encounter with the dutch gentleman on shore, the captain sent for newman into his cabin. he was some time away; and when he came forward, i saw that his countenance wore an unusually pleased expression. "what has happened?" i asked. "why, the captain tells me that the stranger we met the other day is a mr von kniper, some great man or other, with whom he has long been acquainted; and that he has sent to request the captain to bring me to dine with him. the captain is very good-natured about it, and says that he shall be very happy to take me. but it will be difficult to find a dress to go in. it will never do to appear in a round jacket. so, taking all things into consideration, i think that i shall decline the honour." "that would be a pity," said i. "you don't know to what the visit may lead." "to be stared at and patronised as the common sailor who can draw and talk german; and then to have the cold shoulder turned towards me the next day, or to be passed unrecognised!" he answered, with no little bitterness. "i am more independent, and safer from annoyance, in the position i have chosen to occupy. i'll not go out of it." i tried to reason him out of his resolution. "it may be a turning-point in your fortune," i observed. "there is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," he repeated. "you don't suppose that the flood will ever set in for me. the current has been too long running the other way for me ever to expect it to change. i am content to let it continue its old course, and swim merrily with it." had newman been left to himself, i do not know that he would have altered his opinion; but soon after this the captain again sent to see him. "well, jack, i must needs go where the wind drives," he remarked, as he came forward. "our skipper is certainly a very good-natured fellow. he not only insists on my going with him to the house of mynheer von kniper, but tells me that he has made arrangements for rigging me out in full fig for the occasion. it will be very good fun, i daresay; and i only wish that you could be there to enjoy it." "if i saw you happy, i should be happy; but i could not enjoy such a scene as that myself. i should feel so completely like a fish out of water." "oh, nonsense!" he answered; "a man has only quietly to observe what others do, and not to attempt to show himself off, or to broach any subject, and he will generally pass muster as a well-behaved person. however, as mr von kniper did not ask you to come, of course you cannot go. well, i dare say that i shall have enough to make you laugh when i come back." i am not at all certain that newman was right in his last observation. practice and experience are absolutely necessary to fit a person for any station of life; and no wise man will ever wish to step into one for which he is not fitted by education or habit, or to associate with those with whom he has no ideas or associations in common. the great mistake numbers of well-intentioned people make, is the wish to rise in the world themselves, or that their children may rise in it to a superior station to that in which they were themselves born. they forget that the reason why they were sent into the world was to prepare them for another and a better existence; that this world is no abiding-place; and that, therefore, it is worse than folly to take toil and trouble to climb up a few steps in the ladder which will enable us to look down on our fellow-worms still crawling below us. there is one most important thing parents should teach their children--one most important thing children should desire--"to do their duty in that station of life in which it has pleased god to call them." their sole motive should be love to their lord and master, jesus christ, who thus commanded them to act. at the same time, they may be well assured that if they do their duty with all their heart--if they do diligently whatever their hand finds to do--they will not fail to be placed in those posts of honour and responsibility which even worldly men are always anxious to get such persons to fill. we see how joseph was raised to honour in egypt, how daniel was respected at the court of babylon. the bible is full of such examples, and those examples were given for our instruction. those men rose, not because they wished to rise, but because they strove to do their duty--to worship the lord their god with singleness of heart. poor newman! i saw that under his pretended indifference there was no little satisfaction at the thought of occupying, even for a day, a position in which he probably had once been accustomed to shine. my only fear was, that when he got back to the forepeak, and our rough manners and rougher conversation, he would remark the contrast, and become discontented with the lot he had chosen. the next day he and the captain went on shore to the dinner-party. as he stepped into the boat, and took his seat in the stern-sheets, i could not help remarking how completely the gentleman he looked. i must own that i waited with no little anxiety for his return, to hear what had occurred. i never before had been so intimate with any man as with newman. i told him without reserve all that was in my heart, and he spoke freely to me, at the same time that he never once, even in the most remote manner, alluded to his past history. it was merely casually, when speaking of mynheer von kniper, that he mentioned having been educated in germany, or probably he would never even have told me that. on religious subjects, also, he never uttered an opinion; but from his very silence i had reason to believe that he entertained notions which were very far removed from the truth. among all his books he had no bible, and no works bearing on religion. he appeared to have studiously kept all such out of his library, as he did religion itself out of his thoughts. if i ever alluded to it, even in the remotest degree, he instantly turned the conversation; and whenever it was mentioned in the berth, which was, indeed, very seldom, his countenance assumed a look of cold, callous indifference, or a marked expression of scorn, which indicated too plainly what were his real opinions on the subject. with regard to myself, i had always been a believer, though a sadly cold and careless one, except when roused by some particular occurrences, as i have mentioned in the course of my history. i still at this time continued much in the same dangerous state, but in other respects a great change had occurred. deeply, indeed, was i indebted to newman for it. he had awakened my mind out of its long sleep, and if i could not call myself an educated man, i at least had learned to prize the advantages of education, and was endeavouring to improve myself, and was greedy to gain knowledge wherever i could obtain it. no person could have devoted himself more earnestly to my instruction than did my friend. he seemed never to weary in helping me over difficulties; and if i took a pleasure in learning, he certainly took a still greater in teaching me. without his aid i could not have made a tenth part of the progress i had done. i now read fluently, and even wrote tolerably. i had read through and mastered even more than the outlines of ancient and modern history, and with several periods i was tolerably conversant. i knew something of the past and present state of every country in the world, though i could not boast of knowing much about the mere names of the chief towns and rivers. i had read the lives of several men who had stood forward prominently in the world, and i had mastered some of the important facts of natural science. i need not further describe the amount of my knowledge. i could not have attained half i have mentioned had i not read on steadily, and carefully eschewed anything like desultory reading--that is to say, as far as the limited library to which i had access would allow. i did not always read the books i might have desired, but i diligently read the best i could obtain. if i, therefore, did so much in a short time with indifferent means, how much might be done with all the advantages possessed by those on shore! late in the evening newman came back. the first thing he did on getting on board was to go below and shift his clothes. he then sat himself down on the windlass, with his arms folded across his bosom; and when i went up to him, he burst into aloud fit of laughter. "i thought it would be so!" he exclaimed, when he recovered himself. "mynheer von kniper was very polite, and so was his wife; and they introduced me to all their company. i believe the governor-general was there, or some great person. they paid me much more attention than they did the captain, who, if he had not been a right honest, good-natured fellow, might have been not a little jealous. first one person talked to me in one language, then another would come up with a different tongue in his mouth, and i had to show off in great style. then i was asked to exhibit my drawings, and they were handed about and held up to the light, and admired by all hands as wonderful productions of art. in fact, i saw clearly i was the lion of the evening. i thought that sort of thing was only done in civilised, polite england; but i suppose lion hunters and lion exhibiters are to be found in all parts of the world. to do mynheer von kniper justice, i must say that he had no hand in the work. during dinner nothing could be pleasanter or kinder than his conversation and manner; and certainly i had reason to believe that he wished me well. at length people got weary of hearing me roar, and all had had a look at the wonderful common sailor, and so the skipper seemed to think that it was time to be off; but our host would not allow us, and insisted that after the rest of the guests were gone, we should stop to have some supper. during the meal, mynheer von kniper introduced the subject of drawing, and telling me that he longed to have all the scenes of whale catching and killing fully illustrated, asked if i would undertake to do a set of drawings for him on that subject. i could not refuse to do as he wished, after all the civilities he had shown me; so i told him that i should be very happy; but he then gently hinted that he wished me to undertake the task as a regular commission, and he begged that i would put what price i thought fit on my productions. i have made up my mind, at all events, to do them. i think every man has a perfect right to make a profit of his talents, especially if he requires money. i do not. i have now got a profession--a right noble one too! i am now a more independent man than had i been toiling on for years at a desk, or dancing attendance in some great man's ante-chamber for some of the patronage he may have to bestow. you think that i have benefited you by teaching you to read and write. now, in reality, i have merely given you the implements of a trade--the means of gaining knowledge. you have given me knowledge--you have taught me a trade itself. therefore, williams, you see that i am still your debtor." for some time he talked on in this strain. i clearly saw that he was pleased with the attention shown him, in spite of his belief to the contrary. i would not for one moment exhibit newman as an example, or hold him up as a fine character. he had very great faults and many weaknesses. i do not know that he had strength of character. he had an independent spirit in some respects, a clear perception, and considerable talent. his greatly superior education raised him much above the associates among whom he had thrown himself. soon after this the ship was ready for sea, and as we had not above a couple of hundred barrels to fill, we hoped soon to be on our homeward voyage. it was the winter season, and we were bound for the coast of japan. we were, however, several months before we got a full ship; and then, with joyful hearts to most on board, we once more made sail for old england. during all the time, newman was busily employed in finishing up the sketches of whale catching, and very beautiful productions they were. nothing could be more correct or truth-like. very different they were, indeed, from the drawings i have since often seen, where the whale has had its flukes put on the wrong way, and boats are represented as being tossed high up in the air, some thirty feet, at least, and broken in two, while the crews are seen tumbling down like snowflakes, with arms and legs sprawling out right over the whale. i have seen many a boat smashed, but never one sent up in that fashion into the air. newman was anxious to send these sketches to mynheer von kniper; but as no opportunity occurred, he was afraid that he would be compelled to wait till another voyage to present them himself. captain carr promised, as soon as the ship could be refitted, to return on another voyage to those seas. we had a quick passage home. i remained, as i had often before done, to look after the ship. newman, when he had received his share of profits, which was very considerable, went on shore. what became of him i do not know. not seeing anything of him, i was afraid that he was not going to return. something there evidently was very mysterious about his history. i had a great desire to discover it; still, i saw no chance of doing so. hitherto i had always squandered away my money in the most foolish manner. i now got captain carr to invest some of it for me, and, retaining a little for pocket-money, with the rest i purchased the best books i could find, and other articles which i thought likely to be useful to me in a three years' voyage. at last the ship was ready again for sea. tom knowles and most of the other old hands had joined; for, being wise men, when they had found a good captain they liked to stick by him. we hauled out into the stream; but still, greatly to my disappointment, newman did not appear. chapter twenty one. batavia and the feejee islands. the pilot was on board, the topsails were loosed, and the order had been given to heave up the anchor, when a boat was seen coming off from the southern shore of the mersey. a seaman sprung up the ship's side, and a couple of chests were hoisted up after him. i was aloft. i looked down on deck and saw newman. i found that he had written to the captain, who had reserved a berth for him, but it was still before the mast. he had the promise, he told me, of a mate's berth should a vacancy occur; but he observed, "i am not ambitious. with what i have i am content." he asked no questions as to what i had been doing. it was not his way. he was certainly free from vulgar curiosity; neither did he volunteer to give me any account of himself. i told him one day what i had done with the proceeds of the last voyage. "ah, you are wiser than i am, williams," he answered, with a tone of bitterness. "i thought so, or i should not have tried to make you my friend. i have been seeing life, as it is called. i wanted to discover what changes had taken place in the world during my absence--as if the world could ever change. i found it deceitful, vain, and frivolous as before. i have been buying experience. the whole remainder of my possessions lies stowed away in those two chests. the most valuable portions are a few new books for you and i to read and discuss; and this time i have not forgotten a suit of shore going clothes, in case i have to appear again in the character of a gentleman. and now, farewell--a long farewell to england's shores! it may be that i shall never tread them again! why should i regret it? there are brighter skies and richer lands in another hemisphere." we had a quick run to cape horn, which we rounded in safety; and then standing across the pacific, we steered for the fishing-ground off the coast of japan. we were, as in our former voyage, very successful indeed. i suspect that success in whaling, as in most other affairs of life, depends very much on the practical knowledge, the perseverance, and talent of those engaged in it. the master of a successful whaler will be found to unite all these qualifications. he meets with whales, because, exercising his judgment, and making use of the information he has collected, he goes to the ground where they are likely to be met with; he catches them, because he sets about it in the best way; and he brings his ship home in safety, because he never for a moment relaxes his care and watchfulness to guard against misfortune. for my own part, i do not believe in luck. i have never yet met with an instance of a lucky or an unlucky man in which i could not trace the effect to the cause. we were lucky, because captain carr was a judicious, persevering, sensible man; and thus, in our first year's fishing, we got more than a third full. at the end of that time we found ourselves brought up once more off batavia. the captain, in the kindest way, invited newman at once to accompany him on shore. "bring your drawings with you for mynheer von kniper," said he. "i doubt not that he will be glad to see them." on receiving the invitation, newman dived below. when he returned on deck his appearance was completely changed. instead of the rough seaman, he appeared as a well-dressed gentleman, and certainly more refined in appearance than either the captain or any of the officers. captain carr looked at him with an eye of satisfaction; and it was very pleasant to observe how perfectly free he was from any petty feeling of jealousy at seeing himself eclipsed by one of his own men. as the boat shoved off from the ship's side i thought to myself--"depend on it, there is something in store for newman; he will not come back in the cynical spirit in which he seemed to be after his first visit." i had made excellent use of all my spare time during our passage out, and had added considerably to my stock of knowledge. newman's books were all admirably selected, and were of excellent service to me. the more i read, the more i wished to read--to gain information on points on which i found myself ignorant. happily one of the crew, a fine, steady young man, had a bible with him; and he having offered it to me, for the first time in my life i began to read its sacred pages. as i read on i was forcibly struck with its simplicity and beauty, its fulness and minuteness, and yet the immense amount of matter it contained. i began to compare one part with another--the prophecies with their fulfilment-- one point of the history with the rest--the great variety of subjects and style, and yet the beautiful adaptation of the various parts with the whole; nor did i neglect to compare sacred with profane history, or to remark how one corroborates the other--just as modern science, the greater advances it makes, is found to confirm more and more the troth of the accounts given by the sacred writers. still all this time my heart was not turned to the right way. i had discovered a new and inexhaustible source of interest, but that was all. newman did not return on board till the next day. he was much elated in spirits when he appeared, though he tried to repress the feeling. "well, jack, the tide has begun to flow at last," said he: "you shall hear all about it. mynheer von kniper was excessively pleased with the drawings i took him, and the more so when i begged he would accept them from me." "`i have often thought about you,' said he; `and, i must confess, little expected to see you return here. i rejoice to see you back, for you must know that i have an offer to make you, which i hope you will think fit to accept. we have been for some time in want of a commander for one of the colonial government schooners, and i have ascertained from your captain that you are in every respect fitted for the post, and that he will give you your discharge from his ship. i have therefore great satisfaction in offering it to you.' "i scarcely knew how to express myself in thanking him; so i took his hand, and shaking it heartily, told him that i was very much obliged to him, and that i placed myself entirely under his directions. so it was settled, and that same evening he presented me with my commission signed, and here i am, a lieutenant commander in the dutch colonial navy! it is, in truth, a hop, step, and a jump into a post of honour i little expected, nor can i yet realise the greatness of the change." i congratulated newman most sincerely on the prospects thus opened up to him, though i regretted being so completely separated from him, as i must expect to be, for the future. he suggested the possibility of my following him, but that i at once saw was not likely to occur. in the first place, captain carr was not likely to allow a steady hand to leave him so early in the voyage; and probably the dutch authorities would not be very ready to give a berth to another englishman on board the same vessel; added to which, i had some misgivings as to serving under their flag. newman, of course, saw the first of these objections; and probably, if the truth were known, though he might not have been ready to confess it to himself after the intimate terms on which we had been together, he would have found it inconvenient while he was captain to have had me before the mast. it must be remembered that, though my mind was beginning to be cultivated, i was still a rough, hardy sailor in appearance and manners. i had never in my life dreamed of aspiring to any command, and i did not feel myself fitted for any post above that which i then held. while i say this i would point out that it is very necessary to be cautious in judging from appearances. a man may have a very refined mind under a somewhat rough exterior, and a very coarse, bad one within a handsome, attractive outside. generally speaking, with a few minutes' conversation, the appearance of a person and the expression of his countenance will show what is likely to be found within; but it is far wiser not to place more than ordinary confidence in the companions among whom we are thrown until they have been duly tried and found to walk rightly in their conduct towards god and man. newman seemed to be in no way elated by his change of fortune, and showed himself free from a very common littleness of mind, for he spent the rest of the day among us forward, talking and chatting with all hands as freely as before; and while he was packing his chests, he managed to find some little present as a keepsake for each of us. then he sat himself down on his chest, and gave us an earnest lecture in his old style on the advantages of education, and urged us all to continue our studies as before, and to show by our conduct to each other and to our officers the superiority of educated, intelligent men over ignorant and uncultivated ones. when he went aft to wish the officers good-bye, he was treated very kindly and politely by them, all of them congratulating him on his good fortune; and as he descended the ship's side for the last time, we gave him three as hearty cheers as ever rose from the deck of a whaler with a full hold; and little jim, the smallest boy on board, blubbered as if his heart would break at the loss of one whom he had learned to look on as his best friend. before we sailed he had his schooner fitted out and manned with a strange crew of malays, chinese, dutchmen, frenchmen, and not a few representatives of other nations. he sent me a note insisting on my going to see him on board. his schooner was a fine little vessel, though built in the colony by chinese. she measured some hundred and fifty tons, and, well handled, was fit to go anywhere; but this would be difficult work, i saw, with his mongrel crew. his cabin was fitted up in the complete way i should have expected him to have planned. it was, indeed, a very different sort of place from that in which he had long been accustomed to live--much more like, in the handsomeness of its fittings and its accommodation, to the luxurious cabin of the old rainbow, which i used to see in my youth. he himself, too, was greatly changed in his appearance from the rough sailor he had long been. when dressed in plain clothes, he looked like a gentleman certainly, but not a polished one; but in a uniform which became him perfectly, he was a very good-looking officer. he was conscious of the improvement. "i begin to think that there are yet higher steps for me to climb, williams," he observed, after he had cordially welcomed me and ordered refreshments to be brought in. "who knows but that one day i may become an admiral, or a governor of one of these islands? i am becoming ambitious, i assure you. i thought it was not in me. i was till lately perfectly contented with my lot. i proposed spending my youth knocking about in these seas, and when i found old age creeping on me, settling down in one of the many thousand beautiful isles of the bright pacific to spend the remainder of my days. now that dream has passed away, and i feel an anxiety to climb. i am growing more and more ambitious; for i see that there are plenty of things in this world worth living for-- plenty of golden fruit to be plucked, if a man has but the daring to scramble up the tree in spite of the thorns and knots in the way, and reach out to the branches." what did i reply to newman? did i offer him good advice? alas, no! i thought not to say to him, do thy duty in that station of life to which it has pleased god to call thee, regardless of this world's tinsel prizes. look steadily forward to another and a better world for thy reward. this he did not. this world, and this alone, entirely occupied his attention. he only thought of the gratification of the moment. blindly and obstinately he shut out from his contemplations all thoughts of his eternal interests. newman's man-of-war schooner and the stout old whaler the _drake_ left batavia roads the same day. we were bound for the ground off navigator's and some of the neighbouring groups of islands. we were fortunate enough to kill a couple of whales on our passage, and within two years after leaving england had nearly filled up all our casks. i began to consider whether i should remain in the ship, or, supposing captain carr would be willing to give me my discharge, whether i should join another ship lately come out, and thus, by saving the long voyage home and back, more speedily accomplish what was now the aim of my existence--to make a sum sufficient to enable me to remain at home for the rest of my days. i was now advancing in life. i had seen a great deal of hard service, and i began to long for rest. such is the desire implanted in the bosom of all men--rest for the mind, rest for the body, rest for the soul. in youth, when health, and vigour, and animal spirits are at their highest, it is not developed, but when age comes on, and the body begins to feel the symptoms of decay, the mind grows weary and the spirits flag. then rest is sought for--rest is looked for as the panacea for all evils. yet who ever found rest in this world-- perfect tranquillity and joy? no one. still that such is the fact i had yet to learn. yet, would a beneficent creator have implanted the desire in the human heart without affording the means of gratifying it? certain i am that he would not; but thus, in his infinite wisdom, he shows us the vanity of this world, and points to another and a better, where assuredly it may be found. i took an opportunity of mentioning the subject of my thoughts to the captain, and he promised me that, if no other of the crew left when the ship was full, should we fall in with another wanting hands, he would comply with my wish, and, moreover, invest my share of the profits of the voyage as i might direct. we had been for some time on the ground i have spoken of when we found ourselves in a perfect calm. by slow degrees the usual sea went down, and even the swell of the mighty ocean subsided. the crew sat lazily about the deck--some making air-nets for hats, others pointing ropes, working a mouse, or making a pudding, or a dolphin, or turning in a gasket; some leaned idly over the rail, and others slept still more idly below; while a few, not altogether unmindful of our old shipmate's instructions, were bending over their books or using their pencils. some also were carving with their knives strange devices on bones, or cutting out rings from the shell of the tortoise. "ah, i wish we had ned newman aboard here!" exclaimed one. "he would soon set us all alive." "why can't you set yourselves alive?" said tom knowles, looking up from his work on a rope he had in hand. "idle chaps are always talking of getting some one else to do what they ought to do for themselves. just try now. let's try a stave at all events. come, i'll strike up." old tom's proposal pleased all hands, and soon a melody, if not very sweet, at least harmonious, floated over the blue sea. whether the whales came to listen to our music, i cannot say; but while we were all joining in chorus, the ever-exciting shout of "there she spouts--there she spouts!" broke in upon it; and, springing to our feet, the boats were lowered and manned, and in less than three minutes four of them were gliding away as fast as they could be sent through the water, after two whales which made their appearance together, not far apart from each other. the captain's boat got hold of the first without much difficulty; but as he was a strong old bull, he played all sorts of antics, and other two boats were called to assist in his capture. meantime the third mate's boat, in which i was, went after the other whale, which sounded just as we got up to him. for some reason or other, he very soon appeared again a mile ahead, and away we went in chase. again he played us the same trick, but this time he was longer under water, and must have gone upwards of two miles away before he once more came up. the more sport he seemed disposed to give us, the less inclined were we to lose him, so after him we went as fast as before--not faster, for that would have been difficult. as we got near, we saw that he was lying very quiet, and we did not think he saw us, so we had out our paddles, and began stealing up to him as cautiously as a cat does to a mouse--only in this case it was rather more like the mouse creeping up to the cat. the third mate was a well-built, powerful young man. holding up his hand as a sign to us to be cautious, he stepped forward, and there he stood, harpoon in hand, as we glided on towards the monster. down came the heavy harpoon, and it was buried, socket up, in the side of the monster! in an instant the acute pain woke him up. "stern all!" was now the cry, and we had to back away from him in a great hurry, as, raising his mighty flukes, he went head down, sounding till he almost took away the whole of our line. fortunately he met with the bottom, perhaps a coral-reef, and up he came, striking away head out at a great speed in the direction he had before taken. so intent were we on the chase, that we had little time to observe what was doing with the other whale, though, of course, we took the bearings of the ship, as we were rapidly whirled away till we completely lost sight of her. this was no unusual occurrence, nor did it in the smallest degree excite our apprehension, as we had never failed, with more or less trouble, to find our ship in the course of the day or night. on we went, as i say, making the smooth, bright sea hiss and bubble as the white foam frothed up over our bows. the instant the whale slackened his speed we hauled in the line, so as to get up to him to thrust a lance or two into his body; but he was evidently a knowing old fellow, for by the time we had got half of it in, he was off again like a shot, spouting away every now and then, as if to show us in what capital breath he was for a long-run. at last he stopped, and began to turn slowly round. we thought that we had got him. "hurrah, lads!" cried barney brian, an old boat-steerer. "haul in steadily now--his last swim is over." we hauled away an the line with a will, and the mate stood, lance in hand, ready to plunge it into his side, when he shouted, "stern all--veer away the line, lads!" it was time--up went the flukes of the monster, and in another instant he was sounding, drawing the line out of the tub at a terrific rate. we thought we should have lost him altogether, and we looked anxiously at the line as coil after coil disappeared, and we remembered that we had none to bend on to the end of it. it would have been better for us if he had broken away. just, however, before the last coil flew out, up he came again, and seemed inclined to go on as before. then he stopped, and we hauled in on the line. we had got within twenty fathoms of him when all of a sudden an idea seemed to strike him. he slewed completely round so as to face us. "i'll just give you a taste of my quality, and see if i can't teach you to let me alone," he seemed to say. at all events he must have thought it, for with open mouth, showing the tremendous teeth in his lower jaw, and head half lifted out of the water, he made directly at us. never was a boat in a more perilous position--out of sight of land, and the ship nowhere to be seen, and thus all by ourselves to engage in single combat with a monster so enormous! to get out of his way by mere speed was impossible, for he could swim faster than we could pull; but we did our best to dodge him, our undaunted mate standing ready to plunge a spear into his side should we manage for a moment to get behind him. first, we pulled on one side as he came towards us, and then on the other; but rapidly as we turned, he slewed himself round, and at last, getting us under his snout, he made a dash at the boat, and sent her spinning away twenty yards before him, bottom uppermost, while we all lay scattered round about her, shouting and calling to each other for help. had he at once gone off, and dragged the boat after him, he would have left us to perish miserably, and this was the fate we dreaded; but instead of that, while we lay holding onto oars, or striking out to regain the boat, he swam round us, examining the mischief he had done. more than once i thought he was going to make another charge at us with his open mouth, when, had he done so, he would have killed one or more, though he might not have swallowed any of us. that i never heard of a whale doing. we, meantime, made all haste back to the boat, picking up whatever we could lay hands on in our way. we were not a little hurried in our movements by seeing two or more sharks, which had been attracted to the spot by the blood flowing from the monster; and they would just as soon have taken a meal off us as a nibble at him, which is all they would have got for some time, probably. "never fear, my lads!" shouted mr trevett, the mate. "strike out with your feet, and heave over the boat. quick now!--so!--over she comes! we'll soon have her baled out." baling with hats and caps, as we hung round the gunwale, and striking out with a will, to keep the sharks at a distance, we were enabled to clear the boat sufficiently of water to allow us to get in, just as a big shark, impatient of delay, made a dart at the mate's leg--for he was the last in--and very nearly caught his foot. we quickly had the boat to rights, but we found that we had lost two very valuable articles--our tinder-box and compass; so that we could neither make a signal to the ship nor tell in what direction to steer should thick or cloudy weather come on. we had, however, no time to meditate on our misfortune, for scarcely were we once more seated on the thwarts, oars in hand, than the whale, as if waiting the signal, started off again, head out, just as he had done before. his speed, however, was very much slackened; and though, after we had hauled in the line a little, he made an attempt to sound, he quickly returned to the surface, still more exhausted by the effort. at length we managed to get near enough to him to enable mr trevett to give him a thrust with his lance. deep in it went, the monster almost leaping out of the water with the agony of the wound. a vital part had been pierced. "he's in his flurry! stern all--stern all!" was shouted. it was time that we were out of his way; for, swimming round and round, he beat the water with his flukes with terrific force, sufficient to have dashed us to atoms had he touched us, throwing the life-blood over us from his spout, and dashing the surrounding ocean, ensanguined with the ruddy stream, into a mass of foam. this mighty convulsion was his last effort. over he rolled, and he was our well-earned prize. but now we had killed him, it became a serious question how we were to get back to the ship. in what direction was she to be found? as we looked about, we saw that the weather, which had hitherto been so fine, was evidently about to change. the sky was full of the unmistakable signs of a heavy gale. long fleecy clouds with curling ends lay scattered over it, and darker masses were banking up rapidly in the southward. we had now ample time to consider our position, as we lay on to the dead whale. we had neither light nor compass, and all our provisions were spoiled or lost. one keg of water alone had been recovered, and we found among us a few quids of tobacco. the nearest islands to the northward were, we knew, inhabited by the very worst description of cannibals, and, though white men occasionally traded with them for provisions, it was necessary to be constantly watchful to prevent surprise. the crews of several vessels not having taken the proper precautions, had been cut off and murdered. night also was rapidly approaching, and we could not possibly reach the ship, even did we know where to find her, before dark, probably not for several hours. however, the mate, feeling that the first object was to try and save our lives, resolved to pull for the ship, leaving the whale with flags stuck on its side, in the hope that we might again find it. with much regret, therefore, we quitted our hard-earned prize, and pulled away, as we believed, to the northward, in the direction where we had left the ship. we had not pulled long, however, when the gloom of night came on, and the gale which we had seen brewing burst over the ocean, quickly tearing up its sleeping bosom into foam-crested, tumbling seas, which every instant rose higher and higher. we soon also discovered that we could make no head against them, and that, by attempting to do so, we should only weary ourselves in vain. "we must put the boat about, and run before it," said mr trevett. "hoist the lug--haul aft the sheet!" it was done, and away we flew, careering over the fast-rising seas through the pitchy darkness of night! "where are we going to?" was the question. still no other course remained for us to follow. to attempt to head the heavy seas now rising was impossible. no one spoke--a fear of coming evil settled down on our hearts. darker and darker grew the night--the clouds seemed to come down from the sky and settle close over our heads, meeting the troubled wildly-leaping waves. on we flew--the seas, as they curled and hissed up alongside of us, tumbling over the gunwale, and making it necessary for all hands to continue baling. our only hope was that the ship might run before the gale and overtake us; but then we remembered that she probably had a whale alongside, and that the captain would not like to desert it as long as he could hold on. all hope, therefore, of help from man deserted us. on we went--death every instant threatening us--a death amid that dark, wild, troubled, storm-tossed ocean! at length the fierce roar of the wind and sea seemed to increase. we looked out before us into the darkness. "breakers!--breakers ahead!" we shouted. a thrill of horror ran through our veins. in another moment we should be dashed to a thousand fragments among the wild rocks over which they so fiercely broke. to attempt to haul off in such a sea would have consigned us to an equally certain fate. the imminence of the danger seemed to sharpen our vision. a mass of foam, which seemed to leap high up into the dark sky, lay before us. not a moment could a boat live attempting to pass through it. on both sides we turned our anxious gaze, to discover if any spot existed where the sea broke with less violence. almost simultaneously we shouted, "a passage on the starboard-bow!" there appeared, if our eyes deceived us not, a dark space where the line of huge breakers was divided. we were rushing headlong to destruction. not an instant was to be lost. the helm was put to port. we rose on the crest of a vast rolling sea. down it came, thundering on the rocks on either side of us, throwing over them heavy showers of spray, sufficient almost to swamp us. still we floated unharmed. the sea rolled on between what, in the darkness, appeared like walls of foam, and in another instant we found ourselves floating beyond the fierce turmoil of waters, just tossed gently by the waves, which found their way over the reef into a large lagoon within it! a shore fringed with trees lay before us. in five minutes we were landed safely on it, and the boat was secured to the stump of a fallen tree. it was too dark to allow us to attempt to penetrate into the interior, to ascertain the sort of place on which we had been thrown; so, returning to the boat and baling her out, we wrung our wet clothes and lay down to seek that rest we all, after our violent exertions and anxiety, so much needed. it must have been nearly daylight when we went to sleep. i know not how long we had slept. it would have been better for us had we driven sleep far from our eyelids, and been ready to pull out and wander over the inhospitable ocean the moment the gale abated, rather than have remained where we were. i was the first to open my eyes, and, looking up, i saw to my horror a nearly naked savage looking down into the boat with prying eyes from the bank above us. he was almost jet-black, with negro features and a full beard and moustache. his hair was frizzled out to a great size and covered by a brownish turban. round his waist he wore the usual maro or kilt, with something like a shawl or plaid over his shoulders; and in his hand he held a long formidable-looking spear. from the turban on his head, i afterwards discovered that he was a chief. "eugh! eugh!" he cried, as he saw me opening my eyes to look at him, and his menacing attitude and ferocious aspect made a most uncomfortable feeling creep over me. "up, lads, up! and shove off!" i shouted to my companions, jumping forward myself to cut the painter. they started to their feet at my summons, looking up with a bewildered stare at the shore; and well they might so have done, for there stood some twenty or more fierce-looking savages, whom the exclamation of their chief had called to his side, and before we could get the oars out, a shower of spears came rattling down among us. poor mr trevett was pierced through, and fell with a deep groan to the bottom of the boat; another of my companions sprung up as he was struck, and went headlong overboard; others were badly wounded; and one man only besides me was unhurt by the first shower of missiles. seeing that we still persevered in trying to get the boat off, the savages came rushing down the bank; and though i had cut the painter, before i could give the boat sufficient impetus to get out of their way, they had seized the gunwale and hauled her up on the beach. all hope of escape was now at an end. we were each of us seized by three or four of the savages, while, by the chief's directions, two others plunged into the water, and soon returned with the body of the man who had fallen overboard. to my horror, our poor wounded companions were instantly stabbed by these wretches, apparently for no other reason than because they offered some resistance to being dragged roughly along; and thus brian and i were the only two who remained alive of those who had so lately escaped from the stormy ocean. some of the savages, i saw, were left to take care of the boat in which the bodies of those who had been killed were placed. as we climbed to the top of a hill, and i looked back over the blue ocean, now shining brightly in the morning sun, i saw that the storm had ceased; and--i am certain my eyes did not deceive me--i saw in the offing the white canvas of a ship, which i felt sure must be the _drake_, probably searching for those who were never to be found. from the appearance of the people and their cruel proceedings, i had no doubt but that we had fallen on one of the feejee islands; and, from their well-known character, i knew what our fate would probably be. i myself had little, it might seem, to live for; but still life is _dear_ to all of us, and i considered what i could do to preserve mine. i knew that most savages, as well as eastern nations, look upon a person deprived of his intellect as sacred, so i at once resolved to act the madman. on this, summoning all my strength, i gave vent to the loudest roar i could utter, finishing with a burst of laughter; and when my guards, in their surprise, let me go, i started forward, leaping, and singing, and dancing, with the greatest extravagance, pointing to the way i saw the chief was going, and pretending to conduct him with many bows and flourishes worthy of a french dancing-master. desperate as the device was, it appeared to have its effect, for neither the chief nor any of his companions again attempted to interfere with me, though they dragged poor brian on as before. he, of course, could not make out what had happened to me, and i could not venture to advise him to imitate my conduct, as i thought, very probably, should i do so, that both of us would fail in saving our lives by it. he, however, seeing the fate which had befallen our companions by refusing to walk on willingly, proceeded wherever his guards chose to lead him. after passing through woods and large patches of cultivated ground, we reached a village of considerable size, and were led to what i supposed was the house of the principal chief, the father of the young man who had captured us. it stood on a raised platform of stone, and was built entirely of wood, with elliptical ends, the beams ornamented with coloured cocoa-nut plait. the side walls were solid, with windows, the frames of which were bound together to represent a kind of fluting, and which had a very ornamented appearance. the interior was divided into several compartments by screens of native cloth dyed with turmeric; and as the children and several of the people were painted with the same pigment, the whole had a very yellow appearance. the front and back of the edifice were formed of long laths, bent like a bow, and thatched with cocoa-nut leaves, something like the front of some bathing-machines in england. under the roof, supported by beams, was a floor of lattice-work, which seemed to be the store-room of the house, as bundles of cloth and articles of various sorts were piled up there; while on the ground were scattered different utensils for cooking or eating from-- such as bowls of glazed crockery of native manufacture, and plenty of well-made mats. on one of the walls were hung up some strings of whale teeth--articles which pass for money among those people. at one end of the chief hall, on a pile of mats, sat a stout old man, with a huge turban and large beard and moustache, and wrapped in thick folds of native cloth. savage as he looked, there was a good deal of dignity and intelligence about him. keeping up the character i had assumed, i instantly began to salaam, as i had seen the moors do, and to turn about on one leg, and then to leap and spring up, and clap my hands, singing out "whallop-ado-ahoo!--erin-go-bragh!" at the top of my voice, in a way to astonish the natives, if it did not gain their respect. my heart all the time felt as if it would break with shame and terror--with shame, at having to behave so, and with terror, lest i should, after all, not succeed. the old chief and the young one, with the people who accompanied him, had a great deal of conversation about us, i found--the old one remarking that we had both of us "salt water in our eye," and must submit to the law. now, by the law, or rather custom, of the feejees, every person cast on shore on their coasts is killed and eaten! i had numberless proofs of the truth of this. the result of the conversation about me was, that i was tabooed--to be held sacred, as it were--and that my life was to be spared. they tried to make me understand this at the time, and i partly comprehended their meaning. to prove their sincerity, the old chief had a number of dishes of various sorts of vegetables and fruit brought in, with a young pig baked whole, of which he made me partake. this i did very willingly, for i was very hungry, and the viands looked very tempting. when i had eaten a good meal, i jumped up and shook the old chief and his son very heartily by the hand; and then sitting down on a mat, i threw myself back, and began singing away at the top of my voice, as if i had been perfectly contented with my lot. when, however, i got up to leave the house, signs were made to me that i was to stay where i was. this, i concluded, was that notice might be given to the people that i was tabooed, and that they were not to interfere with me, or i should in all probability have been clubbed by the first native i met, who might have suspected that i had been cast upon their shore by the late gale. i felt very anxious to ascertain what had become of brian. he had not been allowed to enter the chief's house with me, but, as we approached the village, had been led off in a different direction. suspecting the horrible practice of the savages, and hearing nothing of him as the day grew on, i became very much alarmed for his safety. at night a mat was pointed out to me on which i was to sleep; but it was long before i could close my eyes, and every instant i expected to find myself seized and carried off by the savages. i did sleep, however, at last, and the next morning i found myself at liberty to wander out where i pleased. food was first brought to me, and then, having performed various curious antics to keep up the belief of my insanity, i left the house and took the way up a neighbouring hill. i had not gone far before i came to what was evidently a native temple, shaded by tall and graceful trees. it was a high-pointed building, formed of bamboos, and hung with strings of bones and screens of native cloth. i saw arms of various sorts, and an altar with two human skulls on it, made into drinking cups. i was considering how i could find my poor companion, when, near the temple, i entered an open space with several small erections of stone, which i discovered on examination were ovens. in the centre of the space was what i took at first to be the figure of a man cut out of wood, and painted over in a curious way with many colours. i went up to it. horror almost overcame me--i recognised the countenance of my lost companion brian! while some clothes hung up on poles hard by, and some human bones scattered under them, showed me what had been the fate of the rest of our boat's crew. i rushed shrieking from the spot, and for many a day i had no occasion to feign madness--i really was, i believe, out of my mind. chapter twenty two. life among the savages--jack's escape and return home. drearily passed the time of my sojourn in that benighted region. day after day i sought in vain for the means of escape. vessels often touched at the island; but directly they appeared, a strict watch was kept on me, and if i went towards the shore, i was told to go back and remain in the chief's house till they had sailed. under some circumstances i might have been tolerably happy. the climate was delightful and healthy; there were provisions in abundance--yams and bananas and plantains, cocoa-nuts and shaddocks, pumpkins and pine-apples, guavas and water-melons--indeed, all the tropical fruits and vegetables, with a good supply of pigs for meat. the chiefs treated me with kindness and consideration; the people with respect, barbarous and savage though they were; but the scenes of horror i was constantly witnessing, and could not prevent, had so powerful an effect on my mind that time rolled on with me in a dreamy sort of existence. i scarcely knew how the months passed by--whether, indeed, as it seemed to me, years had elapsed since i landed on that fatal spot. i had not believed beings so bloodthirsty and savage existed on the face of the earth, possessing, at the same time, so much intelligence and talent. their houses and temples are very neatly built; the tapa-cloth, which they make from the paper-mulberry by beating it out, is of a fine texture, of great length, and often ingeniously ornamented; they cultivate a large number of the fruits of the earth with much attention; the way in which they fortify their villages appears almost scientific. the town in which i lived was surrounded by several deep moats, or ditches, one within the other, arranged with so much intricacy, that it was at first difficult to find my way out of it; then there were several walls, and in the centre a sort of citadel on a hill surmounted by a rock. on the summit of the rock stood a flagstaff, on which was hoisted, in war-time, the flag of defiance. i had been many months there in the condition of a prisoner, if not a slave, before i was allowed to go beyond the fortifications. at last the young chief invited me to accompany him. he did not explain where he was going. he and all those with him were painted in their gayest colours. we reached the sea-shore, and embarked in a large double canoe, with an out-rigger to prevent her capsizing. several other canoes accompanied us. we sailed on till we came to an island. at no great distance from the water rose a high hill with a fort on the top of it. i remained on board the canoe, while the chief and his followers landed. as soon as they had done so, they began to shout out and to abuse the people in the fort, daring them to come down. after a time, about a dozen left the fort, and descended the hill to meet the invaders. our chief had stationed some of his people behind an embankment, and as soon as these incautious warriors appeared, they drew their bows and shot three of them. then the people in the fort rushed down in great numbers to secure their fallen companions; but in doing so, more were shot, and others clubbed by our party, who carried off the bodies of the three first killed, as well as most of the others, and then, with loud shouts of triumph, retired to their canoes. with these spoils we sailed back. we were received in the village with every demonstration of joy. in the evening of the same day, when i went out, i found that all the slain had been carried to the grove before the temple, and were placed in rows, with their bodies covered over with paint. the chiefs and all the principal men of the tribe were assembling from far and near. the priest of the town was standing near the temple, and the butcher, as he was called, a bloodthirsty monster, was ready with the implements of his horrid trade, while his assistants were employed in heating the ovens. i rushed from the spot; but, instigated by a curiosity i could not repress, i again returned, and witnessed a scene of the most disgusting cannibalism the mind could imagine. the bodies of the slain were baked, and then cut up by the priest or butcher, and distributed among the chiefs and principal men, none of the women or lower orders being allowed to partake of the horrible banquet. what struck me was the avidity with which the savages seized the fragments and devoured them. i would have avoided giving the dreadful account, were it not to show the depth of wickedness into which human nature, when left to itself, will inevitably sink. often have i seen parties of men set out for the express purpose of capturing and murdering their fellow-creatures-- people of the same colour and race, and chiefly helpless women and children--to satisfy their disgusting propensities--frequently to furnish a banquet on the visit of some neighbouring and friendly chiefs. some people have pretended to doubt the existence of cannibalism as a regular custom, though unable to deny that it has been resorted to under the pressure of hunger; but the feejee islands afford numberless undoubted proofs that hundreds of people were yearly slaughtered to gratify the unnatural taste of their ferocious chiefs. wars were undertaken for the express purpose of obtaining victims; all persons, friends or strangers, thrown by the stormy ocean on their inhospitable shores, were destroyed; their own slaves were often killed; and men, women, and children among the lower orders, even of friendly tribes, were frequently kidnapped and carried off for the same purpose. but, praise be to god! heart-rending as are the scenes i have witnessed and the accounts i have heard, all-powerful means exist to overcome this and other horrible, though long established customs. the christian faith, when carried to those benighted lands by devoted men, who go forth in love and obedience to him who died for them, and in firm confidence that he is all-powerful to preserve them, and to make his name known among the heathen, is the sure and effectual means to conquer the giant evil. before its bright beams, the dark gloom of savage barbarism and superstition has been put to flight, by the untiring efforts of christian missionaries; and i am told, that among even the feejee islands, wherever they have planted the cross, numbers have flocked round it, and in many places the whole character of the people has been changed. i am describing simply barbarism as it existed, and as it still does exist, in numberless places in those beautiful regions of the earth's fair surface; and i would point out to those who read my history, how much it is their duty to inquire into the truth of the statements i make, and to support by all the means at their disposal those who are engaged in our lord's service in overcoming the evil, by teaching the pure, simple, evangelical faith as it is in christ jesus-- his incarnation--his sufferings--his atonement--his propitiation offered once--his intercession ever making--the cleansing power of his blood-- our acceptance by an all-holy god through him. let these great truths be made known to the heathen, and, by the divine blessing, their minds, dark as they may have been, will accept them with joy and thankfulness. but to return to my life on the island. my master, the old chief, was said to be a very civil and polite man; but i have seen him, when the inhabitants of the tributary or slave states were bringing him their quota of provisions, if he did not think that they were approaching his abode in a sufficiently humble posture by stooping almost to the ground, deliberately take his bow and shoot one of them through the heart. the rest, not daring to interfere, or to run away, would continue their progress as if nothing had happened, while the body of the unfortunate wretch would be carried off to the bake-house. to approach his house on one side, a river had to be crossed, swarming with sharks; and often he would make the slaves swim across, and if one of them were bitten by a shark, and still managed to get across, he was instantly on landing killed for the same dreadful purpose. some months after my arrival, the chief's house was burned down--though the rolls of cloth, and much of his more valuable property, were saved. he at once issued his commands to the people of all the tributary villages to bring in materials for the erection of another on a much larger scale. meantime we lived in huts, quickly erected on his property. when the day arrived to commence the building, i saw that four very deep and large holes had been dug to receive the corner posts. these posts were brought up with great ceremony to the spot. at the same time, four slaves, strong, muscular young men, were brought up, and when the posts were placed upright in the holes, a slave was made to descend into each of them, and as i looked in, i saw them clinging tightly round the posts. i concluded that they were to remain there to hold the posts upright till the earth was shovelled in; but what was my horror to find that they were to remain for ever in that position! while they stood in all their health and strength, looking up with longing eyes into the blue sky, others threw in the earth, and beat it down with heavy mallets over their heads. i shuddered at the spectacle, but heart-broken as i was i dared not interfere. our old chief had resolved to build a fleet of large double canoes, with which to bring the inhabitants of another island under subjection. it had been his chief care and attention for some years past. at length a portion was finished and ready for launching. before this ceremony could be performed, it was necessary to attack a village at some distance, to obtain victims to offer in sacrifice to the evil spirits they worshipped, in order that success might attend their operations. the young chief and his party set out with his warriors, and attacking a village in the dead of night, carried off fifty of its unfortunate inhabitants. the next day, the shrieking wretches were brought to the dockyard. that they might be kept in a proper position to serve as ways or rollers over which the canoes might pass, each person was securely lashed to two banana-trees, lengthways--one in front, and the other behind him. thus utterly unable to move, with their faces upwards, they were placed in rows between the canoes and the water. ropes were then attached to the canoes, which, it must be understood, are very heavy, and numbers hauling away on them, they were dragged over the yet breathing, living mass of human beings, whose shrieks and groans of agony rent the air, mingled with the wild shouts and songs of their inhuman murderers, till the former were silenced in death. i need not say what became of the bodies of the victims thus horribly immolated. the ceremony ended with a great feast, at which all the chiefs and principal men assembled from far and near, and which lasted several days. with the young chief i was on intimate terms, and i believe that he had formed an attachment to me, and was anxious to preserve me from injury. in our excursions about the country, we visited one day a temple at the end of a small pond, and i saw him throw into it some bread-fruit and other provisions. looking into the pond, and wondering what this was for, i observed a large monster with a body as thick as a man's leg, and a hideous head, which i took to be a great snake, but which he told me was an eel of vast age, showing me some eels to explain his meaning, and also that it was a spirit which he worshipped. this was the only worship i ever saw him engaged in. i had spent upwards of a year on the island, or it may have been two, when the old chief fell ill. he sat moping by himself in the corner of his house, and no one could tell what was the matter with him. one day his son came in, and taking his hand, just as if he had been going to say something very affectionately to him, told him that the time had arrived when it would be better for him to die! the old man bowed his head, and replied that he was of the same opinion! the son mentioned a day for the burial, to which the old man willingly consented; and till the time arrived, as if a weight had been taken off his mind, he seemed very much the better that everything had been so satisfactorily arranged. i could discover no compunction on the part of the son, nor regret on that of the father, who was cheerful and contented, and ate his meals with far more relish than he had before done. as the fatal day approached i attempted to remonstrate with the young chief on so unnatural a proceeding; but he sternly rebuked me, and told me not to interfere with the immemorial customs of the people. his father had been chief long enough--he was worn-out and weary of life--and he himself wished to be chief. when he should become old, his son would probably wish to finish him in the same honourable way, and that he should be content to submit to the usage of his nation. the day arrived, and all the relatives and friends and neighbouring chiefs assembled. the old chief got up, and was followed by a procession of all his people, some bearing spades, and others cloths with which to wrap him up in the grave. the grave was about four feet deep. a cloth having been spread at the bottom, the old man was conducted to it. he stepped down with as little unwillingness as if he had been entering a bath, and having been placed on his back, the cloth was folded over him. instantly others began shovelling in the earth, and then his son and nearest relatives came and stamped it down, exerting all their force with their feet. not a sound was uttered by the old man. leaves were scattered on the grave, and then all engaged in the ceremony went and washed at a neighbouring stream. this done, they returned to the old chief's house, where a feast was prepared; and having eaten as much food and drunk as much angona as they could, they got up and commenced dancing in the most frantic manner, making a most hideous uproar with their drums, conch-shells, and other instruments, and shrieking and howling at the top of their voices. after this, the principal chiefs entered the houses of the late chief's wives, armed with a sort of bowstring. with these they proceeded deliberately to kill the unfortunate women, one after the other, till about twenty were thus executed. the new chief's mother had before died, or she would have been murdered in the same way. many of them seemed perfectly willing to submit to their fate, though several, with shrieks and cries, endeavoured to escape, but were brought back and compelled to submit their necks to the executioners. the young man at once assumed the functions of chief, and seemed disposed to be no less cruel and bloodthirsty than his father. soon after, the news was brought that a vessel had anchored in a bay a short distance from the town. she was said to be full of all sorts of valuable commodities; of fire-arms and weapons of all sorts; of cloths, and tools, and other articles likely to be attractive to savages. at once the cupidity of the young chief was excited. if he could get possession of these things, he might become the most wealthy and powerful of all the chiefs of his nation, and bring the other tribes into perfect subjection to him. a council of his most trusty followers was called, and his plan explained to them. they at once agreed to aid him in its execution. i trembled for the fate of the unfortunate crew of the ship, and resolved, if possible, to warn them of their danger. how was i to succeed? i would try, i thought, and swim off to the vessel; i would risk my own life for the purpose. pretending not to have understood what was proposed, i walked about in as unconcerned a manner as possible. i lay down at night in my usual place in the chief's house, intending to get up when all were asleep, and run along the shore till i came abreast of where i supposed the vessel would be. anxiously i waited for the time. i got up and reached the door. just as i stepped out into the night air i felt a hand placed on my shoulder! i must have trembled. it was the hand of the chief. "ah, i know what you are about," said he. "you wish to escape to the white people, to tell them what we are going to do. i suspected you. that cannot be. you will see that it would be wiser for you not to join them. come with me to-morrow, and you will see." my first plan was thus defeated. still i hoped that i might meet some of the white crew of the vessel and warn them of their danger. i determined to try. the next morning the chief and his warriors collected, and all their canoes were launched and paddled off to a point which concealed them from the stranger vessel. the smaller canoes were loaded with fruits and vegetables of all sorts, and about twenty men and boys without arms and in the most peaceable garb, paddled off to her. on getting up, i found that the chief had appointed two men to attend on me and watch my movements. everything conspired, therefore, to defeat all my hopes of warning the strangers of the fate intended for them. i was allowed to proceed to a high hill, whence i could look down on the vessel, which lay in a bay at my feet. i longed to have the wings of a bird, to fly down and tell the crew of the intentions of the savages, whose small canoes now began to flock about her. several of the chiefs reached her deck, and began offering presents of fruit and vegetables to the officers, and pointing to the shore, as if to indicate that if they would come there they would be received with a hearty welcome. i guessed, from the build of the vessel, that she was not english. at last i saw a boat lowered into the water, and a french flag flying over her stern. though i had often been engaged in deadly strife with those fighting under that ensign, i was nevertheless anxious to save the lives of those i saw. yet i could not speak a word of french, and probably they would not have understood my warning even if i could have given them one. not only one, but two boats were lowered; and, as far as i could see, no one was armed. what could have thus so speedily enticed them on shore? looking along the beach, i saw it lined with a number of people, mostly women and children. there were young girls with baskets of fruit, and older women with vegetables, and little boys with sucking pigs and other dainties, and children running about and playing on the sands. as this was not the usual custom of the savages, i guessed too well that it was an artful device of the chief to entrap the unwary strangers. by the time the boats had reached the shore, the women and children gradually drew off, and i saw two bodies of savages stealing down through the woods on either side of them. oh, how i longed to warn them of their peril! i would, at every risk, have shouted out, but they would not have understood me. i remained spell-bound. meantime, three or four of the large canoes stole out from behind the point, and gradually approached the doomed ship, the chiefs in them, when they were perceived, waving their hands in token of amity to those on board. if the party on shore observed them, i do not know; they appeared to have no fear, no suspicion of treachery. the aim of the cunning savages was to get them to separate from each other. the sellers of fruit got in among them, and enticed one on one side, and one on the other; and when this had been accomplished i saw a warrior, with his club concealed under his cloak, glide noiselessly in and attach himself to each of the unsuspecting white men. the large canoes, full of warriors, had likewise been incautiously allowed to get alongside the brig, and soon her decks were crowded with savages, making signs, and laughing, and pretending to traffic with the crew. on a sudden, a conch-shell was sounded by the chief. before its hoarse braying had died away, the deadly weapons of the savages had descended with terrific force on the heads of the white men on the shore. many fell, killed at once; others attempted to run to the boats, but were pursued and quickly dispatched. on board, the plot of the chief seemed to be equally successful. though some resistance was offered and several shots were fired, all was unavailing--not a white man ultimately escaped; and in a few minutes their bodies were brought on shore in one of the canoes, while the others followed towing the brig, whose cable the savages had cut, that they might the more easily plunder her. as soon as she was brought close to the shore, a scene of havoc and destruction commenced on board. some climbed the masts to unrig her, others rushed into the hold to get out the cargo, and numbers hurried to the cabin to carry off the lighter articles which it contained. the chief, as may be supposed, got the lion's share; and his house was soon full of fire-arms and other weapons, and clothes, and trinkets, and crockery, and articles of every description. he himself had come on shore, but numbers still remained on board, working away in the hold, and lowering down the rigging from aloft, when there was a loud explosion, and the deck of the vessel, with all on board, was lifted up and blown into the air! not a human being on board escaped. fragments of the wreck and mangled bodies came falling thick around, while flames burst out on every side from the hull, the scene of the late atrocity. the chief was very angry at the loss of so much property, but seemed in no way to regret the lives of so many of his subjects. i took occasion to tell him that the catastrophe was a judgment on him for the number of murders and the robbery he had committed. he replied that he did not understand what i meant--that white men had often come to those islands in their ships, and had kidnapped his people, or shot them down with their guns, or beaten them, for some trifling misunderstanding or theft of little importance they might have committed, and that he was only treating them as other white people had treated his countrymen. no reasoning that i was able to use after this could convince him that he had acted wrongly. indeed i knew that there was too much truth in his assertion; and much have those navigators to answer for who have acted unfairly towards savages, when those savages, following the law of their untutored nature, have retaliated on subsequent voyagers with a tenfold measure of vengeance. after this occurrence, i was always seeking an opportunity to escape from this blood-stained spot of earth. whichever way i turned had been a scene of murder, and i loathed the sight of the sanguinary perpetrator of so many atrocities. i might employ many an hour in describing the dreadful customs and superstitions of these people. every day my desire to escape from them increased. three or four vessels in the course of the next year called off the island, but the crews seemed to be cautious; and, at all events, no attempt was made to surprise them. as each appeared, i found myself narrowly watched, so i had no opportunity of communicating with them. i had now for some time been looked upon as a sane man, and had employed myself in working in various ways for the chief. it at last struck me, that if i were again to feign madness i might obtain greater liberty. on putting my idea into execution, i found that it had the desired effect; and i was allowed from that time forward to go about wherever i liked, and to pry into people's houses and gardens, and even into the temples. i soon found my way down to the sea-shore, and used to pretend to be busy in picking up shells, and in stringing them together into necklaces and bracelets for my own adornment. then i made others, which i presented, with many a strange antic, to anybody i met. day after day did i continue this employment, my eye wandering anxiously over the blue sea in search of the wished-for vessel. drearily passed the time, without a human being with whom i could exchange an idea we might hold in common. i learned then fully to appreciate the value of the society and sympathy of my fellow-men. at length, one day as i sat at my usual occupation on the shore, my eyes fell on a white speck just rising above the horizon. anxiously, intently did i watch it. slowly it increased. first i made out the topgallant-sails; then the topsails; and at last the courses of a square-rigged schooner. she approached the island. oh, how my heart beat within me for fear she might not come near the part where i was! there was a channel through which vessels had more than once passed. a point of land ran out into it, covered almost to the end with trees. towards this point i ran, concealing myself as much as i could among the trees from the people on shore. i reached the point unobserved. i had hoped to find a canoe there, but there was none. i looked about, and at last discovered a log of banana-wood, which is very light. it had been cast on shore. with my knife i cut a stick with a broad end, to serve as a paddle and to defend myself against the sharks which abound on the coast. i was ready to run all risks. i had become desperate. i felt sure that if i were observed by the natives i should be brought back and slaughtered. still that idea did not daunt me. at every hazard i was resolved to get on board, or to perish in the attempt. eagerly i kept my eye on the vessel. on she came. she was steering for the channel. i got my log ready to launch. it was with no small dread that i looked around to ascertain that i was not observed. i watched for the moment to commence my perilous voyage, when, by pulling directly out from the shore, i thought i could fetch her. i had secured two long outriggers at each end of my log, to prevent it from turning round; the tendrils of the wild vine served me as rope. the time arrived to launch forth. with all my strength shoving the log into the water, i took my seat on it, and with might and main using my paddle, i worked on my rough canoe towards the schooner. now commenced the most dangerous part of the enterprise, as i drew out from the point and became exposed to the view of the people on shore. every now and then i gave a hasty glance over my shoulder to ascertain if i were followed. for a long time no one observed me. i had nearly gained a position by which the schooner must pass, when, to my dismay, i saw a large canoe putting off from the shore. if i could not gain the side of the schooner before she reached me, i was undone. again i took to my paddle, and urged on the slow-moving machine towards the approaching vessel; still the canoe was rapidly drawing near. every instant i expected to find an arrow sticking in my body. the thought made me redouble my efforts. on came the schooner. i shouted out, "have mercy on an unfortunate englishman!" i saw many swarthy faces on her forecastle. i thought that i might not be understood. what was my joy then to see her brail up her sails, for she had a leading wind, and lower her boat! the boat approached me. i leaped into her just as a shower of arrows was sent flying after me. most of them fell short, but some struck the boat. those on board the schooner seeing this, instantly let fly a volley of musketry at my pursuers, and made them pull back with no little rapidity towards the shore. the moment my eye had time to look about the vessel, i thought that i recognised her. i was not mistaken; she was newman's schooner, and newman himself was standing on the quarter-deck, not as i had for so long known him, but in dress and appearance like an officer. he, of course, did not know me. how should he? i was thin and haggard with care and anxiety. of my seaman's clothes but a small portion now remained, and the few garments i had were made of the native cloth, but had been torn in my run among the trees, and afterwards almost destroyed in the water. altogether, i was a miserable figure. i resolved not to make myself known to my old friend, but still i was anxious to guard him against the treachery of the natives. seeing that i appeared to wish to speak to him, he sent for me aft to give an account of myself. i had not talked five minutes when he exclaimed, "i am quite certain i know that voice and mode of expression. who are you, my man?" i at once told him. he grasped my hand cordially, and greeted me as he would have done in the forecastle of the _drake_. directly he made me at home, and told me that i must mess in his cabin. "you must be clothed, so i will dress you as an officer. as we have no boatswain on board, i will at once appoint you to fill the berth. that's all settled; and after you have had some food, i must hear all that has happened to you since we parted." he told me that he was well aware of the treacherous disposition of the natives, and that he was always on his guard. how delightful it was to feel myself out of the power of those bloodthirsty savages, and to be sitting at dinner with an intelligent companion! he had been in the schooner ever since we parted; and so much satisfaction had he given the dutch authorities, that he had been promised shortly the command of the largest vessel on the station. he was in high spirits, and told me that he expected, on his return to batavia, to marry a lady of considerable fortune, and that he looked upon his prosperity as certain. "pretty well, is it not, i have done, remembering the point from which i started only a few years ago?" i very soon recovered my health and strength on board the schooner. newman had been sent to examine these and other neighbouring groups of islands. we cruised about among them for some months, and then once more shaped our course for batavia. on getting on board, i had no little difficulty at first in speaking english, and i found that i had almost entirely forgotten how to read and write. newman, however, used to have me every day into his cabin, and i very soon recovered the knowledge i had lost. indeed, he took as much pains to instruct me as he had done on board the whaler, and he encouraged me with the hope that he might get me appointed as one of his mates while he remained in the schooner. but alas! i found that in one point he was still unchanged. religion was yet a stranger to his soul. at length we reached batavia. he went on shore in high spirits, telling me that he was going to visit the lady to whom he was engaged; but he let me know that he must call also on another who had formed an attachment for him, that he might pacify her respecting his intended marriage. i feared from what he said that all was not right. i expected him on board again that night, but he did not return. in the morning he did not come, so with some anxiety i went on shore to inquire for him. for a long time i searched in vain. at last i met a person whom i guessed to be an englishman. "your captain do you ask for?" he answered. "look there!" some police-officers stood at the door of a house. they allowed me to enter. on the floor of a room at the side lay a body. a cloth covered the face. i lifted it up. there i beheld all that remained of the highly endowed edward newman, for by no other name did i know him. he had been poisoned through fiery jealousy. a cup, in pretended friendship, had been laughingly offered him. unsuspiciously he had drunk of it. the government seized the murderess, who paid the penalty of her crime with her life. thus died one who was well calculated to shine in the higher walks of life. who he was, whence he came, or even the slightest clue to his previous history, i was never able to ascertain. in a strange land he died, far away from kindred and friends--if, indeed, he had any--his fate for ever unknown to them. let this be a warning to those who hear the sad conclusion of his history. the highest talents, and the most undaunted courage and perseverance, will avail a man nothing, unless at the same time he be under the guidance of principle. the death of my friend threw me completely adrift, and i was glad to find an opportunity of working my passage to england on board a ship just going to sail for liverpool. once more i stood on my native shore, a care-worn, weather-beaten man, well advanced in years. on inquiring for the bank in which i had invested the savings of my former voyage, i found that it had failed, and that i was as poor as when i began the world, with this difference, that i had a profession, and had bought a large amount of experience with the money i had squandered--which is not always the case with spend-thrifts. i made inquiries for captain carr, but could hear nothing of him. as i concluded that he had invested the money made by my last voyage in the _drake_, i supposed that also to have been lost by the bank. i thought this a very great misfortune, as i wished to have settled on shore in some business or other. perhaps i might have chosen that of a publican, as many sailors do. however, i had now no resource but to go to sea again. while in this humour i fell in with an old shipmate. we had been together in the _glutton_, and one or two other ships, so we knew each other directly. he told me that he belonged to a revenue-cutter then stationed in the mersey, and that she was short of hands, especially of three or four steady men; and when i mentioned to him that i had been boatswain of a man-of-war schooner, he said that he was certain i would get a berth on board. i was weary of foreign voyages, so i accompanied him at once, as he proposed, to the commander, and was entered immediately. ever since have i had reason to bless that day. the commander was a pious, excellent man, who, aware of the value of his own soul, was ever solicitous for the eternal welfare of all those placed under his authority. he soon found that though i had some knowledge of the bible, and much of other things, i was ignorant of the way of salvation. he called me often into his cabin. kindly and affectionately he spoke to me, and set before me the truth of the gospel as it is in christ jesus. as he spoke to me, so did he, from time to time, to all the rest. he, truly, was not ashamed of the master he served. at an early age he had hoisted his flag, and had ever since fought bravely under it, against the scorn of the world, against evil in all shapes. even the most obdurate were softened and influenced by the example he set, though they might not receive the truth with gladness of heart. we were what all ships' companies might become--a christian crew, though not without faults and shortcomings; but we loved christ, and worshipped him with singleness of heart. at the same time i am very certain that no crew ever more efficiently did their duty to their country than we performed ours. for three years i served on board that vessel, and at the end of that time was sent round to woolwich, where she had been fitted out, to be paid off. the last time i landed at liverpool, i met an old gentleman walking along the street. i looked in his face. it was captain carr! i told him who i was. of course he had thought i had been lost, and was very much surprised to see me. he was shocked to hear of the death of my companions, and deeply interested in the account i gave him of my captivity. to my no little satisfaction he told me that he had not invested the money, which was mine by rights, from the last voyage; and that he thought he could obtain fifty pounds from the owners as my share of profits. this sum i afterwards received. it was all that remained out of the thousands i had made in the course of my life. i was now sixty years of age. i had recovered my health on board the cutter, but though strong and hearty, i felt i was no longer fit for sea. i found, however, on application, that i could obtain employment as a rigger in the dockyard; and in that work i spent some years. i took a little cottage on the hill, which i furnished by means of the money i received from captain carr, and made myself perfectly comfortable. directly i was settled, i started off next day for greenwich hospital, for i thought that i should very likely fall in with some old shipmates there. i went into the chapel and sat myself down--no one hindering me. as the men were coming out when service was over, i saw before me a tall, thin old pensioner, bending under the weight of years, and resting on a staff as he walked before me. i came behind as he reached the open air, and looked up in his face. it wore the same kind, benignant, mild expression which i remembered so well in the countenance of peter poplar. i waited till he got down the steps. "just lean on me, sir," said i. "you have carried me before now, if i mistake not." he looked hard at my face. a tear dimmed his eye. "yes, yes--it's the boy himself," he whispered in a tremulous voice. "but you are `old jack' now." i loved the name he gave me, and ever since to the lads i meet and talk with i have called myself by it. a few weeks after that, i sat by the bedside of my kind, noble old friend--talking of that glorious eternity into which his spirit entered before i left him. after i had been settled for some years, i met an old shipmate, sick, and i saw plainly dying. he had been a lad when i knew him. he had with him a little girl, his only child, some ten years old. his wife was dead. he had no friends. i promised as he lay on his death-bed to take charge of the lassie. he blessed me, and died. i took her to my cottage, and she has ever since been a comfort and a solace to me--a daughter by adoption, if not by blood. not long after this event, i met my former commander in the cutter. he asked me how i was employed. i told him as a rigger, but that i sometimes found my strength scarcely equal to the work; but when that failed, i was sure god would provide for me as he had always done. he replied that he had no doubt of it--that even then there was work for which i was well fitted ready for me--that he belonged to a society which had been formed to distribute, at a low price, religious and other publications among those classes who were accustomed to purchase the most pernicious style of literature, frequently from not having better offered to them; and that if i would undertake the work, he would get me appointed to it. i gladly accepted his offer, and have ever since been a humble, though i feel sure not an inefficient, labourer in making known the good tidings of great joy among the almost heathen population of our own land, as a colporteur. i have told my tale. i have offered many an example of what religion can do, and of what the want of it will produce. i have uttered many a warning. one more i must repeat: remember that this world affords no rest to the soul--this world is unstable and fleeting--those who persist in making the utmost it can offer their aim, are striving to clutch a passing shadow. oh! never forget it is but a place of preparation--a place of trial--for all human beings alike. to commence mother life all are hastening--all must commence ere long. high and low, rich and poor, young and old--those in health and those in sickness--the light-hearted and happy--the miserable and forlorn--all alike are going the same road, and entering into a condition which, whether wretched or joyous, will last for eternity. though the rest of what i have said may be forgotten, let this great truth be remembered, and you will have gained a pearl of great price from reading the life of old jack. the end.